The Battalion
Opinio
Page 13 • Friday, September 3, 1999
L^ttgQs
from
the
L
utv A ti,
virtue. One wonders what
would have happened if his
morals had kicked in during
his alleged burglaries, rapes
and murders.
Although he does not men
tion any of the crimes he is
charged with committing, Ma-
turino-Resendiz manages to fill
the remainder of his 12-page
letter with various personal
views on the current events of
the summer. With the rest of
the country, he mourned the
loss of John F. Kennedy Jr. and
wonders about the countless
tragedies the Kennedy family
has had to endure.
He also makes his picks for
the Republican Party’s presi
dential candidate in 2000. “1
support [Republican presiden
tial candidate Steve] Forbes or
[Gary Bauer] because the
mmm (sic) are my brothers in
Faith, this man do (sic)
not want babies to be
murdered.”
Brothers in faith? Not
want babies to be mur
dered? Now that is the
biggest doozy of them all.
There is no distinction be
tween the murder of ba
bies and the murder of
adults.
No one out there
should be taking these letters
seriously. Angel Maturino-Re-
sendiz is by all indications a
deplorable human being who
is charged of committing un
speakable atrocities. His lack
of acknowledgement of the
crimes he is charged with and
his overall disrespect and dis
regard for the criminal justice
system is despicable. If he is
indeed convicted of any of
these crimes, history should
not file away these letters as
the harmless musings of a
condemned man. They should
be regarded as what they real
ly are — the self-indulgent
ramblings of a cold-blooded
killer.
David Lee is a junior
economics major.
I f alleged
railway
killer An-
Bel Maturi-
■o-Resendiz
is responsi
ble for any
Bf the mur-
Bers he is
inspected of
Committing,
he sure is not acting like a
Biller.
Despite the mountain of
forensic evidence against him,
he pleaded not guilty to the
murder of Houston physician
Dr. Claudia Benton. He then
went on to defy attorney’s or
ders and decided to corre-
fpond freely with the press,
passing his time in the Harris
County Jail by writing at least
Biree lengthy and
somewhat incoherent
letters to the Houston-
rea media.
In none of these
letters does he claim
His guilt or show any
iBign of remorse. In
stead, he whines and
Homplains about the
Hircumstances he is
[ •jin, how he is being
Hnprisoned unfairly
and how he was
duped into surrendering to the
authorities.
He attempts to paint him
self as a decent, religious man.
He even goes so far as to dis
pense his opinions on current
events such as the ongoing
presidential campaign.
Who does this guy think he
is, William F. Buckley? Albeit
comical, this meager attempt
at gaining public sympathy is
absolutely pathetic.
In his latest letter to KPRC-
' TV in Houston, Maturino-Re-
•sendiz talked about how poor
his treatment has been while
l^in the custody of the State. He
claims the Texas Rangers inter-
[i rogated him for “about 10
S 1 ® hours against my wishes. ”
This man is suspected of
capital murder and yet is baf
fled as to why he is being held
against his will. That makes
absolutely no sense.
He also claims many of the
conditions to his surrender
have not been met.
“As far as I was told, I was
to be try (sic) in one trial in
the Federal Court, but Janet
Reno allow (sic) the State of
Texas to get me, so the USA
want(sic) me dead. The Texas
prosecutor stated that if one
doctor does not agree that I
am sane, she will keep going
until one agrees with her. She
want (sic) to kill me,” he
wrote.
Maturino-Resendiz is ap
parently distraught over his
visitation rights, in particular
being separated from his loved
ones by a glass pane.
C razy memos from
alleged killer
should not be taken
seriously.
“To a Mexican, [prison]
means to be able to hug his
mother and kiss his child and
wife, they even rent rooms for
the family to visit a few times
per year. But this is not the
way the U.S.A., [George W]
Bush sees compassion. Bush
(sic) compassion will kill me
soon.”
Now there’s a ringing en
dorsement for “compassion
ate” conservatives.
Maturino-Resendiz goes on
to talk about his religious
views. He complains he has
had a hard time getting the
prison to serve him kosher
meals.
“To this day, I have not
[had kosher meals at] all.”
He certainly picked a great
time to start spouting religious
it
T
his man [does] not want
babies to be murdered. ]
— Alleged Railway Killer Angel Maturino-Resindez,
explaining his support for pro-life politicians.
FBFs irresponsible actions in Waco show good intentions gone awry
O n Aug. 25, Rep
resentative Bob
Barr, R.-Ga.,
sent a letter to the
House Government
Reform Committee
land Attorney General
Janet Reno calling for
a re-examination of
the 1993 Branch Da-
vidian siege in Waco, Texas.
New light has been cast on the negli
gent actions of the FBI during the
standoff.
I Although the FBI initially denied any
use of flammable weapons in the final
raid, a former FBI agent provided re
cent evidence pointing to the use of py
rotechnic tear gas canisters during the
raid.
It was after the alleged tear gas can
isters were launched into the com
pound that a fire consumed the entire
structure.
Of those trapped inside the engulfed
building, 86 people died, including 17
children.
Only 9 Branch Davidians survived
the assault.
