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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 12, 2000)
Tuesday, July 11,; , has a different opinion, "I think they should beta said. "A textbook is jusl y other product on them® d it should be taxed as sue Junior environmentaldj ajor Andy Smith has mixed] ^s on the subject. "On the outset, it seems! ea that you can get behind the most part — it is sol oney that it is mostly justs ig hairs when you coi aking at other ways to ltd sts for students," Smith said Listen to KAMI! 90.9 FM at 1:57 p.m. for details on a shooting in Hearne. Groff, Potter select first Aggie equestrian head coach Weather: Sunny with a high of 99 and a low of 74. WEDNESDAY July 12,2000 Volume 106-Issue 166 6 pages t Him =fJ ;^Wl\ * i *;#:VW:Wi ftik'tt’J =1 rW IIV endments expected to increase crime stats *1 20*3 Spa ! Solar Nails edicure i Reg. ’35 ! 3me. ith every service. 'Ih+IAhiiki i\ia1 L> cceptmg Aggie Bucks! • J Joseph Pleasant The Battalion hen Patrick Matthews, a freshman pe- engineering major, decided to at- Texas A&M, he heard stories about ne on campus. I have a friend that goes to A&M and he me about the different crimes that hap- there," Matthews said. "It made me think :e about bringing my car." Vlatthews said going to a school with a good iemic reputation is worth the risk of crime. "If it is a really good school, I don't think tthe area could be that bad because that uld affect the performance of students," tthews said. As a provision of the Students Right to Know Act, universities are required to submit a set of crime statistics to the Department of Education with the purpose of giving prospective students an accurate picture of crime on campus. The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998 is an amendment to the Students Right to Know Act that holds universities re sponsible for reporting crimes adjacent to campus when reporting to the department. Sgt. Allan Baron of the A&M University Po lice Department (UPD) crime prevention unit, said the amendments will cause an increase in the number of incidents reported to the Educa tion Department for A&M. "With adding more area to cover with our id We are going to see an increase, because now, for instance, we have to include crime that oc curs on Interstate 35 in our crime statistics be cause it runs adjacent to campus” — Silas Griggs University of Texas police department crime statistics, we will see an increase in our numbers," Baron said. Baron said that, in the past, A&M has had fewer weapons possession and drug offens es. However, Baron said, A&M usually has a higher number of alcohol offenses than the University of Texas (UT). "Alcohol offenses, as defined by the [De partment of Education] report, do not include driving-while-intoxicated offenses, but do in clude minors in possession," Baron said. Baron also said A&M has not seen an in crease in offenses as a direct result of these amendments. "Right now we have not seen a real substan tial increase, but that could change tomorrow," Baron said. Capt. Silas Griggs, of the University of Texas-Austin (UT) police department said the Education Department has changed the crite ria for reporting campus crime statistics. Griggs said the amendment requires schools to count crimes committed on streets and sidewalks adjoining campus and off- campus property owned by student associa tions, such as fraternity houses. "We are going to see an increase, because now, for instance, we have to include crime that occurs on Interstate 35 in our crime statistics be cause it runs adjacent to campus," Griggs said. The statistics are separated into categories including incidents of murder, forcible or nonforcible sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault and burglary. Protesting animal cruelty andwich Expires 08/15/00 Texas Ave. ire Shopping Center f r Kroger’s) ' w .wwwwww «? mrmm H MR 7:30am-10:00pm M-F 1 Opm Sat 11:00am-10pm Sun tOGER CENTER EHWEST PARKWAY 696-5464 Parking violations plague campuses Jennifer Gentry, a senior English major, and Liz Hudson, a junior accounting major, protest animal cruelty at the opening night of the Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus at Reed Arena on Monday. |)ay added to orientation hshman Welcome Day helps freshmen adapt to campus MPUTERIZED ALIGNMENT % OFF I Must present coupon , mt caster, camber & toe set i irer's specifications, able. ; teny offer. Expires 01/10/01 j I Jeanette Simpson The Battalion In August 1999, the Depart- ent of Residence Life announced new program to be added to eshman orientation. Last year, e Wednesday before classes be- in was officially named Fresh- an Welcome Day in Aggieland. ,’Krystle Henry, a freshman sychology major, will move to ie Texas A&M campus this fall, id she knows that the volun- ers for the Freshman Welcome ay will make her moving expe- ence much easier. ■Having students there to help tefenove in and answer my ques ts that are familiar with the intpus is going to be much ap- "eciated by me and my family," enry said. ■hough other campuses roughout Texas have dedicated tys for freshman to move into eir dorms, few schools have programs as involved as A&M's new program. The day was created to help ac- 661 Having stu dents there to help me move in and answer my questions that are famil iar with the campus is going to be much ap preciated by me and my family” — Krystle Henry freshman psychology major climate freshmen to campus, get them settled into their dorm rooms and ease the traffic problem that occurs each year when students come back to campus, said Laura Balkum, graduate assistant in the Department of Residence Life and a finance graduate student. "Aug. 23 will be Freshman Welcome Day this year," Balkum said. "On that day, student volun teers will be available at the dorms to assist students and their fami lies with the moving of their