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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1999)
106 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY fsday November 16, 1999 College Station, Texas Volume 106 • Issue 57 • 16 Pages wKmmmmmmmm tudents threatening •thers with gun sought \ictims say suspects pointed, fired unloaded shotgun BY ROLANDO GARCIA The Battalion [Criminal charges are pending iinst two Texas A&M students 10m University Police Depart- ?nt (UPD) officers said threat- ?d two other students with an [unloaded shotgun. [|UPD Director Bob Wiatt said incident occurred Thursday jbrning when a passenger in a ■rked vehicle in Parking Area 20 on the north side of campus [pulled out a shotgun and pointed li»t two students walking east on Jones Street. He then pulled the ■gger. I Wiatt said the gun did not dis- 1 charge,' but the suspect continued ■ cock the weapon and pulled | tie trigger several times while laughing at the victims’ reactions. lub stance ibuse focus >f program BY BRADY CREEL The Battalion The Texas A&M Department of ■ Student Life Alcohol & Drug Edu- Jcation Programs will host a na- 1 tionally known alcohol and drug fa/v/se speaker tonight at 7 in Rud- |der Auditorium. Dr. Dennis Reardon, director 3f Student Life said Corneliuson use her knowledge, person- I experiences and personality to lake a‘realistic look at college prinking. “Alcohol and drug abuse awareness are important not anly because of their education- impact but because colleges across the nation have serious toncerns about use and abuse of ^Icohol and drugs by their stu dents,” Reardon said. A&M President Dr. Ray M. Jowen said in a press release Ihat his vision for A&M includes |a campus environment that is ree of alcohol abuse and its ef fects in classrooms, student res- Jfcient communities and our time ■onored traditions that are the pSocial fabric of our campus.” Mark Macicek, deputy com mander of the Corps of Cadets [ and a senior business manage- jlient major, said all freshmen and sophomore cadets are re quired to attend the event to in crease their awareness of the is sues surrounding the use of see Alcohol on Page 2 INSIPF 4 I Aggielife •You have the right Knowing legal rights helps students deal with police. Page 3 j Sports •A common goal Sophomores Riley Janes and Nik Tate take different paths to success. Page 11 Opinion Don’t drink or drive or else ... Scare tactics should not be used to teach esponsibility. Page 15 Batt Radio Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details on a plant closing in College Station. “If you’re encouraging and abetting someone committing a crime, then you become a party to that crime.” — Bob Wiatt Director, University Police The suspects left the area on foot by the time UPD officers ar rived, but their vehicle was towed, and police confiscated a Harrington & Richardson Arms .410 gauge shotgun and an un spent shotgun shell. The incident is still under in vestigation, Wiatt said, but the two suspects may face a felony charge of carrying a weapon on campus and a Class A misde meanor charge of reckless con duct. The matter will be sent to the Brazos County District Attor ney’s Office later this week. Still to be decided is whether to file charges against both students or just against the owner of the shotgun. “If you’re encouraging and abetting someone committing a crime, then you become a party to that crime,” Wiatt said. The suspects have given state ments to the police. Wiatt said the owner of the shotgun explained his possession of the weapon by saying it was an antique, but that would make no difference in whether the suspects are charged with a felony. Sparks will fly CODY WAGES/Tmh Battaijon Bennie Kilough, a welder, prefabricates water pipes that will be used in the construction of a new Northside cooling tower on Monday. Coming in out of the Cold War • Exhibits at George Bush Presidential Library and Museum features relics from Berlin and the Cold War. BY ROLANDO GARCIA AND MATT LOFTIS The Battalion Patrons of the new exhibits at the George Bush Pres idential Library Complex can see a tube of lipstick that is actually a single shot 4.5 mm pistol, an enigma ma chine used to encrypt messages, a hollow shaving brush used to conceal film and various transmitters and wire tapping devices. The Bush Library has officially opened two new ex hibits — “The Longest Winter: Berlin and the Cold War,” highlighting Berlin’s central role in several conflicts and also includes those events of global scope; and “I Spy, Tools of the Trade,” an espionage exhibit. Patricia Burchfield, curator of the George Bush Pres idential Library and Museum, said the Berlin exhibit will include such notable historical objects as the original signed NATO treaty from 1948, the original Helsinki Ac cords and the reading copy of Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech. The relics have been gathered from throughout the world and borrowed for presentation in College Station. The espionage exhibit is a collection of Cold War spy equipment from military historian and spy equipment expert H. Keith Melton. Berlin Wall fall result of people, events, prof says BY JEANETTE SIMPSON The Battalion The Berlin Wall was much more than a wall; it was a 100-mile long, 12-foot high ob stacle that divided Berlin, keeping the peo ple of the east and west and communism and democracy separated. Dr. Arnold Krammer said in a lecture last night. The professor of German history said the Berlin Wall was not an ordinary wall. “Let me put the wall into perspective for you, lest we lose sight of the massiveness of this barrier,” he said. “The wall was sur rounded by 256 guard dogs, mine fields and self-firing automatic weapons.” Krammer said the falling of the wall was not a dramatic event, unlike what was por trayed on the news. He pointed out that there were many people and events that led up to the fall of the wall. “The events seen in November of 1989 were not as sudden as they seemed on CNN,” he said. “The destruction of the wall began with [Mikhail] Gorbachev’s call for a restructuring of East Berlin; then Hungary opened its borders. Even [former President Ronald] Reagan demanded that the wall be brought down early in 1987.” He said long before discussions began about tearing down the wall, 3,200 people were arrested when they attempted to cross the wall, more than 800 were killed and 1,000 were shot