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Commentary
The North Texas Dally
f
Page 2 Wednesday, March 8, 1989
Boozing and boating
Bill may save lives
Texans who insist on combining boating and
boozing could be subject to fines and/or time in jail
if a measure that has already been passed by the
Senate receives a favorable vote in the House.
The Texas Senate voted unanimously Thursday
to make it illegal to water-ski or operate a boat in
Texas waters while intoxicated. If passed by the
House, a first-time offender could receive a maximum
of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
As written, the measure makes it a misdemeanor
to operate a moving vessel or manipulate water skis,
an aquaplane or a similar device while intoxicated.
The boating while intoxicated law would be en-
forced primarily by Texas Parks and Wildlife Com-
mission agents. Suspects who refuse to submit to a
breath or blood test could be charged and prosecuted.
It’s about time that something is done to make
Texas waters safe fiom urunk boaters and skiers.
Under current law, a drunken boater or skier can be
arrested only for public intoxication. From the
statistics, it is obvious that this does nothing to
dissuade people. It serves as merely a slap on the
hand.
Last year. 70 deaths and 147 injuries occurred in
TAMS scam
Texas waters. Texas’ fatality rate among boaters is
twice the national average. Sen. Carl Parker, D-Port
Arthur, who sponsored the bill, estimates that two-
thirds of the 70 deaths in Texas waters last year
were related to alcohol abuse.
Parker cited one instance in which a drunken skier
decapitated a child “just because they were irrational
on our waterways.”
As Texas laws now stand, if a person is caught
driving on a roadway while intoxicated, he is taken
to jail. But if that same person was caught operating
a boat while under the influence, he would receive
only a public intoxication citation. Current Texas
law seems to be saying that the lives of people on
Texas waterways are less important than those on
Texas highways.
Although the waterways are not as conjested as
the roadways, drunken drivers can be just as deadly
behind the wheel of a boat as they are behind the
wheel of an automobile.
It is important that the House take the same stance
as the Senate has. It is time to send a message to
drunk drivers that their actions will not be tolerated
either on the road or in the water.
NT students come first
Increasing the number of Texas Academy of
Mathematics and Science students is a positive goal
for NT. However, additional TAMS students should
not be recruited to live on campus until there is enough
housing for regular students who wish to live in the
dorms.
University officials are proposing that McConnell
Hall be used to house only TAMS students by fall
1991. Because the program’s enrollment is expected
to grow from 100 to 400 students, extra space will
be needed.
The problem with increasing TAMS student en-
rollment and using an entire dorm to house them is
that it will displace regular college student residents.
University officials realize this. In the March 3
issue of The Daily, Housing Director Betsy McGuire
was quoted as saying that she was “sorry that it
(the displacement of students) happened, but it did.”
University officials need to be more than sorry.
They need to find a solution to the overcrowding
problem for regular students before they begin letting
TAMS students fill an entire dorm.
TAMS is a prestigious program for NT because it
is the only one of its type in the nation. It allows
high school students to live on a college campus
while earning concurrently their high-school diploma
A&M settlement woes
and college credit. However, NT officials should
remember that it is not TAMS students who make
up the core of the university, it is everyday, average
college students.
There are many students who rely on a dorm room
as their home away from home. Displacing students
would discourage them from applying for on-campus
housing in the future and possibly from attending
NT.
TAMS officials should put a cap on the number
of students who will be accepted into the program.
When the university can accommodate an increase
in students who live on campus — perhaps with
new dorms — then and only then should TAMS
increase its enrollment.
There are other solutions that would alleviate the
dorm overcrowding situation at NT without the cost
of building a new facility.
One suggestion is to drop the policy that requires
freshmen students live in dorms. Another idea is to
incorporate the now vacated Flow Memorial Hospital
into NT housing.
Growth is inevitable for both regular student
enrollment and TAMS student enrollment. However,
growth for a specialized program such as TAMS
should be limited until NT can accommodate regular
residents.
Coach gets more money
Texas A&M University was recently forced to
release details of the settlement with former head
football coach Jackie Sherrill, and they showed that
Sherrill received much more than the original
$400,000 agreed upon when he resigned last Decem-
ber.
A&M’s original refusal to make the records public,
and the power that the school allowed Sherrill to
gain while he was at the university were drastic
mistakes.
University President William H. Mobley originally
said that Sherrill received $400,000 from A&M, but
the total amount goes well beyond that figure to an
estimated $684,000.
The university claims that the discrepancy stems
from the estimated $185,000 that Sherrill received
from various radio, television and other media
presentations, which he was involved with at A&M.
A&M is to blame for this because they allowed
Sherrill to have a dangerous amount of power and
influence as a winning head football coach.
It was Sherrill who did not want the settlement
records of his resignation to be released. A&M
honored the former coach’s request to the point that
it took a Travis County district court order, sought
by The Dallas Morning News, to force the disclosure
of the records.
