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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