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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2000)
Wednesday. May 3; • Road Rage Tom Green movie showcases worst of college student life. ty J. Goldflm Page 5 • Listen to KAMI! 90.9FM at 1:57 p.m. for details on a former prison guard convicted of killing six. • Check out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu. Weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 92 and a low of 69. ? S*u\ H hjcK \fJj Ju5"t etawip the pot brownie TeS t h boy/' ft I i’l ■»k' U’J ^: W l I'i Engineer board delays Bonfire evaluation ives ition is a new chapter we areos ith the United Nationsanc: ’ of nations." retary-General Kofi Ann® lad increasingly voicedcoe Israel's isolation at the lit; ns and worked behind the rect it — was glad thatffl sued the invitation, accord okesperson, Fred Eckhard der U.N. rules, the regie s decide the 10 rotating seat curity Council and other l i ttee assignments. Israel vij i J.N. member that was not# a regional group: cause Arab nafe have blocked its| mission to the As.. Group —where iie longs geographk)| Israel's nieiuht ship in theEiiropt group is only teif nary, and Israel ft continue to try toe the Asian groups the Netherlai: U.N. Ambassador^ ter van Walsum, . "The arrange' is for four years,)' then we will ree sider," said van": sum, the Eurcf group's chair, j Other condife prevent Israel fe submitting cat: dates for conies* Anna Bishop The Battalion The Texas Board of Professional Engineers |nsto take its time with further investigation the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse. The nine-member board appointed by the ernor will assemble this month in Corpus isti for its June 14 quarterly meeting, ictoria Hsu, executive board director, §aid estigation into the engineering of Bonfire is Ithe agenda. ■^-TEheboard met earlier this month to discuss r review the reports released by the Special Immission on the 1999 Aggie Bonfire. su said suggestions regarding actions the loard can take regarding state law violations on lehalf of licensed engineers were discussed. "The suggestions explored cannot be cur rently discussed," Hsu said. Dave Dorchester, vice president of the board, said the goal of its members is to seek legislative changes to clarify the engineering board's man date and suggest positive steps, such as briefing IRE state agency executives on the Texas Engineer ing Practice Act. The Texas Board of Professional Engineers is a result of the Engineering Practice Act passed in 1937 when a massive explosion in New Lon don, Texas, prompted the Texas Legislature to formulate a law ensuring the practice of engi neering in the state to remain in the hands of li censed engineers. Hsu said the reports released on May 3 de clared the Bonfire to be a complex engineering project. "Because commissioners called the Bonfire a 'complex engineering project/ we will look into the possibility of whether or not engineers were in violation with state law ... whether or not the project should have, by law, been per formed under the guidance of a licensed en gineer," Hsu said. "We also must determine whether or not the Bonfire should be prohibited altogether, by considering it a public health hazard built without licensed engineers or engineering plans," Hsu said. Dorchester said the ranges of consequences for violation run from an informal reprimand to revoking an engineering license. "Right now, the number-one thing the board will do is look to the future and take whatever actions necessary to protect public universities such as A&M," Dorchester said. "The board is trying to decide who was un der jurisdiction, and eventually who was in vi olation, but the process will be a slow one. The Bonfire collapse is a terrible thing to deal with. We want to take our time to deal with it right and fair," Dorchester said. A&M spokesperson Lane Stephenson said A&M would cooperate with the board and pro vide any desired information. Climbing the wall m- dng ?ra- ve ex- 40 we d- of he tal y ” Lancry jssador :or two years. Israel also wo/ the European group's exif m for U.N. posts, whichwv eely bar the country fromiuf p on the U.N. Economicadi nmcil and other bodies for) bly longer, van Walsum sail I e accepted a series of limitatioL lese limi tations appear tousj ,ancry said. "You can'tjustei™ isturb all the rotations)' ive been reached." A&M professor earns award for chemistry Eight-year-old Justin Hart rappels 30 feet down the side of the Kyle Field ramp as junior coun selor and A&M Consolidated student Kelli Sweat watches from below on Wednesday. Hart and other youngsters are participants in Camp