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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1998)
INTED JSE %!:hga te frigh tfest ffers scare-lovers a of haunts. BGIEUFE, PAGE 3 TRICK OR TREAT • Aggies ready to take on Oklahoma State University's Cowboys in Halloween showdown. SPORTS, PAGE 7 CHECK OUT THE BATTALION ONLINE http://battalion. tamu.edu FRIDAY October 30, 1998 Volume 105 • Issue 46 • 10 Pages 105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY IKE FUENTtS xas A&M student indicted ophomore faces arges of indecency isday. Pattew.i ^^iith a child. atBei said it is imps know whetk ifected with" g the testings ge is the orga:: Ding students, illy importanttt , especially if |r lip]," Bameas if students™ ’t have a lot ■ant to know. It ? of mind.” aid she hopesf iccessfullyedit: HIVinaddiil i with testing Tesentativesfe] an to speak at j i meetings on information )i udents. STAFF AND WIRE REPORT ■Texas A&M University student was indicted in nrkson County for indecency with a child after Kfiving an indictment for the same charge in Bra- os County. p.ithan George Howard, 19, was released on a pOO personal recognizance bond after he |ed himself over Tliesday to Burleson County prities. oward faces accusations in two incidents re ported June 24 in Burleson County, in which a boy and a girl said Howard had touched their “private areas” when he was babysitting the children, ac cording to police records. A grand jury indicted Howard on Oct. 8 for in decency with a child, a second-degree felony pun ishable by two to 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine, and if convicted, he may be eligible for pro bation on the first felony conviction. Jim Locke, assistant district attorney for Brazos County, said the arraignment and pretrial hearing have been scheduled for November but no trial date has been set. Howard, a sophomore electrical engineering major, volunteered at Grace Bible Church and led AWANAS, a Bible study and activity program for youth. Travis Bryan III, Howard’s attorney, declined to comment on the indictment Thursday. BONFIRE ’98 enterpole arrives today BY KRISTIN STOCKTON The Battalion construction of Bonfire will ■off with the delivery of Center- Ito the Polo Field today at 4 p.m. ■aine Lewis, head stack for DICATED] ■jj.g anc i a sen i or management ■finance major, said the arrival jfCeiiterpole is an exciting mo lt because it signals the begin- lof the building of Bonfire. J^enterpole is the backbone of |,v| Is Aggie Bonfire,” he said. lenterpole is made of two poles Jouthern yellow pine that are together to make one pole. ie poles are donated from a mill [ufkin, Texas. Members of the Aggie Bonfire mittee sent people to Lufkin [rsday to pick up the poles. When return to College Station the poles lk YOU PtS jbe hidden until they are delivered e Polo Field this afternoon, k YOU PtSi us ty Thompson, assistant di- |or of the Department of Student Per Ordei Hir vivo r ioeaks out nk You Pi Activities and staff adviser to Aggie Bonfire, said both the delivery and erection of Centerpole are big mo ments for Aggie Bonfire. “The arrival of Centerpole is the official beginning of the stack ac tivities out at Bonfire,” he said. Until Centerpole arrives and stack begins, most of the work in volves cutting the wood that is used to build Bonfire. The first cut was the weekend of Oct. 3, and cut has taken place every weekend since then. Those working on Bonfire have also been unloading the wood from trucks and “swamping,” ar ranging the logs according to size so that when building begins, the prop er size logs are easy to find. Saturday morning, the Center- pole pots will begin splicing the poles together to make Centerpole. The splicing process will continue through next week and will be completed by Thursday. see Centerpole on Page 2. lib lib k i. 99 STORES 0®^ 3, KROGERfC®-” ibout rape BY NONI SRIDHARA AND JOE SCHUMACHER The Battalion Aggies Working for A Rape-free vironment, MSC Great Issues Gender Issues Education Ser ies presented a forum called “He d/She Said” Thursday in Rudder [eater to discuss sexual assault hes with realistic scenarios pre- ited by Katie Koestner and Brett Sokolow. Koestner was a victim of rape ring the third weekend of her shman year at the College of illiam and Mary. Since her at- ck, Koestner appeared on the ver of Time magazine and has bken out against “a crime of si nce” by making appearances television shows such as |>prah” and “Larry King Live,” well as making speeches at er 600 colleges, high schools id military institutions in the Congress grants student tax exemption BY AMY DAUGHERTY The Battalion Congress recently passed legis lation that will exempt Texas pub lic university students from pay ing federal Social Security taxes. The bill was authored by U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and U.S. Rep. Bill Archer, both of Texas. Gramm said in a press release 47 states, excluding Texas, have had payroll tax exemptions for 15 years. He said the new legis lation will help Texas schools re cruit the best students by mak ing Texas’ schools more financially attractive. Larry Neal, Gramm’s press secretary, said Texas university administrators have expressed concern about the tax and say they have been at a disadvantage because other states have had this legislation for years. “It left Texas colleges at disad vantages in trying to recruit stu dents and more than that, it was an issue of equity,” he said. “It simply wasn’t right to the kids in Texas and it needed to be fixed.” Dr. J Malon Southerland, vice president for the Depart ment of Student Affairs, said the new tax exemption will benefit students. “[The passing of the bill] should be a good thing,” he said. “It puts a little more money in the students’ pockets.” Bill Krumm, vice president for Finance and Controller, said with the tax exemption, student work ers will benefit financially. “It puts more cash in their [students’] pockets when they have full-time [academic] sta tus,” he said. “It saves the Uni versity and the state, but elimi nates FICA deduction.” see Tax on Page 2. Airing their laundry BRANDON BOLLOM/The Baitalion Richard Smart, a senior wildlife and fisheries sciences major, views the Clothesline Project