CHAD ADAMS/Thi Hai iai k
James Johnson, a senior management information systems major, skateboards by
Rudder Fountain. See related story about Xtreme games on page 3.
WEDNESDAY
February 9, 2000
Volume 106 ~ Issue 87
12 pages
VlVk'i =fJ ft i Vi =1; WI i'l
Campus construction
Ditches to temporarily close Texas A&M streets
BY ROLANDO GARCIA
The Battalion
A utilities construction project slated to begin in a few weeks may
temporarily close some roads on cam
pus and interrupt vehicle traflle.
Charles Darnell, an assistant utili
ties director for Texas A&M Physical
Plant, said work on installation of new
electric wiring would begin soon,
though no exaet date has been set.
The project will involve extensive
ditch digging to get at utility pipes and
wiring that lie beneath paved streets
and will begin at Fish Pond and wind
through campus across Wellborn Road
to Agronomy Road. The project will
continue along FM 60.
“The designers have taken great pains to keep the construction
offthe roads,” Darnell said. “The news here is that despite this mas
sive project, there’s going to be relatively little traffic disruption.”
Most of the work will involve “boring,” a process in which work
ers dig an underground tunnel to the utility pipes beneath the road,
allowing construction work to proceed without interrupting traffic.
But when construction begins near Fish Pond, it will be nec
essary to close and reroute traffic
on Houston and Ross Streets,
Darnell added.
The project will take at least a
year and a half to complete.
Tom Williams, director of Park
ing, Traffic, and Transportation
Services,. said he is concerned
about the traffic mayhem that may
result from the construction around
Fish Pond, and is asking that work
on that stage of the project take
place during the lull between the
spring and summer semesters.
“We’re doing our best to ask that they schedule work so it will
have the least impact on traffic,” Williams said.
See Construction on Page 2.
RUBEN DELUNA/Tm Battalion
Students prepare to file taxes
BY APRIL YOUNG
The Battalion
Jennifer Carlson, a sophomore biology
major, will receive money from her rich
uncle this spring, but it won’t be inheri
tance — it will be an income tax refund
from Uncle Sam.
“1 am looking forward to getting my in
come tax return this year,” Carlson said. “I
had two jobs last year so I am expecting a
big refund.”
Most students who earned a wage during
the 1999 tax year will need to prepare and
then file an income tax return by April 17.
Kenneth Vargas, spokesperson for the In
ternal Revenue Service (IRS) in central
Texas, said the only way to get a refund is to
file for an income tax return.
“If you had taxes withheld, you are en
titled to the refund of that full amount and
this year filinii is easier than ever," Varuas
said. “One of the neatest things going right
now, especially for college students with
simple tax returns like the 1040EZ, is the
option to file their taxes free over the Inter
net with the IRS e-file.”
With e-file, refunds can be returned as
soon as two weeks after submission, half of
the time it takes for the traditional paper re
fund. Students also have the option of hav
ing the refund deposited directly into their
bank account, which usually takes about
one week.
Carlson said she plans to take full advan
tage of the electronic option.
“I plan to file for my return on the Inter
net and have it deposited into my bank ac
count, but I’m a little worried since there has
been so much hacking going on lately,” Carl
son said.
“On the other hand. I’m a little more com
fortable with filing online since it is a gov-
See Taxes on Page 2
MINAR
February 11
Rudder Tower —i
rm. 601
9:30-10:45 A.M international student,
fACUITY, 4. STAFF
11:00-12:00 P.M. u.s.citizens t. residents
1:15-2:30 PM international student,
FACULTY, f. STAFF
2:45-3:45P.M.
U.S. CITIZENS i RESIDENTS
4:00-5:15 PM. international student,
FACULTY, (, STAFF
RUBEN DELUNA/Tm Bai iai.io
r
Officials declare parental notification of alcohol offenses a success
experiment
dance
tation
lignment
33-8575
BY BRADY CREEL
The Battalion
Texas A&M’s parental notification policy regarding un-
Iderage alcohol violations on campus has been declared a suc-
Icess by University officials.
| “I think the important part of what has taken place this past
semester has been communication between students and their
parents,” said Dr. Brent Paterson, director of Student Life.
