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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1995)
A&M ANIMATION Visualization science graduate students create elaborate images in the VisLab. Aggielife, Page 3 EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT? Magee: An increase in technology has had a great impact on the future of newspapers. Opinion, Page 13 INSIDE — APPLY TO WORK FOR THE BATE! Attention — Everyone interested in writing, graphics or photography ... Fill out The Battalion staff application! Page 12 )1. 101, No. 139 (14 pages) “Serving Texas AdrM since 1893“ ’Wednesday • April 26, 1995 iiuBsiiiii -CS put on hold by A&M preregistration calls i Telephone preregistration caused some phone prob lems for area businesses. 3y Tracy Smith The Battalion hj i n. and Texas A&M are reviewing ways to make telephone preregistration run more smoothly after community phone services were interrupted by pre- glistration difficulties this past week. 1; Bill Erwin, public affairs manager for the GTE district office in Bryan, said April 21 was a traumatic day for the phone company and its patrons when Texas A&M preregistration accidentally (interrupted their phone services. ^Community businesses, citizens and A&M students complained about the ?low dial tone that resulted when pre- “pgistration began later than expected day. rwin explained that the phone sys tem processes calls as they come in. However, he said, the number of calls from students registering Friday was more than the system could handle. Donald Gardner, associate registrar for the Department of Admissions and Records, said problems with one of the main computers set preregistration back until 1 p.m., instead of its usual 6 a.m. time. “We had people working all night long trying to fix the system and have it ready for its 6 a.m. schedule time,” Gardner said. “The system wasn’t back on-line until 1 p.m. and this is what caused problems for phones in the community.” Erwin said 1 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. are the prime calling hours, setting preregis tration in the midst of these hours. Gardner said the University thought it was making the best of a bad situation by allowing the students to register later. The other option, he said, was to wait and allow those students to regis ter at a later date, thus confusing the preregistration schedule and punish ing students for a computer malfunc tion that was beyond their control. “We really appeared to be the bad guy in this situation, even though our intentions were good,” Gardner said. “The University plans to be working 11511111*111 v: lit hi i "The University plans to be wbrking more closely with the people at GTE to avoid any future problems." — Donald Gardner, Department of Admissions and Records more closely with the people at GTE to avoid any future problems.” Erwin said telephone company rep resentatives will continue discussions on future problems, allowing both the University and GTE to provide the best possible services to the communi ty and to A&M students. “We don’t want future phone prob lems occurring from preregistration to lead to a disaster for businesses or community members,” Erwin said. Erwin said he compares the situa tion to turning on a light. “You assume that the light will turn on when you flip the switch. When it doesn’t, it becomes a disas ter,” Erwin said. “People assume when they pick up the phone they will hear the dial tone, but last week there were times when they didn’t.” The University will be considering ideas to make preregistration easier on everyone. GTE will be setting para meters for the University to follow, ex plaining the best possible ways to avoid problems for businesses and oth er people outside Texas A&M. One of the tentatively suggested ideas was to change the time of day that students may register. Currently, students begin register ing at 6 a.m. However, some members of the University have suggested this time be changed to midnight. By beginning preregistration at midnight, students won’t call at the peak calling hours and won’t miss any classes because they were waiting to register. Gardner said the idea is still being discussed and hasn’t been formally in troduced to the University. “It seems like one of the best ideas I have heard since phone registration began in 1986,” Gardner said. “A stu dent’s schedule is very different from that of a business, making the mid night starting time less of a problem.” However Gardner said that only time will tell what the University will decide to do. Health textbooks cause stress for school board □ The College Station school board is looking for alternatives to the state-recommended health textbooks. By Brad Dressier The Battalion The College Station Indepen dent School District’s school board recently rejected a recom mendation to adopt three new state-approved health textbooks because of controversy surround ing the textbooks’ content. See Editorial, Page 13 Robyn Calloway/THE Battalion John Thrush (left), a freshman business major, attempts to escape a sand trap on Tuesday afternoon while John Drought, a fresh man construction science major, watches. The textbooks and publishers that were proposed for adoption were: “Making Life Choices” by West, “Perspectives on Health” by D.C. Heath and “Health: Skills for Wellness” by Prentice-Hall. Textbooks go through a three- step process before going in front of the school board. Textbooks initially considered must be approved by the Texas state school board. Then, the text books must go through various committees that study the books’ material. Finally, the school dis trict’s textbook committee must submit a proposal to the school board concerning adopting the textbooks. Dr. Jim Scales, superintendent