Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 2003)
w«u Aggielife: Shades of gray • Page 3 Opinion: Unstable futures • Page 9 RATTAT TON Oix JL L I\MljL\J jL\ A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 www.thebattaIion.net Wednesday, November 12, 2003 illegal 3usedU,$ useless ar while ion into fie redeemei Trade ¥ CHINBSB ACADEMY OP SCIENCE A&M is working with the academy to bring panda • The C AShas virtual science museums online. • The museums show pandas in their natural \ [ habitat through a "pandacam." r (yh • The museum can be accessed online at: http://international.tamu.edu/ipa/english/index.html ^ SETH FREEMAN • THE BATTALION SOURCE:CAS Chinese, A&M foster science By Bart Shirley THE BATTALION The Chinese Academy of Science and Texas A&M’s Department of Education and Human Development are cooperating to edu cate the world about pandas in China. A&M will now contribute to the CAS’s virtual science museums online. A&M Executive Associate Dean Douglas Palmer hosted the signing of the cooperative. He said this effort will help both groups foster interest in science for future teachers. “It’s excellent,” Palmer said. “One of the issues is science education.” Students in kindergarten through 12th grades will act as an impetus for the program. A&M’s role in the project will be in a par allel study at the Alaskan McNeil River Project, which studies the habits of grizzly bears. This cooperative will now house the video footage of these bears as a counter point to the panda research in China. Rick Nader, director of the Institute for Pacific Asia, named A&M biology profes sor Larry Griffing as a key researcher on the project. Nader said this project will increase awareness of science’s relation to culture. “Science is universal,” he said. “We want to use culture as a vector in teaching science.” Nader said there are similarities between the United States and China, such as the Great Canyon and the Grand Canyon, and there is a possibility of studying the cultures surrounding the two areas. The Internet is a science education tool, Nader said. This is the first “panda- cam” in China. He said his hope is that the new program will influence how science is being learned and taught. Nader and Palmer stressed the impor tance of this cooperation with regard to edu cating future scientists and educators. Nader said his organization works on many of these cooperative programs, but that this one was rewarding because it worked out. “We want to get more students interest ed in science,” he said. “America isn’t the only place that the cutting edge is being discovered.” The virtual science museum can be accessed online at http://international.tamu.edu/ipa/english/in dex.html Tariff revenue coffecteff lie r these si /er was i ' he said were file; ;a. Norm na, \e# ddoffe w seelu on U.S. es are w ite. jurors: Durst trial verdict was difficult By Juan A. Lozano THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ileps,” si r of ec® • jstrv. fc lo Kyoi) tor-gentd di said 2' s the c® i solve iht ill be so® aidspei expect tlf h that w ( and Ic«’ id * accounts iey re®’ r from ti® caid pft a involvs HCAlnc - the paf to phf 5 ’ Medicare 5 govern onnecW ,ts and! g datir! GALVESTON, Texas — For five days, argu ments, tears, play-acting and doubts swirled around the room where jurors in the Robert Durst murder trial ultimately decided the eccen tric millionaire was not guilty of killing his eld erly neighbor. I On Tuesday, the eight-woman, four-man jury rendered its verdict after more than 26 hours of deliberations. Durst was accused of intentionally filling his neighbor, cutting up the body and dis posing of the parts in Galveston Bay. When jurors began working Nov. 5, their first vote was nowhere near unanimous. Five jurors rated not guilty, three voted guilty and four were undecided. “When we went in that room on Wednesday afternoon, that was the worst day of my life because I have never served on a jury before,” said Deborah Warren, a surgical technician. “And I never realized how important it was to come to a ver dict.” The delibera tions were not easy, Warren said. “There were people that cried; there were people that fussed and argued. We