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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 1992)
mber 29, ing itative Vol. 92 No. 23 The Battalion (10 pages) “Serving Texas A&M Since 1893” Wednesday, September 30, 1992 s treated at •lade and at ing crime |j •e're buildia ;ainstMr,Ij the crime li| r c ase again; •nty Sherifi' Proechel sal: -witness fd hide toKa nplex in Cat e recovered i revolver ait; with Starts puties fom] th five bullft ed to mufili lid. ted to quee lay, Proeche ^operating Home games bring higher hotel rates By TODD STONE Reporter of THE BATTALION Many Bryan-College Station hotels raise room rates during football weekends by an av erage of 40 percent, according to a Battalion survey of 12 local establishments. Dallas resident George Linskie, Class of '38, believes these pricing practices are unfair - so he chose to charter a private plane to B-CS with friends rather than pay the higher hotel rates. "We can fly down on an expensive airplane with an open bar for less than what it would take to get two rooms for the weekend at (some hotels)," Linskie said. "We've been liv ing with this for some time. We understand they (hotels) have to survive, but it's getting ridiculous." Local hotels were surveyed for rates on a non-football weekend (Sept. 26) and for this weekend's football game featuring A&M vs. Texas Tech. The average rate for Sept. 26 was $51 while the average for Saturday is $72. All rates were for two people in a standard room without discounts. I Jennifer Blackenship, director of sales for the College Station Holiday Inn, said increas ing rates for football weekends is unfair and unnecessary. Rates for Holiday Inn, Motel 6 and La Quinta Inn are the same for football and non-football weekends. | "Just because more people are coming to town, why try to take advantage of them by raising the rates?" Blackenship asked. "That (raising rates) doesn't sound like good cus tomer service to me." Dick Forester, director of the Bryan-College Station Convention and Visitor Bureau, de- / dined to comment on hotel pricing policies and its effects on the local economy. Maher Hathout, general manager of the College Station Hilton, said raising rates is just a matter of prices rising to mirror demand. "Every hotel has different rate structures based on demand and supply," Hathout said. "For higher demand, the rates will be in the upper tier." The state attorney's general office agrees. Ron Dusek, spokesperson for the office, said setting different rates is just a part of capital ism. felt, and how it could affect their business," Crow’ said. "I don't want to dictate how they should run their business — just as I wouldn't want them running the athletic department. "They're just looking to fill their house." Many hotels also require a two-night mini mum stay for football weekends. Crow said this could restrict how many fans go to foot ball games because many fans would stay in town only one night if they were not required to purchase a room for two nights. Without the two-night minimum, an open night could be available for other fans to at- "Obviously, if it starts to hurt our revenue we have to look at alternatives — such as five or four home games and more games on the road. I hope the al ternative is not to schedule fewer home games. That certainly hurts the students, and we wouldn't want that." -John David Crow, Texas A&M athletic director "We have a free market system," Dusek said. "Now if they secretly conspire to fix prices, that would be against the law. That would violate the state's anti-competitive busi ness laws." Linskie wrote a letter to Texas A&M Athlet ic Director John David Crow about his com plaints because he believes some hotels are "killing the goose that laid the golden egg." Crow, in turn, distributed the letter to nine lo cal hotels. "I feel like I needed to let the local hotels know at least how one of our former students tend games and have rooms to rent as well. Crow said. Still, Crow is uncertain whether the two- night policy has affected this year's ticket sales. "Obviously, if it starts to hurt our revenue we have to look at alternatives — such as five or four home games and more games on the road," Crow said. "I hope the alternative is not to schedule fewer home games. That cer tainly hurts the students, and we wouldn't See Hotels/Page 6 (■TeguU^ekendTatesT^ecou^^epn^^to^ootbangameweekendTate^o^up^Oc^s) ‘Average does not include rates of La Quinta Inn, Holiday Inn, or Motel 6. Anns Ben-Musa /The Battalion Y iilability [ tint! >9 lus IX 1 1 ays sale 5 ss ttiaa * [ON Rd. : rial) JENNIFER LOCKARD/lhe Battalion Tom King, a junior history major from Houston, enjoys the behind Keathley Hall on Tuesday. The forecast for today calls for weather while studying for a Politics of Postwar France class highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s with lots of sunshine. Merchants petition A&M regents Northgate business owners protest potential food services privatization By MACK HARRISON Reporter of THE BATTALION Northgate merchants are protesting the proposed privatiza tion of rood services at some Texas A&M facilities with a peti tion claiming local businesses will be hurt in the process. Danny Dodd, owner of Spanky's Good Grub and Pub in the Northgate area, said privatiza tion would have a negative im pact on off-campus businesses across the street from the Univer sity. The proposal calls for a private food services firm to bring fast food franchises to Sbisa Under ground and Billy Mac's at Easter- Wood Airport — in competition with non-franchise restaurants on Northgate. Dodd, who is circulating the petition, said he plans to send it to the A&M Board of Regents today. "I hope