Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 1988)
Thursday, Novembers, 1988 The Battalion Page 9 leas State legislators show anger over handling of insolvency ICritics say insurance board acted slowly Awareness Daj, y were better J n, but sopiesaill :al. little more infe i freshman ink people areij the party, ihi themselves.’ a freshman fre, l not think an;; iews were show; iretty much an; This is just tojsi ihe election. %, all the Candida; way. It see® c only real issiil cused issing lies P) — A lawyer i •Kl has been ret anic agents who I re bureau in aa| ISC. [he 3ll agents if .•port being hath .gainst by the : . trict Judge It pt. 30 that the: d against Hisg' ando Quintana, .yer affiliated il team, /ednesday was -page affidavits: i Bunion’s conn, s of five Hispd •nd they have te for participatici n lawsuit ore; he four FBI ofiit lavit did notint ne calls Wednesc Press. veek non-jurytni; Hinton admonish nish any agents K.l or testifying chf ; The judge me • ; had testified J®) necause, theyffl Commandment’ the bureau. 1 verdict, Buff ! had discrimins tents by promot: /. assigning the . s and affoc ion for theirs; lire co workers, decided later, iled by Ben* No. 2 man inik , in January ID!’ . )e filed Thursday : I being put uni dry for speakii Bunion’s vetdi: intana said, m agent in the Ml, ifies intheaffii' put under adnffi ostensibly ccurity during If . said, g. 16 that he ha! ver work involv foreign count: e was given th d in 1983 for hi I AUSTIN (AP) — The recent insol- ency of National County Mutual Fire insurance Co. has raised the ire of some legislators and critics of the State Board jof Insurance, who say the agency did not [act quickly enough. There has also been criticism of Insur ance Commissioner Doyce Lee and com- 'plaints that staff work is getting bottled up at the top of the agency. Insurance board members attribute many of the problems to a major reorga- [nization of the agency and rapid expan sion of the staff — from about 850 em ployees to 1,300 in the past 18 months. National County Mutual, a Dallas- based company with 125,000 auto insur ance policyholders statewide, was de clared insolvent last week and taken over by the insurance board. National County Mutual was $54 million in the red and I became the largest insolvency of a prop- lerty and casualty company in the state’s I history. But apparently it took heavy prodding [by Kay Doughty, director of the new Of- [fice of;Consumer Counsel, to move the | board to action. Doughty charged that the board should [have moved earlier to protect the compa- [ny’s policyholders. The board’s staff had [known of the company’s problems since [at least 1986. “What we’re starting to hear is that on [any number of occasions staff has tried [to get upper management to take ac- jtion,” Doughty told the Austin Ameri- can-Statesman. “It appears this is a pattern of staff re porting properly, and then no action at the level it would have to be taken for anything concrete to happen.’’ State Rep. John Gavin, D-Wichita Falls, chairman of the House Insurance Committee, also has been hearing com plaints from insurance board employees and has already met with the board to discuss his worries. Gavin said his com mittee will meet Nov. 10 and probably discuss looking into the insurance board criticisms. “I want to make sure there aren’t any more National County Mutual problems waiting to explode or waiting to come to light,’’ Gavin said. Gavin said he was conceded about a lack of management, but denied a report that he had asked Commissioner Lee to resign. Lee, 47, was appointed commissioner in 1985, after serving five years as gen eral counsel. A former state representa tive from Linden in northeast Texas, he was in private law practice before joining the board’s staff in 1975. Lee described the reorganization in the agency as “traumatic.” The growth spurt came after the 1987 Legislature boosted the agency’s budget and staff to exercise greater supervision over the insurance industry. The expan sion has required the agency to move many of its operations into new build ings. One of the changes in the agency in volved James Odiorne, who became the senior deputy commission through jurors shown victims’ bloodstained clothing SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Bloody clothing found on the bodies of four si blings last spring was shown to jurors Wednesday as prosecutors continued the tedious task of setting up their case against capital murder defendant Leo Narvaiz Jr. Narvaiz, 20, is accused of killing his former girlfriend, Shannon Mann, 17; Jennifer Mann, 19; Martha Mann, 15; and Ernest Mann, 13, on April 15. Narvaiz, who is in the Bexar County Jail in lieu of $4 million bond, is the first person in the county to be tried under a law that allows a mass-murder suspect to be tried on capital murder charges. The four bodies were found in their blood-spattered trailer home on San An tonio’s southwest side. The female vic tims were found with some of their cloth- i nt James Gaff avit that his k were taken awai ifying, Quintan is agents, Pail ly Valadez, tesj ' cy have been inquiry. mas ice \PPEALS ifference Tier! Bullock to send extra auditors to bingo games AUSTIN (AP) — The state comp troller said Wednesday that extra au ditors will be dispatched to Houston next week to