le Battalion
TATE & LOCAL
3
>nday, November 27,1989
Former Gov. White plans to finish agenda
after announcing gubernatorial candidacy
archers
Jay racism
led to death
I MALONE (AP) — A weekend
■larch to protest the death of a
Burglary suspect in this central
Bexas town drew only about 30
leople.
E The sign-carrying demonstra-
ttors who marched around the
all Hill County town for about
jn hour on Saturday also said
iey intend to ask the FBI to in-
jestigate the death of James Oli-
jerKingJr., 24.
King, who had a felony record
lor burglary, died on Oct. 9 after
dng chased for several miles
nd more than a hour by several
wnspeople. He apparently died
om his body being compressed
y three men who finally cap-
ured him and held him down
mtil sheriffs department offi-
fals could arrive in the town
dthout police protection.
At least three of the many in-
olved in the chase were carrying
runs and were within yards of
Cing at times, but no shots were
ired during the chase.
I A Hill County grand jury
ileared the three men, one of
fhom was Mayor James Lucko.
I feel like injustice
mywhere is injustice
everywhere. There’s
Iways been justifiable
lomicide when it comes
te p the death of a black
lerson."
— Rev. Marlon Barnett,
he men said they had not tried
tj) kill King, but explained it had
l£B Biken great force to take away a
M Krick he was holding.
iedB The marchers said they find-
nidfault with the grand jury’s deci-
ei g{Bon to no-bill the three, and they
■intend King would not have
lied if he was white instead of
.1 lack. The three men who re-
'nMrained him where white.
“I feel like injustice anywhere
is injustice everywhere,” said the
Marion Barnett, pastor of
Bill Avenue Baptist Church of
Balias, who was one of the: march
ers. “There’s always be^rfjustifia-
ble homicide when it comes to the
^eath of a black person.”
I Marcher Johnny Miller, 42, a
ir * liechanic from nearby Itasca, ac-
Tjknowledged that King had been
g it found in the home of an elderly
f jj- woman.
jjjj I “Even if the individual was
■ guilty, it was not a crime punisha-
7° blc by death,” Miller said,
l® I M ost 0 f the marchers were
IVflBom other towns, including Fort
toll Worth and Dallas, according to
a to: the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
fit As the procession wound
through the small town, residents
quietly watched from front
a l fborches, storefronts and street
corners.
i di
ears is;
L Re
pi
'Da
1
HOUSTON (AP) — Former Gov, Mark
White, expected to announce his gubernato
rial candidacy Wednesday, says he wants to
complete an unfinished agenda.
“He felt like he wasn’t through — that
there were things he wanted to get accom
plished,” Betty Fortinberry, White’s sister,
said. “We all feel hesitant to get back into it.
Let’s face it, it’s not fun not to win. But he
thinks it’s worth putting it on the line.”
White, an attorney, plans to take on State
Treasurer Ann Richards and Texas Attorney
General Jim Mattox for the Democratic gu
bernatorial nomination in the March pri
mary.
White, who served as governor 1983-87,
lost a re-election bid by 300,000 votes to Bill
Clements, whom he unseated in the previous
election in 1982.
White admits the defeat, at least in part,
came in response to his support of sweeping
educational reforms that included a no-pass,
no-play provision for students and teacher lit
eracy testing.
But he said the prospect of more educatio
nal changes from an overhaul of the state’s
school financing plan has attracted him to the
position for a second time.
“I’m not running just to hold the office,”
White said. “I’m running to make changes
over the next four years.”
White said he is proud of his accomplish
ments as governor. He was hailed for attract
ing business and industry to Texas, guar
anteeing increased funding for highway
repair and construction and making major
overhauls to the state’s public education sys
tem through the Education Reform Act of
1984, or House Bill 72, as it was more com
monly known.
While some Texans were upset by disrup
tions to high school football programs or
threatened careers of teachers. White said the
work has improved student test scores and as
sured a strong body of teachers.
“The bottom line is kids are doing better in
schools,” White said.
“We changed the lives of a lot of people,”
White said. “We upset people. But now we
don’t have to look over our shoulders and say
we don’t have teachers who can’t pass a test.
We will never have to do that again.”
White also was criticized for the passage of
$4.8 billion in new taxes and major increases
in state fees to help fund the school reforms
and highway improvements. In addition, it
was during his administration that the price
of oil plunged the state into a deep recession.
“People recognize now that even though it
was a discomfort to them at the time, it was in
everyone’s best interest,” White said. “I think
the evidence is clear now that we did the right
thing.”
While Clements focused on White’s tax re
cord, the Republican governor was forced in
1987 to approve the largest tax increase in
state history in 1987: $5.7 billion.
Scientists build space-age wind tunnel
ARLINGTON (AP) —’ Scientists
at the University of Texas at Arling
ton are putting final touches on a
new project that may be a significant
step toward the development of
commuter space travel.
A sophisticated wind tunnel —one
of the largest to be ever built —
should be ready to use next month,
officials said.
The project is being built to sup
port development of the National
Aero-Space Plane, an experimental
aircraft designed to fly at up to 25
times the speed of sound. The air
craft would be able to reach Earth’s
orbit, then return using conventio
nal airports.
The speed of sound is about 761
mph at sea level, and officials say the
UTA wind tunnel will generate
bursts of air up to 18 times that fast.
It is far faster than most conventio
nal test facilities can create and far
greater than the top speeds of con
ventional aircraft.
The new wind tunnel at UT-Ar-
lington cost $200,000, not including
about $150,000 worth of test-cham
ber equipment donated by the LTV
Corp., according to the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram.
