PCC Courier, November 02, 2000

Pasadena City С О E E G E '4 x $ ■ ■ ■ ■Ш Since 1915 VOL. 86 NO. 11 www.pcc-courieronline.com November 2, 2000 Briefly ■ Friday is last day to drop classes Tommorrow will be the last day to drop an 18 week fall 2000 class for students and instructors. There will not be a final drop form sent to instructors as has been the case in previous semesters. To obtain your drop and add forms, go to the Registration Office in LI 13. Drop forms that are submit¬ ted late to the office will not be processed. The last day for a student to withdraw from all enrolled classes is Nov. 17. ■ Visit England for course credit This year’s Theater In London trip will be on spring break from March 30 to April 8, 2001. The cost is $1999 and includes round-trip airfare, admis¬ sion to 5 plays, a stay in a 3-star hotel, continental breakfasts and a tour of the recreated Globe Theatre. Other highlights include a day trip to Leeds Castle and Canterbury Cathedral. Students will earn college credit for English 35 and 135. An informational meeting will be held Thursday, Nov. 16 at noon and 6 p.m. in 031. For more information, call (626) 585-7649. ш WebExtra Due to a printing mishap in last weeks issue, two arti¬ cles were cut. If you’d like to read the whole story, check out our website at www.pcc- courieronline.com. A fundraiser for a slain PCC student will be held Nov. 5, check out the website for the full story. Student clings to life after fall from balcony in Italy Rocky Paneno was on the college’s exchange program to Florence when a ledge gave way and he fell six stories By Gia Scafidi Staff Writer The next seven to 10 days will determine the fate of one of our own. Rocky Paneno, PCC student studying abroad in Florence, Italy, presently lies critically injured in a Florence hospital, after falling six stories from a bal¬ cony early Saturday morning, Oct. 21. According to local newspaper reports, Paneno, 20, had been leaning back looking up at the stars when the brick balcony rail¬ ing suddenly gave way. The girl he was with tried to grab him before he fell, but she was not strong enough to hold him, reported the Foothill Leader. According to the La Canada Valley Sun, there was no mortar on the bricks. “They [the doctors) didn’t expect him to live through the night,” Vilma Paneno, Paneno’s grandmother, told reporters. “It's a miracle he is still here.” A cousin, Nick Paneno, told newspapers he attributed Paneno’s survival to excellent health and a strong mental approach to life. Apparently, Paneno, a Glendale City College student who had enrolled at PCC specifi¬ cally to take part in the Florence program, fell onto a patch of grass surrounded by cement, suf¬ fering brain hemorrhaging, extensive internal organ damage, FALL, page 3 ! if ® Sort Heller has a itlllilew ЬЩЩШр! as tu. i 1 hoard к 1 11::; mblces. ' page 5 ' travel the 'world IP ■ : \vi l I'Kiur ’eirtl yrng out i eir wallets page 3 1 lllllTtruhLiljldsc: lioa is ■ coming football game to Riverside. 25-20. page 10 -ДДГ. :sa st= -ЛЕ Photo courtesy of the La Canada Valley Sun Rocky Paneno (far left), seen here with his cousin Nick (center) and brother Sam (right) is in critical condition at a Florence, Italy trauma center after falling over the side of a brick balcony and onto the street, six stories below. Robbery is latest in string of crimes to touch campus ; -*35 Vv Щ 4\ * 4 - ■ \ *r “ ^ Mi lie Cervantes / The Courier Andrew Pagsisihan and Melissa Soloman were crowned homecoming king and queen at the Oct. 28 game. Homecoming game crowns off regal week of activities By Mike Cervantes Sports Editor It was like fat Tuesday for an entire week. Mardi Gras was the theme of Homecoming, and the week was packed with activities, including the crowning of King Andrew Pagsisihan and Queen Melissa Soloman at halftime of the foot¬ ball game. The party started on Monday afternoon and didn’t stop until the king and queen were announced on Saturday night. “It’s a great feeling. I’m honored that the stu¬ dents selected me as the king,” Pagsisihan said. Riding convertibles, the entire homecoming court was introduced to the crowd. Behind the king and queen were Princes Jack Sky and Jonathon Holborn and Princesses Arlene Feliciano, Clara Rodriguez and Teresa Espinoza. Before the game, a reception was held in the Circadian Lounge where students and faculty could enjoy free food and listen to music. From 4:30-6:45 p.m. people enjoyed the vari¬ ous sandwiches, brownies, punch and other del¬ icacies while they socialized and took pictures. The music was also pleasing to the crowd. The Tom Nolan Band rocked the house for HOMECOMING, page 4 By Afni Adnan News Editor Three robberies occurred in a matter of minutes in the Pasadena area last Wednesday and PCC was one of the spots that was hit. According to Sgt. Bradley Young, supervisor for police and safety services, one of the rob¬ beries happened in Lot #3 at around 7:45 p.m., where a lone female students was robbed. Campus police learned from the Pasadena Police Department that the subject was described to be a male Hispanic, with an aver¬ age build, dark hair and a