lortense hits Puerto Rico
he hurricane
illed seven
eople as it
assed over the
iland Tuesday
lorning.
CENTER
IACTIC CAM
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) —
Hurricane Hortense lashed Puerto Rico
with punishing winds and torrents of
rain T\iesday, killing seven people as it
snapped trees and power lines, swelled
rivers and collapsed hillsides, sweeping
away homes.
Eleven people were spotted floating
in their home down the raging Guamani
Canal. Maritime police pursued the
house in a boat, trying to rescue the
occupants.
Police said the death toll could rise
once they reach areas cut off by the
storm, which passed directly over south
west Puerto Rico before dawn Tuesday.
Later Thesday, Hortense skirted along
the northeastern coast of the Dominican
Republic, which hasn’t been hit by a hur
ricane in nearly 20 years.
The entire north coast of the
Dominican Republic was under a hur
ricane warning, as were the Turks and
Caicos islands and the southeastern
Bahamas.
Tourists were ordered off beaches and
evacuated from Oceanside resorts.
Authorities at eastern Punta Cana airport
canceled 14 flights after clocking 90 mph
wind gusts around noon.
There was a 10 percent chance of
the hurricane striking West Palm
Beach, Fla., the National Hurricane
Center in Miami said.
In Puerto Rico, victims included a
2-year-old boy killed in a mudslide in
the southwest and two 8- and 13-year-
old sisters swept away by flood waters
in the southeast. The girls’ bodies
were found under a bridge. Four fam
ily members were still missing.
A 75-year-old man was carried away
by floods in the east-central part of the
island and a woman was found dead —
presumably of a heart attack — inside
her car in the west-central farming town
of Lares. Two unidentified adults
drowned in eastern Humacao.
Hortense cut water and electricity
to most of Puerto Rico’s 3.6 million
people. The water supply could be
contaminated by rivers overflowing
into reservoirs, Scott Stripling of the
U.S. National Weather Service in San
Juan said.
Hundreds of cars were stranded on
highways, which ran like rivers with
chest-high water in San Juan, the capital.
Tow truck drivers charged $60 to dive
into waters filthy with debris and
sewage, hook up stalled vehicles and
move them to higher ground.
Hurricane Hortense
Hortense
■O' 18.9N, 68.4W
' f •' Max. winds: 75 mph
Gusts at 90 mph
Moving WNW 12 mph
* Bermuda
35°
5 p.m. EDI
1^' l Thur f^
1 4S Turks and
Caicos Islands 2
Cabrera
Virgin
San Juan Islands
HAITI''
Caribbean N|CAN
REP. PUERTO
RICO \
i V r ’ tf . \ Lesser Antilles
i»\-
Sea
h.
v*
75°
65'f.
Freebirds plans to
use old A&M bricks
By Ann Marie Hauser
The Battalion
Give an environment-friendly entrepreneur a little rubble
and he can create quite a monster.
Pierre Dube, the owner of the Freebirds World Burrito,
said plans are under way to build a new Freebirds restaurant
using rubble from DeWare Field House and Law and Puryear
residence halls.
The new Freebirds will be to the left of The Beauty
Warehouse in the H.E.B. shopping center on Texas Avenue in
College Station. The restaurant is expected to open at the
end of December.
Dube said the style will be similar to the Northgate
restaurant. Using the rubble will add to the restaurant’s
unique atmosphere and help preserve the environment.
“ [I thought,] why don’t we do an environmentally positive
project,” Dube said. “I want to recreate the cool attitude and
atmosphere we have [on Northgate].”
Dube said he wants to help the environment by reducing,
recycling and reusing construction materials.
Dube hired Laurie Smith Design out of Austin to con
struct the new store because he liked the company’s ideas.
Customers can still enjoy some of the same decor from
See Freebirds, Page 16
AL HEALING
l
Student ID
AKMACY OF FLAMS'
juello Drive
Station
-HELP (4357)
for 1
or the price
this coupon
Tables,
L2th Mania to sweep B-CS
Christie Humphries
The Battalion
group of Bryan-College
on and Texas A&M offi-
Tuesday kicked off a
J paign to promote Big 12
* etics both in and outside
community.
' 'he “12th Mania" cam-
celebrates A&M’s
ranee into the confer-
e. The campaign is
ignedto give the Brazos
inty community an
ierstanding of the bene-
of A&M’s new role in a
. ^er athletic conference.
\ Red Cashion, chair of the
)rink Prices, f** organizing com-
eeand long-time NFL ref-
said 12th Mania also will
?st Pool Rate
Come Play
ily pool hall
Tthgate.
0/ 31/96
J
i Belt
»n Bag
Saturday
- 6:00 p.m.
welcome fans from other Big
12 teams and greet them with
a friendly “Howdy.”
Cashion, also an area
insurance executive, said the
excitement generated by the
campaign will enhance the
entire school and business
community as well as A&M’s
Athletic Department.
B-CS merchants will sell
various items such as flags,
banners, T-shirts, stickers and
balloons designed to identify
A&M with the Big 12.
Organizers touted the
long-term benefits of 12th
Mania such as an increased
revenue for the Bryan-
College Station area from the
masses of people who will
visit the community.
“Hopefully, people will
come here to support their
teams and enjoy the great
spirit of Aggieland, and then
spend a little money,”
Cashion said.
Another benefit will be
that increased attendance at
A&M sporting events should
pack the University’s athletic
facilities, Cashion said.
Also, organizers hope
12th Mania will give B-CS
residents the opportunity
to support A&M in new and
exciting ways.
