Friday, December 12, 1986/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
,V 71 Tipsy patrons get free ride home
the
Brazos symphony
Local bars offer cab service brings Beethoven
By Daniel A. La Bry
Staff Writer
| Patrons who find themselves a
ittle too tipsy to drive after an eve-
B at some local watering holes can
Ba “free-ride home program” to
ivoid driving drunk.
Bhe program is co-sponsored by
\ggies Against Drunk Driving and
:he peal chapter of Mothers Against
Drunk Driving.
Biana Blessman, president of Ag-
B Against Drunk Driving, says
lApD is attempting to make local
Bons aware that the “free-ride
lome program” exists.
! “Right now the program has
teven bars participating,” Blessman
ays. “If the program gets going
real|y well, we hope to sign up the
resjof the bars in Bryan-College Sta-
Be says Graham Central Station,
Biigan’s, Sundance Club, Sunset
Drill, Duddley’s Draw, J. T.
ford’s and The Zephyr Club now
■eparticipating in the program.
Blessman says in order to get a
Bride home when too intoxicated
ive, all a patron has to do is tell
ithti the bartender or the manager
heyj need a ride home.
An employee at the bar then will
the cab company, fill out a
I her and give the voucher to the
river.
“The cab driver takes you home,
fills out the rest of the voucher and
mails it to MADD,” she says. “MADD
pays for the cab ride home.”
She says Twin City Yellow Cab has
agreed to honor the vouchers and
work with the program.
MADD is providing the financial
support to get the free-ride program
off the ground, Blessman says, and
month,” Brown says. “At about $6
per taxi ride and with about 40 es
tablishments using the vouchers,
that’s only $240 a month.
“If we can save one life a year by
spending $240 a month, I’m all for
it.”
Brown says the cab company paid
for printing the vouchers and post
ers announcing the program. AADD
“We don’t want people riding around from bar to bar
on this program and we don’t want establishments
sending their employees home on this program. It’s
just for patrons who drove in. ”
— Kirk Brown, AScM agronomy professor
AADD is handling the organization
and implementation of the program.
Dr. Kirk Brown, president of the
local chapter of Mothers Against
Drunk Driving, says only about 45
establishments in the community
serve liquor, so MADD would like all
of them to participate.
Brown, an agronomy professor at
Texas A&M, says MADD is more
concerned with getting people home
safely and saving lives than with how
much money they’ll spend.
“We’ve done a trial run and it
looks like the average establishment
uses these vouchers about once a
worked with the cab company and
contacted as many establishments as
possible about signing a contract.
The contract states that the partic
ipating establishment will fill out the
voucher completely and give it to the
cab driver, Brown says. The partici
pants are supposed to use the
voucher only for a patron who has
driven to their establishments and
who are heading home.
“We don’t want people riding
around from bar to bar on this pro
gram and we don’t want establish
ments sending their employees
home on this program,” he says. “It’s
just for patrons who drove in.”
Brown says the vouchers are for
the ride only, and not the tip.
“The cab company collects the
vouchers and sends them to the local
MADD office,” he says. “We foot the
bill for it.”
A secondary goal also is accom
plished by the program, Brown says.
“Many patrons will call the taxi
and pay for their own ride home,”
he says. “Just having that sign in the
establishment reminds them of that
possibility instead of driving drunk.”
MADD sponsors similar programs
in other cities, but it has asked the
bars for donations. Brown says. One
example is Houston, where MADD
asks each participating bar for a do
nation of $500 per year.
Blessman says most of the estab
lishments contacted were excited
about the program, although there
were negative responses. She says
some establishments told her they
could take care of their own custom
ers and didn’t want to participate.
Brown says, “Here’s a program
that can get drunks off the road,
save lives and cut the liability of
these establishments. I’m not quite
sure why they don’t want to partici
pate, but maybe in the future they
will change their minds.
“We’re not a prohibitious group.
We’re not telling people not to drink
—just don’t drink and drive.”
to life at Rudder
By Karl Pallmeyer
Staff Writer
The music of Ludwig van Beetho
ven lived and breathed Thursday
night in Rudder Auditorium. Bee
thoven’s beautiful music was per
formed exquisitely by the Brazos
Valley Symphony Orchestra and
guest violinist Zina Schiff.
Over 600 people attended the
performance that consisted solely of
two pieces by Beethoven.
The first half of the program was
dedicated to Beethoven’s only con
certo for violin, the Violin Concerto
in D Major. Originally written for vi
olin virtuoso Franz Clement, the Vi
olin Concerto is one of the most in
fluential pieces of its type.
