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Photo by Dean Saito
Head and shoulders above the rest
Juniors Chris Primeaux, from Lake Charles, La., and pole at the bonfire construction area on Duncan Field
Wade Burton, from Killeen, attach lights to a perimeter Wednesday afternoon.
School district invokes
drug testing of students
WINNIE (AP) — Students of the East
Chambers Consolidated School District
will have to submit to a drug test before
they can participate in extracurricular ac
tivities.
The mandatory drug testing, imple
mented Thursday, calls for students in
grades six through 12 to be tested for a
dozen types of drugs including mari
juana, cocaine j amphetamines and ster
oids.
“I envision the kids taking some pride
in being drug-free,” East Chambers
High School Principal James Crews said.
‘‘What we’re after right now is parent
awareness. We want to intervene before
it becomes a crisis.”
About 88 percent of the district’s high
school and junior high school students
participate in extracurricular activities,
including band, cheerleading, student
council, athletics, speech clubs and
drama clubs, school district Superinten
dent Keith Davis said.
That leaves about 65 students in the
district who don’t participate in any of
these activities and won’t who won’t be
tested for drugs.
Winnie, about 60 miles east of Hous
ton, will be the third community in the
state to implement mandatory student
drug testing, school officials said.
School districts iifHawkins and Timp-
son, both in East Texas, have similar
programs.
The issue has raised a thicket of legal
questions and has prompted the Ameri
can Civil Liberties Union to declare the
plan unconstitutional.
“They’re clearly not thinking of a
drug-free campus because there’s a
whole segment out there that’s not being
tested,” Bruce Griffiths, legal director
for the Greater Houston chapter of the
ACLU, said.
Griffiths said the ACLU is prepared to
file a lawsuit on behalf of any student
who feels the test would violate their
Fourth Amendment rights against illegal
search and seizure.
For the next several weeks, about 30
students a day will file into the school
principal’s office for a brief interview
with the school nurse and to give urine
samples.
The tests will be unsupervised, and
samples will be sent to a Houston labo
ratory.
If a student tests positive, they will be
banned from extracurricular activities
and their parents will be notified.
School officials will then encourage
drug counseling for the student, who can
request a retest at any time and resume
activities as soon as their test results are
clean.
Students have mixed reactions to the
program.
“If someone is on drugs maybe we
can find out and help them,” said Ezell
Brown, 17, a football player and senior
class president. “But if we are the only
school district in the area getting tested I
think other schools we compete against
should have to be tested. ’ ’
But Kelley Smith, 17, disagrees and
quit the football team in protest.
“I don’t think it’s any of their busi
ness what you do when you’re off
school, and my parents agree,” Smith
said.
He said he quit the football team as a
matter of principle to protest the testing.
Senate approves
resolution urging
plans for library
By Kelly S. Brown
Staff Writer
The Student Senate unanimously
voted Wednesday for a resolution re
questing the administration to make a
sincere commitment to the library system
by immediately establishing long-range
plans for budgeting, library endowment,
book and serial acquistion and facility
expansion.
The resolution was introduced by
Mark Williams, a graduate student in
land development and a member of the
academic affairs committee, who said
the library must become a top priority of
the administration.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
ranked Texas A&M seventh in the nation
in library endowments with $1.2 billion,
while it ranked the library forty-seventh
in budgeted expenditures with
$9,022,614 in 1986-87. The budget has
remained constant for the last four years.
Where endowments are concerned,
Williams said, A&M is being ranked
with Harvard, Princeton and Yale. But
when looking at budget totals, they don’t
even compare, he said. Harvard has a
budget of $34,792,739, while its endow
ment is $4 billion.
Another resolution introduced by Wil
liams also was unanimously passed. It
stated that courses taken at other institu
tions in which the student receives a
grade below a “C-” will not be transfera
ble or applicable toward A&M’s degree
requirements.
Williams said the current practice at
A&M of accepting transfer credit for
courses in which a “D” grade has been
received puts students who take those
courses at A&M at a disadvantage be
cause transferred courses can count to
ward a degree without any detrimental
impact on the student’s GPR.
