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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1997)
ober 7,11 Texas A St M University ip m I version of hi ; should t; ssentedby k to prayfoi| g and convtj Sfbl 4 th YEAR • ISSUE 28 • 14 PACES :loset, but 1 ^ Wmm §F Jf f H: ■ ■ ■ fpfl ;:v|| Aaron Hem Class COLLEGE STATION • TX 74 TODAY TOMORROW See extended forecast. Page 2. WEDNESDAY • OCTOBER 8 • 1997 M irmer German ROW discuss WWII the Rev. Fritz Haus, who spent /o years as a German ROW, will esent a lecture about his World 'ar II experiences today at 7 p.m. |L05 Harrington Education Center. ’ Haus was imprisoned at “Camp earne" in the Brazos Valley. : ®aus served with Gen. Erwin Burners Afrika Korps and the Luft- 3ffe until he was captured from orth Africa in 1943. After his im- •jSonment at Camp Hearne and s repatriation to Germany, he be- e an ordained Baptist minister. sive "9 I st-expressionist Dm to show tonight mac Line)!: $25 T $25 upon) party, Inc cket adchen in Uniform, a movie Wut a young girl in boarding ■ool, will be shown at 7 tonight loom 130 of the Academic ding. he movie, which is from the ehnan post-expressionism peri- dJis by Leontine Sagan. It is in ifinan with English subtitles. ncure idicure >0 OFF coupon FILL 2.00 Center fed Cross releases llocaust documents IeRUSALEM (AP) — The Red ross handed over 60,000 pages War ll-era documents to >rael Tuesday, and a top official cknowledged the organization’s mioral failure” in keeping silent ihile the Nazis murdered six mil- on Jews. livery clearly, the ICRC’s activities /ilti regard to the Holocaust are jMsed as a moral failure,” George l/illemin, director of archives for the iefieva-based International Commit- ofthe Red Cross, said. “The ICRC admits — yes — hat it has kept silent with regard othe Holocaust, and I would say tatthis is the heart of the moral ufure," he added. ‘Willemin spoke at a modest cer- jony at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holo- st memorial institute, which re ed the documents. |etanyahu, Arafat old peace talks EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin letanyahu and Palestinian leader ser Arafat held face-to-face talks ly Wednesday for the first time in it months, a senior Palestinian Dial said. The 2 1/2-hour summit, rranged late Tuesday by U.S. en- oy Dennis Ross, could signal a |aw in the crisis that has rought the peace process to the ribk of total breakdown. Iponvoys of limousines carrying leaders left the Erez Crossing Ithe Israel-Gaza border, where le meeting was held, around 5 . local time. The two men did speak to reporters, who had |?en kept outside the compound. jt See Page 13 ittp://bat-web.tamu.edu up with state and lational news through The Wre, AP’s 24-hour online lews service. ► i 997 Health and Wellness Fair Exhibitors aim to educate students By Amanda Smith Staffwriter The 1997 Health and Wellness Fair will feature more than 50 exhibitors with health information from the Bryan-College Station area today. The fair will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the first floor of the MSC. Dr. Jane Cohen, assistant health coordi nator and a nutrition specialist from the A.E Beutel Health Center, said the fair provides a wide range of health-related information. “The health fair is an opportunity for stu dents, faculty and staff to know of available sources in the community,” she said. “We have so many different organizations, with screenings ranging from glucose to body fat to blood pressure.” The American Red Cross and Planned Par enthood are two of the organizations that will have exhibits at the fair. “With 50 different campus organizations, students can get information on all areas of health whether it pertains to pregnancy or heart rate,” Cohen said. “Students need to stop by to examine healthy choices.” Mary Anne Edly, an assistant at the health center and a nutrition science graduate stu dent, said students can get free food samples from businesses such as TCBY, and pick up information about health. “It is just a good way to promote healthy lifestyles,” she said. “In the health education office, we want to focus on sex education and nutrition education.” Beutel also will have representatives at the fair. Students may sign up for the 40 door prizes, including gift packages and certifi cates to Bryan-College Station businesses. Students also may get information about psychological health and relationships. Please see Exhibitors on Page 6. Mixing it up Jeff Heffington, a senior Civil Engineering student, mixes concrete in his Civil Engineering 342 class. The students make test beams and columns which they then test for strength. Confusion prompts runoff elections By Bran dye Brown Staffwriter Due to differences in interpretations of “majority” under the ranking system by the Election Commission, freshman run-off elections are today from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Amy Magee, Rules and Regulations chair of Student Senate and a senior psychology major, said the ranking system worked with out problems, and it reached a majority^ be tween two candidates. “The problem as far as the Election Com mission is concerned is they looked for a ma jority out of all students that voted in the election,” she said. “Technically, using the ranking system a majority out of all students voting in the first round may never be reached, because when students did not rank all the candidates, they chose not to participate in the subsequent ‘run-offs’ by the ranking system.” Pat Troy, Election Commission chair and a senior political science major, said the problem was not with the ranking system, but there was a conflict between the inter pretation of the system’s view of a majority and the interpretation of the election regula tions’ definition of majority. “What majority meant to the originators of the system and what I felt my rules and regulations called for were different,” he said. “The definition of majority in the election rules and regulations will have to be changed to avoid problems in the future.” Magee said the ranking system could have been used according to the election regulations. “The Election Commission had a differ ent interpretation of what a majority is, the ranking system considers it to be of the votes cast in the last round of the ranking, not of the entire number that voted in the election,” she said. Please see Confusion on Page 6. Lady Bird: Johnson believed Warren report Texas A&M Horsemen Association hosts riding clinic for special B-CS