I
November 27, 2000
Volume 107 ~ Issue 65
8 pages
m
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e what
«said,
talking,':
es.Thb
Jush
ertified
Florida
nner
ed off os
'at No.. 1
matchfl
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kimMore, Lieberman
-nee’s M |
tekfo contest results
o Bp’-
1C0| i_B(AP) — Florida’s secretary of state
. certified George W. Bush the winner
iwmgl over A1
>us feci
Gore
Sunday night in the
state’s near-dead-
locked presidential
vote — but court
challenges left in
doubt which man
will be the ultimate
victor and 43rd
president of the
United States.
Moments after
publican Katherine Harris declared
Ish the winner of Florida’s 25 elec-
. ftflal votes at a ceremony in Tallahas-
ffl Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democra-
.fj JiByice presidential nominee, said she
hah certified “an incomplete and inac-
clate count” and that he and Gore had
no choice but to contest the election.
t * 1e cert ifi c ation of a 537-vote
' Bi sh margin stands, the Texas gover-
0,1 nor would win 271 electoral college
vo cs — one more than necessary for
, vii lory — compared to 267 for Gore.
iUSt:F‘ Harris said Bush had 2,912,790
votes and Gore had 2,912,253. That
gave Bush the 537-vote lead out of 6
million cast, although Harris rejected
panial returns from Palm Beach Coun-
■ An unofficial AP tally including re-
d.
ipei.
eld,
■ Ja'Msdoj
isA&Mtl
counted Palm Beach County votes
showed Bush ahead by 357.
■ The secretary of state’s formal dec-
freceiv»B at ' on ’ which set off GOP cheers out-
Roy til 4i e the Florida capital and at the state
ruitedh ffpitol in Austin, Texas:
ianHisi® “Accordingly, on behalf of the state
is for tactions canvassing commission and
kfield, if accordance with the laws of the state
, U nd flfi Florida, I hereby declare Governor
George W. Bush the winner of Flori-
J’s25 electoral votes.”
ndisfffif Lieberman said, “The integrity of
voritflw r self-government” could be cast into
fl, H)ubt without democratic steps to get
Be most complete and accurate count
possible. Gore’s lawyers were to file
tl|cir challenge in the courts of Leon
j County, site of the state Capitol at Tal
lahassee, today.
■ James A. Baker III, the former
secretary of state speaking for Bush
who was making his own state-
ni|h|ent later Sunday night — said that
1 /Bunt already has been delivered,
rlpeatedly.
; teait’ir He said Bush “won this election”
aintedsftder the rules set by law before Elec-
tibn Day, Nov. 7 — and under rules
t discoBanged after the election. Baker de-
jlayedoBunced Gore’s lawyers for what he
jiaveMklled an extraordinary resort to the
jmjsitafcourts — although Bush has his own
set of lawsuits, including the appeal to
victor me U.S. Supreme Court, which hears
tfadoiBal arguments on Friday.
[erLiz'fi “At some point there must be clo-
i playeiBire,” Baker said. “At some point the
JontribBw must prevail and the lawyers must
r Colitis 0 home.
greatjl “We have reached that point. It is
gilt,” [ tine to honor the will of the people.”
D tiaveB For all that. Baker said Bush will
, e touffiabsolutely” go ahead with his case in
istyC'i the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging
cjcuswo state Supreme Court ruling that led
B) the extended certification deadline
.jngtoi’Bhd hand recounts of ballots cast by
realiBachine in four disputed Democratic-
got to fyaning counties.
iierti ’
;■
See Election on Page 2.
Kom'i * I *11 ftiKl i'i l ;Li kiV
Lite brite
ANDY HANCOCK/The Battalion
Charles Rowley and John Coyle raise and se
cure winter holiday light fixtures in front of the
Administration Building last week. The fixtures
were funded by the A&M Physical Plant.
Student
dies in car
accident
A&M, UT freshman applications
increase for Fall ’01 enrollment
Top 10 percent, graduation rate contribute to high numbers
AUSTIN (AP) — Applications to the
University of Texas-Austin (UT) and
Texas. A&M are coming in at record
pace as students comply with requests to
meet early deadlines.
The state’s two largest public univer
sities are again expecting record-break
ing numbers of applications for next
school year. Consequently, officials have
asked prospective freshman to get their
applications in early.
