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Thursday, January 17, 1985/The Battalion/Page 11
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STATE AND LOCAL
Confession ruled admissible
Death sentence upheld
Associated Press
AUSTIN — The conviction and
death sentence of an El Paso man
found guilty of killing a donut shop
baker was upheld Wednesday when
the Texas Court of Criminal Ap
peals said there was nothing wrong
with the way the man’s confession
was obtained.
In its 7-2 decision, the court noted
that Joseph Paul Turner voluntarily
went to the police station to answer
questions, signed a statement that he
understood his rights, voluntarily
gave a three-page confession, ini
tialed each page and signed the doc
ument.
According to court records.
Turner confessed that he had
phoned the shop about 3:15 a.m.,
pretending to be an employee of an
other donut store which needed sup
plies. He went to the shop, where he
found Wilson alone.
After the killing, a neighbor living
near the shop, who had heard his
dogs barking in the early morning,
found clothing in a garbage can out
side his house. Police detective Al
fredo Bonilla examined the clothes
and noticed that a pair of boots had
the brand name “Tong Young”
marked on them.
S’
While investigating the killing,
Bonilla assembled a list of former
shop employees and began question
ing each. Turner, who had worked
at the shop, was one of them.
During
unteered that he had purchased a
pair of boots while serving with the
armed forces in Korea. The boots
had a brand name of “Tong,” he
told police. At that point, Bonilla
said, he advised Turner of his rights.
Tupner read his rights, signed a
card saying he had done so, and
made the confession. He then read
the confession and signed it.
But in appealing his conviction,
Turner claimed that the questioning
and his confession were improper,
because the interrogation had taken
place after he had been taken into
custody.
The court flatly rejected his argu
ment.
Murder charges dropped
against Fort Worth suspect
Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas — A mur
der charge accusing a Fort Worth
man of shooting one of the victims in
a string of disappearances and slay
ings of young women was dismissed
Wednesday after prosecutors de
cided they had insufficient evidence.
A fingerprint found on the mur
dered woman’s car — the key piece
of evidence against Timothy Paul
Volkmar — was misidentified and
was not his, Assistant District Attor
ney Steve Chaney said.
Volkmar, 25, was arrested Satur
day and charged with the shooting
death of 20-year-old Lisa Griffin.
Griffin was the latest of five
women to either disappear or be
found slain in southwest Fort Worth
since September. Four other area
murders of women are also under
investigation.
Volkmar was arrested and
charged by the Tarrant County
sheriffs office. But when Fort
Worth police looked at the case in
connection to their own probe into
the murders, they said the finger
print found on Griffin’s car did not
match Volkmar’s print.
Sheriffs officials later concurred.
Volkmar remained in the Tarrant
County jail because of a possible vio
lation of his probation for an unre
lated aggravated assault conviction.
“He’s suffered considerable
harm,” said his attorney, Allan
Butcher. “But it’s premature for me
to say anything about the propriety
of what happened” with the murder
charge.
Volkmar’s parents proclaimed
their son’s innocence before the fin
gerprint was discredited. Their son,
who works as an apartment mainte
nance man, was “being railroaded”
because law enforcement officials
“in this town are desperate for a sus
pect in these killings,” said Lloyd
Volkmar, Timothy Volkmar’s fa
ther.
Griffin’s body was found in south
west Tarrant County on Jan. 10 with
a single gunshot wound in the head.
Her car was found parked behind a
nearby shopping center.
The crime spree has prompted
formation of a special police task
force to investigate the nine differ
ent cases of missing or slain women.
Tarrant County sheriffs deputies
handled the Griffin case — one of
the nine — because her body was
found outside the city limits.
Pensions
Employees' retirement plans in jeopardy
Associated Press
DALLAS — Changing business
practices and government interfer
ence have outdated the pension
plans of millions of American work
ers, according to a study released
Wednesday by a Dallas professor.
Americans’ often-snort tenure
with a company, increased failures
of companies, and inappropriate
federal government policies estab
lished over 60 years have combined
to push the private pension industry
into a crisis, said Edward Harpham,
a professor at the University of
Texas at Dallas.
In the study, Harpham said pen
sion plans based on lifetime employ
ment are unrealistic.
American males have been work
ing for their current employers only
seven years, and female workers
only five years on the average, he
said.
