The Battalion: April 23, 2014

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thebattalion ● wednesday,

april 23, 2014

● serving

texas a&m since 1893

● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2014 student media

SHIFTING GEARS

Student feedback sought on bike issues to guide improvement Jennifer Reiley The Battalion

T

ransportation Services is seeking student feedback about A&M’s bicycle-pedestrian infrastructure in hopes of improving it in the fall. Transportation Services contracted Alta Planning and Design, a company focused on improving bicycle and pedestrian layouts for communities, on April 14. Ron Steedly, manager for alternative transportation, said they are offering on-campus forums to provide students with the opportunity to voice concerns about the current biking situation at Texas A&M. Steedly said Transportation Services was motivated to start developing a plan now, based on the expected growth of campus with student housing developments near campus and the west campus housing project. A&M has an optional bike registra-

tion program that allows Transportation Services to gain some knowledge of how many bikes are on campus. Steedly said there are more than 5,000 active bike registrations. Transportation also counts the bikes on campus during breaks to track the increasing numbers. “During spring break we counted 6,700 bicycles left on campus,” Steedly said. “This number was 5,300 during winter break. We also estimate 2,000-3,000 people commute to campus on bicycle each day.” Alta has worked with multiple universities and Mike Tresidder, project manager and campus manager of Alta, said creating a bike plan for a college campus differs from

designing a plan for a city. See Bikes on page 2

Photo by Meredith Collier, graphic by William Guerra — THE BATTALION

student media

animal safety

The Battalion, Aggieland get nod for statewide awards

Nonprofits strive to house local feral cats

A&M publications recognized, yearbook becomes national Pacemaker finalist Lindey Gawlik The Battalion

The Texas Intercollegiate Press Association awarded and recognized 27 Aggies involved in Student Media at Texas A&M in its annual newspaper and yearbook competitions. A&M’s two Division I student media publications, the Aggieland yearbook and the The Battalion daily newspaper, received awards for columns, articles and overall excellence for items produced in 2013. Jake Walker, editor-in-chief for The Battalion and senior agricultural communications and journalism major, said he entered The Battalion in the TIPA competition because he wanted the paper’s staff to be recognized for their contributions. “I think the awards speak for themselves in regards to our great news writers, sports writers, columnists and graphic artists that help make this paper what it is,” Walker said. Kalee Bumguardner, Class of 2011 and former editor-in-chief of the Aggieland, said these awards are evidence of the teamwork of Aggieland staff. The Aggieland was also recently named a 2013 Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker finalist.

inside health | 2 Clinic focuses on strength training myths A&M will hold a strength training clinic to teach students proper technique to prevent workout injuries.

sports | 4 Continuing the baseball legacy Aggie centerfielder Krey Bratsen follows in his father’s footsteps on the Olsen field diamond.

@thebattonline The Battalion @thebattonline thebatt.com

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“Overall I think it just speaks for the work that the whole team put in because we won awards across the board in photography and in writing and in design and so really it just was a testament to the quality that the yearbook had,” Bumguardner said. Jessica Smarr, copy chief for The Battalion and senior psychology major, won best general column, shared first place for best sports feature and placed third in in-depth reporting at the competition. Smarr said this is the first year her work was entered, as A&M student media did not compete in 2013. “This is the first time we’ve applied for it since I’ve been here,” Smarr said. “I was definitely pretty pumped. After the initial, ‘Oh my goodness this is the most exciting thing ever,’ I just knew none of those awards would exist if there wasn’t the help of everybody else [on staff] and without the support of everybody else.” Matt Wong, Aggieland photo editor

and senior finance major, won several awards for yearbook photography. He said when he heard about the six awards he had won for the yearbook, he was proud of his own work but that he was even more proud of the work of all his photographers. “I have to say when I was told about the awards I was very proud of myself but of the team especially,” Wong said. “I think it’s good to feel recognized, but frankly I think it’s just about being able to cover these kind of events that make me proud to be a part of A&M and see the spirit.” Mark Doré, managing editor for The Battalion and senior English major, won for page design, shared best sports feature with See TIPA on page 3

health

Club advocates for bone marrow donation awareness Organizers say education is key in meeting needs Angelo Gonzalez The Battalion

