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Texas A & M University
54
I th YEAR • ISSUE 109 • 8 PAGES
COLLEGE STATION • TX
TODAY TOMORROW
THURSDAY • MARCH 12 • 1998
A visiting hours proposal put on hold
By Amanda Smith
Staff writer
|e Residence Hall Association
voted last night to postpone
Ision on a resolution to extend
ftion hours in residence halls
unpus.
|e tesolution said the Resi-
flall Association supports
/ishation hours be extended
from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily in all res
idence halls on campus. An adden
dum to the resolution supports the
right of each hall to vote for com
plete 24-hour visitation or for 24-
hour visitation on weekends only.
RHA expects to vote on the reso
lution at the next meeting, March 25.
Rachelle Taylor, hall director of
FHK, said extended visitation pro
vides greater freedom to residents
in co-ed hails.
“(Extended visitation) is a won
derful opportunity for residents to
make good decisions while enjoying
the freedom and responsibility of be
ing an adult,” Taylor said. “But I think
we would be providing a disservice
to our halls if we did not provide op
tions, which includes having some
halls without 24-hour visitation.”
Michael Haughey, RITA vice
president for programs and a junior
mechanical engineering major,
said approving the resolution pro
vides an opportunity for residents.
“This has good potential to be
looked at by Residence Life be
cause they are looking at making
changes,” Haughey said.
RickTurnbough, an area coordi
nator for the Department of Resi
dence Life, said extended visitation
in co-ed halls has had benefits.
“We have had much fewer disci
pline problems with extended visi
tation,” Turnbough said, “but I
think that the administration is less
likely to pass 24-hour visitation all
week compared to extended visita
tion only on the weekends.”
Taylor said having 24-hour visi
tation only on weekends is more
confusing to residents.
“It’s too confusing to have the
hours change from weekday nights
to weekend nights,” said Taylor.
“One recommendation that I
would make is that each resident
take responsibility for abiding by
the visitation and overnight guest
or cohabitation and escort guide
lines (because) 24-hour visitation
ultimately jmpacts the roommate
and the hall community.”
ringing on the weather
A.
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MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion
Heiman, a professor of environmental physics in the department of soil and crop sciences, sets up equipment on West Campus
jdnesday afternoon for an experiment which will soon measure the carbon flux from the atmosphere in a rice field in El Campo.
TV is king in recent
state primaries
AUSTIN (AP) — Looking at the results of
the primaries, one political consultant
needed only two words to sum up the se
cret to success in modern Texas campaigns.
“TV rules,” he said.
Indeed, candidates who could afford
television commercials did just fine.
Those who couldn’t, didn’t.
In the three most vigorously contested
primary races Tuesday, candidates who
were on TV either emerged with nomina
tions or advanced to a runoff election.
Republican attorney general candidates
Barry Williamson and John Cornyn spent the
money to get on television during the cam
paign’s final weeks. A third hopeful, former
state GOP chair Tom Pauken, did not.
Williamson and Cornyn will meet in the
April 14 runoff.
Republican land commissioner candi
date David Dewhurst was a political new
comer, making his first bid for office with
an advertising budget of well over $1 mil
lion. State Senator Jerry Patterson, a veter
an of the political wars, lacked the cash for
a video assault.
Dewhurst is the nominee.
And in the GOP race for Railroad Com
mission, Tony Garza hit the airwaves with a
commercial that gave lots of face time to
Governor George W. Bush, who had ap
pointed Garza secretary of state.
Garza, who had failed in a previous bid
for the GOP attorney general nomination,
faced Steve Stockman. Stockman is a for
mer East Texas congressman who had un
seated 21-term Democrat Jack Brooks just
four years ago. He was viewed as having
grassroots support but little money, and he
was not on TV.
Garza won.
“This is not a complicated business.
Everybody who won outright or made the
runoff ran TV,’’ said Mark Sanders, a GOP
consultant.
