Wednesday, April 6, 1988/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
mnesty organization director
ondemns execution as torture
By Todd Riemenschneider
Staff Writer
Execution in the United States is a
form of torture to prisoners, Steve
Herrick said Monday.
“How sensible is it for a govern-
|ientto kill people who kill people to
Irove that killing is wrong?” Her-
Jck, who is southern regional direc
tor for Amnesty 1 nternational-USA,
[aid Tuesday at Rudder Theatre.
“People often assume that the
|eath penalty deters,” he said.
There have been endless studies
|nd none have convincing evidence
tat the death penalty deters.”
Herrick said he believes that when
a murder is committed, the people
Ire in a moment of rage.
He said many murders are com-
|iitted by people under the influ-
Ince of drugs or alchol or by people
Tho are mentally disturbed. He said
he believes the death penalty does
not deter people from committing
murders.
Herrick said some people favor
the death penalty as a form of self
defense, believing that if a murderer
is killed now, he will not be able to
kill later.
He blames some of this opinion
on the media.
“The news media reports the ex
ceptional,” Herrick said.
He was referring to the media’s
portrayal of a murderer as being
newsworthy after the prison term.
Herrick said the less than one per
cent of murderers kill again after
prison.
Herrick said some people also
take the opinion that a murderer
needs to be murdered for their
crime. This eye-for-an-eye opinion is
not good in Herrick’s view'.
“If a person rapes, does the gov
ernment arrange for that person to
be raped?” Herrick said. “If a person
is convicted of arson we don’t go
burn their house down.
“Society dosen’t gain anything by
committing the act it condemns.”
Herrick also talked about much of
the oppression of prisoners around
the world.
Sexual assault, electric shock,
beatings and injection of pain—pro
ducing drugs are the methods of tor
ture used by over a third of the 180
countries in the world, Herrick said.
And not all of the victims of the tor
ture are murderers.
“People are jailed because of their
beliefs,” he said.
“It is not just political beliefs that
can get one in trouble around the
world, religious beliefs as well,” he
said.
Herrick, who was presented by
Memorial Student Center Great Is
sues, said that in some countries the
judicial system is so poor that a per
son cannot have a good defense even
when the person was legally ar
rested.
He said that in those countries,
the defense may be given only few
minutes to prepare, or there possibly
may be no trial at all. Some trials
may be no more than a military tri
bunal in which the judge has little or
no judicial training. He also said the
trials may last only a few minutes,
with torture sometimes being used
to get confessions.
“Confessions coherced under tor
ture may be admissible as evidence
in court” (in these countries), he
said.
mnesty deadline extended for illegal aliens
HARLINGEN (AP) —The dead
line for illegal aliens to apply for
ermanent U.S. residency is only
one month away, but late applicants
lill be allowed up to two more
lonths to prove their their eligibil-
My, government officials said.
I Beginning Monday, illegal immi-
rants seeking U.S. residency will be
Jven 60 days after the May 4 gen-
pal amnesty deadline to produce
pie necessary documentation and
medical examinations, Omer Sewel,
pistrict director of the Immigration
and Naturalization Service, said
Monday.
INS says immigrants don’t appeal denials
EL PASO (AP) — About four-fifths of undocu
mented immigrants who are denied amnesty in the Im
migration and Naturalization Service’s southern region
are not appealing their denials, officials said.
Nevertheless, INS officials said Tuesday that those
denied amnesty are given plenty of opportunity to ap
peal.
INS officials also said immigrants are not hampered
by amnesty denial forms and appeal applications that
are printed only in English. Applicants have 30 days to
appeal and must mail the appeal forms to Dallas instead
of to the office where they applied.
As of last week, 6,706 immigration amnesty appli
cants in the INS’ southern region had been denied am
nesty, and 1,707 of them had appealed the decision,
William Chambers, director of the regional processing
facility in Dallas, said Tuesday.
He said a dozen or two of the appeals had been proc
essed and returned to Dallas from Washington, and
that all upheld the denials.
As of March 26, the southern region had received
304,099 amnesty applications, and 180,395 had been
processed. So far, 3.7 percent of the processed applica
tions have been denied.
Illegal aliens applying for amnesty
must prove they have lived in the
■nited States continuously before
Jan 1, 1982.
I Previously, the INS required ap
plicants to document their residency
when they filed for amnesty.
tual application. Then they’ll be
scheduled for an interview' sometime
in July or August, at which time doc
umentation must be provided.