the Board of Regents realizes what kind of impact it (privatization) will have on peo ple here," Dodd said. "It's hard enough for businesses in the sum mer." KYLE BURNETT/The Battalion Ron Cooper, an employee at Spanky’s Good Grub and Pub, takes a phone order Tuesday evening. happen, and the organization is looking into the matter. "We're concerned about this new move," Baig said. "I know the merchants at Northgate are di rectly affected (by privatization)." Both Dodd and McGuire said food services privatization paral lels the private acquisition of the MSC Bookstore two years ago. Dodd said A&M did not allow lo- Dodd said local restaurants should have been included in the bidding. "It's going to be the small guys that shut their doors," he said. "A&M used to care about local merchants." Jim McGuire, owner of the Cow Hop, located on University Drive across from A&M also said A&M officials did not inform business owners of the proposal. "If the school was interested in having (private) restaurants, I do think it would have been nice if they had asked the people on Northgate," McGuire said. "I nev er saw anything." McGuire said he was unaware of the Northgate petition and feels it will do little good. He said the administration will do what it wants to regardless of what peo ple think. "If there is one (petition), it's a little late," McGuire said. "Their minds are already made up — its going to go through." Kim Baig, president of the Bra zos Valley chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association, said it is too early to say exactly what will cal merchants to bid on the con tract for bookstore operations. Dodd said he plans to talk to the Bryan-College Station Cham ber of Commerce about the issue and get as much information as possible. "We're going to see what hap pens," he said. "We want to get feedback. We want to see what our options are." Junior cadets face restrictions on yell practice traditions By JULIE CHELKOWSKI and TODD STONE Reporters of THE BATTALION The Corps of Cadets will have new restrictions placed on them because of 'good bull' turned bad at the Sept. 12 midnight yell practice, a Corps official said. Corps Commander Matthew Michaels said members of the Corps of Cadets who chase or phys ically engage people running across Kyle Field during midnight yell practice will not be able to participate in the following yell practice. The penalty will extend to the cadet's entire unit. Michaels be lieves this will deter a cadet from breaking the rule because he or she will not want to penalize his or her unit for the mistake. Michaels said cadets are in structed to stay in their positions on the track at Kyle Field at all times, no matter how many stu dents run onto the field. "If someone or a whole group of people wants to run across the field that's fine," Michaels said. "They can run across that field, be a bad Ag, stand out there and look like a fool because no one is going to chase them." Controversy arose during the first home yell practice when fighting broke out as cadets at tempted to prevent A&M stu dents and non-students from run ning onto the field. Michaels said that if nothing else, the incident at yell practice has at least made people more aware about problems that can occur. "Now that the issue has been brought out, there will be a lot of civilian students saying, 'hey, that's bad bull,'" he said. "I think people are aware of the traditions on that side of the house and peo ple are going to say 'Hey, I'm not going to run out there, I'm going to be a good Ag.'" Tim Sweeney, associate direc tor of student activities, said the incident at the Sept. 12 yell prac tice is a concern for many stu dents and he plans to address it with various student organiza tions. "Just the outcry has people stirred up and upset about what happened, which I'm glad to see," he said. Sweeney said he will try to communicate the purpose of ju niors on the field to groups such as Residence Hall Association, In terfraternity Council, and other organizations that deal with large groups of people. He said the role of the Corps during yell practice needs to be defined because there is much misunderstanding among stu dents. "They (the juniors) are there to be a symbolic, formal, psychologi cal barrier," Sweeney said. "Their purpose is not to chase people, rather, to ask people to leave and escort them off the field. Crowd control is a very delicate thing." John Koldus, vice president of student services, agrees and said the meaning of traditions such as yell practice need to be explained through a brochure or other form of literature. "From one generation to an other, it (tradition) gets lost in translation," he said. "It's simply a matter of making sure that you "They (the juniors) are there to be a symbolic, formal, psychological barrier. Their purpose is not to chase people, rather, to ask people to leave and escort them off the field. Crowd control is a very delicate thing." -Tim Sweeney, associate director of student activities continue the communication from one group to another." Koldus said people need to know what are and are not tradi tions. More specifically, they need to know Kyle Field is not a memorial. "It is not Kyle Field Memorial stadium," Koldus said. "The flags (around the stadium) honor the 55 individuals that were killed in World War I who were Aggies. But it's not a tradition that Kyle Field itself is a memorial." Officials are concerned with the upkeep of the turf, and ju niors' only purpose is to signify that going onto the field is inap propriate. Although witnesses have said about 50 people participated in the fighting. Bob Wiatt, director of University Police, said UPD will See Corps/Page 6 Koldus