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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1986)
Page 8/The Battalion/Thursday, May 1, 1986 Quake hits Mexico City; minor damage reported Girl outsmarts officials with slavery tale AUSTIN (AP) — A 15-year- old girl who ran away from her Tennessee home says she fooled authorities for six months with tales of an international white slavery ring before she finally gave up the masquerade. Of all the agencies that investi gated and examined her, none could find flaws in her story, the Austin American-Statesman re ported Wednesday. In countless repetitions, she never made a mistake. Officers now say the story of “Countess Constance Anna Maria Tanya Mitchell” was available, but a computer glitch kept investiga tors in the dark. The girl appeared Sept. 18 on a Collin County road north of Dallas. She was wearing a fur coat and an evening dress and was car rying about $700 cash. She said that she lived with “masters” for six months at a time. Venue change approved in assault case ALPINE (AP) — The trial of a Mexican national charged with sex ually assaulting a Terlingua woman will be moved to San Angelo now that a change of venue has been ap proved, a prosecutor said Wednes day. District Attorney Phil Pollan said State District Judge Alex Gonzalez, who had earlier said he would shift the case to San Angelo, Odessa or Midland, recently approved the change of location for the trial of Re fugio Gonzalez, 22. Refugio Gonzalez is charged in the Oct. 26, 1985, rape. Court docu ments indicate the 38-year-old woman was held prisoner overnight at her residence and assaulted re peatedly. The man was jailed in October in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, but was found Jan. 22 bound in a ditch 70 miles inside the U.S. border. Brewster County Sheriff George Jones said the man was found after authorities received an anonymous tip that a naked man bound with wire was at a roadside park south of Alpine, testimony from a prelimi nary hearing April 12 in Alpine showed. Gonzalez has said men toting ma chine guns rousted him out of a jail in Ojinaga, Mexico, transported him by truck to the United States and dumped him — bound and blind folded — in a ditch in sub-freezing temperatures. The defendant’s court-appointed attorney, Ken DeHart, told the Odessa American Wednesday that Judge Gonzalez would preside over the summer trial, which may begin as late as mid-July. MEXICO CITY (AP) — A major earthquake on Wednesday sent Mexico City residents fleeing into the streets and rocked four coastal states, creating panic reminiscent of that caused by last September’s cata strophic tremor. But initial reports indicated Wednesday’s quake and two af tershocks caused no major damage or injuries. Mexican seismological experts said the quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale and lasted 65 seconds. It was the strongest tremor to strike the capital since the Sept. 19 quake that killed an estimated 9,500 people, damaged or destroyed 3,000 buildings and left tens of thousands homeless. Wednesday’s tremor set buildings swaying and sent many terrified resi dents rushing from their homes in pajamas and bathrobes. Some grabbed a few family possesions as they dashed outside. The quake also rocked the Pacific coast states of Guerrero, Colima, Ja lisco and Michoacan, according to Red Cross officials in each state. The area includes the cities of Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta. A tour of downtown and sur rounding neighborhoods in Mexico City by Associated Press reporters showed no apparent structural dam age, but power outages were evident in several neighborhoods. There CORPUS CHRIST I (AP) — Re publican gubernatorial hopeful Kent Hance Wednesday solicited the aid of a GOP Hispanic official, who said Hance has been unfairly crit icized over a television ad attacking illegal immigration. Pulse Martinez, a San Antonio businessman and member of the state Republican Executive Commit tee, traveled with Hance to McAllen, Harlingen and Corpus Christi on Tuesday and Wednesday. Martinez said a Hance television advertisment that attacks illegal im migration and its problems is accu- “Things are fairly normal. The people were out in the street. . . because they were panicked. ” — Red Cross Capt. Enri que Mejia. were reports of natural gas leaks caused bv ruptured lines that were quickly repaired. Reel Cross Capt. Enrique Mejia said, “Things are fairly normal. The people were out in the street but it was because they were panicked. It was principally people panicked and nervous.” Wednesday afternoon newspa pers carried the same message. El Sol c/e Mexico in big headlines an nounced “Only Panic” and a head line in the afternoon street edition of Excelsior advised “Nothing To Mourn.” The National Autonomous Uni versity of Mexico’s seismological cen ter said the first quake occurred at 1:08 a.m. (3:08 a.m. EST) and mea sured 6.5 on the Richter scale. It said the quake’s center was about 380 miles southwest of Mexico City in the Pacific Ocean. The center said the first af tershock occurred at 2:10 a.m. and rate, and that criticism from Hispan- ics is unfair. He has been criticized by Hispan- ics for use of a television advertise ment which shows Hispanic school children in a crowded classroom as it talks about the problems illegal aliens are causing. But in Corpus Christi on Wednes day, Martinez said that isn’t so. “I think you need to bring it out to the attention of the people,” he said. “To me, every commercial that is made is not realistic,” he said when asked if the commercial was fair. Hance, competing for the GOP nomination against U.S. Rep. Tom registered 5.0, and the second fol lowed four minutes later and mea sured 4.8. It said the aftershocks were felt only in some parts of the coastal areas. But the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., said the quake regis tered 7.0 and was centered along the Pacific Coast about 250 miles south west of Mexico City. There were also discrepancies in Richter readings immediately after the Sept. 19 quake, which measured 8.1, and following an aftershock the next day that measured 7.3. In the Roma neighborhood, among the hardest hit in September, people stood along curbs or huddled on