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The
ne 110 • Issue S7 • 12 pages
Monday, February 9, 2004
\ Texas A&IM Tradition Since 1893
Sports:
Aggie
swimmers
have impressive
weekend.
Page 7
www.thebatt.com
PAGE DESIGN BY : LAUREN ROUSE
MSG hosts Silent
Witness program
, That
id,
otsurt
I
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
Afire early Sunday morning destroyed
tie Olive Garden on Texas Avenue.
Ik fire probably started in the
Mm vent hood, said Battalion Fire
Mfed Rapczyk of the College Station
FwTepartment. The fire is still being
invtstipted.
Rapczyk said CSFD was informed of the
fiftal5a.m because the smoke in the build
ing M set off the sprinklers, which activat
ed a water-flow alarm. The alarm company
:d the fire department, which sent
tlruck to investigate. That unit immedi-
<
ES
|P BEATO III • THE BATTALION
like Ruesink of the College Station Fire Department operates a ladder at the Olive Garden restaurant on Texas Avenue College Station firefighters
iponded to a call at 5:05 a m. Feb 8 The incident is still under investigation.
Fire destroys Olive Garden
ately called for backup. Rapczyk said.
Thirty-five firefighters with 10 trucks
spent three hours putting the fire out,
Rapczyk said.
Robin Burt, the
general manager, said the
entire roof caved in and
most of the equipment
was destroyed, either by
the fire or the damage from the building col
lapsing.
"It’s like losing your home,” she said. “I don’t
think we could salvage a thing out of there.”
Burt said another Olive Garden will most
likely he built in College Station, although it
could take a year.
"Whether we rebuild on that site or
choose one that’s maybe a little bit better than
that one remains to be decided." she said.
Burt said she has 100 employees at the store.
"I have a great wonderful
team of employees, and
knowing that it’s going to be
very hard to survive this all
the way until we get rebuilt
and repaying every one of them,” she said.
“That’s very painful, too."
Burt said she will probably give them
two more weeks worth of pay and work hard
to place them in other local restaurants or
See Fire on page 2
By Pammy Ramji
THE BATTALION
More than 100 women in
Texas were murdered in 2002
as a result of domestic vio
lence and, of those, more
than 15 were within 50 miles
of the Brazos Valley, with
one reported in the Bryan-
College Station area, said
Christy Elliston, a training
specialist at Phoebe’s Home,
a shelter for victims of
domestic violence.
Elliston said she wants to
get the word out about Silent
Witness National
Initiative, a pro
gram founded in
1990 by a group
of women upset
about the growing
number of
Minnesota
women murdered
by their partners
or acquaintances.
The women
created free
standing, life-
sized red wooden
figures, each one
bearing the name
of a woman who
worked, had neighbors,
friends, family or children,
whose life ended violently at
the hands of a husband, ex-hus
band. partner or acquaintance,
Elliston said. These figures are
called witnesses.
They started with 26 fig
ures in 1990, and today there
are an estimated 3,500 witness
es across the 50 states and in
27 countries.
A group of representatives
from several law enforcement
organizations and Texas Rep.
Fred Brown will be on hand
for the presentation of the
Silent Witness project Monday
at noon in at Memorial Student
Center Flag Room.
During the presentation, 16
life-sized red figures will be on
hand to stand as silent witness
es to domestic violence. Each
figure will have a sign indicat
ing the name and a brief story
of the victim it represents.
"This is a very serious issue
that everyone needs to learn
about, it should not be taken
lightly,” said Ehsan Azizi, a
junior finance major.
Elliston said women need a
strong support system of fami
ly and friends so one does not
feel isolated, which would help
lower the num
ber of domestic
violence
instances.
"The goal of
the Silent
Witness pro
gram is to have
zero domestic
violence deaths
by 2010,” said
Sara
Bendoraitis, a
graduate assis-
tant for Gender
Issues
Education
Services. “A fight
can start out as an argument and
turn out to be very serious.”
Currently, there are no
Silent Witnesses in the Brazos
Valley area.
Bendoraitis said people need
to leam more about domestic
violence and they need to know
the warning signs.
Texas A&M will hold a
walk March 8-11, Elliston said.
Elliston said the celebration
embraces the institution’s
commitment to the inclusion,
welcome, and support of indi
viduals from all groups,
encompassing the various
characteristics of people in our
community.
U -nv •
This is a very
serious issue that
everyone needs to
leam about it
should not be
taken lightly.
— Ehsan Azizi
junior finance major
olood drive falls short of expected quota f L0 °? W0ES
1 X Alpha Phi Omega spons<
By James Twine
THE BATTALION
n Brozovic, a junior animal science major,
lid lie donates blood every chance he gets.
“If I can help by donating then that's what I
Mttodo,” he said. "You never know what might
ippen.”
