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TUESDAY
February 6, 2001
Volume 107 ~ Issue 88
Section A - 8 pages
Section B - 6 pages
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The Hall’s occupancy load under fire
Dance hall to count patrons after complaint that the club was overcrowded
and ^air8Y Brady Creel
500 fret' Th> ’ Battalion
does notii| Mlie Texas Hall of Fame dance
|[11 has been reprimanded and mon-
Jur's perfrtopd by the Bryan fire marshal after
rest ofty J ; 1 1 ^ fire code violation,
fliordid JJ a y Soeol, public information of-
its. fi )r l * ie city of Bryan, said the
d Colli <i rt lliars fi a * received a complaint
... Ian. 18 concerning the number of
t ontnet^pie in the establishment.
~olligan«jp--wh a t the inspector found on that
a relay. n jtj a | v j s j t was t h at things were way
wimmer j u t of control, that there were far too
ihe TAPI tnany people in there,” Socol said,
■ing compHThe Texas Hall of Fame, dubbed
^creation ‘the Hall” by its patrons, is in Bryan
lay, were:!
on FM 2818.
The Bryan Police Department
(BPD) sent officers to the Hall Jan.
18 to prevent more customers from
entering and to keep count of those
leaving.
Nathan Sivils, Bryan fire marshal,
said the Hall has an occupancy of
1,400 people but was “overcrowded
and in direct violation of the fire code.”
No one from the Hall was avail
able for comment Monday.
“When we first go through the de
sign process, we set an occupancy for
that structure,” Sivils said. “We can’t
really deviate from that.”
Sivils said, when establishments
admit people beyond their occu
pancy, it is the fire marshal’s duty to
They want to do
the same thing we do
— they want the
kids to be out there
and be safe.”
— Mike Donaho
Bryan assistant fire chief
decrease the number of people in
the building.
“They should do that on their
own,” Sivils said.
But Sivils said local establish
ments, like the Hall, that cater to col
lege students are not always proactive.
“They don’t do as good of a job as
I would want them to do,” he said.
“Most of the businesses really try to
do a good job, but we have to stay on
top of it, too.”
Sivils said fire-code violations
can result in a citation, which is han
dled in municipal court. An inspector
is sent only when a complaint about
an establishment is received. Sivils
said the building’s occupancy level
should be posted at the entrance.
“We just wanted [the Hall] to get
back to what we felt was a safe level,”
Sivils said.
John Mies, Tire marshal for the
city of College Station, said no prob
lems with College Station bars and
clubs have been reported.
Mike Donoho, assistant fire chief
for the city of Bryan, said the fire in
spectors visited the Hall Jan. 25 and
Feb. 1 to monitor its compliance
progress, and a citation was not issued.
“[The inspectors] went back the
second week, and [the Hall] had in
stituted the ideas the fire marshal had
given,” Donoho said.
Socol said, before Jan. 18, man
agement at the Hall had no method
for monitoring the number of people
entering the building. As a result, the
staff had no way of knowing how
many people were in the building.
The Hall has placed employees at
the doors with clickers, counting cus*
tomers as they come and go. If there
are 1,400 people in the building, no
additional customers can be admitted.
Donoho said the Bryan Fire De
partment was pleased with the atti
tude of the Hall’s management.
“They have been more than coop
erative,” he said. “They want to do
the same thing we do — they want
the kids to be out there and be safe.”
BAG showcases
In honor of Black History Month, the
ndonasiiiMSC Black Awareness Committee
artin. [SAC) hosted Harambee 2001, an event
ivis tried showcasing African-American history,
that wasfletry and dancing.
P Harambee means “a call to unity” in
t wascalleSwahili. Although it was sponsored by
■r past third m African-American organization, stu-
eethebal/dents of other ethnicities filled Rudder
deasm'.Theater for the program.
I that - T Brandon Hepburn, B AC co-director
in scityof advertising and a sophomore architec
ture major, said Harambee was a great
way to kick off Black History Month.
" —* I “Harambee brings many black orga
nizations together and demonstrates
what they are capable of,” he said.
H The premier performance of Haram-
Jf lee was the “Unity Step.” With deep
I K)ts in Africa, the Unity Step was used
as an alternative to war and violence.
Tfibal disputes were resolved by rhyth-
He performances of stepping, instead
of ighting.
• Twelve students from seven black
fraternities and sororities performed this
year's PanHellenic Unity Step.
Metria Simpson, BAC chairwoman
and a senior information systems major,
said Harambee’s purpose is to celebrate
cultural diversity.
“Basically, we want all students to
gain some insight from our speaker and
performers,” she said. “This program
is a great way to show multiculturalism
at its best.”
Harambee 2001 ’s guest speaker, the
Rev. Robert Muhammed of Houston,
delivered a lecture on apathy, political
empowerment and unity. Muhammed is
the Southwest regional representative
for the Nation of Islam. He was flanked
by bodyguards sporting the trademark
Nation of Islam suit and bow tie.
Muhammed has counseled former
death row inmates Odell Barnes and Sha-
ka Sankofa and has been a spiritual ad
viser to prominent black leaders such as
the Revs. Jesse Jackson and A1 Sharpton.
