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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1995)
ACE OF THE PEN Aggie pitcher Brian Parker has found success in relief. Sports Page 7 THE PRESIDENTIAL PERFORMANCE Taylor: President Clinton, despite recent improvements, still lacks real credibility. Opinion, Page 9 LUCKY AND LONDON-BOUND Graduate student earns chance to see Letterman's "Late Show" in London. Aggielife, Page 3 . 101, No. 145 (10 pages) “Serving Texas AdrMsince 1893 Thursday • May 4, 1995 ■ ■ •tudents can swap books through A&M computer system The Bookswap program al lows students to buy and sell Textbooks on the Internet. ty Kasie Byers 'he Battalion Just in time for textbook buy-back, iookswap, a system on the Internet Jiich allows students to buy and sell textbooks among themselves, is avail- able for use by students. Student government created the Book- swap system and will provide its funding. Students can access Bookswap fbrought computer labs on campus sup- >orted by the Computing and Information Services, including the Remote Computer Center, Academic Computer Center, Teague building computer lab and the computer lab on West campus. Sam Fleitman, programmer of the Bookswap system, said that access to Bookswap is not restricted to these labs. “These are just common places to ac cess the system,” Fleitman said. “But it can be accessed any place where the In ternet is available.” Mosaic and Gopher will host Bookswap. Once accessed, Bookswap will allow students to browse through a listing of books being sold and bought by title and course number. Within the Bookswap system, stu dents can also advertise books by enter ing information about the textbook and how students can contact the advertiser. Students are also required to enter an alias and password before they can advertise a book. Fleitman said the alias is the stu dent’s name as it is listed within the University’s electronic phone book. The password is the student’s social security number. “If students are not sure what their alias is, they can look it up within the system,” he said. “The password is al ways the student’s I.D. number unless they have changed it with the Universi ty in the past.” Fleitman said the purpose of the alias and password is to monitor who uses the system. “We want to keep people from adver tising bikes, houses and personal items on the system,” he said. “We also want to keep people who don’t attend Texas A&M from using it.” Fleitman said that advertising text books is just as easy as browsing through books already advertised on the system. “The system is very user friendly,” he said. “There is help and documen tation on the system that will help students work through the process of advertising books. There is also a delete feature on the system so students can remove adver tised textbooks after they are sold. If this feature is not used, the system automatically deletes the book one month to six weeks after its entrance. “This prevents books from being in there so long that they are outdated,” Fleitman said. “It is also for those students who forget they even adver tised books.” James Colquitt, a sophomore busi ness administration major, said he is looking forward to utilizing Bookswap. “The amount of money we get in re turn for used textbooks is ridiculous,” Colquitt said. “I can’t help but feel cheated at the end of every semester. “It’s about time the students finally have a means to beat the system.” i Amy Browning/THE Battalion Just a little off the top, please Reed Cutshall Sr. gets his head shaven by Ria Jacobus as part of a challenge held by the Baptist Student Union. A group of guys made the promise that they would shave their heads if $15,000 was raised to send missionaries on a trip for the summer. The money was raised, and Thursday after noon the men had their heads shaven. Standing Out Above The Rest RHA selects Puryear as Hall of the Year □ The RHA gave awards to Crocker, Davis-Gary, Lechner, and Dunn halls. By Wes Swift The Battalion Ihiryear Hall emerged as the win ner when the Residence Hall Associ ation announced its Hall of the Year awards, given to the five residence halls that have distinguished them selves in the past year. Puryear received the overall Hall of the Year, while Crocker and Davis-Gary Halls won best Male and Female Hall of the Year, respectively. Lechner Hall was given the Co-ed Hall of the Year and Dunn Hall was given the award for the Most Im proved Hall. Suzanne Lyons, RHA president, said the hall awards were based on the number and quality of activities in each hall. “We looked at whether they had good social, educational and diverse programs,” Lyons said. “We also looked to see if a hall interacted with other halls and their involvement with RHA.” Lyons said F*uryear’s bid for Hall of the Year was too impressive to pass up. “They were just a step above all the other halls,” she said. “They have a long history of in volvement in the RHA. They had two members on last year’s execu tive board and they’ll have two more next year.” Lyons also pointed to Puryear’s involvement in activities like RHA Casino, which originally began in the hall, and their volunteer efforts. Jesse Sanchez, Puryear hall coun cil president, said his hall’s activities varied from a trip to San Antonio to visit the Alamo and Riverwalk to a “Potty Mouth” contest where every resident donated a quarter for pizza every time he cursed. “Whatever someone thought of, we pretty much did,” Sanchez said. Sanchez said the award came as no surprise to the Puryear residents. “We expected this all along,” he said. “But it feels good because we did a lot of work this year.” Puryear and Law Halls will not be used by residents next year while administrators decide whether to de molish or renovate the buildings. Sanchez said the residents were extra-motivated because it was the last year Fharyear may be used as a men’s residence hall. “We wanted to go out on top,” Sanchez said. Lyons agreed. “It’s nice that we can send them out with a bang,” Lyons said. Congress considers replacing dollar bills with coin □ Republicans claim jthat millions could be saved by replacing $1 bills with coins which can last up to 30 years. WASHINGTON (AP) — Dol lars would jangle in Americans’ pockets rather than pad their wallets if Republican budget-cut ters get their way. They’re eyeing millions in sav ings that could result from re placing Si bills that wear out in 17 months with $1 dollar coins lasting 30 years. A diverse coalition of special interests, ranging from blind op erators of concession stands to public transit companies to cop per-mining