high-tech communication
the ins and outs of Internet.
Aggielife, Page 3
IH li
REGENT'S REFORM BILL
Proposed legislation may prevent future A&M prob
lems.
Opinion^ Page 11
REACHING NEW DEPTH
Freshman diver Jodi Janssen makejv
big splash in SWC.
Sports, Page 7
Reassigned employees file lawsuit against A&M
/ol. 101, No. 79 (12 pages)
mm
“Serving Texas AdrM since 1893”
Ami
Tuesday • January 24, 1995
□ Two former food
services administrators
nave sued for $1 million.
By Lisa Messer
The Battalion
Two former food services employees
filed a lawsuit Monday against three
A&M administrators, Texas A&M Uni
versity and the Texas A&M University
System Monday for more than $1 million.
Lloyd Smith, former food services di
rector, and George Nedbalek, former food
sendees business manager, filed the law
suit in Travis County.
Smith and Nedbalek named Ron
Beard, interim director of food ser
vices, Rick Floyd, associate vice presi
dent for finance and administration,
Robert Smith, executive director of
special operations, the University and
the System in the lawsuit.
Wayne Rife, Smith and Nedbalek’s at
torney said the two men are asking for
an unspecified amount in actual dam
ages, or provable losses, and $1 million in
punitive damages, punishment for a ma
liciously wrongful act.
“They filed a federal claim based
primarily on retaliation against them
as a result of expressing their First
Amendment right of freedom of
speech,” Rife said.
“They also filed for intentional inflic
tion of emotional distress.”
Rife said one claim was filed against
Beard, solely, for tortious interference
with prosperous business relationships.
Rife said Smith and Nedbalek filed a
whistleblower claim against A&M and
the A&M System.
A whistleblower claim is for a retalia
tory or discriminatory act as a result of
an individual having made a good faith
report of a violation of the law.
Smith, Nedbalek and Col. Jim
Moore, former assistant director of
food services, have said Robert Smith,
former vice president for finance and
administration, re-assigned them be
cause of their opposition to his origi
nal plan to privatize food services.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice presi
dent of student affairs, denied in Decem
ber the three men’s January 1994 re
quest for re-instatement.
Rife said the report his clients filed in
January 1994 detailed suspected wrong
doings of Robert Smith.
“We’re alleging that the December ‘94
decision not to re-instate them was a re
sult of their having filed that report,”
Rife said.
Moore said he has no desire to
sue A&M.
“I’ve been an Aggie for almost 50
years,” Moore said,
sue the University,
a chance.
“My agenda is not to
I’d like to give A&M
“I feel
fairly.
The
Univer
sity is
good but
has done
some
bad
things.
In light
of a new
p r e s i -
dent and
like I have not been treated
"I feel like I have not been treated fairly.
The University is good but has done some
bad things. In light of a new president
and new management,, I'd like to give
them a chance to correct the situation."
— Col. Jim Moore
former assistant director of food services
manage
ment, I’d like to give them a chance to
correct the situation.”
Moore said he has a February meet
ing scheduled with Dr. Jerry Gaston,
interim vice president for finance and
administration, to discuss the reasons
for his reassignment.
Genevieve Stubbs, associate general
counsel for
A&M, said
the lawsuit
will be sent
to the Attor
ney General’s
Office, and
he will file an
answer on
behalf of all
of the defen
dants.
She said
the length of
the case will
depend on Smith and Nedbalek.
“The time frame is under their con
trol,” Stubbs said. “It’s up to them to
move this along.”
UPD still searches for
suspects in weekend
drive-by shooting
The University Police still
have no suspects in the drive-by
shooting that happened early
Sunday morning in front of
Cain Hall.
James Driver, an A&M stu
dent who witnessed the
shooting, said a dark-colored,
small car drove past Cain
Hall around 2:30 a.m. and the
back-seat passenger on the
left side fired several shots
toward DeWare Fieldhouse.
No one in the crowd of about
200 was injured, but police later
found two bullet holes on the
northeast wall of DeWare.
Police also found an unfired
third round from a 9 mm pistol
near the intersection of Clark
and Lamar streets where the
shots originated.
One of the shots hit a con
crete wall at DeWare Field-
house about four feet from the
ground, and the other hit a sign
about 10 feet from the ground.
Driver said people in the
crowd were shocked when
they heard the shots.
“I was shell-shocked,” he
said. “I dove on the ground.
Everyone around either ran
away or dove on the ground.”
Marcus Martinez, who was
visiting a friend who is an A&M
student, said they were driving
through campus when they
heard the shots.
“I didn’t stick around to see
what happened,” he said. “I
just took off and didn’t look
back.”
Martinez reported the inci
dent to the UPD.
None of the other witnesses
were able to get a description of
the shooter or the car.
Southerland addresses cadets at Honor Board symposium
□ Cadets encouraged to keep
the Aggie Code of Honor.
By Gretchen Perrenot
The Battalion
Freshman and sophomore cadets gath
ered in Rudder Auditorium Monday night to
discuss honor, integrity and “good bull” at a
Cadet Honor Board symposium.
The purpose of the meeting was to rein
stall the Aggie Code of Honor: “Aggies do
not lie, cheat or steal, nor do they tolerate
those who do.”
Junior and senior Corps of Cadets mem
bers attended a similar mandatory meeting
in November.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president
for student affairs, said the symposium
was formed to help members of the corps
understand the long-term impacts of honor
and integrity.
“All of us have a perception of what honor
means to us,” Southerland said. “Because
you are in the Corps of Cadets, you have a
different definition of honor.”
Southerland said self-respect is gained
from following the honor code.
“Self-respect is earned and learned over a
period of time,” he said. “Our integrity ends
up relating to our
personal level of
self-confidence
and self-respect.”
