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The Battalion
/uUime f (0 • Issue • 10 pages
A Texas A&M T radition Since 1893
Sports:
Women’s bas
ketball team
wins.
Page IB
www.thebatt.com
PACE DESIGN BY : EMILY HENDRICKSON
Fake Fives
■he Bryan Police Department
ftcommends checking bills for
Me iiifHuthenticity by looking at these
iwersvBiaracteristics:
Sonl^ TheCOlor of the bilL
can* The cut the bil1, ^
«n DUH shouldn't be crooked or too
,, I small.
there m
ave On bills larger than $1 there
Mf should be a watermark and
a security strip.
money,®
ulso an®) The color should not run
COmpklH"^ when the bill is wet.
1^
Andrew Burleson "THE BATTALION
Source : WALT MELNYK, BRYAN P.D.
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER
B-CS hit with forged five dollar bills
By Sonia Moghe
THE BATTALION
Area vendors are being warned to check all incoming
bills after four reports of counterfeit $5 bills were made
by local businesses last week.
“At the last count we’ve had 20 $5 bills turned in,”
said Walt Melnyk, public information officer for the
Bryan Police Department.
Will Lee Sims was arrested on Jan. 25 outside of
King Mart on 8(H) E. MLK after being caught using
counterfeit bills, Melnyk said.
Reports of counterfeit bills were made on Jan. 29 at
the Sonic and the Preference Inn Motel, located on
South Texas Avenue.
Tobacco Barn also reported a counterfeit five
on Jan. 30. On Jan. 31, another report of counter
feit $5 bills was made by the Appletree on 2001
E. State Hwy 21.
Melnyk encourages those dealing with cash to invest
in counterfeit detection pens which are available at most
office supply stores.
“(The pens) work off of a color coding system,” said
Monty Northern, assistant store manager for Office
Depot. “If a bill is marked by a pen and the mark turns
yellow or clear, then it’s a legitimate bill; if the mark
turns grey or brown then the currency is suspect.”
Shirley Stratta, store manager for Appletree, said
counterfeit pens helped her store detect forged bills.
“We used the counterfeit
pen,” Stratta said. “But the $5
bill was obvious; the ink was
running and it was smaller.”
Stratta says the store rou
tinely checks $ 100 bills and $50 bills with the pens, but
in light of the recent circumstances, it will start check
ing $5 bills as well.
Chris Johnson, assistant to the special agent in
charge of secret service in Houston, said he does not feel
that the pens are accurate.
“The only things those pens do is iletect calcium that’s
See Forged on page 2A
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The j
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i a small
tie of thl
;ople q
oss Street construction
clayed due to problems
By Erin Price
THE BATTALION
ihough i
:s and:.
I. Finally
imeplay:
id in th
ics don'
null the-
Ever since Erin Weigle came to Texas A&M
n the fall of 2001, she has seen the cones on
loss Street but has yet to watch any construction
King done.
I "I really think they need to hurry up with the
■instruction, said Weigle, a junior marketing
iajor. “Ross Street is an inconven-
k ce to everyone who uses it."
I Dick Williams, assistant vice
resident for Physical Plant, said
tl ere is a plan for Ross Street, and
tlat funds and other priorities
^^lave postponed the street’s
rebuilding.
“About six years ago, the cones
i were placed as a safety precaution
to block off a portion of the north
side of the street,” Williams said.
p au “We started the planning of w hat we
Beedal to accomplish in Ofdei to
iHermanently fix the street."
I Williams said the reconstruction
|f Ross Street was initially part of
e Main Campus Roads and
rainage project, which began in
X)l. The highest priority at the time was to eor-
ct the major flooding problems on Bizzell
reel and New Main, as requested by the city of
liege Station, he said.
“We delayed the Ross Street issue because of
present construction of the new Brown
emical Engineering Building,” Williams said,
^e could not close Spence and Ross streets at
ic same time.”
William said the delays were also caused by
— —abundance of utility lines that lie beneath
Street. A 10-by-10 foot tunnel for water,
dKC*electrical and telephone lines will have to be
f
r
MC0[
itfltfWj
eystohu-
built underneath the street to avoid service
interruption.
“The hardest part of the project is going to be
continuing (utility) service to the buildings
along Ross Street,” Williams said. “Another
major concern is protecting the surrounding
trees.”
Liz Adams, a junior psychology major, said
she has almost given up hope that construction
will ever start.
“To me. Ross Street symbol
izes laziness which in turn
reverses productivity,” Adams
said. “1 don’t think we are pro
moting a productive environ
ment.”
Megan Fincher, a student
bus driver and a sophomore
interdisciplinary studies major,
has also noticed the problems
on Ross Street, but it does not
bother her
“It's not hard to maneuver
(the buses)," Fincher said, “It’s
usually the other cars and
pedestrians that cause the traf-
fie jams, but it’s usually not
that bad.”
