The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 05, 2001, Image 1

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    1 SECTION • 10 PAGES
WEDNESDAYSEPTEMBER 5, 2001 I
Texas A&M University — Celebrating 125 Years
THE BATTALION
SERVING THE TEXAS A&M COMMUNITY SINCE 1893
Volume 108 • Issue 9
NEWS IN BRIEF
A&M engineering
llean announces
ftlans to retire
■ COLLEGE STATION (AP) -
fcxas A&M's vice chancellor
Bid dean of engineering. C.
■oland Haden, says he's enter-
Hg his last year on the job.
■ Haden. 61. notified A&M
■hancellor Howard Graves
Ind President Ray Bowen of
■is decision Monday to retire
Hffective Aug. 31. 2002.
I As vice chancellor, he over-
Hees the Texas Engineering
■xperiment Station, the Texas
■ngineering Extension Service
Ind the Texas Transportation
listitute, as well as the Dwight
■ook College of Engineering.
Tech to try for
Guinness record
I LUBBOCK (AP) - With
■ome help from Peggy Sue.
■exas Tech is aiming for the
■ecord books.
■ Attendees of Saturday's
■exas Tech-New Mexico
■ame at Jones SBC Stadium
■ill be asked to sing the
■950s Buddy Holly hit simul
taneously during halftime.
I If they pull if off. they will
get a place in the Guinness
look of Records for the
largest sing-along.
I The sing-along will con
clude a four-day symposium
on Buddy Holly, who was
born in Lubbock.
The CSPD-UPD
Noise Task Force
| responded to 15
loud parties,
issued eight noise
I citations, 41 MIP
i citations and one
disorderly conduct
citation last
Thursday, Friday
and Saturday
TODAY
The final
steps
’• There are several
things students need
to complete before
they can take that
final walk on the stage
SPORTS
at
^ Page 3
Ags pound
UTSA
• Volleyball squad
improves to a
perfect 5-0
OPINION |
Page 9
Who
passed go?
Who collected
$1 million?
WEATHER
TODAY
60%
TOMORROW
30% 4
HIGH
91° F
LOW
74° F
HIGH
93° F
LOW
74° F
College Station, Texas
www.thebatt.com
FORECASTS COURTESY OF
www.weathermanted.com
Gramm will not seek re-election
Staff & Wire
Texas Republican Sen. Phil
Gramm said Tuesday he will leave
the Senat&at the end of his third
term next year, closing out a career
as an unflinching
advocate of lower
taxes and less
government.
“I have always
been happy with the
tax cuts I’ve sup
ported,” Gramm
said at a news con
ference. where he
sometimes grew emotional. He quickly
added. “1 still believe that government
is too big, too powerful and too expen
sive and too intrusive,” and urged a
capital gains tax cut this fall.
Gramm, 59, said he has made no
plans for life after politics. A former
economics professor at Texas
A&M, he sidestepped questions
C.RAMM
about the University’s presidency,
which will become vacant when
Bowen retires.
“When this career is over. I’ll
start thinking about a new one. 1 love
Texas A&M ... Maybe it would be
best if I weren't on their payroll. ...
I've been in academics. Academic
politics are a lot tougher than the pol
itics I've been in,” he said.
Brenda Sims, spokeswoman for
the University System, said the
presidential search committee will
continue to accept applications for
the position through Nov. 30, 2001.
“We are very early in the search,”
Sims said. “The 24 members on the
search committee have only met twice.
We don't have any nominees yet.”
Gramm is the third Republican
senator to disclose plans to retire in
2002. Jesse Helms, 79, of North
Carolina, announced last month that
his fifth term would be his last. Strom
Thurmond, of South Carolina, is 98
and near the end of his career.
A fourth Republican, Fred
Thompson of Tennessee, has yet to
declare his intentions. In all, there are
21 Republican seats on the ballot in
2002, compared to 14 for the
Democrats, all of whose incumbents
are expected to seek new terms.
Democrats currently control the
Senate, 50-49, with one independent,
James Jeffords of Vermont, who cau
cuses with them.
In a statement. President George
W. Bush, a fellow Texan, said
Gramm “has been a consistent and
committed advocate of tax relief for
working Americans, beginning with
his work on President Reagan’s tax
cut in 1981 ... and continuing with
his tireless efforts to pass this year’s
monumental tax relief package.”
Gramm was elected to the House
of Representatives in 1978 as a
Democrat. Appointed to the House
Budget Committee by fellow
Democrats in 1981, he worked
secretly with Republicans to pass
See Gramm on page 2.
. - - —
Saving thinks Gramm would
make great A&M president
COLLEGE STATION (,AP) — Tom Saving
knows that Texas A&M is dear to his friend. Sen.
Phil Gramm.
“He loves this place,” said Saving, who was an
economics professor at A&M when Gramm taught
the subject from the 1960s through the late 1970s.
“He always comes back.”
Gramm's announcement Tuesday that he would
not seek re-election next year fueled speculation
that Gramm could return to A&M as president.
Ray Bowen is stepping down as university presi
dent in June.
During his announcement in Washington, D.C..
Gramm. 59. said he has made no plans for life after
politics. He sidestepped questions about A&M's
presidency.
