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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1995)
THE LEGEND OF TUBULARMAN Artist attempts to move former Battalion comic strip into syndication. Aggielife, Page 3 THE PAYING POINTLESS PRICES Editorial: The University should not force on campus students to pay for cable television. Opinion, Page 11 LUCKY 13 The Aggie baseball team sweeps Baylor, extends winning streak to 1 3 Sports, Page 7 Vol. 101, No. 132 (12 pages) “Serving Texas AdrM since 1893 ill IFC punishes chapter for trespassing □ Pi Kappa Phi receives more than a year probation and 1,800 hours of community ser vice as repri mand for a Feb ruary prank. A Texas A&M fraternity is facing 1,800 hours of communi ty service and more than a year of probation as punishment for a bungled prank. The prank went wrong Feb. 8 when seven Pi Kappa Phi pledges burst into a University Police offi cer’s apartment while trying to abduct one of the active members of the fraternity. The men were arrested by the College Station Police and charged with criminal trespassing. The punishmeryt, handed down to the fraternity by the Interfra- temity Council Judicial Board, is in addition to a punishment of 75 hours of community service hand ed down by the fraternity’s chap ter that each of the seven mem bers involved must perform. Brad Howell, Pi Kappa Phi chapter president, said he real izes how the serious the prank was. “Throughout the process, we tried to impress upon those in volved how serious their actions were and how much worse the in cident could have ended,” he said. In addition to being given 1,800 hours of community service, the fraternity was also placed on probation until May 1996. The chapter must also prepare an educational pamphlet on haz ing and appropriate behavior of fraternity members. The chapter must provide 1,000 copies of the pamphlet for distribution in the Student Activities Office by De cember 1995. Lanita Hanson, assistant di rector of student activities and co ordinator of Greek affairs, said the incident and punishment has been a learning experience for the fraternity. “I’m certain much was learned,” she said, “not only by those involved in the incident, but by everyone in the Greek system, about the dangers of such activi ties and why such behavior is not condoned at Texas A&M.” Pi Kappa Phi’s national office has reviewed the chapter’s new member program and recom mended changes to preclude an other such incident. Hanson said the incident has been fairly handled by the nation al fraternity, the local chapter and the University’s interfrater- nity system. Monday • April 17, 1995 A&M, U.T. use rivalry to boost blood drive □ The 1995 Spring Blood Drive Challenge encourages Aggies to donate more blood than U.T. students. By Gretchen Perrenot The Battalion Texas A&M has issued a challenge to the University of Texas at Austin to see which school can collect the most blood during the 1995 Spring Blood Drive Challenge. This is the first year for A&M and U.T. to compete in the blood drive, which will use the univer sities’ rivalry to help increase the blood supply in Texas. U.T.’s chapter of Alpha Phi Omega and the Central Texas Regional Blood Center first is sued the challenge to A&M’s chapter of Alpha Phi Omega and BloodCare. Brooke Leslie, A&M’s student body president, returned U.T.’s challenge to help boost A&M’s participation in the drive. “I thought it was a great idea,” Leslie said. “If we can use the rivalry to benefit others, that is great.” See Drive, Page 12 B-CS calling problems prompt investigation □ GTE will look into complaints of double billing on phone calls. By Stephanie Dube .'The Battalion Long-distance customers may notice extra charges on their phone bills for overlapping calls if they call someone whose line has called-party hold. Lynn Morrison, area manager for GTE, said that called-party hold could be creating the prob- llems. However, he said he would have to investigate the situation more before he could definitely deter mine the cause. A customer’s ‘telephone ser vice works out of a central office, he said, which is equipped with either called- or calling-p arty hold. Morrison said that called- party hold allows the person re ceiving the call to control the phone line. “If the calling party hangs up, the called number maintains control over the line,” Morrison said. “Though there is a timing mechanism, it is possible that you could actually hang up the phone and that particular line may be held up for some period of time. You could hang up and dial another person during that time also.” Carolyn Jaska said she and her husband David, an A&M student, have noticed that AT&T sometimes bills them for overlapping long-distance calls. One example of the overlap oc curred on their November phone bill. They were charged for a two- minute phone call starting at 4:01 p.m. and a three-minute call starting at 4:02. Jaska said the one-minute overlap occurred because the first number she had called re mained open after she hung up and called someone else. These overlapping calls, Jaska said, should be impossible to make on one phone line. “My husband is graduating this year in construction sci ence,” Jaska said. “We have a small construction company that makes absolutely no money. We are expecting our third child. This problem is making us pay extra money.” Olivia Galban, a freshman animal science major, said she has noticed a similar problem. See Calling, Page 1 2 lilllilii "This customer is going through ex tremes to