The Battalion
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Tuesday • March
What's Up
Tuesday
TAMU Water Ski Club: A general meeting will be held
at 8:30 p.m. in the Student Recreation Center. Con
tact John at 695-8843 for details.
Alpha Phi Omega: Meet to go to the Crestview Re
tirement Home at 3:30 p.m. in 133 Koldus.
ATM Womens Rugby: Come join! No experience
needed. Practices are from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the
pitch on the corner of Texas Ave. and University Dr.
Call Nikki at 694-0084 for information.
Aggie Lutherans: A meeting will be held from 7 p.m.
to 8:30 p.m. at the Treehouse, Our Saviors Lutheran
Church. Call 694-6663 for details.
Catholic Students Association: There will be a gen
eral meeting today in MSC 225 from 7:00-8:00 p.m.
There will also be a daily mass at 12:05 p.m. every
Tuesday in the All-Faiths Chapel.
TAMU Anthropological Society: There will be a
general meeting and guest lecture tonight at 7:00
p.m. in room 130 of the Anthropology Building.
Donny Wood will discuss “Ogata-mura: A Japanese
Model Farming Community”. For details call Judy
at 693-7870.
Counseling Psychology Department: They will hold
a support group for women in abusive relationships
in 112 Harrington from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. Call 845-
8021 for more information.
Student Y: Youth Fun Day counselor sessions will be
held at 8:30 p.m. in Koldus 111.
Premedical Society: Dr. Guillory from the Texas Chil
dren’s Prenatal Care will be speaking at 7 p.m. in
MSC 206.
Executive Council of Health Organizations: There
will be a health professions symposium from 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m. in the MSC Flagroom.
Future Aggie Physician Assistants: There will be a
seminar at 7:00 p.m. in VMS room 005 for applicants
to competitive allied health programs. A guest speak
er will address “Plan B: What To Do If You Have Aren’t
Accepted”. Call Stephanie Martin at 268-8699 for
more details.
IL CIRCULO ITALIANO: There will be a movie tonight
in Academic 130 at 7:30 p.m.. The film "Ladri Di Bi-
ciclette” (“The Bicycle Thieves") is in Italian with Eng
lish subtitles. Call Roberto Gasparini at 76A2916
for details.
Aggie Alliance: A meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in
Read 274. Call Wesley at 7644475 for details.
Floriculture-Horticulture Society: A meeting will be
held at 7 p.m. in the Horticulture and Forest Sciences
Building Room 102. Spring Plant Fair and other up
coming events will be discussed.
Champions Fellowship: There will be a meeting in
Rudder 407 at 8:30 p.m. Tom Sirotrak, author and
former “Power Team” member, will be speaking. Call
Jason at 696-5604 for details.
Center for Academic Enhancement: There will be
a GRE math review in Blocker 526. Call 845-2724
for details.
LEGALS Mock Trial: A mandatory meeting will be
held in the Academic building at 5:00 p.m. today.
We will review the case and assign parts for the next
competition.
Christian Science Organization: A lecture entitled “Is
Prayer Effective” will be held at 5:30 p.m. in Rudder
308. Call David at 846-6115 for details.
Wednesday
ATM Womens Rugby: Come join! No experience
needed. Practices are from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the
pitch on the corner of Texas Ave. and University Dr.
Call Nikki at 6940084 for information.
TAMU Snow Ski Club: A meeting will be held at
8:30 p.m. in Rudder 410. Call Chuck at 694-2726
for details.
What’s Up is a Battalion service that lists non
profit student and faculty events and activi
ties. Items should be submitted no later than
three days in advance of the desired run date.
Application deadlines and notices are not
events and will not be run in What’s Up. If you
have any questions, please call the newsroom
at 845-3313.
Parking officers remi
calm while drivers fm
Amish leave farms to start businesses
CHURCHTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Moses Smucker, an Amish busi
nessman, takes a puff on his cigar, then asks his receptionist through
a speakerphone if a customer can wait a minute — he's busy.
On his cluttered desk, an electronic Rolodex shares space with a
calculator. Outside his office, the hum of electric sewing machines
fills the harness shop.
