State & Local
Richards vetoes highway speeding bill'
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Gov. Ann Richards completed
reviewing the Legislature's work by vetoing
several bills, including one that would have
prevented highway speeding tickets under 70
mph from being reported to the driver's insur
ance company.
Richards had until midnight Sunday to
complete action on measures passed by law
makers during the regular legislative session
that ended May 31.
The bill by Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland,
would have prohibited the Texas Department of
Public Safety from giving the names of speeders
to other law enforcement agencies or insurance
companies unless the driver was exceeding 70
mph on a state or interstate highway.
"The effect of this bill would be to abolish
speed limits between 55 and 70 miles per hour,
causing an increase in traffic accidents, in
juries, and deaths. It would also lead to esca
lating auto insurance costs," Richards said in a
veto message released Monday.
Richards said that under the bill, federal
highway construction funds could have been
transferred to safety programs because Texas'
compliance with national speed limits would
have been reduced.
In addition, she said, the bill would have
been an administrative nightmare for the De
partment of Public Safety because the agency
would have had to establish two sets of
records for speeding violations.
"The 55 miles per hour speed limit has con
tributed to an almost 50 percent drop in auto fa
talities since 1981. The savings in lives alone is
sufficient reason to veto this bill," Richards said.
A message left for Craddick by The Associ
ated Press was not immediately returned.
Earlier, Craddick had said his bill wouldn't
encourage speeding. He said it would allow
people to drive as they already do without
risking higher insurance rates because of
speeding tickets.
In addition, Richards vetoed measures that
would have:
— Allowed hospitals to commission peace
officers. "The public safety would be better
served if these hospitals would coordinate
their efforts with local law enforcement agen
cies," Richards said.
— Allowed local governments to purchase
insurance without having to go out for bids.
— Stopped the state from paying the em
ployee's portion of Social Security taxes for
new state employees. Richards said this was
not needed to balance the state budget, and
would result in current state employees get
ting paid more to do the same work as future
state employees.
Rep. Robert Junell, D-San Angelo, and
chairman of the House budget-writing com
mittee, blasted the veto by Richards. "This is
the poorest public policy that the governor
could possibly participate in. It is special inter
est at it's very worst." He said Richards vetoed
the bill because she promised the Texas State
Employees Union that she would.
The veto will cost state taxpayers $150 mil
lion over the next two years, and make it that
much more difficult to avoid a tax increase in
1995. Junell said.
— Limited those who could participate in
administrative hearings and judicial appeals of
those hearings.
— Allowed gas utility companies to include
in the rate base federal income taxes that the
companies may not have paid. A similar pro
vision for electric and telephone utilities died
and was replaced by a proposed study on the
issue. Richards said gas utilities should be in
cluded in that study.
Environmental groups fight
for tougher clean water laws
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Marl
wire is
lisabled
1 That
should
AUSTIN — Environmental groups are urging the Texas congres
sional delegation to support tougher clean water laws, saying If
state ranks high in toxic pollution.
"The Clean Water Act will never achieve its goal of fishable aril
swimmable waterways unless Congress adds some teeth to the pa
per tiger that the law is right now," said Jonathan Felch, of theU.5.
Public Interest Research Group in Texas. . Bgye t 0
"We need a new Clean Water Act that strengthens enforcement Ik t | u .
prevents toxic pollution and expands citizens' right to know aboilP ross
local toxic pollution," Felch said. Bi r
The group on Monday released a study that said in Texas, indus-E] C lv j r|0
tries reported discharging 2.9 million pounds of toxics into surfatiB^r j ia ^
waters and 30.9 million pounds to sewage treatment plants. nea
The state ranked fourth nationally in discharges to publicsewag; ent; j re s
and 12th for toxic releases into surface waters, the report said. || ow (-p
The environmental groups, including Public Citizen and ClearBrU up a
Water Action, urged the Texas congressional delegation to suppoitHu star
legislation that would establish a national water posting programir^g vo t e
inform citizens about potential swimming and fishing dangers. jU f OT
The bills also would strengthen enforcement by setting mandatoA n Lea
minimum penalties for serious and chronic violations, prohibit profitlXestion
from polluting, and strengthen a, citizen's right to sue polluters.
State News Briefs
Study indicates
light drinking
reasoning
helps
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A
new alcohol study indicates
moderate drinking helps people
maintain their thinking and rea
soning skills longer into old age.
But the chief researcher says
that's not an endorsement for
drinking.
Dr. Joe Christian is a geneticist
at the Indiana University School
of Medicine.
