Prosecutor will host radio show at Rowan

Courier-Post, Spring 2000

Andrew Yurick plans weekly broadcasts on criminal justice issues on WGLS-FM.

By LYFORD M. MOORE Courier Post Staff GLASSBORO

Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew Yurick will host a weekly radio show from the Rowan University campus.

Yurick's hourlong broadcasts focusing on criminal justice issues will debut May 6 with a look at date-rape drugs. Future shows from the studios of WGLS-FM (89.7) will include topics such as plea bargaining and drug addicts in recovery. "I'm really anxious to do the show," Yurick said. "I want to include the university more in crime prevention, and a lot of students will be listening. I really want to get feedback from them." Freshman Vanessa Holowatch, 18, of Old Bridge, Middlesex County, predicts a sizable percentage of Rowan's 10,000 students will tune in to Yurick's show if the issues discussed are germane to them. "Everybody wants to hear what they should watch out for," she said.

WGLS-FM General Manager Frank Hogan says Rowan is offering its studios to Yurick at no cost as a community service. Yurick's office previously paid for studio time for a show that aired last year on a Deptford radio station. Until two weeks ago, WGLS-FM had a potential audience of about 500,000 people in South Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Now, thanks to the decision to place an audio site on the Internet, its programming can be heard worldwide at http://wgls.rowan.edu.

Appearing as a gueston  May 6 will be Ellen Bloom of the Women's Center of Monmouth County, an expert in the field of rape care. Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney will join Yurick on a future broadcast. "We feel date-rape drugs are a problem we're just starting to find out about," said Yurick, "You can't be this close to Camden and Philadelphia and not be exposed to the same drugs they are."

While numerous date-rape drugs are in circulation, Yurick says a substance called GBH is most likely to be dropped into a woman's drink, rendering her helpless. The colorless, odorless liquid, legally used as an anesthetic, first sickens the victim, then places her in a fog -- with no sense of danger.

Yurick said Rowan is a logical site for the drugs to appear because of the many women on campus and taverns in and around the university.

Spiking a drink with a date-rape drug constitutes aggravated sexual assault in New Jersey, a first-degree crime punishable by a prison term of 10 to 20 years.

Program info:
Starting May 6, Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew Yurick will host a radio show at 5pm Thursdays on WGLS-FM (89.7) at Rowan University. The station can be heard over the Internet at http://wgls.rowan.edu.