thebatt.com There are many textbook buy-back stands on campus as well as bookstores off campus for students to sell books back. More at http:// www.thebatt.com
thebattalion ● tuesday,
may 3, 2011
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2011 student media
Bill aims for guns on campus S
Jill Beathard The Battalion
en. Jeff Wentworth, RSan Antonio, still has a chance to put handguns on Texas college campuses.
Wentworth authored a bill that would allow concealed handgun license holders to carry weapons on campuses of institutions of higher education in Texas. The bill did not receive votes from enough senators to move it to the floor for debate, but Wednesday, Wentworth proposed to add it as an amendment to SB 5, which concerns how higher education institutions are allowed to deal with budget cuts. Wentworth began working on the bill after the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech University, in which an undergraduate student took the lives of 32 people and wounded many others before turning the gun on himself. “I just decided that I didn’t want that ever to take place on a Texas college campus,” Wentworth said. Wentworth and his supporters have been working to get the legislation passed since 2009, when the bill passed the Texas Senate, but it never made it to the floor of the House. Those who support concealed carry on campus, including many Aggies, believe it offers protection for CHL holders, but others believe it infringes on safety more than it protects it. Sgt. Allan Baron of the Texas A&M University Police Department said it’s hard to measure the impact concealed carry will have on the A&M campus. “You have some that will say it’s going to definitely increase its [safety] because people know that people will have a gun on them and they can protect themselves,” Baron said.
Osa Okundaye — THE BATTALION
“And you have some that will say it will decrease it [safety] because now there’s more weapons out there, and it’s more likely for somebody to get hurt; if there’s an altercation then somebody may have a weapon that they utilize. Or somebody loses it, or it gets stolen
from their backpack or something of that nature if they’re concealing it in there.” Residence Halls Residence halls pose a need for greater responsibility to residents who wish to keep handguns in their rooms.
Albert Espinoza, a resident adviser in Schumacher Hall and a senior civil engineering major, said handguns should continue to be prohibited from residence halls. “Situations that I’ve responded to in the See Concealed on page 5b
Bin Laden killing ends this decade of terror Matt Woolbright: Bin Laden altered America’s way of life, his death is huge
T
he time had finally come for Osama bin Laden. He waited years for the chance to strike America’s heart. On a fateful Tuesday morning, he did just that. In the most deadly terrorist attack on U.S. soil, bin Laden’s plan killed nearly 3,000 Americans. His death Sunday is simply one of the greatest American accomplishments in recent history. It was just another Tuesday in Manhattan. People were converging on the center of the city for work and business. Suddenly they heard a plane crash into one of the Twin Towers; surely it must have been an accident. But then the other tower was struck; news outlets alerted the
world that two other planes went down, one in the Penn. countryside and the other into the Pentagon. There was no doubt — America was under attack. The emotions were surreal, and the impact on those who witnessed will likely never be
forgotten. Bin Laden selected a team of 19 terrorists to carry out the assault on the country he declared a holy war on in August 1996 — three years after his first bombing attempt at the World Trade Center. The ensuing action from then-President George W. Bush
defined the next decade of American foreign policy. Within a month, the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan. Two years later when a threat arose in Iraq, Americans couldn’t help but draw the parallels between Saddam and Osama. Beyond the military action that will be recorded in history for generations to come is the terror that bin Laden forced on Americans. The airline industry was shutdown for weeks — everyone was afraid they could be sitting by a terrorist-to-be. The social implications were even greater, as racial profiling of Arab-looking individuals soared to unprecedented levels. Bin Laden’s attack accomplished everything he could have imagined — thousands were dead and millions more succumbed to lives of fear and uncertainty. Everyone knew people die in combat, but this was different, he had taken the safe feeling completely from America’s mindset — anywhere, at any time, he could shatter the hallmark American tranquility. The outrage was instant, Congress authorized full action by Bush to eliminate the threat, and the public outcry was comparable to the rebuff Adolf Hitler received in the 1940s. America’s way of life had been altered by one
cyberspace
Who knows who you are? Digital fraud can happen to anyone, anywhere
fident in the validity of the site. Within two days of posting his ad, he got a response from a woman claiming to be in California. “The email she sent me was broken English but religiously inspired. She started it with, “May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be Angela Washeck with you” and talked about how she loved The Battalion dogs,” Bybel said. “The way she portrayed After rescuing a malnourA ish ished dog from the street and the email made it seem like she was a genutak taking him in for six months, inely nice Christian lady.” The woman said she would pay Bybel $200 the time requirement and fito purchase his dog, Gibbard. The two correnan nancial resources needed to sponded a few times by email, and Bybel said tak take care of the beagle Dalma matian became too much for he noticed some oddities about the situation but was not exceptionally concerned. Pe Peter Bybel. “I didn’t feel like I was going to get So the senior human rescammed because I didn’t know how it would sources so major set out to sell happen,” he said. hi his dog, first on Craigslist. College students are the latest group fallLi Little did he know, a scammer ing prey to counterfeit check scammers. w would interrupt his plan. “I started looking for a home The College Station Police Department has reported several recent check cons recently, for him. I had no luck with costing young people thousands of dollars. [Craigl [Craiglist]. I stumbled upon a site According to Rhonda Seaton, public incalled petf petfinder.com, similar to Craiglist formation officer and recruiting coordinator but it it’s a more secure site. I posted with the police department, victims are conan aad there,” Bybel said. tacted via Craiglist, eBay, “work at home” P Petfinder.com requires site classified ads and Yahoo messenger accounts. regi registration and information about b the pet, so Bybel felt conEvan Andrews — THE BATTALION See Scams on page 5a
Pg. 1a-05.03.11.indd 1
voices | 1b Another angle Columnist Katie White offers an additional opinion on the death of Osama bin Laden.
world reaction | 6a & 7a Leaders react People around the world had different reactions to Osama bin Laden’s death. man’s orders. The fear permeating every aspect of American life was legitimatized a week after the attacks, when envelopes containing anthrax were mailed to news outlets. Five people died and more were infected by lethal substance. The anger and hatred continued to build over the years with every suicide bomber and other terrorist antics that took lives on the orders of bin Laden. Eventually it just became a cycle: an attack or some reminder that terrorism was real, then came the fear. This was followed by a slow return to normalcy — there was no sense of security because there was no way of knowing how long it would be before the peace See Decade of Terror on page 1b
veterans
Sculpture honors Vietnam veterans Christine Perrenot
The Battalion For those who experienced the hardships of war, such as Vietnam, monuments and sentimental tributes bring a feeling of respect and remembrance. “This is a maquette of the Vietnam memorial that will be built at the capitol of Texas in Austin,” said Duke Sundt, the memorial artist known for other pieces such as the longhorn sculpture at the University of Texas. Sundt was selected by veteran Patrick Reilly to create a Vietnam memorial sculpture. House concurrent resolution 36 was unanimously passed and signed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2005. The resolution allowed a monument at the Texas Capitol.
“This is the best kept secret in Texas,” Reilly said. Sundt expressed his reasoning and artistic choices behind the figures and images displayed in the monument with much knowledge and research. “We have been waiting for this for 40 years,” Reilly said. Sundt said he has a military influence in his life due to his father and brother being West Point graduates and his oldest brother completing two tours in Vietnam. “I have tried to represent as many services in the sculpture as I could, “ Sundt said. “I’m not going to get everything in, but I did as much as I could.” The sculpture features five different ethnic groups See Vietnam on page 4a
5/2/11 10:10 PM