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Sports: Germany advances in World Cup • Page 3 Opinion: Is the Corps in need of change? • Page 5
ATT ALIGN
IVoIume 108 • Issue 157 • 6 pages
108 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
Professor builds anthrax killing machine
nisseds
&M has:]
be bond
pt. 10.
By Sarah Walch
THE BATTALION
Dr. Peter McIntyre, a professor of
3hysics at Texas A&M, recently
Ideveloped a high-powered electron
Imachine capable of breaking down
[toxic organic chemicals, including
lanthrax.
In a revolutionary new use of old
[technology, McIntyre, his co-work-
[ers and student workers have pro-
|duced what McIntyre believes to be
[the most power-dense and efficient
way of producing the necessary
energy in the electron beam.
According to McIntyre, the cost
is down and the power is up, which
is great news for petrochemical
plants looking for more efficient
ways to clean toxic wastewater.
McIntyre is in the midst of build
ing the machine in order to treat
industrial wastewater for a Deer Park
petrochemical plant. Global
Octanes.
Unfortunately for McIntyre, the
much publicized focus that the U.S.
Post Office has forced on such tech
nology does not take into account
new innovations.
“The government generally looks
for previously tested equipment,” he
said. “In a year, we will have the
operating number and we will be
able to compete with present tech
nology. “
The cost is a factor of about 10
percent less than the present available
See Physics on page 2
Crazy Carascas
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RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Fourth year veterinary student Teri Shultz takes mother of Carascas, right, and both are staying at
two Alpacas on a walk outside of the Veterinary the Large Animal Clinic, which houses many rare
Medical Teaching Hospital. Amber, left, is the and exotic animals.
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By Lauren Bauml
THE BATTALION
The Fall Activities Council
(FAC), under the leadership of
Student Body President Zac
Coventry, is currently working to
create a unified activity among the
students of Texas A&M.
The FAC committee, created by
previous Student Body President
Schuyler Houser, is comprised of
various student leaders from all
aspects of Student Activities.
“Yell leaders. Corps, Memorial
Student Center, Greek Life,
Residence Hall, Residence Life,
Student Government, and various
other committee heads all have con
tributed to the chosen activity for the
fall semester,” Coventry, a senior
agricultural development major, said.
The survey, conducted last spring,
generated 1,068 responses and has
helped steer the committee to finding
an activity that can benefit the student
body and surrounding community.
The committee is considering an
OF Army Bonfire Leadership
Challenge, an All-University Fall
Formal, a revised All-U league, a
single large concert held the same
night as the University of Texas Yell
Practice, a Bonfire Remembrance or
a community service activity.
“A huge response to the survey
was not expected because there was
a small amount of funding and hard
ly any advertising, unlike that of the
Bonfire survey (which was conduct
ed shortly before the FAC survey),”
said Trevor Voelkel, a senior finance
See FAC on page 2
UCIC seeks to improve community
By Melissa McKeon
THE BATTALION
The University Community Initiative Committee
(UCIC) is seeking community partners for joint projects
that will enhance collaboration among diverse gituips
between the Bryan-College Station and Texas A&M
University communities.
The long-term goal of the organization is to make the
surrounding area a more welcoming place tor all P eo P e -
The UCIC is an effort of the Minority Conditions
Subcommittee of the Faculty Senate at A&M. The mitia
objective of the UCIC was to establish regular, informal
communication between diverse ethnic and social groups
w ithin the surrounding community and A&M.
“There is a perception by some that A&V nnc tie
Bryan-College Station area are not welcoming to diverse
ethnic and social groups,” said Deborah Kochevar, asso
ciate professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary
Medicine and former member of the Minority
Conditions Subcommittee. “Our goal is to enhance coop
eration as it relates to minority and ethnic issues.”
The University hosted the first meeting of the pilot
UCIC group in Sept. 2001.
Some attendees of this first meeting included leaders
from the community including members of the Bryan
Independent School District, the College Station
Independent School District, both City Councils and the
University. UCIC hopes that additional groups will eventu
ally participate in the initiative.
“We believe that quality of life in our community can
See UCIC on page 2
Delivers 75,000 volts
of energy to break down
toxic chemicals Including
anthrax
Source: Or, Peter McIntyre, Texas A&M Department ot pnyeies
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
Council lobbies for
transportation funds
By Ruth Ihde
THE BATTALION
Mayor Ron Silvia and other College
Station city council members recently
returned after visiting Washington D.C.
last week to discuss transportation funds
for the city.
