шт
know
о'<ЪШ',м
Campus sounds off
about national election
Internet
attracts
iVIl
millions
■ A very late night with :
son» ■ popcorn., soda land a
connection to the internet
put millions of Americans
t ight in the middle of :
Decision 2000 with ail the |
election information: they :
could liver want. Unless yon
wanted to know who the. A
winner was.
pie aiming to the web for
late breaking, up a no he- :
nunute election results an<l
stories, news websiies at
times out covered and had
better or more up-to-date
information than their
i-.toad<:.-M and print •. oonter-
pa.tls.
In a story orrGNNs web¬
site, Kourush Karirnkhany. a
Yahoo! senior news produc¬
er said . "This year, perhaps
TV is doing a beuei job pro¬
viding a summary, but to get
mmure by ininiit. blows, no
other media can compete.'
. The hit counts alone .
hack him up. CNN reported
page views in excess of 100
million for all of Tuesday,
breaking its previous record
of 40 million. The avwage
page Views : a day on
CNN.com are 22 million,
у
A page view counts
whenever a user pulls up a
new page or updates an old ,
one.
Пн и
someone ire
quently refreshing a page of
election tcM-ie, could be
Counted multiple times.
Since 1915
VOL. 86 NO. 12
www.pcc-courieronline.com
November 9, 2000
By m Alves
Edi tor lit Chief ,, . ,, v
л\уУ
Dont ever sdp that
у
qI%;. v '
political science «class, ’‘4 ’shoring.
and you had betjfferViot he sleep- .
ing through U.'S. history any¬
more. v
Suddenly, the seemingly pon¬
derous lectures on the Electoral
College, the popular vote and the
subtle difference between a
republic and a democracy havs
become tangible and so very real.
In Mississippi, voters chose
between two twin brothers for
county coroner, New York elect¬
ed a first lady to the U.S. Senate,
and Missouri voted in a dead
man.
However, all that pales in
comparison to the historic drama
unfolding as the nation, with its
eyes on Florida, collectively
holds its breath as it awaits word
of who will be its next president.
In just a few short days, what
was once obscure errata from a
long-forgotten civics class has
now become a national obses¬
sion. And much like most of the
country, the faculty and students
at the college are . sounding off
about the agonizing extra¬
innings showdown between Vice
President Al Gore and Texas
Governor George W. Bush.
“I think we should change the
way we elect a president. It
seems like my effort was can¬
celled. If we count every single
vote cast, more people will partic¬
ipate,” said Jenny Quan, associate
Photo Illustration by The Courier
This election was a milestone in American politics, millions of people logged onto the Internet to get the latest results.
CNN reports that its website received 100 million page hits from the time the polls opened until early the next day.
professor in the physical sciences
department.
As Florida recounts the bal¬
lots, the Electoral College and
just who a vote is actually cast for
is taking center stage on the
national stage.
“If the popular vote says that
the people want a particular can¬
didate, then the voice of the peo¬
ple should be heard and valued.
A true democracy should be
reflected by the will of the peo¬
ple, and I think we should do
away with the Electoral College,”
said Dr. Milton Brown, professor
in the social sciences department.
The Electoral College is the
collective name for a group of
electors, nominated by political
parties within the states who
actually cast the constitutional¬
ly-approved votes for president
and vice president.
The electors normally pledge
to vote for the nominees of their
party, but they are not constitu¬
tionally required to do so.
Article II Section I of the
Constitution reads, “Each State
shall appoint, in such manner as
the Legislature thereof may
direct, a number of electors,
equal to the whole number of
senators and representatives to
which the state may be entitled
in the Congress: but no senator
or representative, or person
holding an office of trust or prof¬
it under the United States, shall
be appointed an elector."
Essentially, when the
American people vote for a pres¬
idential ticket, they are actually
voting for slates of electors
pledged to those candidates.
The see-saw battle for
Florida's 25 Electoral College
votes has many questioning the
wisdom of the founding fathers.