demonstrated; we had paper all around the room,” she said. “My stomach is still knotted up. We did the best with what we had.” Prosecutors claimed Durst planned to kill 71- year-old Morris Black to steal his identity. Defense attorneys said their client accidentally shot Black in self-defense when he discovered the elderly man illegally in his apartment. Durst, who testified in his own defense, said his neighbor threatened him with a gun the mil lionaire had hidden in his stove. During the struggle for the gun, the Weapon went off as the two men fell to the floor. “We played out the different scenarios. (One of the jurors) demonstrated to us what would have happened if he had been standing over him versus if he would have fallen on him versus if they would have struggled over the gun,” Warren said. Joanne Gongora, a nursing teacher at Galveston College, said that while jurors consid ered everything Durst did after Black’s death, including the dismembennent and his flight from authorities, they focused on what happened in the millionaire’s apartment on the morning of Sept. 28, 2001. Jurors felt prosecutors did not prove their case, she said. “Based on the evidence presented to us, there was reasonable doubt.. It was a big struggle for all of us,” Gongora said. Many jurors said they didn’t believe all of Burst’s story. “We took Durst’s story completely out of the picture. We took the evidence that was presented to us,” said Robbie Clarac, a business manager in Galveston. “We went on the facts that were presented to us from the prosecution. We could not convict him.” Gongora and another juror, El ridge Darby, a maintenance worker, said they could understand that panic drove Durst to run from authorities. “Flight was something Durst did all his life,” Clarac said. Based on the evidence presented to us, there was reasonable doubt. It was a big struggle for all of us. — Joanne Gongora juror War and remembrance s**, m pteun Ufi* QtXU o’h» . v t',*n • i •f'HS S VUftN , ■ 1 * ,v: v • US*, t s «1 Mmuocteifet. jcm*T nUwtscM*. uso**;** ’ SUHKNIf I. WHHr SI* . i VMI.U4M »- mix uti; * l SA.TU.S cttAKus *■ htu.s mi *4* V IttAriM UM *-*| TT* ' "'LltN i; V&AP « •*»«W•'■ms * 9 ' M WO**. USA • vt «*»• i' sfVl «<*u* «*u* I?®*?* » MVKi'i (tt'IU'K UU. W' W5V# > x.-v fU \k LiSAf * U.t): l » . M US«f * i( 1 A tMkotO OJW « ♦whum imw * ciwavi uVuthtoi . M-i » «.<>**«# s cuutt». M*. ■AVI, fc" ? > O. I Vlt lA UM *r 0tn>« V .,, , u*» * ri'SiUA« www» ■ ■•. tflyfKii V.'IUJU 1,1.1*. UM * t, Mil"*» us*»■ SKfOOir lit KOMAfl.W* *«.-»U*« i* US*'* Attoil t MuittfcUM. I. ■,■* 9lt NIT j Si MfcOt t»fc» USA * ■• ■ 1 Au vctlf* US* AtHOMM * US* . AtWltV M KM- USM • ISA ■■ «•'» us*» * USH.iaMCS* MUlU|iS.«MK* )t*t Nil KtUON. US** * S* ■ « MflttW-- US*? * sNSii i PlhSfl'' Ut*f ♦ .OH** C MEAUOSS USAf • >•*, " J «•«***• nutvai». *hm mam.-, us** *J2#***™ Stm « owr us**«*viue« cm.yu • . ■ ■' \A>'|Vi*OS US* ' «VM...'ufcuA»>cv iwa * WIMSTON TO ‘ • •!». mk , J^'.^SStv-rtWlcv * . *iu igH VIW'l US . rtfMUl t'HAAUS I UH t M.'HUS iat v suit' * aKWMIN SaHU \A.«*Mlt IfOMAIH )P BEATO III ♦ THE BATTALION A war veteran is reflected on the 3,000 etched names on the bronze memorial during the Veterans Day remembrance ceremony held at the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial on Tuesday to honor cur rent and former military personnel. The names of 487 additional veterans were unveiled during the service which included a performance by the Aggie Band and a 21 -gun salute by the Ross Volunteers. Profs receive research award By Carrie Pierce THE BATTALION HOAGWOOD Eduardo Urbina, a professor in the Department of Spanish, and Terence A. Hoagwood, a professor in the Department of English, recently received the Liberal Arts Research Awards for outstanding research and developments in their respective disciplines. “Research is one of the major ele ments of the University’s mission,” said Ben Crouch, executive associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts. The Liberal Arts Research Award has been presented annually to two members of the faculty in the College of Liberal Arts since its founding in 1996. The department heads nominate possible recipients, a standing commit tee in the liberal arts