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The Battalion
)lume 103 • Issue 136 • 14 Pages
The Batt Online: http:// bat-web.tamu.edu
Thursday, April 24, 1997
fake Your Daughter To Work Day
IS sponsors program
By Kathleen Strickland
The Battalion
pung girls age 9 to 15 will come to work
jh their parents today to learn about the
1 of technical jobs with the help of Com-
litig and Information Services. In con-
Jction with national Take Your Daughter
liVork Day, Computing and Information
®Hvices is sponsoring the program within
ihqir department.
t he computing service is the first and only
artment on campus to sponsor the event,
ming began two weeks ago, and 14 girls
""â– expected to attend.
H(im Ives, accounting assistant III and a
â– mber of the Take Our Daughters To Work
D*'committee, is pleased with the expected
“We feel that this is a very
beneficial program and
we’d like to see this become
a campus-wide event.”
Kim Ives
Take Our Daughters To Work Day
committee member
number of participants and hopes to see it
become a larger event in the future.
“We hope this will be a learning experi
ence for both the adults and the girls,” Ives
said. “We feel that this is a very beneficial pro
gram, and wed like to see this become a cam
pus-wide event.”
David Lawrence, computer services user
information representative, is one of the pro
gram’s supporters.
“This is a great learning experience for the
young girls,” Lawrence said. “It is a day for
them to be seen and heard, and also for them
to experience jobs that were traditionally
male-oriented.”
The program will begin this morning with
an orientation session, where the girls will
meet with their work partners. The work part
ners are employees throughout computer ser
vices who have volunteered to work with the
girls and show them what the jobs include.
See Daughters, Page 6
Grand jury hears
hazing testimony
By Melissa Nunnery
The Battalion
The Brazos County Attorney’s office
sought a grand jury’s advice yesterday
regarding the investigation of assault
and hazing charges brought against
nine student advisers for the Texas
A&M Fish Drill Team.
County Attorney Jim Kuboviak said
the grand jury heard testimony from
several witnesses. He also said the hear
ing was another step in the information
gathering process of the investigation.
Because grand jury proceedings are
closed to the public, Kuboviak could
not comment further on the hearing.
Kuboviak declined to comment
on whether he would seek an indict
ment and added he is not required to
do so in misdemeanor cases such as
this one.
The nine Fish Drill Team advisers
were suspended temporarily from the
Corps of Cadets March 24 following ac
cusations of hazing and physical as
sault. Corps Commandant Maj. Gen.
M.T. “Ted” Hopgood Jr. ordered the stu
dents to leave the Quadrangle follow
ing the accusations.
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Skydivers jump
for thrills, chills
By Melissa Price
The Battalion
£ t’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s ... a skydiver.
W Some Texas A&M students are viewing the world from
f a different perspective these days — from 10,000 feet above
* the ground.
Allison Roderick, president of the Texas A&M Skydiving
Club and a junior marketing major, said she has craved the
ability to fly since she was a toddler.
“When I was a year-and-a-half old, I tried jumping from my
bookcase to the bed and broke my arm,” Roderick said. “This
was the first time I indicated to my parents my desire to skydive.”
Roderick said she knew skydiving provided a realistic solu
tion to her childhood dream and made her first jump when she
was a senior in high school. She has since completed 66 skydives,
most of which were made at the local drop zone at Coulter Field.
Roderick said Aggies over Texas, the drop zone used by the A&M
Skydiving Club, is one of the safest drop zones in Texas.
The club, which originated in 1984, aims to pique interest in
skydiving and to promote safe skydiving techniques. Although
some students skydive purely for entertainment, Roderick said
some members of the club view skydiving as a competitive sport.
At the National Collegiate Skydiving Championships, held
in Florida this past December, the A&M team comprised the
largest civilian skydiving team at the competition.
John Saitis, a senior history major, is training to be a jump
master. Jump masters are trained in skydiving safety and are
qualified to teach skydiving instruction classes. They also per
form tandem jumps, in which inexperienced skydivers are
paired with jump masters to ensure the safety of the novices.
Tandem jumps are geared toward those interested in skydiv
ing but know little about the sport. Static Line and Accelerat
ed Free Fall programs are offered by those interested in pur
suing skydiving as a competitive sport.
See Skydiving, Page 6
.V
1
Tim Moog, The Battalion
Left: Brian Epperson, Class of '86, falls from the sky Sunday
afternoon at Coulter field. Above: Mary Epperson and
John Saitis prepare for a jump.
kfileyball Marathon raises money for Cancer Society
Residents say
false flood
predictions
led to losses
Flood victims may not
be able to return to
their homes for weeks
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Town officials
and flood victims complained Wednesday that
Grand Forks could have been saved if forecast
ers had been right about how high the Red Riv
er would rise.
