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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 2001)
HURSDAYSEPTEMBER 20, 2001 Texas A&M University — Celebrating 125 Years 2 SECTIONS • 16 PAGES )re ra NEWS IN BRIEF 1'aiuan IAP storm Nan d« W ellborn Road nn on areas pron . indslides onTuei Will bG ClOSGd part of Sunday Wellborn Road at the ntersection of Joe Routt nd John Kimbrough Boulevards will be closed soaked fumiiir; _*P chocolate to ater subsided " main streets, amount of raitn e. breaking any tfall record” began ker- i 1930, said forej o-cheng. tl cities record?: lies of rain in 2; l*-third of thea\n in fall. Lu said. .a ( hang Chu:-': :red a S64 nu; id for hard-hi: :i m inundated W i of rice paddnjsi ps. causing *® million in daiii ultore Councils people to evac, homes by wj waist-deep ath toll rose toi: flooding the u;. and other noro n Mondav. 1 toward west-ca !0 throu g h traff,c P art of On Tuesday ; *he day Sunday. Sept. 23, ccording to a joint test city, Taichuii announcement by the storms Department of Parking, frequently hit T» r ra ffj c anc j Transportation e summer, but! ^ services (PTTS), the Texas Department of Transportation and the ity of College Station. The purpose of the clo sure is the removal of the edestrian walkway— the rainbow bridge” — that is onstructed over Wellborn weep over the . Slow-moving' to become tsting tropical a ed Taiwan histor ?s. schools and change were 6: ond day. giving to clear away h mud from homes. They ?BRoad and the Union Pacific Railroad track at the inter section. The removal is part of the construction of an underground passage way that will replace the walkway when completed. Both Wellborn Road and the Union Pacific track will be closed from George Bush Drive to Old Main Drive at about 11:30 a.m. and will remain closed for an esti mated four hours to accom modate the walkway removal. Officials encour age individuals traveling in this vicinity to avoid Wellborn Road. PUBLIC EYE i<r 1 F.Y.I. Percent of Texas population under 18 years old for 2000 28.2 TODAY AGGIELIFE Page 1B Know how to - safely Tips on how to be safe when out in College Station Ags open fall slate Saturday Softball to participate in Spring-Klein College Classic Page 7B Mother nature or a lother’s nature? • Pro-Con: Senator’s decision to adopt a child WEATHER HIGH 94° F LOW 73° F TOMORROW ^ HIGH (jP^ 93° F LOW 73° F FORECASTS COURTESY OF www.weathermanted.com SERVING THE T E XAS A&M COMMUNI TY SINCE 1893 Volume 108 • Issue 20 College Station, Texas www.thebatt.com Attacks impact A&M-OSU game T-shirts pulled from store racks, all benefits to aid tragedy victims By Rolando Garcia THE BATTALION Competition for the dollars of patriotic Aggies dissipated Wednesday as local clothing retailers deferred to the on-cam pus Red. White and Blue volun teers, even as the group tem porarily ran out of its ‘Standing for America’ T-shirts. A group of students are urg ing fans to wear red, white and blue T-shirts to the football game Saturday, with the proceeds of the T-shirt sales going to help the families of firefighters and policemen killed during last week's terrorist attacks in New Reserves called to action By Sommer Bunce THE BATTALION Several Texas A&M students have been called to duty in the U.S. armed forces, and more are expected to be placed on active duty in the wake of last week's ter rorist attacks on New York City and Washington. D.C. A “handful” of Corps of Cadets members belong to the armed forces special and reserve services, said Corps public relations officer Trevor Voelkel, a senior finance major. Some of those student reservists have been called to active duty, Voelkel said. Junior biomedical sciences major Kevin Nail was placed on active standby last week and spent the weekend at his post at the Port of Houston United States Coast Guard. On Tuesday, Nail received orders to check out of college and report for active duty, his mother, Sandy, said. “All we know is that he is defending the coast,” Sandy Nail said. .“When he enlisted, he told me, ‘Oh mom, a war won't break out,’ but you just can't predict when troops will be needed.” Sandy Nail believes her son was the first to withdraw from classes on Tuesday. She said he was sent to the registrar's office, and then to the dean of his college, and back and forth again before he was able to withdraw and receive promise of a partial refund. “It was like they hadn't had to deal with someone being called to duty before,” Sandy Nail said. “Being called has really put a kink in his plans, but we hope he can go back at mid-semester.” Mark Weichold, associate provost for undergraduate programs, sent an email to faculty members telling them where to direct students called to duty. Students should with draw through their department’s dean’s office, Weichold said, opting for either a “no-record drop” with a refund of tuition or opting to receive incompletes in each of their classes, allowing students to finish course- work the next semester they return to campus. Both options allow for a certain amount of the optional fees such as residence hall rent, meal plans and football tickets to be returned to the student, depending on how long they attended classes or used their options during the semester, Weichold said. “This call-up has already affect ed our campus with a number of our students having received their order to report for active duty,” said a memorandum emailed by Director of Administrative Services Nancy Sawtelle. “This call-up will likely affect students at all ranks ... undergraduate, graduate and pro fessional.” See Reserves on page 8A. York City and Washington, D.C. Fadi Kalouze, owner of Aggieland Outfitters and Inspirations, said he