Reba Ragsdale of the 12th
Man Foundation said her
organization will hold a series
of activities throughout the
last week of September to
involve B-CS residents in the
Aggie traditions such as mid
night yell practice.
Ragsdale said the commu
nity must band together as a
community before it can
reach out to visitors.
By strengthening the
relationships within the
community first, organizers
said, the welcoming atmos
phere that 12th Mania
hopes to establish will be
sincere and show the spirit
of Aggieland.
Lynn Hickey, Texas A&M
associate athletic director,
summed up the sentiment
behind the 12th Mania
campaign when she said,
“A&M is the best-kept secret
in the country and it’s time
to share the secret!”
lorses lend helping hooves
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
A
you’re looking for volun-
with a heart, you cannot
any better than Hots,
tnin’ and Lovey.
he three “volunteers” are
es used by You’ve Got To
Have Heart, a Bryan-College
Station non-profit organiza
tion providing physically
handicapped and mentally
challenged children and their
families with the opportunity
to ride horses for recreation.
“Special horses, special
riders” is the group’s slogan.
Tim Moog, The Battalion
[year old Blake Kuder rides Hots while Jean Gast and
fry Polasek hold on to the horse and the rider.
Patricia Lombard, the
group’s president, and Jean
Gast, YGTHH vice president,
began the group in June
because they realized there
was a need for this typie of
program in the community.
YGTHH provides a place
for the children and their
families to ride.
“I work with the therapy
riding program in Bryan,”
Gast said. “There was a real
need. They just didn’t have
enough spots. This way, the
kids get to ride.”
Lombard said the idea for
the program has been evolv
ing since 1987.
“I’d worked with horses,”
Lombard said. “I knew they
loved to carry kids.”
Forty people have signed
up for the program since July.
This includes parents and
siblings of the handicapped.
Families ride once a week
for 30 minutes. YGTHH asks
for a $5 donation per rider,
but the fee is waived if a fam
ily is unable to pay.
The group has enough
horses, but they need more
volunteers to accompany
the riders.
Volunteers are not
required to have any experi
ence with horses to con
tribute. YGTHH is willing to
train volunteers.
In the future, YGTHH
would like to build a com
plete recreational facility for
the physically handicapped
and mentally challenged. The
facility would include camp
grounds, a summer camp,
permanent housing and
horse arenas.
Those interested in vol
unteering can contact
Lombard or Gast at You’ve
Got To Have Heart, P.O. Box
9366, College Station, Texas
77842-9366, or by calling
862-4988.
Going the
distance
Rachel Redington, The Battalion
Terry Barr, general studies major, rides in the Batt-
fish mobile while he is pushed by Daniel Lehoski,
left, civil engineering major, and Andrew Rabuck,
right, civil engineering major. Freshmen collect
Battalions and then carry the mobile upstairs and
deliver the papers under each door.
Street, Bldg.
Texas
Battalion
FODAY
ss the Mike
item singers and
^writers flex their
ic muscles at
J^n Mike Night.
Aggie life, Page 3
sessioi
customers o' 11
n per custom 6 ’
s 10-15-96
t Forgotten
idle A&M
:ball Team has
i out of sight, but
out of mind.
Sports, Page 11
ntroversy
^ e
ey: With help
i Perot and
sein, Clinton will
another term.
Opinion, Page 15
Yankee hopes to call South home after graduation
By Ann Marie Hauser
The Battalion
Southern hospitality has been
kind to Yankee Michael Depot as
he begins his final year as a car
toonist for The Battalion.
Depot, a senior finance
major and Cumberland, R.I.,
native, is the artist behind the
daily cartoon strip “Peeps.”
“Peeps” chronicles the
adventures of the strip’s title
character, whose name has also
served as Depot’s nickname
since the eighth grade.
Depot said friends at home
shortened his last name to
Dep’s (pronounced “deeps”).
Someone misunderstood the
pronunciation and thought
they were saying Peeps.
Depot said he came to A&M
because he wanted to go to a
big school where he could get
an education in business.
Friends noticed he was always
doodling and encouraged him
This is the second of
a four-part series on
the cartoonists of The
Battalion.
to apply for The Battalion in
Spring 1996.
“It was something I’ve always
wanted to do,” Depot said. “I’ve
always liked to draw and doo
dled all through school.”
During high school, Depot’s
/ M*. Petes. /MtuseMr
' CUM7M svtts rms avufwpt
l st' Mour rssim,
\»ut mi
Y ■" ix Mtoxr
> mm
AMtMMCS,
l wru-... Uok. Ay )
v HIM i | Jf,
■I V
VY ‘ I -w
fK
cartoons were occasionally
printed in The Providence
Journal Bulletin.
Depot earned extra money
when he was young by con
stantly entering drawing con
tests for the kids page of the
Bulletin.
“We would have to draw
celebrities or your teacher in
class,” Depot said. “I always
entered and won.”
Depot said his parents
thought he should have a career
in design or architecture because
of his success with drawing.
“I’d like to do it but I don’t
think I could make a career out
of it (drawing),” Depot said. “The
pressure would drive me crazy.”
Depot said he carries his
sketch book around with him
everywhere to catch story ideas
he may get from the news or his
surroundings.
After his May graduation,
Depot said he would like to work
in the South and possibly have a
cartoon strip in a newspaper.
“I like seeing my work in print,”
Depot said. “You know when
you’ve done one pretty well.”
Michael Depot, who draws “Peeps,
Stew Milne, The Battalion
is a native of Rhode Island.