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THE BATTALII
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Sports: 'Unbelievable' • Page 3
Opinion: A sign of the Times • Page 5
THE BATTALION
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109 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Monday, June 2, 2003
Brazos on watch for West Nile
West Nile Virus
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By Rob Munson
THE BATTALION
No immediate threat from
the potentially deadly mosquito-
bome West Nile Virus exists in
Brazos County, local health offi
cials said, but they continue to
warn residents to remain alert
for signs of the virus.
Don Plitt, assistant director
of the Brazos County environ
mental health division, said the
county is implementing West
Virus prevention measures
include a TV commercial
and door hangers.
"We didn’t have any prob-
is last year, and we’d like to
keep it that way,” Plitt said.
The county health depart
ment will place door hangers on
Bryan homes in the Haswell
Park area where dead birds, test
ed positive for West Nile Virus,
were found last August.
Plitt said county workers
have collected dead birds in
Bryan and College Station, but
none have been sent to the Texas
Department of Health in Austin.
Last year, two blue jays, one
crow, two horses and 13 mos
quito sampling areas were found
containing West Nile Virus, Plitt
said.
The county routinely looks
for barrels of standing water and
will dump them or put screens
on them to guard against mos
quito larvae, Plitt said.
“We also take reports of leak
ing septic systems and fix
them,” Plitt said. “They (mos
quitoes) love to breed in that
kind of water.”
Dr. Jim Olson, an entomolo
gist at the A&M College of
Veterinary Medicine, said he is
working with the health depart
ment to ensure the safety of res
idents.
“We’ve expanded surveil
lance and are now working in
cooperation with the county
health department,” he said.
Olson said he will monitor
new areas as dead birds are
reported.
“Early rains created a lot of
standing water,” he said. “They
are turning stagnant and gener
ating the Culex mosquito we’re
concerned about.”
Olson said Southern House
and Asian Tiger mosquitoes are
the species that are potentially
dangerous.
“We still look to the Southern
House as the source of urban
vectors,” he said. “The Asian
Tiger is an auxiliary vector but
will help spread the virus in an
infected area.”
Olson said Bryan and
College Station residents can
I
PRECAUTIONS
Use yellow yard lights
containing sodium vapor
| Wear protective clothing
¥ Avoid being outdoors at
1 dawn and dusk when
mosquitos are most active
Ruben Deluna • THE BATTALION
Source: BRAZOS COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT, DR. |IM OLSON
take precautions to avoid mos- themselves first and foremost
quito-bome infections. from mosquito bites by wearing
“The first line of defense
rests with people protecting See West Nile on page 2
Dejection
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Texas A&M catcher Craig Stinson hangs his head after
the Aggies lost in the 10th inning against the University
JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION
of Houston on Sunday night. The 7-6 loss ended
A&M's season. See related story on page 3.
Palestinians demand
return of ruined lands
By Stqve Weizman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DEHEISHE REFUGEE CAMP, West
Bank — A shrine of sorts fills a corner of
Fatima Jafari’s living room. Two well-
worn coffee pots, a water jug used for
washing hands and some squares of
embroidered fabric are all that remain of
the home her family left in July 1948 as
Israeli guns closed in on her village.
More than half a century later, she still
dreams of returning to that land south
west of Jerusalem and now inside Israel’s
borders, even though she was only 40
days old when she left, and even though
that home is now rubble.
Jafari was one of about 700,000
Palestinians who lost their homes in the
fighting that followed Israel’s independ
ence in 1948.
Their fate, and that of their descen
dants — 4 million by U.N. estimate, like
ly will be one of the toughest issues to
resolve in a new Mideast peace effort
powered by the United States.
For Israelis, even the most committed
doves, the so-called “right of return” to a
country already populated by 5.5 million
Jews and 1.2 million Arabs is a non
starter.
Many Palestinians, some of whom
PEACE PLAN
The fate of
refugees
Palestinians want the
right to return to homes
they lost when Israel
became a state in 1948,
or to receive
compensation. This
"right of return" is one of
the toughest issues
facing the new round of
peace talks.
U.N. estimates
■ 100,000 refugees;
* Palestinian estimates ■
■■
Gaza Strip
■ ■■
■ ■■
Syria
■ ■
■ ■
■ ■■
■ ■■■
still have the keys to the houses their fam
ilies left, feel just as strongly that it is a
matter of principle to redress their nation
al catastrophe.
Some argue that Palestinian leaders,
including Yasser Arafat, made the issue
the cornerstone of the liberation move
ment for decades and would look like
traitors if they caved in.
On a subject so touchy there are whis
pered ideas, too: Palestinian leaders qui
etly say Israel can afford to accept the
idea because most Palestinians would, in
reality, opt for compensation and stay
where they are.
Israelis say most nations were born in
upheaval, they have taken in almost a
million Jewish refugees from Arab coun
tries, and that if the Palestinians suffered
an injustice they should learn to live with
it as other refugees have.
They maintain that they, too, have
returned to what was their homeland after
2,000 years of exile and persecution.
'Under a plan put forward by then-
President Clinton in December 2000, the
Palestinians would have given up the
right of return and Israel would have
allowed in a small number of refugees for
family reunifications. Arafat never
accepted the proposal.
The refugees are scattered throughout
the region, many living in miser
able camps and shanty towns in
Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria
and Lebanon and yearning to
return to a land most only know
from stories.
