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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 1996)
The Battalion il. 102, No. 150 (8 pages) Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893 INTERNET ADDRESS: http://bat-web.tamu.edu Tuesday • June 18, 1996 en 'low the rien Pat James, The Battalion erbal supplements are being marketed as ways to lose weight, increase energy and build sexual drives. Id on lO per- season mpeti- buations jme and ;o create ablish a pital for jr high- teacher, education president Morales, ently con- oots cam- ove to the Herbal drugs gain popularity y James Francis he Battalion here is an up- and- coming shelf / stocker that may soon be cornering the market in local health-food tores and novelty shops: herbal drugs. These packaged “enhancers” were intro duced to the public about four years ago, and they do not discriminate against age, sex, re ligion or race. What some consider to be the best aspect )f these hot items are the fact that it is natur- il, legal and cheap. Peter Schlendorf, a junior history and the ater arts major at the University of New York at Albany, encountered Ultimate Xphoria on spring break in Panama City. On March 7, he was pronounced dead as a result of taking eight pills of the substance. Kristina Humphrey, a 24-year- old sociolo gy major at San Jose State University wanted to put an end to her pregnancy but not in a hospital or clinic. Instead, she opted for a bottle of fresh pen nyroyal herb which instructed her to add 20 to 40 drops of the extract to three warm wa ter doses a day. Finding her in an uncon scious state, Humphrey’s boyfriend rushed her to the hospital where doctors had to re move an ectopic pregnancy. Although her fallopian tube had not rup tured, Humphrey bled profusely and slipped into a fatal coma. Her cause of death was cardiac arrest, as a result of liver damage and shock from the pennyroyal. Newsweek and Newsday magazines re cently chronicled these situations and the Food and Drug Administration, FDA has be gun to consider requiring warning labels af fixed to herbal drugs. Even around College Station, one does not See Herbal Edge, Page 3 More black churches destroyed JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Two rural black churches just five miles apart were destroyed by fire at about the same time, the latest in a series of blazes that has plagued Southern black churches over the past 18 months. It was not immediately clear whether arson was involved in the late Monday night fires at the two empty churches in the small town of Kossuth in northeast Mississippi. “We will always survive,” said Bill Dillworth, a deputy sheriff in Alcorn County and a deacon at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church. “You look to the Lord at times like this. He will be your guide.” The fires at Mount Pleasant and Central Grove Baptist Church came the same day as flames destroyed a rural black church in Rocky Point, N.C., and heavily damaged a former sanctuary of a mostly white congregation in Georgia. All four fires were being in vestigated as arson. President Clinton has mobilized federal agencies to help local authorities in their investigations of the dozens of church fires across the South since January 1995. In Kossuth, about 190 miles northeast of Jackson, FBI and arson investigators were called in and Alcorn County Sheriff Jimmy Taylor ordered patrols for every other rural black church in the county. “Two black churches bum the same night and they are not that far apart. It certainly makes you think it was arson,” Dill- worth said. The churches were deserted when the fires were reported 17 minutes apart. The first call, reporting the blaze at Mount Pleas ant, came in at 9:11 p.m., the sheriffs department reported. An officer en route to the Mount Pleasant fire spotted the one at Cen tral Grove. Fire departments had both fires under control by midnight. Mettie Walker, 22, who lives in the nearby city of Corinth, said she had attended Central Grove all her life, “as did my great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother.” “I went to the church and it’s completely gone,” Walker said. “People are pretty upset. They don’t know what to think.” Her mother, Fannie Mae Jones, is the clerk at the small brick and wood church. Mount Pleasant, also brick and wood, was the larger of the two churches. It housed a 109-year-old congregation of about 125 members, Dillworth said. “That church has been a landmark of this community,” said Linda Lambert, wife of Kossuth Mayor Steve Lambert, w T ho is also a volunteer firefighter who helped battle the blaze. “I was bom and raised here with all those people. Words can’t express the feeling I have. It’s just awful.” has been jm the op- wait until ebate be- negative to , I’ll do it at ino, face to Senior cuts comers for degree Christine S. Diamond and ivid Winder ie Battalion er students A&M has nto a mod- I iey do not nber of the 3 change he ie inclusion agnificent i mad they en — is the ‘Everything iputerized. 