The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 142, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 14, 1988 Page: 4 of 20
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4-A
THE BAYTOWN SlIN
Thursday, April 14, 1988
Kh/f f? ^ Jack Anderson
^ynrTOHTAT ioj Research funds misused
Court: 'Gag orders'
unconstitutional
So-called “gag orders,” issued by judges who profess
to believe some defendants cannot get a fair trial in the
glare of media publicity, are, in effect, selling our
judicial system short.
The inalienable right to a fair trial and the right of the
media to cover judicial proceedings are unconditionally
guaranteed by the Constitution, a judge’s order to the
contrary.
Benefits of an open trial on whatever charge far
outweigh the risks of closed trials or other judicial hear-
ings.
An example of a judge attempting to bar the media
from reporting on jury selection was evident recently in
a Rutland, Vt., courtroom where the son of former vice
presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro was to go on
trial for selling drugs.
The presiding judge, after a meeting with attorneys,
imposed a gag order barrring reporting on jury selec-
tion. He told 11 reporters in the courtroom he expected
jury selection to last three days and that any informa-
tion published could prejudice the jury pool.
Judge Francis McCaffery left it to spectators’ im-
agination as to how news coverage of jury selection
would prejudice those summoned for service, or prevent
defendant John Zaccaro from getting a fair trial.
Later, however, under pressure from several news
organizations, the judge lifted his order but limited the
number of reporters in his courtroom during jury selec-
• tion to six, which he had no legal right to do.
A lawyer for the news organizations told the judge
there would be publicity regardless of whether the ques-
tioning of jurors was public, and there would have been.
“Star chamber” sessions of public bodies like courts
have no place in a democratic system of government.
WASHINGTON — The National Institute of
Health gives away more than $5 billion a
year for research. But whether that money is
well spent is anybody’s guess. For the most
part, NIH blindly trusts that the money went
for credible research.
Rarely does NIH challenge the integrity of
prestigious universities or their esteemed
scientists. The trust runs so deep that only
one person on the NIH staff is assigned full
time to investigate allegations of fraud.
Walter Stewart and Ned Feder, two NIH
scientists, testified recently before a House
Energy and Commerce subcommittee
chaired by Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. They
told the subcommittee that research is too
often neither checked nor challenged. Feder
and Stewart have long urged scientists to
take a more active role in insuring the quali-
ty of research.
“The peer review system does not pick up
fabricated work,” Stewart told our associate
Jim Lynch. “You can get away with murder
for a pretty long time.”
Examples of questionable research likely
to be studied by the subcommittee for Over-
sight and Investigations include these cases,
which have been detailed in medical jour-
nals:
— A blue-ribbon committee at Harvard in
1982 defended the research of scientist John
Darcee, who had published his findings on
heart medicines while at the university’s
medical school. Almost all of Darcee’s
writings, including more than 100 articles,
were later found by NIH to be fabricated.
Some of the information was ridiculous on its
face, like the 52-member family Darcee in-
vented for his research. One of the men in
that family was said by Darcee to have
fathered his first child at the age of 8 and his
second at age 9.
— University of Wisconsin biochemist Hec-
tor DeLuca allegedly pirated the work of a
colleague to conceal defects in his patent for
producing a vitamin D derivative. The pa-
tent is now more than 15 years old. Before the
allegations against DeLuca recently came to
light in a ’awsuit over the patent, he had been
mentioned as a nominee for the Nobel Prize.
DeLuca contests the charges, and the matter
is under investigation by the university at
DeLuca’s request.
— Robert Sprague, a professor at the In-
stitute for Research on Human Development
in Champaign, 111., waited three years for the
National Institute of Mental Health (a
parallel agency to NIH) to confirm his claim
that his colleague, Stephen Breuning, had
made up data or his study of drugs to treat
the mentally retarded. Sprague gave NIMH
almost all of the information needed to prove
his claim against Breuning, but NiMH still
took three years to verify the information. In
the meantime, patients were subjected to
treatment and medication based on Breun-
ing’s falsified research.
If an allegation of fraud
warrants investigation,
NIH tells the university
where the research is be-
ing conducted. When the
university investigates
itself, it sometimes covers
up rather than exposes
fraud.
Sprague doesn’t think the NIMH would
have taken him seriously at all if he had not
been of senior rank to Breuning. “I was bare-
ly able to blow the whistle on him, ” he said.
From 1982 to 1987, NIH found evidence of
misconduct in about 15 of some 100 reported
allegations of fraud. Investigators for the
Oversight and Investigations subcommittee
have determined that the number of abuses
reported is reduced by an NIH system that
tends to protect the offending scientist and
put the whistleblower on the defensive.
