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Warning issued about vacation behavior Jury Approximately 2,500 U.S. citizens arrested overseas each year By Olivia Hamra For the Daily Titan
The U.S. State Department recently issued a document warning young Americans of the consequences they may encounter if they engage in reckless or illegal behavior while on their spring or summer trips. “Spring break offers a great opportunity to travel, but students traveling abroad should make themselves aware of the laws, cus-
toms or standards of the country they are visiting in order to avoid turning their dream vacation into a nightmare,” said Angela Aggeler, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs. According to the BCA reports, approximately 2,500 U.S. citizens are arrested overseas each year, and one-third of these arrests are on drug-related charges. When travelers are arrested and detained, they might not know that there is very little anyone can do to help. An American consular officer cannot get anyone out of jail, nor can they represent those charged or offer legal counsel. “There is no get out of jail free card,” said Tom Kelly, assis-
tant press spokesman for the U.S Embassy in Mexico. If a traveler in a foreign country is caught buying, selling, importing, carrying or using drugs, it can lead to some very harsh penalties. Consequences include interrogation and delays, followed by trials – potentially involving mistreatment and solitary confinement for up to one year under very primitive conditions and/or extensive trials conducted in a foreign language with delays and postponements. If convicted, suspects may face weeks, months or life sentences in foreign prisons that may incorporate harsh labor, weighty fines and callous lashings. “Realize you are in another coun-
try and obey that country’s laws. It’s so easy to travel to Mexico, and since they don’t require visas, people feel they are just going from state to state,” said Jim Dickmeyer, press spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico. “The laws here are not the same as in the United States and people need to be aware of that.” When drugs are involved, bail is most often not an option. There is nothing anyone can do because once a person leaves the United States, U.S. laws and constitutional rights do not apply. “Just as when a Mexican visits the U.S, they are subject to U.S. law. It works both ways,” Kelly said. In many countries, the burden of proof is on the accused to prove
their own innocence, and evidence obtained illegally by local authorities may be admissible in court. Few countries offer drug offenders jury trials or even require the prisoner’s presence at their trial. “The consular can visit you in jail and give you a list of attorneys,” Dickmeyer said. However, they cannot guarantee the professional capability or reliability of the attorneys, nor can they suggest one. “ ,” he said. The consular can also inform family members and communicate requests for money or aid, but only with consent. They can dispute exploitation or abuse to the approTravel safe 3
Japanese anime not underground interest anymore
A walk in the clouds
Campus club created for student enthusiasts of overseas animation By Michael Ocampo Daily Titan Staff
James Carroll/Daily Titan
Clouds fill the sky over White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico as participants in the Bataan Memorial Death March near the halfway point of their 26.2 mile high desert trek.
Huddled together in darkness, a clan of students sit spellbound, staring intently at the vibrant, surreal images on the projection screen. The expressions on their faces—amusement, horror, revulsion, wonderment—can only be deciphered from the glow emanating from the canvas. They are mesmerized by tales of animated zombies, ninjas, nerds and puppet-controlled robots; pizzas and soft drinks surround them; and every now and then, someone roars a battle cry of approval.
Competition includes 100-mile desert race By Joseph Gavica Daily Titan Staff
Typically, most students work on final projects, presentations, experiments or a thesis during their senior year. This can be a dull and excruciating experience for some students. Cal State Fullerton mechanical engineers may have found a way around the sometimes-dull motions of completing a degree. To help combat the tedium of grad-checks, advisements and papers, CSUF engineers build a race car and travel to Arizona to race it in
said Samuel Barill, project manager of SAE International’s Collegiate Design. “Winners receive monetary awards along with a trophy, but that is not all that is gained by competing in these events.” The object of the competition is to provide SAE student members with a complex project that involves planning and manufacturing tasks commonly encountered when introducing a new product to the consumer industrial market, Barill said. “The Mini-Baja project is an integral part of our capstone design series of classes,” said Jesa Kreiner, project advisor of the Mini-Baja competition and mechanical engineering professor at CSUF. Kreiner said the classes – namely EGME 414 and EGME 419 – repre-
sent the climactic experience of the mechanical engineering program. “Student members of the SAE function as a team to design, build, test, promote and race a vehicle within the limits of the rules,” said Brian Detro, the team captain of CSUF’s racing team and senior mechanical engineer. According to the SAE Mini-Baja competition rules, each school is given the same 10-horsepower Intek Model 20 engine donated by the Briggs and Stratton Corporation. The engine cannot be modified in any way and every school must use the same fuel. Also, each year the SAE competition requires that each school’s Mini-
children as young as 7 are acting out sexual behaviors – such as having oral sex with a sibling or attempting intercourse, she said. “This problem is not mentioned often because we don’t want to recognize it,” Chassman said. “People don’t want to think about children having sex.” The average age for the onset sexual behavior is about 11 and 12, with some children engaging in sexual acts as young as 5, she said. Abuse is cyclical, she said. Abused children and teenagers attempt to repeat the behavior they were victims of when they act out a sexual behavior, Chassman said. When imitating the learned behavior, they don’t understand what they have gone through or what they are doing, she added. There are some children and teenagers who engage in this type
of behavior as a form of retaliation because they were abused either physically or sexually, she said. These kids are angry and want to hurt others, she added. Children and teenagers engage in physical sexual behavior because of a lack of appropriate affection and attention in their families, the Chassman said. “Acting out a sexual behavior fills the emptiness within.” “So many of us are hungry for a connecting relationship,” Chassman said. “If we experience a sexual [encounter] we get the feeling of closeness.” From the children’s and teenagers’ perspective, the sexual behavior is a way of establishing a close relationship – rather than a negative and violent experience, she said. “Needs are being met. We all need to be touched,” she added.
