Page 8/The Battalion/Thursday, March 31, 1988
THE WRITING IS
ON THE WALL.
Mattox: Homes skimpincj
on some patient service;
AUSTIN (AP) — Attorney Gen
eral Jim Mattox said Tuesday an in
vestigation of more than 20 commu
nity homes for the mentally retarded
shows that some homes are receiving
money for certain patient services
that are not being provided.
“I don’t want to make a blanket
statement about it, but overall we
have not found that the additional
care for which they are receiving the
money is actually being provided,”
Mattox said.
Mattox declined to comment,
however, on whether he would seek
criminal charges or civil sanctions
against so-called six-bed homes.
Stories about the investigation by
Mattox’s office were published ear
lier this month, and he discussed it
in general terms Tuesday with re
porters and the Special Task Force
on the Future of Long Term Health
Care.
Mattox said the investigation has
focused on a program used by the
Texas Department of Mental Health
and Mental Retardation to buy com
munity services for hundreds of
mentally retarded people moved
from state institutions in response to
federal court orders.
This year there is more than $40
million in the state Prospective Pay
ment Program for relocating pa
tients.
Court: Father
can’t regain
search fees
Mattox said his office wants to
know if operators of the community
homes are accepting MHMR money
and Medicaid money, which goes to
the poor and disabled. He said of
1,800 people in the community
homes, 400 are receiving equal
amounts of money from Medicaid
and MHMR.
He said if the operators are get
ting the additional money and not
providing additional services, they
are violating the law.
“We’re trying to find out how se
rious the problem is,” Mattox said.
He said his office wants MHMR
and the Department of Human
Services, which allocates Medicaid
money, “to correct the problem.
Then, if we find there are criminal
violations, we will look at that. If
there are civil violations, we will look
at that.”
Mattox said he was concerned that
if the state is found not to be in com
pliance with federal Medicaid
guidelines, the state would be re
quired to reimburse the federal gov
ernment or make operators of the
community facilities return money
“not justifiably earned.”
“I’m not interested in doing away
with (the program), but at the same
time I don’t want the state to end up
holding a big ticket on this thing ei
ther,” Mattox said.
The attorney general subi
several recommendations on j
ing homes to the task force,inj
ing increasing Medicaid (
imoursement rates for nn
home patients and raising!
come cap for patients to qua!
Medicaid.
He said income restrictionsl
vent some patients from ret
Medicaid, but the patients sii|
not able to pay for their ownc
He suggested additional!
with higher salaries, for nun
aides who work in nursing
well as additional funds forilitj
health department to investigi
sanction homes that refuse!
ply with standards.
Mattox said the state!
pile up-to-date statistics on nsj
homes, because the lack of r
data “remains a significam s
bling block to building the lonJ
care system of the future.”
Also in connection with sj
homes, he said, “I think it isc
that we revive a spirit of vol
risen in this state. This sal
founded by people that not™
unteered their time but frt
volunteered their lives to 1
neighbors and to establish a)
government.”
if
Guitarist brings rock ’n’ roll to CS r -^
• Enter a New Dancing Dimension
Never Experienced Before.
• The Music \bu Want to Hear.
• The Wildest Drink Specials.
313 S. College ■ 846-1542 ■ Open Late Nights
The Directors* Club
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members are now eligible for an
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Its purpose is to provide special finan
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In order to offer such an attractive
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SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A
woman who illegally hid her son
from her former husband shouldn’t
have to pay back most of the money
the man said he spent in looking for
their child, the Washington State
Court of Appeals has ruled.
In August 1984, Suzanne Westfall
Vinyard fled the state and hid the
child. A warrant was issued for her
arrest after the abduction.
She and her son, Stephen, were
located in Kerrville, Texas, when
someone recognized the child’s pic
ture on a Texas grocery-store poster
offering a $5,000 reward.
The appeals court said more than
half the $76,021.98 in restitution ap
proved by a trial court was not “cau
sally related” to Mrs. Vinyard’s tak
ing of her youngest child from her
former husband’s custody.
In the 15 months before the child
was finally located in Kerrville,
Texas, the husband hired private in
vestigators, had photographs and
posters printed and contacted seve
ral agencies specializing in locating
missing or parentally abducted chil
dren.
He also traveled around the coun
try in search of Stephen and publi
cized his plight.
After their discovery in Texas,
Mrs. Vinyard and her son were
brought back to Washington state.
Mrs. Vinyard pleaded guilty in
Klickitat County Superior Court to
second-degree custodial interfer
ence.
At a restitution hearing, the for
mer husband submitted expenses to
taling $76,021.98 in searching for
his child, including a $41,500 bill
from the Davidson Agency, which
helped in the search.
The appeals court, in reversing
the restitution, said Tuesday that
some of the expenses — such as psy
chological counseling for the child
— did not result from Mrs. Vin
yard’s crime, and thus should not be
allowed.
Likewise, the $41,500 to the Da
vidson Agency was not an “in
curred” expense because the hus
band wasn’t legally bound to pay
that bill, the appeals court said.
By Shane Hall
Reporter
Texas rock ’n’ roll will be on
tap in College Station tonight as
roots rocker Joe Ely performs at
Eastgate Live. The Austin-based
singer/guitarist is touring in sup
port of his critically acclaimed al
bum “Lord of the Highway.”
Ely, a Lubbock native, has a
musical career extending as far
back as 1972 when he recorded
his first record as a member of a
country band called the Flatland-
ers. In the mid-1970s, he moved
to Austin and eventually was
signed to MCA Records. Over the
next seven years, Ely recorded six
albums for MCA. His fifth release
for the company, 198l’s “Musta
Notta Gotta Lotta,” was included
in Time magazine’s list of the
year’s 10 best pop records.