bring attention to a situa tion that we have more than ade quately explained." — Oscar Gomez, regulatory and government affairs for GTE Eddy Wylie/TuE Battalion A little spring cleaning Rocky Choate, proprietor of the Choate Monument company in Bryan, works on lettering on the sidewalk of Cain Park Friday after noon. He is using a nontoxic, environmentally-sustainable method which was requested by A&M. Dole criticizes Foster nomination Fundraiser to benefit A&M student involved in accident more than $300,000 and are ex pected to exceed $1.5 million. Joe Shockley, Trevor Shock ley’s father, said their financial difficulties stem from the Texas Tort Claims Act capping the Uni versity’s liability at $250,000, the Texas Rehabilitation Commis sion’s providing only three months funding and Medicaid’s not covering rehabilitation. Shockley said the best place "Aggies are always known for sticking together and that's what I want people to do for Trevor." — Suzanne Presley, Ring Fling organizer tries to work together. Then, we can try to come up with this nec essary funding.” Suzanne FYesley, a senior so ciology major, said she thought of Ring Fling after discovering through the newspaper that Shockley had not died after the accident. “I heard through the grapevine that Trevor was dead,” she said. “Then I read an article about him and found out he wasn’t. I felt com pelled to try to help. My ring comes in Tuesday and I thought I could turn this into something that could help Trevor.” Aggie Rings will be delivered to se- □ Ring Fling '95 will be held April 19 to 21 at the Dixie Chicken. By Lisa Messer The Battalion The A&M student injured by a bus on West Campus in February will be closer to paying his med ical bills after this week’s Ring Fling fundraiser. Ring Fling ’95, sponsored by an A&M student and area mer chants, will be held April 19 to 21 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Dix ie Chicken. All proceeds from the fundrais er will go toward the medical bills of 26-year-old Trevor Shockley, who was run over by an 18-ton A&M bus while bicycling Feb. 1. Shockley was rushed to Brazos Valley Medical Center with a se vere head injury, broken jaw, broken ribs, a punctured lung and broken and shattered legs. He has officially regained con sciousness but remains in a con fused and agitated state. Shockley’s medical bills total for his son to recover is the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research in Houston, but TIRR costs $1,500 a day. “If I could ever get him into a place like TIRR we could take a breather,” Shockley said. “The best thing would be if everyone niors April 18. Aggie tradition says the rings should be christened by being dunked in a pitcher of beer. Ring Fling ’95 will showcase local media celebrities and live broadcasts by radio stations See Fundraiser, Page 12 □ Dole says leaders have a responsibility to engage the entertain ment industry in debate over the contents of movie and TV. pro gramming. WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Henry Foster’s bid to be surgeon general is all but dead, according to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, who said he may use his position to block a vote on the nomination. Dole also singled out the con troversial movie “F*riest” for crit icism, and suggested political leaders have a responsibility to engage the entertainment indus try in debate about the content of movies and television pro grams. “If I’m the president of the United States, I’m going to en courage people to turn off their TV sets and not patronize these movies,” he said. Dole is the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and his comments broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” appeared aimed at conservatives who are angered by what they see as America’s moral decline. Another contender for the GOP presidential nomination. Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, reit erated his pledge Sunday to end affirmative action and bal ance the federal budget by the end of his first term if elected president. The film “FYiest” has generat ed controversy for its portrayal of some troubled Roman Catholic clerics. “It’s about a gay priest, an al coholic priest. It gives the im pression that all Catholic priests are like these two,” said Dole, a Methodist from Kansas. He noted that protests by Catholic groups forced the film’s distributor to delay its national release, which had been slated for Good Friday. “I don’t want to be a censor,” he said. “My view is that shame is still an important tool in America.” On the Foster nomination. Dole said it may not even get out of committee. “If it does, I’m not certain that I’ll call it up,” he said. “I’d say the nomination is ‘in ex tremis.’ It’s not very viable right now.” Hearings are slated to begin May 2 before the Senate Labor and Human Resources Commit tee. Only Foster and members of Con gress will be called to testify. Foster has run into opposition on Capitol Hill for un derstating the num ber of abortions he has performed. “Things dribbled out about Foster’s past record that has nothing to do with abor tion. In fact, he didn’t tell the truth,” Dole said. On other Senate business. Dole said that while he still hoped to repeal a ban on 19 types of assault weapons, he has no immediate plan to try to re verse the Brady Law, which re quires a waiting period for hand gun purchases. "I don't want to be a censor. My view is that shame is still an important tool in America." — Bob Dole, Senate majority leader