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
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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.