ir 22,
RE/The Batow
Texas A & M University
I
104™ YEAR • ISSUE 17 • 10 PACES
COLLEGE STATION • TX
TODAY TOMORROW
See extended forecast. Page 2.
TUESDAY • SEPTEMBER 23 • 1997
Bonfire safety
under review
Cut site incident prompts meeting
Prof: Book banning limits freedom
By Erica Roy
City editor
Texas A&M officials and Bonfire
student leaders will meet this week
to review safety precautions at Bon
fire events after a junior redpot suf
fered heat stroke Saturday.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice
president of student affairs, said
one of the junior redpots had a heat
stroke while working at the Hearne
cut site.
Southerland said the redpot was
taken immediately to St. Joseph Re
gional Health Center by other stu
dents and is in stable condition.
Bonfire adviser Kevin Jackson,
Head Stack John Gallemore and
Southerland will discuss safety at
the Bonfire site.
Jackson said Saturday’s incident
will be reviewed at the meeting, as
well as Bonfire safety practices.
“Our goal is to make Bonfire as
safe as possible,” he said. “What
are the actions to enhance the
safety of Bonfire?”
Southerland said good safety
measures are used during Bonfire,
but University officials want to en
sure all precautions are used.
“You have to be careful,” he said.
“That’s die key message to students.
You have to think of yourself and be
careful.”
Jackson said the redpots will
not work at cut site until after the
meeting.
The redpots and brownpots
were preparing the site for first cut
Oct. 4.
ByKarie Fehler
Staff writer
A professor of a banned books course at the
University of Texas said reading books is a right
people should not take for granted, because it is
under constant threat.
Persis M. Karim, a Ph.D candidate in compara
tive literature, said Monday night at the MSC that
people’s choice to read what interests them becomes
limited when books are challenged or banned.
Karim said Maya Angelou’s book, I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings, is third on the 1996 list of the
most frequently challenged books. She said the
passage that describes Angelou being raped at 8
years old is one of the reasons it is challenged.
Karim said this controversy shows how a pas
sage taken out of context can cause an entire book
to be labeled.
“Because of this scene, Maya Angelou’s book
has repeatedly been labeled pornographic, sexu
ally explicit and as promoting non-traditional val
ues,” she said.
Karim said society does not read enough and
does not encourage children to read.
“When we don’t read, we lose part of the critical
faculties with which we were born — curiosity,
imagination and sensitivity,” she said. “This is why
I think it is important to foster a love of reading in
children.”
Karim said intellectual freedom and the idea of
access to information is especially important to
university communities.
“Intellectual freedom is an ideal that relies on
the notion of free intellectual inquiry, and that
should not be interpreted by censorship,” she
said. “At the core of intellectual freedom is free
access to ideas.”
Thousands of books in schools and librar ies in
the United States are challenged each year'. Com
munity citizens write formal complaints and a
process of banning the book may begin.
Sara Lloyd, chair of the MSC Literary Arts com
mittee, said college students usually do not think
about book banning.
“College students automatically think that all of
the information out there is just automatically go
ing to be available to them,” Lloyd said. “A lot of
people don’t realize that people still try to get books
taken off the shelves and out of libraries. It’s an is
sue of free speech.”
Escaping injury
"Despite license loss,
dHarry’s stays open
By Robert Smith
a Battalions Senior staff writer
>fit students'
:tivities. Iten Hurricane Harry’s, a College
I no later tin a tion nightclub, no longer can
a of the desiii 11 alcohol, but the bar remains
i deadlines^ jgn and allows patrons to bring
ts and willn their own alcohol,
alendar. Ifyt i LastWednesday night, Harry’s be-
please calli in a “bring your own bottle” policy.
13. | Some Texas A&M students say
iey will still frequent the bar.
Sal/y Bettis, a senior elementary
lucation major, went to Harry’s last
ursday night.
“We had a blast,” she said. “We
ught in a cooler and had a ball.”
Bettis said she heard the bar was
ing to stay open despite losing its
|uor license last Wednesday.
"We didn’t know if many people
mid be there, but it was pretty
Icked,” she said. “The cover
Correction:
a Page 1 story in
Jsterday’s Battalion,
illy Hartline was
lisidentified. Hartline
not president of Eagle
)rum Collegians, and
[he was not involved in
Iny protest involving
fanned Books Week.
HhT
Dance Till You
Drop: A&M or
ganizations
twirl, two-step
and pirouette
across campus.
See Page 3
charge went up a little, but you still
come out OK.”
Patrons under 21 years of age
have to pay a cover charge of $6, and
patrons 21 years old and older are
charged $5.
Harry’s also will loan ice chests
and ice to patrons.
Tucker Slack, a freshman bio
medical science major, said he likes
Harry’s new policy.
“It sounds good to me,” he said. “It
will be good to let people bring in
their own stuff instead of charging
them a lot more.”
Dave Phillip, a freshman political
science major, said Harry’s still will be
a fun nightclub.
“It sounds like a good idea as
long as the same amount of peo
ple go,” he said.
Please see Harry’s on Page 6.
RONY ANGKRIWAN/The Battalion
An accident involving two vehicles causes momentary closure of the junction between Olsen Road and George Bush Drive Tuesday afternoon. No seri
ous injuries were reported. The accident involved a west-bound vehicle on George Bush Drive and a vehicle approaching from Olsen Road.
9
Jdreau: Third-ranked Soc-
Team set to play number
team in the nation.
See Page 7
S o <? f
Informatio'
u 845-7826
Or Visit
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RECSPORTS.TAMU-I^
>ttp://bat-web.tamu.edu
> k up with state and na-
'al news through The
e ,AP’s 24-hour online
ys service.
