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Opinion
Elizabeth Preston: Should we teach little girls to get into
fights in order to learn self-defense? Page 5
THE
'Nobody know:
I'm a nudist'
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At the Live Oak Ranch, nude is
the word for 700 visitors and 1 8
residents.
Page 3
ON
Reel life heroes
Popular culture meets popular
comics at the movies and local
comic book stores, p^gg 3
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\&M seeks approval for special events center
By Jan Higginbotham
[he Battalion
Texas A&M officials will travel to
Austin today to obtain final approval for
the construction of a special events center
a campus.
The group is awaiting a decision by the
Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board’s Campus Planning today on the
ouilding proposal. A final decision will be
made by the board on Friday.
Gen. Wesley Peel, vice chancellor for
facilities planning and construction, said
the board will make the second of two de
cisions on A&M’s proposal. In April, uni
versity representatives presented their
proposal to the board in the first stage of
the approval process.
The board must approve the project
Wore we can go on with it,” he said. “We
had a similar proposal in 1991 that was
turned down. We put it on the shelf at
that time. We were recently advised (by
the board) to go on with the plan.”
Peel said A&M was advised in 1991
that if the price of the project was scaled
below $35 million, the project would have
a good chance of being approved.
The current proposal has a $33.4 mil
lion budget.
Dr. Jerry Gaston, interim vice presi
dent for finance and administration, said
he hopes the price will be appealing to
the board.
“I hope they will be more sympathetic
to a less expensive center,” he said.
The funds for the project will come
from general use fees, he said.
It is also possible that bonds will be
sold to raise money.
Peel said the center will serve a wide
range of activities.
“This is not just a sports arena, it is an
events arena,” he said. “There will be
many more cultural events that we can’t
have here now that we will be able to
bring here.”
The 230,000-square-foot center will be
able to seat 12,500 fans for basketball
games, 10,500 commencement guests and
1,500 graduates, as well as 11,500 con
cert guests.
Tim Donathen, assistant vice chancel
lor for facilities planning and construc
tion, said the center will provide A&M
with many new opportunities.
“The University has a very strong need
for a facility like this,” he said. “G.
Rollie White will not satisfy the needs of
Please see Center, Page 2
Photo courtesy of University Relations
If approved, the special events center will be located on west campus.
Comet to collide with Jupiter
By Sara Israwi
The Battalion
A comet will crash into Jupiter next
week, giving scientists their first look at
such a collision.
The comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, was dis
covered last year heading towards Jupiter.
Since then, it has broken into 21 pieces,
and each fragment is now headed for the
planet.
The fragments will collide with the
planet at an average of one every six
hours.
Dan Bruton, a graduate physics stu
dent, said events such as this are rare,
happening only once in 1,000 years.
The event will not be visible from the
Earth, he said.
“Unfortunately it will hit on the far side
of Jupiter, away from Earth,” he said.
“Fortunately Jupiter rotates very fast,
about one rotation every 10 hours.”
Bruton said the event will be visible
from the earth within 40 minutes.
The impact will be small but the affect
ed area on Jupiter will be 1,500 miles
across.
“It will be difficult to see the effects of
the collision,” he said. “We can’t even see
the impact, only the effects.”
He said the comets will not damage
Jupiter, but will disturb the clouds in its
atmosphere for a short time.
Larry Luther, a graduate student at
Stephen F. Austin University working on
his thesis in astronomy, said people will
not be able to observe most of what will be
happening.
“There will be some reflection from im
pact if comet fragments are well-bound to
gether,” he said. “I don’t think we are go
ing to see much.”
Luther said the collision can be likened
to an apple 550 yards away shot with a
pellet gun, because Jupiter is much more
massive than the comet is.
Bruton said the comet is from within
our solar system.
“There are about 20 to 30 of them dis
covered every year, but none of them come
near a planet and this one will actually
hit,” he said.
Experts say the impact will be similar to
a nuclear explosion, and will create a
mushroom cloud.
Bruton said these are only predictions,
as no one has ever seen such an event be
fore.
Richard Schmude Jr., a graduate chem
istry student, said the comet’s 21 pieces
are between 1,000 and 10,000 feet in diam
eter.
“When each of the 21 pieces hits it will
create a giant explosion much more power
ful than the hydrogen bomb,” he said. “All
of these fragments will hit Jupiter travel
ing about 37 miles per seconds. A giant
cloud will form and we might be able to see
the clouds on Jupiter’s limbs with a tele
scope.”
Schmude and his colleagues have been
observing Jupiter for three months to get
Aggies may be sent
to fight in Korea
Dave Seal/ Jet Propulsion Lab
This artist’s conception shows what the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet will probably look like
when it collides with Jupiter next week. From Earth, the impact will be on Jupiter’s far
side, but since Jupiter rotates every 10 hours the affected area will become visible.
familiar with it. Any long-term effects of
the impact can be documented and identi
fied.
He said it is important that these kinds
of things are examined for future reasons.
In case something like this ever hap
pened to Earth, it would have to be de
stroyed before it hit, he said.
“If a comet were to hit the Earth like it
is hitting Jupiter, it would be really bad,”
he said. “A lot of species would be extinct.
The impact would kick up dirt and block
out sunlight and there goes the plant life
and we’d have no food.”
Schmude said it is difficult to determine
what is going to happen and what the
Please see Comet, Page 2
By Angela St. John Parker
The Battalion
Texas A&M students in the
military reserves may be acti
vated if North Korean troops
move into South Korea.
