The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 17, 1988, Image 1

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    The Battalion
Monday, Oct. 17, 1988
College Station, Tex a
Vol. 88 No. 36 USPS 045360 10 Pages
!$
Sroups plan events to boost Alcohol Awareness Week
By Denise Thompson
and
Juliette Rizzo
Staff Writers
“Choices of a New Generation,” the
iWiJieme for this year’s Alcohol Awareness
Veek, illustrates the idea of responsible
taking and partying, Ann Coombes,
it)lb distant coordinator for Texas A&M’s
lenter for Drug Prevention and Educa-
ion, said.
Coombes, head of the Alcohol Aware-
ess Week Planning Committee, said re-
ronsible decision-making is the mes-
ige being sent to students.
Dr. Dennis Reardon, coordinator of
le Center, said A&M is taking an active
art in promoting alcohol awareness.
“This year’s scheduled events are
obably the largest number of events
m scheduled at A&M for Alcohol
wareness Week,” he said. “It is our
ain purpose to reach the entire campus
id promote responsible decision-mak-
g to students, faculty and staff.”
A&M organizations have prepared a
eek of activities to promote responsible
decision-making while drinking.
I One of the groups promoting Alcohol
Awareness Week is BACCHUS, or
lost Alcohol Consciousness Concern
ing the Health of University Students.
SACCHUS was founded at the Univer
sity of Florida in 1976, and has grown to
ilclude more than 200 chapters on cam-
iises across the United States and Can-
BACCHUS, a student organization
that advocates responsible decision-mak
ing about drinking, accepts both drinking
and nondrinking members, Coombes
said.
Education is a major part of the A&M
awareness program. The chapter is re
sponsible for making the college com
munity aware of the effects of alcohol on
the body and making understood the ap
propriate ways to use alcohol. The group
promotes alcohol awareness on campus
by planning fun social events that apply
the principles of responsible decision
making.
Beginning the week’s activities will
be “moctail bars.” Mocktails are non-al
coholic beverages designed to look and
taste like mixed drinks. Mocktails will
be served at the MSC, Blocker Building,
Zachry and Sbisa and Commons Dining
Halls from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Three events are scheduled for Tues
day. To emphasize the dangers of driv
ing while intoxicated, a wrecked car will
be on display outside Rudder Tower
Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m.-2
p.m.
Although the car was not wrecked in
an alcohol-related accident, it symbol
izes the effects of drinking and driving.
Coombes said, “I want to emphasize
that the car wasn’t involved in an alco
hol-related accident, but we’re portray
ing it as a consequence of what irre
sponsible alcohol use might produce.”
Specifically designed for the social
chairmen of all student organizations,
*4
%
Choices
of a new
generation
National Collegiate
Alcohol Awareness Week
1988
the Social Chair Carnival will be held in
225 MSC Tuesday from 6-7:30 p.m.
“Invited participants will go through
the carnival, which is an alcohol-educa
tion event,” Coombes said. “Five educa
tional booths — party foods, alternative
beverages, party themes, games and ac
tivities and party music — are available
to ask questions and teach responsible
party habits.”
“Anatomy of a Party,” which will be
held Tuesday from 8-9:30 p.m. at Rud
der Theater, is a dramatization of a fra
ternity party. A five-person panel will
address issues raised during the drama to
explain responsible partying and drink
ing.
“A lot of the points the panel will
bring up will be applicable to anyone
having a party,” she said. “It just hap
pens that the skit used is at a fraternity
party. Some of the issues brought up
might be under-age drinking, liability,
date rape as it applies to alcohol abuse,
peer pressure and responsible partying.”
A mock DWI trial is scheduled for
Wednesday from 7-8 p.m. in 108 Har
rington. Bob Wiatt, director of Univer
sity Police, will be the mock defendant
who has been accused of DWI.
