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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 1999)
Page 2 • Wednesday, July 7, 1999 Mexican Mafia defendant sentenced to life in prison SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A federal judge sentenced a Mexican Mafia mem ber Tuesday to life in prison for his role in a series of robberies, drug deals and mur ders. Robert “Robe” Herrera was one of 10 defendants convicted in March of racke teering and racketeering conspiracy. He was the first to be sentenced. Others face sentencing this week. U.S. District Judge Ed Prado ordered Herrera to serve a life prison sentence for each of the two counts. The sentences will run concurrently. Prado imposed no fine, ruling Herrera had no ability to pay. “It’s been hard on myself and it’s been hard on my family,” Herrera told the judge. “I am finally a.free person because I’m free from sin from Christ, Jesus.” Alan Futrell, Herrera’s lawyer, told the judge Herrera is sorry and that Herrera was asking the court for forgiveness. “I will tell you, judge, this young man has good intellect,” Futrell said. “He’s somewhat charismatic, and I believe him to be a sincere believer in the Lord.” But Prado adhered to federal sentenc ing guidelines and imposed the life sen tences federal rules called for based on Herrera’s case and criminal history. Herrera plans to appeal his conviction, his lawyer said. Herrera, 25, was alleged to have been a captain in the Texas Mexican Mafia, a prison-spawned gang-. The 15 killings prosecutors accused the organization of committing beginning in 1994 included the August 1997 shot gun slayings of five people during a rob bery at a house in San Antonio. Prosecutors alleged gang members sometimes gunned down their own com rades for disloyalty or for bragging about their crimes. The Texas Mexican Mafia, also known as the “Mexikanemi” or “La Erne,” was created by primarily Hispanic inmates in side the state prison system beginning in the mid-1980s, according to the indictment. San Antonio became the group’s “cap ital” though the organization operated throughout Texas, the indictment alleged. Prosecutor Bill Baumann said al though each defendant is different, he an ticipates life sentences will be imposed this week on the other convicted Mexican Mafia members. Police say jewelry links railway killer to murder HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities have linked jewelry found at sus pected serial killer Rafael Re- sendez-Ramirez’s home in Mexi co to one slaying and hope the cache will strengthen other cases, police said Thesday. Thirteen of 93 pieces surren dered last month by Resendez- Ramirez’s common-law wife have been positively identified by rela tives of slain Houston school teacher Noemi Dominguez, Hous ton police Lt. Ron Walker said. Dominguez, 23, was found dead June 5. She was the first of four people police believe Re- sendez-Ramirez killed last month after the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service released him from custody June 2. Resendez-Ramirez, a rail-rid ing drifter who routinely uses aliases, was wanted in Texas at that time, but a fingerprint check on the illegal immigrant did not alert INS officials near El Paso he was a fugitive. Study Continued from Page 1 preparing for a session. Pirolo said the leaders are given a manual which has recommendations, but they are not required to follow it ex actly. “We use games and different techniques to make the session more like a group-study [session] instead of straight teaching,” he said. S.I. sessions will be offered three days a week for an hour and fifteen minutes during the sec ond summer session. Summer sessions are geared towards core curriculum classes, which have a large amount of provisional stu dents. Brandy Hunt, an S.I. leader for POLS 207, State and Local Govern ment, and a junior political science major, said the classes offered dur ing the summer are defined as high- risk classes. This means they are AGGIE RING ORDERS THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS, JR. ALUMNI CENTER DEADLINE: July 8, 1999 Undergraduate Student Requirements: 1. You must be a degree seeking student and have a total of 2^ undergraduate credit hours reflected on the Texas A&M University Student Information Management System. (A passed course, which is repeated and passed, cannot count as additional credit hours.) 60 undergraduate credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University if your first semester at Texas A&M University was January 1994 or thereafter, or if you do not qualify under the suc cessful semester requirement described in the following paragraph. Should your degree be conferred with less than 60 undergraduate resident credits, this requirement will be waived after you graduate and your degree is posted on the Student Information Management System. 30 undergraduate credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University, providing that prior to January 1, 1994, you were registered at Texas A&M University and successfully completed either a fall/spring semester or summer term (I and If or 10 weeks) as a full-time student in good standing (as defined in the University catalog). 3. You must have a 2.0 cumulative GPR at Texas A&M University. 