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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 2000)
WEDNESDAY April 19,2000 Volume 106 ~ Issue 131 12 pages i 1 i l< an kills rairie View tudent, self STUART VILLANUEVA ie Floriculture Greentioi BY CYRA GATLING I AND JR BEATO The Battalion Bristen Tarver, a 22-year- dlenior architecture major, as shot and killed by Gary "Boughs, Tuesday on the rairie View A&M University Hus. Burroughs, who was not a Hnt at Prairie View, com- ped suicide afterward by III* added a fd'thand ! i I t f 4 i , n8 him * e ' f,h ' he »f- , Aggies with victories on':: Pnllce Cl ' le, Ra > ,ord j No 5 courts tevens from the Prairie View Placing No. 2', 92nd-rankri 1 i ai |P u s Police Department r Cody Hubbell fell to the Aid Burroughs shot Tarver \ or Shwei/.er. 7-5.7-6(5) 'hfc she was lleeing from his Hu \ ugies started by win: ehlcle. :e doubles matches to cap®;fWe do believe she tried to ibles point. Playing No. I, jnpway from the vehicle, and 1 from defeated the 50tlH e shot her in the leg while she n ol Chung and Chris /asrunning,” Stevens said. Mvli and senior GonzaloAii fie continued to shoot her ’ ucrc vich'rious. s- ev |o ra i times while she was nc s l.ikas and Biorkman. 0 'uj n g 0I1 t he ground, k- Aggies resume Big ■j te l. ens sai j dnesda\ atop.m. atthevars:: r 1. . .. - ■ c ,.. The exact number ol shots Center against Oklahoma S« f , tasnot been confirmed. ■Two witnesses to the shoot- ‘ ""tig, August Pro\ ()sl, a fresh- m architecture major, and Derek Dawson, a sophomore ifflninal justice major, said Burroughs pursued Tarver after ne shot her in the leg and con tinued to shoot her as he paced 7around her in a circle. || Burroughs then proceeded to shoot into a crowd of people '(So began to run and drop to the ground, Dawson and Provost said. Stevens said an officer ar rived at the scene and tried to get Burroughs to put his gun down. He put the weapon under neath his chin and shot himself in the officer’s presence. Provost and Dawson said Burroughs pulled the gun’s trigger four times before it fi nally fired on the fifth attempt. Police are still investigating motives behind this tragedy as well as the relationship be tween Tarver and Burroughs, Stevens said. According to reports from stu dent witnesses, Tarver and Bur roughs may have been dating and were going through a break-up. “As.far as I know, there has not been an incident like this in the past,” Stevens said. Currently, the campus cli mate is in mourning, and stu dents are gathering to unite and say prayers for the victims and their families. There was a gathering at 5 p.m. at a fountain in the center of the Prairie View' campus. The University plans to meet with students Wednesday afternoon. “Kristen was a good student and a good person,” said Mar shall Brown, a professor in the school of architecture. “The students, faculty and staff are all sad about [the inci dent], and hopefully things will be back to normal soon.” There are two roses that rest were Tarver was shot. jig M msi JP BEATO/The Battalion (L) Samuel Allen, a senior psychology major at Prairie View A&M University, is comforted by Johnny Williams, a senior theater arts major, Tuesday evening at Prairie View A&M University. A man and a woman were fatally shot Tuesday afternoon in a parking lot in what authorities believe was a murder-suicide. (Right- top) Students bow their heads in prayer by the water fountain, (second right top) Shana Miller Comforts Jasmine Organ, a sophomore chemical engineering major, (third right top) students mourn by the water fountain, (right bottom) a lone bouquet of flowers mark the spot where the man and woman were fatally shot. tudents concerned about ending early registration slAIL ENTER ‘5.00 OFF Chemical Services Hilton 29* St. □ 1 * j. s J > 11 3 Texas Ave. BY ROLANDO GARCIA The Battalion proposal before the Academ- perations Committee (AOC) vould end student worker early egistration but allow other groups Keep the privilege, said Donald :er, Texas A&M registrar and iC member. barter revealed the terms of the osal at a forum Wednesday re an AOC panel explained the biting behind their decision and Havered students’ questions, jn the proposal, which the |C will consider at its meeting »C 3t the experiment today, athletes and students with disabilities would keep their ear ly registration status, but honors students, who are currently in the first group to register, would only register before their respective classes, Carter said. A grandfather clause will al low all student workers who reg istered early this spring to contin ue doing so. “This is a question of fairness and equity to all undergraduate stu dents,” Carter said. The AOC subcommittee ap pointed to study the issue decided that honors students and athletes have special needs that justify ear ly registration, Carter added. “These athletes are recruited by the University to play sports, and for them to schedule their classes so they can workout and participate as a team is important,” Carter said. Carter also dismissed the argu ment that without early registration, student workers would have diffi culty finding classes that fit their work schedule. “We had student workers be fore there was early registration, and there was no problem then,” Carter said. The AOC decided to revisit the issue after several groups, such as yell leaders, resident hall advisors, and the Aggie Dance Team, asked for early registration status. “We had to come to some poli cy for who would be allowed to register early,’’ Carter said. “The advantage of preregis tration disappears as the pool gets larger.” Carter added that students who abuse the system by registering ear ly and then dropping their job was not a factor in the committee’s rec ommendations. 