he Battalion Wednesday, October 19, 1988 College Station, Texas Vol. 88 No. 38 USPS 04536010 Pages Nation s,.| anel advocates niversal access o prenatal care ases id Sal WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal lel called Tuesday for universal access iprenatal care by American women as a py to reduce the number of babies bom 1 and handicapped — and save payer dollars in the process. “The most basic problem is that our ion has failed to give adequate prior- to the principle that all pregnant men — not only the affluent —should jeive prenatal, delivery and postpar tum services,” said Joyce C. Lashof, ihpiii- Biimian of the Institute of Medicine Huilps Bdycommittee. ions iW c P anc *’ s two-year survey started out trying to determine what type of out- ^ch programs would be most effective roviding pregnant woman with pre- [alcare. ut it soon concluded that the problem ran deeper than women not being aware iservices available to them. B'Our central conclusion is that out- ,n gP c i' efforts are no match for the perva- HP live barriers faced by low-income swim: Kmcn in trying to secure adequate pre- ireiE jahl an d maternity-care services,” La- iBfsaid at a news conference where the 254-page report was issued. SMWAs is so often the case, the principal ier is money,” Lashof, who is dean School of Public Health at the Uni- ityofCalifomia-Berkeley, said, he report said about 26 percent of icn of child-bearing age have no in- nce — public or private —to cover ^mity care and that two-thirds of |e, or about 9.5 million women, have ealth insurance at all. prom: ilips hale: d, u fine Fist; )11 |ln many ways, the panelists con- ped, money itself is not as much of a plem as lack of will to make a na- Jal commitment to tackle the problem i a comprehensive way. Although there would be an initial in vestment of new funds to expand Medi caid to cover more pregnant women, for example, the money would pay a three fold dividend by producing more healthy babies and thus fewer sick and hand icapped ones to be cared for at public ex pense. “For every dollar spent on prenatal care for low-income, poorly educated women, about $3 are saved in medical expenses for low-birthweight babies dur ing the first year of life,” Lashof said, citing figures from a 1985 Institute of Medicine study. Indeed, many of the fundamental find ings in the new survey track two studies released in recent months by the congres sional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality. Lashof said the major new conclusion of the latest study is that trying to refine outreach programs for women in need of prenatal care is more or less wasted ef fort until actual barriers to such care are removed. A majority of the six panelists at the news conference expressed optimism that the nation will provide proper prena tal care in the near future — in part be cause multiple studies seem to have dem onstrated beyond doubt the sheer cost effectiveness of such programs. “If anything gets attention, it’s dollars and cents,” panelist George M. Ryan said. “I just don’t think this nation is going to go on paying to take care of handicapped infants when we can pre vent the handicaps with proper prenatal care.” Ryan is an obstetrics and gynecology professor at the University of Tennessee medical school in Memphis. Photo by James M. Love College Station police officers take cover outside of Southwest Savings Tuesday while FBI investigators search the bank for a robbery suspect. Gunman robs Southwest Savings, takes unknown amount of money By Fiona Soltes Staff Writer An armed man robbed Southwest Sav ings, located on the northeast corner of Texas Avenue and Southwest Parkway, at about 8 a.m. Tuesday and escaped with an unknown amount of money. It was the second bank robbery in College Station within a month. aco no- pass-no-play’ case nds with teacher’s victory adot. its to WACO (AP) — A Waco teacher who ed last year to pass a star football er who was failing her sociology Is says she is relieved a jury ruled in her favor in her legal battle with the Ho Independent School District. 1; ‘jl think I’m most pleased with the Hid,” Sue Collins said Tuesday. “I ■■"^knew that we were telling the truth. It was just a feeling of relief more than ■ling.” A federal jury on Friday awarded Col- linsS77,000 in damages after it found vi- iations of Collins’ First Amendment rights and of the state “whistle-blowers” act. In the middle of the 1987 football playoffs, the University Interscholastic i52j League ruled that Waco High School star ylijleteBshsive end Trell Payne was ineligible Bothi Way because he had failed Collins’ (hj291 Ps. The football team, undefeated at tonii. the time, forfeited six games, the last of which was a playoff game that ended its season as the team prepared for its next playoff game. Mouse Bill 72 states that any student who fails a class is to be declared ineli- ire tlW'H fr om extracurricular activities for .rereqwfF 116 ’ 11 six-week grading period. jci^fcfGollins, 34, said Payne also had failed akeoff^H Durse during the first six-week grad- inspectiiiH^dod, but that principal Wilbur u . Luce and football coach Johnny Tusa Hured her to pass Payne. She said ll,i *®almer show relocated to Rudder they suggested she use a method called “point-borrowing:” She