Wednesday, Jamr,^ "
*" —^Jnesday, January 26. 2000
STATE
I UK BATTALION
Page 5
LTJ'itpeath row inmate sent
to chamber for ’90 slaying
YORK (AP) —This;
nous: "Who Wants
ire' was the most-.
1 last week. And the
ipular. And the thin!
tame show gave - jfeUNTSVILLK (AF’) A man convicted of’killing a
eekly Nielsen ^Montgomery County mother of two when he was 17 years
victory, and made jld headed for the Texas chamber Tuesday night,
race even tighter. ® ilen Alan McGinnis, now 27, said in a recent interview
onaire" drew 29: hat he doesn’t want to use his dysfunctional childhood as an
Sunday, competir, jxttuse for gunning down laundromat clerk Leta Ann Wilk-
len Globe awards ;:rs<'n, but he wondered what might have been had he not
1 million last Tuesspent his youth largely on the streets.
>day was the bes »’l mean, man, I’m young,”
llion people watc MctJinnis said last week. “I’m not
ne game shows airjlng. I’m not groping, but it’s kinda
audience. It ga*iad that I got caught up so young.”
a night NBC is.; *lluck in the summer of 1990,
ing. Viet iinnis already had logged time in
Millionaire’ SUCOttsjinL'nile lockups, lived out of cars and
rily translated to fenced for himself. His mother was
' is doing well ing a prison term for prostitution
evival. but CBSs when he walked into a laundromat,
and Fox's ‘GreKopeikd fire and made ofl’with $140.
i showings last we ft)n death row, McGinnis did not
den his crime. He shot Mrs. Wilker-
||if§ in the head, shoulders and back
H^Bing the robbery, leaving for dead
the 10-year-old mother of tw o young
^^Hghters.
IpAt \lc( nniiis' 1902 trial. Montgomer\ Count) district at-
Htorrcx Peter Speers told an all-white suburban Houston jur)
“/ mean, man, I'm
young. I'm not cty
ing. I'm not groping,
but it's kinda sad
that I got caught up
so young."
— Glen McGinnis
convicted murderer on death row
sociation and a collection of anti-death penalty groups plead
ed for the life of McGinnis because he w'as a juvenile when
he killed Wilkerson.
After McGinnis’ father abandoned hint, the young man
lived in a one-bedroom apartment with a mother who trad
ed sex for crack cocaine. McGinnis was raped as a child and
beaten with an extension cord.
“I was kinda lost within myself,”
McGinnis said last week. “It seemed
like every time I found something I
thought 1 could grasp on to, it went
away.”
Just five days before the August
1990 slaying, McGinnis was released
on probation for auto theft. McGinnis,
on the brink of getting evicted from an
aunt’s home, said he went into the
laundromat that day with a plan to
steal cash for his imprisoned mother.
After shooting the clerk and emp
tying the cash register, he stole Wilk-
erson’s van, which he intended to use
as shelter.
“I used to have no respect for peo-
pie,” McGinnis said. “1 never had no
compassion.”
After the jury condemned McGinnis, Wilkerson’s wid-
Approval
of statue
sought
ANDERSON (AP) — A battle
brewing over plans for a Confeder
ate monument on the law n of a tiny
central Texas courthouse could be
come a political landmine for Gov.
George W. Bush, who has side
stepped similar issues in his presi
dential campaign.
That's because the Texas Historical
Commission must approve the statue,
which has been sought by the Grimes
County Greys camp of the Sons of Con
federate Veterans since 1994.
Black ministers and others in this
community 50 miles northwest of
Houston oppose the statue, saying it
will be a reminder of slavery. But
Dal Dreher, commander of the
Greys, views it only as a reminder of
sacrifices made by his forefathers.
“This statue is to honor those
people who fought for their land.”
Dreher told the Houston Chronicle,
that McGinnis, who is black, was “bad to the bone.
■“He has spit in the face of every chance he’s had to go
straight,” Speers said.
■But defense attorney William Hall described a deeply
troubled teen whose race and homosexual orientation
doomed him in the eyes of the jury.
