Tuesday, November 24,1987/The Battalion/Page 7
5 Handicapped
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(Continued from page 1)
moved — so I could park and go
to class!”
Schoonover said he has had par
ticular problems with the vehicles
of the A&M Physical Plant.
“The University Police don’t
ticket them,” he said. “I always use
the (handicapped) parking space
behind the (A.P. Beutel Health
Center), and the Physical Plant
trucks constantly park halfway in
the handicapped space and halfway
in the no-parking zone, or right
next to them.”
Dunlap said the campus officers
aren’t always able to catch all viola
tors of handicapped parking re
strictions.
“A lot of times we don’t have an
officer on hand to tow,” Dunlap
said, “and sometimes by the time we
get there — if they were there for
just five minutes — they’re gone.”
Physical Plant Director Joe J. Es-
till said Physical Plant policy is that
the trucks should not park in the
handicapped spaces.
“Physical Plant trucks are just
like any other illegally parked vehi
cle,” Estill said. “They get fined and
towed. Our people have instruc
tions not to park in the hand
icapped spaces and the drivers have
to pay all fines and towing fees. We
haven’t had a vehicle towed in 18
months.”
Estill admits the drivers will act
just like the students, though,
thinking “I’ll only be a minute.”
Schoonover said it’s a shame
when these trucks don’t get tick
eted, because the University, on the
majority of occasions, is excellent at
ticketing abusers.
“The police will pull all holds to
make sure someone parked illegally
in reserved staff will get a ticket, but
a Physical Plant truck can stay as
long as it wants,” he said.
Another handicapped student,
David Brashier, doesn’t quite agree.
He said the problem is not as
much with multiple violators, but
with too few handicapped spaces on
campus.
“It’s not so much the delivery
trucks (that fill up the handicapped
parking spaces), he said. “They’re
full all the time with handicapped
students and faculty.”
Brashier, a senior majoring in
secondary education, said he would
like to see 20 to 25 more hand
icapped spaces on campus.
There are now 142, including
those on both the main and west
campuses.
Brashier would also like the
spaces to be wider. Handicapped
spaces are usually 12 feet wide,
while regular spaces are eight to 10
feet wide.
His biggest problem is with the
motorcyclists that park beyond
Dmos]
their areas into the handicapped
spaces near Hart Hall, where the
campus Handicapped Services Of
fice is housed.
“We’re constantly calling to get
them (the motorcycles) moved,”
Brashier said. “Students don’t seem
to realize when they’re blocking a
handicapped space, and then it’s
‘Oh well — I’ll only be here five or
10 minutes.’ ”
Brashier said he doesn’t have
trouble getting where he wants to
go because A&M is so compact, but
he doesn’t mind waiting to get an il
legally parked vehicle towed, ei
ther.
Brashier said he thinks the cam
pus is accessible to handicapped
people most of the time.
The University and the students
are fairly good about following the
rules, he said, but there is a prob
lem in front of the MSC.
“People just pull up and park in a
us,” he said. “Someone without a
sticker was parked in the hand
icapped space in front of the police
station, and there was a security
guard standing out front directing
traffic.
“I went up and told her ‘Look,
this person’s here and not hand
icapped.’ She said, ‘Well, what do
you want me to do? There’s a foot
ball game on.’ That’s the attitude
the University takes toward it.”
Brashier agreed that hand
icapped spaces are hard to come by
during big events on campus, but
he said they’re not necessarily taken
by violators.
“Football games, any big func
tion, OPAS, whatever — you can’t
find any handicapped spaces,” he
said. “To find one for the games,
you have to go an hour early.
They’re usually taken by the hand
icapped, though.”
Schoonover said he hears people
“During one football game I had to go to the police sta
tion on campus. Someone without a sticker was parked
in the handicapped space in front of the police station,
and there was a security guard standing out front di
recting traffic. I went up and told her ‘Look, this per
son’s here and not handicapped.’ She said, ‘Well, what
do you want me to do? There’s a football game on.’
That’s the attitude the University takes toward it.”
— Charles Schooner, handicapped A&M student
handicapped spot to go get their
paper or whatever,” he said.
“People have just ignored me, and
then come back and seen I was in a
wheelchair and tried to apologize to
me.
“They think ‘Well, I’m only
gonna be a minute and there’s not
gonna be any handicapped people
needing this.’ ”
Schoonover said he has found
Coca Cola delivery trucks are viola
tors, too.
