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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1999)
Inesday • October 20, 1999 College Station, Texas Volume 106 • Issue 38*12 Pages •EAST TIMOfl TIMOR Tim an e itin roups aim to decrease drowsy driving ggie organization hosts awareness-day events BY CHRIS CARTER The Battalion ill stan; Sunaltt ■nts m. legawafi identswi e denHU lusinessi hite-co[- t protes! Texas Aggies Making Changes (TAMC) is promot- awareness of the dangers of driving while fatigued [ay with Drowsy Driving Awareness Day. The event part of a larger program to curb drowsy driving led the Lupe Medina Hotel Program, o inform students about the dangers of fatigued ving and the program, TAMC will staff tables at the • - finer Business Administration Building and Block- Building and at Rudder Fountain. They will also [tribute red, white and blue ribbons symbolizing issue’s national importance, he Lupe Medina Hotel Program allows fatigued dents to rent hotel rooms at discounted rates. [Ben Rodgers, TAMC chair and a junior business ninistration major, said the program is a worth- ile effort to combat a serious college issue. “We want students to be aware of the dangers of wsy driving and let them know this program was ated specifically for them,” he said. “Even if the dent cannot stay the entire night, two or three |urs of sleep are better than risking others’ lives and ir own.” Jeffery Dunn, a junior finance major, said the dan- sof driving while fatigued are all too real. He said found himself falling asleep while driving home e weekend during his freshman year. 1V1 Show that you are aware: -get a ribbon @ Wehner Business Administration Building, Blocker Building, and Rudder Fountain -attend the Student Senate meeting tonight 7:30 p.m. in Governance Room, Koldus Building -meet representatives from Sen. Steve Ogden and Rep. Fred Brown's offices ROBERT HYNECEK/The Battalion “I didn’t realize my eyes had shut and I was drift ing off the road,” he said. “I just remember the sound of the [rumble strips on the road’s] shoulder startled me, and I woke up just in time to avoid hitting a large road sign. “I was very lucky the road had those strips, or I could have been seriously hurt.” Dunn said he is optimistic the Drowsy Driving Awareness Day will succeed. “If everyone is aware that this is a very dangerous issue, the steps can be better taken to combat this prob lem,” he said. “I hope others can learn the importance of being alert while driving from a program such as this instead of having to find out through experience.” Universities, legislature to discuss resolution BY ERIKA DOERR The Battalion Representatives from the State Legislatures’ offices and the stu dent body president of Baylor Uni versity will attend the Texas A&M Student Senate meeting to discuss the Commitment to Drowsy Dri ving Awareness Resolution tonight at 7:30 in the Governance Room of the Koldus Building. Rob Ferguson, an off-campus senator and a junior political sci ence major, said he expects the Student Senate meeting to be a night for everyone in attendance to learn about the facts of fa tigued driving. In Sept. 1998 the Student Senate passed the Lupe Medina Bill for Driving Safety, stressing the dangers associated with drowsy driving. Ferguson said the Lupe Medina bill is the foundation for the Com mitment to Drowsy Driving Aware ness Resolution. “Through the Lupe Medina Bill for Driving Safety, various motels have been providing discounted rooms to college students driving 55 miles or more from their home campus,” he said. Jenn Holmes, public relations director of the Student Govern ment Association and a sopho more management information systems major, said the meeting will provide a means for those who wish to help save lives by helping this resolution get approved. “This will be a pro-active meet ing where we will vote on an im portant resolution,” she said. “The resolution and the Student Gov ernment Association will help make Aggies aware of the dan gers of drowsy driving, in order to save their own lives and aid in saving the lives of future Aggies. ” Ferguson said the resolution will be presented to Baylor Stu dent Body President John Rolph, who will accept the resolution on behalf of Baylor. He is attending because four Baylor students were among the six students killed Oct. 10 in a pedestrian-au tomobile collision attributed to drowsy driving. Ted W. Bruton, a 21-year-old agriculture and life sciences ma jor at A&M, was also killed in the collision. Ferguson said representatives from the offices of Sen. Steve Og den and State Rep. Fred Brown also will attend the meeting to deliver statements concerning the issues of drowsy driving. Bru ton’s family also have been in vited to express their concerns at the meeting. Other points of discussion at the Student Senate meeting will include voting on the second reading of Proposition 13, which would authorize the Texas High er Education Coordinating Board to issue $400 million for student loans, and adding a voting site at the George Bush School of Gov ernment and Public Service. JGS MEN! iium rograms partner up A perfect fit or homeless survey 017, COOII BY DIANE XAVIER The Battalion The Brazos Valley Homeless Coalition, in injunction with Twin City Mission, will induct the first-ever seven-county homeless vy and count tonight. Marcus Loeve, survey coordinator and a manager for T\vin City Mission’s Home ers Program, said the survey is intend- |to get an accurate count of the Brazos Val- s homeless population [dto study the social-demo- phic traits of the homeless. Loeve said Twin City Mis- n is looking for individu- who lack shelter and ti help. “The 1990 census stated ere were no unsheltered meless people in the Bra- is Valley, and that’s just not fc," he said. “By doing this irvey, we hope to provide 'tter community awareness |id get a better idea of what the needs are of iis community. ” Volunteers from all seven counties will lam with students from the Texas A&M lepartment of Sociology in an attempt to Icate and survey as many homeless peo- fe as possible. Dr. Carol Albrecht, the event’s intern co- jrdinator of the event and a sociology pro- Issor, said more than 40 students from So- fology 205, an introductory sociology ourse, and Sociology 220, a research-meth- ds course, will conduct the survey. Students will be put in groups of four, ach group will include a Spanish-speaking Itudent and a law-enforcement escort. “We want to teach our students how to inister a survey, show them what pover ty is like and let them explore the causes and consequences of poverty,” Albrecht said. “This is a great opportunity for them to get an up-close and personal view on what it is like to be homeless.” Students and volunteers will meet at the homeless shelter to interview the res idents first. Then police officers will es cort the groups around the community to help identify the homeless and to ensure students’ safety. Surveyors will interview the homeless to get a profile of them. “There are a lot of stereotypes about the homeless which are not true,” Albrecht said. “I want our students to know that they are hu man beings who just have different chal lenges and stresses.” Albrecht said the survey gives students an opportu nity to obtain experience. “This is a great time for students to ap ply what they learn and give back to the community,” she said. “We also get to use this data and give analysis.” The Texas Department of Mental Health and Retardation and the Texas De partment of Housing and Community Af fairs are funding the survey. Data from the survey will be calculated by the Texas Homeless Network. Loeve said anyone who knows of home less individuals living in their community should contact him. “We don’t have access to all the people out there who lack shelter,” Loeve said. “This is why we are here. If anybody knows anyone who needs help, then it’s important for us to know so we can help them.” “[We hope to] get a better idea of what the needs are of this community.” —Marcus Loeve Survey coordinator INSIDE News in Brief Aggietife • Do you feel lucky? Students tell sto ries of run-ins with the law. Page 4 Sports •Ags get ready for Sooners Texas A&M Football Team / prepares to take on the Uni versity of Oklahoma. | Page 7 Opinion •Do Something Students should become more involved as activists. Page 11 Batt Radio Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details about errors made on Bryan High School transcripts. Families establish bank fund for son of accident victim The Flores and McEachern families have set up a bank fund for the five-month-old son of William Michael Flores, the Southwest Texas State Univer sity student who was one of six students killed in an accident in College Station on Oct. 10. Donations can be mailed or electronically forwarded to: Texas First Bank, c/o Infant- Kylan Aaron McEachern, 12402 Hwy. 6, PO. Box 608, Santa Fe, Texas 77510. Woman dies from injuries sustained in bus collision Pam Swartz, a Texas A&M employee, died yes terday evening from injuries resulting from a car collision with a A&M