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Volume 107 ~ Issue 98
Section A- 8 pages
Section B - 6 pages
www.thebatt.com
onorrng
leterans
|o be built
■Elizabeth Raines
Th> Battalion
JBAII veterans in the Brazos Valley
+ 'iivht»fought during 20th century Amer
ican wars will be honored with a
mlmorial to be built in College Station.
m ' The idea for the project began
gabput three or four years ago amongst
the veterans of Brazos Valley when we
rellized that there was a void here in
tzos County for honoring all the vet-
| ■ns,” said Dr. Craig Carter, president
Df t le Memorial for all Veterans of Bra-
BCounty.
■The.memorial will have a central
sculpture with walkways leading to
different pavilions containing infor-
liHtion about each of the wars in which
ilH United States fought. The 11-acre
Veterans Park and Athletic Complex
f Hi be located one mile east of High-
i?“Hy b, between Harvey Road and-Uni-
ver ;ity Drive.
H“We are not going to have soldiers
tiolding guns or army tanks in our sculp-
f H,” said committee chairman P. David
% Hnei- “It is not going to be violent. Ul-
fHately, giving one’s life for one’s
Hinti^ involves violence, but the end
, Hilt is ensured peace for the rest of us.”
■Three artists, Robert J. Eccleston of
Schuyler Falls. N.Y.; Lawrence Noble
}f Crestline, Calif.; and Robert Shure
if Woburn, Mass., are competing to
Hign the sculpture. Each artist will
■sent a model of his sculpture in late
S|ril to the Brazos Valley Veterans
Hmorial design committee. The com
mittee will display the models at Post
Oak Mall to receive public comments.
The chosen artist and sculpture will be
mnounced on May 28.
■The memorial board estimates the
nemorial will cost between $150,000
md $250,000 and that the entire park
met athletic complex will cost
5350,000 more. The city of College
Htion, the city of Bryan and the Bra-
H County Commissioners Court have
uj-fpalh donated $50,000 to the memori-
il. The veterans hope to get the rest of
H money through fund raising.
H“We want to make everyone under-
Hid that this project belongs to every-
one in Brazos Valley,” said committee
Hirwoman Lynn Stuart. “We want to
Hke sure everyone has input and we
w|uld like for everybody to help make
this project successful.”
■Once the design is chosen, the
Hmorial board will complete a request
H proposals from construction firms.
He design committee will consider all
Hposals and make a recommendation
See Memorial on Page 2A.
Bus referendum voting begins
Bus Ops’ $12,000 campaign used
to garner student support on fee
By Brady Creel
The Battalion
The Bus Operations division
of Parking, Traffic and Trans
portation Services (PTTS) has
spent approximately $12,000 of
student fees since January on the
campaign initiative for the
Transportation Fee Referendum.
Students will determine the fee’s
fate by voting today and
Wednesday.
Gary Jackson, manager of Bus
Operations, said final numbers
tire not available yet, but he esti
mates expenditures of $12,000.
He said it was a bargain, consid
ering the in-house labor and tech
nology used for the campaign.
Jackson and two other employees
designed most of the marketing
strategy, he said.
Jackson said between $ 10,000
and $'l 2,000 was budgeted for the
campaign and promotion.
“If we could operate the way
we are operating now, then we
wouldn’t have put such a big
push on this,” Jackson said. “I
feel like this is an important mea
sure to pass for the future of the
u
If I didn't (think
the advertising is
justified), we
wouldn't be doing
all this.”
— Gary Jackson
manager of Bus Operations
University and Bus Operations.”
Bus Operations has advertised
on Bryan-College Station radio
stations, in The Battalion, on
sandwich boards on campus and
with banners in the Memorial
Student Center. In addition, Bus
Operations gave away pro-refer
endum T-shirts to students and
used its employees to distribute
fliers and positive information
about the fee.
Last week, Bus Operations
gave away pizza and T-shirts to
students at Rudder Fountain.
Jackson said the bus drivers are
tuning the bus radios to stations
Bus Operations is advertising on.
