\i
The Battalion
iik* 103 • Issue 10^ • 10 Patjes
Tlu* Balt Online: http:// bat web.tamu.edu
Thursday, February 27, 1997
ccident leaves student with minor injuries
^car making an illegal left
iim struck a student crossing
miversity Drive.
f
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
Rit-and-run accident Wednesday
morning on University Drive left one,
Texas A&M student with minor injuries
and another facing possible charges.
Rachel Barnes, the victim and a se
nior civil engineering major, was re
leased from St. Joseph’s Hospital after
suffering minor injuries Wednesday.
Silas Luke Sarver, a freshman bio
engineering major, is facing possible
charges after allegedly hitting Barnes
with his car.
Barnes was walking in the crosswalk
towards the A&M campus when a car hit
her while turning left on to the 800
block of University Drive from campus.
The car then left the scene of the ac
cident.
Lieutenant Scott McCollum of the
College Station Police Department said
the department is continuing its inves
tigations into possible charges against
Sarver.
Barnes was able to walk away from
the accident.
She said the accident occurred when
the car made a left turn from Spence
Street onto University Drive. A sign
posted above the intersection states
left-hand turns are not allowed.
Barnes said she might have been in
jured more seriously if the car had been
larger.
She said she was lucky someone
helped her off the street because the
driver did not stop.
“If you hit somebody, stop,” she said.
Barnes said drivers need to be pre
vented from making the left turn, be
cause too many people turn left illegal
ly at the intersection.
utes,
fail sis
ing' site unites
Igs in cyberspace
By Jackie Vratil
The Battalion
Tht idea of Aggie Rings being
tfor seniors is slowly becoming
iin^ of the past with the help of
phen Ellis, Class of ’95, and the
. ation of the “Aggie Ring.”
I ' 11 The Aggie Ring is a site on the
irll Wide Web . .
ere Aggies can
it act and keep
touch with
er Aggies.
■s said the
■se oftheAg-
pkig, as with
jweb ring, is to
Jpeople with
r interests together,
y purpose in creating a ring like
sone,” he said, “is to unite Aggies
jetlier in cyberspace.”
The Aggie Ring is hosted by “ We-
Webring provides this service
ie of charge as a way to link to-
ther many different homepages in
circular manner.
Ellis said the site, http: / / www.geoc-
es.com/ SouthBeach/ 8895 /Aggie.ht
, is easy to access.
“The site is available to anybody
tith Internet access,” he said.
However, there is one stipulation
r joining: you must be an Aggie
id have a homepage.”
Ellis came up with the idea of
JiAggie Ring after coming
||$s pages that were part of
her web rings.
"hooked into them and decided
Jn one,” he said. “After I joined,
pndered if there was an Aggie
wing, but my searches came up
■ nothing. So I began the cre-
pb of the Aggie Ring.”
arkFlusche, a senior mechanical
/hoopin' Weekend
engineering technology major, helped
come up with the idea.
“I worked at a co-op with
Stephen (Ellis) and we knew noth
ing about web rings,” he said. “But
we worked with it and learned it
that way. It was kind of just a fun
thing to do.”
Ellis hopes Aggies will use the
ring to locate
friends they have
lost touch with
over the years.
“They can
look them up us
ing the Aggie
Ring index,
which is a list of
all the pages and
their creator’s names, in the ring,” he
said. “If that fails, they can e-mail me
with a request, and I can send a gen
eral e-mail to everyone on the ring.”
Katie Murry, a junior community
health major, said the Aggie Ring is
an innovative way for Aggies to keep
in touch after graduation.
“I look forward to using it in the
future to locate my long-lost friends,
rather than just browsing through all
the homepages,” she said.
Ellis said web rings are a relative
ly new idea on die Internet that has
the potential to grow.
“I am hoping that the Aggie Ring
will become one of the largest rings
on the web,” he said. “It certainly has
the potential.”
Murry said she liked all the graph
ics and music she encountered once
connected to the site.
“I appreciate the fact that
somebody took the time to create
something like this, because we
are such a huge university and so
many people will benefit from the
ring,” she said.
ligh schoolers
ample college
By Laura Oliveira
The Battalion
igh school students arrived to-
jo spend a “Whoopin’Weekend”
[Texas A&M University and get a
ite of college life.
Sponsored by the Aggie Re-
titraent Committee, Whoopin’
iekend began three years ago as
ecruiting tactic. Since then, the
mber of participants has grown
iti 21 to more than 200.
Melissa Batig, Whoopin’ Week-
d co-chair and a junior chemb
ngineering major, said the
ommittee was forced to turn
icants away because of an
flow of interested students.
“It has the potential to be the
iFish Camp,” Batig said.
Battalion
INSIDETODAY
fAKINC THE PLUNGE:
The Texas A&M Swim-
ing and Diving Teams
ost the inaugural Big
2 Championships this
eekend.
Sports, Page 7
ggielife
hafs Up
Opinion
Page 3
Page 6
Page 9
Applicants are chosen on a
first-come, first-serve basis. Mem
bers of the recruitment commit
tee had applications available for
Whoopin’ Weekend when they re
cruited at high schools during the
fall semester.
Students will stay with members
of ARC and other volunteers who live
on campus.
Lisa Kelley, Whoopin’ Weekend
co-chair and a junior agriculture
development major, said students
who attend the conference may
eliminate misconceptions they
have of A&M.
“It gives them a first-hand
idea of what campus is like,” she
said. “There is a lot of hearsay,
people saying Tf you go to A&M
there are a bunch of hicks, and
Austin is liberal.' If they come,
they can see [what A&M is like]
for themselves.”
Students will be divided into dis
cussion groups and attend seminars
on housing, financial aid and the ap
plication process.
