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Tuesday • January 21,1!
Balloonist sets records, fails to circle globe naacp
SULTANPUR, India (AP) — Steve Fossett’s silver bal
loon drifted down in to a field of mustard and wheat and
the applause of hundreds of villagers — none of whom
could communicate with the Chicago adventurer.
It took a villager an hour’s walk on rain-ravaged
roads to bring back a policeman who could speak
English. Then Fossett was taken off to a nearby town,
a curry dinner and bed — having failed to fly non
stop around the world, but setting new records for
distance and endurance in a balloon.
“I had a little rough landing but
the only problem I have is that
I am way behind in sleeping.”
Steve Fossett
Balloonist
“As I prepared to land, I saw hundreds of people.
I did not know what to expect. But they were love
ly people. They all cheered me,” Fossett said in an
interview late Monday, appearing relaxed and
jovial in running shoes, gray slacks and several
days’ growth of beard.
The 52-year-old securities trader set off in his Solo
Spirit from St. Louis last week. After running out of
fuel, he landed Monday at Piparpur, about 370 miles
southeast of New Delhi, the capital.
He was later brought to nearby Sultanpur to eat
and sleep.
“I had a little rough landing but the only problem
I have is that I am way behind in sleeping,” Fossett
said. He said he had only two hours of sleep a day.
He traveled 9,000 miles and floated in the air for
six days, two hours and 54 minutes, according to Fos
sett’s ground crew in Chicago.
Fossett said he struggled to keep his balloon
over the Ganges River valley, which he considered
a safe place to land.
“Thunderstorms came and I was real worried be
cause my balloon could have been pushed toward
the Himalayas in Nepal and that would have been
very difficult,” he said.
The fuel problem that robbed him of a round-the-
world feat remained unexplained. He had lifted off with
an ample supply—700 gallons of propane fuel in tanks.
“I have to have a closer look why it didn’t work,” he said
in the interview at the police chief’s house in Sultanpur.
Fossett burned up extra fuel waiting for Libya to give
him clearance to fly over, spokesman Bo Kemper said,
but that alone didn’t explain the fuel shortfall.
Fossett planned to return to his landing site
Tuesday to begin preparing to get his balloon back
to the United States. The Smithsonian Institution
wants to display the gondola at the Air and Space
Museum in Washington.
Fossett had hoped to become the first hot air bal
loonist to travel around the world without stopping, but
had to settle for breaking his own record for the longest
distance traveled in a balloon and another record for
staying aloft longer than any other balloonist.
He also claimed an altitude record, but could not
immediately say what height he reached or what the
previous record was.
Fossett matched a six-day, 16-minute balloon
endurance mark about 11:30 a.m., then hovered at
500 to 1,000 feet, drifting with the winds for more
than an hour.
He eclipsed by several thousand miles his own
world distance ballooning record, 5,435 miles trav
eled on a 1995 flight from South Korea to Canada.
Fossett conceded from the start that his chances
of making it around the world were slim.
Unlike other balloonists who had set out this
month to try to float around the world, Fossett was
flying solo, in an unpressurized cabin capped by a
Plexiglas bubble.
He endured bitter cold in his cramped cabin. For
long stretches, temperatures hovered near zero while
Fossett’s flight sets records
Steve Fossett, a 52-year-old securities trader
from Chicago, broke his own record for the
longest distance traveled in a balloon, and
another record for staying aloft longer than
any other balloonist. He covered about 9,000
miles and floated in the air for six days, two
hours and 54 minutes. Solo
Spirit
) Began:
| St. Louis, Jan. 13 l
.-x ' rrxi* ..rr.' ...v
HHE
Ended:
Prithviganj, India,
Jan. 20
AP/Wm. J. Gastello
he was flying too high for his heaters to work properly.
Fossett had said he picked midwinter for the trip
because of brisk winds and fewer thunderstorms.
The high point of his adventure was crossing the
Atlantic t)cean, he said.
“It is very tricky because weather conditions can
make you go in circles. I was relieved when I crossed
the Atlantic.”
Fossett failed his first round-the-world attempt a
year ago, landing in a field in northeastern Canada.
On Jan. 8, British tycoon Richard Branson’s balloon,
Global Challenger, was forced down by equipment prob
lems in the North African desert 19 hours after lifting off
from Marrakech, Morocco, with three crew members.
Four days later, Swiss psychiatrist Bertrand Pic
card and his crew ditched in the Mediterranean af
ter kerosene fumes filled their cockpit. They lasted
six hours.
Continued from Page 1
admissions or scholarships.
Last year the A&M NAACP held a protest in the Flagri
of the Memorial Student Center: participants wore all bk
Wheatfall said the ’90’s movement is objection lo
Hopwood decision, the removal of affirmative action
Proposition 209 in California.
“There’s always a cause to have an active voice,” Wh?
fall said. “There is a cause for college students to fight fori
ter education.
The NAACP faces obstacles while trying to fightfor
dividual’s rights.
