rhursday, Marcli2,)j FRIDAY March 3, 2000 Volume 106-Issue 104 10 pages MWi *1 r ^W:\ * i MlVTlW i\ ftiJCi Vi =<;Wi crease arket. We need an increaseipj nil year starting April if’htgjj Secretary Bill Richardasi rid production iseurrentltljj y less than consumption, arks came amid reports Mas! d Venezuela were set to prop) ease crude oil productionk;; i day. OPEC countries cm; 6 million barrels a day—3S^ d's daily oil production, ice oil minister denied the icjji dilation,†said the minister,! iking in Caracas. He notedi mi the three countries" nts abrupt rises and abrupt® dm! a Ntable marketandaliea work with adequate prices,†neither Venezuela nor fa lave decided yet on any spsi reduction hike by OPEC, tales has been trying to penal itions to increase outputin«l rnational oil prices, whichla ar limbs at about $30 a bard oducer cited by the U.S. State dent points for drugs entemj. ries and their estimated bonfire investigation M ILL I O IV •$900,000 - Kroll Associates Investigation •$400,000 - Packer Engineering •$200,000 •* Fay Engineering •$215,000 - Performance Improvement International •$40,000 - McKinsey & Co. •May not use entire 2 million Regents to approve money request RUBEN DELUNA/I in BaTTAI kin BY ROLANDO GARCIA The Battalion The Texas A&M Board of Regents will like ly approve the Bonfire investigators’ request to double its budget and extend its deadline, board chairman Don Powell told The Dallas Morning News Wednesday. “From the very beginning, we knew that the process would take time and money,†Powell said. “We’ve been committed to making sure we’d provide the resources necessary for them to complete their mission.†In a letter to the board, Leo Linbeck Jr., the chairperson of the Special Commission on the 1999 Aggie Bonfire, said his investigation team. composed of four consulting and engineering firms, would need another $1 million and a May 1 dead line to complete its final report to the University. Among the expenses fueling the rising cost of the investigation is the $100,000 needed to buy insur ance that would cover the legal costs of the four firms if they are called to testify or give depositions in ac cident-related lawsuits. Also budgeted is $45,000 for a peer review of the investigators’ findings. The commission has set a target budget of $1.67 million, but it wants more money available if it becomes necessary. Additional funds have been allocated to each of the four companies, but they must have the approval of both the commis sion and A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen jf rec ommended thresholds are exceeded, Linbeck said. “We want to assure that the outcome is compre hensive, and we believe this is an amount appropri ate to the task being undertaken,†Linbeck said. The largest share of the budget — $900,000 — (up from $450,000), goes to Kroll Associates. The recommended threshold is $720,000. Linbeck said the allocation reflects the extent of Kroll’s task, which includes coordinating the investiga tion teams and conducting interviews with nearly 400 officials, participants and witnesses. Packer Engineering had $400,000 budgeted, with a recommended threshold of $320,000. The initial allocation was $220,000. Packer, hired to determine what caused the bonfire to collapse, is examining the logs, centerpole and the soil be neath the stack. Fay Engineering, employed to study the evolv ing structure of Bonfire over its 90-year history, will have $200,000 budgeted, with a recommend ed threshold of $160,000. The original budget al located $150,000 for Fay. Performance Improvement International (PII), the firm studying the human factors that may have caused the accident, can be paid up to $215,000, but must ask permission to spend more than $ 160,000. PII had initially been given $150,000. McKinsey & Co., a firm that is serving as the investigation’s project manager, may receive as much as $40,000 for expenses, up from $30,000 under the previous budget. The firm is not charg ing professional fees. Replant will dedicate 12 new trees to fallen Aggies town of 1999 production ist BY BRADY CREEL The Battalion Texas A&M’s Replant Committee will do more than just plant trees this year they will cultivate the memory of the lives of the 12 Aggies lost in the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse, byplanting 12 trees, which will be witnesses to many genera tions of Aggies yet to come. Hie ninth annual Replant, which is slated for Saturday, will have three kickoff events which will each be marked by the plant ing of four live oaks on Polo Street alongside the bonfire site. “One of the biggest things to do on campus in memory of someone is to plant a tree,†said Dana Arriens, publicity and mar keting chairperson of Replant and a senior civil engineering ma jor. “We feel like, since our organization plants trees, this is the biggest thing we could do in honor of them. It is part of our duty isthis organization since Replant started with the help of bonfire.