Whereas students taking classes at
A&M receive whatever grade they earn
in a class, transfer students who earn a
“C” or above in a class have it trans
ferred without the grade affecting their
GPR, Williams said.
The Senate voted down a bill appoint
ing class representatives to the Senate.
The bill was intended to have members
of Class Council serve as intermediaries
between their class and the Senate. It
wouldn’t have given them voting priv
ileges in the Senate, but would have been
allowed speaking privileges.
The bill drew a lengthy debate and dis
cussion from both sides.
Opponents of the bill said each student
is already represented by two senators —
one from his major and one from where
he lives. Opponents also argued that
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tudents play jury in mock trial,
onvict ‘local bank teller’ of DWI
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By Juliette Rizzo
Staff Writer
Bob Wiatt, director of the University
Police Department, was found guilty
^Wednesday night of Driving While In-
Ijibxicated — but only in a mock trial.
■ Wiatt participated as Bob Kelly, the
Boused “friendly College Station bank
jpller” in the trial put on as part of Alco
hol Awareness Week.
“The trial was set up to show students
what a real DWI trial is like,” Wiatt said.
)ur purpose was to hopefully deter slu
ts from driving while under the influ-
4ice of alcohol. It’s a lot less expensive
pr the student to witness a DWI trial
pan to go through one.”
In the prosecution’s opening
latement, Alex Walter, student legal ad-
jiser, explained that the prosecution
liust prove through "burden of proof’
t the accused was guilty beyond a rea
sonable doubt of being intoxicated while
driving a vehicle in a public place.
In the trial, it was made clear that in-,
toxication means not having the normal
use of physical and mental capabilities
while under the influence of alcohol or
other controlled substances or having a
blood alcohol level of 0.10 or more.
Arresting Officer, Sergeant Ron
Horner of the UPD, said the accused was
driving “erratically” and swerving across
lanes when he was stopped and adminis
tered three field sobriety tests to deter
mine if he might be drunk.
“After noting his slow, deliberate un
balanced mannerisms, his glassy eyes
and detecting alcohol on his breath, we
took him in,” Horner said.
Wiatt said students should be aware
that they can be stopped for having bro
ken brake lights or expired license plates
and. upon the officer’s inspection of the
driver and the vehicle, if alcohol is de
tected, they can be arrested for DWI.
“The officer does not have to stop the
person initially for being drunk,” Wiatt
said. “At the point the person steps out of
the car, the officer uses his own experi
ences and his eyes and nose to look for
discernable features of intoxication such
as red eyes, slurred speech and stagge
ring.”
If the person’s performance on the
tests is minimal and the officer can detect
the aroma of alcohol on his breath, the
person can be arrested. After being taken
to the courthouse, the person is asked to
repeat his performance of the sobriety
tests for videotaping. An intoxilyzer, a
breath-alcohol level test, or a blood sam
ple is then required.
Dr. Tim Coppinger, representing an
intoxilyzer expert, explained the process
behind intoxilyzer testing.
The results of an intoxilyzer are avail
able immediately, but if the person
chooses the option of the blood test, they
are taken to a local hospital where the
sample is drawn and sent to the Depart
ment of Public Safety. Persons choosing
this option are charged with DWI at the
•officer's discretion nonetheless, until the
results come in. If the tests come in neg
ative, the charges are dropped.
If the person refuses both options, his
driver’s license can be suspended for 90
days.
“If they do refuse both options,” Wiatt
said, “the whole case rests on the credi
bility of the officer’s testimony, and ju
ries have been known to convict without
the scientific evidence of blood tests or
intoxilyzers.”
Bob Kelly, represented by Wiatt, had
a blood alcohol level of 0.16 with the
minimum level being 0.10. Kelly and his
attorney, Jim Locke, tried to plea for in
nocence, but by a verdict of 105 to 28,
jurors, played by the attendees of the
trial, found Kelly quilty.
Three American scientists
win Nobel Prize in physics
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) —
Three Americans won the Nobel
Prize in physics Wednesday for their
work with subatomic particles, and
three West Germans shared the chem
istry prize for unraveling a mystery of
photosynthesis.