check complaints of rigged games, cash skimming and other problems at some charity bingo games. Comptroller Bob Bullock said his office would be auditing games and bingo halls and would take action against unscrupulous operators. Sanctions could include revoking li censes and closing down games, he said. “There’s been a lot of finger pointing and allegations about bingo games in Houston, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” Bullock said. Bullock said he would work with Attorney General Jim Mattox in in vestigating illegal games. Mattox called for such a probe after the Houston Chronicle reported dozens of apparent violations of the state’s bingo laws. The report cited rigged games, cash skimming and operators who il legally offer to pay charities a small cut of the bingo proceeds in exchange for running games in the charities’ names. The Houston Post reported Tues day that a Seabrook woman and three Houston men, including one who runs games in Houston, had been charged in Louisiana with violating that state’s bingo law. There are 98 organizations operat ing bingo games at 52 locations in Harris County. Bullock said his of fice had received and investigated 44 complaints in the county this year. There also have been 51 audits in Harris County during 1988 and 20 li censes proposed for revocation. The comptroller’s office is limited in action it can take against operators, Bullock said, but he vowed to “take our evidence where we need for the fullest prosecution. ” Violations uncovered by his audi tors will be given to the Harris County district attorney and the state attorney general, he said. Bingo games in Texas have gener ated nearly $1.4 billion since the Leg islature legalized them in 1981. They have produced nearly $7 million in state taxes and $25 million in taxes for cities and counties. ing either pulled over their breasts or below their waists. Knives believed used in the slayings were entered into evidence Monday. On Wednesday with more than 80 spectators watching, more blood-spattered clothing found on the victims was shown to the jury, along with photographs of the un dressed victims. Police Detective Ramiro Alvear said he gathered evidence at the crime scene and identified most of the photographs of the victims and clothing, which included T-shirts, blouses, shorts, bras, panties and socks. He said he found five knives and three blades at the scene. Narvaiz, who was writing on a legal pad, showed no emotion when shown photos of his former girlfriend and her si blings, but his attorney, Jeffrey Scott, objected to the numerous photographs being admitted into evidence. “They are highly prejudicial to my client. They are extremely inflammatory and outweigh any public value,” Scott said. But State District Judge Michael Ma chado rejected Scott’s motions and let the jurors see the items, which also in cluded a blood-spattered telephone from which one of the victims called police, frantically telling them her sisters and brother were being attacked. Police said the victims were stabbed so hard with steak knives that some of the blades broke off in the bodies. Narvaiz was arrested later that morn ing and taken to a hospital for treatment of stab wounds to his arm and leg. He was found competent to stand trial in Au gust. Jury selection took about three weeks. Bexar County District Attorney Fred Ro driguez is prosecuting the case, which is •expected to take a month. whom recommendations flowed on whether to put companies under supervi sion or into receivership. At the same time, he continued to do his old job as liquidator. Lee said the change involving Odiorne “has produced some grumblings that all of a sudden things are getting bottled up there.” Among those eager to probe the agency are State Rep. Eddie Cavazos, D- Corpus Christi, vice chairman of the House Insurance Committee. He said he would like to “scrutinize (the board’s) budget with a fine, fine, fine-tooth comb. I know they’re asking for a (bud get) increase, and I doubt if they’re going to get an increase based on their past performance. ’ ’ Lawmaker touts device to keep tabs on crooks AUSTIN (AP) — A state representa tive ended three days under “house ar rest” Wednesday and said electronic monitoring of certain criminal offenders can help the state save money and im prove public safety. “It has been somewhat uncomfort able,” said state Rep. Glenn Repp, as the wallet-sized transmitter device was snipped from around his ankle. “I’ll be happy to get it off,” the Dun canville Republican added. The device, which monitors the movement of the wearer and transmits signals to a computer base in Denver, Colo., left a small bruise on Repp’s leg. But the chairman of the House Correc tions Subcommittee on Electronic Mon itoring said he tried several times to foil the accuracy of the device and was un able to do so. He refused to say how he tested the apparatus. Rider Scott, general counsel for Gov. Bill Clements, said electronic monitor ing of state prison parolees costs about $9 per day, compared with $30 per day of incarceration. Scott said the program should be used in conjunction with added prison capac ity. But he said that with electronic mon itoring, the state prison system can better reserve jail space for violent criminals. “Electronic monitoring can be less