1 lowever, AOC member Kriss Boyd was quoted in an April 18 ar ticle of The Battalion that such abuse was one of the main prob lems with the current system. James Mickler, an organizer of the event and a senior English ma jor, said he was not convinced by the AOC’s presentation. “Students don’t work because it’s fun; they do it because they have to make ends meet, and early registration just levels the playing field against other students who don’t have to juggle school and work,” Mickler said. Mickler, expressed similar con cerns as other students who attend ed the forum, said without early registration, student workers might not be able to schedule large blocks of time during the day to work. “I don’t understand why ath letes, who already have it easier with free tutors and other perks, and honors students, take precedence over the needs of working class stu dents,” Mickler said. “All we have is this small perk, and they want to take it away from us.” Mickler added he was disap pointed by the low turnout at the meeting, especially by'the ab sence of Student Body President elect Forrest Lane, who was scheduled to attend. “I don’t think SGA (Student Government Association) is effec tively representing the students on this issue. I think most students are opposed to this, except for maybe a couple student senators,” Mickler said, referring to two SGA repre sentatives on the AOC panel. Carter emphasized that any AOC recommendations will not become policy until ratified by the Faculty Senate and administration, which is unlikely to happen until next fall. “This is a long way from being resolved, and they will be opportu nities for the students to voice their opinions,” Carter said. vice. Peer reviewers begin nalyzing report ie Balance d Rotation wheel alignment BY ANNA BISHOP AND STUART HUTSON The Battalion Patch vers lues, tulips) ers rds Accepted. ;s. AGGI ■Friday The men who are larged with the task of in juring that the investigation jhto the cause of the 1999 iM‘ e bonfire collapse is J-OJIV | r | 0rm e d thoroughly and Bcurately will arrive in Col lege Station to- fax to begin Jheir work. ■ The six en- gineers from around the nation were eliosen as “peer review ers.’’ of the Special Com mission on the 1999 Ag gie Bonfire report. || The reviewers tasks will be to make certain that the methods and analysis under taken by the firms perform ing the bonfire investigation Were “rigorous and robust,” said Leo Linbeck Jr., chair- |erson of the Special Com- mission on the 1999 Bonfire. “Their job is basically to lake sure that there were no gaps or holes in our logic,” Linbeck said. “Sometimes when you work as closely to a subject matter as the com mission has to bonfire, it is difficult to see some of your own mistakes.” Linbeck added that he foresees no problems which will arise from the peer re view process which would delay the Commission’s 707 Texas g Bryaf' 822-214!; May 2 deadlfne to release their final results. “The final report has not been assembled and final ized as of yet, but the re viewers will be working with the report in the context of a work in progress,” Linbeck said. “They will go right to work, and we are expecting them to be finished some time around Monday.” The six engineers are John W. Fowler, an indepen dent engineering and con struction consultant; German Gurfmkel, a professor of civ il engineering at the Univer sity of Illinois; Monte L. Phillips, a professor of civil engineering at the Universi ty of North Dakota; and Jim D. Weithom, John D. Stew art and David L. Teasdale from Haag Engineering Company, a company which specializes in the analysis of structural failure and damage. Fowler gradu ated from Clem- son University in 1948 with a degree in civil engineering. His profession al career has encompassed a wide variety of complex and diversified projects from both an engineering and con struction standpoint. Fowler was employed by the Tidewater Construction Company for 29 years. He was also assigned a special, four-year assignment at the site of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel as Project See Reviewers un Page 10. New Website offers Internet auctions to B-CS community BY ANNA BISHOP The Battalion In the present age of high technolo gy, one can find most anything accessi ble through the simple click of a mouse. Collegiate Trading Company (CTC), an Aggie-owned and operated Internet company, wants to take the concept of convenience one step further. Aggietrade.com is an Aggie-based Website which functions much like other computer auction and trading sites, such as Ebay.com. Senior bioenvironmental science major and Aggietrade.com user Chris Rial said he would like to see this par ticular Internet trading site spread within the Aggie community. “Aggietrade.com is so easy to use — it is very accessible and self-ex planatory. I have already received sev eral bids on an item which I posted on the site,” Rial said. “I am optimistic that others will leant of the wonders ol Aggietrade and spread the word.” Registration to Aggietrade.com is free of charge and incentives are giv en to those who choose to register. A 20-percent discount to Inspirations in Post Oak Mall or a free drink at Zap- atos Cantina encourages participation in the Website. Once registered, users have the op portunity to sell items at a set price or We WeblAddressI wwwfaggietrafle. HMMHHM RUBEN DELUNA/Thk Battalion place them on the auction block. With the closing of the spring se mester, the operator of the site said that now is an opportune time for students to sell textbooks, look for a roommate or sublease for the summer. “Selling textbooks on the Website expedites reuse and cuts expenditures,” Rial said. “Many times, students lose money through the traditional method of reselling texts to a bookstore.” Junior agriculture business major and Aggietrade.com user Cory Scott said he is hooked on the new Aggie-based site. “I sold a bike on the site last week,” Scott said. “I likeAggietrade.com be cause it is all local. If I want to buy a car, then there is no driving to Dallas involved.” The operator of the site said that shipping and handling costs are mini mal, due to the locality of its users. “The best thing about Aggietrade is that is it free,” said Charlie Sutherland, a freshman electrical engineering major. Upon registration, a user agree ment ensures the appropriateness of items being auctioned and/or sold. Users are then sent a password which ultimately unlocks the door to the wide world of buying and selling. “I see the future ofAggietrade.com as very bright. With a little spreading of positive, personal experience through buying and trading, I see it growing more and more,” Sutherland said. • Rice steams Aggies, 7-5 Page 7 •Student Internships. Page 3 • Phantom is a DVD Menace age 11 •Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details on disaster preparedness. •Check out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu