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A Sports: Aggies plan to stop Jayhawks • Page 4 Opinion: Prisoners call food cruel, unusual punishment • Page 7 THE BATTALION Volume 109 • Issue 36 • 8 pages www.thebatt.com Friday, October 18, 2002 A&M, Mexico join for migrant By C.E. Walters THE BATTALION Globalization and the shift to jnphasize the international commu- lity rather than the nation-state has tamatically changed the face of lealthcare, said Dr. Enrique Ruelas larajas, Senior Undersecretary of lealth for Mexico. Barajas was in College Station torsday to sign a pact with the fexasA&M System Health Science >nter which would enable the chool and the country to show a mited front when it comes to imigrant health care. The agree- nent stipulated that A&M and the Mexican government would put forth a joint effort to provide health services for migrants in the border states, a group Barajas said is suf fering from globalization. “Migrants are a particularly vul nerable population ” he said. Increased interdependence has also led to the transmission of more diseases across the borders. Barajas said plane flights can be shorter than the incubation times for some “microbial traffic.” Globalization has led to the exporting of other health-related issues, Barajas said, as big tobacco has begun to look for more overseas markets. “It is not only people and microbes that travel from one coun try to another,” Barajas said. A recent study said that 5 per cent of border crossings made are health related, he said. Seventy-five percent of these crossings are Americans going to Mexico for cheaper drugs. “Border regions tend to be places of intense contact ” Barajas said. The telecommunications revolu tion has turned information into a global good, Barajas said. Distance, he said, may no longer keep health care from the needy, but the digital divide must not replace the distance divide. “Exclusion (is) one dark side of globalization,” he said. Barajas said A&M and Mexico must work together based on a three-pronged plan of exchange, evidence and empathy. The two must find operations where they can combine efforts, he said. “Health is a bridge to peace,” Barajas said. At the signing ceremony. Dr. Nancy W. Dickey, vice chancellor for health affairs and the president of the health science center, said the signing of the agreement was only the first step. The Health Sciences Center, she said, is geographically diverse and increasingly international. The cen ter is dedicated to improving health See Health Care on page 2 health care BRIAN RUFF • THE BATTALION Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Dr. Nancy W. Dickey, left, and Board of Regents Vice Chairman Dr. Dionel E Aviles, right, look on as Senior Undersecretary of Health for the United Mexican States Dr. Enrique Ruelas Barajas signs an agreement to improve the health of people living in border states. Shake your bon bon JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION Ten-year-old dance assistant Katheryn Nash shows her 3- and 4- is a student at the Suzanne School of Dance in College Station, The year-old tap and ballet dance students a fundamental tap step. Nash school offers dance classes for ages three and up. Witness gives fake description ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — A V| tness who says he saw a sniper fire v >tn an assault rifle and flee in a ream-colored van gave a phony 1 or y> investigators said Thursday in lse tback that casts doubt on much of v at the public thought it knew the roving killer. rosecutors are investigating the 'ness, whose name wasn’t released, fitermine whether he should be a ^ with Tiling a false statement, airfax County police Lt. Amy Lubas said the inaccurate account was exposed by checking it against that of other witnesses to Monday night’s killing of an FBI cyberterror ism analyst in a crowded Virginia parking lot outside a Home Depot. It was the only shooting so far that peo ple actually saw. Asked if the witness may have intentionally misled investigators, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is heading the investigation, said simply, “Yes.” Investigators had showed a cer tain optimism after the latest attack seemed to yield the best details yet about the killer. But that gave way to anger Thursday. Moose said there was no credence to the witness’ description of the cream-colored van with a burned-out rear taillight. And while Moose did not,give the witness’ exact descrip tion of the shooter, he chastised reporters for running reports that variously described the gunman as of sniper dark-skinned, olive-skinned. Middle Eastern or Hispanic. “When we have people from the media interviewing witnesses and publishing reports, we get confu sion,” Moose said. “We get this noise ... out there that gives people tunnel vision and makes them focus in on things that are not appropriate. ... We would like to be able to do our job.” Similar witness accounts of a See Sniper on page 2 President of China may come to A&M By Sarah Walch THE BATTALION Chinese President Jiang Z^min will visit the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum Center next week during his trip to the United States if all goes as planned, said Roman Popadiuk, executive director of the Bush Library Foundation. “[Jiang] and forty-one are old friends,” Popadiuk said, referring to former President George Bush. “We expect a luncheon, tour of the museum, and there