pulled his red, white and blue T-shirts from his store racks Wednesday to avoid competing with the Red, White and Blue Out effort. He also offered to let the student volunteers sell their shirts from his businesses, which are located in Post Oak Mall. “As soon as I found out there was a student organization that was pushing this to raise money for charity, I stopped selling the T-shirts,” Kalouze said. Eric Bethea, a Red, White See T-SHIRTS on page 6A. adria^5ixane^^he]3attalion INCREASED SECURITY AT Qsy GAME _ Ibapilltalieil ‘Sales open 2 Ins Me !iiM(alll:]|] HWlllIillIKillilil! ‘fxtra police officers on patrol UPD will increase officers, security at Kyle Field Saturday By Amanda Smith THE BATTALION The terrorist attacks on America last week have led officials nation wide to improve security, even at Saturday’s football game against Oklahoma State University, according to University Police Department (UPD) officials. Bob Wiatt, the director of UPD, said there will be increased security measures taken at Saturday’s game. “We will have increased uni formed police and security offi cers,” Wiatt said. “We are all on the lookout for any suspicious activity, although we anticipate Change for relief m dL I s if. T yM Vr . fi pi i STUART VIM.ANUEVA • THE BATTALION Katie Serice, a freshman industrial studies major, drops change into collection buckets set up by the All- University League to raise money for the New York Relief Fund, in front of the Academic Building Wednesday. things will continue to run smoothly. Like all events throughout the country, there is that speculation and concern and so we are beefing up security.” Wiatt said he could not release the number of uniformed officers at the game, but said the increase will be measurable, with officers from UPD and Bryan and College Station police departments. Game attendees will be allowed to carry in backpacks, but the contents of all bags car ried in to the stadium will be checked. Coolers will not be allowed in the stadium. See Security on page 2A. Sikhism a target of anger Blamed on mistaken identity By Maureen Kane THE BATTALION Images of Osama bin Laden have become a familiar sight to many people around the world since last week’s terrorist attacks on the United States. Photographed wearing a turban and long beard, bin Laden has come to symbolize terrorism for many people in the United States — but according to Dr. Chenan Singh, head of the elec trical engineering department, this conception is wrong. Singh said that men who are part of an Indian religion called Sikhism are becoming targets of retaliation for the attacks because they wear turbans and long beards that resemble those of bin Laden and other Muslims. Sikhism is very different from Islam, and Sikhs disagree with the actions of bin Laden, he said. “The ironic thing is that if you see (someone) wearing a turban or having a beard in the U.S.A. or western countries, he is almost for sure going to be a Sikh and not a Muslim,” Singh said. “Muslims don’t wear a tur ban outside of their native coun tries. Only Sikhs do because it is part of their religion.” Although he has not experi enced any problems, Singh said he is aware that the threat of violence from individuals who are unaware of the difference between Sikhs and Muslims. See Sikhs on page 8A. Aggieland highlights, focuses on life after tragedy By Giselle Wallace THE BATTALION The wait is over for those who ordered the 2001-2002 Aggieland, Texas A&M’s yearbook, which will be available Friday. “Horizons” is the inspiring theme for this year’s Aggieland, highlighting life and hope for the future even after tragedy has taken place, said Jon Niven, the book’s editor in chief and a senior jour nalism major. “There will be a two-page layout distrib uted to the Bonfire anniversary and the Memorial Student Center’s (MSC) anniver sary,” Niven said. The Aggieland is the second-largest year book in the nation (the yearbook of the Naval Academy is the largest). In 1976,' Aggieland was the largest yearbook in print history, containing 896 pages and weighing 10 pounds. That year, the Aggieland cele brated a century of A&M history. “This is Texas A&M University's 99th edition of the Aggieland,” said Tamara Adams, a junior economics major and editor in chief of the Aggieland. “The alumni of the school take great pride in purchasing the Aggieland every year.” The Aggieland portrays life at A&M in all its aspects by recording events that took place on and off campus for the year and by reporting incidents whether they were joy ous or horrendous, Adams said. “As a photographer, 1 take pride in cap turing the images throughout the year of Aggie life, and it includes Greek life, sports, academics. Corps of Cadets and events such as concerts,” said Carin Vadala, photo editor for the Aggieland and a senior wildlife and fisheries major. The Aggieland is diverse in its nature. covering every event that surfaces for the year; therefore, it takes numerous members to contribute to the yearbook with dedica tion and commitment, Niven said. “It was a very trying year, but with the support of a great staff with fresh ideas and different perspectives about A&M, it has made the experience working on the Aggieland a good one,” Niven said. The Aggieland was nominated this year for the Pacemaker Award, the most presti gious yearbook honor in the nation. “The overall appearance and layout of the book, including designs, photographs, etc. are reviewed to determine how good our yearbook is,” Vadala said. Aggieland yearbooks will be distributed starting Friday, Sept. 21, 2001, at the Reed McDonald Building from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tables will be displayed near room 015 in