Sports: Aggies look to expand win streak • Page 7 opinion: Starving for attention • Page 11 Volume 110 • Issue 66 • 12 pages Joshua L Hobson • THE BATTALION |ecretory of Commerce Donald Evans spoke at the George Bush Presidential library Complex Monday. A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 www.thebattaIion.net Tuesday, December 2, 2003 Evans: Cabinet must be loyal By Lindsay Broomes THE BATTALION The president’s character and leadership can be best defined by loyalty and trust, Secretary of Commerce Donald L. Evans said Monday at Texas A&M. During 9-11, Evans said, President George W. Bush provided the country with what it needed. “He provided them with discipline, pas sion, a steady hand, confidence and faith,” he said. He said that only as a team was the Cabinet able to win a series of tax cuts and trade promotion authority, legislation designed to increase trade. “The economy is definitely picking up steam,” Evans said. “The president knew that we as Americans could lead the world by expanding peace, prosperity and security.” The president’s goals were set to rally the country, Evans said. Former President George Bush said he began the idea of ushering in freedom, and his son is continuing that plan. “Other countries love America,” the sen ior Bush said. “Freedom, free enterprise and the goodness of the American people is why America has been so successful in the last 200 years.” Evans’ travels to other countries have shown him that the United States has helped to affect change in the world. Afghanistan See Evans on page 12 Rother’s changes name to Traditions By Lindsay Broomes THE BATTALION Rother’s Bookstore hopes to unveil a esh attitude with the release of its new ame, Traditions. Rother’s recently changed the name its stores in the Bryan-College Station sa to more closely identify with Texas &M and its students, said Paul Patti, [eneral manager for Rother’s stores in : Bryan-College Station area. “A name change reflects a new atti- ide,” said Karen Brooks, general mer- fiandise manager-buyer for Rother’s tores. The stores are replacing their blue lother’s memorabilia and items includ- |ig banners, bags and T-shirts, with the aroon Traditions line. “This is a gradual process that should be done about February,” said Patti. Patti said Rush and buy-back would luse the Rother’s title to ease students to the change. Rother’s is also planning a two-to ree-year^ project to remodel all the Jtores' to promote Aggie traditions, [aintings will be hung along the walls in dition to memorabilia. Although there e no formal plans for this project yet, ork will begin on the stores in the sum- er of 2004. Brooks, who has been working with Rother’s for 25 years, said this is a posi- change. It just seems appropriate after this long,” she said. Despite the face lift, the stores have not changed ownership. “Selection, service and pricing will be the same quality and standard they always have. This is a competitive mar ket, and this is a positive way to stay on top,” Brooks said. “We never want to take our stance for granted.” “We are putting in a lot of effort to continue suc cess.” Suanne Pledger, the projects direc tor for Loupots, said she is not con cerned about Rother’s changes affect ing its business. “Nebraska Publishing still owns Rother’s,” Pledger said. “Rother’s founder Dennis Rother actually began at Loupots and received all of his training here.” Holly Scott, general manager of the Memorial Student Center Bookstore, said she does not think her store’s sales will be affected by Rother’s. Pledger said she thinks that a golf store, book store and an off-campus resi dential donnitory all having the same name — Traditions — could present a 'problem. . The transition from the Rother’s name to Traditions has cost the store about $5,000. The estimated price of the remodeling could be anywhere from $ 10,000 to $ 100,000 over the course of the two-year time frame allotted to com plete the renovations, Patti said. Some students are not expressing the See Bother's on page 2 Fa la la la la Joshua L. Hobson • THE BATTALION Jessica Juergens, a junior biomedical sciences major, hangs According to The Associated Press, Christmas lights and other Christmas lights on her College Station home Monday afternoon. decorations make up a $1.9 billion retail market. &M students help design hospital By Carrie Pierce THE BATTALION Nineteen Texas A&M environmental : design students have been working alongside the architecture firm HKS Architects Inc. in the design of a short-stay hospital and medical [)ffice building in Garland, Texas. Cambridge Holdings and the Presbyterian lealthcare System commissioned HKS to mdertake the design for the Presbyterian 9 iarland Center for Diagnostics and Surgery. HKS Architects Inc. then invited a third- 'ear undergraduate architecture class taught by George J. Mann, a design studio professor and project director for