pcc-courieronline. com
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Don Martirez
Editor In Chief
As the Los Angeles Police depart¬
ment rushed in to break up protest¬
ers gathering in MacArthur park on
Tuesday, PCC students were caught
in the maelstrom.
“We were photographing the
march and the motor police were
trying to push everybody out of the
streets and into the park by revving
their engines and blaring their
sirens,” said Daniel Belis, a journal¬
ism student at PCC. “If anybody got
out of hand it was the police not the
protesters,” he said.
About 35,000 people took to the
streets of Los Angeles Tuesday in
what was intended to be a peaceful
demonstration demanding that ille¬
gal immigrants currently living in
the U.S. be given citizenship.
“Instead of isolating the guys who
were causing trouble,” said Belis,
“they pushed
~ — them in with the
г
Of M.OYe rest 0f the crowd
Pictures who were trying
-Page 8 “I;;?test peace-
- The LAPD
claims that the protesters were pro¬
voking the police officers by throw¬
ing things at them.
“Whenever you have a riot situa¬
tion, there are always two sides to
the story - you have the police and
the rioters,” said campus police offi¬
cer Steve Matchan, a former LAPD
officer.
“Sometimes the camera only
catches one side, and it’s usually a
scene that looks like the police are
doing something wrong - you never
get to see what happened before
they started rolling the tape.”
Another PCC student involved in
the melee disagrees.
“The video I saw afterwards on
urtanao rrna/uouner
Los Angeles police officers in full riot gear face off against an unidentified demonstrator at the immigrant rights march in
Los Angeles on Tuesday, Below, a mother and her two children innocently wander through the melee.
the news was pretty accurate,” said
Orlando Pina, another PCC photo¬
journalism student, “the cops
shouldn’t have tried to intimidate the
crowd, they could have singled out
the people who were throwing
things instead of handling it as if
everyone was violent.”
“The crowd didn’t pose a threat at
all. I was there and I didn’t feel like
the city was going to burn down or
anything. It was only until after the
cops turned violent that people dis¬
persed,” said Pina.
Los Angeles Police Chief William
J. Bratton has launched two investi¬
gations and criticized his officers
Wednesday saying that some actions
taken by the police officers trying to
clear the crowd of marchers at the
park were “inappropriate.”
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio V il¬
ia raigosa was quick to defend the
police but is awaiting the results of
the Bratton’s investigations.
Tuesday marked the first anniver¬
sary of the Great Boycott of 2006 in
which millions of people across the
nation -walked out, boycotted, and
protested demanding that congress
fix the nation’s immigration system.
The turnout this year was much
lower than 2006.
“There weren’t as many people
this year, but the ones that were
there still had the same attitudes,”
said Pina, “they were angry, they
were wearing masks and yelling, and
they were waving their Mexican
Flags,” said Pina.
The Independent Student Voice of PCC, Serving Pasadena Since 1915
Volume 95, Issue 9
PCC Students Rumble
With Cops At Protest
LAPD Chief William
Bratton calls the
LAPD’s Actions,
‘Inappropriate.’
Faculty Gets More Money Thanks To State
Jean Trinh
Contributing Writer
A 10 percent budget increase received by
PCC for the 2006-07 year has led to a pay
increase for most of the full-time employees
and adjunct faculty on the campus.
“This is the largest raise the employees at
PCC have experienced in a long time,” said
Odessa Walker, director of fiscal services.
“The cost of living has gone up and to be
able to live in the L.A. and metropolitan areas
is a challenge,” said Amy Lawlor, PCC Eng¬
lish instructor. “The pay increase is keeping up
with inflation. It doesn’t feel like a bonus but
it’s much appreciated.”
An adjustment to the state’s funding formu¬
la in 2006 enabled all California community
colleges to receive the same amount of fund¬
ing per full-time equivalent student. This
adjustment aided in raising the district’s unre¬
stricted operating budget for the 2006-07 year
to $126 million, in contrast to last year’s $115
million.
“All monthly employees whose unions set¬
tled with the district received a 6.4 percent
salary increase effective July 1, 2006,” said
Walker.
Adjunct faculty received a 14.4 percent
increase.
“I applaud the fact that adjunct faculty
received an increase,” said Lawlor. “Adjunct
faculty doesn’t have parity and don’t get paid
equally for the work they do. The pay increase
means they are getting closer to parity.”
“Since salaries and benefits are approxi¬
mately 81 percent of the budget, the majority
of the additional budget was placed in these
categories,” said Walker.
The rest of the budget is allocated approx¬
imately to 3 percent on supplies and materi¬
als; 9 percent on other operating expenses
including utilities; and 7 percent on other
outgo and reserves.
The majority of the large capital budget of
$94 million is Measure “P” funds, which are
used for the repair and improvement of PCC
facilities. Two building projects will start
later in August this year the building of the
See ‘Faculty Gets Paid’ - Page 3