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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
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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.