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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1999)
The FRIDAY April 23, 1999 Volume 105 • Issue 135 • 12 Pages College Station, Texas 105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY • Timeless classics of Shakespeare take Hollywood by storm, become top box office hits PAGE 11 Battalion Radio Find out about Hoof and Woof Polo for Puppies Exhibition on 90.9 KAMU-FM at 1:57p.m. e in Us rash kills 11 -year old Student attributes accident to recent car troubles i lipopir le nonr.: samples ■m emenis; fflf BY BETH MILLER AND MARIUM MOHIUDDIN eLDLcU The Battalion eople, d thai ass detent bearings: dure cans look 721?: frformed: 1 comp pids ands: d the a# lationcac! nt and pr? lire ana - ;ment oft i lifebvgl nbo worlt ig if my: 1 put in c le resea/i’ criers’ " ;roup/ma( crsities st place fo itck oul: -rsitvsft'R TE Wit not-so-rfi m funds, ss :r roomirs thanks t [ the perso'‘ e that lit! move ii' ,: place V hassles laning ^street ie in. B'kn accident involving a black 199S GMC Jimmy driven by a Tex. < A&M student that crashed into a duplex on Southwest Parkway late Wednesday, fatal ly injuring an 11-year-old girl is still under investigation by Col lege Station police. Mpaime Drewyor, a fifth-grade student at Oakwood Intermedi ate School vrv College Station, was asleep when the Jimmy crashed through her bedroom wall pinning her beneath the ve hicle. ■She was taken to College Sta tion Medical Center and later pronounced dead. ■Raul Gonzalez, a neighbor, tried to rescue Jaime. ■“The mother was running around outside, and she was hysterical and looked desper ate,” he said. “1 tried to help [Jaime] out of there. I jumped ovei the truck and was throwing things around looking for her. I couldn’t find her because she was under the [Jimmy].” ■Preliminary investigation showed that the eastbound Jim my, driven by junior kinesiolo gy major Stephen Maris, struck a westbound 1972 Volkswagen Beetle. ■ The Jimmy crossed the on coming lanes and entered the front yard of the duplex. The vechicle scraped a tree and crashed through the wall, police said in a news release. K Police Sgt. Gary Bishop said Maris passed a sobriety test at the scene and a breathalyzer test at the police station. No charges have been filed against Maris. ■ Eric Domagalski, driver of the Beetle and a sophomore business administration major, declined to comment. ■ Maris said he experienced car trouble Wednesday and said he believes it may have caused the accident. I “I had had a problem with the car earlier that day where I felt like I had a flat tire, but I checked a couple of times, and I [didn’t have a flat tire,” he said, “j talked to my dad about it and some other people, and they MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion A College Station police officer investigates the GMC Jimmy that crashed through a house and killed an 11-year-old girl Wednesday night. thought it could be something, maybe faulty steering. I may have veered into the [turning lane] and had a hard time com pensating. “I think the initial impact may have knocked me out, and my weight pushed onto the ac- “It's something that I am going to think about for a long time. The only thing that keeps my mind straight is that i was not under the influence/' — Stephen Maris Junior kinesiology major celerator, and my car picked up speed.” Maris said he feels like the accident was out of his hands because it happened so fast and he could not control the vehicle. “I actually saw the para medics carrying [Jaime] on the stretcher,” he said. “It’s some thing that I am going to think about for a long time. The only thing that keeps my mind straight is that I was not under the influence. It’s just a terrible thing.” Maris said people often find lessons in accidents, but he does not feel like he could have acted much differently. “I wish I could say, ‘I wish I was a more defensive driver,’ but I don’t feel like I was negli gent in that. I feel like I am a pretty defensive driver,” he said. Kelly Webber, a neighbor, said Jaime was an energetic, sweet girl. “She was really high-spirited, and nothing got her down,” she said. “My kids loved to play II The accident occured at 1609 Southwest Parkway. MMM Southvs < ? st Pkwy. with her when they got home from school.” Oakwood Intermediate School officials said counselors I GRAPHIC BY ROBERT HYNECEK in the area spent yesterday vis iting with students and teachers. The Drewyor family declined to comment. Council debates garbage BY CARRIE BENNETT The Battalion The College Station City Council postponed a vote on a proposed agreement last night with the Northgate Merchants Association for litter control and event coordination in the Northgate area. Kelley Chapman, public relations and market ing manager for College Station, said the proposed agreement would make the Northgate Merchants Association responsible for removing garbage and would require them to sponsor a minimum of 12 events per year for two years in the promenade area behind the Dixie Chicken and other North- gate businesses. The garbage clean-up and event coordination were linked in the proposal because they both in volved an agreement between College Station and the Northgate Merchants Association. Steve Esmond, city council member, expressed concern over the fact that the service work was not put up for public