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
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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.
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