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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 1993)
£ If 1893 The Battauon \ | •> 41993 J Htol. 93 No. 73 (10 pages) The Battalion ■***¥ qjoOl 1 1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993 Friday, December 10,1993 egents consider changes in Lubbock Street mall proposal DISE By Lisa Elliott The Battalion B Plans for the new Lubbock ■beet mall will move ahead if the Board of Regents today approves B\e recommended design present- led to them Thursday morning at Bie Facilities Planning and Con traction meeting. The design, presented by L. David Godbey, associate director for engineering and design services at the Physical Plant, features a curving walkway and a piece of art rather than a fountain, which is what was originally planned. Godbey said a statue will re quire less maintenance than a foun tain and be cheaper in the long run. Another change from the origi nal plan cancels the building of a oriyama pays ent on campus &M campus in Japan to remain open By Mark Smith The Battauon Texas A&M University's campus in Koriyama, Japan will remain open for the rest of this academic year because the city of Koriyama has ' iiret its financial obligations. E 20.40-$4S| Officials from A&M said they were encouraged by the outcome of Req Wednesday afternoon meeting concerning the future of the Koriya- a TB 13 campus. I "We are pleased that the campus will go through this academic ■ear," said John Norris, director of the TAMU-Koriyama support of- OshKosh ' ^ ce ’ 'We know we can work to build a good program." -• r D 1/ S paying the $500,000 the city owed the Koriyama campus, the city iStie DOTS of Koriyama has allowed the campus to remain open. Those funds J. $10-$46, j vyere due on Aug. 31 of this year. I "The city has now met its financial commitments to date and during ■ press conference. Mayor Fujimori said he would request 100 million [en from the city assembly to provide us with funds to complete the [cademic year ending May 31," Interim President E. Dean Gage said. The exchange rate for the currencies is one penny to one yen, which eans Mayor Fujimori will allocate $1,000,000 for the Japanese campus. Dr. Jerry Gaston, executive associate provost, represented the Uni- ersity at the meeting in Japan. I "Our students and faculty were most enthusiastic when this news was given them by Dr. Gaston," Gage said. "We appreciate the sup port of Mayor Fujimori, the city assembly and our faculty and students. While we all have a lot of work to do, we are encouraged about the fu- f ture of this important international program." 1 Norris said the controversy over the financial situation for the Ko- tiyama campus was a result of political friction and not from a lack of l funds in Koriyama. The governor and the mayor in Koriyama are from ■fifferent political factions and have different views regarding the Ko riyama campus. I Some of A&M's trouble in keeping the Japanese campus open may I have come from Texas law, which says state schools must keep their money within the state. Therefore, the Koriyama campus must be en tirely funded by the city of Koriyama and private Japanese sources. Despite the troubles with finances and politics, Norris said he felt ;ood about the effects the Koriyama campus has had. "In four years, a tremendous amount of energy has gone into this ef fort," Norris said. "It's a very positive thing for the University, for Ko riyama and for both countries. I "We're like an infant now. We think that we deserve the chance to stay open and prove the benefits of the Koriyama campus." comforteii Orig. 39. stress $220. Irnaments )t. 56 and Hall*' .OFF 3 settings l Noritake. special handicapped parking area on Nagle Street. Godbey said the handicapped parking area will in stead be located in the new park ing garage that will accompany the library extension currently in the planning stage. Godbey suggested moving the greenhouses on Lubbock Street to another area to open the mall up. That idea is still being considered by the Board. In other business, the Board discussed the setting aside $5,000 to relocate the entrance to the Riverside campus. The entrance will move to Highway 47 because of construction on Highway 21, where it is currently located. If approved, the $5,000 will be used to study drainage and sur vey the land to determine where the entrance will be located. The construction is scheduled to begin within 12 months, and the new entrance should be com pleted before that time. The Board also previewed plans for a new parking lot on West Campus to accommodate students and faculty at the new Business Administration Building and the West Campus Library. The Battalion will go on vacation today for the holidays and will resume publication on Monday, Jan. 17. Good luck in the Cotton Bowl Ags! Laurie Mikes (left) and Kelly Kurka (right) sing to red-shirt freshman defensive back Andre Williams on Kyle Field Thursday afternoon. The two sophomore general studies majors from Houston joined Kyle Bumctt/THE Battalion their fellow members of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority as they wished the football team good luck in the Cotton Bowl. The Kap pas gave the team members T-shirts and sang them several songs. "teg. turen. Y SIZE r Arch. ;h in enamel; 39.99. dinner^ Final exam schedule 7:30-9:30 a.m. 10 a.m.-12 noon 12:30-2:30 p.m. 3-5 p.m. 8-10 a.m. 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 1-3 p.m. 3:30-5:30 p.m. 8-10 a.m. 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 1-3 p.m. 3:30-5:30 p.m. 8-10 a.m. 