Soloist Schiff performed the piece
with marvelous skill. Her love for
the music was evident as she stood at
BVSO conductor Franz Anton
Krager’s left, swaying back and forth
in time to the music. Her eyes were
closed as she waited to play her first
solo — a simple set of descending
and ascending scales. The beauty of had been exhausted.
that made them look easy. The way
she played off the orchestra was a
quality that marks a true profes
sional.
Schiff performed on a violin spe
cially made by Texas A&M biophy
sics and biochemistry professor Dr.
Joseph Nagy vary. Nagy vary’s violins
are designed to reproduce the sound
of the violins made by Antonio Stra
divari in the 18th century.
After the intermission, the orches
tra performed Beethoven’s Sypm-
hony No. 7 in A Major. The sym
phony, which Beethoven believed to
be his best, was written at a time
when the composer was almost com
pletely deaf.
The first movement of the sym
phony is built around a simple three-
note rhythm. The entire movement
builds and builds on that rhythm
with a majestic sense of urgency.
The strings and brass would take the
rhythm, experiment with it, and pass
it back in forth until every option
her playing lay in its simplicity.
SchifFs performance was bril
liantly understated. Her playing was
technically precise, never flashy. She
played fast passages with confidence
Administration approves
Spring ’87 Battalion editor
o made e ;
ealth center
>r not. Anc
ven priman
t.mt second,
lents whoiifB
cause therirB^ 16 Texas A&M administra-
,t don officially granted approval of
Loren Stelly, a senior journalism
1 l " l! major, as editor of The Battalion
if' mine had foi* spring semester 1987.
urs to brintB n a * etter l<) Dr- Douglas P.
{amilv Dh'sJP" ■ * ieac * of the journalism de-
( ^ . Mrtment, Dr. Donald McDonald,
..^■vost and vice president for
te was tii academic affairs, formally ap-
liersheit ar 0 \ ec j Steffy’s appointment.
Be letter also was sent to Presi-
slie received jl e " ! Frank E. Vandiver and As-
course. .'fieri r
n only bera
ugh to
sociate Provost Jerry Gaston.
Steffy was named editor of
The Battalion on Nov. 21 by the
Student Publications Board,
which is composed of three stu
dents, three faculty members,
and an administrator.
First hired as a columnist in
December 1984, Steffy has been
opinion page editor for The Bat
talion for the last one-and-a-half
years and is the first male to at
tain the position since 1984.
14-month-old shot by playmate
in fatal ‘cops and robbers’ game
DALLAS (AP) — A 2-year-old
boy, playing a game of “cops and
robbers” with toy guns, found a rifle
and accidentally shot a 14-month-
old girl, police said.
Maria Lisette Villareal died about
three hours after being shot in the
back of the head with a . 22-caliber ri
fle by her cousin, officers said.
Police youth investigator Paul Ro-
nyak said Maria and her 3-year-old
sister had plastic guns and were
playing with the boy, Pedro Muniz.
Pedro did not have a toy gun, Ro-
nyak said. Maria Muniz, 55, the boy’s
grandmother and the girl’s aunt, was
babysitting the children at her home.
The boy “went to a bedroom
closet, took a .22-caliber rifle and
went back into the living room with
it,” Ronyak said.
“He was pointing it at (Maria)
when Muniz saw him,” Ronyak said.
“She yelled at him not to pull the
trigger when, about that time,
gun went off.”
the
The shooting has been listed as ac
cidental, and police said they have
no plans to seek charges against Mu
niz, who did not call police or emer
gency medical services.
The girl died early Wednesday af
ternoon at Southeastern Medical
Center Hospital.
The second movement was much
slower, darker and omnious. Krager
says the second movement has been
extremely popular since it was writ
ten and that conductors often would
substitute it in place of the second
movement of whatever symphony
was being performed. The second
movement contained the urgency of
the first but there was a sad, flowing
beauty that was deeply moving.
Traditionally the third movement
of a symphony is performed in a
stately waltz tempo. Beethoven went
against this tradition and quickened
the tempo significantly. The third
movement made greater use of brass
and flute, giving the piece a lighter
tone. The fourth movement gave a
majestic end to the symphony.
The BVSO was marvelous in its
performance. Krager was at his best,
as he leaped and danced to coax the
music from the orchestra. Krager
and the BVSO received a well-de
served standing ovation.
URNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL?
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To the ^
i best' r
of the ^J
rrea
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Bryan
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