■ ‘He was polite, respectful, legitimately sorry about what
he]d done,” Hall said. “But he was also a black man who
killed a white woman. And he was very, very gay, tuid that
didn’t help.”
■The Vatican, the European Union, the American Bar As-
ow er drew a breath of relief.
“That was the only verdict they could have given that
would have been fair to me and my girls,” Larry Wilkerson
told reporters then.
The death penalty was excessive punishment for the slay
ing, his lawyer said.
“It'll bother me forever, I guess,” Hall said.
McGinnis’ execution would be the sixth this year in Texas
and the second of three scheduled for this week. He would
be the eighth juvenile offender executed in Texas since cap
ital punishment resumed in the ’70s.
Bush announces
crime prevention
AUSTIN (AP) — The state's
seven largest urban counties will
receive more than $2.78 million
for crime prevention programs,
Gov. George W.
Bush an
nounced Mon
day.
■Each county
will receive
$338,500 over
the next two
years to estab
lish or enhance
local programs
in high-crime
neighborhoods,
receive the money are Bexar, Dal
las. Harris, El Paso, Nueces, Tar
rant and Travis.
Projects could range from
school and community-based ini
tiatives for young children to in
tervention for teens and young
adults.
Runaway faces
murder trial
| WACO (AP) — The capital mur
der trial of a teen-age runaway
who allegedly beat a 73-year-old
man with a hammer, stabbed him
to death and stole his car is
scheduled to begin Tuesday.
1 Jonathan Daniel Rushing, 17, is
charged with the May death of
Houston Burgess of Asa. Because
Rushing was 16 at the time of the
crime, he faces a maximum sen
tence of life in prison.
News in Brief
Rushing has confessed to a
psychiatrist, his probation officer
and his foster home roommate,
the Waco Tribune-Herald reported.
When he was arrested, Rush
ing allegedly told police, "The old
man shouldn't have come at me
with a pair of scissors."
A 14-year-old boy also was ar
rested in connection with the mur
der. He has contended he is in
competent to stand trial and is
undergoing psychological testing.
His case is pending in juvenile
court.
Rushing and the 14-year-old
suspect lived at a foster home
near Burgess’ house in Asa,
about 12 miles south of Waco.
Judge accused of
harassment
TYLER (AP) — An East Texas
appeals judge’s encounter with a
legal assistant has prompted a
sexual harassment complaint by
the woman.
Roby Hadden, justice of the
12th Court of Appeals, has ad
mitted hugging and kissing the
employee, but denied any wrong
doing. He said that what hap
pened is subject to interpretation.
Tom Ramey, the appeals
court’s chief judge, told the Tyler
Morning Telegraph that the State
Commission on Judicial Conduct
has acknowledged receipt of the
complaint.
No public action has been tak
en on Hadden.
Mary Ellen Keith, an attorney
for the commission in Austin, said
Tuesday that she could not com
ment on any investigation or pend
ing action.
The legal assistant, Bethena
Atwood, contended she was fol
lowing Hadden through the Tyler-
based court’s office at the. Cotton
Belt Building receiving last-
minute instructions on the after
noon of Sept. 1 as the judge was
preparing to leave on a Colorado
vacation.
She said the judge asked for a
goodbye hug.
“We’re a close-knit group pretty
much," Atwood told the newspa
per, adding it was not unusual
among the 16 office members.
“But this time was different,"
she said. “He came at me and
grabbed me around the waist with
one hand and grabbed my face
with the other.”
She said that as she tried to
turn away, the judge kissed her for
what seemed like several sec
onds. Hadden, in a written state
ment to the newspaper, admitted
hugging and kissing Mrs. Atwood.
There had been goodbye hugs be
fore so it was not unwelcome, he
said.
“The alleged kiss was more of
a smack like I would give my sis
ter or daughter,” the statement
read. “There was absolutely noth
ing sexual about it and there was
certainly no harassment in
volved.”
Ramey confirmed he forwarded
the complaint to the State Com
mission on Judicial Conduct on
Nov. 29 at Hadden’s request.
noting that more Grimes County res
idents died in the Civil War than in
all other wars combined. “If we
don’t defend our heritage, then we
will lose it.”
