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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2000)
www.unitedflight.com LEARN TO NOW* UNITED FLIGHT SYSTEMS Easily awarded student loans now available. You can learn to fly for as little as $50. 00 per month. Located next to campus at Easterwood Airport. Discount Discovery Flight (with presentation of coupon) ■ Student Loans ■ Aviation Career Tracks ■ Private thru advanced training I Aircraft rental, Pilot Shop F.A.A. approved 141 school VA Eligible Benefits United Flight Systems, Inc. Easterwood Airport College Station, TX 409 260-6322 Page 4 NEWS Friday,Novemba.'jSp'^'y- ^ THE BATTALION Florida recounts expandet lr I 1y Bry IliPHANT WALK 12:01 p.m. @ Kyle Field November 21, 2000 Pre-Elephant Walk Games & Pictures with Elephants lO - 11:30 a.m. @ Law/ Puryear Field (by All Faiths Chapel) The Texas A&M University Student Media Board is accepting applications for The Battalion Including radio and online editions — Spring 2001 (Ttie spring editor will serve from Jan. 8 through May 11, 2001) Qualifications for editor in chief of The Battalion are: Be 6 Texas A&M student in good standing with the University and enrolled in at least six credit hours (4 if a graduate student) during the term of office (unless fewer credits are required to graduate); Have at least a 2.00 cumulative grade point ratio (3.00 if a graduate student) and at least a 2.00 grade point ratio (3.00 if a graduate student) in the semester immediately prior to the appointment, the semester of appointment and semester during the term of office. In order for this provision to be met, at least six hours (4 if a graduate student) must have been taken for that semester; Have completed JOUR 301 (Mass Communication, Law and Society), or equivalent; Have at least one year experience in a responsible editorial position on The Battalion or comparable daily college newspaper, -OR- Have at least one year editorial experience on a commercial newspaper, OR - Have completed at least 12 hours journalism, including JOUR 203 and 303 (Media Writing and II), and JOUR 304 (Editing for the Mass Media), or equivalent. Application forms should be picked up and returned to Francia Cagle, Student Media business coordinator, in room 014A Reed McDonald Building. Deadline for submitting application: noon Friday, November 17, 2000. Applicants will be interviewed during the Student Media Board Meeting beginning at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 21, in room 221F Reed McDonald. An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer Committed to Diversity. International Space Station Traveling Exhibit & as BEST Robotics Championship Saturday, November 18 • 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Get a sneak peek of the Space Station and how astronauts will Live and work on board. Exhibit will feature mock-ups of Space Station facilities. Texas BEST Robotics Championship Watch student-built robots from the top 50 middle and high school teams from Texas and five other states match up in a game of strategy, speed, and skill. Local area teams include A&M Consolidated High School, Bryan High School and Burleson County Home School. Friday, November 17*8 p.m. - 9 p.m. Texas BEST program presentation with NASA speaker. Saturday, November 18 • 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Robotics competition and other exhibits from Texas A&M University and NASA. • Free admission at Reed Arena. Sponsored by Texas Instruments apd Texas A&M University Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology BUSH COMING TO REED ARENA ★ TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY C O 1, 1, E G £ S T A 1 r I O N • T E X A S Is (AP) — A1 Gore won his fight Thursday to expand manual re counts in Florida, even as advisers shid he likely will not overtake George W. Bush’s 300-vote lead be fore the Republi can secretary of state certifies their marathon White House race Satur day. GOP lawyers asked courts to stop the counting and “the disinte gration” of America’s presidential election system. The vice president and his team aggressively defended the hand re counts in Democratic-leaning coun ties, laying the groundwork for Gore’s case to con tinue the vote counting if he fails to pull ahead of the Texas governor be fore the secretary of state’s deadline. “The choice re ally is whether the voters are going to decide this election by having every vote count or whether that process is going to be short-circuited without all the votes being examined,” Gore said in a radio interview. The Florida Supreme Court later handed Gore a modest victory, au thorizing officials in Palm Beach and Broward counties to recount ballots by hand. The effort, which officials said will take about six days, had been stalled on order of Secretary of State Katherine Harris. The ruling did not say whether any votes found in the recounts can be GORE added to Gore’s totals — the heart of a legal