Thursday. Octobers,
J I iKII set,IS ( >C|mIxT
NATION
THE BATTALION
Page 5B
is CPS |Murder suspect kills herself
tigates
ble
Woman kills another to steal unborn child, police say
gence
— A Dallas Child Pro
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ic two living children of I
ames Estrada,
i died Sept. 24 aftei
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er. The Dallas Count;
Office ruled the deatt|
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CPS are conducting nil
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senting the family
olid people,” Gary Pj
lias Morning News ini
s. “The cops and the I
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:cused.”
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re placed in a foster|
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omplaints have bepn
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Ts death and allege
RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) —A baby was in good condi
tion Wednesday after he was removed from his slain moth
er’s womb by another woman, who passed the child off as
her own until committing suicide as police closed in.
The infant was in the temporary custody of the
Portage County Department of Human Services. DNA
tests were conducted to verify paternity.
The case was uncovered Tuesday'when police ar
rived at Michelle Bica’s home to question her about
the week-old disappearance of Theresa Andrews, who
lived four blocks away. Before police could reach her,
Bica shot herself.
' The 8-pound, 6-ounce baby boy was found in her
home. The body of Andrews, 23, was found buried in
Bica’s dirt-floor garage.
Portage County Coroner Roger Marcial said Andrews
was shot once in the back and likely died instantly. The
.22-caliber bullet matched ammunition in the gun Bica
used to kill herself.
i Marcial said the straight cut of the crude Caesarean
section on Andrews led him to conclude that the baby
Was removed after the shooting. “I just figure if the cut
ting was done before she died, there would have been a
lot of struggling,” he said.
Andrews’ due date was Wednesday.
, The baby was listed in good condition Wednesday at
Robinson Memorial Hospital.
,, Andrews’ husband, Jon, was awaiting DNA tests to
(jonfirm that the healthy infant is his son. The results of
those tests could come Wednesday, said Andrews’ attor
ney, Nicholas Phillips.
“He’s a long way from facing reality,” Phillips said of
his client. “It’s such a difficult, unique situation where
you’re enjoying your newborn son and mourning the loss
of your wife.”
Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci said the baby probably
was delivered Sept. 27, the day Andrews disappeared in
Ravenna, a city of about 12,000, some 30 miles south
east of Cleveland.
Marcial said traces of blood found in the Bica house
indicate Andrews was shot in the first-floor laundry
room there.
On the day she disappeared, Andrews had paged her
husband at work and said a woman had called inquiring
about a 1999 Jeep Wrangler they were trying to sell.
Andrews, a sheet-metal worker, told police that when
he got home at 4:30 p.m., the house was open, the vehi
cle gone and his wife missing. Police found the vehicle
about a block away and later found the Jeep keys in
Bica’s purse.
There was no indication whether the women had
known each other. A series of cellular phone calls to the
Andrews’ house led police to Bica.
On Monday, officers questioned Bica about the Sept.
27 calls. When police returned that night, they heard a
gunshot and found her body in an upstairs bedroom.
Her husband, Thomas Bica, 41, a county corrections
officer, was questioned and released.
t Hot Dogs
Dr. Peppers
ry Night!
ssional
3 and
■
Sex offenders’ release
causes victims alarm
DENVER (AP) — A court ruling that could free more than 100 Col
orado rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders from prison has
alarmed victims of sex crimes and sent law enforcement officers scram
bling to undo the damage.
uNine inmates were turned loose before Colorado Attorney General Ken
Salazar stepped in and halted the releases Saturday. Authorities were still
looking for them on Wednesday.
^' “1 frankly was outraged that this number of offenders could be given the
green light to walk without taking as much time as could be taken under the
law to make sure victims were notified,” Salazar said.
•'He has asked the state Supreme Court for another hearing to reconsider
its Sept. 18 ruling.
Corrections Department officials tried to calm dozens of victims fearful
that their attackers are free to strike again.
“This is-ridiculous,” Rebecca Nye, whose two young daughters were
molested by a neighbor five years ago, told The Denver Post. “The laws
freed to work for kids.”
Allison Morgan of the agency’s victim notification unit said callers are
told the agency must follow the ruling.
“They fully understand that this comes down from the Supreme
Court," Morgan said. “They are shocked that the court would do this.”
The ruling threw out mandatory five-year parole sentences for rapists,
child molesters and other sex offenders convicted between 1993 and 1996.
