Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 137, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 10, 1990 Page: 2 of 46
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A
A-J—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Springs, Texas, Sunday, June 10,1990
Punitive awards
outstrip justice
One of the scandalous changes in the U.S. judicial sys-
tem is the increasingly common practice of juries order-
ing businesses and governmental units to pay multimil-
lion-dollar “punitive damages” that are excessively dis-
proportionate to the damage suffered by the victim. Such
awards often would be ludicrous if they were not so
costly.
Jurors who would reel at the thought of inflicting a
cruel or unusual punishment on even the most heinous of
criminals often do not even blink at the thought of sock-
ing a company or agency with an outageous financial
penalty.
These juries often express concern that they don’t want
to levy a sentence of great magnitude on a felon because
they feel sorry • about destroying an entire life.
Meanwhile, juries in civil damage suits frequently levy
“punitive damages” that put companies out of business,
cost many workers their careers, or force a cutback of
government services to the detriment of the general
public.
The U.S. Supreme Court has, however, agreed to hear
a case that could help the courts determine whether ex-
tremely high punitive-damage awards are unconstitu-
tional. The case the court has agreed to hear involves
Pacific Mutual, an insurance company, and a $1,040,(XX)
punitive damage award the company was ordered in 1987
to pay to Cleopatra Haslip, an employee of Roosevelt
City, Ala.
There has been no question that Ms. Haslip was injured
by an agent of the company, one Lemmie Ruffin, who
had sola health insurance policies to the woman and
several others, and then pocketed the money. That, of
course, was a crimial act.
The woman did not learn that she was not covered by
an insurance policy until 1982, when she ran up $2,500
worth of hospital and medical bills and had trouble
pacing them.
could develop quite an argument over Pacific
Mutual’s role in that the firm claims it did not sanction
the actions of its representative. A jury might well decide,
as it did in this case, that the company should make good
on the damage done. But to force tne company to pay
more than $1 million to punish it for an action that resul-
more than $1 million to punish it for
ted in a few thousand dollars worth of damage is akin to
ted in a tew thousand dollars worm ot damage is akin
demanding a head be cut off for stealing a loaf of bread.
There are some parts of the world where cruel and un-
usual punishments are handed out. The United States,
thankfully, is not one of them — unless jurors are bashing
a company.
While many naive jurors see businesses and
governmental units as casn cows that can be tapped for
unlimited amounts, the truth is that such unfair awards
have a crippling effect on the economy and cost us all in
the form of higner insurancce rates, higher prices, higher
taxes, lost jobs and lost services.
The task of the justice system is to dispense justice and
right wrongs, not to pile wrongs on top of wrongs. The
Supreme Court should act expeditiously to end the “deep
pockets” abuse that has become a part of the judicial sys-
tem.
The opinion page
Key races too close to call
By Robert Walters
THIEF RIVER FALLS. Minn
(NEA) — If Lake Wobegon existed
anywhere except in Garrison Keil-
lor’s hyperactive imagination, “the
little town that time forgot, that the
decades cannot improve" would be
situated here in Minnesota’s north-
western quadrant
Moreover, Keillor's radio broad
casts of “A Prairie Home Compan-
ion" are not the only source of fable
and fiction in the sparsely settled 21-
county area that constitutes the
state's 7th Congressional District
At the southern edge of the district
is Sauk Centre The birthplace of au-
thor Sinclair Lewis, it served as the
model for Collegeville in his novel
“Main Street." The heavily wooded
northern portion of the district, be-
tween Bemidji and Lake of the Woods,
is the home of, Paul Bunyan and his
faithful companion, Babe the blue ox
Not quite as enduring but neverthe-
less fascinating is the district’s poli-
tics. A biennial drama here stars Re-
publican Rep Arlan Stangeland, who
initially won a special election in 1977
and has been re-elected to six subse-
quent terms.
