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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1986)
The Battalion Iq\. 82 No. 169 GSPS 045360 6 pages College Station, Texas Tuesday, July 1, 1986 Supreme Court upholds state sodomy law Texas man challenges court ruling ■ DALLAS (AP) — The plaintiff in a case challenging Texas’ so domy law said Monday that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a similar Georgia statute poses a threat to the privacy of heterosex uals, as well as homosexuals. But a district attorney who took up Texas’ appeal after At torney General Jim Mattox dropped out of the case called the high court’s decision “a great day for Georgia, the people of Texas and anyone else who believes in states’ rights.” Donald F. Baker, who filed suit in 1979 claiming the Texas law threatened his teaching job, said the hopes of the gay community “are dimmed, but not totally out.” “I guess we (the T exas case) are the last hope . . . that we will ever be treated equally,” Baker said of his appeal. Potter County District Attor ney Danny Hill, who is handling Texas’ case in Baker’s suit, said the high court was upholding the rights of the individual states to regulate such areas as sexual con duct. But the ruling was assailed by the Texas Civil Liberties Union. “This decision permits states to make criminals of millions of Americans and assaults the centu ries-old principle of privacy in the home,” said TCLU Executive Di rector Gara LaMarche. “It en courages hypocrisy . . . What con senting adults do in the privacy of their bedrooms ought to be none of the government’s business.” ; WASHINGTON (AP) — The Su- jreme Court, upholding a Georgia lodomy law by a 5-4 vote, ruled Monday that consenting adults have 10 constitutional right to private ho- nosexual conduct. The ruling was limited to “consen sual homosexual sodomy.” But noth ing in its sweeping language cast doubt on the constitutionality of state laws that also make heterosex ual sodomy a crime, even when per formed by married couples. "The proposition that any kind of private sexual conduct between con senting adults is constitutionally in sulated from state proscription is un- supportable,” Justice Byron R. White wrote for the court. The Georgia law, which White said is similar to those in half the states, defines sodomy as “any sexual act involving the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of an other." The court refused to recognize private homosexual conduct as a “fundamental right” deserving of the Constitution’s fullest protection. The court ruled previously that decisions to marry, have children, practice birth control or have an abortion are such fundamental rights. “We think it evident that none of the rights announced in those cases bear any resemblance to the claimed constitutional right of homosexuals to engage in acts of sodomy,” White said. The Georgia law was challenged by Michael Hardwick, an Atlanta bartender and homosexual who was arrested in 1982 for allegedly com mitting sodomy in his home. He never has been prosecuted under the law, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. T he arresting officer had gone to Hardwick’s home to issue a warrant in another case and was told he could find him in his bedroom. Hardwick sued Georgia officials in 1983, seeking to have the law de clared unconstitutional. He had won in the 1 1th U.S. Gircuit Court of Ap peals, but that ruling was reversed Monday. “Plainly enough, otherwise illegal conduct is not always immunized whenever it occurs in the home,” White said. “It would be difficult . . . to limit the claimed right of homo sexual conduct while leaving ex posed to prosecution adultery, incest and other sexual crimes even though they are committed in the home.” T he court swept aside arguments that the Georgia law has no rational basis without explicitly ruling that it is rational. “Law is constantly based on no tions of morality,” White said, “and if all laws representing essentially moral choices are to be invalidated . . the courts will be very busy in deed.” White was joined by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Justices Le wis F. Powell, William H. Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor. Powell wrote separately that the heavy penalty attached to violations of the state’s sodomy law could rep resent unconstitutional “cruel and unusual punishment” because it is the same punishment meted out to convicted arsonists and robbers. Justices Harry A. Blackmun, Wil liam J. Brennan, Thurgood Mar shall and John Paul Stevens dis sented. Writing for the four, Blackmun called the decision “revolting.” “This case is about the most com prehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men, namely the right to be let alone,” he said. Labor federation warns South Africa of possible strike It Gets Your Goat College Station’s long, hot summer has set in and even affects this An gora goat, which can’t decide to ponder life’s mysteries (left) or just Photos by Tom Own bey sleep on it (right). The Texas A&M Sheep and Goat Center houses the goats which are bred in an effort to produce improved mohair. Judge OKs