10 word was ' computer.” e hopes the will realize eft in good rtant that we lere’s still a ith the same said. “Even langing, the 11 apply that ey were here- n family and o rri n P". atro i!e: All names have been changed to itect those involved. This spring Alex Kraft was accepted a masters of business administration both Texas A&M and Texas Tech, at stood between Kraft and graduation s summer was the three remaining irs of a 14-hour language requirement. See related EDITORIAL, Page 7 Wien Kraft tried to register for the fuage class, he found every section ed. He then tried to register for the term but found those sections closed fell There is no way I am sticking and till the spring for a three-hour language credit,” Kraft said. Kraft said he tried to get forced into a section but was told by the undergradu ate coordinator of the Modem and Clas sical Languages department that he could not be put into a class unless it was his major. He was also informed that professors could not force him into any classes. The undergraduate languages de partment encouraged him to take a class at Blinn Junior College. “Blinn should be out of the question,” Kraft said. “They just can’t pen it off on another college. A&M is A&M.” Kraft said his adviser told him to work out a deal with the department. A&M professor Bill Gaddy, who also works at Blinn, said Kraft would risk not getting credits by taking a class at Blinn because the credits may not trans fer in time. Gaddy ended up breaking the rules for Kraft by forcing him into one of his classes. “Stuff like this needs to be exposed. Kraft said. “[The alumni association] ... needs to be informed of this.” Gaddy said the policy is a direct result of monetary problems in the department. “It is really sad,” Gaddy said. “I be lieve the bottom line is money. [I don’t know] whether the fault is with the Col lege of Liberal Arts for denying the lan guage department its appropriate fund ing or [with] the language department for not distributing the money.” Gaddy said the issue needs to be taken to the Student Senate, Faculty Senate, Dean’s Office and the Board of Regents. Kraft has a solution to the problem. “Either open other classes,” Kraft said, “drop the requirement, substitute the class, force people in or bring in some extra seats.” Mediation gives roommates hance to alleviate conflicts tie Student Conflict Resolution Center offers the service k) Protas Battalion spending their days dealing ^the pressures of college, most %nts look forward to relative at home. Some don’t, dominate troubles become one of 'biggest pressures of one’s college Campus resources, however, 'help alleviate and even prevent : ;©ate conflicts. ‘he Student Conflict Resolution % (SCRC) offers roommates the ^ce to air their grievances to an Partial mediator. Bridget Jackson, coordinator for foliation and mediation services in Department of Student Life, said Ration is a way to avoid having to ^king a legal contract, the lease, instead of trying to work it out, of the roommates just leaves,” said. “They do this without realizing they are in a legal con tract, and this leaves the other roommate in a bind. The party that’s present is who the manager is going to be looking to for the rent. They don’t want to hear that the other person moved out.” Jackson said roommates often let the conflict get out of control by try ing to solve it themselves. “It’s really hard to try to bring something up with someone you’re living with,” Jackson said. “It’s very sensitive. Many times when they try to work it out themselves, they ap proach it in the wrong way and com munication breaks down.” Joe Weinman, a senior business analysis major, said having compli cations with a former roommate took its toll. “I had a problem with this room mate who had bipolar disorder,” Weinman said. “He was taking 2000 milligrams of Lithium a day and drinking beer every night. He was re ally bad. He wouldn’t give me money for the bills. I finally had to ask his parents for the money.” Weinman said his grades suffered because of the roommate. “Whenever things are going real ly badly at home, it affects you mentally and it’s hard to concen trate,” Weinman said. “You can’t take care of things that you are here for and are important. This largely impacted my grades.” Weinman wanted to try mediation, but his roommate was unwilling. The roommate eventually moved out and let the lease run out. Jackson said the most beneficial aspect of mediation is the unbi ased facilitator. “The benefit of a mediator is that See Mediation, Page 8 Pat James, The Battalion AIRBORNE! Goalkeeper Kelly Baggett makes a flying save while participating in an Aggie girl’s soccer camp Monday afternoon.