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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1982)
national Battalion/Page 8 August 18, 1982 Civil rights trial begins Klansman denies shooting United Press International SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Avowed racist Joseph Paul Franklin concluded testimony in his trial by saying he was not in Fort Wayne, Ind., on the night he allegedly shot civil-rights leader Vernon Jordan. Final arguments were sche duled for Tuesday and U.S. Dis trict Judge Allen Sharp said the case would go to the all-white eight-man, four-woman jury ab out noon. Franklin is charged with violating Jordan’s civil rights by shooting him in the back in the parking lot of a Fort Wayne motel on May 29,1980. Prosecu tors claim he was angered after seeing Jordan in a oar with a white woman. Sharp said Monday trying the matter as a civil rights case in federal court instead of an attempted murder case in state court was “pushing federal court jurisdiction close to its con stitutional limits.” In the only day of defense testimony, Franklin denied he had shot Jordan, had bragged about it to fellow jail inmates, or was even in Fort Wayne in 1980. But under cross- examination, Franklin, who is serving a prison sentence for murdering two black joggers in Utah, reaffirmed his hatred of blacks. “I don’t hate every individual black, but I hate the race as a Volcano could erupt again United Press International VANCOUVER, Wash. — Sci entists issued an eruption alert for Mount St. Helens Tuesday, saying the volcano would likely exhibit a mild “domebuilding” eruption within 24 hours. But they did not rule out the possi bility of an explosive event. Larry Voshall of the Washington State Department of Emergency Services said a re striction zone around the peak known as Volcanic Hazard Zone No. 1 was closed. The area en compasses 69,000 acres around the volcano and down the Tou- tle River Valley. “If an eruption should occur today with ash, the wind trajec tories are northeast in a path east of a line from the mountain to Stampede Pass and north of a line from the mountain to Ephrata, blowing from 10 to 55 knots, depending on the alti tude,” Voshall said. “Seismicity and rates of de formation in the crater have accelerated sharply within the last 24 hours following a pattern observed shortly before other recent eruptions,” said Kathy Cashman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey. “Based on this comparison, the expected eruption will prob ably begin within the next 24 hours,” she said. The alert, issued at 7:30 a.m PST, came 18 hours after scien tists predicted the volcano would erupt within four days. Last week, the USGS predicted the volcano would erupt within three weeks. Officials to drop illicit sex probe United Press International WASHINGTON — Federal authorities investigating allega tions of illicit sex and drugs on Capitol Hill are about to drop the sex probe because of a lack of evidence, Justice Department sources said Tuesday. They said, however, author ities are still examining allega tions about cocaine dealing in Congress — a matter that has been before a federal grand jury. One source said the FBI talked to many people in the wake of allegations from three former Capitol Hill pages that members of Congress had soli cited sex from boy pages, but nothing conclusive was found. The Washington Post re ported Tuesday that FBI agents conducting field investigations into the sex allegations have been unable to obtain any evi dence that would warrant a cri minal prosecution. The Post added, however, that Joseph Califano, the newly appointed special counsel to the House ethics committee, is gear ing up his own investigation into the allegations of sex as well as narcotic violations. The Post said sources say Califano’s inquiry is expected to take several months to complete. The newspaper said the Jus tice Department believes it is too early to evaluate charges of drug abuse — including allegations that a drug ring involving Capi tol Hill aides distributed cocaine to members of Congress. Those charges have been the focus of a grand jury investiga tion for the past few months. whole,” Franklin said. “I don’t believe in race mixing or any thing like that.” Court-appointed defense attorney J. Frank Kimbrough asked Franklin if he shot Jor dan, 44, who was president of the Urban League at the time of the attack. “No, I did not,” Franklin said. He also accused the govern ment of planting two prisoners near him to gain information and said they and another pris oners lied when they testified last week he had bragged about shooting a “nigger bigwig.” He said he did not talk to Frank Sweeney, an inmate who said he met Franklin at a prison in Springfield, Mo., because “I knew he was a plant.” “Have you ever said the words) ‘I shot Vernon Jordan?’” Kimbrough asked. “No, I haven’t,” Franklin said. “If I had, they would have recorded it on a tape recorder.” His testimony contradicted that of the inmates, and of a motel employee who said she spoke with Franklin in Fort Wayne about the time of the Jor dan shooting. Mary Howell said she met a motel guest, whom months later she recognized from pictures as Franklin, and he voiced a deep hatred of blacks. The prosecution produced Fort Wayne motel registration cards for the week of the shoot ing and FBI experts said the signatures were Franklin’s. He denied signing the cards. 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