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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1995)
Friday • September 1, 1995 State The Battalion Applications for permit to carry concealed weapons available □The Texas Department of Public Safety estimates that 200,000 Texans will apply for licenses. AUSTIN (AP) — The state’s new concealed-hand gun law will make Texans safer, Gov. George W. Bush declared Thursday, a day before the law goes into effect. “I wouldn’t have signed the bill if I didn t think it was going to make them safer,” Bush said. “And I be lieve it’s going to.” Beginning Friday, Texans may start applying tor handgun permits and taking state-required training courses. Actual carrying of concealed guns won’t be allowed until Jan. 1, 1996. “We want people to understand that even though the law setting up the concealed-hand- gun licensing program is officially in effect as of Friday, this only means the licensing process may begin,” said James R. Wilson, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, which over sees implementation of the law. The agency estimates that 200,000 Texans will apply for handgun permits. So far, more than 30,000 people have mailed in postcards requesting application packets, which will be available starting today. Calls have been pouring into DPS headquarters about the new law, Wilson said, prompt ing the agency to distribute a list of commonly asked ques tions and answers. Bush said he expects some confusion as Texans get used to the law. Legal opinions issued by At torney General Dan Morales this week cleared up some questions regarding the law. Morales ruled that transit authorities and busi nesses may ban guns. He also said counties may pro hibit concealed handguns within county parks, but cities cannot do the same within city parks. Firearms instructors and range operators who plan to offer the training classes said they’re ready. Calvin Tidwell, an instructor at Red’s Indoor Range in Austin, begins teaching his first course on Sunday. With 700 people already signed up, Tidwell said no one should expect the classes to run perfectly at first. “It’s going to be like anything else. When you first start teaching a course, you have a few bugs to work out,” he said. Suit filed against UT Cowboys □ A 19-year-old student from Idaho drowned while swimming fully clothed in the Colorado River at the initiation ceremony. AUSTIN (AP) — The mother of a University of Texas student who drowned while swimming during an initiation ceremony into the Texas Cowboys has filed a wrong ful death lawsuit against the school spirit group. The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Ruth Muffett asks for unspec ified damages for the loss of her son as well as punitive damages for the Cowboys’ “gross negli gence” and “conscious indiffer- tnce” to the death. Gabriel Benjamin Higgins, 19, of Pocatello, Idaho, drowned April 29 while swimming fully clothed in the Colorado River. At the time, Higgins was at tending the organization’s initia tion ceremony, or “picnic.” “Our bottom line is that hazing killed this young man. I think these parents want change,” said Jeff Rusk, the lawyer representing Higgins’ mother. The lawsuit alleges the group’s picnic was the culmina tion of hazing activities that be gan in February when Higgins was “tapped in,” or selected for membership in the group. It also alleges that Higgins, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, was “physically whipped, beaten and struck” as part of the “tap in” ritual. Individual. Cowboys officers named as defendants in the suit — spring foreman Carter Bechtol, fall ’94 foreman David McArthur, vice president Corby McWilliams, pledge educator Grover Geisel- man and treasurer Brooks Meltzer - could not immediately be reached for comment. The lawsuit says James Michael Morgan, who owns the farm near Smithville where the group gathered, “recklessly permitted hazing to occur, failed to supervise the group and allowed minors to consume alcohol on his property. The allegations in the lawsuit are consistent with the findings of the University of Texas dean of students’ office. Dean Sharon Justice found hazing had occurred, and she can celed the Cowboys’ student orga nization registration for five years. Her action means the group cannot continue its tradition of fir ing Smokey the Cannon at Long horn football games or participate in intramural activities, post signs or raise funds on campus. A hearing examiner, acting on an appeal filed by the Cowboys, re duced the punishment to a three- year registration cancellation, fol lowed by a year on probation. The dean has appealed that ruling. U) w\ o S< Z N OH O CL DOMINO’S® PRESENTS w ^ GAME ESSENTIALS: THE TUBE WIDE SCREEN IS GOOD. WIDEST SCREEN IS BEST. 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