esday, August 31,1999
106 YEAR
UNIVERSITY
August 31,1999
INSIDE
sports
coring threat
M junior soc
cer player Nikki
mrasher has
' the knack.
B Page 9
College Station, Texas
. ..
Volume 106 • Is.
£ *
X.
tf
%
religion
Break Away
Program draws thousands each
esday to worship.
New Feature Page 5
opinion
Fish out of water
w policy of earlier
Jove-in day for
|feshmen does not
dress possible
Ipnsequences.
Page 13
new feature
e Battalion now has a daily
ossword puzzle.
Page 10
Water
main
bursts
BY CARRIE BENNETT
AND EMILY R. SNOOKS
The Battalion
Bus routes and other traffic were de
toured yesterday after a major water line
broke on Ireland Street, a few yards north
of Ross Street, when a large crane drove
over a newly repaired water line.
Steve Harris, a private contractor at
R.E.C. Industries hired by Texas A&M, said
the water line originally broke last Friday at
2 a.m. Rust and old age caused the break,
and water had to be shut off by a valve at
the main loop of the A&M water system. He
said by shutting off the water at the valve,
the main water system around campus was
not interrupted.
“To repair the line, a repair clamp was
A water line that burst on Ireland Street
Monday afternoon.
put on [the line], and crushed rock was put
on top to cover the hole temporarily so cars
could be driven on the street,” Harris said.
He said a crane that had been used
for repairs on the cooling towers at the
corner of Ireland and Ross streets drove
over the rock-covered hole, causing the
line to break again yesterday at 3 p.m.
Harris said the Bus Stop Snack Shop was
the only building to experience a loss of wa
ter. Other surrounding buildings received
water from space in the main water loop.
Gary Jackson, Bus Operations manager,
said the Rudder bus route, which usually
runs from Ireland Street down Ross Street
to the Langford Architecture Center, will be
ANTHONY DISALVO/The Battalion
Friday broke again while undergoing repair
detoured today and will travel down Spence
Street instead of Ireland Street until repairs
are finished.
“We will put signs out to let students
know about the bus route change,” he said.
“The construction on the Physical Plant has
been causing some problems in the flow of
traffic, too.”
Harris said repairs might include replac
ing the rest of the line to Ross Street and
then repairing the old line that has cracked
on the other side of Ireland Street.
“It is up to A&M to decide if the line
will be completely replaced,” he said.
“They will probably decide tomorrow
what will be done.”
All U Night A&M slips to No. 18
in magazine’s poll
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Texas A&M slipped several notch
es in national academic rankings
this year, moving from 15th in the
1998 U.S. News and World Report
rankings to 18th in the 1999 rank
ings.
In a statement released^ last week,
Texas A&M University President Dr.
Ray M. Bowen said University offi
cials are disappointed by the decline
but are encouraged Texas A&M re
mains among the top 20 universities
in the nation.
Lane Stephenson of University
Relations said a university’s selec
tivity can be an indicator in the rank
ings. A&M housed the nation’s
largest freshman class last year,
which may have indicated a decline
in selectivity.
The magazine ranks universities
annually based on graduation and
retention rates, faculty resources,
alumni donations and academic rep
utation.
Last year A&M unveiled the Vi
sion 2020 plan for the University,
with hopes of becoming a top-10
university by the year 2020. The plan
details campus wide improvements,
including expanding graduate re
search programs and adding faculty
members.
A&M leads in state research fund
ing at $83.7 million. Over the last 10
years, the University’s research ex
penditures have increased by more
than $150 million. Graduate student
enrollment totals 6,746 students. Ac
cording to national rankings, A&M
ranks ninth in research expenditures
at $36 million.
Student’s
attackers
punished
BY STUART HUTSON
The Battalion
t
Three Bryan men and a youth accused of shooting
a Texas A&M University graduate student with paint
ball guns last October have agreed after civil media
tions to pay the victim more than $500 in total com
pensation and to serve a total of 30 hours community
service.