plan to restrict inmate mail HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge Monday approved a contro versial plan that allows the Texas Department of Corrections to re strict inmate-to-inmate mail in an ef fort to curb violence. The out-of-court settlement ap proved by Chief District Judge John B. Singleton allows TDC to suspend mail privileges to inmates who abuse it. Assistant Attorney General S. :ott McCown, representing TDC, id the proposal could go into effect ithin a few weeks. TDC officials contended that in mates have been able to recruit, or ganize and plan assaults and mur ders through the mail. More control over inmate mail will help decrease gang violence, they said. TTae settlement affects two long- running prisoner lawsuits: one in which Singleton upheld prisoners’ rights to receive mail and one that led to the sweeping reform order by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice. The court approval of the mail plan came while Justice was hearing more testimony in another Houston federal court concerning inmate al legations that TDC has failed to meet the court-ordered reforms. For more than a week, inmates, TDC officials and prison experts have testified before Justice request ing that the Texas prison system be found in contempt and fined for vio lating court orders. James Park, a retired official with the California Department of Cor rections, testified Monday that the Texas officials could reduce vio lence, theft and other abuse by in mates by placing guards within prison living areas. Park testified that a lack of guards increases the chances that inmates will be victimizied — especially at night. An inadequate staff in inmate liv ing areas is one of several complaints by inmates’ attorneys that has brought the TDC back into federal court. JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — The nation’s largest black la bor federation warned Monday that the detention of its president could provoke spontaneous protest strikes across South Africa. In other developments: • The government said eight more blacks were killed in unrest, raising the toll to 93 since the gov ernment declared a national state of emergency June 12. Three victims died in clashes Sunday between mili tants and supporters of moderate black Zulu leader Chief Mangosuthu Bythelezi in Soweto, Johannesburg’s huge black township. • The government ordered the deportation of West German tele vision correspondent Heinrich Buet- tgen, the fourth foreign journalist told to leave during the emergency. The Congress of South Africa Trade Unions, which claims about 500,000 members, said the deten tion of its president Friday night was “further proof of a direct and con certed assault on trade union free dom in South Africa.” The federation noted that thou sands of workers already had staged wildcat strikes at about 100 chain- store branches during the emer gency to protest the seizure of union officials and shop stewards. The ar rest without charge of the union chief “could spark widespread and spontaneous worker reaction around the country,” the congress said in a statement. The name of the detained union leader, a longtime anti-apartheid campaigner, may not be disclosed under press restrictions imposed as part of the emergency proclamation. The federation said detention of labor leaders would be discussed Tuesday at an executive committee meeting. Hundreds of activists, including most of the 40 executive members, have been in hiding to evade deten tion. The federation’s general secre tary, Jay Naidoo, said in a clandes tine interview last week that the ex ecutive members would meet openly Tuesday, in a direct challenge to the white-led government to allow free union activity. But spokesman Frank Meintjies said on Monday that the meeting site would not be disclosed, lest more ar rests follow. Reports from labor federations in Britain and Switzerland on Sunday said that Naidoo likely had been de tained, but Meintjies said that Nai doo was free, but in hiding, and planned to attend the executive meeting. Meintjies told The Associated Press that the president was picked up at his home in Carltonville, a mining town west of Johannesburg. The union chief, the most senior la bor leader jailed without trial during the emergency, is also vice president of the 250,000-member black Na tional Union of Mineworkers. The Labor Monitoring Group, an independent team of academics, said Saturday at least 923 union mem bers were known to be in detention. It said 740 more workers were ar rested while striking dairy plants to protest earlier detentions. The Bureau for Information has said no union leaders were held for labor activities, but because of in volvement in anti-government activ ities. White business executives joined unions in asking that labor leaders be released, saying detentions and resulting strikes threaten chaos in in dustry. NASA HQ to control space station project Soviet SALT II proposal treated with skepticism WASHINGTON (AP) — The ace agency on Monday began e internal restructuring recom- nended by a presidential com- nission, announcing that its leadquarters will take charge of milding the space station rather han letting individual centers un their own segmented fief- loms. “This is the first step in the re- ilignment of the management tructure,” said James C. 