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Parking spaces in high-demand lots open
By Rhiannon Meyers
THE BATTALION
Rod Weis, director of Trans
portation Services, said TS
would be overselling certain
high-demand lots this week,
moving between 1,500 and
1,700 students currently on
waiting lists into these lots.
Weis said TS conducted oc
cupancy counts on the high-
demand lots last week and de
termined that because certain
lots remained partly empty
throughout the day, they could
afford to be oversold.
“We’ve already gathered data,
and we know roughly where to
put in students,” Weis said. “The
high-demand lots are going to be
moved first.”
Weis said TS will start no
tifying students on Monday of
the additional parking space,
and there will be a $10 service
charge for students to move to a
new lot. He said that residential
lots would not be oversold.
“We’re moving very, very
carefully to ensure that we live
up to what we promised the stu
dents,” Weis said.
Weis said this movement
of students to high-demand
lots came a week earlier than
scheduled, and that once
movement is made into high-
demand lots, additional space
will open in low-demand lots,
allowing for the distribution of
more parking permits.
“When you make the first
moves, then you open up space
for additional people to park,”
Weis said. “ It’s just like a wave
going across campus.”
Weis said these occupancy
counts will be done throughout
the year, and as long as there is
space available, TS will continue
to move students to new lots and
fill spaces.
“This is the start of moving
everyone as close as we can
get them without overfilling the
lots,” Weis said.
Weis said the data gathered
from occupancy counts will be
used next year to determine
how much lots can be oversold
next year.
“Next year we’ll be able to get
a lot closer to that mark and be
able to fill lots in the beginning
of the year,” Weis said.
Weis said TS has received
several e-mails from students
commending the program and
that the rate of on-campus park
ing violations has decreased.
“There were two mornings in
a row’ (last week) where we did
not have to tow one car,” Weis
said. “This is the first time in 15
years that has happened, and I’m
delighted by that because I don’t
want to tow students.”
Weis also said this new
parking plan has caused traffic
to decrease on Main Campus,
but increase on West Cam
pus, and has also made a more
pedestrian-friendly campus,
reducing the risk of students
getting hit by cars.
Weis asked students on
waiting lists for high-demand
lots to be patient.
“We’re moving as quickly as
we can,” Weis said. “The last
thing we want to do is make a
mistake and not deliver what
we promised.”
Sally Ng, a junior kinesiology
major, said she is frustrated that
the new parking plan only allows
students to park in one area.
“I thought the new parking
lots were supposed to be bet
ter than last year,” Ng said. “I
thought the lots were supposed
to be more convenient and more
efficient to park in, but (...) it’s a
bunch of crap that people have to
See Parking on page 4 Vacant spaces
STEE
EVAN O'CONNELL • THE BATTALION
Swarms of cars crowd the Reed Arena parking lot Wednesday afternoon, while other campus parking lots remain vacant. The plan was devised
by the Transportation Services Department and the Student Government Association.
This week the new parking system will continue
to accommodate more students.
Between 1,500 and 1,700 students wil be moved to high-
demand lots beginning Monday
Traffic has decreased on Main Campus but increased
on West Campus
Residential lots will not be oversold
The number of bicycles on campus has increased
EVAN O’CONNELL • THE BATTALION
PA 74 lot on West Campus Wednesday afternoon.
BRANDI DUNN • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : RODNEY WEIS, DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
Coalition for Life begins 40-day protest
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By Stacy Thompson
THE BATTALION
On Wednesday, the Coalition for Life
began a 40-day protest in front of the
Planned Parenthood facility in Bryan that
is set to end Oct. 10.
The event was started to protest abor
tions performed by the Bryan Planned
Parenthood facility on 29th street. The Co
alition for Life’s Executive Director David
Bereit said 130 adults were in attendance
at the kickoff rally Tuesday.
The members are to stand outside for
24 hours a day and protest with prayer-
related activities.
“(This program was started) to make
a public statement about this injustice in
the community and to take a stand against
this,” said extended-pray volunteer Patrick
Williams. “We pray and then we try to
evangelize the Gospel of Life; (we) try to
get community involvement and to council
girls as they walk into the clinic.”
The Houston and Southeast Texas
Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Terri
Larson said Planned Parenthood was cre
ated with the .intention of helping women
plan ahead.
“(Planned Parenthood was made) for
women to learn how to properly space out
pregnancies,” Larson said.
Larson said protests are common in
the Houston and Bryan Planned Parent
hood locations.
“In Houston we have protesters two
days every week and on every Saturday,”
she said. “In Bryan (protests happen) every
single day that we are open, and they are a
lot more aggressive.”
The Coalition has planned to promote
prayer to get the public involved in its cause.
See Protest on page 2
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SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION
Junior philosophy major Cody Sain protests
abortion on 29th street in Bryan, in front of
Planned Parenthood Sunday evening.
