lesday • December 7, 1999
ARPOOL
aids service
or semester
BY BROOKE HODGES
The Battalion
Caring Aggies ‘R’ Protecting Over Our Lives
[CARPOOL) stopped providing service this se
mester Saturday night, but the organization’s
[access has guaranteed its return next semester.
The organization will resume services
Ian. 20.
Jeff Shiefelbein, founder and chair of
ZARPOOL and a senior management major,
bid the organization decided to stop ser
vices during finals week to give student vol-
jnteers time to study.
“We need to make sure our people get
[heir grades,” he said. “It is something we
meed to do for ourselves.”
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—Jeff Shiefelbein
founder and chair of CARPOOL
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Shiefelbein said the spring schedule will
remain the same, Thursday through Satur
day 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Shiefelbein said in its first semester of op
eration, CARPOOL gave 2,389 people rides
home and had to bring one person to the
hospital.
“We had a girl [who] was showing the
.signsof severe alcohol poisoning,” he said.
I “Wetook her to the hospital [which] was the
best move that could have been made.”
Brooke Mauritzen, a CARPOOL volunteer
and a sophomore biomedical science major,
said she enjoyed working with the organiza-
Ition because it was fulfilling to help others.
“1 like driving; you get to see some inter
esting people and get some funny stories to
tell,” she said. “Like last night, we picked up
a group of guys we give rides to frequently,
and they like to give hugs — so every time
we would stop, they would get out and give
us hugs.”
Mauritzen said CARPOOL was frequently
[called to pick up students at Northgate and
Hurricane Harry’s, and over the past semes-
|ter she gave about 60 people rides home.
Shiefelbein said throughout the semester,
[CARPOOL had some run-ins with Bryan-Col-
lege Station taxi companies. In order to co-
loperate with the cab companies, Shiefelbein
said the group has put the phone number for
jAdvantage Taxi on the CARPOOL answering
machine.
“We put the phone number on there in case
[people call on Wednesday and we aren’t
[there,” he said. “We also give people the [taxi]
number if they call and ask us to bring them
to a party or bar since we can’t do that.”
Shiefelbein said spring-volunteer applica
tions are available in the J. Koldus Building
and are due Friday.
“We want as many people as possible to
apply,” he said.
106
AT fCVHC AJbM HMTVFR4STTV
College Station, Texas
Volume 106 • Issue 69*16 Pages
Aggies to present designs
for pediatric-care center
BY ROLANDO GARCIA
The Battalion
On Sept. 17 more than 70 Texas A&M architecture stu
dents were given a daunting task; design a $100 million,
720,000 square foot addition to the Children’s Medical
Center in Dallas to help put the center on the forefront
of pediatric medicine.
Lauren Elford, a junior environmental design major,
said to prepare for the project, the-students toured the
site and met with architects and hospital officials.
“They told us the criteria we had to meet, and it was
overwhelming,” she said. “It’s been intense, non-stop
work since then.”
The students, who worked in nine teams, will return
to Dallas tomorrow to present their final drawings, mod
els and cost estimates.
George Mann, director of the project and an architec
ture professor, said each team consisted of design, con
struction science and landscape architecture students.
Mann said the top three designs will be recognized.
He predicted that the Children’s Medical Center will in
corporate the best ideas from each presentation into the
final design.
Elford said the project began by choosing basic de
signs using clay models, but translating a general idea
into a detailed schematic drawings was a real challenge.
“There’s lots of clinical requirements you have to deal
with, like exam rooms, play rooms, separate patient and
public restrooms,” she said. “And in addition to the
medical facilities, you also have to accommodate office
space as well. It’s a lot different from building just a reg
ular residential or commercial structure. ”
Elford said taking over the project was more work
than she imagined. She said it consumed nearly 30
hours a week, but designing the medical complex is an
invaluable opportunity.
“I’ve really learned a lot,” Elford said. “Designing
health care facilities is a whole different realm, and I’m
glad I have that experience under my belt.”
PATRIC SCHNEIDER/The Battalion
Johnathan Ragsdale, a freshman landscape architec
ture major, shows his class project to professor John J.