Mixers, a yell practice and per
formances by the Aggie Wran
glers and the Fish Drill Team will
fill the weekend.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland,
vice president of student affairs,
will have lunch with the stu
dents Friday.
He said student-to-student re
cruiting produces the best re
sponses from potential Aggies.
“Every program that we have that
brings students to the campus en
hances the probability to bring them
to the school,” he said. “Our students
are the greatest ambassadors we
have at Texas A&M.”
/
Daydreamin'
Yilcan Guzelgunler, a graduate electrical engineering
Wednesday afternoon.
Ryan Rogers, The Battaeion
student, takes refuge from the rain in Freebirds
Lost and Found reunites items with owners
By Benjamin Cheng
The Battalion
MSG Lost and Found makes
finding stray belongings on the
vast campus of Texas A&M easier
for students.
Olivia Yang, a freshman interna
tional marketing major, lost her
wallet while walking to Blocker two
weeks ago but never went to the
Lost and Found.
“I had to cancel my credit card,
my debit card and my Randall’s
card,” she said. “My driver’s license
and my student I.D. were gone.”
Ron Fulton, MSC Guestroom
Manager, oversees the Lost and
Found, located at the Information
Desk. Fulton said the lost and
found handles about 1,000 lost
items a semester.
“People turn things into us and
we log them into a book,” he said.
Items turned in at the Student
Recreation Center, Evans Library,
West Campus Library, Wehner,
Heldenfels and Bus Operations are
sent to MSC Lost and Found.
“Almost every building has a
lost and found,” Fulton said.
“They may or may not bring stuff
over here.”
Yang said she checked Blocker,
Sbisa and the Pavilion for her wallet.
“I went to Sbisa and they were
looking through the I.D.s there,”
she said. “It’s just wherever you
find it, you turn it in and they don’t
do anything about it. They just let
it sit there.”
Fulton said students must de
scribe their items before claiming
them at the Lost and Found. Expen
sive items like calculators must be
described thoroughly by indicating
specific markings or features.
MSC Lost and Found holds stu
dent I.D. cards for a week before
turning them in to the I.D. office at
the Pavilion.
“After we (Lost and Found)
have had an item for six months,
[MSC] Hospitality holds an auc
tion,” Fulton said.
This year’s Lost and Found auc
tion will be March 19 from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m in the MSC Flagroom. Stu
dents can select lost and found
items to bid on at the auction.
Three hundred to 500 items will be
auctioned off.
Brad Lockwood, MSC Hospital
ity fund-raising executive and a se
nior marketing major, said the auc
tion is an inexpensive way for
students to shop.
“If I were a student, I would bring
Robert McKay, The Battalion
The Lost and Found is located at the Information Desk in the MSC.
$20 to the auction,” he said. “Twenty
dollars can get a lot of stuff.”
After two unsuccessful days of
looking for her wallet, Yang went to
the Pavilion to pay the $12 fee for a
new I.D. card.
“I figured after two days I really
got to eat,” she said.
Don Gardner, associate regis
trar, said most students pay $12 to
get a new I.D. card.
“Students are really hamstrung
when they lose their I.D.s,” he said.
Gardner said the I.D. office ex
tends the courtesy of calling the
owners of lost I.D. cards.
“I feel more comfortable with
that than sending it off some
where,” he said.
Yang said she recovered her wal
let Tuesday in her ballet class.
“It was really weird,” she said.
'Puppy walkers' train guide dogs for the blind
By Joey Jeanette Schlueter
The Battalion
The gifts of independence, mobility, com
panionship and love do not come in a box for
the visually impaired. Instead, they come free,
complete with training and a collar.
The Guide Dog Foundation of the South
west has teamed up with Texas A&M Universi
ty students to train puppies for a future of guid
ing the blind.
Volunteers will have the opportunity to be
“puppy walkers” for the foundation.
Jesse Czelusta, a senior agriculture econom
ics major, volunteered as a puppy walker last year.
“I trained a black Labrador named Rudder,”
Czelusta said. “He went everywhere with me,
all over campus, and even to class.”
The dog lived with Czelusta in his dorm room
Around campus, Rudder wore a bluejacket identi
fying him as a guide dog. Rudder’s training involved
obedience skills and interaction on campus.
“It was like being a miniature parent,”
Czelusta said. “You have to house-train your
dog and love and feed him. I loved it.”
Rudder is currently finishing his profes
sional training at the Guiding Eyes for the Blind
school in New York. He then will be placed in a
good home for a blind person in need.
Aggie Guide Dogs and Service Dogs, a local
organization, is being organized for students
who want to volunteer to work with guide dogs.
Lynda Case, a sophomore biomedical sci
ence major, is president of the group. The or
ganization will be officially recognized by the
University if the Department of Student Activ
ities approves its application.
Marci Streck, a junior computer science major,
trained a golden retriever named Shelby for six
months. She enjoyed the experience and has added
her name to the list of potential puppy walkers.
“I grew attached to Shelby, but I knew this
program is for a good cause, and I want to help
people,” Streck said.
The Guide Dog Foundation provides a strong
background for training. The volunteer program
lasts from 12 to 15 months, during which pup
pies leam basic training and socialization skills.
Debra Baker, executive director of the Guide
Dog Foundation, said A&M offers a good train
ing atmosphere for dogs. Students train dogs
to deal with a busy schedule and to socialize.
“A&M provides a good place for dogs to
leam to interact with many sights, sounds and
smells and deal with them well,” Baker said.
When puppies complete the basic training,
at about one or two years of age, they are re
turned to the guide dog school to be evaluated
and placed with an owner.
The Foundation recommends only one dog
in training on campus at a time. Volunteers
must be dedicated and have time to commit to
the dog. Volunteers also must attend manda
tory training classes.
See Dogs, Page 6