}
NATO
THE BATTALIO)
dead
eked and jumped out tli
Aldana said. “She’sdoini
■nt down about a half-nil
at Groton-New Londoi
Aviation Administratioi
eters said. He said it In
Farmingdale Repui
ork’s Long Island,
ng, the Groton aiipoif
plane was on its secon
vent down. The crash bp
before the tower opend
ils were using recording
communication to p«
pened, she said,
rtounced something atjoi
port, but it was garbled
d state Department«
'rotection were on 111
gistered to JetproLLC,;
at New Hyde Park,N.I
believed to be carryin
ns of jet fuel, said he
s for the Department e
itection’s oil and chemiti
:>asse
nued from page 1
session or Dewliursi
a Senate tradition of
g two-thirds of senators
to take up a bill on iIk
loor. Under that tradition,
tocratic senators blocked
ting in the last special
uirst said he would not
his mind about the so-
two-thirds rule,’’ saying
idition for the Senate not
t in place when lawmak-
e red 1st riding,
in’t think our 11 col-
are in a position to ask
liing," Dewhurst said
lave broken the Texas
tion. They need to come
ey were elected to do a
icrats said that is not
happen without move-
m Perry or Dewhurst,
vcre a betting man con-
a wager on how teg
itinue, if we’ll holdorif
j. I’d place my chipson
> 11,” said West, invok-
name the Senate
its have been calling
es.
exas Senate met briefly
afternoon and then
the day because of a
quorum with the
ts gone.
democrats, meanwhile.
■ daily meeting, reading
iters of support from
nts as photographers
pictures.
i folk singer Steven
.'ho said he was touring
/lexico, stopped by the
fly and entertained the
with a song he wrote
“Killer Ds of Texas.”
-repeated line in the
s: “The killer Ds of
it the sting on Torn
k&M bus route
choice:
by the bedroom
jse an apt.
imate matching
nternet &
; with HBO
g
Sports: Aggies set for Fran-tic practice • Page 3 Opinion: Bleak future for education • Page 5
Volume 109 • Issue 182 • 6 pages
109 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com Wednesday, August 6, 2003
A&M plans for game-day traffic
By Jodi Rogers
THE BATTALION
More green lights will be
offered to motorists going to and
from football game on George
Bush Drive, University Drive and
Texas Avenue, thanks to a traffic
reduction plan called “Go with the
Green,” University transportation
officials said.
June Broughton, communica
tions coordinator for Texas A&M’s
Transportation Services, said cer
tain streets will be blocked for
football games so motorists have a
straighter and faster route to main
arterial streets in College Station.
“By blocking Wellborn, we pro
vide a quick exit route and lessen
the impact of turning movement off
of side streets and preventing addi
tional vehicles from entering the
central campus area that slow the
flow of traffic,” Broughton said.
A special task force within the
Texas Department of
Transportation created the plan
eight years ago. The task force
includes representatives from the
University Police Department,
Athletics Department and
Transportation Services. It also
included the Bryan and College
Station police departments and
other local agencies.
The West Campus Parking
Garage and the Wellborn under
ground passageway serve as major
components of the plan for this
fall.
The organization wants to give
people the best routes to go in and
out of town while ensuring pedes
trian safety, said Elmer Schneider,
associate director of the A&M
Department of Security and
University Police.
Schneider said there has been a
great deal of cooperation on the
task force between the University
and local law enforcement, espe
cially the CSPD.
CSPD Lt. Larry Johnson said
people could cross Wellborn wher
ever they wanted in past years due
to restricted lanes during recent
construction. He said that will
change now that the underground
passageway will be used.
“We used to have to escort
pedestrians across Wellborn, so
See Traffic on page 2
GO WITH THE GREEN
• More green lights along streets such as George
Bush Drive, University Drive and Texas Avenue
• New West Campus parking lot with 3,800 spots
• New underground walkway for pedestrians
* Recommended pedestrian routes on game days
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Grad student
storm chasers
uncover data
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
Mary Schulze once let her son tape his comput-
erequipment inside her new van and drive it thou
sands of miles to chase storms.
Her son, Karl Schulze, chases storms as part of
Texas A&M’s Mobile Severe Storms Data
Acquisition, an officially recognized student organ
ization with about 100 members.
“The one thing that helps us to understand why
(Karl) is doing it is that the information they get on
these trips can save lives,” said Mary, a resident of
Waukegan, Ill. “Someone has to do this.”
Mary said she now knows more about tornadoes,
learning about them from Karl.
Karl, along with friends Tim Thomas, Brandon
Ely, Scott Steiger and Dave Gold, have been chasing
itomis for nearly four years. They all graduated from
the University of New York at Oswegol and came to
Texas four years ago, Steiger said. All four are cur-
tently graduate students in A&M’s atmospheric
See Storms on page 2
TEXAS A&M MOBILE SEVERE
STORMS DATA ACQUISITION
PHdrO: KEVIN WALTER; RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: A&M MOBILE SEVERE STORMS DATA ACQUISITION
Tailgating in style
SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION
Entrepreneur John Smith debuts his car decor on the hood and team items to Aggie fans as part of his collegiate mar-
of his Mercury Grand Marquis in a parking lot off of George keting tour, which will take him to eight college towns this
Bush Drive Tuesday. Smith hopes to market his tailgating month.
Church
elects gay
bishop
By Rachel Zoll
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS — The
Episcopal Church voted
Tuesday to approve the election
of their first openly gay bishop,
a decision that risks splitting
their denomination and shatter
ing ties with their sister church
es worldwide.
