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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 2000)
THE Aggie Players Inspectors give MSCs 12th Man test score of 66 STUART VILLANUEVA/The Battalion Keith Neagle, a sophomore English major and member of the Aggie Players, gets into character before a production on Thursday night in Rudder. The play, Andromache, was originally a work of the ancient Greek Euripides. 000 platforms reviewed at Bush p Brady Creel the Battalion The presidential race is not Iver yet, but if the election were day, Vice President Ai Gore ould win, said Haynes Johnson, member of a panel discussion in presidential campaigns held at e George Bush Presidential Conference Center Thursday ight. “If the people vote on issues, ore will win,” Johnson said, Iding that he would not bet mon- on it because the race is very close, with one full month of cam paigning left. The panel discussion was mod erated by Roger Mudd, an estab lished national television journalist. The panel discussed presidential campaigns since the inception of the United States and comprised Haynes; Michael Deaver, deputy chief of staff and adviser to Ronald Reagan for more than 20 year s; and Dr. Robert Remini, an author and historian of Jacksonian America and 19th century presidencies. The discussion consisted of sev eral questions presented by Mudd and a forum among the panel members. It served as the official commencement of the tour of “Portraits of the Presidents” — a four-year tour of presidential por traits, sculptures and photographs from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. The portrait collection will stop at seven places in the United States while the Old Patent Office Build ing — the permanent home of the collection — is renovated. The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is the first of the stops. Mudd began.the panel with the topic of campaign debates. Deaver, the man known as the architect of Reagan’s communica tions program, said that debates should not be a staged camera event, but rather be held in front of Con gress. He said congressmen should be given the opportunity to question candidates, giving the American people an idea how the candidates could work with Congress. Deaver said that although can didates do not travel cross-country See Panel on Page 6A. By Rolando Garcia The Battalion A recent health inspection of the 12th Man Cafeteria in the Memorial Student Center (MSC) yielded a failing grade. Inspectors from the Brazos County Health Department gave the cafeteria a grade of 66 out of 100, after finding a number of minor health violations dur ing an unannounced tour Oct. 2, said Julie Anderson, a health department of ficial. She added that a follow-up in spection Thursday revealed that the problems were corrected, and the cafe teria got a 100 evaluation. The violation that most concerned in spectors involved the sinks where cafe teria workers wash their hands. Health standards require that the water be at a temperature of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit, but the water coming out of the faucets was about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Washing with hot water is important for sanitation, Anderson said. “It helps to liquefy the grease on your hands so the soap reaches the skin,” she said. Food handlers must wash their hands every time they change tasks, such as moving from vegetable preparation to making sandwiches. The lukewarm water was caused by faulty valves that drew cold water into the hot water spigots, but the plumbing probkira.hqs been fixed, Andersyn said. Other violations included the im proper dating of meat. When a pack age of meat was opened, it was left in the freezer and marked with the date it was opened. Health standards require that packaged meat, when opened, be marked with a “consume by” date when the contents must be thrown away, Anderson said. “In this case, the worker was sim ply not aware of the rule, so that was corrected,” she said. “It’s not like the meat had gone rotten and they were still serving it.” Inspectors also noted crowded con ditions in the kitchen and inadequate pa per towel and soap dispensers. Even though the 12th Man Cafeteria received a failing grade, Anderson said, the cafeteria was not shut down because the violations were not serious enough to pose a health hazard to customers. “There were a few problems, but I talked to one of the inspectors, and he said he had no qualms about eating there himself,” Anderson said. Cynthia Zawieja, associate director of the Food Services Department, said the failing grade was an aberration and not reflective of food services at A&M. “It’s embarrassing for us to receive that score,” Zawieja said. “We’re usual ly in compliance, but we just had a bad day that day, and we’ve taken corrective measures. People need to know that it’s still safe to eat there.” Othet^A&M. ,cafclerias.-testexl re ceived a grade of 80 or higher. TAMU Food Establishments ^Inspected on Oct 2, 2000 Establishment SCORE Lieberman, Cheney spar over tax cuts, budget surpluses DANVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Republican Dick Cheney and Democrat Joseph Lieberman dis agreed firmly but politely Thursday night about military readiness, tax cuts and the fu ture of Social Security in a debate of campaign understudies. Sitting a few feet apart around a small table, the vice presidential candidates agreed that President Slobodan Milosevic should give up power in Yugoslavia after an election loss, but both opposed the use of American troops to force him out. In a debate that ranged broadly over cam paign issues, Lieberman, a two-term Con necticut senator, said Republicans want to “raid the Medicare trust fund to pay for their tax cuts.” But Cheney said there was more than enough money to go around, and it is “totally reasonable” to give relief to all taxpayers. The argument that “somehow ... all of it is going to tax cuts isn’t true,” Cheney said of the huge surpluses forecast over the next decade. The two men sparred as they sat together for their only debate of the fall campaign. The at mosphere on a specially constructed stage at Centre College was far more relaxed than Tuesday night when presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush met in Boston for See Debate on Page 6A. Commons Dining Center 1181*,' 7- ~ Golf Course Snack Bar * JlUirker JCfire swr ivtiion Snack Bar WM eria 'em mmmAjgw.