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LIFTING HIS WAY TO THE TOP
An A&M senior makes his mark at the US
Powerlifting National Championships.
Sports, Page 7
BIG EVENT
More than 4,800 students gave a helping hand to the
community Saturday at the 1 3th annual Big Event.
Community, Page 3
U-ACT
Clark: Retreat provides a necessary
examination of cultural diversity.
Aggielife, Page 2
THE
Vol. 101, No. 123 (10 pages)
: p s i
x . . K
“Serving Texas A&M since 1893
Monday • April 3,1995
City designates money to renovate Northgate
□ Northgate to under
go $500,000 in re
modeling.
Eleanor Colvin
The Battalion
Merchants and patrons will
soon benefit from the upcoming
redevelopment efforts in the
Northgate area.
Proposition Two of the 1995
Bond Election, which designates
$500,000 for Northgate revital
ization, passed March 25.
Todd McDaniel, Northgate
project coordinator and policy
analyst for the Economic and
Development Services in College
Station, said this redevelopment
will cover a variety of issues.
“Obviously a lot of things could
be done in that area,” McDaniel
said. “Parking, infrastructure
and the possibility of developing
an urban mall are a few of the
considerations being made.”
McDaniel said Northgate
merchants, area residents and
churches are excited about the
proposed changes.
“Churches, residents and
merchants in the Northgate area
make up an ad hoc steering com
mittee,” he said. “They have of
fered valuable information and
feedback to the City Council.”
John Raney, a member of the
committee and owner of Texas
Aggie Bookstore, said he is
pleased that so many people are
involved in the effort to redevel
op Northgate.
“I’m excited that the city has
taken an interest in us,” Raney
said, “and that the University is
helping to fund the study.”
Raney said improvements in
Northgate will benefit everyone.
“We are interested in bringing
new businesses to Northgate
through this effort,” he said.
“Northgate will be better for
everyone. Students walking to
Northgate will have easier ac
cess because of crosswalks and
sidewalks to be added.”
McDaniel said street construc
tion and parking are the biggest
aspects of the improvement plan.
“Parking has to be addressed
— sooner than later,” he said.
Raney agreed that parking is
an important issue.
“As a merchant, parking is a
big concern for me,” he said.
“We don’t live in downtown
Boston or Austin — this isn’t
Sixth Street. People here are
used to driving and if there’s no
parking, they won’t come.”
McDaniel said this is a long
term project and they do not
know exactly when construction
will begin.
“Right now a revitalization and
redevelopment study is being con
ducted by the Hellmuth, Obata &
Kassabaum consulting firm,” Mc
Daniel said. “We can move for
ward after we receive their report,
which will devise a strategy and
time line, in July or August.”
File Photo
A proposition on the recent bond election that was passed will des
ignate $500,00 to renovate Northgate.
: ' ' ' ■' '■ '
Tim Moog/THE Battalion
Building bridges
Brad Howell (left), a senior political science major and Laurel Wilson (right), a junior market
ing major, take a walk Sunday afternoon with Ruth, a resident of Brenham State School.
Recycling bill receives financial support
□ Pilot recycling pro
gram may be imple
mented this summer.
By Wes Swift
The Battalion
This summer’s on-campus
residents may become guinea
pigs for a summer recycling pi
lot program if a bill proposed
Thursday by the Residence
Hall Association is passed.
The program would put two re
cycling bins in the nine summer
residence halls and provide mon
ey for two student workers to pick
up the recyclables and monitor
the recycling output.
Summer school students would
recycle newsprint, white paper,
mixed paper and aluminum cans.
Cassandra DeLarios, the bill’s
sponsor and RHA environmental
director, said the program will
provide information for future on-
campus recycling efforts.
“I’ve talked to several agencies
and they all say we need to have
a pilot program,” DeLarios said.
“This will give us some data on
the best way to do it and how
much will be generated.”
DeLarios said two firms have
contacted her about financing the
program. The firms, a reprocess
ing plant and a recyclables bro
ker, have offered to furnish the
capital investment, such as equip
ment, to the program.
//
This[program] wouldn't cost
the University anything."
— Cassandra DeLarioSy
RHA environmental director
“This wouldn’t cost the Univer
sity anything,” DeLarios said.
After the summer, the ad
ministration will evaluate the
program.
DeLarios said that while re
sponsibility for the actual pro
gram would fall on the Physical
Plant, the program will involve
many departments.
“This program will be Uni
versity-wide,” DeLarios said.
“It will involve the Physical
Plant, the Department of Stu
dent Life, the Department of
Finance and Administration,
the RHA and everyone.”
Owen Ross, RHA president,
said recycling at Texas A&M is
important to the
RHA.
“Recycling is an
idea that’s been
around for a while,”
Ross said. “The only
question has been
how we’re going to
pay for it.”
Ross said he
thinks the program is a good
first step, but it should not be
the last. He explained that sev
eral universities he has visited,
such as Georgetown University
See Recycling, Page 6
Owners accept unions offer
□ Baseball players may
report to training
camps as soon as
Wednesday.
CHICAGO (AP) — The longest
and costliest work stoppage in the
history of professional sports end
ed Sunday night when baseball
owners accepted the union’s offer
to play without an agreement.
