October 21, 1991 Corpus Christi Caller -Times Congress immune from many of its laws By Steve Goldberg MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON Congress makes the laws, but it doesn't always makes the laws, but it doesn't always have to obey them. Forget about check kiting and unpaid lunch bills; this is more cosmic. Congress is exempt from of the major laws it has many passed governing the lives of everyone else. While lawmakers can be prosecuted for breaking laws outside work, such as failing to pay their taxes, most of what they do on the job is exempt. They can libel.
They can slander. They can pinch their secretaries. Congress is immune from the minimum-wage, conflict-of-interest and occupational-safety-andhealth laws and the Freedom of Information Act, as well as laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, religion, age and sex, including sexual harassment. A number of lawmakers, led by Sen. Charles E.
Grassley, R-lowa, think that's an outrage. "How in the world can Congress really know and understand the burden it puts on America when it doesn't even have to live under Separation of the law itself?" he said. He plans to raise the issue on the Senate floor this week during debate on a controversial civil rights bill. But he will likely run into overwhelming opposition from senators who argue that immunity from laws is necessary to protect Congress from unconstitutional intrusions by the executive and judicial branches. Congress, said Sen.
Warren B. Rudman, "is different from the family farm, the local machine shop and the local grocery store." Rep. Don Edwards, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, said: "The problem with what Grassley wants to do is it would be a violation of separation of powers. You really can't have Bush's people with access to members of Congress." Edwards noted that Congress has rules prohibiting discrimination. These are enforced, however, National Briefs circ*mstances she was under, she was very, very lucky," said Wasco Lincoln auction 1863 note goes for $28,600 County sheriff's Sgt.
Charles Butler. DETROIT A letter written by Sharp and her father, Patrick Abraham Lincoln in 1863 sold for Sharp, 62, had taken off in the $28,600 during a telephone auc-, Piper Cub for a day of sightseeing tion. and photography Saturday in eastCollectors and dealers nation- ern Oregon. She was talking to her wide bid on the letter Saturday at father when he slumped over. She the DuMouchelles gallery in De- reached over his body to grab the troit.
controls, she said. A Beverly Hills, dealer Sharp overshot the airstrip and and a Detroit collector battled for ran through a barbed-wire fence the letter until the Detroit collec- before the plane stopped with its tor, whose name was not released nose in the ground. by the gallery, prevailed. The president's letter is dated Money scandal Oct. 16, 1863, and addressed to T.C.
Durant, an employee of the College president accused Union Pacific Railroad. COLUMBIA, S.C. Former University of South Carolina Novice landing President James Holderman, -pilot dies at controls ousted over a money scandal last SHANIKO, Ore. A woman in year, who traveled made sexual advances toward male students the back seat of a single-engine airplane reached over the body of with him at public expense, a her father, who died of an appar- newspaper said Sunday. The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer ent heart attack at the controls, said and landed the plane at a small reported the interns also they were overwhelmed with gifts of airstrip, authorities said.
and jewelry, also paid for 23, had never flown clothing Patty before. with public Sharp, money. a plane "For someone to have abso- 0 lutely no flying experience and the From The Associated Press Obituaries are published by the news department on a vailable basis as a service to CallerTimes readers. There is no cost for the obituary information in the news obituary. The Caller-Times accepts obituaries only from funeral homes.
Juan Euresti Macias BEEVILLE Juan Euresti Macias, a retired seaman, died Oct. 19, 1991, at his residence. He was 69. Survivors include one sister, Angelita Perez of San Antonio; and three brothers, Ismael Macias of Three Rivers, Martin Macias of Houston and Jose Macias of Edinburg. Graveside services will be at 3 p.m.
Oct. 21 at Three Rivers Cemetery. Trevino Funeral Home, Beeville. Melanie E. Thompson Melanie E.
Thompson died Oct. 18, 1991, in a local nursing home. She was 83. Survivors include one daughter, Mildred F. Holloway of Corpus VISA Master Card DISCOVER powers Sen.
Charles Grassley in the Senate by the Ethics Committee, which is made up solely of senators and has a reputation for going easy on colleagues, and in the House by a review board, which is appointed by ranking House members. Grassley likens the self-policing justifies privilege, Sen. Warren Rudman to "the fox guarding the chickens." Under the Constitution, no one may interfere with the free "speech and debate" of legislators. That provision has been interpreted very broadly by Congress. For instance, lawmakers use the The Senate is moving toward a similar review board, but Grassley wants to give congressional employees the right to appeal rulings some say staff, to review complaints of violations by employees.
