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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 1994)
t STATE & LOCAL Campus DWIs nearly doubled "After being hit only a mile from my house, I learned quickly that innocent people do get hurt." — Nancy White, senior wildlife and fisheries major By Tracy Smith The Battalion With, college drinking on the rise, many Texas A&M officials say they are worried the increase in consumption may mean more alcohol-related acci dents on the road. According to University Police Department sta tistics, the number of students receiving DWIs on campus has increased from 63 in all of 1993 to 111 so far this year. Because numbers continue to increase. Univer sity officials said students need to be even more re sponsible for their actions involving drinking. Lt. Bert Kretzschmar, of UPD’s crime preven tion unit, said the police department has started cracking down on many alcohol offenses. He said he encourages students to think before driving while intoxicated. “Many students don’t stop to consider each time they decide to drink and drive that they risk not only their own lives, but the lives of in nocent people,” he said. “I doubt many students really stop to consider how they would feel knowing they took the life of another person. “Our goal is to stop any accidents before they occur,” he said. Rick Powell, assistant coordinator for the Stu dent Conflict Resolution Center, said with over 40,000 students, the pressure to drink is coming from all sides. “Between influential peers and promotional drink specials offered at local bars, students are finding 'intoxication’ to be a common word,” he said. “As drinking among college students contin ues to increase, the chances for DWIs also goes up.” Kretzschmar said that by educating students to learn their limits and to always have a designated driver when going out, many unnecessary acci dents could be avoided. Wednesday • June 29,199-1 from ‘93 “Until a DWI incident actually hits home, man; students don’t look at it as something that can happen to them,” he said. Nancy White, a senior wildlife and fisheries jor, said after taking two years off from school ta recover from a drunk driving accident, she has be' come aware that it can happen to anyone. “After being hit only a mile from my house,! learned quickly that innocent people do get hurt,’ she said. Eugene Zdziarski, coordinator for the Student Conflict Resolution Center, said if students decide to drink, they need to have an underlying rule t# not drive while intoxicated. “If enough students would just plan ahead be fore going out, drinking and driving wouldn’t bee problem,” he said. Koriyama campus to close its doors A&M program terminated for lack of funding By Amanda Fowle The Battalion After four years of operation, the Texas A&M University Ko riyama campus, located in Ko riyama, Japan, will close at the end of this summer. A program featured at the Ko riyama campus allowed Japan ese students to pursue their indi vidual studies for two years and then complete their last two years of studies at A&M’s main campus in College Station. Dr. John Norris, director of the Koriyama support office, said the program has sent 155 students from Koriyama to Col lege Station. The 105 students now in Koriyama will return to College Station in August when the Koriyama campus closes. Norris said the Koriyama campus must close because of political and economic reasons. “The program got caught be tween two political parties,” he said. The former mayor of Koriya ma supported the program and agreed that thfe: city would help the program financially, Norris said. He did not run for reelection in 1993. The new mayor will not allow the city to financially assist the program, Norris said. Unfortu nately, the Koriyama program does not have a high enough en rollment for student tuition and fees to cover expenses. Dr. Jerry Gaston, interim vice president for finance and admin istration, said one reason for the low enrollment is low is because of the lack of housing on the temporary campus. Many Japanese parents, he said, were uncomfortable sending their children off to live on their own in unsupervised housing. A permanent campus with housing facilities was being planned, but the campus was de termined to be closed before hous ing construction began, he said. The political objections to the city’s supporting the campus caused many Japanese to fear that the campus would close, so fewer students enrolled, he said. “Many students that would have come had doubts because of the political objections,” he said. Terry Anderson, an associate professor of history who taught American history and culture in Koriyama, said another reason many people did not enroll was because the program was still new. “Most Japanese people, just like Americans, want to send their children to a school with a good history and tradition,” he said. “This campus did not have a chance to get a reputation.” Tomoe Ono, a business major completing her degree here after attending the Koriyama campus, said she chose to go to school at Texas A&M Koriyama because she wanted to come to America to learn English. “I am very sorry the campus is closing,” she said. El Paso hosts national LULAC convention EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The LULAC delegates who have con verged on El Paso are expected to be keeping an eye toward the fu ture, both their own and that of the nation’s Hispanics, as they meet for their national convention. The League of United Latin American Citizens 1 representatives will be discussing issues ranging from free trade, which many ex pect to have a large impact on the border and consequently on His panics, youth violence, immigration and education during the con vention, which runs from Wednesday through Saturday. “The convention, I think, is basically a springboard for planning where we need to be in order to function in the 21st century,” said Roberto Perez, immediate past director of LUIAC’s El Paso district. Up to 6,000 people, including delegates and other convention eers, are expected to attend the convention for the nation’s oldest Hispanic organization, which claims some 100,000 members. The organization is one of the most visible advocates for Hispan ic issues in the nation, although some critics dispute whether the LULAC’s agenda really focuses on the issues important to an ever fragmenting Hispanic population. Bart Mitchell/THF Battalion Up, up, and away! Ron Bower, Class of ‘63, introduces Col- licopter as he prepares for his flight around port on Tuesday. He plans to cover the lege Station to his Bell 206B JetRanger he- the world, which began at Easterwood Air- world in a record time of 200 flight hours. Xi'iiitr. Sticky fingers grab a little bit of heaven Waco woman forges $50,000 in checks on minister's account WACO, Texas (AP) — A former Waco woman faces up to 30 years in federal prison and up to $1 million in fines for forging more than $50,000 in checks left in her house by a retired church music minister who lived in her residence for a short while. Darlyne Laurel Lopez, now 50, got out of prison in early 1992 after serving 18 months of a 15-year prison term for embezzling more than $500,000 from a brokerage firm. She rented a house in Waco, and about the same time, says David Bardwell Green, now 74, he became friends with her and moved into a room in the residence. But when he moved out about two months later, he unknowingly left behind a book of blank checks, he said. It wasn’t many months later, when Green tried to open trust accounts for his grand children, he said, he noticed he didn’t have as much in the account as he thought he did. It wasn’t even close. Instead of $71,000, as his records indicated, he had only $17,000 in the account, officials at Bank One of Fort Worth said. Ms. Lopez pleaded guilty on June 20 in federal court in Fort Worth to one count of federal bank fraud, acknowledging that she wrote at least 31 checks on Green’s account totaling $51,700. Ms. Lopez said no money is left from the checks she wrote on Green’s account. Records introduced by prosecutors revealed lavish spending sprees at clothing and furni ture stores. She also bought new cars, jewel ry and other goods. Bank officials said it was obvious from an inspection of Green’s records that someone had altered them. Steven Camp, a Bank One attorney from Dallas, said the bank’s investigation re vealed that Ms. Lopez was altering Green’s monthly bank statements, which were still being mailed to her address. Camp said she was making photocopies of the statements, whiting out the checks she forged, typing up new statements and then giving them to Green. Most of the checks were made payable to her and deposited into Ms. Lopez’s bank at count in Waco, Camp said. Ms. Lopez currently is on state parole to stealing $565,069 from Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith, where she wasJ cashier for nine years. She served about a year and a half of i 15-year prison term and was released on pa role in March 1992. Parole officials in Waco said her parolt was transferred in April to Dallas, wheresht is living with a niece. State parole officer Jennifer Jenson saji Ms. Lopez frequently cries and tells her what a mess she has made of her life. “She cries and says she is sorry, bull don’t really think that she is really sincere, Jenson said. “I think she is just sorry she got caught When you talk to her, she seems like even’ body’s mom or grandmother, but she just has sticky fingers.” U.S. District Judge Terry Means, a for mer justice on Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals, set sentencing for Sept. 12. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Teakell sail he suspects Ms. Lopez will be sentencedtt from a year to 18 months in federal prison. DOUGLAS JEWELERS Class of’75 1667-B Texas Ave. Culpepper Plaza 693-0677 Texas A&M University W atch by SEIKO A Seiko Quartz timepiece officially licensed by the University. Featuring a richly detailed three-dimensional recreation of the University Seal on the I4kt. gold finished dials. Electronic quartz movement guaranteed accurate to within fifteen seconds per month. Full three year Seiko warranty. AH gold $285.00 2-tone $265.00 with leather strap $200.00 pocket watch $245.00 FREE ENGRAVING The Battalion MARK EVANS, Editor in chief WILLIAM HARRISON, Managing editor ANAS BEN-MUSA, Night News editor SUSAN OWEN, Night News editor MICHELE BRINKMANN, City editor JAY ROBBINS, Opinion editor STEWART MILNE, Photo editor MARK SMITH, Sports editor WILLIAM HARRISON, Aggielife editor The Battalion (USPS 045-360) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Monday through Thursday during the summer sessions (except University holidays and exam periods), at Texas A&M University. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77840. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Publication, a unit of the Department of Journalism. 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