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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1995)
tns ling, but till have ve iwerinj phone, ask not 'ing ill senii ^ 'ecreate DEAN OF THE MOUND Pitcher Dean Mitchell rebounds after a rough start. Sports, Page 9 * j| -< ^ SHOOT DOWN EQUITY 2000 Hall: The plan will pave the way for more af firmative action and quota systems. Opinion, Page 13 ANIMAL KINGDOM Students and professors get rare glimpses of life. Aggielife, Page 3 ’mine it ting the ig prob- lething calling,' it this is ay they 5e, or it ting the )1. 101, No. 133 (14 pages) “Serving Texas AdrM since 1893’ Tuesday • April 18, 1995 fEES to explore possibility of digital libraries at A&M donors 1st few i enroll A&M h 5,574 n said, ected in s direc- it, said 1 trans- illy. ie com- . drives, i drive, 1 proce- isible,’ of can- nsplant usly ill ent fit. ill have I don’t he ate i baby, . he ate nto his i would leir 26- but to said. jThe TEES center will work vith the George Bush Presi- ential Library to bring digi- I libraries to students. I Lisa Messer ie Battalion A new center in the Texas Engineer- pg Experiment Station will explore the tential of digital libraries at Texas kM University. The Center for the Study of Digital braries was established by the A&M )ard of Regents at its last regular eeting. The agenda item requesting the cen ts establishment stated that the fed- al government has identified digital iraries as a national challenge. “National challenges are fundamen tal applications that have a broad and direct impact on the nation’s competi tiveness and the well-being of its citi zens,” the agenda item stated. “A pri mary goal of this program is to estab lish better linkages between fundamen tal science and technology development which directly impacts national compet itiveness and advancement.” The Center will build on the work of the Hypermedia Research Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science. Dr. Richard Furuta, director of the Hypermedia Research Laboratory, said digital libraries will bring together large amounts of information in digital form. “It includes traditional pieces of in formation that you might expect, such as text, documents, audio and movies, but also information you might not think of like representations of physical objects,” Furuta said. Dr. John Leggett, director of the Center for the Study of Digital Li braries, said the Center will serve the global digital library community. “I see the Center for the Study of Digital Libraries providing expertise and experience to help the Texas A&M community transfer its collections of books, journals, bugs, plants, animals and so forth into useful digital li braries,” Leggett said. This work has been started with the Flora of Texas project, the Tracey Herbarium, the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection and the Keck Cen ter for Genome Informatics in the In stitute of Biosciences and Technology, Leggett said. Furuta said digital libraries are chal lenged with providing students infor mation without the constraints of physi cal libraries while ensuring the digital libraries maintain the advantages of traditional libraries. “When you look up a book, for exam ple, you won’t find out it’s stolen, ripped up or highlight ed,” Furuta said. “Information will also be accessible when a physical library is closed. “The problem is maintaining the same ser vices. Physical libraries provide reference desks and expert help. They also serve the social aspect of providing a place to meet and talk about projects. Digital libraries need to retain those services.” Dr. Frank Shipman III, a TEES re- Sk ' ■ Em. AM search scientist, said digital libraries will play a crucial role with researchers throughout the world. “They will aid researchers in getting access to information they might not have otherwise,” Shipman said. “They will also enable researchers to collabo rate with each other across the world much quicker than the usual print cycle.” The Hypermedia Research Laborato ry organized the first international re search conference on digital libraries in Summer 1994: The second conference will be held in Austin in June. The Center for the Study of Digital Libraries will work with the George Bush Presidential Library at A&M. The library plans to have a multime dia digital library system with more than 40 million pages of documents, two million photographs and 6,000 hours of video. ocal police officers crack lown on public intoxication Officials say that pub ic intoxication arrests re intended to prevent ieople from causing |arm to themselves or |thers. ly Tracy Smith (he Battalion Arrests for public intoxication re rising, and A&M students are aving to deal with the effects. 737 624 625 655 511 326 ents e to lies, ght oon ial! iod ling and an ales i, a asic aare oor oor ing ave oor ess ake are ists ent >lic op [he :he ?ri- Zcc its, )Ut According to the College Sta- on Police Department, public in dication arrests increased from 84 in 1993 to 560 in 1994. Currently, the public intoxica- ion statute deals with those com- nitting an offense in a public )lace while intoxicated to the de- [ree that they may endanger hemselves or another. If arrested, they face a class C nisdemeanor requiring them to ither pay a fine or go to court to ;et the charge off their record. Rick Powell, coordinator of le- ?al services for the Student Con- lict and Resolution Center, said ;hat during the past few years, Lore students have received pub- See Editorial, Page 13 lie intoxication charges. “We talk to students who re ceived the charge because they were unable to drive and decided to walk home from the bar in stead,” he said. “Others may have been waiting for their friends to come out of a bar and were arrest ed while outside.” While the charges have varied greatly over the last few years, Powell said his advice is basically the same. If students can raise any doubt pertaining to the charge, he said, they should go to court. “It really helps if the person has witnesses that can come to testify on their behalf,” he said. “These situations come down to your word over the police officer’s word.” Powell said the law was changed in September 1994 so that those facing public intoxica tion violations can’t receive cita tions, but can be arrested. “The police officers do have other options, such as to allow the person to leave the premises in the care of a person who has not been drink ing,” Powell said. “But this is up to the officer’s discretion.” Lyn Sechelski, patrol lieu tenant with the University Police Department, said that in order to arrest people for