PCC Courier, March 16, 2006

Serving PCC and the Pasadena community since 1915 March 16, 2006 pcc-courieronline.com ArtNight Makes a Splash Page 8 Vol. 93, Issue 4 Suspect Charged with Bike Thefts Court Ruling Gives Army Recruiters Campus Access Ray Hernandez Staff Writer It appears that the rash of recent bicycle thefts on the PCC and Caltech campuses have been solved. On Monday Caltech security offi¬ cers arrested a man in connection with the crimes after he had been observed loitering in the vicinity of the campus bike racks. Henry Renteria, a transient from the Pasadena area, was detained by Caltech security. He was placed under arrest by Officer Christin Salandino, and read his Miranda Rights by Lt. Brad Young. PCC and Caltech have lost more than 100 bikes to theives over that last year. Both campuses have been working in concert to find those responsible. When the suspect was captured, Caltech security called PCC police, who made the arrest. The suspect is being charged with grand theft property. Because Caltech officers have not have police powers, they cannot arrest a suspect. The arrest was made after a series of encounters Caltech securi¬ ty had with Renteria. These did nothing to discourage the man from returning to the campus and contin¬ uing to remove bicycles from the Daniel Belis / Courier Busted: Henry Renteria was detained in connection with bicycle thefts that occurred on the PCC and Caltech campuses. He is currently being held at Pasadena City Jail. security racks. Renteria had been observed stealing a bicycle from the campus Jan. 19 by an undercover security officer who chased Renteria but failed to apprehend him. The officer was able to get a good description of Renteria, and noted that he had been carrying a black backpack at the time. In yet another incident on Jan. 24, Renteria was again discovered taking a bicycle that did not belong to him from the campus security rack. Once again the security officer gave chase, managing this time to grab onto the bicycle itself. However, Renteria escaped on foot yet again, leaving the bicycle behind. On March 7 Renteria was again discovered walking across the Caltech campus. This time he was confronted by two security officers. The officer involved in the previous attempts to capture the bike thief identified Renteria. During this confrontation Renteria stated he was headed to PCC where he was a student, and that this was his first time on the Caltech campus. Although Renteria possessed a California ID, he did not carry a PCC ID. He then claimed he had a cousin who worked for Caltech, and that this was his reason for being there. Convinced Renteria was being untruthful, the two officers took note of his identification and “warned him not to return to Caltech properties.” At 3:15 on Monday the second officer was on patrol at Caltech when he came upon Renteria once again, walking near the bicycle secu¬ rity rack. The officer once again confronted Renteria, who said, “You remember me, right? My cousin Eddie works here.” It was then that the officer recalled that Renteria had previously claimed his cousin Tommy worked on the cam¬ pus. The officer notified security supervisor Juan Balcazar, who detained and questioned Renteria. [see Thefts, PAGE 7 ] Ray Hernandez Staff Writer A recent challenge to a federal law that requires colleges to release student information and give cam¬ puses access to military recruiters has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case overturns a previous decision handed down by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals last November, which ruled in favor of law schools seeking to ban recruiters from campus on the basis of a discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gays in the military. An opinion filed for the court by Chief Justice John Roberts declared that, “a military recruiter’s mere presence on cam¬ pus does not violate a law school’s right to associate, regardless of how repugnant the law school con¬ siders the recruiter’s message. Marco Wallace / Courier Army of One: Recruiters talk to a student on campus. Students and faculty are free to associate to voice their disapproval of the military’s message.” They cannot however deny access to the military which is to be given the same treatment as other career recruiters under the protection of federal law. As a result, campuses must con¬ tinue to comply with the military’s [see Military, PAGE 7] r_ courtesy of Lisa and Vincent Whiting Eboni Johnson Family’s Missing Daughter is Found Dean Lee News Chief Three weeks after two PCC employees reported their daughter missing to Pomona police, security found the 15-year-old high school stu¬ dent wandering around her school Thursday afternoon. Officers at Ganesha high school in Pomona spotted Eboni Johnson after recognizing her picture from posters put up around the school. They approached her and took her into a school office, where they called her parents. “I didn’t believe them at first and thought they had made a mistake,” said Lisa Whiting, the girl’s mother, who works in PCC’s student bank. “When I realized she was there I dropped everything, called my hus¬ band and told him to get to the school.” Both parents did not completely believe the story Eboni told them of how she had been with an 1 8-year-old friend in San Bernardino and had taken the bus from there to the school. Her mother said that she felt this was not the truth since Eboni did not have money with her and would not have known how to make a 40-mile bus trip because she never rides the bus. “I think she was dropped off, but we don’t know by who,” Lisa Whiting said. “Her story is really inconsistent. We