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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1995)
u N R T Y >y the print 3 the pedi sar« mil >1. 101, No. 184 (6 pages) Established in 1893 1 hursday • August 1 University EMS may join B-CS automatic aid If service hours are expand- d and its computer system is nproved, the University EMS lay automatically answer mergency calls in Bryan-Col- ?ge Station. / Tara Wilkinson hie Battalion Tht latest system to provide speedy re- >onse to emergencies, developed between ie cities of Bryan and College Station, does )t yet make use of University Emergency edical Services. TTk First Response Automatic Aid System, __ official operation since July 10, integrates 'ryar and College Station computer systems i that the nearest fire truck or ambulance is :nt to an emergency scene, regardless of which city the emergency occurs in. The integration of Bryan and College Sta tion fire and ambulance services decreases response time because it is often quicker for a closer unit to respond to an emergency on the perimeter of the other city. With automatic aid, Bryan and College Station “run cards” have been combined. Run cards are plans of attack for different types of emergency calls in a number of geo graphic areas. Jim Bland, Bryan fire chief, said University EMS was not included because its level of ser vice was not comparable to city standards when the system was organized March 8. “At that time they weren’t providing ser vices 24 hours, 365 days a year,” Bland said. “They couldn’t guarantee that an ambulance or advanced life-support paramedics would be available at all times.” Because changes in the organization of University EMS have occurred since then. Bland said including them in the automatic aid agreement will be considered. “We’re in the process of setting up some appointments to see exactly what is going on and what their level of service is,” he said. Eric Scott, chief of University EMS, said the operational change put into effect May 15 requires paramedics to be on board A&M vehicles en route to emergencies and to be on call every day year-round. Scott said that if the A.P. Beutel Health Center approves funds necessary to ensure that these changes will be sustainable. Uni versity EMS will be ready for integration into the automatic response system. Bart Humphreys, College Station Fire Department’s battalion chief training offi cer, said one of the reasons University EMS is not included in the automatic aid system is because they do not use a compa rable computer system. “The problem with adding them (Univer sity EMS) into automatic emergency services is that they have no way of knowing where See EMS, Page 6 Nick Rodnicki, The Battalion Texas A&M's Emergency Medical Services may be upgraded and au tomatically answer emergency calls in Bryan-College Station. ; sales 20.00.0: 'mmJ \ggie Extra links Web users with 1 home pages ^ Aggie Extra is an addition ) the Houston Chronicle's n-line service. A&M is the Mrst Texas university to ■■ave Web sites directly ^ nked to a newspaper ome page. / Wes Swift -ie Battalion r coo: The Houston Chronicle and Texas &M have linked up to give World ide-Web browsers a new gateway into e University and its information. Aggie Extra, a special addition to ouston Chronicle Interactive (HCI), e newspaper’s on-line service, al- ws ^subscribers to navigate through &M’s vast number of home pages. Isers can access data ranging from itomology to econom- s, forestry to food chnology. Kathleen Davis, pmmunications spe- alist with the agricul- iral communications ppartment, said Aggie xtra gives Web infers an easy avenue > look through the ountains of information in the A&M pme pages. “This is just a way to organize all the information that we have, so mple using the Web don’t have to ok all over the place for the data ley want,” she said. Aggie Extra has its roots in Ag and lore, an electronic communication astern used by the Texas Agricultur- i Extension Service (TAEX) to pro- de state-wide media, such as the hronicle, with articles, press releas- 3 and information. Davis said that when HCI was be- ig developed, she was approached by Chronicle reporter who asked if the i-line newspaper could use the press deases from Ag and More. Davis sug- isted creating a Web site that would nk all the different home pages of- Ted by TAEX and the University. “Since then, it’s just grown,” she said. )I0 Because a Web page is easy to manage, the Aggie Extra can be ex panded and updated quickly as new A&M and TAEX pages are brought on-line. Davis said that as new sites are created, they may be added on. “If the page looks like it would be useful, we would provide the new links,” Davis said. The Aggie Extra is one of a kind. While other universities in the state have developed Web sites, A&M is the first to have a site linked to a newspaper. Jim Townsend, on-line editor of HCI, said he is pleased with the re lationship between the University and the newspaper. The success of Aggie Extra has prompted HCI to explore possible links to other uni versities, he said. “I think it helps [HCI] to perform that part of our mission to serve as a magnet for information,” Townsend said. “Of course, we don’t intend to be the manager of all that information. But if someone doesn’t know where to find this information, we want to show them where it is.” Larry Lippke, ex tension specialist for TAEX at A&M, said the joint operation is benefiting TAEX and the University as well. “We are in the education business and the information distribution busi ness,” Lippke said. “This helps us ful fill our outreach mission. It’s a new way to get our information out.” Davis said the Aggie Extra has a positive effect on the University’s reputation. “This