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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1989)
he Battalion TATE & LOCAL ^ Wednesday, June 7,1989 Bill cuts inmates’ plastic surgery Legislature enforces prohibition of unnecessary improvements nett i one he k ■arii >ok n; mm GALVESTON (AP) — Purely cos metic surgery on state prison in mates is being halted at the Univer sity of Texas Medical Branch two years after the state Legislature pro- liibited the practice, officials said. Dr. Alvin L. LeBlanc, vice presi dent for hospital affairs, said he was unaware of the prohibition until contacted by the Houston Chronicle, butjim Lynaugh, executive director of the Texas Department of Correc tions, said he knew the law. A rider to the 1987 prison appro priations bill, included again in the appropriations bill passed this year, prohibits expenditure of state funds for‘cosmetic surgery on prisoners unless they are disfigured and suffer psychological problems because of it. “It is our intent to limit down so that we can stay out of trouble with everybody,” LeBlanc said. “We are going to try to please the Legis lature, I can tell you that.” Lynaugh said prison officials “definitely were aware of that rider and have not violated it.” “When my inmates check into that hospital, I have no control of any thing except security,” he said. “I don’t control any medical practices in that hospital.” Medical branch surgeons have performed at least 123 elective cos metic surgeries on inmates since the beginning of 1988, according to a partial list released under the Texas Open Records act. Although the prison system is not charged for the services, they are mostly tax-funded because the medi cal branch is a state school. Charles Terrell, chairman of the prison board, said Rider Scott, gen eral counsel to Gov. Bill Clements, had asked him to look into the prac- “I It is our.. .(intent to) stay out of trouble with everybody. We are going to try to please the Legislature, I can tell you that.” Al . , D1 — Alvin LeBlanc, hospital administrator tice after Clements received letters from citizens critical of the tax-sup ported inmate surgeries. Under the prison’s agreement with the medical branch on opera tion of the 120-bed prison hospital in Galveston, the prison system only pays for security officers. Terrell said he called the branch and asked that purely cosmetic sur gery on inmates be stopped. “I simply asked the medical school that any operations performed were very necessary or it was the com bined decision of TDC personnel that it was essential to a person’s re habilitation,” he said. “The medical school assured us that they were tightening up things.” A prison policy that took effect April 28 requires cosmetic surgery recommendations be approved by Dr. Charles Alexander, deputy di rector for medical services in the prison system. rues) ros)' itenc; -ref rash* :med i use. escaj bad -ed rt my it it lost ftom lad \ii were ’em: as po; Court-ordered study finds improvements still needed at schools for retarded inTexas DALLAS (AP) — A court-ordered study found that Texas has not lived up to promises to improve conditions at its 13 state schools for the retarded. The state agreed to make sweeping changes after the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation was found in contempt of court two years ago. But in the first court-ordered evaluation of compliance with a settlement in the class-action suit, court-appointed expert consultant Dr. Linda O’Neall said Monday the state had not complied with the agreement in the area of staff training. “The state is out of compliance in the compre hensive competency of its staff,” O’Neall told the Dallas Morning News. I hey have not met the implementation agreement” by repeatedly refusing to improve training, she said. O’Neall also found that the state had only par tially complied with mandates on “addressing medical services, behavior treatment programs and resident abuse, neglect and injury.” The report was filed Monday in the court of U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders, who will rule on whether to accept the findings. O’Neall’s report recommends that the state train employees in the prevention and reporting of abuse and neglect. The plaintiffs attorney, David Ferleger, said the report could land the state back in court. “Unless the state shows a serious commitment