could raise his score 15 points for the grading period, then subtract it from the next one when the student’s performance had improved. It was after Payne failed the class in the second grading period that Collins approached the UIL. “I believe teachers are most con cerned with fairness for all students,” Collins said, adding that passing a failing student only penalized those students who had achieved passing marks. A teacher at Waco High School for 12 years, Collins said she was removed from the classroom. She said she was told to continue working at home —plan ning assignments and grading papers — as other teachers substituted in the class- Maj. Ed Feldman of the College Sta tion Police Department said he is not rul ing out the possibility of a connection be tween the two robberies. “We are definitely looking at that pos sibility,” Feldman said. “Two bank rob beries within a 30-day period in a town this size makes us think it’s the same in dividual, but we can’t be sure.” Feldman said he did not think there had been a bank robbery in College Sta tion for at least 20 years prior to the Sept. 24 robbery of United Citizens Bank on Longmire Drive. The most significant similarity be tween the robberies was the time they oc curred, Feldman said. Both took place at about 8 a.m., before the bank was open and when only one teller was present. Feldman said that College Station dis patchers received a call at 7:52 a.m. Tuesday from a teller in the drive-in part of the bank. Police arrived at the scene within a few minutes. Sections of Texas Avenue and Southwest Parkway then were closed to traffic. The teller was opening the bank when a dark-complected man, possibly tanned or Hispanic, wearing a rubber mask over his head and plastic bags over his hands and feet, pointed a blue-steel pistol at her and asked her in a high falsetto voice to put money into bank bags, Feldman said. The robber probably was in the bank when the teller arrived, he said. The teller described the robber as be tween 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall and about 175 pounds. He was wear ing a cream-colored long-sleeved shirt, faded blue jeans and blue canvas tennis shoes. The robber made the teller lie down while he escaped with the money. Feld man said. When teller though the robber had left the building, she hid in an office and called the drive-in teller, Feldman said. The teller’s identity is being with held for safety reasons, Feldman said. Several members of the Department’s Special Operations Response Team en tered the bank and found the teller un harmed but visibly disturbed, Feldman said. She was taken to Commerce Na tional Bank on Texas Avenue for ques tioning. Special Operations then secured the building. At about 10:30 a.m., police officers still were not sure if the robber remained in the bank. Members of the team found a closet locked from the inside that usually was not locked, and they thought the suspect might be inside. But by the time the entire area was checked, it was evident that the robber had escaped, Feldman said. Feldman said he is urging banks in the area to tighten their security. “We notified area banks to be more careful after the first robbery,” Feldman said. “But people around here are caught up in the attitude that nothing like this could ever happens around here. The sad thing is, it does.” People who were in the area of South west Parkway and Texas Avenue inter section at the time of the robbery who think they might have seen something suspicious should contact the College Station Police Department, he said. It is not known whether the suspect es caped by car or by foot. The amount of money stolen will be disclosed after an audit by the bank, Feldman said. Bank officials would not comment on the robbery. Dukakis, Bush downplay large Republican lead ctions o ha iirf I COHdlk' 1 Associated Press Democrat Michael Dukakis lashed front-running George Bush as a man with “no convictions, no ideas and no plans” Tuesday and blamed Republi can policies for last year’s stock market plunge. Bush tried to contain supporters’ enthusiasm over polls showing him building a large lead. “We’re not going to lighten up,” the Republi can presidential nominee said while campaigning in Missouri. “No votes can be taken for granted and I’m not taking any votes for granted. I will continue to campaign as an underdog. ” There was no question who was the real under dog — Dukakis. But he drew enthusiastic crowds as he campaigned through Michigan with aides battling the growing perception that Bush had taken an insurmountable lead with just three weeks until the election. Dukakis’ running mate Lloyd Bentsen delivered a strongly worded response to the Republicans, ac cusing Bush of running one of the “most outra geous displays of negative campaigning” ever seen in the history of national politics. The Massachusetts governor sharpened his lan guage as he focused on economic issues and por trayed Bush as the candidate of the wealthy. “George Bush cares about the people on Easy Street,” Dukakis said. “I care about the people on Main Street. He’s on their side. I’m on your side.” “Duke, Duke, Duke,” the crowds chanted. Dukakis also brought up the huge stock-market drop that occurred one year ago Wednesday. “The