ONDAYAUGUST 27, 2001
Texas A&M University — Celebrating 125 Years
2 SECTIONS • 20 PAGES
ATT ALIO
Volume 108 • Issue 2
College Station, Texas
www.thebatt.com
ifSt:
NEWS IN BRIEF
Dlib Miller to open
All-U Night tonight
■ All-University Night will be
he d in Kyle Field tonight, fol-
iW* ' 1 by a free concert fea
turing Dub Miller on the Law-
Puryear Field.
■ “The past few years, fights
and squabbles after All U-
Night were ruining it for
everybody, “ said Jorge
Barrera, Residence Hall
Association (RHA) president
and a senior electrical engi-
Wering major. "The concert
is free to everyone. We want
to turn this into an event that
|void of a lot of the bad bull
that has shown up in the
list. This needs to be an
fl/ent that promotes hall
pr de and allows all campus
groups to come together.”
1 The band will begin play
ing at 6:30 p.m. at the
Quadrangle and march
through campus, picking up
| students along the way.
I The route will run from the
|uad to the Commons, past the
[avilion and Sterling C. Evans
ibrary, through the Academic
j)laza and around Albritton
tower to the side of Kyle Field.
“We are very excited about
e chance to get the students
gether to promote fall sports,
tudent participation is. essen-
ial for all the events,” said
I Kevin Graham, a senior yell
feader and a marketing major.
All U-Night is sponsored by
RHA, MSC Town Hall and
Class Councils.
PUBLIC EYE
m.
Party Task Force
citations given in
seven weekends
Fall 2000
Alcohol — 605
Disorderly
conduct — 212
Arrests — 95
TODAY
say
lar.com
Back
to school
• Businesses, local
organizations
prepare for the back
to school rush
Page 7A
Ags
pound
Hurricanes
• No. 11 A&M
squad to open
season Friday
^ OPINION
“I just want to get better, finish my education, and get out in the real world”
— John Comstock, 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse survivor
Comstock returns
By Sommer Bunge
THE BATTALION
When John Comstock was a freshman, the
letter “A” shaved into his hair helped spell
“Moses Hall” when he joined his fellow “let
terheads” for pictures on the steps of Sbisa
Dining Hall.
Like his fellow freshmen. Comstock
“pushed” when his upperclassmen caught him
“pulling out.” He played in a football game
against the older students during his residence
hall’s Fish Fry and lost. He went to his share of
parties, with some of his earliest classes begin
ning at 3 p.m.
He also responded to the 4:15 a.m. wake-up
calls from crew chiefs to be the first hall at the
Bonfire cut site.
“Moses Hall was always ‘first in, last out,’ ”
Comstock said, remembering the two-hour
waits for the sun to come up and the red pots to
arrive. “But I had a blast. There was always
something going on — never a dull moment.”
Before the night of Nov. 17, 1999, the high
est Comstock had been on the Bonfire stack
was the first tier. He had stood on the ground
and gazed up at the 60-foot-tall center pole,
watching as each tier of logs emerged and the
Aggie Bonfire began to reach its full height. He
and the crew from his hall had swung axes at
the logs that were then at the Bonfire site.
Working into the early morning hours of
Nov. 18, 45 feet up on the third tier of the stack,
Comstock had told a friend to give him five
minutes to finish setting up wire that the next
shift of Bonfire workers would use to tie in
more logs. At 2:42 a.m., the stack swayed, and
Comstock heard a loud crack.
“The only thing you had time to do was hold on
to the log in front of you and ride it down,” he said.
The 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse left 12
people dead and 27 injured. Each one of these
Aggies has a story, but for Comstock, who
awoke from a coma between Christmas 1999
and New Year’s and spent a year and a half in
intensive physical therapy, the return to a nor
mal life is just beginning.
Today, for the first time since the collapse,
Comstock, a junior biomedical sciences major,
will return to classes at A&M, no longer a “let
terheaded” freshman, but a man whose “crazy
streak died down.”
“I’m just trying to finish out my education;
that’s my main goal right now,” Comstock said,
sitting in his wheelchair in his room in Moses
Hall. “Certain parts of my personality are differ
ent, but I have the same feelings as before. I want
to have fun, and I just want to be a college kid.”
See Comstock on page 9A.
John Comstock, a junior biomedical sciences major, returns
to A&M this fall after two years of rehabilitation from injuries
GUY ROGERS • THE BATTALION
sustained in the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse. Comstock says
he is excited about returning and eager to finish his education:
Northgate parking curtailed
By Maureen Kane
THE BATTALION
Aggies heading to Northgate soon will
have to dig a little deeper into their pockets
to finance their fun.
The College Station City Council
approved an amendment Thursday night
that will prohibit parking on both sides of
the streets in the Northgate area and will
turn remaining on-street parking into
metered parking.
This is one of the final steps of the
Northgate Parking Plan, adopted by the
council l^ist year. According to College
Council votes to remove
free street parking spots
Station Fire Marshal Jon Mies, the plan
will increase mobility and decrease con
flicts between bikes, parked cars and
pedestrians in Northgate by reducing on
street parking by 50 percent.
Since July ^2000, 148 spaces west of
Nagle Street have been removed, as have
220 spaces from the Brazos Duplex
Property. Soon, 120 on-street spaces.south
of Cross Street and west of Nagle Street
will become metered spots. The council
21 a.m. to 7 p.m. $.50 cents
7 p.m. to 2 a.m. $1.50
$10 special event parking
Sunday: Free parking 7 a.m. to 2 p.m
CONTRA
V'T*!' ‘<" || k 4 h * { * \ r 1
O a.m. to 7 p.m.
Monday through Friday
$55/month 9 $200/semester.
$640/semester, $1,600/year jg,
'*•>
CHAD MALLAM • THE BATTALION
will decide on meter rates and usage after
prospective rates are reviewed by City
Manager Tom Brymer.
The council’s move preceded the grand
opening of the $6 million College Main
Parking Garage Saturday. The garage offers
free parking from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
Sunday; otherwise, rates during the week are
50 cents per hour between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.
and $1.50 per hour from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Some College Station residents who
attended the meeting voiced concerns
about the effect the parking plan could
have on Northgate establishments. Don
Ganter owns three establishments on
Northgate, which can hold a total of 1,844
customers. He said the 59 parking spaces
he owns are insufficient because he cannot
even provide parking to his 68 employees.
“We are becoming’ victims of inverse
condemnation,” Ganter said. “The park
ing garage and surface parking are totally
inadequate.”
Robert Forrest, owner of Sarge’s on
Northgate, said current parking is neces
sary and that Northgate actually needs
2,000 more spaces. Forrest said the council
is focusing solely on the Northgate garage
and surface lot.
“We are so worried about whether the
garage is going to pay for itself that we’ve
lost focus about all of Northgate: all of the
churches, restaurants, retailers, all of the
people who have to live and deal in
Northgate,” Forrest said.
Representatives from churches on
Northgate were also present to voice their
opinions on the plan.
See Parking on page 2A.
Ag dies
from car
accident
By Emily Hendrickson
THE BATTALION
Lauren Michelle Goulas,
a 19-year-old sophomore
business administration
major, died Aug. 5 from
injuries sustained in a July
16 automobile accident.
Her car was struck on the
driver’s side, leaving her with
serious head injuries. She fell
into a coma and never
regained consciousness.
Her mother, Cindy Goulas,
said Lauren was making her
way home to Spring, Texas,
with four friends after a day
of shopping in the Houston
Galleria when the accident
occurred. None of the passen
gers were injured.
Lauren had gone shopping
to get her mother a birthday
present, Cindy said. She had
been doing one of the things
she loved most, being with
friends, Cindy said.
“Lauren enjoyed friends
and enjoyed life,” she said.
“She wasn’t quite sure
what she wanted to do yet,
but she was always busy and
full of life,” Cindy said.
See Goulas on page 2A.