Student Life notifies parents only when alcohol violations
bccur on campus or at University-sanctioned events. Parents
bfstudents who receive citations from the College Station Po
lice Department or Bryan Police Department do not receive a
|etter of notification from the University.
Paterson said it is too early to look for trends in behav
ioral change as a result of the parental notification program,
but he believes that communication between students and
parents has improved.
1 Cabrina Scott, public information officer for the College
Station Police Department (CSPD), said CSPD supports
lind endorses the parental notification program, but has not
“I think the important part
of what has taken place
this past semester has been
communication between
students and their parents/
seen any significant change
in statistics.
Lorna Breault, coordina
tor of first-year alcohol and
drug education programs,
said the introduction of the
notification program was not
as dramatic of a transition for
incoming freshmen as it was
for some of the students who
have already been here.
“The incoming freshmen
have not had the opportuni
ty to experience freedom
without fear of their parents being notified, whereas upper
classmen who have lived in liberation of their parents sinee
high school are now faced with the consciousness that their
parents will be notified if they are found in violation of stu
dent rules,” she said.
But Breault said students should realize the University is
not out to get them.
“Texas A&M is approaching this policy from a healthy
point of view, where we are tak
ing the best interest of students,
and not looking to sanction or
discipline students but to make
students healthy and smart,”
she said.
Students that receive an al
cohol violation could face dis
ciplinary action through the De
partment of Residence Life,
Student Conflict Resolution
Services, Office of the Com-
mandant, or Athletic Depart
ment, depending on their individual situation and involve
ment in any of these organizations.
Disciplinary action for alcohol violations is handled on a
case-by-case basis in the Corps of Cadets, said Col. Doc
Mills, media relations coordinator for the Corps of Cadets.
The Corps follows guidelines of student rules, but stu
dents are disciplined according to “The Standard” — the
book of guidelines and policies that all cadets must follow.
— Dr. Brent Paterson
Director of Student Life
The unit commanders, along with upper classmen, are
charged with enforcing those guidelines.
Mills said Major Gen. Ted Hopgood, commandant ofthe
Corps of Cadets, has implemented a program in which stu
dents do not posses or consume alcohol in the residence
halls or in the Quad area. There are currently five outfits
with alcohol-free dorms.
• Student athletes go through the same disciplinary actions
that any student would, in addition to any reprimand they re
ceive from the athletic department, said Dr. John Thornton, as
sociate athletic director.
“It is almost double jeopardy for them,” he said. “They
are students, and much like any organization —whether it
be athletic related or not — we get a gamut of things that
come up from time to time.”
The athletic department follows the guidelines of both the
University and NCAA. Universities were given the option of
parental notification when the Family Education of Rights
and Privacies Act (FERPA) was amended in October 1998.
Paterson said approximately 120 notification letters
were sent last semester, and this number falls in the range
he expected.
Ich
News in Brief
:epted.
707 Texas Ave.
Bryan
822-2141
r : in«
By:
CRCING
it)
ded
»coupon.
iy other discount)
UTocinve STemuzRTioN
LcnN Modern Studio
Comstock transferred
to Dallas rehab hospital
John Comstock, the last Texas A&M
{student remaining in the hospital due to
iinjuries received during the 1999 Aggie
[Bonfire collapse, was transferred to the
Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas
(Tuesday to begin rehabilitation.
Comstock, a freshman biomedical sci-
jence major from Richardson, spent 83 days
(in the intensive care unit at the College Sta
tion Medical Center. Comstock was up
graded to “serious” condition Jan. 26.
“We join Aggies everywhere, parents
(around the world and community sup
porters who have kept the vigil for this
purageous young man,” said Tom Jack-
Ison, CEO of the Medical Center, in a press
release. “He goes on with our best wish-
jes for continued recovery and a full and
joyous life.”
In the press release, Comstock ex
pressed gratitude to the Medical Center’s
ptaff and said he was overwhelmed at the
jiews that his transfer is official.
