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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2003)
10 STATf Spc Friday, January 17, 2003 THE BATTALION Overturn of sodomy law urged body drench litchell . essentinls back to basics creative nail and morel College Station 2050 Texas Ave S. Suite A next to Old Navy 979.694.2683 Beauty Store & C'olor Salon www.beautyfirst.com [college station student housing RESIDENT ASSISTANTS FOR FALL 2003 The Cambridge@College Station, the newest and most innovative student housing serving the Texas A&M community is proud to invite student leaders with a strong commitment to community service, to apply for the Resident Assistant position. /0B DESCRIPTION • Desk Shifts • Administrative Tasks • Plan Social, Educational and Recreational Activities • Minor Maintenance Tasks • Policy Enforcement • Crisis Intervention • Peer Counseling • Numerous other Services COMPENSATION Rent Free Room and Full Meal Plan REQUIREMENTS Full Time A&M University or Blinn College Student 2.5 Overall GPA Sophomore or above At least 19 years old by August 2003 Have previously lived on campus or in a student community for at least one semester No pending discipline issues Students who meet the above requirements should complete an RA Application available at The Cambridge@College Station Leasing Center, 501 University Oaks, C.S. Deadline for applications is Monday, February 3, 2003 HOUSTON (AP) — A gay rights group on Thursday filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging the high court to overturn Texas’ sodomy law in the case of two men charged with having sex inside a home in 1998. Lambda Legal, which repre sents the two men, and several other organizations have asked the Supreme Court to declare the state’s anti-sodomy law unconsti tutional. “Some of the most diverse and respected voices in this coun try are lining up to tell the Supreme Court that these laws are contrary to American values,” said Ruth Harlow, the lead attor ney on the case and legal director at Lambda Legal. Sodomy is defined as abnor mal sex, and some state laws include anal and oral sex in that definition. Nine states ban con sensual sodomy for everyone: Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma punish only homosexual sodomy. In December, the Supreme Court said it would review the prosecution of the two Houston men under a 28-year-old Texas anti-sodomy law. The case began when sheriff’s deputies, responding to a false report of an armed intruder, went into John Lawrence’s apartment and discovered him having sex with Tyron Gamer. Both men spent the night in the Harris County Jail and were released the next day. Lawrence and Garner plead ed no contest and were fined $200 each. The sodomy law was a felony until 1974, when it was reduced to a misdemeanor that today carries a maximum $500 fine. They won a brief victory when a state appeals court panel overturned the convictions and ruled the law unconstitutional. However, the full court reversed the ruling and affirmed the con victions and the law. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest crim inal court, refused to hear the case, making the Supreme Court the next and final possible step. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in 1986 that consenting adults have no constitutional right to private homosexual sex, upholding laws that ban sodomy. Keep on rolling \LISSA HOI.LIMON THE BATTALION Keith Head, a freshman biology major, takes advantage of the pleasant weather by prac ticing his putting at the Texas A&m golf course. Blood centers keep scrambling m By Juan A. Lozano THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HOUSTON (AP) — James Wells is such a ded icated blood donor that he once had his appoint ments to give blood scheduled a year in advance. “Some people are good at sports, some people are rich. I guess I donate blood,” Wells, 59, said this week as he sat in a northwest Houston blood center. Officials with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center in Houston wish they had more donors like Wells because they’re facing one of the worst short ages in the center’s nearly 30-year history. However, they are not alone as other Texas cities face similar problems. Earlier this week, the blood center had no sup plies on its shelves as what little was being donated was immediately being sent to the more than 200 hospitals in the region it serves, said Robin Davidson, the center’s public relations manager. “We don’t have any units of any blood type available