Frank Lu, an assistant professor
of aerospace engineering at UTA,
said scientists will use the new tunnel
to conduct basic research to see how
air flows around aircraft that travel
at hypersonic speeds. Those are
speeds five times the speed of sound
or more.
“With hypersonic, we really don’t
know too much,” Lu said. “We know
the interactions will be very severe.
We need to explore the fundamen
tals by understanding the physics.”
The UTA wind tunnel consists
mostly of a 37-foot-long steel pipe, 6
inches in diameter. At one end is a
small chamber where air or helium is
compressed up to 6,000 pounds per
square inch. At the other end is a test
chamber, where small-scale models
of structural components will be
placed.
The compressed air or helium is
released through a system of dia
phragms, which creates a shock wave
that flows the length of the pipe and
into a nozzle mechanism. The com
pressed air picks up speed and
moves into the test chamber, where
it expands into a smooth, even and
extremely high-speed flow that last
only about five one-thousandths of a
second.
Aerospace engineering professor
Don Wilson said engineers spent
hours designing and building aero-
dynamically exact models and wiring
them with sophisticated electronic
sensors that will record and analyze
a variety of pressure and tempera
ture readings.
UTA officials say a second hyper
sonic tunnel will be built next sum
mer that will allow tests as long as 30
seconds. It also will allow scientists to
alter conditions during tests.
“Between the two, we’ll have a lot
of flexibility,” Wilson said.
The research and development
phase of the space-plane program is
now expected to run through 1992.
Caravan travels from Indiana to Guatemala
in an effort to provide supplies for needy
DALLAS (AP) — For the fifth straight year, a
caravan of emergency vehicles will travel from
Indiana to Guatemala so that people who can’t
afford medical supplies, clothes and eyeglasses
will have them.
The 3,200-mile pilgrimage began on Thanks
giving Day and is scheduled to arrive in Guate
mala on Saturday.
In 1984, Indiana cattle farmer Jim Cameron
went to the Central American country to distrib
ute eyeglasses to needy people.
But Cameron noticed that people needed
other supplies as well.
“I realized they could use anything we could
bring them, especially emergency vehicles,” said
Cameron, a member of Lions Club International.
So Cameron organized the caravan, which this
year has 14 vehicles and 42 volunteers.
Another ambulance is being shipped from
Sweden and will be added to the caravan when
two Swedish Lions Club members join the group
in McAllen on Monday.
The group was in Dallas over the weekend.
The volunteers will spend four days in Guate
mala before flying back to the United States,
Cameron .said.
“We’ll l£ave the vehicles in the country becaAise
they don’t have very many, and we’ll dispense the
eyeglasses,” Cameron told the Dallas Morning
“T
8 hese things don’t mean a lot to
us, but they mean a whole lot to
people down there where they don’t
have anything.”
— Wallace Huffman
volunteer
News. “We’ll probably fix about 4,000 people
with eyeglasses.”
The ambulances were donated by members of
local chapters of Lions Club International, Cam
eron said.
Members of the Carmel, Ind., chapter spon
sored fish fries and sold oranges and grapefruits
to raise the money to buy the ambulance being
driven to Guatemala by'b^year-old Reid Comp-
"tofi.
Compton, who is making his second trip, said
his visit last year convinced him that the cause
was worthwhile.
“We took a firetruck last year, and you would
think they were going to eat it up,” Compton
said. “The mayor came out, and they brought a
band to play for us.”
Cameron said the group has also collected
12,000 pairs of used glasses, including 19 pairs
donated by first lady Barbara Bush, to deliver to
Guatemalans.
Wallace Huffman, 71, of Warsaw said he and
his wife Virginia look forward to making the so
journ because the people they help really seem to
appreciate their efforts.
“These things don’t mean a lot to us, but they,
mean a whole lot to people down there where
they don’t have anything,” Huffman, who is
making his third trip this year, said.
Police await
rape suspect’s
DNA results
DALLAS (AP) — McKinney
police are awaiting results of
court-ordered DNA tests on hair
and blood samples taken from a
15-year-old boy suspected of rap
ing and killing a 12-year-old Mc
Kinney girl on Thanksgiving Day
1988, officials said.
The test results probably will
determine whether the 15-year-
old will be charged in the rape
and fatal stabbing of Amanda
Miller.
The court order came from a
state district judge in Dallas
County. The order was moved to
a Dallas court after the suspect
moved with his family from McK
inney, in Collin County, to a Dal
las suburb after Miller’s death,
police said.
Officials have been trying for
several months to conduct the
tests on the suspect, whose iden
tity is being withheld because he
is a juvenile and because he has
not been charged in the crime,
said McKinney Police Chief Ken
Walker.
The 15-year-old is the prime
suspect in the rape and stabbing
of Miller on Nov. 24, 1988, in fier
home north of downtown McKin
ney, police said.
The boy, who was 14 at the
time of Miller’s death, emerged as
the prime suspect within a
month, Walker said.
The boy knew Miller and had
been seen near her house the eve
ning of the crime, officials said.
They said he also had a history of
attacking people with knives.
The suspect would not volun
tarily consent to the DNA testing.
DNA can be determined by
blood samples or other body flu
ids taken from individuals or
from crime scenes. The testing
shows the band pattern that rep
resents the signature or “finger
print” of an individual’s DNA.
PLU
Presents...
1989
Christmas Craft festivai^
Nov. 28th & 29th
9am-5pm
Rudder Fountain Mall
Quality handcrafted items at affordable prices !
T-Shirts
Creative Clothing
Needleworks
and much more...