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THURSDAY
February 11, 1999
Volume 105 • Issue 90 • 12 Pages
College Station, Texas
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
aggielife
• This weekend Mardi
Gras celebrations reach
their peak in three
southern cities.
PAGE 3
today’s issue
Flu Outbreak 6
Toons 2
Friday’s issue
Gays in the military should have
kept to the don’t ask, don’t tell’
policy for the benefit of all.
sports
• Texas A&M mens basketball
team ropes in 79-74 win
against Kansas State University
Wildcats.
PAGE 7
Student worker bill to be
bmitted to registrar
TERRY ROBERSC'
Gift Shoppe.de
more than 2,K 1
on.
BY RACHEL HOLLAND
The Battalion
■e Residence Hall Association recognized
ident advisers as student workers Wednes-
and will submit its recommendation to the
istpar.
Recognizing resident advisers as student
rkers will allow them to register early for
assts. Student-worker early registration is
rrently available to students who work a
inimum of 12 hours between 8 a.m. and 5
m, Monday through Friday. Resident advis-
3 are on duty 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., Monday
rouigh Friday, and do not qualify as student
arkers.
Nicole Carlson, an author of the bill and a
phpmore history major, said resident advis
ers have expressed concern over the difficulty
of planning their class schedule around the
hours they work in the residence halls.
“It’s a 24-hour job,” she said. “It entails a
lot more than the 7-[a.m.]-to-7-[p.m.] duty
hours. Resident advisers get calls for lots of
things, like lock-ins, all throughout the day.”
“This is our recommendation to the regis
trar,” he said. “If it was only up to the RHA,
we probably would have done it a long time
ago.”
The first reading of the bill was Jan. 28 and
the decision was postponed. The bill was
passed unanimously last night without a sec
ond reading or debate.
There are 150 resident advisers who serve
more than 9,000 students in resident halls on
campus.
it’s M
.lesday said tte
mting death of;
iot weather plagues Texas
id authoritiestd ^ CARRIE BENNETT
)rk in Austin,ak| 1 dl 16 Battalion
ing againstthei Unseasonably hot weather
:h of NicholasG- th e Brazos Valley has peo-
ewondering if winter is over
najor and pledge# ? !(is time t0 out the
tal. ' ' ortk
the ground Oooi Fo1 the last week and a
■as beaten, poll#-! lh e average high has
' students ortrati en 75 degrees, and the hu
ll at the frat hoc ldlt y has been 60 percent.
us -time of year the high
• shortly before! n P E ’ rature is norrna hy in the
n., police said.
v 60s.
Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon,
sociate professor of meteo-
llogk said the warm weath-
QC* hot unusual for this time
Co I dJ year -
** “This hot spell is not un-
eceilented,” Nielsen-Gam-
in said. “About two years
b i| was this warm around
■Year’s Day. ”
Nielsen-Gammon said
average of $39,fiat is needed in the atmos-
eacher salary inliere for warm weather is a
ationally.
:ach
zonal jet, which is a jet stream
blowing from east to west
across the northern part of the
United States. He said the cold
fronts do not penetrate
through Texas when this hap
pens.
“Typically, the Pacific Coast
is wet, and the Great Lakes are
stormy when there is a jet
stream blowing east to west,”
Nielsen-Gammon said.
A cold front is expected to
come through Texas late
Thursday or early Friday and
to bring temperatures in the
upper 50s and thunderstorms
to the Brazos Valley. However,
the cold weather will only last
a couple of days, and temper
atures are predicted to be in
the upper 60s Sunday.
Nielsen-Gammon said
there should not be any long
term effects on future weath
er conditions because of the
hot spell.
“The atmosphere doesn’t
remember short spells of tem
perature like this,” he said. “If
the sea surface temperatures
had changed, then we could
expect long term effects such
as a long, hot summer.”