“I owe everything to the staff at the
PVIed. They are the reason I am here to-
pay,” he said.
“This has been a long road already. I
pm looking forward to getting well and be
ing back at Texas A&M this fall.”
Bonfire investigation
unds may not be enough
The $1 million Texas A&M University
Hotted for the bonfire inquiry will proba
bly be inadequate, an investigation offi
cial said.
Kent Lietzau, the chief of staff for the
Special Commission on the 1999 Aggie
Bonfire, told The Bryan-College Station Ea
gle that the commission is prepared to
ask for more funds.
“The budgets for each team were
based on the bare essentials,” Lietzau
said. “Whether more funds will be needed
is dependent upon several factors, includ
ing on what the teams find out in the next
few weeks and on the testing situation.”
He added that an extension of the
March 31 deadline may be necessary. The
commission also released details of the
$1 million budget Monday. The largest por
tion, $450,000, goes to Kroll Associates,
one of the four consulting firms hired by
the commission to investigate the cause
of the collapse. Kroll will coordinate an in
formation and document sharing system
among the four teams and will conduct ex
tensive interviews with officials, partici
pants and witnesses.
Another firm, Packer Engineering, will
collect $250,000 to review the physical
factors leading to the collapse, and will an
alyze Centerpole, the logs and the soil be
neath the structure.
Fay Engineering will evaluate and test
previous bonfire models at a cost of
$150,000. Performance Improvement In
ternational is charging $150,000 to study
the human and organizational factors be
hind the accident. McKinsey & Co., the
firm managing the investigation, is billing
$30,000 for expenses, but is not charg
ing professional fees.
Grad student offers memorial
INSIDE
BY STUART HUTSON
The Battalion
Many designs and opinions
have been offered to the Depart
ment of Student Affairs about
“what” the Bonfire collapse
memorial should be, but Wilber A.
“Tex” Williams has submitted a
reason “why.”
“There has been a lot of talk
about how this can be built to re
member those 12 students,” said
Williams, a graduate architecture
student. “The bigger question is,
‘what does this mean for the facul
ty and students of the University
and the tradition itself?’”
Williams has designed a “char-
rette,” or a quickly built model, of
how he feels the memorial should
be constructed.
The model has been displayed
in the architecture building’s en
tranceway for the last three weeks,
but it is not the design Williams
wants people to notice — it is the
model’s statement about the col-
Environmental design majors Dawna Houchin (R) and Summer
Simnacher view a model of a proposed Bonfire memorial in
the Langford Architecture building.
STUART VILLANUEVA/Tiii: Battalion
lapse’s significance.
“I think this is the most impor
tant event in A&M’s history be
cause its symbolic relevance for the
University,” Williams said. “This
happened not only as we move into
a new millennium, but at a time
when A&M is trying to become a
truly world-class university.”
Williams said the 1999 Aggie
Bonfire collapse symbolizes the
changes the University must make
before it realizes its potential as a
world-class university.
“I believe all tragedies happen
for a reason, and this isn’t an excep
tion,” he said. “This represents that
we must change some things, so that
we can overcome those barriers that
some of us cling tightly to.”
Williams said these “barriers”
include a lack of unity and diversi
ty among the A&M community and
an adherence to the ways of the past
which must not be forgotten, but
changed to better survive in today’s
world.
“Bonfire can’t continue to go on
the way it was built in either spirit
or structure,” he said. “The way it
used to be built was, in some ways,
symbolic of the old South’s atti
tudes and perceptions.”
Williams said a new Bonfire
tradition should incorporate more
See Memorial on Page 2.
• Vining's pitch-
" ing helps
L \gs to 3-1
.victory
• Xtreme
Aqqies search for new
thrills.
Page 3
• Promoting
hate and fre
speech
Matt Hale
blurs line of 1 st
amendment
rights. P a 8 e ^
• Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9
at 1:57 p.m. for details on
Texas' unemployment.
• Check out The Battalion
online at
battalion.tamu.edu.