After a delay
caused by an
allegation that
he inappropri
ately touched
another man
and was affiliat
ed with a Web
site that had a Robinson
link to porn, the Episcopal
General Convention approved
the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as
bishop of the Diocese of New
Hampshire.
Robinson had been cleared
of the accusations a few hours
before the vote was taken.
Presiding Bishop Frank
Griswold said the bishops
voted 62-45 to confirm
Robinson’s election. Two bish
ops abstained from voting, but
their ballots under church rules
were counted as “no” votes.
American conservatives and
like-minded overseas bishops
who represent millions of
See Bishop on page 2
Bombing at Jakarta Marriott
kills 13 in likely suicide attack
By Steven Gutkin
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A
suspected suicide bombing at a
Marriott Hotel created
lunchtime carnage in Jakarta’s
business district Tuesday,
billing 13 people and wound
ing 149, setting cars afire and
scattering glass shards for
blocks in a bloody reminder of
Hie continuing threat of terror
ism in the world’s most popu
lous Muslim nation.
The blast came two days
before a verdict in the trial of a
bey suspect in the Bali night
club bombings last Oct. 12 that
billed 202 people, many of
them foreigners. A Dutch
banker was among the dead
Tuesday, and at least 10 for
eigners, including two
Americans, were reported
injured.
The attack occurred on the
first day of testimony in anoth
er bombing case by the alleged
leader of Jemaah Islamiyah,
which has been blamed for the
Bali bombings. Authorities
have linked the group to al-
Qaida and say it hopes to cre
ate an Islamic state across
Southeast Asia.
No one immediately
claimed responsibility for the
Marriott bombing.
The governor of Jakarta,
Sutiyoso, said the attack was
“very likely” carried out by a
suicide bomber. The national
police chief, Gen. Da’i
Bachtiar, said the van carrying
the bomb was moving at the
time of the explosion.
World leaders expressed
horror and outrage. The White
House called it a “deplorable
attack on innocent civilians”
and declared its support for the
Indonesian government’s fight
against terrorism.
The Marriott — a frequent
site for U.S. Embassy func
tions and a popular destination
for foreigners — was shattered
just after noon when the bomb
exploded on the driveway
Bomb rocks Jakarta
A powerful bomb exploded in
downtown Jakarta Tuesday, killing
at least 10 people including one
foreigner and wounding more
than 100.
leading to its front entrance.
The blast smashed many
windows in the 33-story hotel
and smoke from burning cars
blackened the outside of lower
floors. The lobby ceiling caved
in on charred sofas and
See Bombing on page 2
E-mail about cell phone driving law proves a hoax
By C.E. Walters
THE BATTALION
An e-mail circulating across Texas
with information regarding cell phone
legislation in the Texas House of
Representatives is a hoax, said a
Department of Public Safety spokes
woman Monday.
The e-mail provided information on
House Bill 281, which would have
’flade it illegal to drive while talking on
a cell phone without a headset.
Cell phone usage without a headset
would have been restricted to emergen
cies, according to the bill.
According to the e-mail, the law
would go into effect Sept. 1. If a person
was caught, punishment would have
been a misdemeanor with fines ranging
from $25 to $200.
The bill was proposed last year, but
was killed in March, a DPS spokes
woman said.
Mark Langwell, public information
officer for the College Station Police
Department, said that although officers
from his department would be attending
legislative update training soon, he had
not heard any news about House
Bill 281.
Benson Kilgore, secondary public
information officer for the Bryan Police
Department, said he had not heard any
news on the legislation since his offi
cers attended a conference July 13.
Officials: Al-Qaida may use
laptops to conceal bombs
By Leslie Miller
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — CD players,
cameras, laptop computers and other
electronic devices will get greater
scrutiny at airports, the govemment
said Tuesday, warning that terrorists
may try to use such items to conceal
weapons or bombs.
The Homeland Security
Department sent an advisory to law
enforcement personnel nationwide
alerting them to the
possibility al-Qaida
could use electron
ics to carry out
attacks.
“Al-Qaida oper
atives have shown a
special interest in
converting a camera
flash attachment
into a stun gun type
of weapon or
improvised explo
sive device,” the
advisory said.
Among the
items that will prompt increased
scrutiny at airports are remote
keyless door or lock openers,
automatic camera flash attach
ments, cellular phones and multi
band or dual-speaker radios.
“Depending on location, place
ment and configuration of the
device, the amount of explosives
that could be contained within even
the smallest camera could cause
collateral damage,” the advisory
said.
It also said terrorists could
design such devices to be used
against govemment buildings, pub
lic areas with controlled access and
security screening checkpoints.
Security directors at airports
were ordered to meet with all feder
al screeners within the next day and
review procedures for checking
electronic gadgets, said Brian
T u r m a i 1 ,
spokesman for the
Transportation
Security
Administration.
The TSA also is
asking passengers
to remove all their
electronics from
their pockets or
bags and put them
through the X-ray
machine at the
security check
point, Turmail said.
Air travelers will
still be required to remove laptop
computers from their cases before
they’re screened, he said.
David Stempler, president of the
Air Travelers Association, predicted
inconveniences for travelers, includ
ing longer lines at security check
points.
See Security on page 6
u
Al-Qaida... have
shown a special
interest in
converting a camera
flash into a stun gun
type of weapon.
— Department of
Homeland Security