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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2002)
%|| Aggielife: Behind the scenes with Freudian Slip • Page 3 Opinion: Festival cannot replace Bonfire • Page 11 HEBATIah ead ra T^ RATTPAT in omli J|gj« IfVolume 109 • Issue 62 • 12 pages www.thebatt.com Monday, November 25, 2002 ackkilliij blewkrg Remedy bus;,, t hour Thujj' n 911 passer® | ff-campus bonfire brings out thousands i ated Press ES m the hi ■{ with high iers and thtifl By Sarah Walch THE BATTALION The first student-organized bon- ire to burn publicly since 1998 was lighted in a field 10 miles northeast ; §f College Station Sunday night in a larty atmosphere organizers referred lo as the “revival of the Aggie Spirit.” A few thousand former and cur- fent Texas A&M students, their [pouses, children and pets surround- id the fence around the Unity ’rojeefs central bonfire, which was about 35 feet high and flanked by Two smaller stacks. Music blared from a stage to the right of the fires, interrupted only when the flames /ere lighted in a solemn ceremony tnd during an impromptu yell prac tice led by Unity Project members. At the scheduled time of lighting, iuses and cars lined the dirt road to the event. Buses were advertised on the project’s Web site and transported nany spectators to the site as parking in the adjacent field was limited. Parking, at $10 per vehicle, and a admission fee, helped fund the iroject’s nearly $15,000 debt, ^cording to a report from The Associated Press, Unity Project costs were incurred from loans, per sonal savings and credit card pur chases. The group’s leader, Luke Cheatham, said his personal expens es have reached almost $2,000. Participants signed a release form as they entered. The bonfire was lighted at 7:45 p.m. after a ritual walk to the bonfire by the group of organizers, the pass ing of the flame from upper-to lower-classmen and a symbolic cir cling of the fire. Multiple camera men and photographers from nation al media outlets shadowed the group, bringing back images of the 1999 Aggie Bonfire Collapse. Twelve Aggies were killed and 27 others injured when the Bonfire fell Nov. 18, 1999, leaving administrators with the task of deciding whether the 90-year tradition should return to the A&M campus. The Unity Project bonfire is a way of keeping the knowledge of bonfire, and how it’s built, alive, said Cheatham, a senior civil engi neering major. “A few friends of mine sat down to talk and realized after my class RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION Students and supporters sing the Aggie War Hymn. The bonfire attracted more than one thousand supporters. graduated, there would not be any one left on campus who knew how to build Bonfire,” Cheatham said. Texas A&M did not sponsor the event and has discouraged students and staff from participating in any off- campus bonfires. A memo sent out to student residential advisers suggested they distance themselves from the project. Requirements included not posting bonfire fliers or announcing affiliation with a residence hall when at the project’s cut site. “They told us not to cross over See Bonfire on page 2 RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION Staff and builders light their torches before lighting the 2002 bonfire. The bonfire was held at the Boondock's Recreation Center in Grimes County, 10 miles Northeast of College Station. ■aderjoiiifL ndow anJ y a taii: ii to He::. e he was ns Shot through the heart father, Ac eased on says« ntil thedi) bu Hilail« illenge to ;li r son anti: | bombing ;1 Abu Hilai as a si# [i condei* ing the goi is to seel 1 es living side oiled inf j (unless ^ nester jseiTiestf ; six hours I" ,r equi v0 ^ ! on The 303 H 15 olenl. :ie,$hf BuiW 1002. BS f mm-. BBIK.1L JP BFLATO III • THE BATTALION Texas A&M All-American Mary Zorn won the individual compound title at the Longhorn Archery Invitational held at Anna Hiss Gymnasium in Austin this weekend. Zorn won her third consecutive title with a final score of 1, 145 points. Iraqi officials complain about U.N. resolution BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) —^ In a point- by-point protest, the Iraqi government complained to the United Nations Sunday that the small print behind the weapons inspections beginning this week will give Washington a pretext to attack. The new U.N. resolution on the inspec tions could turn “inaccurate statefnenfs (among) thousands of pages” of required Iraqi reports into a supposed justification for military action. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said in a letter to U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan. “There is premedi tation to target Iraq, whatever the pretext,” Sabri said. His lengthy letter, a detailed commentary on the Security Council resolution, was not expected to affect the inspections, which resume Wednesday after a four-year sus pension. Iraq had accepted the resolution in a Nov. 13 letter from Sabri to Annan. Preparations moved steadily ahead on Baghdad’s outskirts Sunday, where tech nicians at the U.N. inspection center worked to establish a “hot line” with liaisons in the Iraqi government. The first working group of 18 inspec tors arrives Monday on a flight from a U.N. rear base in Cyprus. Their numbers are expected to swell by year-end to SABRI between 80 and 100 at a time in Iraq. In seven years’ work after the 1991 Gulf War, U.N. experts destroyed large amounts of chemical and biological weapons and longer-range missiles for bidden to Iraq by U.N. resolutions, and dismantled Iraq’s nuclear weapons pro gram before it.could build a bomb. The inspections were suspended amid dis putes over U.N. access to Iraqi sites and Iraqi complaints the United States insert ed spies in the inspection teams. A new focus on Iraq by the Bush administration led to adoption of Resolution 1441 and the dispatch of inspectors back to Iraq with greater pow ers of unrestricted access to suspected weapons sites. Washington alleges Iraq retains some prohibited weapons and may be producing others. The resolution, adopted unanimously Nov. 7, demands the Iraqis give up any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, or face “serious consequences.” It requires Iraq to submit an account ing by Dec. 8 of its weapons programs, as well as of chemical, biological and nuclear programs it claims are peaceful. Any “false statements or omissions” in that declaration could contribute to a finding it had committed a “material breach” of the resolution — a finding that might lead to military action. The Bush administration has threat ened war to enforce Iraqi disarmament. High school students showcase robotics skills A&M, UT take ‘Best of Texas for joint effort By Lauren Smith THE BATTALION Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin took the Best of Texas” award at a govern ment and technology conference in Austin this month for their joint efforts to create a high speed Internet network which spans the state. The network connects both schools’ campuses in Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio and College Station. Besides the lower costs, the main advantage of the collaboration is that the universities can provide technical support for each other, said Walt Magnussen, associate director tor telecommunications at A&M. In June, A&M AND UT COLLABORATE the schools joined together for cheaper and better Internet speeds A&M’s old Internet ran at 45 million bits per second (bps) A&AA and UT’s connection is now 155 million bps MANDY ROUQUETTE • THE BATTALION the major A&M Internet connection lines went down and would have remained down for several days. But the UT system picked up where A&M’s dropped out, Magnussen said. Working with the Telecommunications Office of the Physical Plant on facilitating the proj ect at A&M were the Computing and Information Services (CIS) and the Trans Video Network (TTVN). The award the group won was one of nine awards given at the confer ence for good examples of collabora tive efforts. “In the telecommunications field, the larger volume that you buy, the less the cost. A&M and UT brought their purchasing power together to leverage the fees it takes to service all of the campuses,” Magnussen said. A&M’s previous connection speed was equivalent to 45 million bits per second (bps). The new sys tem created by A&M and UT oper ates at 155 million bps, at a lower cost than before with greater reliabil ity, Magnussen said. By Brad Bennett THE BATTALION Reed Arena resembled a scene from BattleBots or Robotica on Saturday. The robot creations of high school and middle school teams competed in Texas Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) to capture the most toy bumble balls and foam noodles. In the end, teams with the most able robots and the best teamwork and charac ter won. Judges strolled through the show floor Saturday, listening to teams as they worked. Simeon DeGraaf, a high school senior from Wichita, Kan., was congratu lating second-place winners from the neighboring town of Goddard, Kan., when the announcer declared his team the first place winner of the robotics com petition. “Goddard won it last year and we got second so when they got second, I saw it coming a little, but you never know,” DeGraaf said. Earlier in the day DeGraaf said his motto for Saturday was, “Hope for the best and plan for the worst.” The BEST award also took into account a sales presentation about the experience and theories used in robot design that students gave to judges from Texas A&M and private industry includ ing Boeing and Texas Instruments. The BRIAN RUFF • THE BATTALION Haltom High School student Brian Curry directs his teammate controlling the stu dent-built robot in the Texas Best robotics competition Saturday. sales competition included 31 of the 60 teams which competed in the head-to- head competition. Teamwork and technology together saved the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, a lesson that carries into engineering See Robotics on page 2
