World & Nation
Page 8
The Battalion
Wednesday, April 29,
Worn part causes plane to crash
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
failure of a severely worn part in a
propeller control system was
blamed Tues-
NTSB blames faulty propeller system
for crash that killed Tower, 22 others
last
day for
year's com
muter plane
crash that
killed former
Sen. John
Tower, R-
Texas, and 22
others.
The
National
Transportation
Safety Board
said that the
part's failure made the aircraft
uncontrollable.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines
flight 2311, a two-engine Embraer
120 built in Brazil, crashed on
April 5, 1991, while approaching
the Glynco Jetport at Brunswick,
Ga. at a height of 2,300 feet. The
Tower
dead included Tower; his
daughter, Marian; and astronaut
Manley Lanier (Sonny) Carter.
The safety board said the crew
was not responsible for the ac
cident and could have done
nothing to prevent the crash.
While the board ruled that the
malfunction of the propeller-
control system on the left-wing
engine was the probable cause of
the crash, it also faulted Hamilton
Standard, the manufacturer, and
the Federal Aviation Admin
istration.
The safety board said Hamilton
Standard's propeller-control
system design was deficient in
that it did not anticipate the kind
of failure that occurred in the
Georgia crash.
The board said the FAA's
approval of the design also
contributed to the accident.
A spokesman for Hamilton
Standard said the company, a
division of United Technologies,
could not comment because it is
being sued for damages by
Tower's estate and the estates of
other victims of the crash.
A month after the crash, the
FAA ordered an emergency
inspection of about 100 airplanes
with the same type of propeller.
On at least 10 of the planes, a
new type of hard, rough coating
on a tube inside the propeller
control system was found to have
caused excessive wear on a
companion part.
The board said the design was
flawed because one three-inch
part, called a quill, was softer than
the tube in which it was
contained. The teeth of the tube
became badly worn and
essentially lost their grip.
“It acted like a file and over
time it wore down the teeth that
controlled the propeller unit,"
said acting safety board chairman
Susan Coughlin.
The two parts disengaged,
changing the angle of the
propeller blades.
The safety board's report said
that failure of the system caused a
lift and drag condition “that
exceeded the capability of the
pilots to counteract with the
airplane controls available."
Coughlin said the battering air
currents "forced the aircraft into a
left wing down position."
She said the problem has been
corrected in aircraft with similar
propeller-control systems.
Investigators
find abuses
in state clinics
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Private psychiatric hospital
abuses — including paying
“bounty hunters" to find
patients — are among the
most "scandalous episodes in
the history of health care in
America," the chair-woman
of a House com-mittee
charged Tuesday.
“We cannot allow this
kind of unconscionable ripoff
to go on," Rep. Pat Schroeder
said as she opened her
committee's hearing on
abuses by facilities in Texas,
New Jersey and other states.
Psychiatric hospitals and
clinics are milking the
government and private
insurers of hundreds of
millions of dollars annually,
Schroeder said.
The House Select Com
mittee on Children, Youth
and Families has found
thousands of cases where
patients were hospitalized
for psychiatric treatment they
did not need, held against
their will or wrongly
diagnosed for the purpose of
inflating billings, said
Schroeder, D-Colo.
Patients were also
abruptly released when their
health insurance benefits
expired, and military de
pendents were targeted for
their generous coverage, she
said.
The committee heard from
Texas state Sen. Mike
Moncrief, who is chairman of
a Senate committee invest
igating widespread claims of
patient abuse in the Texas
psychiatric care industry.
“We have uncovered
some of the most elaborate,
aggressive, creative, decep
tive, immoral and illegal
schemes being used to fill
empty hospital beds with
insured and paying
patients," said Moncrief, D-
Fort Worth.
Support for space station increases
WASHINGTON (AP) - Space
Station Freedom's supporters in
Congress say they are better
prepared this year to repel the
attack by those wanting to cancel
federal funding for the proposed
orbiting laboratory.
The space station came close to
losing a life-or-death struggle last
year, when the House Ap
propriations Committee slashed
$2 billion from the project. It took
an intensive lobbying effort by the
Bush administration and sup
porters to restore the money.
Round Two was due to begin
Wednesday, with House consid
eration of the National Aero
nautics and Space Administration
authorization bill.
And opponents say they too
are prepared, though they realize
they have an uphill battle on their
hands.
“The space station . . . people
have very wisely spread their
project across the nation so that
many districts benefit from this
spending," said Rep. Richard
Durbin, D-Ill., a leading space
station opponent.
Another opponent. Rep. Tim
Roemer, planned to introduce an
amendment Wednesday to kill
funding for the space station. The
Indiana Democrat opposes the
project on grounds that it is too
costly and its scientific benefits
are too few.
Both sides agree the fight will
be a tough one — largely because
the space station and a sister
science project, the super
conducting supercollider, are due
to grow at a time when domestic
programs overall are shrinking by
$6.4 billion.
President Bush has requested
$2.25 billion for the space station
in fiscal 1993, a 10 percent
increase over this year.
Afghan rebels declare Islamic government
Continued from Page 1
Najibullah, who was forced
from power April 16 and hiding in
Kabul, lost his grip on power after
Moscow cut off arms supplies in
January. The mujahedeen seized
government positions around the
country and then overran Kabul
on Saturday.
The Red Cross said fighting
killed at least 15 people and
wounded nearly 300 by Tuesday
morning.
The fighting slackened for a
few hours Tuesday, but erupted
again as soon as Mojaddidi for
mally accepted power.
Rocket and machine gun fire
shook several parts of the city. The
strongest attacks were aimed at
Hekmatyar's troops at the Interior
Ministry and on a strategic south
ern ridge called Martyrs' Hill.
Columns of white and brown
smoke rose near the Interior Min
istry compound, and at least one
office building there was burning.
Masood loyalists in a bunker on a
hill above town raked the area
with heavy fire.
Gunfire and explosions also
could be heard from east of the
airport, and two large explosions
were seen near the TV and radio
towers in the southeast. A televi
sion cameraman was slightly
wounded by shrapnel in a morn
ing rocket attack on the airport.
Mojaddidi said the council was
ready to accept Hekmatyar if he
met its terms, but said if the radi
cal guerrillas continued fighting,
“this government, in accordance
with Muslim law will take ac
tion."
Mojaddidi promised amnesty
for all sides in the Kabul fighting
and in the civil war. When asked
whether Najibullah was included,
he said the council would let "the
Afghan people decide."
Mojaddidi is to govern for two
months, then give power for four
months to Burhanuddin Rabbani,
political leader of Masood's Jami-
at-e-Islami party. A council then is
to choose an interim government
to oversee elections, expected
within two years.
"The time has come to join
hands and work for the recon
struction of our homeland," Mo
jaddidi told supporters, who re
peatedly chanted "Allah Akhbar"
during the power-changeover.
Justice department
disapproves release
of JFK documents
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Legislation to release Kennedy
assassination documents hit a
snag Tuesday as the justice
department, in a policy re
versal for the Bush admin
istration, came out “strongly"
against the proposal.
Assistant Attorney General
W. Lee Rawls said in a letter
made public Tuesday that the
proposed House-Senate reso
lution “would severely en
croach upon the president's
constitutional authority to
protect confidential informa
tion."
Rawls also raised national
security concerns, saying that
language clearing the way for
the release of CIA and FBI
documents could endanger
intelligence methods and
sources. And he said the bill
would leave law enforcement
and executive branch deli
berations open to public
scrutiny.
“We strongly object to the
resolution in its current form,"
Rawls said. If passed, the justice
department “would give
serious consideration to
recommending presidential
disapproval."
Until Tuesday, top ranking
Bush administration officials —
including CIA Director Robert
Gates and FBI chief William
Sessions — had supported the
legislation, saying they would
cooperate with enorts to make
public thousands of secret
documents relating to the 1963
slaying of President Kennedy.
Rawls said the justice
department is “sympathetic to
the concerns" of a public
anxious to know more about
the assassination. Justice is
drafting an alternative version.
But the department's bill would
broaden tne president's power
to withhold information and
increase his control over the
review process.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.,
chairman of the House
Government Operations Com
mittee, said the letter from
Rawls arrived Monday
evening, the night before the
committee's Legislation and
National Security Subcom
mittee met to consider the bill.
He said justice departmen
officials declined to attendIjjVol. 91
hearing. Gates was alsoinvitfi
but could not attend.
