University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 62, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, April 25, 1986 Page: 1 of 8
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£-7
US'
Daylight Savings Time begins
at 2 a.m. Sunday. Do not
forget to set your clocks one
hour forward.
UNIVERSITY PRESS
It’s Friday
April 25, 1986
Vol. 62, No. 44
CO
Co
O')
Serving Lamar and the community for 62 years
Alive with light—
Spectators gathered Monday night at Riverfront Park in
downtown Beaumont to watch fireworks in celebration of San
Jacinto Day, which commemorates the battle of San Jacinto
when Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836. The
fireworks display, made up of 12,000 rockets, was held
simultaneously in 10 cities across Texas. The show was designed
to produce a five-pointed Star of Light representing the symbol
of the Lone Star State. The star, however, failed to be visible via
satellite.
Photo by BRAD HORN
Kibler announced Kemble recipient
Gilford Kibler, a senior in-
dustrial engineering major from
Philadelphia, was honored as the
1986 recipient of the C. Robert
Kemble Award.
The C. Robert Kemble award
was established in 1981 and is con-
ferred as an all-university recogni-
tion of the outstanding senior man,
Jacque Placette-Chapman, chair-
man of the selection committee,
said.
The award, named for Dr. C.
Robert Kemble, former chancellor
of the Lamar system, honors the
recipient for superior scholastic
achievement and outstanding con-
tribution and service to Lamar,
she said.
The award is to recognize a
graduating senior student who has
brought honor to himself and
Lamar through his efforts to im-
prove the quality of campus life as
well as through his scholastic
endeavors, Chapman said.
Kibler is a member of Phi Eta
Sigma freshman honor society,
Blue Key national honor fraterni-
ty, Alpha Phi Mu honor society,
Tau Beta Pi engineering honor
society, National Society of Black
Engineers and Collegians for
Christ.
Offices Kibler has held include
Residence Hall Association presi-
dent and social committee chair-
man and Institute of Industrial
Engineering vice president. He
also served on the homecoming
steering committee, Plummer
Hall dorm council, and resident
assistant.
Kibler was a Jackson
Humanitarian Award finalist,
recipient of the Black Student
Association award, recipient of the
National Society of Black
Engineers scholarship award,
Who’s Who Among American
Universities and Colleges and a
Leadership Lamar delegate.
The finalists were Lee Blue,
Hankamer, Texas; Patrick Bob-
bitt, Beaumont; Greg Defrates,
Beaumont; Glen Loupe,
Nederland; Mark Madenwald,
Beaumont; Keith Morrison, Ham-
shire; Joseph Snell, Austin; and
Vince Thompson, Beaumont.
“The committee had a tough
decision to make among nine very
strong candidates,” Chapman
said. “Gil is a very qualified reci-
pient.”
A reception following the award
announcement allowed guests to
meet the Kembles, the award
finalists and their families.
Gilford Kibler
By DAVID LUSK
UP staff writer
The feasibility of establishing a
Texas law enforcement training in-
stitute comparable to the FBI na-
tional academy was discussed in a
public hearing held at Lamar.
A task force from the Texas Com-
mission on Law Enforcement Of-
ficer Standards and Education held
the hearing on the Eighth Floor of
the Gray Library last Friday.
The panel for the hearing included
state Sen. Carl Parker; Dr. Billy
Franklin, president of Lamar
University-Beaumont; H.D. Pate,
chairman of the Board of Regents
for the Lamar University System;
Beaumont Police Department Chief
John Swan, a member of TCLEOSE;
and other business, political and law
enforcement officials.
The task force and the hearings
are a result of the 69th Legislature
enacting an amendment to the
statute which sets out the duties and
responsibilities of TCLEOSE.
The amendment stated, “The
Commission on Law Enforcement
Officer Standards and Education
shall establish a task force to in-
vestigate the feasibility of creating
an institute for training law enforce-
ment officers that will be similar in
nature to the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation National Academy, the
Southern Police Institute, and the
Northwestern Police Training
Academy.”
The panel heard testimony from
both educators and law enforcement
professionals.
