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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 24, 1993)
»e 23,1993 nale troud tug. Cheats' The Battalion Vol. 92 No. 163 (6 pages) 1893 - A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 ' Thursday, June 24,1993 Con man harasses B-CS residents, A&M students Man threatens suicide to gain sympathy, often targets apartment complexes By LAURA HALEY The Battalion A man in the Bryan-College Station area has been harassing and conning resi dents, particularly college students. Col lege Station Police Sgt. Robert Cahill said Wednesday. Victims describe the man as an African-American, approximately 21 years old. The man uses the same technique and targets apartment complexes and grocery stores, Cahill said. The man has victimized Bryan-College Station residents for about a year and half and usually singles out college-age males, he said. The man usually tries to enter the vic tim's residence by asking for a drink of water or for use of the phone, Cahill said. Once he enters the residence, he tells vic tims either he was raped by four white males or that his brother is a dope dealer and his brother's friends are after him. The man also threatens suicide to gain the victim's sympathy, he said. Cahill said the man usually asks the victims to hug and tickle him and occa sionally asks for money. One victim, Larry (not his real name), said he mistakenly yelled for the man to enter his apartment because he thought it was a friend knocking on the door. Larry and several friends spent eight and a half hours trying to console the man. "He just seemed so pathetic and suici dal," he said. They gave the man food, money and a ride to another location. "You have to understand the situation we were in," Larry said. "We didn't want him to stomp out and kill himself." After the man left, Larry and his friends grew suspicious and decided to notify the police. "You have to understand the situation we were in, we didn't want him to stomp out and kill himself." -'Larry/ victim of con man Cahill said many people call the sta tion about the man, but there is not any thing the police can do until someone presses charges. The police would like more people to come forward and press charges; howev er, many are too embarrassed, and most times, the man does not do anything criminal, Cahill said. "Not everyone is victimized by him but they are bothered," he said. Timm Doolen, a microcomputer spe cialist working at A&M for the Texas State Chemist office, said the man came to his residence last September. The man said he had been raped and threatened suicide. Doolen and his roommates spent several hours talking to the man. "When someone says something like this, you take them pretty seriously," he said. "When someone says they're going to kill himself, you don't slam the door in their face." Cahill said most people are truly sym pathetic and try to help the man. "Ninety-nine percent of these people are genuinely nice people who are con cerned," he said. After finding out they have been conned, many of the victims felt they had been taken advantage of. "We felt taken," Doolen said. "You just try to help somebody and they do this to you," another victim (not his real name) said. "I and all of my friends gave this guy so much of our time." Cahill recommends people do not let anyone in their house to use the phone or get a drink of water. People should also be leery of phone calls from individuals claiming they received the number from an organization or friend and need coun seling, he said. The man has threatened a few individ uals, but so far, nothing has come of it, Cahill said. "It's kind of sickening that he's done this for so long," Cahill Said. Rosas Ur lowntown riday and ‘servations Box Office on service vents and Vhat's Up i later than esired run ilines and i and will p. If you the news- ing linton just a chance it to do." donday, bul m Paradise, ie television now if Clin- eged to tall 46, have the few months i about nine r remarried stepfather, nts of Clin- vas Blythe's ty after The ecords show i December th. The con- er was bom Lion e last year's s limited to , this year's a extend to 1. iverseas has idtrip flight Paris costs more than i $950 from down from cheaper air s may help es from the by the Gulf o and pro- ornly slotf American expected to million this >ercent from 'ding to the immission he all-time U.S. travel- New guidelines give regents closer look at system budget By JENNIFER SMITH The Battalion The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents on Wednesday adopted a 1994 bud get calendar and budget guide lines which will attempt to in volve regents more in the system's budget process. In a phone meeting at the re gent's annex in the Memorial Stu dent Center, the Board began the preliminary phase of A&M's bud get process. In previous years, the chancel lor's office came to the Board with a complete budget for approval. This year, the budget will be giv en to the regents Aug. 13, and they will have the opportunity to discuss and revise it at an Aug. 20 workshop. The regents will then have 11 days to review the System's bud get until they meet to approve it Aug. 31. Ross Margraves, chairman of the Board, said this revision, espe cially the workshop, will keep re gents closely involved in the bud get process. "The purpose is to bring the re gents more into the process of how the budget got to where it is instead of just throwing a 20-page document at them and asking for their approval," Margraves said. Margraves said it is especially important for the budget process to be explained and reviewed be cause the Board has three new members. John H. Lindsey, T. Michael O'Connor and M. Guadalupe Lopez Rangel joined the Board in February and have not yet gone through A&M's bud get process. Penny Beaumont, vice chancel lor for communications for the A&M System, said detailing the budget process to the new regents is essential. "We're talking about a $1.1 bil lion budget, so they want to have a greater sense of how it is pre pared," she said. Margraves said this process will allow the regents to question why an item is in the budget and exactly what it will be used for. That way. Margraves said, the re gents will have the opportunity to give their input, make changes and additions and cut items from the budget. During the meeting, regent Bill Clayton requested the chancellor's office select some part of the A&M System, like the College of Liberal Arts, to give a detailed, itemized example of their budget for the Board to review. "We want to know how they come up with their budgets," Margraves said. In previous years. Margraves said the System's office reviewed and recommended the entire Sys tem budget for approval. Dr. Eddie Davis, executive