The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 10, 1993 Page: 1 of 16
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# The ^ SINCE 1916
RiceTmmier
VOLUME 81, NUMBER 4
IT'S 4 A.M.; DONT PUT YOUR FACE THROUGH THE SCREEN
SEPTEMBER 10,1993
Lovett senior spends night in jail
after stealing cup at Taco Cabana
by Michael Nimri
Police arrested Lovett College se-
nior Alan Ying Sept. 2 on charges of
stealing a plastic cup at Taco Cabana.
But witnesses suggest the arrest
may have been motivated by his
friends' rowdiness rather than by the
actual theft
"We were drunk, or at least not
sober," said Lovett senior Eric
Klineberg, who was with Ying that
night "We were being rowdy. The
manager was upset at us."
According to Klineberg and Rick
Ngo, also a Lovett senior, 12 to 15 Rice
students met at the Kirby establish-
ment at about 2 a.m. after the "Senior
Shindig" at Savage's.
Ngo and Klineberg said Ymg or-
dered tortilla chips and water and paid
for the order but did not receive a
water cup. He then picked up a cup
and filled it with water.
Officer Abraham Vanderberry, one
of two off-duty Houston police officers
employed that night by Taco Cabana,
later approached the group and asked
to see Ying's receipt for the cup, Ngo
said.
The cup was not on Ying's receipt,
and he was arrested. Taco Cabana
management then asked the police-
men to kick the students out, Ngo
said.
Ying declined to comment until he
had consulted a lawyer.
"[Ying] was not being rude or ob-
noxious at all," Ngo said. "Maybe I
was, but he definitely was not"
Ngo said Ying offered to pay for
the cup of water but the policeman
gave him no chance to do so. Ngo said
he asked the officer, "How can you
arrest him for something that's free?"
and the officer responded, "I can take
two down as easily as I can take down
one."
Vanderberry, however, had a dif-
ferent account of events.
He said Ying did not order a drink,
but picked up a soda cup from the
counter and tried to reach the soda
dispenser and fill his cup.
Vanderberry said Taco Cabana
workers told Ying to stop, and Ying
then filled the cup with water instead.
Vanderberry said the action was
Alan Ying
illegal because soda cups, unlike wa-
ter cups, are not free. He said three
workers saw Ying reach for soda and
that the action was taped by security
cameras.
"What he [took] is not the point
The point is he took a piece of prop-
erty that belongs to this store and did
not pay for it," Vanderberry said.
"He admitted to me in the back
room, 'I took the cup. I didn't pay for
the cup,'" Vanderberry said.
Vanderberry said he was person-
ally less upset at the theft than that
after the students left, death-threat
calls were made to Taco Cabana
"We got four, five, sue, seven calls1
within a matter of 30 minutes saying
that they were going to kill the HPD
officers. And it had to be people that
were in here, that knew the situation,"
he said.
Betty Schuldberg, the manager on
duty that night, said she was very
scared by the threats and warned her
employees to stay away from the win-
dows.
Those death threats are very seri-
ous," Vanderberry said. That'sathird-
degree felony in the state of Texas."
He said such a charge can bring a
three- to five-year jail sentence.
Schuldberg said that after Ying's
arrest the students with him threat-
ened to pass out flyers at Rice urging
students to boycott the restaurant
Ngo said he had earlier conflicted
with Taco Cabana management and
suggested they might have been up-
set with him and his friends as a result
Ngo did not have his receipt when
he went to pick up his food, he said,
and the manager was reluctant to give
it to him. later he dropped a tray of
food and said the manager called an
officer over to talk to him.
"1 understand what they were try-
ing to do, in that there were 12 to 15
people there who were making noise,"
Klineberg said. "And they wanted to
kick us out And that's fine." But
Klineberg thinks the management
should have talked to them first.
"The policemen decided that it
was up to them to go and show how
much power they had, to come over
and threaten all of us with being ar-
rested. That was ridiculous,"
Klineberg said. "I think the police-
men and Taco Cabana used very poor
judgment in handling the situation.
I'm shocked."
Ngo said he was not sure if the
incident was at all racially motivated
but noted that the three students the
officers talked to — himself, Ying and
Lovett senior David Kim — are all
Asian.
Vanderberry denied race was a
factor. "I arrested him because he
stole something and then lied about
it"
Ital so is possible thearrestwas the
result of Taco Cabana keeping a close
watch over its cups.
According to Houston Police De-
partmentspokesmanjohn Leggio.the
restaurant chain has had problems
with customers buying margaritas and
then pouring them into soda cups.
Customers then smuggle the
drinks off the premises, which is ille-
gal in Texas.
Also, "the store has lost big-time
money in cola sales due to people
taking cups or getting water cups and
filling them with soda," Vanderberry
said.
