106 YEARS AT TEXAS A8kM UNIVERSITY
orfcay • September 13,1999
College Station, Texas
Volume 106 • Issue 11*12 Pages
ascot mourners
BY JEANETTE SIMPSON
The Battalion
The first deck of Kyle
Field was full Saturday
morning, as students and
faculty of past and present
somberly turned out to hon
or and pay respects to
Reveille V, the Texas A&M
mascot from 1984-1993, with
a military-style memorial
service.
Reveille V was euthanized
June 25, due to her failing
health, but her memorial ser
vice and burial were post
poned to Saturday so the en
tire student body would have
the chance.to attend.
The service began with a
prayer led by Corps of Cadets
Chaplain Jeremiah Ebeling, a
senior Spanish major, and
was followed by a presenta
tion on the Reveille mascot
tradition given by Craig
Serold, mascot corporal for
1998-1999 and a junior com
puter engineering major.
Rick Holcomb, Class of
’89, and Greg Riels, Class of
’94, former mascot corporals
of Reveille V, shared trea
sured and humorous memo-
, ries of Reveille V with the
audience.
Holcomb reminisced on
Reveille V’s passion for
stealing an unsuspecting
professors erasers from the
chalkboards, her love trf at
tention and her dislike of
other mascots who tried to
pick on her team.
Riels said he recalled once
being asked why a collie was
the A&M mascot.
“In a school where dedi
cation, compassion, loyalty
and camaraderie play such
an important role in who
we are as students, I cannot
imagine a better mascot,”
he said.
Riels said that although
some might consider it a
hassle to have to allow
mascot corporals 30 min
utes to walk to class be
cause of the attention
Reveille V always attracted,
it never bothered him.
“I never felt like 1 was
walking a dog around; I al
ways felt like I was walking
a lady,” Riels said.
Riels read “Reveille,” a
poem that reminds all Ag
gies that when Silver Taps is
played for her and her name
is called at Muster, we
should not feel sorrow but
happiness in remembering
BRADLEY ATCHISON/i iu Battalion
that she was not only part
of the great A&M tradition
but also part of the Aggie
family.
"After recognition of the
West family, who cared for
Reveille V after her retire
ment, and all of Reveille V’s
former mascot corporals. Sil
ver Taps was played, and the
Singing Cadets sang “Auld
Lang Syne” as the former
mascot corporals carried the
cherry-wood casket off the
field and over to the burial
site in Cain Park.
TYaditionally, the mascots
were buried at the north end
of Kyle Field where they
could “see” the scoreboard
and watch the Aggies play.
However, on Aug. 13,
1997, Company E-2 began
moving the graves of
Reveilles I, II, III and IV to
Cain Park as the construc
tion of The Zone at Kyle
Field began.
Once The Zone is com
pleted-, the mascots’ graves
will be returned to their tra
ditional burial grounds.
Reveille V made her first
appearance as mascot on
Jan. 11, 1985, at an A&M
basketball game and was re
tired Nov. 25, 1993.
Opening arguments set
to begin in Jasper trial
BY RYAN WEST
The Battalion
Opening arguments in the capital murder trial of
Lawrence Russell Brewer, the second capital murder tri
al regarding the death of James Byrd Jr., will begin Mon
day at 9 a.m. in the 85th District Court.
The 14 jurors, consisting of seven white men, five white
women and two Hispanic men, were chosen Friday.
Jury Coordinator Ginger Lanehart said the jury se
lection went well — just as officials expected.
“Questioning [during jury selection] wasn’t quite as
long as in other capital murder cases because it was a
transfer case, and there weren’t a lot of people who knew
the people involved,” Lanehart said.
She said for the most part, the jury selection was typical
for a capital murder case, and nothing unusual transpired..
Fourteen African Americans were among the 141 peo
ple who showed up for jury selection. Of the 48 people
qualified as potential jurors, three were African Ameri
cans; all three were stricken by the defense in a closed-
door session on Friday.
