I j IJR S DA Y
June 14, 2001
olume 107 ~ Issue 155
6 pages
ews in Brief
Campus
PICO cards will
Ipire on July 3
loin-operated copier and
■ter services will no longer
:o pt COPICO cards as of
■ 3. University officials urge
■OPICO card users to ex-
■d the balance of their card
efore then because no re-
mds or transfers of balances
itl be given.
■<0N copy cards may be
jrchased at the Copy Center
i the first floor of Sterling C.
vans Library.
VAS is accepting
ubscription orders
llSC OPAS is now accepting
Ubscription orders for the
)01-'02 season, which will in-
|ude: Ragtime; My Fair Lady;
xgy and Bess; Death of a
desman; Red, White and Tuna;
id others. For additional in-
jRiatibn, call 845-1 661.
jriday last day to
[ drop, withdraw
Briday, June 15, is the last
aypor students enrolled in first
jmmer-term classes to Q-
|op or withdraw from the
[nilersity. Friday is also the
Badline to change pass/fail
)thns for first-term Kinesiolo-
199 classes.
J State
isriHiNEsrws ias prices decline
^azoTRiver" ^ LLAS ( AP ) - ' n time
Drihe peak summer driving
'eriod, gasoline prices have
lifted slightly from record lev-
"Is,Recording to the American
utomobile Association (AAA).
rd ■he auto club said the av-
rale price in Texas for a gal-
linjof self-serve regular has
illln nine cents to $1.52 per
alien since May. That's just
yyie cent more per gallon
1 € »Sr ar Texas motorists were
V^/ dVjying j n j U ne 2000.
■Motorists are starting to
ildren, McClainlelome relief at the pumps,"
icr was arrested*id Rose Rougeau, a spokes-
ned home ,;r Oman for AAA Texas. "Sup-
day. Police did wY'ds keeping up with de-
had Keen a|d, helping to drive gas
raid he had befitdown.''
nd that their* Motorist5 in „ some P arts ° f
gether at the.f^ff strll payrng much
i « i j'j . ore than the statewide aver-
k. ISutherhJiit however AAA said the
iday that glest average prices on Tues-
ang with the id jy were j-| 55 p er g a || on in
1 he wished Ik 3 || as ^ j-] ^ j n Fort Worth and
ed earlier. 1.61 in Amarillo,
his kitchen tablt The lowest average price
Rivers said,eras $1.36 per gallon in Corpus
t makes me sid ilsti and Brownsville,
said the manbl The national average price
ar the abuse,sayas $1.66 per gallon, AAA
1 in some form'd, down six cents from last
onth. Prices ranged from
irl tlvir cRp /t-kpiJM 6 per gallon in Georgia to
n’t control the I 99 in California and Hawaii,
’d seen the child,
ouble could sht’l
said Rivers,
epfather did
ers said, becausl
ithorities wouldj
lie kids, three of" 1
liological child
eels terrible,”
: said the night!
ighim. Buthewij
osing those kids,
said the 8-year-(
) have been negl
time. She told od|
years old.
said they did not!
, or other child
hook Police had*
the home.severA
estigate an
are case invol
nily. Theysi™
d-year-old gid®
said the girh
dghbort
Opinion
•Prosecute
sexual
harassment
equally,
regardless of
the victim's
gender
1 neu
attation News Radio:
57 p.m. KAMU 90.9
ire to love, p r
their childreJi
nen they are
ighbors mus 1
v tvw.thebatt.com
Bus identifying system changed
Off-campus
Andy Hancock
The Battalion
This summer, student bus
riders were introduced to a new
system by Texas A&M Bus Op
erations.
The traditional way of identify
ing buses with their respective
routes was their names that were
prominently displayed oil the
front, side and rear of the bus on
magnetic signs. However, because
of die theft of signs in the past, and
the fact drat new buses have been
ordered, Bus Operations is trying
a new numerical system for label
ing and identifying buses.
This has caused confusion
among some students when
they began seeing numbers and
no names.
“1 don’t like the numbers, I
like the names,” said junior nu
clear engineering major Conard
Franz. “The numbers are just
too hard to remember.”
However, Bus Operations
manager, Garyjackson, said the
routes given
numerical system they are test
ing will apply mainly to off-
campus routes.
“The problem is that it is con
venient for students to steal the
signs because they are easily ac
cessible,” Jackson said. “We re
place almost all of them, but they
The problem
is that it is
convenient for
students to steal
the signs because
they are easily
accessible.”
— Gary Jackson
Bus Operations manager
are expensive. And at die end of
the school year, they tend to dis
appear— and that is a reason we
are trying the new numerical sys
tem to keep costs down and
make things simpler.”
numbers after magnetic signs stolen
The new on-campus buses
will have electronic, scrolling
signs on the front and sides of die
bus, and the first four letters of
each bus’ name will be displayed
on the back.
The off-campus buses will
have their traditional in-win
dow signs on the front of each
bus with numbers on the side
and back of the bus in order to
represendeach bus on a partic
ular route.
. The new numeric system is in
tended to make traveling easier.
In addition to the labeling
changes for the buses, many
buses will be running changed
or slightly altered routes be
cause of the major construction
of the underground tunnel and
parking garage across from the
Student Recreation Center.