†The kickoffs will take place at 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Polo Street. The family and friends of those 12 Aggies have been asked if they would like to take part in planting the trees. Replant also will plant 80 trees at the Bryan Regional Athlet ic Complex (BRAC) and 130 at Lake Bryan, and will pot 500 seedlings a\ their tree farm at Lake Somerville. Arriens said they expect between 2000 and 3000 volunteers th/syear. Ill Memorial Trees wW'mlO BE PLANTED AT REPLANT This Saturday#*. 8 a.m. 11 a.m. 1 p.m. •Chad Powel •Jamie Hand •Michael Ebanks •Tim Kerlee •Lucas Kimmell •Chris Breen • Jerry Don Sell •Jeremy Frampton •Miranda Adams •Brian McClain •Nathan West • Christopher Hoard 'N»mm Allison Rosen, student awareness chairperson for Re plant and a sophomore bio medical sciences major, said many A&M leaders will speak at the kickoff events, includ ing Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. J. Malon Souther land, A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen, Student Body President Will Hurd, Director of Student Activities Kevin Jackson and Pete Smith of the National Tree Trust. If the live oaks get off to a good start and are properly cared for, their lifespans could range between 300 and 500 years, said Lanny Driesen, an associate head of the forestry science depart ment and a forestry science specialist for the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Rosen said Awards Etc. donated memorial See Replant on Page 2. RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion Colomt Coloi# —3i Scientists want to clone pets INS TO HOUSTON! FMENTS • TOWNHOA© F„ 1,2,3,4 BEDROOMS ,L 7 DAYS A WEB 800-601-5100 P/VRTMENT LOCATORS - Since® Look Before You Lease’ E LEGAL ADVISE! Brazos County :ople’s Law School Josored by: TYLA and os Valley Young Lawyers d Sigma Alpha Epsilon r. 4"’, 8:30am-J2:00pm Zachry 102 (979)694-7000 BY BRANDIE LIFFICK The Battalion People who dream of reliving fond memories of days spent with a cherished See related column on page 9. family pet may now have a second chance to play “fetch†with Fido — if Ihey want to take a chance on the latest advances in cloning. Last Wednesday, Genetic Savings and Clone (GSC) opened its doors to individ uals who want to clone their family pets.- GSC was fonned by a group of scientists - including several members of the Texas A&M faculty — and is based in College Station. Initially, the company will serve main ly as a gene bank, a place to store DNA samples of pets until cloning is feasible. The company requests that an initial tissue sample be taken by the customers’ local veterinarian and then sent to GSC, where it is treated and frozen in liquid nitrogen. There is a one-time cost for initial tis sue treatment, and then a smaller annual cost to store the DNA until it can be used. The company was formed based on a project brought to A&M in 1997 — the Missyplicity project — by an unnamed donor who wanted his dog cloned. Over $2.3 million was endowed for research in an effort to eventually clone the donor’s 15-year-old pet, Missy. While the team has not yet successful ly cloned Missy or any other domestic pet. they are hopeful that a Missy clone will be bom within the next year, according to their Website, www.savingsandclone.coin. While cattle is the animal for which cloning technology has been developed, the company will soon offer cloning of other livestock animals, domestic pets (cats and dogs), wildlife (such as endan gered species) and assistance and rescue dogs. The anonymous donor who supports the Missyplicity project is also providing the initial funding for GSC. “Our goal at the University is not to clone peoples’ pets for them. It is, above all, to research the process,†said Dr. Mark Westhusin, a member of GSC and an as sociate professor of veterinary medicine. See Cloning on Page 2. Breaking the waves JP BEATO/T HE Ba'ITAI ION Erik Cook, a senior at the University of Nebraska, competes in the preliminary round of the men’s Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by Texas A&M University. The championship meet is being held through Saturday at the Student Recreation Cen ter Natatorium. See related article on page 7 for more details. Curie’s grandchild speaks on exhibit BY DAVE AMBER AND YOLANDA LUKASZEWSKI The Battalion The instruments look like tarnished foetal junk from a dust-filled garage, hit they gave birth to a new world of knowledge about the universe. They are the laboratory instruments id by Marie and Pierre Curie in their foe 19th century investigations into ra- foactivity and the discovery of radium. Displayed for the first time outside |Europe at the J. Wayne Stark Gal- foies until April 16, the instruments foepart of “Women in Discovery,†a nonth-long celebration of the contri