The records stated that A&M had agreed with
Sherrill not to release the terms of the settlement
unless they were forced to do so by law. When the
law was presented to A&M in the form of the Open
Records Act, they still refused.
A&M was forced to choose between releasing the
records, or facing possible legal action by Sherrill,
the man who said he resigned his coaching job be-
cause of his love for A&M. The university finally
agreed to release the documents but it was described
as a “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t,”
situation by A&M spokesman Lane Stephenson.
While A&M may still be trying to show their
former coach some respect by honoring his requests,
the university needs to move out of the troubled era
of Sherrill and worry about undoing the damage he
has caused them
The North Texas Daily
72nd Year University of North Texas Denton, Texas
Southwestern Journalism Congress
NATIONAL PACEMAKER 6 TIMES
REGIONAL PACEMAKER 1 TIME
ALL-AMERICAN 80 TIMES
The North Texas Daily, student newspaper of the
University of North Texas, is published Tuesday through
Friday during the fall and spring semesters and is
published weekly during the summer sessions. The Daily
is not published during review and examination periods.
The Daily, a non-profit newspaper, provides information,
commentary, and entertainment for the NT community.
It serves as a laboratory experience for reporting, writing,
editing, advertising and photography students in the
journalism department. Students receive grades ac-
cording to the quality of work performed for The Daily.
Letter Policy
Letters from readers are welcome. They should be
concise, logical, and typed or neatly handwritten. Letters
will be limited to 250 words in print, with exceptions
made at the editor’s discretion. Letters are subject to
HEIDI KUKIS, editor
WENDE ZOMNIR, advertising manager
editing for space and libel. Letters must be signed with
classification and home town, and should include an
address and telephone number
Letters should be mailed to Box 5278, NT Station,
Denton, Texas 76203, or taken to The Daily newsroom
in General Academic Building 117.
Signed commentaries, cartoons and readers’ letters
reflect the opinions of the authors and should not be
confused with the unsigned editorial statements of The
Daily. Opinions appearing on this page do not nec-
essarily reflect those of the University of North Texas
students, faculty members, staff members, administrators
or regents.
SUBSCRIPTION RATE—$17.00 annually or $8.00 per
long semester and $4.00 per summer session.
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Ice surprises weekend warrior
“Over the hills and through the
woods and into a ditch we go...”
This weekend I attended the South-
west Journalism Congress Conference
at the University of Oklahoma in
Norman. Little did I know when 1 left
wearing shorts Friday morning that in
less than 24 hours I would be stranded
in a snow-filled ditch 19 miles northwest
of Denton.
The drive to Norman was uneventful.
We arrived at the Sooner House, OU’s
campus hotel, about II a m. The
weather was beautiful. A soft, warm
breeze was blowing as we unloaded our
suitcases from the cars and checked in
at the front desk.
We unpacked and freshened up a bit
before we walked over to the Forum,
OU’s conference center, to catch the
tail end of a seminar on sports reporting.
There was not a cloud in the sky when
we left the building on our way to lunch.
We dined at The Mont, a cozy little
Mexican food restaurant in the heart of
Norman.
A little side note about the Mexican
food in Oklahoma. The picante sauce
there reminded me of stewed tomatoes
covered with a lot of pepper. F don’t
think Oklahomans have been introduced
to the jalapeno pepper, the secret of
quality Tex-Mex food.
After a “mild" lunch, we returned
to the OU campus for a second seminar.
Plans were already in the works to play
softball later that afternoon. Two hours
later, there we were, members of the
Daily staff, in our shorts, throwing the
softball around and catching some sun.
The temperature was in the upper 70s
— perfect.
Then it happened. The weather
changed quickly and drastically over-
night. It reminded me of the infamous
Texas weather. You remember the
saying, “If you don’t like the weather
Kim
Moore
in Texas, wait a minute.” The same
holds true in Oklahoma. Problem was
I liked the weather, and I didn’t want
it to change.
The next morning the OU campus
was covered with a thick, solid layer of
ice. I couldn’t believe it. Luckily we
were able to leave Norman before things
got worse. Or so we thought.
A drive that usually lasts a little more
than two hours ended up being a six-
hour trek back to Denton.
Traveling conditions on Interstate 35
from Norman were safe — there was no
ice on the mads so we made pretty good
time. Driving became treacherous,
though, about 20 miles south of Nor-
man. There it lurked. The ice. And we
hit it at about 80 mph. It was definitely
“Trouble in River City."
Just when we thought we had made
it home in one piece, thirty miles outside
of Denton an 18-wheeler truck had
jacknifed in the middle of the interstate
and caused a back-up of cars for two
miles. Patience is not one of my virtues
and since others cars were making U-
tums in the middle of the highway in
order to find an exit to the service road,
1 figured so could I.
