The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 24, 1997, Image 12

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    Monday
Pagti
February 2V[
Boys say they were molested at prison ) Scientists don
adult mammal!
► The juveniles were on a
'scared straight' field trip.
DALLAS (AP) — State officials are investigat
ing allegations that some boys were sexually mo
lested by inmates on a recent “scared straight”
field trip to a prison.
Five or six boys enrolled at the Country Place
Child and Adolescent Treatment Center in Collin
County said they were molested by prisoners at
the state’s Eastham Unit near Lovelady.
Larry Todd, a Texas Department of Criminal
Justice spokesman, said his department is taking
the allegations seriously. Investigators are inter
viewing the field trip participants, correctional
officers and inmates at the unit.
“In those interviews, we want to confirm
whether the allegations are in fact as the juve
niles stated,” he said. “If the allegations have any
validity whatsoever, and we have no reason to
doubt them at this point, it is not the kind of ac
tivities that the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice permits.”
About 15 of the center’s 21 adolescents went
on the Feb. 14 field trip. The boys were taking part
in a “scared straight” program where inmates
discuss prison life candidly.
Michael Hannah, the treatment center’s pro
gram director, said one of the boys has left the
center as a result of the alleged abuse.
After the three-hour prison visit, the adoles
cents went on a weekend camping trip and re
turned to the center on Monday night, Hannah
said. The abuse was reported when the boys met
with therapists.
The two staff members who attended the field
trip said they did not witness the abuse. The staff
was with the kids during the entire visit, Hannah
said. Other participants did not see it happen ei
ther, he said.
“I trust our employees, and they are saying
they didn’t see these things,” Hannah said,
who would not say if he thought the allega
tions were credible.
The center’s former director of therapeutic ac
tivities, David Pavelka, encouraged the boys to
file a grievance. He said he was present during
the therapy sessions when the boys complained
about the abuse.
“This was not a group of kids getting together
and making up a story. This was three separate
therapy groups and the same story was coming out
of each one,” Pavelka said. “You can’t believe how
much it shocked me. This is not supposed to hap
pen. These children are our responsibility.”
Pavelka said the boys told him although the
staff members saw what happened, they did
not stop the abuse, which is alleged to have in
volved fondling.
“These kids were traumatized. They are feel
ing totally helpless.” he said. “My concern is how
much they are going to sweep under the rug.”
Pavelka was fired Thursday. Hannah said the
action had nothing to do with the allegations, but
he would not talk about the firing.
Country Place is a residential facility for boys
and girls with psychiatric and substance-abuse
problems. It has residents aged 12 to 17.
China prepares for
Deng's cremation
Felicia Moon counsels prisoners
BEIJING (AP) — Police blockaded
a cemetery for revolutionary heroes
Sunday, keeping back hundreds of
curious Chinese citizens while sol
diers made final preparations for the
nation’s farewell to Deng Xiaoping.
Deng is to be cremated today,
hours before U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright arrives in Bei
jing on the last stop of a nine-coun
try around-the-world trek, sources
at state-run TV said.
Eulogies praising Deng’s exploits
and his economic reforms, which
raised tens of millions of Chinese
from poverty, gushed Sunday from
government television and media.
Soldiers, meanwhile, solemnly
rehearsed, carrying an empty, see-
through bier at the cemetery for
Communist veterans where Deng is
to be cremated in Babaoshan, a
neighborhood in western Beijing.
Police blocked a side road to the
cemetery and kept back crowds of
about 200 people from its front
gate, where a flag flew at half-staff.
At one point, a stream of about
eight black limousines sped out of
the cemetery.
Deng died Wednesday at age 92.
His family asked that his ashes be
scattered at sea after a Tuesday
memorial attended by 10,000 peo
ple. A casket containing Deng’s ash
es will be covered by the red Com
munist flag during the memorial,
which marks the last day of a six-
day mourning period.
Although no foreigners have
been invited to the memorial,
Deng’s chosen successor, Commu
nist Party Secretary and President
Jiang Zemin, is likely to welcome Al
bright’s visit as an opportunity to
highlight international recognition
for his leadership.
Albright has compressed her
meetings into one day so she can
leave before the memorial. No for
eigners were invited because Deng,
who retired in 1990, was officially a
private citizen with no higher title
than “comrade.”
Hong Kong’s Sunday Morning
Post said the political infighting that
some expected to sharpen with
Deng’s death had begun. The news
paper said Communist hard-liners
were circulating a 20,000-word crit
icism of Deng’s policies, in defiance
of Jiang’s orders.
MISSOURI CITY (AP) — Felicia
Moon once accused the criminal
justice system of meddling with her
family life after she accused her
husband, NFL quarterback Warren
Moon, with beating her.
Now, one year after a jury acquit
ted Moon, his wife is back in the
criminal justice system.
But this time she wants to be
there, ministering to inmates in the
state’s prison system.
“I feel what the trial did was real
ly free me to be able to help other
people,” Moon said. “When it was
over, my heart wanted to give back
and do something for people like
me and my husband who have
made mistakes.
“I often tell people I don’t think
there’s much of anything you can’t
overcome.”
Next month, Moon and her hus
band, who is now a free agent, will
launch their Rock of Faith Prison Li
brary Project, which will place faith-
based libraries in prisoners’ reach.
The first one — with 1,000 vol
umes waiting in storage — is sched
uled to be in place March 15 at the
Jester Units in Fort Bend County,
where the couple lives with their
four children.
“When someone comes from out
side and believes in us, it gives us
hope,” inmate Isaac Smith, 32, serv
ing time for a robbery-by-threat con
viction out of Galveston County, said.
As she tells the prisoners she
counsels, a person cannot hide
from tough times.
“If you mess up, face it, deal with
it and move on,” she said.
Last year, Moon dressed in bright
red every day of the eight-day trial,
saying it represented Jesus’ blood
and forgiveness.
Fort Bend prosecutors pur
sued the case, even though the
couple said they were reconciled
and Moon did not want to prose
cute her husband over the July 18,
1995, incident at the couple’s Mis
souri City home.
She believes faith, prayer and
hope can work miracles in lives,
and said God led her to the
prison ministry as a place to
make a difference.
“They feel like they can look at
me and know that I’m somebody
who has gone through some of
that same pain — a woman who
knows that her husband’s com
mitted adultery, for instance, or a
woman who has had problems
with alcohol, drugs or depression
or violence,” she said.
NEWYORK (AP) — Researchers
have cloned an adult mammal for
the first time, an astonishing sci
entific landmark that raises the
unsettling possibility of making
; copies of people.
Scientists slipped genes from a 6-
year-old ewe into unfertilized eggs
and used them to try to create preg
nancies in other sheep. The result: A
lamb named Dolly, born in July, that
is a genetic copy of the ewe.
Experts said the feat opens the
door to cloning prized farm ani
mals such as cattle, and should
make it much easier to add or
modify genes in livestock.
d “I can think of no
I ethical reason to
I apply this technique
I to human beings.”
Carl Feldbaum
Biotechnology Industry
Organization president
It is also scientifically stunning.
Researchers used DNA from the
ewe’s udder cells, proving mature
mammal cells specialized for
something other than reproduc
tion could be used to regenerate
I an entire animal.
Scientists had thought that
I was impossible.
Experts said the same tech
nique might make it possible to
clone humans, but emphasized
that it would be unethical to try.
“There is no clinical reason why
you would do this. Why would you
make another human being?” said
Ian Wilmut, one of the scientists who
cloned the sheep. “We think it would
be ethically unacceptable and cer
tainly would not want to be involved
! in tliat project.”
Carl Feldbaum, president of the
Biotechnology Industry Organization,
which represents about 700 compa
nies and research centers in the Unit
ed States and abroad, agreed.
“I can thinkofnoethicalrf
to apply this technique total
beings, if in fact it cant
he said Sunday.
“The biotechnology indd
exists to use genetic infomq
to cure disease and improve^
culture,” he said. “WeopposriJ
man cloning when it wasail
Now that it may be possible,
urge that it be prohibitedbyt
A report of the sheep don
will be published inlhursda)
sue of the journal Naturtl
Wilmut and colleagues atj
Roslin Institute near Edinbuf
Scotland, and others.
Before the new work, scieij
had been able to take tissuetf
adult frogs and create]
identical tadpoles. Butthetadpl
never developed fully into frosi
To do the sheep cloning s
lists took cells from theeM'dl
der tissue and cultivated then]
lab, using a treatment thatosf
the cells essentially dormantl
also took unfertilized sheepij
and removed the nucleus,!
cells’ central control roomi
contains the genes.
Then they put the udderu
together with the egg cellsd
used an electric currenttomi
them fuse. The eggs,
equipped with a nucleus,
into embryos as if they had
fertilized. The embryoswerej
into ewes to develop.
The process was horrendous^
efficient. Of277 fused eggs,only!
led to a lamb.
Wilmut said he expects died
ciency to improve. Somedayae
farmer, for example, might taJ
few clones of cows that are esd
ly good at producing milk,re$n
disease and reproducing, hesa: j
A farmer would not wantei
herds of identical animals '
cause populations needadfi
genetic makeup, he said,Will
that diversity, a lethal disease?
struck one cow might wipeol
the clones, too.
Sponsored by McDonalds
Jam Pack$6.99
20 piece McNuggets
2 large french fries
2 medium drinks
(valid thru: 3/5/97)
Aggie Bucks “Accepted
At These Locations
• University Drive
•Southwest Parkway
•George Bush Drive
•Post Oak Mall
\vV.
