The Stetson Reporter

-1L—&»—I~w~.«3!—O—™IM 0~™lil—.A, i|.w,™J&w-JS1L.™iS J&. —I .. T UJ W < a z O ct u. life | If you want good, cheap Mexican food in Central Florida, your options are somewhat limited. You have Don Pablo's and Rio Bravo - and let us not forget Taco Bell. But tucked away into three shopping centers in Orlando is the region's best kept secret for Cal-Mex food: the Baja Burrito Kitchen. Baja offers great, healthy food at prices competitive with fast food places. [ review, page 3b ] BURRITO KITCHEN wed 03 feb'99 issue 17 volume 111 Lewis talks abou by julie gowan | Proclaiming that his politics rely on grass roots, Georgia House Representative John Lewis kicked off the spring Thurman Lecture Series last Monday. Lewis spoke on "Walking with the Wind" to a full Stetson room of students, faculty, staff, and'DeLand community members. "He is the son of an Alabama sharecropper who, grew up with history and the meaning of family," said Dr. . Jefferson Rogers, director of the Howard Thurman Lecture Series. "He participated in the freedom rides, sat at lunch counters, received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize, served on the Atlanta City Council and is the Demo cratic Whip. John Lewis has accomplished a great deal and is a great person," said Rogers.. "I am the son of a sharecropper. I still remember when I was four years old in 1944, and my father bought 110 acres of land for S300. We grew cotton, peanuts-, and corn. We raised hogs, cows, and chickens. I knew when I was a child I wanted to be aminister," said Lewis. Lewis said he would gather chickens plus his six bothers and three sisters and would hold preach inside the hen house every Sunday afternoon. "The chickens were quiet, they would bow their heads, shake their feathers, just like everyone would at church. I knew they could understand me, but they never said amen. These chickens would listen better than some of my colleagues in Congress; [they're] probably more productive too — they would do more than just investigate," said Lewis. From an early age Lewis knew in order for African Americans to get past the racism and ignorance of the V^0 South at that time, it would take non-violent movements to make both his point known and his people known. "That is why the bus boycott was so successful. It was a non-violent movement that showed everyone who we were, The people rose up to the challenge and we moved forward in the wind. Through the 1960s we conducted non-violent sit ins and sat at lunch counters; we were moving forward," said Lewis. At the age of 18, Lewis set out for Nashville to go to college. "As a student in Nashville, I studied Civil Disobedience by Thoreau, Ghandi, world religions and followed the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. Through these books [and] words of wisdom I found [that] nonviolent acts would bring our rights forward, he said." "Blacks and whites worked together — sure we got hit, cigarettes put out in our hair, and beaten — but it was through a non-violent protest that we could create a beloved community through the means and message of love and non-violence. We, together, could redeem the very soul of America that had been lost," said Lewis. Lewis left Nashville to participate in the Freedom Rides and the numerous voting registration acts that were conducted in the South. "In the Voter Education Project of 1962, we encouraged all to go out and vote. We found that even though blacks made up about 50-80 percent of the population, none of them were registered to vote. We helped those people exercise their right to vote in the land of the free. We were rebel riors of a hostile land which was based on freedom," Lewis. W UJ Z I o I-I war- 'said [ see LEWIS page 2a ] 1 r ALAR Fire alarms caused by illegal items and pranksters alike a by julie gowan | Waking at 7:45 a.m. to the calmor of a loud, annoying fire alarm is becoming an all-too-familiar event for campus residents. Many of the alarms have been caused by illegal usage of candles, toaster ovens, or incense burners. Students pulling fire alarms as pranks are also to blame: "What students haven't realized yet is that we are only allowed so many visits from the DeLand Fire Department before we are charged for additional visits," said Public Safety Chief Frank Mussoline. "There were no actual fires that have set off the alarms in the past few months It has been students burning candles, incense, tampering with fire alarms, or burning food. Nothing producing an open flame is allowed in the residence halls." Students have been found in violation of these rules. Public Safety and the DeLand Fire Department have had to confiscate over 60 candles from Emily Hall alone." ■ Many residents of Emily Hall were angered by the DeLand Fire Department entering their rooms and removing personal items such as candles and incense burners. Jen Polluck of second south in Emily Hall returned to her room after leaving for an errand and found that her door had been left wide open for an extensive period of time by the DeLand Fire Department. "Anyone could have come into my room and taken anything of value of to me. It disgusted me that I was not notified and my room was not secured after they left my room. There would have been no way to replace any of those objects if someone had stolen them," she said. The DeLand Fire Department is upset of the carelessness with the students attitude toward the fire alarms, according to Mussoline. "When the fire department was called to Emily Hall on an incident, they conducted room-to-room checks in order to remove students and found at least 40 students who would not comply with them to evacuate from their room," said Mussoline. It is a violation of federal law to remain in a building when a fire alarm is being sounded, whether it is a drill or actual fire. "Each time the fire department is called to our campus when an alarm is sounded — whether [it's] from a candle, incense burner, or toaster—it's taking them from city emergencies and putting others in a dangerous situation. The fire department has been lenient with us, but it's not going to be that way anymore," said Mussoline. "We have to justify every call when an alarm is sounded. When an alarm is sounded for the above reasons, it takes my officers away from patrol, because I have to send everyone I have on duty to the residence hall, to unlock the building and begin to evacuate students. We have to then secure the building and reset the alarms. Students don't realize this is a life safety issue and lighting these objects or. cooking with outlawed appliances is not only putting themselves in jeopardy but their entire hall as well." In October alone, seven visits were made by the DeLand Fire Department due to the burning of candles or incense in residence dorms, and four were made in December due to same reasons. There have been at least seven cases where the visits were legitimate, including an over-sensitive alarm in an open kitchen and a burning belt from an overloaded washing machine in Chaudoin. Each student vvho was involved at each of these scenes was given a warning by Public Safety and the DeLand Fire Department. "When we have gone over our allowed limit of visits from the DeLand Fire Department, Stetson is charged $300-400 for each additional visit that needs to be made. We are currently exploring taking that fine and dispersing it amongst the hall where the incident occurred after our allotment of times is gone, but right now we are just exploring that option," said Michelle Espinosa, director of Residential Life. "Students who were found in violation of their contract with Residential Life for having candles, incense burners, or outlawed appliances the procedure for violation will apply, as with any violation," said Espinosa. Students are sent a charge letter, notifying them of what the charge is regarding and what policy is being violated. The student is then required to set up a hearing with either the two assistant directors or the director of Residential Life. From there, all evidence is reviewed and, a decision is made by the judiciary committee about what sanction will be given to the student in violation," said Espinsoa. In regards to the 45-47 students who did not evacuate Emily Hall in the last occurrence Espinosa said that "Residential Life met with the students and sent letters to them informing them they are required by law to evacuate the building at any time the alarm is sounded and could possibly result in the loss of housing or a fine if found in violation again." Shawn Brown, who lives on second north of Emily Hall said, "I think we should have been notified when the fire department went through Emily Hall and removed people's candles and incense burners. That was a violation of our privacy and our rooms. Resident assistants are not allowed to do that if they see a resident with a candle anyway. I think we need fo be better informed by our RAs of the fire policy and what is being done with it. Right now, I don't think anyone really knows the clear policy of it." If resident assistants spot a resident in possession of a candle, incense burner, or an illegal appliance, they cannot remove the object, but are required to document the incident, notify Residential Life. The resident will be asked to remove the objects. Espinosa and Jim Wimer, manager of campus services, are exploring the possibility of issuing a fine to those students who do not comply with the evacuation of the building. Other schools do so: according to the contract signed by students at Catawba College, a private school in North Carolina, students are charged $500 each if found in their room while an alarm is going, off. "I think it is a good policy for students to be charged if they don't leave their rooms during a fire alarm, because if there was ever an actual fire it would a terrible loss for those who mistook it as a false alarm. Even in high school, we were required to evacuate during a false and actual alarm," said Jennifer Pilkington, a resident of Emily Hall. "Students have a cavalier approach to fire safety. Some don't understand risks can't be taken in the residence halls. Over Halloween, Eckerd College experienced a fire in one of their residence dorms and over $500,000 in damage was done to the building. Students were moved into a hotel for the remainder of the semester," said Espinosa. Resident assistants and hall directors are beginning the discussion of drills and making residents more aware of the proper evacuation routes and the reasoning behind fire safety policies. Juile Gowan is the News editor of The Reporter. "Each time the fire department 1S called to our campus when an alarm is sounded — whether [it's]froma candle, 1 or incense burner' toaster—it'staking them from city emergencies and putting others in a dangerous situation. The fire department has been lenient with us, but it's not going to be that way anymore." — Chief of Public Safety Frank Mussoline ^^ffi^SSS^ZS^E^ Call from parent illustrates problem by michael w. Raymond | On the last day to add a class, a father of a first-year student called a faculty member on behalf of his daughter. It seems that the daughter had not activated her spring semester registration, had lost her place in a number of classes, and had to construct a new schedule. Sadly, the first-year student was unable to get into a number of classes. Specifically, she could not get signed into a particular section of EH 131. The analytical reading and writing course was full with more than 20 students. Because several of the 14 other EH 131 sections had lower enrollments, the student was told she must register in an open section. [ read this story in Opinions, page 5a ] Laser tag offers others a new toy by josh elstun | My uncle is middle-aged. He came by to show me his corvette that he intends to fix up in his free time. He showed me the engine. We talked about the body, the leather, the stereo. My grandmother stood by and watched him show me his toy and shook her head as I took him inside and let him check out mine — two new Laser Tag B.L.A.S.T.'s. That's 'Battlefield Laser for All Situations Tactical' to you. I like toys. I think it's important to make that clear from the beginning. Some might complain about their quality. Others the batteries they devour. Some argue over brand name. Some even go on with carefully delineated arguments and assert that certain functions of the guns detract from the game. [ read this story in Life, page 2b ] K S I D fxl; fPP" „.y* ZPPl ■ii FABULOUS: Lenny DiNardo (20) begins his warm-up throws as dusk settles on Mark Light Stadium, photo by chris tunno [ read this story in Sports, page 4b ] ag^lHf^tttij^^ga^igMga