Nielsen-Gammon said be
cause water temperatures
change slowly, a noticeable
change in sea surface temper
atures would indicate a
change in the atmosphere that
would affect future weather
conditions.
He said one of the effects of
this weather will be plants
will bud early and a freeze
could kill them.
“It is possible for some
more cold weather to come
through the Brazos Valley,”
Nielsen-Gammon said.
“Canada and Alaska are expe
riencing below-normal tem
peratures right now, and a big
change in the jet stream
would bring a cold front this
way. ”
Big 12 Champions
(R to L): Dan Camp
bell, Rich Coady,
Toya Jones and Bran
don Jennings present
the Big 12 South Divi
sion Championship,
the Big 12 Champi
onship and the Sugar
Bowl trophy to the
public at the men’s
basketball game vs.
Kansas State Univer
sity Wednesday night
during halftime at
Reed Arena.
Mike Fuentes/The Battalion
Details of suspects’ suicide released
EDGEWOOD (AP) — Nicholas Arm
strong and Jeremiah Wilkerson were
both 21. They both had attended South
west Texas State University. Their paths
apparently crossed for the first time last
weekend.
By Tuesday, they were dead.
Armstrong, a communications major
and Tau Kappa Epsilon pledge at
Southwest Texas State, was beaten Sun
day morning while he was sleeping on
the couch of his fraternity house after a
party. He died in an Austin hospital
Monday.
Wilkerson was the prime suspect,
but before San Marcos law enforcement
officers could prepare an arrest warrant,
he had returned to his father’s home in
East Texas and committed suicide.
‘‘We regret that this terrible tragedy has
profoundly touched the lives of two fam
ilies and at least two communities,” San
Marcos police Chief Steve Griffith said.
The Canton Herald reported that
Wilkerson shot himself once in the head
with his father’s 9mm pistol Tuesday af
ternoon. Wilkerson was apparently sit
ting in a chair under an oak tree — a fa
vorite resting spot — when he fired the
fatal shot, according to the weekly
newspaper.
‘‘He’s back in the back and he blew
himself away,” Gary Wilkerson told the
ambulance driver, according to a 911
tape. ‘‘He’s my son.”
No suicide note was found, but his
father said the campus tragedy had
been weighing on his son’s mind.
‘‘He was at that frat party and police
got called. Other minors got busted for
(charges of) minor in possession,”
Wilkerson told Dallas-Fort Worth tele
vision station KXAS. ‘‘Wished it would
have never happened.”
Officials said the younger Wilkerson
was among four people who had been
ejected from a party at the TKE house
Saturday evening.
He and another person returned to
the house, where Armstrong was found
sleeping.
‘‘The motive for going back was to
act out that anger” for being thrown
out, Griffith said.
Griffith said police had interviewed
the people who had been with Wilker
son the night of the party.
‘‘We do know who the second indi
vidual is who went back to the TKE
house,” he said.
aking an atteir
■s,” said Annfi
;woman for the
3 rs Association.
)tes said the
more time to M
deciding whethi
fellow bicycles
nake debut
campus
wenty bicydes for A&M
e don’t really fc'ji
is going to effee
she said.
1 raises are parte)
slation Hochber;
ibbed the "Respe.
LpoLf fAMCs Borrow -A-Bikd
portion of the ! :
"\ot^ r yS ram distributes
ig, which
>om lessons, H« :;
we invest a
rool computer if x j . y
ist ensure thaK tuaents use.
how to use it to f
taming,” he sail I BY SALLIE TURNER
:hberg said his off The Battalion
ting how much th „
cost Texas Aggies Making Changes released 20 yellow
, state’s fa$te> kes on campus yesterday as part of the Borrow-A-
districts alsotu ke program, which provides free bicycles for student
dng off their ;5e t 1 cam Pus.
