Page 8
oo- 000000000000 o ogo O o
Gopher
College NeuJS
Zodiac News
&ssJj
S c W ern^Vbr K 4
i OOO OO OO O O O 00000 o
Leading opponents of the
death penalty say they are
fearful that the so-called
"civilized methods" of killing
prisoners may result in a new
era of executions in the United
States.
The civilized method of killing
involves injecting condemned
prisoners with powerful but
painless drugs that allegedly
put them to sleep perman
ently.
Pacific news service reports
that the states of Texas and
Oklahoma have already acted
to replace the electric chair
and gallows with injectable
drugs, and that a similar needle
has been introduced in Florida.
In Oklahoma, under its
new law, execution is carried
out by dual injections a first
one to render the prisoner
unconscious and a second one
to kill. The Texas law calls
for condemned inmates to be
stuck with a lethal dose of
what is referred to as "an
ultra-short acting" barbituate
while still conscious.
The Texas Director of
Corrections, James Estelle,
refers to the new killing
method as "a more civilized
way of carrying out our
responsibilities." And Texas
prison chaplain, the Rev. Clyde
Johnson, describes it this
way: "I hesitate to use the
word pleasant, but it would be
like somebody going in, laying
down, and going to sleep."
Lawyers for the American
Civil Liberties Union and the
NAACP say that the prison
authorities make the act of
killing sound so pleasant that
a massive upsurge in execu
tions is likely to result.
JU * *
At least one industry is
probably happy the swine
flu program didn't work out as
well as expected.
The General Accounting
Office reports that damage
claims against the federal
government from its short
lived swine flu program could
very well top $1 billion.
The G.A.O. reports, on top
of that, private insurance to
companies are expected to
make $8.65 in profits because
of the way the program was
structured.
JBp
\ UjL
Pie-hie
(SfRPMWDS tg
The relatives of four
students who were killed in
the 1970 shootings at Kent
State University have filed a
federal suit, demanding that
Ohio officials preserve the area
where the shootings occurred.
The suit was filed with the
Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals in Cincinnati in
response to plans by the Kent
State Administration to build
a gymnasium where the
slayings occured seven years
ago.
The parents and other
relatives of the slain students
contend that the suit should
be preserved as evidence in
possible future legal proceed
ings. According to that suit
"destruction of the site . . .
Will totally destroy essential
evidence."
Guilfordian
Justice - American Style
BYTANE DATTA
A new American right is
being formed. The right of
repression, racism, and
murder. Within a group of
people who insulate them
selves with superior altitudes
and limited viewpoints de
humanization beings. Dehu
manization means people don't
matter. If society supports
these groups a new right will
be formed, but not for
everyone.
This time the dehumanizers
are part of the Houston
police force. Another time
the Kerr-McGee plutonium
plant officials took the role.
The result in both cases was
the same, murder; Jose
Campos Torres in Houston
(convictions) and Karen Silk
wood in her car (3 yrs., in the
courts).
Jose Campos Torres was
arrested last May on charges
of creating a disturbance in
a Houston tavern. According
to testimony in the trial,
Campos Torres was beaten by
five police officers, and then
pushed of a 16-foot embank
ment into a water filled
swamp.
One former policeman who
testified in the trial told the
court that the beating of some
prisoners was helpful because
it was important for officers
to have "A reputation as a
tough guy" with certain ele
ments in the community.
On Oct. 5, 1977 two former
Houston policemen were
convicted on negligent homi
cide charges in Houston for
the beating and death of a 23-
year-old Chicano named Jose
Campos Torres. According
to testimony, the two cops
arrested Torres in a bar, severe
ly beat him, and finally threw
him into a bayou where
Torres drowned. Another
officer who was at the scene
of the beating testified that
Torres had been thrown into
the water to find out if in
the words of his attackers
"Wetbacks can swim."
The Chicano community
in Houston was outraged
when the two former officers,
after being convicted were
fined S2OOO and then placed
on probation for their role in
the Torres killing.
Now, there has been a new
development in the Torres
case: The father and mother
of Torres, Margaret and Joe
Luna Torres were arrested and
allegedly beaten by Houston
police over the weekend on
charges of resisting arrest.