Parking in a handicapped place,
even “just for a minute,” he said, is
still against the rules.
“One driver in particular (uses
handicapped parking spaces ille
gally),” Schoonover said. “He al
ways pulls up behind the hand
icapped spaces by Harrington to
unload his Cokes, and if anyone
needs to get in or out while he’s
there, they can just forget about it.
I’ve been blocked in by his truck.”
Schoonover said football games
and other activities on campus
make it difficult to find hand
icapped parking spaces.
“During one football game I had
to go to the police station on camp-
say there are too many hand
icapped spaces, and admits that the
spaces are empty most of the time.
But he said he’s also gone places
and found the spaces full.
Abuse isn’t restricted to people
without handicapped stickers, ei
ther.
Schoonover thinks that the stick
ers should be restricted to the mo
bility-impaired.
“You can get a handicapped
parking space for respiratory prob
lems and stuff like that,” he said.
“Pretty much, I feel if you can walk,
you don’t need this space.”
Coordinator of Handicapped
Services Charles Powell said that
the people with respiratory prob
lems have a more urgent need for
handicapped parking spaces.
“An asthmatic that can’t walk a
few feet without stopping needs the
space more than someone in an
electric wheelchair,” Powell said.
Schoonover said that when peo
ple without wheelchairs use hand
icapped spaces, they may give oth
ers the wrong impression,
encouraging people to violate the
rules.
“Other people see (a person
without a wheelchair using the
space), and they assume that the
person who got out of the car and
walked into the store is not hand
icapped,” he said.
Schoonover said he has heard
stories about handicapped permits
being given to people who ob
viously don’t need them.
“I was even told by one of the
members of the University Police
that one lady had a handicapped
sticker so she could leave class early
to go breastfeed her baby,” he said.
“That lady had hers revoked.”
Powell said enforcing the law is a
difficult problem. He said in the be
ginning, A&M charged only a $10
fine for parking in a handicapped
space, just like parking anywhere
else on campus without the proper
permit.
“We found that 60 percent of the
time, 60 percent of the spaces were
occupied by non-handicapped peo
ple,” Powell said. “The Coke Build
ing employees were notorious for
this.
“Now that it’s a $50 fine and au
tomatic tow, it’s difficult to catch
anyone, but they still do it — Til
just be a minute,’ they say.”
Powell said the Handicapped
Services Office used to issue the
handicapped stickers, but now the
state does it.
He said temporary permits are
available from the state, but they of-
. ten are abused.
“You get someone who sprained
his ankle skiing, and uses the sticker
for two weeks,” he said. “They’re
good for up to six months, and
these people just keep them.
There’s a lot of cheating. All you
need is a doctor’s signature that one
is needed, and doctors will sign any
thing.”
Powell said most of this kind of
“cheating” is done by people who
just don’t have any consideration
for the handicapped, and he’s bitter
about it.
“I got a snotty letter from the at
torney general one time telling me
there wasn’t anything I could do
about it,” he said. “The typical ex
cuse is ‘Well, I’m just gonna be a
few minutes.’ That’s the biggest
lie.”
Schoonover said the police offi
cers will check with the state if
someone should possibly not have a
handicapped sticker, but someone
has to bring it to their attention.
Schoonover’s main complaint is
with University Police not making
enough of an effort to ticket and
tow the Physical Plant and delivery
trucks.
He feels that the police need to
do something about the delivery
trucks that come in for “a few min
utes” and don’t worry about park
ing in a handicapped space.
MEET THE AUTHOR
QUENTIN STEITZ
in the Patio Bookshop
Lower Level MSC
at 4:30 p.m. THANKSGIVING DAY
When she will be Autographing her book “Grasses, Pods,
Vines, Weeds:” Decorating with Texas Naturals.”
Quentin Steitz harvests the graceful foliage of redroot near her ranch in Colorado
County. She shows readers how to use native and naturalized plants like redroot in or
namental arrangements in her new book. Grasses, Pods, Weeds: Decorating with
Texas Naturals. The book is available for $24.95 in hardcover in the Pattio Bookshop
and comes lavishly illustrated yvith more than 150 full-color photographs.
