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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2003)
\ Aggielife: The need for speed • Page 3 Sports: Ags head to Lubbock • Page 5 Volume 109 • Issue 116 • 10 pages RATTAT rn UlL X X imJLrX v/ Texas A&M University www.thebatt.com Friday, March 21, 2003 l i < Demonstrators hold up signs of at the pro peace protest at the George Bush Presidential ALISSA HOLL1MON •THE BATTALION Library Complex Thursday night. More than 100 protesters gathered. Protesters gather at Bush Library By Melissa Fowler THE BATTALION “All we are saying is give peace a chance,” sang protesters participating in a candlelight vigil Thursday night at the George Bush Presidential Library Complex. More than 100 protesters gathered at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Wellborn Road and walked to the Bush Library holding signs and singing antiwar sentiments. Rebel Tekleab, a senior philosophy major and one of the organizers of the vigil, said the pro testers encountered mixed reactions from drivers during their walk to the vigil. Even though the war has already started. Tekleab said, he helped organize the vigil because the principles he believes in remain true. “We believe war is unnecessary and unjusti fied,” he said. “We detest war.” The vigil organizers submitted a request to the Department of Student Activities Concession Committee to obtain permission to hold the vigil at the fountain in front of the Bush Library, but the request was denied. Their application was returned with the instructions that their “planned activity be restricted to a designated area just west of the parking lot” at the Bush Library. Even with these instructions, the demonstrators gathered around the fountain and held their vigil. Lt. Bill Zilkus of the University Police Department was on site to oversee the vigil and allowed the protesters to stay in the area around the fountain. “It’s a public area and they aren’t offending or assaulting anybody,” he said. UPD officers were there, Zitkus said, mostly as a safety issue to make sure no one interferes with the protesters’ rights. The Rev. Danita Noland from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship said the vigil was held out of concern for the people in Iraq and to send a message of peace to our government. “With heavy hearts we have gathered as peo ple who love our country and all it stands for.” See Vigil on page 2 ALISSA HOLLIMON • THE BATTALION Protesters stand in front of the fountain at the George Bush Library Thursday night. Ground war begins Allied forces begin ground attack By David Espo THE ASSOCIATED PRESS American and British com bat units rumbled across the desert into Iraq on Thursday and bombed limited targets in Baghdad. But military com manders withheld the massive onslaught that would signal all-out war as U.S. officials tried to talk the Iraqi regime into giving up. Coalition forces suffered their first casualties in a heli copter crash that left 12 Britons and four Americans dead. “The days of the Saddam Hussein regime are numbered,” Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld predicted, although he also said there was “no need for a broader conflict” if Iraqi leaders surrender. On the second day of Operation Iraqi Freedom, American officials held out the tantalizing possibility that Saddam had been killed in the initial Wednesday night bomb ing of Baghdad. State-run Iraqi television said Saddam survived, and met with his top aides to counter the U.S.- led attack. “We are resolved to teach the criminal invaders hard lessons and make them taste painful punishment,” declared the Iraqi military. Intelligence analysts tried to determine whether a man in military garb shown on state- run television was the Iraqi leader or a double. U.S. intelli gence believes Saddam and possibly two of his sons were present inside a suburban Baghdad compound when it was struck and that medical attention was summoned after ward. There was no definitive word whether Saddam was caught in the pre-dawn attack. . The onset of war sparked anti-war demonstrations across the country — more than 1,000 were arrested in San Francisco — and at U.S. embassies around the world. The State Department warned U.S. citizens abroad of an increased danger of terrorism. Rumsfeld hinted that talks with Iraqi military elements. See Iraq on page 2 ABD RABBO AMMAR • KRT CAMPUS Smoke from an explosion appears over the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in the first hour of the war on Thursday. University police increase security By Rolando Garcia THE BATTALION With the ground war in Iraq underway and the national terror warning elevated to orange, the second highest level, local law enforcement remains on heightened alert and is urging resi dents to report any supsicious activity. University Police Department Director Bob Wiatt said he has increased foot and vehicle patrols around potential targets on campus, such as the George Bush Presidential Library Center. For security reasons, he declined to discuss other vulnerable locations. “There has been no threat against the University or the community, but we are still tak ing all precautions. We’ll be out there and visible, and that’s all we can do,” Wiatt said. “Until you get a specific rumor, you just have to go about your business and be alert.” Police are also counting on residents to report suspicious activity immediately, Wiatt said. UPD is in contact with the FBI and will be alerted immediately of any rumors or intelligence reports that suggest the University or the Bryan- College Station community may be the target of a terrorist attack, Wiatt said. UPD will continue patrols from its office at the University Apartments, where many interna tional students live. College Station Police Department