The Battalion
\lol 87 No. 54 GSPS 045360 16 Pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, November 13, 1987
rode deficit eases,
Igovern merit reports
WASHINGTON (AP) — The na-
[tion’s trade deficit eased to $ 14.1 bu
llion in September, the government
[reported Thursday in statistics that
[suggested the U.S. import-export
[picture was brightening even before
|the stock market crash.
The report, marking the lowest
[trade shortfall in four months,
[touched off a rally in the financial
! markets.
The Commerce Department said
the merchandise trade deficit, the
gap between imports and exports,
decreased by a strong $ 1.6 billion in
September from the $15.7 billion
level of August.
The Dow Jones industrial average
surged 69 points by early afternoon
while the dollar, which had sunk to
new 40-year lows earlier in the week,
rallied strongly in New York, rising
more than 1 yen in value to 136.35
yen. It also was sharply higher
against European currencies.
Although much of the trade im
provement came from a decline in
oil imports, imports of manufac
tured goods also fell while exports of
U.S.-made products rose sharply.
Economists took this as a sign that
the long-awaited turnabout in trade
accounts from a declining dollar
may have finally begun, and that it
started weeks before the Oct. 19
stock market collapse.
A lower-valued dollar makes im
ports more expensive and U.S.
goods more competitive abroad.
“Two and a half years after the
dollar peaked, we are finally seeing
an effect on both imports and ex
ports,” Robert Wescott, chief econo
mist for Alphametrics, a Philadel
phia forecasting service, said.
Court rules against law
telling jurors of parole
AUSTIN (AP) — A divided Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals ruled
Thursday that a 1985 state law set
ting out details for instructing jurors
about the possible effect of parole on
a sentence in a criminal case is un
constitutional.
The court, however, upheld the
conviction of the defendant who
raised the legal issue, saying error at
the punishment phase did not pre
vent him from getting a fair and im
partial trial.
The issue arose on an appeal by
City council votes
to include fluoride
in CS water supply
By Doug Driskell
Staff Writer
An ordinance authorizing fluo
ride implementation into the water
supply of College Station was passed
unanimously by city council mem
bers Thursday night.
The majority of those debating
were local dentists in favor of the or
dinance.
Rick Williamson, a dentist in Col
lege Station, said the poverty-level
families would benefit from fluori
dation.
“I think fluoridation of the water
would be giving the children of these
families a chance to have healthy
teeth,” he said.
Bill Adams, a graduate student at
Texas A&M University, said if the
poor are malnourished, water con
taining fluoride would make them
more susceptable to fluorosis.
Fluorosis is a condition resulting
from excessive intake of fluorine,
which causes discoloration and pit
ting of tooth enamel in children and
bone and joint changes in adults.
Dr. Edward Harris, a professor in
the biochemistry and biophysics de
partment, was in favor of the ordi
nance and said not to view fluoride
as an additive but as a chemical the
body uses.
“The National Academy of Sci
ences has recognized fluoride in
1980 as an essential dietary miner
al,” he said. “Fluoride is not recog
nized as an additive or a foreign
compound introduced into our sys
tem. Rather, fluoride is a chemical
intended for our bodily use and this
is very important to realize.”
Adams had an alternative to add
ing fluoride to the city’s water sup-
piy.
“Anyone who wants fluoride in
their water can go buy water with it
in their local supermarket just like
people can buy water with lower so
dium,” he said. “I think we are going
to have a lot of problems with it if we
add it to the water.”
An electrical engineering grad
uate student from Belgium voiced
his concern.
“In many European countries the
fluoridation has been canceled just
because they think it might be dan
gerous,” Eric Soenen said. “It seems
to make sense to me that just putting
fluoride in the water is not the best
way to provide it, because there is no
way to control just how much people
will swallow.”
Councilman Jim Gardner had
some doubt to adding fluoride, but
said he would vote for it.
“I really feel an insecurity of the
scientific aspect which I haven’t di
gested enough of,” he said.
Councilmen Lynn Mcllhaney and
Pat Boughton both concluded fluo
ride would be a benefit for College
Station.
Vernon Lee Rose, who was con
victed of the October 1984 aggra
vated robbery of a Dallas textile ex
ecutive at his plant.
The textile owner, according to
court records, was robbed of $160 at
gunpoint and left tied up.
Rose was arrested eight days later
in a high-speed chase after he tried
to escape from police in a squad car.
He was sentenced to life in prison.
Judge Sam Houston Clinton, writ
ing for the 6-3 court majority, noted
that the law dictates that the jury be
informed at the punishment phase
of a trial about prison “good time”
and also how it can be taken away.
The law and jury instruction adds
that a prison term may be reduced
by parole and reveals to the jury the
formula to be used in determining
when the defendant would be eligi
ble for parole.
The law specifically instructs the
jury that it may consider “the exis
tence of the parole law and good
conduct time.”
Clinton said this law violates the
separation of powers doctrine in that
it is an attempt by the Legislature to
direct the judiciary to interfere with
the state parole board, which he said
is a member of the executive branch
of government.
He also said the law, along with
the instruction it mandates, is calcu
lated to deny the accused the right to
a fair and impartial trial on the issue
of punishment.
“The risk that punishment will be
based on extraneous considerations
is intolerable in a society that consti
tutionally demands concepts of fun
damental fairness be honored in its
criminal justice system,” Clinton
wrote.
Clinton said he and Judge M.P.
Duncan “are satisfied that in telling
the jury it could consider the parole
law and good conduct time the in
firm instruction fatally infected the
entire punishment hearing.”
However, Clinton said, concur
ring opinions by other judges say
there was no harmful error at the
punishment stage.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Mi
chael McCormick said the ruling
would result in other guilty felons
“walking the streets of Texas ...”
