OPINION FEATURES — SPORTS —
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MASTER PLAN UPDATE
Bids Too High; PE Facility
to be Delayed as a Result
SAMUEL HERNANDEZ
/
THE COURIER
(Above) Horrel Field as it looked last season. (Right) Only
hazardous materials removal has taken place thus far.
■ All responding
contractors couldn't
bring costs down to the
level of funding
available.
By DANIEL ARCHULETA
Courier Staff Writer
All construction bids for the
planned physical education facility
have been rejected by the college,
the administration explained that
none of the contractors who re¬
sponded couldbring total costs down
to the level of funding the college
has available.
Capital outlay money available
for the project is between $22 and
$23 million according to the
college’s current budget. The low¬
est bid submitted was $26.8 million
by California IBA, a local firm.
Pozzo Construction came in with
the highest bid at $31.4 million to
build the final major facet of the
Master Plan.
Eight of the 29 companies who
showed interest in the project sub¬
mitted price quotes.
Dr. Rod Fleeman, vice president
of administrative services, said that
the college doesn’t have the flexibil¬
ity to request additional money to
compensate for the over-priced bids.
Fleeman said that the state allo¬
cates a set amount of spending for
projects such as this. The college
will have to determine on its own
how to reduce the cost of building
the new gymnasium and the football
stadium.
“We have to come together with
the architects, engineers and the
project staff to review options to
reduce the cost,” Fleeman said.
“We’re going to have to bring the
cost down to a range we can deal
Please see BIDS, page 3
DANIEL ARCHULETA/ THE COURIER
Official Warns Campus Community Not to Panic
“In the rush to prepare, politicians and the
public have embraced the most extreme vision
of the coming El Nino winter, ”
Dave Douglass,
PCC Oceanography Expert
■ Oceanography
expert warns of the
effects of El Nino.
By REBECCA LANSING
Courier Staff Writer
The El Nino weather phenom¬
enon is expected to bring three times
the normal rainfall to Southern Cali¬
fornia this year, with effects world¬
wide rangingfromdroughtsto floods.
With all the dire warnings filling the
newspaper pages, just how concerned
do PCC students and staff need to
be?
“Don’t panic,” said Dave
Douglass, professor of oceanogra¬
phy. There is a potential threat of
floods occurring in mountain or fire
stricken areas.
Those areas along the coast that
are prone to flooding should also be
concerned. The media, Douglass
remarked, “have tried to sensation¬
alize (El Nino) to an extent. It would
be nice to do some educating, rather
than scaring.”
The L.A. Times reported that,
“successfully forecasting the onset
of El Nino is far easier than predict¬
ing its effect on local weather in the
months to come.”
Douglass describes El Nino as
being caused by winds in the tropics
and ocean currents.
“The easterly trade winds become
weak thus weakening two currents,
the north equatorial current and the
south equatorial current. This al¬
lows a warm water current to flow
west, toward North and South
America, bringing warm water to
the coastline,” he said.
Since there is a displacement of
so much warm water, it alters weather
patterns worldwide. New Guinea is
suffering from a severe drought,
while crop failures are occurring in
New Zealand, as well as flooding in
Bolivia.
“The weather phenomenon is
named after the Christ child because
it generally appears around Christ¬
mas every seven or eight years. It is
highly variable as well, with the last
one occurring in the winter of 1 982-
83,” Douglass said. That year, 30
homes were destroyed by waves and
mudslides, and 3,000 more were
flooded, causing nearly $100 mil¬
lion in damages to Southern Califor¬
nia and $13 billion worldwide.
“In the rush to prepare, politi¬
cians and the public have embraced
the most extreme vision of the com¬
ing El Nino winter,” The Times re¬
ported.
“In Washington, congressional
leaders from both sides of the aisle
want to boost budgets dramatically
for El Nino research and mitigation
efforts. In Los Angeles, where offi¬
cials expect to convene an emer¬
gency “summit meeting” on the El
Nino phenomenon next month, re¬
search scientists find themselves a
part of advertising by roofing com¬
panies trying to cash in on the pre¬
dictions of usually severe winter
storms.”
“This is not to mention the rise in
the number of flood insurance poli¬
cies purchased as a result,” he said.
