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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2004)
Peace Corps needs Americans with skills in Environment Education Business Peace Corps needs 5,500 graduates with skills in agriculture, business, education, environment health and information technology. All majors are welcome. Benefits include medical, dental and housing, as well as a monthly stipend and 24 vacation days a year. Graduates can defer student loans while serving. Visit the TAMU Career Center 209 Koldus Building to pick up a Peace Corps Catalog. Agriculture www.peacecorps.gov • 800.424.8580 Second Annual ’OSK Run 5K R«jn/3K Walk Who Anyono and R very one When: February 21 <Q> ©am Where. West Oempus 'Gazebo' Registration $ 1 O Mow Through the Oay of T-Shirt Included in Cost Various Door Rrizes Download Registration Forms at classof2005.tamu .edu LEARN TO FLY NOW At United Flight Systems THE EXPERIENCED FLIGHT SCHOOL 2001-2003 Best of the Brazos Valley Winner! FAA Approved Flight School Private - Advance Training Aircraft Rental Available VA Eligible Benefits Pilot Shop Discovery Flights COLLEGE STATiON At Basterwood Airport (979) 260-6322 www. u nitedflight. co w Take a 30 minute aerial tour of Bryan- College Station for as little as *25.°° m 1816 Ponderosa, College Station 696-5555 1904 S. Texas Ave. 822-5555 Vie feent Fun/ How would you score? GMAT GRE MCA! DAT PCAT Take a FREE practice test at Kaplan’s Test Drive and find out. Texas A&M Saturday, February 21 1:00 PM To register, call or visit us online today! 1-800-KAP-TEST kaptest.com/testdrive Test Prep and Admissions registered trademarks of their respective owners. 6B Thursday, February 19, 2004 NEWS THE BATTALIOS Nice catch Sophomore business major Shannon McLaughlin catches a Frisbee at practice Tuesday afternoon at the polo fields. McLaughlin is a member of the Ultimate Frisbee club team, which is playing in a tournament this weekend in Baton Rouge, La. How low can the St. Louis murder rate go? By Jim Suhr THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ST. LOUIS — In a city that averaged 145 killings a yeai over the past decade. Police Chief Joe Mokwa scribbled “99" on a scrap of paper and gave it to the head of the homicide unit, Hany Hegger. As Mowka recalls it, Hegger gulped. Neither man really believed keeping slayings in 2003 below 100 was possible. By year’s end, St. Louis had done better than that. Far bedei. The death toll was 69, matching the city’s lowest total since 1962, which was also the last time St. Louis had fewei than 100 murders. “We’re seeing tangible results, and it’s pleasing. Wert sending a message that we’re not going to tolerate thatkindof behavior anymore,” said Mayor Francis Slay. How did St. Louis meet the goal set in 2002? Police, pros ecutors and others say the chief explanation is that they put the squeeze on the city’s most violent neighborhoods. During the past couple of years, the city has added IDO police officers. Stepped-up patrols concentrated on thedozei neighborhoods that once accounted for half of the city’s homicides. From there, police systematically zeroed in on specific streets and troublemakers. Police now keep tabs on people they consider troublemak ers. Authorities have cracked down on outstanding warrantsto get “the worst of the worst” off the streets. And prosecutors have pressed for and gotten stiff sentences that put chronic bad guys behind bars. “I don't think it correlated to more or less arrests, just smarter ones,” said Jennifer Joyce, the city’s prosecutor. Some also credit state-of-the-art hospitals with savins the lives of victims who years earlier might have diedof their wounds. St. Louis’ homicide toll has declined more than 60 percent in the past two years. Last year’s total was a sharp drop-off from 113 in 2002, 149 in 2001 and 123 the year before that It was a'74 percent decline from St. Louis’ all-time high of 267 in 1993, when the city’s homicide rate was more than eight times the national one. Seventy country ar tough Su forces Conference “This is ship sympc over the U on current i lary matte saidlt, Co This eve ion spon of the Cot Scientists struggle for new test « Chhsiiait that doesn’t require killing cows £, Viminto By Nicholas K. Geranios THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SPOKANE, Wash. — When the nation’s first case of mad cow disease was discov ered on a Washington farm, it took the slaughter of more than 700 healthy cattle to prove the disease had not spread. That’s because there’s no test for mad cow that can be done on live animals, and there may not be one for some time. “I don’t know how far away we are,” said Don Knowles, who runs a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory in Pullman that is working jointly with Washington State University scientists to develop such a test. “Data and announcements are