Following the
honor code can
also limit hazing
prob.lems,
Southerland said.
The subject of
hazing is a gray
area; what is con
sidered hazing at one time will not be consid
ered hazing at another time, and it takes judg
ment to decide which is right, he said.
Southerland said common sense is the
key to many things.
“Most people who have common sense
have honor and integrity,” he said. “Com
mon sense can be learned and improved on.”
Blaine Joseph, vice chair of education on
the Cadet Honor Board, said he supported
Southerland’s statements.
“The main criteria for being a leader are
honor,
courage,
integrity
and hon-
e s t y , ”
Joseph
said. “By
wearing
the uni-
"By wearing the uniform, you are accepting the
challenge of being honorable and a keeper of
the A&M tradition."
— Blaine Joseph
Vice chair of education on the Cadet Honor Board form, you
■ are ac
cepting
the challenge of being honorable and a keep
er of the A&M tradition.
“Accepting the challenge includes saying
‘from this point forward, I’m going to be com
pletely honorable.’”
Correction:
In a page one story yesterday. The Battalion mistakenly said
gunshots near Cain Hall interrupted a Southwestern Black Stu
dent Leadership Conference party. The party ended at 2 a.m.
but the shots did not occur until 2:30 a.m. after the party was
over. SBSLC and A&M University Police officials said the party
ended without incident.
RHA proposes recycling bill
□ A&M students and officials are striving
to expand campus recycling.
By Wes Swift
The Battalion
Recycling on the A&M campus may be expanded if a bill passed
by the Residence Hall Association is implemented.
Cassandra DeLarios, chairwoman of the RHA Recycling Ad-Hoc
Committee, said residence hall recycling offers students a way to
help their school financially.
“We have a lot of opportunities to save a lot of money for our
school,” DeLarios said.
In 1990, Texas A&M began a pilot recycling program in response
to Texas Senate Bill 1340, which required that all state governmen
tal entities establish a recycling program, DeLarios said.
Originally consisting of six buildings, the current program now
encompasses 158 buildings on campus.
Dr. Jerry Gaston, interim vice president for finance and adminis
tration, said the University recycling program recently began a
joint-venture with the City of College Station, expanding the num
ber of materials the campus can recycle.
“Over the last six months, the recycling program has joined with
College Station,” Ga'ston said. “We used to only recycle white pa
per. Now we can recycle cardboard and newsprint.”
DeLarios said A&M disposes over 16 million pounds of garbage
every year at a cost of almost $300,000 annually and vital landfill
space.
“It costs $26 a ton to dispose of solid waste,” DeLarios said.
“That’s a cost of approximately $280,000, and the landfill will only
last five years.”
The current recycling program averages 41 tons of paper a
toonth and 750 pounds of aluminum. During the 1993-94 fiscal
year, the program recycled 431 tons of paper, saving $9,266.50 in
landfill disposal cost.
DeLarios said the expansion involves several factors.
“You need markets for the materials,” DeLarios said. “We also
aeed to keep an eye on the budget.”
DeLarios said there are two pilot recycling programs in the de-
Mopment stages. In Kiest hall, bins have been placed in the first
Hoor mail room for residents to recycle mixed paper, white paper
and newsprint, she said.
See Recycle, page 6
Roger Hsieh/THE Battalion
Road construction on FM 60 between the Texas A&M campus and 2818. The construction has caused major traffic delays for travel
ers in the area.
FM 60 construction back on track
after unexpected six-month delay
□ Traveling on FM 60 will soon be easier.
By Tracy Smith
The Battalion
With construction on FM 60 resuming after a six-month delay,
Texas A&M students and faculty can expect an improved high
way situation soon, Texas Department of Transportation (Tx-
DOT) officials said.
The construction, running from FM 2818 to Brazos Bridge,
halted when Palasota Contractors abandoned the project in
September 1994.
Since that time, TxDOT officials have been searching for a con
tractor to continue working on the road. Young Contractors, based
in Waco, was selected for the job and began working in January.
Denise Fischer, public information officer for TxDOT, said the
job to widen the road to four lanes was around 60 percent com
pleted before it was abandoned.
“The six month delay was not what we wanted,” Fischer said.
“However, now that we are back on track w6 hope the'road will be
finished as soon as possible.”
She said the road should be completed by the fall of 1996 and
will provide a shortcut for people traveling toward Highway 21.
“You will be able to turn across from the airport and have a
straight—shot to Highway 21,” Fischer said. “The road will cut
through a number of fields to provide this.”
Fischer said there have been few complaints about the con
struction, and people are just ready for the road to be finished.
Stacey Fehlis, a junior journalism major, said she hopes the
road will shorten her drive to her hometown, Victoria.
“The drive is long so any shortcut they can provide will be a
plus,” she said.
Money to improve the road originated from an extra $50 million
approved for maintenance of the state’s farm-to-market road system
Dec. 22. The money provided $11 million in additional funds to the
Bryan, Texas Department of Transportation to be spent on farm-to-
market roads in the ten counties in the Bryan District.
David Bemsen, commissioner of transportation, said the rural
road system is essential to the economic viability and quality of
life for many Texans.
“We are working very hard at reducing the costs so we can use
the money to make a difference for the public,” Bemsen said.
The additional money was made available through cost sav
ings by TxDOT, which reduced costs through re—examination of
high—cost items, district efficiency, optimum staffing and finan
cial planning.
State Rep. Jerry Johnson, chairman of the Rural Legislative
Coalition, said the majority of farm roads in Texas were con
structed 30 or 40 years ago.
“The redistribution will prevent further deterioration of many
farm roads which have begun to need serious rehabilitation,”
Johnson said. “It will ensure good and safe travel for rural Texas
residents and visitors.”