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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2003)
NEWS the: battalios ssion d from page 1A weeks have you •eaceful? :s were admin nnaires using a procedure,” Meagk valuate them weak a number of psyc lices to evaluate and validity of ither study.” >llins, a counselor^ t Counseling Service are being consider ting easily access! nts through nsive ( i program put out f ing for Mental sn. The organizafe t screenings concent >1 awareness, et and depression, is available to collet trough this organize- is said. t can separate ith a psychiatric con- i those without a ps\ ondition and a medical condition aid. :r said there is lest ion that can acti lict major depress! disorder: How mud ■ during the past far e you felt downhea: ic? A response of T the time” or more cate a high likefc on. Stachowiak, assoc or for the Studei > Service, said thei ajor kinds of depre- r depression subsist? feres with one’s abi ction and creates .■rest to go to wort# else. In this case,pro intervention scription medieffl ended. ond type is a ometimes affects ® its, Stachowiak si ssion is characterize Aggielife The Battalion Page 3 A —day. September 16, 2003 C<*v\ r UenvvAly Fake IDs hold opportunities and consequences for By Katie Wigginton THE BATTALION Chris Mitchell finally has the night off to party after four days of work, lectures and tedious homework. He gets to the bars and can already see the line getting longer by the second. It is bombarded with people he knows, and he is already scop ing out the girls to meet and greet during the night. He can hear the beginning of his favorite familiar song starting to play. His anticipation builds. vilify to concentrati j n ;> Mitchell said, id retaining mateni High school.” The night is quickly pass ing by, and Mitchell finally makes it on the other side of the door. And as he watches his friends gleefully skipping away to the dance floor or straight for the bar, he is asked to leave. Chris has just been carded. False identification has been a way of nightlife for college and high school stu dents for as long as Aggies have been hearing the same speech introducing the Aggie Band. ‘ With technology changing daily, fake IDs tend to be a serious problem for the Bryan-College Station police. Despite the scenario, Mitchell, a junior sports man agement major, has never faced this problem or the alle- gations that come with it. Mitchell obtained his older brother's ID at the age of 15 and had no difficulty receiving clearance from bars in numerous towns including Dallas. Denton and College Station. “They would just look at my age and face and let me right “I eventually became really popular at my « I think fake IDs are a big problem for College Station, and kids should just wait... Plus it takes the fun and anticipation out of your 21st birthday when youve al ready been doing it for so long. —Chris Mitchell junior sports management major struggle, and time; t spent paying atte ,v professor 15 II experience z/epres fe point or another," c said ’h some of these are experienced nts from time to ti onsidered depression iymptoms persist ; said, alone, professional! epression could pro get worse lier (you are) treated, K r you," says Stack™ ‘ Aside from the popularity, Mitchell’s fake ID eventually became problematic when it was confiscated by a police officer one night. He managed to not have a permanent record kept on the offense “ft raises a lot of liability on us” said Chris”Smokey” Lindsey, manager of Hurricane Harry’s. “With individuals and their knowledge of technology, it is becoming very hard to catch them. It is a big problem because it leads to bigger prob lems of underage drinking.” The manager of Salty Dog, David ’’Slim” Boorhees, shares this same view. “It is a big problem due to the big college town and the mat ter of trying to get that first drink,” he said. Like the checkers who looked at Mitchell’s ID, the system of checking IDs at the door is still fairly systematic. Some popular night spots of Aggieland have different requirements beyond the typical checkpoints of date of birth, expiration date and com parison of the picture to the cardholder. “I sometimes ask for a signature to compare them to the driver’s license,” said Jimmy Meyer, an assistant manager of the Texas Hall of Fame and senior biomedical engi neering major. The Salty Dog often asks for a credit card or University identification card. Detection is easy for those who know what they are looking for. Some of these easy detectors that can be embarrassing include scratching off words from IDs bought at cheap flea markets, font sizes being different, the background color not matching and overlaminating the ID. Attempting to cut and paste pertinent information onto the ID of a legal friend has passed the eyes of the door checkers. The most comical of all are the tips from parents call ing the club to warn that their own chil dren will be appear ing later in the night with a fake ID. “I haven’t seen an ID yet that can’t be caught,” Meyer said. According to Cory Cassell, manager of the Dixie Chicken, some thing as simple as the ‘i’ Tony Piedra • THE BATTALION underage college students on the back of the license being dotted, when it should not be, is easy for a trained checker’s eyes to spot. So a person is caught at the door. Now what? That seems to depend on where he is caught. “We give the option of calling the cops and have them run the license through the checking machine or they have to leave imme diately,” Lindsey said. Meyer said the Texas Hall of Fame has a paid constable on the premise and the checker will automatically hand the person over to him. Cassell offers the same option of either leaving the premise or calling the police to interfere. Boorhees tries to keep the atmosphere as peaceful as possible by simply asking the person to leave. Now that the person is in the custody of the police officer. What can legally happen to him? According to Section 106 of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, it is a Class C misdemeanor to be charged with misrepresentation of age by a minor. The punishments an officer can give include a fine between $250 and $2,000, jail time for up to 180 days or both. He can also punish the minor with eight to 12 community service hours if it is his first offense and sus pension of his license for up to 30 days. Even though Mitchell escaped legal trouble, he said, “I do think fake IDs are a big problem for College Station, and kids should just wait ... you’ll be 21 soon enough. Plus it takes the fun and anticipation out of your 21st birthday when you’ve already been doing it for so long.” Lindsey offers the sim plest and clearest, advice possible: “It’s 1 just always best to be honest.” illas d from page 1A Jed fire with the 111 about an hour ird the Pakistan 1 no repotted casualties, her attack Saturday s landed near a U.S neighboring Khoil tid a statement is: the headquarters 1 orces in Afghanistan ibad, Pakistan Fore| spokesman IMasooi “the backbone oftL s been broken,” I >er of Taliban andi; regrouped. hi Id arrest, neutral n ... in the borderiJ ikistan-Afghanistaiij ing for better cooped ig U.S., Afghan anf irees in the area, have said they susped re increased theiraci k the second annivef’ >ept. 11 attacks, te U.S.-led opt te Taliban from powd 2001. ef luring trie fall and spring semes- ity riolidays and exam periods) it 10. POSTMASTER: Send address K 77843-1111. ilversity in trie Division of Studeil d McDonald Building. 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