Pu Wang, a marketing graduate student, was shot at
10:30 p.m. while waiting to cross at the intersection of
Wellborn Road and Joe Routt Drive on Oct. 2, 1998.
Wang said the paintball struck his knee and wrist, leav
ing a scar the size of a dime on his wrist and damag
ing his watch. Both hits drew blood.
'This is my last semester
before / graduate, and I just
want to get this over with.”
— Pu Wang
Assault victim
Wang and the four attackers agreed to meet for me
diation by the Department of Student Life. Wang said
he wanted to avoid a time- and money-consuming civ
il case, which all of the participants feared would at
tract undue media attention.
“This is my last semester before I graduate, and I
just want to get this over with,” Wang said.
One of the shooters, Richard DiZerega, a junior elec
trical engineering major, said he too was ready to put
this incident behind him.
“We came forward and apologized for doing this to
Mr. Wang,” he said. “Now we just have to hope he can
forgive us and try to move on the best we can. I didn’t
realize your life could get so messed up from one mo
ment of stupidity.”
DiZerega paid Wang $300 in compensation and
agreed to a joint interview with The Battalion to dis
cuss the incident.
“I felt it would be beneficial for everyone involved
to openly discuss what happened,” Wang said.
DiZerega said the paintball shooting incident was
part of a shooting spree that pelted cars and store win
dows around College Station with what he thought
see Punishment on Page 2.
Experts gauge Texas hurricane threat
ANTHONY DISALVO/THh Battalion
Students from Crocker Hall band together during All-University Night Monday.
’ Stephen
jereniv' 1 *
BY ERIKA DOERR
The Battalion
The first day of fall classes ended
Monday with All -University Night,
boasting of camaraderie among faculty,
staff members and students of all ages.
A new addition this year was an All-
University Walk that led students
across campus to Kyle field.
Yell leaders, the Fightin’ Texas Aggie
Band and the Corps of Cadets left the
Quadrangle to gather students from the
Northside and Southside residence
halls.
• The ceremony at Kyle Field focused
on welcoming students and encourag
ing support for Texas A&M fall athletic
teams. The stadium Jumbotron played
highlights from each sports team, and
individual halls chanted their yells.
Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice presi
dent for Student Affairs, said that when
he was a student at A&M, he walked
around campus with the band and the
Corps of Cadets before games, and it was
a great idea for Monday night as well.
“Back when I was in school at A&M,
we wouldn’t think of entering Kyle
Field untiHhe Aggie Band marched on
first,” he said. “I marched behind the
band tonight. It was a success, and I
congratulate the yell leaders for ac
complishing a new idea and bringing
back an old Aggie tradition.”
Student Body President Will Hurd,
a senior computer science and interna
tional studies major, said All-U Night
brought a sense of community and
friendly rivalry to students and was
better than last year’s.
“A good mix of students participat
ed in this event,” he said. “The major
ity of people were freshmen, yet there
were students from different sororities,
dorms and Aggies of all ages who par
ticipated as well. All-U Night was defi
nitely a good start in continuing the
sense of community between the Corps
and residence halls.”
BY STUART HUTSON
The Battalion
Meteorologists warn that the destruc
tive landfall of Hurricane Bret may be the
beginning of an active hurricane season
for the East Coast, but the likelihood of
another hurricane striking the Texas coast
is small because hurricanes seldomly
strike the same area twice.
“We can’t rule it out,” Jeff Jamison, a
meteorologist for television station KBTX-
TV, said, “but a hurricane striking us twice
in the same year is against the statistics.”
John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas’ interim
state climatologist and an associate profes
sor of meteorology at Texas A&M, said the
peak hurricane season begins in mid-Au
gust and extends through September. He
said this year there are between 10 to 15
major storms expected to develop in the At
lantic. As many as 10 of these may turn into
actual hurricanes, he said.