Americans Leon Lederman, Mel
vin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger
shared the physics prize for capturing
neutrinos in a high energy beam to
probe the stucture of atomic particles.
Chemists Johann Deisenhofer,
Robert Huber and Hartmut Michel of
West Germany were honored for dis
coveries that may be critical in har
nessing the sun’s energy. They were
rewarded for work completed only
three years ago, indicating the impor
tance attached to their breakthrough
by the awarding committee of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sci
ences.
Many recipients wait decades for
recognition.
Committee chairman Bo Malms-
trom said their work was an essential
step toward artificial photosynthesis,
which scientists hope will provide the
key to converting the sun’s energy to
man’s needs.
“The only way in the long run to
solve the energy problem of the world
is to utilize solar energy,” Malms-
trom said.
Although it had no immediate
practical application, the academy
said the research had importance be
yond the study of photosynthesis, the
process of converting sunlight into
energy.
It said the research could be used in
understanding central biological
functions, including the transport of
chemical substances between cells,
hormone action and nerve impulses.
The physics award also was for ba
sic research with no practical use as
yet, said Bengt Nagel, secretary of
the academy’s physics committee.
The physicists discovered a way to
concentrate neutrinos by the hundreds
of billions into a beam capable of
probing the inner parts of protons in
the same way an X-ray penetrates the
human body, the academy said.
libertarian candidate suggests alternative vote
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Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul.
By Scot Walker
Staff Writer
Carrying the Libertarian Party’s message of, “Li
berty, freedom and independence,” presidential candi
date Ron Paul told about 150 people in the MSC
Wednesday night the future of the United States should
include a return to the gold standard, no personal in
come tax and the legalization of currently illegal drugs.
“We (the Libertarian Party) offer a vehicle to deal in
the principle of what government really ought to be all
about,” Paul said. “The Libertarian Party offers a solu
tion to a political system that makes voters choose be
tween a party that wants economic socialism and one
that wants to eliminate personal liberty.”
Paul, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Lake Jack-
son, speaking at the MSC Political Forum’s presi
dential candidate series, was applauded several times
during his speech, including when he said Selective
Service registration and gun control should end. His
biggest ovation came when he called for the abolition
of the personal income tax and the Internal Revenue
Service.
“In a free-market society, you just don’t tax incenti
ve,” Paul said.
When Paul paused for the applause, Kate Rutledge,
a co-director for Political Forum, stepped to the micro
phone and announced that Paul’s speech was over.
Patty Herr, Political Forum’s national program di
rector, said the candidate had agreed beforehand to
limit his remarks to 30 minutes in order to allow time
for a question-and-answer period after the speech.
“Because there was such a large turnout, we let him
run over the time limit,” Herr said. “But we wanted to
make sure everyone in the audience had a chance to
ask their questions, so we decided to cut him off.”
During the question-and-answer session, Paul said
all anti-drug laws should be repealed and all drugs le
galized.
“We’re not talking about selling heroin to five-year-
olds,” Paul said. “But drug dealers can only operate
because of the inflated price of their product due to
anti-drug laws. And it’s a fact that 50 percent of all
crimes are to raise money to buy these drugs. Legaliz
ing drugs would solve both problems.”
Paul, a forniei ioui-ieim ivepublican congressman
from Lake Jackson, said the current prosperity enjoyed
by many people in the United States is an illusion
brought about by Republican and Democratic adminis
trations spending more money than they have.
“If I borrow $10,000 my standard of living just im
proved,” Paul said. “But when the time comes to pay
that money back, my standard of living drops way
down, and pretty soon we’re going to have to pay back
that debt. The people in power now think that the solu
tion is to get you (students) into the workforce and tax
you like crazy.”
Paul said that the Libertarian solution is a return to
the gold standard.
“If I counterfeit money, the government can put me
in jail,” Paul said. “But without the gold standard, that
same government can engage in the fraud of printing
money with nothing to back it up in order to work its
way out of debt.”
Bob Martin and Bob Hild, both graduate students in
nuclear engineering, attended the program and said
that the Libertarian Party was a viable alternative to the
traditional parties.