The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, August 06, 2002, Image 1

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BATTALION
Volume 108 • Issue 179-8 pages
108 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Bad luck
JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION
A&M student Eli Noel Perez (left) and Texas State
Highway Patrol Officer Joey Condon survey Perez' over
turned Isuzu Trooper. Perez was heading westbound on
Highway 60 when he hit a patch of loose gravel and lost
control of the vehicle. At the scene, Perez complained
only of a seatbelt bruise and minor scratches.
§ Tuesday, August 6, 2002
New Main Drive
construction may
be completed early
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
Much of the campus construction is
ahead of schedule despite heavy July
rains.
The main campus streets and area
drainage improvements, which had
closed down New Main Drive and part of
Bizzell Street this summer, were sched
uled to be completed in October, but are
now nearly a month ahead of schedule
and may be complete before September,
said officials at Parking, Traffic and
Transportation Services (PTTS).
“[Opening New Main and Bizzell
before September] depends on the
weather,” said Doug Williams, associate
director of PTTS. “I can’t say for sure
that it will be finished before school
starts, but I predict access will be
restored if not by then, soon afterward.”
Tim Donathan, executive director of
facilities and construction for the A&M
system, is overseeing the construction
in conjunction with PTTS.
He has a less optimistic appraisal of
progress and said it is doubtful New
Main and Bizzell would be open before
September.
“[The contractors] are going to start
to lay concrete this week, but even if all
the concrete has been laid we can’t
open the road unless the proper signa
ture and roadway striping is in place,”
he said.
Even if New Main and Bizzell are
not open before September, the project
is still almost a month ahead of sched
ule, said Kyle Lewis of Young
Contractors, the Bryan-based general
contractor in charge of the project.
“(The success is due to) good weath
er at the beginning of the summer and
good use of man power throughout con
struction,” Lewis said.
Besides improvements to New Main
and Bizzell, the improvements include
construction of a detention pond on the
Polo Fields to aid in flood control dur
ing heavy rains.
“Planning on the detention pond,
which started 5-7 years ago, was a
cooperation between the City of
College Station and Texas A&M,”
Williams said. “Every time we had
heavy rains the water of campus would
wash into the creek on the Polo Fields
and the area around Wolf Pen Creek
would flood.”
To prevent flooding, the detention
pond will trap water and only allow a
See Construction on page 2
(PTTS releases budget, total costs of construction
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
According to Parking, Traffic
ind Transportation Services
TTS), the 12 construction proj-
Jcts which began this summer
have a combined cost of more
ian $50 million dollars.
$43 million is funding the new
test Campus garage and pedes
trian passageway being built
iinder Wellborn Road.
I Nearly $10 million of the
remaining amount is financing
the six different parking and traf
fic related projects.
The amount of parking and
affic-related construction during
the summer has been higher than
>ast years, but Doug Williams,
executive director for PTTS, said
PTTS is in control and is not
stretching the budget too thin.
“Though 12 construction proj
ects is more than [average], it is
not much more,” said Tim
Donathan, executive director of
facilities and construction for the
Texas A&M University System.
“This summer it may have seemed
like more because of the six traffic
related construction projects.”
“Something had to be done
and although it may seem no one
thought how disruptive it would
be, we started planning last fall
and chose the summer in order to
disrupt the least amount of peo
ple,” Donathan said.
PTTS, A&M System Facilities
and the Physical Plant are han
dling all the construction efforts
currently on campus.
Construction on campus is
planned, designed and managed
by A&M System Facilities in
conjunction with whichever
department the construction is
for. All work is done under the
oversight of the Board of
Regents, which has the final say
in construction matters.
PTTS submits the work orders
for all construction on campus
dealing with Parking, Traffic or
Transportation.
Second to the $43 million
West Campus garage and pedes
trian passageway in cost is the
Main Campus Streets and Area
Drainage Improvements, which
cost nearly $6 million.
The detention pond being built
on the Polo Fields is the main
drainage control and prevents
flooding by trapping water on
campus and only allowing a small
amount to flow into area creeks
and through College Station.
Even though the project bene
fits the City of College Station,
all construction on campus is
funded by A&M.
“The University funded all on-
campus improvements but has
separate projects to compliment
what is being done on campus,”
Donathan said.
PTTS is also spending
$67,500 to expand Parking Area
(PA) 8 outside the University
See PTTS on page 4
PTTS CONSTRUCTION BUDGET
MORE THAN 50 MILLION
• S43 million for West Campus garage and
pedestrian passageway
• 6 million for Main Campus Streets & Area
Drainage Improvements
• $1 32,000 for new parking spaces
PTTS sources of revenue
• 58% from permits
• 23% from visitor parking
• 1 5% from fines
• 4% from various sources
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
Israel clamps down on
Palestinian movement
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel struck
back at the Palestinians on Monday
following a day of deadly attacks, fir
ing missiles at a suspected weapons
factory in the Gaza Strip and announc
ing a ban on Palestinian travel in the
northern West Bank.
