The Battalion
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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
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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 nâ„¢
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.
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