shuttle bus Monday morning. Cher Ross, administrative assistant of The Med of College Station, said Schwartz was admitted immediately following the collision and remained in the intensive care unit until last night. Gary Stratton, an officer with the College Station Police Department, said witnesses to the accident said Swartz’s 1992 Ford Taurus rolled into the in tersection of George Bush Drive and Wellborn Road as she stopped at a red light. Swartz was east- bound on George Bush Drive in the right lane. The bus was travelling southbound in the left lane when it broadsided the Taurus on the driver’s side. Stratton said the department is still looking into the case, but questions will probably remain unanswered. CODY WAGES/Thh Battalion Kyle Frazier, a junior mechanical engineering major and member of the Ross Volunteers, gets fitted for his uniform by To’ta Muller, an employee of the military warehouse. Historian discusses U.S. choice to use atomic bombs on Japan BY JEANETTE SIMPSON AND BRADY CREEL The Battalion Many controversies still sur round the United States’ deci sion to use atomic bombs on Japan to force an end to World War II. Dr. Edward Drea, a Unit ed States Defense Department historian, said Texas A&M stu dents and faculty should con sider the decision after analyz ing the details of the war during a lecture yesterday. “What would you have done if you had to make the decision of whether or not to drop the atomic bomb on Japan?” Drea asked. Drea’s lecture, “The Atom ic Bomb and Japan’s Re sponse: the Controversy,” ex amined and explained the three methods of interpreta tion considered in reviewing the decision to use the atom ic bombs. “The first, being from the post-war era, was that the use of the atomic bomb prevented an invasion that would have taken an enormous toll on American lives,” Drea said. He said a second interpreta tion, developed in the ’60s, claimed the use of the bomb was unnecessary because American leaders knew Japanese leaders were near defeat. The ’90s post revisionist interpretation of the bombs’ use is a synthesis of the former two, he said . “This interpretation says we had the bomb; it was going to avoid losing many lives,” he said. “It would punish the Japanese for the surprise at- ANTHONY DISALVO/The Battalion Dr. Edward Drea spoke yes terday about World War II. tack on Pearl Harbor and for their inhumane treatment of prisoners of war, and finally, it see Historian on Page 2. Teaching history of religion difficult, prof says . BY JEANETTE SIMPSON The Battalion Considering the many problems professors face when teaching a class on the history of Christianity, many may wonder why Dr. Daniel Bornstein, director of Texas A&M’s religious program and a history professor, bothers to teach classes on such subject at all. “I feel it is my civic duty to the University and to the larger community to address such issues,” Bornstein said. “If we do not, we are likely to see more incidents such as the one that occurred 90 miles up the road [in Waco], ” BORNSTEIN a controversial Bornstein, 1999 Fallon-Marshall lec turer, discussed teaching the history of Christianity to more than 120 students, faculty and staff last night. He addressed the issues and problems that arise in teaching the history of Christianity to a group of predominately self-proclaimed Christian students and how one should handle these problems. “Good research is supposed to be con troversial and open-ended,” Bornstein said. “Teaching theories and the history of Christianity must be the same way.” Bornstein said two methods must be adhered to when teaching sensitive is sues such as the history of Christianity. “When presenting the material, it must be well-grounded in evidence,” Bornstein said. “Secondly the material must be pre sented in a way that is fair to everyone.” Bornstein said to present material that is well-grounded, assignments should be drawn from a specific source, not some modern-day interpretation of ancient beliefs. He said questions presented to students must create responses that will draw from the source as well so that professions of faith are minimalized. He said fairness also is crucial in han dling such topics. “When you lecture on this material, you must be open to discussiori and be prepared to be constantly interrupted,” he said. “[Students] must feel that their con cerns are being met. I also find it gratify ing when students tell me, that this is the class they will remember 10 years down the road. I want my class to make them think, even if it creates a controversy. ”