The Battalion
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lume 10 5 • Issue 122 • 15 Pages
The Bait Online: http:// bat-web.tamu.edu
Friday, April 4, 1997
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$Lim Bluntzer was elected junior
yell leader.
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
ave now,
said there k
she would ■
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P le | urt * s Childers, a junior agricultural develop-
ouch wiAtlftt major, will be next year’s student body presi-
ent after defeating Eliot Kerlin, a senior finance
lajor, by 71 votes in the student body president
jit-off election,
phis year 6,745 students voted in the run-off
leitions, compared to last year’s turnout of about
on at 69S^ 000 students.
wins SBP mn-off election
Sam Bluntzer, a sophomore accounting major,
was elected junior yell leader in the run-off by 51
percent of the vote.
The results of the run-off elections were an
nounced in front of the Lawrence Sullivan Ross
statue at 10 p.m. Thursday.
Childers said winning the election was hum
bling. He said the close vote meant that students
liked Kerlin’s platform ideas. He said he plans to
incorporate all of the candidates’ ideas in his
administration.
Childers said he wants to have an open door pol
icy so students can voice their concerns to him.
“Unless I’m aware of what’s going on,” Childers
said, “I can’t work with the administration so we can
solve problems.” .
Childers said he wanted to thank God, his fami
ly and friends and his campaign staff.
“They (his campaign staff) believed in some
thing and worked hard,” Childers said.
Bluntzer said that the week of run-off elections
was stressful, but the hard work was worth winning
the junior yell leader election.
“I think we’re going to work together,” Bluntzer
said. “We can represent everybody really well.”
The new Residence Hall Association president
will be Eric Williams, a junior biomedical science
major. Williams won with 58 percent of the vote.
Mary Anne Symms, a sophomore general stud
ies major, won the run-off for Class of '99 historian.
Kyle Valentine, a freshman biomedical science
major, will be the new class of ’00 vice president.
Tim Moog, The Battauon
Curtis Childers won the run-off election by 71 votes.
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National Gymnastics Championships
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A&M team ready to take top honors
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By April Towery
The Battalion
T wo years ago, the Texas A&M Gymnastics
Club took first place in the National Cham
pionships. This year, the Aggie gymnasts
who will host the meet, hope to repeat history.
The meet, to be held Friday and Saturday
in the Student Recreation Center, is the
biggest gymnastics competition of the year
and will include over 150 competitors. Junior
club member Lori Blakley said the Aggies will
be seeking revenge against the University of
Miami, the school that captured the national
title last year pushing A&M to second place.
“Our whole team is pretty motivated,”
she said. “Our whole focus this year has
been the nationals.”
Blakley and 12 other Aggie gymnasts will
compete in the meet. Head Coach Steve Waples
and his assistant, Jeremy Nelms, have been
working with the gymnasts for up to three hours
each day to prepare for the meet.
Senior club member John Sides said the bond
the team members have formed this season sets
them apart from other club teams.
“One of our strong points is our friendship,
the closeness,” he said. “There’s not a lot of tur
moil between club members. We have a lot of
freshmen, so we’ve been able to provide some
leadership for them.”
Senior club member and men’s team cap
tain Shane Thomson agreed the club mem
bers have been working together to prepare
for the meet.
“I think we’re totally prepared mentally,” he
said. “We just want to go for it and get the
team medal. We’ve gotten our act together
and worked really hard. We’re really starting
to feel like a team.”
Sides said although hosting the national
championships has been stressful for club offi
cers, it will be good for the club.
“It will give us a lot of notoriety and respect
that we haven’t had before,” he said.
Both the women’s and the men’s teams
earned first place in the state meet, which Sides
said has given club members confidence about
the upcoming nationals.
“I fully expect us to rank in the top three,” he
said. “We won state with three guys when the
other teams had nine or 10 guys.”
The Aggie club members share a confidence
going into the meet that Thomson said noth
ing, including injuries, can take away. Thom
son fractured his back earlier in the season and
was out for a month.
“Almost everyone has gotten injured with an
ankle or something,” he said.
Blakley said injuries can be a blessing
in disguise.
“Toward the end of the year, everyone gets
really frustrated and tired, and everyone has
injuries,” she said. “Injuries may be our weak
point, but that may also be a strong point be
cause it brings us closer together.”
Aggie Competitors
Wendi Craft
Shanna Wilkinson
Lori Blakley
Abby Lindemann
Melodee Hansel
The competition will be held today and Saturday at the Student
Recreation Center.
Brittany Eck
Cyndi Coselli
Kobi DelCastillo
Shane Thomson
Neal Mansfield
John Sides
Jeff Schmulen
Dan Luellen
Derek Demere, The Battalion
Kevin Barker, a gymnast from Miami University in Ohio, practices for the National
Gymnastics Championships Thursday night.
riends of
rowning
ictim help
aise money
H r
f
it
In,
Anand Appala, a computer sci-
-e graduate student, drowned in
dimming pool at the Casa Del Sol
artment complex Saturday.
Appala did not have insurance to
lex the cost of his remains being
U to his home in India. A group
nis friends is working to raise the
|000 needed for the trip.
Srini Neralla, a friend of Appala
d a soil microbiology graduate stu
nt, said the cause has gotten a good
ponse. The students began raising
^ney Wednesday and have raised
tre than half of the $7,000. He said
nds and faculty members of Indi-
in origin have contributed money.
