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Sports: Mondesi trade hurts baseball • Page 3
Opinion: Buying airline tickets by the pound • Page 5
THE BATTALION
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1 leasts j Volume 108 • Issue 161 • 6 pages
108 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Wednesday, July 3, 2002
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New Health Center designs
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Junior environmental design majors Brett Davis
and Chien Wong discuss one of the new designs
for the health center in the MSC
By Courtney McDonald
THE BATTALION
The Memorial Student Center
drew a large crowd Tuesday for the
showcase of projects designed by 20
architecture students for a new stu
dent health center.
After working with Student
Health Services, the architecture stu
dents designed their renditions of
improvements to the existing Beutal
Health Center in correlation with
goals for the Vision 2020 plan.
“This project is a catalyst to begin
asking questions about student health
services at A&M,” said Dr. George
Mann, AIA, the Ronald L. Skaggs
Endowed Professor of Health
Facilities Design and project director.
“A&M can’t be [a top 10 university]
without the best health facilities.”
All the projects were different and
embodied differing approaches to
mental and physical options for
health services. Students built their
models in a variety of locations,
depending upon what they thought
was best for all students.
“We considered keeping Beutal as
a main site for health services while
also creating a West Campus site for
the convenience of students,” said
senior architecture major Julie
Pumphrey. “Sooner or later. West
Campus might become the center of
attract attention
campus, and Beutal has already out
grown its size.”
Not only was the location of the
new building(s) important, but stu
dents took into account the physical
appearance of the center.
“West Campus buildings haven’t
been significant aesthetically as of
yet, so it is an important aspect to
create an inviting building [for the
west side of campus],” said senior
architecture major Cassandra
Cormier.
Students only had a month to
complete their projects, and most put
in five to nine hours of work daily
with their partners.
“It was a great assignment and a
little difficult at times having to com
promise with my partner,” Cormier
said.
“It was a very successful presenta
tion,” said Dr. Linda Lekawski, D.O.
and Director of Student Health
Services. “These buildings were born
in students’ minds for A&M, and it
would be great if the University built
one of them.”
There has been no request for a
new health services building in
response to the Vision 2020 plan.
“This isn’t going to happen
tomorrow, but it can enhance the
reputation of A&M for its health
services [if a new building is con
structed],” Mann said.
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Plane collides with
jet over Germany
UEBERLINGEN, Gennany — A
Russian pilot ferrying children to
Spain for a beach vacation had less
than a minute to get out of the way of
an oncoming cargo jet, but the planes
rammed into one another after both
apparently took the same evasive
action at the same moment. The col
lision claimed 71 lives.
Fifty-two Russian children were
on the Bashkirian Airlines charter
heading for a resort near Barcelona to
celebrate the beginning of the sum
mer holiday. Their chartered Tupolev
154 collided at 35,000 feet over
southern Germany with a Boeing 757
cargo jet operated by DHL
International.
There were no casualties on the
ground, although burning wreckage
fell onto roads and into yards in the
rolling, forested hills around Lake
Constance, shared by Germany,
Switzerland and Italy.
There was immediate controversy
over how the collision happened,
with Swiss authorities — whose con
trol system was directing both flights
— initially claiming the Russian pilot
responded only after three warnings,
the first coming two minutes before
the crash. It was subsequently
learned that only one Swiss con
troller was on duty at the time of the
collision.
After the Swiss offered their ini
tial version of the moments leading
up the accident, German aviation and
police officials said the Russian pilot
had only 50 seconds warning and
responded after a second call from air
traffic control approximately 25 sec
onds before the collision.
The Swiss then revised their
account.
Anton Maag, chief of the Zurich
control tower, said the 50-second
warning given the Russian pilot
“wasn’t irresponsible but fairly
tight.”
A representative of the German
airline pilots' union disagreed.
“Normally we count on five to 10
minutes for two planes heading for a
planned crossing of their flight paths
to be separated,” Georg Fongern told
ZDF television. “Of course we must
ask why the two planes were not
brought apart earlier.”
The pilot of the DHL jet apparent
ly sent the plane into a dive after the
Boeing’s automated crash avoidance
warning system alerted him to the
danger of the collision about 25 sec
onds beforehand.
The Russian airline blamed the
tragedy on air traffic controllers, and
defended its pilot, saying he was an
experienced aviator, spoke English
— the language of international avia
tion — well and was a regular on
international routes.
Peddicord finds national
recognition in classroom
By Lauren Bauml
THE BATTALION
Dr. Kenneth L. Peddicord,
a tenured nuclear engineering
professor at Texas A&M, said
simply being part of A&M and
the community is the greatest
tool which has brought much
success to his career.
Peddicord said his good
fortune comes from being part
of a very successful institution
with tremendous students and
excellent colleagues.
“I very much enjoy inter
acting with students here at
A&M,” he said.
Peddicord recently
received the Glenn Murphey
Award in Montreal, Canada.
This award is given in
recognition of extraordinary
contributions to the educa
tion of nuclear engineering
students by the American
Society for Engineering
Education (ASEE).
Peddicord has received
numerous other awards
throughout the years but said
he is not really an “award
person.” He chooses not to
talk about his collection of
awards, nor does he list them
in his professor biography.