The construction is slated to
begin this fall at the intersec
tion of Wellborn Road and Joe
Routt Boulevard.
See Buses on Page 2.
Andrea Bell, a sophomore general studies major, drives a
bus on an afternoon route.
Steady hands
BERNARDO GARZA/7rt£ Battalion
April Millaway, a graduate student in student affairs, administration and higher
education, works on a piece of clay at an area business. Millaway is working the clay
into a flower pot.
Community
colleges, BIMS
make a deal
Elizabeth Raines
The Battalion
While much of the Universi
ty is preparing for the TEAM
Blinn pilot pi'ogram' to begin
this fall, the Biomedical Science
Department (BIMS) is prepar
ing to begin its own transfer
program.
The BIMS department has
signed agreements with two
Texas community colleges,
Northeast Texas Community
College-Dallas (NTCC) and
Ealo Alto College-San Antonio
(PAC), The agreement will allow
students who meet all the re
quirements for the agreement to
make an easier transition from
the community colleges into
Texas A&M upper-level BIMS.
“The articulation agreement
with NTCC and Palo Alto al
lows for a smooth transition into
our biomedical science program
by outlining the exact class re
quirements for these transfer
students,” said Dr. F.H. Landis,
director of the Biomedical Sci
ence Department.
The program begins this fall at
both community colleges, and
the first group of transfer stu
dents are expected to arrive at the
A&M campus in Fall 2003. To
be eligible for automatic transfer
into the BIMS program students
at both NTCC and PAC must
complete the approved degree
plan with a cumulative grade-
point ration of 3.6 or higher and
make no lower than a B in all
common body of knowledge sci
ence and math courses.
“Partnerships in education
are one key to providing op
portunities for our high-achiev
ing students,” said Dr. Dean
Adams, dean of the College of
Veterinaiy Medicine (CVM),
which houses BIMS. “The Col
lege of Vet Medicine is pleased
to join Northeast Texas Com
munity College and Palo Alto
in offering this opportunity to
students in the Dallas and San
Antonio areas.”
Deborah Cooper, communi
cations specialist for the CVM,
said that although only two
community colleges have
signed, negotiations are pending
with eight others.
“The community colleges are
chosen based on the geographic
regions and their academic stan
dards,” Cooper said.
Although the faculty and staff
are excited to see the transfer
program begin, some students
from the BIMS department feel
differently.
Several BIMS majors con
tacted by The Battalion said it
was unfair that students would
be able to get into the program
without having to take some of
the courses at A&M. They said
certain classes are more diffi
cult and comprehensive when
taught at A&M.
The students did not wish to
be identified.
Although the BIMS agree
ments are similar to that of the
TEAM Blinn program, Cooper
said the programs are in no way
related.
Girl locked in closet was to be adopted
Couple says mother decided to keep her baby
DALLAS (AP) — A North Texas cou
ple said they are devastated that the girl
they tried to adopt eight years ago was
locked in a closet and starved while liv
ing with her biological mother.
Bill and Sabrina Kavanaugh, who
live near Canton, said they were fami
ly friends of Barbara Catherine Atkin
son and took custody of her baby, Lau
ren Calhoun, the day she was born,
April 13, 1993.
Bill Kavanaugh said the last time they
saw Lauren was on her second birthday
when they lost their battle to adopt her.
He also said they would like to regain
custody of the girl, who was rescued
Monday night after being kept in a 4-by-
8-foot closet littered with human waste
and soiled clothing.
“I would love to pick her up today,” he
told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
The couple had initiated a private
adoption when Atkinson changed her
mind eight months later. Over the next
year, the couple and Atkinson were em
broiled in a legal battle before an Ellis
County judge returned Lauren to her
birth mother.
“She said she wanted her back, that
she made a mistake, that she loved her,”
Sabrina Kavanaugh told Dallas-Fort
Worth television station KDFW tear
fully on Wednesday, as she held baby
pictures of Lauren.
Child Protective Services (CPS)
spokesman Marleigh Meisner said CPS
was not involved in the adoption pro
ceedings but would consider placing
Lauren with the Kavanaughs.
“We would be interested in speaking
with them and a judge will make a final
decision as to where these children will
be,” she told the Associated Press.
Police say Lauren had been locked in
the closet for at least four months with
barely any food. Five other children tak
en from the home were not malnour
ished but are being evaluated by CPS
and medical personnel.
The girl — who weighed only 25
pounds — was in serious but stable con
dition Wednesday at Children’s Medical
Center of Dallas after surgery, where she
was being treated for malnutrition and
other injuries. Officials said the child’s
skin was peeling on her back and but
tocks, her teeth were broken, and her
stomach was bloated.
Citing the girl’s right to privacy, Meis
ner declined to specify the nature of the
surgery or say if the girl’s life remains in
danger. The girl will be hospitalized for
an extended period.
“Most of the time when we see cases
that are this horrific, the victims don’t
survive,” Meisner said.
Police said Lauren was 3 feet tall,
when a child her age should be about a
foot taller and weigh twice as much.
Atkinson, 30, is being held on a
See Girl on Page 2.