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Vol. 87 No. 141 GSPS 045360 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, April 26, 1988
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Court may overturn civil rights ruling
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A deeply split Su
preme Court said Monday it will consider
throwing out a key civil rights decision used
to fight racial discrimination.
By a 5-4 vote, the justices took the unusual
step of expanding the scope of a North Caro
lina racial-harassment case to consider limit
ing the ability of minorities to sue private citi
zens for monetary damages.
Critics said the announcement could have a
major psychological impact on minorities,
raising fears that a newly solidified conserva
tive majority on the court is willing to con
sider dismantling other victories for the civil
rights movement.
In other action, the court:
• Turned away the first “dial-a-porn” case
ever to reach it, letting stand a ban on sex
ually explicit telephone message services in
Arizona.
• Agreed to decide whether wardens of
federal prisons should have sweeping power
to say what publications inmates may read.
The court said it will use the racial-ha
rassment case as a vehicle to weigh overturn
ing a 1976 ruling that expanded the right of
minorities to sue over alleged discrimination.
Justice John Paul Stevens, in a sharply
worded dissent, said minority groups may
feel betrayed by the court’s willingness to con
sider discarding an important civil rights
precedent.
He said the action is unwise activism and
will “have a detrimental and enduring impact
on the public’s perception of the court as an
impartial adjudicator.”
He was joined by Justices William J. Bren
nan, Harry A. Blackmun and Thurgood Mar
shall.
In a separate dissenting opinion, Black
mun said, “I am at a loss to understand the
motivation of five members of this court to
reconsider an interpretation of a civil rights
statute that so clearly relfects our society’s
earnest commitment to ending racial discrim
ination and in which Congress so evidently
has acquiesced.”
The court’s majority said the dissenters
were making it sound like the court was over
turning the 1976 decision.
“We have, of course, done no such thing,”
the unsigned order issued by the majority
said. “It is surely no affront to settled juris
prudence to request argument on whether a
particular precedent should be modified or
overruled.”
The North Carolina case, argued last Feb.
29, now will be held over until the court’s next
term beginning in October.
A ruling is likely in 1989.
Dukakis, Jackson
differ on handling
of hostage crises
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mi
chael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson
differed Monday over whether
any concessions should be made
to terrorists holding Americans
hostage, while a new survey said
Dukakis appeared headed for an
other big-state presidential pri
mary victory in Pennsylvania.
“You never make concessions
to terrorists — ever,” Dukakis
told reporters during a final cam
paign swing across the state be
fore Tuesday’s primary.
Jackson rejected what he called
“material concessions” to terror
ists but did not rule out political
accommodation. He also said he
could conceive of situations
where he would grant safe pas
sage to hostage-takers and added,
“I choose negotiation over blind,
bloody confrontation.”
“If we are going to deter ter
rorism, we must address the un
derlying causes of terrorism,” he
said after an appearance at a high
school in Pittsburgh. “Terrorism
does not emerge out of the blue.”
The candidates agreed that in
hostage situations, the govern
ment ought to talk to people who
could bring about the release of
people being held.
U.S. policy holds that Ameri
can officials "will talk to any offi
cial or group about the safety and
release of hostages but we will not
make concessions,” according to
the State Department.
But Jackson insisted, “The fact
is that our government has talked
with terrorists and has nego
tiated, in some instances success
fully. It is good as a policy, but
there must be always flexibility in
the policy. . . . We ought to take
every initiative we can to gain the
freedom of the American hos
tages in Beirut.”
Eight Americans are held hos
tage by Moslem extremists in Bei
rut.
The discussion of tactics for
dealing with terrorists was an
abrupt shift in a campaign debate
which had been focused on eco
nomic issues, particularly how to
assist Pennsylvania’s ailing steel
industry.
Dukakis was aiming for his
fourth straight primary victory in
a contest with 178 delegates at
stake.
