NEWS
THE BATTALIOS
Aggielife: Baby on board • Page 3 Opinion: Clarifying the myth of oil • Page 9
Volume 109 • Issue 101 • pages 10
Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Friday, February 21, 2003
Krt campus
House where President
with NATO Secretary
n on Feb. 18.
tening a substance ate
ram
offenders from nine
ths to six months. Thai
d free up about 2,001
, said Sen. John Whitmire,
man of the Senate
inal Justice Committee,
other 1,000 beds could
e from converting the
ilton Youth Commission
ty in Bryan into an adult
n operated by the Texas
artment of Criminal
:e.
i. Steve Ogden, R-College
on, said he supports the
behind using the youth
mission facility, but said he
:s to make sure to/
Flood shuts down
part of Highway 30
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
Portions of Highway 30, or Harvey
Road, were shut down indefinitely
Thursday due to several inches of rain
that fell across central Texas.
Two-tenths of a mile stretch from
Earl Rudder Freeway to FM 158 was
closed at 3:10 p.m. Thursday, accord
ing to the College Station Police
Department.
Ronnie Waller, supervisor for
Brazos County Maintenance Highway
Department, said the department
closed the road after several reports of
water moving across the roadway.
“We have flood gauges on the roads
and we monitor those,” he said. “We
had about six to eight inches of water
on the roadway.”
The department did not set up
detour signs and did not know when
the road would reopen, said Linda
Steele, office manager of the Brazos
County Maintenance Highway
Department.
The Associated Press reported that
the National Weather Service in New
Braunfels said an additional three to
four inches was expected through noon
Friday in south central Texas.
Waller said the Highway
Department is monitoring the rain
throughout the night. As soon as the
water recedes and they determine it is
safe for traffic to pass, they will reopen
the road, he said.
“If the rain stops, it will reopen at
about 6 or 7 a.m.,” Waller said.
Last November, College Station set
a record for the amount of rainfall on a
single day with 4.56 inches falling in a
See Flood on page 2
A road barricade blocks portions of Harvey Road due to the road. Many roads were closed Thursday due to the
six to eight inches of water from Carter Creek flooding heavy rain Brazos County received.
Professor dies from surgery complications
By Molly Cain
THE BATTALION
Dr. Albert Schaffer remem
bers his wife Ruth as a caring
women who went out of her way
to make sure others, especially
to students, were happy.
“She was a warm, loving and
caring person,” he said. “She
ffi extremely devoted to her
family, but also to her students,
and would always go the extra
mile for them.”
Dr. Ruth Schaffer, professor
emeritus of the sociology
department, died from compli
cations of heart surgery on Jan.
28. She was 77 years old.
Schaffer specialized in aid
ing students with past problems
to gain entrance into college.
Her husband recalled a spe
cific incident when his wife
helped a young woman gain
admission into Texas A&M after
a rocky past that would have pre
vented it otherwise. The woman
ended up graduating from A&M
and now has a daughter enrolled
in college as well.
Schaffer was a strong advo
cate for diversity issues on
campus. She was appointed in
1981 to chair the Minority
Conditions Committee and to
make recommendations on the
situation regarding minorities
at A&M.
When the Faculty Senate was
created, Schaffer became a
member and continued her
research in diversity.
She resigned her member
ship in October 2002, after the
Faculty Senate did not pass her
20-year annual report on
minority conditions. She
worked on the report even after
her retirement because it was
important to her, Albert
Schaffer said.
In her resignation letter,
Schaffer cited that her treatment
by the Faculty Senate reminded
her of when she was a professor
at the University of Alabama in
1956, being persecuted for
teaching a course on race and
minorities.
“During this time, I was
tailgated to the University each
weekday by the Grand Wizard
of the KKK, Robert Shelton,
and suffered other abuses,” she
said in her letter. “The last two
months have brought that his
tory vividly and hauntingly to
my mind.”
Recent events by A&M
President Robert M. Gates have
encouraged her husband to see
the results of her hard work.
“Her hopes of A&M becom
ing a more global campus and
increasing the numbers of
minority students and faculty,
may finally become a reality
because of Gates’ involvement,”
he said.
Schaffer’s daughter Edie
wants her mother to be remem
bered as a special woman who
impacted the lives of others.
“It was very surprising to see
how many people-.my mother
touched,” she said. “And even
more so to see how many people
they went on to touch.”
Ruth Schaffer graduated
from Hunter College in New
York and received her Ph.D.
from the University of North
Carolina — Chapel Hill, in
1954. Her work brought her to
A&M in 1971, where she was a
professor until 1990, after which
she became a professor emeritus
of sociology.
Reveille returns to duty
By Esther Robards-Forbes
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M’s first lady and highest rank
ing cadet Reveille VII is back on her feet
after suffering a leg injury last fall when she
jumped off the YMCA building’s steps fol
lowing a post football game yell practice.
Reveille is easing back into her normal
activities such as attending classes and com
munity events with the mascot corporal, said
Capt. Christy Grant, adviser to the
University mascot. Reveille was assigned to
bed rest for the remainder of the fall semes
ter and limited in the number of functions
she could attend.
After a brief period on medication to
help her heal and get some much needed
rest, she has made a full recovery, said mas
cot corporal and sophomore industrial dis
tribution major Jordan Caddick.
“She’s chasing squirrels on the quad,
playing frisbee and even going on our morn
ing runs with us, which she couldn’t do
before,” he said.
