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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1981)
tate THE BATTALION TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1981 Page 7 ' 'dentilied ha t it shall!, than, OPEC investors may buy out small U. S. refineries ivpn , United Press International DALLAS — Analysts fear (1 ° n a ri ' :i imall refineries idled because of ar ->t mist he current oil glut in the Un- ! if?" 61 ted States ,Tia y begin selling % ,) v r as c hut to foreign investors from »I DPEC countries. 1 wasn t,gcti Already investors from Venezuela and Kuwait, two ma- protect thtj jor OPEC producers, have 'ent flood da struck deals to acquire two erec k hestj Texas Gulf Coast refineries >nsumers st struggling to stay in business r >s priced!?! ever since the Reagan adminis- he goingpij, tration decontrolled the crude "dally ifthfj dl industry, the Dallas Times story'tooli rllerald reported Sunday. oughawholfi Earlier this month, the state Ue indivkW )wne( l Kuwait Petroleum Co. "d add, help ; iK ne d an equal partnership ess pitch sik! igreernent with Pacific Re- t going thmii _______________________ ancial cniee louse—wlit iidiviclualinih” price lowd e,” he said sources Inc.’s refinery in Hon olulu. The deregulation has hurt the small independent refiners because they no longer are pro tected by federal laws that re quired the major oil companies to supply them with crude at the majors’ average cost. The small refiners are also ham pered by costs of production which have been rising faster than the price of finished pro ducts. A lobbyist for the OPEC in vestors was quoted by the Times Herald as saying the trend was encouraging because the alternative might be accel erated construction of foreign- based refineries and more im ports of gasoline. The lobbyist also foresaw a time when laws might be - changed to permit import of crude into the U.S. for refining and re-export. However, Texas refiners are not happy with the acquisitions because they fear the OPEC in vestors will have favored access to crude oil. The Texas deals would in volve the sale of American Pet- rofina’s Port Arthur refinery to Venezuelan investors and the acquisition by a Kuwaiti bank of Uni Refining Co. in Ingleside, near Corpus Christi. The combined production of the three refineries total only about 200,000 barrels per day of capacity or about 1 percent of the nation’s total capacity. Court rules gag is ‘injurious onvict claims he was framed by officials in drug ring scheme United Press International WASHINGTON — The Sup reme Court, settling an important free speech controversy, unani mously ruled Monday that courts generally may not restrict com munication among people in volved in a class-action discrimi nation suit. The decision was a defeat for Gulf Oil Co., which had chal lenged a federal appeals court rul ing that ordered a retrial in a suit filed against Gulf by black em ployees of the firm’s Port Arthur, Texas, refinery. Today’s high court action clears the way for retrial of the suit. Justice Lewis Powell wrote for the court that a lower court ruling barring communication among the participants in the suit may have been “particularly injurious’’ to persons involved. It “interfered with their efforts to inform potential class members of the existence of the lawsuit, and may have been particularly inju rious — not only to respondents but to the class as a whole — be cause the employees at the time were being pressed to decide whether to accept a backpay offer from Gulf that required them to sign a full release of all liability for discriminatory acts,’’ he wrote. The court rejected Gulfs argu ments that the possibility of abuses in class action litigation was a justification for the order. “The mere possibility of abuses does not justify the routine adop tion of a communications ban that interferes with the formation of a class or the jjrosecution of a class . action,’’ Powell wrote. Gulf agreed in 1976 to provide back pay and conciliation for alleged discriminatory practices against 614 present and former black workers at the Port Arthur refinery, None of the blacks were direct parties to the agreement between Gulf and the Equal Em ployment Opportunities Commis sion. Six pi-esent or retired black workers eventually filed a class- action suit accusing the company of discrimination in hiring, job