The findings were presented
Monday at the annual conven
tion of the Research Society of
Alcoholism.
Christian studied nearly 4,000
sets of male twins, for more than
20 years.
Those who had one or two
drinks per day scored higher on
cognitive reasoning skills tests,
compared to those drinking
more or not at all, according to
Christian.
The researcher said there may
be a connection between his
study and one that indicates
moderate drinking helps increase
high density cholesterol, which
wards off heart disease.
fore the shooting began Saturday,
Police said Monday that a 16-
year-old juvenile has been arrest
ed and charged with murder. He
is being held at the Dallas Coun
ty Juvenile Detention Center. Po
lice are still looking for two other
suspects.
"The motive appears to be
robbery," said homicide Detec
tive J.S. Briseno.
Illinois students
hurt in bus wreck
near Fort Worth
Robbers kill two
Dallas teenagers,
third escapes
DALLAS (AP) — Three teen
agers were robbed outside a
South Dallas nightclub and then
taken to a secluded road where
two of the youths were fatally
shot, police said.
The bodies of Charles Christo
pher Lewis, 19, and Kendrick De-
mond Lott, 18, were found late
Saturday night by a passerby.
Both men had been shot in the
back of the head, police said. A
16-year-old Dallas youth who
was with them told police that he
escaped the attackers shortly be-
FORT WORTH (AP) - As
many as two dozen high school
and college students from Illinois
were injured Monday when two
of their three buses were in
volved in a chain-reaction colli
sion, police said.
The accident took place about
5:11 p.m. as the buses were
northbound on I-35W, said Sgt.
Gianni Ghilespi of the Fort Worth
Police Department.
A dump truck cut in front of
the first bus, which was rear-end
ed by the second bus as the dri-
vers slammed on the brakes,
Ghilespi said.
The truck driver did not stop,
but may not have noticed the ac
cident, Ghilespi said.
At least 17 students were tak
en to hospitals for treatment of
minor injuries, Ghilespi said.
The students had spent more
than a week in the El Paso, Texas,
area and had been working with
churches in Ciudad Juarez, Mexi
co, said Pastor Bob Schmidgall of
Calvary Temple Church in
Naperville, HI.
Schmidgall said up to 24 stu
dents may have been hurt, but
all were to be released after
treatment.
"The accident threw a few
kids around," he said in a tele
phone call from the church.
"Twenty-four of the young peo
ple were taken to the hospital for
observation."
1,0 HT Grants for
Graduate
Students and
Graduating
|. --w- Seniors
If you’re a U.S. citizen, you can perform
research abroad in the country of your choice.
To find out more, come to our Informational
Meeting (listed below), or come by or call the
Study Abroad Program Office at 161 Bizzell
Hall West (845-0544).
Wed. June 23,
from 4:00-5:00
251 Bizzell Hall West
Waco looks to forget Branch Davidian cult
Mayor comments on overnight publicity during New York conference
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Visitors to
Waco, Texas, can see the place
where Dr Pepper was invented,
the Texas Ranger museum, and —
beginning next month — the city's
new "natural habitat" zoo.
But if Mayor J. Robert Sheehy
had his druthers, they'd ignore
the patch of scorched ground 15
miles outside Waco where reli
gious zealot David Koresh and 77
of his Branch Davidian followers
perished April 19, in the fiery cli
max to a 51-day standoff with fed
eral agents.
"No, we're not going to put the
Davidian compound on our list of
tourist attractions," Sheehy said
Monday after telling some 200 of
his fellow mgyors, attending a
New York conference, what it was
like to suddenly find his city be
come world-famous overnight as
the home of a bizarre, violence-
prone cult.
"Most of us can only imagine
how that kind of publicity can im
pact on a city," said Louisville
Mayor Jerry Abramson, incoming
president of the U.S. Mayors Con
ference, who introduced Sheehy.
While many Waco residents
knew of the Davidians' existence,
"most didn't know about the
Bible-thumping, and the gun-tot
ing, until the night before," Shee
hy said, referring to the Feb. 28
raid by federal agents in which
four agents and about eight cult
members were killed by gunfire.
"Needless to say, that changed
our whole way of life in Waco,"
said Sheehy, a silver-haired lawyer
who had been mayor of the central
Texas city of 103,000 for 10 months
when the crisis occurred.
As the standoff continued, he
recalled, Waco's hotels filled up
with news media people from
around the United States and
abroad. People offered spare
rooms to handle the overflow, and
as the siege wore on, civic groups
delivered food to reporters and
law enforcers.
