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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1977)
I have nothing to lose. My life is over. United Press International ATLANTA — Bank robbery suspect Thomas Michael Hannan, frustrated by his failure to force the release of his jailed homosexual lover by hijacking a jetliner and holding 15 persons hostage, shot himself to death late Thurs day night as his lawyer pleaded with him to surrender. “You’re playing games with me,” he had warned authorities earlier over a radio hookup from the Frontier Airlines plane parked on a taxiway at Hartsfield International Airport, the nation’s second busiest air terminal. “If you’re playing games with me, I have nothing to lose. My life is over,” said the 29-year-old suspect. Police and an FBI SWAT team were poised to rush the airliner if neces sary. Officials stood ready with the $3 million demanded by Hannan as additional bargaining power. Heeding the pleas of his buddy, George David Stewart, 29, who was taken to the airport, Hannan had released the remaining 11 passengers unharmed more than 13 hours after he commandeered the plane in Grand Island, Neb. Nineteen other passengers, mostly women and children, had been let off the plane during a refueling stop at Kansas City. But Hannan, of Grand Island, Ga., kept the pilot and copilot on board while his lawyer J. Roger Thompson tried to talk him into surrendering for about half an hour. Thompson said Hannan paced back and forth in the plane’s aisle, a sawed-off shotgun cradled in his arms, and “never let me get within 10 feet of him.” He said Hannan complained that “he only saw two alternatives — a substantial term in prison or to take his life. ” Finally, Hannan decided to end the drama. He shot himself in the chest with the shotgun he had used to hijack the Boeing 737. Thompson was representing Hannan and Stewart, who were charged with the robbery of a National Bank of Georgia branch last Sept. 3. Hannan had been released on bond but Stewart was unable to make bond and remained in the Fulton County jail in Atlanta. Police in Mobile, Ala., said Stewart had been arrested on a downtown Mobile street in 1973 carrying a concealed weapon under a Nazi uniform. Mobile police Sgt. James Gill said a police intelligence report indicated Plannan and Stewart had met in Berkeley, Calif., in 1976, and the two men had traveled around the country together. Gill said Stewart said “both admitted to having homosexual relations.” Stewart was flown to the Atlanta airport by helicopter Thursday night to plead with Hannan to surrender. “Go ahead and surrender, there’s nothing else to do. It’s going to be a bloody business if you don’t,” Stewart told Hannan over the radio hookup. “It’s very impressive. It’s loyal. You’ve accomplished what you can accom plish as a man. At this point, think of yourself. Earlier, Hannan’s father, W.T. Hannan, who was flown to Atlanta from Grand Island along with Mrs. Hannan, begged his son to give up. “Mike, your mother and I both think you ought to hand over your gun. Walk out of there and call it quits. Won’t you do that for us? There was no response. Panelists discuss different national health care systems The biggest wheel on campus If it’s got two wheels it’s a bike, right? Not so says Soren Petersen who ndes this contraption to class very carefully. He calls it a “boneshaker. Soren is a freshman zoology major from Dallas. By KARIN KNAPP National health care systems must decide now how future systems will maintain quality health care in the face of rising costs, said panelists representing three al ternatives to health care systems Thurs day. In a panel discussion on “Systems of Health Care,” Dr. John E. Freeman, Major General Paul W. Myers and Dr. L. B. Jackson Jr. presented the British, mili tary and American approaches, respec tively, to health care. The discussion was sponsored by Great Issues. Freeman, a former member of the British medical system, described some of the problems encountered in the British system of socialized medicine. In this sys tem, acute and chronic health care is provided free for all citizens and the gov ernment subsidizes all hospital mainte nance and construction. He said the British are experiencing basic employee-employer relations con flict. Doctors work for the government on a full-time or part-time basis as salaried state employees. Part-time consultants are permitted to maintain private practices also, and were allocated some hospital beds in national service hospitals for pri vate patient care. The government, how- Atheist O’Hair walks out LES By JOHNNIE HENDON , loure in for quite