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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 1994)
August 3, Editorial What A&M did on its summer vacation Weather _ Thursday through Monday: highs in the 90s, lows in the rage 3 70s. Chance of isolated afternoon and evening thundershowers. (That's what they said yesterday.) —National Weather Service Aggielife •t fense es Horton Gardener i Strahan rick Kinney y Lewis i Tanner rt Mason 3 Kent Tubbs Jackson rtis Jones olm Hamilton n Coy Brandy lor Finley Irick Bell ge McCullough ne Smith an Robinson ony Taylor ; Lewis iael Benjamin e Shupp tteberry Starters: 11 I Lettermen: 23 ' ' V •: / : • • ecrease in parking tickets c ^lew garage, shuttle routes pave way to future :*■_ past five years because more spaces facilities running smoothly. are now available to the students. “The Board of Regents recentl A&M students like Ken Troupe, who worked with the Houston Astros, line up internships for jobs after graduation Page 3 THURSDAY August 4, 1994 Vol. 93, No. 183 (6 pages) “Serving Texas A&M since 1893" |y Tracy Smith he Battalion Texas A&M students can expect wer parking tickets in coming ears as the University increases le number of parking spaces on ampus and encourages students to |de University buses. Construction may begin as early Is Summer ‘95 on a new parking arage near the library, and A&M puttie Bus Services are planning |ve new on-campus routes. Tom Williams, director of Park- g, Transit and Traffic Services, id the number of parking tickets [as gradually declined over the past five years because more spaces are now available to the students. “For many years, there were no parking garages on campus so the number of spaces where students could park was limited,” Williams said. “The number of parking tick ets started going down as the park ing garages were built and parking lots expanded.” Williams said the University re ceives $900,000 a year for parking violations, but are trying to de crease this amount. “All the money does go back into the University system,” he said. “PITS uses the money to build new parking garages and keep parking facilities running smoothly. “The Board of Regents recently approved a new parking garage by the library, which will have ap proximately 650 spaces.” Williams said he is working in conjunction with Student Govern ment to get the student’s opinion on the parking and bus systems. He wants to offer incentives to stu dents who have bus passes. “Buses are convenient for the students and don’t saturate the roads,” he said. “It would be better for 50 people to ride a bus, than have 50 cars out on the road.” Woody Isenhart, Texas A&M co ordinator of Shuttle Bus Services, said more people are riding the on- and off-campus shuttle buses, but they expect the numbers to in crease. “We are in the process of plan ning five new on-campus routes to better accommodate the students,” Isenhart said. “These should help get students where they need to go faster than before.” He said he sees a trend toward fewer tickets as more students be gin riding University buses. “We encourage students to leave their cars at home and ride the bus,” he said. “Getting parking tickets on campus can be easily avoided with simple precautions. But, sometimes it takes more Please see Parking, Page 2 r et students, animal shelter save pets’ lives ckles for a loss, nd five tackles fa 4 tackles, three of seven tackles fori Jy Christine Johnson |he Battalion Texas A&M’s Department of Small Animal ledicine and Surgery and the Brazos Animal |helter have started a joint venture to help save limals’ lives. In a summer pilot program, senior veterinary Indents spay and neuter 12 animals from the |razos Animal Shelter one day a week. Kathy Bice, executive director of the shelter, jsaid the venture adds flexibility for the animal shelter. “Since our policy is that no animals leave lere without getting spayed or neutered, having n area of conceU animals a week ready for adoption really rian Robinson:; helps us,” she said. “Especially with mobile ifter leadings adoptions (when the animals are taken to other 993 with four. 3 returns after f: im in tackles :ould be they; ns to the Cotit: s its underachie n of mediocrity :rs, Texas line dieve this willte L turns this prt towns where there are no shelters). “It has allowed us to save lives twice, here and at A&M, and saving lives is what we are all about.” The Brazos Animal Shelter has attempted to start such a program since 1989, but Bice said it did not actually start until a couple of months ago. “The program has been so successful that we have agreed to continue to do this on a long term basis - 48 weeks per year,” she said. Dr. Lisa Howe, clinical assistant professor of Veterinary Medicine, said the program will be come a permanent one. “There are details to still work out, but it ap pears that the program is a success and will be come permanent,” Howe said. She said the experience will be an asset to the teaching program at A&M. “It provides a day of intensive surgical expe rience under the supervision of a surgeon,” she said, “plus, when we go to the shelter to re check the animals, it gives the students a chance to see how an animal shelter operates.” Dr. John August, head of the Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, said the idea for the project came from the department’s long association with the humane society of Austin. “We wantedKo do a similar thing with the ani mal shelter here,” August said. “We had quite a few meetings to find a way for A&M to help with out interfering with- the relationship between the adopted animals and local veterinarians.” Please see Pets, Page 2 Stew Milne/ The Battalion Fungus among us Tubes suck fungus