The Stetson Reporter

by andy dehnart | Fourteen vehicles were vandalized last Saturday evening, and another four were burglarized, Public Safety reports show. All 14 vehicles were spray painted with black paint sometime around 4 a.m. Twelve were parked in the sorority row east parking lot; the other two were parked in the •Smith Hall east parking lot and the Gordis Hall west parking lot, reports say. ' Two of the burglarized vehicles were parked in the Smith Hall east parking lot. A burglarized sport utility vehicle was parked at the Stover Theatre parking lot; the fourth car was parked at the Lynn Business Center. A stereo was stolen from the car parked at LBC, and car CD players were stolen from the two pickup tracks parked at Smith Hall, according to the reports. Nothing was stolen from the vehicle parked at Stover, although its window was broken. "Our primary mission in Public Safety is more for the students' physical safety and protection." UJ . Z o w "We spend more time walking the residence halls then we do in the parking lots." Windows were broken on the other three vehicles, the reports show. That evening, two Public Safety officers were on patrol, Chief of , Public Safety Frank Mussoline said. However, he said there is "no way that I can have them" everywhere at ' once. "If I had the bud- ■ get, I'd like to have 10 officers to have on this campus," he said. "Our primary mission in Public Safety is more for the students' physical safety and protection. We spend more time walking the residence halls then we do in ihe parking lots," Mussoline said. He said he'd prefer the officers on duty protect people rather than property. "I empathize with the [victims]," he said. "You don't expect things like this to happen." Compensation for tlie damages will have to come ;from the victims' insurance companies, because the university does not "have the wherewithal to indemnify everything that goes on on this campus," Mussoline said. They were "crimes of opportunity," Mussoline said. He said that those who committed the "vengeance-type acts" probably planned the attacks. Public Safety has no suspects, he said, although they suspect the perpetrators were from off campus, possibly seeking vengeance for previous encounters with Stetson students. One student whose truck was broken into said his passenger-side window w as smashed, and over $300 m CDs were stolen along with a mobile phone. The thieves attempted.to steal the vehicle's CD player, but due to a safety mechanism, they could not remove it, instead. smashing and denting the face of the CD player, rendering it inoperable. Incident reports filed by Public Safety officers show that the DeLand Police Department responded to file reports on at least three of the cars. . Andy Dehnart is the editor of The Reporter. GEORGES: Satellite imagery shows Georges headed for the Gulf Coast on Sunday, image courtesy national hurricane center I V;; %Vi. <■ l; BREAK-IN: Plastic covers the shattered window on one of the pickup trucks burglarized early last Sunday morning, photo by julie gowan by julie gowan | This past week, Hurricane Georges threatened Florida. During the middle of the week, meteorologists thought Georges would turn inward and possibly.threaten central- Florida. -"■■'",. At this time, all officials of Stetson met, going over the general emergency/disaster plan, a detailed. 30-page procedure plan for the campus during severe weather or a hurricane. "The hurricane plan is part of a general emergency plan that we have and that plan is managed out of the Facilities Management area," said Jim Beasley, vice president of Campus Life. People started to be evacuated in southern Florida and students were discouraged from driving south into the severe weather. The administration began to enact procedures from the plan. Steve Seguin, a first-year student, said, "My parents and siblings were evacuated from our house in Fort Myers. They called me from a friends house to let me know they were OK." Thursday evening, students received a memo saying, "We do anticipate continued rain and possibly strong winds which would create difficulties for our campus community." , ~ Difficulties would range from power outages, wind damage to trees and power lines, and possible flooding of low-lying areas. The severe weather was predicted to hit Volusia County late Friday night or early Saturday morning. "The buildings are very safe during severe weather; most are block or brick construction; the fraternity houses are frame structures. If. the campus is threatened with severe weather, these houses would be.evacuated to the Edmunds Center; Stetson Hall would be evacuated to the CUB," said Beasley. All other residents would remain in their buildings, although they would be moved into the halls for increased safety. During resident assistant training a week before school started, the resident hall staff and fraternity and sorority counselors were given some information regarding the general emergency disaster plan. If the campus, were to be affected by severe weather, the administration would inform the residential life staffs about specific procedures. On Thursday and early Friday morning, Residential Life met with their staff to discuss what hall directors and resident assistants would do during severe weather. The possibility of Hurricane Georges hitting central Florida had been dismissed, but high winds and a substantial amount of rain were not ruled out. "We asked all RAs and head directors to stay at home on Thursday and Friday to be on hand and available not only to us, but more importantly to their residents if they had any questions or concerns," said Michelle Espinosa, director of Residential Life. Residents who were leaving for the weekend either for leisure or to see parents were asked to sign out with their RAs, so the university was accountable for where its students were. [ see HURRICANE, page 2a J USF cancels classes BY JOE HUMPHREY (U-WIRE) | All USF campuses were closed effective 6:30 a.m. Friday due to Hurricane Georges, President Betty Castor announced Thursday. All classes and events scheduled for the weekend have been canceled. Twelve USF buildings are designated as American Red Cross shelters, though none have opened yet. Hillsborough County's emergency operations team will meet at 6 a.m. Friday to assess the need for opening shelters. Even if the campus does not sustain a direct hit from Hurricane Georges, flooding may become a problem. Three USF buidlings flooded during Sunday's heavy rains, and with the possibility of 5 to 10 more inches of rain, more buildings could be waterlogged. Campus residents are being encouraged to leave, according to Tom Kane, director for Residence Services. Residents of the Village Housing complex could be moved to other residence halls, Kane said. Joe Humphrey writes for The Oracle at the University of South Florida. - - by russell E. triplett | The student turnout at the recent town hall meeting was embarrassingly low. That there were almost as many administrators present as students was appalling. It looked like something outof a bad comic strip. Where were we? Sure we can repeat those old excuses again and again..."I had class"...or..."I had to work"...or (here is a really good one) "I had a conflict." That meeting was a crystal clear illustration of the pervasive apathy that cripples our student body. Here was a chance to speak our minds. Here was a chance to release our frustrations. Here was a chance to question decisions, challenge authority, and use our collective critique as an effective catalyst for change. [read this story in Forum, page 4a ] by emily eisenhauer | Those of you who fear the likes of Microsoft and Disney and who think Synergy was invented'by"Big Brother should probably not visit GeoCities, although you would certainly find some kindred spirits in residence. In fact, there's a whole lot of everybody at GeoCities, with over a million and a half members and 9 million monthly visitors. Some of you may know of GeoCities as the provider of free web pages and free e.mail, but that is really only the beginning of their offerings, which are Celebration-like detailed. There's something for everyone, from kids to foreigners to pets to hermits who just want the free web page. There's even shopping. [ read this story in-Life, page 1b ] over High Point 2-1 by chris tunno | Stian Tobiassen made a picture perfect loft shot over High Point goalkeeper Dwayne Adams in the 82nd minute to give the Hatters a 2-1 victory and their third win of the season. "Coach [Murphy] told me before the game that the goalkeeper . takes a lot of chances and comes out of the goal a lot," said Tobiassen. "I got that breakaway and saw him coming out of the goal, so I took the sot and just hit it right." The junior from Moss, Norway, caught Adams out of goal on a breakaway and gave the ball the right touch just out of the reach of the goalkeeper. It appeared that Tobiassen fell to his knees on the ground after the goal, possibly of exhaustion, but he explained it was part of a celebration routine called the "Duck Walk." 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