Tuesday, March 24, 1987Arhe Battalion/Page 7
6
session
nr meals at the ■
jCommittee
|ears testimony
at AIDS hearing
Warped
to be debatedi;. AUSTIN (AP) — State money for
faculty to obse- (}, e AIDS battle could be imperiled
of Silver Taps?, j)e Cause many sufferers get the dis
abling from sckt ease from illegal activities, the chair-
i those nights man of the House Public Health
P|omniittee said Monday.
Silver Taps M Rep. Brad Wright’s comments
r are scheduled - came after his committee heard
ad because stud^ ;inore than three hours of testimony,
raintains thetnflftuch of it dealing with the disease’s
sks thatfaculuJHipid spread. Experts told the com-
s or other maiit|®ittee the disease is commonly
ts those nights spread through intravenous drug
, which origins Suse and unsafe sexual practices,
ms Council. suM “I don’t think you can ignore a
maroon andti|]X problem because the behavior which
ially recognized may be largely the source of the
Hansmission is prohibited, but 1 do
■link, it’s a consideration,” said
Wright, R-Houston. “If we are talk-
fflbg about the amount of money we
■ are going to commit to helping intra-
J rCnfifi veilous drug users vs. helping the
M I Wl Ivh Q-jppied children’s services, that’s a
■ _ i (iioice that is not a difficult one to
hquQli
He said lawmakers must decide
iensors embedt 1 which state programs will be funded
from the shrinking treasury,
am has dettr 2 "I think intravenous drug users
ic damageinfe ^ ave to assume some of the risk for
by slack coda- ^ e ‘ r conduct,” he said,
on and eanb m Acquired immune deficiency syn-
lappencdtobt- d rome destroys the body’s ability to
: left high-tin fight diseases.
■rable. ■ Wright said the state should edu-
ue thatthtr * 016 c h e public about AIDS, includ-
nd perhapskc ^g schoolchildren. But he added
incited toiiz w 131 sorne point after education, the
by Scott McCullar
1
World Domination
The Soviet Objective?
March 30 7 nm, 601 Rudder
-it Jornnu»i^. _
Waldo
by Kevin Thomas
CS fire official blames rise
in arson cases on economy
Durrani, a sx; *f ate s responsibility ends,
i concrete "t'l The committee gathered informa-
>rld will not: I 011 a bout AIDS Monday and did
iphed proper not consider any bills on the disease.
> account tnecJl.
Roof collapses
case
at drug store,
traps victims
;rest would coc
ate of 10 pen:
Judge Solome.
the damage PAM PA (AP) — A rescue crew
fbOO millionil used heavy equipment to search un
der debris in a drug store for victims
pter the roof collapsed Monday
morning under snow accumulations,
authorities in this Panhandle town
Us court upho: Mid.
12, but rwucK; , At least one person was injured
o SI billionfre as many as three were believed
on. The total* trapped inside Revco Discount
now stand atrtf D ru g s in the Pampa Mall after the
roof fell in about 1 1 a.m. during bliz
zard conditions, police and fire offi-
ss dais said.
The injured woman, 27-year-old
||l|athy Smith, was taken to HCA Co-
! rpnado Hospital, where she was
treated and released.
■ Assistant Fire Chief Ray Fisher
said a store customer who managed
to escape after the collapse told offi-
dals there were two customers and
an employee trapped inside.
« Officers evacuated shoppers in
the rest of the mall as a precaution
when workers began clearing debris.
Ill Pampa is located 60 miles north
east of Amarillo.
Y
By Sandra Voelkel
Reporter
There has been an increase in the
number of intentionally set fires pri
marily because of today’s economy,
College Station Deputy Fire Marshal
Bland Ellen says.
Arson includes the intentional
burning or exploding of a vehicle,
building or habitation and is consid
ered to be a second degree felony.
The violation carries a prison term
of two to 20 years, with a maximum
$10,000 fine.
The incidence of suspected arson
has increased locally within the past
two years, but not as much as in
other areas, Ellen says.
“I don’t think this area has been
hit as bad economically, and has suf
fered less from arson, than other
places,” he says.
Areas such as Houston and West
Texas have seen a dramatic increase
in arson because the declining oil
prices have worsened the economies
of those oil-producing areas, he says.
“The economy is slow and many
people are financially hurt,” Ellen
says. “Arson is an easy way to get rid
of things without losing them if that
person is insured.”
People who are in debt sometimes
destroy their homes or businesses
with fire with hopes of eliminating
their financial burdens, Ellen says,
but College Station doesn’t have the
fire damages and lawsuits that other
towns have.
Many towns the same size as Col
lege Station average five to six
deaths a year from fires, he says, but
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the College Station area has not had
any fire deaths since 1978.
However, A&M has had several
cases of arson resulting in a substan
tial amount of damages in the last
few years,and the fire department
doesn’t handle campus cases unless
it’s assistance is specifically re
quested.
Arson is a difficult crime to detect
or prove, he says.
“Economically, arson is a good
deal if a person can burn something
“The economy is slow and
many people are finan
cially hurt. Arson is an
easy way to get rid of
things without losing
them if that person is in
sured. ”
— Bland Ellen, CS deputy
fire marshall
without getting caught and then get
reimbursed by his insurance,” he
says.
While Ellen says revenge is an
other reason for arson, he also says
education about arson is the best
preventive measure, he says.
“We try to educate people on what
to do and what to look for and how
to safeguard against arson,” Ellen
says.
The fire department spends seve-
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ral hours training its employees in
arson detection, he says.
Ellen says the department’s aver
age response time to a call is four
minutes.
“In four minutes, it is possible for
a fire to spread a long way and cause
a great deal of damage,” he says.
Ellen says these four minutes can
make the detection of arson difficult
if enough damage is done.
However, he says a fallacy some
arsonists believe is that something
will burn completely.
If the evidence is there, an arson
expert will know how to look for and
find the evidence, Ellen says.
“A fire usually burns in a predic
table manner,” he says. “The fire will
burn differently if conditions are
different.”
Ellen says experts can look at how
deep something is charred and how
different materials react to fire.
For example, he explains, sheet
rock has certain characteristics that
may allow experts to accurately de
termine the manner in which the
sheet rock was ignited.
The detection of arson often de
pends on information gathered
from witnesses, he says.
Even if the fire department knows
who set a fire, he says, arson is very
difficult to prove because most of
the evidence is circumstantial.
“A lot of the evidence is lost in the
fire, so it is important to deal with
and use what little evidence is
found,” he says.
Prosecuters usually are successful
if they can get a case to court and get
an indictment, he says.
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