thebattalion l tuesday,
april 23, 2013
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
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Lawmakers tap brew laws Bill package widens craft beer distribution Julie Blanco
The Battalion ater, yeast, malt and hops — the four main ingredients to a craft brew. Now add a long-awaited package of legislation to the mix, and the beer can reach more than just those who make it. The Texas Senate passed a package of bills in March that — if also passed by the House and signed by Gov. Rick Perry — could change the future for craft breweries, brewpubs, microbreweries and craft beer enthusiasts. Senate Bills 515, 516, 517 and 518 form the beer legislation authored by Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler. The package of bills is grouped to address the production amounts and distribution of craft beers in Texas. “We broke up the legislation to keep it in four separate bills,” Eltife said. “One deals with distribution, one deals with breweries, one deals with brewpubs and one deals with self distribution. It’s just our way of separating the issues into different pieces of legislation.” Though the legislation package is being presented as four separate bills, all must be passed in order for changes to be made in the craft beer industry. “They’re all tied together,” Eltife said. “They live or die together. All these bills are contingent on another one passing. We hope the House passes them as a package.” S.B. 515 increases the production limit for a brewpub from 5,000 to 10,000 barrels (bbls) annually and authorizes a brewpub to sell its products to the wholesale tier for resale.
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inside SBP | 3 Presidents playbook Student Body President Reid Joseph looks ahead to his expected duties after a season of coaching from his predecessor John Claybrook.
sports | 5 Baseball in San Marcos Texas A&M baseball will visit San Marcos to play Texas State on Tuesday. This marks the 52nd meeting between the programs, which A&M lead, 39-12.
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travel | 6 Middle East mission
Not everyone considers a mission trip to the Middle East to be their ideal vacation, but not everyone is junior business major Kyle Lawrence.
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Josh McKenna — THE BATTALION
John Januskey, founder of New Republic Brewery in College Station, draws a glass of their signature amber ale from a tap. “With this new legislation, brewpub owners would be able to work with a distributor and sell their beers through that distributor,” said Charles Vallhonrat, executive director of the Texas Craft Brewers Guild and Class of 1987. “That distributor can then take that beer into the retail channel so a consumer could finally be able to get that beer at a restaurant — other than a brewpub — or a liquor store like Spec’s.” S.B. 516 and S.B. 517 authorize a production brewery under 125,000 bbls of annual
production to self-distribute up to 40,000 bbls annually of beer, ale and malt liquor to retailers. S.B. 518 authorizes a production brewery under 225,000 bbls of annual production to sell up to 5,000 bbls annually of beer produced by the brewery to ultimate consumers for consumption on the premise of the brewery. As a result of the bills, the way consumers can purchase beer from the breweries would See Brewery on page 2
William Guerra — THE BATTALION
west memorials
texas legislature
Human walls to meet Westboro picket in West
Senators gamble law change
Julie Blanco
The Battalion lanned memorial services for those killed in West, Texas, have drawn attention from more than just mourning community members. President Barack Obama will attend a 2 p.m. Thursday service at Baylor University for the 11 first responders killed Wednesday in the fertilizer plant explosion that killed a total of 14, and the Westboro Baptist church said in two press releases that it plans to picket all planned memorials. Groups such as “Red Wall against Westboro” and “Maroon Wall for West” said they plan to be at the ceremonies in order to prevent the pickets and provide a comfortable environment for the friends and families of those being honored. “We’re making sure families are able to grieve,” said Sharon Colon, organizer for Red Wall against Westboro. “We don’t want [Westboro Baptist Church] to think they’ve gotten anything over us.” Ryan Slezia, organizer of Maroon Wall for West and Class of 2008, said the goal of the Maroon Wall is to support the city. The planned protest would mirror the July student reaction to a Westboro picket of the funeral for Lt. Col. Pat Tisdale, a former student shot and killed on June 28 by a fellow soldier. Slezia organized more than 650 current and former students in a “maroon wall.” He said the summer protest was successful due to the military background at the University. “There was a very obvious pull for Aggies,” Slezia said. “We tend to think more about our service members.” As a result of the positive response from the wall, people from West reached out to Slezia to form walls for the upcoming memorials. Slezia said after the press releases from Westboro came out, #MaroonWall started trending on Twitter. “We actually received a request from people [for the Maroon Wall for West],” Slezia said. “ Wherever Westboro goes, a wall shows up. It’s important to put everyone on the same page so we send the same message.” Slezia said he also reached out to the Baylor University for aid in creating a wall against Westboro. Colon has lived in West and said she and the Red Wall are coming together to protect the integrity of the memorials. “Our goal is to honor the families and make sure they are given the peace they deserve,” Colon said. “We keep making sure people know this is to honor or friends and our hometown.” The memorial procession, in which uniformed personnel will be able to participate, will begin at 11 a.m, Thursday. Other memorial services this week for responders who died in the explosion include Capt. Kenneth Harris Jr. and Buck Uptmor.
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Sarah Gibson
The Battalion hile lawmakers may not pass legislation to help legalize casino gambling in Texas this legislative session, senators proposed a resolution for a constitutional amendment to legalize gambling beyond horse track racing, bingo and state lottery. If Senate Joint Resolution 64 passed, it would establish the Texas Gaming Commission, which would authorize and regulate the operation of casino games and slot machines and establish 12 “destination resort” casinos, including ones in Galveston, South Padre Island and Dallas County. The resolution would also let Texas voters decide on a proposed constitutional amendment to expand gambling. Former state Sen. John Montford, who heads a pro-gambling group called “Let Texans Decide,” said he believes the issue should be a decision for the public.
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“We feel like the people of Texas are smart enough, educated enough and certainly savvy about what’s going on that they ought to be able to decide this issue for themselves,” Montford said in a press conference Apr. 8. Texans spend about $3 billion each year to gamble in adjacent states, according to “Let Texans Decide.” The Texas Association of Business released a study last week that stated expanding gaming in Texas would have an $11.8 billion annual impact in Texas. Sen. John Carona, a co-author of S.B. 64, said he wants to bring that money back to Texas. “A recent report shows Oklahoma is the largest generator of gaming revenue — we all know where that money is coming from,” Carona said at an April 8 press conference. Though previous measures to expand gambling in See Gambling on page 2
israel-palestine conflict
Speaker urges two-state solution Chris Meuth
Special to The Battalion senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, Hussein Ibish, addressed students Monday at an event hosted by Aggies For Palestine regarding what he said was a need for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ibish said cooperation would be necessary and the only viable solution is a two-state agreement. Ibish said the current situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians, who have been in a state of continuous conflict since the late 19th century, is “unsustainable.” Ibish said the conflict evokes a strong emotional response from both sides, making a peaceful dialogue difficult. “Israel confronts the same reality as the Palestinians … but they have very different narratives,” Ibish said. When asked about the difficulty of the current situation in the region, Ibish said unilateralism is not the answer. Event organizers said the event was intended to inform the student body that there are two sides to the issue. “Our goal was to show the general population of A&M what’s really going on. It shows there’s legitimacy to both sides,” said Nesreen Hamed, president of Aggies for Palestine and senior chemical engineering major. Tonya Woelfel, freshman sociology major, said peace is needed soon for the sake of the people of the area. The lecture was followed by a questionand-answer period, during which some stuDavid Cohen — THE BATTALION dents, including members of the Corps of Hussein Ibish addresses the crowd during his Cadets, expressed support for Israel. These lecture “Israel and the Palestinians: What Kind of students declined comment after the event’s Peace is Possible?” Monday afternoon in the MSC. conclusion.
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4/23/13 12:33 AM