The Courier has been
SERVING THE PCC AND
Pasadena community
since 1915.
Film Review
'Eternal Sunshine'
Forgetting about a past love
has never been easier
Back to Winning Wavs
On this date in 1960
Men’s Baseball team makes easy
work of the Compton Tarters
A GUIDED MISSILE WAS
LAUNCHED FROM A NUCLEAR
POWERED SUBMARINE FOR
THE FIRST TIME.
Chinese
Exam to
be at PCC
Ina Siem
Opinion Editor
People can test their Chinese
language skills and earn a certifi¬
cate recognized worldwide at PCC
on May 15. The application forms
are being accepted until May 5.
The Chinese proficiency test HSK
will be offered for the first time in
Southern California. PCC is the sev¬
enth testing center in the United
States, and the first community col¬
lege testing center that the
National Center for Teaching
Chinese as a Foreign Language, in
Beijing, has approved.
The HSK, which stands for Hanyu
Shuiping Kaoshi, is the national stan¬
dardized test of Chinese as a foreign
language. It measures the proficien¬
cy level of non-native speakers of
standard Chinese.
Chinese professor Dr. Cathy Wei
is the person whose diligence and
enthusiasm has convinced the
Chinese government to have PCC as
a site to administer the test. Now,
she is working to have a large
group of test takers.
"We would like to see not only
PCC students taking the test, but
also people from the community,"
Wei said. "This is the chance for the
people who are interested in meas¬
uring their proficiency, either for
educational, personal or profes¬
sional purposes."
Wei is aware of the large
Chinese community in the San
Gabriel Valley. To attract even more
people to take the test,
she has been publicizing
HSK in Chinese schools
close to the See page
area,
Chinese Exam
500 Wins
fop Iverson
Jaynita Carney
Sports Editor
Women's softball coach Sandi
Iverson reached a milestone
Saturday March 20 when she got
her 500th career win. The notation
in PCC's history book came with a
12-1 win over Moorpark at the
Bakersfield Tournament.
"I was not aware that this would
be my 500th until a week ago," said
Iverson. "I do not keep track of my
wins because to me they are the
team's wins, not mine. However, it is
special to me to win with this great
group of girls."
In her 25th season, Iverson
coached the road victory that was
ended after five innings due to the
8-run mercy rule. The Lancers rolled
to three straight victories that were
each called after five innings this
week. Iverson has coached 955
games overall at PCC.
The Lancers, who are 20-5 this
season, reached 20 wins for the
12th time under Iverson and for
the fifth time in the past six sea¬
sons. The Lancers have a chance to
reach 30, which hasn't happened
since the 1991 team went 34-14
and made it to fifth place in the
State Championship Tournament.
The Lancers are battling Cerritos
College for the conference lead.
They are behind half a game in the
division race for first place.
Gas On the Rise
Crystal Samuelian/Courier
Students will face a hike at the pump, with prices reaching $3 by summer.
Gas Prices at a Record-High
Mario Aguirre
Contributing Writer
Within the past week
Southern California has seen a
drastic increase in gasoline
prices.
A record-high $2.20-per-gal-
lon is what most people had to
pay as of Friday.
Researchers predict prices
will go as high as $3 per gallon
by this summer.
Gasoline has jumped more
than 20 cents in the Pasadena,
Los Angeles and Long Beach
area in the last two weeks,
according to the Automobile
Club of Southern California.
As of Wednesday, gas went
for $2.17-per-gallon in the
Pasadena area.
At a standard station across
from the campus, the price was
$2.15 a gallon for regular.
The Los Angeles Times report¬
ed the increase in gas prices is
due to "lingering refinery wor¬
ries and expensive crude oil."
Some students have started
carpooling while others have
resorted to taking the bus or
the Gold Line.
Whatever the alternative is,
students may want to
stick with it.
Chances are prices
won't be See page
going
down any- PriCeS
tOWEST
GfflS
PRICES IM
PflSflDEMfl
Alliance
$2.01
Allen & Villa
Spirit
$2.01
Altandena Dr.&Villa
Arco
Foothill & Daisy
$2.01
Arco
$2.01
Foothill & Rosemead
Delmar Gas
$2.10
Allen & Delmar
* Regular 87 octane
Union Sues
District Over
Compensation
Teacher's union goes to court to get its
contract interpretation approved
Hudson Hou
Staff Writer
The PCC chapter of the
California Teachers Association has
filed a lawsuit against the district
over compensation and benefits
for union negotiators.
