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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1996)
On April 9th, Aggies must choose a Congressman who will abide by the “Code of Honor” Gene Fontenot claims to be the However, the hospital Fontenot owned ultimate advocate for Pro-Life, and managed routinely performed opposing abortion even as a last resort elective abortions while he claimed to to save the life of expectant mothers. be a “hands on” manager. Gene Fontenot says he opposes all gambling, saying he refuses to trade with gas stations which sell Texas lottery tickets. However, Fontenot was a major owner of stock in Circus Circus, one of the largest casino operators in the Las Vegas gambling industry. Gene Fontenot claims to be a However, the federal government had responsible business owner, paying to sue Fontenot to force him to pay the taxes and obeying the rules and $2.4 million in taxes he withheld from regulations that apply to all businesses, employees but failed to pay. Kevin Brady lives by the “Code of Honor.” As a Texas State Representative he kept his word to work to create jobs, reduce government interference in our lives, protect victims rights, punish criminals, stop the state income tax and allow for local control of our schools. As our next Congressman you can count on him to keep his word to fight for a balanced budget, a Federal Sunset plan to eliminate agencies which no longer serve the taxpayer, mandatory criminal sentences and the protection of the Second Amendment. For more information call (409) 260-2805. Paid for by Brady for Congress Rock'^ Saloon Tonight April 9th Steve Green from Pete's Piano Bar on 6th Street in Austin $1 00 Bar Drinks and $1 00 Long Necks 8-10 p.m. Register to Win!! This Tuesday’s give away at J.D. Wells A Tag Heuer Watch Courtesy of John D. Huntley 313B South College Ave. • 846-8916 (located next to Hurricane Harry’s) Sign up at entry, Tuesday night, must be present to win. JFJ Page 4 • The Battalion Ac;c;ifi i ff Tuesday • April 9, Marijuana: Use divides students Continued from Page 3 phere of A&M encourages peo ple to stay away from smoking weed. And when a joint hap pens to come their way at a party, non-marijuana smokers simply avert their gaze. Charley Perry, a junior biol ogy major, said he looks the other way when marijuana makes the rounds at parties. “I just pass it on and tell them that’s the way it is,” he said. “If it’s too press ing, I’ll just leave the party.” Scott Blackwell, a student affairs ad ministration graduate stu dent, said that as an under graduate in Indiana, he avoided the marijuana scene. He said it was easy to avoid marijuana if a person did not want to smoke. “I would imagine it’s not much different here,” he said. He said he has never come across the drug since he started working on his masters at A&M. Erin Chafin, a freshman ani mal science major, has had a few run-ins with people smok ing pot. But she said marijuana use here cannot compare to her high school in Clear Lake. Marijuana users in her high school turned Chafin off to the recreational drug. She said one student she knew started using marijuana as a freshman. By the time he was a senior, he had lost all pas sion for his former loves. His school and football tal ents faded behind a cloud of marijuana smoke. “By his senior year, he didn’t care about anything else,” Chafin said. Chafin strongly disagrees with marijuana use. “I don’t think it’s neces sary,” she said. “It has noplace in my life.” Perry takes the same stance, “I don’t believe in smoking or using any type of drugs,” “If any type of drugs are be used, it should be alcohol.” Blackwell said he cansee both sides to smoking marijua na, but he takes a strong stance against marijuana use. “If I had a kid andthekij was a user, I would not be py about that,” Blackwell i “If they were using, I’d them why they were smo it, and I’d try to convince the® that they were giving their bod ies long-term damage.” He said no matter whaten cuses people can create loi smoking the herb, the drug’s! legal status serves as are minder of the downsidesol marijuana use. “It’s illegal and dangerous so is the mind-altering natrin of legal substances like alco hoi,” he said. “I’m pretty much into natur al highs myself.” fuesday • Af Continued research un jt&M.” A large p jenerated bj rave been di and staff sa the GUF inc there can be: Faculty a Fellow workers lend a helping hand to give Spencer a new lease on life By Amy Protas The Bat talion I n October 1993, Devi Spencer, a former teacher in the Eng lish Language Institute and doctoral student in educational and curriculum instruction, was diagnosed with acute myloge- nous leukemia. She was told she had only three months to live. Almost three years later, Spencer is about to resume her doctoral studies. When Spencer was diagnosed, the doctors gave her a slim chance of survival. “Because my disease is so life threatening, I was told I had a 10 percent chance of survival,” Spencer said, “which meant that it had a 90 percent chance of re occurring. Then, I was given the option of hoping it wouldn’t come back or 12 months of strong chemotherapy. My husband and I thought about it and decided I would go through the chemo.” Spencer’s cancer finally went into remission, but it was a hard road. For 12 months, Spencer went through chemo treatments five days a month for 24 hours straight. “Of course I got very sick,” Spencer said. “I lost my hair and lost weight. I was bald for 15 months. My chemo ran until December of 1994. I needed a lot of blood transfusions, which is where the A&M campus came in handy.” People from the ELI and the EDCI worked together to orga nize a blood drive. Deanna Wormuth, director of the English Language Institute, helped coordinate the drive. “I was among a group of peo ple who coordinated a blood drive with people at the University of Houston and A&M,” Wormuth said. “She’s just a very dear friend, and we knew we had to do something to help her; any thing we could do to help.” Spencer said all the help she received from people at A&M helped lift her spirits and aided significantly in her recovery. “The two departments really contributed to the blood drive, which kept me alive,” Spencer said. “I want to thank those peo ple. I was also told many people attempted to give blood and couldn’t, and I want to thank them. There were a lot of stu dents who didn’t even know me and stood in lines for hours. There were a lot of unknowns who gave blood.” Wynell Biles, an instructor in the ELI, said she has known Spencer for many years and was happy to see so many people turn out in the effort to help her. “I’ve known Devi since 1985,” Biles said. “I wasn’t able to give blood, but I can tell you that many of the international stu dents who were her students when she taught English at Ko- riama gave blood.” Biles said that people at U.H., where Spencer also teaches, helped significantly in Spencer’s recovery as well. “Mostly, I just got people in formed about how she was do ing,” Biles said. “Being here in College Station, however, we weren’t able to take food to her. But her colleagues at the Language and Culture Center at U of H were able to take her to her treatments.” Everyone who knows Spencer agrees that she has a and determined spirit. Dr. Frank Clark, a professor of curriculum and instruction it the college of education, said hi admires Spencer’s endurance, “She’s certainly a strong fora and has a lot of determination, Clark said. “She has the turn things around and things good. She has a lot of char acter and is a very nice person. lit very pleased she’s going to be con tinning with her studies. I’ve working with her on a li things, and she’s been to get back in the fold.” Another person who helping Spencer resume her doc toral studies is her committer; chair, Donna Wiseman, an associ ate deem and professor in the 0)1 lege of Plducation. “I touched base with henft she was in Houston,” Wisent said. “She tried to keep up w® her studies, but it was But she never seemed to j She called me a year agoi ary and told me she was starting new lease on life and it whole new world. Her percent# for living will grow every monthJ she makes it until next she has as much a chance of IpJ as you and I.” Spencer said she has plans for the future, to the help of everyone. “After being off for two I’ve decided to resume mydet toral studies,” Spencer said, "I very optimistic because of®! friends and family. I wanted thank the donors andalld 1 ; support and the cards I receive* It’s why I recovered.”