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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 2004)
..... NwrrMAUiUL mrnmm Battalion SPORTS: Texas A&M hires track and field coach Page 7 )lume 110 • Issue 169 • 8 pages A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 www.thebatt.com Mi PACE DESIGN BY: RACHEL SMITH cs At the big top 5|Cfrcws sweeps into College Station 're than e T O ore ooth and m electricity uring the'fj it By Brian Cain and Chelsea Sledge THE BATTALION 1 that five substation; tion nexu ances of y 'nsareelet the \ ts is i Olympic (1 ee, mean# that gener ‘ games re’s anoi ■elections hing cracii the gafl eluding and broi ing equip® “A “The Greatest Show on Earth” swept into ollege Station much to the delight of children /oung and old. The Ringling Brothers and Bar ium & Bailey Circus performed the first of three hows Tuesday night at Reed Arena. Despite protests last week from people associ- ited with the animal rights organization BETA, he circus entertained an estimated crowd of fOOO to 5,000 guests. “My girlfriend dragged me along (to the circus), ut I like it,” said Joey Dell ingen, a senior biomed ical engineering major. “Eve never been before; ’in surprised to see it’s more of a musical.” The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bai ley Circus is a traveling company of approxi mately 1,200 workers and performers. The company and animals travel 11 months out of the year on a two-mile-long train. The train has bedrooms, restaurants and amenities for the animals, said Crystal Kiggans, a concession worker from Salt Lake City. “We are like a big family,”.said Kiggans, whose mother worked for the circus as well. “We see each other (at the circus) and live to gether on the train. Even when we go out we’re all together.” Jonathan Iverson, Ringmaster of Ringling See Circus on page 2 incidents not affect compel!! schedule the id casting of games," committee! of the oiitig Athens home to ly 5 nil people, ; an estintt million e are exp in Greece August, began all! and* S5 miles*' ic port off to the soil ic islands is n seas, f ored to 7K m in abol Athens in. Remoter ger. / believed as due t# i air condi of the heat Brian Wills • THE BATTALION Cherie Gregg feeds the elephants pancakes and fruit on the morning of the circus' first show. The elephants will be perform ing at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. today. Tickets are available at the MSC Box Office or through Ticketmaster starting at $15. Audience gets up-close look at elephants By Andrew Burleson THE BATTALION nost Members of the China Acrobatic Troupe spin high over the canopy in a dazzling threering display at Tuesday night's per- Evan O'Connell • THE BATTALION formance in Reed Arena. The Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus will perform two more shows on Wednesday. When John Standard’s family members flew in from California to visit him in Bryan, they had no idea they’d run into a group of elephants being fed pancakes by clowns. But that’s just what they found. On Tuesday morning the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus invited everyone to come see the elephants have breakfast. The meal was served at 11:30 a.m. in front of an ex cited crowd of parents and children. Standard said his two grandsons were buying tickets for the main event when they saw a sign advertising the morning event. “I think it’s great for the children to get up close and personal with the elephants,” Standard said. Nine-year-old Lezlie Ayn Ramsey agrees with him. She said she had been to the circus at Reed Arena before but had never had seen the elephants so close. Her mother, Lezlie Ramsey, Class of 1981, said “We had to buy tickets (for the circus); we weren’t given a choice.” The Ramsey children made it clear that they wanted to see the circus a second time, largely due to their previous experience, Ramsey said. “It’s a quality circus; we see it every time it’s here,” Ramsey said. “It’s a great experience for the children, and we do everything we can to bring the kids to A&M so that hopefully they’ll attend someday.” “We’ve been fortunate that every time (the circus) has come to A&M we’ve had something free in the morning,” said Mary Hellen Bowers, associate director of Special Event Facilities and 1977 graduate. Bowers said this is the fourth time “The Great est Show on Earth” has come to Reed Arena. Since it opened it has stopped here every other year. In Texas this year the circus stopped at San Antonio and Austin before arriving in College Station and will head to Houston and Dallas next. “We think we have the best facility in Texas for the show,” Bowers said. Molley Pelley, production assistant for “The Greatest Show on Earth,” said the show staff has been very happy with the College Station venue over the years. “The facilities are great, there’s lots of space for the animals and it is a great arena, plus the staff is so great,” Pelley said. Pelley said she has been with the circus for seven years, and that this is her third stop in College Station. “Reed Arena is such a great central location (in Texas), where people don’t have to drive very far to see the show. That and the people here are so friend ly. This is one of my favorite cities,” Pelley said. When asked if the circus was likely to contin ue visiting College Station, Pelley said, “We’re definitely likely to keep coming. I see no reason why we wouldn’t come back.” itnmer, / power fa ;e of incfl fas lack ofpD 1 Mew parking policy enacted at Wehner o misitf /oltage^ By Erin Price THE BATTALION n been a W uelan tigatcr^Je < on ’ ’ Cothren Last Thursday, Casey Brown’s finance class ran late, and she had to n to the parking lot before her time ran out