Wednesday, May 27, 1987AThe Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
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HOUSTON (AP) — A window-washing plat-
liorm f ell f rom near the top of a 36-story down-
Itown skyscraper Tuesday, killing at least three
[people and injuring a pedestrian, officials said.
The victims were two men on the platform and
la woman walking by below, said Paul Pepe, direc
tor of city emergency services. Another female
pedestrian suffered a foot injury, officials said.
Four bolts anchoring the window-washing
I platform to the top of the Pennzoil Building gave
way as winds blew the scaffolding sideways,
Houston Deputy F ire Chief L.O. Martin said.
“These skyhooks are designed to go up and
clown,” he said. “It appears the wind blew it side
ways, and when it got to the end of the track it
I cameOff. They (the victims) did have their safety
harnesses on, but it’s just that the whole machine
came down.
“They rode it down. They were locked into it.
These men were dead on impact and so was the
lady. There was no help for them.”
Martin said investigators had talked to the in
jured woman—Julia Comeau, 35. She was in sta
ble condition at St. Joseph’s Hospital with mul
tiple lacerations and contusions over most of her
body, said hospital spokesman Sue Sonnier.
Comeau was undergoing foot surgery, Sonnier
said.
Martin said Comeau didn’t see the platform
falling.
“She doesn’t even know what happened,” he
said. “One moment she was standing there and
the next moment she was lying on the ground.”
Police Sgt. J.C. Mosier said he could not recall
any incident similar to this.
Homicide detectives will investigate because of
the magnitude of the accident, Mosier said.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Ad
ministration also is investigating, and its probe
will not be complete for at least two weeks, area
director Gerald Baty said.
Winds in Houston were unusually strong
Tuesday, gusting to 25 mph at the time of the ac
cident, according the National Weather Service.
Martin said he was unaware of any city regula
tions that limited window washing during high
winds, but he said that would be investigated.
Officials said the platform was near the top of
the 36-floor building, possibly on the 31st floor.
The scaffolding hit the street, bounced once
and hit the two female pedestrians who were
standing on the corner of the busy intersection.
Rescue crews took about two hours to pry the
bodies out of the wreckage.
The accident occurred at about 12:20 p.m.,
when the street normally is filled with lunch-
hour pedestrians.
The wreckage of the platform lay crumpled in
front of the building, and traffic was snarled for
several blocks in either direction.
“The thing that surprised me is that it’s only
three,” Pepe said. “It could have been much
worse.”
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Crew of Stark
seeks return
to families
CONROF. (AP) — The mother
of a crewman on board th.ei USS
Stark says her son has told her he
and other crew members who
survived the missile attack would
rather come home than try to re-
| pair their battered ship.
Petty Officer Nick Norfleet
said he was upset with Navy plans
to have the original erfew repair
the ship and bring it home, said
his mother, Jean Brown.
Brown said her son, who tele
phoned home Sunday, also said
the crew is suffering a shortage of
clothes and personal items.
“My son may get a lot of flak
for till of this,” Brown said, “but
he’s got a lot of support from the
other crew members. He’s upset
and angry that they’re going
through with all this.”
Brown said her son contacted
the news media, complaining that
the crew needs time away from
the vessel; now off Bahrain.
Other sailors-, she said, have
phoned Claudia Lovern, who is
acting as a liaison between the
Navy and the vessel’s families,
saying they want to come home
for a while.
Lovern’s husband is a Stark
crewman, but he was not on the
vessel at the time of the May 17
attack.
Navy policy, Lovern said, is to
remove those from the vessel who
are not fit physically or psycholo
gically for sea duty.
She believes many of the crew
members are under tremendous
stress.
“They’re in a state of shock,”
she said. “People don’t under
stand what these men have gone
through.
“They still don’t know they
were hit.”
Lovern said Norfleet and oth
ers in the Stark’s combat systems
section appear the most affected
by the attack, since 23 of the 37
men killed were members of that
section.
Stark sailors are now living
aboard the USS La Salle, also off
Bahrain. La Salle sailors gave
Norfleet a pair of shoes and a
spare toothbrush, his mother
said.
Brown said her son had noth
ing to wear but a pair of sweat
pants following the explosion that
ripped through berthing com
partments. She said he made a
shirt out of a pillowcase.
Lovern said the Navy was ship
ping clothing and personal items
to Bahrain for the sailors, who
are working to clear the debris
from the attack. .
Committee OKs plan to sell
notes to ease cash shortfall
AUSTIN (AP) — The governor,
treasurer and comptroller Tuesday
gave the preliminary OK to borrow
ing more money to help the state
government through a cash shortfall
expected later this year.
Although details won’t be fi
nalized until August, Treasurer Ann
Richards said she expects about .$ 1
billion in “cash management notes”
to be issued.
Richards said she hopes the notes
can be sold to bring in cash to help
the state to pay its bills Sept. 1.
Gov. Bill Clements, who during
last year’s election campaign crit
icized then-Gov. Mark White for ap
proving such notes, was among
those voting to issue them this time.