public See Intoxication, Page 11 Bush visits A&M to establish Associates of Presidential Library Former President George Bush was on campus Monday for a luncheon establish ing the Associates of the George Bush Presidential Library. “I’m grateful to all who are launching the Associates,” Bush said. “You are help ing me see a vision come to fruition.” Members of the newly formed group will lead the volunteer efforts for the Pres idential Library by serving as hosts and hostesses for special events at the library and leading library tours. The group will also help find funding for the library’s projects. Don Wilson, executive director of the Bush Library, said he will start evaluat ing bids for the construction of the library beginning in June. The library is scheduled for dedication in Fall 1997. “We’re right on schedule,” Wilson said. After the luncheon. Bush lectured to a political science class. Bush said he plans to teach at A&M once the Presidential Library opens. “Barbara and I look forward to opportu nities to teach and also to learn at this great institution,” Bush said. Bush also visited the Bloodcare blood drive and signed several T-shirts, one of which will be raffled off on Friday. Anyone who donates blood will be eligi ble to win the T-shirt. Mark Smith/THE Battalion Former U.S. President George Bush signs T-shirts for Alan Elias, blood care direc tor, and Cindy Sweatman, blood drive consultant on Monday afternoon while visit ing the Bloodcare blood drive. Aggies Celebrate Earth 1995 Groups commemorate Earth Day’s 25th anniversary □ Concerts, information booths, films, and poetry readings are part of the week-long schedule of events for Earth Week. By Brad Dressier The Battalion Earth Day Extravaganza 1995 continues April 18 through 23 in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the national Earth Day. The week’s events, hosted by the Student Government’s Environmental Issues Commit tee, the Texas Environmental Action Coalition and the City of College Station, include infor mational booths, a film festival, poetry read ings, live music performances and two concerts at Wolf Pen Creek Ampitheatre. Today EIC and TEAC will have tables in the MSC to inform the public about the week’s activities. More than 20 organizations will have booths covering a variety of environmental topics in the Rudder Fountain area Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The booths will move to Wolf Pen Creek Saturday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Aggie Wranglers will perform Wednes day in the Rudder Fountain area for the Earth Day celebration. Shelley Nash, EIC’s chair of Earth Day, said the week’s activities will educate the public about various environmental issues. “I hope the week’s activities will open the general public’s eyes to the scope of environ mental problems that people face everyday,” she said. “We also will do our part to educate the public and motivate everyone to do what they can do to make a difference. We all need to do our part for the planet.” A celebration called “Greenhouse: In Cele bration of the Earth” will be held Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Dead Lazio’s on Northgate. The celebration will include poetry readings, live music, an open microphone and a special pre sentation of Dr. Suess’ “The Lorax.” A free presentation of “Free Willy” will be shown Wednesday in the Langford Architec ture Building, Room 110-C. “A Decade of Destmction: In the Ashes of the Forest” will be shown Thursday in Lang ford 105-C and a guest speaker will discuss the state of the rainforests after the film. Founded in 1970 as a national holiday. Earth Day has been celebrated across the coun try throughout the past years. In 1990, on the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, a large-scale festival was held at Research Park. For Earth Day 1993, EIC and TEAC founded the local Earth Day Extravaganza. Carrie Thompson, TEAC chair of Earth Day, said this year’s Earth Day Extravaganza is somewhat different in scale and scope. “This year we have a more diverse, larger- scale schedule of activities for the Earth Day Extravaganza,” she said. “In addition to an en tire week’s activities, we are working with the national Earth Day organization’s movement on the Free the Planet campaign, which out lines 25 important environmental areas for Congress to address.” On Earth Day, Saturday April 22, a free Dah-veed Garza concert will be held at 3 p.m. in Wolf Pen Creek Ampitheatre. Sunday there will be a Willie Nelson concert at 7 p.m. in Wolf Pen Creek. Tickets are S20 in ad vance, S25 the day of the concert, with proceeds going to campus recycling and beautification. Earth Week Activities Tuesday, April 18 Informational tables in MSC from 1 0 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 19 Organization booths in Rudder Fountain Area from 1 0 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Aggie Wranglers perform Free showing of "Free Willy" — 7 p.m. — Langford Architecture Building 1 1 0-C "Greenhouse: In Celebration of the Earth" — 8 p.m. — Dead Lazio's, Northgate Thursday, April 20 Organization booths in Rudder Fountain Area from 1 0 a.m. to 4 p.m. Special showing of "A Decade of Destruction: In the Ashes of the Forest" with guest speaker — 7 p.m. — Langford Architecture Building 105-C Friday, April 21 Organization booths in Rudder Fountain Area from 1 0 a.m. to 4 p.m. EARTH DAY — Saturday, April 22 Free Dah-veed Garza concert — 3 p.m. — Wolf Pen Creek Ampitheatre Organization booths at Wolf Pen Creek Ampitheatre from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, April 23 Willie Nelson concert — 7 p.m. — Wolf Pen Creek Ampitheatre Bart Mitchell/THE Battalion Betty Rogers from the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission talks about environmen tal issues during Monday night’s Earth Day forum. Panel discusses future of environmental movement By Wes Swift The Battalion The environmental movement should return to the grass roots level and emphasize its link with spirituality in order to successfully progress into the next century, a four-member panel told stu dents at Rudder Theater Monday night. The lecture and discussion kicked off Earth Week 1995 and the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. Dr. Thomas Dunlap, a Texas A&M history professor, began the forum by discussing the his tory of the environmental movement and some of its future challenges. Dunlap said that one of environmentalism’s ob stacles is its complicated nature. “The simplicity of the movement is gone,” Dun lap said. “Now it’s far more complex, much larger See Panel, Page 11