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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1995)
WHAT ARE WE PAYING FOR? A detailed analysis of the fees each stu dent pays to attend A&M. Aggielife, Page 3 DIVISIVE DIFFERENCES Taylor: When people start viewing ''different' as "bad/' horrible things will come. Opinion, Page 15 INSIDE — APPLY TO WORK FOR THE BATT! Attention — Everyone interested in writing, graphics, or photography ... Fill out The Battalion staff application! Page 14 Vol. 101, No. 140 (16 pages) “Serving Texas AdrMsince 1893 ” Thursday • April 27, 1995 [UPD reports car burglaries up from last year )5 □ Officials report an in crease of over 1 00 per cent from the previous year. By Tracy Smith The Battalion i Vehicle burglaries at Texas A&M have increased in the past ypar, University police officials ^ said, making it more important for A&M students to be aware of sus picious behavior. I A report released Wednesday by the University Police Depart ment compared the incidents of on-campus crime between 12- month period Lt. Bert Kret- zschmar, a crime prevention spe cialist with the University Police Department, said burglary vehi cle theft jumped from 41 inci dents in 1994 to 100 in 1995. “This is a crime of opportunity that happens at any time of the day,” Kretzschmar said. , “I com pare it to window shopping. Crim inals walk around and look in cars to see which one gives them the best deal. The car with the most valuable, visible items is the one they will steal from.” Comparing the University Po lice statistics from March 1994 to March 1995, disorderly conduct decreased from 61 offenses to 28 offenses, misdemeanor theft de creased from 363 to 337, and al cohol violations decreased from 516 to 342. Although these violations have dropped, criminal mischief, miscel laneous crime and burglary vehicle theft continue to rise. Kretzschmar said that in order to deter criminals, students should either remove valuable items from their cars or place them out of view. Backpacks, cassette tapes. cameras and radar detectors are among the more popular items thieves look for. “People forget and leave their wallet, purse or backpack sitting in the front seat or on the floor board of their car,” he said. “This is just an invitation to a burglar.” Tracy Fermi, a junior history major, said she often forgets to put her valuables away during the day because of the number of people on campus. “With 42,000 A&M students going to class each day, you would See Burglaries, Page 9 Texas A&M University Police Department COMPARISON OF OFFENSES REPORTED 9/93 - 9/94 - Offense 3/94 3/95 Criminal Mischief 1 37 180 Criminal Trespass 11 11 Disorderly Conduct 61 28 Burglary-Vehicle 41 1O0 Misdemeanor Theft 363 337 Liquor Violations 516 342 merchants, residents celebrate Bike-To-Wbrk Day /stem. 9-116.99. □ Sponsors are trying to encourage people to break the habit of driving to work daily and are offering free and reduced-price meals to cyclists. By Stephanie Dube The Battalion I . . [ Bicyclists are encouraging other people to ride their bicycles to school and work Friday for the sec ond annual Bike-to-Work Day. Bicyclists can receive a free breakfast or half- price lunch Friday for riding their bicycles. T':;: The event, sponsored by Brazos Valley Cyclists, a chapter of the Texas Bicycle Coalition, will pro vide a free breakfast for bicyclists from 7 to 9 a.m. Freebirds World Burrito will also offer half-price burritos from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. See Editorial, Page 15 5 n set. nes. comfo^ Cotton (s),shee 5 : 0. FF 5 ttings na. 39.9°’ 1 Bicyclists can get their free meal at the following locations: Aggieland Cycling & Fitness, B-CS Bicy cles, Valley Cyclery, Bryan City Hall, College Sta tion City Hall, Brazos Blue Ribbon Bakery; Cafe . Eccell, and both Shipley Do-Nut shops. I Danise Hauser, transportation researcher with the Texas Transportation Institute and event co ordinator for Bike-to-Work, said she wants to pro mote bicycling as a primary mode of trans portation. I “We want people to break the car habit,” Hauser said. “We are encouraging people to try bicycling this one day and then, if they see that it is much better than driving a car to work, they might stick with it.” I Hauser said that traveling three miles in an ur ban area takes about the same time either in a car or on a bicycle. t “During peak hours, cars have to stop at lights and there is a lot of congestion,” she said. “Al though bikes are slower, cars are brought more to ward that speed.” Last year, more than 1,100 bicyclists participat ed in Bike-to-Work Day. Hauser said that many of the participants were bicycling to work and school for the first time. [ “Last year was the largest first-time Bike-to- Work event in Texas,” Hauser said, i: Terri Keck, assistant manager for Freebirds, said the restaurant gave away more than 800 burri- tos last year. “We weren’t expecting that much, so this year we’re offering half-price burritos,” Keck said. “Our owner is involved with cycling, so we want good community awareness. Anyone can bicycle; it’s not too hard to do.” Wayne Bryan, owner of Aggieland Cycling and Fitness, said his store won an award last year for the highest level of participation in the Bryan-Col- lege Station area. However, he said, no awards will be given this year. Bryan said Aggieland Cycling and Fitness will provide free doughnuts and fruit punch for the bicyclists. “As a sponsor, I hope to see increased partici pation and awareness that cycling is a