are tentative plans for him to address students on Thursday, Oct. 24.” It will be a last minute announcement if Jiang does give a speech, said Dr. Charles Hermann, professor and associate dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service. If there is a speech, security will be tight to pre vent any protesters and demonstrators from caus ing problems, Hermann said. Graduate international affairs major Liang Lihua, an exchange student from Beijing, said Jiang’s visit comes at a critical moment for China and the United States. Liang, a student at the Bush School, said the Chinese government has recently been softening in its attitude toward America in light of Jiang’s visit and the recent visit of the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State to China. “A month ago China was really opposed to uni lateral action in Iraq,” Liang said. “Now, the mes sage heard (from Chinese-run media) is that Iraq should comply with U.N. sanctions.” Liang saw Jiang while working at a television station in Beijing, and is excited at the possibility she may get to meet Jiang on Thursday. Falun Gong, a religious sect banned in China, may make an appearance actively protesting Jiang’s visit with President George W. Bush in Crawford on Friday, Oct. 25. Professor of Chinese history Dr. Di Wang said human rights, Taiwan, and the contention with Iraq are issues likely to come up between Bush See China on page 2 , CARRIE CART ER • THE BATTALION her f° rmer lesbian feminist activist, gave s tuden S N m °I] y r to a S rou P of Christian graduate and faculty at a luncheon Wednesday. Former feminist shares conversion to Christianity By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION Former lesbian feminist Amy Tracy said that during the last four years, two things have transformed her life: God’s grace and suffering. Tracy, a fonner press secretary for the National Organization for Women (NOW), spoke to a crowd of about 100 in Rudder Theater Thursday night, sharing the story of her conver sion to Christianity and the resulting entanglements of changing her out look on life. “It has been pretty life changing and chaotic,” Tracy said. “I lost my career and friendships. My world was turned upside down.” During her freshman year in col lege, Tracy said she felt lost and was searching for a place to fit in. “Most of my professors were les bian and I felt an attraction toward them,” Tracy said. “They were strong women.” What she found, she said, was a deep identification with people. After graduating from college, Tracy went to work for NOW as a program director and embraced the pro-life movement. “Being an activist gave me my first experience with Christians and I didn’t know they cared about life,” she said. “I thought they were out to put women back in time.” She spent 10 years as press secre tary for NOW’s national headquar ters, and served as vice president of the Washington State NOW. But dur ing her last two years at NOW, she said, she felt a desire to become a Christian. Tracy looked up churches and started attending. “I thought they were going to tie me down to a chair and make me stay,” she said. “Of course, that did n’t happen.” Tracy said the decision to let God into her life was one she wrestled with for five years. She knew her life would be different, she said. “God is not what you see in other See Tracy on page 2 Rainy weather to help Brad Bennett THE BATTALION CdforS and thC Nation’ dturda y will help c cSisTR e:planting22 ° rel atiorK r Johnson > head o earlier fh f ° r Re P lan L said n ^ anniM Week wil1 Benefit will tak P i tree Panting ever ^ Place Saturday. w ater oot* 1 t ^ le § roun d is w *<i2 o A v r soft] More than 1,400 students are signed up to plant trees at the Biyan Regulation Athletic Complex and at Lake Somerville. Last year, 82 stu dent organizations were represented at Replant. Replant began in the spring of 1990 and was recognized as an offi cial University organization in 1991. This is the second year that Replant has taken place in the fall. The change from spring to fall was made to benefit tree growth, organizers say, though the move came only after Bonfire was canceled and was no Replant this weekend longer the pinnacle of A&M’s fall activities. “Replant was not started to be a statement against Bonfire,” Johnson said. The live oak, green ash and bald cypress trees to be planted are grown on tree farms near Lake Somerville and donated by the National Tree Trust. They are four years old, approx imately five feet tall and take an esti mated five people per tree to plant. Marah Short, chair of the Student Government Association’s Environmental Issues Committee and a junior econonomics major. said Replant has an impact on local ecology. “Mostly it helps replenish trees,” Short said. Replant has two shifts on Saturday, starting at 8 a.m. and another starting at 11 a.m. Both begin with a kick-off rally at the Academic Plaza. Participants have no minimum number of trees to plant, but are encouraged to plant as many as pos sible, said Lynn Wink, a member of the Replant publicity committee and a freshman biology major. Replant 2002 • Kickoff ceremonies Saturday Oct. 19 at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. in the Academic Plaza 'Tree planting lasts all day at A the Bryan Regulation / \ Athletic Complex and at L \ Lake Somerville ^3 CL 1,400 students will be planting TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION