M. O IS ^ A y
July 2, 2001
Volume 107 ~ Issue 164
6 pages
M
News in Brief
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father stabs 3 sons
fcefore he is shot by
Lolice in New York
j SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — A
Mther stabbed his three young
■>oys, killing two, before he was
■hot and killed by police as the
■istraught mother looked on
futside a locked window.
I Police said Cuong Tran, 33,
lunged at them with a knife
i|vhen they found him Saturday
fight in a bedroom of the fam
ily's home, standing over one
f the children.
Sons Randy, 5, and Danny,
, died in the attack. Seven-
tear-old Andy was in serious
3ut stable condition Sunday.
The mother, whose identity
/vas not released, was unhurt.
Sgt. David Sackett said the
nother arrived home late Sat
urday. Her screams prompted a
neighbor to call 911. Police
forced their way into the locked
home, where an officer fired a
single shot that killed Tran.
The officer will not be iden
tified until a grand jury consid
ers whether the shooting was
justified, which is common
practice after a police shooting,
Sackett said.
Bus driver facing 46
charges in accident
it provost fora-
;U other school
o learn howthcr
lools.”
FAIRPLAY, Colo. (AP) —
The driver of a chartered bus
that overturned near the sum
mit of a mountain pass while
carrying high school students
from Minnesota was arrested
Sunday on 46 charges of care
less driving.
A17-year-old boy remained
in critical condition Sunday
land three others were listed in
/serious condition. Most of the
>; passengers were treated for
minor injuries and released Sat-
system will k urday night,
from the newest The bus passengers — 45
>logy. One suck teen-agers and adults from
<; Ji-annpnvitli Burnsville, Minn. — were head-
Af) m ed to Frontier Ranch near Bue-
1 U P 0 P^ lna Vista when the bus went off
■the road and rolled Saturday
Inear the 1 0,000-foot summit
as been mexce ° f Kenosha Pass - The bus went
as ueen anexcy ^ road ^ ro| state
: P enence - , | police said,
the primary
a rued from tfc Quakes hit Spokane
hat teachingtej SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) —
latience. jsj 0 damage or injuries were re
known that ported from two mild earth-
tience,”shesai quakes that rippled through
eard the [pant Spokane, authorities said,
ent teachingarl The quakes were felt at
ring.” J 10:45 p.m. and 10:50 p.m.
lotentialtribni Saturday, said Bob Stose, dis-
,g are very scat patcher for the Spokane Coun-
okingforward ty Fire Department.
:classroom fl ser ' es °f nnild earth-
1 for that one® ua * <es s1:njc l < Spokane on June
'you’ve toudif 2 I 5, n ° n ® '" ith a magnitude
/ _ , v above 3.4. Damage was limit-
ia , nia f ed to bricks falling from a few
iu said. lea Chimneys, cracked plaster and
Broken dishes.
will be given ^ 6.8-magnitude quake
>1 students at struck Washington on Feb. 28,
tohelptheh causing more than $2 billion
theprogranii damage in the greater Seattle
IE students, area but claiming no lives.
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— Dim
Preparation begins for A&M's
125th anniversary celebration
Robin Lewis
The Battalion
The celebration of the 125th birth
day of Texas A&M, scheduled to begin
Oct. 4, will give Aggies time to reflect
on the history and traditions of one of
Texas’ first public institutions of higher
learning.
What began in 1876 as the Texas
Agricultural and Mechanical College
has now grown into a university that
not only includes a college for those in
terested in agriculture and engineering
— but of architecture, business, educa
tion, medicine and more.
“A lot has happened in 125 years,”
said Cindy Lawson, coordinator of the
125th celebration and executive director
of University Relations.
“Corporations, institutions of high
er education, agencies and non-profits
all over the world seem to have mile-
«
/ hope that everyone
will look at this as a
really fun and exciting
time to celebrate what
we are, what we've
become and what we
will become. ”
— Cindy Lawson
coordinator of 125th celebration
stone marks in their history,” Lawson
said. “This is one ofTexas A&M’s mile
stones.”
The year-long celebration will begin
with a campus-wide coffee social to
kick off the events that will last through
Oct. 3,2002.
Lawson said she hopes students will
participate in as many of the activities as
possible. There will be University-wide
activities and activities specifically for the
students.
One of these activities may include
creating a time capsule. The time cap
sule would be buried sometime during
2002.
“We’ve been told that there are time
capsules all over this campus that have
been buried in the past,” Lawson said.
“We’re trying to do an inventory of that
now because I think it would be neat to
open one up from way back when.”
Lawson said students will have yet an
other reason to celebrate the Universi
ty’s birthday — they will receive a day off
from classes.
“I would hope that all students would
take some of that time to reflect back and
learn a little bit more about the history
ofTexas A&M,” Lawson said.
Since the celebration project is still in
the planning stage, she said the schedule
of events is still to be announced.
“I hope that everyone will look at
this as a really fun and exciting time to
celebrate what we are, what we’ve be
come and what we will become,” Law-
son said.
