Friday, September 26, 1986/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
Decisions threaten 1st Amendment’
sivil rights advocate: Constitution attacked by high Court
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By Hal L. Hammons
Reporter
advocate of civil and constitu-
|1 rights addressed recent gov-
icntal decisions concerning
ag testing and terrorism Thurs-
light, both of which he consid-
langerous to the First Amend-
(ank Wilkinson, executive direc-
meritus of the National Com-
: Against Repressive Legis-
, spoke to about 100 students
(^faculty members in the Zachry
leering Center, deploring the
nt beatings he says are being
Inistered to the Constitution.
The lecture was co-sponsored by
Texas A&M Civil Liberties
nand the Brazos Civil Liberties
nipn.
“In 50 years of fighting for civil
ies, I have never seen a time
to this in terms of threats of re-
iression,” Wilkinson said.
attributed the recent upturn
ection of constitutional ideals to
ordinate repression” from all
:hes of government.
‘The Supreme Court has been on
collision course with the Bill of
ts since 1970,” he said,
llkinson said the recent upsurge
gislation against terrorism is
ly an excuse to silence dissen-
y activists such as himself.
“Terrorism is a problem in Eu
rope, but not in America,” he said.
He spoke out against random
drug testing of any citizen who has
not displayed cause for suspicion,
comparing legislators’ reactions with
the panic over the communist issue
in the 1940s and 1950s.
“It was ‘We must not get caught
soft on communism’ then,” he said.
“Now, it’s ‘We must not get caught
soft on drugs.’ ”
Wilkinson said NCARL is non
partisan, and tries to appeal to both
Republicans and Democrats. He ex
plained that both parties have
caused major setbacks and advances
in the area of civil rights.
NCARL, an extension of the Na
tional Committee to Abolish HUAC
(the House Committee on Un-
American Activities), has contrib
uted to the repeal of several congres
sional acts. These acts include the
1950 Emergency Detention Act used
to send Japanese-Americans to con
centration camps during World War
II, as well as the “no-knock” statute
that allowed federal narcotics agents
to enter dwellings without showing
identification or warrants.
For 20 years Wilkinson has been
at the forefront of the causes
NCARL supports, and he said the
FBI had admitted to compiling
132,000 pages of information and
spending $17 million in its surveil
lance of him alone.
Man chased by A&M cadet faces
charges in burglary of CS home
By Mike Sullivan
Sul/ Writer
A man arrested In the Universitv
1‘olice Department Saturday night
and later charged with burglary of a
motot vehicle also hits been charged
in connection with the biuglarv of a
College Station residence, said Bob
Wiatt. director of the University Po
lite Depat tment v
The man is being held in Brazos
County Jail in lieu of a $25,125 bond
on charges of burglary of a motor
vehicle, burglary of a habitation and
failure to identify himself.
Wiatt said the man was chased
and caught In a Texas A&M cadet
aliet the student saw him in a car on
campus. The suspect was held In
Universitv Police for taking a flash
light from the tar. Wiatt said.
Alter the man was taken to the
campus police department, officers
found sev eral t retlit cauls in his pos-
cssion that didn't belong to him,
Wiatt said.
Wiatt said College Station Police
were tailed anti it was discovered
that a College Station home had
been robbed earlier Satin flat night
while the famih was at the A&M
football game.
In that robberv. a microwave, a
television set and the credit cards
wet e stolen.
The detective handling the case
could not be reached Thursday to
comment on whether the other sto
len items have been recovered.
In Advance
Club sponsoring debate
on need for tax increase
The Texas A&M Debate So-
ciety is sponsoring a forum de
bate on the need for a tax in
crease to solve the Texas budget
deficit Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in
601 Rudder.
Shellv Davies, chairwoman of
the forum committee, encourages
people to at l ive In 1:15, because
the doors will he locked once the
debate starts.
