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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2002)
Sports: Kile will be missed by fans * Page 3 Opinion: No lying on resumes • Page 5 THF RATTAT IO A XX.XL Xj/Tl A X JtYluLVJ olume 108 • Issue 159 • 6 pages 108 Years Serving Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Monday, July 1, 2002 Jowen, Faulkner enjoy job swap for a day RANDAL LORD • THE BATTALION President of the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Larry Faulkner shakes hands with Reveille VII on the 8th floor of Rudder Tower on Friday afternoon. By Dallas Shipp THE BATTALION Aggie and Longhorn faithful alike may have done a double-take Friday afternoon as University President Dr. Ray M. Bowen posed with The University of Texas- Austin's (UT) mascot Bevo at Memorial Stadium, and Dr. Larry Faulkner of UT enjoyed his visit with the First Lady of Texas A&M, Reveille VII, as the two presidents switched schools for a day. Faulkner said his visit with Reveille wenLquite well. “I met with Reveille and she was very warm and enthusiastic,” Faulkner said. “She greeted me with great graciousness until she was asked if she would rather be a t-sip or be dead.” Of course. Reveille rolled over and played dead, he said. Meanwhile in Austin, Bevo was somewhat less gracious than Reveille. “I met with Bevo and he was very unimpressed with me,” Bowen said. While visiting Memorial Stadium, Bowen also met with UT head football coach Mack Brown. Despite becoming a member of “Mack’s Pack,” which comes com plete with a burnt orange t-shirt, Bowen was unable to gain any valuable information from the coach regarding any upcoming football games. “I am sure that I will draw a lot of attention walking around in the new shirt,” Bowen said. Faulkner did not return to Austin empty handed either. “I got a 12th Man jersey with my name on it that’s big enough to put my whole team in,” Faulkner said. “1 also received a copy of the [Texas Aggie) magazine with my picture on the cover. I don't expect to see it in hundreds of thousands in circulation though.” Faulkner also received a picture to be placed on a wall with previous presidents of Texas A&M. “My picture was on the wall and I asked ‘Where’s Ray [Bowen]?’ and they said, ‘He’s not done yet,’” Faulkner joked. Faulkner noted that his favorite part of the day was touring the Sam Houston Sanders Corps Center. “It was a remarkable experience because I’ve never been to another place that has anything like it,” Faulkner said. “The realization that TAMU has seven medal of honor winners is a striking illustration of the contributions that this school has made to national life.” The joint teleconference Friday afternoon was the second time the presidents communicated during the switch, except when Bowen and Faulkner waved to one another just outside of Elgin, Texas, on the high way between College Station and Austin while driving to each other’s new school for the day. The event was designed to show the state that although the two schools are long time rivals, there are many things both universities have in common and must work together to improve, in addition to having fun with the idea. Faulkner stressed the afternoon was designed to show the people of Texas that both schools are working together to provide a listening ear to the world of knowledge surrounding them. “We wanted to reinforce the idea See Switch on page 2 irefighter admits to starting Arizona wildfires I SHOW LOW (AP) — A massive wildfire that has ■estroyed more than 400 Homes in Arizona was sparked b> a part-time federal fire- fighter who hoped to make money fighting the blaze, fiosecutors said Sunday. I Leonard Gregg, 29, had worked for the Bureau of Jjiiidian Affairs (BIA) as a con- tract firefighter. According to a Statement tiled in federal court by a BIA investigator, Gregg said he set the lire to make Honey as part of a fire crew and that he was also angry oyer family problems. H “This fire was started with a profit motive behind it.” HS. Attorney Paul Charlton said Sunday. H Gregg was arrested Saturday in connection with two fires set June 18 near the Fort Apache Indian Reservation town of Cibeque. One fire was put out, but the other exploded up steep terrain and quickly spread, threaten ing the town of Show Low and overrunning two smaller com munities just to the west. The wildfire merged with another started by a lost hiker signaling a helicopter, becoming the largest in Arizona history. By Sunday, the 452,000-acre blaze had destroyed at least 423 homes. It was about 35 percent con tained by fire lines near Show Low but continued to burn out of control to the west. According to the criminal complaint, Gregg said he had set the fires near Cibeque by using stick matches to set dry grass aflame. He said he didn’t expect the fire to get so big. At a hearing in federal court in Flagstaff, a tired-look ing Gregg said, “I’m sorry for what I did.” But U.S. Magistrate Stephen Verkamp cut him off, saying Gregg shouldn’t make any admission of guilt at the