Fun raising
STUART VILLANUEVA/The Battalion
Eleven-year-olds (left to right) Geronimo Longoria, of the Brazos Valley Stealth Little League team and
Brandon Groff and Zach Othold scrub down the have qualified to play in the National Little League
window of a pickup Saturday. The boys are members Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, this summer.
ELI needs English speakers
Elizabeth Raines
The Battalion
The English Language Insti
tute (ELI) at Texas A&M is
looking for American students
to donate one hour per week for
the next five weeks to partici
pate in the Conversation Part
ner Program.
The ELI is in need of Eng
lish-speaking students this sum
mer because diey are hosting 40
Japanese high school students
who are scheduled to arrive this
week.
Rita Marsh, coordinator for
the program, said the ELI esti
mates it is still in need of 100
Americans to talk to the stu
dents for one hour per week
about the American culture and
attending Texas A&M.
Students are allowed to meet
with their partners on or off
campus. Marsh said usually the
students will meet at one of
A&M’s libraries or the Pavilion,
«
This is a real eye
opening experience
for both students.”
— Rita Marsh
program coordinator
but sometimes, the partners be
come close enough that they
will meet off campus and do
something together.
“This is a real eye-opening
experience for both students,”
Marsh said. “The students are
always surprised to see how sim
ilar they are to their partners.”
Marsh said that, in addition
to having the Japanese students
meet with conversation part
ners, they will be staying one
night with an American family.
“We want these students to
see how Americans live,” Marsh
said. “We are having families
[throughout the B-CS area]
host a student for one night to
see how Americans live.”
Approximately 1,300 inter
national and American students
participate each year in the pro
gram —1000 students during
the fall and spring semesters
and 300 students during the
summer. During the fall and
spring semesters, students from
specific anthropology and
speech communications classes
are required to participate in
the program; however, this
summer with the additional
Japanese visitors, there will be
more international students
than the University can accom
modate with classes.
“We have been doing this
program for several years,”
Marsh said. “There are re
quirements for both partners
but there are also benefits.”
Marsh said that students in
terested in participating can
contact her by email, r-
marsh@tamu.edu or by phone
at 845-7936.
Professor
receives
a Royal
Medal
Justin Smith
The Battalion
Texas A&M professor Dr. A.
Ian Scott has been named as
one of three recipients of the
Royal Medal, which is awarded
by the Royal Society of Edin
burgh. He is being honored for
“outstanding distinction in the
physical sciences.”
Scott is a distinguished profes
sor of chemistry and biochemistry
and holds the C. J. Davidson
Chair in science at A&M. He is
also a fellow of the Royal Society
of Edinburgh (RSE).
“It came out of the blue,” said
Scott about when he heard the
news of the award. “I was
pleased that they still remem
bered me even though I had
been gone for so long.”
Scott was born in Glasgow,
Scotland, and received his Ph.D.
in 1952 from Glasgow Univer
sity. He went on to teach at the
University of British Columbia,
Sussex and Yale before coming
to A&M in 1977.
At A&M, Scott has made ad
vances in the study of vitamin
B12, which is essential to hu
man life. Typically found in red
meat, a lack of B12 is strongly
associated with the develop
ment of anemia.
Scott also has done extensive
research in nuclear magnetic
resonance on a biological level.
This research has helped form
ways to synthetically create mo
lecular structures like that of vi
tamin B12.
The Royal Medals were in
stituted by Queen Elizabeth in
2000 and will be awarded an
nually. To receive a Royal
Medal, one must excel in one of
many categories, such as life
sciences or business, and have a
See Professor on Page 2.
Dr. A. Ian Scott received a
Royal Medal from the Royal
Society of Edinburgh.
Background checks block sales
Analysts say because crime rate decline people feel safer, less inclined to buy guns
WASHINGTON (AP) — Background
checks blocked 153,000 of the nearly 7.7
million prospective sales of guns last year,
and fewer people tried to buy firearms in
2000 than in 1999, the Justice Department
reported Sunday.
Analysts attributed the decline to a
drop in crime, which they said has led
Americans to feel safer and less inclined
to purchase guns.
“These are the long-term positive reper
cussions of a lower crime rate,” said James
Alan Fox, criminal justice professor at
Northeastern University in Boston. “Peo
ple see that streets are safer and they are not
as compelled to go out and purchase a gun.”
Researchers, however, said the decline in
applications does not necessarily mean that
((
People see that streets
are safer and they are not
as compelled to go out
and purchase a gun. ”
— James Alan Fox
criminal justice professor at
Northeastern University
fewer guns were sold. In some states, peo
ple can purchase more than one gun from
a single application.
“It’s not a measure of whether gun sales
are up or down,” said Lawrence Greenfeld,
acting director at the Justice Department’s
Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Between 1999 and 2000, there was an 11
percent drop in the number of Americans
who tried to purchase guns from federally
licensed firearm dealers — from 8.6 million
to 7.7 million.
Almost all of the 19 states listed in the re
port as providing complete statewide data
for applications and rejections in 2000 had
declines last year; the largest were in Indiana
See Guns on Page 2.