Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 30, 1990)
The Battalion STATE & LOCAL 3 Wednesday, May 30,1990 Crowd panic gets violent at concert HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s parks director called for tougher controls on glass bottles and alcohol in city parks Tuesday after a Memorial Day melee at a rap concert that started with bot tle-throwing and reports of gunshots. At least 11 people were treated for cuts and bruises after panicked concert-goers tried to flee flying bottles and gunshots at a concert by Special Treat at the Hermann Park Miller Outdoor The ater. About 25,000 people showed up for the concert, about 18,000 more than predicted. Witnesses said the trouble started at about 4 p.m. when someone in a hillside audience area began throwing beer bottles at permanent seats near the stage. “The people in the pit started throwing them back,” said witness Mark Kinsler. “It was just a barrage.” When people believed they heard gunshots, the crowd panicked. “It all happened so fast,” said Melinda Thomas, 34, who was sitting on the grass a few hundred feet from the theater. “Lots of people just ran up on stage to get away,” city parks director Don Olson said. “The vast majority of the people were trying to get out of the way of the rock and beer-bottle throwing. Most people were innocent bystanders who just couldn’t get out of there fast enough.” The concert was canceled after the distur bance began, sending hundreds running for parking lots and snarling traffic. Scores of offi cers on foot and horseback and in helicopters evacuated the area, making more than two dozen arrests. Most of the arrests were for public intoxication but at least two involved possession of firearms. Olson said the city will have to find better ways to enforce glass bottle and alcohol bans at city parks. “Glass containers have been banned in city parks for years but enforcement is difficult,” Ol son said. “Continually, injuries that occur in parks have a lot to do with broken glass.” “The other problem we face is people who bring beer into the park for a concert and come in with cases of it, which is well beyond their abil ity to handle it,” Olson said. “We’re going to have to look at some ways to curb the amount of beer brought in.” The theater is built into the side of a hill at the 380-acre park adjacent to Houston’s Texas Medi cal Center. It is just a small section of the park, which also includes a golf course and the city zoo. Special Treat was the first of five bands sched uled to perform at the free Mega Jam concert sponsored by radio station KHYS-FM. The star attraction was to have been a Miami-based rap group known as 2 Live Crew, which has drawn notoriety for its explicit lyrics. “You just can’t put on a concert any more with out any incidents,” said Joe Libios, KHYS pro motion director. “One bad apple or two bad apples ruined it for the rest of us.” Olson said the radio station estimated a crowd of about 7,000 when it leased the theater. “We do have the right to refuse rental or re fuse the permit if we feel that can’t accommodate the crowd,” Olson said. “It was originally out lined to have 7,000 people and based on our ex- eriences, we asked for security beefed up to andle crowds that we’ve accommodated in the past on a much larger scale.” He said a force of about 30 officers was on hand. The combination of temperatures in the 90s, traffic congestion and the huge crowd spelled trouble. “The facility itself has a sound system that can’t cover a crowd that large and the view is lim ited,” Olson explained. “There’s going to be some frustrated folks there.” Olson said parks officials have tried to define better the concert area with walkways and trees and said more trees will be planted. Olson said the most immediate changes he could make would be increased security and bet ter traffic control. He said the radio station would be held re sponsible for costs of cleanup and damages. The Houston concert was the second in two months in Texas to be disrupted. Police Beat The following incidents were reported to the Texas A&M Uni versity Police Department be tween May 11 and May 28. ASSAULT: • A Bryan man reported that he was assaulted. RECKLESS CON DUCT/HARASSMENT/AS SAULT: • A woman reported she was assaulted by her ex-boyfriend in Parking Area 77. The man fol lowed her to work and struck her vehicle several times. Upon arri val at Parking Area 77, he exited his vehicle and grabbed her by her arm and hair. She freed her self from his grasp and entered the H.C. Bell Building. The ex boyfriend then began calling her office threatening to harm her. Several patrol officers and detec tives were assigned to the area in the event the man returned. He was apprehended when he en tered a room of the Bell Building and was transported to UPD and issued a criminal trespass warn ing. Arrest warrants for the listed offenses were obtained, and the man was jailed in the Brazos County Jail. CRIMINAL TRESPASS: • Someone reported that on several