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Y2K Peciiient orge Get ‘Em While They’re Hot! Buttons: $2 each 3 for $5 7 for $10 Be-In-Buttons P.O. Box 35593, Houston, TX 77235 WAKICHEF 1PRODUCTIONS [email protected] CSC freelance private chef KATHRYN MATHIS 512.302.1192 austin.texas Noam Chomsky has done it again! The New Military Humanism Lessons from Kosovo Coming out September 1 In a war waged with Orwellian logic, what did we lose? 208 pages Get 25% off the retail price AND get your copy shipped hot off the presses When you order directly from Common Courage Press For details, contact Common Courage Press 1-800-497-3207 www.commoncouragepress.corn October provoked an investigation and disciplinary action within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, suggesting that there were more problems at the prison than the authorities want to admit. To recap, seven inmates who had been left unsupervised in a recreation area used a stolen hacksaw blade, and dummies, to escape from the state prison’s Ellis Unit outside Huntsville. The escapees were spotted while still inside the prison perimeter. One guard who was smoking \(the prisons are flush his cigarette down a toilet before picking up his rifle to open fire. Six of the inmates gave themselves up; after a long manhunt, a seventh was found drowned in a creek near the prison. After a lengthy investigation, Senior Warden Bruce Thaler received a pay cut from $61,000 to $54,000 and was transferred to a less demanding desk job. Two assistant wardens have also been transferred. Five lower-level officers were demoted, suspended, fired, or allowed to resign. But that is apparently not the end of the case. An investigation by the Texas Rangers found that the Department of Criminal Justice had hired two inexperienced young women \(reportedly eighteen and nineteen training, and assigned them to Death Row. And although prison director Wayne Scott has assured legislators that there was no inside involvement in the escape, that was not what the Rangers found. According to a report issued by the Rangers, another guard, suspected in the delivery of the hacksaw blade to the inmates, was scheduled for a lie-detector examination but resigned the morning of the test. The final word is that there is no likelihood of any kind of criminal prosecution over the state’s only Death Row escape in more than half a century. ACLU CENTRAL TEXAS CHAPTER invites you to our noon Forum the last Friday of every month. Fury’s Cafeteria Banquet Room in Northcross Mall, Austin. TM GET THE STATE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS ON-LINE Tough, investigative reporting; the wit and good sense of Molly Ivins and Jim Hightower; Political Intelligence; insightful cultural analysis; and much more. Check out Molly Ivins’ special subscription offer, too! http://texasobserver.org Subscribe on-line or call The Texas Observer at 800-939-6620 REVOLTED BY EXECUTIONS? Join the Amnesty International Campaign Against the Death Penalty. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 17 AUGUST 6, 1999