“I don’t like to be critical, but we were told ab
solutely 49 feet by the weather service,” Mayor
Pat Owens said two days after the river crested
at more than 54 feet.
“I’m not pointing fingers,” she said, “but our
engineers said it would have been preventable.”
Others say there’s little that could have been
done to resist the power of a 500-year flood.
Back in February, the National Weather
Service was already predicting record flood
ing in the Grand Forks area. The previous
record was 48.8 feet set in 1979. The February
forecast of 49 feet remained the same
through the early April blizzard. Not until
April 14 was it raised to 50 feet.
Sandbagging already had been going on for
weeks. As the river rose, schools and business
es closed to send their students and employees
to the front lines, piling bags atop the 49-foot
earthen dike.
On April 16th, as the first of the residents
along the river began to flee, the Weather Ser
vice increased the crest forecast to 50 1/2 feet.
Predictions increased three times over the next
two days to 54 feet.
“We were dealing with an unprecedented
flood and you’re dealing with Mother Nature
and you just have to roll with the punches,”
said Dean Braatz, hydrologist in charge of the
NWS’ North Central River Forecast Center in
Minneapolis.
Grand Forks Assistant Engineer A1
Crasser said the city could have done more
to stem the floodwaters if they had accu
rate crest numbers, but he isn’t sure how
effective extra dike-building and sandbag
ging would have been.
“You could have added the sandbags and the
dikes and kept it off for a day, but the problem
would be to build a dike or sandbags that would
hold up for several weeks,” he said.
Downstream, with the crest moving north to
ward Canada, crews rushed to top off dikes pro
tecting deserted towns and farms in the Red Riv
er Valley. At least 17,000 people have fled their
homes in Canada alone.
Floodwaters began to ebb in Grand Forks
on Wednesday, and residents were told they
would soon be allowed to fish out a few be
longings from their flooded homes. It could
be weeks or months before they can return
for good.
The marathon will feature
live entertainment by local
rock bands and Freudian
Slip.
By Rebecca Torrellas
The Battalion
[Volleyball, music and live performances
I be part of the Mary Collett American
Bncer Society Volleyball Marathon, which
arts Friday at 8 p.m. and ends Saturday at
hn. in the third-floor gymnasiums of the
tad Building.
The purpose of the marathon is to raise
[least $2,000 for the local chapter of the
lerican Cancer Society.
Adam Collett, a graduate student in stu
dent affairs administration in the higher
education program, started the event in
1994 and has since recruited other schools
to hold fund raisers for their local chapters
of American Cancer Society.
Collett said he became interested in
raising money for the society during his
sophomore year at Eastern Michigan
University.
“My mother died of cancer the year be
fore,” Collett said. “I’ve also had a couple
of close friends my age who have been di
agnosed with cancer.”
Collett said he hopes the Texas A&M
Cancer Society will adopt the Mary Collett
American Cancer Society Volleyball
Marathon as an annual event.
“I think there’s a perception out there
among college students that cancer doesn’t
really affect people their age,” Collett said.
“That’s another reason why I’m so interest
ed in getting college communities involved
in this.”
Jay Hayes, executive director for Dis
trict 19 of the Brazos Valley American
Cancer Society, said this is the first time
the local chapter will be involved in a vol
leyball marathon.
“Hopefully it catches on and they (A&M)
[will] make it an annual event,” he said.
The money donated will support local
education and a patient services programs
well as national research programs, Hayes
said.
Dustin Long, a junior journalism major,
will be one of the students who will help
Collett with the event.
He said it is not too late for students to
get involved.
“We welcome anyone who hears about
the event at the last minute to just show up
on the night of the event with any person
al donation,” Long said. “Even if someone
can’t collect donations for the event or
can’t spare a personal donation, but still
wants to show support by participating, we
welcome that too.”
Live performances at the marathon will
include the improvisational comedy group
Freudian Slip and local rock bands Satel
lite Dream and Fysher.
Hayes said students who cannot attend
the event but are interested in making do
nations can send donations to the local
American Cancer Society office at 3201
Briarcrest Drive in Bryan, TX 77802.
The Battalion
IN SI DETODAY
FAMILY BONDING:
Three brothers will play
with their funk-rock
band Vallejo tonight at
Dixie Theatre.
Aggielife, Page 3
Weather Page 2
Toons Page 5
Sports Page 7
What's Up ... . Page 12