“Personally, I think we need
to take a look at this system. It's
over 200 years old and sometimes
things have to change,” said Dr.
ELECTION, page 4
ECTION
000
By The Numbers
It’s a photo finish for the race to the White House with
Florida holding the key to the presidency. Here’s a quick
look at how the numbers break down.
260
270
The number of electoral
votes for George W Bush
The number of electoral
votes for Al Gore
The number of electoral
votes needed to win
The number of
Florida’s electoral votes
The number of states won by:
George W. Bush Al Gore
Power outage raises concern
over campus emergency plan
By Robert Glassey
Staff Writer
When a blown electric transformer allowed
darkness to descend on the campus Halloween
night, Dr. Lance Johnson, psychology professor,
told his students on the fourth floor of C
Building to sit tight and wait for the emergency
lights to come on.
“I was absolutely dumfounded when the lights
went out,” Johnson said. “It was black up here.
We waited and waited and there were no
emergency lights. People started to say, ‘What’s
going on?’ After a good 10 to 15 minutes and
nobody came up to the fourth floor, I was really
pissed.”
When it seemed clear that help was not com¬
ing, Johnson got a candle from his office and
used it to lead his students safely down the steps.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other stu¬
dents faced similar circumstances as about three
out of four buildings on campus lost power.
But while some instructors voiced dismay
over what they see as an inadequate response to
the blackout and questionable preparation for
emergencies in general, Philip Mullendore, direc¬
tor of campus police and safety, downplayed the
seriousness of the blackout.
“It wasn’t an emergency, it was a utility fail¬
ure,” Mullendore said. “It was a big event, but it’s
a non-issue. People get in their cars and go
home.”
Mullendore said the standard procedure is to
see if the blackout is going to be a momentary
thing. “Nobody’s life was in danger,” he said.
“We waited 20 minutes, and then we mobilized.” -
After concluding that the electric power
would not be coming back on any time soon,
Alan Chan, the officer in charge, sent 23 cadets
out in teams to check the more than 500 class¬
rooms and, find out if people were trapped in ele¬
vators.
Looking back, Mullendore, who was not on
campus during the blackout, praised the police
BLACKOUT, page 3
Student remains on life support
Rocky Paneno can breathe on his own and communicate with family
By Gia Scafidi
Staff Writer
Though heavily sedated and
still on life support, Rocky
Panerio continues to fight the
most challenging battle of his life.
Despite falling six stories from
a balcony on Oct. 21 and suffer¬
ing brain hemorrhaging, internal
organ damage, the loss of both
his kidneys and spleen and
breaks in his spinal cord, Paneno,
one of 19 PCC students studying
abroad in Florence, Italy, contin¬
ues to show signs of improve¬
ment.
“The miracles keep falling by
the dozens,” said Vilma Paneno,
Paneno’s grandmother.
Following an initial surgery to
stop his internal bleeding on Oct.
24, doctors at Careggi Hospital,
one of the best trauma centers in
Tuscany, Italy, were not opti¬
mistic about Paneno’s chances
for life.
Fortunately, his grandmother
said, he has not contracted any
infections, which could have
proven fatal within the first seven
to 10 days, under the circum¬
stances.
There was, however, a “reoc-
Photo courtesy of Paneno family
Rocky Paneno, 20, fights for his life
after devastating accident in Italy.
currence of hemorrhaging around
his stomach on Monday.”
Vilma Paneno noted that her
grandson’s abdomen was healing
more slowly than doctors had
hoped.
Paneno continues to show
signs of progress, with his parents
by his side. His brother, Sam, will
be leaving for Italy this weekend.
Vilma Paneno noted that the
brothers are very close.
“The doctors don’t want to
take him off of life support, but
he has started to breathe more on
his own,” said Vilma Paneno.
“He’s moving his arms, squeezing
hands and opening his eyes when
he’s conscious.”
She explained that the doctors
have Paneno heavily sedated so
that he can’t move his spine.
“When he’s conscious he tries
to rip off the life support,” said
his grandmother. “He can't
ROCKY, page 4
