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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2000)
'■November MONDAY November 13, 2000 Volume 107 ~ Issue 57 12 pages mg up air ecutivecjiri • t* prisoner or ar speaks iid they iej. XT bu waicL' n • • r tat captivity ohavetc;* • v Bmariano Castillo 'Urroundl[:Ht' Battalion shouldgei- lVeteran's Day holds a special mean- B for Texas A&M student Steven " willhaonzales. In March 1999, as a U.S. cized CdlBny Specialist, Gonzales was one of e (argeslflihfee American soldiers captured by y is exyrngoslav forces outside of Skopje, the id to be- Vlacedonian capital. bemeastBGonzales, along with Sergeants breaksali^P 168 Stone and Andrew Ramirez, sub- Bjuently spent 32 days in a Belgrade it 9 a m ! son as a prisoner of war (POW). a , id ■“After this | POW | experience. |Vet- Bn’s Day ] is very special to me in the ||Bise that maybe I have a little bit of I Bling of some of the older veterans ~ Bt I've seen and admired as I’ve Brief'grown up,” Gonzales said. - u / BGonzales, a junior mechanical en- ™Beering major, shared his experience )d S §w th a group of students from Oak- wood Intermediate School at Corps ■omeof pjL a Friday afternoon. ! ~ a ™ ai l He told the students how terrified he etote'Teh immediately after being captured :hetheo';: an( j h ow h e was treated by the Yu- whohamgoslav soldiers. The three were treated i of the?.harshly at first, he recalled, and meals le streets were skimpy at best, ercity’sm? Curious students pried deeper into 1 bricksr^Gonzales’ month in the prison: “What tor of p:: was.the best food they gave you?” a ia. Se. : student asked. lorousbrit' I “Beans, I remember, was one of the i breetflfbest meals I had,” Gonzales said, j, His presentation was the conclusion that waif t0 a day-long program for the students rt andcai; P ul on by Silver Wings and Arnold Air a said. Societ y- A Members of these A&M organiza tions taught the children about flag eti- gi/ette, traditions and gave them a tour 'Vnce we got to the The ike wti prison and realized that we may have to endure for a long time in solitude, we all fell hack on cer tain things to keep our hopes up” — Steven Gonzales U.S. Army specialist and a junior mechanical engineering major d deaf- :ted tlie re com- ary ser- i, found eknew As it sening. Aggie who nd it. J lu, of the Corps of Cadets Center. I Kallie Pence, 10, an Oakwood stu- Bnt, said she gained deeper' apprecia tion for veterans. I “It took a lot of guts for people to go out there and fight,” Pence said. “I ad- iire the people who fought in wars.” 1 Since returning to A&M last spring, Gonzales has spoken to vari ous groups. He enjoys it, he said, be- -ause “it’s a great opportunity to be in )ublic and express my gratitude for ill the support and to share a little bit f my experience.” I Gonzales, Stone and Ramirez were )n a reconnaissance mission near the Macedonian-Serbian border when they lore ambushed. I “We had about 20 Serbian soldiers firing on us with automatic rifles,” lonzales said. H While their armored Humvee kept toe soldiers from getting hit, the engine block was damaged extensively. I The captives spent the first week fboded and handcuffed. Gonzales said that in relative terms, arriving in prison Was a step up — there was relief just to have the freedom to move, even if con- |ied to a cell. I “Once we got to the prison and re alized that we may have to endure for along time in solitude, we all fell back on certain things to keep our hopes up,” Gonzales said. “I fell back on my reli- lous upbringing, as well as my friends and my family. I “Knowing that my country was be hind me, I think, was a key factor.” Red Cross workers who visited as- red them their situation was a big sto ry in the United States, and that Presi dent Clinton had made a statement to ;their captors regarding their health. I More than a year since being re- lt ed, Gonzales said he does not hold a lot of bitterness toward his Yugoslav “gap tors. See POW on Page 2. Push Brad Snead, a junior international studies major does push-ups in the south end- zone of Kyle Field before on Saturday. Fans showed up early to participate in ESPN'S "College Gameday" broadcast at Kyle Field. OU, ‘College Gameday’ bring record crowd and 35-31 loss By Jason Lincoln The Battalion The stage was similar to last year. The last game of the season in Kyle Field, the largest crowd ever to witness a football game in Texas. The jets that roared over Kyle Field just before kickoff and the return of an Aggie ring lost by a fallen Aggie echoed the last game in 1999, when the memory of the Bonfire collapse oc cupied as much of the Aggies’ minds as the game against rival Texas. Even the result was nearly the same. But in stead of the Aggies coming up with a four-point upset over No. 5 Texas, it was No. 1 Oklahoma edging out the Aggies for the first time in Kyle Field since 1903 