Monday, August 2, 2004
THE BA TUI
Heads or tails?
by Will Li
Texas hospitals are running out of roo
BRIAN WILLS • THE BATTALION
Dub Martin of Waco, organizes his coin collection that
has been growing with his other collectibles for 60 years
at the Gun Show at the Brazos County Center. Martin
and his wife used to own an antique store, but now they
travel the country showing off and selling their collection
of history.
LUFKIN (AP) — Texas’ 10 state hospitals have
been running at or near capacity for weeks, forcing
counties to pay to transport psychiatric patients hun
dreds of miles to the nearest available bed, a newspa
per reported Sunday.
At one point last week, the hospital in El Paso was the
only one with any room, and all new patients had to be
sent there, said Kenny Dudley, director of state mental
health facilities with the Texas Department of Mental
Health and Mental Retardation.
“We’ve hit a point where every bed in the system is
full. ... The thing that got us in trouble the last couple of
weeks is that we’ve just been full all the time,” Dudley
said in Sunday’s edition ofThe Lufkin Daily News.
The system usually runs at up to 98 percent of its
2,260-patient statewide capacity, Dudley said.
Department spokesman Don Rogers said the system
traditionally sees high numbers of admissions at the end
of every summer. But stretching capacity seems to be
more than a seasonal problem at some hospitals.
Big Spring State Hospital, serving West Texas and the
Panhandle, has been running at or over capacity for three
months, spokeswoman Valerie Avery said. And North
Texas State Hospital consistently has seen capacity
patient loads for years, spokesman Jerry McLain said.
The problem involves funding and staffing levels,
rather than space, Rogers said. Hospitals only can
hold as many patients as they have doctors and nurses
to treat them.
A systemwide overcrowding plan does notadt;
possibility that the entire system could reach
Austin State Hospital Superintendent CarlSchoci
His hospital, which serves Central Texas, has bee
near capacity for the past few weeks.
“The last month has been pretty bad,” Schot
“It’s tough all around.”
Rogers said additional nurses and doctors o
called to work in case of an emergency.
Rusk State Hospital in East Texas began &
patients last week, when the facility held 285 pc
Its staffing levels call for a maximum of 271 [e
spokeswoman Judy Garner said.
The diversion meant Angelina County depute
drive people facing court-ordered mental
more than 700 miles to El Paso. The deputies
leave their local duties and use county vehicles:: iat a " (
trip, and the sheriff’s budget must pay fortheirfc cor ^ * n
and accommodations. Sheriff Kent Henson said
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El Paso “is the farthest we’ve ever had to go,”AE ve , ' iaL * a
County Judge Joe Berry said. “We have nocnoic;
David Cozadd, director of operations at a
health care services agency in Lufkin, said more!:
may face mental health crises because state
stretched to the breaking point. That could
for hospitalization, he said.
Government warns of threat against certain buildings
Golf
Continued from page 1
By Jennifer C. Kerr
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON —The federal govern
ment warned Sunday of possible al-Qaida
terrorist attacks against “iconic” financial
institutions in New York City, Washington
and Newark, N.J., saying a confluence of
chilling intelligence in recent days pointed
to a car or truck bomb.
Recently obtained information —
including photos, drawings and written
documents — led the government to
take the unprecedented action of naming
specific buildings as potential targets:
—The Citigroup Center building and
the New York Stock Exchange in New
York City.
—The International Monetary
Fund and World Bank buildings in
Washington.
-—Prudential Financial Inc.’s head
quarters in northern New Jersey.
“The preferred means of attack would
be car or truck bombs,” Homeland
Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in a
briefing for journalists. “That would be
a primary means of attack.”
The government said the new intelli
gence indicated the meticulous planning
of al-Qaida. Ridge identified explosives
as the likely mode of attack, as opposed
to a chemical or biological attack or a
radiological “dirty” bomb.
Ridge said the government’s threat
level for financial institutions in just the
three cities would be raised to orange, or
high alert, but would remain at yellow,
or elevated, elsewhere.
The Federal Reserve, the most potent
symbol of America’s financial strength,
was not on the list of threatened buildings.
The government provided a wealth of
detail that it had obtained in the past 36
hours to 72 hours, but a senior intelli
gence official described it only on condi
tion of anonymity. The official described
“excruciating detail” and meticulous
planning “indicative of al-Qaida.”
