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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1999)
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY aggielife • Discovering myths concerning credit-card debts may lead to financial freedom. PAGE 3 today’s issue Toons 2 Opinion 9 Battalion Radio At 1:57p.m. on KAMU-FM 90.9 learn why a world-wide e-mail is encouraging VCR owners to set their timer date to 1972. sports • Aggies Track and Field Teams excel at weekend's Texas Relays in Austin. PAGE? SPRING ‘99 RESULTS If; tudent Body President: Will Hurd Ejlandon Neff enior Yell Leaders: Kj^Hty Batsell Bloss "Y; Bailey I ; »ior Yell Leaders: 4ipba Moser Ja ies Leiskau <UNCOL» , ... . Ricky Wood Allege |J SS of 2000 President: jlfTer-r png atie Henselka 000 Vice-President: lelissa Dablo retlEoOO Secretary: c ie ania Fongemie ilki, 000 Treasurer: eather Johnson lesle: 000 Social Secretary: Candidates face runoff elections 20% of turnout attributed to senior ballots MONDAY Aprils, 1999 Volume 105 • Issue 120 • 10 Pages College Station, Texas BY EMILY R. SNOOKS The Battalion Approximately 9,500 stu dents voted in the 1999 student government elections last week, and runoff elections for several positions will be Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Seniors Will Hurd and Bran don Neff came out on top in the student body president race, and one will be chosen in the runoff. Election commissioner Dawn McGill said Neff had a slightly higher percentage of votes than Hurd, but if no one holds a majority in the student body president positions, a runoff is required. Senior Kendall Kelly was not far behind in the number- three spot, and junior Brandon Clarke took fourth. Jeff Bailey, Dusty Batsell and John Bloss won the three senior yell-leader positions. Bubba Moser won one of the two junior yell-leader posi tions. James Leiskau and Ricky Wood will compete for the re maining junior yell leader spot in the runoffs. Some class council positions will also be included in the runoff elec tions. McGill said there was a higher senior voter turnout than in other years; seniors made up 20 percent of the vot ing pool. McGill said the student-elec tion runoffs usually draw few er voters than the primary elec tions, but that may not be the case this year. “In previous years, the runoff elections have had a SALLIE TURNER/The Battalion Will Hurd (L) and Brandon Neff are the runoff candidates for student body president. The results were announced Thursday night at the Lawrence Sullivan Ross Statue. smaller turnout because they were right before the Good Fri day holiday,” she said. The election results and per centages are posted outside the Student Activities Office in the Koldus building. McGill said the voting loca tions for the primary elections will be open for the runoff elec tions. Results will be announced Thursday at 10 p.m. at the Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue. from be' ance Richards nson 000 Historian: ummer Harbert (An (*) indicates a runoff) For further election results see Page 5. pus sees creasein g offenses BY RICHARD PADDACK The Battalion ^ne number of drug violations for 1998 are higher ^they have been in the last four years. pb Wiatt, director of University Police Department ), said 43 drug violations by students on campus ?re reported for 1998, compared to 30 violations for 97. ^■’hese numbers show a significant increase in the of drug violations on campus in the past few Wiatt said. ^VD also works with local law enforcement agen- sto monitor crime at off-campus sites of recognized A&M organizations. UPD then reports incidents A&M administration. Ih’D publishes daily and monthly reports of on- llUfflBwus crimes for the media, the public and various fices on campus. Anyone may request the monthly Senator lament. ,j ce s Corn 11 " “It is unfortunate that we cannot compile a list of ^Htions by students off campus as well,” Wiatt said. J|H process would be difficult to do, but the public uld see just how significant the numbers really are.” HHl major crime statistics are submitted to the FBI dthe Texas Department of Public Safety, as required see Drugs on Page 5. TEXAS fi&M UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF SECURITY AND UNIVERSITY POLICE ANNUAL CRIME STATISTICS IES DER FFENSES tile i gait, tap* *63 jatwnffts} orcible ERY AVATED ASSAULT LARY ICLE THEFT i (part 1 CRIMES) STS OR LAW OFFENSES VIOLATIONS PONS POSSESSIONS L (part 2 ARRESTS) 1995 1 3 1 65 6 78 294 35 13 342 1996 8 4 2 80 10 98 246 23 8 277 1997 1998 ti/A WA WA WA WA WA WA WA 0 0 0 67 13 83 219 30 7 256 225 43 6 274 asrtpitt SiKVXtti spuj Iftal mi To so®**. Easter excitement TERRY ROBERSON/The Battalion A student at Rock Prairie Elementary School rattles then listens to the egg for a hint of what is inside. Over 50 first-grade students participated in the Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by Lambda Chi Alpha and area grocery stores last Thursday. Law degree plans denied STAFF AND WIRE REPORT State District Court Judge Suzanne Covington ruled that the affiliation agreement be tween Texas A&M and the South Texas College of Law is a violation of authority. The ruling Wednesday, which the South Texas Col lege of Law plans to appeal, agreed with a ruling by the Texas Higher Education Coor dinating Board and said the Texas A&M Board of Regents exceeded its authority. The affiliation was de signed to allow A&M a law curriculum and degree and to give South Texas greater recognition. A dispute over the affiliation was sparked be cause some believe such an affiliation would create a third public law school in Houston and that South Texas, a pri vate institution, could acquire state funds. A lawsuit arose among the coordinating board. South Texas and A&M over whether or not permission was need ed for A&M and South Texas to enter into the agreement. Psychologist encourages life, death awareness BY APRIL YOUNG The Battalion Common college stress and tragic occurrences this semes ter have put a strain on stu dents, forcing many to exam ine mortality and the frailty of life. Dr. Mary Ann Moore, psy chologist for Student Counsel ing Services, said students should be aware of the realities of life and death. Moore said students often feel invincible and take risks, including drinking and dri ving and unprotected sex. Thus, when a tragedy occurs, they are shocked, she said. Moore said students have experienced more tragic inci dents this semester than usu al. She said it is unusual for students to have to deal with excessive grief. Moore said students should not feel compelled to follow a specific grieving process. “Students see something that lists stages, and they feel pressured that they should be doing it in those stages,” Moore said. “There is an in credible amount of flexibility within the grieving process, and people go through these stages at different times for different lengths of time.” Moore said one sign of grief is excessive drinking. “If you see someone over drinking in their grief, help them realize that drinking won’t make it go away; it’s just going to prolong it,” she said. Moore said students often place too much responsibility on themselves when a tragedy occurs. “Anyone can take a tragedy and figure out a way we could have prevented it, but the bot tom line is that we don’t have that much control,” she said. Moore said there are many different ways to grieve, so students should be supportive of each other and not critical of how people grieve.