Gramm has always had a special affinity for
A&M and College Station. He met his second wife
See SAVING on page 2.
Construction
causes need
for new routes
By Amanda Smith
THE BATTALION
Construction on the West
Campus Parking Garage and the
underground pedestrian pas
sageway has started, making it
necessary for buses, cars and
pedestrians to find other routes
to campus.
The construction is expected
to last two years. University offi
cials said.
“It takes about two good
football seasons to complete the
project,” said Tony Heger, direc
tor of the facilities administra
tion division.
Parking, Traffic and
Transportation Services (PTTS)
has posted campus access points
maps for the Fall 2001 semester
through the Spring 2004 semes
ter to provide members and
guests of %ie Texas A&M com
munity with a view of the con
struction areas and better routes
to campus.
Tom Williams, PTTS director,
said he advises students to take
the bus to campus when commut
ing from off campus.
“We encourage off-campus
students to ride the bus when it is
convenient and when you desire
to drive to campus, be certain you
have the proper parking permit.”
Williams advises accessing
West Campus from FM 2818
using Raymond Stotzer Parkway
or George Bush Drive to Olsen
Boulevard.
“Enter campus from the west
and exit from the west,” Williams
said. “Do not drive through cen
tral campus. Use the shuttle
buses.”
Students are encouraged to
avoid Wellborn Road and Joe
Routt Boulevard, according to
PTTS officials. A detour at
Houston Street has been estab
lished to reduce the number of
vehicles exiting campus at the
intersection of Old Main and
Wellborn Road.
PTTS is working with the City
of College Station and the
University Police Department to
aid the traffic congestion because
of road closures.
“We expected congestion at
Old Main and Wellborn as well as
Wellborn and Kimbrough-Joe
Routt,” Williams said. "The first
See Construction on page 2.
Officials suggest
students use bus
to avoid signals
By Giselle Wallace
THE BATTALION
The average red light holds
for two minutes in the early
morning hours as northbound
traffic heads toward the Texas
A&M campus. College Station
city officials said.
Lee Robinson, traffic signals
superintendent for College
Station, said students should ride
the bus to avoid these long lights
in their morning commutes.
“Students should take advan
tage of the shuttles that the
school provides to decrease traf
fic,” Robinson said. “The morn
ing is the busiest time of the day
and the longest time traffic sig
nals hold.”
Lt. Dan Jones, public infor
mation officer for the College
See Commu ters on page 4.
Campus tagging
University Police Officer Craig Ellsworth looks at a
student’s driver’s license as he prepares to
engrave the license number onto the student’s
BRETT MARETH • THE BATTALION
bicycle. Officers will offer the free service today
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of the Memorial
Student Center.
Ags not giving Bonfire ’02 input
By Sommer Bunce
THE BATTALION
Only three students have sub
mitted responses at the Bonfire
2002 Website in the two weeks
since the Bonfire 2002 Planning
Group has posted its interim
report for feedback.
For student input to be incor
porated into the design, safety
and student leadership plans for
Bonfire, more student response
is a necessity, said planning
group facilitator Bryan Cole.
“We're looking to hear from
as many folks as we can,” Cole
said. “People need to identify
the things they want from
Bonfire, so . we can maybe
work them in.”
At the group’s Website,
http://studentaffairs.tamu.edu/
bonfire02, Aggies can access
and download a copy of the 61-
page interim report, which
details the planning group's
activities over past semesters.
The interim report also lists
some initial conclusions reached
by the planning group, including
the proposed plan for student
leadership in “Bonfire
Academy” and recommenda
tions that Bonfire be subject to
an annual evaluation. To review
the report and provide feedback,
students can click on the
“Bonfire 2002 Interim Report”
link on the Website.
Feedback forms are also
available on the Website for
input in specific task force
areas, such as design and insti
tutional culture.
Though the Bonfire 2002
timeline is now “fluid” while a
safety firm is chosen to aid in
the design, Cole said he is confi
dent that a Bonfire is still possi
ble for 2002.
“We’re still comfortable.
Everything should be in place
by the latest Feb. 1,” Cole said.
The deadline for student
feedback forms is Friday,
Sept. 14.
U.S., Mexico should work
to ease cross-border inequality
BRETT MARETH • THE BATTALION
Students are now advised by University Police officers to press the “Walk”
button before crossing over to West Campus. UPD now is ticketing students
who cross without a Walk signal.
WASHINGTON (AP)— President Bush, play
ing down the failure to reach a U.S.-Mexican
immigration agreement, said Tuesday that the
state visit of Mexican President Vicente Fox is “a
great beginning for a relationship that will contin
ue to evolve over time.”
Bush will greet Fox on Wednesday with a
White House honors ceremony and the first state
dinner of his presidency.
Bush said their meetings will provide a better
understanding of Mexico, the possibility of a
change of the annual U.S. evaluation of Mexico’s
performance on fighting drugs, better cooperation
on law enforcement and a commitment from Fox
to extradite U.S. fugitives. Also, he said. Fox’s
visit will help sell Congress on many issues,
including the importance of immigrant workers to
the national economy.
* “The Mexican people ought to be pleased with
President Fox and his relationship with the United
See Mexico on page 4.