Be The Match–TAMU, an organization that advocates for bone marrow education, is working to eradicate common misconceptions about bone marrow donations to save lives. Taylor Whittaker, Class of 2013, established Be The Match– TAMU. Through an internship with the national Be The Match, Whittaker said she sought to make the organization a reality on campus. The A&M chapter was recognized by the national organization on June 11, 2012. Be The Match raises awareness primarily by hosting fundraising events, said Steven Klawinsky, president-elect for the A&M organization and sophomore chemistry

major. When Whittaker was giving a presentation about Be The Match last year, she said it was surprisingly difficult for people of multiple ethnicities to find a bone marrow donor. Jacqueline Wenzlaff, president for Be The Match–TAMU and senior forensic investigative science major, was in the audience and decided she wanted to help out. “Since I’m half-Hispanic and half-white, I figured I would want to be able to find a match if I needed to,” Wenzlaff said. “Then when Taylor told me she was starting this organization on campus and asked if I wanted to help, I said sure.” Wenzlaff said while Be The Match is established across the country, its message is still needed as many of the negative preconceived ideas about bone marrow donation exist because of media portrayals. “People see movies or TV shows and think it’s this horrible painful procedure when it really isn’t,” Wenzlaff said. “A lot of times peo-

ple just aren’t educated about marrow donation and haven’t heard about it, so they hear the words ‘bone marrow’ and get scared.” Contrasting this depiction, Wenszlaff said the process of becoming a bone marrow donor is stress-free and simple. She said there are currently two ways to donate, and the process is often similar to that of plasma donation. Andre Martinez, director of marketing and public relations for Be The Match and senior microbiology major, said the myths and fears surrounding the procedure are not at all accurate. Martinez said educating people about the actual process is something they are trying to do on campus. “One of our previous officers, Kaci DeCock, donated through the marrow extraction from the hip and she was walking within four hours after the procedure and it didn’t really phase her a whole lot,” Martinez said.

Limited shelter space spurs action Katie Canales The Battalion

An issue has been scratching at Bryan-College Station for years — controlling the feral animal population. With shelter space becoming increasingly limited and stray animals being euthanized to compensate, a number of organizations in the area are doing what they can to keep feral animals out of the shelters. Amy Wells, Brazos Pets Alive operations director, said she and the other members of the nonprofit strive to make the community a nokill zone and to ensure that 90 percent of the animals that enter shelters make it into a loving home. “We always know there are going to be some cases that we can’t help, whether it’s for aggression or for serious medical issues, but our goal is to get those 90 percent into homes,” Wells said. “And for our organization, we don’t have a shelter location, we don’t have a location at all — we are all foster-based. So our ability to save animals is all based on people opening their homes to us.” BPA works with area shelters to get animals out of the shelter and into foster care as soon as possible. Wells said if a foster cannot be found for an animal, then that animal cannot be put into the program and will remain in the shelter with the chance of being put down. “We try to intervene when we can to try to prevent animals from going into the shelters,” Wells said. “It’s really people contact us and say, ‘Hey, I’m open to fostering.’ They tell us what kind of animal they’d like to foster, and our organization does both cats and dogs. We’ve even had a rabbit in our program that got adopted.” BPA focuses on high-risk animals — kittens and puppies, injured animals and adult cats with upper respiratory infections or colds. Wells said people are often wary of fostering newborn kittens and their mothers because of the time commitment and effort they believe is involved. “Nursing moms right now are our biggest need and a lot of people think they’re a lot of work — they’re really not,” Wells said. “All you need is a bathroom or a spare room and the mama does all the work. You feed mama and mama feeds the kittens and takes care of them.” Shelby Stephens, sophomore biology major, is fostering a cat and said it is a perfect match for her as a student. “Honestly, as far as cats go, they’re See Feral cats on page 2

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