4. You must be in good standing with the University, including i fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc. > registration or transcript blocks for past due Graduate Student Requirements: If you are a August 1999 degree candidate and do not have an Aggie ring from a prior degree, you may place an order after you meet the following requirements: 1. Your degree is conferred and posted on the Texas A&M University Student Information Management System; and 2. You are in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc. However, if you have completed all of your course work prior to this semester and have been cleared by the the sis clerk, you may request a “letter of completion: from the Office of Graduate Studies (providing it is not past their deadline). The original letter of completion, with the seal, may be presented to the Ring Office in lieu of your degree being posted. Procedure to order a ring: 1. If you meet all of the above requirements and you wish to receive your ring on September 16, 1999, you must visit the Ring Office no later than Wednesday, July 7, 1999 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. to complete the application for eligibility verification. It is recommended that you do not wait until July 7 to apply for your ring audit. Should there be a problem with your academic record, or if you are blocked, you may not have sufficient time to resolve these matters before the order closes out on July 8. 2. Return no later than July 7, 1999 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. to check on the status of your audit and if qualified, pay in full by cash, check, money order, or your personal Discover, Visa or MasterCard (with your name imprinted). Men’s 10K Women’s 10K $323.00 $201.00 14K - $426.00 14K - $223.00 Add $8.00 for Class of‘98 or before. The ring delivery date is September 16, 1999. Judge dismisses part of Hampton lawsuit classes which are large or classes in which a lot of students generally fail. “My students who attend S.I. reg ularly generally average 10 points higher on the first test in a class than those that don’t [attend],” she said. Despite the program’s success, the program has not been without problems. Pirolo said plagiarism became a problem for the program last spring when tools such as out lines and study guides began ap pearing at businesses that offer private tutoring. Although the tools bore the Center for Academic En hancement copyright stamp, the problems persisted. He said the center has started using the Texas A&M copyright stamp, which carries more weight than the center’s stamp, to com bat the problem. Pirolo said representatives talked to other tutoring services to solve this problem, and he said he feels the problem has been resolved. LUBBOCK (AP) — A judge on TUesday threw out part of a $30 million civil rights lawsuit filed against the city of Lubbock by the women’s basketball coach of Hampton University, her husband and an assistant coach. The suit, filed April 19, alleges racial bias by police in the wrongful arrest of the three last Nov. 16 outside a Wal-Mart. Hampton was in Lubbock for a basketball game against Texas Tech University, but the game was can celed because of the incident. U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings left much of the lawsuit intact. But he rejected allegations the trio made against the city of Lubbock under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. Cummings said that, under the act, the plaintiffs must have received services from the entity they are accusing, and that did not happen in this case. NUTZ /' / 1Aa), I Cfin'T You 6u Y5> Believe T tOALXEt) 2/ ST/t-L OpEAAA^S^pBg RI OH ^ vCTa d ' TONIGHT! WEDNESDAY. JULY 7 th http://www.stulife.tamu.edu/gies/p1edu/peer1edu.htm .. Assisting i healthy I making ameem nlaMm | Texas M! Do you like to act? Do you like to teaeli? Do you want to make a positive impact at YOUR University AISHIJ receive Course Credit? If you ansivered yes to any of these questions, join Peer 1 Educators! Applications available NOW in 222 Beutel Health Center. Stop by, or call 845-0280. Deadline for turning in applications is July 30. Alcohol and Drug Education Programs 222 Beutel Health Center • 845-0280 htp://www.stulife. tamu.edu/adep a pari of the Division of Student Affairs Piano Bar w/ Steve Green formerly of Pete's Piano in Austin - PARTY SAFE - DESIGNATE A SAFE RIDE Visit our website^ www.tapbcs.com ii iiilh iiilii ill 105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY Kasie Byers, Editor in chief Sallie Turner, Managing Editor Veronica Serrano, Executive Editor Mark McPherson, Graphics Editor Riley LaGrone, Aggielife Editor Doug Shilling, Sports Editor Matt Webber, Night News Editor Sallie Turner, Photo Editor Guy Rogers, Photo Editor Caleb McDaniel, Opinion Ed Veronica Serrano, City Edite Noni Sridhara, Campus Edito Ryan Williams, Web Editor Kyle Whitacre, Radio Prodw Staff Members City - Carrie Bennet, Sameh Fahmy, Ryan West, Suzanne Brabeck & Stuart Hutson. Sports - Jeff Webb, Santosh Venkataraman, Michael Rodgers, Ruth Stephens & Reece Flood. Aggielife - Assistant: Stephen Wells; Aaron Meier, Scott Harris, Brian Fleming & Michael Maddux. Opinion - Tom Owens, Jeff Becker, Mark Passwaters, Marc Grether, Chris Huffines, Megan Wright, Aaron Meier, Beverly Mireles & Ryan Alan Garcia. Photo - JP Beato, Mike Fuentes, Terry Roberson, Bradley Atchison & Anthony Disalvo. Graphics - Assistant: Gabriel Ruenes; Jeffrey! & Michael Wagener. Cartoonists - Ruben Deluna. Copy Editors - Amy Daugherty, Marium Mohi# Mandy Cater Graeber & Aaron Meier. Page Designers- Manisha Parekh. Radio - Andrea Bragdon, Paul Breaux, Amy Campbell, Francis Fernandez, Jason Puckett Stephen Landin & Logan Youree. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Publications,)' Department of Journalism. News offices are in 013 Reed McDonald Building. 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