The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, May 27, 1987, Image 1

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Wednesday, May 27, 1987
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U.S. officials in Egypt
largeted in ambush
gsdale sai H
up ilia. MBA 1RO, Egypt (AP) — Gunmen
< as a si ’n'M alongside a U.S. Embassy sta-
crowdi i 0I l wagon Tuesday, tried to force it
xnirt o 'fljthe road and tlien opened fire,
n its pi dol ing out the windows and slightly
;| ( volnding two of the three Ameri-
s almos :ans insi(le -
lenaitillnH TI.S. official, speaking on condi-
t( ; of anonymity, said the men es-
1IM aped because embassy security
roomt^B ^ enn ‘ s Williams used “de-
guidelrl
n makitijMAf’.HDAD, Iraq (AP) — Ameri-
ee weelifcn investigating the Iraqi attack on
fivoral he USS Stark met with defense offi-
itors, :ials l uesday, but there was no word
laugl tnlvhethei they would be allowed to
st ofthHthe pilot who fired the missiles.
diplomatic source said “every-
hilg seems to he going well” in the
__flSee related stories, Pages 3, 4
— -
oiilt investigation ol the May 17 at-
:acL in the Pei sian (iulf, which killed
17 American sailors on the guided-
(Ttissile frigate and wounded 2 1.
^■Jnconfirmetl reports in the Iraqi
^^Hital Tuesday said the pilot had
H Hn beheaded, apparently for em-
Bflrassing President Saddam Hus
sein’s government. Information
Ministry officials denied it.
Hdic eight-man U.S. team led by
RelrAdm. David Rogers, deputy di-
■ Bor of operations for the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, spent several hours
with senior Iraqi officials Tuesday.
^Afterward, (hey drove in a motor-
T He to the fortified U.S. Embassy
rmjmeetings with American officials
Tensive driving measures” to get
away from the other car.
He did a sudden U-turn on the
eight-lane highway along the Nile’s
east bank.
It was the first attack in memory
on American officials in Egypt.
Several hours afterward, an anon
ymous telephone caller to a Western
news agency said it was the work of
Egypt’s Revolution, a shadowy
group which has taken credit for
and communication with Washing
ton, diplomatic sources said.
Several of the Navy, Army and
Air Force specialists shuttled be
tween the embassy compound and
the Iraqi Defense Ministry during
the afternoon. Neither the Ameri
cans nor Iraqis would comment on
the discussions.
One U.S. official said privately
that initial sessions with the Iraqis
were “primarily technical meetings.”
The official did not elaborate, but
a central question is why the lone pi
lot Iraq says attacked the Stark did
not respond to two signals from the
ship identif ying it as American.
President Hussein has said the pi
lot of the French-built Mirage F-l
thought he was firing his Exocet mis
siles at an Iranian target.
Iraq and Iran have been at war
since September 1980. Both attack
commercial ships in the gulf in an ef
fort to destroy the enemy’s economy.
About 230 ships have been hit and
more than 200 seamen killed. The
attack on the Stark was the deadliest
on a ship since the war began.
three attacks on Israeli Embassy per
sonnel that were responsible for the
deaths of two people.
Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel-
Meguid’s office said he asked U.S.
Ambassador Frank G. Wisner to in
form Secretary of State George P.
Shultz of Egypt’s regret and to as
sure him “that authorities are doing
their utmost to apprehend the cul
prits.”
A warning from the U.S. Embassy
urged Americans “to exercise an ex
treme degree of caution ’ in the next
four or five days, avoiding crowds
and “inappropriate gatherings” in
the country.
U.S. officials said “increased secu
rity is in effect for the embassy.”
The embassy identified the in
jured men as Williams, the embassy’s
acting security chief, and his deputy,
John Hucke. The third American
was John Ford, an administrative of
ficial.
Hucke and Williams were cut on
the head by flying glass, and the
American official who spoke on con
dition of anonymity said it was possi
ble both were creased by bullets in
the shooting.
Williams, who had small bandages
on his head, told reporters at the
embassy that the weapon was auto
matic, but he did not know the exact
type.
“It was unbelievable,” he said of
the attack, which occurred beside an
overpass about 5 miles south of
Cairo.
Egyptian officials said three men
were in the other vehicle, hut Wil
liams said he did not know the num
ber.
About 15,000 Americans live in
Egypt, according to embassy esti
mates.
Included are 500 embassy officials
and employees, their 600 depen
dents, and 700 contract workers en
gaged in projects for the U.S.
