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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1987)
t Lawn), ind it was; eat pan. Hf uld do it. | sturns. His redneck oni says. “I better, than to imagine a *’ith a badge, thick, drawl’ > ies sed by about nd the delai d into 198{. ne service to department lonths. »r delays, lost J[ht selections igress as well, luction of a •tiger protec- which would osure of con- the air car- Wis., told the is confident move passen- m this year. er cs ions to cor nel internal tical condi- t surgery, othly, and gan a per- Ronnie’s ved a lot of liver, more iccted. nnie about t ration, her could not hands with ■rlock knit it looks and reathe for nfort. ]’ The Battalion Vol. 82 Mo. 144 CISPS 045360 10 pages College Station, Texas Monday, April 27, 1987 U.S. trade bill seeks mandatory reprisals Unfair trading legislation called 'misguided' WASHINGTON (AP) — A top congressional Demo crat said Sunday that legislation calling for mandatory U.S. reprisals against nations using unfair trading prac tices is misguided and “destined for a veto” by President Reagan. But Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he would not be sur prised if the so-called Gephardt amendment passes the House this week, and he blamed the Japanese for that. With Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone coming to Washington for talks with Reagan, and the House poised to commence debate Tuesday on trade legislation, Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., called his amendment “the stick in the closet” needed to force fair practices by America’s trading partners. At the same time, Nobuo Matsunaga, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, acknowledged on ABC-TV’s “This Week with David Brinkley” that “we are quite aware that we cannot continue this abnormal situation with a huge trade imbalance.” Hidetoshi Ukawa, Japanese consul general in New York, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said, “I think there are a number of things w'e should be doing. That is to say, we should be pursuing policies that we have committed ourselves to ... to play a more con structive role in the world and global economy.” Nakasone, during his meeting with Reagan on Wednesday, will likely try to get the president to rescind the $300 million in tariffs the administration imposed on Japanese electronic products earlier this month. That action was taken in reprisal for what the United States said was a violation by the Japanese of a 1986 agreement to open their markets to U.S.-made semi conductor chips. Americans last year imported $58.6 billion more in goods from Japan than the Japanese imported from this country. The Gephardt amendment would place a mechanism to force down “excess and unwarranted” trade supluses amassed against the United States by its trading part ners' if Congress found the trade advantage was gained through unfair practices. A country found to have gained such an advantage would have to lower the trade surplus by 10 percent annually or face retaliatory measures. Trial for Julie’s Place murder receives change of venue By Carolyn Garcia Staff Writer In an effort to assure a fair trial for capital-murder suspect Terry Washington, State District Judge Carolyn Ruffino will allow the case to be tried outside of Brazos County. Washington’s change of venue was granted Friday with no objection from District Attorney Bill Turner. Washington is charged with the the Jan. 15 stabbing death of Be atrice Huling, the night manager of Julie’s Place Restaurant. Washington worked as a dishwasher at the res taurant. Although court-appointed de fense attorney Tyler Moore received the change of venue, his attempt to get Ruffino to curtail severely the news media’s coverage of the pre trial hearings was unsuccessful. Moore argued that news coverage of the case had been inflammatory and unfair and had created such hostility for Washington that it would be difficult to select an impar tial jury. Moore asked the judge to prevent the media from reporting in detail any evidence presented during the hearings and that the attorneys be allowed to argue the case outside the presence of the media. Ruffino denied almost all the me dia restrictions. She did, however, ban photographers from taking pic tures inside the courtroom and reaf firmed the gag order already in ef fect. The judge also decided that pre-trial evidence will be withheld from the public until the actual trial begins. No court date or county has been chosen for Washington’s trial. Huling, the mother of two, was found in the doorway of her office around 4 a.m. Police went to the res taurant after the woman’s purse was found next door in the parking lot of Adult Video when a patron heard it being thrown over the fence. Her husband confirmed that she had not come home after her shift. Huling’s body was found in a pool of blood and pathologist J.C. Lee de termined she had been stabbed 85 times. More than $600 was reported missing from the restaurant. Because money was stolen during the murder, Texas law dictates that the offense is ruled as capital mur