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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1998)
[ardi Texas A & M University r it they# y agair,# ; teamr*, iferenct# in confe •re; teed to; t “f H YEAR»ISSUE 116* 10 PAGES at 8:1 m., bo: 75 TODAY I-’ ^ f i*. Ui TOMORROW COLLEGE STATION • TX MONDAY • MARCH 30 • 1998 westigation probes stolen campaign signs " *y Robert Smith City editor Student Election Commission (SEC) led a special meeting late last night s of determining who is responsible ipaign signs that were stolen and re- 1 on,, Saturday. roximately 20 student election cam- igns were returned to the SEC Satur- nmoon. /ersity Police Department officials mday they are investigating the signs issue but would not com ment on any details of the investigation until today. Alice Gonzales, speaker of the senate and a junior agricultural development major, said the “sandwich-board” signs, which are four-foot wooden signs, be longed to 11 students running for junior and senior yell leaders, all of whom are not in the Corps of Cadets. Only five of the 18 students running for the leader positions are in the Corps of Cadets. Three seniors and two juniors will be elected as yell leaders by the student body Wednesday and Thursday. “Someone called me at 12 (noon) on Sat urday ... and I was told that the signs had been recovered,” Gonzales said. “Some of the signs were found on the side of the road on 2818.” She said the signs are now sitting in her back yard and they will be returned to the candidates. The signs were stolen from all four of the locations where signs are allowed by the election commission — West Cam pus, Sbisa Dining Hall, the Commons and the MSC. Gonzales estimated the signs were stolen between 2 a.m to 6 a.m. Saturday morning. Murray Van Eman, the student elections commissioner, said in a telephone inter view before the meeting he did not know who stole the signs or what motives the per petrators may have had. “I’m going to talk to the yell leader can didates in the Corps first before I talk to any one else,” he said. “They are the first ones we will be looking at. We want to find out if they know anything about it.” Van Eman, a senior animal science major, said he was attending a conference in Mid land when he found out the signs were stolen. Van Eman said he would not release the names of the individuals who returned the signs until after last night’s meeting. “If we disclose incomplete informa tion, it makes it easier for rumors to be spread,” he said. “But if we wait until after we make a complete investigation, it will be much harder for people to make gen eral assumptions. “We’re not trying to cover it up, we’re just trying to get to the bottom of this. I took an early flight so we could have this meeting tonight,” he said. Student election campaign signs have been on campus for a week. >aking up the sun CORY WILLIS/The Battalion »tina Haugaard, a junior business analysis major, participates in the Phi Beta Lambda Pledge Car Wash on Sunday afternoon. Pledge cries foul UTfraternity faces hazing allegation, pledge says he will not press charges, but will file civil suit AUSTIN (U-Wire) — University of Texas officials are investigating hazing allega tions against the Kappa Alpha fraternity af ter a UT freshman alleged he was spat upon, urinated on and thrown against a wall by members of the group. Tim Hesselsweet, a freshman, said he suffered bruises and a concussion after fra ternity members grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him against a wall during a pledge meeting Feb. 15. According to Hesselsweet and his attor ney, Bill Whitehurst, Hesselsweet was hos pitalized for at least three days in Bracken- ridge Hospital following the incident. Hesselsweet said the alleged hazing oc curred at the UT Kappa Alpha house and that about six students were present, most of them fellow pledge brothers. “He was taken into the basement of the fraternity house and beat upon and spat on and urinated on and pushed up against a wall with such force that it cracked his skull,” Whitehurst said. Whitehurst said no criminal charges will be filed against members of the group, but said he will file civil complaints against fraternity members. Sherri Sanders, associate dean of stu dents, said the university is beginning to in vestigate the matter and could not comment further, but she added that the university will investigate both the individuals involved in the incident and the group as a whole. UT officials were informed March 16 about the situation by a letter from the na tional office of the Kappa Alpha Fraterni ty, she said. “The real tragedy is that we’ve had so many things like this at the University of Texas and the fraternities don’t get the mes sage,” Whitehurst, an Austin attorney with the firm ofWhitehurst, Harkness, Ozmun and Archuleta, added, “This could have been a death, very easily.” He added that doctors have advised Hesselsweet to drop all but one of his class es and not to drive due to his injuries. Jim Ewbank, an Austin attorney repre senting the fraternity, refused to talk about the matter Thursday. For other members of Austin’s Greek community, news of the Kappa Alpha in vestigation was disheartening. Briefs Republic of Texas couple have day in court econference discuss alcohol national teleconference, “Solu- for Reducing High-Risk Alcohol n the College Community,” is jiuled today in room 292 of the nrial Student Center from 1 p.m. i.ml to discuss alcohol abuse on ■ ;e campuses. 