105 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
THURSDAY
Augusts, 1999
Volume 105 • Issue 182 • 8 Pages
College Station, Texas
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PAGE 3
today’s issue
Sports 6
News 8
Reminder:
Today s issue is the final issue of
The Battalion for the Summer
1999 semester. Fall publication
will resume on Aug. 25.
opinion
• Texas’ unique characteristics
make it ill-suited to play host
to the Olympic Games.
PAGE 7
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Exhibit presents world kites
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W ith a tan background,
red and black stripes
and a circle cut out in
the center, one of the Grandmas
ter fighter kites from the Peo
ple’s Republic of China is dis
played as part of the Weifong
International Kite Festival show
cased at J. Wayne Stark Gal
leries until Sept. 12.
The Weifong International
Kite Festival, displays interna
tional kites of various shapes,
sizes and themes as well as a
wide range of form and purpose.
They are organized by country
of origin and are accompanied
by informational essays describ
ing the kites’ origins, the materi
als used to make them and the
cultural roles kites play.
The Grandmaster kites can
fly up to 3,000 feet without
wind and are commonly used in
competition to cut away oppo
nents’ kites with their line.
China is believed to be the
first country to mimic soaring
birds with its kites and to use
light materials such as bamboo
and highly balanced paper. By
comparison, kitemakers in the
United States use more modern
materials because the Wind in
the U.S. tends to be stronger
than in China.
Folklore-themed kites repre
senting Japan are very large and
need teams of people to fly them.
The Japanese kites are much
more intricately designed and are
supplemented by 3-D visuals,
while Malaysian Kites are more
artistically shaped with promi
nent geometric features, while
they “add music to the wind,” ac
cording to its informational card.
Although the popularity of
kite-flying declined in the in
dustrial period because of high-
tension wires, it now is on the
rise again.
see Kites on Page 2.
Story by Suzanne Brabeck
Photos by Guy Rogers
Photo Illustration by Guy
Rogers and Mark McPherson
Thompson to retire
Chancellor to take position as senior adviser
BY CARRIE BENNETT
The Battalion
After five years as chancellor of the Texas A&M
University System, Dr. Barry Thompson has an
nounced his retirement, but will
hold the title of “chancellor senior
advisor” until Aug. 31 and help
new chancellor Gen. Howard
Graves make a smooth transition.
The Board of Regents voted at
their last meeting in July to make
Thompson “Chancellor Emeritus”
upon his official retirement Aug. 31.
Thompson said since he began
working for the System in 1975, he
has been dedicated to improving higher education.
He said he will continue to be a supporter of high
er-education improvements into his retirement.
“I will be more outspoken in the future than 1
have been in the past,” he said. “Also, I plan to be
an advocate for students, student programs and help
provide access for all students in Texas to higher ed
ucation. J intend to continue to support those state
policies that 1 think are important to the future of
this state.”
While serving as chancellor, Thompson accom
plished many tasks, such as leading the establish-
THOMPSON
ment of the Texas Higher Education Coalition, a
group of leaders representing all of the higher ed
ucation institutions in the state dedicated to re
taining and aiding college students in their gradu
ation efforts.
A proposal to the 75th Texas Legislature generat
ed by the coalition resulted in $594 million in addi
tional funding for increased partnerships between
four-year universities, community colleges and pub
lic schools. Thompson said he could not have ac
complished as much as he did without the help of
others on his staff.
“There are a lot of people that work with me and
one single person can do very little,” Thompson
said. “There have been a number of significant ac
complishments the people in Texas once again have
trusted to the A&M System such as the fact that high
er education has received the most funding its ever
received in history over the last two [state legisla
tive] sessions.”
Thompson said his other accomplishments in
clude the creation of the Texas A&M System Health
Science Center, and the integration of the regional
universities with Texas A&M and the eight state
agencies so the System runs more smoothly.
“It’s been a good ride,” Thompson said.
see.Thompson on Page 2.
Good as gold
A&M professor examines potential uses of gold
BY STUART HUTSON
The Battalion
A Texas A&M professor’s re
search on manipulating the struc
ture and functions of gold may lead
to new applications in the field of
medicine and the environment.
Dr. John P. Fackler has been re
searching gold since the mid-’70s,
and is continuing research on the
properties of gold pertaining to its
use in the field of medicine.
One of gold’s first uses as a drug
was an unsuccessful attempt to
mix a form of the element with sul
fur. The mixture was supposed to
treat tuberculosis. Instead, what
doctors found was an improvement
in patients’ suffering from symp
toms of rheumatoid arthritis.
“Gold has been used as a medi
cine for a long time,” Fackler said.
“But only in the last two decades
have we begun to understand why
it is effective.”
Fackler said gold ions have a
tendency to eliminate damaging
chemicals in the body, such as ox
idants and cyanide, commonly
found in arthritis-afflicted cells. He
“Gold has been used
as a medicine for a
long time, but only in
the last two decades
have we begun to
understand why it
is effective”
— Dr. John P. Fackler
A&M professor
said gold may sometimes act in
place of certain enzymes, ridding
the cells of these chemicals.
Gold’s tendency to act in place
of enzymes is being explored for
use in targeting cancer cells in can
cer-laser therapies and will soon be
used to produce new forms of light
sources.
Fackler is also studying how
the luminescent properties of gold
may be used to detect harmful
chemicals.
He found that a certain chemi
cal structure of gold, when exposed
to ultraviolet light, glows until it
comes in contact with certain
chemicals, such as chlorine or bro
mide, which may be harmful to the
environment.
Fackler said this finding may
be used to create a chemical de
tector. The. detector would be
made from a strip of gold-covered
paper and then be exposed to a
black light.
Fackler said one of the most
useful potential applications of
gold as a chemical detector would
be to use a water soluble-form of
luminescent gold to detect water
pollutants.
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Police investigating
Aggie junior’s death
BY VERONICA SERRANO
The Battalion
Officials are investigating the
death of an A&M student that oc
curred Tuesday morning, his 21st
birthday.
Michael Duane Wagener, a ju
nior environmental design major
of Porter, was found unconscious
in his apartment after police re
ceived a 911 call at 7 a.m., Sgt.
Charles Fleeger of the College Sta
tion Police Department said.
Fleeger said Wagener was treat
ed at the scene then taken to the
College Station Medical Center
where he was pronounced dead.
He said the police department is in
vestigating the death.
Sgt. Labam Toscano of the
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Com
mission (TABC) said the commis
sion is also investigating the death.
“Through a preliminary inves
tigation and eyewitness reports.
the indication is that it [the death]
was alcohol related,” Toscano
said. “But we can’t say conclu
sively [if it was alcohol related]
until we get the medical exami
nation and autopsy.”
He said some College Station
establishments that serve alcohol
have been questioned by a TABC
agent.
John Miller, manager of The
Dixie Chicken, said the restaurant
was not questioned by the TABC.
He said the establishment’s
policy is to wait until 12 a.m. of a
person’s birthday before serving
him or her alcohol.
He said bartenders will not
serve alcohol to a person who ap
pears “somewhat intoxicated”
unless he or she is accompanied
by a designated driver.
“We want the person to have
fun responsibly,” Miller said.
see Death on Page 2.
Library namesake Evans turns 100
BY NONI SRIDHARA
The Battalion
CODY WAGES/Th e Battalion
Texas A&M graduate student Allison Henry signs a lOOth-birthday card for Sterling C. Evans last
week. The card was presented to Evans during his birthday party this weekend.
The namesake of Texas A&M’s main library
will turn 100 years old today.
Sterling C. Evans, who graduated from A&M
jn 1921 with a degree in agriculture, formally
celebrated his birthday early last weekend in his
present hometown of Bracketville, where a gi
ant birthday card signed by hundreds of A&M
students was presented to him.
“We wanted to celebrate and capture the
monumental achievements of Sterling Evans in
a birthday card that was signed by as many stu
dents as possible,” Fred M. Heath, dean and di
rector of the Sterling C. Evans Library, said in a
press release.
The customized card “pictorially captures
Evans as ‘the Man of the Century,”’ and features
historical moments and heroes of the 20th cen
tury, a press release said.
In recognition of his reaching the century mark,
the Evans Library acquired the Kelmscott Press
edition of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer through
a gift from John and Sara Lindsey of Houston.
Charlene Clark, public relations officer for
Evans library, said Evans was instrumental in
shaping the library even before it was officially
named in honor of him in 1975.
Clark said he founded the Friends of the Li
brary Program in 1970, which allows supporters
to donate money and materials on various levels.
“He’s our [the library’s] No. 1 champion,”
she said. “He has been very active in building
support for the library and has also served as
president.”
William N. Stokes, author of Evans’ biogra
phy which was published in 1985 and a former
employee of Evans who is 90 years old, joking
ly said he always thought Evans was a lot old
er than him since he met him back in the 30s.
“He was around 34 or 35 when I met him and
I was in my early 20s,” Stokes said. “But I always
thought he was 100 years old back then.”
see Evans on Page 2.