State
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1981
Page 7
um. j
t Mexican.
Paul Rq4
sioii isitct
mandaton
icienct,
20th CEN-
t Fountaia
Brown, Ij.
II speak on
20th CEN-
'r Fountain,
> Brown, in-!
ill speak®|
.<1 with Dvie
/ho tests dial
Auditorium,
k-previewd
uditorium.
for tlie year-
I.
Transcripts say warden
OK’d inmates
t
Holloway sail I
lal judging d|
erve champiij
inners selectdl
;tin McBrideaf
larion, Rokt
urnerofBalfc
, swine,
United Press International
HOUSTON — Wallace M.
Pack, a prison warden killed by an
inmate who says he acted in self
defense, condoned violence
against inmates and particularly
targeted prisoners who were seek
ing legal hearings, court testi
mony revealed.
The testimony about Pack is
contained in 42,000 pages of trans
cripts from a historic inmate rights
case in which U.S. District Judge
Wilham Wayne Justice of Tyler
ruled that the Texas Department
of Corrections routinely violated
the constitutional rights of pris
oners.
Pack, 54, was drowned April 4
and Ellis Unit farm manager Billy
M. Moore, 49, was shot to death.
Inmate Eroy Brown, 30, of Waco
is accused of slaying the men but
says he acted in self defense.
At a speech in Dallas on Tues
day, TDC Director W.J. Estelle
called Pack and Moore two of the
“finest correctional officers” in the
state.
But another view of Pack
emergesfrom the transcripts. One
prisoner testified that Pack helped
brutalize inmates. In his 256-page
decision, Justice said the practice
of routine brutality against in
mates by guards was "wide
spread” and some top prison offi
cials condoned or encouraged it.
Pack was not specifically named
in the decision. But other prison
ers and a former TDC guard link
ed Pack with retaliation against
“writ writers”—jailhouse lawyers
who file lawsuits against prison
officials or who complain to repor
ters and outside officials about
practices at the prison system.
Several years before Brown was
placed in the Ellis Unit, he filed a
successful lawsuit challenging
prison conditions.
In the testimony, inmate
Arthur J. Nathaniel testified that
Pack once ordered inmate aides—
called “porters” — to attack pa
tients who did not want to receive
medication and personally partici
pated in the abuse.
"Most of them porters would
whip them and kick them and strip
them buck naked and take a nee
dle (to them),” Nathaniel said.
“They would be holding him down
by the neck choking them to
death.”
A lawyer asked: "Who are you
referring to?”
The answer: “Major Pack and
other inmate patients would join
them, because the major told
them to do them like that.”
The most detailed testimony
against Pack came from former
guard James E. Eckles Jr. He said
Pack and Warden C.L. Adams
issued instructions on how writ
writers were to be treated.
“They were to be kept segre
gated from the other inmates,” the
guard testified. “Anywhere they
went they had two officers with
them. They were strip-searched
coming and going. We shook
down their cells every day or ab
out every other day, sometimes
twice a day, sometimes more. We
wrote them up for any rule infrac
tion.”
Another prisoner, Clarence D.
Moore, said Pack told him to take
action against an inmate who filed
legal documents and ordered the
inmate transferred to a prison
wing supervised by an inmate
with a formidable reputation for
violence.
A ' ’ f
Another former inmate testified
that during a meeting with Pack
and another prison official, an offi
cial identified as a warden “told
me I could enhance my position
considerably if I would do some
thing to Bill Neilson,” another
writ writer. In a letter apparently
intercepted by prison officials,
Neilson believed the former in
mate — Donald R. Whitt — was
put in the cell to kill him.
A one ana two ana three
The Aggieland Orchestra played Wednesday at Rudder
Fountain. The orchestra, conducted by Lt. Col. Joe T.
Haney, performed from noon to 1 p.m. for
about 200. The orchestra has 16 members
Photo by Erick Oakland
an audience of
and Haney.
Farmer may get to keep land
&
p.m
United Press International
AUSTIN — Jessie Johnson has not left his
farm in Leon County yet, and legislation is in
House subcommittee to get clear title to the
land on which he has reared three generations
of his family.
Johnson, almost 81, told the committee
Tuesday he is too old to move off his 120 acres
of East Texas land. He has lived on the land for
53 years.
“They told me I didn’t have anything,”
Johnson said. “It’d gone to the state. I’d work
ed on that land. I thought it ought to have been
mine. No one ever said anything.
“I worked too hard. They wait until I get too
old then they take it away from me. Tm waiting
for the day when the truck comes and moves
me out.”
Constitutional Amendments Committee
. j chairman Rep. Bob McFarland, R-Arlington,
- told the farmer, "I sure wouldn’t be packing
;eat$
oor
UAL
.ntry fee pe'{*
n. April 24
£22$
any suitcases too soon.”
Although Johnson purchased the land more
than 50 years ago, the state contends it has
never legally given up its title to the land and
therefore Johnson cannot have clear own
ership. Several other Leon County landown
ers are in similar situations.
Land commissioner Bob Armstrong told the
committee he supports efforts to help Johnson
get title to his land.
“It is an inequity,” Armstrong said. "The
difficulty is we have a law that has worked an
unjust situation in this instance.”
After some minor bickering on two similar
measures by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-
Houston, and Rep. Jim Turner, D-Crockett,
the Constitutionsu Amendments Committee
sent both resolutions to a subcommittee.
