t* liit last yej
iv >ng us the
e field,” Swii,
w >» or lose
fi'i'ig to lose.
11 >d Texas,
• s > has been
'n in collegi
have accoi
evable,” he
:« into thegi
tatistics in
i average yiel _
'HO; third ini I
7 yards, andl
se , 62 yards,
ranks first
e categories
ds; total offei
ring, 49.5 m
! Texas
sively this ye
the loss
ho scored
r either teas
tory.
will miss
said. ''Earl
st football pi
r doing even
re's a betten
Battalion
Thought about 'unthinkable'?
Wednesday, October 4, 1978
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Preparing for nuclear attack is
not a topic of everyday conversa
tion, but President Carter wants
to revitalize civil defense prog
rams. Even so, some families are
already prepared. See page 11.
• The “most competitive scho
larships in the world,” are up for
grabs. For details see page 4.
•Railroad unions could go on
strike — again — about the time
of Turkey Day. See page 5.
Case against
prisons begins
(4-0)
(4-0)
2-1)
1-0)
1)
2-D
1-1)
>(4-0)
O)
ALS
t), SPAG1
$2.29
&HT
ight & h
Battalion photo by J. Wagner Tynes
Iron Curtain???
This sign was hung near the west side entrance of Texas A&M
University campus late last Thursday night. Mickey McDer
mott, a senior dairy science major, says he made the sign and
hung it there because it reminded him of the gates of West
Berlin, Germany. McDermott studied at the Institute last
summer as a member of the TAMU in Germany program.
riminal court tries Trial Act
United Press International
HOUSTON — A federal judge Tuesday
angrily warned the state’s lawyers to limit
their questioning of prison inmates who
have accused the Texas Department of
Corrections of mistreating them.
U.S. District Judge William Wayne
twice admonished Assistant Attorney
General Ed Idar Jr. in cross-examination
of inmate Lawrence Pope, 60, during trial
of a suit demanding court-ordered im
provements in prison conditions.
“I’m just simply telling you you’d better
hurry up,” Justice said as Idar struggled at
length to make a point about prison ad
ministration.
"I want to see that you are given your
due process rights,” the judge told Idar.
“But this is taking an unconscionably long
time. ”
Justice Monday began non-jury trial of
eight inmate lawsuits charging unconstitu
tional prison conditions including over
crowding, abuse, harassment, poor medi
cal care, slave labor and denial of access to
courts.
The case, brought on behalf of the more
than 24,000 inmates in Texas’ 15 prisons,
was expected to take four months to try.
Inmate David Resendez Ruiz, 36, who
filed the first of the consolidated suits in
June 1972, testified Tuesday he was de
nied adequate medical care for self-
inflicted mutilation of his foot tendons.
“My only way out of solitary was to
mutilate my tendons,” Ruiz said. “I muti
lated the tendons on my right foot. I was
transferred to the hospital. ”
He said he was forced to take a resulting
cast off too early because he was put to
work and that the foot "didn’t heal prop
erly.” He said he had cut himself 15 times
and had never received psychiatric
therapy.
Ruiz also said he and other inmates
were sprayed with Mace by prison
employees while locked in their cells.
He said he lost 10 pounds in 14 days in
solitary confinement despite a federal
court order requiring adequate diet, but
the state objected to the testimony on
grounds that it related to another lawsuit.
Pope Monday testified he was denied
meetings with co-plaintiffs, harassed with
nude searches before and after using a
prison legal library and punished for writ
ing letters to lawyers.
On cross-examination Tuesday, Idar
disputed each allegation. Idar spent 30
minutes trying to explain the "strip-
searches” allegation through questions and
answers from Pope. Justice interrupted.
“Is the point of all this that he could
have left the writ room (legal library), gone
to the piddling room (craft shop nearby)
and armed himself with a knife?” Justice
asked impatiently.
“That’s exactly the point, your honor,”
Idar replied. On cross-examination. Assis
tant Attorney General Harry Walsh chal
lenged Ruiz’ testimony he had been forced
to take the cast off too early.
After a lengthy hostile exchange, Walsh
asked, “I take it by your answer that no
one directed you to take that (cast) off, did
they?” Ruiz, who had said he had to take it
off to go to work shelling peas and peanuts,
answered “no.”
Walsh also disputed Ruiz’ charge he had
been denied psychiatric treatment after
the self-mutiliation, then been punished
unjustly because he sought to enforce his
civil rights and that he and others were
maced unjustly.
Under questioning, Ruiz said that in a
decade in prison, he knew of only two
macing incidents.
On cross-examination of Pope, Idar eli
cited testimony that he was on some occa
sions allowed to consult with co-plaintiff
inmates and that strip-searches related to
use of the legal library might have been
more security-related than harassing, as
Pope charged. Idar also offered a four-inch
stack of writs, petitions and lawsuits Pope
had filed in courts to show he was not de
nied access to the courts.
United Press International
USTIN, Texas — Prosecuting attor-
s say the Legislature overstepped its
idietion by trying to ensure defendants
and speedy verdicts with the Speedy
d Act and hope the Court of Criminal
>eals will declare the statute uncon-
itional.
e court began hearing arguments
sday on the act, which requires pro-
itors try all major felony cases within
days or dismiss the charges.
least three murder suspects have
n Ireed without trials because pro-
itors failed to meet the 120-day dead-
rosecutors say the law, passed by the
Legislature and effective July 1, is an
ngement upon the judicial branch of
'eminent.
uesday s test case will involve a felony
ink-driving charge against Linzy Wade
Austin, who wants the charge against
^ dismissed because he was not tried
fim 120 days of his Feb. 5 arrest,
he Wade case centers on the issue of
6 v«? r j^ e l^O-day limit was retroactive,
e Wade case is the first detailed chal-
'ge of the law that the appellate court
has agreed to consider.
The court earlier refused to take up ap
peals on behalf of Mary Lou Anderson of
Richmond, the first woman sentenced to
death in Texas, and James E. Wright Sr. of
Eastland, who faces a murder charge for
shooting his wife in a courthouse.
The law requires courts to dismiss
charges against defendants in cases where
the state is not ready for trial within 120
days on a felony offense, 90 days on Class
A misdemeanors, 60 days on Class B mis
demeanors or 30 days on minor infractions
such as speeding.
The time limit is waived if the defendant
agrees to a delay, or if the defendant is not
available to stand trial within the pre
scribed time period.
Mike McCormick, executive director of
the prosecutors association, said Texas
would need four times as many courts and
attorneys to eliminate court backlogs and
handle cases as rapidly as the new law re
quires.-
He said the Legislature has no business
setting time limits for trial of persons ac
cused of crimes.
Carter gets bill to expand power
Coast Guard has over tankers
>ud
?th
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The House Tuesday
passed and sent to President Carter a bill
strengthening the Coast Guard’s authority
to regulate tanker safety and closing U.S.
ports to tankers with a history of oil spills
or other violations.
The legislation is designed to prevent
massive oil spills such as the rash of disas
ters that have fouled beaches around the
world over the last few years.
The final version of the bill passed the
Senate by voice vote Saturday, and the
House by unanimous consent agreed to a
series of technical Senate amendments
Tuesday, sending the legislation to the
White House.
One of the strongest provisions gives
the Coast Guard authority to ban foreign
vessels from U.S. ports for a variety of
reasons. No on-vessel inspection is re
quired.
A vessel may be banned from U.S. ports
or territorial waters if it has a serious his-
frt/cm woman has an answer for those
Vho ‘just cant get up in the morning’
By SUSAN WEBB
Battalion Reporter
Sometimes groggy-headed students
have a hard time responding to an alarm
clock. But Jane Kraft, of Bryan, has a re
medy for this. She operates a telephone
wake-up service and greets her student
customers with a cheerful, “Good, morn
ing, it’s time to wake u'p. ”
Kraft began the wake-up service earlier
this fall, but has received little response.
“I got a lot of calls in the beginning, but
most people thought it was a free service,”
Kraft said. “One man that called seemed
to be under the impression I was going to
come to his house and knock on his door to
wake him up, ” she said.
Kraft charges her subscribers to the ser
vice a fee of $5 per month for calls Monday
through Friday.
Kraft explained that her wake-up ser
vice does have an advantage over the
alarm clock system. “Most people who
have a snooze button on their alarm clock,
just keep pushing it. Or if they turn the
alarm off, it’s off,” Kraft said. “If you have
to get up to answer the phone, I think that
tends to wake you up, especially if it is in
another room.
Kyle Crews, one subscriber, says the
wake-up service is quite helpful. Crews, a
senior majoring in journalism at Texas
A&M University, said, “When you figure
the investment you have in classes, the
service is very economical.”
Crews also said the wake-up service is
very reliable. “She (Kraft) hasn’t missed a
day yet and calls almost to the minute, ” he
said.
tory of pollution accidents; does not com
ply with U.S. or international safety,
equipment or construction regulations;
does not meet proper crew and manning
standards; discharges oil illegally, or fails
to comply with various other require
ments.
The bill also gives the secretary of
transportation authority to regulate port
safety, to regulate transfer of oil between
tankers at sea, and to establish sea routes
into ports.
The legislation sets new crew, manning
and inspection requirements, and pro
vides that any foreign tanker operating in
U.S. waters must meet or exceed these
standards.
In general, the legislation follows new
international standards, but it is stronger
in some respects.
For example, it covers existing vessels
between 20,000 and 40,000 deadweight
tons, requiring that segregated ballast or
crude oil washing systems be installed by
1986 or when the vessel is 15 years old,
whichever is later.
To sit
Crowd ‘asks’
focus
The Battalion is starting a new weekly features-entertainment tab
loid.
Take a leap into the old past of the Renaissance in Thursday’s
Focus.
or not to sit
student to get off grass
Lindsey Scoggin, a junior, was the
center of attention as he sat on the grass of
the Memorial Student Center reading a
book Tuesday morning.
He said later he was waiting for his next
class.
Several students told him he shouldn’t
be sitting on the grass, which they said
should be treated like the MSC. The MSC
is dedicated to former students who have
died in wars.
A crowd gathered around the lawn as
students yelled taunts and threats at Scog
gin to get him to move. He didn’t and the
crowd reacted with shouts of “Send him to
t.u.,” and “Are you a communist? ”
He did not move and a woman walked
out onto the grass, picked up his books and
shoes, and threatened to take them with
her if he didn’t get off the grass.
Scoggin left the grass to get his things
and some students threatened him with
violence. A crowd of about fifty persons
gathered around as two women stepped
V
forward and questioned the man’s reasons
for sitting on the grass.
When he said he was just waiting for
class, the women said he was infringing on
the rights of all students at Texas A&M if
he violated their rights by sitting on the
grass.
“It wasn’t my objective to harass any
one,” Scoggin said later. “I had no inten
tion of causing a problem and I wasn’t
See related opinions, photograph,
page 2.
bothering anyone. I wasn’t hurting the
grass and it wasn’t memorialized.
“When I first sat down I didn’t even
think about it causing a problem. But
when people started harassing me I took
my stand. All I wanted to do was enjoy
myself.
The status of the grass around the MSC
came up last year when the Student Gov
ernment passed a resolution to make the
grass a memorial around the MSC and
Rudder Tower.
The MSC Council denied the resolution
in a meeting Oct. 27, 1977.
The MSC Council also adopted a policy
that says, “As the M SC grounds are a part
of a living campus and at times are used as
a teaching aid, the use of the Memorial
Student Center grounds will not be dis
couraged. The use of the Memorial Stu
dent Center grounds will be left to the
discretion of the individual. ”
In spite of the MSC policy, some still
think the grass should be treated as a
memorial and encourage others to do so.
Some people watching Tuesday morn
ing agreed with Scoggin’s action.
“My grandfather was an ex-Aggie that
was killed in World War I,” one student
said. “If he were here today he would want
me to sit on the grass and enjoy it. He
would probably sit out there and enjoy it
with me. He always enjoyed sitting out
side no matter where he was.”