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Volume 109 • Issue 147 • 6 pages
109 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Thursday, June 5, 2003
Regents weigh Easterwood upgrade meeting
By Rob Munson
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents will con
sider new ramp construction and
taxiway improvements at
Easterwood Airport today and
Friday.
Funding for the new ramp, which
would be built on the airport’s west
side, comes from a $1.5 million
grant from the Federal Aviation
Administration’s Aviation
Improvement Program.
The retrograde improvements to
i taxiway would add $200,000 to
the Easterwood project.
John Happ, Easterwood Airport
director of aviation, said the funding
for the new ramp is already available
but must be approved by the Board
of Regents because the amount is in
excess of $1 million.
“We’ve always had support from
the Board of Regents for any
improvements for customer safety
and service at Easterwood Airport,”
he said.
Happ said 30-50 planes would be
able to park on the new ramp, and it
would free up the airport’s general
runway in case of an emergency.
“The airport is extremely pleased
that Representative Carter and Sen.
Cornyn have continued to support
by providing FAA grant money
through the Aviation Improvement
Program,” he said.
Easterwood Airport is an auxil
iary enterprise and receives no
money from A&M.
Other construction would include
a new hangar for Texas Task Force 1,
the urban search-and-rescue team,
on the airport’s west side.
Bob Wright, A&M University
System spokesman, said discussion
on tuition increases will be pushed
back to the next Board of Regents
meeting in July.
The Texas Legislature recently
passed a bill deregulating tuition in
the state, and the regents will wait to
discuss any tuition increases until
deregulation effects can be dis
cussed, he said.
The board will also be asked to
approve changes to plans for the new
residence life headquarters.
The proposed changes call for a
$1.9 million increase to $13.2 million
and relocating the building’s site.
The new site will be located west
of Sbisa Dining Hall, next to Haas
Residence Hall.
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RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
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Chemistry of life
Cotton shares his research with inorganic chemistry classes
By Megan Orton
THE BATTALION
TERESA WEAVER • THE BATTALION
Dr. F. Albert Cotton has been a professor of inorganic chemistry at Texas A&M since
1972. Cotton recently named a chemical after A&M.
Thirty-one years ago Dr. F. Albert
Cotton came to Texas A&M with a passion
for science.
Now that passion, combined with his
feelings for A&M, has allowed Cotton to
excel in the field of chemistry.
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He recently coined the name tamuic
acid for a chemical compound used in
research on the origins of colors, after the
abbreviation TAMU commonly used for
Texas A&M. Cotton also named a larger
compound used in the research, texic acid.
) “Not after t.u.,” Cotton said. “Just after
(trie state.”
Although the two compounds are not
new to science, practically nothing was
known about them until now, Cotton said.
Since the systematic names for the com
pounds were long and complex, he chose
tamuic acid and texic acid for what
chemists call trivial names used during
research.
Cotton teaches an advanced inorganic
chemistry course for first-year graduate
students and undergraduate seniors.
“I think I’ve always wanted to be in the
academic environment,” he said.
He said the one thing he can’t live with
out is interesting work to do.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in
chemistry from Temple University and his
Ph.D. from Harvard, he taught at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology for
Hyears before coming to A&M in 1972.
“The shift from MIT to Texas A&M was
abigchange, but I have no regrets at all. It
was a good move,” Cotton said.
Cotton’s co-workers said he is a delight
to work with.
“He is really fun to work with,” said
Beverly Moore, an administrative assistant
in the chemistry department who has
worked with Cotton for 12 years. “He has a
dry sense of humor, but he’s just a jewel.”
Cotton and his family live on a ranch
near College Station, where his daughter
Jennifer raises, breeds, trains and shows
horses. Cotton said horses are one of his
passions in life and has ridden them since
his early 20s.
“They are just wonderful animals,” he
said. “They build your character, because
you can’t make a horse do anything, you
have to persuade them.”
Cotton said spending time with his fam
ily, reading biographies and listening to
music are also important activities in his
life.
Cotton said he has been blessed and is
glad he is where he is right now.
“Life has been great, and I wouldn’t
have missed it,” he said. “Of course if I had
missed it, I wouldn’t have known how
great it could be.”
Mideast leaders take
first steps toward peace
Leaders pledge Mideast cooperation
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister
Mahmoud Abbas each made concessions Wednesday at a Mideast
summit with President Bush in Jordan.
Abbas
► Acknowledged
Israel’s right to exist
side by side with a
Palestinian state.
► Vowed to end
terror attacks on all
Israelis, implying an
inclusion of soldiers
and settlers.
► Pledged to allow
weapons only in the
hands of those in
charge of upholding
law and order.
Sharon
► “Immediately
begin to remove
unauthorized outposts”
in the West Bank.
► Accepted the
principle of a
Palestinian state.
► Government
understands "the
importance of territorial
contiguity” in the
West Bank, instead
of disconnected
parcels of land.
Bush
► Promised
training and
support for a
“new, restructured
Palestinian
security service.”
► Appointed
longtime diplomat
John Wolf to head
U.S. “mission on
the ground” to
help the parties
and monitor
progress.