Vice President George Bush,
who could clinch a convention
majority with a victory in Pennsyl
vania, compared his campaign re
birth after an Iowa caucus defeat
to the revival of Pittsburgh, a
once-strapped steel town.
Counsel: Prosecutor quit
due to improper exposure
WASHINGTON (AP) — An
Iran-Contra prosecutor withdrew
from the case partly because he felt
he had been impermissibly exposed
to the defendants’ congressional tes
timony, independent counsel Law
rence E. Walsh testified Monday be
forejurors.
During a lengthy grilling by a law
yer for Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L.
North, Walsh revealed that associate
independent counsel Christopher
Todd had withdrawn from partici
pation in the much publicized and
renowned case.
Walsh said Todd withdrew partly
because he believed he might be
tainted by the congressional testi
mony given by three of the four de
fendants under grants of limited im
munity from the prosecution council
of the hearings.
“I don’t know whether he was
tainted or not,” Walsh told one of
the defense attorneys, Brendan V.
Sullivan Jr. “All I know about Mr.
Todd is that he chose to follow a cer
tain course.”
Todd, who remains on the inde-
f >endent counsel’s staff doing unre-
ated work, didn’t explain or elab
orate on the possible exposure only
because “he didn’t want to taint me,”
Walsh said.
The defense contends that forc
ing North, former National Security
Adviser John M. Poindexter and
businessman Albert Hakim to go to
trial on conspiracy charges would vi
olate their Fifth Amendment right
against self-incrimination because
they were forced to testify to Con
gress last summer.
Arguing there was “enormous
taint” of Walsh’s staff as a result of
unprecedented publicity of the three
defendants’ immunized testimony,
Sullivan said: “This case can’t pro
ceed if I have any understanding of
the Fifth Amendment.”
No date has been set for the trial
of the three men, who along with re
tired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V.
Secord, are accused of conspiring to
illegally divert U.S.-Iran arms-sale
profits to the Nicaraguan rebels. Se
cord testified on Capitol Hill without
an immunity grant.
At the outset of Monday’s hear
ing, U.S. District Judge Gerhard A.
Gesell barred any defense testimony
on the ground that lawyers for the
defendants had disobeyed his order
that they give Walsh timely notice of
the witness they intended to pro
duce.
“The orders of the court are
going to be complied with,” Gesell
told the defendants.
“We are going to proceed whether
the atmosphere is one of confronta
tion and name-calling or not,” the
judge told the defendants and their
lawyers, who had accused the judge
in court papers of establishing a pro
cedure that “makes a mockery” of
their clients’ rights.
Late in the day, the defense filed a
notice that it intended to appeal Ge-
sell’s April 13 order to the U.S. Cir
cuit Court of Appeals here.
“I have a great sense of unfairness
for my client when you rebuke de
fense counsel,” Sullivan, who denied
he had violated the order, told the
judge after the midday recessm
taken from the hearings.
“I don’t believe you abided either
with the letter or the spirit of the
court order,” Gesell replied.
During more than four hours of
.estimony, Walsh described elab
orate procedures he used to prevent
investigators, prosecutors and grand
jurors from exposure to the testi
mony that North, Poindexter, Ha
kim and other immunized witnesses
gave Congress.
Despite those procedures, Walsh
said he was exposed to information
about immunized testimony on six
occasions — three before the four
defendants were indicted on March
16.
“I was never exposed to the testi
mony itself — so far as I know,”
Walsh said. The information he re
ceived was in the form of summa-
Photo by Jay Janner
Bubbles
Jeff Sanchez, a junior electrical
engineering major from Phoe
nix, Ariz., blows bubbles out of
his window in Aston Hall.
Instructor, students
rescue swimmer
while scuba diving
IS
‘Ivan the Terrible’ gets death sentence
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JERUSALEM (AP) — A judge
Sentenced John Demjanjuk on Mon-
|pay to die for Nazi war crimes and
Said the retired Ohio autoworker
sersonally killed tens of thousands
of people as the sadistic death camp
?uard “Ivan the Terrible.”