All but one or two of the witnesses
expressed a concern over how the in-
stitute would be funded. No one ex-
pressing a concern wanted the in-
stitute funded at the expense of local
or regional academies or at the cost
of training grants.
Don Raiford, director of the
Lamar regional police academy,
spoke in favor of the institute.
“I fully support the development
of the institute,” Raiford said, “and
would like to see it become a
reality.”
Raiford said there is a need for
management training, but finds it
“extremely difficult” for a regional
police academy to provide training
with the same expertise as the FBI
or other major training institutes.
H.R. “Mike” Holzapfel, sheriff of
Hardin County, was concerned over
who would operate the institute. He
was also concerned with the growing
power of TCLEOSE.
“TCLEOSE is getting to where
they are telling us what to do and
what time to do it,” he said. “We’re
gonna have to nip TCLEOSE in the
bud.”
Holzapfel also was concerned over
the centralization of police training
in the state.
“If we start training all of our
police officers in a central police
academy, we will end up with a
police state,” he said.
Holzapfel explained the difference
in the training needs between a city
police department and a county
sheriff’s office. The Hardin County
sheriff’s office no longer uses the
Lamar regional academy, but the
academy hosted by the Jefferson
County sheriff’s office.
Holzapfel feared the Jefferson
County academy would be forced to
close and his deputies trained at a
central location. He also feared that
TCLEOSE would someday fill
vacancies in his office from the cen-
tral academy.
Holzapfel suggested that a “new
body” be set up to administer the
academy.
In summary, Holzapfel said, “Do
it without hurting us. If you can’t do
it without hurting us, don’t (do it).”
The task force will be holding
hearings in other Texas cities. The
information and suggestions they
gather will be written into a report
and submitted to the governor and
the Legislature no later than the
beginning of the next legislative ses-
sion.
Seasonal jobs
cause the rate
to drop, TEC
By DAVID MANNING
UP editor
The Triplex unemployment rate
dropped to 14.6 percent during
March, down .9 percent from
February, said Robert Crawley, a
Texas Employment Commission
labor market analyst.
Crawley attributed the drop in the
jobless rate to self-employment
made possible by the advent of spr-
ing, and the usual increase in lawn
and home repair work that accom-
panies the season.
“The basic industry essential to
determining our area’s economic
health, the chemical and refining
product industry, has followed the
national trend, which right now is
one of stability,” Crawley said.
Crawley said the key to predicting
which way the jobless rate will go
depends on watching the national
chemical and industrial refining pic-
ture.
The March unemployment rate for
Beaumont was 12.5 percent, down
from 13.4 in February, Crawley said.
The March unemployment rate for
Port Arthur was 20.8 percent, down
from 22.2 percent in February, he
said.
The March unemployment rate for
Orange was 18.8 percent, down from
20 percent in February, he added.
Crawley said the recent highest
monthly unemployment rate—15.7
percent—occurred in February 1983.
During that month, Orange had the
highest rate at 24.6 percent while
Port Arthur was at 21.1 percent and
Beaumont at 12.7 percent.
He added that the 1981 annual
average for Beaumont was 5 per-
cent; Port Arthur, 8.8 percent; and
Orange recorded 7.9 percent.
According to United Press Inter-
national, the unemployment rate
rose sharply in Abiline, Midland,
and Odessa—three Texas cities
heavily dependent on the oil and gas
industry.
The follwing are the March
unemployment rates for those cites,
with Feburary rates in parentheses:
Abiline, 8.3 percent (7.6 percent);
Midland, 8.3 percent (7.8 percent);
Odessa, 10.4 percent (9.2 percent).
Some other areas: Houston, 9.2
percent (9.5 percent); Austin, 5.5
percent (5.4 percent); Dallas, 5.4
percent (5.7 percent); San Antonio,
6.9 percent (7.3 percent); Fort
Worth-Arlington, 5.9 percent (6.3
percent).
GOP contenders
seek oil import fee
From UP I reports
All three GOP gubernatorial con-
tenders complained that Texans
were shortchanged by President
Reagan’s refusal to invite Gov.
