The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Ed. 1 Thursday, March 7, 1991 Page: 2 of 10
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Page 2/Thursday, March 7, 1991/theJ-TAC
OPINION'
Editorials
Drunk driving...
Spring Break
encourages
drunk driving
Every year, hundreds of drinking-related
accidents occur on Texas highways during Spring
Break. Soon, Tarleton State University students
will once again travel to the beaches and ski
slopes to party, tan and have a good time.
Hopefully, students will behave cautiously in their
partying efforts.
According to the "About Alcohol On
Campus" booklet distributed by the TSU
Couseling Center, drinking is taken for granted as
a part of college life. Surveys indicate that about
50 percent of all students become intoxicated at
least occasionally.
As a result of drinking, a significant
number of kids will get in some type of trouble -
usually automobile accidents or DWI arrests.
During 1989, 1306 fatalities occured state
wide that were DWI related, said the Texas
Department of Public Safety (DPS) statistician.
Over Spring Break, the week of March 5-11, 110
DWI related accidents occurred which was 44
percent of all the accidents that week, pie week
of March 12-18 provided 107 DWI accident:
Many of these accidents could be avoided.
Students do not necessarily have to decline from
drinking, but drink responsibly and don't drive
intoxicated. If you decide to drink, appoint a
designated driver before you ever start.
If you find yourself in an intoxicated state
with no driver, find another means of
transportation - don't drive. This might not only
save your life, but others as well.
The Spring Break holiday is a time for fun
and relaxation don't ruin it by acting stupid.
We would rather have you as a statistic at Tarleton
than another number with the DPS.
Personal experience teaches lesson
What's Your View?
If you have any comments, or letters
to the editor, call 968-9056 or come
by the office located on the third
floor of Davis Hall, room 303.
Letters are subject to editing for
grammar and spelling.
JJuaUft®
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Darkness...Quietness... then
screaming.
"Oh my God, what happened?"
Police and' ambulance sirens
began ringing getting closer and
closer.
"Hide the beer, hurry, hurry, get
it all out!"
"Where is Julie? Oh my God!"
Screaming.
I couldn't see anything. I felt
something running down my face,
but didn't know what it was. I tried
to open my eyes but something was
in them and I couldn't see or focus on
anything.
"Julie, Julie, are you o.k.? Talk
please."
I tried but I couldn't They started
trying to wipe the blood from my
face with a dry rag.
The sirens had reached us. Men
were yelling. People were doing
things to me. I felt myself being
lifted
Bright lights everywhere...
Faces woe all around me. Oh I hurt.
They started doing things that hurt.
What was happening?
Things slowly began to dawn on
me.
I had been riding around drink-
ing beer with a group of friends. A
typical stupid tiling for college kids
to do. I had passed out in the front
seat without my seat belt when the
driver took a sharp curve at 40 miles
per hour and hit a telephone pole.
My face went through the front win-
dow above the steering wheel.
As I laid on the operating table
with nurses picking glass out of my
face and cleaning it, I got mad. At
the time I was completely out of my
mind and decided to take it out on the
doctors and nurses who were "hurt-
ing" me. I cussed at them like a
sailor. ( 1 am very ashamed of that
fact now).
Another wonderful aspect of a
drunken emergency is that you get
no pain killers or anything. They
used a medical staple gun and shot
metal staples in my forehead trying
u> put it back together.
Then I got to call my parents
personally and try to tell them what
had happened and that I was lying on
an emergency table.
I pretty much stayed in a trance
and half sleep and switched in and
out of ICU all night long.
The next thing I remember
clearly is the sound of my Dad's
footsteps coming down the hospital
hallway. He hadn't seen me yet, I
hadn't seen myself either. I think that
moment was the worst of the whole
incident.
The look on my daddy's face
was enough to finally make me break
down.
"Please don't cry daddy. Pleas1."
