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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1998)
litizens protest Munson decision BY BETH MILLER The Battalion he College Station City Council ;ed a motion last week taking m to restrict traffic flow through College Hills neighborhood, but :ens opposed to the barricades restrictions have not given up. /like McMichen, a former mem- of the disbanded Munson Av- e TYaffic Committee, said a jp of citizens against the city ncil decision will gather Thurs- from 7 to 9 a.m. to encourage irs to sign a petition to put the ison Avenue issue on an elec- ballot. He said the majority of event’s organizers were previ- ly on the traffic committee. McMichen said the gathering will be an opportunity for College Station voters to sign the petition, rather than holding a rally. He said there will not be any presentations made or speakers present at the gathering. If the group obtains the required number of signatures, city officials will certify the petition and call for a special election; however, the bar ricade issue will not be put on the election ballot this November be cause the petition will not be sub mitted to the city by the deadline. McMichen said while the group is required to obtain 1,010 valid sig natures, its goal is to obtain 1,200. Kayla Glover, a committee mem ber and organizer of the petition, said the group already has obtained approximately 300 signatures from College Hills residents and other College Station citizens, many of whom have children attending Col lege Hills Elementary School. Glover said if the group does not reach its goal Thursday morning, it will offer voters another opportunity Saturday to sign the petition at the south end of Dominik Drive. Glover said she does not neces sarily favor any particular outcome of the vote; rather, she is simply try ing to get the issue on a ballot. “The main thing 1 am doing with this is to get it on the ballot for public vote,” Glover said. “It’s not so much to open or close the street. 1 feel the citizens should have the right to vote.” Sorority row MIKE FUENTESThe Battalion Aaron Ffrench, a senior environmental design major, photographs members of Alpha Chi Omega sorority in front of the Jack K. Williams Administration Building Tuesday afternoon for the Ag- gieland, Texas A&M’s yearbook. 818 Photo Courtesy of Missyplicity Project Staff The Texas A&M Missyplicity Project aims to be the first endeavor of its kind to clone a dog, Missy. Contract temporarily snags cloning project BY AMANDA SMITH The Battalion Legal problems are slowing down efforts to clone the first dog at Texas A&M University, the Missyplicity project manager said Tuesday. Lou Hawthorne, project man ager and the president of the Bio Arts Research Corp., said he hopes to meet with Texas A&M senior of ficials within the next two weeks to resolve the dispute over the contract he signed with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. “I am very optimistic that we can smooth things over,” Hawthorne said. “We were called by a Texas A&M lawyer, who ques tioned the validity of the contract. The contracts were signed in good faith. My job is to find out what party was not included and what party needs to be included.” The Texas Agricultural Experi ment Station, part of the Texas A&M University system, signed an agreement in July with the Bio Arts and Research Corp. of San Francis co to attempt to clone Missy, an 11- year-old border collie-husky mix. Missy’s owners are funding the $2.3 million cloning project, in hopes of producing another dog like her within the next two years. In the first annual quarter of the two-year project, $500,000 was in vested in the project. Mark Westhusin, lead scientist in the Missyplicity project and a Texas A&M professor of veterinary medicine, will work with col leagues Duane Kraemer and Robert Burghardt on the project. Researchers are planning to op erate with a 10-person staff, during the project and are currently inter viewing applicants for assistants. In a “super meeting” recently held at Texas A&M, researchers and Hawthorne met with consultants from the University of Georgia, Cor nell University, the San Diego Zoo and Texas A&M University. Kraemer said each of the four consultants working with the team has expertise in an area re lating to the cloning project. Texas A&M scientists’ special ties were chosen to complement work in the Missyplicity project. Texas A&M was selected to partic ipate in the cloning among appli cants across the United States. Westhusin specializes in nu clear transfer, Kraemer in embryo transfer and Burghardt in tissue culturing and analysis. see Missyplicity on Page 2. j|j Ixperts: ^indents at igh risk of ettingflu 3 re * ire ickDiy nase. No drinking allowed Despite the numerous entertainment events it houses, Reed Arena is an alcohol-free zone Nall BY BETH MILLER The Battalion This year’s flu season is just und the corner, and health ex- 1s in the community are advis- students to take proper precau- Qs to protect themselves from viruses. Shirley Kostohryz, a public nurse for the Brazos Coun- Health Department, said the ual flu season typically peaks ween December and February, !tMargaret Griffith, health edu- on coordinator at A.P. Beutel alth Center, said emergency ms have already reported cas- this season. Griffith said college students are high risk for contracting the flu is because they constantly are in e contact with other students in ises and living quarters. Sharon Arnold, assistant di- tor of nursing services at Beu- said the health center re- tived information that some tojor flu outbreaks occur early the season in some states. see Flu on Page 2. BY ANDREA BROCKMAN The Battalion Since the newly-constructed Reed Arena opened its doors in April, it has held numerous events, including Muster, the Barnum and Bailey Cir cus and a Shania Twain concert. However, since Reed Arena lies on the Texas A&M campus. Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. J. Malon Southerland said alcohol is prohibited at these events. “No public events at Texas A&M serve alcohol,” he said. Steve Hodge, director of Special Event Facilities, said another reason alcohol is not made available is the majority of students on this campus are not of legal drinking age. “We feel if we sold alcohol at public events, the money made would not be a good trade-off con sidering liability costs and audience problems,” Hodge said. Dr. Dennis Reardon, coordina tor of Student Life Alcohol and Drug Education Programs, said al cohol generally is not served at col lege sporting events. “Even in private and major-league stadiums, alcohol is not publicly sold during intercollegiate events,” Rear don said. “When I attended the Kick off Classic in Giant Stadium, the beer vendors were closed.” Mary Helen Bowers, associate director of Special Event Facilities, said under some circumstances al cohol can be served at Reed Arena and other buildings on campus. “It must be a private party, food must be served and the caterer must have an alcohol-catering li cense,” Bowers said. Steve Hodge said the 12th Man Foundation’s Above the Rim Club and private seating at Kyle Field are exceptions. “We rent a room in Reed Arena before every men’s basketball game. and alcohol is served,” he said. “In the private boxes at Kyle Field, alco hol is currently being sold this sea son. The key word is private.” Next year alcohol will be sold in The Zone addition at Kyle Field. Brian Landry, director of tele marketing for the 12th Man Foun dation, said a bar will be available in The Zone Club in front of the 1,800 seat-expansion project. “The only people with access to The Zone Club are the 1,800 seat holders and those in the 20 suites,” he said. “Also, alcohol can be con sumed in the club only. It cannot be taken to the seating area. ” NEWS IN BRIEF Construction wraps up on University Dr. Construction on University Drive is scheduled for completion today. The Texas Department of Transportation has finished laying down the new roadway, which has been under construction for the past month. Work crews will be out today painting traffic stripes on the road to finish it off. Ogden to visit Young Republicans State Senator Steve Ogden and Brazos County Judge A1 Jones will address the Brazos County Young Republicans Club tonight at 7:15 at Tom’s Barbecue restaurant in Bryan. At the meeting, the selection of College Station as the site of the 1999 Texas Young Republican Feder ation Convention will be announced. The convention will be held the weekend of August 27-29, 1999 and will be co-hosted by the Williamson County and Brazos County Young Republicans clubs. License sales pass $1 million mark Tabulations by the Division of Mo tor Vehicle Titles and Registration of the Texas Department of Trans portation (TxDOT) show Texas A&M has become the first institution in Texas to surpass the $1 million milestone through the sale — initial purchases and renewals — of the special collegiate plates. Texas A&M President Ray M. Bowen attributed the success of the program to “Aggie pride” — students’ and for mer students’ pride in their school and a desire to help deserving Aggies who are in need of scholarship support to continue their education. A&M has benefited from more than 40,000 such transactions since the state began the collegiate license program in 1990. RHA to evaluate grode wording The Residence Hall Association will meet tonight at 7:30 in the Gov ernance Room of the Koldus Build ing to present a bill supporting Ma roon Out in future years and will discuss grode-yell profanity. Grode yells are hall yells that sometimes include profanity. The association will designate appro priate places to deliver the yells and guidelines for appropriate wording. The first meeting of a Cable TV Committee Tbesday night discussed a bill to provide a television guide for on-campus cable already in cluded with room rent in the halls. On-campus cable is presently limited to one station, with an op tion to extend to several stations. A report of the meeting will be dis cussed by RHA tonight. Grad student offers virtual tour of Bryan Image Courtesy of Ming-Han Li Landscape architecture graduate student Ming-Han Li creates an idealized rendering of a pedestrian mall in Downtown Bryan. BY PATRICK PEABODY The Battalion Downtown Bryan may have a new look in the future thanks to Ming-Han Li, a Texas A&M landscape architec ture graduate student. Li created a virtual downtown Bryan a year ago as a final project for his master’s degree in architecture. “I started looking at downtown Bryan, and I found some areas I real ly liked, so I began collecting data and seeing what I would like to change about it,” Li said. Li used a combination of image processing software, 3-D modeling software and a Computer Aided De sign program to create his virtual downtown Bryan. “Basically what I tried to do was to create a user-friendly environ ment,” Li said. “With downtown Bryan’s badly kept sidewalks and current parking, it takes away a lot from the historic beauty and facade of downtown. In my video I took out the telephone poles and lines, re moved the dumpsters and eliminat ed the central parking area.” In place of the parking area in the center of Main Street, Li placed a pedestrian mall. Li believes the changes would make the area more user-friendly and would create an en vironment for pedestrians instead of automobile traffic. The overall effect of Li’s changes creates a park-like at mosphere, which Li hopes will attract more people to the area. In June, Li met with city officials to present his tape. City officials seemed pleased with the result, which included underground utility lines and repaired and upgraded streets and sidewalks. “This is also a good example of using computer technology,” Li said. “People are usually only able to judge a construction job after it is done, but this allows them to see it before any work is started. It allows city officials, business people and community members a way to have more information and to have more effective opinions.” Li’s renovation proposals are still un der consideration by the city of Bryan.
