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inside trends | 6 No shave November It’s finally November. That means men (and maybe women) everywhere will be rocking their most stylish forms of moustaches, sideburns and beards. Read more about the movement on Page 6.
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● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2012 student media
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voices | 4 Ready to run Although being a student-athlete is difficult at times, it is a worthwhile experience. A cross country runner shares her own insights on the sport and how it affects her lifestyle.
lifestyles | 6 All in the family The fun-filled family drama, You Can’t Take it With You, shows the Brazos Valley the importance of family. Read more about the Oscar and PulitzerPrize winning performance on Page 6.
thebatt.com
Students predict election results Whether you’re a Mitt Romney or Barack Obama supporter, watch Aggies try to answer “Who will win the national election?”
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Mass shooting phenomenon ricochets in College Station Mark Doré The Battalion
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he first Code Maroon reached the backlit phones and computer screens of students and faculty at 12:29 p.m. on Aug. 13. By then, the heavy chorus of weapon fire was already echoing across Fidelity Drive, less than half a mile from the intersection of George Bush Drive and Wellborn Road. At the end of the bloody half-hour firefight, three people were dead, including Constable Brian Bachman, civilian Chris Northcliff and shooter Thomas Caffall. Caffall wasn’t the only headline in the bloody summer of 2012. The nation looked on in horror at Aurora, Colo., where James Holmes strolled into a movie theater with an M&P15 assault rifle and left 12 moviegoers dead
Way of the gun This article is the first in a twopart series. Pick up a copy of The Battalion Nov. 8 for the campus carry edition of the series. and 58 wounded in his wake. In quick succession came the shootings at the Sikh Temple in Milwaukee, the Empire State Building and the Minneapolis sign
manufacturing plant. For students, faculty, staff and community members, it would have been all too easy to turn off the evening news and brush away the sting felt by the tragedy. However, Caffall wrenched away any harbored hope of ignoring the issue of guns and mass shootings in this country. On that day, Bachmann approached the house of Caffall at the 200 block of Fidelity Drive a few minutes after noon, in order to serve an eviction notice. Caffall had lost his job some months ago and told family members he planned never to work again. After a tense conversation on Caffall’s front porch, the situation futher escalated when
Guns out of control ◗ U.S. has less than 5% of the world’s population, but 35-50% of civilian-owned firearms. ◗ In the U.S., there are 88.8 guns per 100 people. ◗ Death in the U.S. from firearms are 8 times higher than it’s economic counterparts.
See Guns on page 3
election 2012
Commander in chief candidates differ on military strategy Molly Livingstone Special to The Battalion Bumper stickers are plastered to cars, yard signs abound and campaign ads are aired repetitively. Amid presidential candidate’s attempts to woe the approval of voters, conversations over whose stance on a plethora of policies can get jumbled in the mix. Some young voters don’t realize how the policies established in the distant-from-College-Station Washington D.C. can impact them in Aggieland. Two fundamental issues relevant to Texas A&M students are military spending and foreign policies. Both presiden-
tial candidates have touched on these topics during their campaigns to win the votes of American citizens. President Barack Obama’s basic military strategy at this point in the war in Afghanistan is to draw down U.S. troops in Afghanistan and transition security responsibility to the Afghan people to responsibly end the war there in 2014, according to his campaign website. Joseph Cerami, senior lecturer at the Bush School, said Obama’s intention by reducing U.S. troops is to reduce spending. “It’s costly to have ground forces and [we See Military on page 2 Elyse Wudeck — THE BATTALION
superstorm
student government
Sandy leaves damage for lengthy recovery
Senate reconsiders campus carry bill
Katie Nortman The Battalion Superstorm Sandy left a wide path of destruction as it slammed the East Coast early this week. The latest update on the damage left by this historic super storm is standing at 61 deaths, 20 billion dollars in damage and 6.5 million homes and businesses without power. Electricity outages stretched as far west as Wisconsin and as far south as the Carolinas. Airports and businesses are slowly beginning to resume work, including the New York Stock Exchange that experienced its first two-day shut down since the blizzard of 1888 — one of the most severe blizzards in the history of the United States. The storm alone was not one of the most detrimental that the U.S. has experienced,
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however it was the environment it struck that left such catastrophic mess to clean up. “Most of the damage was similar what would be expected to happen in Texas with a category one or weak category two hurricane,” said John Nielsen-Gammon, a professor in the Department of Meteorology. “It would be familiar to us but unfamiliar to them. They also didn’t have the infrastructure set up to handle it. The subway system got flooded out without much of the land protecting the entry ways.” The extent of the damage was so severe that in some areas trick-or-treating was ordered to be postponed until Monday. Nielsen-Gammon said, overall, this hurricane was very well forecasted. “From what I understand See Sandy on page 2
Annabelle Hutchinson
Courtesy
A large tree blocks traffic on a cross-street Tuesday afternoon in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
The Battalion After more than an hour of debate, Student Senate voted decisively in favor of the Texas A&M Personal Protection Bill on Wednesday with a 38-19 vote, but because a senator’s motion to reconsider the bill, it was stalled and will be voted on again at the next Senate meeting. The bills calls on the Texas government to mandate that concealed carry be allowed on campus and in buildings at pubic universities, and for A&M to align its policy with said legislation. The Texas A&M Personal Protection Bill seeks to end the law that allows universities to create their own policies for concealed carry. Texas A&M policy allows concealed carry on campus, but not inside buildings. The student body voted against having guns on campus in two referendums that took place in 2009 and 2011. Senators such as Trevor Brown, senior political See Senate on page 5
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