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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.
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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.