“The hurricane season had been rela
tively weak until Bret struck,” he said.
“Since then, we have had four major
storms.”
Nielsen-Gammon said Hurricane Bret
had the power to cause a lot of damage
along the Texas coast but hit the relative
ly unpopulated Kenedy County causing
little destruction. He said a change of just
a few degrees in the hurricane’s path
could have sent it hurtling into Corpus
Christi.
Fred Schlemmer, a professor of marine
sciences at Texas A&M University at
Galveston, said a tropical storm is offi
cially deemed a hurricane when the wind
speeds in the storm exceed 74 mph. The
storms are then categorized by their wind
velocity.
Schlemmer said Hurricane Bret was
labeled a Category 4, with wind speeds
between 131 and 155 miles per hour.
Nielsen-Gammon said a hurricane is
formed when a large area of thunder
storms develop over warm tropical wa
ters. The storms heat the atmosphere,
causing the surface air pressure over the
water to fall.
Strong winds that develop from this
low-pressure area pick up heat and mois
ture from the water below and carry them
into the thunderstorms.
This extra heat and moisture adds to
the strength of the storm, causing even
more heat and moisture to be carried up
into the storm. This cycle continues un
til the thunderstorms reach the tropical
storm or even hurricane level.
Nielsen-Gammon said there are sever
al key global meteorological factors that
help to predict the level of hurricane ac-.
tivity for a season.
One of these factors is a low level of
wind shear over the Atlantic. The wind
shear can dissipate thunderstorms before
they get the chance to develop into hurri
canes.
-Peak hurricane season lasts
from mid August to late
September
-This year 10-15 major storms
are expected to develop in
the Atlantic Ocean
-Of those, 10 are expected to
become hurricanes
MARK MCPHERSON/The Battalio
Nielsen-Gammon said La Nina, ,
strong cooling trend in the waters of th
eastern Pacific Ocean, is moving air cur
rents that normally would cause the win<
shear.
Other factors that strongly affect hurri
cane activity are a strong jet stream acros
Africa, warmer-than-usual sea surfac
temperatures and low atmospheric pres
sure over the Atlantic Ocean am
Caribbean Sea.
“All these elements are present thi
year and indicate that we may have
highly active year for hurricanes,
Nielsen-Gammon said.
Organizations to offer free bicycle registration
JEFF SMITH/The Battalion
BY JEANETTE SIMPSON
The Battalion
The University Police Department
(UPD) and Parking, Traffic and TVans-
portation Services (PTTS) are provid
ing free bicycle registration to Texas
A&M University students, faculty and
staff to increase the chances a lost or
stolen bicycle will be returned to its
owner after it has been recovered.
Beginning tomorrow, UPD offi
cers will be available every Wednes
day in September from 9 a.m. until 5
p.m. at Rudder Fountain to engrave
the owner’s driver’s license number
on the bicycle. Personnel from PTTS
will complete the paperwork re
quired for registration, which in
cludes the phone number and ad
dress of the owner.
When a lost or stolen bicycle is
found, UPD will use the license num
ber on the bicycle to reference the
phone number and address of the
rightful owner.
Sgt. H. Allan Baron, an officer on
the UPD crime prevention unit, said
he expects the program to be popu
lar among students.
“We are hoping to get as many
registered as possible to try and in
crease the awareness of this prob
lem,” he said.
Baron said the dollar value of bi
cycles stolen on campus increased al
most $30,000 last fiscal year.
He said that in the past an aver
age of $70,000 in bicycles was
stolen each year. According to last
year’s preliminary reports, 14,820
bicycles, $114,188 worth, were
stolen, and only 1 percent of those ‘‘f’
were recovered.
Once a bicycle is registered, it
remain registered in the PTTS cor
puter databank permanently.
Baron said that if the registr
tioa program is able to successfr
ly return recovered bicycles, UF
will continue the*
as possible, wiM’
tration progv gl
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