assignments, pay scales, disci pline and promotion and training practices. U.S. District Judge William Steger, who handled the original case, claimed there was the poten tial for “abuse” of the class-action process by expansion of the num ber of persons covered. So he issued a gag order severe ly restricting contact between the six black workers ' and their lawyers and “potential” members of the suit. The judge took the action after Gulf claimed it re ceived reports that a worker’s attorney attended a meeting of potential class-action members, advising them not to sign releases sent to them after the EEOC con ciliation. Steger later dismissed the workers’ claim of civil rights viola tions on grounds the time for filing suit had lapsed. But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the judge, de claring, “The (gag) order repre sents a significant restriction on First Amendment rights. The im pact of the order was direct and immediate. It silenced the black employees and their attorneys. ” Gulf ^sked the Supreme Court to throw out the suit, charging the nine-year delay between the filing of the original complaint and the federal court suit was filed ham pered Gulfs ability to defend it self. Mr^ftStirTSvii/svirrtSY t vould be. the 5th Ui tppeals revt .n was legisl eclearance, reapportii by a local ot lose its ther that ‘rely becaust f litigation leral form rmeCourtf officials saill :ion them United Press International TEXARKANA — Convicted in- jrnational heroin smuggler Joe lee Hicks — serving a life sent- hce without parole — went on fial Monday on charges officials aid was a brazen scheme to orga- ize a cocaine ring from behind ideral prison bars. Hicks, 45, and one of only five ers in the federal prison system, intends he was double-crossed y Drug Enforcement Adminis- jation agents who put him up to (fie scheme as an informant, then busted him on evidence gained pm tapping the calls he made jom inside Texarkana Federal lorrections Institution. Hicks is serving time for a 1976 pnvietion for continuing criminal tivity arising from a $2.1 million and cocaine smuggling aeration, described by proseeu- irs as the hitreest such case ever “I’ve got life without parole,” id Hicks. “What more can they ®W1|I irs as the biggest such case ever irity and, ill rosecuted in 'TexaicM / Texas the countyi! ■as submittal )f the Men .is Rural Leyi ng Rig/iM allow a plai nit court to plan would( strength, do to me?” Prosecutors allege Hicks used prison telephones to organize a deal with four people to bring a kilo of cocaine from Colombia to Dallas, then to the West Coast. DEA agents said they were tip ped off to the deal early by an informant inside the prison. Pretrial testimony from DEA agent Walter Fisher alleged Hicks arranged a convoluted plot in which Irving, Texas, housewife Dortha Langley would deliver $30,000 to Linda Russman, wife of Texarkana inmate Erick Russman, who the DEA Says informed on Hicks. Mrs. Russman, in turn, was to use the money to buy cocaine picked up in Colombia by Dallas gambler Cosmo Bowers and car ried into the U.S. by British citizen David Leon. Mrs. Langley was arrested in Miami airport carrying $28,424, after which she cooperated with DEA. Mrs. Russman also cooper ated, according to the DEA. Bow ers was indicted and pleaded guilty; Leon was indicted with Hicks, but will be tried sepa rately. Hicks said he was framed, and points to his earlier cooperation with the DEA in convicting a ma jor drug financier, for which U.S. attorney Kenneth Mighell last year recommended Hicks’ sent ence be reduced from life without parole to 15 years’ hard time. “Why would I do anything to screw up that deal?” said Hicks. “And why would I use a woman like Dortha Langley, who knew noting about dope, and why would I work with a known informant like Erick Russman? I just doesn’t make sense, does it?” The trial is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Sara T. Hughes, in whose court Hicks was convicted in the 1976 scheme. Leagues sign up now! H/V.O. Darls Supplies Available YESTERDAYS “A line entertainment establishment” BILLIARDS—BACKGA^OfOiV—DARTS Next to Lubv’s 84«-3625 lIOrSK DRESS CODE ?»\i ir^i rr«Yi ir^itsyi tvav r?«S You Can Play Guitar!! USE "EZ" BOOKS AND ALVAREZ. (from 98 00 ) Come by for Demo Today Some models sale priced. 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