“If you don’t have a million dollars, don’t
even show up at the table,” he said.
The primaries again showed the truth
in the old adage of money being the moth
er’s milk of politics, said Bill Miller, an
Austin consultant who works for Democ
rats and Republicans.
“Obviously, if you’re doing TV you’ve got
more money than your opponent,” Miller
said. He said the ideal combination is suf
ficient money for an air campaign com
bined with strong organizing efforts among
the ground troops.
L new finish on an old tradition
atural finish on Aggie Ring allows for better construction
By Kelly Hackworth
Staff writer
. new finish is available on the Aggie ring for
first time since 1976.
Called natural finish, this ring is the same
as the other two types of rings, rose and
c. It is also available in both 10 and 14-carat
i the same warranty.
Jnlike x ose and dark, the natural finish does
go through any finishing processes. The
is raw gold and has the same design as the
W rings.
' he ring was available for ordering begin-
g in January and the first order containing
natural finish rings arrives April 16.
’orler Garner, associate executive director
ne Association of Former Students, said the
Viral finish rings have a smooth finish.
With the natural finish we get a consistent,
all gold finish,” he said.
Carolyn Swanzy, Aggie ring program direc
tor, said that the introduction of the one-piece
ring was the determining factor in adding a
"Since the top is
soldered on, it
can come loose
and crack causing
discoloration."
Carolyn Swanzy
Aggie ring program director
new type of ring.
Balfour, the company which manufactures
the rings, merged with Artcarved in Austin and
is now a division of Commemorative Brands
Inc. This company’s manufacturing process
called for the one-piece rings. All Aggie rings
now will be one-piece.
The rings in the past have been two-piece
with the base or the top of the ring soldered to
the sides or the shanks. This two-piece ring re
quired a finish in order to protect the con
struction of the ring, Swanzy said.
“Since the top is soldered on, it can come
loose and crack, causing discoloration,” she
said.
Jessica Beezley, a senior human resource
management major, said that she ordered the
natural finish because it looked better to her.
“It looks more like gold and isn’t as yellow as
the rose finish,” she said. “It’s shinier than the
rose finish but pretty because it doesn’t have
the yellow color.”
INSIDE
Iran ordered to pay damages
Sunglasses
provide
protection from
the sun and a
cool look for stu
dents.
See Page 3
ashman softball player
hley Lewis off to impressive
art for Aggies.
See Page 5
1 m3
ilumnists debate the
•ssibility of 24-hour
station in residence halls.
See Page 7
ttp: / /battalion.tamu.edu
)ok up with state and na-
)nal news through The
ire, AP’s 24-hour online
»ws service.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal
judge ordered Iran to pay $247.5
million in damages to the family of
an American woman killed in a sui
cide bombing in Gaza in 1995. “The
court is seeking to deter further ter
rorist actions,” said District Court
Judge Royce Lamberth.
The ruling Wednesday was the
first under a new law allowing
Americans to sue nations believed
to sponsor terrorism for damages
caused by such attacks. While the
victim’s family is unlikely to collect
the damage award any time soon,
the ruling could complicate tenta
tive efforts to improve relations be
tween the United States and Iran.
“Terrorists and the countries
which sponsor them should know
that we will continue to increase the
price to be paid for acts of terror
ism,” declared Rep. Jim Saxton, R-
N.J., who heads the House Task
Force on Terrorism. “This decision
clearly shows that we will ... hit
them hard in the wallet as well.”
Iran vehemently denies it has any
connections to terrorist groups or at
tacks. Although Lamberth said Iran
ian representatives had been invited
to testify at court hearings on March
3-4, a spokesman for the Iranian
mission to the United Nations said
Wednesday he was not aware of the
court case in Washington.
The two countries have been bit
ter foes since the 1979 ouster of Shah
Reza Mohammed Pahlavi and the
taking of U.S. hostages. But since the
election last year of a moderate cler
ic as president of Iran, there have
been signs of a possible thaw and re
establishment of cultural and other
ties. President Clinton greeted Mo
hammad Khatami’s election as a
“The lunatics who
planted the bomb and
drove the van that
killed Alisa were not
acting alone.”