der, which carries the possible pun ishment of the death penalty. If con victed, Washington could face death by lethal injection. Moore argued Friday that, should his client be convicted, he should be notified of any evidence Turner plans to present during the punish ment phase of the trial, since Turner will be seeking the death penality. Ruffino responded that she would consider that request when it became necessary at that stage of the trial. Ruffino did, however, authorize paying $2,275 to a private investiga tor to seek new evidence on Wash ington’s behalf. But He Started It... Bart Askew gets advice between rounds of a fight at Sigma Phi Epsilon’s Fight Night semifinals Sat- Photo by Tracy Staton urday. Askew represented Beta Theta Pi in the lightweight Greek division of Fight Night. Texas looks into ‘dumping’ of hospital patients HOUSTON (AP) — Eighteen complaints alleging patients in unstable condition were transferred from private hospitals to tax-sup- ported public hospitals for economic reasons are being investigated by state health officials, the Houston Post reported Sunday. The complaints being investigated by the Texas Department of Health include one from the Harris County Hospital District against Humana Clear Lake Hospital and four from the Dallas County Hospital District against hospitals in the Dallas area, the news paper reported in a copyright story. “Dumping,” a term for transferring poor patients for economic reasons, has become a controversial topic since new state and federal laws regarding transfers became effective last April. “Every transfer is potentially harmful and should not be done unless necessary for medi cal reasons,” argues Dr. Don Winston of Houston, a critic of hospital transfer policies. No disciplinary action has been taken so far against any private hospital for dumping, health officials said. But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can suspend Medicare pay ments to an offending hospital and impose monetary fines, while the Texas Department of Health can revoke a hospital’s license and also impose civil penalties. The complaint against Humana Clear Lake concerns a woman who stopped breathing while being transferred from the hospital to Ben Taub Hospital, the Pdst reported. Mary Rourke, who was brain dead when she arrived at Ben Taub and pronounced dead two days later, had no medical insur ance. Hospital district officials filed a complaint in the case with the state health department. The federal Health and Human Services De partment later issued a statement of deficien cies that found Humana violated “compliance with federal and state law regarding the trans fer bill.” Robert Rourke, the woman’s husband, said Humana hospital officials pressured him to move his wife after her bills mounted. Hospi tal officials, however, said the family wanted the woman transferred. Mitchell Chunn, a federal certifications specialist in Dallas, said his agency has sent the state health department to survey Hu mana Clear Lake to determine if it has “cor rected its deficiencies.” For a transfer from a private hospital to the hospital district, the new rules require the per mission of a doctor in the transferring hospi tal and of a hospital district doctor. If the transfer is not being made for medi cal reasons, the patient also is supposed to be eligible for hospital district services and be in “stable” condition. “Stable for transfer is a hospital eu phemism for ‘patient doesn’t have insur ance,’ ” Winston claims. Student presidency subject of debate Past office holders varied on opinions about power prestige of postition Hospital lists Casey as critical GLEN COVE, N.Y. (AP) — Former CIA Director William J. Casey was in critical condition Sunday at a suburban New York hospital where he was admitted the day before for treatment of pneumonia, a spokesman said. Casey, who underwent surgery for brain cancer in December, was admitted at about 2 p.m. Sat urday to the intensive care unit at Glen Cove Community Hospital, a private acute-care facility on Long Island, according to hospi tal spokesman Joan Bass. Bass said she could not com ment on the nature of his treat ment but said he was conscious when he was admitted. Casey’s admitting diagnosis was aspiration pneumonia, which is caused by fluid in the lungs, she said. All patients in the intensive care unit are listed in critical con dition, she said. Casey has a home in Roslyn Harbor, just south of Glen Cove, where he has been staying for the past several weeks, said Ken Cy- nar, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Thomas S. Gu- lotta. Casey’s son-in-law, Owen Smith, is Gulotta’s deputy exec utive. Casey, 74, underwent surgery Dec. 18 at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. for removal of a malignant brain tu mor. He was released from the hospital Feb. 28, but was read mitted for re-evaluation March 13 and discharged again March 28. Casey resigned as CIA director for health reasons on Feb. 2. He had been in the midst of lengthy congressional testimony . about the CIA’s role in the Iran-Contra scandal when he went into the hospital