Page 14/The Battalion/Wednesday, April 10, 1985 ET CElSfeR/i SHOE see? THESE APEN'T suai 0&psgAT6... r—— 1 KIPPIH6? I by Jeff MacNeiiy state group reviews indigent health care Associated Press AUSTIN — Preventing pregnan cies might be the most cost-effective method of dealing with health care for the indigent, said Rep. Brad Wright, R Houston, chairman of a House committee taking testimony Tuesday on the matter. uninsured in Texas, said Helen Fa- rabee, head of the task force. Oliver said his bill would provide prenatal care and birth services for about 50,000 women, resulting in about 150 fewer infant deaths each 'We’ve got to address that issue,” Wright said after a brief session of the House Public Health Committee. "We’ve already heard it will save money." Wife finishes husband's term Widow recalls sheriffs job The committee was assigned the task of considering four bills recom mended by the Task Force on Indi gent Health C.are, including one that would levy a 1 percent tax on net profits of private hospitals. Dr. David Smith, head of the Brownsville Community C linic, said he had three patients who needed a Caesarean section but did not have the money to go to a hospital for the surgery. He said he had a "waiting li ne” of 300 women who did not hav e the $400 or $500 necessary for tubal ligations so they could not have any more children. Associated Press BIG SPRINT; — Lucille Merrick tenderly picked up the pair of pol ished handcuffs. “My husband had these en graved," said the county’s only woman sheriff. She held the steel cuffs up to the window so light gleamed on the block letters spelling her late husband’s name, “A.j. Mer- rick." She sorted through the rest of the items on the table near her: the pearl-handled Colt automatic pistol; the short, lead-heavy leather club; a set of four sheriff's badges — keep sakes of her and her husband’s ten ures as Howard County sherif f . The gun is hers, though she never used it during the 1 1 months she fol lowed her husband in office. She served as Howard County sheriff f rom Feb. 7, 1944, to Dec. 31, 1944. “Working helped me cope,” said Merrick, 78. “Mv husband died Feb. 3, 1944, from a heart attack,” she said. “They buried him the 6th, and the commis sioners appointed me sheriff the 7th.” ‘I didn 't ever lock but one person up. There was a teenager who had given us a lot of trouble. I saw him walking down the sidewalk (in front of the courthouse), so I called to him and brought him into the office, and we arrested him. ,i ~~~ Lucille Men ick called to him and brought him into the office, and we arrested him.” Merrick also had a jailbreak dur ing her term in office. “One of the lesser deputies left the door open after feeding the pris oners," she said. “There weren’t very many. We got them all back within a couple days. Wright said the four measures probably would go to a “friendly" subcommittee chaired by Rep. (esse Oliver, D-Dallas, author of three of the measures, to be returned for a vote next week. "If the state has an obligation to take care of the indigent, do we have the right to stop people from having children?” the committee chairman asked. “There were always jailbreaks then. We had a combination lock, arfd after the deputies fed the pris oners, they weren't always careful to see if it was locked right.” The first bill to be heard would provide more services and tare for indigent mot hers and their children. “Basically the indigent are the Smith said, "I think many of these people would like to have the opera tion but don’t have the money.” Wright said. “It seems to me we should have some means of dealing with repeat pregnancies and the vol untary way may not be the way to do it.” Gl twins ‘buddies’ Merrick stayed away f rom the of fice when she was first appointed to fill her husband’s place. Later, she came to enjoy working in the office. Other widows in the nearby coun ties of Dawson and Glasscock had been chosen to replace then hus bands about the same time. In Dawson County Mrs. Joe Ray ran for re-election after her appoint ment and won, Merrick said. “It was not unusual (for a widow to be appointed),” Merrick said. “ There were several men who asked for the appointment but the com missioners court and the county judge, James Brooks, asked me to do it. They were very supportive.” “If I hadn’t had the the responsi bility, it would have been much harder," she said. “I would have been alone more. I felt like it was something I must do. My husband was elected to the office, and I felt I had to finish his term.” Merrick said she concentrated on the administration and office work in her tenure; the chief deputy un der her husband, Denver Dunn, was in charge of the field work, she said. "I didn't ever lock but one person up,” she said. “T here was a teenager who had given us a lot of trouble. I saw him walking down the sidewalk (in front of the courthouse), so I Merrick said she didn’t regret her h