Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2000)
• Rico Suave * .t ' RIAA seeks fapster, Inc. hutdown SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Napster the small company that has used the met and digital technology to revo- jonize music distribution, could see its ith warrant signed by a federal judge. iThe Recording Industry Association II signs had pointed toCh.l Vmerica ( RIAA ) is seekin 8 a tempo- ays. He told business as J ia i« n ction that would all but put , , , tl . Ipsteroutofbusinesspendingatri- id a good chance of eettintl r . . , „ \ ® ... .. ';.| :)ver whether the San Mateo-based nd leaving his company,™. . , ,. . , L . I ppany is violating copyright law. ton Co. of Dallas, an e ®Th e hearing was scheduled to begin ed an all-clear health reAdnesdav his doctors to Bush. iNapster works as a clearinghouse leney sold nearly half his inlet* poking users to computers where iHiburton stock —somelOOjligs in the popular MP3 format can s — last month, raisinganeeldownloaded. The industry consid- ,i $5.1 million. BeforethesaleA* itself in a life-or-death struggle held options on 229,000shareJth a software startup that has made Isic piracy simple. ■ The dispute is being closely r and backsliding downtolpched. Heavy metal band Metallica is probably two miles from me [sheen particularly outspoken against eening sight, just a huge fireball Ppster, Other artists are also anti-Nap- ansport Minister Jean-Claui k but many are ambivalent, of the crash Tuesday aftemoor [ The company is daily conversation iayssot said. list among young people who use it with lann Shipping in theGemiandt |vengeance, but it has also prompted igers came from variousGermari bngressional hearings and.caused con- ly together for the cruise aboard |derable angst in corporate boardrooms. i is anchored in New York. See NAPSTER on Page 4. Duck and cover On-campus conservation Officials discuss water reserve Fourteen-year-old Jim Murray ducks for cover behind a barrel and takes aim with his paintball gun at a local paintball field. Competitors must race through the course to capture the other team's flag without being blasted by their opponents' paintballs. Bern's walled Old City, ccess to the A1 Aqsa mosque,the holist sitx in Islm. Arafatwasin- ?d,the sources said, hman said Israel's offer of limit- /ereignty was unacceptable an: istarter." He said the Palestiniai- isisted on sovereignty overalls d City. rael refused to accept the ri| Palestinian people to have so' High gas costs will not affect Bus Ops m holy places," he said, egarding the issue ofjemsalet h other issues, the Palestiniai Chris Cunico The Battalion Some Texas A&M students are con- irned an increase in campus transporta- bnfees will result from rising gas prices. Adam Parker, a junior entomology ity over east Jerusalmandik lajor, said he would not be surprised if ie cost incfease trickled down to the judents. "I think if the University transporta- )t change their positionsdunr|ion system begins losing money and scussions, so there was nochme prices of fuel continue to soar, the ving at an agreement," saidGaffudent will ultimately be held respon- isky a spokesperson for Barallible to balance the budget by being 3 a.m. Tuesday Arafat septal* reed to pay more for bus passes," Clinton, saying he saw no pafprker said. tinning because the Israeli])®* However, Cathy Mathis, associate di- n Jerusalem could never lead rector of transportation services, said eement, Palestinian sources‘■a the burden of higher fuel cost will not be you ask me did they ma passed on to the student body. ;h progress to get this dofj "The fuel vendors notify us when a ' Clinton said. "But they've]], aome and check, they've got mind. feel that we have the elemf o keep this process going, t can happen," Clinton said. 11 substantial rise in price is expected, giv ing us time to adjust the budget," Math is said. "A&M does not pay as much as someone who fills their diesel truck at a regular gas station, so our financial re sources are not as strained." Mathis said that the University is ex empt from state fuel taxes because it is classified as an authorized fuel location. Because A&M provides its own fueling pumps for buses, it pays low prices for fuel. "We have been aware that the in crease in fuel prices was expected to oc cur for a long time," Mathis said. "We figured tlae increase into this year's ex penditures, and even though we are paying more for fuel now, we will still remain under the budget." Mathis said that, compared to the lo cal prices a year ago, the cost per gallon of diesel lias risen from $1.02 to $1.25. But Matliis said this change is not as dramatic as the increase experienced by the average consumer over the past sev eral months. Emily Tripp, a journalism major, fore work at a local gas station. James Griffin, professor of econom ics, said car drivers should expect to pay the current prices at the pump for at least another six months. He said that although costs are not ex pected to continually increase, the cohe sion of the Organiza tion of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep prices at current levels. "The price of crude oil has nearly tripled over the past 18 months," Griffin said. "I can't see barrel prices plummeting from $28 back to $15 any time soon." ;h a mutual friend, and Up ited for her that she won. S' 'ed it. A&M institute excavates ship h the honor of being crowrf ship made its way quietly Pexas come the additional bilities and obligations. from the Gulf of Mexico into Galveston Bay. icger said her duties over ^ xesse ' s ' asl: st:0 p had been Havana; where it par wi rnnQiQt enpak HU , ' ear will consist of speaking s charitable events and g the sponsors of the pag ag only 13 hours to earnheC rueger plans to take the yean chool, enabling her to focus 1 ties of lier position. ■ taking a year off from sd# will be in a better position ite myself to my reig 11 er said. "I don't feel that be able to share tijne betW® ademics and the obligatiU the effort that each desef iblic relations representat- lies appearances across ar me to speak to charities irganizations, and my sch- ; to be flexible with it." GALVESTON (AP)—On hot night in May 1865, a was loaded with a cargo of smuggled goods like paper, boots, uniforms, lead, and the latest in Paris fashions. The mostly British crew members were worried as they came close to the Con federate port of Galveston, because the area was known for its shifting sand bars and shallow waters. Only a quarter of a mile from shore, the hull of the d to Miss Texas without sa^ shi P ~ called the Denbigh — scraped against a sand bar and stuck. The crew escaped on a smaller boat to the Bolivar Peninsula before