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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1997)
World Thursday • July 31 ; 1991 Jewell demands explanation for FBI’s conduct WASHINGTON (AP) — Richard Jewell said Wednesday that the Justice Department report on his treatment as a suspect in the Atlanta Olympic bombing was filled with lies and distortions. He called on Congress to investigate. Jewell, testifying at a packed congressional hear ing, demanded an accounting from the FBI for the 88 days he was investigated and held up to public ridicule before being cleared in the fatal blast. “I believe 1 am entitled to have the FBI publicly explain its conduct toward me and my mother,” the former security guard said in a polite and sub dued voice as his mother, a phalanx of lawyers and the House Judiciary crime subcommittee looked on. A Justice Department report released this week faulted FBI agents for tricking Jewell into waiving his right to a lawyer and said their ac tions hampered an investigation that still has produced no arrests. Jewell told the panel that the report is "filled with false statements, half-truths and gross dis tortions of the truth.” He urged Congress to con duct its own, independent investigation. He accused the FBI of conspiring with the me dia to portray him as the bomber, even after agents became convinced he had nothing to do with it. He said the FBI illegally tapped his phone, harassed his friends and relatives and violated his constitutional rights. Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., chairman of the subcommittee, said he intends to pursue the mat ter and may call FBI Director Louis Freeh to an swer questions at a second hearing. Jewell discovered the bomb before it exploded in Centennial Olympic Park on July 27, 1996. After being hailed a hero, he quickly became the FBI’s main suspect and was interrogated by agents who pretended they wanted him to participate in a video about responding to bomb scenes. The FBI sent Jewell a letter last fall clearing him of any involvement in the blast, which killed one and injured 111 others. Authorities now say they believe the bombing is linked to two other Al lan ta-area explosions this year — one at an abor tion clinic and one at a gay nightclub. Executives charged with cheating Medicare NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Three Co lumbia/HCA executives were charged Wednesday with cheating Medicare out of at least $1.8 million in the first indict ment to come out of a sweeping federal investigation of the nation’s largest for- profit hospital chain. The charges against two regional offi cials in Florida and one headquarters ex ecutive in Nashville were contained in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury June 25. It was unsealed Wednesday, in Fort Myers, Fla. All three were charged with conspiracy and making false statements and could get up to 25 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines. Just two weeks ago, FBI agents led a dra matic seven-state raid of more than 35 hos pitals, offices and other Columbia/HCA- connected locations. Federal agents are For-profit hospital chain faces indictments on false statements, conspiracy after investigation said to be investigating billing fraud in home health care and laboratory work. The three were accused of overbilling Medicare in the way they requested reim bursement for expenses at Fawcett Memo rial Hospital in Charlotte County, Fla. Prosecutors claim certain expenses were classified as capital outlays, which get reimbursed at a higher rate, when they actually fell under administrative and general expenses. The three received 100 percent reim bursement even though the expenses were eligible for just 39 percent, prosecutors said. The resulting overpayments to Medicare and a military health program totaled about $1.8 million, according to the indictment. Robert Whiteside, 47, director of reim bursement for Medicare-related expenses at Columbia hospitals, will plead innocent, said his lawyer, Hal Hardin. The indictment “was quite a surprise to us. We look forward to clearing it up,” Hardin said. Also charged were Jay A. Jarrell, 42, head of the company’s southwest Florida divi sion; and Michael T. Neeb, 35, chief finan cial officer of Columbia/HCA’s northern Florida operations. "I am innocent and I have no comment at this time” Jarrell told reporters as he left the federal courthouse in Fort Myers. I le was released on $100,000 bond. The indictment alleges the illegal acts occurred both before and after Fawcett purchased byColumbia/HCAin 1992. During the raids earlier this montlij eral agents searched locations in Fk Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, homa, Utah and Georgia. Documents! seized, but olTicuils disclosed ne,: about what they found. The raids caused Columbia/HCAs; to lose 18 percent of its value withinl days and helped prompt lastweek’son of founder and chairman RichardSt and president David Vandewater. Thomas F Frist Jr., who took ovei chairman and chief executive last w? vowed to cooperate with investigators (Columbia/H( 1A, with revenueofi than $20 billion peryear, has342hospis 150 outpatient surgery centers andra than 570 home health care centers!]] states, England, Switzerland and Spain y th, Brothers face charges in 3-year-old’s drowning OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) —A 13-year-old boy was charged with murder after he allegedly clamped his 3-year-old step brother between his legs in a swimming pool and drowned the boy while joking: “Do y’all know where he is?” Justin Kennedy was arrested