NEWS THE BATTALION 7 A Thursday, January 16, 2003 iary 16, 2003 use y 2001 Missing samples of plague found JGUST 200/ i the United Stall jner by the July 20(1! July 20l)i By Betsy Blaney THE ASSOCIATED PRESS About 30 vials of plague that were reported missing at Texas Tech University were found Wednesday in a mysterious episode that triggered a terror ism-alert plan and showed how jittery Americans are over the threat of a biological attack. The FBI refused to say how it had accounted for the vials. However, an FBI official in Washington, speaking on condi tion of anonymity, said authori ties believe the samples of the lethal bacteria were simply jdestroyed and not properly accounted for, rather than stolen or misplaced. In Lubbock, FBI agent Lupe Gonzalez said a criminal investi gation was continuing. The Washington official said the investigation into the plague incident is geared more toward ruling out the possibility of a crime, rather than actively believ ing a crime was committed. The samples, about 30 of the 180 the school was using for research on the treatment of plague, were reported missing to campus police Tuesday night. “We have accountecT for all those missing vials and we have determined that there is no danger to public safety whatsoever,†Gonzalez said. The pub lic did not learn of the report of missing vials until early Wednesday but hospitals and medical personnel were notified Tuesday, part of the city’s post-Sept. 11 u We have accounted for all those missing vials and we have determined that there is no danger to public safety whatsoever. emergency plan. “We didn’t want to spread panic,†said Tech Chancellor David Smith. “As it turns out, they were never missing.†He would not elaborate. Mayor Marc McDougal said the public was not notified because of information the univer- s i t y received late Tuesday that indicat ed the miss ing vials were not a threat to the public. “I think when you look how quickly it came down and how it got resolved, I think it would be hard to second guess†how we handled it, he said. “One thing r* Lupe Gonzalez FBI Agent 1.1 NA • THE BATTAUO' date for completk nn set by the FCC 2003 Consur mil will contin dustry leaders co lards. tients etal clamps and cases, 11-inch rgotten inside operation, four le someone, eded additional the object, but : by itself or in a r other cases, :n aware of the up in later sui ts. here. eeds. Low interest rates give twentysomethings piece of the American dream VICES \RK By Martha Irvine THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Record-low interest rates are prompting people in their early 20s to do something they hadn’t thought possible at their age: buy a home. Erin Engelke was a fresh- faced college graduate when she and her husband Jason bought their first home, a town house in Edmond, Okla. They’ve since bought another three-bedroom house and rent the town house to college stu dents. She’s 24. He’s 25. Cristi Cola recently moved into a little two-bedroom house in Safety Harbor, Fla. — “just Derfect for a single girl like me,†he 23-year-old says. Jeff Lischett, also 23, used lis signing bonus and a salary idvance from Kraft Foods to fill 3ut the down payment he’d itarted saving while living with is dad after college graduation, de’ll be moving into his new ;wo-bedroom, two-bath town bouse in suburban Chicago later his month. “Most people my age realize hat renting is silly when you hink about it,†says Lischett who got a 5 percent interest rate hat makes his monthly mort gage payments comparable to or even less than — he would have paid in rent. “And living at home for a couple years to save money isn’t is frowned upon anymore,†he ays. “You’re no longer the loser iving in the basement.†While Lischett was able to :ome up with his own 10 per cent down payment, many buy ers his age are getting help from parents or grandparents. Still others are taking advantage of eals — prompted by a hot buy ing market — for 5 percent down payments or even those hat require no money down. The current climate is mak- ng it possible for some young eople to buy “even in New brk City,†says Ellen Bitton, EO of Park Avenue Mortgage roup Inc., a lender that does tisiness in many states. She says most homebuyers 25 and younger are seeking loans in the ballpark of $130,000 to $350,000. Real estate industry statistics | show the impact. The median age of the first time homebuyer has been drop ping — from age 32 in 1999 to 31 in 2001, according to a sur- ey done every other year by the National Association of Realtors. And transactions from he under-25 crowd rose from 05,192 in 1999 to 321,136 two ears later. (Overall, there were .85 million first-time buyer ransactions in 1999 and 3.09 illion in 2001.) Though it’s creating eadaches for apartment land- ords in some cities — who rely on twentysomethings for rent — experts say financially stable oung people who buy property ave an unprecedented opportu- ity — to get loans at record- Low mortgages lure young buyers With mortgage rates reaching record lows, the latest trend for people in their early 20s has become first-time home buying. First-time home purchases by people under 25 years old 1999 305,102 Weekly average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage 7.8% Jan. 15 7.4 7.0 6.6 6.2 5.8 6.00%- Vv\ 2001 2002 we didn’t want to do was cause people to panic.†The vials were kept in a secure area that does not have a surveillance camera and that there is limited access to the area, officials said. “I don’t know the precise number (of keys), but it’s limit ed,†Smith said. “Policy (for federal grants) was not violat ed. This is one where we’re looking at the human element.