Tuesday, October!'
with states’ rights.
Sectoral College support:
t the framers had in mind
he writers of the Constitni
ormed masses from direci
WEDNESDAY
October 18, 2000
Volume 107 ~ Issue 39
16 pages
Section A: 8 pages
Section B: 8 pages
en well documented and
throughout the years.!
olution that fit 18th-centi
(•>*4 *J AI ftlik'IPi ^ ;W I it
is now easily accessible';
, newspapers the Internet;
electoral process shouldii
,)f the “ignorant masses"
e masses have been in tit
Bat bites girl in Evans Library
know for quite a
r now.
America has notfe
need to stick to the fa
intentions when itcomei
other areas. If it had, the
oming election’s constii
ould consist entirely of»i
operty-owners.
The Constitution is a
:ument. What the foreft
ly had in mind wasadoa
nt that could be adapted
Iress new issues as theli
Jy Brady Creel
The Battalion
ATexas A&M student was bitten
tn the toe of her left foot Tuesday by
bat that is part of a colony of sev-
ral hundred bats residing in the
ixth floor of the Sterling C. Evans
ibrary.
According to a report issued by
Lane Stephenson, deputy director of
University Relations, the student
vas bitten by a Mexican freetail bat
about 1:45 p.m. while studying on
the fourth floor of the library.
The student was taken by li
brary staff members for treatment
at the A.R Beutel Health Center,
and subsequently to St. Joseph’s
Regional Health Center in Bryan.
The name of the student has not
been released.
Stephenson said the bat involved
in the biting was captured and taken
to the Small Animal Clinic of the
College of Veterinary Medicine for
rabies testing. It has not been deter
mined whether the bat is infected
with rabies.
The report stated that the first re
port of bats came Monday, and that
200 to 400 bats were spotted. By
Monday evening, Physical Plant
Pest Control had removed between
300 and 350 bats.
Charles Gilreath, associate uni
versity librarian for advanced stu
dents, said in a press release that the
problem has been reported to the of
fice of Vice President for Adminis
tration Charles Sippial.
Gilreath said that the library’s
first goal is to seal the avenues into
the building to stop the bats from en
tering, and then do an environmen
tal clean up to remove smell from the
sixth floor.
The University Relations press
release said Brent Maddox, manag
er of the environment health and
safety department reported that no
public health hazard existed.
Removal of the bats resumed
Tuesday morning and about 50 were
caught before the student was bitten.
Stephenson said he did not be
lieve the arrival of bats was associ
ated with the recent completion of
renovations to the library.
“The renovation is completed,
but I don’t think there is any rela
tionship, but I am not an authority on
that,” Stephenson said. _ ,
See Bite on Page 2.
ites evolved over time.
The principles establish
r 89 were the beginnings!!
iew nation, not the finalft
print.
In the end, the Electoral
it is an antiquated systeii
ion and distorts the willd
, it was good idea. Toda;
hed by its drawbacks.
:an form of govemmenl
re.
il elites to relinquish tta
senior political sciences
o the editor. Letters must be 300'
rte. class and phone number.
ight to edit letters for length, sM
in person at 014 Reed Me Dor*
be mailed to:
on - Mall Call
1 McDonald
VI University
.TAMU
m, Texas 77843
Mall: 1111
) 845-2647
5rs@hotmall.com
The Battalion express the opinion 1
Student
recycle
effort
lacking
Group
erations!
By Courtney Stelzel
The Battalion
Collecting recyclable material from
more than 130 buildings, and spending
$65 to $70 a ton to have the it hauled
out to a land fill site, is not enough to
get Texas A&M students motivated
about recycling.
Initiated in 1990, the Recycling Of
fice became a permanent fixture in
1991 and is currently under the man-
sfiect the opinion of otherBattaiior ; agement of the Physical Plant Uti 1 ities
i regents, administrators,facultyorr Divisioni solid waste prograrn and the
wnstewuter treatment program.
