105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
June 8, 1999
Volume 105 • Issue 148 • 8 Pages
College Station, Texas
â– â– â– â– â– 
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.
â–  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
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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.