If an allegation of fraud warrants
investigation, NIH tells the university where
the research is being conducted. The univer-
sity then investigates itself — a process that
.sometimes covers up rather than exposes
fraud.
If NIH still smtells'a rat, it appoints an
investigative panel. But that panel is staffed
by scientists who are hesitant to lower the ax
on their peers.
Even if a scientist is implicated in fraud,
the evidence can disappear, making it hard
to prove that the scientist deliberately doc-
tored the research. In 1979, one drug resear-
cher under investigation swore that all his
data was lost when his rowboat flipped.
There are no available figures on how
much money NIH has been able to recover
from scientists who misuse NIH grants. An
NIH spokeswoman told us, “It’s usually not
appropriate to collect money on these
cases.” She acknowledged the common com*
plaint that NIH is too slow |p go after of-
fenders. “Sometimes it takes quite a while,”
she said.
EVEN MECHAM is not a man who compro-
mises, and partly because of that, Arizona
has been humiliated by the first impeach-
ment of a U.S. governor since 1929. Mecham
won the office without a majority in a three-
way race. That should have been a clue to
him that most of tl^e voters wanted
somebody else, and that sortie give and take
was in order. Instead, he bolted ahead with
his ultra-conservative agenda and then ap-
peared puzzled that anyone was offended. In
the tradition of cornered politicians,
Mecham blamed partisan politics, he blam-
ed conspiracies, he blamed gays and racial
minorities for his problems. He should have
blamed himself for seeing compromise as
failure. Democracy is based on the premise
that there is room for everyone. It is no sin
for the winners to make a space in the fold
for the losers.
Dth Vm Att* Mutated United Feature columnist Jack Anderson
la writing today's story.
To The Sun:
Well, here it is Tuesday (April
12) add another day of the
mystery of the broken sewer line
on Bob Smith Road.
It was just covered up last Fri-
day, and now city crews are dig-
ging again. I want to know where
ail the money is coming from to
pay for this. It has been very
entertaining but I am afraid I
can’t afford it. But, since my
customers can’t get down the
street to my business, that’s all I
have to do.
It started about eight or nine
months ago. I came to work one
morning and couldn’t get to the
shop. They had all the streets
closed, police at all points. I had
to park my car and walk.
Seems they had a gas leak, so
they thought, but it turned out to
be the city sewer.
The police didn’t even have the
courtesy to tell anyone what was
happening. There is a day care
here also. The mothers could not
even get their children to the
center.
One police lady sat in her car
reading a book and dared
anyone to try to drive down the
street.
The city hired a contractor to
do the work which took over two
weeks. Also, he said that it would
take more money to fix it than
what he bid, so the city paid him
more (which a local contractor
should have done the job, so we
would know where to find him.)
Anyway, back to my story.
After the job was completed,
about three weeks later the road
sank again. A city crew came
out, added blacktop, put up a
sign, “Bump.” So we had a
bump on the street until it fell in
again 10 days ago.
Now, the city crew is out to do
the work which they told your
reporter was unrelated to the
repair that the contractor did —
which I don’t believe.
The crew was here for a week.
I don’t think they were doing any
work in any other part of the
town because they were all out
here — two or three backhoes
and one large one that had to
come on an 18-wheeler, four or
five dump trucks, 15 or more
workers, two or three officials.
In my book, that adds up to a
lot of money that is coming out of
the taxpayers’ pocket, or does
anyone care.
Surely, we have someone in
our city who can solve the pro-
blem so we can get back to our
business.
When they finished the job last
year, I complained about my
driveway being worn out
because of the traffic turning
around in it.
Some man — I didn’t get his
name — said they would fix it
but they didn’t.
Maybe the third time is a
charm and the sewer will be fix-
ed this time.
Mary Bennett
City taxpayer
1105 Bob Smith Road
Berry's
world
PLEASE. SOMEBODY
BRING ME MORE HANDS TO
SHAKE. PLEASE/
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
EXPERIENCING WITHDRAWAL
SYMPTOMS.
©je PaptoUm &un
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
On April 14, 1865, President
Abraham Lincoln was shot and
mortally wounded by John
Wilkes Booth while attending the
comedy “Our American Cousin”
at Ford’s Theater in
Washington. The president died
the following morning.
On this date:
In 1775, the first American
society for the abolition of
slavery was organized by Ben-
jamin Franklin and Benjamin
Rush.
In 1828, the first edition of
Noah Webster’s “American Dic-
tionary of the English
Language” was published.
In 1902, J.C. Penney opened
his first store in Kemmerer,
Wyo.
In 1912, the supposedly un-
sinkable RMS Titanic ran into an
iceberg in the North Atlantic and
began sinking.
