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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1997)
The Battalion olume 103 • Issue 116 • 20 Pages (2 sections) The Bait Online: http:// hat vveb.taimi.edu Wednesday Marsh 26 199. ompany restricts se of trademark By Benjamin Cheng The Battalion Selling a T-shirt with “Class of2000” on it may hazardous to your legal bill. Class of 2000 Inc., a company in San Diego, ■, has Uademarked the phrase “Class of2000”as lescriptive mark for licensing and the selling of arel such as T-shirts, caps and sweatshirts. “Please don’t mess with our registered demark, or you could end up behind bars (yond the year 2000,” one of their advertise- nts reads. Rich Soergel, marketing director for Class of 0 Inc., said his company plans to prevent ir trademark from appearing in products at ail stores. “No one will be in retail stores with a ‘Class 2000’ product,” Soergel said. “We’re going to ;vent that.” Soergel companies already violating the demark will receive cease and desist letters rning them of the infringement. "Our legal bills are going to be phenome- 1," he said. copyrigtiH :> i wA\g5)g5) (4^ If 1 ^ .©) v all right:a reserved James Vineyard, The Battalion Soergel said Class of 2000 Inc. does not plan on preventing schools from selling apparel with their trademark on it. Instead, he said his com pany wants to work with schools in selling prod ucts with “Class of 2000” on it. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the trademark to Class of2000 Inc. on Nov. 19,1996. Class of 2000 Inc. is applying to expand the trade marks to other consumer goods such as back packs, candy bars and beverages and also has ap plied for the trademark in Europe and Japan. See Trademark, Page 12 Seminar focuses on diversity Guest speakers led discussions on gender, family issues and society By Laura Oliveira The Battalion Through activities and guest speak ers, professionals from Texas were invit ed to break down barriers to communi cation between culturally diverse groups at the Cross-Cultural Communication seminar Tuesday. The seminar, hosted by Texas A&M University’s Race and Ethnic Studies In stitute, included sessions on gender, family issues and on understanding bi ases and assumptions made in society. Dr. Woodrow Jones, Jr., dean of Lib eral Arts, said the seminar focused on the similarities that groups share. “Anytime you have an ‘us’ and a ‘them,’ you are going to be frustrated because you will not be able to com municate effectively,” he said. Christina Morse, a representative from Triangle AIDS Network in Beau mont, said the conference was effective. “We are always working with dif ferent cultures and we need to be aware of them,” she said. Dr. Sheila Ramsey, an intercultural relations consultant and keynote speaker, led the closing seminar. Three activities involving perception, fundamental assumptions and role expectations were presented. Ramsey demonstrated how cul tures develop assumptions about sim ple everyday activities by pretending not to know how to put on a coat. The participants were asked to explain the process step by step. Ramsey said people of other cul tures may be completely clueless to is sues other cultures take for granted. She said cultures should be seen as a whole, but individuals within the culture also should be recognized. “One of those ways is to drop the stereotype, invite them into your home, and get to know the person,” Robert McKay, The Battauon Myra Winters and Sambra Davis take notes at a cultural workshop hosted by Dr. Sheila Ramsey in Rudder tower Tuesday. she said. The second activity involved illus trating a pattern that participants tried to identify. See Seminar, Page 12 * a life ' ■ -i: # IP^ 1 ■ - Pat James, The Battalion Natural Selection Jessica Allin, a sophomore environmental science major, picks snapdragons from the garden in front of the horticulture greenhouse. Nye aims for high-quality education By Rebecca Torrellas The Battalion Erie A. Nye chairs the executive board Texas Utility Electric, serves as president ► Part three in a four-part series. of three majorTexas utility companies and works on his Model A Ford in his free time. He also will be joining the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents today. Born in 1940 in Fort Worth, Nye grad uated from A&M in 1959 with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and received a doctor of jurisprudence from Southern Methodist University. “I am pursuing excellence, accessibil ity of the System, to continue to provide high-quality education, and to celebrate the quality of education and the staff,” Nye said. Nye said his connection to A&M is Nye emotional as well as intellectual. His father graduated from A&M in 1939, his father-in- law graduated in 1932, as a member of the cavalry, and two of his five children are former students. Jim Ashlock, execu tive director of Univer sity Relations, said Nye, as president ofTexas Utilities Compa ny and Texas Utility Fuel Company, is one of the most prominent figures in the state. “He is distinct by achievement and dedicated to students and the System,” Ashlock said. Chancellor Barry Thompson said Nye is an excellent addition to the Board of Regents because he pursues problems and solves them in an effective way. “He is very analytical and intense when it comes to solving a problem,” Thompson said. “He has a good under standing of how the world is changing.” Janice Wallace, Nye’s senior executive secretary, said although he is serious about his work, working with him is enjoyable because of his wonderful sense of humor. Nye also serves as president ofTexas Utility Mining Company, chairs the Col lege Of Engineering External Advisory and Development Council and is a member of the Development Advisory Committee of the Texas A&M Develop ment Foundation. His concern for students also extends to his hometown of Dallas. Nye serves as chair of the Superinten dent’s Advisory Committee of Dallas Public Schools and is on the boards of The Dallas Foundation and the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of America. Cable company works to cut down on theft with marketing campaign By Kathleen Strickland The Battalion Beginning April 4, TCA Cable TV will crack down on cable theft by leaving hang- tags on the doors of Bryan and College Sta tion residents who are stealing cable. Jacqui Rapacki, marketing