Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 1999)
August 2, 1999 Volume 105 • Issue 179 • 6 Pages College Station, Texas PAGE 5 M 2818 renamed o honor Mitchell Field of dreams BY STUART HUTSON The Battalion ■The Bryan and College Station City Councils, in con junction with the Texas Department of Transportation, renamed Farm to Market Road (FM) 2818 yesterday to Ha vey Mitchell Parkway. ■The name of the road was changed to honor ■tchell, called “the father of Brazos County.” Mitchell was a businessman and philanthropist who served as ■azos County’s first deputy for the clerk’s department, liunty judge, treasurer, tax collector, and surveyor. He is most remembered for establishing the petition for fexas A&M University. Hlhe name change also was made to solve problems bused by the prior labeling of the road, which was originally divided into five different sections. ■ Lance Simms, the building official for College Sta tion, said this “patchwork labeling” caused many problems such as misdirected mail, slowed emer gency response times, and confusion for out of town Visitors. ■ The new Harvey Mitchell Parkway is divided in to "North Harvey Mitchell Parkway” in Bryan and “Harvey Mitchell Parkway South” in College Station. Simms said both divisions of the street are numbered in a consistent pattern, which will strongly increase the response time of the police and fire departments to that area. “We’ve got to believe that with the logical block arrangement, it will be much easier to respond to emer gencies,” he said. The resolutions to rename FM 2818 came in April of 1998 from the College Station City Council followed by the Bryan City Council in May 1998. Simms said the application for approval from the Texas Department of Transportation was not sent in un til this past April. “The delay resulted from the council’s failure to no tify the proper departmental officials within the cities after the resolution was passed,” he said. He said the cost for the change of the signs was es timated to be $9,000. “The price does not include the cost to individuals who must change their address designation outside their homes and businesses,” Simms said. Simms said he has heard almost no negative feed back from citizens and businesses affected by the change, but instead has received positive comments. “You always face resistance to change,” he said. “But I think this will be very beneficial for both cities.” Researcher finds decline in alternate-fuel research BERKELEY, Calif. (U-WIRE) — Worldwide expenditures in energy Iresearch decreased dramatically in the last 20 years, a University of Cal- ifornia-Berkeley researcher shows in a study published in Friday’s is sue of Science magazine. I Daniel Kammen, an associate pfo- Hssor of energy and society, co-au thored the study with Robert Margo- fijs of the Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Program at Princeton University. I Between 1980 and 1995, funding for solar, wind and bio-mass energy Jsearch in the United States de creased 58 percent, they said. Currently, the U.S. government’s annual expenditure on research and development is approximately $100 billion, the study indicates. Approxi mately $4.3 billion was spent on en ergy research in 1996, a drop from $11.9 billion in 1979. Worldwide, the researchers said there has-been a 39-percent decrease in funding since 1970. The study also analyzes the number of patents granted by the federal government and notes a correlation between the decline in funding and the number of patents issued. In 1994, 54 energy-related tech nology patents were granted. This number is down from 228 patents approved in 1981. Kammen said one possible reason for the drop in energy research fund ing is the availability of cheap oil in the past few years. While the oil crisis of the 1970s may have spurred policy-makers to find cheaper and more environ mentally friendly energy alterna tives, Kammen said the stability of oil prices in the past few years has decreased the need to find and de velop those alternatives. see Energy on Page 2. BRADLEY ATCHISON/Tiik Battalion Eight-year-old Hannah Hancock of the Brazos Valley Force softball team takes a few practice pitches during a softball clinic Sunday at Bee Creek Park in College Station. gainst the wind NEWS IN BRIEF mmnel facility provides testing for Tour de France winner Armstrong BY RYAN WEST The Battalion I Lance Armstrong, winner of the 1999 Tour de France, tested the bicycle that took him across the finish line in Paris at Texas A&M’s low-speed wind tunnel. I The Oran Nicks Low-Speed Wind Tunnel in College Station is one of three wind tunnels in the United States designed and sized exactly for bikes. I John Cobb, owner of Bicycle Sports in College Station, brings cyclists such as Armstrong from over the country to test their bicycles and equipment in the tunnel before competing. had actually designed the bike Lance rode (in this year’s tour) a few years ago,” he said. “I just had to adjust the front-fork, the handle-bars ,nd the wheels.” He said this past January was not the first time rmstrong had visited College Station to use the ind tunnel. Cobb said the first time Armstrong was in the tunnel was in 1991 when he came with Greg B-eMond, the first American to win the Tour de " France. He said there were about five other times mstrong has been to A&M, including before his |ast Olympic competition and before he won the brld Championship. Carlos Yapura, research associate for the wind funnel, said the cyclists and their bicycles are •laced on a balance as they travel through the tun- iel. This balance measures three factors: the drag orce, or the force of the wind going toward the •erson and the bicycle; the side force; and the lift force or minimal upward force that counteracts ; \¥"- * f 'i' * j m H I ri l'l I t •! ; BRADLEY ATCHISON/The Battalion The Oran Nicks Low-Speed Wind Tunnel in College Station is one of three tunnels in the United States designed specifically to test bicycle performance. 1999 Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong tested his bicycle at the tunnel in January. the drag force. Yapura said the researchers use smoke to see the forces at work. “When a stream of smoke is blown through the tunneb it also provides a ‘flow visualization,’ demonstrating how air floats around the bike,” he said. Cobb said tests take between four and eight hours. In addition to designing new bicycles and improving existing bicycles, Cobb focuses on the cyclist’s position. By testing the force (measured in pounds per square inch), the cyclist’s power and oxygen uptake, Cobb is able to determine the great est amount of power with the least amount of drag. He said Armstrong’s 1999 visit to A&M may not be his last. “Lance will probably be back here again in January before he enters the 2000 Olympics,” Cobb said. Local police to host Night-Out festivities Law enforcement agencies in the Bryan-College Station area will host a National Night Out Kick-off Party at Post Oak Mall tonight. The Bryan, Brazos County and College Station Police Depart ments, the Department of Public Safety and the Texas Game War dens Law Enforcement Agency will be represented at the event. A drawing will be held for a bicycle and other prizes. Exhibits and crime prevention in formation will be available. National Night Out will be to morrow night from 7 to 10. Neigh borhoods can register block parties and receive more information by calling the Bryan Police Department by calling the Bryan Police Depart ment at 822-0075. A&M names Gates as new Bush dean Robert M. Gates, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has been named interim dean of the George Bush School of Govern ment and Public Service at Texas A&M University, coinciding with its newly acquired independence from the College of Liberal Arts. Texas A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen said in a press release that Gates will assume leadership of the school Sept. 1 and serve as dean for one year while a nation al search for a permanent dean is conducted. Gates was director of the CIA from November 1991 until January 1993 under appointment of Presi dent George Bush. Gates has ties to several uni versities and developed a coopera tive program between the CIA and the John F. Kennedy School of Gov ernment at Harvard University to develop case studies on the role of intelligence in American govern ment decision making. Repairs scheduled for Parking Area 5 Parking lot maintenance is scheduled for Northside Lot Park ing Area 5 tomorrow. The lot is to be repainted and resurfaced, weather permitting. The project is scheduled to im pact only half of the lot at a time. Some faculty and staff will be able to park in the portion of the lot that is not being resurfaced. Once the lot is full, persons with PA 5 permits may park at no charge in the Northside Parking Garage and the Central Campus Parking Garage by pulling a ticket upon en tering the garage and presenting the ticket with a PAS permit to the cashier when exiting.