“We will actually go through the
whole trial,” Coombes said. “We have a
local attorney acting as the mock pros
ecuting attorney, and a campus attorney
will be the defending attorney. A local
community judge will preside over the
trial, and there’ll be an arresting officer
from the University Police. They’ll go
through the whole trial in about an hour,
and they’ll demonstrate the intoxilizer
and how it works.”
An open house for the Center for Drug
Prevention and Education is scheduled
for Thursday from 2-4 p.m. in Room 222
of the A.P. Beutel Health Center. Com
munity leaders in alcohol and drug abuse
prevention, faculty, staff and students
will have the chance to view the center.
“Hall-Y-Wood Squares” also is sched
uled for Thursday, from 4-6 p.m. outside
of Spence Hall. Windows facing the
Quadrangle will serve as the “squares”
from the television game show. Yell
leaders, redpots, Reveille and other cam
pus leaders will answer questions about
drinking myths.
“The game show will be a competition
between residence halls and individu
als,” Coombes said.
“A Night at Graffiti — Think Before
You Drink” will be the final event for Al
cohol Awareness Week. It will be held at
Graffiti’s Thursday, beginning at 8 p.m.
The cover charge will be $1, and free
food and alcohol and non-alcohol drinks
will be served. Door prizes will be
awarded as well.
“This will promote the whole idea of
being responsible toward drinking and
taking the choices of a new generation,”
Coombes said. “That’s our whole mes
sage — to make responsible choices.”
Beer drinkers encourage
safe partying with 10 tips
The Beer Drinkers of America, in
an effort to encourage safe and re
sponsible drinking behavior, have de
veloped 10 tips for “Smarter Partying
and Hipper Hosting.
• Know your limit — stay within
it< IHIIHI I llll IHIIIII11 : |1111
• Know what you’re drinking.
What drinks a person has is as impor
tant as how many drinks he or she
has."-
• Designate a driver, if going out
with a group of people, designate a
non-drinking driver.
• Don’t let a friend drive drunk.
• Call a cab. if there is no safe
way to get someone who has been
drinking too much home, call a cab.
You may have to pay for it yourself,
but the alternative may be far more
painful. • : ;. r
* Food for thought: Food slows
down alcohol absorption, ff hosting a
party, serve plenty of food ~~ the
heavier in protein and carbohydrates,
the better.
• A good host is a good friend. If
you care enough to invite someone to
your home, you should care enough
to make sure he gets home safely. •.
♦ Last call for alcohol. , , but the
party isn’t over. Close the bar at least
an hour before the end of the party
and provide a new round of food and
coffee to guests before they leave.
♦ Care enough to save a life.
• The kids are watching you. Be
responsible for your own actions.
Think about what you’re doing and
how it affects those around you. Re
member that children and peers im
itate the behavior of older people.
olice statements, Pakistan: Sabotage caused crash
utopsies differ
In fatal shootings
er in si
impM
tiibutel
the t
3ALLAS (AP) — At least nine of 80
police shootings since 1980 were
oneously reported by Dallas officers
lo said the victims were shot in face-
jface confrontations, while autopsies
I the victims were shot from behind.
Six of the victims died of a single gun-
bt wound to the back, the Dallas Mom-
|News said Sunday.
hree others suffered wounds shot
bm behind, as well as chest wounds.
Initial offense reports in the nine cases
picate officers either believed they
confronting armed suspects or
[red for their own or another’s safety.
Police officials acknowledged discrep-
pies in the reports, but said the incon-
jtencies were corrected in subsequent
depth investigative reports.
But investigative files fail to include
jilanations on why the initial reports
ry from autopsy findings and later re-
Jts.
frormer Acting Chief of Police Lou
faudell said, “From our point of view
strict accuracy of that report is not
ortant.’’ The sole purpose of the ini-
I report was to begin an investigation
J that, until last year, those reports
Ire sometimes done by officers not at
I scene, he said.
•TClfapt. John Holt of the Crimes Against
\| IvJPersims division, which conducts crimi
nal investigations of the shootings, said,
IpUSUjflknow the thing that I will put the most
of W
stock in is my investigation (that) myself
and the people that work with me do, and
not necessarily what an officer who has
been given this information second and
thirdhand writes down in an original re
port.”