college reviews the nominations and then recommen dations are reviewed by Liberal Arts Dean Charles Johnson, who makes the final decision, Crouch said. “Several years ago in the College of Liberal Arts, we thought it would be appropriate to have a research award given at the college level,” Crouch said. “These two pro fessors have, in their respective departments, provided exceptional leadership on the graduate, as well as the undergraduate, level.” Urbina has been teaching Spanish literature at Texas A&M since 1981. He came to the United States from Madrid, Spain, in 1969, and received his doctorate in Hispanic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley in 1979. Urbina taught at Berkeley for one year, and the University of Michigan for a year before coming to A&M. Urbina received the Liberal Arts Research Award pri marily for his dedication to digital libraries and the growth of the Humanities Informatics Initiative. Urbina has dedicated himself to the Cervantes Project, a refer ence and research site dedicated to the life and works of Spanish writer Miguel De Cervantes. Cervantes was a major author of Spanish literature who was born in the 16th century. He wrote “Don Quixote,” the most often translated and published book after the Bible. See Award on page 2 Vatican debates biotech food The Vatican ended a two-day seminar Tuesday during which they debated the moral implications of genetically modifying food. The conference sought a middle ground between alleviating world hunger and altering creation. Advocates claim Critics say... ► ... it will fight hunger by increasing crop yields. ► ... it will improve the environment because farmers will not use as much pesticides. ► ... that it would be changing ‘God’s creation.' ► ... that claims of easing world hunger are exaggerated. ► ... the long-term health and environmental effects are unknown. SOURCE: Associated Press AP Vatican weighs world hunger solution By Nicole Winfield THE ASSOCIATED PRESS VATICAN CITY — Two Jesuits told a Vatican biotech conference Tuesday that tinkering with God’s creation by making new plant species went against church teaching, adding a moral voice to a debate dominated by scientific, political and eco nomic interests. A paper by the Rev. Dr. Roland Lesseps and the Rev. Peter Henriot, Americans based in Zambia, was presented to the final session of a two-day meeting on genetically modified organisms that was designed to help the Roman Catholic Church formulate a position on whether biotech foods can alleviate world hunger. No date has been set for when the Vatican might come out with its pronouncement, and the conference organizer. Cardinal Renato Martino, said it could possibly take years. But in his final See Vatican on page 2 Lynch disturbed by exaggerated reports of ordeal By Erin McClam THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — Pfc. Jessica Lynch said Tuesday she is disturbed that the military seemed to overdra matize her rescue by U.S. troops and spread false stories that' she went down shooting in an Iraqi ambush. “That wasn’t me. I wasn’t about to take credit for something I didn’t do,” she told The Associated Press. “I’m not that person.” The 20-year-old former Army supply clerk — twig-thin and weary, one crutch close at hand — described her ordeal in a Veterans Day interview seven months after the rescue made her a national hero. Reports circulated by the U.S. military early in the war said Lynch waged a fierce gun- battle with Iraqi fighters who ambushed her 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss, Texas, on March 23 at Nasiriyah. She has since I’m not about to take credit for something I didn’t do. I’m not that person. ” said her rifle jammed, and she did not get off a shot. And Lynch’s new book points out that, despite the “tension and drama” of the military videotape showing gun-toting U.S. soldiers rushing into an Iraqi hospital to rescue her, the hospital staff never resisted, and even offered the troops a key. “It disturbed me,” Lynch said. “I knew that it wasn’t the truth.” Still, the ex-prisoner of war from rural West Virginia took pains to say that she does not care why the military See Lynch on page 2 LYNCH