f» vtmi =1:1 1«J k 1 1 k’J =< I i
July 24, 2001
me 107 ~ Issue 176
6 pages
c /s in Brief
\
m- State
Hher, stepfather
iicted for abuse
)A!.LAS (AP) — A Dallas
mi grand jury has in-
,:ed the mother and tor
i'stepfather of an 8-year-
Igii I locked in a closet and
lerely malnourished.
Jarbara and Kenneth
inlon were indicted Mon-
^ 4n felony charges of in-
/ to a child. They were ar-
Bi last month after police
cut d the girl, who
igned only 25 pounds and
ween locked in a feces-
■jrine-covered closet in a
tchins mobile home.
The! girl was released from
5 hospital last week.
Authorities say the girl was
<ually abused and locked in
ilthv closet or other confined
w for up to four years.
Brbara Atkinson is being
!ld in Dallas County jail in
:u of $100,000 bond and
weth Atkinson is being
;ld without bond because
a warrant from- Ellis Coun-
they each face five to 99
ears in prison if convicted,
■he girl's five siblings re-
lain in state custody.
lustoms seize pot
BROWNSVILLE (AP) —
i.S Customs agents arrested
i Mexican national Monday
ifter they found 1,500
rounds of marijuana worth
n.5 million in his van.
flSaul Zamaripa Rodriguez,
23, was charged with pos
session with intent to distrib-
yte a controlled substance,
/nuggling and evading ar-
■st, according to a Customs
ervice statement. He will go
ifore a U.S. magistrate
Jdge Tuesday.
■Special agents received in-
Imation about smuggling
I livity along the banks of
R Rio Grande southeast of
mmaynotr r|)wnsville. They were mon-
e way he Coring the area when they
ilans on ha'i'lotted a suspicious van
unitiestosbmerge from the riverbank.
r AggiefanswMhen the agents pursued,
■ driver abandoned the
he vibe,’’ anc * fl ec * on foot. Agents
reason forv 3| J owed on foo f and took
,t t oA&M S f riguez into custod Y-
ne thesigni^amage estimated
, .Jt $170 million
coaches, it-
s just a p HOUSTON (AP) -Tropi-
3 in and it’s E a{ Storm Allison is responsi-
>le for at least $1 70 million
■damages to Houston-area
■ools, including prelimi-
kdenary estimates of $138 mil-
ion at the University of Hous-
i „ rmtt lK state and federal disaster
ia J Icials said Monday,
c-to-bac ijThe overall total will likely
make a m j s k as sc y,ool districts and col
ei with ^ejes continue to assess dam-
oroupat- 1 J gies from the storm six weeks
igb, Federal Emergency Man
agement Agency and Texas
j^Oivision of Emergency Man-
aMpement officials said.
JA/Tmmm
s ts fe skid
he Ci^oi
Wolf Pea
of games
me.
he took
New buses arrive in CS,
will be used on-campus
BERNARDO GARZA/7h£ Battalion
Stuart Hutson
The Battalion
From a lab in Roswell, N. M. two sleek
crafts quietly glide through the A&M
campus with the ultimate purpose of car
rying students away to a place where they
will be subjected to cruel testing — their
classrooms.
The first two in a fleet of 22 new shut
tle buses arrived in College Station Sat
urday from New Mexico’s Nova Buses,
Inc. production plant where they were
custom made for A&M’s campus.
“It was time for a change,” said Gary
Jackson, manager of Bus Operations.
“These buses are going to make a real dif
ference in the way that students get
around on campus.”
The fleet will first replace old buses
running on-campus routes. As additional
buses are purchased, they will be also used
for off-campus routes.
The change will be noticeable. The
new buses have a dramatically different
appearance than their 20-year-old coun
terparts.
T he seats face the interior of the bus
leaving a standing space that is several feet
wide for passengers who cannot find a seat
or are too busy to sit down, Jackson said.
“We lost space for two seats by arrang
ing them this way,” he said. “But the bus
es can carry a substantially higher num
ber of standing passengers while at the
same time making getting on and off the
bus a lot easier.”
The buses can seat 34, but can carry 7 5
or more.
A door is located on each end of the
bus, one equipped with a lifting ramp for
wheelchair-bound patrons. For those who
find the first step up to the bus a little too
far, the buses can lower their base more
than a foot to provide easier access.
