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thebattalion l tuesday,
july 30, 2013
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2013 student media
Changes brewing on Northgate Micro-breweries and new parking rates target daytime crowd Sean Lester The Battalion
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he College Station City Council voted Thursday to allow micro-breweries and micro-wineries on Northgate. The council also agreed to raise parking rates in the Northgate district during game days and peak hours. Lunch parking prices were reduced from $0.75 per hour to no charge from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., a change that could help businessmen like Chris Steele, who has owned O’Bannon’s Taphouse for eight years and will open Blackwater Draw Brewing Company, Northgate’s first micro-brewery, in September. “Free parking for lunch, that’s great,” he said. “I own a business already on Northgate and we aren’t open for lunch, we don’t have food there. But I could see how it can benefit anybody, whether that’s the Dixie Chicken or anybody.” Beginning Aug. 19, game day rates in the Northgate Garage will climb from $10 to $20 while the surface lot and street meters will increase from $2 to $3.50 per hour. During peak hours of 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. on non-game days, surface lot prices will increase
from $2 an hour to $2.50 and street meters will charge $0.75 an hour, increased from their current free rate. The council approved changes as a result of the city expecting to lose $130,000 without a change in pricing. Currently the Northgate parking enterprise fund has not generated enough money to cover the cost of the garage and the costs associated with the maintenance of it, the surface lot and parking meters. “Sometimes we forget what the original purpose was for the parking situation that we are facing throughout the Northgate area,” Councilman Karl Mooney said at the meeting. “With that in mind, I don’t think it’s fair to expect that a parking garage on its own is going to pay for itself. We have to look at the parking operation throughout Northgate, which is what this particular plan does. Yes it increases the rates for the parking garage so it will be more responsible to it’s own costs.” With the changes, a projected $180,150 in See Northgate on page 2
Photos by Mark Doré — THE BATTALION
Chris Steele, owner of Blackwater Draw Brewing Company and O’Bannon’s Taphouse, is hard at work developing new brews for the first micro-brewery on Northgate affected by the new zoning policy.
fish camp
First Fish Camp session to begin Tuesday Allison Rubenak
The Battalion efore freshmen arrive to for a fall semester full of Texas A&M traditions, approximately 6,100 of them will spend four days experiencing their first tradition — Fish Camp. The first of seven Fish Camp sessions will begin Tuesday at the Lakeview Methodist Conference Center in Palestine, Texas. Grace Farrar, the director of operations for Fish Camp Staff, said the 6,100 freshmen participating represent an increase of around 1,000 students from last year’s attendance. Fish Camp strives to provide a welcoming atmosphere for freshmen to spend time with their future peers and to learn more about the University they are to attend. “Besides their New Student Conference, it’s the students’ first taste of the Aggie experience,” said Allyson Peters, sophomore interdisciplinary studies major and Fish Camp crew counselor. “It’s memorable because
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Parking changes Parking in Lot 100c and 100e, located on the west side of Reed Arena, will be closed beginning Tuesday for Fish Camp. Texas A&M Transportation Services has advised customers to park in other sections of Lot 100 beginning Tuesday and through Aug. 20 when Fish Camp sessions conclude. they not only make friends, but they are able to learn about the traditions, ask questions and gain knowledge from those that have been in college.” Camps divide the freshmen into small discussion groups (DGs), each led by two counselors who have spent the spring and summer preparing to guide their DGs throughout their first year of college. See Fish Camp on page 4
FILE PHOTO
Fish Camp counselors lead Camp Bierck before last year’s Session A at Reed Arena. Fish Camp is often considered as “a freshman’s first tradition.”
campus news
campus
G. Rollie White memorabilia to be auctioned to public
Billionaire Aggie oilman Mitchell dies at 94
On Aug. 1, Texas A&M Athletics will be auctioning off articles from the recently closed G. Rollie White Coliseum after 59 years on campus. The items will be auctioned on Texas A&M’s official athletic website, AggieAthletics.com. Items will include the “G. Rollie White Coliseum” metal letters, the U.S. and Texas flags and the scoreboard. Pieces of the court and bricks will be auctioned off if the demolition contractor can conduct a successful salvage. Items from Kyle Field and the Bright Complex will be auctioned off in the following months. Updated lists of auction items can be found at AggieAthletics.com. For more information on the G. Rollie White Coliseum and its history and presence on campus, visit thebatt.com.
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Sarah Hoffschwelle
The Battalion fter a life of service and contribution to A&M, the energy industry and the world, George P. Mitchell died at the age of 94. Class of 1940, Mitchell graduated with a petroleum engineering degree and later founded Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. and the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. Mitchell’s life featured a wide range of achievements — including graduating first in his class, developing the Woodlands, pioneering shale gas technology, restoring the historic area of Galveston, donating the land for and supporting the Galveston campus of Texas A&M, helping A&M become a leader in astronomy and physics and pursuing efforts in creating a more sustainable planet. “My grandfather’s contribution to the world is truly remarkable,” said Katherine Lorenz, granddaughter of Mitchell and current Mitchell Foundation President. “In unlocking a new energy source, the world has fundamentally changed — and I think we are only beginning to see the impact this remarkable discovery will have in the world. Energy security and energy independence might well be possible after all.” University President R. Bowen Loftin said in a statement the death of Mitchell represented the loss of a visionary. “He didn’t see limits, only possibilities — possibilities that he converted into realities to fulfill his vision,” Loftin said. “His achievements have benefitted all mankind and certainly those of us in Texas and at Texas A&M.” After graduating, Mitchell began working for Amoco in the oil fields of East Texas and Louisi-
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COURTESY
George P. Mitchell, Aggie oilman and billionaire, pioneered the field of shale gas drilling and processing and used his success to assist others in education and research. ana, but left to join the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. He met his wife, Cynthia Woods, while on a train to the traditional Thanksgiving Day football game between A&M and the University of Texas. They married in 1943. He was stationed in his hometown of Galveston overseeing engineering projects when the Mitchells had their first of 10 children in 1945. The Mitchell family moved to Houston when the war ended and he entered the oil business with his brother, Johnny, first as an independent consulting geologist and petroleum engineer and then as co-founder of Oil Drilling Inc. Their big break occurred when Mitchell saw
something in the geology reports of an area north of Fort Worth known as “The Wildcatters’ Graveyard,” which resulted in the discovery of one of the largest gas fields in North America. Mitchell soon turned to more sustainable energy sources and pioneered the field of shale gas drilling and processing, earning the name “Father of Fracking.” Peter McIntyre, a professor of applied physics at Texas A&M, said Mitchell revolutionized the energy field. “I remember asking him on several such occasions what he was working on with his company,” See Mitchell on page 3
7/29/13 10:56 PM