Thompson, who has received national pub
licity for aiding farmer Jessie Johnson, called
Turner’s resolution “a copy of (her bill) with a
few words changed. ”
"I don’t think there’s anything in 118 which
can’t be in 117,” she said.
Thompson’s bill would allow the land com
missioner to surrender the state’s claim to land
tracts persons such as Johnson have lived on
and believed they owned.
Turner, who represents Leon County, has a
similar proposal which would permit the state
to give title to someone who has lived on state
land and paid taxes on it for 50 years, even if
the tax payments were not in consecutive
years.
Both proposals are changes in the state con
stitution which require approval by Texas vo
ters.
A similar proposed amendment has cleared
a Senate committee, and is eligible for Senate?
consideration today.
\ /
'—rajwn—
(Offer food through April 30)
DO-NUT SHOP
6 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat. • Drive-Thru 7a.m.-1 p.m. Sun.
APRIL LUNCH SPECIAL
any Medium Drink Free with order of
CHARBR0ILED SHIPLEY DELUXE
(Double-Meat, Double-Cheese, served with
lettuce, tomato, pickle and French Fries)
“OUR SPECIALITY”
3310 S. College Avenue, Bryan
Just South of Villa Maria
Officials plan to talk
in home murder case
United Press International
GALVESTON — Two state legislators and the state health depart
ment commissioner have agreed to testify before a grand jury investi
gating patient care at a nursing home.
A Galveston County grand jury has already returned murder indict
ments against the Autumn Hills Convalescent Centers and eight
present and past employees. The indictments are in connnection with
the deaths of eight elderly patients in 1978 and 1979 at the company’s
Texas City center.
District Attorney James’ Hury Tuesday said the grand jury is
considering more indictments in the Autumn Hills case, and the
legislators plus health commissioner Dr. Robert Bernstein have
agreed to participate.
“We have been in contact with these people, and they have all
volunteered to come down and give us information,” Hury said.
Sen. Chet Brooks, D-Pasadena, and Rep. W.S. Heatley, D-
Paducah, have admitted they intervened with the Health Department
to keep Medicaid funds to Autumn Hills from being suspended.
Heatley received a $400 contribution from the political arm of the
Texas Nursing Home Association on April 16, 1980.
“I think maybe I asked if they would make a new inspection.
Another inspection never hurt anything,” Heatley said.
A July 1980 inspection indicated that deficiencies had been cor
rected. Heatley said his action was justified.
“We do not need to close these agencies down, ” he said. “We’ve
taken our mental patients out of the state hospitals and put them there.
To close them down is inhuman.”
Last week Brooks said he asked Bernstein to reinspect the home in
May 1980 after a health department team had recommended for the
second time that the home lose its Medicaid certification.
Rep. Ron Wilson, chairman of the House Health Services Commit
tee, said he plans a committee investigation of nursing home legisla
tion next summer.
“If the (Health) Department needs more authority, we need to find
out,” Wilson Said. “And we need to find out the circumstances of
legislators calling. It shouldn’t have any effect.”
Society of Iranian Students
International Students Association
Presents
Dr. S. Hamid
Speaking On:
1. Concepts of Islam
2. Timing the War between Iran & Iraq
Time: Saturday April 18-3Pm.
Place: Rudder Tower, Room 301
Everyone Invited
Free Admission
Residence .Hall Association Prsents
i you
be help^
yointment
EPISCOPAL SERVICES
EASTER EUCHARISTS
7:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m., 9:15 am, 11:00 a.m.
Maunday Thursday Supper 6:30 p.m.
(phone for reservations)
GOOD FRIDAY
6:30 a.m. Eucharist
Meditations 12:00 Noon-3:00 p.m.
Holy Saturday Vigil
7:30 p.m.
Canterbury Group 5:30 p.m. Wednesday
ST. THOMAS & EPISCOPAL
STUDENT CENTER
906 Jersey, College Station
(So. Side of Campus)
ph. 696-1726
th
Friday, April 24
8:00-12:30
A NIGHT OF GAMBLING, PRIZES,
AND ENTERTAINMENT
Major prizes donated by
Diamond Brokers International
PLACE: MSC, 2nd floor and Lounge
TICKETS: $3.00 advance $4.00 door
Ticket sales: April 20-24
MSC, Sbisa, Commons, Duncan
MSC Cepheid Variable
‘‘ presents * 1
fiboB
Thurs., April 16
7:30 and 9:45 601 Rudder
$1.00
HOWDY WEEK
APRIL 20-24
HEY AGS
Show your Aggie Spirit by greeting fellow students and visitors
with a warm smile and a friendly “HOWDY”!
HIGHLIGHTS:
TRADITIONS PROGRAM
Tuesday, April 21, 8:00 p.m. Rudder Auditorium. Traditions
film, Speaker Cliff Ransdell, Aggie Yell Leaders and Reville.
HOWDY DANCE
Thursday, April 23, 7-12 at the Thirsty Turtle. Wear your
Howdy Shirt and get a pitcher of Old Milwaukee beer for $1.50.
MYSTERY PERSON CONTEST
A free Howdy Shirt and $5.00 will be awarded to the 100th
person to say Howdy to one of the 5 mystery people.
HOWDY
SHIRTS
and
BUTTONS
on sale in the
MSC
Sponsored by the MSC Traditions Council