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