:ovic said he was inspired to donate blood
fliisgrandfather, who made donating blood into
blthy family competition to see who of the two
oidonate more blood.
la Phi Omega, a service fraternity, spon-
»ted a campus blood drive Feb. 4-6 with the assis-
ttce of Carter Blood Care, but did not meet its
»alof800 units.
Jeromy Parker, a phlebotomist for Carter Blood
re,saidthe drive collected only 70 units of blood
of late Thursday.
The donations from the first of the two blood
drives that Alpha Phi Omega hosts each semester
help serve parts of Northern and Central Texas,
Parker said.
Parker said many people depend
on blood donations, from people
who have blood related diseases
such as leukemia to people who
need emergency organ transplants,
bone marrow transplants, heart sur
gery patients, burn victims and automobile acci
dent victims.
However, Parker said blood supply levels are
not at a critical level at this time, but that that could
change at any time.
“Accidents, emergencies and disasters can occur
at any time, and these are the times when levels
become depleted,” Parker said. “You never know
when someone needs blood.”
Jacqui Bourland, president of Alpha Phi
Omega, said she was disappointed with the
turnout, but said other blood drives may have been
a factor.
Blood donors can only donate blood every 56
days because it takes about a month for the body to
replace the pint of blood donat
ed, Parker said.
Bourland said only 3 percent
of the Texas population donates
blood, putting the state in a
position to import blood from
elsewhere, which is a costly process.
“Donating blood is necessary and important,
you never know who is going to need it, you
never know when you are going to need it,”
Bourland said.
Even though the expected goal was not reached,
Bourland said she was not discouraged.
“You can not be disappointed with any result of
a blood drive, every bit helps,” she said.
Bourland said Alpha Phi Omega will be co
sponsoring another blood drive with American
Red Cross April 12-16.
Alpha Phi Omega sponsored a
blood drive Feb. 4-6. The goal
was to collect 800 pints of
blood.
As of Thursday, only 70 pints were
collected.
Only 3 percent of the population of
Texas donates blood.
At crucial times, the state
must import blood from
out-of-state, which can
be costly.
MAHESH NEELAKANTAN • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : CARTER BLOOD CARE
Panel discusses challenges
acing women in academics
ly Anthony Woolstrum
THE BATTALION
Allhough women have made great
fc toward equality in academic
:(es, women are still discriminated
inst in different fashions, said a
ioup of women administrators and
Kulty members who gathered Friday
(discuss challenges that women face
i academia.
A five-member panel of women
itiinistrators met in the Faculty Club
id discussed tips on how women can
in the academic community,
panel consisted of Patricia
■arke, professor of teaching, learning
; Mary Jo Richardson, inter-
idean of the College of Geosciences;
iaren Kubena, associate dean of
Sciences; Valerie Taylor; and
. Maldonado, associate dean
(fie College of Engineering.
They said a new mind set is devel
oping that sees higher education and
administration as much of a woman's
job as a man's. The situation is just
improving slower than in other profes
sional communities. The panelists
emphasized how they kept their per
sonal lives separate from their profes
sional lives.
"Networking is exceedingly impor
tant," Richardson said.
Larke said encouragement from her
family and church friends was crucial
to her ongoing success. Even with a
strong network, when there are not
many women in a department, some
women say they still feel alone.
"The academic culture is very tradi
tional and very political," Maldonado
said. "You're going to fail, just learn
from it."
See Panel on page 2
46 th Annual Grammy
AWARDS
Record of the Year
Coldplay
“Clocks”
Album of the Year
Outkast
“Speakerboxxx/The Love Below”
Song of the Year
Luther Vandross, Beyonce
big winners at Grammys
Luther Vandross
“Dance With My Father”
Best New Artist
Evanescence
For the complete list of winners
visit
www.thehatt.com
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : WWW.GRAMMY.COM
By Nekesa Mumbi Moody
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Balladeer
Luther Vandross, recovering from a
stroke, won four Grammys on Sunday
including song of the year for “Dance
With My Father,” and Beyonce
earned a record-tying five honors.
OutKast won album of the year
for "SpeakerBoxxx/The Love
Below” in a ceremony televised by
CBS on a five-minute delay to
avoid anything like Janet Jackson’s
Super Bowl flesh flash.
Despite a tightly scripted show
devoid of outrageousness or spon
taneity — a marked contrast to
today’s pop scene — Jackson’s
breast-baring at the hands of dance
partner Justin Timberlake remained
the major subplot, as CBS and
Jackson offered conflicting reports
about why she was not at the show.
“1 know it’s been a rough week
on everybody,” said Timberlake,
stifling a self-deprecating laugh
while accepting the best male pop
vocal performance award for “Cry
Me a River.” He brought his moth
er as his date. “What occurred was
unintentional, completely regret
table, and I apologize if you guys
are offended.”
Vandross won for best song, best
R&B album and best male R&B
performance for “Dance With My
Father;” and best R&B perform
ance by a duo or group with vocals
for “The Closer I Get to You,” a
remake he did with Beyonce.
He was unable to attend, but sent
See Grammys on page 2