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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1994)
October 26, Jif embers of the Texas A&M Tae Kwon Do Club have performed well in competitions this year. E Page 3 36-2464. iter Polo Club: 1 i previous experiem te, we practice it5: in outdoor pool. 11 Suzanne at 84i- 169. terski Club: will be held ill winkles. For rj' at 84 7-2371. sociation: FreeCi ms will be given it; 5 Academic Bui% ion call David Cbji udents Associalit g will be held at {pi or more infonutim at 847-7607. Opinion Sports NEWS RIEFS Israel, Jordan sign peace treaty ib: Our second jii i held at 7:30 p.nn ore information caft WADI ARABA, Israel-Jordan I Border (AP) — The guns of Jordan and Israel, once trained on each other pcross this scorching desert, fired a usade for Christ: T Mlute Wednesday as the two nations eeting will be blit' P led 9 ed to end 46 y earS of war and make the peace last forever. J Leaders from both sides and |resident Clinton cited the desert as a symbol of the once-arid relations Itween the two neighbors that now C. For more isade at group picture fortb taken at 8:45 p.mau For more infomitd can f| our j sh 347-0857, Hispanic Professitfi guest lecturer from Ii I be speaking at 7:3}] ■ the flyers). Kwon Do Team: rom 7-8:15 p.m.ii :30-10 p.m.infflW more informal: "Our generation and the next, we are the ones who will transform this barren place into a fertile oasis,’’ Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel told 5,000 guests. "The time has now come not only dream of a better future but to realize it,” the 72-year-old former pneral said, standing on a onetime minefield cleared and asphalted for (tie occasion. I King Hussein of Jordan said the treaty was not "simply a peace of per ratified by those responsible.” n Agriculture, Nam 1 Related Science I with guest speaker®! pa| na Mills will be bell itiB ophysics/Biochea® , » « ■ ■ ■ more informatk LOSSeS for flOOCi COUld ‘ “ Sor -‘"Wli $700 million Freshmen Bible sri 8:30 p.m. at AllFst ire information or is 94-8140. s a Battalion sens rofit student audit id activities. ltd mitted no later i dvance of the desks ication deadlines a events and will noik Up. If you have se csdl the news I HOUSTON (AP) — Insured losses from deadly flooding across outheast Texas could reach $700 million, the state’s insurance commissioner said Wednesday in [oviding the first damage estimate of the disaster. There have been 23,000 claims submitted to private and federal insurers for damage to homes, vehicles and property, but that mber may climb to 35,000, said J. obert Hunter, commissioner of the ITexas Department of Insurance. The total doesn’t include still- undetermined uninsured losses, Ind Hunter cautioned that the tally was only an estimate based on an expected average of $20,000 per .claim. 1 Flooding spawned by three days of heavy rains last week killed 20 -people, forced some 14,000 people from their homes and wrecked homes, cars and property in 35 counties that have been declared oraycr, the gp;. ffece's disaster areas, he lines of thee:: Number of early voters increases m Page 1 he said. “Thai! ult. That’s orp' •earn Catholicisit' a professor of sr nany cults area mhappiness wit AUSTIN (AP) — Early participation in early voting is higher than four years ago. But the state’s chief Jlections officer says it’s too soon to 5 bound not tohlay whether that will translate into big up with chans? 1 Ballot numbers on Nov. 8. 'They react in ok Secretary of State Ron Kirk’s They can gobP'hce reported Wednesday that in s way or insist::| lde state's 15 most populous ounties, 168,576 people had cast allots in person since early voting «gan Oct. 19. That is a substantial increase over the 72,487 ballots cast at the same point in the election four years ago, said Mark Beil, a spokesman lor the office. U A , J "As someone who is a firm 5 OOUnd not [believer in citizen participation, I’d like to tell you this is an indicator — but I just think it’s too early to know,” Kirk told the Austin American-Statesman. "I’m at least hopeful that this is an ndication that we will have a turnout that is at least a few blips more than we’ve had in past governor’s elections,” Kirk said. They often It- for change." aid cynicism is f economy, as peopk id and invest it' o catch up ;e. They re two ways o back to It ays or msisi lange. Thei' tie vehicles A&M profit of- growth, e seen in day-t Mestrovic sail nomic boom,pF g back on the! investment! essimistic pl ! l that things ak tid pessimism- tdents aboutO ollege. ates have a ut their chi ed in jobs the!'' and enjt “Not so 1 s would