SOURCES: Summit transcript; Associated Press
By Terence Hunt
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AQABA, Jordan — Israeli
Trime Minister Ariel Sharon and
Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas launched a groundbreak
ing peace plan Wednesday with
President Bush’s encourage
ment, offering once-unthinkable
Pledges in hopes of ending
decades of Mideast bloodshed.
In statements choreographed
the United States, Sharon
Promised to immediately begin
dismantling unauthorized
Jewish outposts on the West
Sank, while Abbas — speaking
in Arabic — explicitly asserted
trial the “armed intefadeh must
e nd,” referring to the
Palestinians’ 32-month uprising
against Israel.
“Our goal is clear and we
will implement it firmly and
without compromise: a com
plete end to violence and terror
ism,” Abbas promised.
Sharon and Abbas stood
alongside Bush and Jordan’s
King Abdullah II at matching
lecterns set up at the monarch’s
summer palace on the Gulf of
Aqaba. “Good job,” Bush quiet
ly remarked as each prime min
ister completed his address.
The summit had as much
symbolism as substance. What
was important was that televi
sion audiences throughout the
Mideast saw Sharon, Israel’s
most prominent hawk, and
Abbas, the new Palestinian
prime minister, shake hands and
agree to plunge ahead with diffi
cult commitments to achieve
peace. And just as importantly,
Bush stood before the cameras
and pledged to stay involved,
staking his prestige on an
endeavor that has no guarantee
of success.
“The failures and frustra
tions of the past have left many
disbelievers in their wake,”
Abdullah said as he declared
support for the peace plan. Bush
told reporters later he was cau
tious about the outcome because
other efforts have failed, most
See Mideast on page 2
Speeding tops
traffic violations
By Rob Munson
THE BATTALION
Running red lights and
speeding top the list of traffic
violations in Bryan-College
Station, local authorities said.
Jason Page, a senior electri
cal engineering major, said
College Station police have
stopped him four times, and he
knows three were avoidable.
“Twice I have been stopped
for going maybe five miles per
hour over the limit very early in
the morning,” he said. “They got
me for running a red light the
other time.”
Page said he tries to adhere
to traffic laws, particularly at
night, because he knows police
watch for intoxicated drivers.
“It’s not uncommon for
motorists to speed up to beat a
red light,” said Sgt. Ben Smith,
head of Bryan Police
Department’s traffic division.
Smith said the small portion
of college students who live in
Bryan makes it hard to break
down and identify specific driv
ing behavior by age.
There are no known viola
tions that are unique to college
students, Smith said.
Smith said Bryan officers
increase patrols during fraterni
ty and sorority rush week, holi
days, New Year’s Eve and
ChiliFest, but college students
are not necessarily the target
group for traffic stops or DWIs.
“We strongly encourage
everybody to wear seat belts
because we work too many
accidents where lives could
have been saved by seat belts,”
he said.
Smith said drivers should
pay more attention to driving
by staying off cell phones,
watching for hazard vehicles
and waiting a few seconds if
they are the lead car at an
intersection.
H.K. Pitts, a former driving
education instructor and Texas
Department of Public Safety
See Traffic on page 2
BAD DRIVERS BEWARE
Three most common driving errors:
Failure to signal lane changes / turns
B Running red lights/speeding
Failure to adjust driving to
roadway and weather conditions
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: H.K. PITTS, BRYAN POLICE DEPARTMENT
U.S. troops move into
area of Iraqi resistance
By Chris Tomlinson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HABANIYAH, Iraq — In a
high-profile show of force, the
U.S. military poured more than
1,500 combat troops into a
swath of central Iraq on
Wednesday, signaling that any
violent resistance to American
occupation would be met with
harsh punishment.
U.S. troops, sweeping out
dust and sifting through debris
left by looters, set up their head
quarters at two Iraqi air bases
and a railroad station outside
Fallujah and Habaniyah, cities
where anti-American demon
strations and attacks have been
particularly aggressive.
Commanders have tripled the
number of troops around the
cities in a bid to quell supporters
of Saddam Hussein’s Baath
Party and decrease the sniping at
American patrols that has killed
two U.S. servicemen at a check
point. Conservative Sunni
Muslims wield great influence
in the communities.
No immediate problems were
reported as the forces deployed.
The combat troops from the
3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd
Brigade arrived to take over the
area from the 3rd Armored
Cavalry Regiment. Two battal
ion-sized task forces took up
positions around the city of
Fallujah, 30 miles west of
Baghdad; another task force
took over two military airfields
in Habaniyah, five miles farther
west.
Two major highways con
necting Baghdad to Syria and
Jordan run through the two
cities, where about 300 soldiers
from the 3rd Armored Cavalry
Regiment have maintained a
mostly symbolic presence.
But after violent demonstra
tions and several attacks on U.S.
troops, commanders decided to
send in the battle-tested 2nd
Brigade, which captured most of
Baghdad during the war.
In addition to patrolling the
area, the brigade will also work
with local leaders on community
service projects at schools and
hospitals to improve relations
with residents.
Lt. Gen. David McKieman,
commander of American ground
forces in Iraq, said he doubted
See Troops on page 2