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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 9, 1998)
The Battalion TflTE Thursday • Julyo Daughter of Jasper man asks Congress to strengthen law against hate crimes WASHINGTON (AP) — The oldest A grand jury in Jasper County, Texas, WASHINGTON (AP) — The oldest daughter of a Texas man who was chained to a truck and dragged to his death urged Congress today to strengthen the federal law against hate crimes. Francis Renee Mullins, 27, of Lufkin, said a Senate bill is important because "it makes hate crimes like the terrible act that took my father a fed eral crime and says that anyone who commits a hate crime will pay the price for their crime." The bill, sponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Edward Kennedy, D- Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., would expand the definition of fed eral hate crimes. The bill would broaden current law to cover offenses based on gender, dis ability and sexual orientation. It also would allow federal authorities to prosecute such crimes when the vic tim is not engaged in a federally pro tected activity, such a voting or serv ing on a jury, as the law now requires. Mullins was to testify at a Senate Ju diciary Committee hearing on the bill late yesterday. A grand jury in Jasper County, Texas, this week indicted three white men with links to racist groups in the alleged hate slaying of James Byrd Jr., on June 7. Authorities believe the 49-year-old Byrd, who was black, accepted a ride from the three as he walked home from a niece's bridal shower. The men allegedly drove to a wooded area where they beat and chained Byrd to their truck and drove down a bumpy east Texas road. The ride severed Byrd's head, neck and right arm, which were found about a mile from where his shredded torso was dumped. Mullins, who attended a news conference today with Kennedy and Wyden, said she and her mother, brother and sister have only just be gun to experience the tragedy of her father's death. "Nothing that Congress does will bring my father back," she said. "I hope that my presence here to dis cuss the pain my family has suffered will help Congress to strengthen the law of the land and provide greater punishment for those who commit hate crimes." Waste-site debate Mauro seeks Texas governor to say ‘no to radioactive EL PASO (AP) — Citing the misgiv ings of two administrative judges about a proposed radioactive dump, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Garry Mauro is urging Gov. George W. Bush to reject the facility. The state hearings officers, after considering weeks of testimony, rec ommended against licensing the rur al site selected by the state to bury tons of irradiated waste from Texas utilities, hospitals and universities. “Bush has said repeatedly that if this wasn’t a safe site, he would be sure it was rejected,” Mauro said. “Now he has a hearings examiner say ing it isn’t safe. 1 an calling on him to instruct his appointees on the TNRCC to reject the permit immediately.” The Texas Natural Resource Con servation Commission has the final say on the license for the site in Sier ra Blanca, 90 miles southeast of El Paso, and is not bound by the hear ings officers’ recommendation. A Bush spokesperson said Wednesday that the governor was troubled by the judges’ finding that the site had not been proved safe by the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority and is ask ing TNRCC commissioners to care fully review the evidence. “He expects his appointees to make an informed decision based on facts and science, not based on polit ical rhetoric,” spokesperson Karen Hughes said Wednesday. Administrative law judges Kerry Sullivan and Mike Rogan, who held hearings throughout the state earlier this year on the dump, found the dis posal authority had failed to ade quately determine whether a fault be neath the Sierra Blanca site connected with an active fault. Disposal officials also failed to ad equately address the dump’s poten tial negative socioeconomic impacts, wrote Sullivan and Rogan, who are a PREVIEW DAY ■ft : if! 81111 10 AM ■ : : *1181 -■ : iiilil fit! A SUMMER MISSES - PETITES • WOMEN’S • JUNIORS MEN’S • YOUNG MEN’S • CHILDRENS FOLEY'S •Deferred billing available on your Foley s chi Advertised merchandise may be available at t 3 during deferred period. See £_. i prices In upcoming sales this i PINA ite for details. Certain items excluded Offer may end at any time. APR 21.6%. 50 cent minl'mum 'ReSar^^^^^*^^® savings available in pe.ites and women’s Reeled store" 9 PriCSS on| y with the State Office ofAdm live Hearings. Authority officials saidthfi viewing the recommendatiil will respond. In the meantime, Mauro,i| dump critic, said that hewj prised the administrativejudJ recommended against the licet two grounds. “1 was more surprised thi raised the deficient reportons conomic grounds. I wasrealj to see that. That’s somethir been talking about alot/’Mauc is the state’s land commissione Critics contend the dump tion smacks of a practice of p high- minority poses a threa i vi ron mental: coi ting waste fac P ( mas. Theyal; f ca to the envin 8 a may or mav n™ v may not have resulted In sales. I ’ ■ ! i 1 1 1 :1 • o i \ . 1 m 11 u I water iv c01 ^ Authority officials and dunifL ponents say exhaustive stud: aw the facility will be safe. An the nat Mansfield escape by trei^ hole in metal1)4 19' MANSFIELD, Texas^B convicts escaped froma®t| prison Tuesday by cuttin! a recreation yard fence. The men disappear their work shift in thep r ture factory, a prison oi Workers in the factory use' ting tools, but prison off; sure how the men cutth metal fence. Garland Gilbert Lenio Clarence Edwin Smith|i from Oklahoma, weresS this morning. Leniorwas 20-year sentence for a nat viction, and Smith wasarf year sentence for forgeiy. ; ; Prison officials aid i should be considereddangej "You have to consider'! convicted felon escapes"? tody, they are going | armed," prison operation!* er Paul Mertz told thefcj 5tar- Telegram. j L The men turned upnWp ing a routine head count, j ficials said they conductfj minutes during workdeta'j Prison officials found a'l 18-inch hole in one of thelef rounding a recreation yard] Mertz said Lenoir andSnf part of a crew making pN in the furniture factory, j "The majority of the It use are for working withm aren't capable of cutting ti*I the fence, and we arent'j what they used to cut it,' Clinics vandalif with butyric HOUSTON (AP)-Atli Houston women's clinics^ vide abortions were vandal morning with what autho f lieve was butyric acid, the# cid-smelling chemical used clinics in New Orleansonl'l Officials say about a gd rotten-smelling materh spilled in the entranceoh building containingacliM 8 a.m. The substance wa' the air conditioning syst er ing occupants outside. A few people were repo feel dizzy and nauseated,^ rious injuries were reported Other smelly spills also 1 - ported at least two other^ Houston clinics just a fewm 1 FBI spokesperson Joh' 1 New Orleans said he h^ of the Houston inode were checking to see were any similarities them and the attacks 11 women's clinics there. The stench shut dorf hey re#heB federal* 1 clinics for a day. They closed Tuesday as a fedi rorism team took sample material, believed tobeh^ moderate doses beyondW vomit-like smell. , Rook said the bi° te team was due to leave leans yesterday, but it ,11 - stead head to Houston to U P on the new incidents Three abortion in clini cS ’ tral Florida were targeted by vandals believed to butyric acid. n M _ vc hdfthroi