Hundreds of spectators jumped
to their feet and applauded. Some
shouted “Bravo!” and others
I'Death! Death!” Survivors of the
Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews
vere killed, cried and embraced
bach other.
Judge Zvi Tal said Demjanjuk’s
^crimes at the Treblinka death camp
In Nazi-occupied Poland could
“never be forgiven by the hearts of
men or be obliterated from memory.
. .. The blood of the victims still cries
out to us.”
“Ivan the Terrible” operated the
gas chambers at Treblinka, where
850,000 Jews were killed in 1942-43.
Demjanjuk was convicted last week.
The judge, who was born in Po
land and lost his parents in the Holo
caust, said Demjanjuk “served as an
arch henchman who with his own
hands killed tens of thousands of hu
man beings. He humiliated and de
graded his victims.”
Minutes before the sentence was
read, Demjanjuk shouted in He
brew: “I’m an innocent man!”
Demjanjuk, 68, was in a wheel
chair because of back problems. He
is a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian
and crossed himself repeatedly and
muttered, apparently in prayer.
The 14-month trial in a converted
movie theater was only the second in
Israel of someone charged with Nazi
crimes. More than 250,000 people
attended and sessions were broad
cast live on radio and television.
Adolf Eichmann, who directed
Adolf Hitler’s program for extermi
nating Jews, was tried in Israel and
hanged in 1962. He is the only per
son to have been executed in Israel
since it bedcame a nation in 1948.
Court spokesman Yossi Hassin
said Demjanjuk also probably would
be executed by hanging “if the sen
tence is upheld on appeal.”
John Demjanjuk Jr., the de
fendant’s 22-year-old son, sobbed si
lently. He said the family had ex
pected a death sentence and would
appeal within days.
“This amounts to nothing more
than the judicial murder of an inno
cent man,” he said.
“It will bring shame to the state of
Israel, the Israeli Justice Depart
ment, the U.S. Justice Department
and most unfortunately the 6 million
victims of the Nazi Holocaust,” he
said. The United States extradited
Demjanjuk to Israel.
By Deborah L. West
Staff Writer
Jim Woosley, a Texas A&M health
and physical education instructor,
and four University students saved a
drowning swimmer in Lake Travis
on Saturday.
Jim Hill, a 23-year-old from Lub
bock, was trying to swim across a
cove and back and got too tired,
Woosley said. Hill’s young nephew,
who was on shore, started calling for
help when he saw his uncle was in
trouble.
Two of the Texas A&M students,
Kevin Walters and Glen Brasseur,
had just finished Woosley’s rescue
diver class a few weeks ago, and the
other two, Mark Janson and Stacey
Bott had taken the class in previous
semesters.
Woosley said the group had just
finished diving with some basic
scuba students when they heard calls
for help.
Walters, a senior aerospace engi-
Student Publications’ editors selected
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By Karen Kroesche
Senior Staff Writer
| New Battalion and Aggieland edi
tors have been nominated by the
Texas A&M Student Publications
Board, but Aggievision still is seek
ing a new producer.
I Richard Williams has been named
Rummer editor and Lydia Berzsenyi
fall editor of The Battalion and
Cindy Milton will serve as editor of
the 1988-89 Aggieland. All three
nominations, which were unani-
inous, are pending approval from
Provost Donald McDonald.
But Douglas Starr, journalism de-
sartment head and chairman of the
Student Publications Board, said no
one applied for producer of Aggie-
Aision, a video yearbook. The publi
cations board will continue to seek
applicants for that position, he said.
I Williams, 23, is a senior agricultu-
pal journalism major from Altha,
Florida. He has four years experi
ence at The Battalion, where he has
forked in production and served as
Itiakeup editor, staff writer and se
nior staff writer. He is an alumni of
Hhe Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity
- and is married to Denise Williams,
an A&M accounting graduate.
Williams said the nomination
came as a surprise to him.