Two principal speakers will
kick of f the debate. Anita Mc Da
niel. a senior speech communica
tion major from Houston will de
bate against the tax, and Sheryl
Perkins, a senior computer sci
ence major from Houston, will
argue in support of the tax in
crease proposit ion
Both speakers will he given two
minutes to present their argu
ments, and then the debate will
he opened to the audience, which
will he seated on opposite sides of
the room according to how thev
feel about the issue.
"We encourage people to get
up and change their seats when
thev change their minds," Davies
sav s.
T he debate will last an hour,
and then each speaker will be
given the opportunity for a three-
minute rebuttal.
At the end of the debate, the
Debate Societv will take a vote to
find out how the audience feels
about instituting a tax increase.
Health run to be sponsored
by Humana, Med School
Participants in the fourth an
nual Humana Hospital-I exas-
A&M Medical School Health Run
will be off and running at 8:30
a.m. Saturday at the Medical Sci
ence's Building.
Late registration will be held
from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. for a
$10 fee.
Runnels can pic k up numbers
dm ing the same time.
The race will be divided into
5k. I OK and 15K events.
Awards will be given to female
and male winners in each age cat-
egorv and event.
f speaker gives tax bill issue to more receptive committee
AUSTIN (AP) — House Speaker
El Leu is, hoping to speed passage
(•atax increase, took the issue away
H a hostile committee Thursday
,»wlg ave it to a f riendlier one.
Tpe is running out, Lewis says.
About six hours after getting the
feign men t, the House State Affairs
Committee voted 7-4 to approve a
1758..') million, one-year tax bill that
voukl raise the sales tax from the
:urrent T/m percent to 5'A percent.
The plan also would add 5 cents
tpe current 10-cent-per-gallon
ine tax.
If The House and Senate approve
the plan by a simple majority, both
increases would take effect Jan. 1.
But if both chambers approve it by a
two-thirds majority, a prospect law
makers called unlikely, it would take
effect immediately once the gover
nor signs it.
The committee-approved mea
sure would also allow cities and
counties not collecting transit taxes
to add a half-penny to their local
sales tax as a means of reducing
property taxes.
Lewis predicted the special session
would end early next week with
House and Senate approval of the
tax hike that would expire next Sep
tember.
For weeks, Lewis was the main
roadblock to tax hikes favored by
Gov. Mark White, Lt. Gov. Bill
Hobby, the Senate and some House
members.
But Lewis last week conceded that
enough spending cuts wouldn’t be
made to eliminate the projected $2.8
billion state deficit. The House Ways
and Means Committee, with a Re
publican majority, then became the
roadblock.
Lewis appointed those committee
members last year to kill tax bills, its
chairman said, and it was so effective
that Lewis on Thursday took the un
usual step of referring a similar tax
bill to the State Affairs Committee.
“We have the votes on the floor,”
said Lewis, D-Fort Worth. “I hope
we’ll send a tax bill to the Senate that
is going to be very clean, that they
can accept and let us all go home.”
The State Affairs Committee
voted down proposals to make the
tax hike contingent upon legislative
approval of a proposed constitu
tional ban on state income taxes.
Some House members were upset
by Lewis’ transferring the tax issue
to a different committee, including
Ways and Means member John
Willy, R-Angleton.
“It’s the will of the Senate prevail
ing again,” Willy said.
Sam Johnson, R-Plano, agreed.
“I think he’s circumvented the
democratic process by doing that,”
he said.
Tax opponents and backers pre
dicted the House vote would be
close.
Ways and Means Chairman Stan
Schlueter, D-Killeen, will continue to
sponsor the tax measure. He said he
has abandoned a plan that would
have included a larger sales tax in
crease that included dedicated funds
for prison construction.
Schlueter said of Lewis’ decision
to send the bill to another commit
tee, “The speaker did what the
speaker had to do to get a bill out.”
Lewis said something was needed
to get the tax bill moving.
“We’ve done everything we can to
cut back on spending.. . . Now that
leaves us short,” he said. “We have to
find additional revenue. I’m not
about to let this state go in the red,
write hot checks and lose the bond
ratings.”
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