asband’s career, though it caused many sleepless nights during the 20 years they were married. “He was a deputy sheriff when I met him, when I was working in the sheriff’s and county tax offices in La- mesa.” she said. “I didn't mind him being off. He liked that kind of work. He liked trying to figure out why people would do things. “There were many nights when I stayed up to 3:00 or 4:00 . waiting for him to get home. I worried about him. I didn't worry about me. I wasn’t out in the field." When Andrew Merrick first started working for the Howard County sherif f's office, the town was in the middle of an oil boom, and bootleggers had operations all over town. “It was dangerous to walk down the 100 block of Main,” Merrick said. “My husband wouldn’t let me walk clown the sidewalk by myself. Associated Press FORI HOOD — James Car penter is seven minutes older than his brother Jon, but both have been in the Army for exactly the same amount of time. Sgts. 1st C lass James Carpenter and Jon Carpenter enlisted in the Army 16 years ago, in then home town of Stow, Mass., 'under the “buddy system,” which allows “bud dies" to enter the Army together and guarantees they will stay together through basic and advanced individ ual training. But the togetherness didn’t stop there. After basic and ATT, both were sent to the same two-week door-gun ner course, and then in 1970, both were sent to the same unit in Viet- The Carpenters are now together at Fort Hood — for the second time. In 1970, after fighting with the 282nd Assault Helicoptei Company in Vietnam, they were assigned to the same unit in Fort Hood Fort Hood is the only U.S. post to which either one of them has permanently been assigned, and other than a three-year tour in Germany and his Vietnam service, Jon has spent his entire military career at Fort Hood. Even though they’re in the same company again, seperate jobs and families give the two little time to gether. narn. “You really weren’t supposed to have two brothers fighting in a com bat situation at the same time,” James Carpenter said. It sounds as if it would get pretty confusing — two brothers, same ini tials, same rank and same Social Se curity number except for the Iasi two digits. James said his brother gets all tin- good assignments and jokingly said there must have been a mix up. Halt put to no-risk speeding Associated Press BRIDGEPORT — Tinders driving through Wise Cbunit "kept me hammei down" on their acc elerators after learning tht county attorney refused to pro ecute t rat f it tickets appealed iu disti u i court, officials said. Bui that's all a thing ul the pan nt>w, saitl Pat Morris, who tool ovei m January as the fiewcounn attoi nev for Wise County. 1 he old reputation of refusmj u> proset me the tickets led irud ers it) thunder down State High way 1 14 instead of the teurt mended l S 380-287 to (kfivfl their 35-ton loads of sand ami gravel to Dallas area constructin sites. "1 didn't go to law school fori three years to try traffic cases, bu Wise County is kind of unique.' M orris told the Dallas limes Herald. A state crackdown on reckless driving produced more than 1,500 traffic tickets last month in Wise County, and Morris prom ises that a vigorous effort will be made to collec t fines on them Police and local prosecutors so ihev hope (his enforcementeffott succ eeds where others hart tailed In the past, they say, mid et s slewed traffic tickets in Wist Countv as little more thansnral Vol. 80 [Count) Ivn Ruffir Ictsion new trial del Gabri ECuadr; o| tampe an inves death of Goodrich |Cuadr; line Jr., for a ties annoyances. "It’s been a lug problem i» Wise County for a longtime Mot t is said. "All those troopers w rite a lot ol tickets, butithasni done a lot in terms of deterren ce. In Wise County, 1,257 ticket were appealed to district courtib 1984. and virtually every onew routinely dismissed, Morrissaid. Former C.ounty Attorney Sari Gallo said he used the polk) ol dismissing the tickets in disttid conn because lus staff was ion small and the court dockei W' ove re rose ded. I i oopers are scheduled loom- tinue their Wise County crack down through June, tsingi $50,000 federal grant, five amt tional police cars patrol Wist County highways II days eack month. ■ The 1 gbits is newly eh vid flier Mass unr H Gov. ' choose a (ion left the resit chairmai resentuti fue said ■ Don l levelopc lier this 1 cam pus being co sition, s; PARTMENT HUNTING assistan S White’s ( Stock ment or or who t GOT YOU SWAMPED? r nc (xACi., Mj? SAN an abr aid Wi Ran is uaintt eader problet jquire n "er the For icials k nd “n Rob. ation. ut ar riefec rom ranch. M If you’re bogged down in your apartment search, don't lose hope. Help is on the way! Now there’s Treehouse Village, a brand new community of one- and two- bedroom furnished ana unfurnished apartments , including the popular two-bedroom roommate floor plan. 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