Texas A & M University
%
|104 TH YEAR • ISSUE 140 • 10 PAGES
vith CD
kes and
with
-1981
|an Ho^
aetles
)rdin[
daw, i
I usedb
' deals:
0*
86
60
TODAY
TOMORROW
COLLEGE STATION • TX
MONDAY* MAY 4 *1998
Garage squeaks by
In large election-day turnout, voters authorize
city council to build Northgate parking facility
By Colleen Kavanagh
Staff writer
College Station voters gave
the city council the authority
to proceed with plans for a
Northgate parking garage Sat
urday in the second-largest
voter turnout since 1971.
Voters defeated an ordi
nance limiting the city coun
cil from extending, using,
lending or granting funds for
the development or construc
tion of a public parking
garage at Northgate. The or
dinance was rejected 1,947
votes to 1,894.
The proposed four-story,
752-space garage would be
located on 1.65 acres between
College Main and Second
Street that the city of College
Station would acquire. The
estimated cost of the garage is
$6,807,639. The city council
will decide how to fund the
project before the garage can
be built.
Mayor Lynn Mclllhaney
said the newly-elected city
council members will be
brought up to speed as to what
the council has done so far.
“We want new council
members and returning
members on the same page,”
she said. "We had started ne
gotiations for the land, but
when the petition hit, we put
everything on the back burn
er until the vote.”
Mcllhaney said she appre
ciates both sides’ work to
make sure the community
understood the ordinance.
"We know parking has
been a problem for 20 years,”
she said. “Now, we have the
authority to work with a vari
ety of plans for a solution.”
In other election results:
• Mclllhaney won re-elec
tion to a second term, receiv
ing 67 percent of the total
votes cast.
• Ron Silvia won Place 2 on
the College Station City Coun-
cil with 42 percent of the votes,
defeating three candidates.
• Anne Hazen defeated in
cumbent Dick Birdwell for
the Place 6 seat on the College
Station City Council.
• Councilman Larry Mari-
ott won the Place 4 seat on
the College Station City
Council, receiving 60 percent
of the vote.
Election
Results
•Lynn Mclllhaney
wins re-election as
College Station mayor.
•Ron Silvia wins Place !
2 on city council.
•Anne Hazen wins
Place 6 on City Council.
• Larry Mariott wins
re-election to Place 4
on City Council.
• Ordinance restricting
Northgate garage
loses by small margin.
Debit card creates
chaos for students
DENTON (AP) — Parents of high
school students across Texas have re
ceived letters making available for $25 a
debit card that purportedly is required to
receive discounts on books and meals at
colleges across the United States.
Officials of several universities in Texas
say it sounds like a rip-off to them.
And several national card companies
are issuing disclaimers to make it clear
they’re not associated with “The Campus
Card,” promoted by a for-profit New Jer
sey company, the National College Regis
tration Board (NCRB).
Literature from the NCRB to 1.5 million
high school seniors nationally said the $25
cards are “essential for college life.”
According to an April 8 letter, signed by
Wade M. Stewart, national director of the
NCRB, universities not only will accept
that card, but require it.
The letter advised students to send the
company a "one-time $25 card fee” by
May 15 so an account can be established
for students’ fall expenses.
The promotional materials claim that
students can use the card for substantial
discounts on textbooks, food, laundry, dry
cleaning and other services. It also claims
the card can be used “to pay for all your
living needs while on campus.”
“I think that there might be the possi
bility that there has been some mislead
ing information provided by NCRB,” said
Andy Bland, manager of electronic data
processing services for the Texas A&M fis
cal department.
He said Texas A&M has its own student
ID card, which includes a debit card op
tion. The official A&M ID card and the
Campus Card “are two different animals,”
he said.
“Using the Campus Card at A&M
would be similar to using a gasoline card
at a department store,” Bland told the
Denton Record-Chronicle. The Campus
Card won’t be accepted on the A&M cam
pus, he added.
it's a Cinch
S’i&
RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion
Jason Tyner, a junior centerfielder for the Aggie Baseball Team, autographs a photo for Kristen Fleeger, a first grader at Brazos Christian School.
Kristen and her father waited outside Olsen Field to greet the team as they returned home from Sunday’s game against Baylor in Waco. With the se
ries victory over the Bears, the Aggies have clinched the Big 12 Championship and will receive the first seed spot in the Big 12 Tournament May 14 -
17 in Oklahoma City. Although the team lost Sunday’s game, the 8-1 win Friday at Olsen Field and the 8-4 win in Waco guaranteed the championship
to the Aggies who are 21-9 in conference play.
Please see full coverage of this weekend’s baseball action on page 5.
Building Bridges
Annual conference educates students
about alcohol and substance abuse
Vews
By Kelly Hack worth
Staff writer
Building Bridges ’98 marks the
fourth annual conference sponsored
by the Regional Addictions Institute
of the Brazos Valley Council on Alco
hol & Substance Abuse (BVCASA).
The two-day conference, begin
ning 8:30 a.m. May 7 at Reed Arena,
is a community education event co
sponsored by the Student Life Alco
hol and Drug Education program at
Texas A&M University. The confer
ence includes 19
speakers in the ar
eas of substance
abuse, multicultural
education and work
with at-risk youth.
The reduced- atten
dance cost for A&M
students is $49.
Mark Scharen-
broich, a nationally
known speaker and
author, will present
the “Uncommon
Educator.”
Rebecca Wood, conference coor
dinator and BVCASA education in
tervention specialist, said the con
ference is the only major conference
of its kind in the area and gives par
ticipants 13 hours of continuing ed
ucation credit.