in trusive, less expensive, and equally as useful” for some kinds of offenders, Scott said. Under a pilot program in Texas, 122 prison parolees have completed the elec tronic monitoring program, with 84 suc cessfully meeting terms of their parole, 28 being placed under new terms of pa role and 10 being returned to prison, said Mike Eisenberg of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. In addition, electronic monitoring also is used in some counties in Texas for probationers. Scott said about 500 peo ple statewide are being monitored under the system. Repp said he would recommend that the Legislature expand the program next year, but he said lawmakers should ap proach the concept carefully. “We dont want to run slipshod into some program that we haven’t inspected thoroughly,” Repp said. “This is not going to take the place of prison capacity. This is only another tool in our arsenal in trying to deal with crime,” he said. Gray County to stop use of pauper’s oath limiting voting rights AUSTIN (AP) — Gray County offi cials will stop using a pauper’s oath that included a provision surrendering the right to vote, the attorney general’s of fice said Wednesday. “I don’t think it was a malicious at tempt by anyone in the county to disenf ranchise people,” said Elna Christopher, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Mattox. “I just think they didn’t understand the law. As soon as we explained it to them, they were chagrined it had happened,” she said. “We just told them to stop using it, and they immediately agreed when law was explained to them. ’ ’ Christopher said officials told the at torney general’s office that the oath was being used in connection with indigent burials. Perhaps 40 relatives were re quired to sign the oath over several years in order for the county to pay for burials, she said. The Texas Constitution contains a pro vision that says paupers supported by the county aren’t allowed to vote, Christo pher said. However, the document also contains other outdated provisions re garding the right to vote that are not fol lowed but have not been repealed, she said. “Everybody has just ignored it, ex cept out in Gray County, to our knowl edge ,” Christopher said. She said officials instead follow Texas Election Code provisions. According to Christopher, Gray County officials said there has only been one person who has come forward to reg ister to vote after signing the oath, and that person was allowed to vote after the county checked with the secretary of state’s office. “The problem I see is people who signed this oath may have just assumed they could not vote and never pressed the point,” Christopher said. “I don’t know how one goes about getting the word to them, or if they’re still there.” The paragraph in the oath declaring poverty said, “In making this declara tion under oath, I acknowledge that I am a resident of Gray County, Texas and that I surrender my rights to vote as set forth in the Constitution of the state of Texas.” The attorney general’s office con tacted Gray County officials after receiv ing a request for a legal opinion on the oath from Rep. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAl- len. College Station 104 University 696-6427 FAVORED OVER OPPONENT BY HOUSTON BAR ASSOCIATION! RE-ELECT JUDGE GEORGE VTTTS 14th COURT OF APPEALS PLACE 5 / ★ EXPERIENCE ★ ABILITY ★ INTEGRITY Endorsed by: • Houston Lawyers Association • Pasadena Bar Association • North Harris County Bar Association • Mexican American Bar Association • Houston Northwest Bar Association • Houston Police Patrolmen's Union • Houston Police Officers Association • Houston Fire Fighters Union • Harris County Women's Political Caucus- • AFL-C10 • Houston Community Alliance • Teamsters • Harris County Council of Organizations • The “C” Club • The Baptist Ministers Assoc. • Houston Baptist Pastors and Ministers Fellowship Experience: Over 29 years legal experience, including the past six years as Judge, 14th Court of Appeals. Judge Ellis has authored over 500 legal opinions. Graduate U. of Texas Law School. Ellis, when re-elected, will continue to be tough on crime and the use of illegal drugs. Endorsed by the Houston Chronicle and Houston Sun FIGHT DRUGS AND CRIME Pol. Adv. Paid for by Committee to Re-elect Judge George Ellis, George Ellis, Treasurer, 411 Fannin, Suite 302, Houston, Texas 77002 Attention All Aggies!! Check the local advertising in the back of your 1989 Spring CLASS SCHEDULE DIRECTORY For •Coupons •Discounts •Student Specials Tell the local advertisers you saw their ad in the Class Schedule Directory! To advertise in the Directory — Phone Gammon Advertising Sales (409)693-2752 TSTJON N. HUGHES ★ EXPERIENCED * FAIR * QUALIFIED ★ STATE DISTRICT JUDGE, 174TH DISTRICT COURT HARRIS COUNTY SINCE 1977 ★ THIRTY-NINE YEARS LEGAL EXPERIENCE ★ PREFERRED OVER HIS OPPONENT BY 72% OF LAWYERS IN HOUSTON BAR ASSOCIATION POLL ★ TEN YEARS EXPERIENCE AS HARRIS COUNTY ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY AGGIE ENDORSEMENTS INCLUDE: TOMMIE VAUGHN ’41, GERALD M. BEAN ’47, JAMES R. GRAVES ’51, KEN (DUDE) McLEAN ’65, MIKE SHELLEY ’81, TANA ALLEN ’86, DAVID SHELTON ’89 FOR 1ST COURT OF APPEALS. PL. 5 A Paid for by the Jon N. Hughes Campaign Fund • Mrs. Johnnie Hughes, Treasurer • 4425 Koehn, Bellville, Texas 77418