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Agcielife: They work hard for the money • Page 3
Sports: Eyes of Texas on Kyle Field • Page 5
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[Volume 110 • Issue 64 • 8 pages
Police target
seatbelt safety
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
www.thebattalion.net
E-Walk
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
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By Nicole M. Jones
THE BATTALION
About 30 traffic fatalities
lave occurred this year in the
Brazos Valley, said Rhonda
Seaton, master officer for the
College Station Police
Department.
Some of those deaths could
have been avoided with the use
of safety belts, officials say,
which is why CSPD and other
law enforcement departments
across the country are participat-
ng in the nationwide “Click It
or Ticket” campaign.
The Click It or Ticket cam
paign, created by the National
Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA),
encourages law enforcement
agencies to focus on safety
belt violations. This two-week
campaign, which began last
week and ends Nov. 30, is
designed to create public
awareness about seat belt laws
nationwide.
Many U.S. states have sec
ondary laws, which only allow
law enforcement officers to
issue a citation for failing to
wear a safety belt if the driver
has already violated another
traffic law. In Texas and some
other states, primary laws are
in effect, allowing officers to
rlutnksgiving Tmvt'l Safety Tip.
Travelers hitting the road this week
are advised to follow these
recommendations for a safe holiday
trip:
( !el plenty of rest before starting
out
Allow adequate time and plan
your route
Wear safety belt restraints
Don't drink and drive, and
don't allow someone else to
Obey posted speeds and adjust
to road, traffic and weather
conditions
I - Pay attention to
weather and traffic
reports before
SETH FREEMAN • THE BATTALION
SOURCE : OREGON DEPARTMENT OF
STATE POLICE
pull over a driver simply to
issue a citation for not wearing
a safety belt.
The NHTSA has found that
primary laws are effective for
increasing safety belt usage. In
2002, seatbelt use in states with
primary laws was 80 percent,
compared to 69 percent in states
without primary laws.
See Seatbelt on page 2
JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION
Junior Yell Leaders Paul Terrell and Ryan Bishop lead the Class of 2003 in the "Aggie War Hymn" at Albritton Tower Tuesday afternoon for Jr. E-Walk.
Electrical appliance
causes Koldus fire
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By Sarah Szuminski &
Elizabeth Webb
THE BATTALION
College Station firefighters deter
mined that an electrical appliance was
the cause of a fire that broke out in an
Athletic Department office in the John J.
Koldus building early Tuesday morning.
Peter Warden, a manager for the
men’s basketball team, was in a nearby
office working on a film from Monday
night’s basketball game around 2 a.m.
when the fire started.
“The fire alarm went off, and when I
walked into the hallway I saw a ton of
smoke,” Warden said. “When I went out
side, I saw flames coming from the
Athletic Department office.”
Firefighters were able to put out the
flames with a fire extinguisher, cutting
down on damage costs by avoiding addi
tional water damage to the offices.
Cynthia Lawson, director of
University Relations at Texas A&M, said
damages were mostly limited to smoke
and particle damage.
“You can see just one area of the wall
that is black,” she said.
Because the Athletic Department is in
the process of shifting its offices around,
Lawson said the small office where the
fire was located did not contain many
valuable items.
“The good news is that (the fire) was
pretty small,” Lawson said. “No one was
injured — pretty much everyone was
gone for the night.”
MEDICARE BILL
How they voted
The Senate passed the most
sweeping changes to Medicare
bill since its creation in 1965.
The 54-44 vote sends the bill to
President Bush, who is eager to
sign it into law.
Independent
i 1 Accept
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Congress sends Medicare
overhaul bill to president
Republicans
42 Accept
9 Reject
Democrats
11 Accept
35 Reject
2 no vote
SOURCE: Associated Press
AP
By David Espo
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Republican-
controlled Congress sent President
George W. Bush historic Medicare leg
islation Tuesday, combining a new pre
scription drug benefit with measures to
control costs before the baby boom gen
eration reaches retirement age.
Bush is expected to sign the bill with
a flourish, then trumpet its enactment
during his bid for re-election next year.
“Because of the actions of the Congress,
the actions of members of both political
parties, the Medicare system will be
modem and it will be strong,” he said in
Las Vegas shortly after lawmakers broke
years of gridlock on the issue.
But within hours of a 54-44 Senate
vote, Senate Democratic leader Tom
Daschle introduced legislation to repeal
several of the bill’s most controversial
provisions and to allow the importation
of lower-priced prescription drugs from
Canada and Western Europe. “This
debate is not over, it’s just beginning,”
said the South Dakota Democrat.
Apart from a new prescription drug
benefit, the legislation invites private
firms to sell insurance coverage to 40
million Medicare beneficiaries.
While some supporters praised the
bill in glowing terms and some critics
denounced it with equal vehemence,
many lawmakers said the far-reaching
legislation had confronted them with a
difficult choice.
