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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1987)
'87 Thursday, April 2, 1987AThe Battalion/Page 5 p ffupreme Court rules cities able for certain damages IKETING A! Chemical U.il lohammedinilj mies at 4 p.ir on "How to fi MSC. ulents interesif SSOCIATlO.Vl s the COmpanl AUSd’IN (AP) — Saying it was its 6:30 p.nunifoty to lay the issue to rest, the Court ruled epnesday that punitive damages be recovered against cities and Bis under limited circumstances. ‘Fe are aware that our decision Jiy is a fairly novel one with refer- B to results reached in other ju nctions and will cause some con- en lation among municipal leaders d ihose who serve them,” Justice ed Robertson’s 6-3 majority opin- k n n onfaid. cl at DAUp.in f j n a Gregg County case, a trial Ht awarded $2,000 actual and INISM: will nxHoOO exemplary — or punitive — Tor location. Hages to Harold Pike Sr. and one 4EERS: wilh ^* 1 ' s ^ au S^ ters a su * t against the ^Rif Gladewater for misplacing the , r M? of Johnny Mack Pike, who died students frf| )52 ^ age 2. ; College Slain* Bhen Johnny’s gravesite was ex- 308 Rudder luraed in 1982 to place the boy’s il 12'15pm(:* near t hat ol his mother’s in |ajlewater Memorial Park, no re- ill meetatfipn \ill mm ai> , at 7:30 p.m. - a peanui-bii tin and willn cterian Chun Computer tips police on burglary iug Tomato. HIP: willmetti ger hunt. Tak: ?: will metil (SHIP: Appk 03 Academic I fall. age program: lie throughAp k LSAT thro.; ■ GRAND PRAIRIE (AP) — A computer used by police to detect liply locations for crime scored a rated touin Hrect hit when officers spotted a biirglary suspect in the predicted iarea and arrested him. ■ The computerized commu- Sjcations system purchased by tnis West Dallas suburb in 1985 gave police information on a mi ly suspect, a certain area of town and a time and date for the crime, police spokesman Derek [Sfimv said. ■ He said Crime Analysis Unit officers had the area under sur- Hillance when the burglary sus- jjtect was seen. ^^^.■The system has been storing tudentCento,■ ) |; ce f j ata and, for several Bombs, has been spitting out in- i to r/ietef fc r matiori concerning criminal suspects — their descriptions, working dad rnim ing jten ive at least ok Iren can worbi lire is imponac: ; children seelh ised in methods of operation and loca- i dons, times and dates of offenses. HThe computer’s most recent tip to officers was that a burglary sus- pci i would strike again between midnight and 4 a.m. T uesday. ■The computer also outlined a ■get area bounded by four streets. ■ Snow said a police unit set up surveillance in the area Monday night and spotted the suspect about 3 a.m. I He said the computer, in de- soibing the suspect’s method of '|>eration, had observed that the Ian usually cruised a target area for an hour or more before strik- s at the department 1® hat having com ig and learniiii Big. ■ Surveillance officers lost sight ol the suspect about 4:30 a.m. and decided he had either en- Ired a business or left the area, ■n they beg Police alerted backup patrol offi- reactioa s has e computet eacher to i w-on-one students. —Bettyti director ol riptionLeS had cers and the canine unit, who went to the scene and began ■arching area businesses, Snow said . E A police dog found a burg suspect hiding inside one |ess, Bon Air, at 4:40 a.m. Snow said the suspect used about $400 damage to two rors and had about $100 worth K stolen property when he was apprehended. The 36-year-old man was ar rested after a brief st ruggle. He was taken to a hospital and treated for a dog bite, then placed in city jail. Police had not yet filed charges against the man with the Dallas unty District Attorney’s office. mams were found, the Supreme Court said. The court said the Pikes were en titled to actual damages because the city did not keep adequate burial re cords. The court decided that the opera tion of a municipal cemetery is a proprietary rather than a govern mental action, and said exemplary damages could be awarded against it in that role under certain circum stances. “Unless the plaintiff can show in tentional, willful, wanton or grossly negligent acts which show malicious ness or evil intent by a policy-making official of the municipality, no exem plary damages can be awarded,” the court said. The court said “if the proper facts exist, a jury should be able to con sider awarding punitive damages against a municipality. The proper facts have never arisen in this state, and there is no certainty that they ever will.” So, although the Supreme Court affirmed the Texarkana Court of Appeals holding that exemplary damages are recoverable in limited circumstances, it reversed the trial court and appeals court decisions that allowed the Pikes to recover such damages. “In the present case, while we sympathize with the Pike family due to the trauma it has undergone, Texas precedent demands that its recovery of exemplary damages be disallowed,” the court said. Justice James Wallace wrote a dis senting opinion, saying the jury’s verdict had failed “to establish any causal link between the Pikes’ inabil ity to locate Johnny Mack Pike’s re mains and the failure of the city to keep proper records.” Justices Raul Gonzalez and Robert Campbelljoined in the dissent. “The Pikes did not attempt to lo cate the child’s grave by consulting the city of Gladewater’s records,” the dissent said. Alien workers win in court suit aimed at discrimination HOUSTON (AP) — Four undo cumented workers fired in February from the Pasadena Independent School District will be rehired and given back pay, a school spokesman said. The workers filed a class-action suit last week, claiming they were singled out for dismissal because they were Hispanic aliens. School district officials claimed the four were fired because they had placed false Social Security numbers on their work applications. U.S. District Judge Gabrielle Mc Donald ruled Tuesday the dismissals violated an anti-discrimination clause of the immigration act that went into effect last fall. The act is intended to allow aliens who have been living illegally in the United States since 1982 to become citizens. “The clear message that she (the judge) is sending is that employers should be very careful