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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 11, 2003)
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If you enjoy working with your peers, are responsible, and want to make a difference in your community, come work for us. For more details or an application, visit us at www.melrose.com, or stop by our office. Deadline: Thursday, June 12, 2003 Melrose College Station 601 Luther St. West College Station, TX 77840 (979) 680-3680 Man of steel BRIAN RUFF* THE BATTALION Senior mechanical engineering major Matt Dreiss cuts a metal rod for an experiment in his engineering class Tuesday afternoon. Dreiss will use the metal for an experiment that tests the strength of the rod as it is pulled apart. Mother of convicted INS officer speaks out By Mark Babineck THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE Librar Meet • Drink • Lounge Home of “The Library”glowing martini SUNDAY "SOCIAL” $ 1.50 Wells and $ 1.50 Domestics ALL NIGHT LONG!! TUESDAY $ 2 Martinis all night WEDNESDAY $ 2 Absolut Vodkas all night (vanilla, mandrin, citron, kurant) THURSDAY *2 anything till 11 pm FRIDAY *2 Wells till 11pm SATURDAY $ 3 Long Island Iced Teas till 11pm Available for Private Parties 979-739-1967 Doors open: 9p.m. Tuesday-Saturday 329 University Dr. at Northgate HOUSTON — The mother of one of three federal agents convicted this week of not help ing an injured illegal immigrant blames politics, overzealous prosecutors and juror confusion for the verdict that could land her son in federal prison. Maria Gomez, a third-genera tion U.S. citizen whose grandfa ther immigrated to flee Pancho Villa’s revolutionaries in the 1910s, said federal prosecutors went after her only child, former Immigration and Naturalization Service agent Louis Gomez, and two colleagues to help mend fences with Mexican president Vicente Fox. “The whole thing was polit ical from the beginning,’’ Mrs. Gomez told The Associated Press by telephone Tuesday from her Hill Country home north of San Antonio. “Two years ago (Texas) executed one of theirs, so they gave Fox three little shrimp served up on a platter.” A federal jury Monday found Louis Rey Gomez, 37; Richard Henry Gonzales, 37; and Carlos Reyna, 43, all of San Antonio, guilty of willfully denying Serafin Olvera-Carrera medical care after the illegal immigrant was paralyzed from the neck down during a March 25, 2001, raid in Bryan. Each faces up to 10 years in prison. Mrs. Gomez said the extraor dinary prosecution — which took government attorneys to seven states and parts of rural Mexico looking for witnesses — was done to restore goodwill with Fox’s administration. She cites the much-publicized tiff last summer that started when Fox canceled a visit to Bush’s ranch after Texas ignored his pleas and executed a Mexican- American drug smuggler for killing a Dallas police officer. Mrs. Gomez said the United States should not kowtow to its neighbor. “We are not responsible for Mexico’s problems,” she said. “Mexico is responsible for its own problems.” Assistant U.S Attorney Ruben Perez said his office only had justice in mind, not politics. “Of course not,” Perez said responding to the Mrs. Gomez’s accusations. “All I can tell you is what I told the members of the jury. You know, these officers violated the law and we prose cuted them. It’s very simple.” While the events that led to Olvera-Carrera’s broken neck are not clear, Perez said, the resulting paralysis and inability to breathe on his own culminat ed in a heart attack in February 2002 that caused his family to take him off life support. Reyna was found innocent of beating the immigrant, while Gonzales was convicted of unnecessarily dousing him with pepper spray. Gomez was in another room of the house they were raiding when Olvera-Carrera wis injured, Mrs. Gomez said, ami her son had no idea the Mexican man was hurt. Instead, she said they thought Olvera-Carrera was being uncooperative. He never claimed injury, she said. Prosecutors, however, said Olvera-Carrera moaned and pleaded for help from the offi cers for hours before finall)' receiving medical assistance seven hours after the raid. Mrs. Gomez also contends the jury only heard from defense for a few days ; prosecutors spent three weeks laying out their case, v might have worn down or con fused the panel. Gomez’s a ney, Jay Norton, echoed point, but Perez said the defense could have taken more time, chose to rest Wednesday. Perez said he regrets having to pursue such cases, but the facts demanded action by the Justice Department. “It brings us no joy to prose cute police officers, but have a duty and a responsibility to protect and to serve,” he said “When they violate that duty, somebody has to hold them responsible.” Mrs. Gomez said her son, who is married with two young children, would never have will fully committed a federal felony, which is exactly what the jury decided he did. “Give me a break. Why would Louis throw all that away?” she said. NEWS IN BRIEF Perry signs health and human services restructuring bill Examiners more efficiently and effectively regu late doctors. AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Rick Perry signed into law Tuesday a money-saving social services reorgani zation bill expected to eliminate thousands of state jobs. The legislation by Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth, R- Burleson, will reorganize the state's health and human services agencies, consolidating 12 departments into four under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services. The bill is estimated to save more than $1 billion. Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, the Senate spon sor, said the bill would result in 2,162 fewer state jobs in the coming years. But one Senate Democrat put that figure closer to 4,000 to 5,000. Perry also signed into law a bill by Nelson intended to help the State Board of Medical Judge refuses venue change in windshield death case FORT WORTH (AP) — A judge on Tuesday refused to grant a change of venue in the murder trial of a woman accused of hitting a man with her car, driv ing home and ignoring his cries for help as he bled to death lodged in the windshield. State District Judge James R. Wilson also denied another defense request to have Chante Jawan Mallard's statements to police suppressed. Jury selection was expected to begin next week in Fort Worth. Mallard, 26, was indicted last year on charges of murder and tampering with evidence in the death of Gregory Biggs, 37. J Volume Wr By Tl Dr. Georg' closer last v View A&M’s A&M Univ< Regents nan list for tf June 6. The Boarc qualified a University Sy Graves. “Prairie V rough that’s j the right ly think E A& dow By Meli THE B Summer > for summer: A&M drop last ; College’s en percent, offn A&M’s u stands at 16,. M’s 10-> both set cation coui courses. The figun 5, the fourth is unofficial 15th clas Blinn reg 6,978 for al located in B Schulenburg reports ure of 5,878 5,513 last Parsons, sj Parsons sa ment continue dents take c because it is a A&M / BLINN Bryan Ca SOURC Bom jeopj By R THE AS! 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