mus¬ tache. He was driving a red Toyota hatchback. “In this immediate area, the subject hit three spots within a close proximity and in a tight time frame,” Young said. The first robbery took place at the Vons supermarket on Colorado Boulevard, where a female victim who was walking outside in the parking lot was robbed. Young says that the suspect first identifies his potential vic¬ tims, preferably a female with a purse. With the driver window down, he approaches his victims from either the side or behind and snatches her purse strap while still seated in the car. He then accelerates and speeds off. “The PPD was looking for the subject in that area when at about 7:45 p.m., the suspect ended up on PCC’s campus," said Young. The suspect knows that the easiest targets are those in big parking lots. Young says that the subject shops for victims so that he can drive up on them. After committing his first rob¬ bery at Vons, the suspect found his next victim in one of the lots on campus. “He somehow found himself in Lot #3 on Del Mar Boulevard and Hill Avenue and identifies a female, who was probably walk¬ ing to her car. He approached the female and repeated the same type of crime as the one he had just committed,” said Young. Young said that the student was unharmed, but “She lost her purse, which contained credit ROBBERY, page 4 Anti-school voucher campaign enlists aid of AS and students By Robert Glassey Staff Writer After the AS board decided to come out against the initiative for school vouchers, some board members extended their involve¬ ment in one of the hottest issues in this year’s election by partici¬ pating in and recruiting students for the “No on 38” campaign. Other members contended that the board acted precipitously in voting to oppose Proposition 38 the very day it was put on the agenda. The “No on 38” people, who called on student leaders for sup¬ port, supplied cell phones and a list of telephone numbers. Board officers and other stu¬ dents who answered the call got together in groups of about 15 in the campus center and phoned potential voters on behalf of the “No on 38” campaign. George Magdaleno, vice presi¬ dent for internal affairs, said the student callers did not try to change anybody’s mind, but called only to gauge public senti¬ ment and to identify people who seemed susceptible to being swayed. Then these people would be called back later by seasoned campaigners who would attempt to talk them into opposing school vouchers. The phone bank operated sev¬ eral times in the past few weeks from the halls, offices and lounge of the campus center. George Davidson, vice presi¬ dent for external affairs, said the board's opposition to school vouchers was in response to stu¬ dent opinion. “I think we should support our public schools, not abandon them,” Davidson said. “Sure they need reform, but this is not the way to do it. “We felt it was our job as lead¬ ers to take a stand on something that would hurt the student body.” Davidson leads a committee that lobbies on behalf of student issues in Sacramento. He was active in signing up student vol¬ unteers for the phone bank. Davidson said the volunteers were conscientious in not using college phones to avoid any sug¬ gestion of impropriety. The board’s opposition to Proposition 38 has caused some dissention among the ranks of the student leadership, not on the merits of the issue, but because of VOUCHER, page 4 Halloween night blackout no treat for PCC students Transformer failure plunges campus into darkness and cancels classes By Tim Alves Editor in Chief Students thought it was a trick on Halloween night when the power went out to a num¬ ber of buildings and plunged hundreds of people into dark¬ ness. Around 8 p.m. Tuesday night, power was knocked out to the V, C, R, CC, M and J Buildings when a transformer that belonged to the Pasadena Water and Power department went down. “We had crews working on the problem until 5:15 a.m. (Wednesday morning), but the cause of the power loss is still under investigation,” said Dr. Richard Van Pelt, director of facilities services. Most people on the campus look things in stride following the blackout. “After the lights went out, we sat there for about 10 min¬ utes to see if they’d come back on. They didn't, so we dis¬ missed class and groped our way out of the building,” said Ryan Smith, a tutor at the Writing Center in the C Building. It took cadets about 20 min¬ utes to get organized and begin a methodical sweep of the affected buildings to escort peo¬ ple out and seal them off. Vicki Holden and a group of local children had wrapped up an evening of trick-or-treating and were looking forward to a school-sponsored Halloween dance party in the Creveling Lounge. “We walked up thinking we had a real safe place for the kids to be at this time of night. But the lights were out and we were told that it probably wasn’t going to reopen at all. 1 was surprised; this is a big school and they don’t have a backup generator to at least put some of the lights back on?” Van Pelt said when the trans¬ former went down, generators in a number of buildings OUTAGE, page 4 i