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 1-3 p.m. 3:30-5:30 p.m. Friday, December 10 Classes meeting MW 5:45-7 or later Classes meeting MWF 8 Classes meeting TR 9:35-10:50 Classes meeting TR 11:10-12:25 Monday, December 13 Classes meeting MWF 9:10-10 Classes meeting MWF 12:40-1:30 Classes meeting TR 8-9:15 Classes meeting MW 4:10-5:25 Tuesday, December 14 Classes meeting MWF 10:20-11:10 Classes meeting MWF .3-3:50 Classes meeting TR 3:55-5:10 Classes meeting MWF 1:50-2:40 Wednesday, December 15 Classes meeting TR 12:45-2 Classes meeting MWF 11:30-12:20 Classes meeting TR 2:20-3:35 Classes meeting TR 5:30-6:45 or later FITS gives options for holiday parking blues Temporary day permits, monitored parking available during semester break By Kim McGuire The Battalion Texas A&M University is helping students keep their cars safe during the holiday break by allowing them to park in lot 89, the area be hind the University Police Department. Tom Williams, PTTS director, said parking closer to inner campus will help reduce the chance of vandalism for students who leave their cars on campus during the holidays. "The University Police Department does a great job of monitoring the parking lots during the holidays," Williams said, "but parking in remote lots of campus increases your chances of having your car vandalized. Parking behind the police department should decrease the chances of anything happening." Williams said students who do not have parking permits can purchase temporary per mits to take advantage of this service. The park ing garage will also be open part of the holiday break, but students will be expected to pay the $4 fee while the University offices are open. Ray Hernandez, Student Senate student ser vices chair, presented Williams with the pro posal of allowing students who need to visit campus during the holiday break to obtain a temporary permit so they can park in staff lots 5, 54, 55 and 34. "I know there are students who have to come back on campus to talk to a professor about a grade," Hernandez said. "Since PTTS enforces regular rules during that time, the student will go in for a few minutes, come back out and discover they have a ticket." See Parking/Page 3 Clinton: violence is tearing the heart out of our country 7 The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Pressed by crime-weary mayors and police to embrace tougher gun controls, a somber President Clinton de clared Thursday that violence is "tearing the heart out of our coun try." The attorney general said it ought to be at least as hard to get a gun as a driver's license. "The American people are tired of hurting and tired of feel ing insecure and tired of the vio lence," Clinton told officials from 35 cities gathered at the White House. "It's changing everyone's life in ways that are quite destruc tive. We have to move, and I think we are prepared to move." Clinton called for passage of a tough crime bill, including provi sions to put more police officers on the street and ban gun ownership by children. He also has directed the Justice Department to study whether gun owners should be li censed and illegal weapons collect ed through an amnesty program. On Thursday, Clinton said. "We ought to talk about what else we do and where we go," without referring directly to the gun li censing idea he had ordered the Justice Department to begin studying on Wednesday. Attorney General Janet Reno said the department also was See Clinton/Page 4 A&M finding new uses for industrial byproducts By James Bernsen The Battalion Electric power plants produce tons of waste every year, most of which is buried in land fills, but researchers at A&M are finding ways to use it to build highways and even homes. The research is being conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute, a part of the Texas A&M University System, with the help of Houston Lighting and Power, which is pro viding the material. rf /i Cl Jan Prusinski, product and market develop- ment coordinator for HL&P, said the company Y ll P r °duces 2.5 million tons of waste per year, r I most of which formerly was put into landfills. However, she said, projects to find uses for \ the waste, a byproduct of burning coal, in elec- ^2 trical power plants have reduced the waste onsiderably. Dr. Don Saylak, principal researcher on the project for Ti l, has researched possible uses of in dustrial byproducts for highway construction since the 1960s and has worked on this project for nine years. The byproduct is used in roadways, replac ing expensive materials, such as gypsum and crushed iron ore gravel. "We can save from 30 to 50 percent over the cost of conventional bases," he said. "It's also a commercial application of a material that be fore had no value." Saylak said the materials are environmen tally safe and in laboratory tests work as well or better than the present materials. Prusinski said HL&P is interested in the product for environmental as well as monetary reasons. "It saves our utility customers money be cause we don't have to bury it, and it saves taxpayers money by giving state and local agencies a less expensive material for con struction," he said. Research is also being conducted at A&M into uses in building construction for the byproducts. Gary Sorensen, lecturer in the civil engi neering department, said bricks made from the materials can be produced much more inex pensively because they do not require heat to make. Conventional bricks require a 3,000-de gree heating procedure to produce. The bricks are also lighter and stronger than conventional ones, he said. "We're also looking at ways to reuse plastic and rubber in roadways and to recycle porce lain from old commodes," he said. "These will be cheaper and will also save landfill space." Saylak said A&M and TTI have been fore runners in this type of research. Inside State & Local x <3T-v. . •Youngest female graduate to receive diploma next week Page 2 Aggielife •Notre Dame's Lee Becton overcomes doubters Page 5 Opinion •Column: Once again, a final farewell from the editor Page 9