ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 11, 1997 TAG: 9702110100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
8 charged in frat party drinking death
FROSTBURG, Md. - Eight students at Frostburg State University were charged with manslaughter in the alcohol-poisoning death of a freshman who got drunk at a fraternity party.
The freshman, John Eric Stinner, 20, consumed at least six beers and 12 shots of vodka in two hours at the off-campus Kappa Beta Zeta party, Allegany County State's Attorney Lawrence Kelly said Monday.
Friends carried Stinner back to his dormitory room, where he was found dead Nov. 9 with a blood alcohol content of 0.34 percent, more than three times the legally intoxicated level of 0.10 percent.
The defendants were indicted Friday and all had been released on recognizance by Monday afternoon, Kelly said.
- Associated Press
Budget amendment stalls in House
WASHINGTON - The Senate defeated the first of a host of challenges to the balanced-budget amendment Monday while House Republican leaders, struggling to keep their troops in line, put off further action on their bill.
The House Judiciary Committee decision to postpone a vote on the constitutional amendment until after the Senate finishes its work put in doubt plans for a final House vote Feb. 26.
The Senate, meanwhile, voted 64-35 to reject a proposal by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., to allow the balanced budget requirement to be waived by a simple majority vote in times of serious economic problems. Ten Democrats joined the Republicans in voting against the measure. Both Virginia senators, Republican John Warner and Democrat Chuck Robb, voted to reject the proposal.
- Associated Press
Female cadet's dad named commandant
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The father of one of the two remaining female cadets at The Citadel was named commandant of cadets Monday.
Retired Army Brig. Gen. Emory Mace, a Citadel graduate who once taught Reserve Officer Training Corps courses at the state military college, will begin overseeing military activities Feb. 24.
Mace's daughter, Nancy, was one of four women who entered the formerly all-male school this fall after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar men-only admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional.
Two of the women, Kim Messer and Jeanie Mentavlos, alleged they were harassed and hazed and did not return to school after the holidays.
- Associated Press
Safety group: Keep truck sizes frozen
WASHINGTON - A highway safety group is calling for a continued freeze on the size of big trucks, and changes in the way drivers are paid, as part of massive highway legislation being developed in Congress.
Keeping the ban on triple-trailers in most states, and paying drivers by the hour instead of the mile, should be part of the new Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, Joan Claybrook, of the group Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, said Monday.
The act, which is a follow-up to a similar measure expiring this year, allocates billions of dollars in federal road money over several years and it is expected to be a focus of major battles among the states.
Claybrook said paying drivers by the mile encourages them to speed and called for truck drivers to be paid by the hour.
Chris Hoover of the American Trucking Association said current rules on how long truckers can drive are out of date and need to be made more flexible.
- Associated Press
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