of the College Station Indepen dent School District, said the pri mary reason the board did not adopt the textbook committee’s recommendation was that the hu man sexuality content did not strongly stress abstinence. “Other issues of concern were the context of euthanasia and sui cide,” he said. The local chapter of the Eagle Forum, a national conservative grassroots organization, has been acting as an information source to the general public about issues regarding the textbooks’ content. Susan Lee, president of the Bryan-College Station Eagle Fo rum, said the organization gath ered and reviewed the textbooks’ material and found many areas of concern. “Regarding the issue of contra ceptives, I do not feel that these books gave a true picture of what can happen,” she said. “There are many diseases out there that con traceptives cannot prevent. “While I understand the argu ment that children may not feel comfortable discussing such is sues with their parents, I do not beheve school is the proper place See Books, Page 6 orps, MSC Council combine leadership 0 (i lint □ The 1995-1996 Corps commander encourages the Corps of Cadets to become more involved with the MSC. By Gretchen Perrenot The Battalion K The Corps of Cadets comman der and the MSC Council are trying to create a give-give rela tionship between the two cam pus organizations. I Jonathan Neer- Bian, MSC Council vice president for relations, said the Jtouncil would like tc> see more involve ment from the cadets in the MSC committees and more MSC involve ment in Corps events. | Neerman said the MSC Coun cil and committees provide the perfect opportunities for cadets to improve their leadership •••' fkills. if I “The MSC Council prides it- Self on being the best leadership training organization at A&M and so does the Corps,” he said. “This is a chance to combine the efforts, rather than compete.” Patrick Conway, MSC Coun cil president, said that by work ing together, organizations can better serve the campus. “I think the Corps of Cadets is a great leadership program,” Conway^said, “and the MSC is always looking for good leaders.” Tyson Voelkel, 1995-96 Corps commander, said he wants cadets to become more involved in all campus activities, includ- The MSC Council prides itself on being the best leadership training organization at A&M and so does the Corps." —Jonathan Neerman, MSC Council ing student government. “Personally, I plan to work hand-in-hand with Toby (Boenig, student body president) and other student leaders to get common goals accomplished,” See Leadership, Page 7 Bryan City Council supports mayor s proposal □ A resident accuses Mayor Tate of a con flict of interest in the construction of a Blinn College campus. By Wes Swift The Battalion A Bryan resident accused Bryan Mayor Marvin Tate of conflict of interest with the pro posed construction of a Blinn College campus Tuesday at a Bryan City Council meeting. Melvyn Meer, a member of Citizens United for a Respon sible Bryan, said in a prepared statement that Tate began ab staining from votes on the Blinn project at the March 28, 1995 Bryan City Council meet ing. He also filed an affidavit saying that Tate had “substan tial interest in a business enti ty that would be affected by” the project. Meer said these acts consti tuted a clear conflict of interest for Tate. “The filing of an affidavit and the abstention is clear evi dence of a genuine conflict of interest on the part of a public decision maker on the issue before him,” Meer said. A letter from Blinn College in response to an Open Records Act request filed by Meer showed that on July 6, 1992, Tate’s wife was added to the Blinn College payroll and began working as a financial aid adviser at an annual salary of $32,909 in early Sep tember 1992. Meer questioned why Tate had waited almost three years after the project’s initiation be fore abstaining during the votes. He urged the council to halt all progress on the project. “The council should not con tinue to challenge its own citi zens in the court, threaten some See Council, Page 7 John Doe No. 2 recognized in Kansas □ Investigators believe that John Doe 2 may be hidden by 'like-minded' people. WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI released an enhanced sketch of the mysterious “John Doe No. 2” Tuesday and a witness promptly said he remembered him — a man speaking broken English. Investigators worried that “like-minded people” might be helping the bombing suspect elude one of the biggest man hunts in history. Identifying the suspect from the new FBI sketch as it was shown on television, the manager of the Great Western Inn in Junction City, Kan., said John Doe No. 2 checked in about 8:30 p.m. on April 17 dri ving a Ryder truck. The FBI has said a Ry der truck rented that day in Junction City was used to deliver the bomb to a federal building in Oklahoma City. “He spoke broken English and he was not 100 percent American,” said the hotel man ager, who would not give his name and who himself spoke with a heavy accent of the In dian subcontinent. The new sketch, based on additional in terviews with witnesses in Kansas, showed the square-jawed suspect wearing a base ball-style hat. The previous sketch showed a thick-haired man wearing no hat. Frustration continued for the hundreds of federal agents seeking the suspect from coast to coast. The one man charged in the Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy McVeigh, has refused to cooperate, according to officials. And in a handful of locations around the nation, officers have arrested and then released men with the misfortune See Doe, Page 7 The FBI has said a Ryder truck rented that day in Junction City[Kansas] was used to deliver the bomb to a federal building in Oklahoma City.