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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 1995)
]VE U 1ST R T Y bl 101, No. 152 (6 pages) Established in 1893 Tuesday • June 6, 1995 Diplomatic Corps inducts new members Roger Hsieh, The Battalion Dr. Ray Bowen looks on as Dr. Barry Thompson con gratulates Dan Buche of St. Joseph Regional Health Center on becoming a diplomatic corps member. □ Organization familiar izes B-CS business and community leaders with Texas A&M. By Wes Swift The Battalion The Texas A&M/Bryan-College Station Council honored community leaders of the 1995-96 Diplomatic Corps at a reception in the Board of Regents board room Monday. Drew Matthews, chairman of the Diplo matic Corps planning committee, said the program should create a link between Texas A&M and the community. “The goal of this program is to establish a pathway between you and the Texas A&M System,” Matthews told the 25 hon- orees. “This pathway allows information to flow in both directions. We’re very interest ed in your thoughts, visions and feelings about A&M.” Matthews later added that the program is a chance for corps’ members and A&M administrators to better understand the re lationship between the System, University and community. “The more we foster the understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the community and A&M, the more we con stantly move toward a win-win situation,” Matthews said. “This is our way of building bridges between us and the community.” The Diplomatic Corps was created last year. Each year the program familiarizes 25 business and community leaders in the Bryan-College Station area with the com plexities of Texas A&M University, A&M System state agencies and System offices. Corps members are selected to provide a cross section of the community. See Corps, Page 6 it inf; (' Sene a Mi BISD Facilities Task Force meets q Members set priorities for facility use. Jill Saunders The Battalion Members of the Facilities Task Force established priorities for the Bryan Independent School District Monday. The task force, composed of Bryan citizens and chaired by Dr. Dale Knobel, director of A&M’s honors program, prioritized expectations for the use of BISD facilities, school environment and programs. The following held the highest priority by the task force: • consideration of creating two high schools, each with grades nine through 12. • consideration of creating one new high school, consisting of two separate campuses, one for ninth and 10th grades and one for 11th and 12th grades. • exploring efficient construction options for new and reno vated buildings. ’ creating a climate conducive to optimum achievement for all students. • expanding vocational programs. See BISD, Page 6 ouns: m Ha ! rmo’: b-k Rerbian president’s office hostages to be freed soon □ Proposed moves would defuse the er: Bosnian Serbs' standoff with the in- ter national community. p.m. PALE, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Serbia’s a . ^powerful president said Monday that he had per suaded Bosnian Serbs to release all of the more than 250 U.N. peacekeepers still held hostage, n sen President Slobodan Milosevic’s office in Bel- antfgrade said in a statement that his chief of security, ;. It Jovica Stanisic, reported Bosnian Serb leaders had iter i:‘responded positively” to demands to quickly re- e des! ease the hostages. lines a ' wSources in Pale said the hostages were being w iH fathered from the locations where they were being 'Oul’hJd in preparation for departure. The moves re- bc Seated developments Friday when 121 hostages vere freed, but it was unclear exactly when this jroup might go free. ■Freeing of the hostages would defuse the Bosn- an Serbs’ latest standoff with the international community as well as strengthen Milosevic in his Did to get debilitating economic sanctions lifted against Serb-led Yugoslavia. ■Milosevic’s announcement came minutes after Stanisic arrived in Pale, the Bosnian Serbs’ headquarters nine miles from Sarajevo, in a four-jeep convoy with about a dozen Ser bian secret police. The Greek defense and foreign minis ters had arrived earlier Monday for talks with rebel Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in a surprise initiative to win freedom for the hostages. The Greeks are Orthodox Christians like the Serbs and are the only Western nation to have maintained strong ties with Bel grade and Bosnia’s Serbs through more than three years of Bosnian war. The Bosnian Serbs had toughened their line on releasing the remaining hostages over the weekend. Their commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic, vowed not to let more go with out guarantees that NATO will not repeat its May 25-26 airstrikes. NATO jets blew up rebel ammunition dumps outside Pale in retaliation for the Bosnian Serbs’ artillery strikes and sniper attacks in Sarajevo. Milosevic’s statement treated the re lease of all hostages as a done deal, and added: “The international community and all sides in the conflict should use this mo- says ment of relaxation of high tensions to ... move towards peace.” Milosevic officially severed ties with the Bosnian Serbs last August, but has flexed his muscles there in recent days to bolster his standing with the West as a peacemaker. That could translate into wringing more concessions in negotiations to lift interna tional sanctions imposed three years ago. The world had seemed more than ever set on a collision course with the Serbs since NATO defense ministers decided in Paris on Saturday to form a rapid deployment force. Up to 10,000 men would protect some 22,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia. The force’s mission and command struc ture are vague. But the danger of getting sucked directly into Bosnia’s war could grow if the force were to fight its way through roadblocks or other impediments. On Monday, Karadzic warned the United Nations against trying to open overland sup ply routes into besieged Sarajevo. “Only Serb forces can open a corridor through Serb territory, certainly not Gen. Smith,” said Karadzic, referring to Britain’s Rupert Smith, U.N. commander for Bosnia. The fate of an American F-16 jet fighter pilot shot down Friday is still unknown. Government-Bosnian Croat federation EU Croat-Serb and Bosnian-Serb O U.N. safe zones The U.N. is attempting to reopen a supply route. i SN_»Vogosca J ’ v. _ Associated Press &M’s Bus Operations cuts back hours during ummer sessions, stops running evening routes Report shows conserving energy provides a boost to environment, pocketbooks Students must rely on personal ransportation after 6:00 p.m. By Katherine Arnold ■’he Battalion Students who use bus services to get to and from ipus must rely on personal transportation after p.m. during