Agency for International Devel
opment and their dependents. Most
live in the Cairo area.
, |.S. team meets Iraqis;
ow, Ik 7 I ■ i I i
:j pa ne I seeks i nte rvi ew
im: it irl.
! with pilot about attack
not iv-ls,
_ _ Photo bv Robert W. Rizzo
Up
This sign, on the site of what were the Physical
Plant buildings, shows the direction the construc
tion eventually will go. From the rubble the build
ings are shaped from will come a six-story parking
garage. The garage is expected to be completed
sometime next year.
Saragosa buries dead, voices desire to rebuild
HARAGOSA (AP) — Thousands of peo
ple joined Tuesday with the residents of
his little town as they buried 17 of the 29
vho died in the tornado that destroyed the
.otnnmnity.
H he disaster prompted a declaration of
ederal aid Tuesday by President Reagan
md an outpouring of almost half a million
iollars in pledges of individual donations.
Scores of pallbearers carried 16 caskets
tnd set them in two neat rows for the fune-
al Mass said by a Roman Catholic bishop.
Dne by one, 12 caskets were lowered into
he ground in the Saragosa cemetery; four
vere buried later in nearby Balmorhea.
■Today we bid farewell to men and
vornen who loved Jesus and his church and
who loved their family and would die for
their children . . . they will be missed,” said
Bishop Raymond Pena of the El Paso di
ocese, who said Mass from the back of a
flatbed truck.
Pena reminded the mourners that while
their church had been destroyed in the
storm, its foundation was intact.
“The foundation of your faith is equally
intact,” Pena said. “On that we will build the
new community of Saragosa.”
But the town has more to rebuild on than
faith now.
An American Red Cross spokesman said
the tornado that killed 29, including six
children, had prompted pledges of
$470,000 from 12,700 people through the
Red Cross’ toll-free telephone number.
“I was just overwhelmed,” said Susan
Clowe, an official at the Red Cross disaster
relief station in Balmorhea.
In addition, relief from other sources has
continued to pour into the town, which suf
fered an estimated $6.4 million in damage.
Meanwhile Tuesday, President Reagan
declared the Mexican-American farming
community of 350 eligible for federal disas
ter aid. That means some residents are eli
gible for low-interest home loans and other
housing assistance plus grants of up to
$5,000 for those with low incomes, said Jack
DeVore, an aide to Sen. Lloyd Bentsen.
Gov. Bill Clements, who visited the town,
said, “While it will be difficult and painful
for the people of Saragosa to literally reb
uild their lives, I hope news of this declara
tion from the president will somehow com
fort survivors.”
With little warning the tornado swept
through Friday night, destroying almost ev
ery building. Officials said Tuesday an up
dated injury list showed 162 were injured,
with 35 still hospitalized.
Damage to the community, which in
cluded the destruction of four businesses,
70 homes and 10 mobile homes, was esti
mated at $6.4 million by Reeves County
Judge W.O. “Bill” Pigman in his request for
disaster aid.
Clowe said the Red Cross had inter
viewed 43 families by Tuesday afternoon.
and most said they want to rebuild.
Meanwhile, private donations are grow-
in s-
Golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez donated
$10,000 of his $37,500 first-place winnings
from the Silver Pages Classic seniors’ tour
nament in Oklahoma City this weekend,
Dewanna Florez, the sheriff s wife, said.
At a convention in Odessa on Saturday
night, American Legionnaires auctioned a
gold-plated eagle and raised $3,000 to send
to the victims.
Red Cross volunteer Margaret Burton
said, “One little girl brought down her
piggy bank and gave 89 cents. One man
brought in pennies in a paper hag. People
are digging deep and helping.”
High court rules
threats to safety
need for bail
■
■WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Supreme Court ruled Tuesday
thkt people accused of crimes
mav be jailed without hail while
awaiting trial if a judge decides
they are a threat to public safety,
■in a 6-3 ruling hailed as a ma
jor victory by law enforcement of
ficials, the court said jailing some
one deemed dangerous does not
violate the person’s rights or the
presumption that all are innocent
umil proved guilty.
■Twenty-four states and the
District of Columbia deny bail
leased on a defendant’s danger
ousness, but those laws are not as
sweeping as the federal law
upheld Tuesday.
■l'he justices used the case of
ttyp reputed Mafia leaders in New
York City to reinstate a 1984 fed
eral preventive detention law
backed by the Reagan administra
tion and attacked by civil liberta
rians.