“What people are going to enjoy
most, though, is the air conditioning,”
said Sam Teuton, a bus driver of three
years and a senior history major. “With
the old buses, you had to keep the win-,
dows down until the A/C finally got cold
— if it ever did. These buses cool down
almost immediately.”
Jackson said the interior of the buses
were meant to hold up against wear and
tear. The cloth seats can be cut without
showing signs of damage, and the floors
are a granite mixture that gets sticky as it
gets wet to prevent accidents.
“We looked at other buses like these
which have been in use since the ’70s,”
Jackson said. “The buses that were built
in 1977 look like they were built in 1997.
“If we can make, the old buses last 18
years, we can make these last at least 25.”
The buses are equipped with a “stop
request” line that passengers may pull
when their stop is reached; however,
Jackson said the function is probably only
going to be functional on future off-cam
pus buses to shorten route times.
Trey Cellmer, a driver of more than
three years and junior geology major, said
the new fleet also carries an additional
bonus for students outside the buses.
Along with cleaner burning and more
fuel-efficient engines, the exhaust pipes
are located on the top-left side of the bus,
so the exhaust will not spray directly onto
those nearby.
“This way, people waiting for their bus
See Buses on Page 2.
BERNARDO GARZA/Th£ Battalion
Above: Bus drivers
will receive a train
ing session on han
dling the new
buses which are
scheduled to begin
arriving in College
Station Saturday.
The 22 new buses
cost $6 million.
They were pur
chased from
University adminis
trative funds. The
new $50 bus fee
will be used for
maintenance and *
purchasing more
buses in the future.
The buses seat 34
people but can
carry up to 75 pas
sengers. They also
have a lifting ramp
for wheelchairs.
Left: Bus
Operations
Manager Gary
Jackson stands in
front of a new bus.
Jackson said the
first few new buses
will be used for on-
campus routes.
CSPD offers tips to prevent fraud
Robin Lewis
The Battalion
After the recent arrests of
two College Station residents
accused of credit card fraud and
check forgery, College Station
Police Department (CSPD) of
ficials warn residents of the
Bryan-College Station area to
be more cautious and protect
their accounts.
James Michael Ellison, a 20-
year-old College Station resi
dent, was arrested July 13 at
First American Bank in College
Station, after officers found him
in possession of crack cocaine
while attempting to cash a
stolen check at the bank.
Officers said Ellison and his
30-year-old roommate, Dawn
Marie Bugge, could be respon
sible for as many as 250 inci
dents of fraudulent activity.
Bugge was arrested July 18.
CSPD Public Information
Officer Dan Jones said people
who knew the suspects or have
experienced recent burglaries to
their car or home
should be concerned.
The* suspects stole 4
whole books of checks +
from the bottom of the^l^
victim’s check boxes to
keep them from noticing i
any immediate disap
pearance.
Ellison, Bugge and I
possibly a third suspect!
were stealing these —
checkbooks and credit!
cards to use them at local
convenience stores and gro
cery stores.
Although the suspects said
most of the cash was used to buy
crack cocaine, they also bought
cartons of cigarettes and lottery
tickets.
The two suspects could be
charged with forgery, credit card
fraud and the redemption of il-
Don’t leave purses,^
checkbooks, or wallets ^
with credit cards in car
• Limit the amount of
personal information on
checks
Instead of signing the back
of a credit card, print
’’Check I.D.”
RUBEN DELUNA/7h£ Battalion
legally obtained lottery tickets —
a third degree felony, depending
on the value of the tickets.
“We are working with the
state lottery commission to see if
we can determine the to
tal amount of lottery
tickets that were cashed,”
Jones said. “Wearepret-
ty sure we can document
over $200 worth, which
k will allow us to classify it as
a third-degree felony.”
Jones said College
Station, just like any
'other city, experiences
_ its fair share of forgery
fcases.
w Jones said valuable items
such as checkbooks, purses,
wallets with credit cards or
anything else of value should
not be placed where they can
easily be stolen, such as in an
unattended vehicle.
Jones also said there are sev
eral other steps people can take
to protect their bank accounts
and credit cards.
“On checks, people should
limit the amount of information
they put on the front. If you just
put your name and a RO. Box
number, then it might encour
age merchants to ask for ID.”
Jones said clerks commonly
will only ask the customer if the
information on the check is the
right information instead of
verifying the information with
an ID. This allows the customer
to purchase items without offi
cially proving their identity.
“I also don’t sign the back of
my credit cards,” he said
Instead, he prints “check ID”
and then said he thanks the
merchants if they actually do.