bid so that private businesses in the area would be able to compete for the job. “It is awkward not bidding out work like this because we bid out janitorial work, which is also considered service work,” Esmond said. George K. Noe, city manager, said based on past experience, letting the Northgate Merchants As sociation clean up the trash is more cost effective. Esmond disagreed. “This is private property, so why is it cost ef fective to pay someone to clean up their own property?” he said. Benito Flores-Meath said the student-run or ganization, Bottoms Up Clean Up, has been clean ing the Northgate area voluntarily for two years. “The students start cleaning at 1 a.m. on Sun day and collect at least one bag of bottles, two bags of cans and two bags of trash each time,” Flores-Meath said. “Some of the trash has been faded by the sun, which makes it appear that the Northgate Merchants Association is not doing an adequate job of cleaning the area.” Northgate merchants have been responsible for cleaning up their respective areas from Sept. 1, 1998 until this past December. John Raney, president of the Northgate Mer chants Association, said he would like to assess members for the cost of trash pick-up, which in volves charging the Northgate business owners a price to pick up the garbage. However, he said he thinks the theory is unrealistic. “Most of the area is city property, which in cludes the promenade,” Raney said. “We wanted to be good neighbors and include the area church es.” Raney said he thought the association was be ing generous by offering to clean up the trash for a small amount. Lynn Mcllhaney, College Station mayor, said the staff will get more background and legal in formation concerning the issue, and the event co ordination agreement will be deferred to the Texas A&M Student Senate to review. Special Olympics draws 500 BY SALLIE TURNER The Battalion A show of strength, courage and sports- manship will highlight Special Olympics: T|xas Area Six games Friday and Saturday at the A&M Consolidated High School Tiger Stadium. I Diedre Smith, special events director and public relations for Special Olympics, said more than 500 athletes will participate in tfack and field games, cycling, gymnastics and golf. ■ Special Olympics athletes are mentally handicapped and range in age from 8 to 18. ■any of the athletes train all year for the com petition and the event in College Station is a qualifying event for the state tournament. I “Special Olympics is a time for athletes to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a ist of gifts and skills,” she said. “[Partici pants] also develop friendships with their Imilies, other athletes and the community through participating in Special Olympics.” Volunteers for this weekend’s games in clude Texas A&M sororities and fraternities, service organizations and other student or ganizations. Over 100 participants are ex pected and Alpha Phi Omega is working to recruit volunteers. Jefferson Rogers, volunteer coordinator of Special Olympics and a junior speech com munication major, said volunteers perform jobs including aiding the athletes in getting to their events and congratulating them at the end. “We always have had enough people to do the track events, but not enough people to be buddies with the athletes throughout the day,” he said. Rogers contacted student organizations to recruit other volunteers and has had more than 150 people sign up to help. “It is hard to get volunteers because of Derby Days and finals coming up,” he said. “Even with finals and everything else that I have going on, being a volunteer is worth it A - N y \ TERRY ROBERSON/The Battalion Marilyn Zaelac practices at Research park for her Special Olympics 5K and 10K cycling event this weekend. when you see the smile on an athlete’s face.” Rogers said his experience as a volunteer last year was a rewarding part of the event. “[The athletes] really do love having the volunteers being there, and it means so much to the athletes to know that all the people are cheering just for them,” he said. Whoopstock 7th annual festival promotes diverse culture appreciation, features bands BY EMILY R. SNOOKS The Battalion Everyone is welcome to test their cricket spitting skills at Whoopstock from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday at O.R. Simpson Drill Field. The 7th annual Whoopstock festival will be presented by the Multicultural Services Department. Ryan Searight, a director of activities for the Multicultural Services Depart ment and a sophomore agricultural journalism major, said Whoopstock promotes appreciation for the diverse cultures at A&M. “Whoopstock is an event that fo cuses on the importance and value of an inclusive campus environment,” he said. Holly Doughty, director of multicul tural services and a senior agricultural development and entomology major, said international student organizations will participate in six performances and prepare international cuisine. Performers will include the Aggie Wranglers; D.R.U.M., a reggae band; Invisible Cindy, a 1960s-type of band; DDK, a rap group; children from ’Mag- ination Station; and youth members of the Bahai faith. Contests will include a jalapeno eat ing contest, a water balloon toss, a suit case relay and a cricket spitting contest using frozen crickets donated by the en tomology club. see Whoopstock on Pape 12.