The incident occured last
Saturday when the two elder
Torres' were in a bar and
watched as police arrested
another young Chicano youth
and took him outside the bar
at gunpoint.
According to 47-year-old
Joe Torres, he followed the
officers outside to witness the
arrest, and asked the cops:
"Are you going to kill him like
you killed our son?"
The older Torres claims that
he was then attacked and
beaten on the head with a
flashlight, receiving serious
gashes. Both he and his wife
were arrested and jailed on
assault and resisting arrest
charges, and were released
later on SI9OO in bail.
Supporters of Torres point
out that the SI9OO bail figure
was just SIOO lower than the
fine levied for the murder of
their son.
Karen Silkwood, a 28-year
old worker at the Kerr-McGee
plant died in a mysterious car
crash nearly three years ago
at a time when she was charg
ing the company with numer
ous safety and security
violations at the plant.
Silkwood had suggested just
before her death that a pluton
ium-smuggling ring might
have been diverting fuel out of
the nuclear facility.
Silkwood's parents have
since filed a damage suit on
behalf of her estate. They
allege her death was a direct
result of negligence on the
part of Kerr-McGee officials.
At the time of her death,
Silkwood was reportedly
carrying internal Kerr-McGee
documents in her car relating
to the lax safety precautions
and missing nuclear materials
at the Kerr-McGee plant.
Rolling Stone says that one
former worker, Jean Jung,
recently submitted a sworn
statement alleging that
Silkwood was carrying a folder
of documents minutes
before her fatal car crash.
Those documents have never
been found.
Rolling Stone magazine also
reports that several key
witnesses in the case say they
have been subjected to strange
burglaries and threatening
telephone calls in recent
months.
Rolling Stone also reports
that shortly after Jung's name
surfaced as a witness, her
house was burglarized and
ransacked, she received
threatening phone calls, and
was chased by a car.
The publication adds that
another former Kerr-McGee
worker who might also testify
against Kerr-McGee claims
to have received anonymous
phone calls threatening to ruin
his business if he continues
to cooperate with the Silk
wood attorneys.
A former worker at the
Kerr-McGee nuclear facility
November 1,1977
in Oklahoma claims he
was told by another employee
that Kerr-McGee officials
were attempting to steal
weapons - grade uranium
from the U.S. government.
Jim Smith, a former super
visor at the Plant says he
learned of the alleged plot from
a co-worker he identified as
Gerald Cooper.
Smith, in a sworn affidavit
taken in Oklahoma City last
week, said Cooper told him on
two different occasions that
he (Cooper) was asked by
Kerr-McGee executives to
help divert high-grade uranium
from government stockpiles.
According to Smith's affi
davit, Cooper had been asked
to participate in the alleged
scheme by a Kerr-McGee
management official identi
fied as "Robert Clause" Smith
quotes Cooper as saying that
he turned down the request
both times, and "was never
asked again."
Government investigators
have determined that 40
pounds of plutonium - enough
to produce several atomic
weapons - was missing or
unaccounted for at the plant
about the time of Silkwood's
death.
Kerr-McGee has insisted the
material was inadvertently
poured down the drain pipes.
However former supervisor
Smith, in an earlier interview
with the Rolling Stone said
he personally checked those
pipes and could not find a
trace of the missing nuclear
materials.
The former supervisor said
the company misled the
federal government when
Kerr-McGee claimed it could
account for the plutonium fuel
that had turned up missing.
In an interview with Rolling
Stone, the former supervisor
claims that on at least two
occasions in 1974 involving
a total of 40 pounds of
plutonium the company
falsely told federal investigators
that the lost fuel had been
found ina clogged drain pipe
at the plant.
Smith claims, however that
the missing plutonium was
never found. He says that, in
one case, involving 18 pounds
of the lost fuel, the company
didn't even flush out the
pipes to determine of the
mising plutonium was actually
there.
Smith says that in a second
case involving 22 pounds of
plutonium, he personally
supervised the flushing out of
the pipes with nitric acid. He
is quoted by Rolling Stone as
saying "we could have
flushed for another month and