Fairy, while Jacob Pawlak, a freshman landscape engi
neering major looks on.
Ronald Skaggs, CEO of HKS Architects and Class
of ’65, assisted the project and said designing a real
structure has given the students valuable real-world
experience.
“Architecture students worked closely with con
struction students and they got a practical look at the
teamwork that goes into building a complex structure
like this,” Skaggs said.
O Christmas tree
CODY WAGES/Thf B ATI align
Jenna Davis, a resident of College Station, shops for a Christmas tree at The Farm Patch in Bryan.
Former prof
dies at age 82
BY CARRIE BENNETT
The Battalion
Many Aggies only hear stories about the beginning of
Texas A&M traditions, but Col. Charles E. Gregory, a re
tired air science professor and Class of ’38, was a student
and faculty member at A&M when many traditions and
school alterations were just beginning. On Nov. 16 A&M
lost a friend. Gregory died at the age of 82.
In 1958, he began teaching air science at A&M and served
as temporary acting commandant when Commandant Joe
Davis was away taking care of personal matters. He worked
under A&M President James Earl Rudder.
During his time as a professor, A&M’s status changed
from college to university. Also, the requirement previ
ously required all students to serve at least two years in
the Corps of Cadets changed to admit students who were
not going to join the Corps.
Gregory graduated from A&M with a bachelor’s of sci
ence degree and a certificate for appointment as a lieu
tenant in the Calvary Reserve at the age of 20.
Gregory “frogged in” or joined the Corps of Cadets
when he was a sophomore. When Gregory joined the
Corps, he was in the infantry, but joined the Calvary Re
serve after his first semester. Gregory was a member of
the Army Air Signal Corps, which was the air arm of the
armed forces before Congress established the Army Air
Force in 1941.
see Gregory on Page 2.
The
'hinese
Happy
I : ' : TTree
Texas 4 C. 1/ biologists are
studying the Chinese Happy
fm- producer o f an anti-
cancer compound.
BRANDON HENDERSON/The Battalion
Biologists research tree, seek cure for cancer
BY STASIA RAINES
The Battalion
Texas A&M biologists, biology professor
Craig Nessler and associate biology profes
sor Thomas McKnight, are working togeth
er to find a cure for cancer from the Chinese
Happy Tree plan, which is native to south
ern China.
For 10 years, the two scientists have been
studying the tree with the hopes of under
standing exactly why and how it produces the
anti-cancer compound Camptothecin (CPT).
“There are a lot of drugs available with this
plant that we don’t understand,” Nessler
said. “We want to know, how this is done so
we can learn how to produce more, thus in
creasing the availability of these drugs.”
McKnight, an associate biology professor,
said this will be done by isolating and char
acterizing the genes that are involved in the
biosythensis of CPT.
McKnight said the anti-cancer properties
of CPT were discovered in the ’60s by a sci
entist Dr. Monroe Wall. However, the drug,
in its pure form, is too toxic to the human
body to be an effective treatment.
Recently Nessler and McKnight discov
ered that young leaves and seedlings of the
tree actually contain high concentrations of
a water soluble form of CPT solution, which
is not toxic to the human body.
The researchers emphasized that the find
ings are steps leading to their goal of dis
covering the biochemical pathway by which
the Chinese Happy Tree produces CPT.
The Chinese Happy Tree is native to
southern China and is not found in the Unit
ed States. McKnight said at this time, the tree
is not endangered, but when the demand for
the tree increases, there is a possibility of en-
dangerment.
According to statistics from the American
Cancer Society, this year alone, about
563,100 Americans are expected to die of
cancer, which is more than 1,500 a day. In
the United States, one of four deaths is re
lated to cancer.
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•All night cram
Students learn
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Page 3
Sports
•Volleyball team to take on
Rainbow Wahine
Aggies to travel to Honolulu to
face Hawai’i in third round of
NCAA tournament. Page 11
•Not enough
nooks and cran
nies
Libraries are fi
with too man
distractions.
Page 15 Wi 1
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Britt Rcl
Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57
p.m. for details on a deadly
shooting in Cameron.