Two of the obstacles are the white males controlling the
islation and the "red tape called the administration,”\Vtn
fall said. The lack of empowerment and decisiveness of
norities are other obstacles, he said.
Wheatfall said at A&M, tradition can prohibit theNAil
from achieving its goals.
Tradition is found in every sect of society, he said, an:
is important to continue traditions, but they can also ale
ate some groups.
“Whenever those traditions infringe exceedingly...
rights of another group, it is time to alter those tradition!
Wheatfall said.
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Fire
Continued from Page 1
The A&M Critical Incident Re
sponse Team contacted parents and
notified the students’ professors of
the situation, so they could help re
place textbooks.
Bill Thomas, director of the Amer
ican Red Cross in Brazos County, said
his biggest concern at the scene was
to take care of the residents who had
been evacuated, and to handle their
immediate needs.
Thomas said most of the stu
dents remained calm and quiet,
and carried themselves in a sub
dued manner.
“ft was a traumatic experience,”
Thomas said. “They didn’t know
the extent of the damages into
their apartments.”
Mies said he wants to stress to
students the importance of keeping
their fire detectors in working con
dition. The fire detector in the
Inauguration
A&M has many small innuendoes of racism, hesakU
one of the more prominent examples is the display off
Confederate flag.
Wheatfall said the NAACP wants groups to careaboutk
offended parties feel, and then try to include them in traditio:
At the last state NAACP conference in October, theAi ^
chapter was recognized as the largest chapter in Texas wi
65 members.
Wheatfall said one of his goals, as president, is to increa; |
membership in the A&M chapter and the state.
“There is power in numbers,” Wheatfall said. “Onevoi;
may be heard, but a thousand voices will definitely be heaif
Herbert said the NAACP’s reputation is one of thereasoi The eight his
she decided to join the group.
"I joined the NAACP because it seemed like a dignifiedoi
ganization to be a member of,” she said. “1 wanted tobelood and sister
part of an organization on-campus that will respond.” i n the 1930’
Council was est
can-controlled Congress so tli^ndfoursororit
two could squabble and
Continued from Page 1
Dave House, The Battalion
A wreath and candles were placed near the unit that burned at
Kensington Place Apartments on Saturday.
ington Place Apartments, said the
burned apartment was found in the
closet with the batteries removed.
“In that building, we found three
other detectors with the batteries
removed,” Mies said.
Gail Armstrong, manager of Kens-
residents have helped solve prob
lems in the aftermath of the fire.
“Everyone just pulled together like
one big family,” Armstrong said, “ft’s re
ally pulled everyone closer together.”
“May [King’s] dream finally come
true for all of us,” Graham prayed.
Prior to the oaths, Virginian Eagle
Scout David Morales led the Pledge
of Allegiance, and the Children of the
Gospel Mass Choir sang “Let’s Build
a Bridge Across America.”
Clinton took the podium as his
wife and daughter looked on, and
Chief Justice William Rehnquist ad
ministered the oath of office, initi
ating the final presidency of the
20th century.
Proclaiming in “a moment that
will define our course and charac
ter for decades to come,” Clinton
addressed the nation with a
theme of unity.
He reiterated that government
should “do more, not less,” to grant
all Americans the opportunity to
build better lives.
“Today, we can declare that gov
ernment is not the problem, and
government is not the solution ...
Our Founders understood that,”
Clinton said.
The President said for the coun
try to successfully enter the 21st
Century, Americans must unite.
“The divide of race has been
America’s constant curse ...We shall
overcome (it),” he said.
Clinton then outlined his new
vision of government. He includ
ed such things as the information
superhighway being made avail
able to all, an improvement in
school standards, the gradual
transfer of the underclass to the
middle class and creating a planet
free from nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons.
He also stressed the importance
of a balanced budget, health-care
reform, a clean environment and
an overhaul of special interest-ori
ented politics.
The President said the Ameri
can people did not re-elect a De
mocratic Presideqt and a Republi-
hey must be “repairers of tl.! or, said the Nai
breech,” Clinton said.
Finally, in observation ofthehcl (leas and aim to
iday, the president quoted Kir.:
saying America should treat‘al
Americans as equals before thela [anization, i.e. i
and in the heart.”
The journey of our America torn other Gre
By
1
Jason Brewei
Council was di
“A lot of issue
loncerned the r
The Pan-He
i ential applicai
eview process
:he University
tie taken into
must go on ... Let us build
bridge to a blessed land of
promise,” Clinton said.
The Immanuel Baptist Cliu
Choir and Orchestra performedfrieets these rei
“The Battle Hymn of the a membership
lie,” and poet laureate Mite First-semest
Williams read his original poe rushPan-Hellei
“Of History and Hope.” The poeitio not have a gi
reflected on America’s past an
pondered what is to come.
“We mean to be the peoples
meant to be,” he read.
The Rev. Gardner Taylor deli'
ered the benediction, and singe
Santita Jackson and the Resurre;
tion Choir concluded the ceremor
with “The Star Spangled Banner.
Sea
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