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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 1991)
State & Local Thursday, September 26, 1991 The Battalion Page 3 B-CS hosts Games of Texas Community prepares for return of amateur athletes in 1994 By Jayme Blaschke The Battalion The Games of Texas will re turn to Bryan-College Station in 1994, marking the first time any city will repeat as host since the Games began in 1986. The Games of Texas are an Olympic-style competition in which amateur athletes in Texas compete against one another. In a press conference Wednes day, Cliff Warrick, executive di rector of the Texas Amateur Ath letic Association, said that out of all the Games held, the 1988 Bryan-College Station Games were the most impressive. "Since they started in 1986 in San Antonio, the games have moved around, and you only had to look at a map to determine someone would eventually have to bid a second time," Warrick said. "We're very, very pleased that Bryan-College Station and Texas A&M were the first to ask for it a second time. "The one thing that stands out in everyone's mind was the community involvement in the Games the last time they were here," he said. "You get into Fort Worth, Dallas or San Antonio, and the communities just don't take part as much." Wally Groff, as sociate athletic direc tor at Texas A&M, said the University is looking forward to working with the community. "This will be a joint effort be tween the University and commu nities, with lots of community in volvement," Groff said. "This was a very enjoyable event in 1988." "A&M will serve principally as a facilities grantor," he said. "Last time we supplied G. Rollie White for basketball, Olsen Field for baseball, the tennis courts and of course the track facili ties." Maria Po- lites, a vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, said the Games will be an economic wind fall for many area businesses. "We're proud to have this op portunity to show off the commu nity, and are confident this will have a strong economic impact lo cally," Polites said. "There were about 12,000 people at the games this year in Dallas, and we're ex pecting at least that number, which means tremendous benefits to the economy." Bryan mayor Marvin Tate said the games are another boost to Bryan-College Station's already impressive national image. "We know the third best place to live in the nation is Bryan-Col lege Station, which means we're number one in Texas, and we're not going to let anybody forget that," Tate said. "These two com munities have joined together to make Bryan-College Station what it is today." "The involvement's there, the people are there, and the committ ment's there. We're excited about the Games, and welcome them back," he said. AIDS ranks 10th in Texas as leading cause of death AUSTIN (AP) - Infection with the AIDS virus has for the first time become one of the 10 leading causes of death in Texas, health officials said Wednesday. In 1990, 1,836 Texas residents died as a result of infection of the human immunodeficiency virus, according to the Texas Depart ment of Health. That total is 354 more than the 1,482 deaths attributed to HIV in fection in 1989. On the health department's 10 leading causes of death, HIV in fection ranks 10th, a place previ ously held by cirrhosis of the liv er, said Tom Pollard, a division di rector in the department's Bureau of Vital Statistics. "The number of deaths from HIV had been increasing steadily over the past few years, so unless there had been a dramatic reversal in the trend, it had to achieve the top 10 leading causes," Pollard said. Since 1987, when HIV infec tion was first considered a sepa rate cause of death, it has steadily climbed. It ranked 15th in 1987; tied at 13th in 1988; and 11th in 1989. On the national level, HIV in fection was listed as the 11th lead ing cause of death in 1989 and 1990, Pollard said. Pollard said HIV infection also is among the 10 leading causes of death in California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Wash ington, D.C. There was no change in the other nine leading causes of death in Texas, Pollard said. Heart disease, cancer, stroke, and accidents were the four lead ing killers and were responsible for 66 percent of the death toll in 1990, Pollard said. The remaining leading causes of death were pulmonary dis eases, pneumonia and influenza, diabetes, homicide, and suicide. State's lawyer re-examines early parole eligibility ruling AUSTIN (AP) — One day after issuing an opinion that would make thousands of prisoners eligi ble for parole earlier, Texas Attor ney General Dan Morales decided to reconsider the ruling, his spokesman said Wednesday. Morales issued a legal opinion Tuesday that said a 1987 law re ducing the amount of time an in mate had to serve behind bars be fore being eligible for parole also applied to inmates convicted be fore the law was passed. That interpretation meant that the parole eligibility dates for about 14,000 inmates would have to be recalculated, said David Nunnelee, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. On Wednesday, Morales said he wanted to reconsider the opin ion. Morales' spokesman, Ron Dusek, said the attorney general was concerned that not enough research had been done on the opinion. Dusek said Morales also has "personal concerns with the early release of inmates." But his decision to reconsider the opinion, Dusek said, "is based strictly and solely on the law and possible problems with the legal research on this opinion." Attorney General requests signatures on jail-crowding proposal State leaders refuse to sign lawsuit AUSTIN (AP) — Top state leaders don't intend to sign a jail crowding lawsuit settlement with counties as requested by Attorney General Dan Morales be cause they think that's the state lawyer's job, spokesmen said Wednes day. In addition, a key state law maker and a lawyer for sev- eral counties RtCnardS that sued the state expressed con cern about a settlement proposed by Morales. But Ron Dusek, a spokesman for the attorney general, said that Morales plans to sign the propos al anyway. He said Morales would not in sist on signatures by Gov. Ann Richards, Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock and House Speaker Gib Lewis, because he feels he has their back ing. "The attorney general is satis fied that the governor and the state leadership is in support of it (the settlement)," Dusek said. Ann Clarke Snell, a lawyer for most of the 14 counties involved in lawsuits against the state, sug gested that Morales might have been trying to avoid future politi cal heat for the settlement by get ting other officials' signatures on an agreement. Dusek said that the attorney general simply wanted to be cer tain that leaders knew the advan tages and drawbacks of a settle ment. Morales has warned that settling could cost the state $650 million more than previously esti- ma ted over the next four years. Counties successfully sued the state for the cost of housing thousands of state inmates backed up in their jails. The state appealed the ruling. But lawmakers this summer approved a law that provides for settling the lawsuits. The state would repay counties some costs for holding the state prisoners. Officials favor castration as punishment HOUSTON (AP) - Top law enforcement officials say castra tion, if legal, would deter violent crime, but civil libertarians say such a punishment would be bar baric and unconstitutional. Responding to a paper pro moting castration by Houston physician Louis Girard, State Dis trict Judge Mike McSpadden and Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes told The Houston Post they would offer the proce dure as an alternative to prison. State District Judge Ted Poe advocated the procedure, but for sex offenders only. CORONIK T, PRESENTS THIS IS TOUGHER THAN DECLARING A MAJOR . . . WHICH ONE'S RIGHT FOR ME? HOW CAN I AFFORD THIS AND WINTER BREAK TOO? DON’T ACCEPT ANY IMITATION.. IALK TO YOUR SMITH CORONA CAMPUS REP TODAY ABOUT FANTASTIC STUDENT PRICES— TELL THEM BWIPIMlTi SENT YOU TO SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE WITH SIMPLY SMART FEATURES ON OUR ELECTRONIC TYPEWRITERS, PERSONAL WORD PROCESSORS AND PERSONAL COMPUTERS! 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