The official said the intelligence gath
ered from several sources indicated scout
ing had been done to identify security in
and around these buildings; the flow of
pedestrians; the best places for recon
naissance; how to make contact with
employees who work in the buildings;
construction of the buildings; traffic pat
terns; locations of hospitals and police
departments; and which days of the week
present less security at the buildings.
To illustrate the level of the intelli
gence, the official cited these examples
of detail possible plotters had accumulat
ed: midweek pedestrian traffic counts of
14 people per minute on each side of the
street for a total of 28 people; that some
explosives might not be hot enough to
melt steel; and that the construction of
some buildings might prevent them from
falling down.
The warning is based partly on docu
mentary evidence — obtained during
successful CIA counterterrorism opera
tion _ that provides clear indications that
al-Qaida operatives are casing specific
buildings in the financial sector, another
official said, also speaking only on the
condition of anonymity.
Cities warned of
terrorist activities
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The government warned of
possible terrorists attacks against
“iconic" financial institutions in
New York City. Washington and
Newark. N.J. New York City has
been on the orange level of
precautions since the attacks of
Sept. 11.2001.
Severe condition
High condition
for her to pay for school.
“With more money received in sd
arships, students can work less It
enhancing their time and abilitytosto
Gilbert said. “I think that more
trative scholarships should be aim
especially with rising tuition costs."
Satterwhite said tournament et
fees go into an endowment andseto
ships are funded from the
interest.
“The endowment was created by i
sion employees through fund-raisers:
donations,” Satterwhite said.
Elevated condition
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Guarded condition
Low condition
Night
Continued from page 1
SOURCE: The Office
of Homeland Security
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<AP> TERROR ALERTS 080104:
Graphic shows the five levels of
terrorism alerts as announced by
the Office of Homeland Security:
with BC-Terror Threats; 1c x 3 3/4
inches, 47 mm x 95 mm; JB/Staff;
ETA7 p.m. </AP>
Power line
Continued from page 1
of the lines and the modification of
the electrical substations that relay
electricity throughout the grid.
The total cost incurred by the
University is approximately $5 mil
lion, Sippial said.
Wilkerson said including under
ground and overhead lines, modifica
tion of substations and other materials
necessary to transfer the electricity
will cost BTU approximately the same
amount, about $5 million.
Compared with how much A&M
has spent in the past, $5 million is a
relatively small amount to improve
and update the infrastructure and
maintain reliability of power delivery,
Sippial said.
“We’ve invested over $50 million in
our own utility infrastructure over the
past six to seven years,” Sippial said.
Wilkerson said that the campus
operating only on a single line for
so long is unusual. After the project
is completed, the two lines will be in
service at all times, and if one line
fails, the other will be able to supply
the campus with power, he said.
Wilkerson said that after the project
is completed, it is likely that A&M
will not have another major outage.
“There are better ways that the
University could spend the money
because I really don’t mind having
blackouts,” said Johnathon Cramer, a
senior sociology major.
Construction on the project will
begin this August and will be com
pleted in August of 2005. The under
ground lines will run beneath West
Campus and through Research Park.
Overhead lines will be installed on
FM 2818 which will run directly to the
substation near Rio Grande Drive.
Because of the construction, pedes
trians and drivers may experience
some inconveniences such as tem
porary road and sidewalk closures,
obstructions to parking lots and con
struction-related noise.
If there is another region-wide
blackout in the future, we now have
the necessary back-up generators and
additional lines that will not leave us
stranded without power for an extend
ed period of time, Sippial said.
frequent victims of property crimes.
“I would encourage students to parti
in National Night Out because theyne
have a better relationship with tho
neighborhoods,” Melnyk said. “They®
have a neighbor available who can trait*
for criminal activity around their to
their absence.”
Baron said National Night Out events
held for students who live on and offcait
“Events are being coordinated i
University apartments, and all studeif
welcome to come,” Baron said.
CORRECTIONS
A front-page article Wednesday ^
rectly reported head football coach I
Franchione as making a statement!
coach's clinic in New Mexico. The st#
was delivered from Houston.
A column in Wednesday’s S
tion misspelled the name of Texas Ra«?
infielder Mark Teixeira.
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The Battalu
Joshua Hobson
Editor in Chief
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