Thursday, December 4, 1986/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
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By Dawn Butz
Staff Writer
As students finish up their fi
nal exams, sell their last textbooks
and finish loading up their cars
for Christmas break, the last
thing on their minds is securing
their apartments against thef t.
But apartment complexes and
campus dormitories resemble
ghost towns over the Christmas
jj-i holidays and become prime tar-
-, TBgets for burglaries.
Bob Wiatt, director of security
and University Police, says his de
partment deals with a rash of
missing property when students
comeback from the holidays.
He says students fail to use
common sense before leaving,
forgetting to lock doors and win
dows and even leaving hot plates
or other appliances turned on.
Kristin Sayre, coordinator of
the Off-Campus Housing Center,
Tom Murray, assistant director of
student affairs, and Wiatt all
agree that thinking ahead and
following a few simple guidelines
will help to ensure that students
don’t find unpleasant surprises
on their return to school.
Sayre says that now is the time
O f jtogive notice to apartment man-
i agers to have locks installed. She
' I warns students of the importance
of quality locks and dead-bolt
locks and suggests fitting a broom
handle or dowel into sliding glass
doors and windows.
Sayre also cautions students
not to leave keys outside of the
apartment or house, for if they
can find them, so can an intruder.
Both Sayre and Cpl. David
Luedke, an officer with the Col
lege Station Crime Prevention
Unit, advise taking inventory of
valuable possessions. Luedke says
students should mark their valu
ables with a Texas driver’s license
number if possible. He recom
mends photographing valuables
that can’t be marked, but en
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Wiatt says students who are un
willing or unable to take portable
valuables with them should lock
the valuables in closets or draw
ers. Luedke says that although
moving certain items home for
the holidays may be difficult,
these seem to be major targets of
people who break into apart
ments.
Wiatt, Murray, Sayre and
Luedke suggest that students ask
a friend to gather newspapers
and mail and keep watch over
their homes. Sayre suggests that
all deliveries be stopped.
She also advises students to no
tify their apartment managers of
the dates they will be gone.
Both Wiatt and Murray agree
that the bicycle theft is the largest
theft problem on campus over
holiday breaks.
Wiatt warns apartment renters
not to leave bikes chained to bal
conies.
Murray says on-campus stu
dents can store bicycles in their
rooms over the break, but
mopeds are not allowed in rooms.
The only advice Murray and
Wiatt offer to moped owners is
that they secure them with good
locks.
Murray says dorm residents
soon will be receiving a checklist
of procedures to follow in closing
their rooms for the break. He
says resident advisers will be
checking to see that the
guidelines are followed before
the winter break. Residence halls
will close for the fall semester at 3
p.m. on Dec. 19 and will re-open
at 10 a.m. on Jan. 12.
Wiatt says Physical Plant em
ployees and campus police offi
cers will go through all of the
dorms to make sure doors are
locked. He also says the Physical
Plant employees will change the
combinations on the combination
Photo by Tom Ownbey
Kyle Odom installs a deadbolt lock on his front door.
door locks as an added security
precaution, but that they will re
set them again when the students
return.
He says first floor dorm win
dows and doors are easily accessi
ble, as are the balcony dorms, so
students should make sure these
are securely locked.
Wiatt says in the past burglars
also have gotten into dormitories
through second floor lounge
doors. He reminds students to
make sure every exterior door is
locked.
“You know, we can say this
over and over again, and one
third of the students will go off
without their doors locked,”
Wiatt says. “This stuff is just com
mon sense. By God, go through
your own little world and lock up
your own personal stuff.”
College Station Utilities’ en
ergy specialist, Charlie Shear,
says off-campus students leaving
for the holidays should at least
turn their electricity off. Ideally,
Shear says, they should turn all
indoor breakers off. He warns
that refrigerators must be empty
to do this in order to avoid spoil
age, although the one breaker for
the refrigerator can be left on.
Shear also advises students to
leave their water faucets dripping
— but not streaming — to avoid
frozen pipes.
Drop in alien arrests
tied to cold weather,
Grande flooding
EL PASO (AP) — High water in
the Rio Grande contributed to an
unusually low number of illegal-
alien arrests in this area of the bor
der during November, officials say.
i Arrests traditionally decline in
November, but the water and other
factors caused the figure to drop
more than 22 percent from the
number apprehended a year before
in the El Paso sector, said Joseph Au-
bin, a U.S. Border Patrol intelligence
agent.
The sector stretches from Van
Horn to the New Mexico-Arizona
state line.
There were 15,553 illegal aliens
arrested last month in the sector,
compared to 30,786 in October.
Alien arrests totaled 19,808 in No
vember 1985.
“The river is close to flooding and
people are being warned to stay out
of it,” Aubin said. “It’s also been ex
ceptionally cold in November, too.
No one wants to take their clothes
off and swim in deep water.”
A sweeping immigration law
signed by President Reagan Nov. 6,
which included sanctions against
employers hiring undocumented
workers, has kept some aliens from
attempting to cross the border, Au
bin said.
The takeover of the Bridge of the
Americas two weeks ago by Juarez’s
National Action Party also contrib
uted to the decline, he said.
“When the bridge is closed, we
have to have agents monitoring it,”
Aubin said.
During the National League of
Cities conference in San Antonio
Tuesday, a panel discussed the prob
lems of immigration on local govern
ments.
Medal of Honor winner,
former A&M professor, dies
University News Service
Dr. Eli L. Whiteley, who was
Texas A&M’s only living Congres
sional Medal of Honor recipient,
died Tuesday at 72.
A professor emeritus of soil and
crop sciences, Whiteley retired in
1979 after a distinguished 30-year
teaching career at A&M.
A 1942 A&M graduate, he en
tered the U.S. Army as a second lieu
tenant at the outbreak of World War
II and fought with the 15th Infantry
Regiment in Europe.
While leading his platoon in
house-to-house fighting in the town
of Sigolsheim, France, on Dec. 27,
1944, Whiteley was wounded se
verely and yet singlehandedly
stormed three houses, killing seven
defenders and capturing 23 others.
“In agony and with one eye
pierced by a shell fragment, he
shouted for his men to follow him
and remained at the head of his pla
toon until forcibly evacuated,”
according to his citation.
A park on the west side of the
A&M campus is named in Whiteley’s
honor and a plaque in the Memorial
Student Center also recognizes his
heroism.
A&M System Chancellor Perry L.
Adkisson and University President
Frank E. Vandiver joined in praising
the former faculty member.
“Eli Whiteley in his career was a
soldier, one of the nation’s most dec
orated heroes, a scholar and an edu
cator,” Adkisson said. “I knew him
only as a scholar, an educator and a
good friend.”
Funeral services for Whiteley, a
member of the U.S. Army’s Infantry
Hall of Fame, are pending with the
Memorial Funeral Chapel in Bryan.
A weekend at
Walden
might make a
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your parents.
But how would
you wrap it?
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gift certificate at Walden on Memorial in Bryan.
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gourmet meals, provide transportation as they need it, invite them
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If they decide to move to Walden and be near you and the grand
children, that would be just fine with us. (If they're not yet ready
for a move, we'll understand.)
Give us a call at 823-7914. We'll provide the gift certificate and a
few wrapping suggestions.
W
Walden on Memorial
Dr. Jarvis and Alma Miller, managing directors
2410 Memorial Drive/Bryan, TX 77802
(409) 823-7914