Monday, March 24, 1986/The Battalion/Page 5
^Congressman
^defends vote
'nfor Contra aid
HI
Associated Press
BROWNSVILLE — Rep. Solo
mon Ortiz, one of only two Mexi-
i-American congressman to
jpport sending military aid to
Nicaraguan rebels, said he voted
“ conscience and ignored poli-
“Politically, the best thing for
to have done was to go along
with the rest of the Hispanic cau
cus, vote against aid for the Con
tras, see if we could get a good al
ternative and then vote with the
it of them,” Ortiz, D-Corpus
risti, said during a visit to
wnsville Saturday.
Ortiz said he supported Presi-
t Reagan’s plea for $100 mil-
n in aid to the Nicaraguan re
bels because he feared an
extended negotiating period in
ngress would give the Sandi-
government time to mount
ffensive against the rebels.
Ortiz said he and Rep. Manuel
Lujan Jr., R-N.M., were the only
xican-American congressmen
ote in favor of sending aid to
Contras.
New checkout time set
for A&M residence halls
By D.ANN BEELER
Reporter
Students living on campus this se
mester may be forced to find time
between finals to pack their belong
ings, because they’ll have to check
out of their dorm rooms by 3 p.m.
instead of 5 p.m. on the last day of
finals.
Ron Sasse, associate director of
student affairs, said students will re
ceive information about this new
checkout deadline as soon as the res
ident advisers have been informed.
“Due to a change in the finals
scheduling, we’re closing residence
halls sooner,” Sasse said.
But according to Robert Lacey,
Texas A&M registrar, there were no
changes in the finals scheduling for
this spring.
Sasse said the new time change
will make it easier for the staff to
leave earlier and enable the custodial
staff to get trash moved and things
cleaned up.
“If we finish up on Friday, we
don’t have to pay the custodial staff
overtime,” Sasse said. “Plus, the
landfill is still open on Friday and we
can get rid of all of the trash.”
“If we extended the time
limit or changed it to Sat
urday, we’d just be post
poning our problems or
moving Friday’s problems
to Saturday. ”
— Ron Sasse, associate di
rector of student affairs
Sasse said students who don’t
make the deadline will be charged a
$ 15 or $20 administration fee.
Vicki Neal, a fourth floor resident
adviser in Hobby Hall, offered a dif
ferent perspective on the deadline.
Many girls put off moving out un
til the last minute, she says. Out of
60 girls, at least 35 to 40 of them will
wait until 30 minutes before the
checkout deadline to move their be
longings, she says.
“That last week is absolutely ridic
ulous!” Neal said. “We have to move
out, inventory rooms and turn in
our keys to the head resident by 12
noon on Saturday.
“I don’t want to be here until Sun
day. I want to leave here just as badly
as everyone else.”
Sasse said that under the new
deadline there still will be plenty of
time for students to get packed and
moved out.
“I suppose everyone must assess
his own circumstances,” he said. “If
we extended the time limit or
changed it to Saturday, we’d just be
postponing our problems or moving
Friday’s problems to Saturday.”
Pat Hoffman, resident adviser for
Hart Hall, said the ruling won’t af
fect that many students.
Hoffman says if a student would
pack during dead week and during
finals week, packing wouldn’t be
such a problem.
“I think if you moved the deadline
to Saturday at three in the af
ternoon, someone would have a
problem with that,” he added.
Jay Halpin, a Puryear Hall resi
dent adviser, said if a student needs
to stay late due to extreme circum
stances, he may seek special permis
sion to spend the night and leave the
following morning.
utumn Hills deliberations continue
Q I Associated Press
, SAN ANTONIO — Despite twice
^ eporting a deadlock, a jury was or-
~ 5 fcred to return Monday and resume
i Hiberations in the murder-by-ne-
ect trial of a nursing home cor-
Oration and four of its current and
Drnier employees.
State District Judge Don Morgan
ve the panel Palm Sunday off af-
r more than 25 hours of deliber-
jions in the case against Autumn
lills Convalescent Centers Inc.
The nursing home and the em-
joyees are charged in the Nov. 20,
978, death of Elnora Breed. The
nritlw™- 016 woman died 47 days af-
1 ;r she was admitted to an Autumn
tills nursing home in Texas City.
The state contends the nursing
home provided such poor care that
Breed died of starvation and infec
tion. The defense, however, claims
Breed died of cancer.
Jurors sent two notes to Morgan
Friday indicating they were dead
locked, but the judge instructed
them to continue deliberating. The
jury received the case Wednesday.
Defense attorney Roy Barrera
said the jury’s request to recess Sun
day indicates “these people are no
longer in a deliberative mood.
“Obviously, they are not close (to a
verdict),” he said, adding he thinks
thejury is hopelessly deadlocked.
But prosecutor Jim Vollers said
thejury has “not indicated that they
are deadlocked. It’d be my guess
that they are making progress.”
The jurors asked Saturday to look
at the credentials of the individual
defendants, a chart outlining the
chain of command in the corpora
tion and certain testimony from Au
tumn Hills president Robert Gay.
The testimony requested focused
on Gay’s knowledge of state health
department inspections of the Texas
City nursing home. The health de
partment withheld funds and put
the nursing home on probation seve
ral times in 1978.
Thejury also asked to look at a re
port prepared by a prosecution wit
ness who did a study of the amount
of Ensure, or liquid nutrient, on
hand at the nursing home in 1978.
Breed’s doctor ordered her to be fed
600 calories of the nutrient through
a nasal tube daily.
The report said there were many
days the nursing home had no En
sure on hand, but nurses charted it
was given to patients.
Morgan earlier instructed jurors
they could also find the defendants
guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
A murder conviction would carry a
penalty of five to 99 years or life for
1 the individuals and monetary dam
ages for the corporation.