I Now, all they have to come up Sew'd said the extension is part of
<with initially is the filing fee and ac- a nationwide effort to encourage il
legal aliens to come forward and ap-
pfy.
“A number of people have watted
until the last minute, and we’re hop
ing this skeletal process will help a
number of people here in the Val
ley,” Charlie Perez, chief legalization
officer at the Harlingen amnesty
center, said.
Perez said interviews will begin 60
days after the May 4 deadline and
continue at a rate of about 40 a day
until all applicants have been proc
essed.
I'ZSBKSBeK
Vandals, marches
mark assassination
of Reverend King
Associated Press
Racist vandalism, marches by
prominent black leaders and rallies
for community support for the
homeless marked observances of the
20th anniversary of the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
King, who was 39, was gunned
down April 4, 1968, in Memphis,
Tenn., where he was supporting a
strike by sanitation workers.
Monday in San Antonio began
with black leaders marching in sup
port of a state holiday commemorat
ing King ended in violence when a
white vandal threw paint on an
statue of King while an accomplice
shot at a black man who tried to stop
him.
“I’d like to thank President Rea
gan for signing into law Jan. 15 as a
holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther
King,” the Rev. R.A. Callies, the
march organizer said. “We can’t say
the same thing for Gov. (Bill) Clem
ents.”
State law now allows for state em
ployees to take off King’s birthday if
they work on an official state holi
day. However, King supporters feel
that the black leader deserves to
have a state holiday named in honor
of him with no stipulation for miss
ing the work day.
Late Monday night, in the same
plaza where Callies spoke, a
drunken white man threw a bucket
of white paint at a statue of King
while two accomplices waited nearby
to help him in getting away from the
scene, witnesses of the incident that
caused an uproar told police.
One of his companions fired a, pis
tol at a black man who stopped his
car to ask the three men what they
were doing and why they were run
ning. No one was hurt and the three
men fled the scene, police said.
Only King’s foot and the lower
part of his robe were stained by the
paint, police said. Much of the paint
landed on the pavement, but it did
cover the word “dream” in the
phrase, “I have a dream,” and other-
areas on an 8-foot pedestal beneath
the statue.
Ethel Minor, president of the San
Antonio chapter of the NAACP,
may have summed up the mixed
sentiments of the city.
“It’s tragic that we are still march
ing and carrying banners,” Minor-
said. “We have to ask ourselves, ‘Did
Martin die in vain?’ Racism and pov
erty still exist.”
In Dallas, meanwhile, more than
20 national leaders testified at a con
ference that the same kind of eco
nomic and social woes that
prompted King to found the Poor-
People’s Campaign still exist. Some
of the problems are homelessness,
poverty, high black infant mortality,
an increase in the hungry and a lack
of affordable housing.
A Tennessee physician testified at
the Dallas Poor People’s Hearing,
one of 14 sponsored nationwide by
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
“A holocaust is being executed in
slow motion, whether it is intended
or not,” said Dr. Michael Byrd of the
Mcharry Medical School in Nash
ville, Tenn. He said blacks are being
killed by poverty and a discrimina
tory health-care system.
Correction
In an article in Tuesday’s Bat
talion, it was incorrectly reported
that two nonvoting members
would be added to the MSC
Council next year. Three new
nonvoting members — the presi
dent of the Interfraternity Coun
cil, a representative of the Faculty
Senate and a representative of
the Multicultural Services Center,
were added to the council when a
new consitution was approved at
Monday night’s meeting.
The All-Star
chamber orchestra.
The Marlboro Music Festival has been called, "the highest con
centration of artistic activity...in the U.S. and possibly in the
world." Each year some of the world's most distinguished and
gifted musicians gather to prepare and perform chamber music.
Then they take to the road.
The MSC Oj^era and Performing Arts Society presents Music from
Marlboro, Monday, April 1 1 at 8:00 p.m. in Rudder Auditorium,
nine all-star musicians performing chamber works by Mozart,
Janacek, Ligeti and Beethoven. There are still a few good seats
available for this season's Music Series finale.
MSC Box Office • 845-1234 • Dillards Ticketron
sj-js'Icmoti.ll Student tenter • tev.is Vc'd ( ni\ersit\ • tte>\ I I • ( {illee|i M.ition l\ 77H44'mih1
GATHRIGHT AWARDS
AND
BUCK WEIRUS
SPIRIT AWARDS
ANNOUNCEMENT
AND
PRESENTATION
9:00 A.M.
SUNDAY, APRIL 10
RUDDER AUDITORIUM
All applicants should attend!