clash that has thrust the presi dential campaign into limbo. The jus tices are all Democratic appointees. Within minutes. Palm Beach elec tion officials decided to start re counting Thursday night. After two full days of counting in 86 of 609 precincts. Gore had gained 21 votes in Broward County on the state’s southeast coast. "The Florida Supreme Court has spoken; the counts can continue,” said Gore chairman William Daley. Bush supports the secretary of state’s weekend deadline and wants a declaration of a Florida winner af ter the last overseas absentee ballots are due Friday at midnight. “Once these votes are counted, we will know the final result of Flori da’s election and the nation’s elec tion,” Bush campaign chairman Don Evans said. “Win or lose, this elec tion will be over.” Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who thus far has been unable to deliver the state for his brother, agreed: “Satur day morning we’ll know who won the state,” he said. Democrats begged to differ. Gore’s attorneys asked a state judge in Tallahassee to have hand recounts rolled into the election to tals, even if the vote-counting is not finished by Friday night. They ar gued that Harris, a Bush supporter, acted arbitrarily when she refused to update vote totals with the results of manual recounts after a Tuesday deadline. Bush looked to a federal appeals court in Atlanta to shut down the canvassing altogether, calling man ual recounts inaccurate and prone to political mischief. Both sides said the case could be headed to U.S. Supreme Court. “Eight days after Florida’s presi dential vote, the entire nation is wit nessing the disintegration of a process that was designed to elect America’s president,” reads the Bush brief in the federal appeal. “The Florida manual recount process is be ing used to eliminate any possibility of an orderly, rational and final end to the election.” The federal court also agreed to consider a related case filed by three Bush supporters from Brevard Coun ty. They claim that their rights are be ing violated because their counties are not recanvassing votes by hand. Some scenes were chaotic, bor dering on the comical. Broward County sheriff’s deputies took custody of 78 tiny bits of paper after Republicans demand ed that the scraps be held as evidence of potential ballot tampering. The pa per, from the holes in punchout bal lots, was placed by police in an en velope marked, “Crime. Found Property.” Joked elections supervisor Jane Carroll, herself a Republican: “Let the chads fall as they may.” Later, a lawyer burst into the county’s hurricane emergency center and served subpoenas on startled county election officials. “The nation is watching you,” said Republican activist William Scherer, who filed a lawsuit on behalf of fellow attorney Steven Stoll. About 100 protesters from groups including the NAACPand the Sierra Club gathered at the West Palm Beach counting station, where the canvassing board was waiting for court guidance before recounting. REC0UNI iTbe • The Florida Supreme( gave the go-ahead to manual lot recounts in the state’s! presidential election Thin Within minutes, officials in Beach County announced would soon begin a mane count requested by A1 Gored paign. Still unresolved iswb those tallies will meananji since Secretary of State Kai Harris has said she will noui any ballots counted aftera line Tuesday. • Gore asked a Floridaji require the state to count being hand tallied after the line. Gore, who trails Geors; Bush by 300 votes in Florida, asked the Tailata he mo nterna and ac judge to reverse Harris' dei Democrats want final voteceit aonors cation in Florida delayed isiJU.S. cil recount totals are in. • Gore’s legal team filed: ments Thursday with the U.S. Circuit Court ofAppe based in Atlanta. Thecourtas Wednesday to consider ments on Bush’s attempt toll manual recounts. OnMond: mcami U.S. District judge in Miami jected Bush's claims counts are unconstitutional, sides said the case could be ed to U.S. Supreme Court, • The Federal appeals coi Atlanta also agreed toconsida related case filed by threeBi supporters from Brevard 0 who claim their rights arebei Tex na mil bung “I h ions f til i tar hanic ent fre as to ! oy bei ,tary hi Wit &M tudent s one ional s &M ernath rolled c he con lents a nterna Rea Cotit unity c “A1 I loved c had ex own fa Hoi simila “Pe gies ti me cai olated because their counties a ■ port to not recanvassing votes by haul Bris BEST robot competition comes to B-C Con, The with E assocu By Kristin Rostran The Battalion “Battle Bots” has been gaining popularity on Comedy Central and this Saturday, Texas A&M will host its own version with the fifth-annual re mote-controlled robot vehicle competition be tween middle and high school students from Texas and five other states. The Texas Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) championship gives stu dents six weeks to build robots using supplies from a list provided by the