Teaching a new dog old tricks
Program turns puppies into guide dogs
By Joey Jeanette Schlueter
Stoffwriter
T he Guide Dog Foundation of the Southwest
has teamed up with Aggies to train puppies
for a future of guiding the visually impaired.
Volunteer students at Texas A&M have formed an or
ganization called Aggie Guide dogs and Service dogs
(AGS). The gr oup will focus on fund raising for the Guide
Dog Foundation and offering information and help to
those interested in “puppy walking.”
Debra Baker, executive director of the Foundation,
said A&M offers a good training atmosphere for dogs. She
said dogs can become used to a busy schedule and so
cializing witli many people.
“A&M provides a good place for dogs to learn to in
teract with many sights, sounds and smells and deal with
them well,” she said.
Puppies return to guide dog school for evaluation af
ter completing basic training between one to two years
old. Then, the puppies are placed with a person in need.
The Foundation recommends only one dog be put in
tr aining on campus at a time. Volunteers must be dedi
cated and have time to commit to the dog, Baker said,
and they must attend mandatory tr aining classes.
Jesse Czelusta, a government and public services
graduate student, volunteered as a “puppy walker”
two years ago for a puppy named Rudder. Rudder’s
training included obedience training and interacting
with people on campus.
Czelusta said he enjoyed being a “puppy walker”
for Rudder.
“It was like being a miniature parent,” he said.
“You have to house-train your dog and love and
feed him. I love it.”
The Foundation is not limited to the A&M campus. A
puppy is being trained at Sam Rayburn Middle School in
Bryan.
Becky Alter, a teacher at Rayburn, had her students
raise money for the program. Alter is a volunteer walker
for a puppy called Penny, named after pennies the stu
dents collected to raise money.
Alter said the classroom provides a place for Penny to
be social. Penny stays in the classroom and is taken for
walks between classes. Penny also has her own Web page
at penny.myriad.net.
Alter said she will take care of Penny for a few more
months until the puppy is sent to professional train
ing school.
The volunteer program runs for 12 to 15 months,
during which puppies learn basic training and so
cialization skills.
Dogs in the program come from donations and
DAVE HOUSE/The Battalion
Becky Alter and Penny wait outside their classroom
to greet the incoming children.
breeding centers. The foundation favors golden re
trievers, German shepherds and Labrador retrievers
because these breeds are known to be strong with
good dispositions.
Puppies chosen to be guide dogs must have parents
with a clear eye record and are certified free of hip dys
plasia. The puppies also must pass a preliminary apti
tude test and physical examination.
Baker said the list of people in need of guide dogs is
getting longer, and a long waiting list for people wanting
to be puppy walkers also exists.
“The demand for guide dogs is large, and in-state
there is a need for about 3,000 guide dogs,” she said.
Baker said the Foundation is able to give guide dogs
to recipients free of charge because of donations, grants
and volunteer work.
“It is a good cause,” she said, “and I feel students at
A&M care a lot about helping people.”
*Help One Student To Succeed
A&M students return
to elementary school
By Amanda Smith
Staff writer
Texas A&M students strive to,
“Help One Student To Succeed,” by
volunteering in the H.O.S.T.S. read
ing program in seven elementary
schools in the Bryan Independent
School District.
This is the sixth year A&M stu
dents have helped elementary chil
dren learn to read.
Marcie Spence, the H.O.S.T.S.
coordinator at Crockett Elemen
tary, said the program provides
students with a unique learning
opportunity.
“The children really blossom with
that one-on-one attention,” Spence
said. “Our volunteers are the back
bone of the program because each
child has four volunteers—and they
just love the Aggies.”
The H.O.S.T.S. program draws
over 1,600 volunteers from Bryan-
College Station. Elementary stu
dents in the H.O.S.T.S. program
meet with a different volunteer
each day Monday through Thurs
day, for 30 minutes each day.
“This affords the child the op
portunity to make four new
friends,” Spence said. “It is a very
positive reinforcement for the
children.”
During the daily 30-minute ses
sions,- H.O.S.T.S. volunteers help
their students with exercises such
as reading comprehension and vo
cabulary. The program coordina
tors alter the exercises to meet each
student’s needs.
Becky Thorne, a H.O.S.T.S. vol
unteer and a junior finance major,
has participated in the program for
the past two years. Thorne said she
received a thank-you letter from a
child that she worked with last year.
“You feel good that you are help
ing the student,” she said. “You get
a lot of time to work with the stu
dent over the year.”
Jan Laine, the H.O.S.T.S. coordi
nator at Bonham Elementary, said
the H.O.S.T.S. schedule works with
“We are extremely grateful
for the Aggies. They
function as excellent role
models for the children.”
SANDRA DAVIS
DIRECTOR. H.O.S.T.S. PROGRAM
the fall and spring semester sched
ules at Texas A&M. The H.O.S.T.S.
sessions began yesterday and end
the first week of December. The
program will continue in February
and runs through April.
Sandra Davis, the district-wide
director of the H.O.S.T.S. pro
gram, said the district depends on
A&M students to keep the pro
gram running.
“We.are extremely grateful to the
Aggies,” Davis said. “They function
as excellent role models for the stu
dents. We have seen nice gains from
student achievement, participation
and self-esteem.”
Ellen Breckenfeld, a H.O.S.T.S.
volunteer and a senior French ma
jor, said she volunteered because
she enjoys working with children
and has considered teaching.
“I love little kids,” she said. “They
have so much spirit.”
Spence said H.O.S.T.S. offers ed
ucation majors an opportunity to
work with elementary students.
However, she said H.O.S.T.S. wel
comes any volunteers from Texas
A&M and the Bryan-College Station
community.
Please see School on Page 6.