trade deficit had soared,” he said. “Re publican policies of borrow and spend and borrow and spend had done the damage. ’ ’ ienext The Texas A&M MSC Town Hall Ex- Hve Committee decided Tuesday light lo move the Oct. 25 Robert Palmer lonert from G. Rollie White Coliseum •o Rudder Auditorium following slug- gishjicket sales, said Keith Spera, chair- |anofMSC Town Hall. Bound 2,100 tickets were sold, but toe Coliseum has a capacity of about POO. so the committee decided to move i concert to the auditorium, he said. I The auditorium has a capacity of 2,500. fSpera said the decision was made jointly by the committee, Palmer’s agent • if tod Town Hall’s adviser, Laura Crotau. Tickets will be transferred to equiva- A: btlseats at the show, Spera said, and in Host cases ticketholders will end up with better seats. ISpera said there are around 400 tickets bat$14each. J SPalmcr has been playing small arenas , this tour, Spera said, and more tickets 77(C "'ere sold for the A&M concert than in ^ J Huston. Clubs share DWI concerns with patrons fflRBW l - * mi rrnnntntnninmr •to#*,. -w-fc. • -m rnr't • • • Photo by Jay Janner Sophomore Craig Hannah examines a wrecked car being displayed by Off Campus Aggies near Rudder fountain. The display is part of Alcohol Aware ness Week and is intended to show the results of drinking and driving. By Richard Tijerina Staff Writer Patrons who have had too much to drink at local clubs, bars and restau rants often are not alone in worrying about how to get home or when to stop drinking. The owners of local es tablishments often take it upon them selves to make sure their customers get home safely. Several owners of local clubs and restaurants said they often take the customer’s safety into their own hands when the customers have had too much to drink. Many times, that includes refusing to serve alcohol to an intoxicated patron and finding a means of transportation to get him or her home safely. Don Ganter, owner of the Dixie Chicken, said that his first priority in trying to help an intoxicated person is to make him or her feel comfortable and start looking for a way to get them home. “We’re extremely nice to them,” he said. “We don’t want them to be come irate. We first search to see if they have friends around in the crowd. Then we make the determin ation to see if their friends have the ability to negotiate with an auto mobile. We'll find a friend 95 percent of the time.” Ganter said the Dixie Chicken will call a cab for anyone who has no way to get home, and that depending on the situation, either the local hangout or the customer would pay for cab fare. Paul Emola, owner of the Texas Hall of Fame, said that his two main priorities also are to see that the in toxicated customer no longer has any thing to drink for the night and to get him or her home safely. “We immediately cut him off from drinking,” Emola said. “If he has a friend, we’ll get his friend to drive him home. If he doesn’t have trans portation, we’ll call a cab. We’ll even pay for the cab if it ? s necessary. “However, we have a unique situa tion in that we have bartenders, but not waitresses, so they have to go to the bar to order drinks. Then it’s eas ier to determine if they’re drunk or not.” Ganter also said that the Dixie Chicken will post employees at the entrance to be able to spot intoxicated persons and minors more easily. “We’ll post people at the door on busy nights,” he said. “If all else fails, we’ll turn them all over to the College Station Police Department. Their policy is very good. They come and try to get them to call a friend or a roommate or whatever.” Most owners of local clubs, bars and restaurants are not responsible for any deaths or accidents that arise from a person drinking too much at their establishment, because their bartenders have gone through a spe cial Alcohol Services Course given by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. According to TABC assistant su pervisor Ron Stone, the program is directed more toward employees than toward retailers, and that the program teaches the employees to detect intox icated persons, how to prevent them from drinking any more alcoholic beverages, how to detect minors and how to detect false identification. However, Stone said that even though the owner may not be liable if the employee has gone through this course, the employee may still be held responsible and be brought in for criminal charges. Ganter said all his bartenders and door people have gone through the TABC program, and that successful completion of the program is a pre requisite before he hires. Ganter said he often calls the Yel low Cab company to pick up intoxi cated customers and take them home. Paul Freeman, supervisor of Yellow Cab, said he has an agreement with a few local establishments to take peo ple home for a fixed rate. The agreements that Yellow Cab has with establishments, including Graffiti’s, the Edge and Graham’s Central Station, are longstanding, and Freeman said they are very suc cessful. Flat rates for taxi service vary. Freeman said the flat rate for Graffi ti’s and the Edge is $5 fare per cab, no matter how many people are riding in the car. Yellow Cab’s policy with Graffiti’s is to take the customer home and then return to the club to collect the fare.