“I don’t like them,” Clements said.
“But under the circumstances, I
don’t think we have any choice.”
With the Legislature still unable to
pass a balanced budget and with
about a $1 billion deficit being car
ried over from this fiscal year into
the 1988-89 spenefing period, offi
cials said the notes will be needed to
generate cash.
About $600 million in notes were
sold last November, the first time
Texas turned to such a technique to
raise money.
Franklin Raines, managing part
ner of the Wall Street firm Lazard
Freres & Co., said issuing such notes
is a common practice outside Texas.
The notes allow a government to
keep cash coming in during periods
when tax collections fall off.
“In some places, it’s done every
year,” said Raines, who is a consul
tant for the state on the sale.
Clements said he considers the
notes deficit financing, but he said
“/ c/oji’t like them. But un
der the circumstances, I
don’t think we have any
choice. ”
— Gov. Bill Clements
the Legislature’s failure to write a
balanced budget has left no options.
“It’s a direct reflection on plan
ning and anticipation,” he said. “If
we had run our business properly,
we wouldn’t be in this spot.”
The-'resolution to begin work for
selling the notes was approved by
the three-member Cash Manage
ment Committee, which includes
Richards, Clements and Comptrol
ler Bob Bullock.
Richards said the details — in
cluding the exact amount of the
notes and the interest rate — won’t
be determined until early August.
She said she hopes the Legislature
will finish budget work by July so the
sale can proceed.
“The earlier that you can get that
done, the better off we all are,” she
said.
Assuming lawmakers pass tax and
spending bills by the end of July and
that the notes can be sold in early
August, she said, the state’s cash flow
situation looks good.
House Speaker Gib Lewis, D-Fort
Worth, said a special session this'
summer now appears certain.
“Time’s run out on us,” he said,
noting that passage of a tax bill to
fund any budget would be almost
impossible.
“I think at this point you can say
we’ll be back here in June or July,
trying to straighten out the budget,”
Lewis said.
House and Senate budget nego
tiators continue to work on a spend
ing bill higher than Clements has
said he favors. The governor again
Tuesday criticized the Legislature’s
failure to enact a balanced budgets
during their nearly-finished 140-day
regular session.
“Unfortunately, we seem to be at
something of an impasse right now,”
Clements said, although he voiced
optimism that action eventually will
be taken.
“We will solve this problem in due
course,” he said. “It’s going to take a
meeting of the minds. The people of
Texas do not want higher taxes . . .
And once we reach that understand
ing, I think we can move forward.”
Senate committee approves bill
banning abortion in last trimester
AUSTIN (AP) — A Senate com
mittee Tuesday approved legislation
that would prohibit abortions per
formed during the final trimester of
pregnancy.
The Senate Health and Human
Services committee took up the issue
again after receiving a House-passed
abortion regulation bill. A Senate
bill, sponsored by Sen. Ted Lyon, D-
Rockwall, earlier passed the commit
tee but remains pending in the Sen
ate.
Voting 5-3, the committee Tues
day approved a bill that would ban
abortion in the third trimester of
pregnancy but would allow the pro
cedure if the fetus has a significant
abnormality.
Under the bill, the Texas Board
of Medical Examiners could revoke,
cancel or suspend the license of a
physician who performs a third-tri
mester abortion.
Sen. Hugh Parmer, sponsor of the
substitute bill approved by the com
mittee, said the third-trimester ban
is an attempt to “pin down” viability,
the time when a fetus can survive
outside the mother’s womb. The bill
also allows the abortion of a fetus
that has a cranium smaller than 60
millimeters.
“What we’re concerned with is a
physican might perform an abortion
believing the fetus was nonviable,
find it was viable too late, and find
himself in a situation of having vio
lated the law inadvertently,” he said.
With less than a vyeek remaining
in the legislative session, the bill’s
chances of passage appeared slim,
lawmakers said.
Sen. Craig Washington, D-Hous-
ton, said he will filibuster against the
measure if it reaches the Senate.
“I don’t think the state has any
business being involved in that at
all,” Washington said Tuesday.
But Lyon said the threat won’t
stop him from pushing the bill for
ward. He said he has 27 or 28 votes
for an abortion regulation bill.
Lyon said the question of whether
Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby will allow a vote
on the bill on the Senate floor is un-
certajn. Hobby refused to permit a
vote on the Senate bill earlier.
The provision to allow abortions if
a fetus has a significant abnormality
came in response to concerns that a
Woman would be forced to carry to
term a child that would be severely
handicapped.
The committee-approved bill also !
allows third-trimester abortions if a
woman’s mental or physical health is
jeopardized.
Lyon said he’s not sure whether
Gov. Bill Clements would include
abortion in a special session if the bill
fails to pass both houses before the
regular session ends June 1.
“Originally (Clements) told me
without equivocation he would put it
in the special session,” Lyon said..
“Then he told me he would consider
putting it in the special session. So
again he’s demonstrated his great
flexibilty.”
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