Though (he Recycling Center is not
an awareness or educational organiza-
ion, organizations such as the Student
overnment Association’s Environ-
ental Issues Committee (EIC) and the
esidence Hall Association (RHA)
ork with the Recycling Office. The
roups collect aluminum cans, white
aper, cardboard, newspapers, excess
earhooks, old media guides and col-
red paper. A routine pickup schedule
akes one week to complete with no
tops at residence halls. They also are
orking together to design and imple-
ent a program to inform students
bout recycling.
Daniella Hiche, EIC chairwoman,
an intern at the Recycling center and a
unior renewable natural science re
sources major, said she is trying to es
tablish a link between the Recycling
Office and the student body.
“The issue is that
the University au
thorities do not
consider recycling
a major issue, and
that attitude is
passed on to the
students. 77
— Daniella Hiche
Environmental Issues Committee
chairwoman
“The main reason why the recycling
program has not been more successful
on campus in the past is due to the lack
of student awareness,” she said.
Various organizations and commit
tees have previously tried to work with
the Recycling Office to publicize recy
cling among the student body, but they
failed because of a lack of support,
Hiche said.
“The issue is that the University au
thorities do not consider recycling a
major issue, and that attitude is passed
on to the students,” she said.
She added that the recycling Dump
sters are usually behind the buildings
at the service exits. This location al
lows for quick and easy removal of the
recyclable materials.
However, she said that it keeps fac
ulty and students from realizing how
much waste is picked up by the Recy
cling Office; and that they just see the
trash disappearing and do not seem to
wonder where it goes.
The EIC hopes to establish a pro
gram, with the help of the RHA and the
stributor of
nerates nearly
>n 8 oz.
e.
events:
'ember 7th
See Recycling on Page 6.
Night light
BERNARDO GARZA/The Battalion
A storm system rolled into College Station Monday creating a large
electrical disturbance with lightning across the skies.
Campus participates in
breast cancer awareness
By Courtney Stelzel
The Battalion
The American Cancer Society (ACS)
estimates that 182,800 women in the Unit
ed States will be diagnosed with breast
cancer and that more than 40,500 will die
this year.
In response to these startling numbers,
October has been designated by the ACS
as National Breast Cancer Awareness
Month (NBCAM), a time for both men
and women to be conscious of the risk of
breast cancer.
The NBCAM began 15 years ago as a
week-long program and has become a na
tional month-long event that draws support
from politicians, celebrities and women’s
groups from around the country. The
NBCAM encourages women and men to
actively participate in breast cancer pre
vention by preforming self-examinations.
Breast cancer is a tumor that devel
ops from cells in the breast and is most
often found in women, but effects men
in some instances. The ACS reports
there are 12 types of breast cancer, with
infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) ac
counting for about 80 percent of inva
sive breast cancers.
“Although breast cancer is the most
common cancer in women, there is a very
high cure rate if detected in the early
stages,” said Jennifer Peacock, senior field
representative for the College Station
branch of the ACS. The ACS reports there
See Awareness on Page 6.
Presidential race
enters final stretch
Debate last encounter before election
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Vice
President A1 Gore attacked
George W. Bush as an ally of
the rich and powerful Tuesday
night, but the Texas
governor rebutted in
climactic campaign
debate that his rival
was a “big spender” in
the mold of Democra
tic liberals who once
sought the White
House and lost.
“He proposed
more than Walter
Mondale and Michael
Dukakis combined,”
Bush said of two De
mocratic presidential
candidates rejected
by the voters in 1984
and 1988.
The Texas gover
nor and the vice president,
locked in a close race for the
White House, argued domestic
and foreign policy issues for
90 minutes in a town hall-style
format. It was their third en-
GORE
counter in two weeks, and
their last before they face judg
ment at the polls on Nov. 7.
In their final summations,
the two men stripped
their appeals to their
essentials.
“I have kept my
word,” said Gore,
who has served as
Bill Clinton’s vice
president for two
terms. He mentioned
his. service in Viet
nam, a strong mar
riage of 30 years. He
said the nation has ex
perienced record
prosperity and re
duced crime in recent
years, and pledged to
build on it.
“I’ll make you one
promise here. You ain’t seen
nothing yet and I will keep
that promise.”
