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STUART VILLANUEVA • THE BATTALION
Candle bearers (above) at Aggie Muster light candles as the names on the roll call are read. Gov. Rick Perry, Class of 1972 (below), spoke at the campus muster.
‘Softly call the Muster...’
Gov. Perry addresses unity through Aggie spirit
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By Emily Peters
THE BATTALION
Aggie Muster united the Aggie fami
ly Sunday to carry on the tradition of
honoring fallen Aggie comrades.
Gov. Rick Perry, Class of 1972, took
a moment to catch his composure before
continuing his emotionally-charged
Muster speech paying tribute to his fall
en Aggie friend who passed away two
weeks ago.
Perry said that when he was a fresh
man, he said George Schriever, his com
manding officer, would pound on his
door at all hours of the night.
“That was my signal to come a
running,” he said. “He may have
wanted his shoes or his brass shined,
or maybe just wanted me to sing him
to sleep that night.”
Perry and Schriever ended up as co
pilots in the United States Air Force.
“He lives on forever in the form of
the Aggie spirit,” Perry said. “Though
these Aggies are no longer here, as we
light a candle, we know they are still
alive in our hearts.”
Campus Muster in Reed Arena hon
ored Brazos County Aggies and mem
bers of the 50th Anniversary class of
1952, who passed away in the past year.
Nearly 11,000 attended the ceremony.
Candles lit for each Aggie created a
glowing ring of light surrounding
See Muster on page 2
Kidnapping
a threat to
Americans
By Melissa McKeon
THE BATTALION
CNN’s “The Capital Gang” and
Thomas Hargrove, whose life inspired
the movie Proof of Life starring Russell
Crowe and Meg Ryan, spoke at the
MSC Wiley Lecture Series Friday night
at Rudder Auditorium about American
safety abroad.
The main discussion was on threats
Americans face while living in and vis
iting other countries.
Hargrove, a 1966 graduate of Texas
A&M, was kidnapped by Colombian
guerrillas of FARC, the Armed
Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, at
a roadblock in 1994. He was held
hostage for 334 days in the Andes and
was released only after his family paid
a ransom.
Hargrove lost 60 pounds, was kept
in chains and locked in a room for days
at a time while his wife and profes
sional kidnap negotiators bargained for
his freedom.
He is one of the few victims who
will talk about the experience and
explain the kidnapping and ransom
industry from the inside.
Kidnapping is big business in Latin
America, Hargrove said, but he said
the media rarely reports it. Most of the
hostage negotiations are kept secret
and families of hostages negotiate with
the kidnappers more often than
Americans realize.
“Kidnapping is seldom reported to
the press,” Hargrove said. “If a person is
in the media and becomes high profile.
See Threat on page 2
Powell: Education eliminates racism
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By Sarah Darr
THE BATTALION
Self-education is the easiest way to
eliminate racism and fear of the unknown,
said Kevin Powell, a former MTV “Real
World” participant and now an author and
political activist.
“Self-education is the best education,”
Powell said. “To me, education is what do I
know about myself and other people?"
Powell’s third book. Keeping it Real,
was written in letter form; some written to
different people in his life, and the last let
ter to everyone. It covered various issues
including racism and political activism in
America. Powell spoke Friday in the
Memorial Student Center.
“We still live in a country where there is
racism against people who are handicapped
in one way or another,” Powell said.
Powell said there are many types of
activism that one can implement to get
their voice heard.
“It starts with writing letters to officials
and can progress to protesting or boy
cotting if you have to,” he said.
Powell said it is important to balance
staying open-minded with holding on to
personal beliefs.
“Constantly expanding your horizons
will engage people in critical thinking, but
it can be a struggle to do sometimes and
you may have to expand your value sys
tem,” he said.
Powell said children need to be educat
ed at an early age about all cultures and
races, not just their own.
“If children do not learn anything about
people unlike them and just look to pop cul
ture for knowledge, they’ll never respect
that group,” Powell said. “Education of this
needs to start early.”
Powell said his mother is his inspiration
in following his passion for reading and
writing.
After reading his first book by Ernest
Hemingway, Powell researched
Hemingway’s background and realized
what an interesting life authors could lead.
He then began to read books from all dif
ferent kinds of authors.
“Because of my education, I didn’t even
know that a black person could be a writer,”
Powell said.
Powell said reading also allows stu
dents to learn as much as possible about
their own race and develop strength in
their own beliefs.
See Education on page 2
Prof says 1990s boom
could not have lasted
By Elizabeth Kline
THE BATTALION
The information technology
boom of the 1990s could not
have lasted forever. Harvard
University professor Dr. Dale
Jorgenson said Friday at the
George Bush Presidential
Library Complex.
Jorgenson addressed a crowd
of economists, professors and stu
dents at the New Economy
Conference, hosted by the George
Bush School of Government and
Public Service and the
Department of Economics. The
goal of the conference was to
explore information technology’s
impact on economic performance.
Jorgenson said the remark
able economic growth of the
1990s was a result of the
Federal Reserve Board’s
allowing the economy to go
into an investment boom that
drove unemployment down
and output up.
“The labor force was growing
at twice the rate of the population,”
See Boom on page 2
A&M squirrel research will continue
iBUb
COURTESY OF DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES SCIENCES
Ten squirrels were trapped and collared with a monitoring system as part
of the animal ecology class’ research in the practices of urban squirrels.
By Anna Chaloupka
THE BATTALION
Squirrels running around with tracking
collars will becomo a familiar site at Texas
A&M, as research on the ecology of fox
squirrels in urban settings is expected to
continue for at least two more years.
Students enrolled in the Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences’ Animal
Ecology 403 course spent the past three
months trapping fox squirrels on campus, fit
ting them with radio-transmitter collars and
tracking them using basic wildlife techniques
like radio telemetry and census methodology.
They applied classroom principles to the
data collected to find information like aver
age survival rate, mortality, litter size and
range movement, said Dr. Roel Lopez,
Texas Agricultural Experiment Station
wildlife researcher.
“The students liked being able to take
classroom lessons and apply them in the
field,” he said. “It has enhanced the overall
undergraduate experience.”
The project began on the main campus in
February, and Lopez said the response has
been overwhelming and positive.
Wayne Buchanan, a junior wildlife and fish
eries sciences major, said he liked the project
because it did not confine him to the classroom.
“I thought it was great,” Buchanan said.
“We were able to go outside and do what we
will be doing in the future.”
Rachel Curless, a senior wildlife and
fisheries sciences major, said the project not
only gave her field experience, it allowed
her to become familiar with radio telemetry
and various computer programs that she will
use in the workforce.
“We gained experience we would not
have otherwise,” Curless said.
The class trapped 10 squirrels during the
research, Lopez said, and from the data, they
See Squirrels on page 2
Emission test raises inspection cost
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DALLAS (AP) — Motorists in
five Texas counties will have to dig a
fittle deeper into their pocketbooks
next month when a new vehicle emis
sion inspection program takes effect.
Emissions inspections in Tarrant,
Dallas, Denton, Collin and Harris
counties will cost $22.50 instead of
the current $13. With the $12.50 safe
ty inspection fee, total costs will be
$35 instead of $25.50.
The Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission says the
plan will help Texas cut ozone levels
and comply with the Federal Clean
Air Act by the 2007 target date.
Failure to comply could result in the
loss of federal highway funds and
restrictions on opening new businesses.
Under the new rules, vehicles
made in 1996 and after will be subject
to an on-board diagnostics test, or
OBD, which plugs into vehicles’
computers. Older cars will use the
acceleration simulation mode test, or
ASM, which uses a treadmill to sim
ulate a road test.
The current test checks for carbon
monoxide and hydrocarbons, a smog
forming agent. The new test will
See Emission on page 2
AggieLife Pg. 3
Kicking the habit
Aggies share their struggles
with smoking
Sports Pg. 7
Aggies fall short
against Bears
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