Vlonda
Fcbtu: ! Monday. February 19, 2001
STATE
THE BATTALION
Page 5
'a
Galveston Mardi Gras underway
JGALVESTON (AP) — Joe and
Questa Elizondo’s first date seven
years ago in Galveston was almost
. ,their last. He took her to Mardi
It Aww*-
■ "I was fr om Southern California,
areness for and I’d never seen such crazy behav-
j." Questa Elizondo said on a recent
doval,advise return visit as she and her husband,
linator ford now bead-bedecked veterans,
he group is: strolled the island streets,
orking tor; Braless women lifting their T-
tess, under shirts and plastic trinkets pelting her
1 acceptance from all directions made Questa
wonder why she’d been brought to
CT facilitate such a free-for-all by her future hus-
long classed band. The couple even got mooned,
es in HigherL But that’s normal for two week-
a then givepr ends each year in this island city of
groups. Soti* 000. The traditional Roman
I nderstandi'.gatholic festival of feasting and mer-
lejudiceAv rymaking in the days leading up to
!i ' (,os ' t the ascetic season of Lent may be
I \ famousl y linked to New Or-
n UACT 5 ”* 118 ’ ^ ut ^ a ^ veston ^ as a ^ on § i 1 * 8 '
tors of staging its own revelry on a
aswhote : # allerscale -
nowldedaSl It' 8 a contro H et I crazy,” said Jan
ndoval said.
aU-ACTfi
lustrial eng
/alues what
U-ACT.
the imponai
ture as well.
Chheda sail
rtant to al».
Iture andtk:
Johnson, a tour guide who works in a
candy shop on a street lined with Vic
torian shops, restaurants and hotels.
“To be safe, it’s best to get on the
balconies above the crowds and
throw the beads,” Johnson said Sat
urday. “On the street it can be a bit
nutty.”
It's fun, but it's
smaller and more
confined. And there's
a lot less nudity.”
— Elaine Underhill
Mardi Gras goer
This year, Mardi Gras — Fat
Tuesday in French — falls on Feb.
27, followed by Ash Wednesday, the
start of Lent. Galvestonians began
celebrating Saturday and Sunday
with parades, balls and concerts.
On the streets, revelers devoured
crawfish sausage, fried alligator,
turkey legs and roasted corn. Work
ers deftly steered dollies packed high
with cases of beer through the
crowds. People tossing beads from
balconies and windows drew
screams as if from Beatles-smitten
teen-agers for the plastic strands of
purple, green or gold.
“I’ve come here every year for the
past 10 years,” said Elaine Underhill
of League City, a sedate HMO repre
sentative in her non-Mardi Gras life.
Adorned with a red and black
feather boa she bought during Mardi
Gras in New Orleans last year, Un
derhill, in her 40s, said she prefers the
Galveston party.
“It’s fun, but it’s smaller and more
confined,” she said. “And there’s a
lot less nudity. You’ll go to jail for
that here — they don’t like that in
Galveston.”
Police said they made more than
30 arrests over the first Mardi Gras
weekend, mostly for misdemeanor
charges of public intoxication and
minors in possession of alcohol. Of
ficers on horseback described crowds
as raucous but lawful.
est Texas Jury finds bar partially
iable for ’97 drunken-driving death
xicfl
1 LUBBOCK (AP) — A bar in this West Texas city is
partially liable for the 1997 death of a Texas Tech student
in a drunken-driving crash, a jury has ruled.
■ The verdict against SMC A Inc., which operated a bar
called Einstein’s, found that the company was negligent
for serving alcohol to a man who left the bar and caused
the crash that killed Ryan Jones.
■ The bar is no longer open and is not affiliated with the
Iks, aurant in Lubbock by the same name.
I Jones died Feb. 14, 1997, when his vehicle, stopped
| at a traffic light, was struck from behind by a pickup dri
ven by 19-year-old Justin Petty of Lubbock.
■ A witness to the accident said Petty’s truck could have
I been going as fast as 60 mph.
■ Petty had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16. At the time,
the legal limit was 0.10; the limit now is 0.08.
| The jury determined Thursday that Jones’ mother. Sue
Roe of Richmond, deserves $ 1 million in damages for the
loss of her son and mental anguish.
Jurors found Petty 70 percent negligent and SMCA 30
percent negligent in Jones’ death. Roe’s attorney, Fred
Bowers of Lubbock, said the division makes SMCA re
sponsible for about 30 percent of the damage award.
Petty, originally named as a defendant in the suit, set
tled with Roe last summer for $50,000, according to court
documents. Petty, now 23, has nearly completed a two-
year prison term for killing Jones.
Lubbock attorney Floyd Holder, who represented
SMCA and its president, George Mayer of Lubbock, said
his client has not decided if he will appeal.
Roe’s suit blamed a bartender for serving alcohol to
Petty after Petty showed obvious signs of intoxication.
Petty was drinking with friends at Einstein’s, which is
near Texas Tech.
The bartender was charged with criminally negligent
homicide for serving alcohol to Petty before the fatal
crash. Prosecutors dismissed the felony charge when he
pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors.
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rviewM
intas)
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• Monday, 19th: Cafe Eccell
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Tickets must be presented at the door.
Business casual dress please.
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http://wehner.tamu.edu/bsc
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Febr
closing date
^ i
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111
in addition, sign up for badminton, nicldebaii and the snorts trivia bond