A&M, to work along side the corporation for a real-life experience. HKS has been an advisory teaching firm to the College of Architecture since 1973 and employs more Aggies in the architecture field than any other firm, said Mann, the Ronald L. Skaggs endowed professor of Health Facilities Design. Junior environmental design major Jennifer Parlett said students were introduced to the project by HKS in October when they visited HKS Architects Inc. The students trav eled to Garland to view the 70,000 square foot property being used for the hospital and med ical office building. The class then split into teams to come up with different designs for the health care facil ity, Mann said. Junior environmental design major Dominic Savoie said that since then, the stu dents have spent countless hours in the Langford Architecture building perfecting their designs. “Every free waking moment I’ve had has been spent with the design,” she said. See Design on page 12 Joshua L. Hobson • THE BATTALION Environmental design majors, senior Melissa Marusak, left, and junior Lacey Mackey, put the finishing touches on their hospital in Langford Architecture building Monday afternoon that will be displayed in Dallas. WHO begins By Chris Tomlinson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NAIROBI, Kenya — Tens of thousands of ictivists and health workers rallied worldwide Monday to mark World AIDS Day, and officials lailed new initiatives, new funding and a new pill ofight the disease that has infected 40 million peo ple and kills more than 8,000 every day. The World' Health Organization and UNAIDS promised cheaper drugs, simpler treatment regi- SILVER TAPS v_ Cheng-Hsien Chiang Civil Engineering 10:30 p.m. Academic Plaza program for AIDS patients mens and more money as part of a campaign launched in Nairobi to provide 3 million HIV- infected people with the latest drugs available by the end of 2005 in a $5.5 billion effort. WHO also certified an innovative, generic drug for treating HIV that combines three essential anti retroviral drugs into one pill to be taken twice a day. WHO and UNAIDS promised to promote interna tional agreements to streamline treatment programs. “In two short decades, HIV/AIDS has become the premier disease of mass destruction,” said Dr. Jack Chow, the assistant director-general of WHO. “The death odometer is spinning at 8,000 lives a day and accelerating.” Medecins Sans Frontieres, an aid agency that has led efforts to simplify HIV treatment, welcomed the announcement but said funding will be critical. “The treatment has to be free; if the treatment is not free, they will not meet their goals,” said Dr. Morten Rostrup, president of group’s international council. Thousands of activists marched and rallied in See AIDS on page 2 Worldwide control of AIDS failing International efforts to control the spread of HIV/AIDS are failing, according to a U.N. report. There are more deaths and infections this year than ever before and as many as 46 million people live with the virus. Newly infected with HIV in 2003 Highest estimates North America 54,000 Eastern Europe, Central Asia 280,000 m Caribbean 80,000 South America 180,000 ' m North Africa, Middle East 67,000 Sub-Saharan Africa 3.4 million South. Southeast Asia 1.1 million I East Asia Pacific 270,000 m Australia. New Zealand 1,000 SOURCES: United Nations; Associated Press AP Researcher found guilty on 47 of 69 charges By Betsy Blaney THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LUBBOCK, Texas — A world-renowned plague researcher was convicted Monday of 47 charges but was acquitted on 22 others, including the most seri ous allegations related to a bioterrorism scare that was prompted when he reported that plague samples had possibly been stolen from his Texas Tech University lab. Dr. Thomas Butler, 62, was acquitted on the most serious charges of smuggling and illegally transport ing the potentially deadly germ, as well as lying to federal agents. He appeared stunned as the verdicts were read after two days of deliberations. He closed his eyes, shook his head and fought back tears. After the jury left the courtroom, Butler’s wife and son hugged him tightly for several seconds. The charges stemmed from an investigation fol lowing his report to police Jan. 14 that 30 vials of the potentially deadly plague bacteria were missing from his Texas Tech lab. The report sparked a bioterrorism scare in this West Texas city in January and President Bush was informed of the incident. In a statement written later, Butler said he acci dentally destroyed the samples. However, during his trial he testified that he had no clear memory of destroying the vials but that they could have been destroyed during his cleanup of an accident he had Jan. 3 or 4. His attorney, Chuck Meadows, said: “We are dis appointed that the jury did not acquit Tom of all the charges. We’re going to analyze the jury’s verdict.”