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The Battalion
STATE & LOCAL
' Wednesday, April 5,1989
Sheriff: Overcrowding in local jail worsens
‘It’s a continuing, vicious circle, and there doesn’t seem to be an end to it. ’
By Holly Becka
REPORTER
There are 226 inmates currently
packed into the Brazos County Jail, a
facility that holds a maximum of
166. Sixty-five inmates are spending
nights sleeping on the floor.
And, as Brazos County Sheriff
Ron Miller told the Aggie GOP
Tuesday evening, that’s only the be
ginning of the problem with over
crowding in the local jail.
“The jail holds 166 people, but
realistically we can get only around
135 people in there before people
have to start sleeping on the floor,”
Miller said.
He said the jail works on a module
By Melissa Naumann
REPORTER
When one Texas A&M student
speaks out Sunday, she will be
part of a national voice asking
that abortion stay legal.
Bonnie Harris, president of
the A&M chapter of the National
Organization for Women, will go
to Washington Sunday to partici
pate in the March for Women’s
Equality/Women’s Lives.
The march is scheduled 15
days before Webster vs. Repro
ductive Health Services goes be
fore the Supreme Court. The Su
preme Court is expected to use
this case to reconsider the 1973
Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing
abortion.
Although the march probably
will not have a direct impact, it
will send a signal to Congress and
the Supreme Court that many
people want to keep abortion safe
and legal, Harris, a senior politi
cal science major, said.
“I think the march will have a
more symbolic effect than any
thing else,” she said. “There
probably won’t be any tangible re
sults, but the symbolic part is
what’s important now.”
system of containing inmates, with
the largest module accommodating
12 people. Inmates are put into 13
different classifications, according to
the severity and number of their of
fenses, and then put into the mod
ules.
“Although you have 166 beds, you
can’t put a DWI offender going in
for 30 days with a guy in on a bur
glary charge, and vice versa,” Miller
said. “Fifty-seven of these (current)
inmates belong to the Texas Depart
ment of Corrections, but they
weren’t able to take them. Our quota
per month is 19; that’s all we can ta
ke.”
Miller said that each month the
department of corrections gets over-
Harris believes the Webster vs.
Reproductive Services decision
will be overturned and lead to a
reversal in the legality of abor
tion.
“Personally, I feel that Roe vs.
Wade will be overturned,” she
said. “I do feel that abortion
should be safe and legal because
no birth control is 100 percent ef
fective. A woman should have a
choice whether she chooses a
safe, legal abortion or an illegal
abortion. Overturning Roe vs.
Wade will take away her choice.”
The issue of abortion is fre
quently clouded by inappropriate
labels, she added.
“As far as I’m concerned, the
anti- or pro-abortion labels are in
correct,” Harris said. “No one
would ever say that they would
choose an abortion over the pill
(as a form of birth control), so just
saying someone is pro-abortion is
ridiculous.”
Other organizations will attend
the march including Mormons
for Choice, Catholics for Choice,
the National Abortion Rights Ac
tion League and the American
Civil Liberties Union.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s
of the same magnitude as the civil
rights march,” she said.
crowded, causing the Brazos County
Jail to get behind in sending in
mates. Therefore, the local jau be
comes more overcrowded. Over
crowding produces discipline and
health problems.
“It’s a continuing, vicious circle,”
Miller said, “and there doesn’t seem
to be an end to it.”
The sheriff said that he would like
to see more jails built in an attempt
to solve the problem. Brazos County
currently is in the process of devel
oping a minimum-security facility
that will be located about one mile
away from the jail, which is located
on the fourth floor of the court
house.
“I would like to see more prisons
built, but this depends on the taxpa
yer,” he said. “I think the public is
concerned with overcrowding, but 1
don’t think they’re fully aware of the
problem. The only thing we can do
is build more prisons.”
Miller said Bryan-College Station
taxpayers spent about $1.4 million
last year on prisoners in the local jail.
Miller said another solution to the
problem could be the early release of
inmates who are jailed for misde
meanors.
“But deciding on who gets re
leased could be a big problem,” he
said. “If we let a person in for a DWI
out early and he drinks and drives
and kills your mother, you’re going
to be very mad, and I’m still going to
have to look at myself in the mirror
in the morning. It’s a no-win situa
tion.”
“Other solutions might be halfway
houses, private jails, counseling and
job placement,” Miller said. “These
are possible ways to solve the prob
lem, but not very good ones.
“We’re trying to look at innovative
ways to solve the problem that will
generate money into the commu
nity.”
Miller said Bryan-College Station
is among the top 30 percent of areas
in Texas in terms of overcrowding.
