iber
Texas A & M University
fa**
mmid
Wiil
m . I
font.
-onii
65
104™ YEAR • ISSUE 66 • 12 PAGES
COLLEGE STATION • TX
TODAY TOMORROW
See extended forecast. Page 2.
WEDNESDAY • DECEMBER B • 1997
■ 'osition on J-Board
pen for Class of ’00
Tleeifrexas A&M Student Government
as an opening on the Judicial Board
1|H member of the Class of '00.
^Applications are available in the
Student Government office at 127
t )rv oldus and are due Dec. 8.
fell practice to be
11 Hard Rock Cafe
[A^idnightyell practice will be Friday
t tl e Hard Rock Cafe on the River
i/all in San Antonio.
lAhe football game between
exfes A&M and the University of Ne-
irafeka will be at 3:30 p.m. Satur-
lay n San Antonio.
■l)-defendant talks
n ex-mayor’s trial
Kan ANTONIO (AP) — A former
o-defendant of former Ingleside
nayor Mark Crawford took the stand
udsday to describe events leading
o a 1996 killing.
jfikirk Johnson was the first wit-
|i teas as testimony began in Craw-
D ora's capital murder retrial.
Hlohnson described events lead
ing to the death of businessman
Hick Brueggen, 49, of Houston.
Tbrawford is accused of kidnap
ping Brueggen, forcing him into a
metal box and gassing him with ex-
naust fumes.
jA^deral prosecutors allege the
murder was committed to keep
Jlieggen from testifying in a Califor-
,, nia insurance scam investigation.
Bribery law upheld
by Supreme Court
■WASHINGTON (AP) — People can
be convicted under a federal bribery
law even when the transaction did not
involve federal funds, the Supreme
Court ruled yesterday in upholding a
Texas jail official’s conviction.
Bln a unanimous ruling, the justices
also said people can be convicted of
(racketeering-conspiracy without proof
that they agreed to commit the two
acts required for a conviction of an
actual racketeering offense.
P The justices upheld the federal
bribery and racketeering-conspira
cy convictions of Mario Salinas,
former chief of detention in Hidal
go County, Texas.
K He was sentenced to three years
in prison and fined $5,000 in con
nection with bribes prosecutors
said were paid by a federal prisoner,
Homero Beltran-Aguirre.
Bush appoints new
Secretary of State
I AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. George W.
Bush’s search for a new secretary of
state ended not far from his Capitol
office. Bush picked his lawyer, Alberto
R. Gonzales, for the job.
I Gonzales, 42, replaces Tony
Garza, who resigned last month
to seek the GOP nomination for
land commissioner.
lifestyles
receive graduate-study grant
Get on the Bus:
Texas A&M
students work
shuttling fellow
Aggies across
campus.
See Page 3
Junior cornerback Shun Horn
has emerged as a big-time
player for the Aggies.
U See Page 7
By Stacey Becks
Staff writer
Texas A&M and five schools in
the Texas A&M University System
will receive the Social and Behav
ioral Sciences Supplement from the
National Science Foundation for a
summer program geared toward
minority students.
The Texas A&M Department of
Sociology is heading the program
that will prepare fifteen students
from A&M alliance schools for
graduate study by bringing them
to College Station for courses in
research and methodological
techniques.
Dudley Poston, a sociology pro
fessor, said the program will expose
students from other schools to
graduate school at A&M.
“This is a wonderful opportuni
ty for students to come to A&M to
see what we offer in graduate pro
grams,” he said.
Mark Fossett, a sociology profes
sor who works with the program,
said he hopes the program will
bring up the number of students
from selected schools who apply to
A&M graduate programs.
“The sister campuses produce
good students who are not prone to
apply at A&M,” he said. “We’re hop
ing to change that.”
The departments involved in the
grant are sociology, economics,
psychology, educational psycholo
gy and political science.
Faculty members from the partic
ipating schools will nominate stu
dents interested in the areas of study.
The students will take training cours
es that are crucial to prepare for grad
uate school, Fossett said.
opinion
Kelly: McCaughey septuplets’
fame overshadows problem
with fertility drugs.
See Page 11
l_
" ■ttp://battaIioii.taiiiu.edu
Hook up with state and
national news through The
Wire, AP’s 24-hour online
news service.
Lap top
DEREK DEMERE/The Battalion
Four-month-old Cassandra Gordon of College Station enjoys a visit with Santa Claus at Post Oak Mall Tuesday.
Campus group stresses traffic safety
Texas Aggies Making Changes reminds students of needfor caution
By Rachel Dawley
Staff writer
As the holiday season approaches,
a group of Texas A&M students are
warning drivers about traffic fatalities.
Members from Texas Aggies
Making Changes (TAMC) devel
oped a program focused on high
way safety.
Madison Mauze, chair of TAMC
and a junior chemistry major, said
the program wants to remind oth
ers to drive with caution. TAMC, a
group of 115 students, began last
year in the Student Government As
sociation to address student con
cerns on campus.
“The main focus of TAMC is to
solve problems that directly face
A&M students,” Mauze said. “Fligh-
way safety is a huge problem. We are
working to get Aggies to drive safely.”
University officials said 22 A&M
students have been killed on roads
and highways across Texas in the
past 15 months. Sixteen students
have died in traffic accidents since
January 1997.
The group is working with the
Texas Department ofTransportation
to have billboards posted around the
Bryan-College Station area to pro
mote safe driving. The billboards will
be placed on Highway 6 and High
way 21 and are scheduled to be put
up next semester.
The group also sends e-mail to stu
dents and places fliers around cam
pus as a reminder of the accidents.
Committee members said they
are asking people to pass the word
to drive safely over the holidays.