nd be opt w.” goes in cycles “You saw exat ; igs at the end tocial. It’s just s a good thing LYNN BOOMER: They make a dangerous assumption in claiming that lower IQ scores cause poverty, crime and other social problems. Page 11 LION Pet store owner under fire about rabid kitten CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A death threat, the likelihood of being forced out of business and the possibility of awsuits are the price pet store owner Tim Jandebeur is paying for selling a kitten that later died of rabies. Hundreds of people who played with kittens in his store may have to get rabies shots, though no cases of the deadly disease in humans have been reported. "You want to know the truth, I think I'm out of business,” said Jandebeur, owner of the Concord Aquarium and Pet Store for four years. “My wife and are scared.” Most pet stores take precautions to protect themselves and their customers. The Lady Aggie volleyball team downs Rice in three games. Page 7 THURSDAY October 27, 1994 Vol. 101, No. 44 (12 pages) “Serving Texas A&M since 1893 ” An Aggie legend collapses today's I 5ATT Aggielife 3 Classified 8 Opinion 11 Sports 7 Toons 12 Weather 12 What's Up 5 Rain, ground shift topple '94 Bonfire By Amanda Fowle The Battalion Texas A&M students will be gin rebuilding the Aggie Bonfire today, after the nearly completed Aggie Bonfire was knocked down Wednesday afternoon when the stack of logs began to shift due to the rain-soaked ground. The redpots decided during a meeting Wednesday night with Dr. J. Malon Souther land, vice president for stu dent affairs, to totally rebuild Bonfire from scratch. Earlier Wednesday, some stu dents suggested that Bonfire not be rebuilt, but rather burned “Old Army Style” like the original Bonfire which was an unorga nized heap of trash and lumber. However, Bonfire officials opted to rebuild the stack before it bums next Thursday as original ly scheduled. A new centerpole, which was Blake Griggs/THE Battalion One of the Bonfire workers tries to pull down the stack Wednesday afternoon. donated by the city of Bryan, was delivered late Wednesday night, and a construction science expert will help the redpots install it. Dr. Bill Kibler, assistant vice president for student affairs, said the redpots and students working on Bonfire noticed the stack lean ing at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The redpots halted construc tion and moved people away from the stack. The University Police Depart ment, safety and health officials, engineering and construction ex perts came to the Bonfire site to assist the redpots. Police roped off the perimeter to keep the crowds of curious onlookers from getting too close to the stack. “We had a tremendous amount of assistance without having to ask for it,” Souther land said. A special tractor was brought in Wednesday night to finish knocking down and clearing away the logs, which will be used to build the new stack. “It was obvious that the stack need ed to come down,” Kibler said. After two hours of trying to pull the logs down, the red pots were able to pull down the stack with a cable at tached to a tractor. “It was extremely well-built because it took four times to get it down,” Southerland said. John Barr, head stack redpot, said Bonfire officials be gan taking the nec essary safety pre cautions after the decision to rebuild the stack was made. “Redpots will be doing all of the work until we are sure it is safe enough for the student body to WT l llffi //i .if Blake Griggs/THE Battalion The redpots and A&M officials meet to decide what the fate of the 1994 Bonfire will be. The redpots will try to rebuild it by Thursday. ed as it is Even though Bonfire came crashing dov Wednesday, many Texas A&M students still L -”—~ j have high hopes that the structure can be rebuilt now, and some students see this set-back as a re- by next Thursday. turn to Old Army days Dr. Bill Kibler, assistant vice president for B was going to fall dovm anyway, he said, student built, build Bonfire. “This kind of occurrence makes an opportuni- — begin working on it,” Barr said. Southerland said the red pots acted quickly and respon sibly Wednesday to keep everyone safe. “No one was in a significant safety hazard because of the help we received,” he said. Barr urged students to come together to help rebuild Bonfire during the next week. “The normal amount of people who come out to build Bonfire won’t be enough to finish it in seven days,” he said. Southerland said the Bonfire will bum as scheduled, Nov. 3, before the annual football game against the University of Texas. “It will not be built the same as the past,” he said, “but it will look the same.” A&M President Ray Bowen said he was disappointed that T...