in December and has not been able to resume testimony since. By Christi Daugherty Staff Writer The position of student body president at Texas A&M has been described as both powerless and powerful, as important and insignifi cant, as a culmination of a dream and just a steppingstone to a career. But what it really seems to be is all these things rolled into one job at the pinnacle of success in A&M Stu dent Government. Certainly there’s a sense of pres tige, and perhaps that’s what attracts students to the job. But there’s little agreement among former presi dents about the real reason students are willing to go into debt, terminally injure their grade-point ratios and devote weeks of their lives to an ex hausting political campaign in the middle of their college careers. Mike Sims, the current student body president, admits there’s a cer tain amount of desire for personal gain involved. “A major reason any person runs is for personal development,” Sims said, but that’s not the only reason. Sims said the best student body presidents run because they think they can help the school. And based on his experience he thinks they can — but only a little. And not nearly as much as they expect to. Sean Royall was student body president last year, and currently works for Sen. Phil Gramm in Wash ington D.C. He said that when he ran he wanted to find out what deci sions were being made at A&M be hind the scenes and he wanted to see if he could use his good relationship with Faculty Senate members to in fluence decisions. David Alders, president two years ago, now works for Trammell Crow & Co., a Dallas real estate devel opment company. He ran, he said, because he wanted to use the influ ence he’d developed during his years on the Senate with A&M ad ministrators to increase the effec tiveness of Student Government. All agree the actual base of power of the office is extremely low, but while some think this is almost unna tural considering the perceptions most students have of the office, oth ers think it’s necessary to prohibit possible misuse of power. “Power depends on how you de fine it,” Sims said. “A student body president should have power in cer tain regards because anarchy doesn’t work well in any organization. “But if by power you mean the ability to announce something and have it be so, there’s only one person on this campus who can do that — Frank Vandiver.” Royall went even further, saying not only does the student body presi- The student body presidency Part one of a two-part series dent have no power, but neither does Student Government as a whole. “Student Government has no in herent power,” Royall said. “The only power they have is given to them by the faculty and the adminis tration. Therefore, Student Govern ment has to gain the respect of the decision-makers in order to ac complish anything at all. “I think Student Government is probably capable of having more power than it does, but I don’t know if Student Government itself really deserves more power. First, they need to be more effective and re sponsible. “They must prove they can learn from their past.” Mike Cook ran for student body president against Royall two years ago and lost, but he’s retained an in terest in the position and the pro gress made by Student Government. He feels Student Government must become more activist before it will be respected as a political power on campus. “Student Government is afraid to lose it’s credibility,” Cook said. “They’re afraid administrators won’t respect them if they disagree. “But they don’t understand, they don’t have that respect right now be cause they won’t express an opinion. “Student body presidents run be cause they want to run for Congress someday, so they spend a year mak ing nobody mad — and they end up accomplishing nothing.” Most of the former presidents consider Cook’s views rather radical and they insist that the power of the president rests most heavily in his ability to work with administration and faculty. In fact, one of the stated goals of Royall’s campaign was to gain the re spect of the faculty and administra tion and to work with them on issues instead of against them. “We’re very fortunate to have at A&M administration officials who will work with students,” Royall said. “Things like the shuttle-bus service and student service fees are exam ples of the faculty working directly with the students.” And Alders shares Royall’s per spective of Student Government. “The thing I think it’s important to remember is that Student Govern ment is not the governing body of Texas A&M — it’s not now, nor should it ever be — heaven forbid,” Alders said. “It’s always bothered me, this knee-jerk reaction a lot of Student Government members have to these situations, of wanting to make all the rules.” But he does admit that Student Government needs to be able to exert some influence on some issues. “There are issues where the stu dents have legitimate beefs — it was the senior finals issue during my ten ure — where usually the faculty and not the administration strongly op pose the students, and their goal is See Student President, page 10