But Stangeland received more than
53 percent of all votes cast in only two
of those contests By far the closest
was the 1986 race, in which the con-
gressman’s political fate was uncer-
tain until a recount weeks after the
balloting gave him a 121-vote margin.
Despite the fact that more than 90
percent of all House members are
routinely re-elected (in 1988. 98.5 per-
cent of those seeking another term
were successful), there are fiercely
contested races in congressional dis-
tricts throughout the nation every two
years — and 1990 will produce its
share of those campaigns.
In Georgia’s 4th Congressional Dis-
Robert
Ulalters
necticut, Texas. Arkansas. Idaho.
Iowa, Rhode Island. Massachusetts,
California, Alabama, Michigan and
Utah are among the other states in
which potentially close races for
House seats will be held in November.
votes cast in four of his five success-
ful races: Because his 1988 victory
margin was only 707 votes, Demo-
crats believe he can be defeated this
year
New York, Kentucky, North Caroli-
na, Indiana. Illinois, Maryland, Con-
Here in Minnesota, Stangeland is in
more trouble than usual because of a
continuing sex scandal: Earlier this
year, it was disclosed that during 1986
and 1987 he made hundreds of late-
night and early morning telephone
calls to the home of Eve Jarvis, a
Washington lobbyist
Insisting that his relationship with
Jarvis was strictly professional,
Stangeland, who is married, claims
his telephone records could have been
altered to make 5 p.m business calls
to her. for example, appear to have
been placed at 5 a m.
The congressman’s Democratic op-
ponent, Collin Peterson, is not without
his liabilities. Specifically, he is a
four-time loser who was defeated by
Stangeland in 1984 and 1986, while
failing to secure his party’s nomina-
tion in 1982 and 1988
A former state senator, Peterson
also has alienated many fellow Demo-
crats. “We all do dumb things,” he ad-
mits. “I've done my share "
© 1*»0 NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN
saY,
DIDN'T Tt>0
D&eOTO K
trict, Republicans believe Democrat-
ic Rep. Ben Jones was victorious in
1988 only because his GOP opponent,
then-Rep. Patrick Swindall, was in-
dicted on perjury charges shortly be-
fore the election.
This year, the Republicans have
mounted a major effort to oust first-
termer Jones (a former actor best
known for his role as “Cooter” in the
television show “Dukes of Hazzard”)
before he becomes entrenched.
In Florida’s 2nd Congressional Dis-
trict, Democrats have targeted Re-
publican Rep. Bill Grant, who
switched parties in earty 1989 and
represents a constitqptNMjJit which
Democrats outregister (but do not
necessarily outvote) Republicans by a
5-1 margin.
In Washington's 3rd Congressional
District, Republicans are attempting
to portray Democratic Rep. Jolene
Unsoeld as a liberal activist. Because
she was elected to a first term by only
618 votes in 1988, the GOP believes
she is especially vulnerable.
In Oregon’s 5th Congressional Dis-
trict, Republican Rep. Denny Smith
received fewer than 55 percent of the
Doubts arise about safety
By Jack Anderson
and Dale Van Atta
Lj
WASHINGTON - Behind the walls
of the nation’s weapons plants, crime,
security lapses and contamination
are almost daily occurrences. The
places where one would expect the
most caution ark, In reality, accidents
waiting to happen.
Despite the efforts of Energy Sec-
retary James Watkins to clean up the
weapons plants and labs, they contin-
ue to be plagued by mismanagement
and mistakes. For years we have re-
ported on the security breaches and
safety problems at the plants.
Watkins, like his predecessors, has
tried to keep those under wraps. But
he was recently forced to go public
with them. He gets daily briefing re-
Jack
Anderson
Richland, Wash. Workers were ex-
posed in a chemistry lab. Tainted
paint was used in another lab, and an
employee was found to have radioac-
tive material on his hand when he left
work.