^ : Bonfire fell because he knew so many students worked very hard on building the stack, but he was confident Bonfire will burn as scheduled. “Well have a Bonfire,” Bowen said. “It may be an ugly one, but Bonfire will bum on Thursday.” Despite persistent rumors. University officials said class es will not be canceled to re build Bonfire. Lighting resolution passed Safety concerns spark Student Senate measure to monitor lighting By Melissa Jacobs The Battalion The Texas A&M Student Senate adopt ed a resolution Wednesday night to im prove faulty and inadequate exterior lighting on campus. The resolution recommends the imple mentation of a new bar code labeling system for exterior campus lights. Ryan Shopp, senator for the College of En gineering and university committees chair, said the new system will be very efficient. “There will be a bar code on each exte rior light and when the University Police Department is patrolling and sees a light that is out, they can scan it, download it into a computer, and the information will be sent to the Physical Plant,” he said. “The key word is efficient.” J.D. Cole, security awareness committee representative, said eventually there will be a computerized map of campus showing all the exterior lights and when one is faulty, it will light up on the map. Cole said currently whenever someone re ports that a light is out, they call UPD. “UPD then has to go find the location and call the Physical Plant to report it,” he said. Shopp said this is something the students really care about. “In Legett Hall the residents posted signs saying to call people about the lighting in that area,” he said. “It bothers me that peo ple are worried about walking across campus where Aggie spirit should run wild.” Cole said credit for the improvements goes to the administration. “The great thing about this is the adminis- Amy Morgan/Special to The Battalion Junior Jill Morgan calls home from a cam pus phone near the Alumni Center. tration is aware of this problem and trying to do something about it,” he said. He said installation of the bar codes on main campus was supposed to take one month. “We were told that at the end of Septem ber, so it should be done soon,” Cole said. “We weren’t given an exact time-line for the overall system.” See Lighting/Page 10 Flood damage in B-CS to cost Texas thousands By Stephanie Dube The Battalion Last week’s extensive rain and flood ing resulted in thousands of dollars in building and road damage in Bryan- College Station. Denise Fischer, public informa tion officer for the Bryan district of the Texas Department of Trans portation, said several roads were severely damaged. “However, when you consider that we manage roadways for 10 coun ties, over 3,000 miles of roads, we did pretty well considering the rains,” Fischer said. A section of Farm-to-Market Road 2154 which is one mile south of Milli- can had a drainage pipe washed out, creating a hole over 10 feet deep and 30 feet wide, she said. Repairs will take several months, Fischer said. “Brazos, Grimes, and Washington counties were three of the hardest hit,” Fischer said. “Walker County also had a lot of damage. The other six got away mostly unscathed, however.” Roy Ross, assistant emergency man agement coordinator for the City of Bryan, said over 35 residents experienced water damage to their homes in Bryan. See Flooding/Page 6 GMAT’s addition of writing portion necessary, official says By Stephanie Dube The Battalion The Graduate Management Admis sions Test (GMAT) now includes a writing portion in order to measure MBA students’ potential communica tion skills. Frederic McHale, director of the GMAT, said the new portion is a needed addition. “It measures the students’ ability to convey complex ideas through writ ing,” McHale said. He said several business school deans had requested a writing por tion. The Graduate Management Ad missions Council then did a survey of schools using the GMAT, he said. Of the 80 percent who responded, 90 per cent favored the addition of a writing portion, McHale said. The writing assessment consists of two 30-minute essays, McHale said. One essay, Analysis of an Issue, re quires the student to discuss the com plexities of a given issue and take a position on the issue. With the second essay, Analysis of an Argument, a student must critique an argument and its different sides, he said. The multiple choice section of the GMAT was shortened to accommo date for the new writing section. See GMAT/Page 6