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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2003)
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Questions call: MSC HOSPITALITY' 845-1515 ^ hup://hospitaJity.tainu.cclu NEWS THE BATTALION Tuesday, October 14, Six killed after church bus hits cotton truck in Louisiana By Barbara Powell THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TALLULAH, La. — A church bus taking senior citizens on a tour of historical sites slammed into a cotton-hauling tractor-trailer on the shoulder of a highway Monday, killing six people and injuring at least nine. The bus driver survived the wreck and told investigators he fell asleep at the wheel before crashing into the truck, state police said. Someone on the bus yelled, awakening him just before impact, state police Trooper Julie Lewis said. Fifteen people were on the bus when it crashed around 11 a.m. on Interstate 20 in northeastern Louisiana. The truck driver, who had pulled onto the shoulder to check his brakes, suffered minor head and neck injuries. Thirteen passengers and two drivers were headed toward Vicksburg, Miss., on the second day of what was to have been a 16-day trip sponsored by their Baptist church in Texas, state police trooper Julie Lewis said. The “senior ambassador tour” was to include visits to a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa. Lewis said each passenger paid $960 for the trip, spon sored by the First Baptist Church of Eldorado, Texas, a town of about 2,000 people some 160 miles northwest of San Antonio. Lewis said the injured were taken to several hospitals in Mississippi and Louisiana, and at least one was injured critically. The bus driver, Kenneth J. Thomas, 66, of Eldorado, suffered moderate injuries. Identities of the passengers were being withheld while families were notified. Carolyn Mayo, Eldorado city secretary, said the senior citi zens on the bus included retired teachers and a retired nurse. “This is a real active group — they have lots and lots of active members,” said Mayo, adding that the group usually takes two trips each year. The bus and the truck remained upright on the side of the road after the crash, but the front end of the bus was demol ished — pushed up under the rear of the 18-wheeler’s trailer, its engine driven back against the steering wheel by the Fatal bus accident A church bus from Texas crashed into a tractor-trailer Monday on eastbound Interstate 20justwest of Tallulah, La., killing six and injuring at least nine. Volume 75 ml ARK. !0 75 km Accident killed six GSp MISS. Tallulah Vicksburg LA. Mf / Baton Rouge -• NewrOrleans* ^ Gulf of Mexico SOURCES: Associated Press; ESRI AP impact. Bales of cotton, seals from the bus, pillows and ing littered the highway. Emergency crews said no passenger was ejected but some were thrown partly out of the open side of the bus. Traffic in the eastbound lanes of 1-20 was shut down for about 20 miles between Tallulah Waverly. One lane was after 5 p.m. Monday. Tornado Continued from page 1 “We’ve actually considered as a club to get with the city and see how feasible it would be to put (a system) in place,” Walter said. Marion Alcorn, head of A&M’s Atmospheric Sciences’ Department of Weather said meteoro logical experts predict that more severe weather can be expected due to shifts in specific atmos pheric cells. “Some people think that there will be more severe weather, but it’s questionable,” Alcorn said. “1 don’t think we’re any more susceptible.” Alcorn said the peak season for tornadoes is in the springtime. Despite the lack of sirens, A&M has plans for dealing with severe weather. “(The University) just purchased 45 weather radios. We are placing one in each hall on campusto inform people in hall of inclement weather,” Meyer said. “Residence Life has a phone call out system- there is communication.” Brazos County has its own plans for dealing with severe weather in 2000 with Interjurisdictional Emergency Management Should severe weather occur, residents would be informed and advised by speaker-equipped cles, while rural residents would be informed door-to-door. Meyer said residents can keep updated severe weather by tuning into local television tions and radio stations. Twins Continued from page 1 I LARGE I-TOPPING 5 99 • pu/only 2 LARGE I-TOPPING $ | ^ 99 1 pu/delivery 12” $ I0. I EX-LARGE 2-TOPPING HO. 50 pu/delivery I LARGE 2-TOPPING & 2 liter drink $1 I 99 I I # pu/delivery PICK YOUR SIDE LARGE 2 TOPPING AND I SIDE FAMILY SPECIAL I LARGE SPECIALTY I LARGE 2 TOPPING 12. 78 pu/delivery $ 16. 