Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1998)
( Texas A & M University i pa ■HI M'lsikM ...wife. 'I 83 I- 55 | H YEAR • ISSUE 130 • 10 PAGES COLLEGE STATION • TX TODAY TOMORROW MONDAY • APRIL 20 • 1998 ents of the Year announced at ceremony Staff and wire reports Fexa s A&M University and the Parents’ ekelid Committee named Sunday Ken [Gavle Cox of Corpus Christi, Texas, as 19|m-99 Aggie Parents of the Year. ■ South Texas couple received the recognition of their exceptional jce to their family, community and University. The selection, an- [utd at Sunday morning’s All-Univer- Aw. rds Ceremony, was a surprise. ■Cox, a member ofTexas A&M’s Class of ’59, was a senior yell leader and served as lieutenant colonel of his outfit in the Corps of Cadets as a student at A&M. He is now an active member in the Corpus Christi Texas A&M Club and serves on the Board of Directors of the Texas A&M Foundation, an independent fund raising organization. Gayle Cox is a member and past offi cer of the Corpus Christi chapter of the Texas A&M Mother’s Club. The couple’s son, Bryan, a senior market ing major, nominated his parents for the award. His nomination letter cited his par ents’ limitless support and the examples they have set as reasons for their nomination. “They have always taught me to be proud of who I am,” he wrote. “My dad wanted me to make my own decisions with what I want ed to accomplish at A&M. He did not want to relive his glory days in my footsteps.” The couple has opened their home to Aggies on numerous occasions when groups such as the Singing Cadets, the Texas A&M tennis team and participants in Fish Camp were in Corpus Christi. Cox said his parents are the most caring people he knows. “They have a sincere love for me and the people around them and their reward is just seeing a smile on someone’s face,” he said. “Their love has rubbed off on everyone around them and the effect it has had on me is one I’ll never be able to repay.” As 1998-99 Parents of the Year, the Cox es will represent Texas A&M at events both on and off campus and be the guest of the University and its various student organi zations during the next 12 months.The Par ents’Weekend Committee began choosing the Parents of the Year in 1974, and the award is given each spring. wo brisket JAKE SCHRICKLING/The Battalion N Meinert, Class of ’88, serves barbecue for the Houston A&M Club at the Bevo Burn Barbecue as part of the Parents’ Weekend livities on Saturday. D-2 takes home best outfit award Corps honors companies, individual leaders By Colleen Kavanagh and Rachel Dawley Staff writers The Corps of Cadets’ annual Parents’ Weekend Review, the final graded review of the year, highlighted the work of all Corps outfits for the past year. Eli Chavez, a junior business analysis major in Company A-2, said outfits are graded during the year on all events and ac tivities, and outstanding outfits are award ed during the review. “The whole year comes down to this re view,” Chavez said. “Everything you work for—the marches, inspections and athlet ic games — is rewarded today.” Awards are given on the basis of outfit performance, march-ins, grades, recruit ing, inspections and outfit improvements by the office of the commandant. Outfit award winners get citation chords for their uniform and an additional flag for their guidon. Second and third place receive guidon streamers. Company D-2 was awarded the Gener al Moore award for best overall outfit. Chris Halpin, D-2 commander and a se nior accounting major, said this is the out fit’s main goal every year. “We have won this award 12 times,” Parents’ Weekend Review Awards General Moore Award: Company D-2 Jou/ne Award: Company E-l Commandant’s Award: Squadron 2 Best Outfit Commander: Nolan Barkhouse, Company K-2 ■Halpin said. “Last year and the year before, we came in second place. We knew we’d had a good year, but we didn’t know we would place so high. Please see Awards on Page 9. ^arsons’ Mounted Cavalry serve silver anniversary By Rachel Dawley Staff writer H 4T ore than 200 former Parsons’ ■ /I Mounted Cavalry (PMC) mem- F -L bers and 600 guests attended the li anniversary of the unit this weekend, e event was highlighted with a Final Re- tv Drill and Pass-In Review of the unit, funded in 1973, PMC is the only re- ning 4-year college ROTC horse caval- nit in the United States. (he review took place at Freeman Arena I a banquet was at “Fiddler’s Green”, the icre plot of land where PMC practices. There was a good showing of former mbers and they were impressed with the >rovements that we have made in the past years,” said PMC member Nick Yates, a (t Bor business administration major. 0)1. Tom Parsons, namesake of PMC commandant of the Corps when PMC ^ founded, served as the reviewing of- ;r on Saturday. Mike Ogorchock, a sophomore busi- >s management major, said members «)ted several weeks to preparation for review. “We’ve worked really hard toward this ekend to try to make it perfect,” Ogor- ocksaid. “We want to impress former members and show them that we still work hard.” Dr. John Fritz, retired executive vice pres ident of tire U.S. Equestrian Team and one of the original advisors to PMC, presented the unit with an award from the U. S. Cavalry As sociation to commemorate the anniversary. PMC is only the second unit in the nation to receive the award. “Thanks to the efforts of cavalry mem bers, university officials, former students and friends of A&M, the Parsons’ Mounted Cavalry is today one of the show pieces of the university and an organization for which we can all be proud,” Fritz said. Artist Benjamin Knox, creator of over 150 paintings depicting Aggie life, painted a trib ute to PMC to commemorate the event. Ti tled “Rain or Shine”, Knox said he tried to capture PMC in their various forms, includ ing firing the cannon on Kyle Field, artillery drills and parades. “PMC is such a prominent part of the Corps and A&M, and the anniversary was a great opportunity for me to do some thing for the group,” Knox said. “PMC has an excellent reputation for instilling a pos itive work ethic in members, and I tried to portray how special they are to A&M.” Please see Cavalry on Page 10. 