1995_04 Insight April 1995

              Campus hosts
Festival
Pages 6 & 7
Prof breaks
world record
Page 9      spring break I Page 11
APRIL 5,1995
INSIGHT
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
VOL. 26, NO. 19
Drunken driving: a tragic reality
Penalties
add up
for DUI
offenders
By John Shaw
Staff Writer
The tragedy of March 25
brought to the forefront the brutal
reality of drinking and driving.
Jeremy Hanike's life was changed
forever.
Of all fatal traffic accidents,
43.5 percent involve drinking
and driving. Twenty percent of
them involve drivers between
thc ages of 16 and 24. Two out
of every five individuals will be
involved in an alcohol-related
crash at some time in iheir life.
The penalties for drinking and
driving come in the form of a
higher insurance rate, a night in
jail. DMV fees, license suspension and points on the person's
driving record.
The rate of increase in insurance
after a DUI depends on factors
such as the age of the driver,
model and year of the vehicle,
type of insurance coverage and
severity of the accident.
When cited for driving under the
influence of alcohol, Ihe driver's
license is taken away by thc police officer on the scene. The
driver is issued a 30-day license
while the test results are being
processed. If the driver's blood
alcohol level is .08 or higher, the
Drivers Safely Office will issue a
suspension and a fine.
First-time offenders under age
21 are issued a four-monih suspension and have their vehicle
impounded. A second offense
results in a one-year suspension.
An uninsured driver is fined
$250 with a one-year license
suspension.
After suspension, the DMV issues an SR-22 form for a minimum SI00 fee. The SR-22 allows
reinstatement of a driver's license
and puts thc person inlo a high-
risk driver category. Special-carrier insurance agencies for high
risk drivers charge an additional
S25 to $60 for initiation.
In general, a driver's insurance
rate will double for a minimum of
three years. Thc SR-22 stays on
the driver's record for a minimum
of three years.
Courtesy photo
The remainder of Jeremy Hamke's car sits In the middle of Shaw Avenue hours after a drunken driver almost takes his life.
Two drivers
hospitalized
after 100-mph
auto collision
•f Freshman Jeremy
Hamke struggles to
recover after accident
By Stephen Walsh
Staff Writer
It is 3:30 a.m. Not much is happening on Shaw Avenue or on any street
in Fresno.
Street lights shower yellow cones
onto lhc pavement. Thc lights buzz
like a nest of mosquitoes waiting to
descend on a passerby.
One, maybe two cars speed by
breaking up thc monotonous hum.
only to fade away into the fog.
On Saturday, March 25, il look only
one of those cars to change CSUF
freshman Jeremy Hamke's life forever.
Hamke was driving home after an
evening at his fraternity. As hc ap
proached the Shaw and Barton avenues intersection to turn into thc
dorm parking lot, Hamke was struck
by a Camaro. Behind the wheel was
a drunken driver.
The crash sounded like a dozen plate
glass windows dropped simultaneously. The tearing metal twisted
like black carnival taffy.
His Daisun was destroyed, ripped
into three pieces. Hamke and the other
driver were pinned in their cars. Minutes later, paramedics and police arrived to pull them out.
Until early afternoon, police
blocked off that section of Shaw Avenue. Remnants of two cars lay beyond the yellow tape, baking in the
sun like (wo wild animals after a kill.
Both Hamke and thc other driver are
in stable condition.
"Hc needs a lot of blood," said Chris
McCoy, Hamke's roommate.
Courtesy photo
The drunken drivers car leaves a chilling reminder of the nearly
fatal March 25 accident.
McCoy is pulling the word out that
anyone can donate in Hamke's name,
regardless of blood type.
As of April 4„ Hamke had been lying in a bed at Valley Medical Center
for ten days. Hc was on morphine
for the first two. His condition is
slowly improving.
He has a pin in one leg and bruises
all over his body. The more severe
contusions are on his chest because
his seat belt split on impact.
Hamke, a communicative disorders
major, can't breathe on his own. so a
respirator must do it for him. He has
a fatty embolism due to a fracture. The
embolism is a deposit of fat tissue that
blocks arteries. Depending on their
size, embolisms can be removed with
surgery.
Despite this, Hamke is hanging on.
He is unconscious most of the time.
When hc wakes up. his parents are by
his side, holding his hands, telling him
everything's going to be all right.
On his sixth day in intensive care,
the nurses had him silling in a chair.
Communicating with Hamke isn't
easy because he's deaf. His mother,
Angela Kreikemcir. said his two hearing aids were lost in thc crash, so she
signs to her son when he's conscious.
