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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2002)
Cameron Reynolds Attorney At Law Licensed by the Texas Supreme Court Not Board Certified Class of ‘91 Jim James Attorney At Law Board Certified Criminal Law , Class of ‘75 SPKC lAMZINC; IN THE PKFENSEOF CRIMINAL ( HAKCKS INC1.I DlN'Ci: Driving While Intoxicated All Alcohol and Drug Offenses All other Criminal Offenses 979-846-1934 e-mail: jim@4ca.net website: http://jimwjames.wld.com J Monday, December 2, 2002 NEWi THE BATTALid Blaze engulfs Venezuelan nightclut 47 die, 12 injured during stamped fan TTCch <t*ut ‘TVoskch Come see Charlotte, Christen, Stacey, and Mindy & Leave the Cuttin’ Up... to US! Bring this ad in for a HAIRCARE PRODUCT 268-1398 3 I I S. College (next to Harry's) CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Flames quickly engulfed a tiny, downtown nightclub packed with hundreds of dancers but lacking emergency exits, triggering a panicky stampede and killing 47 peo ple, fire officials and victims said Sunday. Twelve people were injured in the late Saturday night blaze at La Guajira discotheque. Faulty wiring, a kitchen fire or even a carelessly discarded cigarette were all possible causes of the blaze, which erupted near the club’s entrance just before midnight Saturday local time, said Fire Chief Rodolfo Briceno. Nearly all the dead succumbed to the smoke. As many as 400 people were inside the discotheque, housed in the basement of the Hotel Venezuela in a densely packed commercial district, when someone yelled “Fire!,” vic tims said. The club was in two rooms with a total of about 1000 square feet. “The fire began at the entrance. At first we thought it was a joke, but it seems the fire extinguishers didn’t work and the blaze grew fast,” said Jenny Cisneros, 29, who suffered bums to her arms and legs. Caracas nightclub fire kills 47 A fire broke out at an overcrowded basement nightclub just before midnight on Saturday in Caracas. Venezuela. Dance floor is about 30 x 23 feet the flames spread nuj, the small building, thee,, routes were blocked, mg to the magnitude of aster." Briceno said. There were more people capacity tei Bathroom Caribbean Sea Caracas * . o VENEZUELA COLOMBIA . jfea- SOURCES: ESRI; Associated Press “Everything went up in flames. There were so many people, everyone was trampled as they tried to get out. Nobody could breathe,” Cisneros told The Associated Press from her hospital bed. Her sister, who also suffered leg burns, was next to her at the western Caracas clinic. Jenny Cisneros said tearfully that a girlfriend of hers was among the 17 women who died. Firefighters using oxygen tanks rescued people trapped NEWS IN BRIEF get hyped Per /pring break '03 721 Texas Ave. S. (979) 696.5077 www.sta travel.com STA TRAVEL onunE » on the phooe » on compur » on the ttreet CBS producer who hired Rather dies NEW YORK (AP) Ernest Leiser, a CBS News producer who hired the network’s current anchor, Dan Rather, died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack. He was 81. During his 29-year career. Leiser reported mostly from Europe, where he was jailed briefly by communists while covering the revolt in Hungary in 1956. In 1964, he was named direc tor of the news division, where he hired Rather, and later became executive producer of the “CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite.” He left CBS to become an executive producer at ABC News in 1972, but returned in 1975 to head the CBS News department covering political conventions and elections. He retired in 1985, but remained active in journalism through teaching. Leiser was born in Entrance and stairs are 5 feet wkIo Between 300 and 400 people were in the nightclub at the time of the fire. AP inside the club and extin guished the flames early Sunday. They also evacuated another 500 people from the hotel and surrounding build ings inundated by smoke. At daybreak, grieving rela tives and friends stood outside the charred building in a poor district of the Venezuelan capi tal. The club’s blackened, nar row entrance was roped off. Detectives began the grim task of identifying the dead. "We have information that the club than its hold. There were threeoi hundred people there wfe arriv ®d» and a lot ofi3 dense toxic smoke." The combination of ci*. crowding, no emergency tr improvised electrical »i» a,Tie m ' unlicensed kitchen and a, tire code inspections isjc« mon one in this city oft* lion, Briceno said, nierej not enough resources tour, tor hundreds of similar;.? some ot w hich are openiiltji].! ly, officials say. “It’s no secret that its types of clubs often havefc wiring and that theireleci circuits are overcharged'3 tire chief said. “The problem is that® clubs must have enoughiti, and it isn’t always obsend