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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 2002)
Opinion: Trading cards commercialize 9-11 • Page 9 Sports: Aggies open season on sour note • Page 5 1 HTT TT* yyt 11 (Volume 109 • Issue 63 • 10 pages www.thebatt.com Tuesday, November 26, 2002 football | By True Brown THE BATTALION Texas A&M defensive lineman fandon Fails died Monday morning her collapsing in his dorm room in ain Hall. Fails, 18, a freshman general studies liajor, was rushed to St. Joseph’s lospital in Bryan where he was pro- icunced dead at 9:03 a.m. A&M head football coach R.C. llocum said Fails was at the team’s ractice Sunday and had gone out to eat /ith some teammates later that vening. He was on his way to break- ist Monday when he told his room- player dies after collapsing in Cain mate, tight end Patrick Fleming, he was having a hard time breathing, Slocum said. He collapsed moments later. An autopsy will be performed to determine the official cause of death. Fails’s death marks the second time in four seasons that a dark cloud has been cast over the Aggies annual football game with the University of Texas (UT). The first time was the 1999 Bonfire Collapse that killed 12 and injured 27 Aggies. “Preparation for the game obviously comes at a distant comparison to what his family, his team and the rest of the guys will go through this week,” Slocum said. “Words cannot describe the pain and sorrow felt by our football family regarding the loss of this fine young man.” Fails played in four games for the Aggies before undergoing knee surgery in October. Slocum said Fails had been granted a medical redshirt this season. Slocum said there were no indica tions of heart problems at the time of the surgery, but there was a history of heart problems in the family. “Brandon had no history of any heart problems,” Slocum said. “His dad had a heart attack at an early age, and his grandfather had one at a much older age, so there was some history there.” Fails was credited with two tackles this season. He played against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Virginia Tech, Louisiana Tech and Baylor. “He likely would have started for us next year, and possi bly would have been starting right now if not for the knee sur gery,” Slocum said. In response, UT FAILS canceled its Monday night hex rally, a gathering traditionally held before the annual A&M-UT game that brings down a fictional witches’ curse on the A&M football team. The rally was also cancelled after the 1999 Aggie Bonfire Collapse. “Our hearts go out to the family and to the Texas A&M staff and players,” UT head coach Mack Brown said in a statement. “There is nothing anybody can say. We understand their pain.” In February 2001, the Longhorns suffered a similar loss when defensive end Cole Pittman died in a one-car accident on his way to join his team for spring practices. Fails is the third football player to die at A&M since 1991. In September 1991, kicker James See Fails on page 2 An organized mess JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION Sophomore architecture student C.J. Stuadel takes a meas- er in Langford. Staudel's concept, which took 30-40 hours to urement for a house project just before putting it all togeth- complete, was for Environmental Design Studio 105. Researchers help fight staph infections By Melissa Sullivan THE BATTALION I „ I Research at the Texas A&M System I Health Science Center’s Institute of Biosciences and Technology is helping | fight the growing threat of staph infections * around the country. The staph — short for staphylococcus I au reus — pathogen has become more resist ant to drugs, causing researchers such as Dr. Eric Brown, assistant professor at the Institute of Biosciences and Technology, to examine w hat might be egging the infection on. Staph bacteria can be found everywhere and has always posed a problem, especially •n hospitals, where people are consistently battling infections, Brown said. The most chronically ill or debilitated patients, such as those receiving systemic steroids or cancer chemotherapy as well as infants in the nurs ery, are the most susceptible to the disease. A staph infection, which looks and feels similar to the flu, can lead to an array of medical problems, including arthritis, toxic shock syndrome, food poisoning and skin rash. Staph infections usually attack the elderly and those already ill. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of cases of staph infections in hospitals has increased every year since 1940. But Brown’s research has put science one step closer to understanding how staph infections have become more powerful in recent years. Certain proteins that make up the build ing blocks of staph affect how a person’s immune system responds during a staph infection. Brown said. After careful testing. Brown found that one of the staph proteins interferes with the work of the body’s T- cells, a patient’s most specific defense against foreign intruders. Such interference would leave a person nearly defenseless as the staph infection spreads. The next step is finding out how much T- cells are affected by the proteins in staph through a series of laboratory experiments. See Staph on page 2 Northgate redevelopment plan focuses on safety By Eric Ambrose the battalion College Station and Texas A&M are working to redevel op Northgate to attract more businesses while making the ar ea safer for students walking to campus. The Northgate area is home to about 1,200 residents, a pop ulation expected to double within the next five years, said Gary Bellomy, director of the Northgate Redevelopment Plan. But business owners