The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 06, 1991, Image 3

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    15-3314
State and local
3
Wednesday, March 6, 1991
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Vacation binges
Surgeon General asks brewers
to halt underage promotions
WASHINGT ON (AP) — Surgeon
General Antonia Novello took aim
Tuesday at binge drinking by college
students, complaining at a news con
ference that “spring break used to be
where the boys are — now it’s where
the booze is.”
Novello called on brewers to stop
running promotions that appeal to
underage drinkers.
“Unfortunately, spring break has
become synonymous with excessive
and binge drinking by our young
people,” Novello said.
Novello began her news confer
ence by showing a videotape of
throngs of drunken students clog-
S the streets of Palm Springs,
during spring break three
years ago.
“I want to say to our young people
that it is time to put on the brakes
with regard to their drinking,” she
said. Novello expressed hope the
message would carry far beyond this
spring’s vacations.
“This is the wave of the future,”
she said.
Novello said young people have
been bombarded with advertise
ments that lead them to believe
drinking is “an acceptable rite of
passage, a necessary path for them
to follow.”
She appealed to alcohol manufac
turers and retailers to “take a more
responsible posture” in their mar
keting and promotion tactics during
this year’s spring break.
She said the Beer Institute “re
sponded favorably” to her appeal
and had indicated that brewers
would not “take their tents, their
hats, umbrellas and other promotio
nal materials to spring break this
year.”
James Sanders, president of the
Beer Institute, said manufacturers
in the past had provided “diversio
nary recreational opportunities”
during spring break such as contests
and games to take the emphasis
away from drinking. He said the
brewers were unfairly blamed for
the unruly behavior of students who
lost control and that most brewers
would stay away altogether this year.
“They just decided there’s no way
they can win,” Sanders said. “The
real activities they were sponsoring
never came through.”
He said alcohol manufacturers
abide by an advertising code that
tries to avoid targeting people under
age 21.
Novello said:
• The average student spends
“more money on booze than on
books.”
• Alcohol is one of the leading
causes of death among young adults.
• Alcohol is a factor in 21 percent
of all college dropouts.
• Among those currently in col
lege, between 240,000 and 360,000
eventually will lose their lives due to
drinking.
• Most college students drink
more beer than anything else.
Spending the day in bed
Texas A&M graduate student Tim Williams enjoys the warm Toyota pickup at Research Park. Williams managed to catch up
weather Tuesday afternoon while lounging in the bed of his on some accounting while taking a break from classes.
Highway agency risks losing $900 million
In Advance
Counterterrorism expert to speak tonight
Kenneth Bergquist, the associate director for counterterrorism at
the U.S. State Department, will discuss U.S. policy concerning coun
terterrorism at 7 tonight in 701 Rudder.
MSC Political Forum is sponsoring the lecture. For more informa
tion, contact Student Programs at 845-1515.
AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas
highway department must stop dis
criminating against minorities and
women or risk losing $900 million
annually in federal funds, U.S. De
partment of Transportation officials
said Tuesday.
William Hudson, civil rights direc
tor for the federal department, sent
a letter to the state agency giving it
30 days to devise a plan to correct
the inequities.
The federal investigation, carried
out during the last three months of
1989, was prompted by a discrimina
tion complaint filed by the Austin
branch of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People in March 1989 on behalf of
several minority employees.
Gary Bledsoe, who filed the com
plaint for the NAACP, said he was
pleased with the action.
“We’ll be pressing for the with
holding of the federal funds and
some other legislative changes if
they do not come into compliance,”
Bledsoe said. “We’re going to be
working to bring it into the 20th cen
tury, because they’re way, way be
hind time.”
Hudson said the investigation
showed that not enough blacks are
hired, and that too few blacks, His-
panics and women hold top agency
positions.
The federal report said that His-
panics and women had made recent
gains at the department. However, it
said the progress of black workers
has been less impressive
The State Department of High
ways and Public Transportation dis
puted the findings.
“We do not discriminate in hiring.
We do not discriminate in promo
tions. We remain diligent in seeking
out qualified candidates for hiring
and promotion, especially blacks,
Hispanics and women,” said Byron
Blaschke, deputy engineer-director
for the department.
Blaschke said mbst of the report’s
recommendations already had been
instituted during the past three
years, although Bledsoe discounted
the changes as “window dressing.”
Blaschke said the department
would consider what Bledsoe and
others said was perhaps the most
needed change: advertising adminis
trative jobs, instead of solely promot
ing from within the agency.
OPENS FRIDAY MARCH 8TH AT A THEATRE NEAR YOU
D£5!QN/4T£I>
Mkryi
ToNiqHTW
At
DUDDLEY'S DRAW
&
SNEAKERS
DESIGNATED DRIVERS GET FREE
SOFT DRINKS AND THE CHANCE TO
WIN FABULOUS PRIZES.
Wherever you go tonight, have a
DE5iqWT6T) D£1V/£I>.
Management of Alcohol, and the Center for
Drug Prevention and Education.
For more information call: 845-0280