In addition, establishing sexual intimacy gives a sense of being loved and cared for, and a feeling of belonging, Chassman said. These children and teenagers feel they have found something very powerful and magical when they engage in a sexual behavior, Chassman said. Pornography also plays a role in the sexual behavior of children and teenagers, Chassman said. The Internet makes accessing pornography easier for children and teenagers, and eventually, they get addicted to it, she said. They attend to this addiction every time they are unsupervised by an adult, she added. Pornography is also accessible from home if the parents keep magazines or videos, she said.
Son of former asisstant sheriff convicted on six counts of sexual assault The Associated Press
One student’s shirt reads: “Don’t make me go Zelda on you.” No, it isn’t the Cal State Fullerton “Star Wars” Club’s movie night. It’s the Cal State Fullerton Anime Club’s movie night in the Titan Student Union. “We gather because we want to enjoy [anime] together,” said Orion Tippens, 28, the club’s president. When most people think of Japanese animation, or anime (pronounced ah-nee-may), they think of big-eyed schoolgirls, karate masters and seizure-inducing critters with funny names. It is simply dismissed as just another bubbly Saturdaymorning cartoon. But unbeknownst to them is a rich form of storytelling that most American cartoons and even television shows lack, Tippens said.
SANTA ANA – The son of a former assistant sheriff and two codefendants were convicted on several counts of sexual assault Wednesday in a 2002 videotaped attack on an intoxicated 16-year-old girl. The three were acquitted on some charges and jurors deadlocked on still others in the assault in which the young men were accused of using, a pool cue, juice bottle and cigarette to penetrate the unconscious minor. “Every woman has a right to say no to sex,” Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said. “Performing sex acts on the body of an unconscious woman is a crime. It is a crime if the perpetrator is a student, a laborer, an executive or the son of an assistant sheriff.” Greg Haidl, 19, the son of former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, was convicted of six counts of sexual assault, and acquitted of assault with a deadly weapon. Jurors deadlocked on two sex assault counts. Keith Spann, 20, was found guilty of five counts of sex assault, and
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Titan racing team prepares for competition All aboard Annual Mini-Baja an off-road race as one of their final projects. The race is part of Society of Automotive Engineer’s 100-year anniversary and annual Mini-Baja Competition, which will take place June 1-4 in Tucson, AZ. Mechanical engineering schools across the world compete each year – designing and building a MiniBaja that must survive the severe punishment of rough and challenging terrains. The competition’s highlighted events include a hill climb, rock crawl, and in celebration of SAE’s 100-year anniversary, a 100-mile endurance race across the hot Arizona desert. “There are currently 121 registered teams from all over the world,”
finds Haidl guilty
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Children use sex as form of attaining intimacy Authorities claim that sexual abuse behaviors are cyclical, damaging By Carolina Ruiz-Mejia Daily Titan Staff
Cal State Fullerton counseling department faculty members spoke at noon on Wednesday in University Hall about children and teenagers that act out sexual behaviors in order to attain emotional intimacy. The event was presented by the Women’s Center. Linda Chassman, a marriage family therapist for 20 years, conducted a four-year research program to document these behaviors and came to share her knowledge with CSUF faculty and students, she said. There are reported cases in which
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Gabriela Alonso/Daily Titan
The Fullerton Train Station is a means of transportation for many Cal State Fullerton students to and from school.