'letcher, NASA’s administrator, ndicating that more shakeups re to follow. “Bringing this function to leadquarters will require the novement of a substantial num- •er of NASA personnel to head- [uarters and in addition will re- [uire the services of a systems ngineering contractor in some ^ays similar to the way the Apollo program was managed,” Fletcher said. The Apollo program, which resulted in six moon landings, was run from Washington by a strong director, Maj. Gen. Sam uel C. Phillips, who now heads a committee to assess NASA’s over all capabilities and requirements. The streamlining of space station management was his first recom mendation. At a news conference, Fletcher declined to discuss the possibility that the United States wall lease a privately built replacement for the space shuttle Challenger. Such a proposal reportedly has aroused the interest of high ad ministration officials. Contracts for various aspects of the space station have been the responsibility of four NASA cen ters: the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Goddard Space Center in Maryland and Lewis Research Center in Cleveland. Project managers at those cen ters will now report to a new asso ciate administrator, Andrew J. Stofan, whose appointment was announced by Fletcher. Stofan has been director of the Lewis center since 1982. WASHINGTON (AP) — A Soviet proposal for a special superpower meeting on the future of a 1979 nu clear arms control treaty drew a chilly response Monday from U.S. officials who regard it as a propa ganda opportunity for the Russians. President Reagan, boarding Air Force One in California to return here from vacation, quipped: “Too much salt isn’t good for you.” He tentatively decided in May to abandon the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, SALT II, signed in 1979 but never ratified by the Senate. Reagan’s joshing reference to SALT II typified the skeptical, in formal response within the adminis tration to the Soviet proposal for a special meeting next month in Ge neva on the treaty Reagan has tenati- vely decided to abandon. “A lot of people are not thrilled (by the Soviet proposal),” said a U.S. official, referring primarily to Penta gon officials. Through diplomatic channels, the Soviets last week called for a session of the Standing Consultative Com mission (SCC), established under the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty as a mechanism for dealing quietly with allegations of violations on both sides. The United States asked for such a meeting in 1983 to discuss the early warning radar the Soviets were constructing at Krasnoyarsk in Sibe ria. The request was turned down. In two reports to Congress, Reagan subsequently charged that the radar flouts the 1972 treaty. Paul Warnke, the chief U.S. nego tiator on the SALT II treaty, said the administration should take advan tage of the Soviet request for a meet ing of the special commission. “It definitely ought to be picked up,” he said in an interview. “There’s no question we have not made proper use of the SCC.” Warnke said that before Reagan took office in 1981, the commission resolved several serious questions growing out the 1972 and 1979 SALT treaties as well as the anti-bal listic missile accord. Warnke said Gen. Richard Ellis, who heads the U.S. delegation, “has been badly handicapped by lack of instructions.” Last month, Reagan announced that he w'ould scrap two aging nu clear submarines, thus remaining within the provisions of SALT II, but said that unless Moscow obeyed the pact, he would order more B-52 bombers equipped with nuclear- tipped cruise missiles, exceeding the treaty’s limitations on warheads. Reagan claimed that the Russians violated SALT II by deploying SS-25 intercontinental ballistic missiles and by encoding signals during missile tests. The Soviets have denied the charges. White House spokesman Larry Speakes, traveling with Reagan, told reporters aboard Air Force One that the administration had not replied to the Soviet request “and we have not decided what to do.” In a related development, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev accused the United States of sabotaging arms control efforts by ignoring Soviet proposals. Eller named as interim chancellor University News Service Texas A&M Board of Regents Chairman David G. Eller will as sume responsibilities as interim chancellor until a successor is found for former Chancellor Ar thur G. Hansen. Hansen formally retired Mon day. Eller, a Houston entrepreneur, said his duties primarily will in volve signing documents which require authorization by the chancellor and carrying out other functions that are outside the realm of day-to-day activities. He said he and fellow regents thought it inappropriate to name a member of the TAMUS staff as interim chancellor in light of the large number of individuals within the system being consid ered for the chancellorship. Eller said the search is continu ing in an “orderly and deliberate manner.”