Other problems have plagued the 2-year-
old mascot, including several trips to obedi
ence school after she proved nervous in
front of Kyle Field’s more than 80,000 fans
“You can tell a puppy to sit and stay, but
you can’t tell them not to bark. She’s getting
older and that helps some,” Caddick said.
Last November, Reveille became the first
of A&M’s mascots to be banned from public
restaurants because of health reasons, Corps
Commandant Gen. John Van Alstyne said.
The Corps did not want to jeopardize any
relationships with restaurant owners and
adhered to the health code, he said.
Also a first for A&M’s mascot is a muz
zle, deemed a “gentle lead,” which prevents
her from biting and keeps her head straight
while she marches so she can look forward.
TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION
Source: JORDAN CADDICK, MASCOT CORPORAL
Corps Public Relations spokesman
Burke Wilson said Reveille has not tried to
bite anyone.
Grant said that Reveille is still a puppy,
and with ongoing training and a little growing
See Reveille on page 2
Students organize
to keep dairy open
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
More than 30 students
gathered Thursday night at a
private home to organize a
protest in hopes of keeping
Texas A&M’s Dairy Science
Center open.
The students, mostly work
ers at the Dairy Science Center
and members of the Dairy
Science Club, laid out plans
detailing what they will be
fighting for and how they will
accomplish their goals.
Dairy Science Center
Manager C.J. Cordell, Class of
1999, said the group is unoffi
cial and he hopes that it will
develop into a political action
committee.
“We need to decide, ‘What
is our goal,”’ said Chad
Martindale, the Dairy
Science Club president and a
senior agriculture develop
ment major.
The students discussed sev
eral options for maintaining a
Dairy Science Center at A&M,
ranging from improving the
existing facility to moving to a
new facility on the Riverside
Campus.
To accomplish their plans
the students plan to meet with
school, state and industry rep
resentatives.
Martindale said the group
plans to start meeting with
school officials Friday, begin
ning with Dr. John McNeill,
the head of the Animal
Science department, then
moving up the chain of com
mand to A&M President
Robert M.Gates.
Despite the outcome of the
school meetings, a trip to meet
with the state legislatures is
planned for next Thursday and
Friday, Martindale said.
The group projects needs to
raise several million dollars to
fund a new Dairy Center.
“There are tons of former
students willing to give money
to Dairy Science,” said Rori
Geotz, a junior animal science
major who works at the center.
Martindale said that several
prominent people in the dairy
industry are former students,
including a high ranking offi
cial at Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
and the CEO of Blue Bell, with
whom five students are meet
ing on Friday afternoon.
Laura Hamilton, a senior
animal science major and calf
manager at the Dairy Center,
said the group plans to seek
support and get organized
before seeking money.
The students are also seek
ing the support of the Aggie
Mom’s Club and other parent
organizations to bombard offi
cials with phone calls.
Cody Martindale, a sopho
more animal science major
and brother of Chad
Martindale, said he is confi
dent that the students will suc
ceed in keeping the Dairy
Center open.
“Hell will freeze over
before they shut us down,”
Cody Martindale said.
A&M’s Dairy Science
Center has been housed at
A&M since 1886. Twenty-five
people will lose their jobs
because of the closing. This
could be the end of the dairy
science program at A&M, the
department announced
Wednesday.
Eight charged with operating global terrorist organization
Sami Amin Al-Arian, a professor at the University of
South Florida, shown in a January 2002 file photo with
Ills attorney Robert McKee.
KRT CAMPUS
By Curt Anderson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Eight people, including four U.S. residents, were
charged in a 50-count indictment with supporting,
financing and relaying messages for a violent
Palestinian terrorist group blamed for the deaths of
more than 100 people in and around Israel.
The indictment, returned by a federal grand
jury in Tampa, Fla., was unsealed Thursday. It
charges that the men are members of the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, designated by the
United States as a terrorist organization.
Among them are a Palestinian professor at
the University of South Florida, 45-year-old
Sami Amin Al-Arian, who is described as the
group’s U.S. leader and secretary of its world
wide council.
In announcing the indictment, Attorney
General John Ashcroft said the eight supported
numerous violent terrorist activities.
“Our message to them and to others like
them is clear: We make no distinction between
those who carry out terrorist attacks and those
who knowingly finance, manage or supervise
terrorist organizations,” he said.
The indictment charges the eight men with
operating a criminal racketeering enterprise since
1984 that supported Palestinian Islamic Jihad and
with conspiracy to kill and maim people abroad,
conspiracy to provide material support to the
group, extortion, perjury and other charges.
Each defendant faces up to life in prison if
convicted.
Al-Arian and two others were arrested in
Tamp and a fourth man was arrested in Chicago.
The other four were living abroad and are not in
custody, Ashcroft noted.
The group is described in the indictment as
rejecting peaceful solutions to the Palestinian
quest for a homeland in the Middle East and
with embracing “the Jihad solution and the mar
tyrdom style as the only choice for liberation.”
The group’s purpose, prosecutors allege, is to
destroy Israel and end all U.S. and Western
influence in the region.
Among the 100 people whose killings are
blamed on the organization in Israel.
The defendants allegedly provided financial
support through a number of U.S.-based entities,
resolved internal conflicts, helped communicate
claims of responsibility for terrorist actions and
made false statements to immigration officials to
help terrorists.
Those arrested in the United States Thursday
were described as setting up a terrorist cell at the
University of South Florida.
The tenured computer engineering professor
was placed on forced leave and banned from
campus shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. The school also is trying to dismiss him.
The university also claimed the professor
raised money for terrorist groups, brought terror
ists into the United States, and founded organiza
tions that support terrorism.