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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1996)
lay • September rvives atch The Battalion ilume 103 • Issue 6 • 12 Pages Monday, September 9, 1996 The Batt Online: http://bat-web.tamu.edu one was for Tim. Tt th me,” he whispe rring to his late ikson, who died in ahy said: “I feel i will be with us tin ay.” one who watchei aad to be crinj : limped around ying to stay on his ing on and on. Hen back of the courtai 1 tiebreaker, recei lay warning, but k to win the nextpi of people saw things it won’t see in a ’' racone, Sampras’c rid. “Alex Corretja of credit for whath e did, there are no hlarating to watch. VISC Open House •velcomes crowds him at a couple of ■d, but he was mott hen," the No. 31 ;aid. “At 3-3 in the ved at 124 mph. If ran’t serve like that' kes us work very said. “They have oach who knows other team’s weal to be focused w eighth-ranked pi ir heads.” agree that this will e a game to watcl ) the Aggies w their sole loss at Crimson Tide wai in to their 1-0 reel nock the Ladyi p 10 rankings, mrse they wantevei that their win an accident,” se fCristen. fcaap t, if we work to?® bcused, we si ong.” By Laura Oliveira The Battalion The Texas A&M Zoological iety showed off its milli- le, Cepheid Variable gave tin foil for protection inst orbiting mind-control ers and Dr. J. Malon itherland, vice president student affairs, screamed elunch, free lunch!” guy is pretty specii [w a u a common eople do special Corretja, who broke : to lure students to their anizations. jed after the match p}jj s was t | lc scene Sun- ed away, was amaj at the MSC Open use, sponsored by MSC public relations. Almost 300 organizations participated, and Souther land said the turn out was record-breaking. "I’ve never seen this many (students),” he said. “It’s been awesome.” Nearly 7,000 students had wandered through the maze of tables by 5 p.m. and peo ple were still pouring in. The crowds created a bit of a chaos and annoyed some students. Lily Zhang, a freshman See MSC, Page 12 Dave House, The Batialion Lisa Kelley, an agricultural development major, tries to find volunteers for the Aggie Recruitment Committee. Class of ’69 dedicates memorial By Wesley Poston The Battalion Dedicating a living memorial of trees and a special plaque on Saturday, the Texas A&M Class of ’69 honored 11 of its members who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. The triangular memorial lies west of the Quadrangle near the corner of Joe Routt Boulevard and Coke Street. The names, ranks and hometowns of the fallen Aggie soldiers are etched in the plaque with the follow ing inscription: “This Memorial Site is dedicated to honor those 11 fellow classmates who made the supreme sacrifice while defending American ideals of freedom and democracy during the Vietnam Era.” Families and classmates of the soldiers gathered at the §am Houston Sanders Corps Center for a reception preceding the dedication. The guests reminisced and viewed the many exhibits. Youngsters studied pic tures of cadet life and gazed into cases of medals and sabers, while other guests talked in small groups about old times and shared mem ories of the absent. Marvin Fletcher, class agent for the Class of ’69, said since the project to build the memorial began two years ago, $14,000 in do nations has been raised. Half of the money was needed for the construction and the other half will be used for maintenance. Col. Jim Ray, the guest speaker and a former pris oner of war, discussed the lesson to be learned from “the 11 who paid the ulti mate sacrifice.” “These men were willing to follow the prescriptions laid down in the Bible, in the Gospels,” he said, quot ing the verse inscribed at the entrance to the Quad, John 15:13. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Ray also alluded to Presi dent Abraham Lincoln’s dedication of the battlefield at Gettysburg. See Memorial, Page 12 Pat James, The Battalion Cindi Ericson, a senior politi cal science and international studies major, cuts the rib bon at the Memorial Site. Flood threat continues on devastated N.C. coast lintenance Fee rement k Writing arges * if AccessPlus :k Safekeeping )eposit to Open ite Checks Free lege* lalance Inquir- :Ie—$1 each leinent—$ 1 ’hotocopies of ! irgc will be assessed >e is Used Jse of ‘date rape drug’ reaches Brazos County Worth the Wait Dave House, The Battalion Senior accounting majors Wendy Marker, Reagan Harrison and Melissa Love kick back and watch football to pass time while waiting in line for tickets to the UT game. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Their neighbor hoods in tatters but their resolve largely in tact, residents of hurricane-battered areas turned Sunday to cleaning up formidable messes, watching swollen waterways and ad justing to life without electricity. At least six people were still reported missing. Four electric utilities reported a total of 596,000 customers still without power. Water, and especially ice, remained crucial com modities and lines formed at stores offering supplies — many for free. With many areas flooded with sewage- tainted water and thousands of trees on the ground, life was hardly returning to normal. But, on a muggy, torrid day, people ventured out with rakes and chain saws, and utility and municipal crews and private tree-clearing contractors plied the streets and back roads. Hurricane Fran slammed into coastal North Carolina late Thursday and turned north, cutting a capricious swath of destruc tion as far inland as Raleigh and Winston- Salem before flooding Virginia and West Virginia with heavy rain. The storm and its aftereffects killed at least 22 people — 17 of them in North Carolina — mostly by falling trees, flooding and traffic ac cidents. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had declared 34 North Carolina coun ties disaster areas as of Sunday afternoon. A 60-member team on Topsail Island, in the hardest-hit coastal region, searched for five people reported missing, emergency offi cials said. On evacuated, sealed-off North Topsail Beach, state Emergency Management spokesman Tom Hegele described by tele phone a scene of devastation: trailers stacked atop each other, collapsed houses, cars buried in sand. In Washington, U.S. Agriculture Secre tary Dan Glickman planned a trip for today to inspect storm damage and flooding. The department has a number of assistance programs that could aid hurricane victims, including an emergency food-assistance program. Evacuees jammed hotels across the state’s central region. One Raleigh Ramada Inn also held 62 tree surgeons from Alabama. The Winn-Dixie supermarket chain gave away six truckloads of ice in Raleigh alone during the weekend before running out, and was still handing out water — two gallon bot tles per adult — on Sunday afternoon. The hardest-hit electrical utility was Car olina Power & Light, which serves the eastern part of the state; it reported 432,000 cus tomers without power as of Sunday morning. By Marissa Alanis The Battalion The illicit use of Rohypnol, a seda- e ten times more powerful than ium, has entered the college scene d touched the Bryan-College Sta- n area. Three reported sexual assault cases :urred in Brazos County last June, in ich Rohypnol may have been used. Also known as “roofies,” “rophies” 1 the “forget pill,” Rohypnol creates enhanced intoxicated feeling when nbined with alcohol. This combina- n causes memory loss and impairs gment once in the body for at least 2 hour. However, the euphoric feeling lasts eral hours. It is during this period t females are most vulnerable to rape, giving the drug its nickname: the “date rape drug.” Because of the drug’s tiny size, it can easily be slipped into any type of drink in a discreet manner. Rohypnol is odorless, tasteless and colorless. Dr. Dennis J. Reardon, coordinator of Alcohol and Drug Prevention Pro grams for the Texas A&M Department of Student Life Programs, said when combined with alcohol, Rohypnol pro duces a multiplicative effect that can be fatal. “For instance, if you were to mix one beer with one Valium, you wouldn’t get the combined effects of just one beer and one Valium,” Reardon said. “In stead, you get a multiplication effect of the two drugs that is unpredictable.” Reardon said the human body sys tems that respond are expected to ad just to the Rohypnol and alcohol at the same time. “This is why it is so dangerous,” Reardon said. “They may have a life- threatening crisis occur as a result of the alcohol and Rohypnol.” Because victims are often unable to identify their attackers due to memory loss induced by the drug, potential offenders can use Rohypnol to their advantage. Linda Castoria, executive director at the Brazos County Rape Crisis Center, said each of the sexual assault victims described similar conditions about feeling “out of it.” They left their drinks unattended and could not Remember if they drove or