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1 M C X'Z/ A Y
July 30, 2001
Volume 107 ~ Issue 179
6 pages
News tn Brief""
Campus
Extension Service
getting new name
The Board of Regents ap
proved Friday a proposal to
change the name of the Texas
Agricultural Extension Service
to the Texas Cooperative Ex
tension.
"The new name ties the
agency's roots to the broader
services it currently offers and
will offer in the future," said
Chancellor Howard D. Graves.
"Our hope is that more Texans
will take advantage of the vari
ety of programs and services
Javailable through extension."
The Extension Service is a
[joint federal- and state-spon
sored organization that offers
outreach programs and con-
[tinuing education services to
Texans. Ed Hiler, director of the
Extension Service, cited its.
commitment to servicing ur
ban as well as highly agricul
turally based communities as
part of the motivation for the
name change.
Nation
IIM
forward:
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orting doesn't
get off in this ^
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Steam engine kills
■ four in explosion
MEDINA, Ohio (AP) — A
steam engine exploded at a
| county fair Sunday, killing four
I people and injuring dozens
■ when it blasted shrapnel and
hot oil across the fairgrounds.
The engine was being
moved into place for an out
door exhibit about antique
trains and tractors when it ex
ploded at about 6:30 p.m.,
Medina County Sheriff Neil
Hassinger said. Two of the
men killed were close to the
engine, and the third man
was found 30 feet away. A
fourth person died later at a
hospital.
Shrapnel was found in a
parking lot about 100 yards
away, said Fire Chief Bill
Herthneck.
Last year, about 30 people
who attended the fair or a lat
er Halloween attraction called
the Carnival of Horrors at the
Medina County Fairgrounds
became ill with potentially
deadly E. coli. A report from
the federal Centers for Dis
ease Control and Prevention
suggested that water and ice
used by food vendors may
have become contaminated
with standing water from the
animal barns.
Apartment explodes,
injuring at least 7
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — An
explosion and fire destroyed a
building with five apartments
on Sunday, killing one person
and injuring seven. Another
person was missing.
At least one woman was
een jumping from a second-
story apartment as flames
roared through the roof. Wit
nesses also reported hearing a
loud blast followed quickly by
a fire.
INSIDE
¥ UJr JM l&KA m I k’/ 1’J 11 i'i i <
Construction set to begin
on West Campus garage
Stuart Hutson
The Battalion
After years of planning,
construction will begin on the
West Campus parking garage
in one month -— just in time to
be an inconvenience to the
thousands of students flocking
to A&M this fall.
The Texas A&M System
Board of Regents awarded the
$40 million garage construc
tion contract to J.T Vaughn
Construction Co. Inc., of
Houston during its meeting
Thursday.
The parking garage, which
was first p’roposed in 1998, will
occupy an area now taken up
by 1,000 parking spaces north
of the Student Recreation
Center.
The six-story garage will of
fer at least 3,190 spaces — suf
ficient parking space for three
high-occupancy facilities: the
Student Rec Center, Reed
Arena and Kyle Field.
The project will include a
pedestrian walkway connect
ing main and West campuses
via an underground tunnel
beneath Wellborn Road. The
walkway, which will begin at
the garage and extend to Kyle
Field, will replace “the rain
bow” archway near Joe Routt
Boulevard. The archway,
which does not meet with
Americans with Disabilities
Act requirements, will be torn
down at the beginning of Fall
2001.
Tony Heger, director of the
Texas A&M System Facilities
Administration Division, said
the construction should last
approximately 21 months but
will be designed so as to cause
as little disruption as possible.
“President Bowen made a
point to express to the com
mittee how much possible dis
ruption this construction may
cause during football season.
This is going to be happening
for two years, so it is going to
cause some problems for two
seasons,” he said. “However,
one of the winning points of
the contractor who was cho
sen was his ability to schedule
phases of construction so that
they interfere as little as pos
sible.
“He has been doing great
work with the medical center
in Houston where he has been
Helping hand
STUART VILLANUEVA/The Battalion
Andrianne Lewis of Brazos Valley Golden Retriever
Rescue comforts Jada, a two-year-old retriever, while
she is dried at a dog washing fundraiser Saturday. The
group rescues golden retrievers that have been aban
doned or mistreated and finds loving homes for them.
Jada was rescued after being shot with a pellet gun.
Officials alarmed by worm
Government, businesses try to protect against 'Code Red’
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an un
precedented show of force against an ex
tremely virulent Internet attack, govern
ment and private officials on Monday will
implore worldwide organizations to protect
themselves from the “Code Red” worm.
Representatives from the White House,
FBI, Microsoft and others have decided to
take the step in the face of one of the largest
ever dangers to the Internet. The worm,
similar to a virus, could cause widespread
slowdowns and sporadic outages.
“The Internet has become indispensible
to our national security and economic well
being,” said Ron Dick, head of the Nation
al Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC),
an arm of the FBI. “Worms like Code Red
pose a distinct threat to the Internet.”