Adventure, a day camp for children that allows them to experience adventure sports such as climbing, riflery and canoeing. Joseph Pi fasant The Battalion Chemists from around the world gathered Wednesday to honor outstand ing work in the field of chemistry. Mem bers of the Robert Alonzo Welch Foun dation awarded Dr. A. Ian Scott, Texas A&M faculty member, the Welch Foun dation Award for excellence in chemistry researcli, which is a $300,000 worldwide award given to outstanding chemists. Scott is the 2000 co-recipient of the Welch Award. Dr. Emile Schweikert, chemistry de partment head, said this award is a great honor and tribute to the career of a re search scientist. "[The award] is an out standing recognition of one of our more prominent colleagues," Schweikert said. The Welch Foundation Award is known, worldwide, and many past recipients have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Scott spent 32 years decoding the structure of vitamin B-12, which is im portant for metabolism and the central nervous system. Richard Johnson, cliair of the Welch Foundation, said "Scott's work follows the research that Welch wanted when he started the foundation. "Dr. Scott's work over the past 40 years optimizes the work Robert Welch be lieved in," Johnson said. Dr. Norman Hackerman, chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, said the process of choosing a winner is difficult because of the high caliber of nominees. "One hundred fifty or more chemists are nominated worldwide, and the foun dation board narrows that number down to one person, or two as in this year," Hackerman said. Scott appreciates this recognition for his chemistry research. "It's wonderful that tlie work 1 have done for the last 40 years is being recognized," Scott said. Scott has not decided how he will spend the award money, he said some of it may be used to support a student fel lowship. A&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen said the award also reflects positively for A&M; it's a great statement for him and our University. This award is the only type of funding given by the foundation outside the state. The Welch Foundation has been a constant supporter of A&M through grants and funds. Since it began in 1954, the Welch Foun dation has given A&M approximately $55 million. Bowen said the foundation is re sponsible for the advancement of chem istry programs throughout Texas. Bowen also said many universities in Texas have great chemistry programs because of the Welch Foundation . Dr. Scott is the second A&M professor to win the Welch Award. Dr. F. A. Cotton was a co-recipient in 1994. Chemistry professor Dr. A. Ian Scott was one of two professors in the world to receive the 2000 Welch Award. News in Brief Microsoft files final legal brief I SEATTLE (AP) — Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. was fil ing its final legal brief in a landmark antitrust battle, of fering a rebuttal to the government’s revised plan to Crvanich tppn c l3rea k if U P- The company planned to submit more tes- j open iiai i iceiu timony that jt fe|t was left out of the case _ friend for company’s filing, expected not long after the - financial markets were to close in the east, was ex- sh teen a P g a e n girls sa^t^ ect f d t0 include revisions to the government’s a 16-year-old friend becauf reaku P Proposal. ild help them "becomei Microsoft has vehemently opposed a proposal by ” news reports said Tuesdf the Justice Department to split the company into two 3 girls, 16 and 17, whos competing entities. s were not released, weres Microsoft also planned to issue a brief discussing I Sunday in the soutfie | s “ 0 ff er 0 f p r0 of,” filed hurriedly last Wednesday as )f San Fernando de CadiZ‘ y 3 Qjstrjct judge Thomas Penfield Jackson was about I'/lt/Ts iat wou/S clo f the case - That filing outlined proposed testi- y field The two were jailf m ° n y f rom company co-founder Bill Gates and other wit- ay on murder charges, flesses. The government, in its revised filing two days 3 killing, which occurredP ^ter, called it an eleventh-hour ploy, as been front-page news " Microsoft had asked the judge for as long as six Danish newspaper El Pais months to gather evidence and depose*witnesses that 3 private television new would dispute the Justice Department’s assertion that 5 reported that after a breakup is the best way to reverse the damage done ot Garcia late Friday,™ b y behavior that Jackson found to be unlawful and fenTout m ° 8 anticompetitive. Inmate loses bid for more DNA testing HOUSTON (AP) — An inmate facing execution this week has lost a bid for more DNA testing in his case, just days after Gov. George W. Bush advocated the Tf the DNA testing helps settle a case or erase any doubts or concerns, we would support that. ” Last week, McGinn's lawyers per suaded the trial judge to recommend retesting of hair and semen. District Judge Steven Ellis referred the request to the appeals court, which re jected it Tuesday on proce dural grounds. While conceding that there was incriminating evi dence against McGinn, Mau de Levin, an attorney helping with McGinn's appeals, said some items were not collect ed and tested properly and some evidence wasn't tested tests to "erase any doubts" in capital murder cases. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied the request from Ricky Nolen McGinn, who is scheduled to be execut ed Thursday for the 1993 rape and killing of his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Stephanie Rae Flanary. at all because the DNA technology avail able at tine time wasn't good enough. "It's good enough now," Levin said. "Testing could be performed that would provide conclusive proof, one way or the other, of guilt or innocence." Levin said more appeals were planned. The Republican presidential front- THURSDAY June 1,2000 Volume 106-Issue 145 6 pages runner also said he is convinced that no innocent person has been executed in Texas during his five-plus years in office. "If the DNA testing helps settle a case or erase any doubts or concerns, we would support that," Bush told the Houston Chronicle. Convicted in 1995, McGinn had been scheduled for lethal injection on April 27. But that date was pushed back after documents from his final appeal were lost in the tornado that struck Fort Worth on March 28. Attorney Barry Scheck told The Dal las Morning News that McGinn's defense team may try Wednesday to obtain the genetic evidence from the Texas Depart ment of Public Safety and have it tested. Scheck, co-director of the New York- based Innocence Project, said he has "some considerable optimism" that Bush will grant McGinn a stay of execu tion so that retesting can occur. Students taken by fraud Stuart Hutson The Battalion Last October, two former employees of the Applebee's Neighborhood Bar and Grill on Texas Avenue, Matthew Smith and Eric Gallup, were charged with steal ing money from Texas A&M students' Ag gie Bucks accounts. "They would enter the Aggie Bucks twice, get two receipts, give one receipt back to the customer and then exchange the other receipt for cash from the regis ter," said Carol Bailey, general manager at the Applebee's in College Station. "We found that they were doing it when one person whose account they had stolen from called to check a charge." Smith and Gallup were arrested in April and confessed to four charges each of debit card abuse, but Bailey said the workers' theft was not the only surprising factor of the case. Bob Piwanka, director of student finan cial services, said that while only about half a dozen instances of Aggie Card abuse are reported to his office each semester, there may be more that are not reported. "The first line of defense against Aggie “The first line of defense against Aggie Card abuse is the person using the card. ” — Bob Piwanka director of student financial services Card abuse is the person using tlie card," he said. "They should guard [the card] in the same way they protect a credit or ATM card, and realize that if their card is stolen or misused, they should contact us immediately." University Police Department (UPD) officer Sgt. Allen Baron said many thefts involving Aggie Cards may happen witlv out the owner knowing. "Sometimes it's just a roommate or a friend, and then sometimes a card gets stolen and used before the owner reports the card missing," Baron said. Ronald Hale, vice chair of Norwest Bank, which manages off-campus Aggie Bucks transactions, said the card's main security features are evident. "The picture and the signature on the back are the two foremost security fea tures because they offer positive identifi cation of the person," he said. "Most cas es of Aggie Bucks abuse come from someone trying to use someone else's card. Cases like what happened at Ap plebee's are slim to none." Hale said accounts and transaction records—which include when and where a card is used — are reconciled every day to ensure accuracy and to guard against misuse, but other methods are also used to add security to a participant's account. "Most people who try to steal from another person's account can be caught the next day, " he said. Bailey said that since October, Apple bee's has refunded the victims' money and now reviews transactions on a daily basis to prevent a similar incident, but