But Dallas County Chief Medical Ex
aminer Charles Petty said his review of
the nine cases showed even subsequent
statements from officers were inconsis
tent with the autopsies in two of the
cases. In three other cases. Petty said the
shooting officers’ statements were vague
and difficult to compare with the autop
sies.
The department’s use of deadly force
was the subject of congressional hearings
following the controversial shootings by
Dallas officers of a 70-year-old disabled
woman and an undercover Addison po
lice officer.
Autopsy reports obtained by the
Morning News during a four-month in
vestigation show one of every three citi
zens fatally shot by police since 1980
suffered wounds in the back or from be
hind.
Grand juries failed to indict any offi
cers involved in the 80 shootings. All 13
officers involved in the nine cases with
conflicting reports still are employed by
the Dallas Police Department, the news
paper said.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Sab
otage or another criminal act caused a
plane crash that killed President Moham
med Zia ul-Haq, the U.S. ambassador
and 28 others, a report released Sunday
by a U.S.-Pakistan investigation team
said.
The 365-page report ruled out me
chanical failure in the Aug. 17 crash of
the Hercules C-130 transport plane, Pa
kistan air force Cmdr. Abbas Mirza,
said. He gave a 27-page summary to re
porters at a hastily called news confer
ence.
“The board believes that the accident
was most probably caused through the
perpetration of a criminal act or sab
otage,” the summary by the 10-member
U.S.-Pakistan team said.
The summary did not blame any per
son or group for the crash but called for a
separate criminal investigation.
In Washington, U.S. State Depart
ment spokesman Nancy Beck said U.S.
officials received a copy of the report
and “we are studying it.” She made no
further comment.
Mirza, who led the four Pakistani rep
resentatives and six U.S. Air Force offi
cers on the team, said they found no con
clusive evidence to determine the
method of sabotage.
All 30 aboard were killed, including
U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel; a U.S.
defense adviser, Brig. Gen. Herbert M.
Wassom; and five top Pakistani generals.
Furlough figures shock
Clements, other leaders
AUSTIN (AP) — Nearly 5,000 fel
ons, including 517 convicted of murder
or voluntary manslaughter, have been
furloughed from Texas prisons since
Gov. Bill Clements took office in Jan
uary 1987.
The Republican governor was shocked
by the figure, which also prompted the
chairman of the Texas Board of Correc
tions last week to order a freeze on week-
long furloughs for murder convicts, the
Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Sun
day.
In a copyright story, the Star-Tele
gram said at least one prisoner has been
convicted of committing a felony while
on furlough, and 14 furloughed Texas in
mates are now missing and listed as es
capees .
However, none of the 517 murder or
voluntary manslaughter convicts have
been arrested or charged while on fur
lough.
Clements, co-chair of the Texas presi
dential campaign of Vice President
George Bush, has blasted Bush’s oppo
nent, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Du
kakis, for a similar furlough program in
that state.
In Massachusetts, convicted murderer
Willie Horton Jr., 36, robbed and raped
a woman in Maryland after he left the
state while on furlough.
That incident is cited repeatedly by
Bush and his supporters as an example
that Dukakis is soft on crime.
A Bush television ad that talks about
the Massachusetts furlough program de
picts prisoners walking through a revolv
ing door.
“The presidential campaign did bring
it to light because that’s what made me
ask questions myself, back in Septem
ber,” Charles Terrell, chairman of the
Texas Board of Corrections said.
Clements’ spokesman Rossanna Sala
zar said Friday the governor was shocked
when he was informed of the situation.
Prison records show that about 200 in
mates are furloughed each month from
the nation’s third largest prison system
under a 1977 law that allows emergency
and discretionary passes without restric
tion.
Texas prison policy since 1987 has al
most guaranteed rejection of furlough re
quests from inmates convicted of capital
murder or sex offenses.
Still, some of those offenders were
granted four-day, unescorted emergency
furloughs to attend funerals of relatives.