to an immense alteration in its operations, we are likely to be back in court on contempt again,” Ferleger said. Assistant Attorney General Dona Hamilton disagreed. “I don’t think it’s a terrible report,” she said. “She (Dr. O’Neall) has recommended some cor rective action that we’ll consider.” Hamilton disputed O’Neall’s findings on staff training. “The defendants don’t think they’re out of compliance,” Hamilton said. After the 1987 contempt hearing, Judge Sand ers ruled the staff was poorly screened and that the professional staff wasn’t adequately trained, resulting in inadequate training of direct care staff. Ferleger also had words of criticism for the recommendations, saying O’Neall, a Florida so ciologist, “really let them off the hook by giving them a very easy standard to meet.” $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 go PAINFUL MUSCULAR INJURIES $50 Individual with recent lower back or neck pain, sprain, strains, $50 $50 muscle spasms, or painful muscular sport injury to participate $50 $50 in a one week research study. $50 incentive for those chosen 550 $50 to participate. * $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 I2S0 ASTHMA STUDY $2“ $200 Wanted: Individuals ages 12-70 with asthma to partic- $200 5200 ^ $200 *P ate * n a research study to evaluate asthma medica- ^oo $200 tions. $200 incentive for those chosen to participate. $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 CALL PAULL RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 776-0400 Sizzling PIZZA Summer - ( ... 7v PIZZA _ Special Limit 4 per coupon $4.90 Mo k 12“ stopping pteza & one Free 16 oz. Coke / Leaning Tower\ FREE DELIVERY 846-8268 \Pizzay Lunch, Dinner & Late Night Bread Limit 4 Otif'Lrc percoupon OllUKo 12" $6.11 * FREE DELIVERY 846-8268 16” $6.89 Ranch Dressing & Pizza Sauce Free (VlTLIFE EXERCISE PROGRAMS 1989 SUMM£R EXERCISE CLASSES ' ARE NOW OPEN fOR ENROLLMENT ts. K 'ing icy w irty he pc lave A Jury sentences 19-year-old to death by injection DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas County jury has sentenced a 19-year-old man to death for the slaying of a narcotics officer who was shot seven times during an undercover drug deal last December. Javier Suarez Medina stood and listened impassively to state District Judge Larry Baraka’s pronounce- 1 w “ A ivayal Mil I know is it’s not lepfl going to happen ... It’s not to (ft going to happen.” — Laura Salazar, Medina’s girlfriend the'' ising te sa: irohi n to “lead: ment that he be “taken and put to death by lethal injection.” The death sentence was automat ically appealed Monday to the Texas |Court of Criminal Appeals. Medina, who had no previous criminal record, was convicted two weeks ago of killing officer Larry ervrl Cadena on Dec. 13 during an under cover drug purchase. The killing capped the police department’s deadliest year in which five officers were slain in the line of duty. Cadena, 43, was a 17-year veteran of the department. “Justice was done,” Cadena’s son, 21-year-old Larry Cadena Jr., said. “For all his crimes, justice was done.” Medina’s girlfriend, Laura Sala zar, 16, said angrily after the verdict, “All I know is it’s not going to hap pen. .. it’s not going to happen.” Medina was charged under a pro vision of the capital-murder statute that allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty if the defendant com mitted another crime while commit ting a murder. The jury deliberated for two hours before finding that Medi- naacted deliberately in shooting Ca dena seven times and would be a threat to society, even though he had no previous criminal convictions. After the verdict, defense attor ney E. Brice Cunningham said his client’s lack of a previous record could play a role in the appeal. “I could not see where the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society,” Cun ningham said. During the trial, Medina testified that other men involved in the rob bery had threatened him and his family if he did not participate. Accused killers of shrimper face new charges of murder GALVESTON(AP) —Charges against three men accused of dous ing a Vietnamese shrimper in gaso line and then setting him ablaze were upgraded to murder following the victim’s death. Charged with murder Monday in the death of Tay Tran were Giang Minh Ho, 33; Rua Van Le, 32; and Van Hung Truong, 28, all of San Leon. They remain in the Galveston