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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 1999)
105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY June 8, 1999 Volume 105 • Issue 148 • 8 Pages College Station, Texas ■■■■■ aggielife • Texas heat often presents unexpected dangers behind summer activities. PAGE 3 today’s issue Health 6 News 8 Battalion Radio Listen to 90.9 KAMU-FM at 1:57 p.m. for details on today’s public hearing by the CS Parks and Recreation Board. opinion Janet Reno's record offers doubt to her ability to handle Chinese spy scandal. PAGE 7 ask force eyes changes o campus transportation BY CARRIE BENNETT The Battalion A member of the Campus Access Task Force aid one of the largest issues the task force has en discussing is the possibility of con tracting a bus corridor, which would allow '"‘Abuses to travel across main campus without ^^|ving to travel on George Bush or University w I Doug Williams, associate director of Parking w Ttaffic and Transportation Services (PTTS), said » the corridor would involve constructing a campus to' roadway because currently there is no circular route on main campus. ■ The Campus Access Task Force will break into different groups and meet this summer to discuss preliminary recommendations to improve carn al Car, pus access including simplifying on-campus tran sit, pedestrian travel and visitor accommodations, among which the bus corridor is one idea that is being evaluated. “The central theme to the discussions has been the idea of a bus corridor to make it easier to get around campus,” Williams said. Williams said other changes discussed include placing a visible patrol on campus at night, pro viding more emergency phones and more signs to give pedestrians a reference point. Williams said the task force is discussing fa cilitating bicycle transit. He said covered storage areas, marked bicycle paths and an increased number of bicycle racks are options being dis cussed by the task force. He said accommodations for visitors to cam pus in the areas of parking and sign improve ments would allow smoother travel on campus have also been discussed. “Physical improvements such as visitor booths and speed bumps have been dis cussed,” he said. Mary Miller, chair of the task force and asso ciate vice president for administration, said the task force, which consists of representatives from faculty, staff students, visitors and mem bers of PTTS, will have a package of recom mendations to improve campus access ready at the end of the summer. “The campus grew quickly in a short period of time, so we are trying to accommodate the in creased number of people and increased number of buildings,” Miller said. Miller said the task force will work proactive ly to improve campus access in the future. Changes discussed by task force Construction of a bus corridor Visible campus patrol at night More emergency telephones More pedestrian reference signs Covered bicycle storage areas Marked cycling paths More bicycle racks Visitor information booths Added speed bumps GABRIEL RUENES/I Ht IVai im.ion e Painting the town e no'.fi rtedi' £ )ps,i Id nois bels, ir Forte irnivp: r. ! trooper:! tion Air fire. -niiandi? n Belgr; -noon, the plat ration tai< aserver. in its a. iy Suni special tm x J § Ifa contir, .age fr 3ttalio r : »new ifpr npfc,swi s soon a h: •e.ledwli; i.tamt MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion Libby Woodward, a senior environmental design major, paints in her ARTS 205 class Monday. The free-form painting class is offered through the College of Architecture. Reaching out Program offers students incentive for college enrollment BY RYAN WEST The Battalion The director of the University Outreach Center in Houston said the outreach program is an oppor tunity to mold and shape students of a low socioeconomic status, and it motivates the students to go to college. This is the 11th year University Outreach, a joint venture between Texas A&M University and the Uni versity of Texas, has worked to reach these students. The six centers throughout Texas, including A&M’s three cen ters in San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Houston, reach more than 3,000 students. Antoinette Morrell, director of the University Outreach Center in San Antonio, said the program strives to help students realize that college is an attainable goal. Students from eighth to 12th grade, who have an A or B grade point average, are recommended for the program by their teachers. These students then submit an application, along with a list of academic activi ties they are currently involved with and their last report card to Univer sity Outreach. If they are selected for the program, they will attend bi monthly meetings during the acade mic year. Morrell said the program offers college information workshops on study skills, time management and preparation for college courses. The students in San Antonio are also required to volunteer for or ganizations such as Ronald Mc Donald Houses and child advoca cy centers in the city. see Outreach on Page 2. TERRY ROBERSON/The Battalion Experts say sunny skies like these will get even sunnier this summer as temperatures are expected to climb in the coming months. They also predict an increase in the number of tropical storms to hit Texas. Experts predict hotter weather, storms for Texas this summer BY STUART HUTSON The Battalion Meteorologists said temperatures this summer in Bryan-College Station are predicted to be warmer than usual, though less severe than last year’s record-break ing heat wave, and turbulent weather in the tropics could lead to high humidity and strong tropical storms. John Nielsen-Gammon, associate professor of mete orology and acting state climatologist, and Bob French, chief meteorologist for KBTX-TV, said temperatures will probably be normal or higher than normal, ranging from the mid- to upper 90s. Thomas Crowley, professor of oceanography, said pre cipitation is not easy to predict this summer. “Last summer was clearly going to be hot and dry, but this year, there is no clear trend for this area,” he said. French said precipitation will be hard to forecast but said a current from the turbulent tropics into the Gulf of Mexico could bring more rainfall this summer, but the extra humidity may make it feel as hot as last summer. “The extra moisture in the atmosphere makes it hard er for a person to cool down by sweating,” he said. “Peo ple should avoid doing strenuous work outside between noon to 5 in the afternoon since these are the hottest hours of the day.” The conditions in the tropics are expected to bring an active storm and hurricane season to Texas. William Gray, a professor of meteorology at Colorado State University, said he predicts 14 significant tropical storms, 10 hurricanes and 4 intense hurricanes. French said these storms may strike the Gulf Coast. “We are really getting overdue on the Texas coast for a major hurricane strike,” he said. The last hurricanes to hit Texas were hurricanes Jer ry and Chantal in 1989.