The season, which had been
scheduled to start Sunday night,
will begin April 26 and each team
will play 144 games, 18 fewer
than the usual.
“Anyone who has gone through
this eight-month experience will
let it serve as a poignant re
minder that we have a responsi
bility to make sure it will never
happen again, certainly in our
lifetime,” acting commissioner
Bud Selig said after a 4 1/2-hour
meeting.
Players may report voluntar
ily starting Wednesday to
training camps in Florida and
Arizona, although some were
expected to start trickling in
Monday. The mandatory re
porting date is Friday.
The strike wiped out the final
52 days and 669 games of the
1994 season and forced the can
cellation of the World Series for
the first time since 1904. It also
wiped out the first 252 games of
his season, raising the total of
games lost to 921.
“It was not a surrender. The
players were on strike,” Selig
said, “they made an unconditional
offer to come back, and we accept
ed that offer.”
However, the owners did not
obtain a no-strike promise from
the union, leaving open the
possibility that players could
walk out again late this season
if owners again threaten to im
pose a salary cap.
“I think it’s clearly a step in
the right direction,” union head
Donald Fehr said. “If they had
voted for a lockout, it would have
been a clear indication they didn’t
want peace — at any price.”
President Clinton, who failed
two months ago in a personal ef
fort to end the strike, said: “To
day’s decision is good news for the
game of baseball, its fans and the
local economies of the cities
where baseball is played.
“While I am heartened to know
this season will start with major
league players, there are a num
ber of underlying issues which
still need to get resolved.”
Community reflects on memory of slain music star Selena
3 eon
94
altf»
1993
(3)
□ Thousands of fans
wait in line to pass by
Selena's coffin.
CORPUS CHRISTI (AP) —
Thousands of grieving fans
waited in line along the Corpus
Christi sea wall Sunday to en
ter the convention center hous
ing the coffin of slain Tejano
music queen Selena.
Correction
In a Page 1 story in
Fridays Battalion, Corps
Commandant Maj. Gen.
Thomas Darling’s rank
was stated incorrectly.
They began lining up at 4
a.m., five hours before the
doors opened. About 3,000
passed in the first of 12 hours
of visitation.
The mourners paused as
they walked by the singer’s cof
fin, which lay on a stage amid
two dozen arrangements of
white roses. Some crossed
themselves, others shook their
heads. Many wept.
Two women sobbed so hyster
ically they had to be escorted
out of the Bayfront Plaza Con
vention Center in wheelchairs.
Five female students from St.
Edward’s University in Austin
tightly held on to each other
and sobbed heavily after seeing
the coffin.
Selena Quintanilla Perez was
gunned down on Friday at a
motel where she went to fire
the founder of her fan club, who
also ran a San Antonio boutique
for her, police say. The suspect,
Yolanda Saldivar, was being
held on 8100,000 bond at the
Nueces County Jail on a mur
der charge.
The 23-year-old star was an
idol to young Hispanic women.
But at her visitation, the be
reaved ranged from young chil
dren to the elderly.
“I hope that this generation
will follow her steps,” said
Efrain Guerrero, 66, who lives
near the middle-class Molina
neighborhood where Selena
grew up and lived. “She did a
lot of work for this community.
She would talk about the neces
sity of education. She talked
against drugs. She was a lady
all the way.”
At midday, about 2,500 fans,
many from the Rio Grande Val
ley, Houston and other parts of
the state, snaked from the
building to the sidewalk of
Shoreline Boulevard, which
runs along the coast.
Her followers praised her for
serving as a role model for chil
dren. One neighbor said Selena
would invite neighborhood kids
into her home and feed them.
“She was a great inspiration
to young children, and that’s
who I feel most sad for,” said
33-year-old Lilia Pinon-Ortiz of
Houston. “She did a lot for the
Hispanic community. She did a
lot for our culture.”
Fans said Selena had a
unique ability to cross cultural
frontiers. They said they ad
mired her because she broke
ground in the Tejano genre of
music — a mix of Mexican
ranchera and German polka
with pop, country and
Caribbean influences.
Many portrayed her as a star
who never allowed fame to lead
to arrogance.
Selena’s family encourages fans
to oppose concealed guns bill
□ Bill under considera
tion would allow Texans
to carry concealed
handguns.
CORPUS CHRISTI (AP) —
The family of Selena, the Te
jano singer shot in the back
Friday, is urging fans to op
pose a proposal in the state
Legislature to allow Texans to
carry concealed handguns.
Selena Quintanilla Perez
was killed by a disgruntled
employee whom the 23-year-
old performer was about to fire
for embezzling money from her
businesses, according to police
and Selena’s family.
“Though it’s hard to find
any positive aspects to this
tragedy, we would urge the
community to stand with the
Quintanilla family in respect
to our opposition to the present
bill before the Texas House
and Senate which would allow
concealed weapons in our
state,” Selena’s father, Abra
ham Quintanilla, said in a
statement released Sunday.
The measure would allow
Texans to obtain permits to car
ry concealed guns. It passed the
Senate last month and is under
consideration in the House,
where it also is expected to win
approval.