Wednesday. His 13-year- old common-law stepbrother, Vernon Leroy James Jr., also faces murder charges in the July 6 drowning of Deangelo Jordan James. Police continued to look for the teen-ager. Police said that before the toddler drowned, the two older boys tossed him into the pool over and over, know ing he couldn’t swim. “It may have started out as roughhousing. I don’t know what they were thinking at the end,” prosecutor Susan Caswell said. Both could get life in prison without parole if convict ed as adults; the death penalty is not an option because of their ages. The day of the drowning, the boys climbed a low fence surrounding the closed pool at the run-down Williams Square apartment complex and took turns throwing Deangelo in the pool, police said. The murky water was 6 feet deep. “The victim reportedly sank each time he was thrown into the pool, and then began flailing about in the water, attempting to stay afloat,” Detective Dexter Nelson said in court papers. “During one of the occasions when he was thrown into the pool, he hit his head on the edge of the concrete pool siding.” Fall/Spring Internships WITH Northwestern Mutual Life® The Quite Company http:/www.NorthwesternMutual.c • Fortune’s “Most Admired” Company 1 “America’s Top Internships” - one of 1997’s top ten Intership programs 1 “Jobs 96” -Insurance sales compensation averaged $50,000 per year, increasing to $70,000 after 10 years. In fact, 20% of all insurance sales agents earned over $100,000 in 1996 1 Full-Time Positions for ‘97 graduates Austin/College Station (512) 327-3868 San Antonio (210) 490-3133 Houston (281) 583-4330 PARADISE ...AND A PAIR OF DEAD BROTHER You could be a suspect and still help solve this NEW Murder Mystery ...while you enjoy an elegant four-course gourmet luau. Prizes for solving the murder and best costume. Mark your calendar for Saturday, August 2 from 7 to 10 P.M. It’s in Messina Hof’s romantic Barrel Room. Call Designer Events at (409) 778-9463 for mor information and reservations. 11' August dr FOU 12 th MAN DATIOl GlirW Be Congratulations from the 12th Man s a recent graduate of one of the finest cademic institutions in the world, the 12th Man Foundation wants to be among the first to recognize your significant achievement. In honor of your dedication to the tradition of the Aggie spirit, we are offering you a complimentary first year membership in the 12th Man Foundation so you can enjoy the action of the Big 12 Conference This special package includes ail of the benefits of being a Foundation donor including: • Priority seating & parking at Aggie home football games • Donor card • 12th Man Magazine ■ the new full color sports magazine • Decal and lapel pin All gifts to the 12th Man Foundation help fund the education of A&M student-athletes. Your participation in the Foundation will continue the tradition of athletic and academic excellence at Texas A&M. Stop by our table in the MSC on August 5, 6, or 7th between 10 a m. and 2 p.m. and sign up. Or, visit our office between 8 a m. and 5 p.m. in room 109 of the Koldus Building 12 TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY 12TH MAN FOUNDATION P.0. DRAWER L-1 • COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS 77844-9101 TELEPHONE (409) 846-8892 • FAX (409) 846-2445 www-12thman.tamu.edu . Name Graduation Date: MAY AUGUST DECEMBER Year Address City State Zip Phone (Home) ( .(Work) ( ). □ Complimentary First Year □ 2nd Year after Graduation at half price - s 50.00 □ 3rd Year after Graduation at half price - s 50.00 □ 1st, 2nd, 3rd year after Graduation - s 100.00 Shippers prepare for possible UPS strikt NEW YORK (AP) — If UPS goes on strike, Sunday schools that get their lesson plans from the Faith Baptist Bible Bookstore in Ankeny, Iowa, might not have a prayer. Bookstore assistant manager Steve Imel said even a brief strike could put him way behind during one of the busiest times of the year, just before the start of the school term. Across the nation Wednesday, re tailers and manufacturers looked for other ways to ship in case 190,000 Teamsters go on strike against UPS at midnight Thursday. If the big brown trucks stop mov ing, it could mean delivery headaches for thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of businesses. UPS moves about 12 million packages a day. Its closest competi tor, Federal Express Corp., handles about 3 million, and analysts said FedEx, the Postal Service and other shippers would not be able to han dle the added demand. Negotiations between UPS and the Teamsters continued Wednesday. The union is demanding pay and pension increases, limits on giving work to subcontractors, more full time positions and health and safe ty improvements. The Atlanta- based company has said it needs more flexibility in hiring and work rules to compete. For lames Hook & Co. in Boston, a wholesaler that ships $12 million worth of lobsters around the world each year, a strike would all but sever the company’s lifeline to its cus tomers. “We use them every day,” owner Edward Hook Jr. said from an office jutting out over Boston Harbor. Hook said customers either are ordering more lobsters in advance or making arrangements with com petitors or commercial airlines. “It’s like going to buy potato chips at the store: You’ve got 50 dif ferent kinds to buy, and if your fa vorite brand isn’t there, you pick an other,” Hook said. Across town, Player Systems Corp. relies on UPS for shipping its golf-cart gadgets that calculate the distance to the hole. Switching to commercial airlines or FedEx would boost shipping costs by about 80 percent, said Noah Eckhouse, the company’s product