Union soldiers blockading the port began to shell and burn the unarmed steamer. It was a month after Con federate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox and President Abraham Lin coln was assassinated. The Civil War raged on, however, in Texas, where rebels con tinued fighting until June. This week, researchers and students with the Texas A&M Institute of Nautical Archaeology dug 6 feet be neath the Gulf of Mexico's floor to pull out parts of the Denbigh's engine — pieces of history — which they lo cated by studying a map from the 1880s. The Denbigh is the only blockade runner ever exca vated, said project director See Ship on Page 2. Area arts center to debut Council to provide Brazos Valley with new facility Kim Trifilio The Battalion The Arts Council of Brazos Valley has plans to construct a performing arts center. P. David Romei, executive di rector of the Arts Council of Bra zos Valley, said the new per forming arts center will provide services that extend beyond the average performing arts center, bringing a new venue for artistic talents to the Brazos Valley. "The new performing arts center will be a facility that offers venue to performance, visual and exhibit art," Romei said. "It will also have offices for those groups that need offices. We hope to have a sculpture garden too. The building must make a statement. We want this to be the best performing arts center in all of central Texas." Romei said the new perform ing arts center will benefit the Bryan-College Station communi ty and Texas A&M. Hr The new per forming arts center will be a facility that of fers venue to per formance, visual and exhibit art” — P. David Romei executive director of the Arts Council of Brazos Valley "The community is very inter ested in seeing this happen," Romei said. "It will be a win-win situation with the University and the community. This center will cause a deep intermingling of the University and the community. When a university group puts on a program in a university facility, then only the university commu nity is involved. But if the univer sity group puts on a program in a community facility, then the entire community would be involved." Anne Black, associate director of MSG student programs, said it is too early to predict what effect the performing arts center will have on OPAS or MSG programs. "Having more facilities has long been a need, due to the very active arts community we enjoy," Black said. "It would be premature to indicate how we would work with an entity which doesn't yet exist. OPAS has always been in volved in the arts community in a very significant and, I think, sup portive way. OPAS is a very dy namic organization, which means we are no stranger to change." Two weeks ago, a Dallas group, Pelton Marsh Kinsella See Arts on Page 2. Stuart Hutson The Battalion Texas A&M officials in charge of irrigating major portions of campus will meet to discuss how to divide more than a 2.5-million-gallon cut in water usage because of a shortage in A&M's reserves. "We know it is time to be gin curtailing our use of wa ter when we can't keep the water tower topped off," said Tom Hagge, associate director for utilities at A&M. "You can already see that we have started to cut back on the irrigation by all the yel low grass on campus." Hagge said the meeting will determine how to fur ther divide a 1.5 million gal lon allowance for water irri gation across campus. "During the winter, we use a total of between 5 and 6 million gallons for every thing on campus every day. During the summer, that jumps to around 10 million," Hagge said. "We have to maintain all the agricultural research and other researcla on campus that require a constant water supply, we have to try to maintain the golf course where we have invested a lot in the greens and tee boxes, and we have to maintain Kyle Field where we just brought in some new turf, ... among others. Add those up and the mainte nance of the patches of grass around campus comes in at a lower priority. The result will be some yellow grass." Hagge said curtailing the water supply began as early as May, but this time of the year presents the largest need for water conservation as water levels in A&M's re serve tanks dwindle. "A&M has its own water supply. We actually pump in water from seven miles away in Riverside where we have our own wells," Hagge said. "When we can't bring in ' enough water, we have to cut back to make sure that the main tower is kept full so that the water pressure on campus is kept up and there is enough for emergencies, like fires." The meeting comes nine days after the Brazos Valley Commissioner's Court de clared an open burn ban in Brazos Valley, forbidding all non-contained fires to pre vent grass and similar fires caused by dry vegetation. DeMerle Wehmeyer, emergency management co ordinator for Brazos County, said that the county has al ready recorded more than 40 minor grass fires for the month of July, including one Wednesday about noon in Bryan. Hagge said the decrease of irrigation on the A&M campus will not significant ly increase the chance of a grass fire on campus. "I could see how the cut in irrigation and the result ing dry grass could make it slightly more likely that there could be a grass fire on campus," he said. "But all the grass on campus is fairly low and could most likely be extinguished easily. It's not as if we have a lot of dense forested areas where a fire would present a danger." "The county declares a burn ban when the soil and plant moisture gets so low that grasses and other plants would quickly ignite if they come in contact with a fire source," said Bart Humphreys, public relations officer for the College Station Fire Depart ment. "The ban applies to things like burning trash, but barbecues and sources that are contained are allowed. How ever, you still need to be care ful with any fire source, espe cially smoking materials like cigarettes, which are notorious for starting grass fires." Humphreys said a viola tion of the ban will carry a $2,000 fine within College Station city limits. Wehmeyer said the coun ty decided to enforce the ban after the Texas Forestry Ser vice declared a dangerously high level of dryness on the Deepch Byran Drought In dex, a measurement of plant and soil moisture. She said the'ban is usually instated when the index reaches 500 . "As of July 25, we were at 645, and 800 is the highest that scale reaches to," she said. "This will just continue to grow until we get some substantial rainfall. We are currently 20 inches behind our annual rainfall, which is similar to last year, when, I think, the ban lasted until December or January." W^easonal Changes -[DWATER USAGE Total Water Used
