Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 16

I Section A Page 16 I Fort Worth Wednesday February 171993 1 UTA proposal on hold to get admissions study 1 i t' 1 I- 'i 4 4 1 litik 4 i 1 I 5 5 '14 4 0 li 1 ir 4 000010NOMONOMMOO0001 ISMIO SUAiMMt' IMINIO 1 0 i 4 7 Ill '4 I 4 Ilf 4 1 ft i I 8N Ao l'il) 1 11 -1 I 4 1 1 s' 4 14s 4' ti-1 1 I 4 11 I 1 i 5 4 1 4 rT'4401 4 Irr4 1' 1 74 0 )i lbs e) 1- 11 I I 0 aillP14RMV MOM MIN 11141 goer i -N s- 11 I t1 4 4 "S'r i tt '3' 4Wa gb i I 1 I 1 4 ''tit 4 444461itoosittan 4 I ''4-- I 1 A student zooms past MA's architecture building where UTA buildings off Fort Worth Star-Telegram WILLIS KNITIHT students have been taking in-line skating study breaks limits skaters told go elsewhere fora college education which would result in state funding cuts Because it is too late to include new standards in the UT-Arlington catalog for the next two years anyway they said there is nothing to lose by researching the proposal's possible effects "I don't think we have to answer the question by jumping off the cliff with experimentation" Amacher said Geology Professor Brooks Ellwood argued that other colleges have improved their image with higher Scholastic Aptitude Test score requirements and actually drew more students He and others such as engineering Dean John McElroy said the proposal would only mark a slight rise in requirements and bring the university in line with others such as the University of North Texas "It was a good debate" McElroy said after the meeting "I voted against it but I'm not going to fall on a sword over it" The College of Science expects to lose 20 percent to 25 percent of its student enrollment in biology programs a decrease that faculty members say they welcome The engineering business and nursing colleges already have such a system in place "It's fairly common in universities to have different admissions requirements for programs after the core classes" Amacher said "I worry less about that because if they decrease their enrollments their own budgets will be impacted" Also the Undergraduate Assembly rejected a Student Congress resolution that would have allowed students to retake a course after receiving a or Even with limitations imposed faculty members said they are wary ofletting students re-enroll in classes BY LISA BLACK Fort Worth Star-Telegram ARLINGTON A controversial proposal to raise admission standards at the University of Texas at Arlington will be delayed until a study can show how it would affect enrollment ethnicity and the budget the school's Undergraduate Assembly decided yesterday The assembly consisting mostly of faculty members and deans divided 16-15 on the question after more than an hour of debate Members had only one other option: Disregard university President Ryan Amacher's rejection of the proposal and forward it to the UT System chancellor for a final decision "I'm presuming the system doesn't overrule a president on his first year of the job" said Amacher who became president last July as he presented his case in favor of further study on the issue Individual colleges are expected to quietly begin increasing their requirements for entrance into a major under a recently approved measure in which students will have to fulfill core-class "pre-major" criteria The Undergraduate Assembly yesterday approved the College of Science's request to require students to hold a minimum 225 grade-point average before being allowed to declare a major The academic standards proposal called for increasing the required college entrance exam scores for students who did not rank in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class The assembly is expected to assign a committee to study the proposal by September 1994 in time for changes to be included in the university's next two-year catalog Amacher and other opponents argued that increasing the standards would force some students especially minorities and women to BY LISA BLACK Fort Wonh Star-Telegram ARLINGTON In the dead of night they careen down the smooth concrete hallways and wheelchair ramps springing off walls and bouncing down staircases in the University of Texas at Arlington's architecture building But the authorities have caught on and now a pack of renegade roller skaters bicycle riders and ballplayers most of them architecture students have been warned to take their pre-dawn escapades outside They have not taken it quietly "We stay up here and do our homework and at 3 or 4 in the morning it's time to take a break" said Michael Masengarb 24 a pony-tailed senior architecture major He admitted that he and a sort of subculture of fellow students and friends regularly use trespass warning" he said On Feb 8 Architecture Dean Edward Baum posted a memorandum on the bulletin boards that described ball playing roller skating and bicycle riding as inappropriate activities inside the building Within days the opposition was rolling A group calling itself "Hoodlum Architecture '93" satirized the memo by copying it dean's signature and all and taking some liberties with the text The group added a slew of activities deemed inappropriate: skeet shooting chariot racing bungee jumping sumo wrestling spelunking and "running of the bulls (not unlike that in Spain)" "They are kids" Brewer said "People lose sight of the fact these people are on the back end of being teen-agers and they're not grown up" Rollerblades in the building and across campus The architecture building is one of the few on campus that remains open all night for students to work on projects "We came up here over Christmas break because it was cold outside and the floors are smooth in here so if you fall it won't hurt" Masengarb said "We put some garbage cans on their side and jumped over them like barrels Sometimes we play tag in front of the library" But Masengarb's idea of recreation has campus officials worried not just about scuff marks on the tile floors but about injuries for which the school is liable About a week and a half ago a dozen students playing football on in-line skates threw a pass that traveled down a flight of stairs and hit a janitor in the face said