11 open forum for discussion will diately follow until 4 p.m. e national teleconference is spon- I byfthe University of Vermont, irticipants include experts in al- i abuse research and alcohol a prevention programs, istin Sayre, Alcohol Abuse Task : chair and associate director of lep^rtment of student life, said 10I can keep students from be- uccessful. t Dennis Reardon, senior coordi- ' for alcohol and drug education ams at Texas A&M, said the pur- of the teleconference is to gather nation both locally and nationally. A/e’re trying to get a collaboration brmation from those in the field, ents and staff from all over the try as well as locally,” he said. emo reiterates ection policies ampaigning for student body tions has begun. A memorandum i Vice President for Student Af- Malon Southerland reminds the 1 community that any type of cam- ning in classrooms is prohibited, includes T-shirts, buttons, stick- flyers, backpack tags, marking chalkboards or speaking to the s about the elections. The first 3d of campaigning ends Tuesday midnight. Students will vote Inesday and Thursday, and re- s will be announced Thursday it.If runoffs are needed, runoff ipaigning begins after results and tinues through April 7, when it s at midnight. Students will vote in April 8 and 9, and runoff results oe announced the night of April 9. EL PASO (AP) — Outlandish objections and repeated ejections are not expected to be a part of the next trial for Republic of Texas members who engaged police in a weeklong armed standoff. Attorneys anticipate a normal day in court Monday when jury selection begins in the case of Gregg and Karen Paulson, not a repeat of the bizarre spectacle that was separatist leader Richard McLaren’s trial last fall. Defense lawyers say the Paulsons still cling to the Republic’s beliefs that Texas is an inde pendent nation. But they are prepared to mount a defense even if they do not acknowl edge the authority of the state district court where they will be tried in Fort Stockton. “Up to now, they have still let the lawyers handle the show. They’re putting in a lot of in put but so far it’s been as the judge, and I think everyone else, had hoped,” said Ben Buecker, Karen Paulson’s attorney. The husband and wife each are charged with one count of burglary with intent to com mit a felony for their role in storming a neigh bor’s home in the isolated Davis Mountains Re sort, 175 miles southeast of El Paso. The April 27 abduction of Joe and M A. Rowe touched off a standoff between Republic mem bers and scores of state troopers that only end ed after McLaren and most of his group agreed to lay down their weapons a week later. McLaren and his chief aide, Robert “White Eagle” Otto, were convicted Oct. 31 on orga nized crime charges stemming from the siege. The Paulsons and another group member, Richard Keyes III, who also was involved in the hostage situation, originally faced the same ’Up till now, they have still let the lawyers handle the show.” Ben Buecker Attorney for Karen Paulson charge but were re-indicted on the burglary count earlier this year. Both charges carry the same penalty: five to 99 years or life in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine. District Attorney Albert Valadez said prose cutors could not have proved the organized crime charge without the testimony of McLaren and Otto, something that was unlike ly to happen given case histoiy. McLaren and Otto represented themselves during their trial and spent most of the time ar guing the court was a sham and insisting they were foreign nationals. Attorneys say the Paulsons have indicated they will follow court rules. “It will make it a little more orthodox for me because I will be dealing with lawyers who un derstand the rules.... It will make our presenta tion of evidence much easier,” said Valadez. Clearing the stage ****>«>». BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion The lead singer of Sixteen Deluxe, performs outside of Fitzwilly’s Friday evening as part of the North by Northgate music festival. See Page 3 for a wrap up of the weekend's events. Despite law, castration still not allowed on inmate DALLAS (AP) — Months after a Texas law permitting voluntary castration of repeat sex offenders took effect, state prison officials have not approved or scheduled anyone’s operation. The child molester who in spired the law — and the one who has requested the surgery — is eli gible for parole this year. Larry Don McQuay, who made headlines by begging the state to castrate him so his sex drive would be reduced, says he has molested more than 200 children. He says he applied for the surgery in hopes of controlling his pedophilic impulses, but is eligible for parole in November. Although state officials have called parole for McQuay extreme ly unlikely, he wrote The Dallas Morning News that “I will be walk ing the streets of your city, your community, your neighborhoods. “And without a doubt, there will be children around,” he wrote. “You tell me what is likely to hap pen if I am not castrated before I am released.” A law permitting voluntary cas tration of repeat sex offenders was approved by the Texas Legislature in 1997 and took effect in May. But Glen Castlebury, spokesper son for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said no castra tions are scheduled because offi cials are still working out the details of implementing the new law. Castlebury said the corrections department has drafted a contract with the University of Texas Med ical Branch at Galveston to per form surgical castrations. The medical branch is one of two university hospitals — Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is the other — that provide prison health care. Until that contract is finalized, the Board of Criminal Justice that governs the prison system is not going to consider any rules or pro cedures for carrying out the cas tration law, said Castlebury. “The contract is the only pa perwork in progress,” he said. “Until that’s done, we’ll have no process in place to accommodate Mr. McQuay. He can file his re quest. Any offender can. But it’s meaningless. He might as well file his laundry list.” INSIDE — aggie! iff — Martin: Meet the Deedles embodies a film for individuals who do not like to think. See Page 4 sports Aggie baseball team sweeps KSU to earn first place tie in Big 12 standings. See Page 7 opinion Ferguson: Proposed tax on junk food violates Americans’ right to feed on fat. See Page 9 online http: / / battalion, tamu.edu Hook up with state and na tional news through The Wire, AP’s 24-hour online news service.