That could help J° e y Neugart, co-director of the Borrow-A-Bike
?s in those area. 70 8 ram and a sophomore political science and his-
'ry major, said anyone can use the bikes to get
1 bill package campus.
reerprofessionf^Jhe bikes are community bikes for a one way
stogainteacher^P’” de said. “If somebody sees a yellow bike, they
tere are virtuall'd ”
that you can’t If*] He sai d students should leave the bicycles on the
i by taking nigln ; ! ke tacks unlocked so other students will be able to
5 your certificate the bikes.
erg. “You cane'' The bicycles were donated by Parking,Traffic and
er by going tori;’ ans P orta tion Services [PITS], who allowed the corn-
ought to be al)k dtee to select from unclaimed bicycles repossessed
ter by doing thatf 6 ^ the past year.
tis doesn’t redtitff Neugart said it took three years to start the Borrow-
it just makes aff-Bike program due to the condition of the donated
Me,” he said.
Prof explores origin, history,
styles of kissing with passion
Sallie Turner/The Battalion
Paige Sherman, a sophomore psychology major,
tests out a Borrow-A-Bike bicycle Wednesday at Rud
der Fountain. Twenty bicycles are available to stu
dents across campus.
bikes and the lack of a place to store the bikes while
they were being repaired. PTTS donated storage space.
“The key element was PTTS giving us a place to
keep the bikes,” she said. “We also had awesome com
mittee members who were dedicated to the program.”
Tida Pichakron, co-director of the Borrow-A-Bike
program and a sophomore business administration
major, said the program will continue if students do
not abuse the bicycles.
“The bikes are to help people and will remain if
people don’t abuse them by taking them off campus
or damaging them.”
BY ANDREA BROCKMAN
The Battalion
In time for Valentine’s Day, Dr. Vaughn Bryant, pro
fessor and head of the anthropology department, pre
sented “Kissing: The Great American Passion” and
gave the origin, history and style of what he called one
of America’s favorite pastimes.
Vaughn has researched the origin of kissing for 30
years and said his favorite definition is Henry Gib
bon’s: a kiss is the anatomical juxtaposition of two or
bicularis muscles in a state of contraction.
Vaughn said there are countless reasons to kiss, in
cluding that it is a language all its own.
“Kissing gives us the ability to express our deep
est feelings that words alone cannot do,” he said.“It
sends sensations directly to the limbic portion of
our brain where love, passion and lust all origi
nate.”
Vaughn said research has shown kissing is healthy.
“A kiss releases hormones and endorphins that re
lieve stress, help us recover from depression, lowers
our blood pressure and can make you feel younger,”
he said.
Vaughn said kissing was probably started as a
method of greeting, and it developed into an erotic act
between lovers.
He said there is no way of knowing if the Nean
derthals or earlier humans may have kissed.
“Their remains consist of bones and stones but they
left no love letters, no paintings of kissing and no
books on the subject,” he said.
“Because of this, the true origin of kissing remains
a mystery. ”
Vaughn said the earliest and best records on kiss
ing come from India.
By 1500 B.C., the Vedic Sanskrit tests of India were
transcribed from an oral history to a written history.
The three primary^
kinds of kisses i
r The nominal kiss:
a girl is kissed on the
lips but shows no reaction.
, The throbbing kiss: a girl
k is kissed on the closed lips but she
^moves lips back and forth.
^FThe touching kiss: a girl touches her
^^lover's lips with her tongue.
— From the Kama Sutra
“In these texts I have found many references to cus
toms of rubbing and pressing noses together,” Vaughn
said. “I suspect this is the precursor to what we now
call kissing.”
Vaughn said the Romans popularized kissing and
spread the custom to most of Europe and parts of
North Africa.
“They were devoted kissing missionaries,” he said.
Vaughn said the Roman poets explained various
types of kissing.
The osculum was the friendship kiss, the basium
was a more erotic type generally done between oppo
site sexes, and the savium was a soul kiss, now better
known as a French kiss.
Vaughn said kissing spread from Europe to other
parts of the world as adventurers, explorers and trav
elers migrated to different places.