†Plague is on a watch list dis tributed by the government, which wants to make sure doc tors and hospitals recognize a biological attack quickly. Health officials say 10 to 20 people in the United States contract plague each year, usu ally through infected fleas or rodents. The plague can be treated with antibiotics, but about one in seven U.S. cases is fatal. Texas Tech said that officials thought it was “prudent†to get law enforcement involved Listen up, Aggies... Pull your hoops tickets NOW for ‘03 Big 12 Basketball! Tickets are available now for Big 12 games with K State, Bobby’s Red Raiders, tu, Mizzu, OU—in fact, for the rest of the season. Avoid lines at the game. Bring your all sports pass —and your friends’ passes—to Reed Arena Box Office or the Athletic Ticket Office to pull your tickets early. Then you just walk in the door, hand your ticket to the ticket taker and catch every minute, every shot and every steal of the Aggie victory. Loud is loud. And then there’s the LOUD of Reed Arena full of Ags. Be there for the fun. Remember Reed’s First Law: Pull your tickets early to avoid the lines! SOURCE: Bankrate.com; National Association of Realtors low rates and to begin building equity in a home earlier than some of their parents did. “Homes for these young families are not just a place for them to lay their heads at night. These are little prosperity facto ries,†says Scott Syphax, presi dent and CEO of the Nehemiah Corporation of California, a nonprofit organization that pro vides homebuyers with down payment assistance. The trend is causing some real estate agents to target young buyers. A few agents at the RE/MAX real estate firm, for example, host first-time buyer seminars for college students. Other agents say savvy twentysomethings are coming to them. “They’re not going for the flash. They’re not going for the fancy cars. They’re going for the real estate,†says Honore Frumentino, a broker with Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate in Deerfield, Ill. Of course, real estate is not a surefire investment. And for those who graduate from college saddled with hefty student loans and credit card bills, getting deeper in debt may not be the right move. “We don’t want to strap young people with so much debt and responsibility that they get themselves into a bad cycle,†says Dovie Morgan, vice presi dent of Heritage Texas Properties in Houston. Some young buyers also admit that making monthly mortgage payments is not always easy. Meredith Fretz, a 25-year-old who recently bought an 100- year-old stone town house in Manayunk, Pa., says she has to have a roommate to help her afford the mortgage. In the end, many say taking on the responsibility of a home is worth it. Says 24-year-old homeowner Kevin Jurrens of Hamilton, N.J.: “When I sit in my recliner, I can look around and be proud of the fact that at this age, I own my very own house.†)wireless We never stop working for you.* Only one local calling plan calls all of Texas home Get a Verizon Wireless border-to-border, all-Texas calling plan and you won't have to pay for roaming charges in Texas or extra states you don't need. Unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes Now with 500 anytime minutes all when calling from your home airtime rate area. plus 1000 anytime mobile to mobile minutes on our mobile to mobile network. NEW! Texas Local now just DigitalChoice* Plan $3Q99 ^ month This reflects home airtime rate area and does not depict wireless coverage. Network not available in all areas. Mobile to mobile network not available throughout Texas. NO roaming fees in Texas * NO long distance charges, from ANYWHERE in your Texas-wide, home airtime rate area CDMA tri-mode phone with specified software required. Calls placed outside home airtime rate area are 69</min. monthly access with annual agreement. V* JH* O «ii “iro 9* Official Wireless Provider of the Houston Texans . r Get a Motorola V120e FREE when you buy any of these phones. Motorola V120e NOW JUST 199 s 29 Samsung a310 NOW JUST $4099 “W* After mail-in ^ rebate $99.99 sale price -$50.00 mail-in rebate Motorola T720 NOW JUST 99 After mail-in rebate Sale price $179.99. Now $79.99 after $100 mail-in rebate and trade-in of any working mobile phone with battery. New two year agreement and activation required on each phone. While supplies last. 79 Test— the Best VERIZON WIRELESS HAS THE BEST NATIONAL WIRELESS NETWORK IN AMERICA. But don't just take our word for it. Test it for yourself and if you're not 100% satisfied during your first 15 days, simply return your phone and pay for only the service you've used. It's all a part of our Worry Free Guarantee to you. MT2 1.800.2 JOIN IN verizonwireless.com any of our stores Night & Weekend hours: Mon-Fri. 9:01pm-5:59am Sat. 12am-Sun. 11:59pm. Important Consumer Information: Subject to Customer Agreement and Calling Plan. $35 activation fee applies per line. $175 early termination fee applies per line after 15 days. Requires credit approval. Not available in all markets. Cannot be combined with any other phone offers. Usage rounded to next full minute. Unused allowances lost. See Worry Free Guarantee Brochure and our Return/Exchange policy for full details. Allow 10-12 weeks for rebate check. Must be a customer for 30 consecutive days for rebate. Phone may not be returned after rebate form has been submitted. Mobile to mobile calls made during Night and Weekend hours will deplete mobile to mobile allowance. Geographic and other restrictions apply. Subject to taxes, charges, and other restrictions. See store for details. Best Network claim based on reliability studies and network advantages. See www.verizonwireless.com/bestnetwork for details. Limited time offers. J.D. Power and Associates 1996-2002 U.S. Wireless Industry Services Studies 8 " 1 . 2002 study based on responses from 17,659 wireless telephone subscribers in 27 of the top U.S. markets. Houston market covers: Brazoria, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller Counties in the state of Texas, www.jdpower.com. ©2003 Verizon Wireless.