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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 16, 1997)
hr,. Texas A&M University 1 J r 94 Today Tomorrow See extended forecast, Page 2. plume 103 • Issue 148 • 6 Pages College Station, TX Monday, June 16, 1997 te- !ews had a Briefs at questions Trigon in hazing case lapt. Robert Dalton, a military of- iwaiat the Trigon who helped super- acei ie Corps of Cadets’ Fish Drill |onl,was questioned Thursday be- laBrazos County grand jury con- Jfreliag hazing and assault allega- Jraulsmade against nine former Fish iledii'eam student advisers by four |ran|ifi)en cadets last spring. Iiandjury proceedings are closed to Lblicand no details were released. ^Indents return for Igie Hostel program lie Association of Former Students l/liostthe 10th annual AggieHostel ^l*eekas 80 former Texas A&M Uni- pystudents and their spouses will P M residence halls and attend and social events, irogram is available to former 65 or older and their spouses. ‘Ifatyclasses will be offered to Iformer students, including ge- r5Jli0gy t radio history, engineering future, medication uses, es- ^lemanagement, food production peprison system and the North Brican Free Trade Agreement. . leformer students also will at- lor "’jbanquets and dances and take ting tours of the campus and the .. Creamery in Brenham. u "Tgraduation banquet will be held ollege of Liberal Arts wards staff members IteCollege of Liberal Arts recently five staff members with a Wfesional development award, toners are Mary Johnson, a assistant in the Department of His- Richard, an academic busi- administrator II in the Department Science; Andre R. Josiah, a Assistant in the Public Policy Re- W Institute; Theresa Wier, an ad- 'istrative assistant in the George shSchool of Government and Public f «e;and Teri Czajkowski, an acade- :business administrator in the De- thent of English. Ihe winners each will be given a M of $100 to be used for profes- development. Lward paraglider ads himself in jail CASTAIC, Calif. (AP) — A paraglid- looking to get into the record bksinstead landed in prison. He (altitude and aborted his at- ipt Friday to break a 125-mile lance record for the non-motor- t parachute-like glider. The touched down safely on !fison field only to find himself Pounded by 15 deputies who red a jail break. Rec Center reinstates continuing pass Southerland reverses cancellation in response to student protest ITTAUQN or SPORTS itasA&M plays host to a sthora of summer camps uifkids. See Page 3. OPINION story teachings overlook omen and their contributions Ward important events. See Page 5. lie ONLINE ^ ^p://bat~web.tamu.edu p- 3 ok for le Battalion Ossified Ads e|line. ByJenara Kocks The Battalion Student outcry and reevaluation of a 1,150 "non-student” cap agreement be tween the Student Recreation Center and local gyms prompted Texas A&M’s adminis tration to reinstate the Center’s continuing pass policy Friday. Students who are enrolled in the fall 1997 semester, but not the summer 1997 semester, can again buy passes to use the Rec Center during the summer. See Editorial, Page 5 Dennis Corrington, director of the De partment of Recreational Sports, said he re ceived 60 complaints from students on the phone, about 20 such e-mail messages and a 325-signature petition protesting his decision to stop selling continuing passes. Corrington said the continuing pass poli cy was reinstated after students voiced their concerns to the Rec Center and the Rec Cen ter reevaluated its mission. “All students are a part of our mission,” Corrington said. Corrington said Dr. J. Malon Southerland, the vice president of student affairs, made the decision, but he and Southerland had been dis cussing the continuing pass issue since the de cision to stop selling the passes was made. Dr. Jan Winniford, associate vice president for student affairs, said that Southerland heard complaints from students and that Student Body President Curtis Childers and the Student Government Association presented research to him on behalf of the students. “He (Southerland) really looked at the impact on students and the agreement it self,” Winniford said. "He felt the policy that existed (the sale of the continuing stu dent pass) was probably in the best inter est of the University.” Childers, Judicial Board Chair Will Hurd and Speaker of the Student Senate Alice Gon zalez told Corrington and Southerland that as representatives of the executive council of Student Government, they were unhappy with the decision. The student leaders learned B-CS gyms were involved with the decision and secured a copy of the written cap agreement between the Rec Center and the gyms so they could fully un derstand the gyms’ perspective, Childers said. Childers said through their discussion with the gyms, the gyms better understood the students’ perspective and the importance of the Rec Center to students. Childers said he and the other two members of Executive Council also com pared the Rec Center to other services in the University that compete with private enterprise in the community. He said the barber shop and bookstore in the MSC and the dining services on campus compete Graphic: Stew Milne with local businesses in the community, but students were never denied access to these services. Please see Pass on Page 6. v®-' \ *»• > * ' T 4:-^ City approves relocation offer for Burger Boy By Robert Smith The Battalion The College Station City Council ended ongoing ne gotiations with Burger Boy owner George Sopasakis Thursday by agreeing to give Sopasakis approximately $10,000 to relocate his business. The vote nullified a $30,500 offer made to Sopasakis that would have required him to release his rights to sue the city and and other claims. JKUliiMiiili um lEMMimilMm Ongoing Coverage Photograph: Derek Demere Hivia I n A&g' 6 Swim Club members warm up Sunday afternoon at the Aggie Open meet the team hosted this weekend at I-/1 VIS III the Student Recreation Center. About 800 swimmers from Texas and Louisiana competed in the meet. Clinton defends new campaign President unveiled a plan to ease racial tensions Saturday WASHINGTON (AP) — With his na tional dialogue on race barely under way, President Clinton was defending the idea Sunday as a good use of the presidency, “still an effective bully pulpit” for resolving conflict among the races. A poll released Sunday might suggest otherwise. It said more than half the Amer icans consider racism an intractable dilem ma that no president can control. In a flurry of television interviews, Clinton sought to dispel his critics’ ar gument that the campaign he unveiled Saturday in San Diego, which revolves around having Americans speak out be fore a presidential advisory board, will be a lot of talk about race with little or no official action. Where Clinton is most likely to feel the sting is on affirmative action. Critics say the president was absent on that issue during the most in flamed moments of the debate over California’s Proposition 209, which eliminated race-based admission policies in the state’s university system. “Where was the president when the is sue was engaged?” conservative William Bennett asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Clinton “He was not going to anger anybody in California by coming out on the wrong side, or the right side, so he was silent. That’s not political leadership.” But Clinton, in an interview on CNN’s “Late Edition,” said the overall problem of race is much more complex than the af firmative action debate. “There are other issues here,” he said, and having Americans voice their opinions about them before the advisory board will give the president the information he needs to try and solve the problems. “I believe about eight in 10 Americans would think that was worth doing,” Clinton said on “CBS Sunday Morning.” “The pres idency is still an effective bully pulpit.” The 4-2 vote ended a two-year struggle to reach a re location agreement that started when College Station purchased the building Sopasakis was renting. Construction on Patricia Street began last week and workers prepared to clear the area around Burger Boy to make space for a parking lot. But Sopasakis kept his business in operation, saying the city owed him more money than the earlier offer of $30,500 and no rights or future claims. Council members Steve Esmond and Swiki Anderson motioned to give Sopasakis an open 30-minute meet ing, which was approved by a 4-2 vote. At 8:12, time started counting down for Sopasakis, and he began defending his stance that he needed more mon ey. Sopasakis said relocating his business would require a new $6,000 vent hood and other inventory to renovate the new location into a restaurant. Birdwell then told Sopasakis the city has been fair and patient in its negotiations. “Two years ago, the city bought a building that you were renting on a month-to-month basis,” councilman Dick Birdwell said. “We’ve tried to assist you for two years.” Sopasakis said the offer was not sufficient. “Thirty-thousand, five hundred dollars is not enough