The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 30, 1981, Image 12

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    THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1981
age 12
National
F
Virus may be link to cancer
United Press International
BOSTON — Researchers re
torted Thursday they have
trengthened the link between
he virus that causes hepatitis and
iver cancer, the number one can-
er killer worldwide.
fever, nausea and other symp
toms.
“That strengthens the link be
tween hepatitis B virus and liver
cancer,” said Dr. David A. Shaf-
ritz, author of the report in the
New England Journal of Medi-
The researchers at Albert Ein-
tein College of Medicine in New
■fork City, with the help of two
>ther institutions in Greece and
iouth Africa, found DNAfrom the
iepatitis B virus had worked itself
nto the tumor cells of 12 liver can-
■er patients.
“It doesn’t prove that the virus
itself is oncogenic (cancer-
causing). Other types of work will
be necessary to prove or demons
trate what ways hepatitis B virus
can participate in or cause liver
cancer. ”
DNA, the building block of
Jenes, carries codes that enable
he virus to reproduce itself. The
/irus causes a disease that can
ange from liver inflammation to
lomplete failure, accompanied by
Liver cancer causes only about
three in every 100,000 deaths per
year in Western countries, the
study said, but in the Mediterra
nean, Africa below the Sahara,
Southeast Asia, China and Japan,
it ranges from 25 to 100 cases.
“Worldwide, it is the leading
cause of death from cancer,” the
study said. Lung cancer is the No.
1 one cause of cancer deaths in the
United States, according to the
American Cancer Society.
Shafritz, a professor of medicine
and cellular biology at Einstein,
said it is not known how the hepa
titis B virus’ DNA becomes a part
of the liver tissue. Nor does it
mean that people who contract
hepatitis will develop liver cancer,
he said.
However, past studies showed
people with liver cancer were five
to 10 times more likely to have
been victims or carriers of hepati
tis B than others.
Previous research also showed
hepatitis B carriers — those who
had the virus in their blood and
could transmit it to others, but
were unaffected by it — were 22
times more likely to contract liver
cancer.
At least a small indication of the
presence of hepatitis has been
found in up to 35 percent of pa
tients with primary liver cancer in
the United States and in 75 to 95
percent of patients in areas of high
hepatitis incidence.
Other causes of liver cancer in
clude pollution, steroids and alco
hol, the study said.
Shafritz said the link between
hepatitis B and liver cancer could
eventually help in finding new
ways to treat the disease. Other
groups have been researching a
hepatitis B vaccine, he said, which
might help prevent cancer.
Man accused of murder
asks for death penalty
United Press International
JACKSON, Miss. — Within
hours of leading lawmen to the
body of Peggy Lowe, accused
killer Marion Pruett told repor
ters Wednesday he killed three
other people and wants to die
for his crimes.
Against the advice of his
court-appointed lawyer and the
local district attorney, Pruett
met with reporters for nearly an
hour at police headquarters.
Pruett said he killed bank
officer Peggy Lowe after the
Sept. 17 robbery of Unifirst
Savings and Loan in Jackson.
He also said he killed two peo
ple in Colorado and one in
Arkansas during recent rob
beries.
Pruett, 32, said he was high
on cocaine when he committed
the crimes but now hopes he
will be executed.
“I want the death penalty,”
he said in a steady, unemotional
voice. “I have imposed some
judgment on some people and
now I want to be my own judge
and jury. ”
He said he will resist any
attempts to delay his trial or ex
ecution. He has been charged
with capital murder in the Lowe
case.
He asked the people of Mis
sissippi to help him get his
death wish.
“I think the people of Missis
sippi want to see me dead as
much as I want to die,” he said
with a trace of a smile.
Pruett, smoking cigarettes
and dressed in a blue jumpsuit,
appeared tired but spoke cohe
rently throughout the inter
view. Authorities watched and
asked reporters not to talk about
the Lowe case, but Pruett made
several references to it and in
criminated himself numerous
times.
He drew a picture of himself
as an unhappy but unremorse
ful man who was born in Gasto
nia, N. C., lost an eye in an acci
dent at the age of 2, faithfully
attended West Mecklenburg
High School in Charlotte,
N.C., had a scrape with the law
at 17, and spent most of his 20s
in prison.
He aided authorities in their
investigation into the killing of
his cellmate, William Zambido,
and was given a new identity of
Charles Sonny Pearson under
the federal witness program in
New Mexico, he said. He got
out of prison in 1979 and turned
sour on the witness program
when he felt federal officials
betrayed him.
“I started out holding up
banks to embarrass the federal
government, ” he said. Then, he
said, a cocaine habit turned him
into a “mad-dog killer. I don’t
mind telling you I killed the two
people in Colorado and one in
Arkansas too.”
Pruett is wanted for question
ing about two robbery-
homicides at all-night grocery
stores in Loveland, Colo, and
Fort Collins, Colo. Arkansas au
thorities want him for the Oct.
