(
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.