Ely also has a reputation as a
dynamic live performer. He has
been an opening act for bands
such as the Clash, the Rolling
Stones and Tom Petty andi
Heartbreakers. He also b
toured as a solo performer
“Lord of the Highway,
leased by the independem
Hightone Records, is Ely’sfk
bum since 1984. It confe
roots-oriented rock ’n’ rolhi
the honky-tonk country Ely
formed in his early days.
And 1987 has proven to In
especially good year for Joe Opy
At the Austin Music Awards Jpv A
March 11, he won five awards.
eluding musician of the year;®
best male vocalist. In addi ft
“Lord of the Highway" wasvo®* 11 ^ ar
best Texas album and the Joe® 1 ° 3
Band received the award iorl® au l ) o|
rock band. Ely also received® 1 ta P
award for best producer. He® , 1 ie :
produced albums for WillSe\:B l l()1 lU
and the Kill and for JimmieP® . , 111
Gilmore. W thal
The doors at Eastgate Live-®’ u as
open about 8 p.m. The w
charge for the show is $7.
about 6
tion witl
Victor P;
; H
e sa
AIDS patients get OK
to join in Easter servici
to talk t
arrest, bi
for four
|! Ram n
urday ai
olB girlf'i
oil a wa
HOUSTON (AP) — A Second Bap
tist Church People spokesman said
AIDS patients who do not have
other illnesses that can be spread
through breath or casual contact are
welcome to attend Easter services.
Church spokesman Duncan
Dodds’ remarks Monday were in re
sponse to gay activist Ray Hill’s plan
to bring a group of AIDS patients to
the church Sunday to protest the dis
missal of an AIDS-infected French
horn player from a church orchestra
that performed in the Palm Sunday
program.
jogging t
iThe
g
Dodds said music conductor Gary
Moore dismissed the horn player be
cause he believed the musician had
contagious tuberculosis.
It was not until later, when other
musicians began walking out in sup
port of the musician, that Moore
a group
learned the man has AIDS, them di
added. Kt she
Associates of the horn plai while Ra
he suffers from AIDS and shot a f le
contagious form of TB thatot® Enriqi
companies AIDS. lice that
Dodds said concern rema shoohng
some people with weaken! stomach’
mune systems might be vulnei|flecmg t
Despite walkouts by aboni was re ] ei
30 union musicians, the | ! treated a
mance this past Sunday tooif Center fi
planned. k?*‘ ce n
Although the church dot®ted.
“endorse the gay lifestyle HPolice
AIDS patient who is not cooiWound ;
is “welcome to come and * flirted at
and be a part of our church,' verify hi:
said. ®e shoot
They may sit anywhereEnriqi
congregation, Dodds addei Bexar Cc
noted that the church has 1 totaling j
members with AIDS. §«
County jail records body marks
as part of inmate’s computerfil
DALLAS (AP) — All the butterfly
tattoos, appendix scars, fruit-shaped
birthmarks and any other unique
identifiable marking on people
booked into county Jail soon will be
come part of the inmate’s compute
rized record. The features, sheriffs
officials say, could become as com
monplace as fingerprints in solving
crimes.
County authorities plan to record
every permanent body mark “due to
an act of themselves, or an act of na
ture or God” that crosses the thresh
old of the jail on the body of a crimi
nal defendant, said Lt. D.A. “Kirk”
Kuykendall of the sheriffs Criminal
Intelligence Division. Sheriffs dep
uties will them systematically catalog
the information in a computer for
retrieval by unique feature.
“We’re looking for personal de
scriptors: What makes this individ
ual stand out? If you saw this indi
vidual, what would you remember?
If this person turned up as a missing
body or the suspect in an assault,
what would identify him?” Deputy
Marsha Gibson said, who is training
detention officers what to look for —
including surgical and burn scars,
permanent needle tracks, gold or di
amond-studded teeth, missing limbs
and cauliflower ears.
The developers of what may be an
unprecedented sleuthing tool are
banking on their experience that
crime witnesses and victims recall
the unusual characteristics of sus
pects.
“From my personal experience,”
Kuykendall said, “a lot of times they
can’t give you a good physical de
scription of the person. But they can
tell you about identifying features.”
For instance, he said, a robbery
victim who looked down the barrel
of his attacker’s gun might not be
able to offer a description of the sus
pect’s face, or estimate his height or
weight. But a scar near the suspect’s
trigger finger might stick in the vic
tim’s mind.
“They’ll zero in on it,” Kuykendall
said.
“Or,” he said, “they might be star
ing directly in a person’s face. They
won’t notice how tall or how wide he
is, but they will remember tin 1
drop tattoo too . . . It's just I*
nature.”
Had such a suspect beenin|
fore and his teardrop lo^ {
the computer, KuykenP
“that would give (investigate
avenue to explore. It may nf
positive identification, but ,;
them an avenue to explore
The “tattoo file,” as she 1 ’*
Bowles describes it, may bf|
ularly useful in tracking cli-
ers and abductors, becausee”
witnesses of such crimes $
dren.
A
g<
For example, when 3f*
Roxann Reyes was abduct^
her Garland neighborhood^
vember, a 5-year-old play® 11
fered authorities a descripti 0,,
suspect, including the detail
had one lazy eye. “That
something we would try to I*
on,” Kuykendall said.
“I f
we can help one age" 1 '
an offense,” he said, “thatl*
all about.”
The
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