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
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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!
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