coordinator for TCA Cable, said the main purpose of the campaign is to inform residents that cable theft is a misdemeanor. “We have always had an ongoing au diting campaign,” Rapacki said. “How ever, what we want to do is inform peo ple that cable theft is against the law and give people the chance to become paying customers. “We are always trying to gain cus tomers. We are doing this to help in those efforts.” Rapacki said several methods exist to detect cable theft, but declined to com ment on them. Tom Way, assistant general manager of TCA Cable, said in a press release that ca ble thieves “have 10 days to become pay ing customers or risk being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Texas Penal Code states that cable theft is a Class B misdemeanor and illegally in stalling cable for someone else for money is a Class A misdemeanor. Phillip Prasifka, a de tective with the College Station Police Depart ment, said cable theft is not a crime that is usually reported, but it is a fre quent occurrence. “For the Class B misde meanor they can face up to 180 days in jail and/or a $2,000 fine,” Prasifka said. “For the Class A misde meanor, they face up to a year in jail and/or a $4,000 fine.” Rapacki said TCA Cable will not pursue prosecution immediately. “We would like to give them a chance to hook up to cable services,” Rapacki said. “We have always had an ongoing auditing campaign.’ Jaqui Rapacki Marketing coordinator, TCA Cable “We will leave a note or tag on their door saying that we disconnected their service and explaining some of our cable deals.” “If it is hooked back up again, we will attempt to find the person at home and give them another chance to hook up. We also will request that they sign a pa per stating that TCA Cable gave them no tice that cable theft is a crime.” Way said, in the press release, that cable theft affects everyone. “The cable company sees losses through decreased revenue,” he said. “The cities see losses through the reduction of franchise fees (tax dollars).” “Theft also undermines the value of the service in the mind of the paying cus tomer and increases our costs, resulting in higher prices for honest consumers.” By Marissa Alanis The Battalion Inferior fire detectors are in- alled in the majority of homes, ie study says. Research conducted by Dr. B. 'on Russell, associate dean of en- ineering and deputy director of ost homes suffer from faulty fire detectors, study says The Battalion INSIDETODAY VOTERS' GUIDE: | Candidates present | platforms, statements for student body I elections. Pull-out section Aggielife Campus Opinion Page3 Page 10 Page 11 the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, indicates that about 90 percent of smoke detectors in homes sense fire and smoke by us ing an ionization chamber that may not detect certain types of fires quickly enough. “Ionization detectors are faster than most other techniques on flaming fires,” Russell said. “How ever, they are not as timely in de tecting flameless combustion like smoldering fires caused by some thing like electrical shorts or ciga rettes in upholstery.” Lt. Mike Ruesink, public educa tion officer of the College Station Fire Department, said smoke causes more deaths than fire. “Photoelectrics will work on a smoldering fire, where you have mass quantities of smoke,” Ruesink said. Two of the more dangerous fac tors with smoke are density and toxicity. Neither ionization cham ber nor photoelectric smoke de tectors sense toxic gasses carried by smoke. Russell said the ionization chamber industry designed the detector to recognize a fire based on a minimum smoke level. “They’re not concerned that a fire could be burning for 30 or 40 minutes,” Russell said. “They’re only concerned when it’s reached a certain level of smoke density.” Russell said ion ization chamber detectors work bet ter at preventing death from fire, but may not detect slowly burning or smoldering fires that give off toxic gasses. Russell said a photoelectric smoke detector works much faster than an ionization chamber de tector in wide-range types of smoke and smoldering fires, such as electrical shorts or cigarette burns in upholstery. “Sometimes, types of fire and smoke in question would’ve been “We'd rather have people be fire safe than rely on a fire detector." Lt. Mike Ruesink Public education officer detected with photoelectric detec tors,” Russell said. Ruesink said he does not advo cate one or the other but empha sizes fire safety first. “We’d rather have people be fire safe than rely on a fire detector,” Ruesink said. “Prevent the fires rather than worrying about de tecting them.” Russell said homes should be equipped with both types of detectors. “On a given fire, one may detect the fire more easi ly and quickly than the other one,” he said. Ionization chamber smoke de tectors house a tiny radiation ele ment generating ions. Smoke in vading the chamber attaches to the ions, triggering the alarm. Photoelectric smoke detectors emit a^beam of light, which is scat tered in the presence of smoke. Pho tocells in the detector sense the re flected light and sound the alarm. Ionization chamber smoke de tectors are relatively inexpensive, which accounts for their high use in homes. However, photoelectric detectors cost between $20 to $30 and are not as widely used. Russell said photoelectric de tectors are produced in smaller quantities, which results in the higher cost. “The question today is Are they getting the best detector today for their money?”’ he said. “The answer is ‘no.’ The right an swer would be to stop making inferi or detectors.” Ruesink said a newer, dual smoke detector has been engi neered which includes both the ionization chamber and photo electric sensors, but the final prod uct will be double the cost. “Instead of having one for $20, you’ll have one for $40,” Ruesink said. “You won’t have any better protection than you have now.” Russell said local, state and fed James Vineyard, The Battalion eral regulations should be re designed to increase standards for smoke detectors. Detectors are tested by Underwriters Laborato ries, a company that conducts per formance tests on different types of equipment. “The Underwriters Laboratories tests smoke detectors to a minimum smoke detector capability,” Russell said. “It’s an inadequate test. It doesn't cover the broad range of smoke.” See Fire Detectors, Page 12