spokesman Lt. Rodney Sigler said police are maintaining vigilance and keeping an eye on infrastructure that could be potential targets, such as utilities and water systems. Should the national terror alert to be raised to red, indicating'an attack could be imminent, UPD will continue its heightened patrols unless there is a threat against the University, Wiatt said. However, he said, it is likely that the Bush Library would be closed along with other feder al buildings. Student dies in car accident By Brad Bennett THE BATTALION Adam Keith Knott, 23, was killed Thursday orrTris Avay terxchtwrl -wTien his motorcycle struck a turning pick up truck. Knott, a-ftmlui' engTiTn.TfrTg—tech nology major from Athens, Texas, went to bed early Wednesday night so he could spend the next morning working on a paper for class. Knott was riding northbound on Texas Avenue. At approximately 8:40 a.m., he hit a trailer being pulled by a Chevy S-10 pickup while it was turning right onto Brentwood Drive, according to a College Station Police Department press release. Knott died at the College Station Medical Center, where he was trans ported moments after the crash. Knott’s mother, Virginia Knott, said her son had taken a class to learn how to ride a motorcycle after his first motorcycle more than a year ago. Virginia Knott said her son usually "wore one of his three helmets while rid ing his motorcycle but was not wearing one at the time of the accident. It is not known whether wearing a helmet would have saved Knott, said Lt. Rodney Sigler, public information officer for CSPD. Virginia Knott said Adam had left his favorite helmet at a friend’s house, and he didn’t like his spare helmets as much as that one. “He was a wonderful son and always did the right thing except this once not wearing his helmet,” said Virginia Knott, who encourages motorcycle riders to wear helmets at all times. “People think they are invin cible. On our way home from the hos pital we saw a grown man riding a motorcycle without a helmet.” State law requires motorcycle rid ers to wear helmets, but the law can be negated by loopholes, Sigler said. “There is a law to wear a helmet but it allows riders to not wear helmets if they carry certain types of insur ance,” Sigler said. It is unknown whether Adam Knott carried such insurance. Virginia Knott said Adam loved sports and was especially good at golf, both frisbee and traditional, but he See Student on page 2 Tornadoes ravage Georgia By Elliot Minor THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CAMILLA, Ga. — Tornadoes that one official likened to “a big lawnmow- er” swept across two counties in south western Georgia before dawn Thursday, killing six people and injuring more than 200. One of the hardest-hit areas had been flattened by another tornado less than 3 1/2 years ago. A man and his mother were killed near Bridgeboro, a rural community in southern Worth County, said Sheriff Freddie Tompkins, who declined to release the names. Four others, including an infant and an 8-year-old boy, were killed in Mitchell County, said Jennifer Collins, spokes woman with Georgia Emergency Management Agency. Including those with relatively minor injuries, more than 200 people were injured in Mitchell County alone, Collins said. Officials estimated 50 to 75 homes were destroyed, and 75 were damaged. Funnel clouds formed between 5:30 and 6 a.m., and there were one or two fully formed tornadoes, said meteorolo gist Paul Duval of the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Fla. In Worth County, the tornado cut a streak about 10 miles long and up to 300 yards wide, Tompkins said. “I was up in a helicopter this morn ing,” Tompkins said. “It looked like a big lawnmower went through there.” About seven to nine homes were dam aged, and three mobile homes were See Tornadoes on page 2 Whoopstock celebrates tenth anniversary By Bernhard Hall THE BATTALION Whoopstock will celebrate its 10th anniversary Saturday, continuing the tradi tion that started in 1993 as a festival of unity to oppose a Klu Klux Klan rally. This year’s festival will be held on O.R. Simpson Drill Field and will feature a variety of bands, dancers and ethnic cuisines. The festival hopes to become an impor tant tradition at Texas A&M, said Dr.Marisa Suhm, adviser for the Whoopstock event. “We want to grow, come into our own,” she said. “We want to establish ourselves as a tradition at A&M.” The first Whoopstock was organized in only two weeks and featured four bands and seven student performances, with approxi mately 400 students attending. During the next several years, the event grew larger as the interest level rose from the community, said Megan Paisa, assistant direc tor of Multicultural Services. “I definitely think the event has grown,” she said. “Whoopstock brings about an awareness of our community.” Director of Multicultural Services Dr. Felicia Scott said she hopes Whoopstock will establish an understanding of other cultures. “More participation from the local commu nity creates an awareness,” she said. Scott said she remembers the circumstances that resulted in the first Whoopstock and marvels at its continued success. “The biggest impact is that it continues to happen without an event to react to,” Scott said. Whoopstock attendance has grown the past few years. For the past two years, attendance more than 2,000 people. Suhm said she hopes the event will attract anoth er crowd of between 2,000 and 3,000 people. Organizers said they do not expect the has grown to TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION SOURCE: MULTICULTURAL SERVICES current war with Iraq to cause people to stay home, but it may bring more people out. “I don’t think (the war) will affect turnout,” Suhm said. “Just because we are at war does n’t mean we can’t be united.”