“I was shocked,” he said. “But I’m
looking torward to the experience.
It’s going to be a challenge.”
Berzsenyi, 20, is a senior math
major from Beaumont who is mi-
noring in journalisim She has
worked at The Battalion for one and
a half years as an At Ease staff
writer, assistant At Ease editor and
At Ease editor. She is finishing up a
one-year term as president of Tau
Kappa, A&M’s junior honor society.
Berzsenyi said she plans to con
centrate more on feature articles
and coverage of campus events.
“I’ve got a lot of new ideas,” Berz
senyi said. “I didn’t really expect to
get it (editor), but. now that I have,
I’m very excited about it.”
The Battalion will be accepting
applications until 5 p.m. Wednesday
for summer and fall staff positions.
Williams and Berzsenyi encourage
all those interested to pick up an ap
plication in 216 Reed McDonald.
Milton, 20, is a junior journalism
major from Galveston. She has
worked as a staff writer and assistant
news editor at The Battalion and has
been on the Aggieland staff since
Richard Williams
Spring 1987. She also has served as a
journalism representative on the
Liberal Arts Student Council.
I
Being yearbook editor has a been
a long-time goal for Milton.
“This is something that I’ve
wanted to do sir ce high school,” Mil-
ton said, adding that she is working
with a small staff right now, and en-
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Lydia Berzsenyi
courages anyone interested in apply
ing to do so. The Aggieland will be
accepting applications until Monday.
They are available in Room 011 of
the Reed McDonald Building.
Milton said A&M tradition dic
tates that the Aggieland remain pre
tty much the same each year, but she
Photos by Jay Janner
Cindy Milton
plans more student input.
Aggievision, formerly known as
the Video Aggieland, has been
plagued by personnel and produc
tion problems since its inception in
1986, but Starr said things are going
well for this year’s staff.
“It’s on schedule,” Starr said.
“And, barring any catastrophic diffi
culties, we should be all right.”
neering major, and Janson, a sopho
more general studies major, got to
Hill first and pulled him up on
shore.
“He didn’t have a pulse and he
wasn’t breathing,” he said. “He had
been under water for three to five
minutes already. We started admin
istering CPR and treating for shock
immediately.”
Brasseur arrived a minute later
and controlled the crowd that was
gathering on the shore and Bott, a
senior electrical engineering major,
called the paramedics.
“Within five minutes of compres
sions and ventillations, we got the
first cough out of him and he started
breathing,” he said. “The crowd let
out a giant cheer when they realized
he came back alive.”
Woosley said he then gave Hill
100 percent oxygen from their dive
site, but there were no reactions
other than breathing.
“Officers on a Travis County
sheriffs boat got there about ten
minutes later,” he said. “We put Hill
on the boat so he could be taken to
where the life flight helicopter could
land a couple of hundred yards
down the beach. We transported
him, still unconscious, in a neckbrace
and backboard to the helicopter.”
Hill was placed in intensive care at
Brackenridge Hospital in Austin.
“We were afraid he would have
neurological problems because of
the lack of oxygen to his brain, but
Sunday morning he started blinking
his eyes to questions,” Woosley said.
Hill was released from intensive
care and put in a regular hospital
room on Monday, a hospital spokes
man said. He is fully functioning
and will be able to leave in a couple
of days.
“The paramedics and doctors said
there is no doubt Hill would have
died if we hadn’t helped,” Woosley
said. “They said they had never seen
anyone do a better job that wasn’t a
fully-trained paramedic.”
Currently, the rescue diver classes
are half-semester, noncredit classes
taken after basic scuba. Next fall, a
full-semester Dive Master/ Rescue
Diver Class will be offered for credit
in the health and physical education
department.
this weekend was a real-life in
ternship for the course,” he said.
“We go over things like diving-re
lated and pressure-related injuries
in the class. Students are taught to
control situations around them to
the best of their ability. They be
come certified rescue divers and are
trained in CPR after this class.”