The Battalion
STATE & LOCAL 3
Tuesday, February 27,1990
Workshop will help employees manage stress
By DAPHNE MILLER
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M’s Human Resources Depart
ment is offering a stress management
workshop Wednesday and Thursday from
8:30 to 11:30 a.m. in 301 Rudder.
The workshop is only for faculty and staff
members and is free of charge.
Ann McMullan, employee relations man
ager of the department, said the workshop is
designed to help participants gain a better
understanding of stress, identify its causes
and take steps to manage it.
Gay Thames, director of social services at
the Sandstone Center, will lead the workshop.
Thames, whose area of expertise is stress
management, said there are two types of
stress.
One is eustress, stress that is beneficial and
provides motivation and excitement. The
other, she said, is distress. Distress is contin
uous and related to about 80 percent of ill
nesses, Thames said.
“Many negative side effects of unchecked,
Continual stress exist,” Thames said.
The side effects include illnesses such as
headaches, high blood pressure, heart dis
ease, ulcers and cancer; psychological symp
toms such as anxiety, fear and depression;
and a weakened immune system, making an
individual vulnerable to infection, she said.
Stress is an indirect cause of other prob
lems because it is linked to tobacco, alcohol
and drug abuse, Thames said.
“This workshop offers practical techniques
for managing stress that can be applied im
mediately,” she said.
It’s impossible to remove stress from daily
life, she said. There are, however, ways to
manage stress in order to be more produc
tive, Thames said.
Stress-management techniques taught at
the workshop include methods for resolving
conflicts, effective time management, relaxa
tion techniques and the use of humor in the
workplace.
McMullan said this should be an interest
ing workshop and faculty and staff are en
couraged to attend. She said the department
has not offered a stress-management
workshop in more than three years, and the
department felt it was time for another one.
Dr. John J. Koldus, vice president of stu
dent services, said the department offers
stress-management workshops to students at
various times during the school year. He said
these workshops mainly involve dealing with
academic problems and performances. Call
845-3111 for more information about stu
dent stress workshops.
Anyone who wants to register for the
workshop can call the Human Resources De
partment staff development office at 845-
4141.
Brown urges students to vote
By SELINA GONZALEZ
Of The Battalion Staff
Buster Brown, a Republican candidate for Texas
attorney general, wants to urge Texas A&M students
to absentee vote before leaving for spring break.
A&M is one of many institutions that will offically
begin spring vacation on March 13, the day of the
primary.
The Battalion was one of six university newspa
pers that participated in a teleconference call with
Brown on Thursday.
Brown said he would rather visit the individual
university campuses but time wouldn’t permit it.
He said he has been touring the state since August
talking about his 10-year record in the Texas Senate.
“Senate Republican primary voters want an attor
ney general who will lead the state in the fight
against crime and drugs as I have done in the Texas
Senate,” he said.
Brown said that the attorney general, within the
criminal justice section of the office, is responsible
for representing the Texas Department of Correc
tions.
Some of the responsibilities of the attorney gener
al’s office are appealing all death penalty cases, rep
resenting law enforcement officers, advising and
helping prosecutors through the Prosecutors Assis
tance Fund and managing the Crime Victims Com
pensation Fund, he said..
“As attorney general, I would enhance the role of
attorney general by helping the prosecutors of the
state create a special team of drug prosecutors that
would be available upon invitation from the district
attorney,” he said.
Brown said that the rural counties who may need
assistance could call in this special drug team to help
prosecute.
There shouldn’t be any counties that a drug
dealer can look to as a haven for drug activities, he
said.
“We need to make the punishment fit the offense,
and the only way our punishment system is going to
work is if we expand our prison system,” Brown said.
One way the overcrowding problem could be ad
dressed is if abandoned army bases are used as tem
porary prison facilities.
“When we are able to expand the prison system in
a very inexpensive way then we can do away with the
early release program,” he said.
Brown saia one of his main objectives is to demon
strate that you can run the office like a law office,
and you can put the state’s interests ahead of your
personal interests.
“They (voters) want an attorney general who will
take politics out of the office and restore its credibili
ty,” he said.
Brown was born in the lower Rio Grande Valley
and attended Southwest Texas State in San Marcos.
He earned a degree in secondary education from
Texas A&I and taught school for one year.
He earned a law degree from the University of
Texas Law School and then moved to Lake Jackson,
where he lives now. After practicing in the district at
torney’s office for three years, Brown worked in pri
vate practice for 20 years.
In 1980, Brown was elected to the Texas Senate
when he defeated a 20-year incumbent Democrat.
The universities who participated in the teleconfe
rence were: The University of Texas, Southwest
Texas State, University of Houston, The University
of Texas at Arlington and Stephen F. Austin.
Candidate sees need for
child support enforcement
By BILLHETHCOCK
Of The Battalion Staff
Aggressive enforcement of child
support laws and a more powerful
attorney general’s office are the two
main issues being pushed by Pat
Hill, Republican candidate for state
attorney general.
“I want to make the attorney gen
eral what it should be, and that’s the
state’s chief crime fighter,” Hill said.