Briceno said, adding that: ow ners often ignore firefia warnings on capacity limk Saturday night's fire deadliest nightclubblazeiri Venezuelan capital since i when 25 people perishedii discotheque fire. Bricenol The hrough [exas or 6-6 m Texas lame, s lefense 0 conti (oyal-Tt UT sc 6 of 24 md three “I ah imms s [he regul flayed; 1 I The g reshmai n his de lis leg ounty < A&M console ers to tal ca hard as t had our chance t blame 01 Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1941. He served in the Army from 1942-1946 and was a cor respondent for Stars & Stripes. Peugeot of Peugeot carmakers dies at 70 PARIS (AP) — Pierre Peugeot, chairman of the super visory board of French car maker Peugeot SA, died Sunday. He was 70. Peugeot was a member of the company’s board of directors from 1972 to 1988, during which time he helped shape the group’s strategy and expand sales, the company said in a statement. He had been chair man of the supervisory board since 1988. Supervisory board vice- chairman Jean Boillot will stand in for Peugeot until a new chair man is named, the statement said. The car maker, which first started producing automobiles in the late 19th century, is 28 percent owned by the Peugeot family. First American Indian in space was amazed CAPE CANAVERAL. Fla. (AP) —— After completing three spacewalks in five days, astronaut John Herrington got a chance to relax Sunday and reflect on what it was like to hurtle around Earth at 17,500 mph — outside his spaceship. He couldn’t help but think: "That’s a loooong way down.” Herrington said he was some what intimidated by the fact that at any moment, he might find himself in uncontrollable motion and break away from the interna tional space station, which would be “a bad thing.” “So 1 was always constantly on guard that I was maintaining the best control I could and that I had my proper tether protocol,” he said. "But it was very awe inspiring. It’s a beautiful sight to look down and see the Earth from this altitude.” Herrington, the first American Indian in space and a member of the Chickasaw Nation, helped NASA get a stalled space station railcar moving again during his final spacewalk of the mission Saturday. In his two earlier out ings, he helped install a $390 mil lion station girder that was deliv ered by space shuttle Endeavour. His one-week visit to the space station will end Monday u It’s a beautiful sight to look down and see the ad ^ from this altitude. — John first America'® 1 ' afternoon, when Ento® undocks and heads back lot® for a Wednesday touchdown^ shuttle will return three*® space station residents wtiofc been in orbit since early P In an interview with 1^ Country Today, Herrington the first time he locw Endeavour’s windows after ingoffNov.23,hewasa^ how massive the Earthy and how minute the atm It made him realize insignificant we are m scheme of things. Herrington said space — and doing P r( work up there — P most fulfilling « hes ' done in his career. The / urning l aossessi ■nore qu “The six turr Brown, ‘ into poit them on to give / JThe Whatabi the Sant; Junio as she tie with nin career bt “Toce Gillom. she was The/ quick ste went on The Texas A&AA University Student Media Board is accepting applications or The Battalion — Including radio and online editio Spring 2003 (The spring editor will serve from Jan. 6 through May Qualifications for editor in chief of The Battalion are. ^ ^ • Be a Texas A&M student in good standinq with the University | un |e$s least six credit hours (4 if a graduate student) during credits are required to graduate); LJonllonJ . .. n of) if a graduate $tu • Have at least a 2.00 cumulative grade point ratio ( . . ■ ^semester at least a 2.00 grade point ratio (3.00 if a 9 ra( ^ ua e ( S -^6111 and sejees j immediately prior to the appointment, the semes er o p ^ least six b 00 during the term of office. In order for this provision o a graduate student) must have been taken for tha se ' snuivciW i nd Society)/ ^ ^ • Have completed JOUR 301 (Mass Communication, aw ■• n0 nlfte • Have at least one year experience in a responsible ed Battalion or comparable daily college newspaper, - OR - . mmercial newspaper. Have at least one year editorial experience on a co -OR- . i J- nn ]OUR 203and 303 | W Have completed at least 12 hours loumalismmcu'ng j ore quivalen- Writing I and II), and JOUR 304 (Editing for the Mass Mea ^ and returned to D e ° A&M gUc Application forms should be picked up an p ee d ^ ^ Student Media business coordinator, in room r psc | a y ; Dec-T . Building. Deadline for submitting applicatiom n °° i^ ec Jj a Board ^ ee Applicants will be interviewed during the h/ en ^ ^Donald beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 6, in room itte J lo Diversity. An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer