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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 2000)
STATE THE BATTALION ... and he wins by a nose ANDY HANCOCK/1 hh Battalion The driver of Mirage (near lane) moves neck and neck to pass the driver of Cole Blood during competition at the Southern Drag Boat Association race Saturday at Lake Bryan. This weekend of racing marked the first in a four-year deal the SDBA made with the city of Bryan. Dow Chemical Co. plans to fire 40 people Review of email accounts revealed company policy violations HOUSTON (AP) — Dow Chemical Co. plans to fire about 40 employees in Freeport for allegedly violating the com pany’s email policy through circulation of violent or sexually explicit material, according to the Houston Chronicle. Dow, the largest employer in the Bra- zosport area, says the employees are be ing fired after a review of 6,000 email ac counts that turned up material that violated company policies on Internet email and sexual harassment. Other employees face suspensions or reprimands, Dow spokeswoman Kanina Blanchard told the newspaper Tuesday. Dow officials began reviewing em ployees’ email after one worker com plained. A similar review this year at Dow’s corporate headquarters in Midland, Mich., led to 50 firings. “One person was harassed, so they downloaded everybody’s email,” said Charlie Singletary, business manager for International Union of Operating Engi neers Local 564. “I think Dow wanted to make a statement. 1 think they wanted to make this worse than it is. 1 think they wanted to terminate people.” Singletary said most of the material “One person was harassed, so they downloaded every body's email” — Charlie Singletary business manager was off-color jokes, nude pictures and photos of car wrecks. Some who received and sent the ma terial were unaware of Dow’s policies, while others did not take the policies se riously, he said. “It’s a small number of employees that saved, collected and shared this in formation,” Blanchard said. “Our pri mary focus is to ensure a harassment- free workplace.” Dow established its email policy in 1994 and sent employees a brochure ex plaining the company’s sexual harass ment policies within the past year, Blan chard said. The chemical company will also pe riodically audit its email servers to iden tify inappropriate types of materials, but it will not monitor individual employee email. Wednesday, August 23,21 Former state employee charged with felony, thefi AUSTIN (AP) — A former worker in the Texas Comptroller’s Office has been charged with second-degree felony theft for allegedly stealing money from the state. A prosecutor in the case said Monday that another suspect is out of the country and that the total amount of money stolen may exceed $200,000. A newspaper is reporting it may be closer to $500,000. Emmanuel Ololade, 46, was arrested Aug. 14 and was terminated almost simultaneously with his ar rest, said comptroller Car ole Keeton Rylander. She would not say how much money had been stolen but people charged with sec ond-degree felonies are ac cused of taking between $100,000 and$200,000. He is being held in the Harris County Jail under $1 million bond. Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes Jr., who is prosecuting the case, said the loss to the state could be even larger. “I think when the smoke clears, I think we are looking at a bigger loss than that," Holmes said. The Austin American-Statesman reported Tuesday that Ololade is accused of stealing about $500,000 and routing it through bogus bank accounts he and an accomplice set up. The newspaper, citing a search warrant is sued last week by a Travis County judge, said the second person is Olugbenga Adejoke. Ac cording to the warrant, the two men stole the money by illegally applying for fuel tax refunf the newspaper said. Rylander said she had wanted to tell thepul- lie about the alleged theft when Ololade wm rested, but was asked by the Harris CountyDi'- trict Attorney’s office to delay tit announcement. Because she waited, Rylander said, investi gators have recovered a “substantial amountof money, number of warrants and property pur chased as a result of this al leged activity.” Rylander would not sa; how much money or propen; had been