What snoozing in pews means
By George R. Plagenz
The classic joke about people sleep-
ing in church goes like this:
Seeing a man asleep in the congre-
gation, the minister interrupts his ser-
George
Plagenz
mon and says to the person sitting
“Sir, wake that
next to the sleeper,
man next to you.”
The reply comes back from the
pew, ‘You wake him. You put him to
sleep”
In the Puritan churches in the 17th
and 18th centuries, the napper would
have been roused from his slumbers
by an usher carrying a long pole with
a feather of sorts at the end of it. He
would rub this under the nose of the
person who had dozed off. The tickling
sensation would be enough to wake
him up.
Today those who nod off in church
are not forced to endure humiliation
or public ridicule although their num-
bers may be large. In a survey of
churches in Great Britain, more than
four out of 10 parishioners said they
sometimes fall asleep in church.
Others have to fight off the urge.
More than one out of three say they
often look at their watch while the
minister is preaching. Another 10 per-
cent put their watch to their ear or
shake it when they see what time it is
in the belief their watch must have
stopped.
If these figures are the same for the
United States, it could be a cause of
concern to many preachers. But prob-
ably an even greater cause of concern
is the number in the congregation
whose are eyes are open and who
feign paying attention but whose
thoughts are afar off.
One of my acquaintances turns
down his hearing aid during the ser-
mon (he calls it “taking advantage of
a natural handicap”). Another replays
in imagination a game of golf in
which he broke 80. This, he says, ac-
counts for the smile on his face during
the sermon.
© 1890 NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.
A junkyard tells its own story
(News-Telegram staffer
Mary Grant is on sabbatical in
the British Isles during 1990.
She is providing news and fea-
ture reports for this
newspaper and Country
World, and today continues a
series of personal observations
on her visit. -Ed.)
By Mary Grant
News-Telegram Stuff
those two decades ago, although
there were many cars making
their way about
All that has changed.
Today the English family mir-
rors the habitiof its cousin in
the United States, with two or
three cars in ownership.
Teenagers terrorize the streets as
they race by; old people block
traffic as they aim their cars
along; and everyone in between
hopping lambs.
Perhaps that
Not too long ago a person I
every
_ _ P«
know who battles traffic
day in Dallas opined that she
soon expected to go out to her
garage, throw open the door, and
see a line of cars backed up to
the bumper of her awiting
vehicle. Sne should see what it’s
like in England! Here, Central
Expressway would seem like the
FM between Birthright and Sul-
phur Bluff in comparison.
When I made my first trip to
this country more than 20 years
has two speeds — fast and stop.
affic
Fast, that is, when the trafh
isn’t backed up for several miles
on the motorways (like our in-
terstates) or circling about in the
cities interrupted only by chang-
ing traffic lights.
either. “We’ve got to do someth-
ing about these cars,”, I heard a
man mumble on a city bus. That
bus he rode is part of a success-
ful, albeit expensive, mass
transportation system that per-
meates the cities and crisscros-
ses the countryside. But like
their U.S. counterparts, the
’erhaps that was one reason
the junkyard was so startling as
it jumbled there, three stacks
against that backdrop. After that
day, I began to pay more atten-
tion to the cars and trucks, and
to realise their omnipresence.
English appear to prefer the
firs
ago, I was disappointed with all
Own
modem contraptions I found.
Until then, my mind held images
produced from reading novels
set in England in the 18th Cen-
tury — and seeing movies set in
A ge «na age. Nevertheless,
I England seemed auto-innocent
In the beautiful villages,
drivers swerve onto the
sidewalks to prevent their
vehicles from joining another in
uncomfortable fashion. On the
mows, tourists spend a great
deal of time backing up on roads
that were originally designed to
expedite traffic on a cart and a
horse or two. Patting spots are
practically non-existent
There's no longer the thought
of Everyman *- it’s now
Eveiycar. And, the English
aren t happy about the traffic
M
automobile as their first choice
of getting about That means
congestion, parking problems,
pollution and, worst or all, piles
of junked cars.
The first junk yard I en-
countered made me sit up and
take notice when it appeared in
my sight as I looked out the
window of a train in Devon
County — the Wisconsin of
England. Until we clacked past
the auto graveyard, the scenery
had been rolling green hills,
hedgerows, stone farm
buildings, white two-story
homes and pastures sprinked
with grazing dairy cattle and
Of course, the English are
talking about ways to solve the
problem? But I expect — really
know — that the auto is here to
stay and with it the accompany-
ing change in society that we
have seen in the U.S. That
means more independence for
individuals, which in turn will
produce demands of an auto-
related society: drive-in res-
taurants, drive-in banks, drive-to
stores, schools and work. It all
points to a lifestyle in the fast
lane where, as we have learned
in the U.S., there are too few
speed bumps.
All of this could be averted if
the English would just ban the
automobile from their island.
The country is so small that they
could easily get about on their
mass transpotation scheme. That
way they could avoid the traffic
jam in which their U.S. cousins
are now stuck.
ports on all the mishaps at the nucle-
ar plants. In March, a Department of
Energy staffer accidentally faxed
one daily report to the offices of vari-
ous state governors.
Once DOE officials found out about
the blunder, they begged the gover-
nors to destroy the memos. Not a
chance. The states’ governors must
live with the messes the federal gov-
ernment creates at weapons plants,
and they weren’t about to pass up an
opportunity to criticize DOE for its
management of those plants.
The briefing report, with its almost
casual litany of the daily goings on at
the weapons plants, quickly leaked
out. Watkins knew when he was cor-
nered, so he agreed to make the daily
reports public.
Our associate Scott Sleek reviewed
several months worth of memos list-
ing the gaffes at DOE plants. They
show that crime, security violations
and ’ contamination occur with
regularity.
On April 5,1990 a worker at the Sa-
vannah River plant in South Carolina
was contaminated as he helped a co-
worker out of a plastic suit. On the
same day, two employees were con-
taminated at the Rocky Flats plant in
Colorado during the removal of their
protective suits. And, on the same
day, contamination was found on a
worker’s clothes at the Oak Ridge
plant in Tennessee.
On April 13, three radiation inci-
dents were recorded at a DOE lab in
Accidents at the plant aren’t limit-
ed to radioactive materials. Earlier
this spring PCB oil was spilled at the
Oak Ridge plant. PCBs cause cancer,
and PCB spills have been cause to
evacuate neighborhoods and industri-
al sites. Asbestos was found at a
steam plant at Oak Ridge also.
Some accidents can be excused, but
there is no excuse for the crimes that
take place at nuclear weapons plants.
The DOE’s sloppy security checks
have not weeded out dangerous peo-
ple. Crimes, such as drug deals and
drug use and theft of classified docu-
ments are frequent occurrences at
nuclear weapons plants.
We have exposed serious flaws in
the DOE security clearance system,
and the publication of the daily brief-
ing reports proves our point. People
who want jobs at sensitive and dan-
gerous nuclear weapons plants are
supposed to go through a lengthy
clearance process, but many slip
through because of lax scrutiny.
MINI-EDITORIAL - The human
rights group Americas Watch says
that abuses of Tibetans by the Chi-
nese government have not stopped,
even though China has lifted marshal
law in Tibet. China only lifted mar-
shal law because President Bush
needed justification for giving them
most favored nation status. Bei
ijing
thinks it can pay lip service to hu-
manity and get away with murder.
Unfortunately, Bush has done nothing
to make the Chinese think otherwise.
Copyright, 1990, United Feature Syndicate, Inc
Berry's World
V (f1 4non Kw MCA In/-
© 1990 by NEA. Inc
"Oh, yes! Here we are. You’re in the ‘Blaring
Car Radio' section for eternity."
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 137, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 10, 1990, newspaper, June 10, 1990; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824884/m1/2/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.