Schroeder said the review board "has pretty well taken care of the problem in the House." But the review board is appointed entirely by House members, and its decisions may not be appealed to the courts. clause to avoid paying traffic tickets for speeding on the way to a vote. They also use it to exempt themselves from laws covering how they treat their office staffs. While the federal courts and the president are immune from some laws, experts say, Congress has exempted itself from a much wider array of laws. "This really is the last plantation," said a Democratic congressional staff lawyer who studies the issue.
Under the prodding of Rep. Patricia Schroeder, and Rep. Lynn Martin, now the labor secretary, the House three years ago set up an internal review board, composed of members and to the federal courts. Critics say that would lead to politically motivated lawsuits. "There is a difference between a frivolous lawsuit against an individual running a factory and a frivolous lawsuit brought in U.S.
district court in Iowa against a U.S. senator," Rudman said. The courts have taken some steps toward narrowing congressional immunity. In a 1974 case, the Supreme Court ruled that, under the Constitution, a female job applicant could sue a member of Congress who wrote her that she was wellqualified for a job but that the position demanded a man. Recently, the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia ruled that employees of the House restaurant could sue Congress for violating civil rights laws.
But the court prohibited a congressional stenographer from suing under the same laws, because that work was deemed essential to legislative business. Tomb opened in 'Kingfish' mystery Forensics sleuth to study grave of Huey P. Long's alleged assassin By Ron Harrist ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER BATON ROUGE, La. The tomb of the man labeled by history as Huey P. Long's assassin was opened Sunday as a forensics sleuth hoped to settle questions about the death of the Louisiana political legend.
Aware of the tombs of other family members nearby, workers carefully scraped away 19 inches of hard dirt on top of the vault of Dr. Carl Austin Weiss, who died in a hail of bullets along with Long in 1935. If traditional historic accounts are correct, Weiss, a 29-year-old physician, shot the "Kingfish" as he strolled down a state Capitol corridor, then was killed by Long's bodyguards. But questions have arisen on whether Long was fatally wounded by his overeager watchdogs who pumped dozens of bullets into Weiss outside the Senate chamber. After the vault was lifted from the grave with straps and chains, black plastic was held high by lian Linder of Austin; and one granddaughter.
Services will be at 4 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Oct.
23 in the Palm Valley Cemetery in Round Rock. Eckols Funeral Home, Kenedy. Hugh A. Ehrlich ROCKPORT Hugh A. Ehrlich, a longtime Rockport resident and retired sales representative, died Oct.
19, 1991. He was 68. Survivors include his wife, Daphne; three sons, Jackson and Peter Ehrlich, both of Rockport, and Michael Ehrlich of Henderson, one daughter, Daphne "Becky" Craig of Portland; one brother, Robert Ehrlich of Sheboygan, and five grandchildren. A memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Oct.
23 at St. Peter's a Episcopal Church. Charlie Marshall Funeral Home, Rockport. Irene F. Barrett ROCKPORT Irene F.
Barrett, a member of the Rockport Church sheriff's deputies to hide the wooden coffin while it was X- rayed. James E. Starrs, a forensic scientist at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., said the vault was in good condition, but that time had caused the wooden coffin to come unglued. Although the coffin fell apart when the lid was lifted, there was a complete, usable skeleton and some tissue, Starrs said. The remains were then taken to a laboratory in Lafayette, about 55 miles away, for extensive study.
Results were not expected to be announced before February. Starrs, who is also publisher of the Scientific Sleuthing Review, said an examination of Weiss' remains could shed light on the dispute over who killed Long. He said he is paying for most of its $7,000 to $10,000 cost. "We are using scientific evidence to corroborate or not what the eyewitnesses had to say," Starrs said. "What we're after is who did what, when and how." Long, Louisiana's governor from 1928 to 1931, was killed at age 42 of Christ, died Oct.
19, 1991. She was 70. Survivors include two daughters, Jo Champion of Abilene and Elaine Black of Agua Dulce; her mother, Mamie Leonard of Roscoe; her brother, Jimmie Cantrell of Tyler; her sister, Geneva Chandler of Roby; seven grandchildren; and three greatgrandchildren. Services will be at 2 p. t.
at the Charlie Marshall Funeral Home Chapel in Rockport. Burial will follow in Aransas Memorial Park. Maria Martinez Gomez AUSTWELL Maria Martinez Gomez, a homemaker, died Oct. 19, 1991, in a Refugio nursing home. She was 96.
Survivors include eight grandchildren. Graveside services will be at 10 a.m. Oct. 22 at Austwell Cemetery. Moore Funeral Home, Refugio.