Some now rightly question the re
sponsibility of the FBI’s actions
throughout the 26-day standoff.
Hell is paved with good intentions,
and the FBI should be awarded a
boulevard all their own.
By taking military action against the
Branch Davidians and subsequently
covering up evidence of their involve
ment in starting the fire, the FBI under
mined the trust of the American
people.
From the very beginning, the FBI
paid little attention to the teachings of
David Koresh and the history of the
Branch Davidians. They took for grant
ed they were dealing with people who
viewed their belief in Koresh as sanc
tioned by God and certain biblical
prophecies.
Mistaken as they were, the Branch
Davidians believed that they were in
the midst of a religious war and acted
accordingly.
Even though David Koresh requested
to talk to biblical scholars during the
negotiation process, the FBI chose to
deny this concession.
It was not until two such scholars
were introduced that a breakthrough
occurred. The scholars suggested Kore
sh write a book of his predictions for
the world to share.
David Koresh took this as the sign
from God that he was awaiting.
There is evidence that he would
have completed his book in 10 days.
After its completion, he had pro
mised surrender.
But instead, the FBI initiated the sec
ond assault on the compound.
The American people cannot allow
the federal government to relax on this
issue.
The FBI is supposed to be the best
law enforcement agency in the country.
In no circumstance should we expect
anything less than perfect.
By becoming the judge, jury and ex
ecutioner at Waco, it acted without re
gard to the legal system it represents.
There is no excuse for the use of flam
mable weapons when a hostage sce
nario might exist.
The only successful assault
launched at Waco was the attack on
American ideology.
If any singular federal agency at
tempts to conspire against the rights of
any American citizens, the rights of all
citizens are threatened. The Branch Da
vidians lost their right to due process
and trial by a jury of their peers.
The new investigations must trace
the chain of command at Waco and de
termine those ultimately responsible.
Waco cannot live on as a reminder
of federal ineptitude and conspiracy.
The guilty must answer to America for
their role in this assault on justice.
Poor judgments like these made the
Waco standoff a sad chapter in FBI his
tory.
If the new allegations about the use
of pyrotechnics are true, they will only
provide further proof of the govern
ment’s mishandling of an extremely
sensitive situation.
John T. Baker is a junior
agricultural development major.
should be banned
I found the advertisement for Vi-
vaSmart.com in the Aug. 31 paper
totally inappropriate and offensive
for a college newspaper. The copy
of the ad read, “More on beer, less
on books.”
young A&M students was the direct
result of drinking.
Alcohol is not only a problem for
this university but for most college
campuses.
The Battalion and other college
newspapers have an obligation to
their readers and should not accept
less on books.” After all, 75 percent
of the A&M student population is
under the age of 21. As a matter of
fact, I would like to see The Battal
ion ban all ads for alcohol.
Mary Fran Troy
Class of ’92
Bumper blues
T een-agers, including some
college students, are not
the best drivers around. The
hard-line approach to curing this
defect is to restrict teen-agers’
driving privileges, limiting them
to driving only during the day and
without passengers.
But a new solution has pre
sented itself that works by mak
ing teenagers more aware of
their driving, not their supposed
persecution by parents.
Across the country, parents
concerned with teen-agers’ dri
ving are attaching bumper stick
ers to their cars with messages
like “How’s my driving? Please
report any violations to my
mom." These stickers, modeled
after “How’s my driving?” stick
ers seen on delivery trucks and
18-wheelers, have become an
enormous success. However, it
is at a cost.
Many teens, perhaps a major
ity, feel that kind of surveillance
is a distinct lack of trust on the
ViEW POiNTS
parents’ part. While the parents
are not going to the extreme of
hiring private detectives or actu
ally following their children, many
teen-agers feel paranoid and
overly cautious while driving with
a sticker attached.
That is the point.
The usual teen-age undercur
rent of invincibility, combined
with lack of experience and ap
preciation for the power and dan
ger inherent in driving, makes for
unsafe driving. Paranoia and
care are two ideal counters to
these factors, which will lessen
teenage drivers’ accident rate. In
addition, once teen-agers realize
the only calls mom and dad get
will be if they make a mistake, no
hard feelings follow.
Driving around with a giant
sticker may be embarrassing,
but it is nowhere near as embar
rassing as being the cause of a
fatal accident. Parents are right
to make teen-agers accountable
without limiting their privileges
and freedom.
— Chris Huffines
Slashing schools
I n a speech given yesterday in
Los Angeles, presidential
contender George W. Bush
laid out an education policy
laced with illogic.
Saying “in my administration,
federal money will no longer flow
to failure,” Bush promised that if
public schools did not improve
test scores, they would be
stripped of all Title 1 federal
funds. The money would be dis
tributed directly to parents.
But surely this method of Im
poverishing the public schools
that need the most help hardly
seems like a good way to fix
them. If schools are not meeting
national standards, it is not diffi
cult to trace at least some of
their problems back to a lack or
misappropriation of money.
Depriving them of the few
funds they have would be wrong.
Who knew compassionate
conservatism meant picking the
pockets of poor schools?
— Caleb McDaniel