6
Thursday, July 31, 2003
THE BATTALION
Air marshal
program faces
reduced funding
By Leslie Miller
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The
Transportation Security
Administration wants to
reduce funding for air mar
shals even as the government
is warning about the possibil
ity al-Qaida may try more
suicide hijackings.
The TSA is seeking approval
from Congress to cut $104 mil
lion from the air marshal pro
gram to help offset a $900 mil
lion budget shortfall. It’s
unclear how many of the esti
mated several thousand air mar
shal jobs would be affected.
“When we are faced with
more priorities than we have
funding to support, we have to
go through a process of trying
to address the most urgent
needs,” TSA spokesman Robert
Johnson said.
News of the air marshal pro
gram budget cutback comes as
the Department of Homeland
Security is warning of the possi
bility of hijackings and increas
ing screening of certain over
seas passengers.
A TSA official, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said the
agency sent a directive to U.S.
airlines on Monday telling them
to immediately begin more
intensive screening of travelers
flying out of a foreign airport
into the United States, then con
necting to another foreign desti
nation.
Those affected are non-U.S.
citizens who do not have U.S.
visas. They previously have
been allowed to stay in secure
areas while passing through
U.S. airports but have not been
subjected to more intensive
screening because they aren’t
staying in the country.
President Bush noted the
hijacking threat during a White
House news conference
Wednesday and said U.S. offi
cials are talking to foreign gov
ernments about it.
“There are still al-Qaida
remnants that have designs on
America. The threat is a real
threat,” he said. “We obviously
don’t have specific data. We
don’t know when, where, what.
... I’m confident that we will
thwart their attempts.”
A copy of the advisory,
obtained Tuesday by The
Associated Press, suggests an
attack could take place by the
end of the summer. The warn
ing said terrorists may use five-
man teams to take over air
planes just after takeoff or
before landing and crash them
into buildings.
“The hijackers may try to
calm passengers and make
them believe they were on a
hostage, not suicide, mission,”
said the warning, which was
distributed over the weekend to
airlines and law enforcement
agencies said. “The hijackers
may attempt to use common
items carried by travelers, such
as cameras, modified as
weapons.”
Standoff
Continued from page 1
then flew into Austin. The parents of Hawkins’ friend at the scene
drove the family from Austin to Bryan.
Rawls said having the family members present helped them com
municate with Hawkins but they were not allowed to speak directly
to each other.
Nearby residents were asked to leave their homes earlier in the
day but were allowed back after the standoff ended.
Hawkins’ neighbor, Devin Burton, came home frotn work
Wednesday afternoon expecting to finish packing to move, but
instead she was told by police that she couldn’t return to her home
because of the standoff.
“This is so wierd,” Burton said. “She seems like a nice girl. She
would talk to us and talk to my little girl.”
Police said Hawkins and her boyfriend are members of the
Marine Coips Reserves.
Joshua Hobson contributed to this report.
Alcohol
Continued from page 1
occur when a person wanders
away from his group.
“There’s safety in num
bers,” he said.
Will McAdams, Corps of
Cadets commander, said
younger cadets receive con
flicting messages about drink
ing alcohol.
“You’ve got the upperclass
men trying to drag the sopho
mores and freshmen to the
Chicken, while the chaplains are
telling them not to,” he said.
Ben Carter, director of CAR-
POOL, said he thought the
forum was very successful.
“The best way to learn about
students is from the students
themselves,” he said.
Business continues without Democrats
By Natalie Gott
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — With 11 Democratic sena
tors away in New Mexico to protest con
gressional redistricting. Republican Lt.
Gov. David Dewhurst pressed forward
with business Wednesday, naming senators
to panels to study school finance and high
er education.
He also was firm in saying that if some of
the Democratic senators show up in Texas,
the Senate sergeant-at-arms will be asked to
instruct them to return to the Senate chamber,
though they would not be handcuffed.
“You’re not going to see senators
brought back in handcuffs as long as 1 am
lieutenant governor,” Dewhurst said.
The Democrats, meanwhile, attacked
Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who called the
second special legislative session on con
gressional redistricting after a bill on the
subject failed in the first special session.
They said their message to Perry is this is
not the time for gamesmanship and photo
opportunities that misrepresent what they
have fought for in the Senate.
“This is about real issues, about real peo
ple and real results. Our constituents know
where we stand. They know where the gov
ernor has failed to lead,” said Sen. Leticia
Van de Putte, chairwoman of the Senate
Democratic Caucus.
Perry’s office did not immediately
respond to the criticism.
The Democrats have been in
Albuquerque since Monday when they
broke a quorum and halted Senate business.
They are opposed to the Legislature redraw
ing congressional districts and to
Dewhurst’s decision to change a tradition to
make it easier for a redistricting bill to win
approval.
Republicans are pushing fora majority in
the Texas congressional delegation.
Democrats now have a 17-15 advantage in
the congressional delegation.
Dewhurst’s decision to move ahead on
the topic of school finance could put the
Democrats in a tough spot.
Democrats have been complaining that
there are more important issues than redis
tricting that lawmakers should be address
ing, including changes to public school
finance.
When asked whether he was appointing
senators to the committees to try to compel
the Democrats to come back to work,
Dewhurst said: “I told our senators last
week that I would appoint the joint commit
tees (in the) early part of this week and
that’s what I am doing.”