All of Bus Operations’ operat
ing income comes from student
fees, and Jackson said he thinks
the importance of the referendum
justified spending students’ mon
ey to solicit their votes.
“If I didn’t (think the advertis
ing is justified), we wouldn’t be
doing all this,” Jackson said.
Tom Williams, director of
PTTS, said advertising by Bus
Operations is not unusual. If Bus
Operations had not been promot
ing the fee, it would have been
advertising bus-pass sales,
Williams said.
Advertising is not a budgeted
expense for Bus Operations, but
See Advertising on Page 2A.
Aggies to determine
Bus Operations'fate
by voting on proposal
r 3
Sf/
•j- 8 --;
STUART VILLANUEVA/The Battalion
Bus Operations spent approximately $12,000 on its campaign to gather
student support for the transportation fee. The proposed fee would add
$50 a semester for the spring and fall and $25 for each summer session, to
each student's bill. It would eliminate the cost of a bus pass.
RUBEN DELUNA/Tiie Battalion
By Brady Creel
The Battalion
The students of Texas A&M will deter
mine the future of campus transportation to
day and tomorrow as they vote on the Trans
portation Fee Referendum. The outcome of
the election could ultimately determine the
fate of Bus Operations.
The Transportation Fee Referendum, if
passed by the student body and approved by
the Board of Regents, would mandate a $50-
per-semester fee that would be charged to all
students. During fhe summer, the fee would
be $25 per session. The fee would eliminate
the need to purchase ? bus pass because all
students would be able to ride on- and off-
campus buses.
“The end of [Bus Operations] being Ag
gie owned is in sight” if the referendum does
not pass, said Tom Williams, director of
Parking, Traffic and Transportation Services
(PTTS). “If Aggies want complete control
(over routes and service), we have the op
portunity to continue that.”
Gary Jackson, manager of Bus Operations,
said the fee would permit Bus Operations to
upgrade its aging fleet of buses in a phase-out
plan over the next 10 years. But, more impor
tantly, Jackson said, the fee would be used to
prevent Bus Operations from drowning in in
creasing maintenance and operations costs,
which have risen steadily in the past 10 years.
Jackson said the students are not at a cross
roads with this vote, because Bus Operations
has the resources to operate on a limited level
with its current amount of funding. But, he
said, the end of Bus Operations as students
know it is within sight if the referendum is not
passed.
“The bottom line is, we need new buses,”
Jackson said.
Jackson said that, in the past 10 years. Bus
Operations has seen a steady decline in bus-
pass sales, but PTTS has seen an increase in
parking-pass sales. The relationship is almost
one-for-one, Jackson said.
“The demand for parking has been, in at least
the last five years, greater than it has been for
more transportation,” Jackson said. “So, the Uni
versity and the administration have tried to meet
that demand by building more parking lots.”
That practice cannot continue, Williams said.
“[Students] have to realize that a bus sys
tem is the key to our future,” Williams said.
“We can’t keep building parking spaces.”
Jackson said, if students want to improve
the current level of service, the referendum
must be passed.
“Service is about as good as we can get it
and pay for it at the same time,” Jackson said.
“We can’t increase frequency or add any more
routes -— we just don’t have the funds to do it.”
If the referendum does not pass. Bus Oper
ations will be forced to decrease service so it
can meet its budget, he said.
“You will see the bus system erode until
people wouldn’t want to ride it,” he said.
Jackson said services have had to be cur
tailed at times during the past four years to con
tinue operating within budget.
Williams said the Transportation Fee is the
See Voting on Page2A.
fling.
to
*4/
Same-sex weddings held at MSC
Students get married in symbolic ceremony to draw attention to cause
■Jason Cato, a senior philosophy major, puts a ring on Marcus Wilkerson, a sopho
more general studies major, during a same-sex mock marriage in front of Rudder
.Fountain Monday. The wedding was sponsored by Queer Aggies and NOW.
By Brandie Liffick
The Battalion
To the sounds of Pachelbel’s
Canon and the “Wedding March”,
one female couple and one male
couple were symbolically married
to protest the legal prohibition of
same-sex marriages.
