D The Battalion
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Eating Early
Raylene Mercer, Special to The Battauon
Mike Meadors, a senior engineering technology major, grabs a breakfast
burrito at the Bus Stop Snack Bar on the way to class.
► This day in history
Today is Thursday, April 24, the 114th day of 1997. There
are 251 days left in the year.
On this date:
In 1792, the national anthem of France, "La Marseil
laise,” was composed by Capt. Claude Joseph Rouget de
Lisle, an officer stationed in Strasbourg.
In 1800, Congress approved a bill establishing the Li
brary of Congress in Washington, D.C.
In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States after
rejecting America’s ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
In 1915, the Ottoman Turkish Empire began the brutal
mass deportation of Armenians during World War I.
In 1916, some 1,600 Irish nationalists launched the
Easter Rising by seizing several key sites in Dublin, includ
ing the General Post Office. The rising was put down by
British forces several days later.
In 1953, British statesman Winston Churchill was knight
ed by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
In 1968, leftist students at Columbia University in New
York City began a weeklong occupation of several campus
buildings.
In 1970, the People’s Republic of China launched its first
satellite, which kept transmitting a song, “The East is Red.”
In 1990, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off from
Cape Canaveral, Ra., carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space
Telescope.
► Today's birthdays
Critic Stanley Kauffmann is 81. Actress Shirley MacLaine
is 63. Author Sue Grafton is 57. Actress-singer-director Bar
bra Streisand is 55. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is 55.
Country singer Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 54.
Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
is 52. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is 44. Actor Michael
O’Keefe is 42. Rock musician Billy Gould (Faith No More) is
34. Rock musician Patty Schemel (Hole) is 30.
Here kitty, kitty — DNA from ca
hair leads to murder conviction
NEWYORK (AP)—Here is an odd tale from the annals
of DNA evidence in the courtroom: A Canadian man was
convicted of murder after hairs in a bloodstained jacket
were genetically matched to his parents’ cat.
The man lived with his parents and Snowball, a
white American shorthair.
The case, reported in Thursday’s issue of the journal
Nature, is one of the few times that nonhuman DNA
has been used this way in a murder trial.
The murdered woman was 32 when she disap
peared from her home on Prince Edward Island in
1994. Her body was found in a shallow grave a few
months later, and police suspected her former com
mon-law husband.
By then, the brown leather jacket had been discov
ered, stuffed in a plastic bag and left in the woods. Tests
showed the bloodstains belonged to the woman.
The cat hairs were found in the lining. Police re
called seeing Snowball at the man’s home during their
investigation.
They sent a blood sample from Snowball and hair
from the jacket to Stephen J. O’Brien of the National
Cancer Institute in Frederick, Md. O’Brien has studied
cat genetics for 20 years.
O’Brien and colleagues report in Nature that Snow-
► Weather
Today Tonight
Partly cloudy with a Partly cloudy with vari-
chance of thunder- able winds,
storms.
ball’s DNA matched genetic material from (lit:
one of the hairs.
To help O’Brien compute the likelihoodthaii
match would occur by chance, the Royal Can
Mounted Police had a local veterinarian drawl
randomly from 19 cats. O’Brien studied DNAki
samples, plus data from a prior surveyofninecais
the United States.
The likelihood that the jacket hair DNA«
match Snowball’s DNA just by chance wascon|
at about 1 in 45 million.
The suspect was convicted of second-degret
der last July, and the DNA evidence was “a rnaju
tributing factor,” said Cpl. Phonse MacNeili
Mounties in Summerside, Prince Edward Island
Nonhuman DNA evidence has been usedbei
murder cases. In Arizona in 1993, a man wasconj
after DNA from seed pods in his pickup Inni
matched to a palo verde tree at the site whereil
tim’s body was found.
Edgar Espinoza, deputy director of the govern
National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratoni
land, Ore., said he had heard of another caseim
hairs on a blanket that wrapped a murdervici
matched by DNA to a suspect’s dog.
i
Tomorrow
Mostly sunny with light
wind.
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AGGIE RING ORDERS
THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS
CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS, JR. ALUMNI CENTER
DEADLINE: April 24, 1997
Undergraduate Student Requirements:
1. You must be a degree seeking student and have a total of 95 credit hours reflected on the
Texas A&M University Student Information Management System. (A passed course, which is
repeated and passed, cannot count as additional credit hours.)
2. 30 credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University, providing that
prior to January 1,1994, you were registered at Texas A&M University and successfully com
pleted a fall/spring semester or summer term (I and II or 10 weeks) as a full-time student in good
standing (as defined in the University catalog).
60 credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University if your first
semester at Texas A&M University was January 1994 or thereafter, or if you do not qualify under
the successful semester requirement. Should your degree be conferred with less than 60 res
ident credits, this requirement will be waived after your degree is posted on the Student
Information Management System.