at all. At minimum we should haveathree day supply. We don't even have a one-day supply, she said. At least six Houston area hospitals canceled 1? geries in the last week because of the blood shfc age. Officials anticipate shortages every Jantian because it’s just after the holidays and it’s the n# die of the cold and Hu season, said Brooke Thalet, spokeswoman for America's Blood Centers, tk parent organization of the Houston center and onf of the nation’s top blood suppliers. “This January seems to be off to a worse staf than usual. It’s hard to tell why,” she said. “There were some donor restrictions put into place ti summer and fall and we’re still feeling the effect of that.” Student lea ing a dialogi ounding an o at least one st after it made r Texas A& oventry pare Luther King . ogether and s Memorial Resident Bar ( offensive to hi The problem is nationwide. On Tuesday, tk iff for student nation’s top two blood suppliers — America Blood Centers and the American Red Cross- issued an urgent appeal for donations, sayini much of the country has less than a two-day sup larticipating i ply on hand. iE BEVERAGE OAS WELCOMES BACK THE AGGIES Professor charged in missing vials scare It is obvi ffrican-Amer he whole cult Hammond, vent of this p “Any time lot appropriat The party round the b lational hoi id University ax signed “S he memo ac ^ers dress in ypes of Afric It indicatec vere “the m< at WITH CRAZY PRICES ON ALL THEIR FAVORITE BEERS! By Betsey Blaney THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 30-pack 12-oz Cans $9.99 24-pack 12-oz Cans $9.50 18-pack 12-oz Cans $11.99 24-pack 12-oz Cans 20-pack 12-oz Cans $15.99 $12.99 *** Prices Good Throash January 25,2003 *** 700 University Dr. E. Ste 202B Next to Wing Stop in the Blockbuster Shopping Center LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A Texas Tech professor whose report that 30 vials of plague were missing from Texas Tech University Health Science Center triggered a terrorist alert was held Thursday on a complaint that he gave false information to the FBI. Dr. Thomas C. Butler report ed on Tuesday that vials contain ing bacteria obtained from tissue samples from East Africa were missing when “truth in fact, as he well knew, he had destroyed them prior to that,” U.S. Attorney Dick Baker said Wednesday night. Butler was booked into the Lubbock County Jail about 8 p.m. Wednesday. He was sched uled to make his initial appear ance Thursday before federal Magistrate Nancy M. Koenig. University spokeswoman Cindy Rugeley said Butler, the project’s principal investigator, reported the vials as missing. Butler is chief of the infec tious diseases division of the department of internal medicine at TTUHSC. The university said he has been involved in plague research for more than 25 years and is internationally recognized in the field. He has been at Texas Tech since 1987. The samples, among the 180 the school was using for research on the treatment of plague, were reported missing to campuj police Tuesday night. Butlerv®! the only person with authorize^ access to the bacteria, which classified as a select agent tw has to be registered with International Biohazarij Committee and with the federi: ea By Brc THE B Texas A&l lents now ha o Texas A<£ government. “We have accounted for those missing vials and we h determined that there is no d ger to public safety whatsoever,^” w'tXf rZ Lubbock FBI Lupe Gonzaltf said earlier Wednesday. Dr. Richard Homan, Texai Tech School of Medicine deal said the bacteria form of plagk being used for research a 1 TTUHSC “was not weaponiz^ in any way.” Authorities declined elaborate on what happened the missing vials. Whf f pressed about what happened; tew decision vhich took ef To factor i lents’ voices, :d the Ac ouncil (AP< lirectly to tl ^resident and he presideni includes me acuity S officials repeatedly respondfl Government, that the samples “have I accounted for.” HDistinguishec Baker said FBI agents inter “This (the viewed Butler on Tuesday. Hf broadly repr said the complaint pointed dj entire (A&M r that the false statement result where the in a huge investigation invol'; decisions wil ing about 60 state, local $ Dr. David Pr federal agents. Samples were kept in a lockf 1 area of Butler’s lab TTUHSC’s fourth floor, whichr not a high-traffic area. But ler kef; logs on batches of samples, # one batch was reported missis making procc according to the Avalanche-Journal. Lubbob ■live vice pres Four ad which report )een created he various ampus to ai “It (the ne nitely incre