occasions a subject has been found washing her clothes in the lavatory in the women’s rest rooms throughout the li brary. The woman was again ob served washing her undergar ments in the lavatory by a member of the library staff. She was identified and issued a crimi nal trespass warning and escorted from campus. • An officer observed some one tampering with the bicycles parked near the Commons. He lost visual contact with the suspect on the westside of Dunn Hall. A short time later, the officer heard a College Station Police Officer check on an individual matching the description of the suspect he had seen earlier. The man was riding one bicycle while towing another. A criminal trespass war rant had been issued to the man previously. The man was released and the bicycles were tagged and placed in the UPD property room pending proof of ownership. MISDEMEANOR THEFT: • A Casio watch, Casio calcula tor, Texas driver’s license, NCNB check book and a textbook were stolen from a backpack in a locker in Sbisa Dining Hall. • An end piece to a bed was stolen from the second floor bathroom of Dormitory 8. • A bag containing several items was stolen from a locked locker in DeWare Field House. • Four bicycles were stolen from areas around campus. • A Panasonic cordless phone was stolen from a room in the Civil Engineering/Texas Trans portation Institute. • A hubcap and a child’s plas tic swimming pool were stolen from the Married Student Hous ing Area. • A Dbase III software pack age was stolen from the Civil En gineering/Texas Transportation Institute. • A Panasonic AM/FM cassette player was stolen from a room in the Reed McDonald Building. BURGLARY OF VEHICLE: • A laundry bag containing $1,369 in assorted clothing was removed from a car parked on Coke Street. • A Texas A&M parking per mit was removed from a vehicle in Parking Area 57. FIRE: • A fire in a trash chute in Dormitory 8 activated the sprin kler system and set off the alarm. College Station Fire Department personnel arrived and deter mined that the fire was confined to the chute and the sprinkler had put the fire out. BURGLARY OF A BUILD ING: Eighty-seven dollars was stolen from the coffee fund in a room of the Aerospace Engineering/Com puter Science Building. • Someone entered the Fab- ricCare laundry room by cutting the padlock off of the southside doors. The only property re moved belongs to a customer. POSSESSION OF STOLEN PROPERTY: • Officers responded to a re port of a confrontation taking place on Clark Street. Officers found a College Station man con fronting another man about the bicycle he was riding. The Col lege Station man had reported the bicycle stolen to the College Station Police Department several days before, and had physically stopped the man on the bicycle when he saw him on the bicycle. The man admitted knowing the bike was stolen but denied being the person who stole it. POSSESSION OF MARIJUA NA/POSSIBLE MISDEMEA NOR THEFT: • Officers observed a man place a bicycle into a trailer within the construction compound at Kiest Hall. Officers confronted the man who admitted taking the bicycle from the Kiest Hall bike racks. A small amount of mari juana was also found on the man while officers were checking him for weapons. The man was incar cerated for possession of mari juana and charges of theft are pending. CRIMINAL MISCHIEF/E VADING ARREST: • During patrol of campus property, an officer observed sev eral people in the fountain in front of the Zachry Engineering Center. Upon seeing the officer, the subjects fled the area. Two of the four individuals observed running from the area were iden tified and apprehended. The group decided to take pictures of various locations around campus because they were graduating. UNAUTHORIZED RE MOVAL OF PROPERTY/POS SIBLE POSSESSION OF STO LEN PROPERTY: • During patrol of campus property, an officer observed four people removing property from the dumpster by Dormitory 10. They had several pieces of old carpet and an Open Road 10- speed bicycle in their possession. A woman with the group said the bicycle was standing by a dump ster in the Commons and she thought no one wanted it. The bi cycle is registered and an attempt will be made to contact the owner. CRIMINAL MISCHIEF/E VADING ARREST: • Someone entered the locked Range Science Field Laboratory Compound and broke out the left rear window on a Chevrolet crew cab truck. After entering the ve hicle, the suspect apparently broke off the plastic cover on the steering column in an attempt to bypass the ignition system. BURGLARY OF VEHI CLE/CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: • A man reported that while loading his son’s property, some one removed several pairs of ath letic shoes from the trunk of his vehicle which was parked in Park ing Area 39. The man also said that someone broke off the power antenna from his vehicle and dented the passenger’s door just below the window. HARASSMENT: • A woman received a letter from an unknown person who wrote several derogatory and threatening