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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1986)
1111HMMWIMH »- A . \ ; • . ' * A&M to continue designing transportation system to Mars — Page 7 Lady Ags find little trouble in defeating Horned Frogs — Page 8 AIM TEXAS AGGIES \\1\WI VV/11 TheBattalion 1.83 No. 96 (ASPS 045360 16 pages College Station, Texas • Wednesday, February 12, 1986 Jewish dissident freed, gets welcome in Israel Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel — Anatoly Sh- charansky, the Soviet human rights activist imprisoned for nine years as a spy, was freed on a snowy Berlin bridge-Tuesday and flown to a tu multuous, emotional welcome in Is rael. The 38-year-old Jewish dissident had become known as the “prisoner of Zion,” a focus for international Jewry and symbol of Jews who are not allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Also included in the East-West prisoner exchange on Berlin’s Glie- nicke Bridge were five people held in the West on spy charges and three held in the East. Shcharansky was freed first, apart from the others, to emphasize the U.S. insistence that he was not a spy. He was arrested in 1977 and a Soviet court convicted him of spying for the CIA, sentencing him in 1978 to 13 years imprisonment. Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir embraced Shcharansky as he and his wife Avital, who met him in Frank furt, stepped from the Israeli exec utive jet at Ben-Gurion Airport. The ceremony was broadcast live on ra dio and television. “How are you?” Peres asked. “Ev erything is okay,” Shcharansky said. They spoke in Hebrew. Shcharansky clasped his hands above his head in victory, then held hands with Avital as she introduced him to Cabinet members, helping him with his Hebrew. For more than a decade she has lived in Israel and campaigned for his freedom. About 3,000 people gathered out side the terminal building cheered and waved as the Shcharanskys and Peres went inside to telephone Presi dent Reagan. “We thanked him for his tireless efforts out of a deep feeling for the Jewish people and an inner convic tion that the Jewish people deserve to leave the Soviet Union,” the prime minister said. The 45-minute prisoner exchange was the latest of several on the Glie- nicke Bridge, a green metal struc ture across the Havel River between West Berlin and Potsdam in commu nist East Germany. This one came 24 years and a day after American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers and Kremlin master spy Rudolf Abel were exchanged there. The snow had been cleared from a 4-inch-wide line in the middle of See Soviet, page 15 U.S. diplomat will go to Philippines Don’t Sell Them Short Photo by ANTHONY S. CASPER The Vienna Choir Boys, under the direction of show in Rudder Auditorium. The 23 choristers iPeter Marschik, perform at Tuesday’s sold-out are one of two touring groups. See story, page 3. Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Reagan said Tuesday night the United States is neutral in the bitter Philippines presidential election, and announced plans to send vet eran U.S. diplomat Philip Habib to Manila to “help nurture the hopes and possibilities of democracy.” “We’re neutral, and we then hope to have the same relationship with the people of the Philippines that we’ve had all these years,” the presi dent said at a nationally televised news conference. In a written statement distributed moments before he stepped before White House reporters, Reagan said he found it disturbing that the elec tion had been “flawed by reports of fraud, which we take seriously, and by violence.” In his statement, Reagan said he was sending Habib to meet with leaders of both political parties as well as with church and government officials and representatives of pri vate sector groups. Reagan added that the adminis tration is concerned “about the vio lence that was evident there and the possibility of fraud. It could have been all of that was occurring on both sides.” Asked about the release earlier in the day of Soviet dissident Anatoly Shcharansky, Reagan said he “talked at great length about human rights” with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorba chev at their summit last November. Reagan said he thought there had been an increase in such emigrations since then. On another foreign policy issue, the president said the United States’ only involvement in the downfall of Haitian President-for-Life Jean Claude Duvalier was in “providing an airplane” to fly him into exile in France. He said Duvalier did not seek advice about his departure, and the United States offered none. Reagan sidestepped a question of whether the United States would re sume aid to Haiti, suspended be cause of human rights absues under the Duvalier regime. See related story , page 15 officials say Tylenol death an isolated poisoning case Associated Press YONKERS, N.Y. — A woman io died of cyanide poisoning after ing Tylenol capsules, leading lusands of stores nationwide to :ethem off their shelves, was mur- red by someone who placed the ison inside the package within the 110 days, a county official said lesday. Westchester County Executive drew O’Rourke said at a news |erence, “We are dealing with a ieof murder.” No one has been charged in the Jth of Diane Elsroth, 23, of Peeks- Uho died Saturday at her boyf- nd’s home. County Chief Medical Examiner ■ Millard Hyland, who appeared til O’Rourke, did not pinpoint ten cyanide was introduced into “We are dealing with a case of murder. ’’ — Andrew O’Rourke, Westchester County exec utive. the capsules, which left the factory in August. The potassium cyanide would eat through a gelatin capsule in eight to 10 days, he said. An FBI investigation turned up no evidence that poison had been placed in any packages of Tylenol other than the one used by Elsroth, Joseph Valiquette, an FBI spokes man in New York, said. FBI spokesman Bob Long said in Chicago there’s no evidence to indi cate any link between the New York death and those in 1982. Authorities announced Monday Elsroth had been fatally poisoned by cyanide after taking Tylenol on Sat urday. Three other capsules in the bottle she used contained the poison, officials said. Yonkers Deputy Police Chief Owen McClain said there were no suspects in Elsroth’s killing. Frank Young, commissioner of the federal Food and Drug Adminis tration, said no poison had been found in other Tylenol bottles. “There is no evidence of any bot tles being involved beyond