Mark White to a White House oil
summit and blamed White for the
state’s economic woes.
White, an outspoken proponent of
an oil import fee, was one of several
oil state governors snubbed by
President Reagan during a discus-
sion of the oil crisis.
“It was a terrible indictment of his
administration that he was not in-
vited to Washington,” said former
Gov. William Clements.
Clements, Rep. Tom Loeffler and
former Rep. Kent Hance, the three
leading candidates in the
Republican race for governor,
Wednesday all echoed White’s call
for an oil import fee during a joint
appearance before the Permian
Basin Petroleum Association.
Loeffler suggested a 85 per barrel
import fee, but Clements said
despite his support for the fee, he
thinks it is a dead issue.
“I would go to OPEC meetings,”
said Hance, the former Lubbock
congressman who switched to the
GOP in 1985. “There is no way they
could hurt us any worse than they
already have. TTiese are unusual
times and call for unusual actions.”
Each candidate blamed White for
the state’s economic problems.
“White spent every penny he could
in 1983 and 1984 and left no cushion
for-198ft,” Hance said.
“Who would have ever thought
Texas would have an unemployment
rate higher than the national
average?” Loeffler said.
All three appeared to be in agree-
ment on most issues until their final
remarks, when Hance criticized
Clements for his negative attitude.
“That’s the reason you lost in
1982,” Hance said. “You can’t treat
everybody like this.”
Clements answered with a barb of
his own.
“I can understand Kent’s frustra-
tion,” Clements said. “I’d be
frustrated too if I was in third place
in the polls.”
All three were in agreement on
taxes, saying they would not allow a
state income tax or higher taxes of
any kind.
All three candidates said they sup-
ported White’s no-pass, no-play rule,
although Loeffler and Hance said
they would reduce the penalty from
six weeks to three.
In Austin, Democratic guber-
natorial candidate Andrew Briscoe
said Thursday that voter
displeasure with White was shown
when White was booed Sunday at a
Sesquicentennial event at the San
Jacinto battleground.
Physical Plant faced
with vacant positions
Hearing studies merits of training academy
By DAVID LUSK
UP staff writer
The Physical Plant has 15 posi-
tions open and an additional four will
be vacated soon, said Henry Dozier,
director.
Dozier said about eight fflc.10 of
these positions were open when he
arrived at Lamar in September .'He
said the standard attrition rate fdC.
Physical Plant employees is about 5
percent.
Dozier said he could see the divi-
sion was headed for problems when
he arrived. With a drop in enroll-
ment and a corresponding drop in
local income, he was facing a 5 per-
cent reduction in his budget.
The division is operating under a
hiring freeze, Dozier said. Since
September, he has been filling key
positions as they become vacant.
Currently, under this year’s
budget, there are 15 positions open in
the Physical Plant division*.’’'
However, Dozier said heintends to
reorganize the Physical Plant for
next year’s budget. Under the
reorganization, some positions
would be eliminated and others
would be created. This will reduce
the number of vacancies to three
when next year’s budget takes ef-
fect.
Dozier said that vacancies would
not necessarily be in the same posi-
tions that they are in now.
“My objective is to help Lamar
University during this budget crisis
by using our resources the best way
possible,” Dozier said.
Since the square footage of
building space at Lamar will remain
the same, Dozier said the productivi-
ty will be the same with fewer people
under the reorganization.
Dozier pointed out several
changes that have been made in the
Physical Plant operation since he
arrived.
Custodians now work from 4 a.m.
to 12:30~$.m.
Painter^ and other workers are
now wearing uniforms.
Twenty-one unsafe vehicles have
been removed from the Physical
Plant fleet and a preventive main-
tainence program has been in-
stituted to keep the good vehicles
operating.
“My objective is to build pride in
the quality of our work,” Dozier
said.
Dozier also said he had funding
available for 20 work-study students
this summer. Students that are in-
terested should get an application at
the student financial aid office.
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Manning, David. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 62, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, April 25, 1986, newspaper, April 25, 1986; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500063/m1/1/?q=technical+manual: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.