Tuesday, Septembers, 2000
Rescue
mi"!
THE
Listen to KAMU 90.9 FM at 1:57 p.m
for details on a Bryan Police
Department $5,000 grant.
• Check out The Battalion online at
battalion.tamu.edu.
• Last call for alcohol
B-CS bars should take hint
^ from rest of state, close
later than 1 a.m.
Page 5B
Weather:
Partly cloudy with a high
of 94 and a low of 69.
WEDNESDAY
September 6, 2000
Volume 107 ~ Issue 9
2 Sections
Section A - 8 pages
Section B - 6 pages
Football
player put
on hiatus
ByMarium Mohiuddin
The Battalion
Texas A&M football coach R.C.
Slocum suspended backup place-kick
er Russell Bynum Tuesday after
Bynum was arrested Monday on a war
rant for two counts of assault.
“I really don't know anything
about [the arrests] but I have issued
him an indefinite suspension until he
gets this resolved,”
Slocum said.
Bynum, a senior
management major
from LaMarque,
was charged for as
saulting two indi
viduals on July 22
in the parking lot of
Charlie’s, a College
Station nightclub,
said Sgt. Dan Jones, public relations
officer for the College Station Police
Department.
“When the police arrived on the
iscene, both victims were on the ground
'•oat ramps are stillux an{ j | la( j ^ een | < j c ] <e( j ant j i-|j t on ^ e j r
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BYNUM
tims were not students but locals of the
Jones added that the two parties did
not know each other and that they had
met outside in the club parking lot.
There was no indication of an incident
inside the club.
Jones said the arrest was made more
than a month after the initial assault be
cause the investigation took time to
complete. The investigation is ongoing
with the possible arrest of five more
suspects. However, Jones could not
comment on the status of the case and
the other suspects.
Bynum was arrested on two class A
misdemeanors charges for assaulting
the two with bodily injury. He posted a
bond for his $20,000 bail — $ 10,000
for each assault.
Bynum was arrested for criminal
*
Kerlees seek halt
to 2000 bonfire
See Suspension on Page 6B.
Top: Tim Sr. and Janice Kerlee, parents of
Tim Kerlee Jr., were present at a meeting
held at the Spence/Briggs lounge to discuss
the merits of not having an off-campus bon
fire this fall. Bottom left: Students assemble
v -mm
~ BERNARDO GARZA/The Battalion
in the lounge to hear a discussion on bonfire
and the reasons for not having it. Bottom
right: Joe Dyson, a board member of KTFB,
presents its goals to the Kerlees and the stu
dents present at the meeting.
By Sommer Bunce
The Battalion
Controversy arose Tuesday night in a
meeting intended to give Spence/Briggs
residents insight into Texas A&M Pres
ident Dr. Ray M. Bowen’s decision to
postpone the Aggie Bonfire until 2002.
The meeting, arranged by
Spence/Briggs Hall Council, featured
Janice and Tim Kerlee Sr. — the parents
of Bonfire victim Tim Kerlee — and
head yell leader RickyWood, a senior
theater arts major.
The speakers, who officially support
Bowen’s decision, attempted to discourage
Keep the Fire Burning’s (KTFB) proposed
off-campus bonfire.
“Officially and personally, I am
against an off-campus bonfire,” Wood
said in his opening remarks. “I have been
an Aggie for four years, and this is not an
Aggie action.”
The Kerlees gained worldwide support
through email, cards and phone calls when
Bonfire fell, and they again have received
attention in the wake of KTFB's plan.
“I am not anti-Bonfire; we want Bon
fire to happen,” Kerlee Sr. said. “But we
want it to happen the way the administra
tion has chosen to let it happen again.”
After speeches, the standing-room-
only meeting in Corps Lounge A was
open to questions. Members of KTFB be
gan the questioning.
“We showed up, even though we
wererf’t invited,” said Joe Dyson, a board
member of KTFB and a junior geography
major. “We thought this meeting was so
that we could show both sides, so students
could make an intelligent decision.”
Dyson said he and fellow members of
KTFB had heard the concerns of the vic
tims’ parents, mentioning a dinner he
shared with the Kerlees. He added that
they had also heard from other victims’
parents in support of their plans. The par
ents of victim Jerry Self are aiding the off-
campus bonfire effort with the donation of
trucks, Dyson said.
Kerlee Sr. said the Aggie spirit is not
Bonfire. He said his son fell in love with
the Aggie spirit after coming to see the
University.
“Bonfire was one manifestation of the
Aggie spirit, one way to show it. Unity is
the Aggie spirit,” he said. “If this bonfire,
off-campus, goes off this year, it will do
more harm to this University in the eyes
of this country among non-Aggies than
anything we could do.”
Wood said that he understood what
KTFB is trying to accomplish, but he felt
it is tearing apart the University.
“I respect the hell out you guys for
wanting to keep the fire burning,” he said,
addressing the KTFB members in the au
dience. "But the one thing I don't like is
what it’s doing to our University. I have a
real problem with people who claim to be
Aggies, but can't stand the things that go
along with being an Aggie.”
^We thought this
meeting was so that
we could show both
sides, so students
could make an in
telligent decision"
— Joe Dyson
board member of Keep the Fire Burning
But upholding A&M tradition is part
of being an Aggie, Dyson said.
“We’re going to be there with you on
the 18, and we’re going to be there with
you on the 21,” Dyson said, referring to
the memorial services the parents of the
victims and the University administration
have planned for those days in November.
But on the night of Nov. 22, he added, re
ferring to the date set for the burning of
the off-campus bonfire, “we’re going to
be somewhere else.”