At the same time, however, Israeli
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-
Eliezer met with the Palestinian interi-
or minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, to
discuss plans for a cease-fire that
would allow for Israeli troops to leave
Palestinian areas, Palestinian officials
and Israel Army Radio said.
In the missile strike late Monday,
four people were lightly injured when
Israeli helicopters fired three missiles
at a spare car parts factory in Gaza
City’s Zeitouni neighborhood, which is
known as a hub for the militant group
Hamas, witnesses said.
Israel Army Radio said the building
targeted was a suspected weapons fac
tory.
Three buildings, located near a
tnosque, were damaged, and one of the
oiissiles didn’t explode, witnesses said.
Firefighters doused a small blaze that
•gnited at the scene.
Salim Bahtiti, 25, son of the factory
owner, angrily denied the shop was
nsed to make weapons.
I challenge all the experts of this
world to come and to see if our metal
^ork shop can be used to produce any
kind of weapons,” he said, pointing to
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Israeli helicopters
strike metal works
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SOURCES: Associated Press; ESRI AP
the charred remains of his spare car
parts machines.
“This is a war against the
Palestinian economy. The Israelis are
now targeting the national industry, he
said. “It’s another part of the brutal
war.”
The strike was the first on Gaza
since an Israeli F-16 dropped a one-ton
bomb on a Gaza City block July 22,
killing the military leader of the mili
tant group Hamas, Salah Shehadeh,
and 14 other people, nine of them chil
dren.
The bombing prompted internation
al condemnation — as well as a rare
rebuke from the White House —
See Israel on page 2
Warnings issued for mosquitoes
By Diane Xavier
THE BATTALION
Bryan-College Station is warning
residents to take precautions to avoid
mosquito-bome diseases, according to
entomologists with the agricultural
program at Texas A&M University.
Dr. Jim Olson, an entomologist at
A&M, said people should be more
aware of the local mosquito situation
and take precautions against the
insects.
He said the entomology depart
ment is currently conducting local
mosquito surveys in the area and
sending mosquitoes they catch to the
Texas Department of Health in Austin
where they are analyzed for the pres
ence of viruses.
In addition, the Veterinary Medical
Diagnostic Laboratory at A&M is aid
ing in the analysis of dead and sick
birds for the presence of virus in the
organs and tissues. Olson said this
information is being used to monitor
the local situation concerning the
West Nile Virus and other bird-borne
viruses. This will aid in deciding if,
when and where mosquito control
activities should be implemented in
the local area.
“Our mosquito surveys run thus far
in the Bryan-College Station area indi
cate that the species of mosquitoes
most commonly involved in the vector
ing of the viruses causing West Nile
and St. Louis Encephalitis are in ample
numbers and widely enough distrib
uted in the local area to spread either or
both of/these bird-carried viruses,”
Olson said. “To date however, no such
virus activity has been detected in the
Brazos Valley region of Texas.
“People should always practice
caution when it comes to mosquitoes
and the diseases these insects can
sometimes bear. This is particularly
true here in Texas during the hot, dry
summer months, since such weather
conditions are conductive to the build
up of mosquito species.”
See Warnings on page 4
Institute for Applied Creativity proposed
By Cara Garcia
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M is aiming to emphasiz
ing the “Ag” in imagination with a pro
posal for the Institute for Applied
Creativity.
According to the proposal,
“Creativity and the production of knowl
edge are the currency of the new millen
nia ... With the establishment of the
Institute for Applied Creativity, Texas
A&M University will take the lead in
developing individuals capable of creat
ing and producing new knowledge.”
The institute will be housed in the
College of Education, spanning across
the University and involving students
and faculty from a range of colleges and
departments.
It could potentially involve at least
eight colleges and departments including
the Dwight Look College of
Engineering, the Department of
Psychology, and the George Bush
School of Government and Public
Service, as well as support from deans of
the colleges of education, architecture
and the Lowry Mays College and
Graduate School of Business.
“With the Institute, engineering stu
dents can leam from architecture stu
dents, and architecture students can leam
from psychology students; all these dif
ferent perspectives from different back
grounds will come together,” said Amy
Klinkovsky, communications specialist
for the College of Education. “Everyone
benefits from this exchange and can take
how to apply these perspectives to any
situation.”
The institute will focus on research,
education and outreach.
The research branch will explore the
ories and applications of creativity in an
individual and also in a community.
According to the enabling document,
studies include the role of creativity in
mental health and resiliency, and the
building of sustainable advantages for
agencies in medical, agricultural or gov
ernmental fields, among others.
The education branch will bring
together the existing courses located in
different colleges and departments, then
See Institute on page 2