"It's been hard because of that."
Kreikemeir said. She looks wom.
See HAMKE, page"l4
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Tepeyac Marlachls provided traditional Mexican music f
or the Cesar Chavez birthday celebration.
♦ Confederacion de Nuestra Gente remembers the man
who improved working conditions for farm workers
By Virginia Madrid-Salazar
Staff Writer
There were no United Farm Worker flags bearing the black eagle on red,
but thc fight continued Friday on campus as Confederacion de Nuestra Gente
and Chicano students celebrated the birth and the struggle of Cesar Chavez.
Chavez dedicated his life to improving conditions for farm workers. He is a
hero to many in the Chicano/Laiino community. Chavez was born March 31.
1927, and died on April 23. 1993. at age 66.
According to Raul Moreno, adviser of Confederaci6n de Nuestra Gente and
director of University Migrant Services, the Cesar Chavez Celebration was
not necessarily held to celebrate, but to inform the public about the importance of recognizing farm workers and the dangers they face everyday.
"In celebrating his birthday we arc continuing his work." Moreno said. "We
all fight the fight of Cesar Chavez. It is everybody's struggle."
"The fight of the poor working conditions of the farm worker, that was Cesar
Chavez' mission," Moreno said. "He was the main pioneer for improving the
working conditions of the farm worker. We honor Cesar Chavez today."
"We feel that his birthday was a good day to celebrate to begin with, but it is
a special day for us because it symbolizes the birth of a great person in our
history," said Jesus Jaime Escobar, spokesperson for Confederaci6n and a
junior computer science major.
"And so as the Americans celebrate George Washington and Lincoln's birthdays, we celebrate his (Chavez'] birthday because to us Cesar Chavez is a
George Washington and he is a father," he said.
Help
for sick
parolees
♦ California senate bill
requires mandatory treatment for felons suffering
from mental disorders
By Marene Bryant
Staff Writer
"Not too long ago, a California man
with severe mental problems killed
his roommate. The murderer yanked
the victim's heart out of his chest and
carried the bloody organ around in his
pocket for several weeks," said Roger
Vehrs. a criminal attorney in Fresno.
"This is why we need mandatory
care for the mentally ill. These sociopaths need to be taught normal behavior," he said.
The state Senate is making a decision that could change the lives of
mental patients for the better.
The California Senate is considering a bill that would require mandatory treatment for child molesters and
other felony offenders suffering from
severe mental disorders. The bill is
being considered by the Senatorial
Commission on Criminal Procedure.
Under this bill, parolees with severe
mental disorders would receive mandatory treatment for committing
crimes including lewd and lascivious
acts on a child under the age of 14
and any felony punishable by state
imprisonment for life — with or without the possibility of parole, or death.
"This bill would do a lot of good.
There are a lot of nutzoids out there
and they need help," said Irwin
Norwack, senior consultant for
Democratic Sen. Steve Peace of the
40th District, author of the bill.
Questions to Norwack about the
amount of money the bill would cost
taxpayers or how many patients the
bill would apply to went unanswered.
According to the U.S. Bureau of the
Census, there arc more than 170,000
inmates in California's prisons and
state mental institutions.
"These people with severe mental
disorders don't receive the proper
treatment in prison. Prisons were created to punish someone, not offer
counseling." Vehrs said.
Vehrs said the mental patients in
many court cases, who arc child molesters and murderers, are not blameworthy.
"They are controlled by an impulse.
It would be the same as punishing a
child who broke something when he
didn't know better. It's not his fault
He has no control over what he docs,"
he said.
Norwack said. "Those mental patients may be serving a sentence, but
they are still dangerous and they need
treatment. These arc the same guys
who say that little voices or God or
something told them to kill someone."
Under the Penal Code, a prisoner
who meets certain criteria will be required to be treated by the State Department of Mental Health.
The prisoner must have a severe
mental disorder that is not in remission or cannot be kept in remission
without treatment
The term "severe mental disorder" is
commonly defined as an illness, disease, or condition that impairs the
person's thought perception of reality,
emotional process, or judgment; or
impairs behavionor that demonstrates
evidence of an acute brain syndrome
for which prompt remission, in the absence of treatment is unlikely.
Severe mental disorders do not include personality or adjustment disorders, epilepsy, mental retardation or
other developmental disabilities, or
addiction to or abuse of intoxicating
See CHAVEZ, page 4
"Remission" means finding the overt
signs and symptoms of the severe mental disorders arc controlled either, by
medication or psychosocial support
See TREATMENT, page 5
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