Jim apartment complex a little before 2 am yesterday Lt JP Foley said police received reports of Meredith at a gas station "waving a gun at people Officers had been trying to find him and had been unsuccessful" Two officers investigating the report of a man with a gun were at the apartment complex when they saw Meredith beside a trash bin a report says Meredith approached the officers telling them he had been "jacked up" by some people who were dealing dope according to the report When one officer tried to get information about the purported rob Circle Ranch zoning trial on after parties can't settle Man reported waving a gun fatally shot BUM OPDYKE Fort Wonh Star-Telogrant Attempting to forgo the expense of what is expected to be a three-week trial attornies for the town of Westlake and Nelson Bunker Hunt bankruptcy trustee Carter Pate spent about two hours behind closed doors yesterday working to forge a settlement Those negotiations failed though and at 4 pm a pool of 60 potential jurors was called into the 342nd District Court in Fort Worth for jury selection Earlier in the day District Judge Bob McGrath enlarged the jury pool from 38 to 60 in response to concerns about the publicity of this case since it was filed in I 990 McGrath was looking to increase the odds of seating unbiased jurors Eleven acknowledge that they had heard of the case before yesterday six apparently will be dismissed for comments made favoring one side or the other Pate's attorney William LePage is scheduled to make opening arguments today at 2 pm Westlake could present its opening arguments today or the town could wait until LePage has laid out his entire case Brewer executive housekeeper for the university "Some of the janitors are older they don't have the reflexes" Brewer said Brewer said refinishing a hallway can cost $50 "Some things are common sense and sometimes an adult just has to tell them 'Kids let's take this outside' After the janitor incident campus police began sending the students outside or referring them to the dean of the School of Architecture for disciplinary action "There's no specific statute on no Rollerblading in the building" Lt Bob Mason said He added that juvenile in-line skaters use other areas of the campus at night such as the parking garage slopes and the long hallways in Science and Carlisle halls "If we're dealing with a nonstudent we can escort them from the building and give them a criminal bery Meredith "became irrational and stated he would take care of it himself" the report says He then ran back into the apartments and the officers returned to the gas station to get more information about the incident there the report says At the gas station the officers received a call about a person shot to death in the apartments it says A witness to the shooting said he saw three men fighting in the courtyard and two fell to the ground One of the men got up and the third man shot the other as he lay on the ground the report says Meredith was shot once in the was coming home from cheerleading practice and saw a man firing a gun A hedge that blocked her view prevented her from seeing her brother getting shot repeatedly in the face A police helicopter trailed the fleeing truck and officers arrested Bell who then had a dive shop and boating business in Galveston He posted $40000 bail and was released from jail But outraged residents who learned that Bell was suspected of other crimes with children had him hauled back to court Bail was increased to $125000 but he posted that also and then fled the country The Bell case finally reached gent turned out last night but more people seemed to be in favor of the changes Officials were given a petition with 127 signatures of those who support the changes An additional 83 people signed cards in favor of the changes but some opponents claimed that those people did not appear at the meeting or left before the issue was considered Last night marked the second time in six months that the alcohol issue has come up After voters passed a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for the construction of a Class 1 horse racing track Mayor Charles England pushed through ordinance changes in August that allow alcohol sales at racetrack concessions and hotel and motel room service and convention facilities The room service proposal and the golf course and restaurant slaying suspect after 14 years BY KATHY SANDERS FOn Wonh StsrTelegram FORT WORTH A man was killed early yesterday just after police responded to a call that he was waving a gun according to police In a separate incident a police officer found the body of a 32-yearold man inside a duplex Monday night while rechecking a report of shots bqing fired police said The victims were identified as Floyd Meredith 29 who was shot in the courtyard of the Crossroads Apartments 1208 SE Loop 820 and Eric Wallace 32 whose body was found in the duplex Meredith was found slain at the Police nab The Assocraled Press HOUSTON In the 14 years since Larry Dean Dickens was gunned down outside his Pasadena home the man suspected of killing him has lived the good life in Panama hunting for sunken treasure and panning for gold That all changed over the weekend when authorities arrested Edward Bell at a Panama City yacht club Bell had dodged police since 1979 when he skipped Texas forfeiting a $125000 bail "I am so happy" Dorothy Lang 65 Dickens' mother said Monday "I once chased a guy with the same profile as Bell's 12 miles called the police and found out he was a Baptist preacher I can finally stop look The case centers on the Circle ranch a 2000-acre tract in Westlake once owned by Hunt Pate now owns the land as trustee for the NBH Liquidating Trust the courts assigned him in January 1990 to sell off Hunt's assets to pay his creditors the largest of which is the Internal Revenue Service The trial will focus on Pate's contention that Westlake's Town Council approved a series of ordinances that unfavorably zoned the ranch to deter a developer Arco Development Co of Texas which had bid $35 million for the land Pate also is suing six city leaders contending they conspired to deprive