viable and preferable way to get around town,” Bryan said. “This town tends to be a one-person-in-a-car town, which is not efficient. One person on a bike is efficient.” Hauser said bicycling is safer than driving a car. “Driving a car is one of the riskiest things we do in our everyday lives,” she said. “It is more danger ous to drive a car than to take a plane ride. “Because our society is so car-oriented, we think of a bicycle as riskier because fewer people use it. But, if a bicyclist follows all the traffic laws, bicy cling can be a safe and enj oyable way to get to work and school.” Hauser encouraged participants to learn more about bicycle safety. "We are encouraging people to try bicycling this one day and then, if they see that it is much better than driving a car to work, they might stick with it." — Danise Hauser transportation researcher “The educational aspect is important, not only so that the bicyclists can know how to cooperate with the cars, but so the motorists can know how to co operate with the bicyclists,” she said. “They both need to understand each other.” Bicycle accidents, she said, can be avoided with more safety education. Donations for Trevor Shockley, an A&M student and cyclist who was seriously injured in a West Campus accident with a University bus in early February, will be collected at the Bike-to-Work Day food stations. Finger-lickin' good Amy Browning/THE Battalion Erik Koehlert, an engineering technology major from The Woodlands, dishes up barbecue as part of a fundraiser for the American welding society behind Thompson Hall on Wednesday afternoon. Suspect told friend ‘Something big is going to happen/ prosecutor says □ Wednesday marked the one-week anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — New details of Timothy McVeigh’s activities in the days before the Oklahoma bombing surfaced Wednesday, including the suspect’s chilling warning to a friend that “Something big is going to happen.” Investigators also were trying to trace McVeigh’s movements after the explosion that gutted the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, a source told The Associated Press. One theory was that. McVeigh dropped oh a still-missing colleague before he was arrest ed for traffic and weapons violations. Three witnesses placed McVeigh in front of the federal building moments before the explosion — apparently before the truck carrying the bomb arrived, according to the same source. Revelations of McVeigh’s actions in the days before the bombing came in a Wichita, Kan., courtroom as prosecutors sought to take the friend, Terry Nichols, to Oklahoma. The judge granted their request but delayed it until May 5 so Nichols could appeal. As the investigation advanced, the city and the nation paused to observe a mo ment of silence at 9:02 a.m. — the precise moment of the blast one week ago. Bells rang, tears flowed and heads bowed as searchers stood amid the ruins of the col lapsed federal building. The death toll stood at 98. In court, U.S. Attorney Randy Rathbun said McVeigh called Nichols from Oklahoma City on April 16 and asked him to pick him up. Nichols, 40, lives in Herington, Kan., about 270 miles north of Oklahoma City. Rathbun, quoting what Nichols told the FBI after he was taken in, gave this ac count of what happened next: Nichols picked McVeigh up, and as the two men drove north, McVeigh told Nichols: “Something big is going to hap pen.” Nichols responded: “Are you going to rob a bank?” and McVeigh repeated, “Something big is going to happen.” The men reached Junction City, Kan., early in the morning of April 17. The FBI See Bomb, Page 9 The End of an Era Stafford Opera House to host final performance □ The club will reopen as The Dixie Theater. By Amber Clark The Battalion An era has ended. The Stafford Opera House will host a final performance before clos ing another chapter in local enter tainment history. 3rd Floor Cantina owner John Williams and manager Willie Bennett will take over the building’s lease and reopen as The Dixie Theater. Thanh “T.C.” Nguyen, Stafford’s owner, said the closing is not neces sarily bad. It is simply time to move on to something new, he said. “We’ve been at Stafford for sever al years,” Nguyen said. “We feel this is as far as we can go. We just feel we have to grow.” Nguyen said the building is too small to host big-name bands, al though the club continues to draw large crowds and is doing well. The problem, Nguyen said, is that bands do not want to play at the small club, despite its local popularity. “When we first opened, it seemed we got every band we wanted,” Nguyen said. “But we only have ca pacity for 350 people, and bands think that’s too small. Since we haven’t grown in three-and-a-half years, booking agents are starting to turn us down.” Complaints from neighbors have also caused some difficulties for Stafford. Nguyen said shows often must be gin early so residents in nearby build ings won’t complain of noise late at night. Bryan police have been sup portive and rarely issue noise viola tion tickets, Nguyen said, but the complaints have become a burden. Todd Traylor, manager of Ma rooned Records, is in charge of ticket sales for Stafford perfor mances. Traylor said the closing of Stafford should not be attributed to a decline in popularity. “If anything, Stafford has gotten increased popularity,” Traylor said. “It’s getting a lot of press because of See Stafford, Page 9 Roger Hsieh/THE Battalion The Stafford Opera House will close its doors and reopen as The Dixie Theater.