The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 22, 1987, Image 4

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    Page 4/The BattaliorvThursday, December 22, 1987
846-LOU’S
1L>y
'846-LOU’S
Lethal diet pills under scrutiny in U.S
Add A Bit of Romance to Your Life! J
Ballroom Dance Instruction J
Waltz, Rumba, Swing, Tango, Cha Cha, ^
Foxtrot
New 8 Week Classes Starting
Jan. 20, 22 & Mar. 31, Apr. 2
STEP N STYLE
268-4386
Gail Dresner & Clay Nelson
YESTERDAYS
DART TOURNAMENT
Blind Draw Doubles
Mondays 8:30
House Dress Code
near Lubys
846-2625
TOTAL FITNESS FOR MEN & WOMEN
4 MONTHS TANNING
$ 69 0 °
3608 Old College Rd.
(Across from Chicken Oil)
846-6272
Two Dry Clean Offers!
Sweaters or regular slacks ( men’s or women’s)
dry cleaned at S-4.79 for three, when you bring
this coupon to our location just off University.
A 3
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Station 1
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Cleaners ™
University Drive East
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(Sweaters, Reg. S2.85 ca.. Slacks, Reg. S2.30-men, S2.45-women, ea.)
1 r
College Station Cleaners offers
the professional garment care you
expect for your clothes.
505 University Drive East
846-4364
College
Station
ONE HOUR SERVICE AVAILABLE J
Chsanens i
Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity
Spring Rush Schedule
SAMMY WANTS YOG!
JAN 23 - OPEN PARTY
TREEHOGSE I PARTY
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JAN 25 - INVITATION
SUMMER-IN-WINTER
POOL PARTY AT
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JAN 30 - “RASTA” PARTY
TREEHOUSE I PARTY
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JAN 31 - INVITATION
SMOKER
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Unlimited use of tanning
bed only $35 a month
HARL.1NGEN (AP) — Demand
has exploded for a potendally lethal
trio of pills Mexican doctors pre
scribe for weight control, prompting
federal officials to reconsider a pol
icy allowing the drugs into the
United States.
The regimen of three pills con
taining four different drugs has
been linked to deaths, mental illness,
heart disorders and other physical
ailments, federal officials say.
“The American public has been
looking for a diet miracle for years
and they’ll take anything,” said Don
ald Healton, a regional director for
the Food and Drug Administration
in Dallas. “Unfortunately, they’re
going to hurt themselves.
“It’s not a panacea for everybody.
The lucky ones are the ones who are
going to only lose weight. There’s no
question they work, if they don’t kill
you first.”
The U.S. Customs Service allows
the drugs to be brought into the
United States if prescribed by a reg
istered physician and purchased at a
registered pharmacy.
Charles Conroy, a Customs
spokesman in Houston, said the
drugs must be declared upon cross
ing into the United States, and must
be of a small enough quantity to sat
isfy inspectors that there is only
enough for personal consumption.
But Healton said he believes it is
illegal to bring the drugs into the
United States.
“It’s a gray area we are exploring
now,” he said. “It falls into a loop
hole associated with short re
sources.”
Arnold Lochner, diversion group
supervisor for the DEA’s Houston
division, said ingredients in all three
pills are prescribed in the United
States, but not for the type of diet
regimen the Mexican doctors pre
scribe.
The most popular weight-loss reg
imen involves Ponderex, an amphet
amine used as an appetite suppres
sant; Redotex, an appetite control
drug that contains an active ingre
dient found in the depressant Va
lium; and Monduretic, a diuretic,
Lochner said.
Healton said that Redotex is not
allowed in the United States because
it is not believed to be safe or effec
tive, although a version of Ponderex
and the active ingredient in Mondu
retic are prescribed here.
He said he can’t understand the
purpose of Redotex, which com
bines a stimulant and a depressant
— both controlled substances in the
U.S. — that would seem to cancel
each other out.
The ingredient in the diuretic is
prescribed in the U.S. for high blood
pressure, but unsupervised use can
cause potassium depletion and heart
problems, Healton said.
Taking all three in combination,
as prescribed in Mexico, is especially
dangerous, he said. Lochner and
Healton said side effects from the
drugs range from severe diarrhea
and pneumonia to psychosis.
The drugs apparently are
prescribed primarily at a
weight loss clinics in NuevoLarc
Healton said. All patients receivt
same regimen and their niedicali
lories are not taken before the;
sci iptions are issued, he said.
Despite the hazards, the Am
can desire to be thin is creatir;
large demand for the th ugs,the
cials said.
Murder case dropped
against former coach
HOUSTON (AP) —- A former La
mar University assistant football
coach who spent more than seven
years on death row was ordered
freed Wednesday by a judge.
State District Judge Johnny Ko-
lenda dismissed the capital murder
charge against Vernon Eugene Mc
Manus, 43, because the state’s key
witness refused to testify in a new
trial.
“Thank the Lord, it’s all over
with,” McManus said after the hear
ing. “It really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
McManus was sent to death row at
the Texas Department of Correc
tions in June 1977, after he was sen
tenced for arranging the slayings of
Paul and Mary Cantrell and killing
Cantrell, an electrical contractor.
But a federal judge, citing an er
ror in jury selection, overturned the
1977 conviction in 1984 and ordered
a new trial. McManus was trans
ferred from TDC to the Harris
County Jail in August 1983, where
he remained pending a new trial.
That trial was to have started
Wednesday.
Kolenda dismissed the charge af
ter prosecutors filed a motion saying
they had insufficient evidence for a
conviction.
Prosecutors were denied crucial
evidence linking the former coach to
the 1976 killings of the Cantrells,
Harris County District Attorney
John B. Holmesjr. said.
Holmes said prosecutors tried
Tuesday afternoon to convince the
daughter of the slain couple, Paula
Cantrell Derese, to testify after Ko
lenda refused to allow her previous
testimony into the man’s retrial.
The 37-year-old woman, serving
two concurrent life sentences in con
nection with her parents’ slayings,
has refused to cooperate with offi
cials because she said they reneged
on a deal to shorten her prison term.
She said she testified against her
former boss because authorities
promised her sentence would be
commuted to credit for time served,
her lawyer, Ken McLean said.
Kolenda said he refused to allow
the woman’s previous testimony to
be used in the new trial because of a
conflict of interest between Don
Smith, the attorney who represented
McManus in his trial, and McManus’
former wife, Regina.
But the judge on Tuesday did
permit the transcript of pool hustler
Ben Milton Tabor to be played after
he refused to repeat his testimony.
He is serving a 35-year prison sen
tence for the slaying of a woman.
During the first trial, Tabor testi
fied that he took $12,000 from Mc
Manus to kill the Cantrells and then
failed to carry out the contract.
Police Beat
The following were reported
to the University Police Depart
ment from Dec. 15 through
Tuesday;
MISDEMEANORTHEFT:
• Eight bicycles were stolen.
• Four backpacks were stolen.
• A man reported observing
three men tear a phone from the
wall of A-1 Lounge on the Quad
rangle.
• A man reported that the
“Bernie’s” sign had been re
moved from tiie outside of the
Underground restaurant located
beneath Sbisa Dining Hall.
• While on patrol, an officer
noticed that the “No Mopeds,
Motorcylces, or Scooters” sign
had been removed from the
north side of the Systems Mall.
BURGLARY OF A HABITA
TION:
• A student reported that a
window was forced open and his
blue, 12-speed bicycle was stolen
from his room.
• A student reported that
someone entered her locked
dorm room and removed various
types of jewelry.
• A student reported his ste
reo receiver and tape player miss
ing from his unlocked room.
CRIMINAL MISCHIEF:
• A student reported that she
had discovered a hole in the glass
window of her dorm room. Inves
tigation revealed that the damage
apparently was caused by a pro
jectile fired from an air gun or
similar device. Two other win
dows in the same dormitory had
undergone similar damage.
• Two fires were extinguished
by the College Station Fire De
partment in trash dumpsters af
ter the fire was reported near Da-
vis-Gary Hall.
• A man reported that he
found a shirt burning on the
floor after responding to an acti
vated fire alarm.
• An officer checking a dorm
laundry room noticed a fire ex
tinguisher had been removed
from the wall and that the con
tents had been sprayed over the
inside of the laundry room.
• A man reported that some
one on the third floor of the Lan
gford Architecture Center had
thrown several pieces of card
board of various sizes out ok
window.
DISORDERLY CONDUCT:
• A student reported that k
had been orally threatened ant
pushed by another student. Hit
student said the confrontations
suited from an earlier incidetr
The conflict has lieen referred!:
student affairs.
• A student reported thatsli
observed a male about 20 year
old leave a Commons-area vit.
mg room and urinate on a hi!
The investigation is continuing
ASSAULT:
• A student reported tte
while she was on her way to final'
her ex-boyfriend approacht:
her. took her umbrella arc
poured a bucket of milky lap:
on her. He then used abusivek
guage. The incident hasbeenrt
ferret! to student affairs.
• A student said he assaulicdi!
female student because he w
deeply hurt when she asked b
rtxjmmate to help her with be
homework. He said he had lit
come extremely upset after end
ing a very close relationship win
her. The student said the sub
stance he threw on her wasaim
ture of water, milk and anythin;
else he found in his refrigerate:
If the student seeks counselin;
no charges will !>e filed.
INDECENT EXPOSURE:
• A student rejKrrted that a
about 1 1:3() p.m. she heaic
knot king at her window. Afie
opening the window, she ok
served a male in his 20s wearingil
green shirt and dark pantsexpof
ing himself.
• A woman reported thi
while running near a campuj
parking lot a man exposed him
self to her.
HARASSMENT:
• A student reported thank
had received a harassing noteii;
tached to her dorm room door :
ARSON;
• An of ficer responded toi|
report of an explosion in tk
Dorm 9 area. After searchingtbi,
area, the officer found no t'
dence as to the source of theev
plosion. The investigation, hoi;
ever, is continuing.
II
pris(
WtT
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the
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man
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ad ii!
wen
Cor
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(Purchase applies for up to two
months)
Shiloh Place (Next to College Station Winn Dixie) 696-8700