The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 19, 1990 - Page 7
Campus crime surprisingly
widespread, experts say
by the College Press Service
While the murders of five college
students within three days in
-Gainesville, Fla. were unusual,
" crime watchers say murder is a more
:,-ommon crime on campuses
.nationwide than most people think.
Hard statistics are difficult to
find, but crime observers say they've
-been surprised by the results of
r several recent studies of the problem.
*. "The rate of victimization is
higher than anyone had known," said
Jan Sherrill of the Campus Violence
P ?revention Center, based at
Maryland's Towson State
'University.
Though people have not been
studying the phenomenon for long,
some statistics seem to "show an
increase" in murders and other
violent crime at colleges across the
country, added Clarinda Raymond,
Sherrill's colleague at Towson.
Moreover, Raymond said, the
,murderers are often other students.
"I guess we cannot rule out that
the Florida murders were committed
by a student," Raymond said.
On September 1, police arrested
Edward Lewis Humphrey, 18, a
'University of Florida (UF) first-year
student, for questioning the case.
Police added they might have other
suspects in the off-campus murders
of three UF and two Santa Fe
Community College students.
Police found the bodies of 17-
year-old Christina Powell and her
roommate, 18-year-old Sonja
Larson, in their apartment August
26. Both were UF first-year students.
Both were partially nude, and had
been stabbed.
Eight hours later police found the
stabbed, decapitated body of Christa
Leigh Hoyt, a Santa Fe student, at
her apartment.
The next day, August 28, Santa
Fe student Tracey Inez Paules, 23,
and her roommate, UF senior
Manuel Ricardo Toboada, 23, were
found stabbed to death.
The brutality and timing of the
killings prompted widespread student
panic on the UF campus. Many
apparently left for home just as
classes were starting. Some who
stayed held large slumber parties for
protection. Still others bought
weapons.
They could find weapons readily
advertised in the Independent Florida
Alligator, the campus paper, which
suddenly fo nd itself with an influx
of ads for mace, tear gas and stun
guns, said an
representative, who
name used.
Alligator ad
didn't want her
Some
nevertheless
safe place.
campus
said UF is a
leaders
relatively
"I think security on campus is
incredible," said Michael Browne,
UF's student body president.
Multiple slayings are in fact rare
at colleges. The most notable
instance occurred in December,
1989, when an assailant killed 14
female students and wounded another
13 people at the University of
Montreal.
Some 1,990 violent crimes were
committed on campuses in 1988, the
most recent FBI census of crime in
America found. However, the
number probably did not represent
all the violent crimes because
colleges are not required to report
them.
In January, 1990, Raymond's
group released a survey showing that
36 percent of the nation's students
had been victims of violent crimes.
Yet students typically don't think
of their campuses as dangerous.
AP Photo
Firefighters aboard the Coast Guard cutter 'Bramble' (left) spray foam and water on the 385-foot tanker
'Jupiter' (at right) Monday afternoon.
Tanker's fire subdued on third day
I
Survey says American voters are
unhappy m
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ameri-
-- -cans are growing increasingly disen-
chanted with the two major political
parties, associating Republicans
with wealth and greed and Democrats
'with incompetence, according to a
survey released yesterday.
"Since 1987, there has been a
4 significant upswing in feelings of
mistrust of political leaders, disillu-
*sonment with politics and feelings
of powerlessness," said the Times
Mirror survey titled "The People, the
Press & Politics 1990."
The study said the growing cyni-
cism and economic polarization
among all but the wealthiest Ameri-
cans "threatens to subvert traditional
partisan politics or block the effec-
tive resolution of social and eco-
nomic issues."
Another finding was that while
ith political parties
BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) -
Firefighters spritzed foam on the
blazing M.V. Jupiter tanker Tuesday
as it belched black smoke over the
Saginaw River for the third day.
Flames that erupted Sunday
morning were under control and
smoldering yesterday afternoon, said
Tom Dalesio, a vice president with
Ashland Oil Inc. of Ashland, Ky.,
which is the parent company of the
Jupiter's owner.
Yesterday, some fuel slashed into
the water and crews piled absorbent
booms around the tanker, said state
Department of Natural Resources
spokesperson Terry Walkington.
DNR and state health experts
were awaiting the results of water-
and air-pollution tests after monitor-
ing black smoke that dissipated for
100 miles and finding hundreds of
dead fish near the tanker. Results
were expected later in the week.
Some residents were angered that
no evacuation was ordered.
"We have human health at risk
here," said Terry Miller, chair of the
Lone Tree Council, an area envi-
ronmental group. "I would think just
as a precautionary measure, they
should have asked local area residents
to evacuate even if it's just gasoline
burning."
Tim Bosco, 29, owner of Bosco's
Fruit Market located a half-mile
from the burning tanker, said the
fumes gave him a headache.
"anti-communism is fading as a fac-
tor in American politics, anti-
Japanese sentiment has soared as
economic expectations plummet."
Equally dramatic was the decline in
support for Israel.
