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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2004)
The Battalion Volume 110 • Issue 83 • 10 pages A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 Sports: Slocum’s injuries are becoming a thing of the past. Page 6 www.thebatt.com PAGE DESIGN BY : LAUREN ROUSE High flyin’ Readership program to be tested at A&M |P BfATO HI • THE BATTALION | Harlem Globetrotter Curley "Boo" Johnson entertains spectators during the team's performance at Reed Arena on Monday | night. The Globetrotters are currently on their 78th consecutive season, 220-game tour of North America. The team's next stop | on the tour will be in Waco Tuesday. See more photos on the web. By Carrie Pierce THE BATTALION Newspapers from around the nation and region will soon make their debut at Texas A&M. USA Today, in a joint effort with the A&M Student Government Association, is bringing the USA Today Collegiate Readership Program to A&M as a pilot test program Feb. 9 through March 2, to see how many Aggies regularly read a regional or national newspaper and if students would be interested in a new free paper dis tribution system. According to the USA Today Web site. The Collegiate Readership Program began in 1997 at Pennslyvania State University. The program will allow students to pick up national, regional and local newspapers from stands and vendors around campus, said Chris Diem, SGA vice president for student affairs and a junior political sci ence major. “These papers will be given out for free for six weeks,” Diem said. “Students will also be asked to fill out a short survey.” Newspapers that will be available include USA Today, The New York Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Bryan- College Station Eagle and The Dallas Morning News, Diem said. For the trial run, seven vendors will be set up throughout campus. If students respond well to the pilot pro gram, the papers will be available perma nently for free. Diem said. “USA Today Collegiate is a program that exists through many college campuses including some of our Big 12 counter parts,” said Matt Josefy, a senior account ing major and student body president. Josefy said USA Today approached r^SSISS^— USA Today and the Student Government Association are testing a pilot newspaper program that will bring free regional and national papers to campus. ► Newspapers include: -USA Today -The New York Times -The Houston Chronicle -The Bryan-College Station Eagle -The Dallas Morning News ► Trial period is Feb. 9 - March 2 ANDREW BURLESON THE BATTALION SOURCE:SGA A&M because it ran a similar program in the residence halls a few years ago. , “SGA chose to pursue this because we think it's a service that could benefit stu dents,” Josefy said. The objective of this pilot program is to provide students the opportunity to access papers more easily and become more informed. Diem said. “This would be a good resource for stu dents here,” he said. Josefy said the program will give stu dents the opportunity to see what is going on in other parts of the nation. “This gives students an opportunity to pick up a newspaper they wouldn't nor mally have access to and increase their knowledge of issues,” Josefy said. See Program on page 2 lectrical fire amages 9 stores t Post Oak Mall By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION The cause of a tire that started in a shoe store at Post Oak ^lall early Saturday morning has been determined to be elec trical, said Bart Humphreys, public information officer for the College Station Fire Department. Humphreys said CSFD arrived at the mall at 3:51 a.m. after [he tire alarm triggered the automatic sprinkler system. I The tire began in the rear of Journey’s shoe store at approx imately 3:46 a.m. Eight surrounding stores, including Trevor’s, pordon's Jewelers, Wicks-n-Sticks, Victoria's Secret, Coffee Beanery, Aggieland Outfitters, Gadzooks, Wet Seal and six posks, had water and smoke damage, Humphreys said. “We can’t tell the exact point of origin, and we can't tell vhy it started,” Humphreys said. Jack Love, mall general manager, said the fire caused two kprinkler system heads to burst. Love said those were the two ihat were supposed to go off. 1 “The tire sprinkler system did what it was supposed to do,” lie said. Love said the sprinkler system is designed to contain fires In small areas until the fire department an ives. I The mall has not determined the cost of the damages, Love [aid. All the stores that were damaged are now open, except /ictoria’s Secret. Victoria’s Secret is awaiting its corporate company to assess lie cost of the damages. Love said. I Anna Arevlo, manager of Trevor’s, said the store opened Iwo hours later on Sunday so it could be cleaned, j Arevalo said the most damage was done near the wall adja cent to Aggieland Outfitters because water was