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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2003)
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Bit She die ilaring i ie rainire a straine: lot to sai ible,” sit it's Teall; lUliffe»: e two K( :r in spa;; aining tonths. invited wed fro: and foi re she v. nstructio: was Not uary witk gash in its ninistrato: to recruii idergarter s degree ence, ani or at leas ,the samt p, accord- the same, raid toll) illy, real) jy else is 3ns a Aggielife: Teaching to learn • Page 3 Sports: Billy dealt to Philly • Page 5 THE BATTALION Volume 110 • Issue 48 • 10 pages A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 www.thebattalion.net Week focuses on Chinese culture By Erin Price THE BATTALION Americans may have misconceptions about China, but the China-U.S. Relations Conference being held this week should help students get a feel for what China is really like, said Jing Zhang, a graduate student at Texas A&M. “China is not presented in the U.S. media the way it truly is,” Jing said. “There are more stories written from a negative perspective, which lacks a cul tural background and understanding.” A&M is hosting the “China-U.S. Relations: Past, Present and Future” conference Wednesday through Saturday. The conference will include keynote speakers, planning sessions and roundtables in which recommendations will be made to further the partnership and understanding between the United States and China. Jing said taking part in these activi ties is a great way for students to see what the Chinese diplomats are like and learn more about the Chinese culture. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell See China on page 2 China Week China week will feature influential social and political leaders speaking about current events: ■Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and Qian Qichen will speak at 9:15 a.m. in Rudder Auditorium. ■LongYontu, secretary-general ofBoao Forum of Asia will speak on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 1:45 p.m. ■James Baker will speak with Ambassador Yang Jiechi at 6 p.m. in the George Bush Library. ANDREW BURLESON • THE BATTALION SOURCE : TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY )P BEATO III • THE BATTALION Above: Harvey Chu, 51, of Houston, performs advanced Tai-Chi during an exhibition of Kung Fu in the plaza near Rudder Fountain on Monday, kicking off China Week at Texas A&M. Left: Students of The International Shaolin WushU Center in Houston perform with 18 weapons during a Kung-fu demonstration in the plaza of Rudder Fountain on Monday. The students are taught by Master Shi Xing Ying, a Shaolin monk. Shaolin Kung-fu dates back more than 1,500 years. The elegant and flowing move ments make it unique to other forms of martial arts, and students can learn to blend their bodies, minds and weapons to become JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION one. Tuesday, November 4, 2003 Running lights an area problem By Lindsay Broomes THE BATTALION College Station is no stranger to a problem that is circulating throughout Texas — running red lights. This has been a problem for years and is continually getting worse, said Eddie Carmon, senior trooper with the Department of Public Safety. “The streets are more congested, people are in a hurry, they are sitting in traffic longer and everyone thinks they can make it through the light,” said DPS Public Information Officer Mark Langwell. Sixty percent of traffic accidents occur at an inter section, most of which are controlled by traffic lights, Langwell said. “When you are waiting at an intersection and your light turns green, you can not proceed immediately due to the fact that at least one or two cars will try to race their red light,” Carmon said. Senior business major Bryan Holtz said conges tion in College Station con tributes to the light-running problem. “The lines at the traffic lights are so long that by the time you actually get to the front, you are just tired of waiting your turn,” Holtz said. Carmon said one of the most dangerous intersec tions is located at Highway 47 and Villa Maria Road. It has been one of the worst locations for fatalities in recent years, he said. New forms of signals have been installed, but their effec tiveness is still being ques tioned by police officers. The College Station Police Department has been carrying out objective measures to help prevent drivers from running red lights through a grant pro gram called the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP). Some of the actions carried out See Lights on page 2 SILVER TAPS v. Levi Garrett Windle Agricultural Development 10:30 p.m. Academic Plaza Troops hunt for clues in aftermath of copter shootdown By Charles J. Hanley THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq — American troops hunted for anti-aircraft missiles along Iraq’s trucking routes, digging through heaps of manure, mounds of hay or piles of pomegranates Monday. The U.S. Army retrieved the wreckage of a downed transport helicopter and searched for clues about who knocked it from the sky. Attacks continued Monday — a sol dier with the 4th Infantry Division was killed and another wounded in an explo sion of an improvised bomb near Tikrit, the U.S. Central Command said, and witnesses reported that a blast near a Shiite Muslim shrine in the southern city of Karbala killed at least one person. One clue in Sunday’s helicopter shootdown may lie in Ramadi, west of the crash site, where an anti-U.S. leaflet warned, just two days before the shoot down, that Iraq’s insurgents would strike the Americans with “modern and advanced methods.” The downing of the CH-47 Chinook, one of two carrying dozens of soldiers on their way to Baghdad air port and home leave, killed 16 Americans and wounded 20 others. It was the heaviest U.S. death toll in any single action since the invasion of Iraq last March 20. One victim, Ernest Bucklew, 33, had been expected to stop at his Fort Carson, Colo., home before traveling to his mother’s funeral. His wife, Barbara, wept as she spoke of breaking the news to the couple’s two children, 8-year-old Joshua and 4-year-old Justin. “My oldest one is just a little numb,” she said at the Army post near Colorado Springs, Colo., shrouded in fog and a cold rain. “He understands his nana and father passed away, but he hasn’t talked about it. The