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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1992)
Campus & State Page 2 The Battalion Monday, March 9,199i A&M starts work on animal center By K. Lee Davis The Battalion Texas A&M dignitaries shov eled symbolic soil Saturday after noon to break ground for a new $522,000 geriatric animal clinic at what may have been the Univer sity's first ever indoor ground breaking ceremony. The Madlin Stevenson Com panion Animal Geriatric Center will be located west of the Veteri nary Medicine Complex on Uni versity Drive. Stevenson donated $2,875 million for a center to pro vide complete and exceptional life care for animals after their owners die or are incapacitated. Muddy ground at the con struction sight forced the cere mony inside. University Presi dent William Mobley, Board of Regents Chairman Ross Mar graves, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine John Shad- duck, and Madlin Stevenson were among those who broke the substitute ground in eight-foot planter boxes inside a lecture hall in the Veterinary Medicine Building. Animals will be considered on an individual basis for the program, with an endowment to the vet school being one of the requirements, said Dr. Edwin El- let, director of the center. A monetary donation in the animal's name pays for care for the rest of the pet's life. Any money left after the animal dies goes to either the College of Vet erinary Medicine, or a specific program within the college named by the donor. Pets such as dogs, cats, birds and horses will be accepted into the program, Ellet said. "We are looking for your run- of-the mill, well-cared-for animal whose owner can no longer care for it," he said. The privately funded center will also establish a viable "well ness" program for older animals through observation and docu mentation of aging and the aging process in animals, and also in crease geriatric medicine educa tion for veterinary students, fac ulty, interns and residents. The 5,000 square-foot center, to be finished this August, will provide a home-like environ ment for the animal, with living room space and private sleeping quarters for every animal - with out any cages. The center as currently de signed will hold approximately 15 dogs and 20 cats, Shadduck said. "We don't know if we have enough room for the first year, or the first five years, but we'll find out," he said. Candidate pays high school students to campaign WINNIE (AP) - The Cham bers County sheriff became upset when his political opponent paid 41 teen-agers to distribute cam paign material as a civics project. But the opponent says Sheriff C.E. "Chuck" Morris is jealous he didn't think of the idea first. Constable John Wesley King f ave the high school seniors a 300 donation Friday for a year- end, alcohol-free party. The students at Winnie-Stow- ell High School were dismissed from class at 9 a.m. Friday to dis tribute literature for King's cam paign, principal Mickey Riggs said. Their absence was excused. But Morris said the students should have been in school in stead of "out running the roads" for a political candidate. He said his office received several com plaints from county residents. "Students should be in school learning," Morris said. "But here they are tearing up and down the road, at their par ents' expense, doing political work," he said. Students who distributed the campaign literature were volun teers and had their parents' per mission to participate in the civics lesson. "We felt like it was a govern ment field trip; we wanted to get them involved in the political pro cess," Riggs said. "All the candidates in the sheriff's race were extended the opportunity to have the students distribute their fliers." King disputes Morris' claim that he is "vote-buying" because 90 percent of the students in volved aren't old enough to vote. Sparks fly after Texas chooses lottery manager AUSTIN (AP) - The fight over a multimillion-dollar contract to operate Texas' lottery is likely to end up in court, a spokesman for the state comptroller says. The comptroller's office an nounced Saturday that GTECH Corp. of Rhode Island will get the job, assuming a contract can be ne gotiated with the company. The five-year contract is worth an estimated $200 million. A deal could be finalized with in days, said Greg Hartman, exec utive assistant to comptroller John Sharp. But Hartman said he expects a court challenge to the selection of a lottery operator, and allegations to be made about the winner, be cause that has been the experience in other states when such con tracts are awarded. "It's going to be real nasty this week . . . we're just battening down the hatches," he said. A former California state sena tor testified that he was bribed by a GTECH lobbyist to oppose a bill the company wanted killed. GTECH denied the allegation. Texas' contract will be the largest in the nation because of the way it is structured, with one company serving as an umbrella organization to handle numerous functions, Hartman said. The other bidder for the con tract is a consortium that included Control Data Corp. of Minnesota and Scientific Games of Georgia. Secqrity guards at Control Data and Scientific Games said Saturday that officials were not in. George Shipley of Austin, legisla tive representative for Control Data, declined comment. Texans pay price for executions Taxpayers cover high cost of lengthy court appeals, putting inmates to death DALLAS (AP) — It costs Texas taxpayers millions of dollars more to