Linnie Dean Linnie Dean died Oct. 20, 1991. She was 81. Survivors include her son, G.C. when he was a U.S.
senator. After moving to Congress, Long left behind a crony as figurehead governor, O.K. Allen, who took his orders from the Kingfish. A rubber stamp Legislature almost always gave Long what he wanted. A rival of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Long was beloved by many for his "share the wealth" philosophy of a guaranteed income for the poor and limited income for the rich. Enemies called him a demagogue whose eventual goal was to become dictator of the United States. Carl Weiss an orthopedic surgeon in New York who was only 3 months old when his father was killed, gave permission for the exhumation and was at the cemetery Sunday. "We have no reason to believe there is any logic in thinking he contemplated a violent crime like this," said Weiss. Historians have suggested that Weiss may have gone to the Capitol to confront Long about a racial slur against his wife's family or a Long-backed bill to gerrymander Dean of Lubbock; three sisters, Ann Strong of Beaumont, Mary Belle Mick of Lake Jackson, and Pauline Holcomb of Sweeny; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Oct. 22 in the Turcotte-Piper Chapel in Bishop. Burial will be at Restland cemetery. Charles Douglas Miller Charles Douglas Miller, an employee of Gulf Coast Testing Lab for more than 30 years, died Oct.
19, 1991, at his home in Calallen. He was 60. Survivors include his wife, Geraldine; two sons, Mark Bradley Miller Sr. of St. Paul and Matthew Bryan Miller of Calallen; one daughter, Carla Miller of Corpus Christi; his mother, Ella Miller of Victoria; three brothers, W.J.
Miller Jr. of Corpus Christi, James Miller of Houston and Tom Miller of Louise; three sisters, Audrey Henderson of Corpus Christi, Ella Mae "Diney" Sturdivant of Fort Worth and Thalia Braden of Victoria; and one grandson. Services will be at 3 p.m. Oct. 21 Buy Find It's Fast Easy With Classifieds! 3.
LINES 7 DAYS $10 For non-commercial advertisers merchandise under $3,000. Corpus Christi Caller -Times 883-1111 Weiss' father-in-law, Judge Benjamin Henry Pavy, out of office in St. Landry Parish. Ed Reed, a Baton Rouge author who has studied the Long killing, said he believes Long intended to be a martyr and is convinced that Long was shot by his own bodyguards. "I am sure he (Weiss) did not hit Long," Reed said.
Reed said he believes differences in the calibers of bullets fired could provide the definitive evidence. State police recently reopened the investigation of Long's death after evidence, including the purported murder weapon and investigative documents, was recovered from the daughter of a former state police superintendent who retired in 1940. Possession of the evidence is the subject of a civil court suit in New Orleans. After the project is finished, Carl Weiss Jr. said he hoped to have his father's remains cremated.
"We don't want to have another press gathering at another grave site," he said. Deaths of New Braunfels; three grandchildren; and one great-grandson. services will be at 10 a.m. Oct. 21 at Rose Hill Memorial Park.
Cage-Mills-Jackson-Langham Kostoryz Chapel. Richard Cunningham Richard Cunningham died Oct. 19, 1991. He was 46. Survivors include one son, James Dallas of Corpus Christi; one daughter, Louella M.
Cunningham of Bladenboro, N.C.; one brother, Don Cunningham of New Braunfels; one sister, Anne Shipp of Spring; his father, George Cunningham of San Antonio; his mother, Kay Shrock of Sarasota, and one granddaughter. Funeral services are pending at Cage-Mills-Jackson-Langham Everhart Chapel. C.T. Carlson Jr. KENEDY C.T.
Carlson a retired farmer, died Oct. 20, 1991, at his residence. He was 67. Survivors include his wife, Mary; two sons, Carl Allen Carlson of Dallas and James Craig Carlson of Odessa; one sister, Lil- in Calallen Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Robstown Ceme- tery.
Sawyer-George Funeral Home. Blas H. Palacios Blas H. Palacios, a retired custodian for the Corpus Christi Independent School District, died Oct. 19, 1991, at his residence.
He was 81. Survivors include two daughters, Odilia P. Curiel and Debra A. Martinez, both of Corpus Christi; two sons, Cosme Palacios of Victoria and Robert J. Palacios of Huntington Beach, two brothers, Valdomero H.
Palacios and Domingo H. Palacios, both of Victoria; three sisters, Hortencia Greenslade of Corpus Christi and Julia Palacios and Margaret Lopez, both of Victoria; 23 grandchildren; and 26 great-grandchildren. Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Oct. 21 at Memorial Funeral Home.
Rites of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Oct. 22 at Christ the King Catholic Church. Burial will follow at Rose Hill Memorial Park..