Corrections officials responded by releasing nine inmates and notifying
84 paroled sex offenders they no longer had to attend mandatory therapy
sessions or make visits to parole officers. '
— News in Brief -
LARD officers’
trial to begin
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The
first trial stemming from the
largest police corruption
scandal in city history
opened Wednesday with at
torneys for four accused offi
cers calling a former co-work
er — the prosecution’s key
witness — an evil, lying thug.
The statements were un
usual because they came on
the first day of jury selection.
Superior Court Judge Jacque
line Connor offered lawyers
the chance to give state
ments to inform the jury pool
about what might lie ahead in
a trial that is expected to last
three to four weeks.
Attorneys for the accused
— Sgt. Edward Ortiz and offi
cers Brian Liddy, Paul Harper
and Michael Buchanan —
used the chance to attack for
mer officer Rafael Perez,
whose accusations sparked
the scandal.
TAMU Career Center
Applying to
Grad School
Get input from university representatives about how to tackle
the job of applying to a graduate program.
Tuesday, Oct. 10
5:15 p.m. Rudder 308
For more information contact the Career Center at
845-5139, come by 209 Koldus, or check us out on-line at
http://careercenter.tamu.edu
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THE MAJORiTT
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PEIc WEEK
Data from Spring, 1998 CORE survey on an
anonymous, random sample of 861 students http://studentlife.tamu.edu
Die lives and divorce
~ :ause they have the
UfTlC^o t ] ie Olympics, there
oblem that needs to be
dicrous to consider the
; sport of women’s
itics.
Charles A, Sippial, Sr. :se little girls are by no
Vice President ition women. When a
ear-old is considered to
te last years of her
3ic competition, some-
is wrong with the way
Games are structured.
No matter what, the
ipics should be revered
cessful and re-
^ „ , „ „ ble athletic events.
Dear Faculty, Staff and St athletes who partici-
these Games are the
:heir sports, but some
I am pleased to an) young.
2000 Conference for the J be some regulation of
During this time, approxiTP ians ' .— T ——-—
campus for this event. ( J J ma - or
education, and we are esj
men and women to our cat
This large number Jse ' am a senior from
our physical resources,
transportation. I am cqjft anC j even a few
employees will do their ame to this University.
students. I am therefore § there was a P 055 '’ 3 ' 1 "
r , i , j lings back in a Univer-
from standard procedure i B ° nfire because they
success. dorm life and unity.
Brandon McDermott
Class of ‘01
letters to the editor. Letters
id include the author's name,
es the right to edit letters for
Letters may be submitted in
laid with a valid student ID.
to:
n - Mail Call
McDonald
I University
TAMU
i, Texas 77843 .
fail: 1111
84S2647
rs@hotmail.com
Jaring in The Battalion express
ily. They do not necessarily re-
elion staff members, the Texas
idministrators, faculty or staff.
discrimination. Motivated by this realiza
tion, I spoke with an African-American stu
dent in my dormitory, and got his opinion on
racism on campus.
Under terms of anonymity, he told me, “I
feel like I should not be judged just because
of who 1 am. I do not think that I should be
accepted into this University because I am
black. I do not feel like any organization
should accept me just because I am black. I
do not feel like anyone should give me any
special treatment just because I am black.”
When affirmative action was brought up,
his comment was, “I do not think there will
ever be complete equality because ... by af
firmative action [life] is racist.”
Another subject discussed was whether a
certain hostility existed on campus toward
minority students, whether by other students
or by the administration.
“I do not think that [hostility] has any
thing to do with this University, because
anywhere 1 go there is always going to be
one ignorant person in the group that has
something to say. I came here not because
this is a black school, 1 did not come here be
cause it is a white school, l came here be
cause I wanted to get an education,” he said.
Granted, this one person does not necessarily
reflect the views of all minorities on this cam
pus. However, his opinions do provide insight.
Certainly, today’s world is not perfect,
for any race. How can it be right for people
to be judged on the basis of their skin color,
one way or the other?
The University recently did a study of mi
norities who were accepted to A&M but
chose not to attend. The top reasons that
were cited were lack of financial aid and
lack of personal attention. This raises the
question, “Why should any students be sin
gled out for special treatment?”
There is definitely no easy solution to the
problems of discrimination and reverse dis
crimination, but a start would definitely be
to remove the little boxes that are checked
on any forms students and prospective em
ployees fill out.
The fact that A&M gives prospective stu- *
dents little special treatment is a good thing. *
It shows that the University is doing its best |
to look at each student as an individual, not
as a race.
Once everyone begins to view people
simply as who they are — not what color
they are or where they are from — it will
bring society one step closer to unity.
Andrew Stephenson is a sophomore
environmental design major.