The ceremonies, held Monday
at Rudder Fountain, were spon
sored by Queer Aggies and the
Texas A&M chapter of the Na
tional Organization for Women
(NOW). Both groups were on
hand to distribute information, an
swer questions and present a peti
tion opposing a bill filed in the
Texas Legislature that would pre
vent the state from legally recog
nizing same-sex unions per
formed in other states. Currently,
It is my sincere
hope that eventual
ly the state will rec
ognize civil mar
riages between
same-sex partners. ”
— Rev. Jason Bennett
Universal Light Church minister
Vermont allows homosexual cou
ples to enter into civil unions.
According to the petition, the
Texas bill is “discriminatory and vi
olates the full faith and credit cause
of the United States Constitution.”
The bill proposes that the state of
Texas not recognize same-sex mar
riages nor the “benefits and respon
sibilities as are granted to the spous
es of a marriage.”
“I think it’s really important get
ting the word out about the govern
ment and its own hypocrisy,” said
Terrell Rabb, a junior political sci
ence major. “This is symbolic of how
things could be if the government
does what is constitutionally right.”
The Rev. Jason Bennett, an or
dained minister in the Universal
Light Church, presided over the
ceremony.
“It is my sincere hope that even
tually the state will recognize civil
marriages between same-sex part
ners,” Bennett said. “It is in my
opinion that the state has no need to
bar them from the right to marry
and all the privileges that it entails.”
According to Parents, Families
and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
(PFLAG), not being able to legal
ly marry means that same-sex
couples do not have the right to
spousal immigration benefits, le
gal status with their partner’s chil
dren or the right to make medical
decisions for their partner.
“We are trying to create aware
ness of the rights that are denied to
gay and lesbian couples because
See Wedding on Page 2A.
Residence halls join forces to increase alcohol awareness
■y David Johnson
The Battalion
■ Texas A&M residence halls are
laming up Wednesday and Thurs
day to host “Party House,” an inter-
tttive program that addresses deci
sion-making in alcohol-related
ftuations. Groups of 10 to 15 people
vill be led through seven rooms in
■pence-Briggs and Walton halls that
will deal with alcohol-related issues.
^ Anyone from A&M and the Bryan-
College Station area is welcome to
attend, said Walton Hall Director,
Tony Andenoro.
The program will begin Wednes
day at 7 p.m. in Spence-Briggs Hall
with a stereotypical college party
scene, complete with a live DJ, block
lights and root-beer kegs.
Inside Spence-Briggs Hall groups
will be lead by a student facilitator on
a 30-40 minute tour through seven
rooms.
The goal of the program is to
“provide a realistic perspective on
college and alcohol and how those
play together, positively and nega
tively, and to help the participants
make their own decisions after the
evening,” said Tricia Schwery,
Spence-Briggs hall director.
The first four rooms will portray
alcohol-related scenarios that stu
dents might encounter in real life.
Some of the rooms will show the
harmful effects of alcohol and situa
tions in which a lack of awareness
can have dangerous consequences,
and other rooms will show situations
in which alcohol is responsibly con
sumed, Schwery said. The scenarios
are interactive and performed to en
courage positive, more educated de
cision-making, Andenoro said.
University Police Department
(UPD) officers and Alcohol and Drug
Education Program (ADEP) officials
will facilitate two rooms. They will
perform a mock arrest and discuss the
legal consequences associated with
minor in possession charges (MIP),
driving while intoxicated (DWI)
charges and driving under the influ
ence (DUI) charges. Schwery said the
latter portion of the program was
added because many residents are un
aware of the laws and consequences
surrounding these violations.
Beer goggles, glasses designed to
simulate intoxication, will be worn by
participants while UPD officers give
sobriety tests, Schwery said.
Schwery said the last room is a|
memorial to alcohol-related deaths.
Pictures of deceased students from
A&M and around the country will be
on display, and poems dedicated to
accident victims will be read. Stories;
from family members of the de
ceased will be read to show that this
See Alcohol on Page 2A.