Two Student Senate officers resign
wL Former Aggie football player Bill Hobbs dies after traffic accident
By Jibran Najmi
THE BATTALION
Two Student Senate offi
cers resigned simultaneously
this weekend due to personal
reasons and to be more avail
able to their families. Christin
Smith, rules and regulations
chair, and Dustin Teems, ex
ternal affairs chair, declined
further comment on their res
ignations.
“The two officers resigned
due to personal reasons,” said
Logan Renfrew, speaker of
the Student Senate. “The two
officer positions will be filled
through a special nomination
and election process among the
senators present and voting at
our Sept. 8 meeting.”
The Student Senate by
laws state that if an officer
resigns, nominations will be
called for from the members
of the current senate.
“Once the nominations have
been made and seconded, each
candidate will be given an al
lotted time to speak and pres
ent his platform as well as time
for a character witness to speak
on his behalf,” Renfrew said.
Following all of the presen
tations, those present and hold
ing voting privileges will cast
their ballots, and the candidate
with a simple majority will be
elected. If no majority can be
obtained by any of the candi
dates, a run-off will be held
immediately after.
Senator Corey Nichols, a
sophomore general studies
major; Senator Brian Foley, a
sophomore political science ma
jor; and Senator William Dugat,
a sophomore geology major;
have expressed interest in the
See Senate on page 4
By Burt Herman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BESLAN, Russia — Mothers
wailed over the coffins of their
children Sunday, and dozens of
townsmen dug graves in a football
field-sized piece of scrubland next
to the cemetery. Funeral proces
sions snaked through the streets
of this grief-stricken town as Rus
sians began to bury victims of the
tenor attack on a school that left
more than 350 people dead.
Frantic relatives also were
still searching for 180 people
still unaccounted for — many of
them children — two days after
the bloody climax of the hostage
crisis that left few families un
touched in this tight-knit, mostly
industrial town of 30,000.
Weeping mourners placed
flowers and wreaths at the graves,
including one where two sisters
Alina, 12 and Ira Tetova, 13 —
were laid to rest together. Relatives
walked toward the cemetery bear
ing portraits of the dark-haired girls
and simple wooden planks — tem
porary grave markers — bearing
their names and the dates framing
their short lives.
Both listed the date of death as
Sept. 3, 2004, the day the hostage
seizure — the third deadly terrorist
attack to strike Russia in just over
a week — ended in an a bloody
wave of explosions and gunfire as
commandos stormed the school
and hostages fled after powerful
blasts shook the building.
Wails of mourning women
echoed from courtyards where
families made ritual meals,
while surveyors used wooden
planks and string to mark new
graves being dug in a field near
the town’s cemetery.
“When a person goes to the
cemetery for a burial, it’s sad,
but nothing like this — when
you dig graves for your chil
dren,” volunteer gravedigger
Anzor Kudziyev, 25, said. “The
grief is for all of our people.”
Officials in the southern North
Ossetia region scrambled to identi
fy and confirm the number of peo
ple killed amid conflicting reports,
apparently confused in part because
of the large number of body frag
ments collected at the school.
North Ossetia’s health minis
ter Alexander Soplevenko said
at least 340 people were dead,
while his deputy Taimuraz Re-
vazov said 324 fatalities were
confirmed. The Interfax news
agency quoted regional govern
ment spokesman Lev Dzugayev
as saying the toll stood at 338,
See Hostages on page 4
By Pammy Ramji
THE BATTALION
Former Texas A&M and NFL football player
Bill Hobbs, Class of 1969, was killed in a mo-ped
accident in San Antonio on Aug. 21.
Hobbs’ funeral was held in San Antonio on
Wednesday, Aug. 25 at Alamo City Christian
Fellowship.
Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations
Alan Cannon said he was impressed by Hobbs.
“He was a wonderful person,” Cannon said.
Hobbs, 57, became a two-time, All-American
linebacker at A&M, 1967 Southwest Conference
Player of the Year, the Cotton Bowl MVP and Na
tional Defensive Player of the Year. He went to
the NFL and played for the Philadelphia Eagles,
spending some of his career with the San Antonio
Wings afterward, Cannon said.
Sammy Tippit, president of Sammy Tippil
Ministries, was a close friend of Hobbs and said
Hobbs applied what he had learned in football to
his work in ministry.
“Hobbs took the same competitive spirit to help
people,” Tippit said.
Alter his football career, Hobbs became a min
ister at Amarillo’s San Jacinto Baptist, joined the
Alamo City Christian Fellowship and recently
traveled the world as a missionary.
Hobbs later started the Mercy Foundation,
which he was also president of, Tippit said.
The Mercy Foundation is a family shelter for those
in need of a place to go, whether it’s single moms
and their children or families who need help getting
back on their feet. It is located in San Antonio and
also includes a prison release program for men.
As well as helping people in the United States,
See Player on page 2