Fitness
FT
.mi
This Ain't
No Ordinary
Dance Glass
. jr-J?
experience it
savor it:
love it
Golf Course
Department Scramble
ChallengeAnotherDepaitment^
$30/Player with cart
includes ditty bag
Deadline for entries is 3/1/97
For more information, call 845-1 723.
Whether you have the groove or not. this class is for you!
Planet Funk Fitness is a mix of the best in
high energy hip-hop moves and choregraphy
into an organized fitness class. A very
Funky, Crazy, Explosive Class. Come try it.
You're going to love it! Only $15 for Rec
members. Non-memeber Texas A&M
faculty & Staff and community prices are
available.
Class and Workshop
Saturday, March 1,1897
3 6pm Rec Center
For more information call 862-3995 or visit the Rec Center Memcbr Services Desk
1AMU Outdoors
Sprirg
Break
Trips
Backpacking/Canoeing
Mar. 8-14 $250/288*
You've always wanted to try back
packing, but have been hesitant to
do something new on your own.
Now is your chance to strap on your
backpack and go outdoors to
Ouachita National Forest, Arkansas
with TAMU Outdoors.
ar~: ^ Aiy -
non-Rec Member Price
Spring TAMU Outdoors Schedule
Horseback Riding
Mar. 12-16 $362/398*
Join TAMU Outdoors and explore
the Big Bend area horseback
riding. Visit ghost towns, and
mountain-top vistas. Get out and
enjoy the beauty of West Texas
with TAMU Outdoors and Rec
Sports.
mmmm
Event
Date
Register
Fee*/**
•Rock Climbing Clinic
Sport Lead
Feb. 25
Now-Feb. 24
$20
•Rock Climbing Trip
Feb.28-Mar. 2 Now-Feb. 24
$65/72
•Backpacking Trip
March 1-2
Now-Feb. 24
$45/54
• Hofseback/Hiking Day Trip
March 1
Now-Feb 24
$36/43
•Kayak Roll Clinic
March 4
Now-March 3
$12/15
•Rock Climbing Clinic
Basic Movement
March 4
Now-March 3
$20
Spring Break Trip
• Backpack/Canoe
Ouachita Arkansas
•Wilderness Horseback Trip
Mar. 18-14
Mar. 1 2-16
Now-Mar. 3 $250/288
Now-Feb. 27 $362/398
^Students & faculty with Rec
Memberships
**Faculty/staff without Rec Memberships and
Bryan/College Station Community Members
Intramurals
More Than Just Fun and Games
Run Over to the Rec and Register For
Kyle Field Ramp Romp
FEES:
$7 Rec member
$10 non-Rec member
Prices above are valid thru Mar. 18
$12 Late Registration*
$15 Race Day Registration
‘Begins March 19
Run a beautiful 5K course around campus and then
challenge yourself with a mile run on the Kyle Field
Stadium ramps. Choose from a variety of divisionso(
competition. Come to the Rec Center and pickups
Ramp Romp registration form.
Satuniav. March 22,
9:00am
Intramural Registration Dates
Sport
Badminton
Pickleball
Kyle Field Ramp Romp
4-on-4 Flag Football
CoRec Indoor Soccer
*$10 for non-Rec Members
Registration fee
Feb. 1 7-25 free
Feb. 17-25 free
Feb. 17-Mar. 18 $7*
Feb.24-Mar.4 $20
Feb.24-Mar.4 $35
Sport Clubs
Come Cheer Your Team to Vidoif
Archery Indoor Nationals
Come see archery here at the Rec Center Friday-Sunday, Feb. 28-Mar. 2
Judo Tournament
Witness Japanese wrestling this Saturday, March 1 at the Rec Center-court 6.
Men's Rugby Came
Come experience tough competition this Saturday, March 1 against Southeast Louisiana on the East Campus field
Rec Sports FREE Healthy Living Lecture Series
You Need To Know
yNertnestiny 5:3O-6:30p
281 Rec Center
February 26
Eating Disorders
Dr. Jane Cohen and Debra Shipley will discuss anorexia nervosa, bulimia
nervosa, and obesity. Learn the theories of causes and recognize the
warning signs.
Watch For This Upcoming Seminar
March 5
Running For Fitness
Running done incorrectly can do more harm than
good. Come learn the proper ways to run.
"A'
McRib is Back!
Super Size any
Extra Value Meal for 39c
Have you had
your break today?
For a limited time enjoy the great taste of McRii)
available only at McDonald's.
McRib Sandwich $219
McRib Extra Value Meal $3 49
Sandwich
Large French Fries
Medium Drink Foraiimii« i,,n ’ e