12 killing of a convenience store
clerk in Fort Smith.
Pruett, who bears a tatoo
“Mad Dog 20-20” which he said
is his nickname, is also wanted
for the strangulation murder of
his wife in New Mexico. He re
fused to talk about that case.
He said he was “too high
when he held up the Unifirst
Savings and Loan in Jackson
and abducted Mrs. Lowe,
whose body was found Wednes
day in a wooded area in West
ern Alabama. She will be buried
Thursday.
“It was accidental, something
that shouldn’t have happened,
he said of the killing.
He said he liked to rob sav
ings and loans instead of banks
because they don’t have secur
ity guards and the employees
and officers are usually women
“who do what you say.”
He said he wanted to be cap
tured Oct. 20 when he was
arrested for speeding near
Amarillo.
“I let the police in Texascatct
me,” he said. “I wanted tok
caught. I’m tired of living, lldl-
let! four innocent people, hvas
no longer embarrassing the fed
eral government. I was killing
innocent people.”
Pruett, who displayed a
familiarity with legal jargon and
rules of criminal procedure,
said he was a sort of “jailhouse
attorney and insisted he would
defend himself on the capital
murder charge in Mississippi
“so 1 can get my justice. He
said he did not want groups
“like the ACLU” (American
Civil Liberties Union) interfer
ing in his case "so they can tfile
an appeal for me.
He insisted he wants to be
tried in state rather than federal
courts because he feels he will
have a better chance of being
executed. “They (federal
courts) might parole me in 10
years. I wouldn’t be but 12
then, and I might have been
ready to go raise hell again, ” he
said.
Asked about suicide, Pruett
said he was not the type who
would commit suicide. He
added: “I think I would kill
somebody else before 1 would
kill myself.”
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Blind man recaptures life
by rebuilding machinery
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United Press International
PRAIRIEVILLE, Mich. — Ho
ward Harvey lost his eyesight 30
years ago to a hereditary disease,
but he’s not looking for sympathy.
Harvey’s too busy rebuilding and
fixing any mechanical item people
put in his hands.
In the summer, spring and ear
ly fall, he’s got his lawnmower re
pair business. In the winter, there
is always some remodeling or re
pairs to be done on the house,
garage or one of the sheds he uses
for storage.
Harvey’s 26-by-32 garage,
which he built himself, is so filled
with lawn mowers during the
summer visitors can hardly make
their way from one end of the
building to the other.
He pushes the brim of his John
Brut
| Rese;
the
scrip
Like
Deere hat hack a bit and chuckle
when a visitor marvels that a
man could build a garage. Hethei )ec t s (
admits he didn’t build it all.
cause the foundation was laid fa ,
him. But the roofing, sidingariJ in 8
electrical work are all his.
He also remodeled most
home, which is more than l(i
years old. He put in a new
room, divided one large room
m
loulde
nt me
id a w
loves
Thea
completely renovated the livinsl elect
room by taking out and repladpj
all the plaster, removing three W
windows and lowering the ceilinf
When visitors come arount
now, they find him in a shed be-
rith a cl
em witl
ristan
The
'aphite
hind the garage, working on aspe- dy 15
The Best Pizza In Town! Honest.
WE DELIVER
846-3412
Mr. Gatti's Pizzamat
AFTER 5 P.M. — MIN. $5.00 ORDER
cial project — a 50-year-old trac
tor, just like the one he drove
when he was a hoy.
“I can’t sit here all day,” Hanej
said. “I’ve got to get up and move
around. I’ve been a whole yea
trying to get a carburator fixed tip
for it — they want $100 forane*
one.
“Ma wants me to get ridofit
but it ain’t hurting nothin’. Wfal
the heck, it gets more valuabk
every day I keep it.”
He finds his way around tie
tractor with ease, just as he does*
tiller or a riding mower. His hand)
move knowingly to the part hefa)
been working on recently, a got;
ernor that is not working properly
He may never have seen tit
part in his life, but he will sooa
learn by the feel what it is sup
posed to do and what it will taketo
fix it. There is no fear of the un
known or of failure in Harvey, ai
least when it comes to tinkcririE
with something mechanical.
Unfortunately, the lifestyle
Harvey leads may actually
him from enjoying one of the plea
sures available to the blind. He
says the callouses on his fingers
make it almost impossible to read
Braille.
eighs
ENGINEERING OPPORTUNITIES
Graver Tank & Mfg., Co., Inc. in Pasadena, Texas is recruiting engi
neering students for permanent employment. Graver has been a leader
in storage tanks and pressure vessel fabrication and erection serving
the Petroleum and Petro-Chemicals markets since 1857.
We are seeking engineering students graduating in May, 1982. Pre
ferred degrees are, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and
Metallurgical/Welding. Please sign up for on-campus interviews in
placement office today. A Graver representative will be interviewing on
campus Monday, November 2, 1981.
Ha
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