Ying was charged with a Class C
misdemeanor, which applies to thefts
of less than $20 and carries a maxi-
mum penalty of a $500 fine. He spent
the night in jail and was released the
next morning on $350 bond.
Ying is scheduled to appear in
municipal court Sept 24 for arraign-
ment
Eliminate the middleman
Changes in federal law could make it easier for students to borrow for school
by Ryan Koopmans
Borrowing money for college may
be simpler and cheaper under a new
law regarding the financing of federal
student loan programs.
In August, President Clinton
signed into law a bill that allows stu-
dents to borrow directly from the gov-
ernment instead of banks. Rice stu-
dents will be able to get their loans at
the Financial Aid Office.
Undqrthecurrentsystem, students
borrow money from banks. The loans
are guaranteed by state agencies,
.which are insured by the federal gov-
ernment The federal government
pays interest to the banks while the
student is in school and repays banks
if the student defaults on the loan.
The new system will remove banks
from the process. Loans will come
from the U.S. Treasury, which can
borrow money at very low interest
rates. Collection will likely be handled
by the Internal Revenue Service, in a
move designed to cut down on the
rate of defaults.
The current system costs the gov-
ernment$5billioneachyear.The U.S.
General Accounting Office estimates
the new system will save $1.3 billion
each year when fully implemented.
Most of the changes will be invis-
ible to students, said G. David Hunt,
director of Rice's financial aid pro-
gram. Loan qualificationsand borrow-
ing limits will not change.
last year, the Bush administration
changed eligibility requirements so
virtually all students at every institu-
tion of higher learning can get feder-
ally funded Stafford Loans. Parents of
students and independent students
also are eligible.
But costs to students will go down,
including loan-origination and insur-
ance fees. Interest rates on student
loans vary but will be capped at 8.25
percent rather than 9 percent
Currently, most students pay off
Don't look down
Wiess sophomore Steve Moss prepares to skydive with a private
instructor Sept. 5. The plane was west of Houston at atjgut 11,000 feet.
Local mugger making
students his victims
by Patricia Lin
their loans over a fixed period, u sually
10 years. The new bill makes provi-
sion for income-contingentrepayment
Lower-income graduates will pay
their loans less quickly than higher-
income ones. In this way, the govern-
ment hopes to cut down on default
rates.
"There's a new willingness to help
students repay their loans," Huntsaid.
"I think students will come out ahead.
My feeling is these loans will save the
government money."
The program will be phased in
over five years, beginning in the 1994-
95 school year.
Over the next year the govern-
ment hopes to grant 5 percent of all
student loans and up to 60 percent by
1999,according to Rep. Mike Andrews,
D-Texas.
Andrews' district includes Rice
University.
Students who already have signed
for loans will see no change under the
new plan.
Two Rice students were robbed
last week in separate incidents, but
likely by the same man.
Charles Crain, a Baker College jun-
ior, said a man who may have been
armed asked for his wallet The rob-
bery occurred Sept 2 at about 10:45
p.m. in the Baker quadrangle.
Hanszen College freshman Kara
Schafer was held up on Main Street
the next afternoon. She said herwallet
also was taken.
In both cases, the man was de-
scribed as a bearded b lack male, abou t
30 years old, six feet tall and 150
pounds. The students said he was
wearing a red shirt and blue jeans or
jean shorts.
Crain said a man greeted him from
across the Baker quadrangle. Crain,
thinking the man to be a student,
turned back to see what he wanted.
"When I got close enough to see
that he definitely wasn't a student, 1
was also close enough to see that he
was holding something under his
shirt," Crain said.
"1 was expecting him to ask for
money or something, but he said, 'Ex-
cuse me,let me getyourwallet'That's
when I took a close look at what he
was holding under his shirt because I
didn't want to get mugged with a fin-
ger," he said.
Craft* Said he could see it wasn't a
finger, so he didn't want to take any
chances by resisting.
The man took the wallet and told
Crain to walk toward the Baker com
mons. Crain turned back to see the
susped start runn in#, and then chased
him across Main Street to the Miller
Outdoor Theater.
Crain said hedid notthinkthe man
was holding a gun under his shirt
when he pursued him into Hermann
Park.
"It might have been a shoe or some-
thing. It just really pissed me off. 1
guess it was an adrenaline rush thing
because I barely gave a thought to the
fact that I might have been risking my
life," Crain said. "But enough people
have told me what a stupid thing it was
to do.
"I lost him there, and then 1 came
back and called the Houston police,
who called the Campus Police. It was
probably an hour after the incident
that I talked to the police," Crain said.
Crain's wallet later was found in
Hermann Park with the driver's li-
cense intact
A man holding something under
his shirt followed Schafer Sept 3 and
SEE MUGQINQ PAGE 8
Opinion
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Howley, Peter & Epperson, Kraettli. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 10, 1993, newspaper, September 10, 1993; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245846/m1/1/: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.