3,400 visitors tour Bush library Parents' Weekend swells visitor numbers as record set over weekend By Rachel Dawley Staff writer The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum enjoyed record attendance over the weekend as Parents’ Weekend visi tors flowed through the doors of the facility. More than 3,400 visitors toured the li brary and museum on Saturday, second only to Community Day in November that attracted 7,500 non-paying guests. About 175,000 people have visited the 69,000 square foot facility since its dedica tion on November 6,1997. Patricia Burchfield, curator of the muse um, said she was impressed by this week end’s turnout. “The number of visitors has exceeded expectations,” Burchfield said. “We are in high season as far as schools tours go, but summer will be busy also. The exhibits are holding up and people are leaving happy.” The library and museum is the tenth presidential library administered by the Na tional Archives and Records Administration. The facility, which is dedicated to the preser vation, research and exhibit of official records, personal papers and memorabilia of George Bush, contains 38 million pages of documents, one million photographs and thousands of sound and video recordings. Texas A&M students have participated in the workings of the facility, including as sisting in the dedication activities and vol unteering at the library and museum. “The library is such an exciting addition to the campus,” said Julie Green, a junior English major. “Tve toured it twice, and I always take people that come in to visit out for a look.” Colt Urban, a sophomore political sci 111 ence major in Corps of Cadets Company E- 1, said he found time between his outfit banquet and Parent’s Weekend Review to bring his parents to the library. “I have classes in the building and I was at the dedication, but this is the first time I’ve been to the museum,” Urban said. “This weekend was a good chance for me to see it with my parents.” Please see Bush on Page 10. Austin hosts comedy festival, attracts stars by dubious means aders look to duty-free hemisphere ANTI AGO, Chile (AP) — Leaders of the tern Hemisphere’s 34 democracies looked political and economic uncer- ties Sunday and forged ahead with a plan for hemispheric duty-free trade 005. They directed negotiations to be- n September. he assembled leaders, at the second unit of the Americas, directed negotia- , covering nine distinct areas of trade, held in Miami for the first three years. Here in Santiago the ground has been ten for the largest free trade area in his- ’ Chilean President Eduardo Frei told concluding summit session, where all 34 lers signed the Declaration of Santiago. The combined economies would total rillion, he said. Our journey from Miami to Santiago from words to deeds,” President Clinton said. “Today we launch compre hensive negotiations for a free-trade area of the Americas.” Clinton, who hosted the first Summit of the Ameri cas in Miami in 1994, said the work to complete a free-trade zone from Alas ka to Cape Horn will be dif ficult. Clinton cautioned that Clinton democracy was still frag ile in some parts of the hemisphere. “We must continue to stand fast for democracy ... with no holdouts and no backsliders.” Communist Cuba, the only country in the hemisphere not invited to Santiago, re mained a point of contention. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Talk about improv. Not long ago, Mark Pruter was a 25-year-old University of Texas dropout trying to make it on the improv comedy cir cuit. Discouraged at the lack of a showcase for rising talent, he decided to create one. Three years later, the Big Stinkin’ International Improv & Sketch Comedy Festival 3 is the foremost improv festival in the country. The festival, which began Sunday and runs for a week, has sponsors that include Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and Time Warner Cable. “It basically started as one big rumor,” said Naomi Frisch, a spokesperson for Comedy Central. “I don’t know what that says about people in the business. I guess if there’s heat somewhere, people want to go, even if it’s total B.S. But it has gained a lot of notoriety, and we are proud to be sponsors.” Not bad for laid-back Austin, which had none of the improv history other cities could claim. Chicago, for instance, be came the improv capital of America thanks to The Second City, which launched the likes of John Belushi, Bill Murray “It basically started as one big rumor.” Naomi Frisch Spokesperson for Comedy Central and Mike Myers. Los Angeles spawned The Groundlings, which has pro duced such names as Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens), Steve Guttenberg and Phil Hartman. Pruter figured there was only one way to get past that major obstacle: Lie. In 1995, Pruter and John Wylie, members of the improv group Monks Night Out, which is based at the Velveeta Room in Austin, called improv troupes around the country and told them a national festi val was kicking off in the Texas state capital. Pruter told the troupes the trip would be worth the cost because members of “Satur day Night Live” would attend and industry big shots would on hand to scout talent. He then hung up the phone and called members of “Satur day Night Live,” inviting them with the promise that improv troupes would be sucking up to them for a week. He then called industry ex ecutives with an invitation stating that “Saturday Night Live” members would be in Austin along with the best im prov talent in the country. “At the time I made the calls, I didn’t have anyone commit ted,” said the 31-year-old Pruter. INSIDE nraffH 11 New Jennifer Aniston film takes script of Chasing Amy and gives it revamping. See Page 3 1/ ^ I r Texas A&M Baseball Team defeats archrival Longhorns in front of 9,000 fans. See Page 5 WkrkrrhkmM Mireles and Ferguson share views on hand gun regulation in the United States. See Page 9 http:/ / battalion.tamu.edu Hook up with state and na tional news through The Wire, AP’s 24-hour online news service.