The Battalion
STATE & LOCAL 3
Monday, March 27,1989
A&M takes award
for RHA legislation,
improved programs
By Juliette Rizzo
STAFF WRITER
The Texas A&M Residence Hall
Association was recognized for its
outstanding improved hall program
ming earlier this month at a confer
ence for residence hall associations
of the Southwest.
SWACURH, the Southwest Affil
iation of College and University Res
idence Halls, meets yearly for rep
resentatives of residence halls to
gather, report and share ideas about
their school’s hall programming.
Among other activities, represen
tatives submit annual reports com
piled by hall councils on residence
hall programming and legislation.
The top residence hall association
must develop the best policies for so
cial and academic hall programming
and pass legislation pertinent to the
whole campus.
Merindra Condra, public rela
tions committee member for RHA
and president of Briggs Hall, said
A&M won based on its achievements
in its residence halls in comparison
to other represented schools.
A&M came in first place at the lo
cal, state and national levels not only
for its hall programming, but for the
legislation RHA has passed. Texas
A&M’s RHA was singled out for the
University’s passage of their pro
posed bill for on-campus co-ed hous
ing and the passage of a new loft pol
icy to allow lofts to be put up in
newly renovated halls.
RHA will represent A&M at the
National Affdiation of College and
University Residence Halls in May.
Lawmakers OK train signal
after 2 teens die in collision
WALLER (AP) — An auto
train collision that killed two teen
agers has spurred lawmakers to
help local officials remove some
of the dangers of living along a
railroad track.
By July 1, federal, state and
railroad authorities have prom
ised a $100,000 warning signal at
the major intersection in this Wal
ler County community of 1,400
vihere the teens were killed.
The city of Waller must pay 5
percent, or about $5,000,
matched by 5 percent from the
state, while federal funds will fi
nance the remaining 90 percent.
It might have taken longer to
get the crossing arms and flash
ing lights had the fatal Jan. 31 ac
cident not occurred.
“For the past several years,
we’ve asked for a signal at that
crossing,” said Danny Marburger,
who has been mayor for nearly 17
years.
“We’d just get a letter back say
ing it wasn’t top priority. Then it
would fizzle out. It’s sad that had
to happen before somebody
could put pressure on the higher-
ups.”
Waller High School students
Sheila Henley, 16, and Shana
Deniston, 15, died when a train
struck the car Henley was driv
ing. Another student, Allen Dis-
muke, 17, was critically injured
and underwent several surgeries.
He continues to receive therapy.
The Texas Department of
Public Safety report said the car
apparently tried to beat the train,
but the local consensus is that the
teens never saw it coming.
Protesters march on Burger King
Organization boycotts Icelandic fish because of illegal whaling
Members of the Marine Mammal Conservancy the purchasing of Icelandic fish by the fast-
march in front of Burger King on Texas Ave- food chain because of the Icelandic fishing in-
nue Saturday afternoon. The group protested dustry’s connection with illegal whaling.
By Fiona Soltes
STAFF WRITER
About 40 sign-toting protesters
chanting “Let the whales live”
marched in front of Burger King
Saturday afternoon, protesting the
company’s use of Icelandic fish be
cause of the Icelandic fishing indus
try’s with illegal whaling.
The protesters presented a non-
Icelandic fish to Kevin Wilson, res
taurant manager, and urged him to
write a letter to his company head
asking for the discontinuation of use
of the Icelandic fish.
Wilson refused to accept the fish
and asked that questions be directed
to Tim Hermaling of the Burger
King Corporation. Hermaling was
not available for comment.
The protest is part of a nation
wide effort organized by Green
peace, an environmental protection
group. A Greenpeace newsletter
said the intent of the protest was to
put economic pressure on the Ice
landic fishing industry to stop killing
nearly extinct species of whales by
refusing to buy Icelandic fish.
Mary Albert, public relations
chair for the Texas Environmental
Action Coalition, said many environ
mental groups across the country
boycotted businesses Saturday that
use the fish.
“We want to send a signal to Ice
land that it can’t continue illegal
whaling,” said Albert, who grad
uated from Texas A&M two years
ago. “By saying that we won’t buy
their fish, we can affect them.”
She said many of the protesters,
who call themselves the Marine
Mammal Conservancy, were mem
bers of the coalition, an environmen
tal protection group formed about
five weeks ago for University stu
dents, faculty, staff and the commu
nity. The Burger King protest was
the group’s first major event.
Albert said the group also in
tended to protest at Red Lobster Sat
urday, but didn’t because the cor
poration broke a contract with an
Icelandic company last week because
of threats of protests. Officials from
Red Lobster were unavailable for
comment.
According to the newsletter, pro
tests such as this have worked in the
past. Wendy’s restaurants are switch
ing to a Canadian supplier, Long
John Silver’s has cancelled a $9 mil
lion contract with an Icelandic com
pany and Burger King has cut back
on use of Icelandic cod by 20 per
cent. The protesters said they are
hopeful that Burger King will cut
use of the fish completely.
“It will take a while for Burger
King to stop (using the fish),” Albert
said. “This particular company is a
little more difficult. But I’d say pres
sure from demonstrations like this
will work.”
Patrons of Burger King, at 1719
S. Texas Avenue, seemed to take
little notice of the protesters.-
Paul Culbertson, a freshman wild
life and fisheries sciences major, said
he eats at Burger King often.
“This doesn’t change my feelings
about Burger King at all,” Culbert
son said. “I don’t usually eat fish
here anyway.”
“We just hope a little of this will
rub off,” Worsham, an environmen
tal engineering graduate student,
said.
Elizabeth Edwards, a freshman
natural resource conservation ma
jor, said she thought the protest was
worthwhile.
“To me, whales are some of the
most important animals on the
earth,” Edwards said. “Not only in
an ecological sense, but also because
of what they represent. They’ve had
to come so close to extinction before
people would do something about it.
“The fact that Burger King still
buys from Iceland is hard to believe.
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to
tell them how I feel about it.”
Edwards said that in her opinion,
Burger King would be ignorant not
to follow the precedent set by other
restaurants of ceasing to use the fish.
Worsham said if people want to
get involved, they should write to
managers of restaurants such as
Burger King who use Icelandic fish.
He said another nationwide protest
tentatively has been planned for
June 12, shortly before the next
meeting of the International Whal
ing Commission, a group formed in
1946 to regulate the industry. 'T'
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The MSC Wiley Lecture Series
presents
JL JOLJCs 1VXJLXjrX^IJL/Jl!/ XI/jljLw) X «
Peace or Powder Keg
Dr. Clement Henry
U.S.Policv in the Middle East
March 28, 7 p.m.
l
Room 701 Rudder
We would like to thank the Middle East
Institute and the MSC Jordan Institute
for their support and funding