grassy median strips, reluctant to return inside. With electricity out in the area, many residents walked around with flashlights in hand looking for fam ily and friends. One resident, Vicente Alvarez, who held his sleeping 4-year-old daughter on his shoulder, said, “We were asleep, all of us. When the movement began, we left in a hurry.” In Puerta Vallarta, the quake was felt only slightly, but many tourists ran from their hotels and stayed in the streets several minutes before re turning, Red Cross commander Othon Garcia said by telephone. Loeffler, R-Hunt, and former Gov. Bill Clements, says he can attract Democratic Party conservatives to the GOP. He said he hopes to receive be tween 30 to 40 percent of the vote to force a runoff with Clements. Hispanic leaders have said Hance’s television ad causes undue prejudice to the school children be cause they could be Mexican-Ameri- cans and not illegal aliens. Hance, however, denied that Mar tinez’ joining his South Texas tour was intended to quell the criticism from Hispanics. Deliberations begin in El Campo fire case GALVESTON (AP) — The case against two women whose seven small children died in an El Campo house fire while they were at a bar went to the jury Wednes day. Jurors began deliberations shortly before noon after they heard closing arguments Wednesday morning. Jacqueline Williams, 24, and Marsha Taylor Owens, 30, are on trial before State District Judge Daniel Sklar on injury-to-a-child charges — one count for each of the dead children, who were aged 2 months to 8 years. During closing arguments, a defense attorney said prosecutors were trying to analyze the case from hind sight and convict the women for doing something they thought was acceptable. Both women testified that Williams’ oldest daughter was left in charge of six children while their mothers traveled to nearby Bay City with friends to distribute placards advertising a Valentine’s Day event. The women ended up at a Bay City bar and left be fore 2 a.m., they testified. When they arrived home, they found their children had died and the house gutted by fire. Williams said she trusted her daughter, 8-year-old Monica, as a babysitter and that she did not intend to leave her children alone for so long. Defense witness Rev. G.L. Griffin explained that leaving children unattended is “not nothing new.” “Let me break it down for you,” he told District At torney Daniel Shindler. “You’re white. My race of peo ple have been leaving children with the oldest in charge for a long time. You all have babysitters because you can afford it. The only babysitters we have is ourselves." Hance solicits help on ad controversy $5.00 OFF WITH THIS COUPON (on 010 or more purchase) at FASHION CLEANERS 315 B Dominik College Station, TX 77840 Coupon must come in with the clothing On Dry Cleaning Only Coupon valid through May 8, 1986 Notice! All undergraduate students must file a financial aid form (FAF) for financial aid including the Guar anteed Student,^ Loan for the year 1986-1987. Student Book Exchange May 1-15 Make $$ selling your books Save $$ buying books Come by 221 Pavilion and register your books that you want to sell! A list of all books for sale will be made available free of charge!!! Texas to break up if students had their way DALLAS (AP) — Fifteen Kilgore fifth graders are abolishing Texas, dividing it into five new states, wooing elected officials and setting up their own governments. Program coordinator Patsy Thipps said the youths are students in Learning Expanding Aca demic Potential, a program for advanced first- through fifth-graders. They have been instructed to divide Texas into five separate states, elect a governor and two senators and choose a capital for each state, she said. “The Articles of Annexation say the voters can divide the state in five separate states if they de cide they want to,” Thipps said, adding the idea grew out of an magazine article that pointed out the provision. After reading the article, LEAP teacher Caro lyn Martin turned the provision into an multi faceted educational tool. Martin said, “It teaches them research skills, higher thinking and how to be creative.” After Kilgore attorney Rob Schlei discussed the annexation provision with the class, the stu dents were split irtto five groups of three. Martin and Nelda Densman, who also teaches the class, divided the state into East Texas, a coastal section, a southern section running from Texas’ southern tip to El Paso, a central section and a section including West Texas and the Pan handle. In addition to choosing leaders, students must choose a state name, bird, flower, motto and flag, as well as create a state seal, Martin said. Already, students have made a salt map detailing their sec tions’ terrain, typography and resources. “We provide them with a Texas map, Texas al manacs, Texas history books up to the eighth- grade level and articles from the Dallas and Longview newspapers,” Martin said. “But from there, it’s up to the students.” Each group must write the chambers of com merce in their section for information and write a person from their area that they have elected governor, the teachers said. Letters have been drafted to Dallas Mayor Starke Taylor, Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire, El Paso Mayor Jonathan Rogers, Amarillo Mayor Rick Klein and Gov. Mark White, Densman said. Dillards Portrait Studio Aggie Spring Special 95 $200°° value Couple or Group $69 includes 1 2 3 3 12 16x20 11x14 8x10 5x7 wallets single does not include 16x20 Call for an Appointment 764-8531 Dillcirds Portrait Studio =CROWD PLEASERS= at Holiday Inn of College Station in the Brazos Club HAPPY HOUR-Mon.-Fri.4:00-7:00 $1 00 off All Mixed Drinks $.50 Draught Beer *FREE Hors d’ Oeuvers* Mon.-Fri. 5:00-7:00 *These are not your everyday munchies* LIVE ENTERTAINMENT TWO TONES ft ■Ho&tfioy Sww For Your Listening and Dancing Pleasure 1503 So. Texas Ave. College Station • 693-1736 For more information call Student Government at 845-3051 Another service provided by Student Services/Student Government UDENT NMENT i UNIVERSITY Have you heard what Thursday Night’s surprise is? Dine in, Drive-up • Open at 11 am daily featuring Deep Pan Pizza or Gourmet Stuffed Pizza, whole or by the Slice. Call Battalion Classified 845-2611