Students have heeded.
Compared with this time last year, ap
plications are up 42 percent at UT and up
20 percent at A&M. UT’s deadline for fall
admission is Feb. 1; A&M has set Feb. 15.
Last year, UT received 21,200
freshman applications, and the A&M
lEllflilllffllfi IlHIHHUB
Texas A&M University University of Texas
• Number of Applications
Up 20% from this time
last year
Up 42% from this time
last year
• Total Fresbman
Applications Fall 2000
18,894
21,200
• Fresbman Applications
for Fall 2001
8,110 so far
4,963 so far
• Beadline for Admission
Feb. 15
Feb.1
\ si agtsHe
rre sttman class of 6,4110 te 8,588
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
campus received 18,694. Both univer
sities predict the current rush of appli
cations will taper off, but UT expects
an overall 10-percent increase in ap
plications over last year. A&M is pro
jecting a 5-percent rise.
The increase can be attributed to
several factors.
First, more students are graduating
from high school, and there are more
college-age students in the population.
Also, high school seniors who grad
uate in the top 10 percent of their class
are guaranteed admission to the Texas
public university of their choice under
state law. With those students automati
cally admitted, the stakes increase for
those not in that select group.
In many cases, the perceived compe
tition is spurring students to act sooner.
Each institution has set a preferred-en
rollment for Fall 2001 freshman class of
6,400 to 6,500 students.
See Enrollment on Page 2.
By Mariano Castillo
The Battalion
A Texas A&M student
was killed Tuesday after her
car struck an 18-wheeler on
Highway 79, three miles
west of Palestine.
Kimbra Leigh Cates, a
junior marketing
and management
major, was head
ing to her home in
Tyler for Thanks
giving. At about
5:15 p.m., her
1993 Jeep Chero
kee drifted into
oncoming traffic
and hit the rear
end of the truck’s trailer.
She was pronounced dead
at the scene at 6 p.m. Nei
ther of the vehicles were
carrying passengers.
Trooper Bryan Becton,
who responded to the acci
dent, said the cause of the
crash remains undetermined.
“Anything is possible,”
he said. “Fatigue may be a
factor. We’ll never know.”
The driver of the 1989
Volvo truck trailer, Billy Joe
Smith, is a convict at the
Wynne Unit at Huntsville.
He was driving the truck
under the supervision of
Douglas Whitting, a correc
tional officer who was dri
ving behind him.
When Smith saw Cates’
Jeep cross the center line, he
swerved onto the right shoul
der as far as he could without
running off the road, Becton
said. Cates collided with the
18-wheeler about six feet
from its rear. Becton said the
car was crushed by the
wheels of the trailer.
“It just totally destroyed
the Jeep,” he said.
Smith did not suffer ma
jor injuries. However, Bec
ton said, “Smith was clearly
shaken up.” He was taken to
a hospital "in Palestine for
tests to “cover all the bases.”
The tests indicated that al
cohol was not a factor.
Smith is a “trustee in
mate” — a less violent ofr
fender who can be taken out
into society with supervision
Becton said trustee inmate
programs are worked out on
a case-by-case basis.
Smith’s Class A driver’s
license made him a good can
didate for the truck
driving assign
ment, Becton said.
An autopsy of
Cates was request
ed by Precinct 3
Judge James Todd;
results are expect
ed to be available
today.
As a student, Cates was on
the dean’s list for Fall ’99 and
Spring ’00, in the marketing
society and in Fish Court as a
peer leader for freshman. She
was going to participate in an
internship program with Gap,
and she worked on campus
for the purchasing department
as a receptionist, a position
she held for more than a year.
Lenna Matz, Cates’ room
mate and a sophomore gen
eral studies major, said Cates
had a great personality and
easily cheered people up.
“She was very intelligent,
beautiful, funny and an ex
cellent cook,” Matz said.
“She loved being at A&M.”
Cates was excited about
ordering her Aggie ring in
January, Matz added.
Purchasing department
Assistant Director Paul
Barzak said the staff was
devastated by the accident.
“She was a wonderful
person,” he said. “She was
always even-tempered. Re
gardless of the workload, she
never got rattled. We were
hoping to have her for anoth
er year until she graduated.”
Cates’ funeral was Satur
day afternoon at the Trinity
Lutheran Church in Tyler.