But the civic pride of many res
idents was wounded by reports
describing WaVo as a negative
Mark
■ Some
;led the 1(
gories la
■•edible
■ition.
mimbers
But Mar
me latel)
nn maki
place, Sheehy said.
"I've found at least 50 percff.] Mark
of the people don't know that&t.
compound was 15 miles outsiB McG-\
of town," Sheehy said. "Mostpeplerud i
pie thought it was part of doifNow, gr;
town Waco." B not a
Although being subjected however
such scrutiny was difficult, SheeljMcGwin
said, the siege had some posifp n / Of ei
effects, among them that "theneifh 6 hotte
people were with us long enoujB O ut o
to get to know the city," andanf|p^ ens i V(
sense of community developfifop 10 in
among long-time residents. | lri battinj
He said that in reflecting on:| a g e ' on
experience, Waco decided tf|P es an( !
"we've got nothing that we h;fP n< l in R
to apologize about. ... We artf 11115 anc i
stronger city because of it." Bi cour s<
| now by 1
Becau
Campaign
Continued from Page 1
Robert Walker, vice president of development for Texas A&M Uni
versity, said a lot of good work goes on in the summertime and it's of
ten a matter of catching up with people.
"We continue to do a lot of visiting, contacting and cultivating dur
ing the summer," he said. "We've had nothing but positive responses
to the campaign. We feel good about it."
"We've had nothing but positive responses to
the campaign. We feel good about it."
-Robert Walker,
vice president of development
Palinscar said although donations in the summer are smaller than in
the fall, he is pleased with the progress to date and with the momen
tum of the program in general, with which he credited Texas A&M
University President Dr. William Mobley and former students.
Palinscar mentioned a donation of over $350 million made by a sin
gle donor to several out of state universities, the largest ever of its kind,
and said he hopes this would spur others to do likewise.
"It's tangible evidence of how important philanthropy is in this
country," he said.
Walker said they have every reason to believe the campaign will
raise $300 million by August, $50 million over the original estimate.
"The thing that is good about working with Aggies is that they don't
have to be sold on the worth of Texas A&M," he said.
"We're upbeat about the campaign and the kind of response we've
had thus far," Walker said. "We're going to keep on keeping on."
Engineering
Continued from Page 1
four years. Minorities made up
10.3 percent of the College of
Engineering in Fall 1992, ac
cording to statistics from the Of
fice of Admissions and Records.
"I'm excited about the pro
gram," he said. "Money is a
problem (for most minorities),
but their retention rate is better
than the overall one."
But Jan Rinehart, program
coordinator for the College of
Engineering, said minorities are
still underrepresented in the
college.
"The role models are not
there for them," she said. "It
(the percentages of minorities)
has increased and is better, but
it is not anywhere near parity."
In an effort to increase mi
nority enrollment, the College
of Engineering is also conduct
ing the Summer Enrichment Ex
perience in Engineering, which
includes tours for potential mi
nority students later this month,
James said.
In a news release. Chuck Bai
ley, director of the Department
of Transportation's Divisionc‘
Civil Rights, said the TxDOI
program helps minorities who
might not otherwise be able to
afford a college education.
"We want to diversify thee?:
gineering field, and this offers:
great opportunity for us to gel
the best and the brightest," he
said.
By paying back the scholar
ship through work, Bomarsaio
the students are also gaining
important experience in real
world engineering.
James agreed the prograir
gives students valuable experi
ence.
"They're getting opportuni
ties to learn about the highway
department while in school,'
James said.
The program has helped 3'
students so far, and 11 scholar
ships have been awarded,
Bomar said the first gradual?
of the program, Raymond
Navarro of Falfurrias, complet
ed his studies in district office.
"The number of engineering
students overall is decreasing
and this program is designed to
encourage more minorities to
enroll in civil engineering," Bo
mar said.
r^SCOTT & WHITE
CLINIC, COLLEGE STATION
Announcing
Weekend Clinic Hours
for Urgent Care
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Scott & White Clinic, College Station, is now offering
weekend Clinic hours for urgent care by appointment \
only! The Weekend Clinic is conducted from 8:30 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m. in the Clinic Annex building located across
the street (Glenhaven Dr.) from the main clinic.
By Appointment Only
(409) 268-3663
A
Scott & WTiite
Annex
UNIVERSITY DRIVE EAST
Scott & WTiite Clinic, College Station
1600 University Drive East
The Battalion
JASON LOUGHMAN. Editor in Chief
MARK EVANS, Managing Editor STEPHANIE PATTILLO, City Editor
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Graphic Artist - Angel Kan
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