The specter of a president
veto drew immediate criticm
from Republicans and Den
ocrats on the panel.
"I have a tremendous
concern that we not cob
promise the bill in order to$
something that is veto-proof,
said Rep. ChristopherShay^
R-Conn. “It's really hardfoi
"We thought it best tote
an independent agency so
there would be no question!!
the public's mind" thatdt
cisions would be made''oiiU
the realm of politics," Stoko
said.
By opposing the legislatior
the justice department goauj
against a wave of f
pressure.
Court indicts former HUD aide
Dean
WASHINGTON (AP) - Debo
rah Gore Dean, a one-time top
aide in the Department of Hous
ing and Urban Development, was
indicted Tuesday on charges of re
ceiving an illegal gratuity and
making a false statement to a Sen
ate committee.
Dean, who wielded consider
able power as the executive assis
tant to former Housing Secretary
Samuel Pierce, is a central figure
in the investigation of alleged in
fluence-peddling at HUD during
the Reagan administration.
A federal grand jury charged
her ixi a two-count felony indict
ment with receiving $4,000 illegal
ly in connection with a private re
quest for HUD funds.
She also was accused of filing a
false statement with a Senate com
mittee in June 1987 related to her
nomination to be an assistant
HUD secretary. The nomination
was never confirmed.
"I am innocent of all charges,"
Dean told reporters at a news con
ference. She maintained the indict
ment was "designed to intimidate
and coerce me into pleading to a
crime I did not commit and then
to testify against others," includ
ing Pierce.
“I am not saying that there
weren't bad apples at HUD,"
Dean said. “Some people sold in
fluence." She refused to elaborate.
Independent Counsel Arlin
Adams said in a statement that his
office was continuing to investi
gate Dean's activities and that the
indictment was brought now so
the case would fall within the
statute of limitations. Her attor
ney, Steven Wehner, said Dean
refused to waive the statute of lim
itations and would not waive!
right to a speedy trial.
Pierce has not been cha$
but Adams has been authorized
investigate whether helieduad
oath to Congress about his tee-
at HUD and whether he shoi' 1
illegal political favoritism in!
ministering HUD program
Pierce served during all
years of the Reagan adminisN
tion.
Dean, 37, worked for $
from 1982 to 1987 and forthei*
three years served as Pierce'se'?
utive assistant.
articipat
reast car
"This i
spite of si
etection
Texas
me to imagine what natiora||Teiriple <
security issues are at stake." I Memorie
Shays' predecessor in Coisl
necticut's 4th District, thelalf
Rep. Stewart B. McKinney,
wrote the first bill in theearij
1980s proposing the release if
assassination documents.
Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind,
said that if Bush vetoes thebi
the House should act inde
pendently to release its das
sified documents "and setai
example for the executin
branch."
Under the proposed rest
lution, the federal appealscout
in Washington woula appohti
five-member citizen boardl!
review and decide on th
release of assassinationdoa
ments. In cases involving
executive agencies suchasIlK
FBI or CIA, the president could
refuse to release material hi
only on narrow privacy or
national security grounds.
"The thrust of the legislate
is to release everything that
releasable," said Rep. Louis
Stokes, D-Ohio, co-authord
the bill and former chairmand
the House assassinationscoe
mittee of the late 1970s,
The review board's in
dependence from the executis
branch — the focus off
justice department's objedii
— is a central element of
bill, Stokes said.
Moc
Mike I
Californ
Polygram Recording firtists
The Hunger
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Doors open at 8
tickets $6 in advance
Diploma Frames and Mats.
We can frame your diploma the day you bring it in.
Stop by Myra's today and register to get your
Diploma Framed FREE*
Drawing will be on May 12, at 4:00 p.m.
You need not be present to win.
Myra f s Gallery & Custom Framing
404 University Dr. East
College Station
693-6894
available at Marooned Records
FRAME MY DIPLOMA FREE
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May 5, 6, 1992 (6-10 p.m. & 6-10 p.m
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Register at University Plus (MSC Basement)
Call 845-1631 for more information on these or other classes
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tnd vote, t
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urer in the
i\ent dep
ihouldn't ji
)lace, they
hat is hom
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snee."
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