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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2003)
NATIONAL ENGINEERS' WEEK; FEBRUARY 15 -22 February Igth 8:00am SWE Fun Run Research Park Bfomdffy* F+frnmry 17th 10:00am - 4:00 pm Kickoff Celebration Academic Plaza Play Games & Win Prizes @ Raffle: XBOX*PALM*DVD PLAYER*MORE 5:00pm - 9:00pm AIChE Basketball Tournament Tuesday. February 1g*H 10:00am - 2:00pm Engineering Projects Day 11:00am - 1:00pm FREE Pizza Lunch 7:30pm Dr. Bennett: Dean of Engineeering " 9 DAYS AT GROUND ZERO " RoUie 351 Zachry Lobby Zachry Lobby Zachry Rm. 102 Wednesday, February *l9tl» 10:00am - 2:00pm Students Interests Gallery 7:00pm- 10:00pm AIAA Bowling Tournament Tfgtirsdgy, February 10:00am - 2:00pm Photo Scavenger Hunt 7:00pm - finished LfFE Pool/42 Tournament Zachry Lobby Triangle Bowl starts @ Zachry Lobby Alfred T. Hornbacks for more information visit: http://sec.tamu.edu 9 £ <zCmc a*t 0 Va£e*t£c*te 9 & Get Singled Out!!! Win a date to Robert Earl Keen and Cowboy Mouth Remember the old Mfv show Singled Out? Well, come play with your fellow figs on Friday February 14fh! 6 lucky couples will be set up with fabulous dates for Saturday, February 15th including flowers, dinner and concert tickets. Sign up to be a contestant at the MSC Aggie Nights tables in Rudder Plaza on Feb. 10, 11, or 12 Or at the Singled Out table at MSC Aggie Nights on Feb. 7 Do you have what it takes to be the first? f&r * \ Mf3 f \ V 9dol ENJOY THE STARDOM OTHERS ONLY DREAM ABOUT Friday, February 21, 2003 starting at 10pm in the MSC Flagroom For more information call 845-1515 r JA ‘VaCcntine Qift JLiRg. C\[p Other Between now and February 14 th we’ll give you a box of Godiva Chocolates along with fresh flowers when you purchase one of SpaMedic’s spa packages. Herbal Body ^Wraps • Massages • European Facials • Pedicures / Manicures and much, much more! eatc BRAZOS VALLEY WOMEN'S CENTER 774-6032 Now Open Saturdays! St. Joseph Professional Building • 2700 E. 10 STATE Wednesday, February 12, 2003 THE BATTALION Moment of silence debated Legislator proposes time for prayer By Natalie Gott THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AUSTIN —A bill that would require public schools to hold a minute of silence so students can pray, meditate or reflect came under scrutiny by lawmak ers and others Tuesday. The legislation by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, would replace current law that gives school districts the option of holding a moment of silence. “It is my view at looking at our society over the last four decades, at least, there has been a coarsening of society, I would call it. There is more violence in the schools,” Wentworth said. However, he repeated during a Senate Education Committing hearing that the bill is a not a prayer bill. “This a reflection, medita tion or prayer” bill, he said. “In fact, as I have said before, we won’t know if (the students) are doing any of those three things. They may be doing something else because it is actually 60 seconds of silence.” State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said she was concerned about the bill because school districts now have the option of holding the minute of silence. But Wentworth said that because the issue has been so controversial fora long time that it is probably better for the state to say that every student “has the opportunity to have 60 sec onds of mediation or reflection or prayer,” Wentworth said. “It gives the local school dis tricts the opportunity to say ‘that’s out of our hands. This is not an issue that we are going to deal with.” Wentworth said. “The Legislature requires this statewide."' It gives the local school districts the opportunity to say, ‘that’s out of our hands. The Legisla ture requires that statewide.’ — Sen. Jeff Wentworth R-San Antonio Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, and others also raised concerns about a provision in the bill that would require students to sit in their seats during the moment of silence. In some religions, “people are on their knees when they pray,” West said. Wentworth said he was con cerned that a court would strike down any legislation thai allowed a student to kneel or be in another position other than sitting during the minute of silence. It could be argued, for instance, that allowing someone to kneel could make other stu dents who are not kneeling feel discriminated against, Wentworth said. Wentworth’s bill is patterned after a Virginia law that requires a minute of silence in schools and specifically lists prayer as one of the silent activities that students may choose. The U.S, Supreme Court last year reject ed a challenge to the law. “I am not trying to pass a bill that is going to be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court," said Wentworth, who also said he had no doubt that if the Texas law was passed, it will be chal lenged in federal court. Lisa Weatherford of Horseshoe Bay told the commit tee that she would pull her child out of public school if the state passed such a law. “Religious liberty is the free dom to decide if, when, where and how one wishes to adhere to spiritual ritual,” Weatherford said. The bill, she said, under mines religious freedom by imposing a spiritual ritual on school children. NEWS IN BRIEF Final Harris witness testifies HOUSTON (AP) — Squealing tires, screams and the crash of metal against metal jolted Oscar Torres from his tennis game last summer as he played across the street from a hotel parking lot where a woman is accused of fatally running over her husband with her Mercedes-Benz. Torres, who punctuated his testimony Tuesday by making the sounds he heard the evening of July 24, used toy cars to show jurors what he remembered. He was the prosecution's final rebuttal witness in the murder trial of Clara Harris, 45. Attorneys were to deliver closing arguments Wednesday morning and then jurors would begin deliberating whether dentist Clara Harris should be convicted of murdering her orthodontist hus band, David Harris, in the parking lot of the same suburban hotel where the couple was married 11 years ago Friday, Valentine's Day. "1 wasn't sure if what I was seeing was real,” another eyewitness, Chris Junco, tearfully testified Tuesday. "It was weird. I don't know howto describe it. The whole scene was very mad." Both Torres and Junco said they watched indis belief as Clara Harris drove over her husbands body three times. Three Decades of Performing Arts Tuesday-Wednesday Nights! February 11 -12 at 7:30 PM Rudder Auditorium For Mature TICKETS Audiences Call 845-1234 or logon to www.MSCOPAS.org Featuring Your Favorite Songs from the Hit Movie! VolUITH By 1 TH If tradi No. 21 V have flow with a 11 against the Instead Jackson’s two secon sent the T 73-71 los: against th competitio With A first back- year, and past eight, win game NA det TH wash official tc that miss unusual n lat ing tile Columbia ^oke up i During rjuestionir safety, Administi C Keefe p members b £ wouk unsure the the invesi sion whi determine Columbia “We h during th sion that c °mproin i told ajoin Panels tha s aid there w °uld sug O’Keel Pared to lnve stigat retired Nr decides N There