The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 10

A10 THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1997 GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS Phone company employees testify in the McVeigh case The PTOM DENVER Prosecutors called more than two dozen witnesses Wednesday to try to link Timothy McVeigh to prepaid phone card calls seeking explosives and a rental truck to carry them to Oklahoma City Twenty-seven witnesses who testified during the morning session were phone company employees flown in from around the country to authenticate hundreds of pages of phone records, each testifying for only a few minutes. One witness was oh the stand just 50 seconds. They had to appear in person because McVeigh's lawyers refused to stipulate to records, calling them irrelevant. The judge allowed them into evidence on the condition prosecutors could tie them together. That onerous task was given to FBI computer specialist Frederic Dexter, who described for the jury the complicated technology behind using a prepaid phone card.

To break up the tedious testimony, prosecutors called another survivor of the federal building bombing. Retired Army Capt. Lawrence Martin, who worked on the fourth floor in a recruiting office, said he never heard the explosion that blew him through a wall and killed seven co-workers. "Two of my sergeants, female sergeants, were crying," Martin said. It wasn't like a normal cry.

It was like a wailing sound. It was just very eerie, and I knew something bad had happened." After Martin testified, the prosecution returned to the phone records evidence. The records came from a jumble of local, long-distance and cellular phone companies from to the Council Grove Telephone a rural Kansas outfit. Prosecutors contend the records trace the movements of McVeigh as he traveled across the country in the months before the April 19, 1995, bombing and called auto racing tracks, chemical companies, motels, storage facilities and rental truck outlets. The most important of the witnesses was Trisha Sain of Sprint United Telephone Co.

of Overland Park, who described phone calls placed in Junction City, five days before the bombing. the town where McVeigh allegedly rented the Ryder truck that was filled ivith explosives and blew up the downtown Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 The phone records track calls to the truck rental agency that prosecutors say McVeigh made from a bus station pay phone. Under cross-examination, Sain as the other witnesses said the records merely show telephone numbers and locations of phones and don't actually show who placed the calls or what was said in the conversations. These records, according to prosecutors, mesh with the paper trail left by a prepaid calling card McVeigh allegedly obtained through an ad in the right-wing newspaper, the Spectator. That cardjin the name of Daryl Bridges which prosecutors say is an alias for McVeigh was found hi the home of co-defendant Terry Nichols just days after the bombing.

McVeigh could get the death penalty if convicted of murder and conspiracy in the blast, the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil. Nichols is to be tried later. Although the parade of witnesses appeared in succession 27 were crammed into two hours and 45 minutes the testimony was dry and repetitious, and jurors' eyes often wandered. Several sat with bemused grins as witness after witness took the stand merely to say that the records in the white notebook came from their companies.

One witness was called just to say that a particular phone number didn't exist in his records. U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch acknowledged the tedium several times, once sarcastically referring to the "adrenaline" rush provided by the "exciting he stressed to jurors the testimony was important because it was intended to build the framework for future evidence. Convicted chttd molester Larry Don McQuay responds to a question during an interview at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison In Rusk, Texas, on April 3, 1996. Frightened victims-rights advocates tried desperately last year to find a way to fulfill convicted child molester McQuay's request to be castrated.

A bill awaiting Gov. George W. Bush's signature would make voluntary surgical castration an option for child moiesters, even though some medical and legal experts say it's ilkxrvtsed. (AP) Bill awaiting Gov. Bush will make voluntary castration an option Sisters sue state for rape by father The Associated Press MONTPELEER, Vt.

When their mother didn't protect them from their stepfather's sexual abuse, two sisters turned for help to Vermont's social services agency. But the state failed them, too, leaving them to be abused in theur home through childhood and their teen-age years. Now they've won a $1 million settlement and a chance to educate some of the state's social workers. "There's nothing like a lot of publicity and two courageous young women to force (the department) to do their jobs," said Kurt Hughes, a lawyer for the two women. Sisters Toni Patterson and Terri Sabia, who have gone public with thsir names and allegations, filed suit alleging" the state failed to protect them from their stepfather, even though social workers knew of the abuse.

One of the women became pregnant by the stepfather and had to undergo an abortion. On Tuesday, just after a trial started on their lawsuit, the Vermont Social and Rehabilitation Services Department agreed to a the settlement. The sisters also won a chance to help the agency learn from the mistakes made 14 years ago. Patterson, 27, will tell workers in the agency's St. Albans office how she and her sister, 23, endured years of abuse while their calls for help went unanswered.

In addition, department Coni- inissioner WiUiam Young has "offered to meet with them. "If we accomplish nothing else from this lawsuit, I hope that we've accomplished forcing SRS to make a thorough review of theur procedures so that this kind of doesn't happen again," Hughes said. The Associated Press DALLAS Frightened victims-rights advocates tried desperately last year to find a way to fulfill convicted child molester Larry Don McQuay's request to be castrated. McQuay swore he'd molested more than 200 children. He declared he was "doomed to eventually rape then murder my poor little victims to keep them from telling on me." And he contended that castration would be the only way to ensure he wouldn't molest another child.

Texas officials refused to pay for.the surgery-because it is sidered elective. Today, a bill awaiting Gov. George W. Bush's signature would make voluntary surgical castration an option for child mo- iesters, even though some medical and legal experts say if ill- advised. McQuay was paroled a year ago after serving six years for the 1989 assault of a 7-year-old San Antonio boy.

He's been jailed since August in San Antonio after being charged with indecency with a child in other 1989 incidents. California this year became the first state to require chemical castration for repeat child mo- iesters, who also can choose to be surgically castrated. Montana and Georgia have passed their own chemical castration laws and other states are considering similar measures. The bill introduced in the Texas Legislature by Sen. Tteel Bivins, R-AmariUp, is unique in making surgery the primary option.

With chemical castration; sex offenders are injected with drugs to reduce the amount of the male hormone testosterone in their system. With surgical castration, the testicles are removed. Surgical castration isn't really more drastic than chemical, said Gordon Cappelletty, who directs the adult and adolescent sex offender treatment program at the California School of Professional Psychology at Fresno, Calif. Both are reversible. "Even with surgical castration, a person could get a doctor to prescribe synthetic testosterone or they can find it on the black market," he said.

"If a sexual offender really wanted, there are ways around it." To reverse chemical castration, a person could end the treatments. When done by a qualified surgeon, castration is actually a routine procedure, Cappelletty contends, like "having your wisdom teeth pulled out." Bivins drafted his bill after reviewing European studies showing that child moiesters who are surgically castrated have a small rate of recidivism, about 2 percent to 3 percent. May 8 9 10 11 J-Cappy 91st 1 and J-Cappy -Mothers PAINT 4 DAYS Mildred Williams Jiove, Tour Children, gr Children Cjrandcfiildren 6" Cjreat-gTeat grandchildren Give Us A Break." i Expert repair of stone-damaged windshields Our mobile unit will come to you Lifetime repair guarantee CaH for a FREE inspection Windsheild Repair Special or cash onfy) Expires With THE WINDSHIELD DOCTOR WE MAKE HOUSE CALLS for An AS 4 1 Hwy. 3 Appointment La Marque www7SAT.NET/wisbuyceHar I A-100 EXTERIOR PANT AND CLASSIC 99 INTERIOR PAINT 12-year warranty Fiat Reg.Price $20.49 Flat Reg.Price $20.49 Satin and semi-gloss finishes also on sale I Satin and gloss Finishes also on sale! All Sherwin-Williams Brand Wallpaper Books OFF Ceiling papers, fining papers and fabrics found in sample books trot included. price guarantee applies to retail wallpaper sales only.

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