He said his past 20 years
at A&M have been tremen
dous.
“[Peddicord] is truly at
home in the classroom, both
deriving energy from his stu
dents and, in turn, firing them
up,” said Dr. Alan Waltar,
head of A&M’s Department
of Nuclear Engineering. “He
is, without a doubt, the most
creative and enthusiastic edu
cator I have ever had the priv
ilege to work with.”
Peddicord is currently a
registered professional engi
neer in Texas and a member
of several professional soci
eties, including the American
Nuclear Society, American
Society of Mechanical
Engineering and the Society
of Mexican American
Engineers and Scientists.
He was persistently asked
to teach at A&M before he
arrived. When he finally
chose to come, he said he
found the thought appalling
and originally planned to
teach at A&M for only six
See Peddicord on page 2
Dr. Glenn Peddicord, nuclear engineering professor,
received the Glenn Murphey Award for extraordinary con
tributions to the education of nuclear engineering students.
Officials urge residents to be safe, obey laws for July 4
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RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
By Jessi Watkins
THE BATTALION
As the Fourth of July draws closer.
Aggies are looking forward to a day off
from school to celebrate with friends
and family. As with any major holiday,
July Fourth also brings an increase in
concern for people’s safety.
In order to prepare for the expected
increase in alcohol consumption, the
Bryan Police Department (BPD) will
dedicate extra officers to driving while
intoxicated (DWI) patrol.
Sgt. Ben Smith of the BPD Traffic
Safety Unit said it will be out doing
night-time DWI enforcement Thursday
and Friday, a job usually left solely to
the patrol division.
“It will probably mean a few more
arrests, but hopefully it will decrease
the number of alcohol-related traffic
accidents,” Smith said. “During major
holidays, like Independence Day, there
are more [intoxicated people] out there
than we would like to think.”
The July Fourth holiday also brings
the risk of injury from fireworks.
Bart Humphreys, public information
officer for the College Station Fire
Department, said fireworks are illegal
inside the city limits as well as in a
5,000 foot enforcement zone around
the city limits.
Fireworks stands are located outside
the enforcement zone, he said.
“City ordinance states possession,
use or transportation of fireworks with
in the city limits is a Class C misde
meanor and punishable by a fine of up
to $2,000,” Humphreys said.
Humphreys also said fireworks
include anything that will have to be lit on
fire, including smoke bombs and snakes.
Officials urge people to be safe in
choosing to set off fireworks and obey
the laws concerning fireworks, as well
as when and where they are allowed.
He said each year more than 11,000
people in the United States are injured
from fireworks and most of these are
children between the ages of five and 14.
The majority of injuries occur
because of misuse rather than poor
manufacturing, he said.
Firecrackers caused 32 percent of
fireworks related injuries in 2000, sky
rockets caused 15 percent and sparklers
caused 10 percent, Humphreys said.
Fireworks safety ranges from
always following labeled directions,
buying from a reliable fireworks seller
and never carrying fireworks in a pock
et, he said.
Fourth of July festivities to be held at George Bush Library
By Ruth Ihde
THE BATTALION
The George Bush
Presidential Library will be
hosting the College Station
Noon Lion’s Club annual July
Fourth celebration, called “I
Love America,” on Thursday.
Brian Blake, public relations
director for the George Bush
Presidential Library, said this is
the 42nd annual July Fourth cel
ebration for the College Station
Noon Lion’s Club and third con
secutive year it has been hosted
by the George Bush Presidential
Library and Museum.
The museum will be open
from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. to visi
tors for the regular admission
price. All Texas A&M and Blinn
students will have free admission.
During open hours, costumed
characters such as George and
Martha Washington, Abe
Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin
will be present for photographs
and to answer questions about
their lives and careers.
Concession stands open at
5:30 p.m. and the Lion’s Club will
give out free watermelon.
The entertainment will
include a live petting zoo and
games for children.
Blake said this year the head
lining act will be Karan Chaviz,
and there will also be a live
entertainment stage featuring
local bands and vocalists.
Beginning at 9:30 p.m., there
will be a brass ensemble playing
patriotic music.
In addition, passports for
“be a tourist in your own back
yard” will be available at the
George Bush Library that
include discounts on certain
events and services courtesy of
the City of Bryan and College
Station Convention and
Visitor’s Bureau.
The Fourth of July fireworks
will begin around 9:45 p.m. and
will be choreographed with
music broadcasted by local
radio station. Mix 104.7.
“The George Bush Library is
the perfect backdrop for the fire
works display,” Blake said.
Admission to the fireworks
display is free and the George
Bush Library will have parking
spaces available for those need
ing handicapped parking. Free
parking will also be available to
the public in Research Park.
Blake emphasized that
Barbara Bush Drive will be
closed all day, requiring all traf
fic for the celebration to enter
through Research Drive or
Discovery Drive.
Parts of George Bush Drive
around the library will also be
closed during the fireworks dis
play for safety precautions.
“As always, security will be
taken seriously,” Blake said.
He said there will not be more
security this year compared to
past years, but awareness of safe
ty and security will be greater.
There will be internal securi
ty for the library and museum,
and the University Police
Department and bike patrol will
be present during the festivities,
he said.
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION