2 SECTIONS • 14 PAGES
THURSDAYSEPTEMBER 27, 2001 aMMHaaaH..
Texas A&M University — Celebrating 125 Years
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SERVING THE TEXAS A&M COMMUNITY SINCE 1893
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Freshman election
voting ends today
on campus, online
The Class of 2005 can vote
for its leaders in the fresh
man general elections today
online at vote.tamu.edu or at
locations in the Memorial
Student Center, Sterlng C.
Evans Library, the Blocker
Building and the Commons.
Freshmen will vote for
class council positions and
freshmen student senators.
Results will be announced
tonight from the Lawrence
Sullivan Ross statue in the
Academic Plaza. Election
Commissioner Caytie
Sarandis, a senior recre
ation, park and tourism sci
ence major, will climb the
statue at 10 p.m. to make
the announcement.
Dallas man on
Survivor Africa’
DALLAS — A bartender
from Dallas is among the
contestants in the third
round of the CBS television
"Survivor” series.
"Survivor Africa” debuts on
Oct. 11. It is set in Kenya’s
Shaba National Reserve.
Brandon Quinton, 25,
joined 15 other adventurers
for the recently taped show. A
native of Ada, Okla., he works
for Throckmorton Mining
Company, a Dallas nightclub.
Texan Colby Donaldson
competed in \ast season’s
show, "Survivor: The
Australian Outback.”
PUBLIC EYE
"mj
Number of people
who pulled tickets
Monday for the
Notre Dame game
11,800
TODAY
Page 3A
Breaking
up is hard
to do
• Toadies are parting
ways after 12 years,
will perform farewell
tour in Texas
nssm
Page 1B
Drawing a
line in
the sand
Where the U.S. and
Taliban stand
OPINION
Page 5B
Past due
guilty as
charged
Nolan County Library
presses criminal theft
charges for overdue
library books
WEATHER
TODAY
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Volume 108 • Issue 25
College Station, Texas
www.thebatt.com
y /
FORECASTS COURTESY OF
www.weathermanted.com
Task force returns
from New York
By Elizabeth Raines
THE BATTALION
Members of Texas Task
Force-1 (TX-TFl) returned
yesterday after a 10-day
deployment aiding in the relief
effort at the World Trade
Center (WTC) site in New
York City.
The 72-member elite urban
search and rescue team under
Texas A&M System’s Texas
Engineering Extension Service
was activated by the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) on Sept. I l
following the bombings of the
WTC and the Pentagon. The
team left for New York Sept.
17 and began work in 12-hour
shifts at the trade center site.
TX-TFl team members
flew into Austin yesterday
afternoon, taxiing through an
honorary arc of water created
by two Austin Fire Department
fire engine hoses.
Bryan Police Department
Lt. Fred Taylor, a TX-TFl
member, said that although
the members were trained and
prepared for the work ahead
of them, there was no way
they could be prepared for the
devastation they saw in New
York City.
“It’s been a trip,” he said.
“It was frustrating. It was
interesting. It ran through the
whole spectrum of feelings. It
was unlike anything any of us
have ever seen before.”
Debbie Taylor took the day
off from work to welcome her
husband Fred home. She said
her excitement at seeing him
home and safe again compares
STUART V1LLANUJEVA • THE BATTALION
Top: Members of Texas Task Force-1 carry equipment off of their buses
after they returned to the Brayton Fire School Wednesday. The task
force was deployed to New York City to help the rescue efforts. Above:
Kristin Guarino watches her sister, Jackie, embrace their father. Al
Guarino is one of the task force members who traveled to New York.
to the excitement of her wed
ding day.
“I woke up before the sun
came out,” Taylor said.
TX-TFl began work at the
WTC site at 7 a.m. Sept. 19.
The team was divided into two
groups, a red group and a blue
group, splitting the day into
two 12-hour shifts.
Task members searched
“voids,” or air pockets within
the rubble, using search dogs,
telescoping microphones and
See Task Force on page 6A.
Gramm’s
seniority
needed
GOP leader: Senator
should reconsider
AUSTIN (AP) — U.S. Sen.
Phil Gramm should reconsider
his decision not to seek re-elec
tion because his leadership is
needed in these uncertain times,
the former chairman of the
state’s Republican Party said
Wednesday.
The terrorist attacks of Sept.
I I left the nation facing human
loss and serious economic trou
bles, said Tom Pauken, who
chaired the Republican Party of
Texas from 1994 to 1997.
“I would hope that Sen.
Gramm would reconsider and
run for re-election,” Pauken said.
Gramm, a Republican,
announced in early September
that he would not seek a fourth
term. His current term expires
in January 2003.
Gramm's spokesman, Larry
Neal, said Wednesday it is
“thoroughly unlikely” that the
senator would reconsider his
political decision.
“Sen. Gramm’s decision to
leave at the end of this term was
the product of a great deal of
Giuliani, Democrats poised
for runoff in mayoral races
NEW YORK (AP) — Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani said Wednesday he will talk to the
city’s candidates for mayor and try to come up
with a plan that would give him a continuing
role in New York's recovery from the World
Trade Center disaster.
Giuliani was not specific about whether he
was seeking some kind of extension of his
term, considering a run for a third term, or
merely looking for a role in the administration
of his successor
“I want to do something that unifies the
city because I love this city,” said Giuliani,
who is barred under the City Charter from
serving a third term when his current term is
up on Dec. 3 1.
In yet another indication of Giuliani’s inten
tions, the Republican mayor contacted the
Democratic speaker of the state Assembly on
Wednesday, seeking support for legislation that
could extend his stay in office.
Giuliani’s remarks came one day after New
Yorkers voted in the primary election, handing
billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg the
GOP nomination for mayor and sending two
Democrats, Bronx Borough President Fernando
Ferrer and Public Advocate Mark Green, into a
runoff next month.
Green was the only Democratic candidate to
meet with Giuliani Wednesday; Bloomberg
refused to say whether he had met with the
mayor. None of the candidates had any comment
on Giuliani’s remarks.
The mayor has been acclaimed for his steady
leadership since the trade center attack and has
been urged by many New Yorkers to stay on and
See Giuliani on page2A.
Student
Service
Fee up
for grabs
Fund allocation
set for November
By Amanda Smith
THE BATTALION
More than $1 million in stu
dent fee money is up for grabs
as the 10-member Student
Service Fee Advisory Board
(SSFAB) considers how to
spend funds previously desig
nated for Bus Operations.
Students voted in Spring
2001 to add a $50-per-semester
transportation fee to their
schedules for increased on- and
off-campus bus service, mak
ing revenue from the Student
Services Fee unnecessary.
“The money given previous
ly to Bus Operations has not
been touched,” said Terry
Pankratz, assistant vice presi
dent in the Office of the Vice
President for Student Affairs
and the acting director of
Student Health Services. “It is
on reserve, but our expectation
is for a decision to be made on
its allocation in November.”
Despite the $1-million sur
plus, President Dr. Ray M.
Bowen said this month the
University is facing serious
budget constraints and con
sidering adding a $10 or $30
Excellence Fee to alleviate
the deficit.
Suzanne Bolduc, the 2001-
2002 SSFAB chair and a senior
mechanical engineering major,
said the committee is review
ing recommendations from
A&M departments and expects
to hear a presentation from the
Department of Student
Activities in early October.
“We are trying to get all of
our recommendations for allo
cations,” Bolduc said. “We
actually are still hearing budg
et requests from all depart
ments. We are going to take
and consider all the allocations
requests and we could allocate
it to departmental requests
entirely or for a larger project.”
The SSFAB’s recommenda
tion must be approved by the
Student Senate, the Faculty
Senate, A&M administrators
and the Board of Regents
before it is implemented.
Students paid $11.86 per
semester credit hour in student
service fees for Fall 2001,
compared to $11.62 per semes
ter credit hour during the 2000-
2001 year.
The surplus revenue
accounts for about 10 percent
of the $11.6 million collected
in student service fees for the
2001-2002 school year.
Juliette could threaten Baja peninsula
LOS GABOS, Mexico (AP) —
Hurricane Juliette, packing winds
of 120 mph, tracked northwest
along Mexico’s Pacific coast
Wednesday, leaving behind flood
ed homes and rivers.
The U.S. National Hurricane
Center in Miami called the storm
a “potential threat” to Baja
California, but said computer
models showed it was likely to
skirt land, gradually weakening
and turning west.
Juliette was centered about
260 miles south of the resort city
of Cabo San Lucas on the south
ern tip of the Baja peninsula,
heading northwest at about 10
mph.
The threat of the storm further
emptied the nearly deserted Los
Cabos resort, which was already
suffering a sharp drop in tourism
after the Sept. 1 1 terrorist attacks
in the United States.
“We called our hotel ‘the
ghost hotel, because nobody was
there,” said Tracy Mercado, 31,
of San Diego, who cut her vaca
tion short and was at the airport
looking for a flight back to the
United States.
Storms born off Mexico’s
southern Pacific coast rarely
cause major problems for the
United States.
Forecasters called the
Category 4 storm “still danger
ous” even though the winds had
dropped from a peak of 145 mph.
Juliette is a massive system with
hurricane-force winds reaching
70 miles from its center and
tropical-storm-force winds felt
260 miles from the vortex.
Authorities said Juliette’s
Hurricane Juliette
Position: 15.7 N, 105.0 W
Moving: WNW 7 mph
Sustained winds: 120 mph
Wind gusts: 150 mph
As of 11 p.m. EOT
U.S.
5 \ MEXICO
Possible Mexico City\ 2 o°
window of V, O
movement v ~..,
*
See JULIETTE on page 2A. SOURCES: AccuWeather; ESRI