PCC Courier, October 17, 2013

VOLUME 108 ISSUE 8 WHAT'S INSIDE: NIGHT OF ART Experience the moving ArtNight event at PCG PAGE 6» MIDNIGHT MADNESS Take a look at the slamdunk start to basketball season PAGE 7» \ SPEAK OUT! Should drugs be legalized on a federal level? Vote at PccCourier. com ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM October 17, 2013 ‘Gatsby makes it to the big stage Concepcion Gonzalez/Courier Ned Kirby as Nick Carraway, left, Casey Kenyon as Jordan Baker, Anna Dawahare as Dasiy Buchanan, and Daniel Kingsland as Jay Gatsby, in rehearsal at the Sexson Auditorium, Oct. 9. Kingsland (Gatsby) is seen pleading with Kenyon (Daisy) to leave her husband Tom Buchanan. Contractor lawsuit against former employees dismissed Philip McCormick Managing Editor A Superior Court judge has dismissed a bribery lawsuit filed against former Vice Pres¬ ident of Administrative Services Richard van Pelt and former Facilities Services Supervisor Alfred Hutchings, according to Hutchings’ attorney Craig Renetzky. The suit filed by LED Global Corp, LLC in July of last year was dismissed on Oct. 10 after LED principals Robert Das and Salia Smith failed to appear at two mandatory set- dement conferences in August and Septem¬ ber. Das and Salia were sanctioned $6,000 for their failure to appear. On Sept. 1 8, Das and Smith’s attorneys from the Layfield Law Firm of El Segundo, requested that they be relieved of their re¬ sponsibilities to represent LED Global, which Bruguera granted. “The dismissal of the case was a long time coming, because Das and Smith did not have a single piece of evidence that could support their wild claims,” said John Schmocker, van Pelt and Hutchings’ attorney, in an email. “The harm caused to van Pelt and Hutch¬ ings can never be repaired, and a malicious Daniel Nerio/Courier File photo of Rick Van Pelt, former Vice President of Administrative Services on Nov. 2,2010. prosecution lawsuit against Das and Smith is being prepared and will be filed if they return to California.” According to General Counsel Gail Cooper, the LED Global case was dismissed by the Court for procedural reasons only. “It was not a decision on the merits of the case against Hutchings and van Pelt. We understand that the District Attorney’s Office is planning to file charges against them soon,” she said. Hutchings and van Pelt were fired after the school found out that they were being investigated by the District Attorney’s office for “conflicts of interest.” LAWSUIT page 7 ► FA attempts contract negotiations Philip McCormick Managing Editor A proposal for new contract terms from the Faculty Association (FA) was presented at its meeting on Oct. 10, where the FA also called out the Pasadena Area Community College District for not meeting with FA leaders since May 30. “We have been frustrated with [Super¬ intendent Mark Rocha,]” said FA presi¬ dent Roger Marheine. He also said that it seemed as if the FA and the District were in two separate “rooms” and that nothing was getting accomplished that way. Marheine proposed that the two sides continue the negotiations without mediators and attorneys present. He felt that they would be able to move toward meaningful discussions that way. Rocha has said that if the union did not accept the Districts’ terms back in March, negotiations would be mediated through an outside organization and that would prolong the process. NEGOTIATIONS page 7 ^ Into the underground: A look at PCCs most hidden secret Christine Michaels Editor-in-Chief They are hidden beneath us as we walk along this campus, accessible only by descending a long spiraling staircase. .And at the bottom lies one of the col¬ lege’s biggest secrets: an under¬ ground mobile tunnel system. The enormous room, 20 feet below the campus walkways, is dim and cold with massive hunks of machinery lining its walls, lies 20 feet below the cam¬ pus walkways. To the left, a door with the words “To C-Building” written on sharpie leads to the underground tunnel system. Facilities Supervisor Donald Eckmann unlocks the large steel door, revealing a small ladder leading to a square opening only about three feet wide. “This one is pretty small, as you can see,” Eckmann said. “There’s not a lot of room. They all vary. Some of them you have to crawl through. There are very few of them that you can stand up and walk through.” In virtually every building on campus, there is at least one entrance to this underground system. From the V Budding to the C Building, from the E Building to the GM Building, from the Facilities Services offices to the TUNNELS page 2 ^ . - TO '0* Benjamin Simpson/Courier One of the many tunnels underneath the PCC campus, this one leads from the V building to the C building, Oct. 7. The tunnels probably date back to the construction of the first buildings in 1 924.