where they went. “They don’t know what hit them,” Castoria said. “It literally puts them out.” Castoria said since the three victims had similar responses relating to the effects of Rohypnol, there is a strong possibility the drug was used. Castoria said it is difficult to deter mine if Rohypnol is used in rape cases since it does not stay in the body for a long period of time. A drug test has to be done within 48 hours, but even then, medical examiners may not know what drug to look for. Bert Kretzschmar, supervisor of the University Crime Prevention Unit, said in sexual assault cases where Rohypnol is used, victims may not want to report it to authorities. “In the case of Rohypnol, they may not remember and they want to forget about it,” Kretzschmar said. “They don’t want to report it. They’re in denial.” See Date rape, Page 12 igil r iWfssw., • . he Battalion TODAY lith House n students combine itholicism and daily ores to create a iritual community. Aggielife, Page 3 > r r XAIl nior center Calvin lins quietly leads U offensive line to battle. Sports, Page 7 ON • 693- o 2 Day Video) ATION • 694-/ tile Glory : STATIC* ■ RTUNITY Letrf U|)) F j sh , Run ? Q- 1111 1 tw Corps policy )rit stop freshmen running on the adrangle. Opinion, Page 11 Alvis encourages graduate students to get involved By Ann Marie Hauser The Battalion Former jobs with General Electric, Houston Lighting and Power Company and Pa cific Northwest Laboratories John Alvis, presi dent of the Grad uate Student Council, wants to work together with Student Government to achieve shared goals. could not keep John Alvis away from College Station. When he is not working on his dissertation in health physics, Alvis is tending to his duties as president of the Graduate Student Council. Alvis, who is entering his third year of the nuclear en gineering doctoral program, said he left his job because he was discouraged with the progression of his career. “I always wanted to teach,” he said. A native of College Sta tion, Avis received both his undergraduate and master’s degrees in nuclear engineer ing from Texas A&M. As CSC president, he sees an opportunity to give something back to A&M. With two research pro jects and his position with the CSC, Alvis faces a chal lenging semester. “It’s going to be busy,” Alvis said. “But I have a good group of officers that I can delegate a lot of re sponsibility to.” Alvis was elected presi dent last spring after serv ing the CSC as department of nuclear engineering rep resentative. Alvis said there is more to a university than acade mics and he wants gradu ate students to become more involved. Alvis said a lack of com- Douglas aims to maintain diverse student population By’Melissa Nunnery The Battalion The staff, students and faculty of Texas A&M wasted no time in making an im pression on Dr. Ronald G. mitment is a problem among graduate students because of the many pres sures they face. “Grad students have a tendency to be isolated from See Alvis, Page 12 Douglas, executive vice president and provost. Douglas accepted the of fer to become the Universi ty’s second highest-ranking official, he said, because he is interested in undergradu ate studies and was im pressed by the school. “What I learned in visiting was [A&M] has a wonderfully talented, motivated student body and a strong faculty do ing wonderful research and scholarship and that is dedi cated to teaching,” he said. “I’ve been able to appreciate how true it all is.” Douglas, who assumed his new title only six months ago, came to A&M from State University of New York — Stonybrook. There he served as dean of science and vice provost for under graduate studies. Douglas grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. He at tended Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He holds a doctorate in math ematics from Louisiana State University. As a mathematician, Dou glas likes to keep up with his research and stays involved in scientific policy issues. Douglas said he has not seen many changes in his six months at A&M. However, he is interested in the im pact of some current issues. He is concerned about the cost of education, fac ulty salaries and the Hop- Dr. Ronald G. Douglas, execu tive vice presi dent and provost, is concerned about the effects of the Hopwood decision. wood decision, a federal court decision which struck down using race as a basis for admission to Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana See Douglas, Page 12