FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2017 STUDENT MEDIA
Lighting up the season By Taylor Fennell @TaylorPFennell
College Station got a little brighter on Thursday, as friends and family joined the city’s Citizen of the Year to light up a 19-foot outdoor Christmas tree. The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum hosted their annual Christmas tree lighting in conjunction with the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce on Thursday night. The Chamber’s Citizen of the Year, Judge Alvin Jones, led the ceremony by officially lighting the tree with a cartoon-style lever. During the event, members of the Brazos Valley Corral serenaded the audience with holiday songs such as “O Christmas Tree.” David Anaya, the library’s marketing and communications director, said the event is structured similarly to a ceremony that was incredibly important to President and Mrs. Bush during their time in the nation’s capital. “The purpose behind it was to replicate the Christmas tree lighting at t h e White House,” Anaya said. “That’s the reason we do it, to get that same feeling in the area. In Washington D.C., they have a celebrity Christmas tree lighter, musical entertainment and a reception after. We try to do the same thing here, in College
GOING AFTER JIMBO FISHER
LIGHTING ON PG. 3 Andrew Salinero — FSView
Fisher is speculated to become A&M’s head coach after the Aggies fired Kevin Sumlin last Sunday.
Multiple reports indicate A&M has found new head coach By Angel Franco @angelmadison_
D
eep in the offices of the Memorial Student Center, the Texas A&M Board of Regents held a special meeting to discuss A&M’s next head football coach. Although nothing was officially announced as to who the next coach will be during the nearly threehour closed session meeting — many speculate the Aggies have their man. A l l s i g n s Annie Lui — THE BATTALION
seem to point to Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher. However, in Tallahassee, Fisher continues to dodge questions regarding his future as the Seminoles’ head coach. According to a report released late Thursday night by The Eagle, sources — who gave information on the condition of anonymity — close to the Board of Regents will meet Monday to give A&M President Michael K. Young the go ahead to offer and hire Fisher on Monday. Following the end of the executive session, A&M chancellor John Sharp gave no indication as to who the Aggies were looking to hire. “We have candidates,” Sharp said. “It’s just not something we can talk about it cause it’s sensitive with the coaches and the others.” On the Florida side, one of the bigger issues between Fisher and the FSU administration, has been the lack of upgrades of the facilities. Sharp alluded Fisher would be willing to come to A&M due to the fact that A&M has top tier facilities. “We’ve got the best facilities in the SEC, the best stadium and we intend to have the best coach,” Sharp said. According to a report by The Associated
Press, an unnamed source on the FSU side of the situation said the university expects Fisher to head to Aggieland. The AP report said the source asked to remain anonymous due to the lack of public talk on both sides of the situation. Wednesday night, Fisher held his weekly call-in show in Tallahassee where fans can ask him questions in person or on the phone. A fan announced as ‘Mike from Tennessee’ called Fisher out by questioning his loyalty. “It’s been kind of a tough season,” Mike said. “I remember watching a lot of your press conferences where you would talk about how we need to be committed to the program and keep cheering for the team and we need to be talking about that and the loyalty to the program. So I’m wondering, where’s the loyalty to the program Jimbo?” Fisher addressed the incident in his post-practice press conference — FSU is playing Louisiana–Monroe a game that was postponed due to Hurricane Irma to start the season. Fisher said he wished that they wouldn’t have rushed the fan away to give Fisher the chance to respond to him. Fisher and the Noles are looking to become bowl eligible after a 5-6 season after starting the season ranked No. 3 overall.
Keeping Bryan-College Station environmentally friendly City of Bryan offers recycling drive-in services for Brazos Valley residents By Jillian Sanders @jillsands98 When driving through residential streets in Bryan, students may notice a lack of recycling bins along the curbs. In 1996, the city of Bryan opened a drivein center for recycling and it has been citizen’s only option for recycling despite College Station having free curbside recycling pickup since 1991. Although the city has seen an increase in recycling over the years, according to environmental operations supervisor Jared Birkhead, city officials have noted that there seems to be a lack of understanding regarding the recycling services available. “I think recycling is pretty new to this area in Texas in general,” Birkhead said. “You know if you go up North, they are very pro-recycling just because the price of land is so much more expensive in those areas. Landfills are still generally cheaper here, in Texas as a whole, therefore it’s cheaper to run them, cheaper to dispose of them. But we understand the recycling aspect, the environmental impact, so that’s why we offer those services. Because we do want to do our part.” In addition to using the free drive-in, residents in Bryan can pay to have Brazos Valley Recycling pick up their recyclables every two weeks. “We just kind of leave it open to whatever is most comfortable to the citizen,” Birkhead said. “They both have their pros and cons.
Savannah Skrivanek - THE BATTALION
Drive-in centers and curbside pickup are available in Bryan and College Station respectively for residents interested in recycling.
There’s no perfect recycling system or solid waste system. We think we can capture most people with these two options available.” In College Station, Brazos Valley Recycling does curbside pickup at no additional charge to citizens, however the company is paid from residents’ monthly sanitation fee. “At present the provision of recycling col-
lection and associated public education programs account for approximately $3.18 out of the $14.40 monthly sanitation fee,” said Heather Woolwine, Recycling and Environmental Compliance Manager for College Station. “The residential recycling collection services was initiated as a pilot program in 1990. In 1991 it was decided based off of the
success of the program to expand the service city wide.” In 2017, the city of Bryan recycled 750 tons during the fiscal year. In College Station, 2,690.33 tons were recycled from RECYCLING ON PG. 4