are wor ried that the parking and driving conditions around Northgate discourage businesses and con sumers from frequenting the ORTHGATE REDEVELOPMENT Key parts of the plan: Add medians to University Drive to allow parking on both sides of the street Increase the number of entertainment venues Bring in more live music A&M contributed $ 25,000 to the project Jotal plan is estimated at: $ 96,000 RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION area, he said. The current problems with Northgate have caused the city to update the Northgate Redevelopment Plan, originally created in 1996. The outcome of the 1996 plan was the imple mentation of a number of pub lic projects, including repairs to College Main and the creation of the parking garage behind Northgate, said Charles Wood, a member of the College Station Economic Development Department. Don Canter, owner of the Dixie Chicken and other local businesses, said parking is a problem for Northgate patrons. “Why shouldn’t we have free parking?” Canter said. “Northgate has been producing a tremendous amount of tax dol lars for years, yet it’s the only place in the county with parking meters. I wish the city would take away all of the meters.” Bellomy said one solution to the problem would be to hire an entity to manage the growth of the Northgate parking situation. This person would serve as a liaison between interested par ties and make final decisions. Parking meters raise revenue and stops students from occu pying the spaces, Bellomy said. “Meters are the easiest way to manage parking,” Bellomy said. “People have to view park ing as a common commodity that everyone needs and shares. There is a perception of a lack of parking at Northgate, but there is only a lack of free park ing for convenience retailers.” Safety has also become an issue in Northgate, as thousands of students frequent the bars and businesses in the area every day. The University contributed See Plan on page 2 Professors seek Fulbright Scholars By Amy Adams THE BATTALION A group of professors in the Brazos Valley is seeking out ways to attract more internation al educators and students to Texas A&M. The National Fulbright Association has approved the for mation of a local chapter in Brazos Valley to be created by former Fulbright Scholars from A&M. The new chapter is one of two in the state of Texas and one of 43 in the United States, said Rhonda Collins, director of the International Center. The 22-member group will serve as a council of advisers to provide advice on international issues, she said. “The local chapter will be able to promote the excellent programs of Fulbright and it enables them to have a strategic way to share their expertise and experiences abroad with A&M students,” Collins said. Collins said the new chapter is aimed at increasing the num ber of Fulbright Scholars who choose to come to the A&M campus. In addition, the chapter will work with the current visit ing Fulbright Scholar students to make them feel more at home. The U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 scholars and professionals to more than 140 countries each year, where they lecture or conduct research in a wide variety of academic fields including journalism, urban plan ning, music, philosophy, business administration and zoology. Each year, the University has two or three foreign Fulbright Scholars visiting the campus and five to six A&M faculty Fulbright Scholars that go abroad. Currently, there are about 30 international students visiting A&M though the Fulbright program. Suzanne Gyeszly, director for the policy sciences and econom ics library, served on the found ing board for the new chapter. “The new chapter will allow for excellent collaboration among members on internation al matters,” Gyeszly said. The Fulbright Scholar Program originated in 1946 and is sponsored by the Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Survey: Alcohol consumption down By Melissa McKeon THE BATTALION Texas A&M is challenging a national trend of rising drug use with 87 percent of students participating in a recent survey saying they prefer not to have drugs present at parties. The results were tallied from a survey taken this spring by the Alcohol and Drug Education Program (ADEP) staff in the Department of Student Life. ADEP presents the survey, which is given in schools nationwide, to A&M students every four years. Use of marijuana was also reported to be five percent lower than the national average of 33.6 percent. Jennifer Ford, programming coordinator with ADEP, said the num ber of students who think the social atmosphere at A&M promotes alcohol has fallen 16 percent from 1998 and now rests at 60 percent. “People are realizing that not every activity revolves or has to revolve around alcohol,” Ford said. The percentage of A&M students who feel drinking is integral to having a social life went down in all major categories: male stu dents, female students, athletes, fraternities and sororities. The percentage of A&M students who think the campus is involved with the prevention of drug and alcohol use has increased 14 percent to 82 percent from 1994. ADEP modifies its programs based on developments revealed by the survey. “ADEP works along with Student Activities,” Ford said. “We See Survey on page 2 A&M Drug and Alcohol Use — Survey of more than 1200 students Drug use rate at Texas A&M: 28.6% National Average Drug Use Rate: 33.6% Students who prefer to not have drugs at parties: g 7 % Students who think A&M's social atmosphere promotes 19g8 J6 % alcohol use: _™ In 2002 SO % Source: The Alcohol and Drug Education Program RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION