Juan Stilus
ub-Englisl)
ion is $1
honoring
U meet
THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1979
Page 9
Standard set for committing mental cases
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Supreme
Court ruled 8-0 Monday the Con
stitution requires only “clear and
convincing” proof that hospitaliza
tion is needed before a state can
order someone committed indefi
nitely to a mental institution.
Chief Justice Warren Burger said
that “middle level” legal standard,
now used by 20 states, “strikes a fair
balance between the rights of the
individual and the legitimate con
cerns of the state.”
“Psychiatric diagnosis, in con
trast, is to a large extent based on
medical ‘impressions’ drawn trom
subjective analysis and filtered
through the experience of the diag
nostician. This process often makes
it very difficult for the expert physi
cian to offer definite conclusions
about any particular patient.
The court acted on an appeal filed
on behalf of Frank Addington, who
was committed to Austin State Hos-
1 . }
pital after a Galveston County,
Texas, jury found “clear, un
equivocal and convincing evidence”
that he was mentally ill in February
1976.
Addington argued that an indefi
nite commitment requiring less
than evidence “beyond a reasonable
doubt” was a violation of the Con
stitution’s guarantee that everyone’s
rights will be protected by “due
process of law.”
TEXAS
The high court rejected argu
ments that the Constitution re
quires states to apply the standard
that is used in criminal and juvenile
delinquency cases, and which is
harder to prove: whether commit
ment is needed “beyond a reason
able doubt.”
*:
HALL oflFAME
>uring
:30 p.m
A handful of states now use that
“unique” standard, and are free to
continue doing so. Burger noted.
But he said the “reasonable doubt”
standard is one that historically has
been reserved for criminal cases and
is not required by the Constitution.
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at 1:30(1?
Signs of spring
HThese daffodils are just two examples of a wide variety of
es two mi«|PP n 8 flowers seen blooming around the Texas A&M cam-
“The subtleties and nuances ol
psychiatric diagnosis render certain
ties virtually beyond reach in most
situations,” Burger wrote. “The rea
sonable doubt standard of criminal
law functions in its realm because
>us.
Battalion photo by Cam Cope
esearch I
there the standard is addressed to
specific, knowable facts.
$2 per person
$1.75 pitchers of beer
— SATURDAY NIGHT —
£ "RIGHT COMBINATION"
^$3 per person
■=: \
8-1
10 p.m. infyj
er, originate
ir Lives” all
Regional!
fro/ says chemical use
lay have had effect later
L rr , JGEORGIA BLANCHARD
he Univenr* Batta , ion Reporter
■y now, pay later,” is how Dr.
.Brick W. Plapp, a Texas A&M
without leaving toxic products
which cause long-term damage.
■rsity professor of entomology,
allies Americans’ attitudes to-
Kehemical use. He says the
He who use chemicals today
• t think about the long-term
"I 1 ft (pi that use.
-M.XHuh>time you introduce chemi-
into the environment there are
jts to be obtained and costs to
important (Mjj ” pl a pp said. “The person
ally campq jj e t s the benefits often doesn’t
Peurala ak t h,' cost.”
eek, in \» hik problem with chemicals con-
e rivals, isj Plapp, a toxicologist who has
the plant hin leaching and doing research at
500 womens for 10 years. His re-
jstly it dia:re}i focuses mainly on insec-
•Iped oven jep and how they work,
ody might i»la|ip said that in terms of agricul-
;m about elWchemical use, “the problem
:ame to kntfbien with chemicals that last too
as a fighterg.’ He said most insecticides
rd commeaHin use are biodegradable,
ow that wo f|ng that they will break down
Plapp said there is a problem now
with insecticides that kill all the in
sects in the field, including the
natural predators of the pests. With
natural control destroyed “you be
come insecticide dependent,” he
said.
Research is currently being done
to develop natural controls and de
crease the farmer’s dependence on
chemicals. Plapp said the
Environmental Protection Agency
supports this research because less
chemical developmemt will de
crease the testing they have to do.
Plapp clarified the meaning of the
word “ban, which he said is some
times misused by the media when
talking about government actions
concerning chemicals.
He said when the government of
ficials “cancel” a chemical they actu
ally intend to renew it, and when
they “suspend it, they plan to ban
the chemical. He said “ban” is used
mghter beipjj
ic 1960s,
Environmentalists
eek change in hill
other job
lot promote
erver in tliip
partment
g guys for _
ill Pl^mOlw (j n jt c(1 Press International
' , i®TIN — Land Commissioner
tighter, s “|&nnstrong, the Sierra Club,
n suit m ‘Galveston Bay Conservation and
’’on — an Bration Association and citi-
Bfom Scab rook, Taylor Lake
nvT Pa ! gn '® gc ' Buda and Fort Worth
, sro Way urged the Senate Eeo-
arocedure L Development Committee to
csponsiveM a ^jj sa j ( j a ll ow
Texas Air Control Board to ig-
.three-ye^fjniportaut health and site con-
her dutif r .
rations in approving pollution
iment tested j t;s
of local pr^Tom Cobb of Seabrook said the
ise-passed bill would relieve the
J agency from complying with
s. lirements of the Clean Air Act.
\ Local goverments and the
A pie of this state will be deprived
^ If* opportunity to bring (the) ar-
P irv and capricious air board to
"t Cobb said.
Clark G. Thompson of Houston,
attorney for the Galveston Bay
group, said provisions in the bill
would eliminate statutory require
ments for the Air Control Board to
consider potential injury to the
health of nearby residents and inter
ference with their property when
deciding to grant permits for opera
tion of plants that emit pollutants.
Armstrong said he was concerned
about provisions in the House-
passed bill that would keep the Air
Control Board from acting as a re
feree in disputes where actions of
one city on a pollution site may af
fect citizens of another town.
“We need some umpire, if you
want to call it that, where the ac
tions of one community directly
bump into the rights of another
community,” Armstrong said.
for both, and the public doesn’t
really know which has happened.
Plapp said the problem is that
bureaucrats change the meaning of
words for their own purposes.
“The use of language is like Alice
in Wonderland,” he said. “The
meaning of words is infinite. ”
He cited several examples of the
benefits vs. costs problem of chemi
cal use.
“Disposal of chemical wastes is
one of the costs you have to pay, ” he
said.
The only good solution for the
chemical waste problem is to burn
(the chemicals),” Plapp said. He
said they must be burned at a very
high temperature and this is expen
sive.
“It becomes more expensive to
get rid of chemicals than it is to pro
duce them,” he said, adding that
this is a cost industry is not yet
ready to pay.
Relating to energy, Plapp cited
Houston as an example of Ameri
cans’ shortsighted attitude toward
chemical use. He said the city is
enjoying the monetary benefits of
the large amount of oil refining done
there, and won’t realize the bad ef
fects for one or two generations.
He said these effects are illus
trated by studies that have shown
the cancer mortality rate to be “sig
nificantly higher” along the Gulf
Coast, where there are many large
petro-chemical complexes.
Plapp received his bachelor’s and
master’s degrees from Ohio State
University and his doctorate from
the University of Wisconsin in 1959.
Before coming to Texas A&M he
worked for the U.S. Department of
Agriculture for 10 years. He is teach
ing one graduate entomology class
this semester.
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(c)Vivilaf Corporation 1978
Vivitar Flash Value Coupon
V I V 11Cl I I IdOl I VCIIUX^ I A
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the consumer a; partopat
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