Experts say that even if El Nino
does not dump as much rain as pre¬
dicted on Southern California, re¬
pairing dams and clearing flood chan¬
nels could not hurt.
Douglass said, “Realize the Earth
is a complicated system, it could
happen and not have severe effects. . ”
HEALTH WISE
Flu Season
Prompts
Shot Clinic
■ Heath Services offers
low-price inoculation
due to an anticipated
severe Flu season.
By LISA MENCHACA
Courier Staff Writer
Each year students miss valuable
class time due to the flu. The rapidly
approaching flu season is expected
to be worse than it has been in previ¬
ous years, said Jo Buscko, a campus
nurse.
PCC Health Services, in an effort
to “reach out to the campus commu¬
nity,” will be offering flu vaccina¬
tions for $3, Buscko said.
The vaccination clinics will be
hosted by PCC nursing students.
The event will not only benefit the
students and staff who will receive
the vaccine, but it will also “provide
a valuable experience to PCC nurs¬
ing students”, Buscko said.
The clinics will be held from 9
a.m. to 1p.m. on Oct. 21, 22, and 23,
in U104. For the convenience of
students who work during the day,
the vaccinations will also be avail¬
able from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Oct. 22
and 23. Those interested must pay in
advance at the Student Bank.
The flu vaccine will also be avail¬
able at the CEC located at 3035
Foothill Blvd. in room 138 on Oct.
28 from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to
4 p.m., Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to noon,
and Oct. 30 from 6:30 p.m to 9 p.m.
Anyone who is interested in receiv¬
ing the vaccine at the CEC campus
must pay the advance $3 fee by
Oct. 23.
For people who miss those dates,
vaccinations will also be provided
by the Visiting Nurse Association
for $10, which may be paid at the
door, said Buscko. The vaccine will
be offered to anyone, “so students
may bring their family and friends,”
said Buscko.
The Association’s shots will be
available on Oct. 28 from 10 a.m. to
1 p.m. in the Campus Center, Oct. 28
from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Cl 27 and on
Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the
Campus Center Lounge.
Please see VACCINE, page 5
TRUSTEE
ELECTIONS
Beth Wells-Miller
Area 7 Incumbent
Virginia Conijn
Area 7 Challenger
David Ma
Area 7 Challenger
Dr. Richard Green
Area 1 Incumbent
Bob Gomperz
Area 1 Challenger
Two of Four Available Seats Up For Grabs
By JULIET LEYBA
Courier Staff Writer
This year1 s board of trustees elec¬
tion could change the way things are
done at the college if challengers
unseat incumbents in the race on
Nov. 4. Although voters in four
trustee areas will have candidates on
the ballot, only two board seats are
being contested.
Area 1
Dr. Richard Green, the incum¬
bent, has been a trustee for 24 years
and as a formerboard president, he is
no stranger to facing opposition. He
has been challenged unsuccessfully
three times.
Green served on the board that
initiated shared governance. He is
in favor of wider participation by
students, classified staff and faculty
in the decision making functions of
the college.
“I believe PCC should be more
university oriented in its approach to
student participation in decision
making and such,” said Green.
“ With the introduction of CDROM
and learning libraries, we can also
offer students more options and a
better education,” said Green. He
feels strongly that the school must
convert from a teaching oriented phi¬
losophy to a learning philosophy. He
supports the idea that with current
technology, we can educate students
more effectively.
He also said, “finding out what it
is that makes people learn, and then
offering that option to them, is some¬
thing that is becoming a reality with
today’s technology.”
Green, a 32-year resident of La
Canada, has provided statewide com¬
munity college leadership as a direc¬
tor and president of the California
Community College Trustees. In
addition, he has been active in the La
Canada YMCA, the Junior Baseball
Association, and he has served for
22 years on the Verdugo Hills Hos¬
pital Foundation Board. He is cur¬
rently president of IPEC, an interna¬
tional engineering consulting firm.
This year Green is being chal¬
lenged by Bob Gomperz, director of
public affairs and conservation for
the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California. “I want to give
back to the system and to the college
that has meant so much to me,” said
Gomperz. Histop priority, if elected,
will be to improve the student expe¬
rience by focusing on improving the
quality of instructional programs.
“Dr. Green has been on the board
for a long time and he has done a
good job, but it is time for new blood
and new ideas,” Gomperz said. He
Please see ELECTION, page 4