Aggielife: Skydivers in Aggieland • Page 3
Opinion: FBI reform warranted • Page 5
Volume 108 • Issue 144 • 6 pages
108 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Tuesday, June 4, 2002
Fire causes Academic Building evacuation
By Dallas Shipp
THE BATTALION
Students and faculty were evacuated from
the Academic Building on Monday afternoon
when students smelled something burning on
the second floor.
Those inside did not immediately evacuate the
building because no one knew what the smell was
or could locate its origin.
“We could smell something burning but didn’t
know where it was coming from,” said junior
Imran Alchter, who works in the Professional
School Office, located on the second floor.
Senior finance major Laura Berg, who also
works in the Professional School Office, said a
noticeably long time passed between noticing the
smell and then evacuating the building.
After a student reported a haze of smoke in the
hallway, the College Station Fire Department was
called and reported to the scene.
Officers confirmed the students’ suspicions
and described the smell as a possible electrical
fire. Once inside, the firefighters identified the
source of the smoke as a burning motor in an air
conditioning unit located on the second floor.
Although they responded to the call quickly,
the fire department was unable to park the fire
truck near the building due to low-cut trees in the
area.
“They are nice to look at,” said officer Joe
Warren of the College Station Fire Department,
“but they can cause a safety concern.”
Warren added that if the fire had been more
serious, the trees would have caused them to run
long hoses across the plaza which would have
seriously hampered their efforts.
Tom Dew, superintendent of Landscape and
Pavement Maintenance, said that he was unaware
of any problems with trees on campus.
“We try to keep all trees along streets pruned
to 13 feet, 6 inches, which is the same height as
most bridges and overpasses,” Dew said. “The fire
department hasn’t told us of this problem, but we
will do what we can to make sure it is corrected.”
The fire also raised the concern of many work
ers inside who were afraid they would be without
air conditioning during one of the hottest months
in College Station.
Maintenance workers said the air condition
ing system would be repaired within the next
few days.
A campus under construction
RANDAL LORD • THE BATTALION
Numerous projects hinder
movement around campus
By Courtney McDonald
THE BATTALION
Students returning to campus this
summer should expect a tedious time
parking or navigating through campus
due to the continuing Main Campus
Street Renovation Project.
While traveling on campus, students
will encounter continuing construction
on Bizzell and new construction on
Spence and New Main Drive.
The projects, managed by the
Department of Parking, Traffic, and
Transportation Services (PTTS), are
aimed at improving drainage and resur
facing the streets correctly, said Douglas
Williams, PTTS associate director.
The entire project was to be com
pleted in October, but Williams is opti
mistic that all construction could be fin
ished as early as August or September.
Despite the beneficial nature of the
projects, the increased number of con
struction zones creates a meddlesome
flow of traffic to, from, and on campus
for students, said senior biomedical sci
ences major Suzanne Getz.
“(The University) needs to focus on
one project at a time,” Getz said.
Williams said the construction has
been planned for years, and the simulta
neous occurrence of projects is circum
stantial. The University had the necessary
funding, therefore they undertook the
many construction ventures despite the
incompletion of similar projects.
Williams said drivers on campus will
inevitably run into parking and traffic
problems around construction areas.
“You can’t make a cake without get
ting the pan dirty,” he said.
In order to accommodate the compli
cations, the PTTS isTuiilding additional
See Campus on page 2
1 - Bizzell
2 - Spence
3 - New Main
4 - Albritton Tower
5 - West Campus Parking
Garage
6-Parking Lot PA 100
Off-campus Construction
♦ Second Street Plaza
Louise Street
College Main Parking Garage
Church Street
Cherry Street
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
Northgate construction continues
By Lauren Bauml
THE BATTALION
Construction throughout
campus and on main roads,
such as Wellborn and
University, have caused both
frustration and annoyance for
drivers and pedestrians
around College Station.
Now, people that head to
the attractions on Northgate
will be subjected to the frus
tration and annoyance as well.
thanks to construction on the
Second Street Plaza that
began in early May.
The Second Street Plaza
will be located between
Louise Street and the College
Main Parking Garage’s
Second Street exit. The street
will contain art exhibits, dec
orative lighting, and landscap
ing.
Throughout the construc
tion both Second Street, from
Church Avenue to Cherry
Street, and Louise Street, from
College Main to Second Street,
will be closed to traffic.
Mark Smith, who serves as
the College Station’s public
works director, said the con
struction is a necessary addi
tion to the Northgate area.
With a newly added private
dorm to Northgate and the
increased parking with the
garage, there is an increase of
See 2nd St. on page 2
Date set in Houston for pornography trial of cadet
By Jessi Watkins
THE BATTALION
Stephen Michael Johnston, who was
arrested in March as part of a nation
wide crack down on child pornography,
will be tried July 15 in Houston.
Johnston, a senior psychology major
and member of the Corps of Cadets,
was one of eight people arrested in
Houston and among 89 people nation
wide in an undercover FBI sting called
“Operation Candyman.”
Johnston pleaded not guilty to
charges of conspiracy to distribute
child pornography on the Internet.
His trial was originally scheduled
for May 20, but was postponed after
several motions were filed by different
attorneys involved in the case, said
Kesha Handy, public affairs specialist
for the U.S. Attorneys Office.
Johnston will remain in jail in
Houston, where he has been since his
arrest, until his trial, said Bob Wiatt,
director of the University Police
Department.
“He is still in jail on a bail he is
unable to make,” Wiatt said.
Johnston may return to school if he
is not convicted, said Colonel Rick
Mallahan, assistant commandant of the
Corps of Cadets.
“If he doesn’t have to go to jail, he is
intending on returning to school,”
Mallahan said.
Mark Bates, 23, of Palestine, is the
alleged moderator of the electronic
news group formed with the purpose of
facilitating the trading and distribution
of child pornography and child erotica
on a mass scale via the Internet.
Bates is charged with conspiracy to
transport or distribute and receive
child pornography via the Internet and
possessing and receiving child
pornography.
Bates is also charged with conspira
cy to transport child pornography in
interstate and foreign commerce via
the computer.
If convicted of any counts alleging
conspiracy, transporting or the receiv
ing of child pornography, Johnston
faces a maximum 15 year term of
imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. If
convicted of a possession of child
pornography, he faces a maximum five
year term of imprisonment and a
$250,000 fine.
Medical examiner attacked
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Medical
examiner O.C. Smith, who has
worked on some of the city’s most
puzzling deaths, is at the center ol
another perplexing case: He was
attacked over the weekend, bound
with barbed wire and left with a
bomb tied to his body.
Smith, 49, was attacked as he left
work Saturday night and was found
three hours later lying in a parking lot.
A bomb squad removed the device
and Smith escaped without serious
injury, returning to the scene with
minor cuts and bruises to assist
authorities. The FBI, including a pro
filer, and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms, were called in.
The motive for the attack
remains unknown, but authorities
believe Smith’s work in helping
police investigate murders and sui
cides plays a role. As medical
examiner. Smith performs autopsies
on murder victims throughout west
ern Tennessee and often testifies in
court.
Among his recent cases was the
death of Harvard University biolo
gist Don Wiley, whose fall from a
Memphis bridge in December
fueled fears of terrorist kidnap
pings. The medical examiner also
helped identify the body of
Katherine Smith. 49, who was
found burned beyond recognition in
February the day before a hearing
on federal charges.
Leaders of India, Pakistan refuse to budge
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) - As the
presidents of Russia and China prepared
to plunge into the international effort to
head off war, India and Pakistan refused
to budge on Kashmir, both insisting
Monday they were fighting terrorism.
Refusing to meet face to face, Indian
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
met separately with Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev on the eve of an
Asian security conference dominated by
efforts to bring the two nuclear-armed
nations into face-to-face talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and
Chinese President Jiang Zemin were
scheduled to meet separately, but nearly
simultaneously, with Musharraf and
Vajpayee on Tuesday, ensuring that even
if India and Pakistan refuse one-on-one
talks, their messages will be delivered
through intermediaries. Putin arrived in
Kazakhstan early Tuesday.
The mediation attempts appeared to
be coordinated among the United States,
Russia and China. When Putin extended
his invitation to the two leaders to talk in
Almaty, President Bush was at his side.
NATO leaders also took the unusual
step of appointing Putin as the envoy to
convey the alliance’s concerns about
war to Musharraf and Vajpayee.
Meanwhile, violence continued in
Kashmir on Monday. At least eight civil
ians were killed and 23 injured as Indian
and Pakistani troops exchanged heavy
artillery and machine-gun fire along
their frontier.
Also on Monday, Norway advised its
citizens against traveling to India.
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SOURCES: Associated Press; ESR1 AP