The Amish are known for eschewing electricity, cars, telephones
and embracing a simple life on the farm.
In Lancaster County, home to an estimated 20,000 Amish, more
and more are leaving the farm and entering the business world.
“There’s just not enough land for all of us,” Jacob King ex
plains as he cuts wood with an air-powered saw for a furniture
business.
Land is scarce partly because the Amish population has doubled
each decade in the last 30 years, says Conrad Kanagy, a professor of
sociology at nearby Elizabethtown College. And what land is left is
expensive, roughly $5,000 to $7,000 an acre, making housing devel
opments and shopping outlets more profitable than farming.
Donald B. Kraybill, a provost at Messiah College, estimates 1,000
"micro enterprises” exist in the county today— from metal smithing,
woodworking and arts and crafts shops to construction operations
that rely on the “English” to give men rides.
Some of the Amish are building gazebos and putting swing sets
together. Others are supplying their brethren with carriages or farm
equipment fitted with horse hitches and steel wheels.
This departure from Amish ways is actually helping to preserve
Amish tradition: Many of the Amish businessmen are using their
profits to buy farmland. Since 1984, they have bought 168 farms in
the county.
“In a kind of modern capitalist economy, we take our profits and
put it back into the business,” Kanagy says. “But in their economy,
because the church leaders don’t want them increasing in size, they’re
taking their profits and buying up farmland and, in a sense, preserv
ing their culture.”
Most of the county’s 120 church districts limit their flock’s ven
tures by prohibiting business owners from employing more than
10 people.
Smucker doesn’t see much future in farming. It’s too much work
and stress, he says.
“It’s not ‘Old McDonald’s Farm’ anymore,” says the 47-year-old
businessman whose harnesses have been seen in a nationally tele
vised beer commercial featuring the Budweiser Clydesdales.
At home, Smucker has no car and no electricity, and lights his
home with gas lanterns. He says he’s going to continue to develop his
company, adding: “I have two sons, and I hope they will take it over.”
Another member of the Amish community, John Stultzfus,
builds intricate dovetailed furniture with air-powered drills and
hydraulic saws.
“I like to farm, I grew up on a farm, but we had two daughters,” he
says. “And what are you going to do? You’re here in the county and
you just can’t pull up your roots.”
He draws customers from as far away as New Jersey. He keeps
in touch with them by a telephone in his shop, checking his voice
mail periodically.
DALLAS (AP)—They tried to prepare
him, but Russell Finley didn’t fully under
stand the nature of his new job until the
day a delivery truck driver, purple with
rage, chased him down the block and
screamed in his face.
For Johnny White, total comprehen
sion came when an elderly woman - “80
if she was a day,” he said - cruised along
side as he strode down the sidewalk,
shrieking obscenities out her car window.
That was when Finley and White were
rookies in what might be considered the
worst job on the city
payroll: civilian officer
in the Parking Enforce
ment Division.
Day in and day out,
parking enforcement
officers walk the streets,
issuing lots of tickets,
hearing lots of excuses
and enduring a whole
lot of abuse.
‘‘They’ll call me
names. They’ll say 1 was
hiding in the bushes,
waiting for their meter to
run out,” said enforcement officer Denise
Clarke, who is nearing the two-year mark
with the department.
‘‘They’ll say I’m working on commission
-1 wish! - and I’ve had them tear up a ticket
and throw it in my face."
Those who stick with the job said the in
sults and ridicule slide right off, that they’re
nothing compared with the scary stuff. One
woman officer was sucker-punched by an
irate motorist a few months ago. Another
was badly bruised when a cabbie trying to
flee from having his taxi "booted” struck her
with his front bumper. Last year, the city
prosecuted a dentist after he shoved an of
ficer to the ground.
“We’ve had knives flashed at our peo
ple,” said Jon Rose, manager of enforce
ment and acting head of all parking man
agement services for the city of Dallas. “We
train them to just walkaway.G
’no confrontation.’ ”
That rule is the drumbeatt
start hearing the day theyapph
With luck, they leamtoacce:
suit as the price of a relatively-
door job with plenty of auton:
patience and self-discipline,v-
field a nasty crack as calmlyasi
mark on the weather.
But some rookies walk oil:
fore they even hit the street
when the
training ;
shows a ft
“They’ll say Tm working
on commission - I wish!
- and I’ve had them tear
up a ticket and throw
it in my face.”
Denise Clarke
Enforcement Officer
owner spt
languages
ing a ticket
an officer
Others
longer.
One
rookie re
mined her
after twoc
‘'Than)
1 ing me,"
thought I co.
wrote to Ros
verbal abuse from the cit
wrong.” [J
Getting a parking ticket re
scale of universal nuisances so:
tween a fiat tire and a root cam
later, it will be your turn.
Last year, the city’s 36 pt
forcement officers issue:
180,000 tickets, generatingal
lion in revenue. Most of their
ten in the parking-scarcedoK
West End districts, with otki|
near hospitals and popularsh]
eas. Others were written foniil
residential areas.
On any day, about 4,400pa
are in service citywide, giveoij
that are out of service or cove
strict parking for special events
Bonfire
Continued from Page 1
O’Brien said there are several things the committee hopes to accompMj
never been done before.
“One thing we would like to set up is a program where grade schools cacj
tour Bonfire,” she said.
Jeremy Frampton, a bonfire leader and a junior psychology major, saidhtj
new hostess committee will help generate interest in Bonfire.
“There is definitely a need for a committee out at Bonfire to help out,” he]
T.J. Sari, a bonfire leader and a junior agriculture business major, said thee
is a good idea.
“Anything that gels the community involved in Bonfire is a good tiling,"hi
AGGIE WRANGLERS
AN AGGIE TRADITION FOR THIRTEEN YEARS
SPRING SESSION II
DANCE LESSONS
CLASS
/>■
DAY
TIME
LOCATION
JITTERBUG I SUNDAY 4-5:30 GRW 266
COUNTRY & WESTERN I SUNDAY 6-7:30 GRW 266
JITTERBUG I SUNDAY 8-9:30 GRW 266
COUNTRY & WESTERN 11 WEDNESDAY/:30-9:00 GRW 255
ADVANCED JITTERBUG THURSDAY 7:45-9:15 GRW 266
SIGN-UPS IN THE MSC FLAGROOM AT 8 A.M. - 3 P.M.
ON MARCH 11 & 12 (or until classes fill)
COST: Adv. Jitterbug is $40 per couple, all others $30 per couple
(non-students add $20/person for rec-sports facility use fee)
CLASSES START MARCH 29 - ALL CLASSES RUN 4 WEEKS (skips Easter weekend)
For more information, visit the Aggie Wranglers on-line at: http^Avww.tamu.ediVaggie vvranglers
Looking for a partner? Come find one at Rodeo 2000 Saturday, March 7
at the Aggie Wranglers "singles" night.
TradllttioinLS 'Week
IVIarcL (y 1, - 12' 1 '
TV ^
^ On what holiday
^ was Parent’s Weekend f*-
held until
rescheduling ^
in 1969?
3qY S
If you know the answer, place it in the box at the
Traditions Week table at Rudder Fountain for a PRIZE!
Schedule of Events
M: Fish, T-, & Howdy Camp W: Corps of Cadets & Yell Leaders
T: Parent’s Weekend Th: Muster & Silver Taps
Traditions Council Thanks El Chico and On The Border
1998-99
Student Organization Fundi]
$$$
Applications now available in Student Fill
Center (217 MSC) or Student Activities (125 ft]
for 1998-99 Student Organization Funding.
Applications due Tuesday, April
4:30 p.m.
Informational meetings:
Friday, March 27 3 p.m. 144 Koldusl
Tuesday, March 31 5:30 p.m. 144Kol(J
Visit our Web site
http://stuact.tamu.edu/stuorgs/sofrequesl 1
for more information
IMPROVE YOUR WEALTH-
BY SHARING YOUR HEALTH
u
i
K1594057S S
11
ir
K15940576 B
Here are 81 good reasons to become a plasma donor at
Westgate Plasma Center: $80 dollars in your first two
weeks, and you save lives. If you have any questions
about donating Plasma or wish to set up an appointment
please call us at 268-6050.