The group has raised more than
$30,000 for the memorial, a six-foot
bronze infantryman gripping a rifle
that could be replaced by a Confed
erate flag on special occasions. But
because the Texas Historical Com
mission helped fund a previous ren
ovation of the courthouse, it must ap
prove future changes, such as
addition of the memorial.
Dreher was scheduled to make
his formal application to commis
sion stall Tuesday. But the meeting
was postponed so Commission Ex
ecutive Director F. Lawrence could
attend.
“Something of this magnitude or
importance needs the attention of the
executive director.’’ commission act
ing deputy director Terry Colley
said. The meeting had not been
rescheduled as of noon.
Dreher said he will appeal to the
18-member commission, which in
cludes 12 Bush appointees, if staffers
deny his application.
So far. Bush has avoided entan
glement in a debate over the Con
federate flag flying atop the South
Carolina Capitol. He has said he con
siders it a state’s rights issue that
doesn’t require outside interference.
“The governor’s governing style
is to appoint capable and qualified
people to the hundreds of state
boards and commissions, and trust
them to make the best decisions for
the state of Texas,” said spokesper
son Linda Edwards.
Meanwhile, the Rev. James Mable,
vice president of the Grimes County
Ministers Union, said many local resi
dents arc hoping that if the statue is
erected, it is placed somewhere other
than the courthouse lawn.
“We don’t mind if it’s in a cemetery
or park, but not at the courthouse where
we have to go every day,” Mable said.
“It’s offensive there.”
“We are losing so many of our
freedoms, and this is one of them,”
he said.
The counties to
IT
>
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QWomen’s Open House Q
January 26, 2000
10 am - 2 pm MSC Flagroom
Come and see what on-campus
women’s organizations have to offer:
information, free-bees and more!!!
jSj^LWENT Sponsored by:
Gender Issues Education Services
845-1107
SUMMER STAFF
POSITIONS
Come to our Texas A&M University Video Presentation:
Thursday, January 27, 2000
8:00 p.m.
Koldus 111
A Christian sports ami adventure camp for boys and girls ages 7 - H, located
in the heart of the ()uachita I ,ake and M< uintain Regie>n in Arkansas, is n< >\v
accepting applications for summer staff positions.
C A
155 Camp O/.ark Drive
Mt. Ida, AR 71957-8309
MP/OZARK
f
t (870) 867-4131
http://www.campozark.com
January 18
January 28
*
CL&M
Singing- Cadet*
Auditions
*
•Since? I89‘t Own- has been a vocal music <jhom/>
associated with Texas A8.hi. In IO-IO, we became
known as the "Sintiing Cadets" and grew teftveewe
national acclaim. The group performs 50-60 concerts
each gear which include performances throughout the
state as well as mang special performances. These
include things like opening dag for the Astros, Miss
Texas pageants, Simula Twain, dinners for farmer
Presidents of the US., and mang others. IVc are com
prised of 60-70 male Aggies where membership in the
corps is NOT required. If you lone la sing and are will
ing to work hard, then eoqie join us. the “Voicc.of Ag-
' IK
gietand.' .
We are located In MSC 003
(that's downstairs next to
Hullabaloo)
Singing Cadets
Texas A&M University
P.O.Drawer K-l
AggielandStation, Texas 77844
Phone: 409-845-5974
Fax: 847-9384
Email: scadets@tam2k.tamu.edu
* ^
The Voice Of Aggieland
Texas A&M University Journalism
Open House
4 to 6 p.m. Thursday Jan. 27 in the
MSC Flagroom
Meet the profs, meet the pros
Journalism professors and professionals will give
advice about careers in journalism.
Great chance to network
Several student organizations with business
contacts are looking for members.
All majors welcome
This is a great chance to learn about the fields of
journalism, even if you are not a journalism student.
For information contact Joe Schumacher at
845-2612 or <j_scliumacherll34@hotmail.com>.
\ Society of
Professional
Journalists
College of
Liberal
Arts
X) BIGWORD9, Inc.