The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 9

THURSDAY MORNING, MAY 6,1993 THE GALVESTON DAILY NEWS 9-A State Report Relatives dispute psychiatrist's claims about cult children Associated Press HOUSTON Ken Sonobe didn't want to be bothered Wednesday with questions about his grandchildren, and their life inside the Branch Davidian compound. He had to get. them to counseling, he said. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Ill leave it to the doctors to talk.

I don't have anything new to say," said Sonobe, who lives in Hawaii. "I think that the doctors' word is good enough for me." What the doctors have said is that the children inside the Mount Carmel compound had been sub- jected to harsh discipline and inappropriate sexual instruction. Sonobe wouldn't say if he agreed with the findings, or how his 6- year-old and 3-year-old granddaughters were faring. "They miss their Mommy and Daddy," was all he said before heading off to another appointment with a counselor. Others with ties to the Branch Davidians were more willing to shoot down the findings of Dr.

Bruce Perry, who led a team counseling the 21 children who left the compound during the standoff. "A bunch of crap," said an aunt of STATE BRIEFS Hearing set on school finance AUSTIN (AP) Texas officials go to court Thursday to try to ensure teachers owed money this summer for working this school year get paid even if lawmakers miss a June 1 deadline for education finance reform. State District Judge F. Scott McCown, who oversees the school funding case, has warned that state education aid will be stopped if the deadline is missed. Ron Dusek, spokesman for Attorney General Dan Morales, said the state wants to make sure that if the deadline is missed, school districts can pay money they owe out of their own funds without going through the court.

Concealed gun amendment fails AUSTIN (AP) The state House on Wednesday rejected another bid to allow Texans to carry concealed handguns. During debate over a bill to continue operations of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the House narrowly defeated an attempt to add on a concealed guns amendment. The DPS "sunset" bill was approved on a voice vote, after lawmakers voted 70-67 against the amendment that would have allowed licensed Texans to carry concealed handguns. State park hunts tentatively OK'd AUSTIN (AP) Visions of fathers and sons denied the chance to hunt went up against the specter of a child camper dodging bullets during House debate Wednesday on a bill to allow more hunting in state parks. The hunters won with pro- visions that also would open more wildlife areas to what Rep.

Allen Hightower called the "bird-watchers" and "tree- huggers." And the executive director of the Parks and Wildlife Department, Andrew Sansom, said campers have nothing to fear. The bill by Hightower, D- Huntsville, already has passed the Senate and was given preliminary House approval with a vote of 95-40. If passed by the House in another vote, the measure returns to senators for consideration of House amendments. Man charged with lotto fraud AUSTIN (AP) A Houston man was arrested Wednesday and charged with fraudulently claiming one of the winning prizes from Saturday's $50 million Lotto Texas jackpot. Authorities said Nawaf Habahbeh was taken into custody when he arrived at lottery headquarters to claim nearly $3.5 million as one of the 14 winners from the record jackpot drawing.

Lottery officials said they were alerted by Harris County authorities that, according to Habahbeh's wife, he planned to claim her winning ticket in Austin. Habahbeh was charged by the Travis County district attorney with forgery of a lottery document, a second-degree felony. Disney musical to debut in Houston HOUSTON (AP) The Walt Disney Co. announced Wednesday it would premier a stage version of its hit animated film "Beauty and The Beast" late this year in Houston. The initial performance was set for Dec.

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'Those kids were not abused," she said, refusing to give her name. "They're just putting words in those kids mouths." Government officials have said one of the reasons they moved to end the 51-day siege was because they were concerned some of the children were being abused. Perry, a psychiatrist at Baylor College of Medicine said Tuesday the children were subjected to beat- ings with a wooden paddle for minor mishaps. But he stopped short of calling Koresh a child abuser. Perry also said there were explicit sexual discussions in front of the children.

He said the children knew the girls as young as 11 or 12 were considered sexual partners. But he would not call that knowledge abuse, only that it was "abusive." A Houston attorney said Wednesday that some of the nine cult members who survived the inferno have told him the children were not abused. Cult members, in jail interviews of through their attorneys, have frequently disputed many claims by authorities concerning the standoff. "All I can tell you is I've talked to some of the survivors about child abuse, (and) they said they never saw any child abuse," said attorney Jack Zimmermann, who went inside the compound during the siege to discuss legal issues with the Branch Davidians. They (the survivors) saw mothers discipline their children," he said, adding that the cult members never used the word "beatings" to described the discipline.

"The term used was 'Christian discipline," Zimmermann said. The children were taught the meaning of the word Discipline is not abuse." The 21 children are from nine families, said Stewart Davis, spokesman for the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services in Austin. Six have been released to their parents. Ten have been placed with relatives and four remain in the Methodist Home child care center in Waco, and one in an alternate care center in Waco. Supreme Court again overturns sex tape judgment Associated Press AUSTIN The Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday again overturned a judgment for a woman who claimed emotional distress after being secretly videotaped having sex.

The decision on a motion to re argue the case was the same as the original ruling that was delivered by the court in December. But it opened a new round of sharply worded exchanges between justices. And it spilled into another case: a divorce decree in which the court overturned a jury award for a woman who claimed emotional distress because her former husband made her participate in bondage activities. "It is no coincidence that both (cases) involve serious emotional Bus crash trial goes to jury Associated Press EDINBURG Prosecutors argued Wednesday that a trucker's negligence caused the deaths of 21 children. The defense said Ruben Perez was a being made scapegoat for an accident that could have happened to anyone.

"Every intersection we can characterize as an accident waiting to happen. Of course they are if we don't pay attention to the little red sign that says, 'Stop," 1 Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said in closing arguments. The defense told jurors that the brakes failed on the Perez's tractor- trailer, which passed a stop sign and knocked a school bus into a flooded caliche pit where the 21 victims drowned. "He didn't kill those children. That vehicle killed those children," lead defense attorney Joseph Connors said.

The jury began deliberating Wednesday afternoon. 35-70mm ZOOM LENS OLYMPUS 1 us Zoom Compact Wealierproof Exciting panorama format pictures 24mm high quality wide angle lens Ultra compact Jc lightweight design CAMERA ONE HOUR PHOTO We do repairs and instant passport photos GalvezMall 744-8876 distress claims asserted by women against men," wrote Justice Lloyd Doggett, who dissented in both. "A majority of this court has determined that severe, negligently inflicted emotional distress does not warrant judicial no matter how intolerable the injurious conduct," Doggett said. But Chief Justice Thomas Phillips defended the majority opinions, calling "completely inaccurate" characterizations that they were sexist. The videotape case from Hous- Doggett ton stems from a 1985 incident in which Dan Boyles then 17, covertly videotaped then 19-year- old Susan Kerr engaging in sexual intercourse with him, according to court records.

Boyles showed the tape to friends, which prompted gossip and caused Kerr such humiliation that she sought psychological help, court records said. A jury awarded her $1 million, saying she had suffered "negligent infliction of emotional distress." A lower appeals court upheld the decision. But the Phillips-led Supreme Court majority ruled that Texas law does not allow a recovery under "negligent infliction of emotional distress." Phillips suggested she might be able to recover damages under other legal clai The majority sent the case back for a new trial "in the interest of justice." Kerr's attorneys, Ronald Krist and Richard Morrison, both of Houston, said they didn't know if they would advise her to go through the ordeal of another trial. Since the incident, she has married, had a child and lives in West Texas, they said. Act Now! Motorola Parry Phone $35" All Brand Name Accessories Available Motorola 8000 Battery Eliminator $24.99 Leather cases INSURANCE HENRY FREUDENBURG INSURANCE AGENCY, INC.

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