out of a tree between the Academic Building and the Cushing Library to save it from oak wilt disease. The fungus in question is Ceratocystis fagacearum. inesdayi ttalion I irnmer I ns! I Original Recipe Other universities model programs after Fish Camp I must be on the front row Marcella Pauli, an ‘84 graduate of A&M, runs the bleachers of Kyle Field Wednesday afternoon. Pauli, who is a Certified Public Accountant in College Station, began running again yesterday af ter recovering from a knee injury. By Brian Coats The Battalion Large universities interested in starting camp-style freshman orientations are taking notes on Texas A&M’s Fish Camp, an off- campus summer program for in coming students. Fish Camp consists of five four-day sessions held in August at Lakeview Methodist Confer ence Center in Palestine. It is designed to teach freshmen about A&M traditions, provide an opportunity to meet other freshmen and upperclassmen, and ease the transition between high school and college. Mike Knox, director of Fish Camp ’95, said schools across the nation have called him wanting information about Fish Camp. “Other schools call all the time,” he said. “Four or five schools called this year wanting information. Purdue and Okla homa State came to camp last year, and Arizona and Oklahoma are coming to observe this year.” Within the last year, Purdue and Auburn Universities have started off-campus orientations. The University of Texas will be holding the second “Camptexas” August 22 to 23 and 25 to 26 on Lake Travis. Although some Texas stu dents said the camp is modeled after Fish Camp, Kristen Henry, student relations coordinator for the Texas Ex-Students’ Associa tion, said it is different. “We looked at programs which help students bond with their university, like Fish Camp,” she said. “We created our own programs and activities though.” Many Fish Camp staff mem bers said Camptexas doesn’t compare with Fish Camp be cause A&M’s program is com pletely student-run, while Camptexas is run by adminis trators and the Texas Ex-Stu dents’ Association. Camptexas is only open to 250 freshmen, while Fish Camp serves over 3,500 A&M fresh men. Chris Cole, an associate direc tor of Fish Camp, said Aggies Please see Camp, Page 6 Summer Final Exams Campus adopts employee literacy program 99 his is the official final examination schedule as printed in the iniversity’s summer class directory, individual classes may lake different arrangements. Second Term Masses meeting Final exam is i- 9:35 a.m. j0-11:35 a.m. I2 noon-1:35 p.m. K- 3:35 p.m. Tues., Aug. 9 lues., Aug. 9 lues., Aug. 9 Tues., Aug. 9 8-10 a.m. 10:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. 1- 3 p.m. 3:30- 5:30 p.m. vsssss/sMt :ial Ten-week Classes "lasses meeting Final exam is pires 09/30/94. e film Dm disk ■990 AWF 8- 10 a.m. AWF 10 a.m.- noon AWF noon- 2 p.m. MWF 2- 4 p.m. |TR 8-10 a.m. 5 f R 10 a.m.- noon 5 | R noon- 2 p.m. '* |R 2-4 p.m. Mon., Aug. 8 Mon., Aug. 8 Mon., Aug. 8 Mon., Aug. 8 Tues., Aug. 9 Tues., Aug. 9 Tues., Aug. 9 Tues., Aug. 9 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. Good Luck, Ags! 16-06651 By Stacey Fehlis The Battalion A Physical Plant program de signed to help its employees learn literacy and math efficien cy skills has expanded across the Texas A&M campus. Gene Voelkel, training man ager for the Physical Plant, said the program was designed to help employees qualify for other types of training that allows them to progress or possibly qualify for other positions above entry level. “If an employee is hired at en try level and then is not offered an opportunity to compete for a chance to be promoted, that em ployee has been done a great in justice,” he said. “Sooner or later it will result in an unhappy or unproductive worker.” Voelkel said a GED (General Education Development) pro gram, which enables individu als to earn their high school equivalency certificate, was started in 1986 for Physical Plant employees. "If an employee is hired at entry level and then is not offered an opportunity to compete for a chance to be promoted, that employee has been done a great injustice." — Gene Voelkel, Physical Plant training manager Soon after, three other pro grams were added when the de partment realized not everyone could start out at a high school learning level. “Many people are not ready to pick up learning at a high school level,” he said. “So the Adult Basic Education (ABE) program was added to help those with grammar school and junior high educations, as well as a program called English as a Second Lan guage (ESL) for those who do not speak English fluently and a one-on-one tutoring program with Literacy Volunteers of America.” Voelkel said the Physical Plant ran these programs for two years when, in 1988, the GED program was adopted cam pus-wide. “The president of the Univer sity found out what success we were having with our programs and decided to adopt the GED program campus-wide,” he said. “Since 1988, the Physical Plant still runs the ABE, ESL and the one-on-one tutor program, but the Human Resource Depart ment has taken over the GED program.” Gib Sawtelle, senior training and development specialist for the Human Resources Depart ment, said the main reason the GED program was adopted cam- pus-wide is because people are hired at different levels and some need the opportunity to further their education. “Human Resource’s main goal is to help people develop to their fullest potential,” he said. “Our main resource is our employees and the GED program gives us an opportunity to help provide better opportunities for them.” Michelle Kinney, training and Please see Literacy, Page 6 ■jollylBH 8 ! 1 * Aggielife 3 Campus 2 Classified 4 Comics 6 Movie Reviews 4 Opinion 5