thebattalion ● tuesday,
july 14, 2009
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2009 student media
A&M team assesses damages ■ $350,000 grant funds follow up trip for eight students to Galveston Meagan O’Toole-Pitts
Courtesy Photo
Agricultural leadership and development major Blayne Thompson stands in front of the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C., where he is completing a summer internship. Thompson is president of the senior class council for the 2009-2010 school year.
See Ike on page 4
Destined
to lead Alex Worsham | The Battalion
F
or Senior Class Council President Blayne Thompson, it was no surprise to others when he chose Texas A&M to further his education.
Student leader profile series Once a week during the summer, The Battalion will be profiling a student leader to gain insight into their lives and what it takes to do their job.
“I’ve lived in Bryan nearly all my life,” Thompson said. “After graduating from Bryan High [School], there was little doubt where I’d be going.” Bryan High School is classified as a 5A high school, with more than 5,000 students. “I was used to big classes and being surrounded with people in the halls, although I never had any classes near 200 to 300 people,” Thompson said. As a freshman, Thompson was part of Aggie Access, a program that helps students adjust to college by placing them into smaller classes with hand-picked professors. “[In Aggie Access] you get
The Battalion Ten months after Hurricane Ike swept the Gulf Coast, a team from The Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M will make its second trip to Galveston to assess the damages, thanks to a $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The research program will span two years. “This newest grant allows us to go back this fall and next fall and see how the community recovers in businesses as well as homes,” said Shannon Van Zandt, the principal investigator for the project and assistant professor of landscape architecture and urban planning. In December, Van Zandt and a team of 18 students started
smaller classes (20-30 people) and many of your classes are with the same people,” Thompson said. “Those two factors combined made transition to class life at A&M a breeze, except for the fact that I was a fish in the Corps.” Former yell leader and Class of 2006 graduate Keaton Askew met Thompson during Thompson’s sophomore year of high school and recruited him to join the Corps of Cadets. “I met Blayne for the first time almost six years ago,” Askew said. “He was a sophomore in high school at the time, and I knew he was special.” See Thompson on page 4
Meet the senior class president Find out what Blayne loves most about being an Aggie and his plans after graduation. Fanatic See the sports fan reflect on the glory days of A&M. Hear from him Read his guest column to students. student leader | 5
Petition claims cameras are unconstitutional The petition to ban red-light cameras will be presented at 12:15 p.m. Thursday at the College Station City Hall. Last year, College Station began operating its nine red-light cameras in 2008. Since February 2008, 18,764 redlight camera violation tickets have been issued. A petition claiming the cameras are unconstitutional has received the 850 signatures necessary to bring it to a referendum, petition author Jim Ash said. “[Red-light cameras are] a violation of the Fifth Amendment constitutional right of due process,” he said. “They are causing more accidents than they are preventing.” The red-light camera placement deliberately targets Texas A&M University students, Ash said. “You can’t get to the University from College Station without going through a red-light camera,” he said. If the petition signatures are verified by the city, a bill banning the cameras would be introduced for the November ballot. “There’s not a city in the country that has voted to keep red-light cameras when they’ve been put to the ballot,” Ash said. Julie Rambin, staff writer
Aggie mom Billie Holder’s gravesite blessed at Field of Honor ■ Cemetery’s dedication scheduled for Friday Jill Beathard The Battalion A service was Tuesday to bless the grave of Billie Holder, wife of Jimmie Holder, Class of 1953, and the first Aggie mom to be laid to rest at the Aggie Field of Honor. Holder and her husband were sweethearts at Mart High School. When he started attending Texas A&M in 1949, she immediately became an Aggie, Holder said of
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his wife. “She loved to come to football games, she made all the Corps trips with me,” Holder said, who was Commanding Officer of Squadron 2. She didn’t have a car, so she would carpool to College Station with another married couple or take a Greyhound bus, he said. If she couldn’t find a way to come, Holder said he would hitchhike home to Mart and drive her down in his father’s car. The Holders married during the winter break of his senior year. “The department head gave all the wives of those that were married PHTs, for ‘Pushing Hubby
Through,’” Holder said. “She was so proud of that. My diploma is hanging on the wall, and her PHT is hung right next to it.” They have three children and four grandchildren who also went on to become Aggies. Holder said his wife handled the family budget, and they were able to pay for their children’s tuition. “She knew how to squeeze out a dollar and make it squeak,” he said. Holder died on Valentine’s Day in 2008 and was buried in the College Station Cemetery. She and her husband decided before her death that they wanted to be laid See Cemetery on page 4
Jeremy Northum — THE BATTALION
The remains of Billie Holder, wife of Jimmie Holder, Class of 1953, were moved to the Aggie Field of Honor Wednesday in College Station. Holder is one of the first to be buried at the cemetery.
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