at. Slam poet brings new art to A&M Special To The Battalion (L to R): A single shot 4.5-mm pistol disguised as a tube of lipstick and a shaving brush with a hollow han dle used for smuggling film are part of the H. Keith Melton collection on display at the George Bush Pres idential Library and Museum. “This exhibit will fire everyone’s imagination,” Burchfield said. “It’s a fascinating look at some of the tools of the trade. ” Other items in the Berlin exhibit include Elvis Pres ley’s military service records, the original copy of the treaty uniting the separated halves of Germany, items from the Berlin Airlift and the space suit of astronaut Deke Slayton from the Apollo-Soyuz joint space project. “I think the Texas A&M students would have a grand time looking at these things,” Burchfield said. “The pho tographs, treaties and all these things are all just great encapsulations of the time period.” Burchfield said the exhibit is intended to corre sponded with the 10th anniversary of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and parallel the CIA conference hosted by the Bush School at the end of the week. “There are some great photographs and amazing doc uments throughout the exhibit,” Burchfield said. “There . are images known world-wide and there are other im ages that are not so well-known that bring up other memories from the Cold War. ” The exhibit will run through March 12,2000 and is ac cessible with regular museum admission of $5 for adults, $4 for students and $3.50 for visitors older than 62. BY BRADY CREEL The Battalion In American society of cellular telephones, fax machines and e- mail, it is rare when someone has a problem in finding a method of communication. But a new form of literary expression called slam poetry, which is SLam ~ t yr w % Luith Steue Colman 8:30 p.m. MSC 206 $3 @ MSC Boh Office similar to rap but without the music, offers a new way to il lustrate emo tions. The MSC Lit erary Arts Com mittee offers Texas A&M stu dents an oppor tunity to hear Steve Colman, a member of the 1998 first-place team in national slam poetry com petition, present a live perfor mance of slam poetry tonight at 8:30 in MSC 206. Suzanne Spencer, chair of the MSC Literary Arts Committee and a senior English major, said Col man was asked to perform be cause the committee wants to in form students about this new form of literary art. “Slam poetry gives students & the chance to express thought in new ways,” she said. Slam poetry is based partially on poetic rhetoric and partially on presentation. Slam poetry is pre sented in both prepared and im- provisational form. Spencer said slam poetry is unique in its nature and format and is creative because the words rhyme and have a rhythmic beat. Kristin Grego ry, an executive committee mem ber for MSC Lit erary Arts Com mittee and a senior business management major, said slam po etry delves into political, social and economic venues, as well as romantic and other topics. “[Colman] basically covers the whole spectrum,” she said. Gregory said Colman’s perfor mance includes prewritten sto ries, as well as stories sponta neously written during his interaction with the audience. She said this informal event will be see Slam on Page 2. BRANDON HENDERSON/The Battalion Student senators pass bill on constituency relations BY DIANE XAVIER The Battalion The Student Senate will require its sen ators to prepare constituency reports for the students and organizations they repre sent in order to form a closer relationship between the Sen- stu- CHAD ADAMS/The Battalion Dr. Arnold Krammer, a history professor, speaks on the fall of the Berlin Wall last night. People trying to get over the wall were emotionally driven, Krammer said. Some burrowed tunnels under the wall, some clung underneath cars, some jumped from the roofs of buildings near the wall, and oth ers attempted to float over the wall in home made hot air balloons. He said when the border was opened, and the news was announced on television. The troops guarding the wall were not informed. The people of Berlin marched on the wall and the troops were faced with thousands of people clamoring to get over the wall. “The major in charge gave orders not to shoot,” he said. “That one order changed the moment. Someone should find that major and give him the Nobel Peace Prize. The crowds climbed the wall, and at tacked it, and brought i.t down with the ha tred it had created since its creation. In the end the credit belongs to the East Berliners.” The Student Senate Constituency Relations Bill - requires senators to submit constituency reports for the organizations they represent - increases the accessibility and visibility of student senate to the student body - will go into effect next spring ate and the dent body. The Con stituency Rela tions Bill requires each senator to at tend four meet ings of different student organiza tions and update the members of the Student Sen ate’s activities, in form them on campus issues and get more feedback from the student body. Justin Toal, speaker pro-tempore of the Student Senate and a senior agronomy and business major, said the goal is for the sen ators to continue the Senate’s on-going ef fort to provide for students’ needs. “We are the legislative branch of the Student Government Association, and we represent large groups of people,” he said. “We have to get out there and find out what the students want.” Senators will be responsible for com pleting a constituency report form for each meeting. The report will contain students’ concerns on campus issues and opinions on the Senate’s performance. Toal said constituency reports currently are not required but are highly recom- mended. He said 1 some senators file reports because they see it as beneficial to their jobs. Justin Strickland, student services chair and a junior political sci ence major, said constituency reports increase the accessi bility and visibility of the Senate to the student body. “We wanted to reach out to the constituents and student body and better represent them,” Strick land said. “It’s just one more thing we can do to voice the concerns of them.” Toal said the rule change within the Sen ate will provide a way to exchange ideas. “It’s important for a senator to remem ber how he or she got to where they are,” Toal said. “We are there for students, and we need to get in contact with them more often.” ROBERT HYNECEK/The Battalion