recovered becaus she said she did not wanttoii- terfere with the investigation Neither Rylander nor Holmes would say why Har ris County was handling tilt case since Ololade workedin the Austin office. The States man reported that the money was routed through Houston, Rylander and Holmes also would not give the dates that the alleged crimes took place. Rylander said she disclosed the case only af ter a number of calls about the incident. “The system worked.” Rylander said. “lam outraged. If even $1 was allegedly stolen, for the people of Texas I am outraged.” Ololade was hired in October 1995 andhad been working as an account examiner in the rev enue refunds division of the agency processing fuel tax refunds. “I am outraged. If even $1 was al legedly stolen, for the people of Texas I am outraged” — Carole Keeton Rylander Texas state comptroller Freshman Continued from Page 1 Rahn said that exercise is an important part of a student’s life. “Students should try to work regular exercise into their sched- ulesC’ Rahn said. “We have an awesome Rec Center here.” There are a number of free ac tivities offered at the Rec Center, said DeAun Woosley, fitness di rector for Rec Center. “We have indoor group cy cling — a Monday-Wednes- day-Friday class — which ac tually burns more calories than a regular aerobics class,” Woosley said. Woosley also said the Rec Center offers strength classes Monday through Friday that ex ercise the upper body as well as legs and back. Woosley added that the Rec Center will offer a new class called Pilates. “It is a strength class almost like yoga but more strength- based; it's very popular on the West Coast,” Woosley said. Pilates, as well as the car diovascular and strength class es, is free. Rahn added the Freshman 1 5 depends on the individual. Students can avoid weight gain if they maintain healthy lifestyles. Wednesday, Auj M< PHOEN1 tissue remo cancer surg< not spread, I Cain went 1 The torn went more t to remove n skin cancer, Patholog tissues arou melanoma Cain spoke Ne MP3.i reach LOS Ah line mus MP3.com with Sony the fourth plaintiffs ii business ’ Under' Monday, MP3.com amount to and entet North Ame Sony’s so MyMP3.cc MP3.c< settlemer Group, BP negotiatir sic Group The se week bef lawsuit ar federal jut al is still whether fringed o record cot pie store computer sume Aug Attention TAMU Faculty & Staff ONLY $ GET AEROFIT NOW FOR 15.00 PER MONTH plus tax Aerofit offers more than any health and fitness club around. Best of all, there are NO CROWDS. Youll get: • AEROBICS • INDOORPOOL • FREE WEIGHTS • RACQUETBALL • BASKETBALL • YOGA • STUDIO CYCLING • OUTDOOR POOLS • CYBEX WEIGHT MACHINES • TENNIS • VOLLEYBALL • FITNESS CINEMA This is a savings of over 50% for TAMUfaculty, staff, and their immediate family members. • Any TAMU employee, either full or part time, and people in their immediate family qualify. • Family members may join without the actual TAMU employee joining. • Normal rates start at $ 32.00per month with an enrollment fee of s 69.00. The TAMU plan starts at just $ 15.00 per month with an enrollment fee of only $ 59.00. • This is an all inclusive plan giving you access to all of our exercise facilities, & group exercise classes. • For less than the price of a sofi drink per day (.66 cents) you may start working out todayl • All of out personal trainers are degreed and certified. • This plan is limited to the first 500people! CALL TODAY TO GET AN ENROLLMENT PACKAGE 979-823-0971 health & fitness CENTER 1 Gig Em Week AggielancTs Week of Welcome 2000 Want to meet people? Join us at these events: * Making College Count: a real world look at how to succeed in and after college * FREE FOOD: Pizza Taste Off, Ice Cream Carnival, and the RHA Brouhaha * GAMES: Alcohol Jeopardy, Health Quest, The New Roommate Game, and How Not to Stay in School * FREE MOVIES: “We’ve Never Been Licked ,, and “Real Genius ,, * AND: The Aggie Spirit: Creating Community Through Music, A Beach Party Blast at the Rec Center, Varsity Soccer, All-University Night, dance parties, picnics and more! Don’t forget to pick up your Gig 4 Em Week passport at Gig 4 Em Week Central located on the second floor of Rudder Tower to be eligible for great prizes* Get the details at: http://studentlife.tamu.edu/slo/wow.htm I t thi