The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 21, 1987, Image 3

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    Wednesday,October 21, 1987/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
Dallas police net most arrests
in nationwide crack-house raid
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DALLAS (AP) — Armed raids on
l“Jamaican crack houses” believed to
Ibe run by one of the nation’s most vi-
lolent gangs netted more arrests in
IDallas than in 15 other cities, author-
jities said Tuesday.
Fifty-five people, including 38 Ja-
Imaicans and one juvenile, were ar-
[rested in Dallas by late Tuesday af-
Iternoon and more arrests were
lexpected as search warrants were ex
ecuted, said Richard Garner, agent
lin charge of the Dallas office of the
U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms.
In Houston, one Jamaican male
vas arrested in the sweep, said Phil
jhojnackr, agent in charge of the
bureau’s Houston division.
More arrests are expected, but
[Chojnacki said his division’s investi
gation has “not progressed to the
point of the one in Dallas.”
The raids were part of the bu
reau’s nationwide crackdown on the
Jamaican Posses, gangs that take
|heir name from television Western
Ihows and which have been con-
Jiected to more than 600 drug-re
lated murders, kidnapping, narcot-
and gun trafficking, robberies,
Issaults and money laundering.
The Dallas raids were begun
Monday at 14 locations by heavily
armed local and federal law officers.
Officers seized $133,858 in cash and
drugs valued at $13,445 during the
busts, Garner said.
He said 240 arrests nationwide
are expected by the time the 13-state
crackdown concludes, and expects
Dallas to continue leading the coun
try in the number of arrests.
i pohc
tributed three murders to the Jamai
can trade in Dallas, but since 1986,
that figure rose to 41 murders.
Charles Storey, an investigator in
the city police’s Intelligence Division,
said, “It’s new, it’s moved fast into
Dallas and it’s multiplied fast.”
About 27 Jamaican gangs are be
“I think everyone would agree that these are some of
the most vicious and violent criminals we’ve encoun
tered. ”
Richard Garner, head of Dallas Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms
“The Jamaicans are opportu
nists,” Garner said. “They believe
they can make money in Dallas, so
they are here.”
Dallas Police Chief Billy Prince
said the Jamaican drug ring made
nearly $400,000 in profit from 75
Dallas crack houses each day.
He said authorities began investi
gating the Jamaican drug trade in
November 1986 when they noted a
sharp increase in murders attributed
to Jamaican traffickers.
lieved to operate in the city.
Garner said the Jamaican gangs
are characterized by drugs, greed,
use of automatic weapons and a “to
tal disrespect for human life.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a uni
formed officer, an agent or a citizen,
they just simply do not have respect
for human life,” Garner said. “I
think everyone would agree that
these are some of the most vicious
and violent criminals we’ve encoun
tered.”
At a Tuesday news conference.
officials displayed a cache of weap
ons and narcotics seized in the raids.
“We find that they not only have
high-quality type of weapons, but
they also have a lot of them,” Garner
said, adding that the posses make
money by purchasing the weapons
cheaply in the United States and sell
ing them at three or four times the
cost in Jamaica or Mexico.
Stephen E. Higgins, national di
rector of the ATE, said the posses
are probably this country’s most vio
lent organized crime gang.
Higgins said some of those in cus
tody would be charged with offenses
ranging from illegal entry into the
United States to falsifying firearm
records. Some of the members also
face state and local charges, he said.
Despite the possession of auto
matic weapons by gang members, all
the arrests so far have been made
peacefully, police say.
The Jamaican organizations are
active mainly in lower-income, mi
nority neighborhoods, police said.
The drugs with which the Jamai
cans are allegedly involved with in
clude cocaine and “crack,” an inex
pensive cocaine derivative.
Garner said the organizations op
erate with small quantities of cash
and drugs to avoid felony arrests
and reduce their loss of profits.
Sessions will try again
to take oath of office
for FBI director Nov.2
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — U.S.
District Judge Williams S. Ses
sions is doing as the doctor or
dered and hopes his third try at
being sworn in as FBI director
will be the charm.
Sessions, sidelined because of a
series of stomach ailments, said
he is scheduled to be sworn in
Nov. 2. Two ceremonies in the
past month have been postponed
because of his hospitalization for
an ulcer’s flare-up.
Sessions, 57, said Monday that
retired Supreme Court Chief Jus
tice Warren Burger will adminis
ter the oath of of fice to him in the
FBI Building in Washington.
Sessions, meanwhile, has re
duced his judicial workload at the
federal courthouse in San Anto
nio as he prepares for his move.
“I’ll be here, opening mail and
reading it, signing orders and
generally carrying on the busi
ness of the court,” said Sessions,
who is chief judge for the West
ern District of Texas.
“I leave at 2 p.m.,” he said.
“I’m just trying to do what the
doctor ordered and that is take it
easy.”
Sessions won unanimous con
firmation from the Senate last
month after he was nominated by
President Reagan to replace Wil
liam Webster, who became CIA
director.
Sessions first became ill on a
flight from Texas to Washington
last month as he prepared for his
first swearing-in ceremony. He
was hospitalized and then re
turned to San Antonio.