“This was not an easy vote for me,”
said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of
California, one of 11 Democrats who
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India, Pakistan armies reach first cease-fire in 14 years
By Nirmala George
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW DELHI — India and Pakistan
began a cease-fire between their armies at
midnight Tuesday — the first such accord
in 14 years.
The agreement, however, did not cover
Indian security forces and Islamic mili
tants in Kashmir, and there was no indica
tion how long it would last or how effec
tive it would be.
The two nations’ armies — which trade
machine-gun and mortar fire almost daily
— would observe the cease-fire along
their entire frontier, the governments said.
That includes the international border that
covers several western states in India, the
Line of Control dividing Jammu-Kashmir,
and the frontier at the Siachen Glacier.
The start of the cease-fire coincides
with the Eid-al-Fitr festival that ended the
Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign
Ministry spokesman Masood Khan con
firmed military chiefs agreed on the cease
fire, which he said was indefinite and “a
positive development.”
Neither side specified how long the
truce would last. India said Monday an
enduring cease-fire would depend on
Pakistan ending the infiltration of Islamic
militants into India’s portion of Kashmir.
The largest Pakistan-based militant
group battling in India’s portion of the
divided Himalayan province said its men
would keep on fighting.
“This will not make any difference for
mujahedeen activities,” Salim Hashmi, a
spokesman for Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, told
The Associated Press from Muzaffarabad, the
capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. .“The
mujahedeen will continue their operations.”
In contrast to the Kashmiris, who were
joyful over the cease-fire as they crowded
bazaars for their Eid shopping, Salim said it
was “not something to get excited about.”
India has accused Pakistan of using
artillery fire as a cover to help militants sneak
into Jammu-Kashmir to attack government
forces and civilians in the past 14 years, and
more than 65,000 people, most of them
Muslim civilians, have died in the fighting.
“Certainly to that extent, the infiltra
tion will be a more risky proposition for
those attempting it,” said G. Parthasarthy,
former Indian high commissioner to
Pakistan, commenting on the cease-fire.
“In terms of atmospherics, it is a good
development. The litmus test of Pakistani
See Cease-fire on page 2
See Medicare on page 8
India, Pakistan to
observe cease-fire
Indian and Pakistan armies
agreed to stop firing across their
frontier and to observe a cease
fire along the international border
and the Line of Control dividing
disputed kashmir.
AFGHAN
Islamabad o
f r
Line of
control .'''Jammu „ _
/ & Kashmir.. ■
PAKISTAN ©
/1 New Delhi ‘ -A
Arabian ' . ,
Sea
INDIA
0 200 mi
0 200 km j
SOURCE: Associated Press
A&M vs. U.T. Yell Practice
WHIN: Thursday. 8 p.m.
WHERE: Kyle Field
AIM
f Texas A&M President Robert
M. Gates, head coach Dennis
Franchione and t:3am captains
will address the crowd.
fYell eaders and the Aggie Band
will march through campus prior
to yell practice, starting at the
Corps quadrangle.
f Friday's game willl be this season's
official "Maroon Out" game. The
Aggies are 5-0 in Maroon Out games
since the tradition began in 1998.
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE -.TEXAS A&M YELL LEADERS
New Iraq combat roles ahead for National Guard, Reserve
By Robert Burns
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The National Guard and
Reserve will take on more of the combat burden
in Iraq next year, replacing some Army troops
with a smaller, lighter and more mobile force
equipped with fewer tanks and more Humvees.
Nearly 40 percent of the American forces in
Iraq will be from the National Guard and
Reserve after the Pentagon completes a massive
switchout of troops starting in January — up
from about 20 percent now.
Three National Guard infantry brigades will
go, at least two of them slated for combat duties.
Overall, the Pentagon’s plan for replacing the
130,000 American troops in Iraq with a fresh
contingent will shrink the force by 20 percent
and result in a more mobile force, perhaps better
suited to the guerrilla war that has been taking a
sobering toll in U.S. deaths and injuries.
The first changes will be seen even before
the newly designated replacement force gets
there. A contingent of 5,000 soldiers in a com
bat team called the Stryker Brigade, from Fort
Lewis, Wash., is training in Kuwait in prepara
tion for duty in Iraq. They are equipped with a
new, speedier, lightly armored troop carrier and
sophisticated communications tools to enable
soldiers to locate guerrilla threats.
The Stryker Brigade is likely to see action in
the so-called Sunni Triangle, the area between
Baghdad, Ramadi and Tikrit where the resist
ance to U.S. forces has been deadliest.
“It is absolutely optimized for this kind of
fight,” said Ft. Gen. Richard Cody, the Army’s
deputy chief of staff for operations, who over
sees the Army’s provision of fresh forces.
Nearly 40 percent of the 105,000 troops in
the new force will be National Guard and
Reserve after the switchout ends in April. That
compares with about a 20 percent share in the
current force of 130,000 troops.
And it won’t be just Army reservists; the
Marines plan to use about 6,000 of their citi
zen-soldiers.
The main replacement force will arrive over
a period of about four months, from January
See Iraq on page 8