A company’s longevity also can be
cut short, he said. Braniff Interna
tional’s bout with bankruptcy pro
ceedings is one example of what can
happen to workers when companies
get in trouble.
When the federal government
took over Braniff s pension liabilities
after the airline filed for reorganiza
tion in 1983, it didn’t pay everything
Braniff had promised, Harpham
said.
Harding Lawrence, former chair
man of Braniff, was counting on a
pension of $306,000 per year, out all
he received was $16,568, Harpham
said.
Federal policies, too, have helped
to antiquate the pension system. By
promoting flawed practices over the
past 60 years, they’ve pushed the
private pension industry into trou
ble, Harpham said.
The government is encouraging
companies with healthy pension
plans to terminate them while
urging firms in financial trouble to
dump their pension liabilities on the
government, he said.
The federal government is al
ready the trustee for over 1,000 pri
vate pension plans, and the number
is steadily growing, he said.
The study says employees of fi
nancially healthy companies have
reason to worry, too. Current law of
ten allows employers with high-per
forming pension funds to end their
plans, pay off employees and pocket
liffere
)tg surprise to
id to thi
the difference.
“This comes as a big
the workers, who tend to think of
pension fund assets as theirs,” said
Harpham, an assistant professor of
government and political economy.
Since 1,300 large companies have
ended their pension plans and cap
tured $2.8 billion in surplus assets,
the study said. And another 90 com
panies have announced that they in
tend to end their plans and pocket
$1.1 billion in surplus assets.
The study recommends that fed
eral tax and labor law be changed to
encourage a pension system similar
to the one used at most private col
leges and universities.
Under those plans, pension
money is held in separete trust
funds, independent of company
managers and union officials.
Man sets fire to himself, 2-year-old son
Associated Press
FORT WORTH — A Fort Worth
man apparently doused himself and
his son, 2, with gasoline Wednesday
and set it afire, killing both of them,
authorities said.
James McCrary, 35, was found on
a bed in a front bedroom and his
son, James Andrew McCrary, was
found on the floor at the foot of the
bed after firefighters put out the
blaze, said Capt. W.E. Dunkin, head
of the Fire Department’s arson divi
sion.
“The mother was at work and two
older daughters, 7 and 8, were at
school,” Dunkin said.
He said he didn’t know what
prompted the incident.
“Apparently there were some
mental problems,” Dunkin said.
The cause of the fire was not
firmly established but “we found
some evidence of gasoline around
both bodies,” he said.
tFrX
faiqbow stofe
Clearance Sale
25 % -50 % off everything!
25% of all stuffed animals, cards,
containers, stickers & anything
else in the store
40% off all plastic containers
40% off all tin cans
50% off all Marshall pottery
50% off all Christmas merchandise
‘ ‘We've Done Your Shopping For You’’
Post Oak Mall 764-0470
RocSports
DresSports
g 19^ 65 —
Shoe/Boot Clearance
4 Outerwear Sale
Sat. Jan 12,— Sat. Jan 19
Sale Prices on Every
Shoe 3 Boot in Stock
& Herman Insulated Waterproof
Boot y£F& 59 ^
$ Danner Goretex Boot
e»9°2
Asolo Lite Wt. Hiker
c? Asolo Reid Boot
9905
d’Nike Magma LiteWt. Boot
Ranger Moccasins
190a
Also included: Assorted clogs,men's
£ women's sandals, fleece mbcs,
plus many other shoes and boots.
AH Insulated Outerwear
20% to 40% off
Whole Earth Anacacho Bookpacks
_37*<r 27S5-
All Sales Final - in Stock Items Only
WKole Earth Provision
105 Boyett College Station 646-8794
ATTENTION!
ALL ENGINEERS
SUMMER ENGINEER POSITIONS
What does a summer engineer do in
MANUFACTURING
MANAGEMENT?
FIND OUT! COME TO
Procter & Gamble’s
Open House
Thursday, January 17, 7:00 p.m.
Rudder Tower Room 701
February 20 & 21 Interviews
Signup: January 21 - February 1 at the Placement Center
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE!
STEREO EQUIPMENT TO BUY,
SELL, TRADE OR CONSIGN
Authorized Service and Repair Dept.
FREE ESTIMATES
Warranty on All Used Equipment Sold j
New Home and Car Stereos
Trade-Ins Given on Used Equipment
Bargain Sounds
3806 A Old College Rd.
In the Old Custom Sounds Location
846-4607 Bryan