Many more have prospered in
Arab countries, but theirs has
always been a tenuous existence, as
evidenced by the mass expulsions
from the Gulf following the 1991
war to free Kuwait.
“To smell the soil of our land is
SOURCES: ESRI; United Nations: PASSIA; Palestinian refugee organizations
See Lands on page 2
Fails family takes A&M to court Fee statements go electronic
By Justin Smith
THE BATTALION
A lawsuit has been filed
against Texas A&M by the
family of Brandon Fails, the
A&M football player who died
November from complica
tions of a blood clot after a
knee surgery.
The lawsuit, filed May 19 in
Brazos County, seeks unspeci-
damages for Charles and
Valerie Fails and states that
Fails’ physicians and trainers
were negligent in identifying
the clot that formed after the
surgery and eventually lead to
his death.
Along with A&M, the law
suit names Fails’ doctors. Dr.
Joe Paul
Bramhall and
Dr. Richard
Smith, who
treated him
after he injured
his knee.
■—Also named
fails were A&M
trainers Daniel
Kniffin and David Weir,
Assistant Athletic Director
Timothy Cassidy, Assistant
Athletic Director for Athletic
Training or Therapy Karl
Kapchinski, and The
Physicians Centre and Central
Texas Sports Medicine and
Orthopedics, where Fails
received treatment.
University spokeswoman
Cynthia Lawson said A&M
does not comment on pending
lawsuits.
On Oct. 15, Fails, an 18-
year-old 6-foot-3-inch, 275-
pound lineman from Euless,
Texas, injured his right knee in
football practice and later
underwent arthroscopic sur
gery to repair his knee.
See Fails on page 2
By Karen Yancy
THE BATTALION
Beginning in August 2003
Texas A&M will use online fee
statements, known as e-state
ments, to replace the paper stat-
ments usually mailed to stu
dents’ home addresses.
Student Financial Services
will send e-mail notices to stu
dents’ Neo accounts to inform
them to check their online fee
statement. They will be posted
at http://register.tamu.edu and
linked at AggiE-pay on the SFS
Web site.
“We want to get the best
available information to stu
dents,” said Bob Piwonka, direc
tor of SFS. “The electronic
statement allows us to use the
campus e-mail system to contact
students about changes in their
fee statements.”
On July 1, SFS will send a
letter to each student’s perma
nent address informing him that
paper copies of fee statements
will no longer be sent through
the mail. This letter will also
include instructions on where to
find fee statements online.
“We hope this change will
save the University a great deal
of money,” Piwonka said. “We
have estimated the University
will save at least $50,000 during
the first year. It costs 40 cents in
postage and handling per state
ment sent out. That is about
$18,000 per semester and that
doesn’t include the cost of print
ing and envelopes.”
Since 1999, SFS has been
involved in a five-year transition
from printed to electronic fee
statements.
“In the summer of 2000 we
started encouraging people to
claim their Neo accounts. Then
in the spring of 2001 we began
See Online on page 2
Poor security hinders U.S. weapons collections
Disarming Iraq of weapons by mid-June
The U.S.-led coalition has ordered most Iraqis to disarm by June 14 in an attempt t
get weapons off the streets and to reUtm publ ic security to cdies under American
occupation. The collection process begins June 1.
By Sameer N. Yacoue
THE ASSOCIATED ^RESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqis
ordered by the U.S.-led occupa-
W>n force to begin turning in their
Capons showed little sign of
c ompliance Sunday, the first day
a two-week amnesty period
Signed to make the streets of
Postwar Iraq safer.
In a land where gun culture
runs deep and lawlessness is a
serious concern, separating people
from their firearms is no easy task
— especially in Baghdad, a city
occupied by heavily armed
American forces.
“During the Saddam era, few
people used to keep weapons in
their houses because there was
real security, but now you have to
protect your family by yourself,”
said All Hassan, a 27-year-old fac
tory worker. He says he won’t turn
in his Kalashnikov assault rifle
until a new Iraqi government is
established and security is
restored.
While looting and crime have
ebbed since American tanks rolled
into the Iraqi capital April 9, secu
rity remains a major issue across
the city — particularly at night,
when gunfire remains common
and most streets are deserted soon
after sunset.
That’s why many Iraqis say
they need to remain armed.
Hassan has hidden his AK-47
in a place he says no one can find.
Not the Iraqi police, not “even the
Americans with their high-tech
equipment,” boasted Hassan, who
lives in al-Thawra, a poor neigh-
See Weapons on page 2
Amnesty
period —
For 14 days
Iraqis will be
permitted to
turn in
unauthorized
weapons.
According to
the order, no
possess,
conceal, hide
or bury
weapons.
Bagging
weapons —
Iraqis must
place
unloaded,
disassembled
guns into a
clear bag
provided by
coalttion
forces and
waft siowty to
the collection
point
Weapon
dropoff
points —
Guns will be
collected
during the
day at police
stations and
other
designated
areas, jointly
staffed by
Iraqi officials
and coalition
forces.
Repurposing
guns — Guns
and other
weapons
turned in will
either be
destroyed by
officiate or
used by the
now Iraqi
army and
police.
After June
14—Anyone
found with an
unauthorized
weapon willi
be detained
and could
face criminal
charges
Guns allowed
— The
peshmerga, a
Kurdish force
that helped the
U.S., in some
cases can
carry guns.
Coalition
forces, police
officers and
uniformed
officials will
also carry
weapons.
SOURCf.. Associates Press