on the new prepay parking eters. The outburst caused a classroom disruption, she said. Many students are divided on whether they like the new prepay park- g policy on West Campus. Brown, a senior finance major, said the new method is hard to get used to. “It is hard to judge how long you need to be at school or at the library,” own said. “Things pop up.” Rodney Weis, director of Transportation Services said students must popay for their parking through new machines in the parking lot next tt the Wehner building. Students must type the space number in the ma- c lines, predict the amount of time needed and then make the payment, said. “We received a number of complaints from students who wanted a re- fiind because of the long waiting time,” Weis said. “Long lines also create lid not lit The decision for the change was also influenced by the need to replace the old machines, Weis said. The new prepay machines were four times less expensive than replacing the old ones, he said. “The machines are very simple to use and the process is very straight forward,” Weis said. “Most people will quickly adapt to the new system and will like it once they get used to it.” Danny Maher, a senior finance major, said he was running late to class, parked in the Wehner lot and came back with a $40 ticket on his car. If the old system was in place, he said he could deal with payment after class. “It’s just ridiculous to have to predict how much time you need,” Ma her said. “The operators just sit there, waiting for your time to be up so they can give you a $40 ticket.” Maher also said that removing the free parking at night hinders many students from studying at the West Campus Library. “Some students stay up there all night studying,” Maher said. “Study ing a lot shouldn’t burn a hole in your pocket.” Other students, like Natalie Franz, a senior construction science major, Student teacher wins annual award By Suzy Green THE BATTALION Mindi Tipps, Class of 2003, received the Texas Directors of Field Experience’s “Student Teacher of the Year” award for her work in Spring ISD during spring 2004. This is the third consecutive year that a Texas A&M student teacher has received the award, which has two statewide recipients each year. Tipps attributes her success to her experiences at A&M. “One of the outstanding things about the Texas A&M College of Education and Human Development is that by my second year, I was in an elementary school gaining practical experiences,” Tipps said. I ' congestion and safety hazards in the entire area. See Parking on page 2 See Award on page 2 /er, died* arial xn early' ed pen* licle cara 1 3ni ater outages continue throughout campus ©COLD SHOWERS By Shawn C. Millender THE BATTALION fire sell 1 * Water outages will continue throughout cam pus until July 24, according to a release from the d si .Texas A&M Physical Plant. ly oil Area Maintenance Foreman Paul Watson said 1 tie outages were scheduled to inconvenience k end” c i tllc * ents as as P 088 ^' 6 - ’s edil A domestic hot water outage is scheduled for voids® 6 Computer Science/Aerospace Engineering 3 lab and Classroom Building on Wednesday, lily 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Rudder Center 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, July 17; and ^Jangford Architecture Center on Saturday, July ^^^Wfrom 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Junior environmental design major Josh JaWogburn said water outages may affect archi tecture students. “I’m in (an art) class right now where we have to use charcoal, and we wouldn’t be able to clean up very well without hot water,” Cogburn said. However, due to the timing of the outage, he said he probably won’t be affected by it. Watson said domestic hot water outages are the least invasive to students because water fountains and sinks will not be affected. “This shouldn't impact students,” Watson said. “We do the majority of hot water outages in the hot months. All of these were approved by our contacts in the individual facilities.” Watson said the outages will allow the physi cal plant to install usage meters and replace worn-out valves and pipes. The meters will be used to measure water usage in all the buildings for a variety of purposes. “This is routine maintenance,” Watson said. Physical Plant Director for Utilities Jim Ri ley said the effort to install usage meters in all the facilities on campus has been going on for some time. Riley explained that buildings on campus are put into one of two categories: E&G (education and general) or auxiliary. Auxiliary buildings are those designated for things such as athletics, residence life and food services. “These will calculate utility bills for auxiliary buildings, since the tenants have to pay their own bills,” Riley said. “E&G buildings aren’t billed per se, but this will give us a better picture of where our costs are.” Riley said the Texas A&M Physical Plant has been trying to find ways to cut wasteful air con ditioning and water usage. “The bottom line here is we’re trying to keep our costs low and figure out where we can best conserve energy,” Riley said. The Texas A&M Physical Plant announced there will be scheduled hot water outages throughout July. Science/Aerospace Engineering Lab ^ and Classroom Building Will have a hot water outage from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.on Wednesday, July 14 Rudder Center Will be without hot water from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.on Saturday, July 1 7 bpfl Langford Architecture Center Will be without hot water on Saturday, July 24,from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Will. Lloyd • THE BATTALION Source: PAUL WATSON, AREA MAINTENANCE FOREMAN