Cpl. Donald Thomas of the
1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, and
a senior political science major
at A&M, said military reserve
units are being told by their offi
cers to pay closer attention to
their drills in the event they are
sent to Korea.
“Korea is a hot topic right
now,” he said. “I just got back
this week from a drill in the Mo
jave Desert and our officers were
telling us that we
need to train ex
tra hard in case
we end up in Ko
rea.
“We have been
told that our
unit, which has a
lot of Aggies in it,
is one of the top-
rated reserve
units in the na
tion,” he said.
“They called us
the ‘Force of
Choice.’ So if and when they
start activating reserve units,
we know for sure well be one of
them.”
Cpl. John Miles, a senior an
thropology major who will be
commissioned in August as an
active duty officer, said that be
fore the sudden death of North
Korean President Kim Il-Sung
on Saturday, people were watch
ing the buildup of tension in the
region as North Korea refused to
allow the inspection of their nu
clear facilities.
Miles, whose reserve unit was
activated for Desert Storm, said
he would be surprised if the ten
sion didn’t lead to a war.
“Because of the tension and
because the former leader’s son
(Kim Jong II) is such a hot-head,
North Korea might try to attack
South Korea like they did in
1950,” he said. “North Korea
has its back against a wall.
“It is one of the few commu
nist countries that remains,” he
said. “If they could take over
South Korea-an industrial na-
tion-North Korea would be in a
lot better shape economically.
Maj. David Sahm, a U.S. Ma
rine Corps reservist and staff
member in the Office of the
Commandant, said the reserve
units have been briefed in order
to stay abreast of the situation.
“Keep in mind that it takes a
few days for the reserves to get
the news,” he said. “I don’t
think anybody really knows
what the chances are of a war
breaking out in Korea. The
main thing is that we’re pre
pared for any contingency.”
Thomas said that whether or
not the United States goes to
war with North Korea depends
on whether or not the govern
ments of both countries can han
dle matters diplomatically.
“We certainly would not just
invade,” he said. “If North Ko
rea invades South Korea, we’re
going to respond to it. The Unit
ed States has 37,000 men on the
border right now. The Koreans
have one million men on the bor
der. If they decide to attack.
"Our unit is one of the top-rated
reserve units in the nation. So if
and when they start activating re
serve units, we know for sure
we'll be one of them."
— Cpl. Donald Tho?nas,
senior political science major
that would mean 100 percent ca
sualties for the Americans.
We’d have to go in.”
Thomas, who was in boot
camp during Desert Shield and
Desert Storm, said that because
of the reduction of active forces,
the reserve forces are more im
portant than ever.
Many people think that be
cause a reservist is in school
they cannot be pulled to active
duty, he said, but if a student
signs a contract as a military re
servist, they can be called for
duty anywhere at any time.
The only exemptions might be
reservists who are going to be
commissioned as officers or who
are in medical school.
Thomas said that unless a
full-scale war broke out, he
would rather stay in school.
“I would be a lot happier if
things could be solved on a
diplomatic level,” he said. “But
if it got to a point where my unit
called and said the talking is
over, I would be the first one on
a plane. Just like any other
man or woman in the military.
I’d hide the fear and pick up my
rifle and go. That’s what we’re
trained to do.
“I have a tremendous amount
of pride in the military. But I
have the same amount of pride
because I’m an Aggie. When you
put those two together it’s a real
special combination.”
Asleep at the wheel: fatigue raises state accident rate
Conveniences make cars more relaxing — and more dangerous — for drivers
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By Amanda Fowle
The Battalion
Fatigued drivers are the largest dri
ver-related cause of traffic accidents
besides careless or reckless driving, ac
cording to the Department of Public
Safety.
Alesia Gamboa, of the Texas DPS
Records Bureau Analysis section, said
fatigue caused 7,307 accidents
statewide in 1993, resulting in 233
deaths and 4,216 injuries.
Sgt. Curtis Walker, of the Depart
ment of Public Safety office for Brazos,
Robertson and Milam Counties, said
conveniences inside a car make drivers
so comfortable that it is easy for them
to become relaxed and fall asleep.
“In this day and age, people have
many conveniences in the car to give
them a relaxed atmosphere and put
them at ease,” he said.
Walker said the monotony of driving
can put motorists in a trance-like
state.
“On long trips, the lines on the high
ways can cause highway hypnosis,” he
said.
Dr. Rodger Koppa, researcher for
the Texas Transportation Institute and
associate professor of industrial engi
neering at Texas A&M, said there are
certain times of the day when an indi
vidual’s performance is lower.
Sleep deprivation makes perfor
mance worse, he said.
“We are a sleep-deprived culture,”
he said. “Lack of sleep is a point of
pride, especially among college stu
dents.”
He said such factors contribute to
slower reaction time in driving situa
tions that require quick reactions.
“When arousal is low, people are not
alert enough to react to emergency sit
uations,” he said.
People need to be aware of their low
times and take steps to keep them
selves awake, he said.
“Nothing helps more than a break,”
he said. “Military convoys are re
quired to stop every hour for a break.
Drivers should find a safe place to
stop, get out and walk around the car a
few times.”
Bob Sherrill, a defensive driving in
structor at Sears Driving School,
agrees that breaks increase alertness.
“The main way to increase alertness
is exercise,” he said. “When people
stop a car and walk in the store for a
Please see Drivers, Page 6
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Aggielife
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Campus
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Classified
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Movie Reviews
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Music Reviews
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