Page 6 THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1981
Baylor prof devises method
Hair identifies blood types
United Press International
WACO — A new technique de
veloped by a biologist at Baylor
University can determine the
blood types of individuals solely
from samples of hair.
Forensic science experts say
that the test is important because
it could be used to narrow the
number of suspects in criminal
cases in which hair samples are
gathered as evidence.
Previous methods to' determine
blood types from hair samples
were not reliable enough, a fore
nsic science expert said. But Dr.
F. Ray Wilson, associate professor
of physiology at Baylor Universi
ty, along with graduate biology
student Susan Kentroti, de
veloped the process. And Wilson
said his new method is foolproof.
Wilsons rtiethod uses tiny
flecks of iron called “ferritin” com
bined with type A and type B anti
bodies. These 1 solutions attach
themselves to the elements in the
hair called “antigens,” which indi
cate blood types. Antigens are
present in all tissues in the body,
Wilson-said.
The method uses an electron
microsoch'pe to find tiny flecks of
iron in the,hair.
If a typ e A ferritin-antibody
solution “sticks” to a hair sample,
Wilson said, the blood is either
type A or type AB. If the type B
solution also sticks, it is type AB. If
neither A nor B solutions stick, the
blood type is O, Wilson said.
“We never had any problems
with this technique at all,” Wilson
said. “It’s 100 percent foolproof.
I’m sure this will be a standard
procedure within six months to a
year.
“If I were ‘Quincy, or anyone
working on an assault or murder or
rape case. I’d want to try this test. ”
Dr. Irving Stone, a foresenic sci
entist at the University of Texas’
Southwestern Medical Center In
stitute of Forensic Science in Dal
las, said the method needs testing
and verification by other crime
laboratories, but said it shows
great promise.
“Hair from a crime scene can
eliminate 50 percent of the sus
pect population,” Stone said.
“The potential for this test is su
perb.
“It’s at a point where we need
other laboratories and other work
ers to repeat the work. If it does
work, then we will have a signifi
cant new development.”
Wilson and Kentroti spent ab
out eight or nine months working
on the technique and finished the
research about two months ago,
Wilson said.
He said using a shampoo to
wash the hair before beginning
the process was a major element in
the experiment s success. Before
washing the hair, the antibody
solution would stick to particles
that would hinder the studies, he
said.
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Insurance board debati
homeowner reductions
United Press International
AUSTIN — Members of the
State Insurance Board were re
luctant to question a new law
providing homeowner insur
ance discounts for the installa
tion of anti-burglary devices in
residences, even though insur
ance industry representatives
called the measure unconstitu
tional.
The 1981 Texas Legislature
passed a law ordering special re
ductions in homeowner insur
ance rates for persons who in
stall deadbolt locks on doors and
special locks on windows.
Gaylon Daniel, insurance
board staff actuary, recom
mended insurance reductions
of 10 percent in counties along
the Texas Gulf Coast, 9 percent
for homeowners in the central
part of the state and 3 percent in
north and northwest Texas.
Insurance industry repre
sentatives argued the bill was
unconstitutional and if the dis
counts for anti-burglary devices
were offered, they should not
be more than 2 percent of the
premium.
Mary Joe Carroll, the attor
ney representing the Texas In
surance Advisory Association,
contended the bill unfairly dis
criminates against businesses
that might install the same anti
theft devices but will not qualify
for the homeowner rate dis
counts.
performing a disservice 1(1
public if you permit tlrj
plementation ola statute ti
subject to constitui
attack.”
Carroll noted the I
not permit insurance |
for homes with extensive(j
lar alarm systems, orv
devices other than thoselj
in the new law.
"The Legislature weutjl
po i m t of absurdity when it
She also contended the law
improperly delegates to the
Texas Crime Prevention Insti
tute the authority to license in
spectors to determine if
homeowners qualify for the spe
cial discounts.
lied this,” she said.
Board member IS
()lson said, however,henj
luctant to not implementil
passed by the Legislature [
“I urge you to delay any im
plementation until you have
submitted the question of con
stitutionality to the attorney
general,” she said. “You will he
The Legislature is sajj
os that they think it’s
lie policy to give insura
centives to stop stealinji
said. 'That’s theonlytliiin
think of unless it’s somes
interest trying to pawno
burglary systems.”
Victim says wrong man
accused; court disagrees!
United Press International
BRIDGE CITY — A prosecutor
says Jon B. Simonis knew too
many details of a 1979 sexual
attack on a woman and her chil
dren not to have committed the
“ski-mask assault, but the woman
disagrees.
Clarence Von Williams was
cleared of charges related to the
attack and released from jail last
week. But the 42-year-old victim
says Williams, not Jon B. Simonis,
assaulted her and her children.
Orange County Assistant Dis
trict Attorney Jim Jenkins said
Tuesday that Simonis gave details
in a videotaped statement that
only the rapist would have known
about the attack.
“He knew too many details not
to have committed the rape,
Jenkins said. He added that he
had no doubt that Williams was
innocent.
A state district judge, following
prosecutors’ recommendations
based on the videotape, declared a
mistrial last week in the October
trial in which Williams was con
victed of the assault and sentenced
to 50 years in prison.
But the victim of the attack said
Williams, not Simonis, was the
man who raped her at gunpoint
and forced her to engage in group
sex with her teenage son and
daughter.
After viewing the taped state
ment, filmed in Louisiana where
Simonis was recently sentenced to
231 years in prison following his
guilty plea in the sexual)
Jena, La., family, the
stood by her charge.
She said the inform)
available through the ne
and the public trial.
But Jenkins said Sim
more than was available
ing the victims’ names,
how the house was ent
descriptions of the assaal
v '
on
Orange County Attoi
Wright said that desp\teS^
admission, he does not pi
him.
"ft would be
case even with strong si;
Tin
IIX'
if the victims don t agree!
pect is the right man, kl
Marching monks protest
nuclear arms productioi
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All Juniors
and seniors,
cirr shot::
United Press International
AMARILLO — The leader of a
group of Buddhist monks who
marched from a Catholic school to
a government nuclear weapon
plant says a similar march in the
Soviet Union made him believe
people wanted peace.
“People everywhere want
peace, the Rev. Gyoten Yoshida
said Tuesday. “It is the instinct of
all people.”
The monks walked 18 miles
from from the Alamo Catholic
High School to the Department of
Energy’s Pantex facility where
nuclear weapons are assembled to
protest the production of nuclear
s arms.
The group, which included five
Buddhist monks and one Buddhist
nun from Japan, a Buddhist monk
from Sri Lanka and several lay
people, are participating in an
eight-month walk from Los
Angeles, Calif., to New York City
to attend the United Nations nuc
lear disarmament talks which be
gin in June.
During a peace vigil, the monks
chanted and beat their drums to
protest what Yoshida called the
growing nuclear arms race. The
monk encouraged the group and
the spectators to rise up together
to end the nuclear threat.
He said the rest of the world
would look up to and follow the
United States if the couill
ped the arms race andcjJ
peace.
“It would he a shining!
for humankind,’ he said. I
From Amarillo, the gtoj
to walk about 20 miles ail
they reach New York ini
the UN disarmament tJ
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