As far as getting
organized, I think we've
got an obligation to the
people of Texas to use the
time that we have here as
effectively as we can, take
advantage of the senators
here to start work.
— David Dewhurst
Republican Lt. Governor
Van de Putte of San Antonio was one of
the four Democrats appointed to the two
six-member committees and said that
through modern technology, anyone can
monitor the committee meeting from a dis
tance. She noted that the public school
finance committee also will be made up of
state representatives and House members.
“This committee will not get its work done
in two weeks,” she said.
Dewhurst said it would be next week at
the earliest before the committee would
meet, but the Senate chairwoman of the
committee. Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano,
said work groups could begin meeting as
early as Thursday.
“As far as getting organized, I thinl
we’ve got an obligation to the people of
Texas to use the time that we have here as
effectively as we can, take advantage of the
senators here to start work,” Dewhurst said
“This is an important subject.”
Dewhurst said he also is interested in see
ing the Democrats return and said there is no
constitutional right for the Democrats to break
a quorum. He said he has talked to some
Democrats since they left.
“I am talking with them about different
procedures which would ensure that they
would have full opportunity to be able to
state their case (about redistricting) on the
Senate floor,” Dewhurst said.
Van de Putte said no negotiations are tak
ing place.
In a news conference, Van de Putte said
the Democrats would love to return to
Austin but she has said they will not return
until Perry ends the special session or
Dewhurst reinstates the so-called “two-
thirds rule” in the Senate.
Democrats were able to block a vote on
redistricting during the first special session
because of a rule that requires two-thirdsof
the 31 -member chamber to agree to bringa
bill up for debate. Eleven Democrats and
one Republican opposed consideration,
thwarting the measure.
In a the second special session, which
started Monday, Dewhurst is arranging the
order of bills so that only a majority of
senators must vote to debate a bill on the
Senate floor.
Dewhurst said there have been between
15 and 20 times in past years when sucha
move has been made.
But Van de Putte said the decisionis
wrong.
“So-called selected ‘precedents’are no
excuse for carrying out a partisan agenda
that comes from outside our Senate,” she
said.
Report: Player died of gunshot wounds to head
By Angela K. Brown
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WACO, Texas — Gunshot
wounds to the head are what
killed Baylor University basket
ball player Patrick Dennehy,
according to a preliminary autop
sy report released Wednesday.
Dennehy’s official cause of
death is homicide, the
Southwestern Institute of
Forensic Sciences in Dallas said
in its report.
The one-page report was
released Wednesday morning to
Belinda Summers, a justice of the
peace in McLennan County,
where the decomposed body was
found Friday night in a grassy
field four miles from campus.
The 21-year-old had been miss
ing about six weeks.
Investigators had searched
earlier in the week at nearby
gravel pits, a site police say was
provided to them by Carlton
Dotson, Dennehy’s roommate
and former teammate now
charged with murder.
Dotson was arrested July 21
after telling FBI agents that he
shot Dennehy after the player
tried to shoot
him, according
to the arrest
warrant affi
davit.
After his
arrest, Dotson
told The
Associated
Press that he
“didn’t con
fess to any
thing.” Dotson, 21, remains jailed
without bond in his home state of
Maryland and awaits extradition
to Texas, which could take as
long as three months.
Dotson’s attorney, Grady
Irvin, did not immediately return
a call seeking comment
Wednesday.
A gun found near Dennehy’s
body was a .32-caliber revolver
DENNEHY
that belonged to him, the Waco
Tribune-Herald reported
Wednesday, citing an unidenti
fied source close to the investiga
tion.
Near the gun, authorities
found a number of live rounds
from a .32 that had been spilled
from a .32-caliber ammunition
box, the newspaper reported.
There was no evidence the .32
had been fired, but officials
recovered nearby shell casings
from a 9mm pistol, the paper
reported.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms traced the
ownership of a gun found near
Dennehy’s body, said Mark
Curtin, a spokesman in the Austin
office. He declined Wednesday to
reveal those results.
McLennan County sheriff’s
Capt. Paul Wash on Wednesday
declined to say if any weapons
were found near Dennehy’s
remains.
Dennehy was killed in the
field where his body was found,
according to the preliminary
autopsy report. It does not speci
fy how many times he was shot,
whether he suffered any other
wounds or the day he died. Hie
complete autopsy was expected
to take several more weeks.
An unnamed informant told
Delaware police that Dotson told
someone he shot Dennehy in the
head with a 9mm pistol as the
two argued while firing guns, and
that Dotson got rid of his gun on
his way home to Maryland,
according to court records filed in
the case.
Investigators believe the mur
der weapon was thrown in a body
of water between McLennan
County and the East Coast, the
Waco Tribune-Herald reported.
Dennehy, a 6-foot-10 center,
was last seen on campus June 12;
his family reported him missing
June 19. His vehicle was found
abandoned in a Virginia Beach,
Va., parking lot six days later.
POLICE BLOTTER
CSPD
7/29/03 9:51 a.m. Major accident, George
Bush/Timber. Abrasions.
7/29/03 3:23 p.m. Major accident, 313
S. College. Shoulder pain.
7/29/03 10:47 p.m. Warrant arrest, 1600
Southwest Pkwy.
7/30/03 12:29 a.m. Driving while license
suspended, 1600 Southwest Pkwy. One
arrest.
7/30/03 1:56 a.m. Failure to identify fugi
tive, 8610 Rosewood. One arrest. '
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