Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1998)
The Battalion TfiTE Monday • duly 21 HKSI— UlVIP- OFFICERS Continued from Page 1 “It's awful that it happened/' John Kurzawa, a 16-year-old from Northford, Conn, who was touring with his family, said. “I wish it hadn't happened. I hope as a nation we can get over it.'' The repercussions were already set ting in, though, from the grief of the fam ilies to the shaken colleagues of Chestnut and Gibson who were being offered counseling, to talk of enhanced security at a building prized for openness. Among the options was revived talk of construction of a Capitol visitors cen ter, possibly underground, that could serve as a way station for tourists as well as provide for greater security. Still, Abrecht, chief of the Capitol po lice, said there was little that could have been done in the way of security to pre vent Weston's attack that would have been acceptable to members of Congress and the public. “He was prepared to go in there and die and take anybody with him," Abrecht said on CNN's “Late Edition." “He never got more than 20 feet inside" the building. The chief said the slain officers and others who rushed to the scene “were heroic in every way." Officials have said Chestnut tried to stop Weston when he burst past the met al detector at a first-floor entrance to the building Friday afternoon. Chestnut was shot in the head. A second officer who had gone to get a wheelchair for a tourist then fired at Weston, who ran around the corner and opened the private door leading to a suite of offices occupied by the House Republican Whip, Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas. Gibson, assigned to protect DeLay, shouted at numerous people in the suite to take cover and exchanged gun fire at short range with the gunman. Both officer and gunman fell, Gibson mortally wounded. A tourist who was shot in the episode, 24-year-old Angela Dickerson of suburban Virginia, was released from the hospital Saturday. In a series of meetings Sunday, con gressional officials were in touch with the survivors of the two men as they at tempted to work out the details of sever al days of observances. Legislative business that had been scheduled in the House on Monday will be replaced by tributes to Chestnut and Asia White House Lincoln Memorial =an ' Ss ach mi— low— co O- GO ' Usei < ^nns >ylvar >isAv e . E MALL PHl |w. 1 Va Va N.C Wash. Shootingr the CapiM D.C. building S.C A ilantic Ocean Potomac River AP/Wm. J.Ca Gibson, officials said. Numerous high-ranking govern ment officials have lain in state in the Rotunda since Abraham Lincoln' ket was brought there in 1865. Ot similarly honored include Prt id t :as- ers nts >hn F. K nned) as Gens. . . McArthur. Dwight Eikj ohn J. Pers' Temperatures not expected to lower soon Hate-crime prevention needs strengthenii assistant attorney general Bill Lann Lee sai DALLAS (AP) — Low tem peratures haven't received much attention during the deadly heat wave searing the Southwest. But Sunday's morn ing low of 82 set a record for the number of days the temperature has not fallen below 80 degrees in North Texas. That kind of sustained heat, without any respite in the morn ings dr evenings, can be deadly, Charles Gaylor, of the Dallas Coun ty rnedical examiner's office, said. “It's like running a fever: You can't run a fever indefinitely,'' Gaylor said. “If your body tem perature was raised during the day when you didn't have air conditioning, it just stands to reason that if it doesn't cool off, you're not going to cool off." The heat wave has killed at least 93 people in Texas since June 1 and caused $1.5 billion in agricultural damage and more than 6,765 wildfires. On Sunday, North Texans braved heat of 101 degrees, the region's 21st straight day of triple-digit weather. The 82-degree low was the 24th time this year that the low temperature did not fall below 80, according to the National Weather Service. The old record of 22 was set in 1925 and tied in 1980's infamously hot summer. High demand and heat- stressed pipes caused water mains in Fort Worth to rupture for a second straight day Satur day, shutting off water to two hospitals and the city's popular downtown tourist attractions. Service was restored by Sat urday afternoon, but a ban on all outdoor watering was still in place Sunday and city officials implored residents to conserve. They will meet today to dis cuss when and how to lift the ban, water department spokes woman Mary Gugliuzza said. "If everyone goes out and turns their sprinkler system on at the same time, that could put quite a stress on the system again," she said. Forecasters say there's little, if any, chance of rain in the coming week. A large center of high pres sure squatting over the South continues to choke off any hope of rainfall. "The high pressure is press ing down on the earth and sup pressing the formation of clouds that could perhaps develop into thunderstorms," Michael Mach, a meteorologist with the Na tional Weather Service in Fort Worth,said. And as long as the rain stays away, the lows will probably stay warmer than average. "The main reason is that soil conditions are quite dry, and that soil is absorbing a tremendous amount of heat," Mach said. “It's like in a desert when you have sand — (dry ground) is a more efficient absorber of heat." HOUSTON (AP) — Federal laws must be toughened to prevent hate-motivated crimes such as the June dragging death of an African-American man in East Texas, said Bill Lann Lee, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. “We must have the law enforcement tools necessary to ensure that when hate crimes do occur the perpetrators are identified and brought swiftly to justice," Lee said Saturday at a roundtable discussion led by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston. The forum focused on a hate-crime bill working its way through Congress. The bill would extend the hate-crimes statute to offenses based on disability and sexual orientation. Currently, a hate crime can be prosecuted by the federal government only if it is moti vated by race, religion, national origin and if it prevented the victim from exercising spe cific federally protected rights such as voting or attending school. “The current law provides no coverage whatsoever on violent hate crimes commit ted because of a victim's sexual orientation, gender or disability," Lee said. “This means that federal hate crimes jurisdiction cannot be involved in some of the most horrible cas es of violent crimes." Gayle Rickie of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays told the panel that hate crimes against homosexuals often go unreported. “When a person reports such a crime, it endangers them even more, exposing them to further anti-gay bias," she said. Some 64 anti-gay hate crimes were re ar, butmoi ported in Texas las went unreported, Rickie said. Also testifying was Renee Vj daughter of James Byrd Jt, whowj chained to a pickup truck and dras;::) death on June 7 outside of Jasper, ra men have been charged with cap:.] in connection with the crime. Mullin tearfully beseechedpa: bers to do more to prevent such ate “I feel frustrated that current tentimes cannot protect America'] father," she said. Tasty treats |OQ|t Photos By Mike Puentes A (Top left): Kevin Knabe, a junior high school student, makes a cookies ‘n’ mint ice cream treat. Knabe said shakes tend to be a more popular item during the summer. M^sl (Top right): Justin Ezell, a senior finance major, makes a smoothie Sunday afternoon. Ezell said, “It [business] has been steady this summer, even though most of the students have went home for the summer.” (Bottom right): Sara Lammerts, a senior journalism major, serves William Martin a snow cone Sunday afternoon. Martin said he and his family often get snow cones to relax in the hot summer sun. Lammerts said business has never been better in the seven years she has run the snow cone stand. GAL A&Ml Preside: he canc the env : peace be been scl Kern] rum on schedul versity membei to discu No c a bout tin "It tu er-level would b "Wei going to whether Boy Sec down v what the do it, an written them an No oi eel the n "The, here," K The f tarian U Monday Greer and men of the Si the sude Sierra C Wehrle s ex planat "It so municati couldn't re storati disappoi SEEQr