coming out all the time,” Knowles said. “At this moment, none of these tests has enough val idation data behind them.” Being able to diagnose an infection quickly could help keep contaminated beef out of the food chain and also cut the eco nomic loss that comes from slaughtering healthy animals, according to a 2003 report by the National Research Council. The ani mals killed in Washington state, for exam ple, would have been worth well over half a million dollars at market. Mad cow disease is a public health con cern because scientists believe humans who eat infected beef products can develop a brain-wasting disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has killed 153 people worldwide. Quick detection also could prevent con taminated human blood from entering the blood supply, the report said. The misshapen proteins — called prions — thought to cause mad cow disease con centrate in the brain and central nervous sys tem, and the best test for the disease involves killing the animal and analyzing a cross section of its brain. Finding a test on living animals should be a top priority, but it does not appear to be imminent, according to the NRC report. “Major breakthroughs are needed to achieve the levels of sensitivity and speci ficity required to test live animal and human tissues,” the report said. Scientists are following a theory that pri ons may move through the blood supply and are looking for a way to detect them there. Knowles said. They are also looking fora genetic marker that would reveal when pn- ons are present, he said. The Pullman researchers were thefirstto develop a test to detect a similar disease in sheep called scrapie, said Charlie Powell,a spokesman for the university’s College of Veterinary Medicine. That was the first and only test that ci detect the class of diseases known as trans missible spongiform encephalopathies - which includes mad cow disease — in living animals, Knowles said. But that test does not work on cattle, he said. The lab also was heavily involved in cre ating the most widely used test to deted mad cow disease after an animal is killed Knowles said. Testing capabilities assumed great!! urgency when the nation’s first case of mail cow disease was announced shortly befoit Christmas. An infected Holstein from that was slaughtered Dec. 9 was diagm with mad cow disease on Dec. 22. It is only case ever found in the United States. Theevei Corps •nut RELIGION IN BRIEF Baptists end chaplain endorsement ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP) — A Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board decided to no longer endorse women for military chaplain positions because the denomination reserves such pastoral roles to men only. Despite that interpretation of the Bible, the Rev. Terry Fox said the Baptists “affirm women in other areas of chaplaincy.” The ruling will not affect the 20 female military chaplains (among about 400) already endorsed by the board, but women will not be included in the future. “You have to be able to do all of the things your faith group requires of a clergy person,” said board spokesman Martin King. “To our trustees, that means being a pastor.” Join us for the Fifth Annual Ecological Integration Symposium Demonstrating Ecological Value: Promoting Conservation and Sustainability Friday, Feb. 20, 2004: 8:00 am - 6:00 pm George Bush Presidential Conference Center College Station, Texas Speakers include: Robert Costanza (U. of VT), Brian Czech (steadystate.org), Claire Kremen (Princeton U.), Peter Moyle (U. of CA - Davis), Richard Rice (Conservation International), Michael Rosenzweig (U. of AZ) For more info and free registration: http: //symposium. tamu. edu Social to Follow Presbyterians want minister reinstated CINCINNATI (AP) — A religious court reinstated the Rev Stephen Van Kuiken, who was ousted from ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA) for marrying same-sex couples. Van Kuiken was removed as a clergyman and as pastor of Mouft Auburn Presbyterian Church for defying an order from the regtf Cincinnati Presbytery to stop participating in the ceremonies. A synod judicial commission, which covers Ohio and Michigan, overturned that decision on a technicality. The commission said Van Kuiken was still appealing a lower court’s order to stop performing gay marriages. The case has to be resolved before the church can take furthei action, it said. Essentials of Business Etiquette by Carol Butler Evans Ag’s, have you found Your Key to Business Success? • Have you developed a professional image? » Do you know the ins and out of business dining? » Can you sell yourself over the telephone? » Do you know how to dress your best? * Are you sweating your next job interview? The future begins today....Get the tools you need for your career success, now for only $ 12! 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