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May 28, 2001
Volume 107 ~ Issue 144
6 pages
News in Brief
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Graduate sentenced for rape
Davis Jr. pleads guilty to two sexual assaults, gets two life terms
Campus
Increase in tuition
gets board approval
The Board of Regents, in
their meeting last Thursday
and Friday, performed the
following actions:
• The purchase of the
vacant Viatel Inc. building
along with 14.5 acres of land
in College Station for
$8,275,000 was unanimously
approved.
• An increase in the
University Authorized Tuition
from $40 to $42 per credit
hour, the maximum allowed
by the Texas Legislature.
• john David Crow, direc
tor of development for inter
collegiate athletics, and the
University's only Heisman
Trophy winner, will have two
campus streets at the south
end of Kyle Field named in
his honor on his retirement
June 30.
• A Ph.D. program for
Philosophy was approved
and will be submitted to the
Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board for final
approval.
• Vice president for
research Richard Ewing
named three Texas A&M fac
ulty members as associate
vice presidents. James A.
Colvin, head of the depart
ment of statistics; Dimitris
Lagoudas, Ford professor of
aerospace engineering; and
Max D. Summers, professor
of entomology, have been
named to the quarter-time
associate vice president for
research positions.
Forum will be held
for students, faculty
An open forum will be
held at 3 p.m. Tuesday in 292
MSC to allow students, facul
ty, staff and the public to dis
cuss the proposed $2-per-
credit hour increase in the
University authorized tuition
dr the Fall 2001 semester.
Those in attendance will be
able to question Texas A&M
Jniversity President Dr. Ray
VI. Bowen about the need for
he increase.
State
Sergeant charged
with wife's murder
EL PASO (AP) — An Army
iergeant at Fort Bliss and his
brother were charged
Sunday in the stabbing death
)f the sergeant's wife, a Fort
iliss captain, police said.
Lynn Reister, 30, was
ound stabbed to death
Thursday in the couple's off-
iost home.
Her husband and his broth-
were arrested at the family
lome Sunday and charged,
ort Bliss Sgt. Roger Reister,
7, the victim's husband, was
harged with capital murder
nd jailed on $500,000 bond.
His brother, Rodney Reister,
25, was charged with murder
and booked under a
$125,000 bond.
By Robin Lewis
The Battalion
lexas A&M administrators felt a sense
of relief Thursday as Don Davis Jr., a
dexas A&M graduate, was sentenced to
two 99-year prison terms after pleading
guilty to sexually assaulting two students
on campus in 1995.
Bob Wiatt, director of the University
Police Department said, “I am ecstatic,
and 1 want to commend the two women
who showed all the bravery in the world
by standing up and testifying as to what
this scum bag did.”
Don Davis graduated from A&M in
1996 and was arrested ten months later
when a woman recognized him at a local
grocery store as the man who held her at
knifepoint and raped her.
Wiatt said the police then arrested Davis
and collected DNA evidence linking him
to two rapes: Davis then fled the state while
on bail with the aid of his parents.
Davis was found in Ohio last October,
after being stopped for running a red
light. He w as brought back to Texas to
stand trial that began Tuesday, May 22.
Davis, w ho started taking metham-
phetamines and Ritalin to help him stay
awake for architect projects, said that he
remembers snorting methamphetamines
before committing the rapes.
“It means something, but it is not an
excuse,” Davis said in his four-hour tes
timony on Wednesday. “It’s an explana
tion to help understand.”
Davis said it was not a conscious deci
sion to commit these crimes and that he
did not do it out of pleasure.
“I want to understand it too,” Davis
said.
Apologizing to the victims and their
families, Davis sat with his head down
and tears in his eyes.
a
I hope this sends
out a message that
crimes like this will
not be tolerated in
Texas and especially
around A&M.”
— Bob Wiatt
UPD director
Donna Hughes, a clinical psychologist
in Houston, said Davis had recently ad
mitted to her that he was sexually abused
as a child by babysitters.
Hey girl, nice shot
Wdatt said, “I am appalled at the fact
that Davis portrayed himself as a victim.
I am sick and tired of these horrible peo
ple that say they were molested or abused
' or angry and expect to be found innocent
for committing a horrible crime.”
WTatt said he applauds the district at
torney’s office and the jury for giving
Davis the maximum penalty.
“I hope this sends out a message that
crimes like this will not be tolerated in
Texas,” Wiatt said, “ and especially not
around A&M.”
Davis’ parents have now sued officials
and the University for $25 million, say
ing that they were used as bait for their
son’s return and that officials acted in re
taliation for their son’s failure to appear
at his trial in 1996.
University officials refused to com
ment on the pending lawsuit.
Alcohol
must be
closed
BERNARDO GARZA/Tiie Battalion
Brooke Edwards, a senior biomedical science major, takes a shot at the No. 6 hole at the frisbee golf course
at Research Park Sunday.
Senior dies in car accident
By Stuart Hutson .
The Battalion
While returning home from a day of rid
ing horses, senior agricultural development
major Melissa “Missy”
Lewis was killed May
10 when the pickup she
was a passenger in col
lided with the rear of
an 18-wheeler.