are trying to get information out of her but she’s shutting down.” Eboni was found wearing the same clothes she had had on the night she disappeared. The parents also said [see Daughter, PAGE 7] Latino Council Calls For Better Counseling Don Martirez Opinion Editor The Latino Advisory Council met with the school president and dean of counseling to discuss complaints stu¬ dents had concerning improper trans¬ fer guidance during an LAC meeting held at the President’s Conference Hall on Friday. According to Armando Gonzalez, co-chair of the LAC, the Associated Students President Stephen Juarez consulted the LAC after he received some student complaints against the counseling office. The students felt that transfer counseling was generic and, by withholding information about more attractive, well-known schools, coun¬ selors deliberately urged students to transfer to Cal State L.A. Juarez was unavailable for comment, but mem¬ bers of the council felt students should be provided with better counseling. “I think going out of your environ¬ ment and geography adds to character and expands horizons,” said Jorge Aquiniga, dean of human resources. “These are all things I developed when I left home for school.” Gonzalez also commented on what seemed to be poor counseling. “Students are looking for encourage¬ ment and push,” he said. At the meeting, Jeane Nishime, dean of counseling, admitted to the allegations. “The majority of students are referred to Cal State L.A., but not without reasonable cause,” Nishime said. “Students have great expectations and aspirations. But the reality is, given most students’ grades and lifestyles, entering into a major university far away from home is not a realistic option.” Nishime continued to discuss the limited resources of the counseling office. “Counselors don’t have the opportunity to build a relationship with the students,” she said. “There’s [see Counseling, PAGE 7] Debate Precedes T rustee Election Elizabeth Barnes / Courier Face-Off: Trustee candidates Connie Chung, left, and Sean Younessi, right, proposed their solutions to problems confronting the PCC student body. Dean Lee News Chief International student concerns heated up in a debate organized by the A.S. yesterday in the CC Lounge between the two candidates running in a special election held today for the student trustee candidates. During an open question and answer period, students were given a chance to ask questions of the candi¬ dates, ranging form heath care to bar¬ riers foreign students face at PCC. As part of her campaign platform, student trustee candidate Connie Chung made reaching out to interna¬ tional students and representing them at PCC a main priority. In response to Chung’s statement, a student asked her opponent, Sean Younessi, what he planned to do as far as finding ways to represent foreign students so they do not feel neglected on campus. “My platform does not exclude international students; my platform includes all students,” Younessi said. “All students are students on this campus and they deserve respect. I would definitely reach out to interna¬ tional students. Unfortunately the international students need to do their part in approaching us.” Both candidates discussed other problems international students have, such as speaking another language and knowing what classes they need to take. “I think international students are a big group, one of the biggest groups that are neglected on campus,” Chung said. “There need to be more resources for them. I think it would be great to create some kind of men¬ torship.” Student mediator Dean Yulfo asked both candidates questions dur¬ ing the main part of the debate, rang¬ ing from safety on campus to what they thought their role was as trustee. “Safety is always an issue,” Younessi said. “The number-one thing we can do to ensure that we are all safe on campus is to actually ask students to look after one another. This is something that is being neg¬ lected to a great degree.” Both candidates said their role as student trustee was to voice students’ concerns to the board of trustees and inform students about the purpose of the board. They also said they would make better relations between the A.S. board and the board of trustees. “I strive to represent the voice of [see Debate, PACE 7] Cats Dominate Campus Teneya Hopkins Staff Writer Stray and feral cats have found a new home on the PCC campus. Whether they’re in the bushes or wandering around the Quad, these cats can be spotted almost anywhere on the college grounds. “The facilities staff is not happy about the situation,” said Richard Van Pelt, director of facilities servic¬ es. “They are the ones that have to clean up their messes, whether on rooftops, on the grounds, in the buildings or wherever. They’re the ones who have to crawl into tunnels to remove them when they die, and get bitten by the fleas they carry.” During a recent meeting of the faculty in the cafeteria, a cat wan¬ dered in, upsetting many. “The cat entered the cafeteria, outraging a few of the members pres¬ ent at the meeting,” said one faculty member who had participated the meeting. Many of the cats were born on campus, while others were aban¬ doned by owners who either didn’t want the responsibility of caring for them or couldn’t afford to keep them. Orlando Pina / Courier Feline Flood: Stray cats are a constant presence on the PCC campus. Van Pelt stated that the cats have been on the PCC campus long before he even started working at PCC. “A university campus is a com¬ munity just as any other,” said Stephanie Shain, the Humane Society’s director of companion ani¬ mal outreach. “If the community has [see Cats, PAGE 7 ]