At issue in the lawsuit is whether
the
СТА
should receive compensa¬
tion for the time its representatives
spend as negotiators, said Crystal
Watson, one of three
СТА
directors.
Neither the district nor the
СТА
can agree on the section of the dis¬
trict's contract that covers the com¬
pensation issue.
The lawsuit has been filed to
settle the different interpretations.
"[The lawsuit] is for a breach of
contract," said John Jacobs, presi¬
dent of the
СТА.
"The provisions in
the contract specify reassigned
time for the officers."
What that means is that a cer¬
tain percentage of union members
would be released from their
teaching duties to do
СТА
business.
Who gets that release time and
how much is given is what is in
question.
"Eighty percent is for the griev¬
ance officer and chief negotiator
and 60 percent for each of the
elected officers,"
СТА
president
Jacobs said. "[But] the district is
unwilling to give us the 60 percent
for the officers."
"It's a district tactic that we feel
is like union-busting. The district
doesn't want to pay
СТА
for doing
its association business," he added.
Dr. Jacqueline Jacobs, the dis¬
trict's lead negotiator, disagreed
with the
СТА
president's
interpretation of the con¬
tract.
The con- See page
tract is not . .
"written UniOn
4
Student Appeals
Grade to Board
Hudson Hou
Staff Writer
Whether they want to transfer
to a four-year university or apply
to graduate school, most PCC stu¬
dents probably agree that grades
are important. What students
probably disagree about is
whether the grades they receive
are deserved.
Deserved or not, the board of
trustees recently considered a stu¬
dent's formal appeal at its March
17 meeting, a development that
raises questions regarding an
appeals process that most PCC stu¬
dents are not aware of.
Under Pasadena Area
Community College District policy
No. 4051, students cannot formally
appeal their grades "unless there
is evidence that one or more of the
following conditions is present: a
mistake in the assignment of the
grade or in the process of its
recording, or fraud, or bad faith,
or incompetence."
Most appeals involve mistakes
in assignment and recording of the
grade and changing those mis¬
takes is easily done, said
Jackie Jacobs, vice presi¬
dent of instruction.
Under see page
the same
policy, "a Grades
More Vehicle Thefts on the Rise at Campus Parking Lots
Tameka Davis
Staff Writer
It happened again. Another
PCC student was victimized by
vehicle theft Wednesday, March 17
that made that the second steal of
the week and the fourth steal
since the start of the semester.
This time the stolen vehicle was
a blue 2004 Yamaha 600R motor¬
cycle. The $8,900 motorcycle had
been in the student's possession
for just a week, and was still with¬
out a license plate when it was
stolen from the first level of the
parking structure.
The student reported that he
parked his motorcycle in front of
the column marked 1A at 1:30
p.m. At 3 p.m. he returned to an
empty space in front of column
1A, sandwiched between two
other motorcycles.
Investigator Steven Lester was
listening to his radio when he
heard cadet Daniel Hurtado call in
"a student can't find his motorcy¬
cle" over the radio. When Lester
arrived at the scene, he said the
student was very upset.
Although there were no witness¬
es, Lester assumes the motorcycle
was stolen by being rolled into a
van or on to the back of a truck.
Gerado Minikota, a cadet for
six years, said earlier that morning
he saw two male Hispanics, bald,
with mustaches, between the ages
25 to 30, seemingly scouting the
parking structure.
One was driving a white Ford
Aerostar van, and the other was
following him aisle by aisle in a
brown Dodge pick-up truck.
What makes this scenario more
suspicious to Lester, is the same
scene was reported on Monday,
March 15, when a Honda Accord
was also reported stolen from the
parking structure.
Although most vehicle thefts
occur inside the parking structure
(Lot 4), so far during this semester
cars have been reported stolen
from Lot 3 on the corner of Del
Mar and Hill and Lot 5 on the cor¬
ner of Del Mar and Bonnie.
Lt. Brad Young said there is an
average of one car theft per month.
But four vehicle thefts this early in
the semester is a little unusual,
added Lester.
At each morning and afternoon
meeting Lester and the cadets
meet to discuss ways to prevent
any more thefts. Lester advises
anyone who sees any suspicious
tampering with vehicles, or the
suspects described, to call campus
police at 626-585-7484.
Crystal Samuelian/Courier
Motorcycles and cars have become a hot commodity for
would-be thieves who target several campus parking lots.