Lewis and her friend,
36-year-old Madison
Poston of Bryan, were
returning from a ranch
in Valley Mills north of
Waco wheil Poston’s 1999 Dodge truck col
lided with a milk tanker on North Earl Rud
der Freeway near the southern Bryan city
limits and burst into flames at 5:30 a.m.
The crash resulted in the closing of the
southbound side of the highway until 9 a.m.
Both Poston, who was believed by inves
tigators to be driving, and Lewis were burnt
beyond recognition. They were identified
five days latet by their dental records. The
driver of the milk tanker, 5 5-year-old
Ulysses Wells Jr. of San Angelo, Texas, was
unharmed. j
Poston was a 1995 graduate of A&M
and was currently working as head of
maintenance at the the Department of
Agriculture in Bryan.
Bryan police investigators said they be
lieve that dense fog and speeding by the
Dodge truck contributed to the crash.
Lewis’s father, Tom Lewis of Seguin,
Texas, said his daughter always loved of
horses and had wanted to attend A&M
since she was a little girl. Her mare’s name
is Aggie.
Lewis’s roommate and senior bioenvi-
ronmental science major, Angie Martin,
said that in the 10 years she knew Lewis,
she always admired Lewis’s love of fun and
adventure.
“Mis always wanted to be doing some
thing and always wanted to share that with
family and friends,” she said. “She was the
kind that would get out there and climb a
tree, literally, just for fun and to feel that en
ergy of being up high and in a peaceful place
with the wind blowing across her face.”
Lewis’s mother, Patsy Lewis, remembers
her as being “very close to God.”
“She knew how important it was to have
Him (God) to turn to for help with any
problem,” she said. “A&M now has anoth
er Aggie Angel to help watch over you.”
Lewis will be honored at the Sept. 4,
2001 Silver Taps.
in cars
By Stuart Hutson
The Battalion
Law enforcement agents say
those who like to drink while
driving are in for a rude awak
ening as of Sept. 1.
Gov. Rick Perry has said that
he will sign into lawa bill diat will
ban open alcohol containers in all
cars and trucks in an effort to
keep drunk drivers off the road.
The legislation bans open
containers spotted anywhere in
the vehicle, with the exception
of in the trunk or behind the last
See related column
on page 5.
upright seat in vehicles without
trunks. Also included in the bill
is a statute which allows officers
to cite passengers in the vehicle.
Passengers riding in buses,
taxicabs, limousines and separate
living quarters of recreational
vehicles are exempt.
“This will be a big help in
stopping people before they be
come a danger to themselves
and others by drinking and driv
ing,” said Bryan Police Sgt.
Ernie Montoya. “Right now the
law states that officers have to
actually see the driver drinking
the alcohol, that makes it almost
impossible to catch someone
who is actually drinking while
they are driving.”
Drivers who are drinking
while driving only have to hand
their beverage to a passenger to
avoid prosecution.
Montoya said that the law will
be especially beneficial to the
Bryan-College Station commu
nity because of the large student
population.
“Students are not the only
See Alcohol on Page 4.
A&M granted membership in the AAU
By Andy Hancock
The Battalion
Texas A&M University has been
granted membership into the American
Association of Universities (AAU), a
prestigious organization of American re
search and professional universities. Out
of its 101 year existence, the AAU has
only extended memberships to 63 uni
versities. A&M and the State University
of New York-Stoney Brook are the first
two memberships offered since 1996.
The AAU was founded in 1900 with
the specific goal to advance the interna
tional standing of research universities
in the United States. However, today
the focus of the AAU has broadened to
focus on issues that are important to re
search-intensive universities, including
funding for research, research policy is
sues, and both graduate and undergrad
uate education.
Texas A&M President Dr. Ray M.
Bowen said that acceptance into the or
ganization positively reflects on A&M’s
task to reach Vision 2020’s goal to be
come a recognized top-ten university.
“It’s a great honor to generations of
faculty and students at A&M who, over
the years have buil t A&M into a world-
class university. I’m just happy to be here
when it happened,” Bowen said. “It’s one
of those things that we hoped would hap
pen sooner or later before the deadline of
2020. It just happened sooner than later.”
Until now, only two Texas universities
were members, Rice University and the
University of Texas- Austin. Presidents of
both universities were very congratulato
ry to A&M for its new membership and
played a role in helping A&M gain ac
ceptance into the organization. Rice
President Malcolm Gillis nominated
A&M for membership.
“A&M is a presence among elite
American Universities, they needed to be
a member and they deserved it,” Gillis
said, who also cited the fact that the lead
ership in the administration of A&M was
another factor.
“President Bowen is a recognized
leader among the top universities in the
nation,” Gillis said. “Besides, anything
good for Texas universities is good for
Rice. The AAU is a gathering place for
the top research universities, and look af
ter research interest, as well as protect
and promote research.”
Rice has first hand experience with the
benefits of membership that A&M will,
soon receive.
“Membership is a stamp of approval,”
Gills said. “When you go to a foreign
university, they want to know if you are a
member of AAU. It is very important and
it carries a lot of weight.”
The University of Texas-Austin Pres
ident Larry Faulkner also played a role in
helping A&M receive membership.
“At the meeting (AAU), wq expressed
general support and a personal belief in
A&M, and the progress they have made
in the past years,” Faulkner said. “A&M’s
membership was natural for what they
have accomplished. We have the highest
confidence in them.”