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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1989)
fhe Battalion iSTATE & LOCAL 3 Wednesday, September 13,1989 nj Police Academy 4 patrols city Citizens learn role of police, act out mock searches Itor )n, Olt: Andi( : >larly { nces of even a By Cindy McMillian Of The Battalion Staff Police Academy 4 is coming to College Station, but its participants aren’t looking for laughs. The fourth Citizens Police Academy, offered by the College Station Police Department, is a 27- hour course designed to give the public a better awareness and understanding of the local police force. Open to all citizens, the academy will meet Tuesday nights for 3-hour sessions which com bine lectures and hands-on experience. ‘“Understanding Through Education’ is our slogan,” said Recruiting and Training Officer Joe DeCoste, who is in charge of the academy. "We give people an inside look at how the police department works.” Topics covered include investigation, traffic law, criminal and juvenile law, and uniformed patrol. During one session, participants ride in a pa trol car with an officer on duty. A mock search of a building and role-play of a domestic violence situation also are part of the course. DeCoste said the participants meet many dif ferent officers during the course so they can hear different points of view. Providing the public with this type of insight into police operations should make police contacts with the public eas ier, he said. The course started in 1987 and has received good reviews from participants, DeCoste said. Jamie Sandel, a sales director at University Tower who completed the second Citizens Police Academy a couple of years ago, described the course as “fun and informative.” “We really saw the backbone of the police de partment and what they have to go through,” she said. During the mock search of a building, she said, participants were issued guns with blanks and told that a burglary was in progress. An officer playing the burglar was in an empty building, and Sandel and her partner went inside to find him. “We got an excellent rating on that part of the course,” she said. “My partner ‘killed’ him.” Sandel witnessed an actual chase when she went on patrol with an officer, and admitted she was “a little scared.” Two teen-agers had stolen something from a truck, she said, and the officer driving her car stopped to pursue them on foot. Sandel helped point other officers to his location, and she said the suspects were apprehended. On another patrol, she helped an officer ob tain fingerprints from the scene of a television theft. “I’ve always been interested in police work be cause of my father’s job,” she said. DeCoste said most participants sign up be cause of an interest in the community and the op erations of the police department. The application deadline for the course is Fri day, and sessions begin Tuesday. Those inter ested may call Gretchen Beasley at 764-3611 to make reservations. pt ind identsi k youra interaci t theirs > arer : taker..: vhofili onlytl isteadi eren beats Lanier in congressional race; OP loses fight for Wright’s vacant seat FORT WORTH (AP) — Voters elected Democrat Pete Geren over Republican Bob Lanier to the Dis- jtrict 12 House seat left vacant by for- ner House Speaker Jim Wright. Corrections The Career and Academic Re source Center was incorrectly identified in the August 28 issue of The Battalion. It is part of the Student Counseling Service Cen ter on the third floor of the YMCA Building. The location of the Sept. 19 Student Senate meeting was in correct in Tuesday’s Battalion. It is scheduled for 204 Harrington. The Battalion regrets the er- Wright’s seat came open when he resigned during an ethics investiga tion after 34 years in office. Geren, an attorney and former congressional aide, faced Lanier, a TV medical commentator, and six other candidates in a special election Aug. 12. Geren will serve the re mainder of Wright’s term, which ex pires next year. Republicans saw the election as a chance to capture the 12th District, a longtime Democratic stronghold covering most of Fort Worth and Tarrant County. But Lanier, making his first run for office, acknowledged his race was an “upstream swim*’ because the district is heavily Democratic and Geren raised nearly twice as much money. Lanier, 44, a pediatric allergist and immunologist, is featured on “60-Second Housecall,” a television spot syndicated to local news broad casts in more than 40 television mar kets. Geren, 37, was an aide to Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, from 1983 to 1985. He lost a 1986 race in the 6th District to Rep. Joe Barton, R- Ennis. The campaign stirred little inter est. Tarrant County Election Ad ministrator Robert Parten predicted 20 percent to 25 percent of the dis trict’s 287,000 registered voters would vote. An eight-candidate special elec tion Aug. 12 drew only a fifth of the district’s voters. Lanier won 39 per cent of the vote to 32 percent for Ge ren, making a runoff necessary be cause neither received a majority. Lanier and Geren differed on po sitions. Geren had said he would not take money for making speeches to special-intrest groups, because doing so gives the appearance of impropri ety. Lanier had said the $89,500-per- year congressional salary is not enough and he would take fees for speeches. Geren and Lanier also em phasized their endorsements and differing backgrounds. Geren was endorsed by Wright and Bentsen, and cited his experi ence as a legislative aide. Lanier received endorsements from President Bush and former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. He said he was in better touch with his constituents’ concerns than his opponent. Wright resigned in June to avoid facing allegations he repeatedly vio lated congressional ethics rules in volving speaking fees and business deals. He remains popular in the dis trict. Local LULAC chapter awaits decision of board to dissolve organization By Steven Patrick Of The Battalion Staff The Bryan-College Station chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens is “sit ting tight” as the debate over dis solving the national foundation board continues. The board is responsible for raising health and education funds for the Hispanic commu nity. The debate began after Jose Garcia de Lara, current national LULAC president, called for the resignations of the foundation board members because of an in vestigation which reported mis spending of LULAC funds. De Lara also informed the IRS on Sept. 5 that the foundation board was no longer a part of LULAC. The LULAC foundation board, made up of 10 former LU LAC national presidents, denied the misspendings. “We will not resign and we shall not retreat,” a statement from the board said. De Lara, meanwhile, has be gun the establishment of a new foundation which will assume the responsibilities of the LULAC board. These responsibilities in clude raising funds from cor porations for health, education and civil rights programs. As controversy over the foun dation board continues, the Bryan-College Station Chapter of LULAC is waiting on the side lines for the final outcome. “Locally, we’re just caught in the middle of it and waiting to see what happens,” James Garcia, vice president of the local chap ter, said. “There may have been a few ir regularities in the past and they pointed the finger at all of them,” Garcia said, in reference to the possible misspending of funds by members of the foundation board. Mattox, Richards continue swapping espionage charges AUSTIN (AP) — The two Demo cratic candidates for governor swapped charges again Tuesday over an incident which Attorney General Jim Mattox alleges was spy ing by state Treasurer Ann Rich ards’ campaign. Mattox said he wants Richards to publicly apologize. Richards said there’s nothing to apologize for and called Mattox’s ac tions silly. “Where is Ann? Why hasn’t she taken the responsibility for the uns crupulous activities of her staff? . . . Ann Richards owes my campaign and the voters a full apology,” Mat tox said in a statement issued by his campaign. “It is so absurd and so juvenile that it is very difficult to take this sil liness seriously,” Richards replied in an interview. “I’ve done absolutely nothing to apologize for.” Mattox on Monday accused Rich ards’ campaign staff of engaging in “Watergate-style spying” on his cam paign for the Democratic nomi nation for governor. 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