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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1986)
Thursday, October 29, 1986 /The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local judge mixes concern, toughness try to treat people the way I would like By Leigh Ann Rogers Reporter fhe courtroom is packed and si- jones v v roommaioi (1 school, am! ule free tin:; a Briggs ana mdlord.aMti rted on the Uiihvasf:: |en| i i i where is die indue? Could it be 1,1111 " , (the paunchy figure in the black robe bugs. As I tMh the good-old-boy face and en- utoverthea .gaging laugh? mpllsh " K ^ Philip C. Banks, 36, a Bryan attor- ney and the College Station municip al judge, portrays anything but the rigid black-robed stereotype of a walel-pou n d i n g, sentence- pronouncim* judge, is a senior ii.4 umnjst/orliW he J ud g e ’ vvhoaUnbutesh,s S irlh MO a love of Mexican food, is rarely without a smile or a handshake, but his outgoing, eas\ mannei belies bis courtroom toughness. The tough- ness. however, has a core of compas- ually enjo' 1 doesn’t reit :.mg idea. “You learn how to judge human nature, and you learn the law. But it’s very hard to go strictly by the law. You have to judge people and mix compassion, toughness and fairness to make a decision. — College Station municipal judge Philip C. Banks take this into account when deciding on a fine. “I want to give people a fair trial in a court of law. I don’t want to run a kangaroo court.” Banks, who became the College Station city judge in 1986. says the most frustrating aspect of being a judge is watching people lie under oath. “It is very hard for me to see some one lie about a traffic ticket,” he says. _ “In the case of the peeping 1 needs Tom, the individual is sick and needs help, I will generally declare him guilty and send him to a counselor. If I just fined a peeping Tom, that wouldn’t help him. I try to make the best deci sion I can to see that both sides are treated fairly.” Banks’ prized case pits justice and fairness against crime and con spiracy. ; ‘ You learn bow to judge human -Nfs nature, and you learn the law,” Banks says “But it’s very hard to go strictly by [he law. You have to judge people and mix compassion, toughness and ie, we declaifffairness to make a decision. I try to lerceivciotri treat people the way I would like to be )(I | M v treated — this is how I think it should ■ morality os Jt ■Pi feel if someone takes the time to sings of lift' COI P e lo court and plead his case — |M '. it’slmportant. This is his time, and I “I can’t see the truth, but people generally incriminate themselves. Sometimes I feel like Zeus up there throwing out lightning bolts. It’s hard, you have to try to be like Solo mon and carve out the truth.” He says he hears all sorts of cases ranging from peeping Toms, traffic tickets and murders. “Some of the most ridiculous cases I hear concern ‘dogs at large’ or ‘mis taken dog identity,’ ” Banks says. The Marshall Case, 1961, involved Banks’ friend, Danny Marshall, who wanted his father’s death certificate changed to read homicide instead of suicide and planned to sue the Bureau of Vital Statistics. Banks says there was evidence of conspiracy involving Lyndon B. Johnson and Billie Sol Estes with the Marshall man’s brutal death. The death certificate was changed to homicide. vereign nano to be treated' This pride Banks takes in the Mar shall case and the case’s outcome show the strong bond he has with his friends, and the determination he has for seeing justice done. Banks was the defending attorney for John Wayne Hearn in the 1985 soap opera case involving the murder of Sandra Black. Robert Black, a resi dent of Bryan, was involved in an affair with his cousin, and he wanted to have his wife killed, Banks says. Hearn, a hit-man, was found guilty of murdering Sandra Black and is now serving a life sentence in South Carolina. Black, who hired Hearn through an ad in Soldier of Fortune magazine, is on death row in Hunts ville. Banks started his law career with the law firm of Neeley and Stuart Lewis, his first cousins. He opened his own office in Bryan two years ago and says he enjoys his own business because he has learned a lot and can do his own thing. In 15 to 20 years Banks says he would like to be the Brazos County judge. But for now he says he would like to change the direction of his law practice from criminal and domestic cases to business litigation and per sonal injuries. He laughs and says there is more money in these areas. ill-time jobs ith moral c Texans able to stall nuclear dump iatiomtodo»* XSH1NGTON (AP) _ chances ul lasting thatbeaf Smith County will have the eschoose aatipYs first high-level nuclear waste individua dump narrowed with the passage of a self ] m -BwiKHiced provision this summer, ^M.lovd Bentsen said Wednesday. . »^Bentsen, D-Texas, said amend- iseaseuiatlij’ML he attached to the Safe Drink- hh their jng |Vater Act, signed into law in ological diiti June, include a measure requiring diseasedE federal agencies to comply with state truthbv proj?'" 11 * for preventing contamina- i tionlf water wells. ^ would apply to the Panhan- L’titton.b dlesitein Deaf Smith Countv because Re Dgallala aquifer lies above die giant salt deposit that is being studied by the Department of Energy as one of three possible nuclear dump sites in the country. At a press briefing in his Washing ton office, Bentsen said he hadn’t announced the measure until now because he was busy working on cut ting funding for the waste repository project, which was accomplished in the final hours of the 99th Congress earlier this month. Max Woodfin, environmental coordinator for the Texas Water Commission in Austin, said a water code measure passed by the state in 1983 could be used to stall the DOE project by requiring the government to