development director. “We would probably have to jump to another service for the short term. But I’m optimistic. I don’t think they’ll go out, and, if they do, it won’t be for long,” he said. UPS’ competitors said they're gearing up for more business, but many added that their first loyalty is to current customers. New cus tomers may not get the same deliv- Package delivery As United Parcel Sevice nears a strike deadline Thursday, its competitors are gearing up for increased business. The estimated cost of sending a 35-pouni package from midtown Manhattan to Bemt) Hills. Calif., two-day priority mail. $20 » ■12 million packages per day • 1996 revenue: $22.4 billion • 2.4 million packages per day ■ 1996 revenue: $10.3 billion ids lOV • 603 million letters and packages petti • 1996 revenue: $56.4 billion Source: Annual reports » ■, ■ ery guarantees. Seattle-based Airborne Express 15I said it would take extra shipments c ew j| for existing customers, but that the ) on goods would be sent on trucks. U.S. astronaut optimistic about Mir visit tie at STAR CITY, Russia (AP) — Once rejected for Mir duty because of her height, the next U.S. astronaut tick eted to fly to the hobbled Russian space station showed Wednesday she’s not short on nerve. A fire, pressure leaks, power out ages and other breakdowns — none of Mil’s well-publicized problems this year are too daunting for Wendy Lawrence, who said all the right stuff Wednesday, and in good Russian, too. The 5-foot-3 American told jour nalists at Russia’s cosmonaut train ing center at Star City, outside Moscow, that she has a “big desire” to go to the Mir. U.S. space officials, quietly leery of the 11-year-old Mir’s condition after the series of recent glitches, must first give the September mis sion the final go-ahead. “First and foremost we will review the safety of Mir,” Lawrence said. “There is always something unex pected when it comes to flying in space, but our priority is safety,” said the 38-year-old astronaut, who is to replace compatriot Michael Foale. Both the Russians and the Amer icans say the Mir remains safe, though NASA officials also have said there must be scientific value to sending up another astronaut. Many of the U.S. science ptd' tie jects were ruined when the Mil ion collided with a cargo ship June 25 ito punching a hole in the Speku module where the U.S. expeti ments were located. Brazl Mir commander Vasily Tsibliytt k thl who was controlling the cargos| jlfroi at the time of the collision, saii jarti Wednesday that the damagewouli Injng have been far greater if not forte pos masterful steering. “I was attempting to and cause the craft to go by, Jflliai not been doing that, I’m sure til it would’ve hit the station directly Tsibliyev said through a transpfting Environment beats heredity in determining IQ, study says NEWYORK (AP) — Nurture edges out nature in a new study of what determines a person’s IQ. In an analysis combining more than 200 earlier stud ies, statisticians concluded that genes account for 48 per cent of the factors that determine IQ. That’s less than most psychologists would estimate, said study author Bernie Devlin, and far enough below the figure cited by the controversial 1994 book “The Bell Curve” to undercut its authors’ main conclusions. "That number is way too small for their argu ments to be of any great consequence,” said Devlin, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pitts burgh School of Medicine. Devlin’s study, conducted with Michael Daniels and Kathryn Roeder of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, also found that conditions during pre natal development significantly affect a person’s in telligence. That suggests that inadequate prenatal care may explain why poorer people and blacks gen erally score lower on IQ tests. “Our study gives credence to that idea, and dial in fact is something that people should be concerned about,” Devlin said. “Poor prenatal care may have a negative im pact on IQ.” He and his colleagues report their findings in Thurs day’s issue of the journal Nature. The statisticians combined the results of 212 earlier studies that compared the IQs of twins, siblings or par ents and their children. Then the researchers constmct- ed a set of statistical models, or predictions, to determine which one best fit the accumulated data. The best-fitting model was one that included ge netic effects, environmental effects such as being raised in the same or different households andpre natal conditions. In twins, 20 percent of the similarity in IQ could bee plained by the fact that twins share the same prenatal en vironment. Even for siblings who aren’t twins, beingcat ried by the same mother at different times explains: percent of the similarity in IQ. "The implication would be that the in-utero environ ment has a profound effect on IQ in the general popula tion,” said University of Minnesota psychologist Matt McGue. “It will stimulate people to think about prenatal ^ ^ Poor prenatal care may have a negative impact on IQ.’ Bernie Devlin Study author factors in a way they hadn’t before.” It is already well-known that drinking or smokingdu ing pregnancy can cause decreased IQ in children, ate that exposure to lead in the womb can also lead tolote er intelligence. There may be other prenatal factorsdte are important as well, Devlin said. McGue said the study casts doubt on the main hy pothesis of “The Bell Curve.” The book, by the late Hat- vard University professor Richard Herrnstein and polk; cal analyst Charles Murray, argues that the continue' intermarriage of highly intelligent, well-educated peop> ! :he ere