be longings. There will be two tents set up as a headquarters for Fresh man Welcome Day: one at the Northside dorms and one at Southside dorms. In these-tents, families will be able to get water and information they need to help them with parking and anything else they may need." Dr. Ron Basse, director of the See Freshmen on Page 4. News in Brief Accident claims lives of two Aggies Texas A&M University students Besty Varughese and Sunita Prasan- nan were killed Friday in a car accident near Richland in Navarro County. Varughese, 21, and Sunita, 19, were traveling to Mesquite for the weekend when Varughese lost control of the 1993 Ford Probe he was driving and collided with a vehicle driven by Rex Doss, 37, of Groesbeck, Texas. A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson said Varughese was driving north on State Highway 14 when the vehicle swerved onto the right shoulder. The car then crossed traffic into the southbound lane, crossing in front of the 1988 Mercedes driven by Doss. Doss then swerved to the right but was unable to avoid the collision. Both vehicles came to rest in a ditch next to the southbound lane. Varughese and Prasannan were pronounced dead at the scene. Doss was taken to Parkland Memorial Hos pital in Dallas with stomach and back injuries. A hospital spokesperson said he was released Saturday. Both Varughese, a junior electrical engineering major, and Prasannan, a sophomore general studies major, will be included in the Sept. 5 Silver Taps ceremony. Maureen Kane The Battalion At least once during their college ca reer, most Aggies have returned to their vehicles to find a yellow envelope con taining a Department of Parking, Traffic and Transportation Services (PITS) ticket on their windshield. Woody Isenhart, manager of customer service for PTTS, said most students do not read the copies of the rules and regu lations given to them when they receive their permits but "all of the students tick eted are usually aware that they were vio lating parking regulations when they re ceive a citation." Departments of parking and trans portation at Big 12 universities are self-sup porting, and like those of other Big 12 uni versities, Texas A&M's PTTS is a self-supporting auxiliary department. It collects money from three sources: visitor income; permits sold to faculty, staff, and students; and parking tickets. "Our income stream is very stable," Isenhart said. "Parking tickets are at about $2 million per year for the past 12 years. " Isenhart said PTTS uses its money pri marily to fund the parking garages' debt. Thomas Williams, director of PTTS, said one explanation for the occurrence of parking violations is that students want to park closer to their classes. "We know we have enough spaces to satisfy existing demand; they are just not always where students would like them to be," Williams said. Other Big 12 universities have similar problems with students parking in unau thorized spaces. Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking at the University of Kansas (KU), said that during the 1999 fiscal year al most 60,000 tickets were written. Parking meter violations, the biggest source of viola tions on the KU campus made, up $24,500 of KU's $2.6 million revenue for 1999. Hultine said the most com mon explanation for viola tions is that students will park in specific faculty and staff lots that are also restricted later in the evening without knowing these lots are restricted. "Generally an invalid permit or wrong zone per mit is a $20 ticket," Hultine said. "A meter ticket is $5, and you can get more than one per day." The Department of Traffic and Parking Services at Texas Tech University issues about 45,000 tickets during the year. Gail Wolfe, director of traffic and parking services at Tech, said these tickets are issued for a number of rea sons. She said some of the most common violations are parking in no-parking zones, parking without a permit, parking in a handicapped zone and parking in service drives. "Our only sources of revenue are park ing tickets and the sale of parking per mits," Wolfe said. "Our income for 1999 was about $2 million. We are implement ing a lot of major changes in our parking system. We're having a parking master plan looked at by parking consultants; we're looking at building garages. We are also reconfiguring some parking lots be cause most of our parking places for fac ulty and staff are reserved spaces - one person per space - and that's a poor uti lization of space." A&M will build a new parking garage near the Student Recreation Center. Con struction is scheduled to begin Nov. 13. "This garage is going to be the best thing that's happened to students in a long time," A&M's Isenhart said. "Right now we have about 1,600 resident stu dents waiting to get into garages. The new garage will have about 3,500 spaces and will satisfy a lot of desires of the students, and it's going to give us a great place to focus our visitor conferences. It should be completed in about 18 months." Isenhart said that the changes occur ring in the parking and transportation system at A&M will benefit students and make their commute to class easier and more pleasant. But he also said that, at times, his can be a "thankless job." Hultine and Wolfe both say they have had similar experiences with dissatisfied students at their universities. "You will find similarities on all cam puses," Hultine said. "People are used to parking wherever they want to. We get a lot of complaints about how over crowded parking is." Sis 12 uiiiwSiSiiiSS PARKING SIATISIICS Texas A&M University 1999 $8 million total revenue $1.9 million parking violations/fines $4 million permit revenue. $2 million visitors parking ' in ■ Kansas University 1999 $2.6 million total revenue $24,500 parking meter violations Texas Tech 1999 $2 million total revenue 45,000 tickets issued a year