Stephen Flatlow
Alisa's father
“hopeful sign” but demanded that
Tehran renounce terrorism and en
dorse the Israeli-Arab peace process.
The ruling, made under the An
titerrorism Act of 1996, would
award the money to the family of Al
isa Flatow, 20, of West Orange, N.J.,
who was student at a seminary in
Jerusalem when she was killed in an
attack on a bus in Gaza City on April
9, 1995. Seven Israeli soldiers also
died in the attack for which Islamic
Jihad claimed responsibility.
The judge agreed with the Fla
tow family that Islamic Jihad is
backed by Iran’s Islamic govern
ment and that Iran therefore is re
sponsible for her death.
“The lunatics who planted the
bomb and drove the van that killed
Alisa were not acting alone,” said
Stephen Flatlow, the student’s fa
ther. “A state sponsor of terrorism
such as the Islamic Republic of Iran
has to be held to account.”
But Lamberth did not specify
how the award was to be collected.
Flatlow family lawyers said they
plan to go after Iranian assets in the
United States and elsewhere.
The United States froze Iranian
assets valued at $12 billion in 1979.
Most of the funds, however, are
controlled by the Iran-United
States Claims Tribunal in The
Hague, Netherlands, a group of
nine judges who decide claims
against both Iran and the United
States. The United States itself has
jurisdiction over only a fraction of
the assets, mostly real estate.
TWo years ago, the United States
agreed to pay $131.8 million in a set
tlement to families of Iranians killed
on a civilian airliner shot down by the
U.S. Navy in 1988. All 290 passengers
aboard that flight were killed.
Binge drinking
poses risks to
spring breakers
By Kelly Hackworth
Stoffwriter
As Spring Break approaches, so
does the possibility of binge drink
ing among college students.
Helen Gutierres, campus-wide
coordinator of alcohol education,
said binge drinking can be defined
as five or more drinks within a 24-
hour period for males and four
drinks for females.
The drinks are one half- ounce
of pure alcohol, one 12-ounce beer,
four ounces of wine or one and one
half ounces of a mixed drink.
According to an October 1994
Harvard College Alcohol Study, the
most recent available, 42.9% of
Texas A&M students binged when
they drank, compared to 44.4% at
large public colleges nationwide
and 39.9% at all colleges surveyed.
Another study will be conducted
this spring.
Alcohol and drug education
programs under the Department
of Student Life has a first year stu
dent alcohol education program.
Cynthia Hernandez, program
coordinator, said the purpose of
the program is to change the stu
dent's perception of alcohol before
they reach college and to define
binge drinking.
“We’re trying to be proactive in
our education,” she said. "We
strive to give students a stronger
base for themselves to stand on.”
Hernandez said the program
speaks at freshman orientations
and camp programs and focuses
on the negative affects of alcohol
and the impact it can have on
grades, work and staying in school.
Students should be careful this
Spring Break, Hernandez said.
“Watch out for each other and
set and know your own limits,”
she said.
Dr. Alicia Marshall, an assistant
professor in the Department of
Speech Communication in health
communication, conducted a sur
vey at another college campus on
binge drinking.
The name will not be revealed
for confidentiality sake, she said.
The study looked at the relation
ship between student’s social
networks and the perceptions of
risk and susceptibility and how
they relate to drinking in excess,
she said.
“There was a strong relation
ship (with drinking) to the extent
of how students talk to one anoth
er about the consequences of
drinking in excess, but we cannot
attribute causality,” she said. “We
need to make sure there is educa
tion taking place so the students
can tell one another what to do.
Students should really think
about why they have that need,”
she said. “They should consider
the repercussions of binge drink
ing including unwanted pregnan
cy, sexually transmitted diseases
and hangovers.”
Please see Binge on Page 2.
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