a night,” said Rev. ob Harrington, and he and atheist leader adalyn Murray O’Hair kept this promise ■ ursday night in Bryan Civic Au- orium. O Hair is noted for winning her ; against prayer in public schools and arrington, of New Orleans, La., calls mselfthe ‘Chaplain of Bourbon Street. ’ 2 J 10 ’! reverend pledged allegiance p. !? e ** a g after introducing O’Hair, she r f le . to drag him away in front of a crowd , a out 1,900. She then proclaimed that jraudience did not have to say “one na- lon under God,’ and stormed out of the oom. ^ dair s manager said that Harrington wol dd not begin his program me pledge. O’Hair would not com ment. Harrington claimed that he would never Jj I; Suc H a promise, and called the mst leader’s leaving a “victory”. e noted that she night be just re- ^P>ng her forces. the J formation booklet handed out at Ti , 0<)r called Harrington’s program a lsht to the Finish.” Although the program came to an end earlier than expected, Harrington an swered questions from the audience about O’Hair’s views, and how they contradicted his. He called her a “demon-directed dam sel,” but added that he prayed for her every night. In an interview earlier in the evening, O’Hair said Harrington was colorful, had a good sense of humor, but that on stage he was full of “bullshit”. This is the 33rd such production, and Harrington said this was the first time O’Hair had walked out. Thursday’s “Fight to the Finish” was the first to be held in Bryan. O’Hair said she was leaving because it was her flag, too, and Harrington was in sulting her patriotism. O’Hair’s manager, her son, said that he, O’Hair and her husband had all served in the armed forces and the right to pledge allegiance to the flag, also. O’Hair would not consent to stay, al though several people followed her, saying they wanted her there to represent them. Although the Bryan Civic Auditorium ‘ Harrington. My entire goal is her con- Ve rsion” Madalyn Murray O’Hair. . . . . . “Christianity is undemo cratic ” crowd was mostly favorable to Harrington, the minister carried on a lively exchange with a few people who proclaimed them selves Texas atheists. He told one woman that “it is time for you to leave,” and told a young man who said there were atheists in the audience, “Up yours, too, son.” This incident was provoked by a gesture from the young man, however. When asked if O’Hair’s walkout was staged, Harrington exclaimed, “I told you this hadn’t happened before! You re porters don’t believe anything!” Harrington said he challenged O’Hair because he wants to keep track of what she’s trying to do, such as having “In God We Trust” taken oflfU.S. money. He added that he plans to hire lawyers to combat her efforts in the courts and legislature. O’Hair said earlier she would go to the Supreme Court if necessary because she does not want atheist’s tax money used to print this money. She is also fighting tax exempt land for churches, although Harrington claims any educational institution including O’Hair’s American Atheist Center in Austin, is tax-exempt. After O’Hair left, Harrington devoted most of his program to questions, most of which concerned O’Hair. He said he gears the program against her because his crusade is not an evan- galistic one — merely a man representing religion and a woman representing atheism. Harrington said he pays for the build ings the programs are held in, as well as his traveling expenses. O’Hair pays her own traveling expenses, also. He said donations only pay for about one-third of these expenses, and the rest of the money comes from the sale of his records and books. He said he made $2.6 million from book sales. He also noted that Larry Flynt, of “Hustler” magazine, do nated his $150,000 bus. Channel 3, of Bryan, was taping the de bate to be shown at 6 p.m. today, but left when O’Hair walked out. As she was leaving, O’Hair said she would be in Galveston tonight for another debate. ever, recently removed private beds from the hospitals. Freeman explained that this has caused a fear among British doctors that the government is trying to com pletely abolish private practice. “There is now a new determination that the health profession will maintain its freedom of choice at all costs against a gov ernment which autocratically chooses to disregard the real needs and advice of the medical profession,” he said. Socialized medicine in Britain also is having a resource allocation problem. Freeman continued. The funds are being redistributed away from acute care serv ices, specialist services and centers of medical excellence and channeled into rural areas, geriatrics, psychiatry and other social