Amidst all the highway chaos, I had
forgotten two important facts. First. I
was in my brother’s car. his pride and
joy, his Honda CRX. Second, I am a
novice when it comes to driving on ice.
At the time, the only thing on my mind
was home; so close and yet so far
At this point I feel it necessary to
comment on some of the driving I saw
on that dismal Saturday afternoon. I
think many of the drivers did not realize
that the stuff on the road was ice, and
because of it there wasn’t any traction
on the highway. Without traction, a
driver has little control over his vehicle.
But did people slow down? Nooooooo.
You've heard it before, and the last
thing I want to be is repetitive, but when
are people going to realize that when
driving on ice, they need to adjust their
speed accordingly? Sheeshl
Only fools with snowmobiles would
travel on days like that that. Satur-
day the fools, including myself, forgot
the snowmobiles.
But back to my story. After gaining
access to the service road, our three-car
.caravan decided to split up. We chose
different routes back to Denton. I be-
came the brave road warrior and decided
I would venture into territory unfamiliar
to me. Translation: a farm-to-market
road heading west from Denton. This
is where I discovered the ditch, in depth
and personal.
We were making good time puttering
along this country road at a daredevil
speed of 10 mph when it happened. I
wanted to cry as I struggled to get out
of the car which had become wedged in
the ditch at almost a 90 degree angle.
Thank goodness for the farmhouse
50 yards away.
The people who lived there were kind
and helped us get the car. Thanks to
them, we were on the road back to
Denton, and home, in no time at all,
or so it seemed after the 5'/2 hour trip
to the ditch.
It only goes to show you that there
arc still people in this crazy, hectic,
self-serving world who will go out of
their way to help two people in need.
It was a lesson I had forgotten and is
something I will not soon forget.
Suffice it to say, it was a weekend
to end all weekends.
Readers’ Talk
Constitution protects
everything but residents
I WOULD LIKE to comment on
a few of the misconceptions that were
written by David Bailey concerning
NT Housing Department's “no
tolerance” drug policy.
First of all, the idea that only drug
users have anything to fear is
ridiculous. I am a non-drug user who
doesn't live in the dorms and I am
very upset about the policy. I expect
my right to privacy to be upheld with
the utmost protection that our Con-
stitution guarantees.
There are many reasons why a
non-drug user like myself would
expect his or her constitutional rights
to be upheld. If I am sharing an
intimate moment with my girlfriend
or myself, I definitely do not want
it to be interrupted by an unannounced
room search.
I also might have things in my
room that I do not want people to
know about, such as p*rnography,
which is also protected by the Con-
stitution. Or what if I like to wear
women’s underwear? Is it any
business of my hall director whether
I do or not? I would hope that most
people would agree that it is nobody's
business but my own.
“Reasonable suspicion" has been
defined by the Housing Department
as the smell of marijuana or a “tip"
made by another resident.
First of all. if a person smells
marijuana, or what they think to be
marijuana, in a hallway, it is probably
not going to be hovering in front of
one door. Rather, the smell will have
probably dispersed to occupy an area
of as many as six doorways.
This leaves the possibility of having
many innocent people’s privacy
invaded. As to having a suspicious
neighbor’s complaint being
"reasonable cause," I have to
wonder what made the average dorm
dweller a drug use expert?
That's what judges are there for —
to protect innocent people from in-
consistencies such as these, not, as
Mr. Bailey suggested, to protect the
drug users.
This "no tolerance" policy is
creating a suspicious and unstable
environment in which most freshmen
are required to live. Furthermore, if
99 percent of the residents are
non-drug users, as Mr. Bailey
suggests, then the housing department
really shouldn’t have a whole lot to
worry about, since the number of
residents using drugs would be way
below the societal average.
I think this policy is typical of the
way the establishment deals with its
problems. The real victims of drugs
are the poor and undereducated who
don’t see as many alternatives to
selling or using drugs as the rest of
society does. It is much easier and
much more appealing to the public to
implement a tough drug policy rather
than, God forbid, taking on our
toughest enemy: ignorance.
Paolo Castagnoli
San Francisco, Ca. sophom*ore
Centennial logo works
for some people
1 LIKE THE new centennial logo.
It’s just what the Centennial
Committee wanted
It’s funny how amateur critics in
the Student Association renounce the
logo after the Centennial Committee,
comprising 80-90 townspeople,
students and faculty, have chosen it.
Now I find that the ringleader of
the criticism circle is preparing his
own design as a backup. Surely the
Centennial Committee didn’t make a
mistake on the first selection!
I’m just thankful that Student
Association has brought this whole
matter to the attention of the students
It has only reinforced the fact that the
logo is strong, simple, and it works
Lori Walls
Carrollton junior
I
t
 

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