program. The supplies include a motor, radio controls, plywood, pipe and other materials. “The kits allow everyone to start out on equal footing,” said Gretchen Schultz, project assistant fqr Texas BEST. “The competition offers students the opportu nity to get involved with something that is very team-oriented,” Schultz said. “They get to use a variety of skills, including teamwork, engineering ability and creativity.” Texas Instruments started in Texas BEST in 1993 and is still the major supporter of the program. The theme of this year’s competition is Pande monium in the Smithsonian. The robots will com pete four at a time and'will have to maneuver around obstacles that represent different features of the museum. Cylinders and levers represent historical arti facts that the robots must retrieve. Since the robots are in direct competition with each other, offensive and defensive strategies will be necessary. The 50 teams participating in the competition first compete in local and area competitions^ progressing to the finals. The team whose! earns the most points will be the overallgami ner. Special awards will be given to the me bust, creative, elegant and photogenic robot A BEST award also will be giveninase/t competition in which 24 of the SOteamsarera ticipating. The contestants must submitanotebe on details of the robot, make a presentation,! have high spirit and good sportsmanshipthrouf out the competition. There are first-, second third-place categories, and the winners oft I or j g j na QC'C'T' q\i/qrr\ rrfante ^ nni The led bj BEST award will receive grants of $1,1 and $250, respectively, along with trophies, The local and area competitions willlastfe preside 9a.m.to 12:30 p.m. in Reed Arena, andfinalcs Bryan- petitions will begin in the afternoon. Theevel jChamt open to the public and is free of charge. Bryan residents awarded $41.4 million settlement with Atofina chemical compau thropo I messag a plaq I P^L The | A castr be plac pole, name, A lik plaque the cei | forme r sociati dents. By Richard Bray The Battalion Bryan residents who said they were harmed by chemicals released by the now-inoperative Atofina Chemicals plant, formerly known as Elf Atochem, have reached a $41.4 mil lion settlement with the company that will be split among the more than 14,000 claimants. The settlement was approved Oct. 30 in a fairness hearing conducted by U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes. The case was brought by people who lived, worked or owned prop erty in the area around an old farm- chemical plant at 201 West Dodge Street in Bryan between Jan. 1, 1973, and April 10, 1995. Children whose mothers were pregnant in Bryan during the time period are also involved in the suit. “Jf means an end to the protracted litigation that has been going on for over eight and a half years/ 7 — Emily Watson Bryan residents' attorneys The plaintiffs said the plant re leased arsenic and other chemicals that contaminated soil, water and build ings. According to the plaintiffs, these chemicals increased the risk of cancer and birth defects and caused anguish and property damage. Emily Watson, an attorney for the Bryan residents, said the claimants will not receive their money until early spring. The settlement administrator, who is appointed by the court, makes awards to all the claimants. The claimants will be divided into three subclasses based on the damage they suffered. The largest amounts, ex pected to be up to $500,000, will be given to those who have developed cancer or had birth defects. Watson said it would be difficult to ascertain how much the average claimant would receive. “There’s a very wide degree of damages,” she said. “Therearep&1 who lived in the area a short don’t have any physical symptonA there are individuals with seriousl sonal injury claims, so there isals continuum there.” Watson said the settlement i Bryan residents a fair solution wii the difficulties of bringing a I against Atofina on their own. “It means an end to the protri's litigation that has been going( over eight and a half years, and III it’s a good thing for the peopM Bryan,” she said. “Individualla^ are very difficult to pursue against! companies, especially in thisda)^ age when plaintiffs are really* lenged to meet the standards fortli ; missibility of evidence.” *u/t>r mow tv DO/WMCA Stu< SLh Student Counseling elp£inev Spend Summer Session I in a Carribean Island Tropical Rainforest and EARN TAMU CREDIT! Volunteers Heeded! All majors tfelcome! INTERVIEWING NOW to begin service in the Spring Semester. Training will be January 8-1B, 2001. Interested? Contact Dr. Tom Lacher 210 Nagle Hall 862-7667 tlaclier@tamu.eciu Or come by the Study Abroad Program Office, Bizzell Hall West, first floor For more informaHon contact Sosan Vavrt at 845-4427 xl 33 or Sasan-Vavredtama.eda. STUDENT COUNSELING SERVICE Study Abroad Programs * http://studyabroad.tamu.edu » 845-0544 A department in the Division of Student Affairs