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Associated Students
ELECTION
Rock the Vote MAY 7-8
Get to know your candidates on
pages 4 and 5.
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COURIER
Since 1915
VOL. 87 NO. 26
www.pcc-courieronline.com
MAY 2, 2002
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April 24 & 25- A member from
facilities told campus police
that a female student told him
that a male suspect dressed in
women’s clothing was inside
the women’s restroom in the T
Building. While the student was
on the toilet the suspect looked
over the stall wall at her. A
facilities worker informed cam¬
pus police that he along with
another staff member had
detained the suspect. When
officers arrived the suspect was
taken to campus police and
questioned. A report was filed
and the suspect was released.
April 2 1 - A cadet advised
campus police that two players
from the Pacific Rim basketball
event became enraged during
the game which resulted in an
argument.
Post- Game
Gunshots
Wound One
A barrage of bullets
flew across Lot 5
into parked cars and
people leaving the
All-Star basketball
game last Friday. A
Pasadena police offi¬
cer marks the bullet
casings scattered
around the parking
lot.
By Matt Robinson
and Andrew Campa
Editors
Gunshots fired from a car in a campus
parking lot into a crowd of basketball fans
sent hundreds of people attending a high
school all-star game running for cover.
At approximately 10 p.m. on Friday
shots were fired from parking Lot 5, adja¬
cent to Bonnie and Del Mar Avenue. The
sound of bullets thundered across the tran¬
quil evening terrifying a crowd of parents
and relatives. Most came to the PCC cam¬
pus to watch their sons and daughters in the
annual east-west high school basketball all-
star game played at Hutto-Patterson Gym.
According to Pasadena police Lt. Rick
Aversano, three to four suspects were being
sought in connection with the shooting.
Although Aversano was unable to release
the name of the victim, he described him as
a 25-year-old Altadena man. The victim,
who was walking down the ramp from the
stadium, was struck in the leg by a large
caliber bullet. The bullet tore through his
femur in one leg and lodged in the other.
While shots were being fired into the
crowd, some visitors ran to their cars while
others took cover in the gym. Campus
police officer Leroy Henderson said he
ducked for cover when he heard shots
# see SHOOTING, page 6
Board Questions Use
of Campaign Funds
Faculty Organize Rally
to Get Better Salaries
Outspoken activist Dolores Huerta will be the featured
speaker at today’s ‘Let’s Join Forces’ rally at noon
By Robert Glassey
Staff Writer
Frustrated at stalled contract negotiations, faculty and staff will march today at noon to demonstrate
their unity and their determination to get what they consider an adequate raise from the district.
A “Let’s join forces” rally, organized by the
СТА,
will gather in the sculpture garden, wend its noisy
way through the campus and end up near the bookstore.
Rally organizers are encouraging marchers to bring noisemakers ranging from drums to trumpets to
attract the attention of passersby.
At the bookstore seven speakers are scheduled to harangue the
college administration and board of trustees on a variety of subjects.
One speaker will be legendary labor organizer Dolores Huerta
who, along with the late Cesar Chavez, risked life and limb found¬
ing the United Farm Worker’s Union in the 1960s.
“We are really excited about this,” Dr. Suzanne Anderson said.
“We think it is going to be the biggest demonstration ever at PCC.”
Anderson said
СТА
negotiations are at impasse and waiting for a
state labor board to appoint a
mediator.
If no settlement is reached by
the end of the fiscal year on June
30, it will be the second year run¬
ning that teachers have worked
without a contract.
“We feel the district values the
buildings more than the people
who run the college, the faculty
By Angela Faranda
Staff Writer
The Associated Students Board agreed in February
to give $24,000 to support the college’s Measure P bond
issue, but is now demanding to know how that money
was spent. Board members, are waiting to get an
account of how this student money was spent by the
Measure P campaign,, and want back any money not yet
spent.
The AS board gave two separate gifts to the cam¬
paign. The first in the amount of $9,000 was put into a
general fund and was given without any specification as
to where or how it would be spent. The second gift of
$15,000 was given with explicit written instruction
from the AS executive board on how it was to be spent.
According to a memo released in February by the
board, the money was expected to be used to pay stu¬
dents and others to staff information tables set up in the
quad. It was also designated for food for student vol¬
unteers and printed materials in support of Measure P.
The memo also indicated any money not used for these
purposes would be returned to the AS board.
Now, almost two months after the election, there has
been no explanation about where that money went. “We
anticipated a certain amount of time to pass after the
election, for them to get their finances in order, and then
send us an accounting of the money,” said Stephen
Johnson, associated student adviser, “Possibly by mid-
May we should hear something.”
But according to Fred Register, Measure P campaign
consultant, “All committees are closed and all the
money has been spent.” Register suggested that any fur¬
ther specific accounting information come from Bobby
Moon, who oversaw the finances on the campaign. In
response to the AS’s query, Moon said, “There was
never any agreement that I know of to send any money
back, and there is virtually none left anyway.”
The board gave money to Measure P because it as a
good cause and had funds available. “The AS wanted to
put the resources into getting students involved in this
campaign,” said Johnson. But like any campaign contri¬
bution, there needs to be accountability.
Disabled Artist Finds Creative Outlet
in Painting, Sculpture and Poetry
“We think it is going
to be the biggest
demonstration ever
at PCC. ”
Suzanne Anderson,
СТА
Treasurer
and staff,” Anderson said.
Jerry Blanton, president of the California School Employees
Association, will speak to the demonstrators in support of the strong
leadership the
СТА
has taken in resisting district negotiating tactics
that he characterized as underhanded.
The CSEA membership has recently approved a three-year con¬
tract based on the district’s offer of a 4.87 percent raise.
In the coming years, the CSEA pay schedule will include a
COLA increase as funded by the state.
Blanton said his union crumbled under the stress of negotiations
that seemingly had no end.
Dragging out the negotiations was a way of “putting us at the
bottom of the priority list,” he said.
John Jacobs, president of the
СТА,
said administrators and
trustees will also be criticized for not fighting harder to save Cal-
Works from the governor’s budget ax.
James Marsh, a Cal-Works job developer called the proposed 90
percent cut “devastating.” “It would effectively wipe out the pro¬
gram,” he said. Cal-Works has served about 1200 PCC students in
the past five years.
By Kevin Awakuni
Entertainment Editor
“It is through art and through
art only that we can realize our
perfection. It is through art and
through art only that we can
shield ourselves from the sordid
perils of actual existence. ”
-Oscar Wilde
Sheryl McQuilkin/Courier
Artist Kay Gott
The first thing you notice about
Kay Gott are her hands, they are
almost always in motion. At first
you’d think that they are just a
symptom of nervousness, but actu¬
ally that is how she is all the time,
constantly shifting her body, and
repositioning herself in an attempt
to get comfortable. It’s fascinating
io watch, like looking at feather
floating around in the wind.
It’s only when she tells you that
she suffers from hyper-activity
that things start to make sense.
And that’s not all that Gott has to
deal with on a daily basis. There’s
the dyslexia, short-term memory
loss and something she called,
“disgraphic,” which she said
means that, “I can’t put down feel¬
ings into words.” Gott said that it
takes her awhile to get stuff writ¬
ten down, because it takes her so
long to get her thoughts together.
However, even with all of these
problems Gott, a teaching assistant
in the PCC learning disability cen¬
ter, has learned not only to accept
these problems but she has come
to incorporate them into a success¬
ful art career. Gott said that her
disabilities, “don’t impair her art.
It’s a good creative outlet. It helps
me to remain focused, and it
brings a certain calmness.”
Gott’s art has been featured in
several different shows, and has
been exhibited at the Folk Tree
Collection store in Pasadena, and
the Craft and Folk Art Museum in
Los Angeles where she just recent¬
ly sold a doll for $500.
Gott said that she has been
artistic her whole life, doing a
wide range of creative projects
such as pottery, jewelry, painting
and figurative pieces. She has also
recently found a love for poetry.
“Poetry comes easily,” Gott said.
It’s one of the few times that put¬
ting feeling into words comes eas¬
ily for her.
Originally from the South
Bay/Rolling Hills' area in
California, Gott moved to
Daytona, Ohio during her last year
of high school. She took modified
classes in her senior year and
graduated in 1970 with what she
called, “a third grade comprehen¬
sion.”. She was accepted to go to
Wright State University on an art
scholarship, but according to Gott
her father preferred for her to go to
beauty school instead. So for the
next 27 years Gott worked in the
cosmetology business where her
creativity was expressed by trying
to make others beautiful. For phys¬
ical reasons, Gott is no longer able
to work in that field, but has since
found a new career at PCC.
Because learning disabilities
such as dyslexia and attention
deficit disorder, were not recogniz¬
able at the time of Gott’s educa¬
tion, she was unable to receive the
type of help that a student with
those problems can get today. It is
these experiences that make Gott
such a valuable aid in the learning
disability center, where her cre¬
ativity, and experience come into
play.
Gott said that she tries to ask a
lot of questions and do a lot of
Ф
see GOTT, page 3