Fincher said the sooner Physical Plant fixes
all the potholes, that the better the driving con
ditions will be.
“As long as they're working on it to the best of
their ability, that’s fine with me.” Fincher said.
Williams said that once the final design is
approved, construction on Ross Street will most
likely begin in the spring of 2005. The project
will cost about $6 million and take nine months
to a year to complete, he said.
“We will do our best to inconvenience the
fewest number of students, faculty and staff as
possible,” Williams said.
We will do our
best to
inconvenience the
fewest number of
students, faculty
and staff.
— Dick Williams
assistant vice president for
Physical Plant
The Wright stuff
THE BATTALION
)P Beato
Charles Holt performs "Black Boy" in Rudder Theater on Wednesday evening. The play is based on a book by
Richard Wright that depicts the troubles of a young African American from the South.
eac
7,
ilson named
SC president
By Rhiannon Meyers
THE BATTALION
Lindsey Wilson was named Memorial StULlent Center
MSC) president for the 55th MSC Council late last month after
n interview process with seven council members and staff.
Wilson, a senior education major, will continue serving as
xecutive vice president for human relations for the MSC
ouncil until her official inauguration on April 19, 2004.
As president, Wilson will be responsible for overseeing
he council, speaking with University administrators and
eaders of student organizations and handling all internal and
xtemal MSC affairs.
Wilson, who has been involved with the MSC Council for
years, decided to get invoWed because of the council’s
,reat values.
“It is a place where I found out I really fit in,” she said.
Wilson decided to apply for president because she felt it
as the best way she could serve the students.
“1 put a lot of thought into where I wanted to be my last
ear at A&M, and I know how much passion 1 have for the
SC council,” Wilson said.
Current MSC Council President Elizabeth Dacus said
ilson was chosen because she is highly qualified for the
osition.
“She worked directly under me for two years and has done
fabulous job,” Dacus said. “I expect that she will deal well
ith any problems that come up and manage the council well.”
After inauguration, Wilson plans to maintain the new
SC Council structure, continue the commitment to diversi
on campus and provide quality programming for students,
ilson also plans to write out a code of ethics for the MSC
or the first time in MSC history.
“1 want to show the University and students involved in the
SC that we value ethic behavior and that we are fully com-
itted to making this an ethical organization,” Wilson said.
tour
Busting feminist stereotypes
By Carrie Pierce
THE BATTALION
Women have come a long way since the
Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, said
Jennifer Baumgardner in front of a crowd of
about 100 people Wednesday night at the
Memorial Student Center.
The lecture is part of the “Can I Be a
Feminist and Shave, Love My Boyfriend,
Make Money, Get Married, Be Pro-Life?”
campus tour.
“Women used to have to sneak into the
Boston Marathon,” Baumgardner said.
“We’ve had so many opportunities in our
lifetime to see that women are strong. Today
we define feminism as having access to
enough information to make informed
choices about your life.”
Baumgardner, along with Amy Richards,
spoke to promote the book they co-wrote in
2000, “Manifesta: Young Women,
Feminism, and the Future.”
This book discusses Generation X’s view
of feminism and dismisses stereotypes that
feminism has come to be associated with. It
also questions what feminism is today and
where it is as a movement. Richards said.
A woman can still be herself and be a
feminist, Richards said. The third wave of
feminism exists today and this wave has its
own characteristics. The main difference is
the recent issues concerning reproductive
rights.
See Feminist on page 2A
Evan O'Connell • THE BATTALION
Jennifer Baugardner speaks about feminism and
promotes her new book, "Manifesta: Young
Women, Feminism, and the Future," Wednesday
night in the MSC.
fljl
See Wilson on page 2A
Bonfire memorial progressing
Evan O'Connell • THE BATTALION
Roberto Solis (left) and Baldemar
Hernandez nail beams in place for the
"spirit ring" on Wednesday afternoon. The
"spirit ring" will have 12 portals.
By Pam my Ramji
THE BATTALION
Construction on the Bonfire Memorial, slat
ed to be competed this fall, is making progress
as the first delivery of granite panel stones
arrived from China late
last month, Texas A&M
officials said.
Preparations for the
memorial to honor the 12
Aggies killed and 27 injured in the Nov. 18,
1999 Aggie Bonfire Collapse began last year.
The granite panel and stones, part of the tra
dition plaza and history walk, are going to be
installed this month, said Martha Raney,
administrative assistant for the Bonfire
Memorial
In May, the granite portals of the spirit
ring will be installed. In August the bronze
portals of the spirit ring will be installed, and
the construction will be completed in
October, Raney said.
A dedication ceremony is
scheduled for Nov. 18, 2004, the
fifth anniversary of the collapse.
Richard West, father of
Nathan West, one of the 12 stu
dents killed in the collapse, rec
ommended a firm in Houston that could the
ship the granite to College Station from
China, said Bob Shemwell, who is with
See Bonfire on page 6B