Bonfire collapse victims
to be honored at ceremony
BY MATT LOFTIS
The Battalion
Tonight’s Silver Taps ceremony
will be carried out as normal, but the
list of names will be longer and will
include the students who were killed
in the Bonfire collapse.
As usual, students will gather at
the plaza in front of the Academic
Building, the Ross Volunteers will
perform a 21-gun salute and the bu
glers will play from atop the Acade
mic Building.
In addition to the 11 students
killed in the collapse, tonight’s cere
mony will honor a student who died
in a car accident Oct. 2, but by re
quest of his parents, the ceremony
was postponed until now so they
could attend.
Dr. Andy Smith, associate direc
tor of counseling at Student Coun
seling Service (SCS), said in lieu of so
many students being honored and
the magnitude of the grief the cam
pus is still dealing with, SCS will pro
vide free counseling at the All Faith’s
Chapel from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m.
He said the session is a joint ef
fort between SCS and the Campus
Ministerial Association (CMA)
aimed at helping anyone experienc
ing difficulty dealing with the Bon
fire collapse or Silver Taps.
“It’s not something that’s nor
mally done during Silver Taps,”
Smith said. “We just want to go out
of our way to make counselors and
ministers available to the students.”
Kristin Harper, senior associate
director of Student Life, said some
members of the community con
cerned with the proceedings and
showing support to the student
body have inquired of Student Life
whether attending Silver Taps was a
good idea.
Harper said those who are not
members of the student body were
instructed through private replies
to privately hold memorials or
prayer offerings because it would
provide the best opportunity for
students to attend.
A memo from the Texas A&M Tra
ditions Council, authored by Brooke
Crum, a junior history major, and
see Silver Taps on Page 2.
Miranda Denise Adams
(Freshman Biomedical Science major)
Robert Hart Daniel
(Freshman Computer Engineering major)
Michael Stephen Ebanks
(Freshman Aerospace Engineering major)
Jeremy Richard Frampton
(Senior Psychology major)
j Jamie Lynn Hand
(Freshman Environmental Design major)
Chrisopher Lee Heard
(Freshman Engineering major)
Timothy Doran Kerlee
(Freshman Mechanical Engineering major)
Lucas John Kimmel
(Freshman Biomedical Science major)
Bryan Allan McClain
(Freshman Agronomy major)
Chad Anthony Powell
(Sophomore Co
(Sophomore Engineering Technology major)
Nathan Scott West
(Sophomore Ocean Engineering major)
ROBERT HYNECEK/The Battalion
New organization focuses
on leadership training, unity
BY ERIKA DOERR
The Battalion
A new all-male leadership or
ganization, One Army Texas Aggie
Men United (One Army TAMU)
organization, was formed this se
mester to provide leadership train
ing to the members.
Patrick Brensinger, president of
One Army TAMU and a junior
management information systems
and accounting major, said the fo
cus of the organization is leader
ship training, secondary service
and unity.
“One Army TAMU offers expe
riences for learning, such a ropes
course at Camp Allen, workshops
to improve communication skills
and leadership speakers at the
meetings,” he said.
Brensinger said the organiza
tion teaches the members lessons
for life and leadership skills.
“One such speaker invited to
talk with the organization is Mr.
[Stephen] Gonzales, the Serbian
prisoner of war,” he said. “There
are many freshmen-oriented lead
ership organizations, but not as
many offered for a range of ages.
We have different people from dif
ferent backgrounds in this group,
each having their own perspec
tives and values, coming together
to form an organization which
will help define the motto ‘One
School, One Spirit, One Army.’”
Geoff Spahr, admissions officer
for One Army TAMU and a junior
marketing major, said the organi
zation is forming a firm founda
tion in its first semester of recog
nition.
“We will be having three to
four leadership activities, service
and social activities — such as
mixers and crush parties — in the
upcoming semester,” he said.
Spahr said next semester the
organization will have open mem
bership and members must attend
one meeting per week.
“This organization offers a non-
greek leadership environment for
males only, and members pay
dues of $65,” he said.
see One Army on Page 2.