hearing. The judge said an attorney would be appointed for Gregg and set a preliminary hearing for Wednesday. Gregg, a resi dent of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, is being held in the Coconino County Jail. If convicted of both counts, Gregg could face 10 years in prison and be fined $500,000. rofessor develops software for mergency evacuation decisions By Sarah Walch THE BATTALION Research scientists at Texas A&M diversity’s Hazard Recovery and Reduction nter (HRRC) are developing a software application to be used by public officials when Baking difficult emergency evacuation deci- s |>ns. This research initiative was made possi ble by a four-year, $400,000 National Science J|pundation (NSF) grant. H Carla Prater, HRRC research scientist, and Hichael Lindell, HRRC director and professor of urban planning at A&M, collaborated to develop the Evacuation Management Decision Hipport System (EMDSS) proposal. H Prater said they were thrilled to be accepted by NSF a few weeks ago for the grant, which will enable progress on the project. I Lindell noted that inspiration for the idea Wi niiiiir—^ l " 1 " came from his work for HRRC on Tropical Storm Beryl two years ago. “At one point it looked as though Beryl might be threatening the Texas coast,” Lindell said. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), a Hurricane Warning was issued for Beryl on August 14, 2000 for part of the Texas coast, but the warning was downgraded a day later to a Tropical Storm Warning. Beryl eventually dissipated inland over the mountains of northern Mexico, but it is likely that some residents in the affected area had already evacuated. According to Lindell, once the danger had passed it was clear that chal lenging problems had to be addressed by local decision makers in order to prepare better for See EMDSS on page 2 Sweet victory KRT CAMPUS A Brazilian fan kisses a mock World Cup trophy in Copacabana, Brazil, after the Brazilian soccer team defeated Germany in the World Cup final Sunday. The 2-0 win earned Brazil its fifth World Cup title, more than any other nation. See related story on page 3. Evacuation Management Decision Support System (4-year-$400,000 project) Goals: 1 • Earlier forcasts for storm evacuations • More accurate information V. for storm forecasts jp, • Gain more information for ^0*"**^ future storm predictions • Evaluate costs incurred caused by evacuations • Provide local communities with more information regarding storms TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION Post Office to raise stamp prices WASHINGTON (AP) — Get ready to pony up a few cents more to mail a letter. Starting Sunday, the first-class rate rises to 37 cents, a 3-cent increase that was approved in February following months of hearings by the independent Postal Rate Commission. Of course, lots of other postal rates and charges go up too. Postal Vice President Azeezaly Jaffer estimates it will cost the average person about 45 cents more a month. Postmaster General John Potter has promised rates won’t go up again until at least 2004. The increase comes none too soon for the cash-strapped Postal Service, which lost $1.6 billi last year, even before the terroi attacks cost it hundreds of rr lions in added expenses. Nondenominated stamps cc ering the new rate went on sale early June and the post office a See Stamps on page 2 Fourth of July brings potential threat WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans should take extra care on the Fourth of July because the holiday is an attractive symbol to potential terrorists, Bush adminis tration officials said Sunday. The FBI plans to monitor and protect major Independence Day parades and festivities as a pre caution against an attack. The bureau also has issued a law enforcement bulletin asking police to be on heightened alert even though no specific new intelligence suggests an attack. “There have been a variety of intelligence reports that suggest we ought to be especially vigilant as we go into the Fourth of July season,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said. “In the course of the next cou ple of days, we’ll be meeting on a regular basis to make an assess ment of any additional threats that might be coming our way,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “But I hope most Americans will go about their business and enjoy the Fourth of July. I intend to.” The president’s national secu rity adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said on CNN’s “Late Edition” that “a lot of preparations are being made to try and secure obvious sites and the like.” She said Americans must real ize this is the first Independence Day since the Sept. 11 attacks. “Certainly the Fourth of July just symbolically is an important day,” Rice said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It is a time for enhanced vigi lance, and we ask the help of the American people in that way.” The information about a threat is not specific, Powell said, but rather “the usual body of information and intelligence