Along with posting various warnings on
their Websites, government officials and
representatives from Microsoft were hold
ing a news conference Monday afternoon
to publicize their efforts.
The government routinely works with
private companies to issue warnings about
new hack attacks and viruses, but never
before have they made such a high-pro
file stand.
While the actual infection rate is un
known, it is believed to be in the hundreds
of thousands of Internet-connected com
puters. In just the first nine hours of its
July 19 outbreak, it infected more than
250,000 systems.
The government-funded Computer
Emergency Response Team (CERT) said
the worm is predicted to start spreading
again Tuesday evening.
“This spread has the potential to disrupt
business and personal use of the Internet
for applications such as electronic com
merce, email and entertainment,” a CERT
advisory warns.
The officials are frustrated that even
though a software inoculation was made
available over a month before the worm’s first
attack, many computers are still defenseless.
The patch, which will protect computers, can
be found on Microsoft’s Website.
The worm defaces Websites with the
words “Hacked by Chinese.” While it
doesn’t destroy data, it could be modified
See Worm on Page 2.
Residents vote to stop bombing
VIEQUES, Puerto Rico
(AP) — Residents of Vieques
voted overwhelmingly for the
U.S. Navy immediately to stop
bombing on this Puerto Rican
island. The referendum is
nonbinding, but the Puerto
Rican government hopes it
will influence Washington.
Sixty-eight percent of vot
ers supported an end to the
bombing and the Navy’s with
drawal from the island that is
home to its prized Atlantic
range. About 30 percent voted
for the Navy to stay and re
sume using live munitions, ac
cording to the electoral com
mission.
President Bush’s plan to pull
the Navy out of Vieques in 2003
and allow training with inert
bombs to continue in the inter
im mustered less than 2 percent
— 81 votes.
Islanders celebrated what
they called “a victory for peace
in Vieques” with whoops of joy,
blaring car horns and the wav
ing of Puerto Rican and
Vieques flags.
Puerto Rico Gov. Sila M.
Calderon has said the results
have no legal standing but do
carry “moral force” that she
hopes will influence the U.S.
government.
But after the results were
announced, the Navy said it
would continue its training,
due to resume on Vieques on
Wednesday, and keep looking
for an alternative for when it
leaves the island in 2003.
“The outcome of this refer
endum, organized by Gov. Sila
Calderon, will have no impact
on the Navy or our focus,” said
Lt. Cmdr. Kate Mueller, a
Washington-based Navy
spokesperson.
Dozens of people lined up
outside polling stations that
opened at 8 a.m. and 75 per
cent of the 5,900 registered
voters had cast ballots within
four hours, the electoral com
mission said.
Calderon’s referendum was
called to give islanders the op
tion of asking for an immediate
stop to the bombing that began
See Vieques on Page 2.
working in tight, cramped
quarters but in such a way as to
allow the functioning of the
medical center to continue
unimpeded.”
Heger said Wellborn will
have one lane ctosed at a timej
but John Kimbrough Boulavard
extending from Wellborn to
Olsen Boulavard will be closed
during the entire time of the
construction.
It has not yet been deter
mined how many of the park
ing garage spots will be allo
cated for student contract
parking.
Police:
Attacks
are not
related
DALLAS (AP) — Several as
saults in affluent south Tyler
have some fearing that a serial
rapist is at work in the East Texas
city, although police say they be
lieve the attacks are unrelated.
Police Chief Gary Swindle
said the four attempted sexual as
saults and two rapes in a five-mile
area of upper- and middle-class
neighborhoods are “nothing so
special or out of the norm.”
But after being asked for de
tailed information on Tyler’s in
cidence of rape, the chief ac
knowledged that the
department’s statistical data
tracking sexual assaults is flawed
and inaccurate, The Dallas NLoi~n-
ing News reported in a story for
Monday’s editions.
Police spokesman Chris
Moore said the department’s
computerized crime reporting
system cannot map where rapes
have historically occurred, and
the department cannot accu
rately say how many attacks or
attempts have been reported this
year or last.
«
I know a lot of
people ore scared
to death. What's
taking place is
unusual for Tyler.”
— Jack Skeen
Smith County district attorney
A Dallas Morning News review
of year 2000 case summaries
shows 35 rapes and three at
tempted rapes reported, but few
led to arrests or prolonged in
vestigation. Sixty-nine percent
were closed or cleared because
victims were considered unbe
lievable, lacked evidence or
dropped charges.
Thirty-two percent of 2 5 rape
cases reported last year in sur
rounding Smith County were
closed for similar reasons, ac
cording to the Smith County
Sheriff’s Department.
Moore told the newspaper
that many of last year’s rape
complaints were simply false.
The first of six attacks began
in October, with four since ear
ly May. They have prompted an
increase in demand for gun and
self-defense courses, along with
orders for home security alarms.
“I know a lot of people are
scared to death. I get a lot of
questions,” said Smith County
District Attorney Jack Skeen.
See Attacks on Page 2.