corporations, is back ing the effort. The opposition — paper and ink companies and the unions in volved in printing the bills — has over the years succeeded in block ing the coin forces. But the coin proponents’ cause has been given new life this year by the Republi can Congress’ struggle to balance the budget. “Significant government sav ings are no further away than our wallets or purses,” Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., told the House Banking subcommittee on mone tary policy Wednesday. Although it costs twice as much to mint a coin as print a bill — 8 cents vs. 4 cents — the coins last 21 times longer, said Kolbe, who has introduced legis lation to replace the dollar bill with a coin. The Congressional Budget Of fice estimates the savings at $120 million to $180 million a year. And switching to coins will save millions for private industry while offering added convenience for the public, proponents argue. No longer would commuters riding express buses from Staten Island to Manhattan have to pay with 16 quarters — twice a day — because New York City buses don’t accept dollar bills. No longer would shoppers in down town Washington have to feed meters with 16 quarters to park for two hours. No longer would the Chicago Transit Authority have to pay 20 full-time employ ees to straighten out and stack the dollar bills its receives. Nearly every other major in dustrial nation already has switched to high-denomination coins. Canada, for instance, has a one-dollar coin, nicknamed the “Loonie” after the picture of a loon that it carries, and plans to introduce a $2 coin next year. Clinton challenges GOP’s on Medicare funding □ Democrats press Republicans to explain how they will cut taxes and balance the budget without also cut ting health care services. WASHINGTON (AP) — Maneuvering for politi cal high ground. President Clinton went before thousands of senior citizens Wednesday and chal lenged Republicans to explain how they hope to wring upwards of $250 billion out of Medicare. Republicans, eager to draw out Clinton’s own id'eas on the sensitive matter of Medicare cuts, ac cused the president of shirking leadership by refus ing to go first. ‘You shouldn’t run for re-election if you are not prepared to do the job,” said House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. Neither side seemed inclined to budge in the in creasingly testy political impasse. “I think the hope is diminishing that we can qui etly lower the rhetoric,” said Sen. Pete Domenici, R- N.M., chairman of the Budget Committee. It is a sign of older Americans’ political power that each side wants the other to make the first move to rein in spiraling Medicare costs. The popular health- insurance system for the elderly is expected to go broke by 2002 with out corrective action. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., joined Gingrich in renewing an invitation for Clin ton to come to Capitol Hill to work toward a solution. Instead, Clinton chose a friendly audience at the White House Conference on Aging to Yard sale to benefit rape victim Clinton See Clinton, Page 6 Q The money raised will help pay med ical bills, and stu dents are asked to donate items that they might otherwise throw away. By Lisa Messer The Battalion A College Station family is asking students to donate items they were planning on throwing away at the end of the semester for a yard sale to raise funds to help pay for psychiatric treatment of a vic tim of sexual abuse. The yard sale will be held May 19-20 on Lee Street with all proceeds going toward the girl’s medical bills. Carol Haddock, who is helping arrange the yard sale, said the benefit will help pay some of the family’s $12,000 in doctors’ bills. “Students can donate things they particularly don’t like or that they’d throw away anyway,” Haddock said. “I can do any mending. If it’s missing a button or a zipper. I’ll fix it. We’re also willing to fix up furniture.” Haddock said many apart ment complexes and sorority houses have set aside areas for students to put their donations. “I can come and pick up the items from students off cam pus or on campus,” Haddock said. “Anyone can just call me and say, T’m setting it on my doorstep.’ I’m still not sure what to expect, but anything will do some good.” The girl’s mother said her daughter was sexually abused 10 years ago while she and her family were overseas. The mother said that while her husband was flying fight- er planes for the Marine Corps in Okinawa, Japan, she was hospitalized in a coma. She said her husband was spending a lot of time with her at the hospital so the mother of one of her daugh ter’s friends was watching the children. The friend’s mother, she said, left the girls with the friend’s father while she went shopping, and the father raped the two girls. “The man told her that he and his German shepherd would kill her and her family if she ever told anyone,” the mother said. “She was scared so badly. Right now, she’s afraid her doctors are going to get killed. “She can’t separate fact from fiction. We try to tell her there’s no way that dog is still alive, but then she gets defensive and says we don’t believe her.” She said that since her daughter told her nine months ago about the rape, the girl has tried to commit suicide six times, been in and out of hospitals and regressed to behaving like a six-year- old, which is the age she was when she was raped. “We’re hoping long-term therapy will help, but we’re just financially behind right now,” she said. “It’s just been one thing after the other. I was in the hospital. Then my husband had to go the Gulf War and we lost our business. Now it’s this. “We’ve never asked for as sistance before. We’re not necessarily asking for dona tions now, but just for stuff kids would throw out anyway and we can fix up.” Karen Kalergis, the public information officer for the Office of the Attorney Gener al, said many compensation programs, including the Texas Crime Victims Com pensation program, exist to help the victims. “Our program has eligibili ty requirements that a per son must meet to receive payment, but the people who administer the program are very sensitive toward the vic tims,” Kalergis said. “Our program works.” Haddock said she wants to continue this event to help other sexual abuse victims. “The real big problem we’re working with is continuing to do this on the basis of helping other victims also,” Haddock said. “There’s a real need for it. Abuse is something that needs to come out in order for the person to heal.” Haddock said any student wanting to donate belongings to the yard sale can call her at 764-7714.