Brewer is one of three white men accused of strip
ping, beating and dragging James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old
disabled black man, to death in June 1998. Although the
death took place in Jasper the case was transferred to
Bryan in May to avoid an unfair trial due to massive pub
licity in Jasper.
Walter Diggles, executive director of the Deep East
see Jasper on Page 2.
V
Fraternity Rush Week ends
BY CHRIS MENCZER
The Battalion
More than 280 bids were accepted
at the Fall 1999 Bid House ending Fra
ternity Rush Week celebration as new
pledges ran down the steps of the Jack
K. Williams Administration Building
into the arms of their respective chap
ters Saturday.
Brandon Drake, Interfraternity
Council (IFC) Rush co-chair and a se
nior industrial distribution major, said
more men participated in rush this
year than last year.
“Rush numbers have dramatically
increased due to stronger recruitment
techniques,” Drake said.
“[Last year] it was somewhere in
the neighborhood of 175 [bids ac
cepted].”
Scott Blackwell, Greek Life adviser,
said the recruiting the 18 fraternities
did this summer showed in the num
ber of men that accepted bids. During
the summer, mailers were sent to in
coming freshmen, and events were
held by individual chapters to pro
mote rush.
Blackwell said the Bid House ac
tivities went well, and all the groups
were well behaved.
“Rush numbers were
dramatically increased
due to stronger
recruitment
techniques/'
— Brandon Drake
Interfraternity Council co-chair
Jeff Morgan, IFC Rush co-chair and
a senior finance major, said this may
have been the first year that every fra
ternity accepted more bids because of
the higher quality of students who
chose to go through rush.
“I think the higher numbers we are
seeing are due to better efforts by IFC
and the individual chapters to contact
potential rushees over the summer
and inform them not just about rush
,but the Greek system as a whole,”
Morgan said.
Of the 18 fraternities with mem
bership in IFC, 16 participated in Bid
House. Tau Kappa Epsilon and Alpha
Gamma Rho chose not to participate
in the formal Bid House events.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon was also
not present at the main activities
but participated in Bid House earli
er in the day as part of an IFC disci
plinary measure. This measure
stemmed from a scuffle with anoth
er fraternity that broke out at last
year’s ceremony.
• A concert featuring 24/7, Blue
Earth and the Atlantics at the Grove
on main campus officially ended rush
events Saturday night.
Program aims to reduce stress
BY ERIKA DOERR
The Battalion
Student Counseling Service (SCS) is sponsoring the
“Beat the Hell Outta Stress” program today from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m. in the MSC Flagroom, with performances and
games to help reduce stress in students’ lives.
Performances, exhibits and activities are ways stu
dents can beat the hell outta stress today.
Performers such as the Aggie yell leaders, Apotheo
sis and the Prime Time Posse will be included in the
day’s activities.
Exhibits will include graffiti boards, massages, humor
and video games, along with Student Life Alcohol and
Drug Prevention programs.
Activities include football tosses, duck pond races,
putting greens and ring tosses.
Dr. Andy Smith, associate director of counseling and
coordinator of training, said the SCS understands that
stress in college is a big factor in students’ lives, and the
service wants to promote itself on campus.
“We want to catch students early in the year and let
them know the Student Counseling Service exists and
we are here to help them deal with everything from aca
demic difficulty, concerns about career direction and
personal or emotional relationship problems,” he said.
“We want students to know that this is a free service that
they should take advantage of.”
Dusty Batsell, senior yell leader and a construction
science major, said the event will remind students to en
joy school, learning, and to have a great time at the Uni
versity.
“These first few weeks of school can be very over
whelming, especially since student organization appli
cations were due this past week,” he said.
“The Beat the Hell Outta Stress event is a great pro
gram to help people relieve this stress.”
Smith said the past three “Beat the Hell Outta Stress”
programs have been successful because students have
enjoyed them so much! .
“This is the third year SCS has sponsored ‘Beat the
Hell Outta Stress,”’ he said.
