^1 ^ Thursday, June 10, 2004
The Battalion
olume
Issue
6 pages
A lexas A<&IM i radition Since 1893
OPINION:
Conservatism
run amok
Page 3
www.lhehiiU.eoiu
PACE DESIGN BY: RACHEL VALENCIA
ublic viewing area to be open for Bush jump
@ 80
T iere will be a public viewing area for former President Bush's
■ arachute jump at the George Bush Presidential Library on Sunday.
wwb owy bui Room for 5,000
Parking areas will open
at 10 a.m.
Spectators should bring
sunscreen, water, hats, or
umbrellas
In the event of inclement
weather, the jump will be
canceled
□ GENERAL PARKING
□ PUBLIC VIEWING AREA
WILL LLOYD • THE BATTALION
SOURCE • JIM MCCARTH, TEXAS A&M
By Shawn Millender
THE BATTALION
The George Bush Forty-One
Endowment has announced that a
viewing area will be open to the
general public for former
President George Bush’s para
chute jump at the George Bush
Presidential Library on Sunday.
The George Bush Forty-One
Endowment is a campaign to raise
$41 million to benefit the Bush
Library Foundation, the Points of
Light Foundation and M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center.
Parking for the event will open
at 10 a.m. and the space will
accommodate 5,000 spectators.
“We are pleased to open this
event to the general public free of
charge, and our goal is to accom
modate as many people as we safe
ly can,” said Roman Popaduik, the
executive director of the George
Bush Presidential Library
Foundation. “We strongly urge
those who join us Sunday to come
prepared with their own sunscreen,
water, hats and umbrellas.”
Bush is scheduled to jump with
the Golden Knights, the U.S. Army
Parachute Team. Actor Chuck
Norris and Fox News Managing
Editor Brit Hume will also be
jumping with the former president.
Dr. Olivia Bannon, who is
working hospitality for Saturday’s
41@80 festivities in Houston,
plans to attend the event.
“I think this is very exciting,”
Bannon said. “He’s 80 years old
and has a lot of energy. This is a
man who won’t let his age slow
him down.”
The Aggie Wranglers, The
Oakridge Boys and The Singing
Cadets will all be on hand to per
form.
“It’s going to be an exciting
time,” said Aggie Wrangler
President Gared Chastain. “It’s a
real privilege to be invited to be a
part of something like this.”
Chastain said this is the third time
in the past year the Aggie Wranglers
have performed for Bush.
In case of rain or high winds,
the jump will be canceled. The
Weather Channel has indicated a
10 percent chance of rain on
Sunday and the forecast is mostly
sunny.
i’sd
X1C0
ush Library honors
eagan with memorial
By Suzy Green
THE BATTALION
A memorial honoring President Ronald Reagan
j open to the public in the rotunda of the George
|u.sh Presidential Library through July 5.
“We join the nation in mourning the passing of
great president and statesman,” said Douglas
WHITNEY MARTIN • THE BATTALION
ter be:
nior biomedical sciences major Heather Ottmers writes
sr condolences on a scroll located in the rotunda in the
eorge Bush Presidential Library. The scroll will be on dis-
ay for a month and will be sent to the Reagan family.
Menarchik, director of the Bush Library.
More than 400 visitors have signed the
memorial scroll with messages of sympathy
since it was put on display Monday. The scroll
will be sent to Reagan’s family in July.
“I just wanted to make the effort to express my
condolences after Reagan and his family dedicated
so much of their lives to our country,” said Heather
Ottmers, a junior biomedical sciences major.
All presidential libraries have created memori
als to Reagan in observance of the traditional 30-
day period of national mourning. “We thought the
scroll was a good way to get the public involved,”
Menarchik said.
Many entries thank Reagan for his impact on the
United States. A message signed by Jim Anderson
said, “You showed America how to stand and be
counted for what we believe in. Thank you.”
A photograph of Reagan, Bush and Mikhail
Gorbachev at a 1988 peace summit on Governor’s
Island is displayed beside the scroll to remind vis
itors of Reagan’s connection to Bush, his former
vice president.
Reagan had a large impact on the character
and leadership development of former President
Bush, Menarchik said.
“Reagan’s leadership lasted not only through
his presidency, but also through the term of former
President Bush. Now his influence continues to be
seen through George W. Bush,” Ottmers said.
Gifts or memorabilia will not be accepted
because of security concerns, said Brian Blake,
director of public relations for the Bush Library.
Instead of flowers, the Reagan family has suggested
See Memorial on page 2
Americans bid farewell to Reagan
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By Calvin Woodward
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — With the storied riderless
orse symbolizing the fallen president, Ronald
eagan’s casket rolled on a century-old caisson to
e Capitol on Wednesday for final tributes from
igh officials and common Americans in the first
residential state funeral in three decades.
The 40th president lay in state under a dome
here public servants from Abraham Lincoln
rward have been honored. People stood by the
ousands in quiet witness to his funeral proces-
|ion along the broad expanse of Constitution
venue and waited hours in steamy heat to pay
st respects in the Capitol Rotunda.