him oflegal property rights The town is insisting that Arco backed away before the council rezoned the ranch Town leaders also assert that they were within their rights to approve the zoning aiming to preserve the rural quality of life in Westlake In describing the case to the potential jurors Eldridge Coins Westlake's attorney characterized Pate's suit against the town leaders as "vexatious and brought against these individuals in bad faith" "We're not a party to that suit so at this stage it has no effect" said Lynn Tubb attorney for the Ouachita Parish Police Jury which is similar to a county commissioners court "We still have a preliminary injunction in place" Tubb said The Police Jury received the preliminary order from a state court after arguing that Waste Management violated its contract with the parish when it agreed to accept the low-level contaminated dirt Two state appeal courts ruled for the parish and the state Supreme Court would not hear Waste Management's appeal The dispute over the dirt began in February 1992 when the EPA announced plans to ship it to the Magnolia Landfill Since the state court ruling blocked that plan the EPA has been shipping the dirt to a landfill in Avalon in Ellis County Lawsuit dismissed over dumping of contaminated soil in Louisiana forehead and once in the chest the report says Wallace the other victim was found after officers went to the 3300 block of South Jennings Avenue on a report of gunfire They left after finding no evidence that anyone had been shot according to police But an hour later a neighborhood patrol officer returned to the area and noticed that the back door of a duplex was open The officer went insideand found Wallace's body on the living room floor He did not live at the duplex police said No arrests have been made in either killing Larry Boucher's desk six months ago Boucher an investigator with the Harris County district attorney's office has a reputation for solving tough cases Faced with his biggest challenge he called' the TV crime show Unsolved Mysteries and persuaded producers to air a segment about the case The program was broadcast Dec 2 and generated 1200 calls including one from Panama That led to Bell 53 who was arrested without incident "I really am truly afraid the system could fail us again" Lang said "I have to see what the system does before I can feel any relief" liquor rules changes had failed in 1991 England decided to push for a total revision after vehicle customizer Road Hawk was forced to meet restaurant requirements to serve alcohol at a car show in December One of the proposals would allow for the sale of alcoholic beverages without a special-use permit at an event lasting up to 14 days England said the changes are necessary for the city to become more business-friendly noting that the city has often been perceived as a hard place to do business Councilwoman Teri Jackson pointed out that a special-use permit increases the development costs for restaurants by up to 14000 and that staff approval takes eight to 10 weeks Costs to develop a restaurant without the permit would beAbout $3000 with two weeks' approval time 1 50 attend meeting on Grand Prairie ing" Lang's ordeal began Aug 24 1978 when she looked outside her home and saw a stranger naked from the waist down walking toward some children She called police Her 26-year-old son overheard the call and ran out the door Dickens took keys from the ignition of the man's truck and told him that they would wait together for police The man cursed at Dickens walked to his truck and reached for his jeans He took a 22-caliber pistol from the cab and opened fire hitting Dickens three times He shot him again in the head as Lang watched Dickens' sister Dawna then 17 rants I'm tired of taking my money every place but Grand Prairie to eat" The council considered 10 proposed changes that would loosen zoning restrictions for restaurants and golf courses and alter the special-events permit process Alcohol has been an issue in Grand Prairie since the Dallas County portion of the city voted itself dry in 1952 with the Tarrant County portion of the city continuing to allow beer sales After several unsuccessful attempts to reverse that situation voters approved liquor-by-the drink in 1986 but the City Council enacted strict restrictions that limited alcohol to restaurants An attempt to loosen those restrictions in I 991 failed after a large turnout of people voicing religious objections A large similar contin The Associated Press MONROE La A federal judge has thrown out a state lawsuit that asked for an order to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from dumping lead-contaminated soil from Dallas in Ouachita Parish US District Judge Donald Walter dismissed the lawsuit by Louisiana Attorney General Richard leyoub which accused the EPA of violating federal law by disposing of the dirt in a landfill that has no permit to accept hazardous waste "We'll have to take a step back look at our options" said Assistant Attorney General John Sheppard He added that leyoub "is committed to keeping the lead dirt out of the Magnolia Landfill" The ruling doesn't mean that the trucks will begin carrying 1800 loads of dirt from a Superfund cleanup site in Dallas to the Waste Management Inc site BY MEDE NIX FOn Worth Star-Telegram GRAND PRAIRIE About I 50 people turned out last night to hear the City Council debate changes in the alcohol ordinance that would loosen restrictions for restaurants and golf courses serving alcohol The council appeared divided on the issues with residents' corn ments and debate going late into the night "We understand your desire not to have 1950s-style honky-tonks in the city" said Jim Helms of American Golf Corp and Riverside Golf Club "But we are at a competitive disadvantage because of your regulations" "I think we're making an importelt step forward" sad Barbara Kerr a real estate agent "We're ready to see some quality restau EMIT! AND oP 'Visions of America Written Direded by Thomas Porter Music by George Chave Sat Feb 20 at and Sun Feb 21 at UTA Fine Arts Building Mainstage $5 GenAdm $2 Students (817) 73-2650 I 1.