99 Northgate Post Oak Square Center 601 University Dr. 100 Harvey Rd., Suite D 979-846-3600 979-764-7272 Rock Prairie 1700 Rock Prairie 979-680-0508 Sunday: 1 1 a.m. - midnight Monday - Wednesday: 11 a.m. - 1 Thursday: t 1 a.m. - 2 a.m. Friday & Saturday: 1 t a.m. - 3 a. A Nashville Six-Pack r> Cl NASHVILLE MANDOLIN ENSEMBLE Performance to be followed by Q&A with audience members Thursday, October I 6 7:30 PM Rudder Theatre TICKETS 845-1234 www.MSCOPAS.org Monday in the pediatric inten sive care unit and remained in critical but stable condition. “After coming back from the operating room last night the twins have had a remarkably stable course,” Thomas said. “They have really thrown us no surprises in the process.” The boys, who shared an intricate connection of blood vessels but have separate brains, were in drug-induced comas to minimize the risk of brain swelling. They were expected to stay that way for the next two or three days, he said. Both were on mechanical ventilators and require low doses of medication to keep their blood pressure within the normal range, Thomas said. There was more good news after the boys had brain scans Monday morning: no hemor rhaging and minimal brain swelling. Said Thomas: “The neurosurgery team is quite pleased with what they see.” The boys have been getting plenty of visitors, with members of the surgery team checking in on them and visits from two Egyptian nurses who have cared for them. Both parents were up late into the night and their mother accompa nied them to the brain scans. The boys were physically separated about 26 hours after they entered the operating room. Doctors then went to work cov ering the head wounds. The boys don’t have a bony covering for their brains, but skin expanders placed in their heads and thighs about five months ago created skin and tis sue to cover the wounds. Ahmed’s wounds were com pletely covered by his own tis sue, but Mohamed had small areas at each temple that were not covered by tissue and even tually will require grafts. After fainting when he was told that his sons were separat ed, Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim cautiously approached the boys as he saw them apart for the first time. “1 think dad was so over whelmed that he almost hesitat ed at the doors and took the to get in — as if gathering self before he walked into the room,” Thomas said. The boys’ mother, Sabah Abu el-Wafa had cried upon hearing the boys were separate. She “clearly” moved as she looked at her two separate sons, Thomas said. The boys were born on June 2, 2001, by Caesarean section in Egypt. The Dallas-based World Craniofacial Foundation a nonprofit group that children with deformities of the head and face, arranged to bring the boys to Dallas in June 2002 for an evaluation. The intricate operation had been in the planning stages fot months. They will need tional reconstructive surgery ii coming years. The quality of life the 1 can achieve will be the measure of success, : Jeffrey Wisoff, director pediatric neurosurgery at NYU Medical Center. Hi By TH Students rel work e: no Jexas A&h (lassificatio Office. Departure uilem titles th raduate ar fron also be hired m titles. This prog to utilize the 1 in class, specific ids framed community,' aecutive di Ra Senior i keep it real Six of Nashville’s most accomplished musicians will assemble on the stage of Rudder Theatre for a concert: packed with perfect pickin’! Known as the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble, these s;ix guys will perform bluegrass, pop, country and more - all on mandolins. Start strummiing! buy tickets, be inspired -A Support Provided By: MSC OPAS Three Decades of Performing Arts- ifiaLten | enter to in inspire Real Italian. Real fast? Real fresh. Real affordable. Real good idea. dig in! free garden salad I with the purchase of any adult entree (excluding Double Slice Pizza) Fa/°LCs Tickets Range From $IO-$20! COLLEGE STATION: 400 Harvey Rd./694-5i99 WACO: 5201W. Waco Dr. (across from Home Depot)/776-ij24 919 S. Sixth St. (across from BaylorJ/ysz-zgzg One coupon per person, per visit at participating Fazoli’s® Restaurants only. Cannot be combinea with any other offer. Expires 12/31/03 neering te in fronf of Chin man By Christ THE ASSO JIUQUAN Keeping his China prepara for space tra ed his rot but said the pu would have whether the fli State televis for a live broac which the Communist lie’s Daily probably” ha morning - EOT. A Hong Redis IF AUSTIN redistricting h courthouse. Democrats stop the sta Republican-b map, at least t The court rr