at the MSC Flagroom Thursday. The project allowed students to paint T-shirts to raise awareness of domestic violence. Ogden visits campus Shawn Stewart, a senior bioenviron- mental sciences and agricultural systems manage ment major, talks politics with Steve Ogden outside the MSC Thursday af ternoon. Ogden was on campus campaigning for Tuesday’s election. BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion ERIC NEWNAM/The Battalion Katie Koestner speaks to students about surviving date rape at the "He Said, She Said” presentation in Rud der Theater Thursday night. United States. Koestner said when she was 18 years old, date rape was not rec ognized because most rape inci dents were thought to be commit ted by strangers, but now it is known that in 84 percent of rape occurrences, the victim already knows the attacker. Koestner said she hopes the pre sentation prompts awareness about date rape. see Rape on Page 2. BY AMANDA SMITH The Battalion Texas Sen. Steve Ogden said the 5th District, in which he is running for re-election, is particularly impor tant to the Texas Legislature because it includes higher-education institu tions like Texas A&M University. “Higher education is a very big deal in the 5th District,” Ogden said. “Our tendency is to focus on nation al government. There is no other dis trict in Texas that has a greater inter est in state government than ours.” Ogden said the 5th District in cludes 19 counties, 600,000 people and more than 10 percent of Texas’ public school districts. The 5th dis trict is the home of Sam Houston State University, Prairie View A&M, Blinn College and other junior col lege campuses. Ogden said there is interplay be tween school districts and the way communities identify themselves. “Government is a big deal,” Og den said. “There is a direct and close correlation between the kind of state government we want and the private sector that ultimately has to pay for it. I can’t think of another govern ment entity that plays a bigger role in the lives of the people of this district than the state government does. ” Ogden said the 5th district in cludes the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, six of the 15 fa cilities of the Texas Youth Com mission and two hospitals for the mentally retarded. Ogden said the budget surplus complimented by a stable private sector will continue to stimulate eco nomic opportunity in Texas. “The reason is the private sector is pretty healthy,” he said. “It has created a lot of jobs. It has created a lot of economic growth and thrown off a lot of tax revenue. It is now up to us to allocate it in the smartest way possible.” see Ogden on Page 2. NEWS IN BRIEF Garth Brooks books Reed Arena concert A College Station stop on the Garth Brooks World Tour is expected to be announced at a special press conference today at Reed Arena. The country musician is ex pected to book three dates at the arena and to be joined by fellow country musician Trisha Yearwood. The concerts are scheduled to take place Nov. 19-21. RHA opens doors to trick-or-treaters The Residence Hall Associa tion is sponsoring an RHA Hal loween night for the community Saturday. Residence halls will open their doors to children wanting to trick- or-treat on the Texas A&M campus from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Parents and their children may gather in the Rudder Fountain area between 5 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. to play at the game tables and win prizes. Texas A&M students wanting to help escort trick-or treaters to the residence halls can meet at Rud der Fountain at 5:45 p.m. Contest focuses on healthy eating “Make Five Come Alive,” a poster and bookmark contest sponsored by the Health Education Department, will give students an opportunity to promote healthy eating habits. Cheryl Martin, a nutrition student assistant at A.P Beutel Health Cen ter and a nutrition major, said stu dents entering the contest must de sign a poster or bookmark promoting eating five servings of fruits and veg etables each day. Judges will select one poster and one bookmark to re ceive an award. Martin said the entry deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 3, and judging will be on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Winners of the contest will re ceive cash awards. Martin said the contest has been made possible because of the Graves Award grant the Health Education Department received. The department has decided to use the grant to emphasize the importance of eating fruits and vegetables to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Committee member discusses Olympics Brian Dougherty, a former Texas A&M student, will speak Monday to the Sports Manage ment Society about his experience working on the U.S. Olympic com mittee. Dougherty interned with the committee as an undergraduate and was later offered a job that allowed him the opportunity to work the Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. The meeting will be at 8 p.m. in 274 Read Building. Panel discusses Q-drops, copy costs BY MEGAN WRIGHT The Battalion Texas A&M University President Dr. Ray M. Bowen and a panel of five University vice presidents fielded questions from students and faculty about topics such as the possi ble changes in the Q-drop policy last night on the television program “Ask the Presi dent” on KAMU. Vice President for Administration Dr. Jerry Gaston, Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. Ronald Douglas, Vice President for Development Dr. Robert Walker, Vice President for Finance and Controller Dr. William Krumm and Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. J. Malon Southerland participated in the question- and-answer session. Issues discussed during the broadcast included the current Q-drop policy, parking on campus and the 170-hour cap, also known as the “slacker bill.” Questions were solicited from a studio audience, as well as from viewer calls. Douglas said no definite plans had been made regarding the possible changes to the current Q-drop policy. see Panel on Page 2. ROBERT MCKAY/The Battalion Dr. Ray M. Bowen takes a question from Adrienne Baliare, a junior journalism major, at Thursday night’s "Ask the President” presentation.