***VALUABLE COUPONS***
NEW & DONORS:
off program for 6
months:
I Receive an extra
I $5 on your second
donation.
I
CURRENT DONORS:
Receive an extra $10
when you bring in a
friend and they donate
four times in their
first 2 weeks.
i OLD DONORS:
I Receive an extra $5 on
I your next donation if you
l haven’t donated in 2 or
l more months.
WORK FOR THE
PREMIER RESORT OF THE
TEXAS GULF COAST
Play on our sandy beaches...
Many different job opportunities are available
- servers, cocktail servers, front desk clerks/
reservations, room service, valet, bellman.
Make some great money this
summer while meeting new friends.
For more information, please cal
Susan Gipe, Human Resources
The San Luis Resort
and C onference Center
1.800.445.0090
STEAKHOUSE
THE SAN LUIS
Resort snd Conference Center
Cstveslon Island
r Keaort
An equal opportunity employer
Tiffany Inbody, Editor in Chief
Helen Clancy, Copy Chief
Brad Graeber, Visual Arts Editor
Robert Smith, City Editor
Jeremy Furtick, Sports Editor
James Francis, Aggielife Editor
Mandy Cater, Opinion Edite' 1
Ryan Rogers, Photo Editof
Chris Huffmes, Radio Prodr"
Sarah Goldston, Radio Proi
Dusty Moer, Web Editor
Aaron Meier, Night News &■
Staff Members
City- Colleen Kavanagh, Amanda Smith, Rachel
Dawley, Stacey Becks, Susan Atchison, Kelly
Hackworth, Lyndsay Nantz, Jennifer Wilson &
Julietta Amanda Jordan.
Science - Jill Reed.
Sports - Assistant Editor: Jeff Webb; Michael
Ferguson, Chris Ferrell, Travis Harsch, Robert
Hollier, Al Lazarus, Colby Martin, Aaron Meier,
Katie Mish, Philip Peter, Jeff Schmidt & Michael
Taglienti.
Aggielife - Marium Mohiuddin, Rhonda Reinhart,
Chris Martin, Leah Templeton, Travis Hopper, April
Towery, Brandi Ballard, Travis Irby & Stephen Wells.
Opinion - Len Calloway, Adam Collett, John
Lemons, Donny Ferguson, Caleb McDaniel, Beverly
Mireles, Manisha Parekh, Stewart Patton, Mickey
Saloma, Joe Schumacher, Michelle Voss, Frank
Stanford & Jennifer Jones.
Night News - Joyce Bauer, JaclynnBatf
& Shane Elkins.
Photo - Assistant Editor: Brandon Boll^
McKay, Greg McReynolds, Mike Fuentes
Francis & Jake Schrickling.
Graphics - James Palmer, Chad MalW j
Faulkner & J.P. Beato.
Cartoonists - Ed Goodwin, John Lemo® i
Hoffman, Gabriel Ruenes, Victor Vans/'
Nordfelt and Quatro Oakley.
Copy Editors - Leslie Stebbins,Jennlfd !
David Johnston, Martha Gidney, Patfi/
Veronica Serrano.
Radio - Andrew Baley, Jody Rae Sartln^
Stuart & Karina Trevino.
Web - Anita Tong & Jeremy Brown
News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Put*# !
Department of Journalism. News offices are in 013 Reed McDonald Building, Newsroom phone: 845-3313; Fax/"
batt@unix.tamu.edu; Website: http://battalion.tamu.edu
Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and naSW'
tising, call 845-2696. For classified advertising, call 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald, and office hwif ■'
Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-2678.
Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. W* 5
$60 per school year, $30 for the fall or spring semester and $ 17.50 for the summer. To charge by credit card, call 845-261I.
The Batiauon (ISSN #1055-4726) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall spring semesteis and Monday W
the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University. Second class postage paid atColleffS I
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Battalion, 015 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M Univeisity, College Station,!/ ??/J