“Last year, approximately 4,000 -students participat
ed in the activities. We want to publicize SCS, educate
students about stress management and about anxiety
disorders.”
INSIDE
aggielife
• Devoid of Life
Students and
professors discuss
the art of skipping
classes.
Page 3
opinion
• Mind your manners!
Columnist laments students’
failure to extend common
courtesies to others.
Page 11
sports
•Ags stay unbeaten, winGTE
Women's soccer wins MW *ii
■WteP / ** ft'H
tournament against
U.S. Naval Academy,
Ohio State University. *
Page 7
Batt radio
Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57
p.m. for details about a bridge
tournament.
PTTS bans waiting
for parking in lot
CHAD ADAMS/The Battalion
BY ROLANDO GARCIA
The Battalion
Student drivers used to
hover like vultures around the
Zachry parking lot, waiting to
swoop down and claim the
next available parking space,
but this daily ritual is no
longer allowed.
Doug Williams, associate
director of Parking, Traffic and
Transportation Services
(PTTS), said they are no
longer allowing cars to wait in
line for the next available
space in Parking Area 50
across from the Zachry Engi
neering Building.
“Lines of cars were
spilling over into the road
ways between the parking
lots,” he said.
“It wasn’t wide enough
for two-way traffic, and
cars were having trouble
getting out.”
Williams said to help alle
viate the parking shortage,
plans are in the works to en
large the lot. Following Bon
fire, PA 50 will be expanded to
include 600 additional spaces,
bringing the total number of
student parking spaces on
campus to approximately
10,200.
The gridlock created by too
many cars and too few park
ing spaces is nothing new,
Williams said, but this semes
ter large signs were posted at
the entrance of the parking lot
admonishing drivers not to
stop along the roadway.
Williams said an officer
was stationed at the lot the
first few days of school to
make sure drivers followed
the new rule, but now most
students are complying.
With 1,125 parking spaces
and a prime location, the
Zachry lot fills up quickly each
morning and during the peak
times, 15 minutes before class
starts, cars waited in line for
as long as 30 minutes just for
a parking space to open up.
Lindsay Plesko, a sopho
more animal science major,
said instead of turning into a
chaotic free-for-all when a
space becomes available,
students observe parking lot
etiquette.
“Usually there’s a car wait
ing on each end of the parking
aisle, and the one that was there
first gets the space,” she said.
“Hardly anyone would cut in
line; Aggies are generally good
about courtesies like that. ”
After waiting in line sever
al times last year, Plesko said
she learned her lesson and
now arrives before 7:30 a.m.
to get a parking spot.
Shane Chiasson, a senior
electrical engineering major,
said he was not shy about tak
ing a space that drivers wait
ing in lines had missed.
“You can always find a few
empty spots that [drivers wait
ing in line] don’t know about,
and it’s too bad if they can’t
find it themselves,” he said.
Luncheon focuses
on aiding minorities
BY STASIA RAINES
The Battalion
The “Leading with Diversity” luncheon gave mi
nority students the opportunity to meet representatives
from campus organizations, counselors from the Stu
dent Counseling Service (SCS) and Texas A&M faculty
to find out Out to get involved.
The luncheon, sponsored by the Committee for the
Awareness of Mexican-American Culture (CAMAC),
Black Awareness Committee (BAG) and Asian Cultures
Education Committee (ACEC), hosted more than 20
students in the MSC Forsyth Center Galleries Saturday.
Stephenie R. Rhodes, adviser for the luncheon, said
bringing staff and older students together to tell about
their experiences at A&M helps direct students to be
come involved in campus organizations.
Tammy Henry, BAG chair, said she wants to emphasize
to students the availability of programs on campus.
“A lot of freshmen at A&M don’t realize the organi
zations they can get involved with,” Henry said.
Jason Alexander, a freshman who attended the con
ference, said the luncheon gave him the opportunity to
meet culturally diverse people and offered information
on how to get involved at a large university. •
Giseh Lin, an SCS counselor, said it is important for
freshmen to get involved because they are the future
see Minority on Page 2.