She is survived by her par
ents, Scotty and Karen
Cates, and her younger sis
ter, Carmen.
Alcohol task force may continue next fall
By Richard Bray
The Battalion
With the success of a seven-weekend alcohol
task force, which issued about 850 citations, the
College Station Police Department (CSPD) and
the University Police Department (UPD) are
considering continuing the task force next fall.
The task force targeted Thursday, Friday and
Saturday nights on six home football game
weekends and the weekend before classes start
ed in August.
Bob Wiatt, director of UPD, said the goal of
the task force was to make minors aware of the
consequences of underage drinking.
In those seven weekends, the task force is
sued 605 minor in possession (MIP) citations,
212 citations for disorderly conduct and 26
miscellaneous citations, such as furnishing al
cohol to a minor or possession of drug para
phernalia. Ninety-five individuals were arrest
ed for alcohol-related offenses such as public
intoxication.
The task force consisted of six officers,
three each from CSPD and UPD. All of the of
ficers volunteered to work overtime.
Wiatt said no officers were removed from
their usual duties to participate in the task force.
“We had a pretty good turnout in so far as
making people aware that if you’re under 21,
you should not be drinking, because we issued
6< 7 don't know if it will
keep me from drinking
in the future, hut
I'll certainly he more
careful to he sure I
don't get caught”
— jon
student who received an MIP
a bunch of citations,” he said. “I would hope
that those who are under 21, who know that
they cannot consume alcohol until they get to
be 21 and are going all out to either possess
fake IDs or have their 21 -year-old friends slip
them some booze, realize that, if they get
caught, they are going to have to suffer the
consequences.”
Jon, a student who received an MIP and
whose last name is not included, said he may
continue to drink despite his citation.
“I can understand where the officers are com
ing from,” he said. “I don’t know if it will keep
me from drinking in the future, but I’ll certain
ly be more careful to be sure I don’t get caught.”
Wiatt said he hopes the success of the cam
paign will send a message to students.
“From these statistics, it was a pretty thor
ough campaign,” he said. “I just hope that
we’re getting the message across: Alcohol is
one heck of a danger to a lot of students.”
See Alcohol on Page 2.
FILE PHOTO/The Battalion
Police officers force students to empty a
keg at a party.
Complaints about ResNet spark CIS to ask students to limit use of resources
>y Richard Bray
e Battalion
In response to complaints from on-cam-
us students concerned about the perfor-
yP' nance of ResNet, Computing and Infor-
nation Services (CIS) has distributed a
nemo to ResNet users asking them to lim-
t their use of ResNet resources.
According to the memo, use of ResNet
esources is disproportionate if it averages
nore than 2 percent of a residence hall’s ca-
acity each day for seven consecutive days.
This limit allows individuals to download
or serve as much as 1.4 gigabytes a day.
Under Appendix V of the student rules,
students are prohibited from excessive use
of computing facilities if it prevents others
from using these resources.
Tom Putnam, director of CIS, said stu
dents using too much of ResNet’s capacity
have been contacted.
“We don’t look to see exactly what each
person is doing unless there is a potential
violation of University rules or laws, but
we do know that those servers are being
used off campus instead of being used by
A&M students,” Putnam said in a memo to
ResNet users. “There are several dozen
servers on ResNet that serve out over two
gigabytes per day every day of the week,
enough to fill an average hard drive.”
Putnam said that if disproportionate use
continues, CIS will collect information
about the usage, submit that information to
Student Conflict Resolution Services
(SCRS) and cut off network access for the
offending student until SCRS tell CIS to
reinstate service.
Students will be given a few days to stop
their activities; however, Putnam said if that
disproportionate use continues, the evi
dence will then be sent to appropriate legal
and disciplinary authorities for action.
Putnam said heavy users can slow other
users’ network connections because the net
work can transfer a limited number of files
at one time. .
“If you think about this as being one
highway in and out of town, and one person
invites all his friends to use the highway at
the same time, it becomes difficult for oth
er people to use the highway,” Putnam said.
“We’ve had lots of complaints from stu
dents in residences that say the network is
too slow and they can’t get anything done.”
CIS recommends that students not have
file-sharing programs, such as Napster, run
ning all the time. CIS also recommends that
campus Web servers limit the number of
concurrent connections to two at a time.