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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1998)
tting their kicks: ■gkij^/S soccer readies for kQN on ‘Quack Attack.’ .dlfe Going global: Study Abroad programs offer world of knowledge. page 3 The j 105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY August 26> 1998 Issue 1 • 16 pages WEDNESDAY Partly Cloudy HIGH 96 LOW 79 V V ut S, Bus Operations ke changes for fall Aggies to assist in cloning dog By Amanda Smith The Battalion Iking, Traffic and Tkansporta- lervices (PTTS) begins the |98 semester with some new on the pavement, h Williams, the PTTS direc- lid he hopes parking will go Ihly this semester, ly hope is that we can have pig run without problems this ■ter,” Williams said. ■h Lot, or PA-56 and PA-61, are ■iger divided into red and blue ing lots but intermingles them ■ypes of permits together in ilots. Itudents with red permits ■ clear the lot on Friday its by 6:30 p.m. before home Itball games. Williams said towing will be forced for those who violate ■ng regulations on game pends. “If they do not move the cars, ■ we have to tow them,” ifiams said. “The reason that ||ave waited to change the lots that we do not want to have to iake the residents move. But vis ors to athletic events are our nests on campus and it is im- Bttant to accommodate them.” The central campus garage. which opened this summer, con tains 600 faculty and staff spaces. At night, 550 spaces will be opened for visitors to the Texas A&M campus. PA-72 near the Wehner Build ing on West Campus now con tains an automatic pay station, at which a 20-minute grace period is given for cars to exit the lot. The pay station is designed to de crease the time required to exit the lot. Another measure taken by PTTS to save time this summer was the mailing of an additional 500 parking permits, to decrease the long lines at the PTTS office at the beginning of the fall semester. At the Student Recreation Cen ter, temporary parking permits can be used for the spouses of faculty members using the facility. Bus Operations has made addi tional changes affecting students using on-campus transportation. Bus shelters have been added at the Bush School of Government and Public Service. A bus stop has been added at the corner of Kim brough and Olsen to provide trans portation for the students using the 1,500 commuter spaces at Reed Arena lot. see PTTS on Page 10. By Amanda Smith The Battalion Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and a California-based research company have teamed together to study dog cloning in a $2.3 mil lion effort called the “Missyplici- ty Project.” The project is named for the dog. Missy, whose DNA will be used in an effort to produce the ini tial cloned offspring. A United States millionaire and owner of the dog. Missy, is the sole financial supporter of the project. Texas A&M researchers Dr. Mark Westhusin, Dr. Duane Kraemer and Dr. Robert Burghardt will work with a team involving several researchers and universities. Lou Hawthorne, president of the California-based Bio Arts and Research Corp., will man age the project. Dr. Westhusin, who will lead the Fish frenzy scientific group, said the cloning ef fort will take place at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine facil ities and expects to operate with a 10 to 12 member staff. “We are getting started on the project right here, right now, or dering the supplies and doing the interviewing” Dr. Westhusin said. “Now, we think that the biggest challenge of the project is to de velop an understanding of the re productive physiology in dogs. Understanding more about that is going to give us more information about the contraception and ster ilization methods which can be used for dogs.” Researchers report that project could reduce the number of un wanted dogs and possibly increase the replication of exceptional dogs of high societal value, according to a report from Texas A&M Universi ty Relations. Missy is an 11-year-old border collie-husky mix. The cloning ef fort will study numerous areas of canine reproduction, which could find improved means of contracep tion and sterilization. Kathy Vice, the executive direc tor of the Brazos Animal Shelter Humane Society, said finding a means to clone dogs could de crease over breeding dogs. “The search for the perfect dog may be over (with dog cloning),” Vice said. “Some dogs may be bred 1,000 times to produce one ‘per fect’ dog. The (unwanted dogs) become part of the pet overpopu lation problem. But cloning a few pets a year won’t take away the overpopulation problem.” Vice said one-third of the home less animals sent to the shelter are purebred dogs and 500,000 home less dogs are killed in Texas alone annually. Some pet owners only desire to replicate a dog that they love. Vice said. “Some people love their animal so much they will give any amount of money to clone that animal,” Vice said. “That is special.” Researchers aim to apply the knowledge gained from the “Missy- plicity Project” to increase repro duction of animals facing extinction. The developers of the “Missy- plicity Project” conceived and out lined the idea in July 1997 and se lected the winning scientific applicant in March, according to the project’s Web site. The project has created a Web site at www.missyplicity.com, which includes history and updat ed information on the project. The interim between selection of the scientific party involved and the public announcement of the project has been spent finalizing le gal negotiations and planning tis sue sampling process, according to the project’s Web site. international students t taste of Texas A&M By Joe Schumacher The Battalion e fifth annual International [) (I-Camp) was held last week- tthe Memorial Student Center. iMlamp, international students J given their first glimpse at the ^tprmel0i re and traditions surrounding dLCI1 1 A&M University. h .imp, which took place on Kday, Aug. 22, is sponsored by n at International Student Associa- i . fiiitiOSA), the Association of For- JJlH ^ erStudents and the Liberty Club, Jrganization comprised of for- | international students from M currently living in Houston, rlie Aggie Wranglers, Yell Lead- ud Reveille were all at I-Camp demonstrate and explain Aggie Stions. The Aggie Wranglers performed try and western dances for the ients. The Yell Leaders held a yell practice. A&M Student Body President Laurie Nickel and Reveille were also on hand Frank Muller, Class of ’65, was one of the guest speakers in atten dance. He gave a motivational speech entitled “What it means to be an Aggie” to the incoming students. “We had an excellent turn out,” said Roselynn Regina, the vice president of public relations for the ISA and a junior industrial engi neering major. “We were pleased at how many students showed up even though it was raining. ” Regina said attendance at I- Camp was around 175 students. The international students also attended the Aggie football team “Photo Day.” There, they had a chance to meet the members of the football team and receive player autographs. see Students on Page 10. MIKE FUENTES/Thf. Battalion New members of Corps Squad 1 give the freshman wildcat as they leave Dorm 10 on the Quad Tuesday night. Giving a helping hand TEES emergency group travels to Del Rio to help flood victims MIKE FUENTES/Thf Battalion LeeGiullman of College Station, a medical techni- i, loads his gear for Texas Task Force One’s deploy ment to help flood victims in Del Rio Monday. By Bryan Buckman The Battalion In a first for the state of Texas, firefighters and emergency work ers were deployed from College Station Monday night to deal with flooding in South Texas. Members of Texas Task Force One, orga nized by the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEES), based at Texas A&M, were sent to Del Rio and Eagle Pass to spearhead search and rescue efforts. Sixteen people are confirmed dead and 30 are missing as a result of the flooding in south Texas. Fifteen members of Texas Task Force One who specialize in rapid assessment and evaluation of dis asters were sent to Del Rio by heli copter earlier in the day to assess the situation, and were expected to be among the first rescue units on the scene. Two 62-person teams were transported later in the day by Army National Guard planes and trucks, an official said. Jim Campbell, a spokesperson for the TEES, said firefighters, search-and-rescue experts, and hazardous materials specialists were called in to participate. “They got literally a minute’s notice,” Campbell said. “They im mediately dropped what they were doing and began to drive in.” The team includes several residents from the Bryan-College Station area. This deployment is the first for Texas Task Force One, which was formed following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to deal with natural and man-made dis asters including terrorist inci dents. The team has practiced to deal with such emergencies. The team includes canine units, doctors and other experts who can begin search-and-rescue opera tions immediately. Other team members are expected to relieve them within four days due to the fatigue and stress associated with their operations, an official said. Please see related story on Pg. 10. MIKE FUENTES/Thf. Battalion Fleta Kirk of Dallas, a member of the Texas Task Force One urban search-and-rescue group, and “Saber,” a rescue dog, wait to board a C-23 multi-engine plane headed for Del Rio Monday