definitely enhances our cred ibility,” she said. “Not only do Web users see that we have all this good information, but they see that we use the most up-to-date and sophisticated technology available.” Aggie Extra has already gained nationwide attention. In its recent newsletter, the U.S. Department of Agriculture praised the Web site. Lippke said the exposure may en courage other extension services and academic institutions to develop similar ventures with computerized media. Tommy Huynh, The Battalion YOU OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES Mark Norris, a junior journalism major from Pasadena, takes photos of the James Earl Rudder statue for his journalism class. TAES awarded water research grants □ A&M researchers will study water availability and man agement in Texas. By Javier Hinojosa The Battalion The Texas Water Development Board awarded Texas A&M’s Texas Agricul tural Experimental Station $194,000 in grants for three water research projects in July. Gordon Thom, manager of the region al planning and research program for the Texas Water Development Board, said grant proposals were chosen and evaluat ed by a review team consisting of the board’s staff members. “The proposal receiving the highest point total within each of the [nine re search] topics were awarded grants,” Thom said. The criteria for evaluating grant pro posals was based the project’s funds, management quality, budget, time sched ule, research quality and topic. TAES submitted nine proposals, three of which were awarded grants. The board requested proposals for grants on research topics through the Texas Register in May. Eight grants were awarded out of 33 proposals for the nine different topic headings. Dr. William Dugas, an A&M professor of agricultural meteorology at the Black- land Research Center in Temple, re ceived $105,000 for his project on the ef fects of brush management on water availability in aquifer under the Ed wards Plateau. The project focuses on the effects of the Ashe Juniper, a small brush, on the Ed wards Aquifer water reservoir, which sup plies the San Antonio area with water. The San Antonio area recently had some problems with low water supply in the aquifer. “It is possible that the surface brush may be absorbing the water and sending it back to the atmosphere,” Dugas said. The project team will make a model of the Edwards Plateau region. Researchers will be able to simulate the surface condi tions with computers and examine possi ble solutions. “There is potential for giving policy makers important information on land management practices that apply to the low water supply in the Edwards Aquifer See Grants, Page 6 •J U.S.-Chinese relations suffer new blow from spying charges Huairou Great Wall Mmg Tombs TIANJIN Beijing Site of the Fourth World Conference on Women 20 mites 20 km Associated Press □ China detained two U.S. Air Force Officers after al legedly catching them in a restricted military zone col lecting intelligence. BEIJING (AP) — U.S.-Chinese rela tions, soured by clashes over human rights and Taiwan, suffered another blow Wednesday when China ordered the expulsion of two U.S. Air Force offi cers who it said were caught spying on military sites. China took the unusual step of an nouncing the expulsions after holding the men for five days — an even more extraordinary act for holders of diplo matic passports, who are immune from prosecution and usually would only be ordered to leave the country. There was no criticism of China from the Clinton administration, and White House press secretary Mike MeCurry said he didn’t know of any reason there would be repercussions. U.S. officials expected to meet with the two men on Thursday, State De partment spokesman David Johnson said in Washington. Chinese authorities said Wednesday they had 24 hours to leave the country. Relations have been on a downward spiral because of China’s arrest of a Chinese-American human rights ac tivist, the U.S. decision to grant a visa to Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui and evidence of Chinese arms sales to rogue states. Secretary of State Warren Christopher knew the two Americans were missing when he met Tuesday with Minister Qian Qichen, but didn’t know they had been detained, Johnson said. He said Christopher didn’t bring up the topic. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said the two officers “sneaked into a number of re stricted military zones in China’s southeast coastal areas and illegally ac quired military intelligence by pho tographing and videotaping,” the offi cial Xinhua news agency reported. China identified them as Joseph Wei Chan, Air Force liaison officer, and Dwayne Howard Florenzie, assistant Air Force liaison officer. Both are based at the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong, the Chinese government said. Shen said the officers, who entered China on July 23, were caught “on the spot” on Saturday ‘by Chinese soldiers on duty.” He gave no other details. Both sides said progress was made in the talks aimed at soothing shaky re lations. And U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright said in Washington that she would lead a full American delegation to the U.N. women’s confer ence in Beijing next month. Xinhua reported the two officers ap plied for Chinese visas saying they wanted to hold consultations with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and with staff members at consulates around China. ‘The activities of Joseph Chan and Dwayne Florenzie have violated the law ... on the protection of military facilities, the law ... on state security and the law ... on control of entry and exits of aliens, and seriously undermined China’s national se curity,” Xinhua quoted Shen as saying.