seeping under- See Fire on page 2 M Republican candidates vie to challenge Dem. Edwards By Anthony Woolstrum THE BATTALION State representatives, judges, commission ers and the sheriff gathered at the Hilton Hotel for lunch Monday afternoon to rally support for the Republican candidates run ning in the March 15 primary elections. The Brazos County Republican Club host ed a forum focusing on the District 17 U.S. Congressional candidates and the Court of Appeals candidates. Each candidate was given three minutes to explain why he was best-suited for his respective office. The candidate who wins the Congressional primary elections will then proceed to challenge Democrat Chet Edwards, the 14-year incumbent. “I am running on the principles that I believe define being a conservative, which PHOTOS BY: SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION Top: Dave McIntyre recently filed with the Republican Party to appear on the March 9 primary ballot. He is a candidate for the 17th congressional district and is running against two other challengers. Above: Dot Snyder is the president of the Waco ISD school board.. Right: Arlene Wohlgemuth is a state repre sentative since 1994 and an Aggie mom. All candidates spoke at a Republican Party con ference Monday afternoon at the Hilton Hotel in College Station. are limited government, individual liberties, free enterprise and traditional family val ues,” said Republican representative Arlene Wohlgemuth. Wohlgemuth is currently the representa tive for the state district that is encompassed by District 17. She said campaigning for multiple years from the same geographical area that the incumbent Edwards has run from will give her an edge over the other candidates. In addition to this, after authoring a bill that saved Texas $1.1 billion last session, Wohlgemuth said she is best-suited to handle the national debt crisis, which continues to sur face as one of the hot issues in this race. Retired Col. Dave McIntyre said he is the best qualified to handle issues on the national level because he has experience in the field. McIntyre said all of the other candidates have only worked on the state level. McIntyre graduated from West Point Military Academy with a B.S. in engineering, has received his masters in English and American literature from Auburn University, and received his doctorate in political science from the University of Maryland. “I’m a strategist. My background is not in politics. I think of longterm issues and how to bring them to bear in the forefront,” McIntyre said. “If these issues were easy to solve, then the politicians would have already solved them.” With this philosophy and past experiences, McIntyre said he is prepared to tackle the issues of veteran affairs, military spending and the national debt. See Candidates on page 2 TFVFR TAP tr Bush proposes $2.4 trillion budget with huge deficits I Jennifer Wood Elementary Education Brooke Marie Blevins Marketing Tonight 10:30 p.m. Academic Plaza By Alan Fram THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush proposed a $2.4 trillion budget on Monday slicing scores of programs from prisons to arts education in the face of record federal deficits and the costs of war. His budget chief warned a fresh request for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan could reach $50 billion. The election-year blueprint would pour funds into the military, domestic security and some edu cation and health initiatives. It provides the first dollars for what ultimately could be a hugely expensive effort to visit Mars, and renews his call for making perma nent the tax cuts he has shoved through Congress. Handcuffed by shortfalls he proj ects will surge to an unprecedented $521 billion this year, the spare plan for 2005 offers few dramatic initia tives. It is aimed mostly at familiar Bush priorities like war, terrorism, the economy and struggling schools plus a new goal: Halving the deficit in five years, which he projects he will achieve with a 2009 shortfall of $237 billion. “I’m confident our budget addresses a very serious situa tion,” he said at a Cabinet meet ing. “And that is that we are at war and we had dealt with a recession. And our budget is able to address those significant factors in a way that reduces the deficit in half.” Last year’s deficit hit $375 bil lion, the highest ever in dollar terms. Though Bush projects next year’s red ink at $364 billion, that excludes U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, which White House budget director Joshua Bolten said could hit an “upper limit” of another $50 billion. “Hopefully the needs will be less, but it will all depend entirely on the security situation,” said Bolten. Administration officials say that request would come next year — after this November’s presiden tial and congressional elections. See Bush on page 2