Those who wish to help can
p off donations at the Interna-
nal Student Services office,
ecks should be made out to the
idia Association.
Daylight-saving
By Graham Harvey
The Battalion
Prepare to lose an hour of sleep. Daylight-sav
ing time is almost here.
Clocks should be set forward one hour Sun
day at 2 a.m.
According to Volume 3 of The New Encyclope
dia Britannica’s 15th Edition, the time shift has a
more than 200-year history. The general idea first
came from a humorous 1784 essay by Benjamin
Franklin, but it did not resurface until 1907, when
the British House of Commons debated the need
for a time change.
During World War I, the United States, along
with other nations, adopted summertime day
light saving as it is generally known today, Bri-
tannica says. Adding an hour of daylight allowed
soldiers to save fuel needed for artificial light.
Modern daylight-saving time in America is pre
scribed by federal law, Britannica says. A1986 law set
the summer time shift as beginning on the first Sun
day in April and ending on the last Sunday in October.
Don Carter, registrar for admissions and
records at Texas A&M, said the time shift should
only minimally affect University operations.
“The only adjustments the University makes
are setting the clocks and the computer sys-
begins Sunday
James Palmer, The Battalion
terns,” Carter said.
Omar Alrikabi, a senior English major, said he
welcomes daylight-saving time.
“I love the time change,” Alrikabi said. “I hate
it when it gets dark around 5:30. With the extra
hour of daylight, you have time to cram more in
your day.”
Student Senate
elects new chairs
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Student Senate
elected Alice Gonzalez, a sopho
more agricultural development
major, as speaker of the 50th ses
sion Wednesday night.
Nathan Bigbee, a sophomore
political science major, was cho
sen as speaker pro tempore. Amy
Magee, a junior computer science
major, is the new Rules and Regu
lations committee chair.
Gonzalez said she wanted to
work with the senators to provide
better representation of the stu
dents’ concerns. •
“I am here to stand for what
you stand for as a Senate,” she
said. “The goal of the Senate is to
put students first. That’s my goal
as well.”
Gonzalez said it is important
for senators to develop them
selves as leaders to effectively
represent the students.
Erin Mozola, a senior applied
mathematics major, said Gonzalez
possesses the qualities needed to
be a good speaker. She said a
speaker needs to have character
and integrity, be hard-working and
willing to change.
“Integrity is nothing more than
being counted on to be who you
appear to be,” Mozola said, “and
that’s what Alice Gonzalez is.
That’s the guide you need leading
you through the woods.”
Kendall Kelly, a sophomore psy
chology major, said Gonzalez will
be a good speaker because of her
knowledge of the Senate and its re-
I “The goal of the Senate
is to put students first.
That's my goal as well.”
Alice Gonzalez
New Student Senate Speaker
sponsibilities to the student body.
“Alice (Gonzales) is about peo
ple, about being for people and
working with people,” Kelly said.
Bigbee said, as speaker pro tem
pore, he wants to strengthen the Sen
ate caucuses to make senators more
accountable to their constituencies.
He said he also wants to enforce a
stricter attendance policy for Senate
and constituency meetings.
See Senate, Page 5
► Big Event
Aggies volunteer
services for project
Students say 'thanks' to B-CS community
By Laura Oliveira
The Battalion
The largest one-day student-run
community service project in the
world will bring thousands of stu
dents to the 16th annual Big Event
Saturday morning.
Jobs ranging from trimming
hedges and painting houses to wash
ing Margaret Rudder’s windows will
be assigned to the 4,700 participants.
Debbie Emminger, the student in
volvement sub-chair of Big Event
and a junior community health ma
jor, said residents of Bryan and Col
lege Station deserve thanks for en
during each year’s nine-month
student invasion of the area.
“Everyone puts up with us,” she
said. “It (Big Event) is our way to say
‘thank you’ to the entire Bryan-Col-
lege Station community.”
Emminger said although service
provided by the Big Event is available
to the entire community, the com
mittee targets areas most in need.
Amy Magee, a junior computer
science major, painted a house with
Alpha Chi Omega last year and said
the project brought the members of
the sorority closer together.
“When people are working to
gether to help other people,” she
said, “they tend to form a bond be
cause of the spirit of the situation.”
Toby Boeing, former student
body president, will deliver the
keynote address at the kick-off,
which will begin at 9 a.m. in front
of the Systems and Administra
tion Building.
From there, students will move to
Big Event headquarters near Bonfire
site to be assigned to the approxi
mately 500 jobs.
Emminger said organizations,
groups of friends and individuals are
still welcome to sign up for jobs at
morning registration.
“If individuals sign up, we pair
them with different individuals,” she
said. “We never turn away students
who want to help.”
Melissa Y. Ramirez, a sopho
more general studies major, will
participate with the Committee of
Awareness for Mexican American
Culture. She said she is looking for
ward to helping.
“I have always been curious to see
what it (Big Event) is about,” she said.
“I think it will be fun to work in a
group effort and give back to the
community at the same time.”
Emminger said she is impressed
by how the event evolved from a six-
man job to thousands lending a
helping hand.
“Seeing all the students that re
ally want to help is just amazing,”
she said.
The Battalion
1NSIDETODAY
ROCKIN' AROUND
THE QUAD: B-CS,
Austin bands to play
northside show.
Aggielife, Page 3
Toons
Sports
Opinion
Page 2
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