Students from Prairie View A&M
University joined Aggies for Harambee
2001. The Alkebulan Liberation Drum
mers from Prairie View A&M per
formed cadenced beats on stage.
Alkebulan drummer Eric Blaylock
See Harambee on Page 2.
mfrican culture
lid not alt*
[ Harambee has dancing, poetry
pinch nit® ,, .,
L By Rob Munson
don a uili
second 1)3®^ Battalion
Smash hit
Aiji and Equality, students in Prairie View A&M's tradition- festival sponsored by the MSC Black Awareness Committee
al West African percussion ensemble, play at the Harambee to promote black unity.
UDl
SUSAN REDDING/The Battalion
David Penuel, a senior exercise physiology major, make copies for his aerobic dance class using
:he new copy machines in Sterling C. Evans Library.
A&M gets new machines
Ikon will honor remaining Copico cards until July
By Heather Barber
The Battalion
Ikon is now the provider of copy ma
chine services at Texas A&M after the ter
mination of the University’s contract with
Copico.
The three-year contract was ended in a
mutual agreement, said Anne Janne, the
business operations contact in Sterling C.
Evans Library. Although Copico was do
ing an excellent job, the firm was losing
money, Janne said.
Copico’s profits were hurt by the free
printing available from Computing and
Information Services (CIS). It also lost
business as databases and resources
once available only in the libraries be
came accessible in students’ homes via
the Internet.
The new contract is University-wide,
covering all of the libraries on campus.
The contract covers other locations, in
cluding Blocker Building, Heldenfels
Hall, the Memorial Student Center and
Zachry Engineering Center.
A number of companies, including
Copico, bid last fall for the three-year
contract.
Charles Gilreath, associate University
librarian for advanced studies, said the
University’s goal was solid, plain copy
ing, and Ikon was able to meet these stan
dards. Under the contract, Ikon will pro
vide its own equipment, service and
maintenance in exchange for the Univer
sity’s feedback on its services.
Janne said students can use their Cop
ico cards until July.
The transition from Copico to Ikon
was smooth, and copy-machine users will
not notice most changes, Janne said. One
benefit of the new provider is the lower
price for the microfiche copies, from 25
cents to 10 cents.
Janne said she expects to see a rise in
the use of microform prints as a result of
the lowered price.
Christy Van Husen, a junior nutritional
science major, said she uses the copy ser
vices on campus often and was relieved to
learn that her copy card will still be valid.
push seeks support for his tax cut plan
■ WASHINGTON (AP) — President
|lBsh asked Americans on Monday to back
his push in Congress for
'Jifcsive tax cuts that he
■Ants to make retroac-
li|e to Jan. 1. “Every-
;.|;Bdy who pays* taxes
■11 get some relief,” the
fiP^Lpresident promised,
k V After wooing law
makers for two weeks,
jfiish opened a tightly
scripted public-relations campaign for his
$1.6 trillion, 10-year plan to lower income
A rates across the board. He invited to a
■ gL ■late House press appearance families rep-
f ftenting three of the four lower tax brack-
.nO' ets that would be created under the plan he
1 * Aids to Congress this week.
^ “No American should pay more than a
third of his income to the federal govern
ment,” said Bush, standing before a jumbo
check payable to “U.S. Taxpayer” in the
amount of $ 1,600 — the average tax cut
for a family of four under his plan, accord
ing to White House estimates.
Bush would reduce the five tax brack
ets under cunent law — 15 percent, 28 per
cent, 31 percent, 36 percent and 39.6 per
cent — to 10 percent, 15 percent, 25
percent and 33 percent.
In a back-and-forth with reporters in the
White House diplomatic room, Bush ad
dressed Democratic criticism that the
wealthiest Americans in those top two
brackets would reap the biggest benefits:
“I’ve heard all the talk about class
warfare and this only benefiting the rich.
I think when people take a good hard look
at the rate reduction and who benefits and
the fact that our plan ... eases inequities
in the tax code and that the bottom end of
the economic ladder receives the biggest
percentage cuts, people will come to re
alize it — I think it’s important to cut all
tax rates.”
* He warned those lawmakers who might
want to “load up” his tax legislation with
their own giveaways that his is “the right-
sized plan. It is the right approach and I’m
going to defend it mightily.”
Bush said he would ask that the cuts be
made retroactive to Jan. 1 in order “to ex
pedite money to the pockets of the Ameri
can people.”
White House press secretary Ari Fleis
cher acknowledged that absent among the
everyday Americans invited to Bush’s cer
emony on Monday was someone in the
highest income bracket who would see
their top rate slashed from 39.6 percent to
33 percent.
Asked about the conspicuous omission,
Bush, the former Texas governor, laughed
and said he was representing that group
himself. “I got a little pay raise coming to
Washington from Austin. I’ll be in the top
bracket.”
Later Monday, Bush scheduled a pri
vate lunch with Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan, aides said. Greenspan
gave Bush’s tax cut proposal a boost last
month when he said surplus estimates had
grown so large that he believed there was
enough money to both pay down the na
tional debt and provide tax relief.
Bush also attended the formal swear
ing-in of Commerce Secretary Don Evans
before dining Monday night with visiting
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.