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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 1991)
loh 96 loin 72 ce hall d. "W e f Aggie gf’jT Possible thunderstorms the afternoon a slight chance of a blizzard tonight, uerg slight. SWC Picks Jayme Blaschke page 3 "Our concern Is not to cry foul or protect a vested Interest but to make It clear the extent and destructiveness of the House bill.” — Dr. William H. Cunningham and Dr. William H. Mobley page 5 A Second Chance for TASP Test Takers page 2 pie are! irperspecH Is and the to certain.; he said, ;gart I had been Adth a chir r age, wife | ot God i The Battalion Vol. 90 No. 182 USPS 045360 6 Pages College Station, Texas "Serving Texas A&M since 1893" Wednesday, August 7, 1991 ced, very : I knew] 1 i y what id in a th ABC' very bod;,: o stay/ Tax increase for state services passes House, goes to Senate AUSTIN (AP) — Work on a tax in crease to pay for state services shifted to the Senate Tuesday, after the House passed a $30 million tax bill that doesn't come close to funding its own | two-year spending proposal. "It's a real sham tax bill, but at least it gives us a vehicle to continue the dia logue with the Senate," said Rep. Rene Oliveira, a member of the House bud get and tax committees. "There weren't many profiles en couraged" during House action on what started as a $3 billion tax bill, said Oliveira, D-Brownsville. The whittled- down measure was approved after a marathon session that began Monday and ended 5 a.m. Tuesday. Senators are looking at revising the state franchise tax, increasing the gaso line tax and raising state fees, said Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock. The Senate's fran chise tax plan contains differences from one pushed unsuccessfully in the House, which also turned down a higher gas tax and fees. Bullock also predicted Senate pas sage of a Texas lottery, which would send the House-approved measure to voters for consideration. The game would raise an estimated $450 million over the next two years. Senate Finance Committee Chair man John Montford said senators E lanned to work closely with House ?aders. Gov. Ann Richards touted a cooperative approach, saying that would make the job easier for an ex pected House-Senate conference com mittee on taxes. But Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, House Republican Caucus chairman. said he thinks the House will reject fur ther taxes. He said the budget should be trimmed instead, although the House measure has been attacked as miserly. "We know it can be done with cuts," Craddick said. The House spending bill for the next two years would require about $1.5 bil lion to $2 billion in new revenue, in cluding lottery proceeds, Oliveira said. But it would fall below the spending level needed to continue current serv ices and meet court mandates, law makers said. The measure includes an estimated $32.5 billion in general revenue, or tax- driven, spending. It also would autho rize additional spending on education, prisons and welfare if lawmakers can find the money. Lawmakers in the House partly blamed heavy pressure from special in terests for defeating the tax proposal, which included putting an income levy in the state franchise tax and expand ing that business tax to partnerships and sole proprietorships. Iceanos >uth eft East Durban, i ten us ?us and 'rein. Itt depart; Stroud s 5,000 bt new own "There's t all to ft vould buses, Europt derine indards ed bus !ing to :or of luses,"» ouble-dei GATH : Stasn*/ 220 £AS [y* .$5.99 .$7.99 . $9.99 crouton** | rt cbei**. | — J — -1 ■ "I « j 9 I 9 I l. J DONS m HU | nil sate Stain*)' 220 m. Firefighters seek alternatives Fire school investigates cleaner fuels By Greg Mt.Joy The Battalion Billowing clouds of unsightly smoke at the Texas Firefighters' School have prompted a search for cleaner burning fuels, a uni versity official said. James Davidson of Texas A&M Facilities Planning said the concern over fuel was not an environmental one. The school, run by the Texas A&M Engineering Extention Service, presently uses diesel fuel, gaso line, propane and hay for fire simulations during training. "The problem is a visual one, not an environmental one," Da vidson said. "We need to cover our bases and see if there are other fuels out there." Davidson said many factors have to be considered in choos ing an alternative fuel for the simulations. "Some more efficient fuels bum whiter or without smoke," he said. "These fuels usually burn much hotter, however. The problem is finding a substi tute the firefighters will accept." Davidson said concern over the amount of smoke produced was an internal one, not one provoked by complaints. College Station Fire Depart ment chief Richard Orange said he has recieved no complaints about the firefighters' school. Davidson said the fuel study is the second phase of a Facili ties Planning program that in cludes a possible relocation of the school. "We are in a very early stage of our search," he said. "We are studying the feasibility of the move right now." The University has been con sidering moving the school from Brayton field for seven or eight years, Davidson said. No definite site has been deter mined, but, Davidson said. Riv erside campus is one location being considered. "I'm sure we'll look at some other potential sites," he said. "But nothing is definite this early on." Davidson said the first phase of the program will be a survey of the school's customers. "We want to find out why firefighters from all over the world are coming here," he said. "Among other things, we want to find out what kind of training aids they like." Davidson said the level of realism in simulations used for training was a major concern of the school's customers. "Each phase of the program is interrelated," he said. "Chang ing fuels comes down to keep ing the customers coming back. "The school is virtually self- supporting, so we lose the justi fication for even having the school if we drive away our cus tomer base by using fuels that don't appear realistic during simulations," he added. Davidson said the program should be finished around May or July of 1992. The proposal will then be presented to the Board of Regents. "We will wait for their deci sion before we make any deci sions about relocating or alter native fuels," Davidson said. RICHARD S. JAMES/The Battalion Smoke from the Brayton Fireman Training field rises above Albritton Bell Tower during the 62nd Texas Firefighters School. Officials take threat seriously Appropriations bill would make A&M, UT bear brunt of education cuts, Mobley says By Mack Harrison The Battalion Texas A&M officials say they are extremely worried about a state House appropriations bill radically cutting state funding for A&M and the University of Texas. "The cuts are so deep," Uni versity President William Mob ley said. "The two universities (A&M and UT) carry the brunt of the cuts for the rest of higher ed ucation." Dr. E. Dean Gage, A&M's pro vost and vice president for aca demic affairs, said officials are taking the threatened cut very seriously. "It would mean absolute dev astation if anything like that held," Gage said. "We are hop ing and praying it does not tran spire." The cut, however, probably will not be as large as the House would like. The Senate appro- E nations bill is more lenient on igher education. The bill will go to a conference committee so representatives and senators can iron out differ ences between their legislation. Rep. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said the*cut was unexpected. He said Rep. Eddie Cavazos, D-Corpus Christi, introduced the cut in an amendment to the appropriations bill early Monday morning. Legislators did not re alize the cuts to A&M and UT would be so large, Ogden said. "It was wrong and irrespon sible," he said. "It came as such a surprise, and no one had figured out any numbers." Ogden said he spoke with House leaders, who assured him they would not cut funding so drastically. He said the final re sult would be closer to the Sen ate version. "The headline looks terrible, but the reality is not as bad," Og den said. "I'm sure the Senate will never concur (with the cut)." The House bill calls for a $245 million cut over the next two years in current services funding for public colleges and universi ties. Schools with enrollments under 10,000 students would lose 2 percent of their current services funding, and institu tions with 10,000 to 37,500 stu dents would face a 3 percent budget cut. Universities with enrollments See Bili/Page 6 Flawed census gives best data, demographer says EDINBURG (AP) — The 1990 census, although flawed, still provides the best data for draw ing new voting boundaries, a de mographer testified Tuesday in a redistricting case that is pitting residents against the state. The census did undercount Texas residents, minorities in particular, but the only other re liable data for redistricting are adjusted figures that the Bureau of Census has refused to release, said Steve Murdoch, chief demo grapher for the Texas State Data Center. "I would advise then that until we can get a hold of the adjusted figures ... that they better use the 1990 census counts," Mur doch said. Murdoch was the first defense witness to testify in the prelimi nary injunction nearing for a suit filed by south Texas residents against the state. Attorneys for the plaintiffs, who say they were not counted in last year's census, are peti tioning 332nd District Judge Mario E. Ramirez to issue an in junction that would force legis lators to accept adjusted census data. They have asked Ramirez to order that a new set of plans be drawn up using the adjusted data. The suit claims that plans passed by the Legislature are discriminatory because new vot ing districts were based on a cen sus which drastically under counted minorities. In addition, the state is partici pating in a lawsuit aimed at get ting the federal government to release adjusted census figures. A&M officals open records listing salaries By Chris Vaughn The Battalion The release of the Texas A&M System's list of employees mak ing more than $100,000 proves that staying competitive with other universities and the pri vate sector can get expensive. The list, released by A&M offi cials after the Associated Press filed an Open Records Act re quest, shows that 156 employees make six-figure salaries. The top echelon of System and University leaders receive perks like houses, cars and country club memberships on top of their salaries. University President William Mobley earns $170,000, but only $62,160 comes from state reve nue. System Interim Chancellor Ed Hirer makes $123,500, but none of his salary comes from the state. The highest paid System em ployee is Dr. Frank Cotton, a dis tinguished professor of chemis try, who earns $206,960. Other employees earning more than Mobley are: Dr. Perry Adkisson, former chancellor and a distin guished professor of entomo logy, $195,000; Dr. Richard De- Vaul, dean of the College of Medicine, $178,400; ana Dr. Robert Wells, director of the In stitute for Biosciences and Tech nology, $175,002. The majority of the 156 em ployees are department heads and professors. In a statement accompanying the release. Dr. Hiler said the System has to compete in a na tional market to obtain and re tain top educators. "We think our salaries rep resent reasonable levels of re imbursement for highly talented individuals, many of whom could be earning considerably more in the private sector," he said. The statement also said presi dents and chancellors "fre quently have responsibilities that exceed those of CEOs of the See A&M/Page 6 Poll shows Texans support tuition hike if money used toward university parity By Karen Praslicka The Battalion Texans support a tuition increase if the extra money generated ensures that students at state universities receive an education competitive with that of other universities, according to a poll con ducted by Texas A&M. The poll was conducted for the Texas Faculty Association and sponsored by Austin newspaper publishing firm Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. The Public Policy Resources Lab at A&M con ducted the survey. One thousand Texas residents were polled in a random sample phone survey based on age, eth nicity, race, region of residence and gender. The poll question reads, "Would you support a tuition increase if it ensures that all Texas college students receive an education competitive with other states and countries?" Overall, 58 percent of residents polled support a tuition increase to improve the quality of higher education, and 36 percent are against an increase. Six percent said they were undecided or did not know. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent. Charles Zucker, director of the TFA, said the as sociation was encouraged by the results. "This shows concern about the quality of higher education," he said. "The issue seems to have gotten lost in the state legislature." "You can't run a first class system on patheti- See Students/Page 6