Involuntary manslaughter carries
a penalty of two to 10 years in
prison.
is nursing nonie in r exas c>uy. rnejury nas not inaicatea mat tney ot ensure, or liquid nutrient, on prison.
fcmgers of hydrogen sulfide gas addressed
Associated Press
ie jury sens
ting lastl
How the
e will nu , ODESSA — In farming country, it causes
reasons d un g| un g,” l n rayon plants, it causes “spinner’s
5 whom! y e » ^ n( j j n jhg 0 jj Helds of West Texas and
- said he roun( j t h e world, hydrogen sulfide can kill.
Baraka' by-product from a cracked injection well
secutors iear |y drove Debra Perrin insane after it asphyx-
tclude iflfted seven of her family members and a friend
>n. n a February 1975 tragedy in Denver City, 90
T j ct [udfillUes north of Odessa.
> Mievt Tve got a good God,” said Perrin, 31,
o interveiW lives in Bi g Spring. “If I didn’t, I’d be
! jht now.”
More than 10 years later, she has finally ac
ted her loss. But she can’t accept what she
the public’s lack of concern about the con-
t menace posed by hydrogen sulfide, the
lessa American reported recently.
The foul-smelling but invisible compound per
cales the oil fields of West Texas, and safety ex-
King Hyde calls it an insidious gas because it
an kill people before they know they have even
leen exposed. _
who
crazy
•lory ch
latter, uni
t it, there
them to^l
they strud
said. Tto'
Hyde, who owns Standby International, a Mid-
land-Odessa company that manufactures and
leases safety equipment for oil field use, said al
though its odor is pungent — like rotten eggs,
some say — hydrogen sulfide damps a victim’s
sense of smell at about the same time it reaches
fatal concentrations.
In its lethality, hydrogen sulfide ranks just be
hind hydrogen cyanide, the deadliest of natural
gases, and is about six times more toxic than car
bon monoxide.
About 20,000 people in unincorporated west
Odessa make their homes among oil and gas
wells, pipelines and tank batteries — prime can
didates for a hydrogen sulfide leak, the newspa
per reported.
Several residents in the Odessa area have com
plained about the compound that is so corrosive
that warning signs have to be specially coated so
they won’t disintegrate.
Hydrogen sulfide’s long-term effects are still
unclear, although a 1977 National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health report said it can
cause brain and nerve damage.
But while that report urged further study,
nothing substantial has been done, officials say.
The federal government years ago recom
mended stricter standards for worker exposure
to the gas, but never pushed the proposal. To
day’s U.S. exposure standard is nearly 20 years
old and is double the level permitted in such
countries as the Soviet Union.
When amendments to state hydrogen sulfide
rules were proposed in 1984, 25 oil and gas pro
ducers spoke on the record against them and
seven others took a neutral position.
But although no one spoke in favor of the
stricter safety measures during the Railroad
Commission’s public hearings, the commission
ers adopted the new rules in June 1985.
Those guidelines require well and pipeline op
erators and processors to train their employees to
deal with hydrogen sulfide and to use only servic
ing companies whose workers have received simi
lar safety training.
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ECURin NG ., S .ll'
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Spring Senior
Induction Banquet
Monday St Tuesday, April 7 St Q, 1986
6:30 p.m.
MSC Room 224
All May graduates are invited to attend. Complimentary
tickets will be available as long as they last, Mon., March
31, Tues., April 1 and Wed., April 2 in the lobby of the For
syth Alumni Center.
This is your invitation to attend the formal induction of all
Class of '86 graduates. August grads Welcome.
TICKETS GIVEN ON FIRST COME-FIRST SERVED BASIS
cut here 1
Defensive Driving Course
Mar. 25 & 26 Mar. 31 & April 1
College Station Hilton
Pre-register by phone: 693-8178
Ticket deferral and 10% insurance discount
i cut here
CAMPUS INTERVIEWS
FOR CONSTRUCTION JOBS
April 4, 1986
Martin K. Eby Construction Company, Inc., one of the
top 200 construction companies in the U.S., will be at
Texas A&M on April 4 to interview May Construction
Science graduates and Civil Engineers with construction
options. We have both field engineering and estimating
positions to fill.
Our company does heavy civil, industrial and building
construction work nationwide. Sign up in the Placement
Office to interview and hear about our job opportunities.
EEO/m/f/h
HALLEY'S COMET
FILM DEVELOPING SPECIAL
$1.89
12 EXPOSURE
$3.29
24 EXPOSURE
$2.49
15 DISC EXPOSURE
$4.49
36 EXPOSURE
C-41 Color print film. 3*/2 x 5 Single prints only
Offer good March 24 th —March 23“' 1986
PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICES AT GOODWIN HALL
&
TEXAS A&M BOOKSTORE IN MSC
/ /
...jazzy,
snazzy
playing
and
outright
virtuosity."
—Seattle Times
"These duo-pianists put Brahms
next to Ragtime" wrote the New
York Times of Katia and Marielle
Labeque. MSC OfAS will present the
Labeque Sisters March 27 at Texas
A&M Rudder Auditorium.
Sisters Katia and Marielle have per
formed together since their
childhood on the southwest coast of
France. Both won first prize in the
annual competitive examinations at
the Paris Conservatoire in 1968.
They have delighted audiences and
critics ail over the world with their
music.
Their extraordinary music radiates
freshness and excitement with In
sightful renditions of Mozart,
Brahms, Stravinsky, Gershwin and
many Ragtime composers.
The MSC Opera and Performing Arts
Society brings great performers from
all over the world. Don't miss the
magic! Tickets are $8.75 for non
students and $7.25 for students at
the MSC Box Office, 845-1234. VISA
and MasterCard accepted.