services, he said. “Here you have a free health care sys tem which in fact has turned out tb be a bottomless pit which no government can afford,” Freeman said. He said bureaucratic red tape has caused an “inertia to change” in the British system. As an example he cited the 3- to 4-year waiting list for surgery. “The system was good. The medicine still is good, but the system is a sad one,” Freeman said. Major General Paul W. Myers, com mander of the Wilford Hall United States Air Force Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, described the military system of health care as “self contained. ” The mis sion of the USAF medical service is to support the combat arm in the field, Myers said. The medical service accom plishes this with the only full-time armed forces health practitioners in the world. Under this system, Myers said, the medical service is involved in preventive medicine, environmental protection, drug and alcohol abuse programs, physical evaluations of airmen, aerospace medicine, an air evacuation system, and education of all medical technologists in the Air Force. “Our share of the Department of De fense health care budget is a little over $1 billion,” Myers said. This money comes from federal taxes. Myers stressed the USAF medical serv ice is obligated only to care for 580,000 active duty personnel. “Care of eligible beneficiaries (veterans, retirees and their dependents) in our system of health care delivery is a privilege, not a right,” he said. “It is left up to the discretion of the local facility commander to decide whether or not he has the resources to take care of those people. ” In the American health care system, Jackson said, the real concern is cost of health care. Jackson, who is affiliated with M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Clinic in Houston, said society is to blame for the cost of medical care, although there is a common view among Americans that the “rich American doc” is to blame. “All of us are to blame,” Jackson said. “The payer is to blame. Approaching 50 percent of all health care costs — physi cian’s fees, hospital fees, laboratory fees — the patient doesn’t pay one penny of those in direct costs.” He added, however, that these costs are paid in premiums, taxes and various withdrawal and withholding; programs. Jackson said patients never get reimbursed for office visits, whereas they would be reimbursed if they were admit ted into hospitals as patients and charged for their stay. “I would like to take the responsibility to say I am to blame (for the cost of health care), but I would like to say, don’t blame me, ” said Jackson. “I am your friend and I want everything that a (health care) pro gram can afford for you. ” The public has a responisibility to keep medical costs down, Jackson continued. He said doctors have been asking patients to quit smoking for years, and if they would stop, 25 percent of all cancers would be eliminated and money would be saved. Jackson said he believes there is still magic in the relationship between the pa tient and doctor. The doctor shovdd be the patient’s advocate, Jackson said, no matter what the costs of health care may be. Congressmen’s wives testify at hearing United Press International WASHINGTON — The wives of Reps. Kika de la Garza, D-Tex., and John T. Myers, R-Ind., told House investigators Thursday a Korean woman tried to give their husbands cash-filled envelopes in 1975 while they were visiting Seoul. Testifying at a House ethics committee hearing on alleged Korean attempts to buy influence in Congress, the women said the incidents occurred late the same evening in August at rooms they had in a posh Seoul hotel. They said the money was re turned the next day in each case. Mrs. de la Garza said the woman who left the cash for her husband was the wife of Kim Dong Jo, a former ambassador to Washington, then serving as Korean foreign minister and now a presidential as sistant for foreign affairs. Mrs. Myers said she didn’t know the woman who came to her room. The congressmen were part of a delega tion of 10 House members touring the Far East. The episodes described by the two women suggested the alleged Korean ef fort to win favor with American lawmakers was not confined to Capitol Hill. Eat the hell out of Rice! Alan Perkins set a record in Thursday’s fourth annual rice-eating contest, by consuming four and three fourths cups of Rice Krispies in two minutes. Each of the 26 contestants was given a cup of milk to moisten his cereal. Above, pre-med major Harold Ceuzel, relies on a standared “spoon shove.” The contest was sponsored by the MSC Recreation Committee.