statements about her. CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: • Someone opened four gas jets in a laboratory in the Rey nolds Medical Sciences building. An individual in the room taking inventory, was unaware of the es caping gas. • A fire started in a metal trash can near a construction tra iler. An officer used a fire extin guisher to put out the fire. • A fifteen passenger van be longing to the US Navy was dented while parked on Coke Street. Crime Stoppers reports rise in vehicle theft Vehicle burglaries have plagued Brazos County Law Enforcement of ficials throughout the month of May, according to a Crime Stoppers report. The following law enforcement agencies report 61 cases so far dur ing 1990: • Bryan Police Department — 27 • College Station Police Depart ment— 22 • Brazos County Sheriffs De partment— 2 • Texas A&M University Police Department— 10 A review of these cases indicated Brazos County STOPPERS 775-TIPS some owners hadn’t locked their doors. In most cases, however, thieves broke out a window or forced the door to gain entry, then stole what ever was of value in the vehicles. Investigators do not have evi dence that this rash of burglaries is the result of an organized criminal effort, but suspect that it is most likely a number of individuals work ing independently within their neighborhoods. Investigators also believe thieves are selling or trading stolen items in the local area. This week Brazos County Law Of ficers and Crime Stoppers need your help in identifying the person(s) re sponsible for these burglaries. If you have information that could be helpful, call Crime Stop pers at 775—TIPS. When you call, Crime Stoppers will assign you a coded number to protect your identity. / If your call leads to an arrest and grand jury indictment, Crime Stop pers will pay you up to $1,000 in cash. Crime Stoppers also pays cash for information on any felony crime or the location of a wanted fugitive. Silence honors protesters A minute of silence will be ob served on the Texas A&M campus June 4 in honor of Chinese student protesters killed by their govern ment. Chinese students began to gather in Tiananmen Square May 4, 1989, for a peaceful movement for democ racy. June 4, 1989, was the day the massacre of Chinese protestors by the government began. The minute of silence will be at noon June 4. The tribute is sponsored by the Texas A&M Student Senate, which unanimously passed a resolution for the observance during a March meeting. New engineering building opens Texas A&M’s Joe C. Richardson Jr. Building, one of the coun try’s most sophisticated petroleum engineering facilities, was opened formally Thursday. The $11.7 million, 10-story structure includes a 140-foot well shaft in the building’s core used for va rious research areas. The building is named after a prominent Amarillo oilman who is a former A&M regent. What’s Up Wednesday ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: will have a general discussion at noon. Call the C.D.P.E at 845-0280 for more information. NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: will have a general discussion at 8:30 p.m. Call the C.D.P.E. for more information. Thursday ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: will have a general discussion at noon. Call the C.D.P.E. at 845-0280 for more information. ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS: will have a general discussion at 6 p.m. Call the C.D.P.E. for more information. NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: will have a general discussion at 8:30 p.m. Call the C.D.P.E. for more information. Friday STUDENTS OVER TRADITIONAL AGE: will have a meeting of the Supper Club at 6 p.m. at Garfield’s. For more information, call Nancy at 845-1741. Items for What's Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, no later than three business days before the desired run date. We only publish the name and phone number of the contact if you ask us to do so. What's Up is a Battalion service that lists non-profit events and activities. Submissions are run on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no guarantee an entry will run. If you have questions, call the newsroom at 845-3315. „ ■ ' ' ' ' ? I Texas A&Ws yearbook fs more 60 minutes of.the sights and sounds Of 89-90V I >"• Order your copy fqr Ojwyl $62,25 in room 250,Reed , McDonald ' Questions? ■ Call 845|!O40-:tS; AggieVision CALL AHEAD! 846-0379 LUNCH SPECIAL LASAGNA PLATE OR CHEF SALAD $4.99+tax: INCLUDES GARLIC ROLLS AND DRINK MIVE-IN ONLY NORTHGATE ACROSS from the post office Mon.-Fn. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. MCAT STUDENTS The September 15, 1990 MCAT is your last chance to take the “old” format. Stanley H. Kaplan is offering our MCAT PREP PLUS course during each summer session. GET A JUMP ON THE COMPETITION • Classes Forming Now. Sign up by June 4, 1990, and get $25 off tuition and a free gift. Cali 696-3196 for more information. jtt STANLEY H. KAPLAN JL Take Kaplan Or Take Your Chances