money to successfully relocate my business,” Sopasakis said. “It’s not right the way you are forcing me out.” Sopasakis uttered similar statements several times during the meeting. But council members, showing the frustration caused by a two-year battle, wanted to know exactly what Sopasakis wanted. Please see Northgate on Page 6. Superintendent faces felony charge He is accused of preying on his wife’s mental illness, driving her to suicide BULLARD (AP) — To his new friends in Snook, Frank Cook was a respected school superintendent, a loving family man who sang in the church choir and attended Bible study with his wife and teen-age son. But a prosecutor says that at home, Cook showed a different side, one that preyed on his wife’s mental illness and taunted her with “psy chological warfare.” And when Janet Cook, 38, shot herself in the chest with a shotgun last summer, her husband drove her to it, claims Charles Sebesta, district attorney for Burleson and Washington counties. Pushing someone to suicide isn’t a crime, Sebesta says, but lying about life insurance benefits is. Cook was indicted last fall on a felony charge of aggravated perjury. Cook told a grand jury he would col lect $250,000 in life insurance from his wife’s death. But Sebesta con tends he’s found additional policies totaling more than $2 million. “Our theory is — and this is a unique theory—that these insurance policies were purchased, he played upon her emotions and drove her to kill herself,” the prosecutor said. ^ ^ Our theory is ... he played upon her emotions and drove her to kill herself.” Charles Sebesta Prosecutor Cook’s attorney, Dick DeGuerin, has argued that Cook told the truth about insurance proceeds. DeGuerin says the other policies are payable only to a trust created for their son. Sebesta also questioned how a couple who grossed less than $80,000 annually could afford $43,000 in yearly insurance premiums. Cook, 42, was ruled out as a sus pect in his wife’s death; an investi gation was closed in October with a suicide ruling. In a brief interview with The Associ ated Press, Cook referred questions about the case to his lawyer. But he said he longs to return to his $56,200-a-year job, from which he is on paid leave. Cook told the weekly Burleson County Citizen-Tribune that he and his wife felt the long-term benefits of providing for their only child made the high premiums worthwhile. He also told the newspaper that his wife had battled depression for years and was on medication. Those who know him best in Snook, a town of about 500 people located 13 miles southwest of Bryan, say it’s inconceivable that Cook led his wife to suicide. “There’s nothing in me that be lieves that,” said Tim Junek, the school district’s business manag er. ‘T’ve never seen him try to dri ve anybody to do anything. He’s not a manipulator, the one that I know. You’d have to be a dastardly individual to want to do some thing like that.” Texas Motor Speedway hosts massive concert FORT WORTH (AP) — The morning after what was billed as the biggest country music concert ever, Texas Motor Speedway secu rity supervisor Robert Langley surveyed the infield of the mas sive two-month-old track. Strewn with garbage, from beer bottles to watermelon rinds, it looked like a landfill. “In all the times I’ve worked out here for racing, I’ve never seen it this dirty,” Langley said. You can’t expect a tea party when tens of thousands of hot, humidified country music fans gather to watch stars such as Hank Williams Jr., Wynonna, Vince Gill and hometown teen age sensation LeAnn Rimes. Concert officials said the show attracted an estimated 260,000 people. That was more than twice the number who watched the NASCAR Winston Cup Interstate Batteries 500, de scribed as the largest sporting event ever held in Texas, during the speedway’s debut weekend in April. The figure approaches the es timated 300,000 who attended the 1987 mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in a field near San An tonio, apparently the largest Texas gathering ever. An unidentified city official told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the 300,000-seat speedway was never more than one-third full at any time as fans came and went throughout the 12-hour show Saturday. Next weekend, the speedway expects to draw even more people to RockFest ’97, featuring Bush, Jewel and No Doubt. “I think it will bring more peo ple out to not only to the races, but the facility itself,” Langley said. “Now they are going to see what we actually have out here.”