obtain a state permit. DOE spokeswoman Ginger King said Wednesday the department was looking into the ramifications of the Bentsen provision on its nuclear waste program. The senator said DOE raised his ire earlier this year by indefinitely postponing the search for a second waste dump site in the eastern United States on the same day it named three finalist sites for the western dump. “The General Accounting Office later advised me the department’s de cision to suspend the search for an eastern site violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act,” Bentsen said. “We need two nuclear waste re positories in this country—one in the East and one in the West,” Bentsen said. “That’s what Congress called for.” Deaf Smith is one of three sites across the country being considered by the government as repositories for high level nuclear wastes. The other two sites are in Washington state and Nevada. In Advance RHAIIoween party to start at 7 The Residence Hall Association will sponsor a Halloween party to day at The Grove from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. RHA president David McDowell said the predominant reasons RHA isn’t sponsoring trick-or-treating between dormi tories this year — as it has for the past several years — are because of damage caused by Halloween re velers and problems that arose with underage students receiving alcoholic beverages. Thursday’s festivities will start Speaker to discuss A former representative of the Arab States League will speak on Middle East issues, including U.S.- Arab relations, Arab-Israeli rela tions and the Lebanese situation tonight at 7 in 410 Rudder. Dr. Mounir Bayyoud headed the Dallas office of the Arab States League from 1978 to 1982. Born in Lebanon, Bayyoud lived in Palestine from 1933 to 1948, teaching mathematics and work ing for the British government there. Brazos Valley sky to The sky in Brazos Valley will glow with a new light Friday night when the Brazos Valley Museum, Cepheid Variable and KKYS-FM sponsor “Lite Nite: A Laser Fan tasy” at the Brazos Center on 3232 Briarcrest Drive. Three shows are planned, be ginning at 8 p.m., 10 p.m. and midnight. Tickets are on sale at the museum, located in the center, and on campus at the Rudder Box Office. They also will be available in the parking lot at Sears prior to the shows. Adult tickets are $5.50, children age 12 and under are $2.50 and infants get in free. The first two shows feature a Halloween theme with laser im ages synchronized to nre- with yell practice for the Texas A&M-Southern Methodist Uni versity football game, followed by a dance, a movie and several other activities. RHA will provide refreshments at the party, McDowell said. A professional disc jockey is bringing a $ 1,000 music and light show to highlight the dance, he said, and at 11 p.m., the horror movie “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” will be shown. Other activities will include cos tume and scream contests, he said. Mideast issues Bayyoud worked for the oil in dustry in Lebanon and in the Per sian Gulf state of Qatar until he moved to the United States in 1954. He earned his master’s de gree in mathematics at Southern Methodist University where he taught as an assistant professor for 15 years. Titled The Middle East; Past, Present and Future, the talk is sponsored by the Arab Student Association in cooperation with the International Student Asso ciation. be lit by lasers recorded rock music. The last show features music from Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album. Each show will last about 50 minutes. Parking is available at Sears at Post Oak Mall. Buses, at no extra charge, will run continually start ing at 7 p.m. from the mall to the center. Parking will not be avail able at the center. The shows are produced by Tim Walsh of Laser Spectacles Inc., who has designed shows for the Houston Museum of Natural Science planetarium. The laser, synchronized to music, will bounce off the wall, through fog and off mirrors. * v ' lilosophidw a non-Tea:!! ouses,buiii«| ;ven if foril!f!(| whose veil!! Ulikes roe.. rulv concert staccepiM ve allow i is absurd ] hen weal W te them ptiij My messier ndusioniUI 6 actuals’: o tiad heard above allltif my schookM vas quite eii rJ ould do rtfel ; not the [ arovideap truction? our yell pa®! team andiiejS to caused®' 1 become jiuiij nits, they’re fi e person or ingle-hand /orld’s greats band-in-li midnight jdf or the return ank you aw CLUB AND ACTIVITY CENTER Now offering membership at ONE TIME ENROLLMENT FEE + 6.25 weekly maintenance fee Over 43,000 sq. ft. of climate controlled luxury including: 8 lane, 25 yd. indoor swimming pool Nissen gymnastics equipment for men 8t women Dance and Aerobics Studio with ma- plewood floor 3 competition racquetball courts Eagle Cybex weight machines Olympic free weights 1712 mile indoor jogging track Sandwich bar & lounge Outdoor lighted tennis courts Free Aerobics with all memberships First 25 people to join each day receive 10 FREE TANS or 3 months free Nursery Act Now, offer ends Friday 823-0971 litorial staff maintain One of the finest health facilities, in Texas ..y can now be yours! Make time for the mystical, musical Festival of India 1986! MSC OPAS will present Festival of India 1986 in Rudder Auditorium, Hovember, 3. Celebrate the extraordinary artistic heritage of India — mesmerizing music, masked dance-dramas, sculpturesque love dances, and a religious 12th century martial art called Kalaripayyatu. Experience the intensity, the rich diversity of colors, costumes and dances, the haunting tones of flutes and the exotic sitars and percus sion of a fascinating and vibrant culture. For tickets, call the MSC Box Office, 845-1234. 'lemorial Student ( enter • Texas VY'I l nlversitx • Box I I • (olle<te station I\ 7TH44 l #iHI