Lack of parking space, unsafe driving
heats up controversy about mopeds
By Kathy Crawford
Reporter
Mopeds run into cars, cars run
into mopeds, mopeds run into bicy-
des, mopeds run into pedestrians
and mopeds run into mopeds, Bob
Wiatt, director of University Police,
says.
As mopeds and scooters have be
come increasingly popular, they
have created various problems on
campus. Because there are so many
mopeds, accidents are a problem,
Wiatt says.
“There are a number of accidents
simply because of the number of
mopeds around here,” Wiatt says.
“Many of them are not reported to
us insofar as they are not major or of
considerable damage other than the
moped sliding out from under the
person.”
Diane Vaughn, a junior industrial
engineering major, says the prob
lems are caused by moped operators
who don’t follow the rules.
“They drive on the sidewalks and
pull up beside cars at stop signs,”
Vaughn says. “I’m afraid that one
“There are a number of accidents simply because of
the number of mopeds around here. ”
— Bob Wiatt, director of University Police
day I’ll hit a moped and, more than
likely, someone will get hurt.”
Students who drive their mopeds
on the sidewalks are also a source of
trouble. Last year, signs were placed
on campus stating that no mopeds,
motorcycles or other vehicles are al
lowed in mall areas.
“Quite often,” Wiatt says, “they
(moped operators) think they have
the same license as a bicycle. We do
issue a number of justice of the
peace citations to moped operators
who are violating these signed areas.
“They are a sense of aggravation
to the pedestrian traffic. When you
merge the moped operators with the
bicycle operators, a pedestrian feels
like he’s a potential skewered shish-
kabob.”
The large number of mopeds
sometimes causes increased parking
hassles on campus. Mopeds and
scooters are required to park in areas
designated for motorcycles, Wiatt
says, but some students find more
convenient places to park them.
“Students will put them right up
to their dorm rooms, run them into
their hallways or chain them to a
handicap ramp,” he says. “In those
instances, we not only cite them, but
where they are an obstacle, we will
cut the chain and impound the mo
ped.”
Moped parking is a relatively new
problem for the University because
they have become more popular in
the last few years.
“Because the parking problem in
the last several years has been signif
icant for vehicles,” Wiatt says,
“people think that to avoid that
hassle they will revert to either bicy
cles or mopeds.
“However, because of their in
creased number, they are now ag
gravating the parking problem as
well as the traffic congestion prob
lem.”
University police records show as
of October, 2,125 moped permits
were issued — about 25 percent
more than the 1,695 issued last year.
But Johnnie Lee, a junior animal
science major, thinks the increased
use of mopeds and scooters on cam
pus has helped with parking and has
not created many problems.
“I think they’re an asset,” Lee
says.
Wiatt says his department has re
ceived several complaints and sug
gestions about the problems with
mopeds on campus. A number of
people suggest banning all mopeds
while others say all cars should be
banned and mopeds should be the
only permissible vehicle on campus.
“You have your two camps and
they’re always contesting each other
like the chicken and the mongoose,”
Wiatt says. “And it’s going to be that
kind of relationship as long as we
have this total congestion of people
and machines on this campus.”
urloui
SPRING 1988 BATTALION STAFF
Applications are available in 216 Reed McDonald for the Spring
1988 Battalion staff.
Applications for editors and assistant editors should be returned to
the editor’s office, 222 Reed Mcdonald, 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 25 Edi
tor and assistant editor positions include:
At Ease editor
managing editor
opinion page editor
city editor
news editor
sports editor
photo editor
At Ease assistant editor
assistant city editor
assistant news editor
assistant sports editor
Applications for all other positions are due by 5 p.m. Wednesday,
Dec. 2. Other positions include:
staff writers
photographers
columnists
copy editors
cartoonists
editorial cartoonist
graphic artist
clerks
reviewer
sports writers
At Ease writers
At Ease photographer
Applications must be able to begin work Sunday, Dec. 6
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University Tire & Service Center
3818 S. College Ave.*846-1738
(5 Blocks North of Skaggs)
End-of-School Special
Prices good thru Dec. 15
FRONT END
ALIGNMENT
Adjust caster, camber, steering, and toe settings as needed.
Small trucks and vans slightly higher. expires Dec. 15
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FRONT OR REAR
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COMPUTER
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OIL, LUBE
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Lubricate chassis, drain oil, install up to 5 quarts of Pennzoil oil and
oil filter. Most cars and light trucks. expires Dec. 15
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