tions of women scientists and also ke importance of radiation research. Marie Curie’s granddaughter, Dr. He me Langevin-Joliot—herself a nuclear aysicist—opened the exhibit rhursday a discussion about the legacy of her *o-time Nobel prize winning grand- Wher for science and women scientists, er mother, Irene Joliot-Curie, also re vived a Nobel prize for the discovery of dificial radioactivity. “Marie thought it was possible to be mother, teacher and a scientist,†langevin-Joliot said. Women were not allowed in the lab * Marie’s time. Today, women scien- ^ts are more likely to be part of a team inducting research, she said. “She’s had such an influence on science as a whole and opened so many doors for women,†said Kristin Kuhlman, a freshman psychology major. Catherine I lastedt, curator of the J. Wayne Stark Galleries, said she wanted to reach a different section of campus, by orga nizing a science-related exhibit espe cially about women. “There’s so little out there about these women,†she said. “It was diffi cult for women, in the 19th century to get an education — let alone get an advanced degree and a job. But the ones who persevered are the ones you see on these walls.†The laboratory pieces in the exhib it include a piezoelectric quartz elec trometer used to measure electric cur rents passing through air and an ionization chamber, an 8-inch metal cylinder the width of a compact disc. There are also two metal tubes — one a yard-long and the other about a foot — used to pass electric charges from instrument to instrument. “Marie Curie built all of her instru mentation. It was primitive but still had to measure minute electrical charges,†said Alan Waltar, professor SUSAN REDDING/Tm: Battalion Dr. Helene Langevin-Joliot opened an exhibit at the J. Wayne Stark Galleries honoring women in science, including her grandmother, Marie Curie. and department head of nuclear engi neering. “The fact that these instru ments worked is amazing.†The exhibit explores the benefits of radiation, from medical and research applications to industrial uses, but it also shows the need for respect and carefi.il attention. In one corner of the galleries is a specially-built wooden box the size of a small file cabinet with a thick glass window. Inside the box, surrounded by a ton of protective lead bricks, is a vial con taining 2.5 milligrams of radium salts originally owned by Marie Curie. The black and yellow sticker on top of the box says, “Caution Radioactive Materials,†soberly reminding of the power she helped to unleash. “When the word radiation is men tioned, we take a step back,†Waltar said. “But it’s unleashed a great many bene fits for mankind.†SPRING BREAK2000 Students prepare for the long-awaited holiday INSIDE BY ANNA BISHOP The Battalion The point in the semester when class es seem a little longer, homework a little tougher and making it to class requires a little more effort has arrived. Spring break, a week welcomed by students and faculty alike, offers a per fect solution to mid-semester exhaustion. , Whether planning a big trip to a trop ical location or a week of lounging on the couch in front of the TV, a week off from classes is a welcome source of relaxation for students. So where are Aggies headed after JP BEATO/The Battalion Bill Quinn, a senior accounting major, Ben Inman, a senior biology major, Kris Evans, a se nior management major and Brian Smith, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, play at South Padre Island. classes let out next Friday? According to the Real College Life Magazine Website, South Padre Island, Texas, will host thousands of college- aged “breakers,†making it the top travel destination for spring break in the state. For students wanting to travel a lit tle farther from home, many opted to consult travel agencies for help with their plans. Amber Brittian of Aggieworld Ad ventures, a travel agency located in Col lege Station, said students want their trips to be as low maintenance as possible. There is an increase in the number of all-inclusive travel packages purchased by students. This type of travel package in cludes all airfare, trans portation and meals for the duration of the trip. “All-inclusive travel is ideal [for students] because it takes care of everything, so they do not have to worry,†Brit tian said. “All meals, lodging... everything is taken care of, from the moment of boarding the plane until the comple tion of the trip.†See Spring Break on Page 2. Aggies close put regular sea- on against uskers Page 7 • The B-side of H-town Houston offers alternatives to mainstream tourist attractions. Page 3 loning for dollars lowing private companies to do nate money for university re- earch is full of btential woes. Page 9 • Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for details on Bryan drug arrest. Check out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu.