TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2016 STUDENT MEDIA | @THEBATTONLINE
Built on tradition
The Aggie Barn, located on Highway 6, is owned by Joe Swinnea, Class of 1985 and his wife Tressa Swinnea. Kevin Chou — THE BATTALION
Aggie Barn owners, former students share story of popular A&M landmark located off Highway 6 By Jena Seidemann @jena_seidemann
W
hen Joe Swinnea, Class of 1985, described the small Texas town where he is from, he said, “It is the one with the Aggie Barn.” Along Highway 6 in the small town of Reagan, the Aggie Barn was originally built in the 1920s as a bank. When the bank went out of business in the late 1920s, Thaggard Kirkpatrick, Class of 1924, bought the building in
the 1940s, and when he went to fix it from storm damage, he decided to paint it maroon and thus, the Aggie Barn was born. The town of Reagan had a population of roughly 150 people during Swinnea’s childhood, and he said it was the tightly knit community that allowed him to meet Kirkpatrick, who owned the barn before him. “When I was young, Reagan only had about 150 people. I was the paperboy and would cut grass for the Kirkpatricks as well as help them with whatever they needed from the time I was about 12 years old and up,” Swinnea said. “The influence Mr. Kirkpatrick had on me about the barn was just by knowing him and the wonderful man he was in all aspects of his life. He was a factor in my decision to go to school at A&M. I helped him hang the first Ol’ Sarge in the gable of the barn.”
Swinnea said he started to value the barn more and develop a friendship with Kirkpatrick as he went on to become a former student. When the opportunity arose to purchase the barn after Kirkpatrick’s passing, Swinnea took it and relocated the barn to his property. “My motivation for saving the barn was to save the little bit of history there is in Reagan,” Swinnea said. “And for me, growing up to now, when I tell someone I am from Reagan, they don’t know where that is. If I say I’m from the town where the Aggie Barn is, then everyone knows. [My wife] was the one that suggested we save it because she knew what it meant to me.” AGGIE BARN ON PG. 2
CRIME
Suspect in murder of A&M student arrested in Ft. Worth Boyfriend of victim confesses to crime, detained in Brazos County Staff Report FILE
During the 2016 student activities block party, Miss Rev made a welcoming appearance posing for pictures with Aggies.
A day in the life of the First Lady of Aggieland Handler Gavin Suel sheds light on mascot’s daily schedule of events By Mariah Colón @MariahColon Attending class, appearing at events, posing for photos with students — there’s never a dull day in the life of the First Lady of Aggieland. The Reveille tradition began in 1931 when a group of Corps cadets hit a stray dog with their truck, brought the dog back to campus and the pup began barking the next morning to the sound of “Reveille.” During the next Football season, Rev I was named the official Mascot of A&M. Reveille IX was donated to the university by Overland Collies and assumed her role as the A&M mascot on May 9, 2015.
Miss Rev and her handler, kinesiology sophomore Gavin Suel, begin each day with a grooming routine, which Suel said she loves. “Every day when I wake up, I brush her teeth and I brush her hair and that is just the preliminary brush,” Suel said. “After that, every time we leave the dorm I’ll do another quick brush just to make sure she’s looking her best — no one ever sees her with bed head or anything like that. On Thursdays she goes to a professional groomer and she stays there most of the day getting shampooed and her nails done and all that.” While Reveille has a very busy life, Suel said she enjoys it and loves her playtime in between class or events. Suel and Rev will frequent parks, go on walks and run REVEILLE ON PG.2
A suspect in the murder of Texas A&M genetics senior Maricarmen Quiroz-Octaviano has been arrested and charged with murder after being found in Fort Worth. On Sunday morning at around 7:46 a.m., officers with the College Station Police Department responded to Scandia Apartments at 401 Anderson Street after receiving a report that someone had been shot. Upon arriving at the scene, officers searched the apartment and found Quiroz-Octaviano. During the investigation it was determined that the incident was the result of a domestic dispute and a person of interest was identified, according to a Sunday news release from CSPD. CSPD detectives, in cooperation with the Fort Worth Police Department, obtained an arrest warrant for Victor Manuel Garcia-Loyo for murder. Garcia-Loyo, a 22-year-old Hispanic male, is a resident of Del Valle, Texas. He was arrested on that warrant in Fort Worth at 11 p.m. Sunday. After further investigation, it was determined that Garcia-Loyo was in a relationship with Quiroz-Octaviano. He had been determined to be a person of interest in the murder, and contact was made with him over the phone and he agreed to come to College Station to be interviewed. However, when Garcia-Loyo didn’t show up, investigators tracked his cell phone and believed him to be in Fort Worth, where FWPD located him. Once FWPD officers located Garcia-Loyo, they found the driver’s license of the victim and a 9mm handgun in his possession. Garcia-Loyo also had what appeared to be a gunshot wound in his hand, so FWPD officers
PROVIDED
Victor Manuel Garcia-Loyo was charged with murder of Maricarmen QuirozOctaviano that took place Sunday morning.
detained him. According to a CSPD news release Monday, during an interview of Garcia-Loyo by CSPD detectives in Fort Worth, Garcia-Loyo confessed to shooting the victim several times during an argument in her apartment. During the altercation he shot himself in the hand as well. Garcia-Loyo has been transported to Brazos County Jail, and has been charged with the first degree felony of murder.
Campus organizations urge students to vote Gig the Vote, Aggie Democrats, College Republicans talk voting By Shahd Elbushra
Alexis Will — THE BATTALION
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 11. Early voting begins Oct. 24.
The voter registration deadline Oct. 11 is quickly approaching, and the presidential election on Nov. 8 close behind. With these dates drawing near, organizations on campus are working to assist students with the registration process. Finance senior Spencer Davis founded Gig the Vote, a non-partisan Student Government Organization (SGA) initiative that focuses on enfranchising student voters in the Brazos County area. Davis said he started the organization in August 2015. Davis started working with Joseph Benigno, 2015-2016 student body president, and carried it through current student body president Hannah Wimberly’s administration.
“We identified the problem early on as being one where students are very civically engaged, going out and serving the community, but they don’t carry that out into voting in the community,” Davis said. “There are 15,000 students that voted for student body president last year, but in 2013, when the last mayor was elected in College Station, about three thousand people in the city voted. My data shows that a lot of those people who voted weren’t college students at all.” Davis said Gig the Vote identified students as being apathetic toward voting since they will only be at the university for four years, failing to grow an attachment to the surrounding community. “I’ve defined that as the nomadic voter problem, where students are coming from bigger cities to a more rural area and they forget how much local political leaders affect their lives,” Davis said. “We’re trying to give students VOTER REGISTRATION ON PG. 2