Dyson introduced sophomore KTFB
board member sophomore Will Clark and
professional engineer Lou Zaeske Jr.,
Class of ’64, who helped formulate
KTFB’s model for an off-campus bonfire.
See Bonfire on Page 6B.
OM 260-1163
IURCH.COM
~l
UT staffers protest wages with 3-day‘burnt orange flu’
want!
By Maruno Castillo
i The Battalion
The University of Texas (UT) communi
ty is bracing itself for a outbreak of the three-
day “burnt orange flu,” a staff worker sick
out scheduled to begin today to protest low
wages and a poor working environment.
Custodians and other staff workers plan to
continue with the protest despite a warning
from UT President Larry Faulkner that par
ticipation in the sickout will lead to layoffs.
In an Aug. 7 letter to UT staffers,
Faulkner wrote, “All of us are entitled to
express our views through legal means,
which include the use of free speech areas,
discussions with the media. Take this mo
ment to become aware of the consequences
of unauthorized work absences.”
Texas law prohibits public workers from
taking part in strikes.
University Staff Association (USA) Pres
ident Peg Kramer met Thursday with custo
dians and other staff workers to discuss the
protest. Kramer indicated in a written re
sponse to Faulkner that, of the 17,000 non
teaching employees, more than 6,000 staff
workers are expected to call in sick.
Staff workers are protesting unfair —
and what they call sometimes discrimina
tory — treatment, long hours and stressful
working conditions.
A statement released by UT custodial
workers detailed the manner in which they
are treated and asked students and faculty
for support.
The custodians’ statement said the work
ers feel constantly “intimidated and threat
ened” by supervisors, especially after the an
nouncement of the sickout.
“Some of our supervisors hide in the bush
es to make sure we don’t take a 16-minute
break or a 31 -minute lunch,” custodians said
in their statement. “Something is not right.”
Other unfair practices mentioned in the
statement include having to provide a doc
tor’s note for being out sick longer than four
hours, prolonged exposure .to dangerous
chemicals and cleaners, and having to work
too many hours.
Custodians at UT typically work shifts
from 5:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. and are paid min
imum wage. Most earn less than $30,000 a
year, and about 11 percent earn less than
$20,000 or $ 13,980 a'year.
According to the Associated Press (AP),
employees are seeking a wage increase to
$9.16 an hour, improved retirement plans,
paid dental coverage and constant health in
surance premiums.
The university said it raised insurance
premiums to offset rising insurance costs.
University officials said staffers earning
$30,000 a year or less would get a $50-a-
month raise to help offset the increases.
In the statement, custodians implied that
their treatment may be racially motivated.
“Is the university picking on us because of
our low pay and skin color?” the statement
asked. “We are not children because we
speak Spanish. We are not stupid because of
the color of our skin.”
Faulkner was unavailable for comment
yesterday because he was out of town. Pat
Clubb, vice president of employee and
campus services, answered questions and
said the university expects the number of
employees participating in the sickout to be
in the hundreds, not the thousands the staff
association predicts.
Clubb said in an AP article that UT will be
able to operate normally.
“There are staff concerns that need to be
dealt with and the administration has com
mitted to doing that,” Clubb said, citing
small pay raises that have been awarded
over the past two years. “We just need to
continue to make progress, and there’s a
strong commitment on the part of the ad- ■
ministration to do that.”
See Sickout on Page 6B.
300
A&M conserves water supply
OOO I I
By Stephen Metcalf
The Battalion
Faced with record-high tem
peratures and scarce rainfall,
Texas A&M water authorities are
executing their own brand of
scorched-earth policy designed to
conserve water while still meet
ing the needs of constituents.
According to the state clima
tologist’s office, College Station
is more than five inches below
the normal year-to-date rainfall
for the region and temperatures
continue to climb well above the
100-degree mark. The drought
has wreaked havoc by damaging
crops, creating an enduring threat
of grass fires and hampering the
Physical Plant’s abil
ity to meet water de
mand at A&M.
The Physical
Plant's water opera
tions must provide for
more than 50,000 stu
dents, faculty and
staff, including
12,000 on-campus
residents. The wells
provide for all of
A&M’s water needs,
including water used
in research, industrial
settings and human
consumption.
“In the winter, potable wa
ter demand is about 5 or 6 mil
lion gallons a day.
... That is our bare
bones require
ment,” said Tom
Hagge, the associ
ate director for
utilities. “In the
summer the de
mand can jump to
10 or 11 million
gallons a day.”
The Physical
Plant is in the
process of installing
additional water op
erations equipment.
The equipment is ex
pected to be in place before next
See Water on Page 2A.
Injme win
ter, potable
'ater
mand is
about 5 or
million £alj
lonssa day!*
— Tom Hagge
associate dWector
for utilities
ADEP introduces
alcohol awareness
By Araii Bhattacharya
The Battalion
Aware of prevalent alcohol
misconceptions on Texas
A&M’s campus, Alcohol and
Drug Education Programs
(ADEP) has introduced alco
hol awareness training pro
grams for student leaders with
hope of dispelling myths
about the amount of alcohol
that Aggies consume.
“Student leaders cam
puswide are receiving this
awareness training in hopes
that they will be positive in
fluences and proper role
models to those under them,”
said Mike Collins, coordina
tor for Student Conflict Res
olution Services.
The task force was creat
ed in 1997 by Vice Presi
dent for Student Affairs Dr.
J. Malon Southerland to ad
dress alcohol-related issues,
including student death
caused by drinking.
Information provided
See Alcohol on Page 6B.