before they take any kind of action against an employee because of their immigra tion status,” said Isaias Torres, one of the attorneys for the four. The workers are Maria Olympia Hernandez, Reina Raquel Guillen, Blanca Lydia Lopez and Maria An tonia Garza. Recaptured man receives death penalty for killing SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jurors sent a man to Texas’ death row Wednesday, two days after he es caped through an unlocked jail door after his conviction for the rape-slay ing of an FBI secretary. Karl Hammond, 22, sat motion less as his punishment was read by State District Judge Ted Butler. In closing arguments, district at torney Fred Rodriguez labeled Hammond a “bully and a coward.” “I don’t want to deter others,” Ro driguez told jurors. “I want to deter Carl Hammond. He’s gotten his day in court. He brought it upon him self.” Defense attorney Ed Garcia said he was not surprised by the punish ment. “We did the best we could to de fend Karl from the day we were ap pointed,” he said. “There’s no way I can argue with the verdict because of the state’s evi dence that was presented,” he said. Jurors declined to speak with re porters after they issued the punish ment of death by injection. Before the sentence was read, Butler warned spectators to refrain from outbursts. About 15 sheriffs deputies were spread out in the court room and on either side of Hammond, who was handcuffed and shackled through out the day’s proceedings. Hammond was convicted Monday of capital murder in the Sept. 4, 1986, rape-slaying of FBI secretary Donna Lynn Vetter. A few hours after his conviction, he escaped when a jailer left open a door separating a second-floor hold ing area and a visitation area. He was recaptured Tuesday night after police saw him running across a street. > to learn toiK] tildren are tai| bines properl' iputer diskeltt>'L e their hands (fi •rohlem arises. ?n, she says, the computer! i iting, motiva# se it is anotliti m, withoutt®- Pettit says. Kit Writer, il* xessing prof en to draw pi^ . Once thev''‘ ys, she asks 1 " &M prof says Texas coast unprepared for hurricanes By Rene Moody Reporter , .ecause people tend to postpone am the fiWH nn ' n g * 01 ^ 'fricanes until alerts art posted, evacuation plans for the ffixas Coast are inadequate and Jed revision, a Texas A&M profes sor says. Philip Berke, assistant profes- - a ph or twoal* Sor °f architecture who has studied hurricane evacuation plans, says low-risk perception and poor land action totliG use by the state are the main reasons ery good,” Pt :I B ns made in the early 1980s are in- rs allow thetf* adequate. ►ne-on-one uit*B fc Low-risk perception is the ten- fmm < k" 1 v P eo P !e to discount the risk , l of hurricanes,” Berke says, adding i may se ' , that local government officials often quite as qiiii ne gi ect hurricane planning until out o aiio. p ace an emergency situation, quicker than'*' ^ 7 PointinRit l T|p ur i n g Hurricane Alicia in 1983, . Galveston officials postponed calling idiMouiio' f or an evacuat i on because they )utor l' m(1 thought it was a small hurricane cnakes them headed for Corpus Christi. “Within six to 12 hours, it was up graded from a tropical storm to a major hurricane with wind speeds of 120 mph,” he says. “The National Hurricane Center, because of a low understanding of the steering cur rents, is only able to give about 12 hours of advance warning. “Galveston and Brazoria counties take approximately 26 hours to evac uate.” Bob Case, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami, says in the past 20 years the center has had an average warn ing time of 18 or 19 hours before landfall. “We try to give at least 12 hours of warning, eight of those during day light hours,” Case says. Public awareness programs, such as hurricane tracking charts printed on shopping bags in coastal areas, are being used to fight low-risk per ception, he says. “The mass media also plays a key role in raising risk perception,” he says. In 1981, the Federal Emergency Management Agency funded a sci entific study to predict how far in land flood waters could reach and how many people could be affected by a major hurricane. The model predicts how many people may need to be evacuated in an emergency sit uation, Berke says. He says poor land use planning and lack of building restrictions also create problems with evacuation. Texas’ increasing population along the coast has increased the time it will take to evacuate the area. Berke says he supports a push by lobbyists to create more restrictions. However, by the time restrictions are enacted, the coast will be over- populated, he says. Berke says restrictions have been minimal in Texas because of the po litical culture of Texas and pressure by special interest groups, such as land developers. Attorney Kelly Frels, who rep resented the school district, ex pressed dissatisfaction. “I was disappointed because I don’t think the anti-discrimination clause of the immigration act applies here,” Frels said. Kirk Lewis, administrative assis tant to Pasadena Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Lon Luty, said the four would be re hired and given back pay. He said it was unlikely the school district would appeal McDonald’s ruling. Lawyers representing both the plaintiffs and the school district said an appeal probably would be inef fective since the four are expected to apply soon for U.S. citizenship. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is expected to begin accept ing applications in May. McDonald, in issuing her deci sion, said the school district’s policy of firing those who falsify Social Se curity numbers clashed with the in tent of the law. To qualify for citizenship, the women were required to reveal their work history as undocumented workers, which subjected them to firing. I i I k i* I k i 3* 3* 3* 3* * 3* 3* 3* 3* 3* 3* 343 343 343 343 343 343 343 343 343 343 343 343 343 343 343 ¥ 343 343 343 343 MSC Travel ropufd oar? Reward v ourself fi* DUKNty WVi . after FINALS TRAVELTO IXTAPA Mexico MAY 16-20 ONLY $350.00 Includes: 4 nights lodging. Roundtrip Airfare DEADLINE: April 10 for $100 deposit Signups in 216 MSC Sponsored by MSC TRAVEL for more info call 845-1515 % ' ; _ • . 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