The nurses came in and let me
see my face in the mirror. I couldn't
believe it I looked like Franken-
stein! My forehead looked like
hamburger meat with metal staples
in it There were still pieces of glass
in my face and hair. A lot of dried
blood was also on all the cuts all over
my face.
It looked pretty certain that I
would have scars. Lpts of them.
I thought we were having a lot
of fun that night, riding around drink-
ing with my friends.
The driver ended up in jail and a
whole lot of trouble because it was
not his first arrest with a DWI. The
girl's car we were driving was com-
plete ly totaled. I ate glass and ended
!,:p in the hospital.
Now how much fun is that?
Non'*
The answer is so obvious but for
some reason it never seems to influ-
ence anyone. Unless it happens to
you personally or to a friend, no-
body seems to act responsibly as a
result of these incidents.
Many times it doesn't even
matter if you have gone through it I
have aften caught myself putting
myself in dangerous situations all
over again. But it is so unworth it
The lessons to learn from this is
simple.
Don't drink and , drive.
Don't ride with a drunk driver.
Have a designated driver.
Wear your seatbelt at all times!
One person acting responsible
out of a group doesn't hamper the fun
to that much of an extehL Believe
me, it is worth it
I was exremely lucky. I had
plastic surgery (which will probably
become another column story in it-
self). The wreck occurred about a
year and a half ago. My face has
eventually gone back to normal,
except for a few pieces of glass still
embedded in my upper forehead.
Others aren't so lucky. I could
have easily died in that accident and
people do every year. A lot of people.
If your don't care about your-
self, think about it this way. What
if that had been a little two-year-old
girl we had run into instead of a
telephone pole?
Please take responsibility for
yourself and others.
Julie Grider is Editor in Chief
for the J-TAC.
✓
WHICH OF THESE SHAPES DOES NQT BELONG?
Inner tube
Thong bathing, suit
Beach ball
Beer drinkers
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STAFF.
, ADVISOR - Charlie Reynolds
EDITOR - Julie Grider
MANAGING EDITOR - Amie Campbell FEATURES EDITOR - Christy Moore
SPORTS EDITOR - Michael Marbach PHOTO EDITOR - Marc Parks
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR - Glory Neeper
STAFF WRITERS - Pmanuel Alvear, Russell Schneider,
Tina Horton, Justin Schmitt
EDITORIAL CARTOONISTS - Jordan Cannady, Kevin Gentry
CIRCULATION MANAGER - Leslie Douglas
The J-TAC is published each Thursday during the regular semesters, with
the exception of university holidays and examination periods. The printer is
the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.
Only articles in the Opinion section of this newspaper express the opinion
of the J-TAC staff. Columns and/or news articles do not necessarily represent
the opinion of the university or this newspaper.
Inquiries regarding deadlines may be made by telephone to; Editor, 968-
9056; Newsroom, 968-9057; or the faculty advisor, 968-9058.
to the
Why
pursuit cars
at TSU?
Dear Editor
I am writing in regard to
the article in the opinion section
that appeared in the February 14,
1991 J-TAC. The title of the
article was "New idea for a clean
campus".
I agree with the person
who wrote the article. Why not
have the students who are hired to
write parking tickets pick up the
trash that litters our campus?
After all, the students of
Tarleton do pay On ir salary by
way of fees, and they should have
enough money in the bank to
buy trash bags due to all the
tickets they write.
Now, I have a question
that I hope can be answered.
Why does the TSU police
department have high pursuit
police cars? Can't they ride a
bike?
The campus only has
one straight road that I know of
(I have been everywhere on this
campus) that a car can get above
40mph without turning a corner.
That road is out at the Tarleton
Ag Farm.
If anything happens off
campus it will be taken care of
legally by the Stephenville Peace
Officers, so why such a big car?
Thank you,
Wade Bullock
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Ed. 1 Thursday, March 7, 1991, newspaper, March 7, 1991; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth141749/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Tarleton State University.