Farah Mensik, co-chair of the
highway safety committee and a se
nior community health major, said
the major focus of the committee is
putting up the billboards. Mensik
said the group also is speaking to
Aggie Mom’s Clubs around the state
to inform them of traffic problems
and to get donations for the project.
Please see Traffic on Page 5.
“This is a wonderful
opportunity for students
to come to A&M to see
what we offer in graduate
programs.”
DUDLEY POSTON
A&M SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR
The supplement is part of the
broader Texas Alliance for Minority ’
Participation (AMP) grant that is'
trying to increase minority partic
ipation in graduate programs.
Dr. Rita Caso, who works with;)
Texas AMP, said the grant has t
helped almost double the num-*!
ber of science, math, engineering ■
and technology bachelor of sci- '.
ence degrees from the five al
liance schools since the grant
started in 1991.
Texas A&M was the first institu
tion in Texas to receive the Texas
AMR she said.
Graduate Council
requests news of
changes in tuition
By Robert Smith
Senior staff writer
The Texas A&M Graduate Stu
dent Council requested Monday
night that the University inform
students and faculty on possible
changes in the price of tuition.
The Texas State Legislature passed
a bill last spring that reduced doctor
al level graduate subvention funding
to publicly supported universities,
including Texas A&M.
Under the bill, state universities
will not receive subvention funding
for students who exceed 100 hours.
The legislature has given state
universities the option of increasing
tuition to doctoral level students
who exceed 100 doctoral hours.
Thetrill will go into effect Fall 1999.
The GSC resolution requests that
the subvention funding issue be ad
dressed at the Graduate Student
Orientation next semester.
Clifton Griffin, GSC President
and a wildlife and fishery sciences
doctoral student, said graduate stu
dents should be informed on state
laws that change tuition rates.
“You need to be able to plan for
that,” Griffin said. “We’re asking for in
creased communication in relative
policy that affects graduate students.”
Griffin said it is not uncommon
dt (ju+uar
for doctoral students to surpass 100
doctoral hours and that the tuition
increase could affect some students.
“It is possible for a student to re
ceive a Ph.D in four years, but it is
not very probable,” he said.
The GSC Executive Committee
will take the next step in presenting
the resolution to the University.
Griffin said the committee will
likely present the resolution to the
A&M Academic Program Council.
Please see Graduate on Page 5.
‘Light up for Life’
to benefit research
By Julietta Jordan
Staff writer
The Texas A&M Cancer Society
will host a “Light up for Life” recep
tion benefiting children’s cancer re
search in the MSC Flagroom from 6
to 8 p.m. today.
The reception is in honor of peo
ple who have donated money to help
fund cancer research for children.
Rhonda Simper, president of the
A&M Cancer Society and a senior bi
ology major, said the Bryan-College
Station community is invited to at
tend and will have the opportunity to
donate money to help fight cancer.
“It’s a great time of the year to be
generous,” she said.
The A&M Cancer Society raised
$500 this holiday season for chil
dren’s cancer research.
4.0 & Go Tlitoring is one of the con
tributors to the A&M Cancer Society.
Gary Holub, manager of 4.0 & Go
and Class of ’96, said funding is
needed for cancer research.
“Sooner or later they’ll find a
cure, but that won’t happen until
they have the money to do [re
search],” he said.
Suzanne Rigamonti, marketing
chair for the A&M Cancer Society and
a junior biomedical science major,
said everyone is invited to attend the
reception and view the lighting of the
Christmas tree in the Flagroom.
Each light on the tree represents
one dollar donated to children’s
cancer research.
“The Christmas balls on the tree
are dedicated to people lost to can
cer or who are currently fighting
cancer,” she said.
Rigamonti said she encour
ages families to attend the recep
tion. Children will have the op
portunity to visit Santa Claus, and
the Reveliers and Aggie Wranglers
will provide entertainment for
the evening.
FDA approves radiation use by meat industry to kill bacteria
Staff and wire report
Searching for ways to ease food safety
fears, the meat industry won approval Tues
day to zap beef with gamma rays to kill E.
coli and other harmful bacteria. The Food
and Drug Administration approved use of ir
radiation in low dosages on beef and other
red meats such as lamb, and changed the
dosage levels for pork, which could already
be treated with gamma rays for certain dis
ease-causing organisms.
Some consumers were wary.
“It’s just the word — ‘radiation.’ I’m not
sure it’s safe,” said Lucy Geller, 45, who was
shopping at a suburban Maryland grocery
store. “It would take me a while to be com
fortable with it.”
FDA declared that the process does not
make the meat radioactive and does not trig
ger other changes affecting the taste, whole
someness or nutritional content. It kills most
— but not all — bacteria such as E. coli and
salmonella in food.
“We think it is safe and we think it is appro
priate,” said Dr. Michael Friedman, the acting
FDA commissioner. “But the consumer should
not believe that he or she does not have to use
good cooking and handling techniques.”
Dr. Gary Acuff, an associate professor of
food microbiology at Texas A&M, said that
although irradiation can kill most of the bac
teria in meat, cooking meat properly can
solve all of the problems.
“If you cook properly, that will take care
of it [bacteria],” he said.
Irradiation has been available for years
for poultry, pork, spices and some fresh pro
duce, but interest in the process for beef in
tensified after this summer’s recall of 25 mil
lion pounds of Hudson Food Co. hamburg
er that may have been tainted with E. coli.
Acuff said irradiation is used in many
countries and is accepted as a safe method.
“It’s been used around the world,” he said.
“They’ve been using it for years in Europe.”
Americans are eating 13 percent less beef
than in 1970, but it is still the nation’s lead
ing meat at about 64 pounds per person
every year.
Please see Radiation on Page 5.