children. See Page 3 he Texas A&M Volleyball ^efem travels to Houston to attle the UH Cougars. See Page 9 ackson: Pressure to fit into feconceived groups llenates students at A&M. AUSTIN (AP) — Contradicting a new book based on Oval Office tape recordings, former first lady Lady Bird Johnson said Tuesday her husband believed the Warren Commission report on the assassi nation of President Kennedy. Johnson, who escorted news reporters through a new exhibit at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum at the University of Texas, said the former president respected the members of the Warren Commission and believed their conclusion Kennedy was shot by a lone gunman. Johnson was Kennedy’s vice president and assumed the pres idency upon Kennedy’s death. “I remember truly that he did wonder if this is a wider plot; a wider victims’ plan than one man, one person to assassinate,” Johnson said. “He believed in those men on the Warren Commission, and he believed that they had tracked down every iota that could be found. And so he wanted to go onward with Kennedy’s agenda, his agenda, Lyndon’s, and the problems that the country faced and needed to handle.” A new book, based on tape recordings from Johnson’s presi dency, says the former president thought Cuban dictator Fidel Cas tro played a role in Kennedy’s 1963 assassination in Dallas. The book says Johnson worried, though, that a retaliatory strike on Cuba could lead to nuclear war. Johnson did not believe the Warren Commission’s report, the book says, citing a conversation between Johnson and commis sion member Sen. Richard Rusell, R-Georgia. Month dedicated to AIDS awareness By Rachel Dawley Staffwriter During National HIV/AIDS Awareness Month, Texas A&M organizations and the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will educate the public through posters, videos, public service announce ments and literature. Margaret Griffith, health education co ordinator at the A.P. Beutel Health Center, said the month’s focus is to make people more aware of the disease through pro grams and education. “People are hearing good news about AIDS, which sometimes makes them feel that it is no longer a problem,” she said. “Medicine has proved to be effective in keeping the disease in the HIV stage, but now fewer people consider it the serious problem that it is.” Students should be tested for HIV/AIDS regularly, Griffith said. Testing is offered year-round in the health center and in the Bryan-College Station area. The testing centers also can offer suggestions to stu dents on improving sexual habits after they answer individual questions. There will be free and anonymous HIV testing at the Health Fair in the MSC from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today. Representatives at information tables also will available to an swer questions about the prevention and transmission of the disease. “It is really difficult for a few people to hit the 44,000 students here,” Griffith said. “When more information is out there, there is more concern and people are more like ly to get tested.” The Texas Department of Health said HIV and AIDS cannot be detected by look ing at someone. A person with HIV may look healthy and feel fine. A blood test is the only way a person can find out if he or she is infected with HIV. HIV is spread only through sexual inter course and intravenous drugs, not casual contact or through the air. Sheilah Looney, a junior community health major, is secretary of Aggie Repre sentatives Educating About College Health (Aggie R.E.A.C.H.), a group of student vol unteers trained to give presentations about health-related issues. Looney said college-age people are af fected by HIV and AIDS because students are trying new things while they are away from their parents’ home. “Alcohol on this campus plays a part in un planned, unanticipated, unwanted and un protected sex,” she said. “We hope that people will practice safer sex, get tested often or ab stain from sexual intercourse. The bottom line is respect for yourself and to protect yourself.” A University committee, the HfWAIDS Awareness Committee, promotes the aware ness of the disease on campus through edu cational and outreach programs. Anupama Ramachandran, a member of the committee and a freshman bioengi neering major, said safer sex is important in the prevention of HIV and AIDS. “A lot of people have been personally touched by the disease,” Ramachandran said. “People must realize that HIV and AIDS affects more people. It has a domino effect that touches everyone including fam ily, friends and co-workers.” Activities and educational programs are planned during the month of October. World AIDS Day, sponsored by the World Health Organization, is Dec. 1. This day al lows people to stop and consider people af fected by HIV and AIDS. AMA president-elect encourages women to pursue medical careers ROBERT McKAY/The Battalion Dr. Nancey Dickey, National President-elect of the American Medical Association, addresses students at Rudder Theater Tuesday evening. By Colleen Kavanagh Staffwriter The president-elect of the American Medical As sociation (AMA), said Tuesday night although women face challenges working in male-dominated profession, opportunities also exist in the medical field for women. Dr. Nancy Dickey, the first woman to become pres ident of the AMA, said she knew she would face chal lenges as a woman physician, but she has tried to keep a sense of humor about it. “I am a physician who happens to be a woman,” she said. “There is a measurable amount of hostility to women because this has been a man’s profession for hundreds of years, but I think this hostility will go away with time.” Dickey also said because of the small amount of women in the field, she has had opportunities she would not have had otherwise, such as treating pa tients who wanted a woman doctor. “My practice and my work with the AMA began be cause people needed a woman to help them,” she said. Dickey also discussed challenges physicians face in the field, such as uninsured patients and globalization. “There are 34 million uninsured Americans who don’t get the type of health care they need,” she said. “That doesn’t even include the rest of the world. We can no longer just worry about the U.S. when infectious dis eases from West Africa can reach the U.S. so quickly.” Doctors must continue their education throughout their profession to stay informed of technology ad vances in the medical field, Dickey said. Please see Medical on Page 6.