County Jail in lieu of $30,000 bond, which was increased from $20,000. Arrests warrants also were issued Monday for two other men, a Gal veston County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said. Tran, 39, who was torched in his San Leon trailer home May 28, died Saturday at the University of Texas Medical Branch Hospital. He had second- and third-degree burns over 98 percent of his body. Authorities believe the attack on Tran may have been the result of an ongoing feud between Tran and an other Vietnamese man. us ENROLL NOW !!! ENROLL NOW !!! ENROLL NOW !!! ENROLL NOW !!! ENROLL NOW !!! ENROLL NOW !!! •jnsiEMI THCBG© weight management class incl. coronary health profile testing FIT low-impact beginning aerobics WEMIH) intermediate aerobics ©IHIOIP advanced aerobics ©UJIPMsS. ©IMCSWIIir aerobics and circuit strength training combined into one class water aerobics walk-jog conditioning class f CLASSES OFFERED FROM JUNE 12 THRU AUGUST 4^ FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL 845-3997 CLASSES SUPERVISED AND DIRECTED BY THE APPLIED EXERCISE SCIENCE LABORATORY. DEPT. OF HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUC. TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY. ion i N & WEIGHT WATCHERS®QUICK SUCCESS v PRESENTS... AND THE SLEVUVUN’ IS EASY! Here's your chance to have a happier, slimmer “YOU' 1 this summer. You can lose weight faster than ever in only a few weeks with Weight Watchers amazing Quick Success Program. And, it’s easier than ever because you'll be able to enjoy your favorite foods and not feel hungry.. while still losing weight. Best of all, you'll learn how to keep it off and still enjoy Summer picnics, barbecues and pool parties! There’s no better time to join Weight Watchers than right now with this sensational Summer special offer! Joyce Nimetz, Area Director JOIN NOW FOR ONLY... $ Registration Fee . First Meeting Fee $17.00 . $ 8.00 Regular Price Total. .. $25.00 YOU SAVE $15.00 10 Offer Ends June 24, 1989. Come to the Weight Watchers meeting nearest you. BRYAN 4202 E. 29th at Rosemary Mon: 9:30 am 5:15 pm Tue: Wed: Thur: Fri: Sat: 11:30 am 9:15 am 10:00 am 6:30 pm 5:00 pm 5:15 pm g NOTHING WORKS LIKE WEIGHT WATCHERS! Offer valid June 4 througn June 24 1989 Offer valid at locations I'Sfed (Areas 37 96 1071 onry Offer valid lor new and renewing members omy Offer not valid with any olher offer or special rate Weight Watchers and Quick Success are trademarks of WfciGHT WATCHERS INTERNATIONAL INC (WEIGHT WATCHERS INTERNATIONAL iNC <989 IN BRYAN CALL 846-7793 LIFE. LIBERTY. AND THE PURSUIT OF...DENTISTRY? It's no joke. Changes in some employee benefit programs could cost you your freedom of choice in dental care. Imagine no longer being able to choose your own dentist. Or being told where you must go for any special care you might need. Now imagine someone else making those decisions for your family as well as for you. Quite a change from the freedoms most of us enjoy today. Yet such restrictions are typical of a new breed of alternative dental plan popping up around the country. These programs go by different names and impose different limits. But they all share one thing in common: the focus is on money, not health. Remember this: No plan that restricts your family's access to the dental core they need is likely to be in your best interest. Something to consider before you surrender your freedom of choice. A MESSAGE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST FROM: James Arents, D.D.S. Karen Arents, D.D.S. William Birdwell, D.D.S. Russell Bradley, Jr. D.D.S. John Case, D.D.S. Thomas Davis, D.D.S. Ronald Dusek, D.D.S. Charles Ernst, D.D.S. Curtis Garrett, D.D.S. Charles Gray, D.D.S. Robert Hall, D.D.S. Monta Kennedy, D.D.S. Sigurd Kendall, D.D.S. Tom King, D.D.S. Cynthia Langley, D.D.S. Dan Lawson, D.D.S. Stanley Maliska, D.D.S. Scott Makins, D.D.S. Donald McLeroy, D.D.S. Richard Mogle, D.D.S. Stephen O'Neal, D.D.S. Erlon Payne, D.D.S. Gordon Pratt, Sr., D.D.S. Gordon Pratt, Jr., D.D.S. Michael Reece, D.D.S. Brazos Independent Dentists Michael Riggs, D.D.S. Dickie Rychestsky, D.D.S. John Steck, D.D.S. Oren Swearingen, Jr., D.D.S. Steve Ursa, D.D.S. Tracey Varvel, D.D.S. Herbert Wade, D.D.S. Garland Watson, D.D.S. Robert White, D.D.S. William Wiley, D.D.S. Richard Williamson, D.D.S. James Wilson, D.D.S. Grant Wolfe, D.D.S. Call battalion Classified 845-2611