H‘We have repeatedly held that
the government’s regulatory in
terest in community safety can, in
appropriate circumstances, outw
eigh an individual’s liberty inter
est,' Chief Justice William H.
Rehnquist wrote for the court.
HRehnquist said holding some-
,one without bail is not unlawful
punishment hut rather a legiti
mate attempt to protect citizens.
In a bitter dissent, Justice
Thurgood Marshall called the
ruling “an ominous exercise in
demolition” of constitutional
rights.
Marshall said that the court, in
the interest of expediency, sacri
ficed the principle that all citizens
are presumed innocent until
proved otherwise.
“At the end of the day the pre
sumption of innocence protects
the innocent,” Marshall said.
“The shortcuts we take with those
whom we believe to he guilty in
jure only those wrongfully ac
cused and, ultimately, ourselves.”
Justices William J. Brennan
and John Paul Stevens also dis
sented.
In other action, the court:
• Ruled that federal judges
should consider community
safety before ordering the release
of a defendant whose state court
conviction they overturn.
• Killed a lawsuit by federal
employees challenging the presi
dent’s power to order annual pay
raises for them smaller than those
recommended to keep pace with
private businesses.
New hospital will help expand
services in B-CS, supporters say
Opponents warn competition will foster facility duplication
By Clark Miller
Reporter
When the new Humana Hospital
opened in College Station on April
8, its supporters proclaimed the im
portance of expanding the area
medical facilities while others ar
gued that the new hospital was a
needless duplication of existing fa
cilities.
The new hospital is located in
south College Station near the
Southwood Athletic Complex and
the Highway-6 bypass.
Marsha Herring, public relations
director at the Brazos Valley Hu
mana Hospital, said the new hospital
was built to provide service to more
people and to make space for new
programs, such as an expanded
emergency room and an obstetrics
department.
The new hospital will attract peo
ple from nearby communities and
people who normally migrate to
Houston, Austin or Temple for their
medical needs, rather than rob pa
tients from St. Joseph Hospital in
Bryan, Herring said.
The old Humana Hospital, which
was located near St. Joseph, had 65
beds while the new Humana has 100
beds.
However, Bonnie Browne, asso
ciate professor of political science at
Texas A&M, said she isn’t convinced
that the area needs the additions the
new hospital brings.
“When it comes to health care,
you have to have a certain level of
demand to justify the facility,”
Browne said.
She also said that with two hospi
tals in the area, neither one will at
tain the top level of available re
sources because they will split the
demand for those resources.
“It’s like having four McDonald’s
in town or one very nice restaurant,”
Browne said.
But Dr. David Hackethorn, medi
cal director at the Bryan-College Sta
tion Scott & White Clinic, disagrees.
Browne served on a committee of
the Central Texas Health Systems
Agency, an agency that was required
by federal law to make recommen
dations regarding the building of
medical facilities.
The committee was considering
the proposal of the new Humana
building when the agency was cut in
1978.
Browne said she doesn’t think the
new facility will attract people who
usually go to another city for their
medical care.
“That would be true if they (Hu
mana) were offering services that
are not offered in Houston, but they
aren’t,” she said.
“With two hospitals you have com
petition and hopefully, competition
results in improvement,” Hacke
thorn said. “Humana needed a
larger and more attractive facility.
They certainly have it now.”
Donald Sweeney, interim dean of
the College of Architecture and En
vironmental Design at A&M, agrees
with Hackethorn.
“Competition will make both bet
ter,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney also served on the state
agency committee that studied the
building proposal of the new hospi
tal.
Alice Luttbeg, vice president of
patient services at St. Joseph, also
said the competion will improve
both facilities.
“I think that both will be trying to
keep up with each other,” Luttbeg
said.
Sweeney said there are relatively
few medical facilities in the area for
a community the size of Bryan-Col-
lege Station, which may be attrib
uted to the many people who go to
other communities for their medical
needs, but he sees improvement in
that area.
“The medical community in this
area has not had a good reputation
in the past,” Sweeney said, “but that
is changing quickly.”
Hackethorn said that the Scott &
White Clinic, which opened last Oc
tober, has increased its number of
clients every month, which is a fur-
ther indication that the area medical
services are improving.
The Scott & White Clinic is an
outpatient clinic that has several spe
cialists as well as family practitioners
and internists and does everything
from surgery to physical checkups.
Browne also agrees that service is
becoming better in the area.
“I think things have changed a lot
in the past few years,” she said.
“There are a lot more specialists.
“I used to go to Houston to the
See Hospital, page 6