“I want to do this by adding to the
powers of the A.G. to help district
and county attorneys prosecute cri
me.”
Hill said, if elected, she would
work to give the attorney general the
right to initiate and prosecute crimi
nal cases upon request by the gover
nor or the legislature. She also said
she feels the state needs more law
yers to prosecute death row cases.
“We only have seven lawyers who
are prosecuting death row cases
right now,” she said. “I want to add
to that. There are hundreds of cases
on appeal, and only seven lawyers.
That’s not enough legal help.”
Texas child support laws need to
be more strongly enforced or the
state may lose federal child support
money, Hill said. There is a huge
backlog of child support cases wait
ing to be tried through the attorney
general’s office, she said. Child sup
port is being granted in only 10 per
cent of these judgments, she said.
“Our collection rate is a disgrace,”
Hill said. “We’re in danger of losing
the federal funding that actually
pays for child support collection. I
have come out with a plan to im
prove the child support rate.”
Hill’s child support plan calls for
more efficient use of state court per
sonnel and better use of computer
technology to aid the collection proc
ess, she said.
Hill, now a representative to the
state legislature, said experience in
both state and federal courts qual
ifies her for the attorney general
post.
“You need an attorney general
that knows federal court procedures
as well as state court, and I do,” she
said. “My practice is split between
federal and state courts. This is im
portant because many of the lawsuits
that the state is involved in are fed
eral lawsuits.”
In the latest polls. Hill and state
senator Buster Brown are the lead
ing Republican contenders for the
attorney general spot, Hill said. Both
received 14 percent of the vote, with
the majority of those polled unde
cided, she said.
Race honors
renaming
of Jersey St.
By ANDY KEHOE
Of The Battalion Staff
George Bush will take over Jer
sey Street on Thursday.
Celebrating the renaming of
Jersey Street as George Bush
Drive, the College Station Parks
and Recreation Department
along with the Brazos Valley Fit
ness Association will host the
“George Bush Drive Midnite
Madness Fun Run" Wednesday
night.
The 2-K race will begin at the
College Station Community Cen
ter, 1300 Jersey St., at 11:45 p.m.
Wednesday.
The route will follow Jersey to
Houston Street and will return to
the finish line at 1300 George
Bush Drive on Thursday.
The entry fee on Monday was
$6. An $8 late registration fee
now is required. Checks should be
made payable to the Brazos Val
ley Fitness Association.
Age group categories for men
and women are: 19 and under,
20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 00
and up.
Preceding the race will be
opening remarks from College
Station Mayor Larry Ringer and
Bryan-College Station Chamber
of Commerce President Chris
Kling and a George and Barbara
Bush look-alike contest.
Awards will be presented for
the best male and female runners’
costumes and the best team cos
tumes. Teams will be composed
of four or more participants.
Individual awards will be given
for the best George Bush, Bar
bara Bush and the best look-al
ikes for any past president or first
lady.
Costume contest registration
will be from 10 to 10:30 p.m. in
Room 101 of the College Station
Community Center. Costume
judging will be at 10:30 p.m. in
Room 10L Entries will be judged
for authenticity, creativity and ef
fort.
E^STEVE
SMITH
Elect an experienced, conservative judge
to the County Court at Law Number 2
Steve Smith is the most ex
perienced candidate running for
the Republican nomination for
judge of Brazos County Court at
Law No. 2. As a municipal judge
of College Station, he has heard
almost 4,000 cases involving a
variety of misdemeanor criminal
matters. Judge Smith has earned a
reputation for being firm and fair
and he shows equal concern for the
rights of the victims of crime as he
shows for those accused of criminal
acts.
Judge Smith’s professional credentials are outstanding: he is
the only Republican candidate certified by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization (Civil Trial Law) and is the only candidate selected to
help train Texas Municipal Judges at the state Municipal Judges Courts’
Training Center. He is also the only candidate to serve as a law instructor
to the Brazos Valley Study Group of the AIB.
Judge Smith has an enviable record of public service in the com
munity. He has served many, many civic and charitable organizations
with distinction including OPAS, Leadership Brazos, Crimestoppers,
Optimists and the March of Dimes, among others.
He and his wife, Becky, have two children: they are concerned parents
and involved citizens.
Qualified • Experienced • Committed • Concerned
- /
Promote Judge Steve Smith to
JUDGE, COUNTY COURT AT LAW No. 2
PD. POL. ADVERTISEMENT BY Steve Smith Campaign, Ann S. Brown, Treasurer, Box 9642, College Station, TX 77842.
Vote Absentee Before Spring Break
4^MSC ALL NIGHT FAIR
IS COMING THIS SATURDAY.
FUN, GAMES, DANCING
AND FREE ENTERTAINMENT.
’ADVANCE TO BOARDWALK’’
DUNCAN DINING HALL 8PM-2AM
SATURDAY, MARCH 3
ADMISSION: $ 1
MONOPOLY (QGAME EQUIPMENT USED WITH PERMISSION FROM PARKER BROTHERS © 1936.
The Advantage is yours
with a Battalion Classified.
Call 845-0569