“We’re in a bad situation in Texas,
and I don’t see it getting better in the
near future,” he said.
Genetic test
may be admitted
in murder trial
CLEBURNE (AP) — Results of
genetic tests may be admitted in
the trial of a former pizza cook
accused of killing two teen-agers
and a 12-year-oYd girl, a judge
ruled Tuesday.
State District Judge John Mac-
Lean said DNA tests are reliable
and agreed to allow prosecutors
to admit them as evidence in the
trial of Ronald Trimboli, who is
accused in the 1985 slayings of
three Arlington youths.
Prosecutors claim the DNA
tests link Trimboli, 44, to the rape
of one of the three youths he is
accused of killing.
Trimboli is charged with the
June 17, 1985, killings of Danielle
Lemieux, 14; her sister, Renee,
12; and a house guest, John
Bradley, 17.
Prosecutors have said the DNA
testimony would be the major dif
ference between Trimboh’s cur
rent murder trial and two pre
vious ones that resulted in
mistrials.
Judge MacLean heard testi
mony Monday from experts on
DNA testing who were called by
the prosecution and from some
called by the defense who ques
tioned the reliablity of the tests.
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic
acid, is genetic material unique to
each individual. It has been used
for less than three years in crimi
nal trials, so judges routinely pre
view the evidence to determine
whether jurors should hear it.
The witnesses Monday said
that the DNA fingerprint test
used to compare Trimboli’s se
men to semen found inside Dan
ielle Lemieux is widely accepted
by scientists for a variety of pur
poses, mainly in biomedical re
search.
Also, the experts endorsed as
reliable a “cloning” procedure de
veloped by a California labo
ratory. The technique allows sci
entists to take a small amount of
DNA and duplicate it to obtain
large enough amounts for fur
ther testing.
The “cloning” procedure, used
by the Centers for Disease Con
trol in Atlanta, was used by Cali
fornia scientist Edward Blake to
duplicate Trimboli’s DNA sam
ple.
State officials back committee
to examine utility commission
AUSTIN (AP) — As confirmation hearings began on
Public Utility Commission nominees, state leaders said
Tuesday they would appoint a special committee to ex
amine the agency, which sets telephone and electric
rates.
The study, which will include a look at whether the
PUC should be restructured, could lead to a special ses
sion, said Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, House Speaker Gib Le
wis and a spokesman for Gov. Bill Clements.
“The governor’s very concerned about the opera
tions of the commission, and I certainly share those
concerns,” Hobby said.
The PUC has drawn fire for such actions as a rate re
duction it ordered for GTE Southwest Inc.
The telephone company has said the $59 million rate
decrease and $128 million refund of overcharges to
customers would force layoffs and reduction in state in
vestment. Meanwhile, some consumer representatives
have said the cut was not large enough.
The three-member PUC — including Chairman
Marta Greytok of Taylor Lake Village and member
William Cassin of Houston, who are up for confirma
tion — is to consider motions for re-hearing in the case
Thursday.
The GTE case “brought the situation to a head,” Le
wis said.
But Lewis added, “ I don’t think we should condemn
any person who is presendy serving on that commission
or who has served on that commission. What we hope to
do is go in and re-examine the PUC in its entirety and
make whatever changes need to be made.”
Reggie Bashur, Clements’ press secretary, said that
when the interim committee finishes its work, a process
that could take months, “The governor has indicated he
would seriously consider calling a special session.”
Greytok and Cassin, both appointed by Clements,
faced hard questions during the confirmation hearing
by the Senate Nominations Committee about rate deci
sions, PUC management practices and their definition
of the public interest.
Sen. Chet Edwards, a Duncanville Democrat who
heads the Nominations Committee, closely questioned
Greytok about items such as her statement during a
PUC hearing that, “I am firmly convinced that what is
best for the utilities in this state is best for the con
sumer.”
Greytok said the statement was a distortion of her
broader philosophy. She and Cassin said they try to bal
ance the interests of different consumers and utilities.
“I am very pro-business,” she said. “I am also very
pro-consumer, and you will not long have one without
the other.”
In a change of position, Cassin also said he no longer
supports amending the state law requiring open meet
ings.
“I have come around to the view expressed to me
very eloquently by Chairman Edwards some time ago,
that the advantages of the Open Meetings Act far out
weigh the disadvantages of that legislation,” he said.
Although he described complying fully with that law
as “fairly inefficient and inconvenient,” Cassin said the
importance of public confidence that PUC dealings are
open was brought home to him by the controversy sur
rounding the GTE case.
A&M NOW president
joins national protest
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