In 1931, King Alfonso the 13th
of Spain went into exile, and the
Spanish Republic was proclaim-
ed.
In 1945, American planes
firebombed Tokyo and damaged
the Japanese imperial palace.
In 1956, Ampex Corp.
demonstrated its first commer-
cial videotape recorder.
In 1981, the first test flight of
America’s first operational
space shuttle, the Columbia,
ended successfully as theorbiter
landed at Edwards Air Force
Base in California.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Sir
John Gielgud is 84. Former net-
work news executive Richard
Salant is 74. Actor Rod Steiger is
63. Actor Anthony Perkins js 56.
Country singer Loretta Lyhn is
53. Actress Julie Christie is 47.
Baseball star Pete Rose is 47.
From Sun files
Rosenzweig store in
Bolan building, 1933
Leon Brown. . .
Fred Hartman .
Wanda Orton .
Bruce Guynn. .
Russell Maroney.
Janie Halter.....
Gary Dobbs .
...........Editor and publisher
. Editor and publisher, 1950-1974
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
CIRCULATION
..........Managing editor
. Associate managing editor
. Advertising manager
. . Classified manager
. Circulation manager
^ NEVER FAILS/- YOU BW A *
SET OF NEW TIRES TODAW -
TOMORROW ADVERTISED
AT 50%, OFF/
Ned
PRODUCTION
Buddy Jones..............................................Press room foreman
Lynne Morris . . ......................................Composing room foreman
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under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879 Published afternoons, Monday through Friday ond Sundays at 1301
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" MEMBER Of THE ASSOCIATED PRISS
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively *o the use for republication to any news dispatches credited to it or
not otherwise credited in this papei and local news of spontaneous origin published herein Rights of republication
of all other matter herein are also reserved The Baytown Sun retains nationally known syndicates whose w
bylined stones are used throughout the newspoper There c
viewpoint • r- : ‘
i times when these articles do not reflect The Sun’s
ily signed Setters will be considered for pubfication. Names will be withheld upon request for good and sufficient
in Pledse|teep letters short The Sun reserves the right to excerpt letters
From The Baytown Sun files,
this is the way it was:
55 YEARS AGO
Emma Bolan, owner of the
new Bolan Building at Main and
Market in Baytown, leases most
of the store space to Abp Rosenz-
weig for the Economy Dry
Goods. Among those who will be
occupying the second story is
Dr. J.B. Kirkpatrick, dentist.
W.A. Warren is reappointed
superintendent of Cedar Bayou
schools.
50 YEARS AGO
Crosby State Bank and its
president, J.T. Hare, will
observe a silver anniversary
tomorrow.
U.S. Army Engineers say it is
not feasible to create a harbor to
serve the Tri-Cities. At a hearing
held here, Goose Creek pro-
ponents said the point where
Goose Creek Stream enters into
Tabbs Bay would be a logical
place for a major terminal.
40 YEARS AGO
The $130,000 from the sale of
bonds for a swimming pool at
Roseland Park is in Citizens Na-
tional Bank, City Manager Bill
N. Taylor says. A check from the
B.V. Christie bond house of
Houston, the sompany handling
the bonds, was received by the
city yesterday and deposited this
morning.
J. Bryan Stratton is named
chairman of a Tri-Cities
Chamber of Commerce clean-up
committee.
30 YEARS AGO
A sharp eye and fleet feet aid
Police Sgt. R.H. “Bo” Turner in
catching, a car thief. He was on
routine patrol on North Main
when he spotted a car making a
fast turn. When he stopped the
driver, the man broke away and
began running down Main. Bo
gave chase on foot, caught him
after a two-block run and found
the man had stolen a car.
R.H. Pruett wins a skeet shoot
championship in Corpus Christi.
20 YEARS AGO
A steering committee is form-
ed here to promote Preston
Smith for governor. Members in-
clude Frank Thielen, Gene
Muller, Jack Strickler, Dr. Jim
Sammons, Knox Beavers, W.P.
Smith, Alvin Miles, Grover
Edge, Theron Waddell, Jack
Walker, B.A. Stewart, Eldon
Berry, James Davis, Rufus
Honeycutt, Perry Simmons,
Truman Cox, Granville
Laughlin, Ted McCall, Mr. and
Mrs. Bill Thulis, W.C. Swain Jr.,
Mrs. Leon Brown, F.A. Richard-
son, Mrs. Ken Baker, Wally
Bond, Pat Bond and Jim Bond.
Bible verse
He that< loveth silver
shall not be satisfied with
silver, nor he that loveth
abundance, with increase;
this is also vanity.
Ecclesiastes 5:10,11
wit
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Brown, Leon. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 142, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 14, 1988, newspaper, April 14, 1988; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1053050/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.