the summer. Bus Operation officials said bus service hours •e reduced during the summer because of a lack of Remand and funding. On-campus and off-campus bus routes leave eir regular stops at 6 p.m. for their final cycle, ere is no Dial-a-Ride service in the summer. Off-campus bus routes during the spring ran very 30 minutes from 6 pan. until 10 p.m. Dial-a ide ran from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. Woody Isenhart, shuttle bus coordinator for Bus orations, said one reason the hours are cut back Tiring the summer is be cause Bus Operations does Rot have enough funds. HI “We do not have an end less pool of money to work ith,” Isenhart said. “We ave limits on how much we spend on bus routes.” On-campus bus routes are nded by student services pees, and off-campus bus outes are paid for by bus |)ass sales. About 1,000 sum- er bus passes were sold, ompared to the 9,000 sold ®|uring the rest of the year, ( Isenhart said. li “We never end up with Unough money to cover costs,” enhart said. “The rest of the st is usually subsidized by ther sources.” Susan Burchfield, a junior Education major, said she rould have more reasons to se later bus service during e summer than during fall |>r spring. With summer school llasses, reviews tend to be later at night,” Burchfield ^aid. “If the buses were run- ing. I could be using them 11 summer.” Elva Chamberlain, a se- ior education major, said hat she has to plan her schednle around her transportation. “If I know I have to be on campus late one day. I’ll drive, but I take the bus whenever 1 can,” Chamberlain said. Allison Smith, coordinator for the Office of Stu dent Life Programs, said it is important for stu dents to plan how they will get home for safety rea sons, as well, “We encourage students to plan out where they have to be so they are not walking out to remote parking lots by themselves,” Smith said. “If you are going to be on campus late, make sure you have someone to pick you up or walk you to your car.” Elmer Schneider, associate director of securi ty for the University Police Department, sug gests that students get rides from friends or take a cab. Schneider reminded students that Brazos Transit, the local city bus service, also stops running at 5 p.m. Students who drive to campus and have summer permits may park in staff lots after 5:30 p.m. Spaces marked “24-hour tow-away” may not be used. Eddy Wylie, The Battalion □ Individual consumers can control increasing summer costs by ad justing personal habits. By Tara Wilkinson The Battalion Increasing summer energy costs for individual consumers can be controlled by changing personal habits and maintaining building facilities, said city of College Station officials. A College Station Energy Conservation Division publica tion said it is financially benefi cial to conserve energy and that there are potential savings in every room in a building. In residence halls or apart ment buildings where manage ment pays for utilities, energy conservation can prevent tuition or rent increases, the Energy Conservation Division said. Lee Battle, city of College Sta tion energy auditor, said air con ditioning can amount to 50 per cent of summertime utility bills. A Center for Information Sharing publication calculates that if energy costs are $50 a month, reducing energy con sumption 10 percent will save the consumer $60 a year. A 30- percent energy reduction will save $180 a year. Charles Darnell, energy man ager of the Texas A&M Physical Plant, said A&M spends $40 mil lion a year on utilities and 60 to 65 percent of these utilities are generated by the University’s Physical Plant. Energy is wasted on campus because students and faculty do not take personal responsibility to turn off lights and shut off computers, especially in common areas like student lounges and lecture rooms, Darnell said. “Most campus custodial ser vices occur at the beginning of each day,” he said. “Therefore, lights left on at the end of each day will be on all night or maybe all weekend.” Energy is also wasted on cam pus when maintenance problems are not reported. “People should not assume that someone else has already reported a problem,” Darnell said. “With only 155 mainte nance personnel covering 16 million square feet of campus, the Physical Plant needs the help of faculty, students and staff to report problems as soon as they are discovered.” Excessively cold areas in buildings and gushing sprinkler heads are among the problems Darnell said should be reported. Battle said consumers can help College Station use energy more efficiently by doing energy taxing activities, like baking or laundry, early in the morning or late in the evening. Energy peaks occur between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. when people are coming home from work and when restaurants are filling up, Battle said. The day of the year that the city uses the most energy is the first Wednesday after A&M fall classes begin. Battle said. “We can’t just flip on a gener ating plant down the road when ever there’s an energy demand,” he said. “It takes a while to get going. So we have to run it all the time, just in case it’s needed. We are trying to flatten out the peaks in the city so generators can be turned off sometimes.” Darnell said the city is at tempting to do this by educating residential consumers and en couraging the use of energy-effi cient equipment. The city is also asking large companies to time their energy use so that a strain is not placed on the system. Battle said there are unreal ized effects of something as sim ple as watching television or leaving the lights on. “Many people don’t think of pollution when they use elec tricity — that coal or oil is being used somewhere and that car bon monoxide is being re leased,” Battle said. The city of College Station Energy Conservation Divi sion offers the following tips to save energy and cut down on utility bills: AIR CONDITIONING * Clean or replace air condi tioner filters once a month. * Do not place lamps or televi sions near thermostats. * Close curtains and blinds » Keep lights off or at low settings. WATER * Check to see if water heaters are set at high temperatures, 120 degrees is adequate. * Use cold water for launder ing and when running the food disposal. * Take short showers. APPLIANCES * Match size of pan to size of burner. * Turn off range or oven a few minutes before food is done cooking. * Boil water in a covered pan or kettle. * Cook small items in an elec tric skillet or toaster. * Set refrigerator tempera ture no lower than 38 de grees and the freezer no low er than 5 degrees. Correction: A Page 1 story in The Battalion Monday should have stated the new Study Complex addition to Sterling C. Evans Library will add 125,000 square feet of space.