“Fellow Americans, here lies a graceful and a
gallant man,” said Vice President Dick Cheney,
speaking at the state funeral ceremony opening
the 34-hour period of Reagan’s lying in state. “It
was the vision and the will of Ronald Reagan
that gave hope to the oppressed, shamed the
oppressors and ended the evil empire.”
Crowds 15 deep watched the Washington pro
cession. Drums sounded, marking the cadence of
the marchers, and cheers briefly broke out for
Nancy Reagan at the head of the procession. She
waved repeatedly, looking wan.
“God bless you, Nancy,” a man cried out.
In her husband’s death as in his life, she was
See Reagan on page 2
A&M researchers locate WWII sub
By Natalie Younts and
Shawn Millender
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M researchers
have located the Japanese sub
marine that sank the USS
Indianapolis near the Marianas
Islands on July 30, 1945.
The submarine, 1-58, was
discovered in April, 50 miles
off the coast of Nagasaki, 675
feet underwater by William
Bryant, an oceanography pro
fessor, and Brett Phaneuf, an
oceanography graduate student.
The Discovery Channel
funded the project and will air
a special on it in January 2005.
Phaneuf said a film-production
company, Parallax, which was
working with the Discovery
Channel, contacted the
researchers about a year ago.
“They had seen some of the
work we’ve done,” Phaneuf
said. “They thought we’d be the
right guys. We had the expertise
technologically to help them.”
The company wanted the
A&M oceanography depart
ment’s help in locating 24
Japanese submarines.
The 1-58 sank the
Indianapolis two weeks before
the end of the war, according
to the Naval Historical Center
in Washington.
When the Japanese surren
dered, ending World War II,
the United States inherited the
submarines. The United States
kept the submarines in a naval
harbor in, Sasebo Bay, Japan.
The U.S. Navy and the Allies
did not want the Soviet Union to
have access to the Japanese sub
marines because they were sig
nificantly more technologically
advanced than the Soviet sub
marines, Phaneuf said.
On a secret mission, the
United States intentionally
scuttled, or sank, the
submarines, Phaneuf said.
The 24 submarines make
up the largest and most diverse
collection of World War II
submarines, Phaneuf said.
“It’s the largest collection
of sunken submarines in the
world,” Bryant said. “We
know where they are now.”
The Indianapolis delivered
the atomic bombs that were
See Submarines on page 2
An honor guard carries the casket of former President
Ronald Reagan from a hearse at Point Mugu Naval Air
JOHN P. CURTIS • KRT CAMPUS
Station, Calif., to an Air Force jet that carried his body
to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, June 9.
Small businesses honored
with performance award
By Chelsea Sledge
THE BATTALION
Chris Scotti was recognized Wednesday for a business
that he began out of his room in Appelt Hall in 1995.
Scotti is the owner of AgniTEK, a business technology
server, which started out as CW Computer Services nine
years ago.
“I took fewer classes as the business grew,” Scotti said.
“I never finished school. It was hard to concentrate and stay
motivated.”
AgniTEK was one of 10 small businesses in the Brazos
Valley honored with the Bryan Rotary Club/Newman 10
Business Performance Award at a luncheon at the Hilton
Hotel. The award is sponsored by the Bryan Rotary Club,
Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce and Newman
Printing Company.
For the 11th year in a row, the Newman 10 Award hon
ored the fastest growing firms in the Brazos Valley.
Recipients are chosen by the Lowry Mays Business School
based on the percentage of sales increase over a three year
period.
“Small business makes up 60 percent of Bryan/College
Station’s annual sales and 64 percent of jobs,” said Bon
Fazzino, a member of the B-CS Chamber of Commerce.
“They will continue to generate the vast majority of jobs
and they are the backbone of our economy.”
Other Newman 10 Award recipients included Marilyn
Ferguson, owner of Gifts and Gab, and Denise Fries, who
started Fries Financial Services.
Gifts and Gab had 38 percent sales growth between 2001
and 2003, placing Ferguson’s store at number eight.
Ferguson started her first business in 1975, the first residen
tial landscaping company in College Station. Ferguson is
also a proud survivor of two types of cancer.
A graduate of Texas A&M, Fries’ company ranked
See Awards on page 2
The Newman 10
Business Performance Award
The Bryan Rotary Club and
Newman Printing Company
recognized the 10 fastest growing
companies in the Brazos County.
Left to right: James Sledge, Lifetime Achievement
Award recipient; Albert Smith and Rany Roberts of
AES Employer Services Inc., the top-ranked company.
(j.) AES Employer Services Inc.
(2) Stearns Construction Inc.
(§) Infinity Pro Sports
(4) Fries Financial Services
(§) Redtail Equipment Rental
(& ) AgniTEK
(2) Pride Cleaners
(J) Gifts & Gab
(§} A&K Custom Cabinets and Trim Inc.
Capsher Technology Inc.
ANDREW BURLESON • THE BATTALION
PHOTO BY EVAN O'CONNELL • THE BATTALION
SOURCE • RUSLEEN MAURICE,
PR CHAIRMAN OF BRYAN ROTARY CLUB