deputy chancellor for the A&M System, said in the past, the chan cellor's office came to the Board with a complete budget. "I think this will be a budget all of the Board will be satisfied with," Davis said. "I think this will help everyone look at the budget while it is being compiled." Margraves agreed the regents should be more involved in the budget process. "In the past, the budget has been put together and orchestrat ed by the chancellor's office," Margraves said. "The voice of the Board said they wanted to be more involved in the budget process." The final version of the budget will be approved Aug. 31. Mixed reactions greet alternative fuel bill By LISA ELLIOTT The Battalion Environmentalists are cheering a new bill signed by Gov. Ann Richards last week allowing state finan- dal support to groups experimenting with alterna tive fuels; however, Texas A&M engineers and econ omists say the bill is pointless. In recent years, engineers have started research on finding alternatives to gasoline, petroleum and other fossil fuels in response to growing concerns about the effects of fossil fuel emissions on the environ ment. The bill, signed on June 15, will create The Alter native Fuels Conversion Fund and The Alternative Fuels Council, which will operate as a state agency and have the authority to finance activities support ing and encouraging the use of alternative fuels. Richards said in a press release, "The reasons to promote alternative fuels are self evident: it is good for the state's economy and for the people of Texas." Environmental groups are pleased with the bill, and say it is a step in the right direction. Diane Craig, executive director of Brazos Beauti ful, said the bill is important for the preservation of the environment. "Anything that improves our environment for us and for our future is important," she said. Craig said this bill shows the government is start ing to realize that our fossil fuels won't last forever. She said she is pleased legislation is being passed expressing the need for better methods of taking care of the environment. "They're finally starting to realize this garbage is staying with us forever," Craig said. "It'll be here with our children and our children's children." * She said education is the most valuable tool for improving the environment. "The people of Brazos County are some of the most educated and most sensitive to the needs of the environment than most other areas of the country," she said. But economists and engineers say the bill proba bly won't change the current use of fuels. Dr. Richard Davison, professor of chemical engi neering, said he is not in support of mandating the funding. He said the bill's supporters will have to show it will be economical for drivers for the bill to catch on. "Unless it will save taxpayers money, I see no need for it," he said. It would not be feasible for the public unless all gas stations offer the alternative fu els, Davison said. He said he drove a car running on propane for a few years and another running on alcohol, but he had them converted because it was more economical to drive a car that runs on gasoline. Davison said natural gas is the only other alterna tive, and it is very difficult to use because natural gas cannot be easily turned to liquid. "It may be economical for some cars but for the average person it is not necessary," he said. Richards said the natural gas industry is very See Alternative/Page 2 On the green RICHARD UlXON/lhe Battalion Kelsey Atkinson, the four year-old daughter of at Putt-Putt Golf in College Station. "Golf is a hard Frank and Debbie Atkinson of Normangee holed it game, but it's my favorite," Kelsey said, in four for a double bogey Wednesday afternoon Inside Sports •Lady Aggie Basketball player selected for Olympic Festival •New sports complex gets mixed reviews Page 3 Aggielife •A&M hosts Taylor Publishing communications workshop •'What's Love Got To Do With It?' Tina Turner's life story Page 4 Weather ►Thursday: partly cloudy with scattered mainly afternoon showers, highs in the 90s ►Forecast for Friday: Partly cloudy with a chance of afternoon rain Texas Lotto ►Winning lottery numbers: 14, 28, 21,40, 16, 1 Serbs, Croats offer 'partition plan' at summit THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GENEVA - The leaders of Serbia and Croatia presented pro posals Wednesday for carving up Bosnia-Herzegovina, but gave few firm details on separating the three warring ethnic factions. Bosnia's Muslim president stayed away from the talks, saying the Serb-Croat plan would lead to his republic's formal disintegration. But seven members of Bosnia's col lective presidency attended. President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and President Franjo Tudjman of Croatia presented par tition maps to international media tors at a four-hour session in the village of Enthod outside Geneva. Lord Owen, a mediator for the European Community whose own peace proposal was rejected by Bosnian Serbs, said Serb and Croat leaders agreed on the principles of a three-way ethnic split, but the proposed boundaries were vague. “The Serbs and Croats rather disappointed us in terms of not coming up with anything specific on the map, but maybe that's a good idea because some of the things we heard we didn't like,” Owen told reporters. He refused to elaborate. The partition plan is the latest attempt to end the 15-month war that has left at least 138,000 peo ple dead or missing since Bosnia's Muslims and Croats vot ed to secede from Serb-dominat ed Yugoslavia. Bosnia's Muslims have suffered the most in the war and control only small pockets of territory. Apparently hoping to consoli date land grabs in anticipation of the country's division, Croat and Muslim forces are expelling each other's civilians from villages throughout central Bosnia, a U.N. official said. “It is a process that is going on in that whole central area at the moment,” said Lt. Col. Patricia Purvey, spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers in Sarajevo. "Both sides are emptying out villages of the other ethnic group." Owen said the seven members of the Bosnian presidency would meet with Milosevic and Tudjman late Wednesday after two sessions with the mediators. But the presi dency members will make no deci sion on any proposals, Owen said. Bosnia's president, Alija Izetbe- govic, has said the delegation has no negotiating authority and would merely report back to him. Izetbegovic has refused to ne gotiate a split that would leave Bosnian Serbs and Croats with large, contiguous areas, arguing that would reward deportations terror designed to chase out other ethnic groups. He also fears the Serbs would link their land to Ser bia and Croat-held land would be absorbed by Croatia.