Under the rules, Republican
Bush got the last word. “I think
after three debates the good
people of this country under
stand there is a difference,” he
said. “The difference between
a big federal government and
someone who is coming from
outside Washington who will
trust individuals.”
Gore has slipped slightly in
the polls since the first cam
paign debate Oct. 3 in Boston,
and from the opening mo
ments, the vice president bore
in on Bush as a defender of the
privileged. He said the Texas
governor was allied with in
surance companies rather than
patients, for example, and that
his tax cut was tilted heavily to
ward the wealthy.
“If you want someone who
will support ... the big drug
companies, this is your man,”
the vice president said of Bush,
standing a few feet away from
his campaign rival on a red-
carpeted debate stage.
“If you want someone who
will fight for you... then I want
to fight for you,” Gore added.
Students, faculty
participate in
Debate Watch
By Richard Bray
The Battalion
Vice President A1 Gore called college-age
voters “idealistic.” Gov. George Bush said their
perceptions of the candidates’ honesty would
decide whether they choose to vote.
During Tuesday’s presidential debate, while
the candidates discussed, among other things,
college-age voters, several interested students
gathered in the Memorial Student Center
(MSC) Flagroom to watch the debate and bet
ter understand the candidates and their posi
tions on national issues.
The MSC Current Issues Awareness (CIA)
committee presented the-program Debate
Watch, in which faculty and students watched
the final scheduled presidential debate and dis
cussed the candidates’ performances.
Adrian Whatley, a freshman English major
who attended Debate Watch and had already
decided she was going to vote for Bush, said
she thought Bush had won the debate. “I think
Bush did a very good job,” she said. “He did
n’t address as many particulars as Gore did. I
think he had a better persona of leadership; per
sonally, I thought Gore was talking to us as if
we were kindergartners.”
However, within the predominately Repub
lican campus, a few students took a step for
ward to announce a preference for another
See Watch on Page 2.
Debate ends in
tie, viewers say
WASHINGTON (AP) — A1 Gore and
George W. Bush were rated about even in
their third and final debate, according to
two network snap polls.
Debate watchers leaned toward Bush by
about 10 points before the debate and did
ABC News Poll
Bush 41%
Gore 41 %
Percentage of viewers who thought which
candidate won the third debate
not change their support, according to polls
by ABC News and CNN-USA Today-
Gallup. But when asked who won, 41 per
cent said Democrat Gore and 41 percent
said Republican Bush in the ABC News
poll. In the CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll,
46 percent said Gore did a better job, while
44 percent said Bush.
The Bush-leaning debate watchers
would suggest more Republicans watched
the debate. The error margin for the polls
was 4 percentage points. Snap polls on de
bates offer a quick picture of emotional re
action to the debates, but that reaction can
be short-lived.
Tobacco use may go up in smoke
TAMU, TDH unite in effort to diminish tobacco use in Brazos County
By Sommer Bunce
The Battalion ,
The Office of Tobacco
Prevention and Control at
the Texas Department of
Health (TDH), in conjunc
tion with Texas A&M, will
be in Brazos County con
ducting pilot study aimed at
fighting the influence of big
tobacco companies for the
next six weeks.
Of the $17.3 billion ob
tained in a 1998 state lawsuit
against the tobacco industry,
the state legislature appor
tioned $10 million from the
first paid endowment to fund
TDH research. The industry’s
total payments will be paid
during the next 25 years.
TDK’s test area encom
passes regions of South
Texas, including suburban
Houston, Longview/Tyler,
Beaumont/Port Arthur and
Brazos County. The programs
began Sept. 25 and will con
tinue through November.
The study has four branch
es; media, law enforcement,
cessation, and schools and
communities.
In January 2001, the leg
islature will analyze the re
sults of the study to deter
mine whether more funding
should be granted to pro
grams in the prevention of
tobacco use among youth
and adult populations.
“This is really, truly a great
experiment,” said Marcus
Cooper III, TDH information
specialist. “The state of Texas
has never earmarked any
See Tobacco on Page 6.
BRADLEY ATCHISON/The Battalion