He entered Methodist Hospital
in San Antonio after losing about
two pints of blood after his re
lease from the Washington hospi
tal. He left the San Antonio hos
pital Oct. 12 and went on a
vacation before returning to
work.
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, has
said that sometime this week he
will have a nominee to fill the fed
eral bench vacancy created by
Sessions’ departure.
Gramm said he interviewed
five state district judges in San
Antonio — David Peeples, David
Berchehnann, Susan Reed, Emi
lio Garza and Tom Rickhoff —
and will pick a nominee from
among them.
lock trial shows A&M students what drivers charged with DWI face
By Mary-Lynne Rice
Staff Writer
The verdict is still out after Tues-
J dav night’s mock trial in which Di-\
^ctor of University Police Bob Wiatt
portrayed a bank teller faced with
tht charge of driving while intoxi
cated.
■ Attorneys, police officers and
Ichnical specialists presented a “ju
ry” of about 100 with the evidence
and witnesses common in a realistic
DWI trial.
■Alex Walter of the Texas A&M
©ffice of Students’ Attorney said the
IIihk k trial was an important learning
feKperience for students.
“It gives people the opportunity
to view the inner workings of the
DWI trial, which I think most people
are usually not party to,” he said.“I
hope by providing information
about it, we’ll be able to make people
more aware of the situation.”
In his opening statement, pros
ecuting attorney Walter, represent
ing the state of Texas, explained the
prosecution’s “burden of proof’ —to
prove the defendant guilty beyond
reasonable doubt. The prosecution
must prove that the accused was
driving a vehicle in a public place
and that he was intoxicated.
Intoxication is the most difficult
to prove, Walter said, and is the key
to the DWI conviction.
College Station police officer
Nancy Lane described the initial
procedure after police stop a sus
pected drunken driver.
Officers conduct three field sobri
ety tests, which indicate the driver’s
balance and coordination, she said.
Demeanor and physical characteris
tics also are noted, including bellig
erence or an odor of alcohol on the
breath.
After the tests, officers take the
suspect to the Brazos County Court
house for fingerprinting, photo
graphing and videotaping of the sus
pect performing the sobriety test a
second time.
An intoxilyzer, or blood-breath al
cohol, test then is required. If the
suspect refuses to take the test, his
driver’s license will be suspended for
90 days.
Technical expert Dr. Tim Cop-
pinger explained the intoxilyzer test
ing process. The machine is purged
of all air to eliminate alcoholic resi
due from the last testing. It then
tests itself, presumably registering a
blood alcohol level of 0.0 grams of
alcohol per 210 liters of air, he said.
The suspect then blows into a
mouthpiece and his breath-alcohol
level is calculated compared to a ref
erence sample. The machine checks
itself again, verifies its reference
sample, then checks itself again.
Bob Kelly, the suspect Wiatt rep
resented, showed a blood-alcohol
level of 0.16. The minimum level of
intoxication is 0.10, Coppinger said.
At a 0.0 to 0.4 blood-alcohol level,
Coppinger said, effects are slight, al
though vision is somewhat affected.
From a 0.4 to 0.7 level, the drinker
begins to feel euphoric, has greater
self-confidence and starts to lose in
hibitions.
“At that level,” Coppinger said.
“they’re feeling real good.”
At 0.8 to 0.10, there is a dramatic
increase in the alcohol’s effect, on the
nervous system, markedly affecting
motor skills, he said. At that point,
the drinker who drives is six times
more likely to cause an accident than
a sober driver.
Above a level of 0.10, major mo
tor functions are impaired, he said,
and the drinker feels nauseated. At
0.15, a driver is 25 times more likely
to cause an accident than a non
drinking driver.
Judge Michael Callahan will re
ceive Kelly’s verdict Friday. Mean
while, Kelly and his attorney, Jim
Locke, maintain his innocence.
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TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY ART EXHIBITS PRESENTS
THE PLAN OF
ALL
RUDDER EXHIBIT HALL
OCTOBER 22 THROUGH NOVEMBER 28, 1987
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22
OPENING LECTURE BY DR. WALTER HORN
PROFESSOR EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
THE PLAN OF ST. GALL: A MASTER PLAN FOR
MONASTIC SETTLEMENTS OF THE NINTH CENTURY A. D.
7:30 PM MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER ROOM 201
OPENING RECEPTION FOR THE EXHIBITION
8:30 PM RUDDER EXHIBIT HALL
EARLY SACRED MUSIC WILL BE PERFORMED BY THE TEXAS A&M
UNIVERSITY CENTURY SINGERS, PATRICIA P. FLEITAS, DIRECTOR
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3
LECTURE BY DR. JOHN J. McDERMOTT
DISTINGUISHED PROF., PHILOSOPHY, AND HEAD, HUMANITIES IN MEDICINE
THE EROS OF THE MEDIEVAL DIVINE IDEAS
7:30 PM MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER ROOM 201
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11
I LECTURE BY DR. VIVIAN L. PAUL
PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE CAROLINGIAN COURTS
7:30 PM MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER ROOM 201
The exhibition was organized by the University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley,
with the participation of the University of California Press, presented by Pro Helvetia,
National Council for the Arts and Culture of Switzerland, Zurich, Switzerland.
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