/
r
Prepare to board!
Emily Delgado and Donna Callenius from Texas
A&M at Galveston are coming up quickly behind
Caroline Snider and Sarah Lawson from Tulane in
Photo by Vanessa Linslay
one of the races for the Women’s A Division at the
annual Southeastern Intercollegiate Regatta on
Oct. 31, which was sponsored by A&M.
TCLU supports nomination
of woman, minority to court
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clem
ents may appoint a new Supreme
Court chief justice within a few days,
aides said Thursday, while the Texas
Civil Liberties Union said Clements
has an “historic opportunity” to
name a minority or woman to the
post.
Saying there is a “startling pau
city” of minority and women judges
on Texas appeals court benches,
TCLU legal director Jim Harrington
urged Clements to consider that in
naming a replacement for resigning
Chief Justice John Hill.
“It’s something we’re suggesting
he ought to seriously look at — ap
pointing a minority or woman as
chief justice,” Harrington said.
Harrington also wrote Clements a
letter detailing the lack of minority
representation on the state’s appel
late courts and asking Clements to
begin changing the courts’ makeup.
“We urge your support in the ef
fort to broaden the representation
of Texas society on its courts, and to
eliminate the vestiges of unconscio
nable discrimination,” Harrington’s
letter said.
In an interview, Harrington said
Clements’ appointments so far have
favored “middle-aged and older An
glo businessmen.”
Reggie Bashur, the governor’s
press secretary, Thursday said
Clements has a good record on ap
pointments.
“Gov. Clements bases his judicial
appointments on merit,” Bashur
said. “The process is totally color
blind and is based solely on the best
people available who want to serve
the state of Texas.”
“There probably will be an an
nouncement early next week,” Ba
shur said. “The governor is having
meetings this week, and I think he's
going to be making a final decision
in a few days.”
Texas judges at all levels are
elected, although a governor can ap
point replacements to fill vacancies
that occur during his term.
Clements has more than three
years left in the governor’s office.
Harrington said that means the gov
ernor likely will be naming a sub
stantial number of judges to the va
rious courts.
The TCLU is not advocating pref
erential treatment for minorities
Harrington said.
Scientist calls infant nutrition in Africa cultural problem
Photo by Robert W. Rizzo
Dr. Katherine Dettwyler speaks about infant nutition.
By Lee Schexnaider
Staff Writer
The problem of infant nutri
tion in developing countries may
not be a simple problem of pov
erty, food supply, population or
education, it may be cultural, said
a Texas A&M assistant professor
of anthropology Thursday in
Rudder Tower.
“The anthropologist appraisal
is that it is a lot more complex,”
Dr. Katherine Dettwyler told
members of the International De
velopment Forum. “Having a lot
of money doesn’t necessarily
mean you’re well nourished.”
Dettwyler was in the West Afri
can country of Mali from 1981 to
1983 doing field research for her
doctorate. She said the problems
in Mali are cultural rather than
economic.
“What is happening to many
children relates not to poverty or
food supply or how many there
are in a family or the mother’s
level of education or knowledge
about nutrition,” she said. “But it
relates to cultural beliefs on how
to feed children.”
In Mali children have a degree
of cultural autonomy that is un
known in the Western countries.
“The base line is that they let
the child join the family at meals
and feed himself,” she said.
Even if a child is only between
seven and nine months old, the
child is not fed, she said.
The food is eaten from a com
munal pot on the ground with the
right hand rather than using
utensils.
“Very rarely do mothers sit
and put the food in children’s
mouths,” she said.
She said that if a child does not
like the food or is playing or
sleeping when the fobd is served
the child may not eat. She also
said many children complian they
don’t like solid food. But poor ap
petite may have causes such as
disease or nutritional deficien
cies.
“I’m investigating the possibil
ity of zinc deficiency,” she said.
Low zinc in the diet has been indi
cated as a cause of poor appetite
and there is little zinc in the Ma
lian diet, she said.
“Plus people say that only the
child himself knows if he’s hun
gry or if he’s full,” Dettwyler said.
“So the children themselves are
allowed to decide when they want
to eat and how much to eat.”
She said this is foreign to they
way Americans do things in that
they control how much children
eat.
“We bribe, we cajole and
threaten . . . we talk about starv
ing children in, pick your favorite
developing country,” she said.
“You must clean your plate be
cause there are children starving
in China.
“As though it would make a
difference to the children
whether the child finished his
food or not.”
Dettwyler said that other fac
tors contributed to the poor
health of the children, including
epidemics of measels and the con
stant problem of malaria.
She said that the people in Mali
couldn’t even depend on doctors
for help with their children.
“There was one child in my
sample that died of malaria,” she
said. “I said to his mother after
she had told me the child had
died, ‘Why didn’t you take him to
the doctor or why didn’t you
come and get me?’ ”
Dettwyler said the mother
talked about another woman next
door, who was also in the study.
“She had taken her child to the
doctor, a French doctor, for ma
laria and he gave the child a shot
of medication in the back of the
leg, right in the sciatic nerve and
crippled her,” Dettwyler said.
The mother said that after that
incident she would not take her
child to the doctor for malaria.
She said the child had the disease
before and had recovered and
she didn’t think it would kill the
child.
Dettwyler said education may
be the key to solving such prob
lems but the education must be
culturally appropriate.
She suggested telling them to
do things that do not violate or
necessitate a change in their cus
toms or beliefs. But Dettwyler
said many times foreign organiza
tions don’t take into account the
culture.
“If you tell them to produce
special food for the children, they
won’t do it,” she said. “They don’t
have the time to go gather fire
wood or cook extra meals.
“Their day is already full of
hard labor.”