Others nearing the end of their sen
tence were granted seven-day “appropri
ate-reason” furloughs to visit families or
seek jobs.
After a two-month investigation, the
Star-Telegram reported most of the
Texas convicts from January 1987
through Aug. 31, 1988, have returned to
prison without incident.
But one, Jesse Oliver Gephart, 34, of
Burnet, is now serving 99 years for an
aggravated robbery he committed while
on furlough in May 1987.
He also was suspected, but not
charged, in the beating death of his
brother-in-law.
“You just can’t predict human behav
ior; I’ve given up trying,” said S.O.
Woods, director of the prisons’ bureau of
classification and records, and overseer
of all Texas furloughs.
Gephart was one of 23 prisoners fur
loughed in 1987 or 1988 that had trou
bles. Most of the temporarily freed in
mates were accused of committing minor
and usually unprosecuted offenses, such
as driving with expired car insurance.
But seven were tried on more serious
charges, including aggravated kidnap
ping, assault, aggravated drug posses
sion, burglary, auto theft, shoplifting
and — in Gephart’s case — aggravated
robbery.
Critics of the program, like Harris
County Sheriff Johnny Klevenhagen, say
they have been blind-sided by furloughs
of inmates.
“I have never found anybody who has
ever served on a jury who ever felt in
their wildest dreams that an inmate
would get two vacations a year. I think
it’s a mockery of justice,” Klevenhagen
said.
Terrell said he wants a full investiga
tion of the merits of the program and will
recommend policy changes to the prison
board next month.
Mirza said investigators sifting
through the debris found chemicals often
used in explosives but no remnants of a
detonator, which would have indicated a
small explosion aboard the plane.
He said the phrase “criminal act” re
ferred to the possibility that the pilot or
co-pilot could have disrupted cockpit
controls intentionally, causing the crash
in an open field.
Because there was no voice recorder
aboard the aircraft, he said, it was im
possible to determine what the crew said
before the crash.
“After a thorough analysis of the
available evidence, the board has been
unable to substantiate a technical reason
for the accident,” the summary said.
“In the absence of the technical rea
son, the only other possible cause of the
accident is the occurrence of a criminal
act or sabotage leading to the loss of air
craft control and the (crash),” it said.
Phosphorous was found on mango
seeds found in the wreckage, the report
said. Earlier reports speculated that an
explosive device was hidden in a box of
mangos offered as a gift and placed
aboard at the last minute.
Mirza made no comment on the the
ory.
The plane took off from Islamabad,
which doubles as a military air base, to
Bahawalpur, where Zia watched a dem
onstration of the U.S. M-l Abrams battle
tank. The four-engine turboprop crashed
after takeoff on the return flight from Ba
hawalpur, 330 miles south of Islamabad.
Zia, 64, a military strongman who im
posed eight years of martial law during
his 11 years in power, was viewed as a
bulwark of stability in the volatile re
gion.
Shuttle buses
get re-routed
in construction
On-campus shuttle buses may
seem to be going in the wrong direc
tion today. However, because of con
struction, their routes have been mod
ified.
Effective today, Academic East,
Academic and Express routes will be
closed for the next few weeks. The
Cotton Bowl and Rudder routes will
be unchanged.
In place of the closed routes. Bus
Operations has designed four new
routes: Coke, Green, Blue and Red.
Maps of the new routes are posted
in all on-campus buses. The routes
are expected to return to normal when
Houston and Hogg streets re-open.
The streets will be closed while mod
ules for north side residence hall con
struction are delivered.
Elsewhere on campus, construc
tion will begin on a satellite utility
plant within the next few weeks. A
fence will be put up today around the
site, the former Parking Annex 21,
located behind the Military Sciences
Building. Those with parking stickers
for that lot have been issued stickers
for Lot 60, near Rudder Tower, Tom
Williams, director of Parking Transit
and Traffic, said.
The utility plant will be used to
support the air conditioning in the
new residence halls.