Tuesday, January 31, 1984/The Battalion/Page 11
awyer believes 'Silkwood'
to be far from the truth
leaded P ress International
YorluJ I° wa — I he movie
, ’ ‘Silkwood” does not give the
eal story behind the death of
" iaren Silkwood because the
noviemakers feared a libel
Hist run iU ' 1 would be filed by Kerr-
! (| ie | ( McGee Corp., a lawyer said
I level # Ilda y-
Llst „ et| .|| Dan Sheehan, one of the
icalpi id 0I 'neys who won a $10.5
piion civil suit against Kerr
hat ii ^cGeeCorp. on behalf of the
leni | H iilkwood estate, told students
n[ j ijj it Iowa State University that
e| s 0 | he nation’s laws do not pro-
ect workers like Silkwood.
Bilk wood was killed in a car
, , ccident in 1974, while she
hroederl. , ’ • ,
vas on her way to meet with a
ne, I 11 " eporter to discuss possible
afely violations in the Kerr-
4|:Gee Cimmaron plutonium
ilam at Crescent, Okla.
ru , s . 0 BMarks found on her car
etnuiMwed the vehicle was
mslied off the road by
1 i m F Bther car. A manila folder
ider
Silkwood said contained evi
dence of safety hazards at the
plant — and that she planned
to give the reporter — was
never found.
Particles of plutonium — a
man-made radioactive subst
ance considered one of the
most toxic in the world — had
been found earlier in her
apartment. Silkwood had
been contaminated by high
levels of radiation before her
death.
Although the recently re
leased movie has focused pub
lic attention on Silkwood’s
case, Sheehan still has a num
ber of complaints about “Silk
wood.”
“They were extraordinarily
considerate of Kerr-McGee,”
Sheehan said. He said
moviemakers feared a libel
suit, so they blackened Silk-
wood’s character and down
played some of the issues to
appease the company.
Sheehan has never been
able to press his claim that
Kerr-McGee deliberately ex
posed Silkwood to plutonium
“They never wanted
to kill her,” he said.
“All they were trying
to do was ‘max’ her
out,” by increasing
her radiation expo
sure to the lifetime
maximum allowed for
nuclear workers
under federal regula
tions, “to make her
leave, to get her out of
their hair. ”
her,” he said. “All they were
trying to do was ‘max’ her
out,” by increasing her radia
tion exposure to the lifetime
maximum allowed for nuclear
workers under federal regula
tions, “to make her leave, to
get her out of their hair.”
He also absolves the com
pany of a conspiracy to mur
der Silkwood, making the
death look like a traffic acci
dent.
“They didn’t want to kill
her,” Sheehan stressed. “They
just wanted to run her off the
road and get those documents
back.”
by placing it in food in her
apartment — although he
does not suspect the company
of trying to kill her with it.
“They never wanted to kill
Although Sheehan lost a
civil suit alleging Silkwood’s
civil rights were violated by a
“federal conspiracy” to pre
vent her from releasing the
documents, he won the dam
age suit against Kerr-McGee
for allowing Silkwood to be
contaminated by plutonium
from the plant.
4r MSC ALL-NITE FAIR PRESENTS
c
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4
7:00 PIVI - 3:00 AM
$1 ADM. MSC
FEATURING =
the Executives
it 'olice murder trial starts
5rt
United Press International
MIAMI — An all-white jury
scalled Monday to hear open-
l comr ; arguments in the volatile
ig presr tl of a Cuban-born policeman
ocedur o killed a black youth in a
scific b ltto arcade, setting off three
e them :ys of racial rioting,
urces; Luis Alvarez, 24, is on trial
> wittaiftianslaughter for the fatal
ig woul wtingofNevell Johnson Jr., a
it pure:>year-old black, at a video
Jeficier me arcade in the Overtown
;oumin;etto.
proper Ajury of three men and three
available men, one of whom is the only
project'tin on the panel, plus a man
ings: il woman as alternates, was
numei )sen late Friday after eight
receivtifs of questioning. Circuit
notbeeclge David Gersten held off
wo yea: earing in the jury until Mon-
and pro® afternoon in case of appeals
:r their selection to a higher
aal weislrt.
m rece No appeals developed over
[ not beci weekend, during which the
ifther signaled jury was seques-
lutomaitfd.
itemacfOne juror chosen Thursday
reform ew a legal hitch into the selec-
lad beenth process when he said he had
ceived an anonymous
idblastepeatening telephone call.
(Joaj His statement, which came
arlier aril before ajury was to be sworn
asiersakffoiced an overnight delay
ie equipH ailot her go-around in the
:ction process.
'acuumirfhe juror, Guillermo Mar-
igust l 0 > was scheduled to be sent-
_ a j :ed Monday for contempt of
i ihepasl'i rt ' Gersten cited him for con
i' $687 MP 1 when he found that Mar-
ohad gone to work although
ictor hatl was instructed to remain at
ss costii
led in
been used
home, and had told several peo
ple he was on the Alvarez jury
after being ordered not to dis
cuss the case with anyone.
The jurors finally chosen are
white middle-class citizens rang
ing in age from 32 to 67. A num
ber of black activists in the com
munity protested the exclusion
of blacks from the panel. The
only four blacks considered
were dismissed during the chal
lenging process.
Alvarez, an 18-month mem
ber of the Miami police force at
the time, claimed the shooting of
Johnson on Dec. 28, 1982, was
accidental. He told investigators
he was showing his rookie part
ner, Louis Gruz, the ropes in a
high-crime area when he spot
ted a suspicious bulge at the pit
of Johnson’s back.
UNDERGROUND DELI AND STORE
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BREAKFAST 7:30am - 10:30am
LUNCH 10:30am - 3:30pm
Mon— Friday
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and enfi
After determining the bulge
was a concealed handgun,
Alvarez said he drew his service
revolver and pointed it upward.
As he asked Cruz to get the
handgun, Alvarez said Johnson
suddenly jerked around, caus
ing the policeman’s gun to fire
accidentally.
The bullet struck Johnson in
the head and the youth, a Dade
County courier with no police
record, died the next day. Three
days of rioting ensued, during
which another man died and 26
were injured.
The police report on the inci
dent said Alvarez was away from
his assigned beat at the time of
the shooting.
= '\
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Wed., Feb. 1 Thur., Feb. 2
8:15 - 12 noon
1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
8:15 - 12 noon
1:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Meet with some of the nation’s big
gest recnxiters. Over 60 companies
will be represented this gear. Bring
your resumes and questions.
Booths
1st Floor,
Blocker Bldg.
/T
Last Chance
%
to
turn in your
PARENTS OF THE YEAR
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Deadline extended to
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Turn in at Pavillion
J \
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j
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