youngest one just doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand the concept of death right now.” Sixteen of the injured were flown by U.S. Air Force C-17 transport Monday to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and treated at the U.S. military’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Nine were admitted to the intensive care unit, including five in serious condition, said hospital spokeswoman Marie Shaw. “They are being evaluated and sur geries are planned throughout the day,” she said. Villagers who saw the helicopter downing south of Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, said it was struck from behind by one or two missiles apparently fired from a date palm grove in the area, deep in the Sunni Muslim heartland that has produced the most violent opposition to the U.S. occupa tion of Iraq. CBS Evening News quoted one wounded survivor at a U.S. military hos pital in Baghdad shortly after the crash. Cpl. David Tennant said the missile hit the back of the Chinook, and the heli copter caught fire before it went down. “Everybody was just laid out every where, and they were trying to search for most of the people that were left within the rubble. There was a lot of people screaming,” Tennant told CBS. “I just remember waking up in the middle See Iraq on page 2 ■tDale 4ov. ^ ■Joy. ^ DV. ll DV. 1^ Dec. 2 36-30 11-17 4-21 jnfaifl ipld 6 aunaj dsof J/<ec- shoes jjU rluced idtio 11 ipus. Health Services to offer flu shots By Justin Smith THE BATTALION To combat the upcoming flu season, which spans from November to February, the 2003 Student Health Services Flu Shot Campaign is being held Nov. 5 and Nov. 6 when Texas A&M students, faculty and staff can receive free flu shots. A limited number of free shots are available and will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Students, faculty and staff who wish to take advantage of this can do so at several locations around campus. Shots will be offered in room 225 of the Memorial Student Center and the Wehner lobby from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and in the Student Recreation Center lobby and Commons lobby from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Linda Lekawski, director of the Student Health Center, said an early flu already went around this semester. She advised students to get the shot. “Seven to 10 days is a long time to miss scholastic opportunities, and we are trying to pre vent that,” Lekawski said. Lekawski said during last year’s campaign, more than 2,400 students were given flu shots, and she said she hopes for a 10 percent increase this year. Meningitis shots are being offered in addition to flu shots, but will cost students $90. Once the free flu shots have been given out, recipients will Free Flu Shots □ □ Student Health Services will provide free flu shots to students, faculty and staff Wednesday and Thursday on campus at the following times and locations. 9 a m. to 5 p.m. in MSC 225 and Wehner Lobby 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Student Recreation Center and Commons Lobby Meningitis shots will also be available for $90 |—j Once the free flu shots are gone, students will be charged $18 Families mourn loss of Ft. Hood soldiers killed in Chinook crash By April Castro THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ANDREW BURLESON • THE BATTALION SOURCE : STUDENT HEALTH SERVICES be charged $18 a shot. To cover the costs for the flu shots and the cost of the company providing them, funds have been donated by the Health Center, the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, the Department of Residence Life and the MSC. Terry Pankratz, assistant vice president for Student Affairs, whose office donated $10,000 to the effort, said it is a positive program. “It is best to keep the students in class,” Pankratz said, “and not in the health center.” KILLEEN — Deborah Berndt doesn’t want to tell her three teenage children all that she hears about the Army helicopter shot down this week end in Iraq, where their father is serving. She says she can worry enough for all of them. “They know there’s danger over there, but I don’t want them to know exactly how close it is,” Berndt said Monday as soldiers and residents near Fort Hood waited for the Department of Defense to release the names of the 16 soldiers who died. At least three soldiers from Fort Hood were killed when a CH-47 helicopter went down near Fallujah, Iraq, reportedly by an anti-aircraft mis sile. The helicopter was transporting soldiers to Baghdad so they could have a few days of leave. Twenty soldiers were wounded. The Fort Hood soldiers who died are Pfc. Anthony D’Agostino, 20, of Waterbury, Conn.; Pfc. Karina Fan, 20, of Livingston, Calif.; and Spc. Frances Vega, 20, of Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. The Defense Department said Sgt. Keelan Moss, 23, of Houston, who was assigned to Fort Sill, Okla., also died in the attack. The CH-47 Chinook helicopter was not from Fort Hood, Army officials said. Berndt said she knows that her husband, 36- year-old Sgt. Stephen Berndt of Fort Hood, is OK. He called home Sunday morning after the attack occurred — one of just two calls home since he was deployed to Iraq two months ago, she said. Noticeably somber, Stephen Berndt did not mention the latest Iraq tragedy, said his wife, as she stocked shelves at Surplus City, an Army sup ply store in Killeen. She learned of the helicopter attack after her husband’s call. “And I haven’t gotten any calls saying that ... you know,” she said. “As we mourn their loss of life and injury, we give thanks in appreciation for their ultimate or extreme sacrifice and selfless duty to our Army and our nation,” said Ft. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, com manding general of the III Corps and Fort Hood. The three deaths bring to 33 the number of Fort Hood soldiers who have died since the beginning of the war in Iraq. For Spc. Dwane Johnson, who also is stationed at Fort Hood, the radio announcer’s words Sunday that 16 American soldiers were killed brought numbness, which soon gave way to memories of his own time in Iraq. “This is worse, because they were in a plane trying to get out. A plane is the only way to get out of there. This is the greatest number killed since the ceasefire. It’s sad. If they keep this up there will be a great toll,” Johnson said.