The two-and-a-half day trip consisted of
40 meetings to discuss future plans to con
nect the major cities in Texas, including
Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin,
with a high speed railway.
The City of College Station proposed
an addition to the Trans Texas Corridor
plan called the Brazos Express Corridor,
which would include College Station and
Bryan in the areas connected with the
high speed railway.
Initially, the cities of College Station and
Bryan were not included in the plans for the
Trans Texas Corridor.
According to City Manager Tom
Brymer, the meeting in Washington was to
make sure Brazos County will be involved
when the Transportation Enhancement Act
is opened up for discussion next year and to
make key contacts.
“They don’t realize how under served
this area is,” Brymer said.
The Texas Transportation Act for the
21st century, named the T21 project, is an
act to create safe highways and more effi
cient modes of transportation for the state
of Texas.
James Massey, mayor protem for College
Station, said the council members discussed
the fact that A&M is one of the top four
largest universities in the nation, and is the
only city without access to major highways
connecting to the major cities in Texas.
The Transportation Enhancement Act is
up for reauthorization and is the key oppor
tunity to make them aware of this. The
council members who went to Washington
last week were excited about making con
nections with other state representatives
and about putting College Station on the
map with regards to the issues that were
discussed, Brymer said.
Although some parts of the country are
already beginning construction of their own
high speed railways, Texas is mostly a sur
face transportation state, meaning the main
mode of transportation is by individual
vehicles, and it was discussed whether this
would be a good idea for Texas, Sylvia said.
Another major issue discussed at the
meeting was turning Highway 6 into a four
See Funds on page 2
Death penalty protesters
stand against executions
Fall Activities Council works to find
unifying replacement for Bonfire
By Sarah Walch
THE BATTALION
The Bryan-College Station chapter of
the Texas Coalition Against the Death
Penalty (TCADP) protests at the corner of
William J. Bryan Parkway and Texas
Avenue each time there is an execution in
Texas, during the scheduled execution time
from 5:30 to 6 p.m.
This week, there are parallel protests
scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday.
Bryan-College Station is only an hour
from Huntsville, where Texas puts more
prisoners to death than any other state.
According to Karen Hall, a protester and
a retired lab technician at Texas A&M, the
members who show up to protest tend to be
quite diverse.
“The people are here because they have
decided to voice their opinion in a nonvio
lent way,” Hall said.
Rosemary Vollmar, histology lab super-
BRIAN RUFF • THE BATTALION
College Station resident Bill Bancroft
holds up a banner in protest of the use of
the death penalty on the corner of William
J. Bryan and Texas Avenue on Tuesday.
visor in the Department of Pathology at the
College of Veterinary Medicine, said the
protesters are predominantly faculty and
graduate students from A&M.
“We worked with some high school stu
dents when they were doing a project for
their civics class, but I am not aware of any
undergraduates participating,” Vollmar
said. “Younger people, however, really are
the future. They will be the ones making
legal changes in the years to come.”
Hall, an active member in the communi
ty, recently decided to join the protests.
“I decided to come out here because of a
talk by Helen Prejean (the nun depicted by
Susan Sarandon in the movie Dead Man
Walking),” she said. “The argument she
gave made me decide that I wasn’t going to
sit back and think about it any longer.”
Last year. Prejean gave a speech at St.
Mary’s Catholic Church. After the lecture,
there was a chance for attendees to add their
name to a petition for a moratorium on the
death penalty.
Prejean argued that a moratorium would
not necessarily signal the end of its use, but
give an opportunity for lawmakers to
reevaluate its use and ensure that the new
DNA technology be used in every possible
case. Hall said.
On June 18, the U.S. House and Senate
held hearings on the bipartisan Innocence
Protection Act, which would guarantee fed
eral and state death row inmates access to
DNA testing and ensure quality legal repre
sentation for indigent capital defendants.
The act, introduced to the Senate in
March 2001, recently gained attention as a
result of the Supreme Court’s landmark
death penalty decisions. For TCADP, the
time for voicing dissenting opinions is
politically ripe, protesters said.
“Every time someone goes by, they have
to think about the fact that this state is exe
cuting a person,” Hall said. “I am not trying
to play down how horrible the crimes are
that these prisoners may commit. Europe
See Protests on page 2