execute a criminal than to lock him in prison for life, a newspaper has reported. A study in Sunday's editions of The Dallas Morning News found that trials and appeals of death row inmates take an aver age 7.5 years and cost an average $2.3 million per case in Texas. To imprison someone in a sin gle cell at the highest security lev el for 40 years costs about $750,000. With 351 condemned men and four women, Texas leads the na tion in both death row population and the number of executions — 46 since 1977, which includes five in 1991 and four already this year. Robert Excell White's case rep resents the death penalty system at its most costly and inefficient. He has been convicted twice for a crime committed almost 18 years ago, but his case was ex tended again in 1988 when he won a new trial because state ments he unknowingly made to a psychiatrist were used against him. It will take the combined ef forts of county, state and federal governments — plus about $4 mil lion in taxpayer dollars — to exe cute White, The Dallas Morning News reported. "There's some things that a modern American city and state have got to have," said Dallas lawyer Vincent Perini, chairman of the Texas Bar Association's committee on representation for death row inmates. "You have to have police and fire and public safety protection. You have to have a criminal jus tice system," Perini said. "You do not have to have a death penalty." Although life without parole might save millions of dollars, it would create a nightmare in the prison system, said House Correc tions Committee chairman Allen Hightower, D-Huntsville. "From a correctional practb standpoint, if someone needstt go to prison for life. I'm fo: gassing them," Hightower said. "The end result is thatwithiK chance or hope of getting outnt matter how you behave ... there; no reason not to stab a guard anc no reason not to kill or rapeanotlv er inmate." Hightower said he favors line iting appeals from what he call; the absurd, to enough to savear innocent man. "Will we ever convict a persor in this state that's not guilty?Sure We've done it before, and we'lldt it again," he said. "But our criminal justice sys tem is the fairest system in (lie world," Hightower said. * Assistant Attorney Genera; Bob Walt, one of six state lawyer; who work to see that the deal! penalty is carried out, said th problem is the delay tactics de fense attorneys use on appeal. But even with the expense,the death penalty is worth the effort Walt said. "We have no shortage ofvio lent characters in this state,"he said. "The death penalty is some thing Texans want. They thinkthe death penalty is an appropriate punishment." However, human rights ac tivists disagree with the dealt not a coincidence thatthi; state ranks dead last in the amount of money it allots to sodi services," said Rick Halperin,i | board director of Amnesty Inter national USA and professorr Southern Methodist University Dallas. "Yet Texas has got 400 peopl either dead or on death row, 1 Halpern said. "Millions, millions just wasted trying to get rid of 400 people. It'i just sick." penalty The Battalion USPS 045-360 The Battalion is published daily except Saturday, Sunday, holidays, exam periods, and when school is not in session during fall and spring semesters; publication is Tuesday through Friday during the summer session. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77840. POSTMASTER; Send address changes to The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1111. Nows: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Publications, a unit of the Department of Journalism. Editorial offices are in 013 Reed McDonald Building. The newsroom phone number is 845-3316. Fax: 845-2647. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the contributor, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Texas A&M student body, adminis trators, faculty or the A&M Board of Regents. Advertising: For campus, local and national display advertising, call 845-2696. For classified advertising, call 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald and office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-5408. Subscriptions: Mail subscriptions are $20 per semester, $40 per school year and $50 per full year. To charge by VISA or MasterCard, call 845-2611. ATTENTION TAMU STUDENTS!!! Do you need 12 TAMU semester credit hours in political science and history? Would you like to spend 4 weeks in France visiting historical battle sites and studying the causes, course and aftermath of WWII as well as other subjects relating to war and peace? How would you like to be awarded a James Earl Rudder Scholarship that will fund your international study experience? Come find out how you can apply for this unique opportunity by attending an INFORMATIONAL MEETING on: March 10th 2:30-3:30 PM or March 11th 11:00AM-12:00 PM Rm 251 Bizzell Hall West or come by TAMU Study Abroad Programs for information and an application. Application DEADLINE is March 26th! MSC Town Hall Presents /LYLE\ LOVETT THE ONLY EASIER W TO GET A JOB IS TO WORK FOR YOUR DAD* r is.66 off""; i Complete Resume Package i ® Present this coupon at partidpatins Kinko-s and receive | | $5.00 off the purchase of a Complete Resume Package. - _ Packages vaiy from location to location. Offer not good ■ |. in combination with other discounts. ■ m ©1992, Kinto's Graphic Corporation ® Make a great impression on your future boss (whoever it is) with a complete resume package from Kinko's. 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