3. You must have a 21) cumulative GPR at Texas A&M University.
4. You must be in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks
for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc:
Graduate Student Requirements
If you are a May 1997 degree candidate and you do not have an Aggie ring from a prior
degree, you may place an order after you meet the following requirements:
1. Your degree is conferred and posted on the Texas A&M University Student Information
Management System; and
2. You are in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for
past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc.
If you have completed afl of your degree requirements and can obtain a “Letter of Completion”
from the Office of Graduate Studies, the original letter of completion, with the seal, may be
presented to the Ring Office in lieu of your degree being posted.
Procedure To Order A Ring:
1. If you meet all of the above requirements, you must visit the Ring Office no later than
Thursday, April 24, 1997 to complete the application for eligibility verification.
2. If your application is approved and you wish to receive your ring on June 12, 1997, you
must return and pay in full by cash, check, money order, or your personal Visa or
Mastercard (with your name imprinted) no later than April 25, 1997.
Men’s 10K - $307.00
14K - $418.00
Women’s 10K - $176.00
14K - $203.00
Add $8.00 for Class of ‘96 or before.
The ring delivery date is June 12, 1997.
LOOKING FOR A GREAT JOB THIS
SUMMER?
the 12TH MAN FOUNDATION is
NOW HIRING
FOR POSITIONS IN ITS
1997 TELEMARKETING CAMPAIGN
4 Earn $5.50 per Hour Plus Bonuses
4 Looks Great On Your Resume
4 Flexible Hours
4 Help Support Texas A&M and Aggie
Athletics
Please pick up an application and schedule interview
in the 12th Man Foundation Office, Room 109 of the
Koldus Building before Friday, May 2, 1997
•fflTHMJlil
Ijbffillvlnll
Rachel Barry, Edtor in Chief
Tiffany Moore, Managing Editor
Kristina Buffin, Sports Editor Wesley Poston, (Mom
Stew Milne, Visual Arts Editor Alex Walters, Opinion Eui |
John LeBas, Aggieufe Editor Chris Stevens, Web Edik
Jody Holley, Night News Editor Tim Moog, Photo Editor
Helen Clancy, Night News Editor Brad Graeber, CartoonE
Staff Members
City Desk - Assistant Editor: Melissa Nunnery; Reporters: Rebecca Torrellas, Brandon Hausenfluck, Laura Olweiia,®* I
Roy, Graham Harvey, Jackie Vratil, Benjamin Cheng, Shikonya Cureton, Joey Schlueter, Kathleen Strickland,
Alanis & Shea Wiggins
Aggieufe Desk - Assistant Editor: April Towery; Feature Writers: Aaron Meier, Shea Wiggins, Michael SchaubJ
Phillips, Brandon Truitt, Missy Price, & Karen Janes: Page Designers: Artie Alvarado & Daphne Phillips
Sports Desk - Assistant Editor: Paul Mitchell; Writers: Jamie Burch, Jeremy Furtick, Matt Mitchell, CourtneyLions^fj
Ramirez, Chris Ferrell, Lara Zuehlke & Nicole Smith; Page Designer: Eric Proctor -
Opinion Desk - Assistant Editor: James Francis; Columnists: Jon Apgar, David Boldt, Mason Jackson, Stephen
Hill, Donny Ferguson, Kate Shropshire, Dave Johnston, Glenn Janik, General Franklin, Robby Ray, CouitneyPI# s |
John Lemmons, Brandon Hausenfluck, Travis Chow & Jeremy Valdez
Night News - Page Designers: Jennifer Bishop, Angie Rodgers, Joshua Miller, Lisa Wells & Michele Chancellor
Copy Editors - Elisa Douglass, Missy Davila, Shea Wiggins, Gina Panzica & Matt Weber
Visual Arts Desk - Assistant Photo Editor: Dave House; Photographers: RonyAngkriwan, Patrick James, Derek Dsi* 1 |
Robert McKay, Ryan Rogers & Amy Dunlap; Graphic Artists; Jennifer Maki, James Palmer & JamesVineyartC^I
ists: Michael Depot, Chad Mallam, David Hoffman, John Lemons, Ed Goodwin & Quatro Oakley
Webmasters - Dusty Moer, Sara Candy, David Friesenhahn & Daniel Holwerda
News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of!
cations, a unit of the Department of Journalism. News offices are in 013 Reed McDonald Building. Newoo«r|
845-3313; Fax: 845-2647; E-mail: B3tt@tamvml.tamu.edu; Internet Address: http://bat-web.tamu.e<iu.
Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For cai#|
cal and national display advertising, call 845-2696. For classified advertising, call 845-0569. Advertisiir
are in' 015 Reed McDonald, and office hours are 8 a.m, to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-26?!^
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ion. Mail subscriptions are $20 per semester, $40 per school year and $50 per full year.To charge by Visa,
Card, Discover or American Express, call 845-2611.
The Bahalion (ISSN #1055-4726) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and springsemesteispj
Monday through Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) atTaS^j
University. Second class postage paid at College Station,TX 77840. Postmaster: Send address c
talion,015 Reed McDonald Building,Texas A&M University, College Station,TX 77843-1111.
FOUN-DATION