“It is good for those in this pro
fession to network and share ideas,”
she said.
Cindy Mathieu, a first-time pre
senter and a doctoral student in coun
seling psychology at A&M, will pre-
Briefs RHA installs 1998-99 officers at meeting
sent “Factors Related to Adolescent
Substance Abuse” at the conference.
“I will be dying to get across red
flags, things associated with adoles
cent substance abuse,” she said.
“Adolescents have a rocky time try
ing to find their racial, sexual and
ethnic identities, and this can lead to
drug and alcohol abuse.”
Christa Noland, BVCASA educa
tion intervention specialist, said the
conference will be especially bene
ficial to students who are interested
in counseling'and teaching.
Dr. Dennis
Reardon, co
ordinator of
the A&M alco
hol and drug
education
programs,
said the con
ference is also
beneficial to
students who
have an inter
est in alcohol
or drug abuse
issues. Stu
dents in the alcohol and drug edu
cation field can also gain from at
tending the conference.
“It’s a great opportunity for stu
dents in the alcohol and drug edu
cation field to further educate them
selves and network with people
currently in the field about the chal
lenges those working in alcohol and
drug abuse are faced with,” he said.
Students interested in attending
the conference are encouraged to
contact Rebecca Wood at 776-7070.
INSIDE
“I will be trying to
get across red Bags,
things associated
with adolescent
substance abuse.”
Cindy Mathieu
Doctoral student
Student files suit,
luickly reinstated
ATexas A&M University graduate
tudent filed a lawsuit against
JxasA&M and got her job back the
ame day.
the lawsuit, Michele Stephen-
on accuses Robert Maggio, her
oss and the previous director of the
lapping Sciences Laboratory of the
sxas Agricultural Experiment Sta-
on, of firing her for cooperating with
^investigations against Maggio.
Stephenson was fired in mid-April,
lerattorney, Phil Banks, said Texas
&M University officials offered her
'ejob back an hour later.
A University audit released on
Pril 7 accuses Maggio of misappro-
fiating at least $4,000 in state
Jodsand over $100,000 in equip
ment and personnel funds related to
“spersonal businesses.
Class schedule
changes this week
Vith the approaching week of fi-
i,Texas A&M University has rede-
'Pedthis week’s class schedule.
Classes that normally meet on Fri-
tywill meet this Tuesday to accom
modate for the Good Friday reading day.
This Wednesday and Thursday will
reading days.
By Amanda Smith
Staff writer
The Residence Hall Association
(RHA) officers for the 1998-99 aca
demic year took their posts official
ly at the meeting last Wednesday
night with their eyes cast towards
improving life for next year’s on-
campus residents.
The RHA officers for 1998-99
were all elected unopposed in the
spring student body elections by
on-campus residents.
Michael Haughey, former RHA
vice president for programs and a
junior mechanical engineering ma
jor, will serve as the organization’s
president next year.
“RHA is there for the halls,”
Haughey said. “I’d like to work with
the halls more one on one, and then
get the halls to work with each oth
er. The residence halls offer a com
munity to the residents.”
Caton Brown, a junior civil engi
neering major, said he is looking
forward to serving the residents as
vice president for programs.
“RHA has the potential to be one
of the strongest organizations on
campus,” Brown said. “This organi
zation has a lot of potential that
hasn’t been tapped yet.”
As vice president for adminis
tration, Brown oversees Freshman
Leaders In Progress (FLIP), RHA
Casino Night ’99 and service and
social programming on the board
of directors.
Mike Trachta, former director of
technology on the RHA executive
board and a sophomore computer
engineering major, will serve as the
vice president for administration.
“I want to increase the visibility
of RF1A,” Trachta said. “A lot of peo
ple are impacted by RHA.”
All students living on campus
automatically qualify for member
ship in RHA.
Two of the officer positions will
be held by students who are cur
rently freshmen.
Amanda Albritton, a freshman
agricultural development major,
said she looks forward to continu
ing her work with RHA as vice pres
ident for operations.
“I want to work on getting inputs
from the students, and I would like
to publicize more and let them
know what we can do for them,”
Albritton said. “We would like to see
more programming within the halls
next year.”
Albritton said that increasing co-
programming between the halls
and facilitating hall leadership
training are among her top priori
ties for efforts in the fall.
The vice president for operations
hHa
TAIVIl/
President:
Vice presidents:
Michael Haughey
Caton Brown
Mike Trachta
Amanda Albritton
Jul ie Casfyj
j In He Got Game,
Denzel Washington
leads the cast
as the father
of a young
basketball player.
See Page 3
oversees financial development, fa
cilities and operations and training
and technology.
As vice president for relations
and a freshman marketing major,
Julie Cast said she wants to use her
position to help improve RHA.
The vice president for relations
oversees operations by the External
Affairs and Public Relations and
Publications Committees.
Cast said that one of the events
that she is looking forward to the
TRHA ’99 conference that Texas A&M
will host in the spring of next year.
“The conference is going to be a
great way for us show off and to ex
pose Texas A&M (to other universi
ties),” Cast said. “It’s going to be an
opportunity for universities to
share leadership skills and ideas
with one anodier.”
S-'. .y'. -.WrF&fy
Aggies capture Big 12 title
with series victory over
Baylor Bears.
See Page 5
Mireles: America says ‘good
bye’ to “Seinfeld” and the
ability to laugh at nothing.
See Page 9
iiiiiin i iHpr r ' i 'i iiiiiimill i
http://battalion, taxrm.edu
Hook up with state and na
tional news through The
Wire, AP’s 24-hour online
news service.