- /JP 1 100 M ioo mammr BRANDON HENDERSON/The Battalion )km IITED I STATES Hurricane Keith Position: 22.9 N, 98.2 W Moving: NW 13 mph Sustained winds: 75 mph Wind gusts: 90 mph 5 p.m. EDT, Oct. 5 Student dedicates time to accurate weather updates Window of projected movement Gulf of Mexico 30 25° 20° MEXICO 95° 90° 85° Meanwhile, Keith loses strenght on Mexican coast AP MEXICO CITY (AP) — A hurricane slammed into Mexico’s Gulf coast near Tampico on Thursday, forcing evacuations, ripping roofs from homes and causing floods before weakening to a tropical storm. Keith was packing 90 mph winds when it hit the Gulf coast above Tampico, about 280 miles south of the U.S. border. No injuries or deaths were reported Thursday evening, as Keith lost strength over land. “Corrugated metal roofs blew off several wooden houses, trees were blown over and electrical posts were knocked down,” said Tofik Salum, director of the civil defense agency in the northern state of Tamaulipas. Hardest hit was the town of Gonzalez, about 110 miles northwest of Tampico, Salum said. The storm lost strength as it moved inland and forecasters predicted it would rapidly weaken. All warnings were called off, except for a tropical storm warning north from Tampi co to the port city of La Pesca. At 8 p.m., the center of Tropical Storm Keith was about 35 miles south of Ciudad Vic toria, Mexico. The storm was moving toward See Keith on Page 6A. By Brady Creel The Battalion Weatherman Ted says Aggies no longer have to consult the television or radio for the current conditions and forecast for Bryan-College Sta tion. They do not even have to look out the win dow —just at their computer screens. Ted Ryan, a junior meteorology major, is in his second year of giving Aggieland the heads- up on weather via the Internet. “I’m always watching,” he said. “I enjoy watching severe weather, but I have never gone storm chasing because it is a lot harder to storm chase than it was in the movie Twister.” Ryan’s Website — located at http://weath- er.resnet.tamu.edu — is updated at least twice daily with current conditions and forecasts. He said the big update comes every day at 4 p.m., but he makes changes as often as necessary to keep up with Mother Nature. “I like to say that I am very accurate because I am here in College Station and because I am only forecasting for College Station,” Ryan said. “The National Weather Service can’t do that because they forecast for 100 square miles.” Ryan said his project started out of necessi ty because his friends always wanted him to keep them updated on weather forecasts. “I decided it would be more practical to set See Weather on Page 6A. olloway elected freshman class president By Courtney Stelzel The Battalion s™ Joseph Holloway and Meredith Talley were sleeted president and vice president, respectively, j fpr the Class of ’04. Neil Simpson, election commissioner for the indent Government Association (SGA) and a ju- | lior recreation, park and tourism sciences major, innounced the results in front of the Lawrence Sul- van Ross statue Thursday night. Holloway, a business administration major, re ived 58.4 percent of the freshmen vote, beating felissa Baumann, a renewable natural resources |major. decided to run for class president because I Iwould rather have myself lead than have someone Iflse do it and risk them doing a poor job,” he said, attributing his success to the positive people he sur- [rounded himself with throughout his campaign. He added that he wanted “to expand on what the Class of ’04 has to offer and make it even better.” Holloway will be assisted by vice president Tal ley, a general studies major. Talley received 57.2 percent of the vote, beating Katie Lowe, an Eng lish and anthropology major. Talley said that positive feedback from sup porters helped to keep up her spirit in the race for vice president. Talley said her campaign strategy was to sjpeak to various organizations, adding that she wants “the Class of ’04 to make a strong stand ing throughout our time at A&M. I am just excited to be a part of it all.” The Freshman Council, composed of the presi dent, vice president, secretary, treasurer, historian and social secretary, is co-directed by Aaron Dobbs, a senior journalism and political science major, and Katy Guercio, a senior marketing major. “Fish Council encompasses the whole class and we are just a resource outlet for the council mem bers,” Dobbs said. Guercio said the duties of president and vice president are as large as they want them to be and really have no bounds. “Students on Fish Council have a lot of leeway to explore their role and the possibilities for the Class of ’04; we are just here to advise and help when needed,” she said. The overall voting results were lower than ex pected, but typical for a freshman election, Simp son said. Eighty-six votes were placed online. Simpson informed candidates that they have 48 hours to appeal the voting decision if they feel an injustice was done, but SGA offices will close at 6 p.m. Saturday. This means that all complaints re garding voter turnout must be in by this time to be considered. Simpson warned that candidates can be fined, regardless of the election outcome, if their cam paign fliers are not removed from the various cam pus sites by 10 p.m. Saturday. The roles of the freshman council president and vice president will begin immediately. BERNARDO GARCIA/Tm Batialion Joseph Holloway congratulates Meredith Talley after they were announced as president and the vice president of the freshman class, respectively. bacco