by a four point margin, 35-31. Everything about Saturday’s match up against the Sooners was oversized, and it was not just limited to the nation’s top-ranked team that took the field. For the first time ever, ESPN’s “College Gameday” broadcast live from College Station in preparation for the biggest game of the year. The event drew thousands of A&M and OU fans to the stadium more than two hours prior to kickoff to watch the trio of college football analysts make predictions about the week’s games. But the scene had just begun as the A&M campus warmed up for the game to come to Kyle Field in two decades. Prior to the game, an Aggie Ring found at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II was re turned to the family of Medal of Honor Recip ient 1 st Lt. Turney W. Leonard. A group of fighter jets streaked over the stadium in honor of Veterans Day. By the time the game was in full swing, Kyle Field had filled to a record crowd of 87,188, ex ceeding last year’s record set against Texas for the largest crowd ever to see a football game in the state. The Aggie crowd was Marooned Out for the second time this season, as it attempted to help the football team pull off yet another upset against a Top 10 opponent. During the last Ma- See Gameday on Page 2. Gore, Bush dash on votes Florida counties struggle with count DELAND, Fla. (AP) — In Volusia County, several dozen election work ers began counting 184,019 ballots by . hand Sunday in a bleary-eyed task that will require 14-hour shifts over at least two days. “We don’t need to remind you of the importance of what’s going on here,” organizer Roy Schliecher told the elec tion workers before they began. “The eyes of the country are on Volusia County today.” They also are fixed firmly on Palm Beach and Broward counties, two De mocratic strongholds that plan hand counts this week, unless a federal judge on Monday grants a Republican request to block the manual recounts. The two counties, along with Miami- Dade, account for about 1.5 million votes cast in the presidential election. With the presidential election hing ing on Florida’s 25 electoral votes, Re publicans and Democrats battled coun ty by county over where there should be further recounts and how they should be conducted. Among developments: • Democrats added Osceola County to their list of hand recount requests. The Osceola canvassing board, com prised of two Republicans and one De mocrat, meets Monday to weigh it. A1 Gore had a small lead over George W. Bush in the 54,000-plus votes cast. His panic voters alleged they were required to produce two forms of identification when only one was required. The cen tral Florida county has a large Puerto Ri can community. • Palm Beach County early Sunday awarded 36 more votes to Gore and took three away from Bush following a machine count of all 531 precincts. The county, on a 2-1 vote, ordered a manu al recount of all 425,000 ballots cast. Election officials meet Monday to de cide how to proceed. • Polk County election officials to day plan to certify new vote totals that would give Bush an additional 104 votes and seven to Gore. The votes turned up in a machine rescanning of ballots in dozens of precincts. • Broward County plans to begin a hand recount of about 6,000 ballots in three precincts today.. If major prob lems are found, authorities will consid er a full hand count of all precincts. Republicans move to impound votes ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — With George W. Bush clinging to a 17- vote lead over A1 Gore in New Mexico, state Republican Party attorneys are re questing that state police impound ear ly-voting and absentee ballots from Tuesday’s election in case of a chal lenge or recount. Police seized ballots in six counties during the weekend under orders from two state District Court judges. The counties comprise two judicial districts. GOP officials say impoundment peti tions will be filed in all 13 New Mexi co judicial districts. Under state law, either party may re quest impoundment. It is up to a judge to decide whether to grant the request. Once an impoundment order is issued, state police take possession of ballots from the county clerk. “We want to preserve all the ballots to see if anybody on either side wants to ask for a recount,” GOP attorney Mick ey Barnett said Sunday. “There’s no allegation whatsoever in this impoundment issue that there’s any fraud or anything. I think it’s much more pro-forma than suspicion. I’djust like to know two weeks from now, if something does happen, that they (the ballots) are all there.” The state Democratic Party planned a news conference Sunday to ask that the state GOP withdraw it is impound ment requests. Unofficial results show Bush with a 17-vote lead out of more than 571,000 ballots cast, but state election officials said 370 “in-lieu-of ballots remained uncounted Sunday.” Those ballots, which are to be counted by Friday, go to people who requested absentee ballots but did not receive them. In-lieu-of bal lots are checked against absentee ballots and are counted only if there is not al ready an absentee ballot for that voter. The impoundment requests could slow official election results because the in-lieu-of ballots are among those that would be seized by police, delaying when they can be counted. Secretary of State Denise Lamb said. If the Gore or Bush campaign wants a recount, it must be requested within six days of the Nov. 28 official review of the votes by the state canvassing board. Lost Aggie Ring returned to family of WWII soldier By Noel Freeman The Battalion A piece of Aggie history has re turned to Texas A&M after being forgotten in Germany for 56 years. Medal of Honor recipient 1 st Lt. Turney W. Leonard’s Aggie Ring came home in a private ceremony held at the Sam Houston Sanders Corps of Cadets Center on Satur day. The ring was presented to Tur ney W. Leonard’s only surviving sibling, Mr. Douglas Leonard of Dallas, by German Lt. Obit Volker Lossner, who obtained the ring from his father-in-law, Alfred Hutmach- er. The ceremony was attended by 30 members of Turney W. Leonard’s family, A&M officials and representatives from the Corps of Cadets. Lossner said Hutmacher found the ring after helping American forces locate the graves of Ameri cans killed during the Battle of the Bulge and had virtually forgotten about the ring’s existence until Lossner expressed an interest in the historical battle. “You have to be interested in historical things if you’re living on the battlefield,” said Lossner, whose home is located about 300 meters from the site where the ring was found. Lossner said he did not imme diately understand the signifi cance of the Aggie Ring, but he knew it might be important to someone, so he contacted U.S. Army Col. Thomas Fosnacht to STUART VILLANUEVA/The Battalion .German officer, Lt. Obit Lossner, presents a member of the Leonard family See Ring on Page 2. with the Aggie Ring of First Lt. Turner W. Leonard, who was killed in WWII. B-CS community reflects on meaning, spirit of Bonfire T his is the first in a week-long series in memory of the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse. The series will conclude Friday with a special memorial section. By Richard Bray The Battalion In a community of about 100,000, the ef fects of the 1999 Aggie Bonfire Collapse reached farther than the edges of the Texas A&M campus. Bryan-College Station community leaders have shared in the adversity of the past year. “As time has passed, the severity of the grief has lessened for many outside of our commu nity, but it remains very much a part of this community’s identity,” said Bob Richers, asso ciate pastor at First United Methodist Church. To some community members, Bonfire means as much as it does to Aggies. College Station City Council member Ron Silvia said the unity between the community and the Uni versity was stronger after the Bonfire collapse. “Bonfire is about as traditional to College Station as it is to the University,” Silvia said. “We’ve always been very, very close, and af ter the tragedy last year, I think it brought us even closer. We have the same type of com mitment and passion for the Bonfire as a lot of the ex-students.” Students come to College Station for four to five years and then usually leave the town. However, B-CS residents remain despite the coming and going of students. Some have seen more than four or five Bonfires. Bonfire had become a staple of this community. Col lege Station Mayor Lynn Mcllhaney said the Bonfire collapse was a difficult time for the entire community, including non-Aggies. “That was a very tragic time for the com munity, for the families, for the University,” she said. “It is always difficult when you deal with a situation such as what we had a year ago, and the community came together and supported each other, supported the families, supported the University. What I hope the community remembers from that tragedy is the outpouring of love and support and con cern for everyone involved.” As some Aggies awoke to the news that Bonfire had fallen, local merchants assembled on the polo fields — offering drinks, food and shoulders to cry on. “I can’t emphasize enough how much this community was effected by this tragedy, as witnessed by all of the things that happened during the rescue effort: restaurants bringing free food, hotels opening up their rooms free of charge to the families, people sending clothes over — anything they could do,” he said. “This community is very close, not only to the Aggie spirit, but especially to the Bonfire.” Mcllhaney said Bonfire and the Aggie spir it still live on in the community. “The meaning of Bonfire is still the same,” she said. “I still believe the Aggie spirit is alive See Bonfire on Page 2.