this par ticular one,” Young said. Police in Yonkers received only about half a dozen calls from resi dents saying they had bottles from the Tylenol lot number — ADF916, with a May 1987 expiration date — that Elsroth used. Her bottle was bought at an A&P in Bronxville. The batch, about 200,000 bottles of 24 capsules each, was shipped Aug. 22 and by now most of it prob ably has been sold and used, Robert Kniffin, a Johnson & Johnson spokesman, said. The company advised callers not to use Tylenol capsules for the next few days. Elsroth, who had been spending the weekend in the home of her boyfriend, Michael Notarnicola, felt ill and took two Tylenol capsules early Saturday, McClain said. The capsules were from a new bottle that Notarnicola opened, he said. Elsroth was discovered dead ruck like principal's seen near site New evidence in Fontenot trial Associated Press LIVINGSTON — A gas pipeline worker Uesday said he saw a pickup truck similar to the leowned by school principal Hurley Fontenot nerge from the woods April 13, the day after HyMac Fleming disappeared. Fleming, 36, a Hull-Daisetta Woodson Junior igh School football coach, was found dead in «same woods 10 days later. William Hulin, 32, a gas controller for Pan andle Eastern Trunkline Gas Co. of Houston, id he could not identify the make of the truck it described it as a dark vehicle with a camper ell on the back. Fontenot, former principal at e school, owns a similar truck. Hulin’s testimony angered defense attorney ick DeGuerin who asked for a mistrial because ulin is a friend of a juror. DeGuerin asked State Disrict Judge John Mar- ' to remove the juror or to . declare a mistrial, artin, however, denied both motions. Hulin’s testimony completed the state’s case ainst Fontenot, 48, who is accused of mur- hng Fleming. The trial resumes Thursday. Earlier Tuesday, defense attorneys tried to show that Fontenot was a good friend of Nu gent’s and was glad she was marrying Fleming. Nugent, in her second day of testimony and wearing a gold chain she received from Fonte not, said Fontenot also gave her and Fleming a microwave oven. Under cross examination, DeGuerin asked Nugent if in fact Fontenot had jilted her so he could re-marry his wife. Nugent replied, “yes.” Nugent described her relationship with Fonte not as “occasional” from late 1982. Nugent said her relationship with Fontenot was based more on their ability to talk to each other than a sexual relationship because Fonte not’s heart problems prevented them from eng aging in frequent sex. By September 1984, she said, the relationship was no longer romantic and sexual. Early in 1985, she said that Fontenot showed her a wedding ring set although he did not spe cifically ask her to get married.” She said he told her later that the rings were his sister’s and he had them because he had taken them to get cleaned. But Dorothy Parsons, Nugent’s best friend. testified Fontenot called her requesting Nugent’s ring size. “He came by my house and showed me the rings,” Parsons said. “He said his sister went with him and picked them out.” When asked who they were for, she said Fon tenot replied that they were for Laura. Nugent said the night before Fleming disap peared, he had talked to his estranged wife, Lynda, on the telephone. She said that Fleming had become very upset and angry. Outside the presence of the jury, Nugent said Fleming told his wife he was changing the benefi ciary on his insurance from her name to Laura Nugent. The judge, however, refused to allow that con versation into evidence. The judge also refused to allow testimony that Fleming had considered suicide and even had held the gun in his hand with the idea of taking his own life. In addition, Martin refused testimony that in dicated Fleming feared a former business asso ciate was engaged in arson and drug dealing and that he may have feared for his own life. “There is no evidence of any bottles being involved beyond this particular one.” — Frank Young, federal Food and Drug Adminis tration commissioner. known each other three years. Els roth worked as a stenographer for a real estate company. Her father, John, is a state police investigator. Police Commissioner Joseph V. Fernandes said Westchester County Deputy Medical Examiner Louis Roh discovered the pain-killer and cyanide in Miss Elsroth’s body dur ing an autopsy, and told police the poison may have been in the Tylenol capsule. about 12 hours later, after failing to appear for breakfast or lunch. No- tarnicola’s mother swallowed a Tyle nol from the bottle without ill effect after the body was found, according to Marc Moran, a county govern ment spokesman. The victim and Notarnicola had Johnson 8c Johnson said it would extend credit or an exchange to any customers who turned in Tylenol from the batch under investigation. The company said more informa tion could be gotten through a toll- free telephone call to a subsidiary, McNeil Consumer Product Co., at 800-237-9800. Number of newborns with syphilis lower Associated Press AUSTIN — A new system of requiring blood tests during pre gnancy and within 24 hours after birth kept more than 500 babies from being born with syphilis last year in Texas, state and federal health officials said. Texas reported an estimated 35 percent of the nation’s con genital syphilis cases last year, but public health officials say that ap parent high rate reflects the thor oughness of the state’s reporting compared with that of other spates. In 1985, Texas had 96 cases of congenital syphilis — in which the disease contracted by a mother is passed on to her fetus — a drop from the 1984 total of 103, which was 44 percent of the national to tal. “There is gross under-report ing” in other states, said Consuelo Beck-Sague, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Dis ease Control in Atlanta. _ The Texas system, which re quires blood tests during preg nancy and again within 24 hours after delivery, last year detected and led to treatment of more than 500 pregnant women with syphilis. “That’s 500 babies that didn’t develop congenital syphilis,” said Joe Pair, director of the venereal control division of the Texas De partment of Health. Texas changed its blood test law in 1984. Syphilis’ course is easy to track. In the short run, the infection can produce a premature baby or a stillbirth. In the long run, it can mean blindness, heart disease or deformities. » Frustrated health officials say that the congenital syphilis rate See Newborns’, page 15