"Dislike for the Japanese has be-
come more mainstream," concluded
the survey. "It is no longer primarily
concentrated among the kinds of
people who have been hit especially
hard by Japanese competition."
"Growing dislike for Israel is evi-
dent across all demographic, political
and social groups, except among
American Jews," the survey said.
But it also said that "It is important
to note that the sharp decline in iden-
tification with Israel has not been
accompanied by a substantial identi-
fication with the causes of the Pales-
tinians."
President Bush fared as well in
this area as in other recent surveys,
with 76 percent giving him very or
mostly favorable ratings.
The findings were based on face-
to-face interviews in May with
3,004 adults. A random sample of
1,000 was reinterviewed between
August 19 and 25. The responses for
the overall sample had a margin of
error of plus or minus two percent-
age points.
The responses were analyzed by
Princeton Research Associates and-
compared to the findings of a similar
study conducted in 1987.
In the three years between the
two studies, there was little change
in Americans' affiliation with the
major parties - the number of people
identifying themselves as Republi-
cans increased 3 percentage points.
California D.A. books Keating on
Savings and Loan fraud charges
Activists
protest
hunting
products
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - J.C.
Penney Co. Inc. should stop selling
all hunting gear and weapons or
bring back boys clothes with an
anti-hunting message, an animal
protection group said yesterday.
The department store chain pulled
the clothes out of its 1,330 store on
September 4 after protests from
hunters and hunting groups.
"We believe if they're going to
pull those clothes with a compas-
sionate meaning from their stores,
then they also should pull all hunt-
ing gear and weapons," said Heidi
Prescott, national outreach director
for the Fund For Animals.
"We think (Penney's) should be
consistent and balance the scales."
Penney public relations manager
Duncan Muir said the Dallas-based
retailer took no position one way or
the other on hunting.
He said the company wouldn't
bring back the clothing and wouldn't
stop selling hunting weapons -
sold only through its catalog - or
other outdoor equipment, which
could be used for hunting.
WRITERS
I. Ir
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Charles
':Keating, the former chair of Ameri-
can Continental Corp. blamed by the
b government for the nation's biggest
:-*savings and loan collapse, was
: = booked on criminal fraud charges
yesterday.
"He surrendered shortly before
8:30 and has been booked," said
*: Mike Botula, a spokesperson for the
w district attorney.
It was the first time criminal
-.; :charges have been filed against Keat-
ing, who was indicted by a grand
-r jury on charges related to sales of
r: -junk bonds by failed Lincoln Sav-
ings& Loan of Irvine, California.
:, p Keating has been under investiga-
tion in Lincoln's sale of more than
W:$200 million in now-worthless junk
bonds to 22,000 investors, many of
them elderly buyers. Keating, a
Phoenix developer, controlled Lin-
coln through his American Conti-
nental holding company.
Also indicted were Judy Wischer,
former president of American Conti-
nental, and Ray Fidel and Robin
Symes, both former Lincoln presi-
dents.
All four were to be arraigned later
yesterday before Superior Court
Judge Gary Klausner. Botula said he
did not know the maximum sen-
tences saying it had completed its
presentation to the special state
grand jury investigating the matter.
Though the indictments were the
first criminal charges in the Lincoln
case, numerous civil lawsuits have
been filed.
"I don't know how many bond-
holders are out there ... but they're
dancing in the street tonight,"
Shirley Lampel, a Lincoln bond-
holder, said Monday. "We'd like to
get our money back."
The grand jury began investigat-
ing in February whether Lincoln of-
ficials misled bond buyers into be-
liev"'g the high-risk, high-yield
junK bonds were federally insured.
Reiner was appointed a special state
prosecutor in the case in December
and has been presenting evidence
since April.
DEPUTIZED
Continued from page 1
Faster police "response time" is
part of the University's attempt to
improve campus security, added Sgt.
Baisden, as the Administration hopes
University cops will rush to scenes
of crime faster than would Ann
Arbor police.
For more information
call us at 764-0561.
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Pentagon prepares to
* -reduce military abroad
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Pentagon, citing a lowered risk of
combat with the Soviet Union and a
need to cut costs, said yesterday it
will end operations or reduce forces
-at 150 military sites in 10 countries
around the world.
The reductions will take place
over the next few years at sites rang-
ing from major bases to small in-
stallations.
Military operations will be ended
at 94 sites in West Germany, 11 in
Spain, nine in South Korea, three
each in Greece, Italy, England, and
Australia and one in Japan, said De-
fense Department spokesperson Pete
Williams.
The United States will also re-
duce its forces at 14 sites in West
Germn three in Snth Korea two
"In reviewing our needs for forces
in the mid-1990s, and in light of de-
clining defense budgets, we continue
to identify locations overseas where
we can reduce our forces," said De-
fense Secretary Dick Cheney.
"As we draw down the overall
size of the force, it is essential that
we correspondingly reduce the instal-
lations where the force is based, both
in the United States and overseas,"
Cheney said.
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