MTA Strike Strands Riders
Cessation of bus and rail service keeps students from classes.
Feature:
Famous painter
shares his skills
with art students
Entertainment:
The story of
Veronica Guerin
hits theaters
Mitchell Wright
Editor-in-Cheif
Even though the AS held its reg¬
ular meeting and began a special
meeting directly afterward on
Monday, a Brown Act violation on
the agendas nullified all actions
taken by the board.
The two typos at the root of it
all are the dates on the agendas.
Both the regular meeting and the
special meeting say "Monday, Oct
13," instead of "Monday, Oct. 20."
During the approval of the reg¬
ular meeting agenda Christina
Granados, vice president for aca¬
demic affairs, saw the date was
wrong and motioned to correct it
on the agenda. But even though
the date was changed at the meet¬
ing, the posted one still had the
mistake.
Granados was in charge because
Keenan Bernard Gosset, AS presi¬
dent, was running late.
When Gosset arrived at the
meeting, the approval had already
gone through.
The meeting continued without
further complications. Then when
the board adjourned at 1:44 p.m.
and began its special meeting
immediately afterward, the extent
of the mistakes became clear.
During the approval of the
agenda, Stephen Johnson, assistant
dean of student affairs and one of
the AS advisers, raised his hand
with a question.
"Does the agenda posted have
the correct date?" he asked. The
AS members looked at each other
with uncertainty, they simply
shrugged their shoulders.
Then Johnson made a starling
comment: "I'm afraid you can't
hold this meeting." The mention of
the regular meeting's typo was
brought up and Johnson said both
meetings might have to be nulli¬
fied.
Knarik Sevinyan, vice president
for external affairs, walked out
into the hall to find out the
answer. However, when she
returned she said, "It was posted
with the wrong date."
"I didn't pay attention to it,"
said Rebecca Cobb, student affairs
adviser. "I remember they refer¬
enced it going over the agenda,
but I didn't pay attention to it. My
assumption was that they changed
what was posted, and I didn't ask. I
realized it when Stephen [Johnson]
said something, but it's usually
caught before I see the agenda. For
one, I've usually caught it before¬
hand, and the [AS has] caught it
before. They usually correct it and
post it."
However, once the errors were
discovered, the meeting had to
Sports:
Men’s soccer
puts up the big
goose egg
stop. Johnson said that all "the
actions taken during the regular
meeting are nullified."
A cure process set within the
Brown Act, which are the guide¬
lines for governing bodies, allows
the board to rectify any errors that
occur at a meeting by running a
special meeting.
Johnson also stated that the
agenda "needs to be re-done, and
items posted with the correct
agenda."
"You just want to make sure
you guys are in compliance with
the Brown Act," Johnson said.
Gosset explained that the error
occurred when he was in a
rush to leave for the air-
port on Friday. He filled out ^
the regular Seepage
Gosset
Locker Robbery Suspect Caught by Police
Priscilla Moreno and Mitchell Wright
Editors
A week after the major thefts from 1 50 men's and
women's lockers in the W building, a suspect was
arrested on charges of first degree burglary on Oct.
18.
The initial break-ins had campus police beef up its
patrols around the W building, as a way of planning
ahead in case the
thief would strike
again at the same
time.
The suspect
Andrew Eckard,
24, a PCC student,
was found in the
men's locker room
by campus police
officer John Hynes
and cadets George
Lopez and Benny
Carbajal.
Hynes and the
two cadets did a
sweep through the
W building 30 min¬
utes before find¬
ing the suspect in
the locker room. When they returned, several doors to
the building were open. No classes were scheduled in
the area at the time, so they decided to investigate.
When they entered the locker room, several lockers
were found open. Eckard was standing at the farthest
corner of the room near several broken locks that
Eckard
were lying on the floor. Two trash bags and a back¬
pack at his feet contained what appeared to be arti¬
cles missing from lockers in last week's break-ins.
When asked what he was doing in the area, Eckard
told campus police he was getting cleaned up after his
auto shop class, although it was later discovered that
he had just come out of an electronics classes.
"Hynes asked if the stuff in the bags was his," said
Lt. Bradley Young, and Eckard said they were. Hynes
asked if he could look inside the bags and did so with
Eckard's permission.
"The officer opened both of the trash bags and
emptied them out," said Young. "What he found
were the women's swim suits and under garments
that were stolen a week ago."
Young said because the articles were taken from
both the men's and women's locker rooms, the profile
set up to catch the suspect did not match what they
thought. But they knew it would probably be a male,
because of the way the lockers were being broken
into. They were pried rather than cut open.
Hynes searched the suspect, and found a 12 and a
half inch red "power built" screwdriver in one of
Eckard's right front pockets. Campus police believed
that this was the tool used to break the locks.
"The pry tool was inserted into the lock's loop, and
he simply started to twist, it's going to snap. The pres¬
sure point is at the top of the lock, and that's what
breaks. And if that doesn't break, then one of the legs
on the dock pops off. A lot of the locks from the
break-ins look just like that too," Young said.
Hynes arrested Eckard immediately. The
crime scene was processed and Eckard's state¬
ment.
"Officer Hynes and the two
See page
Crystal Samuelian/Couner
Cadet Art Perez sorts through material recovered on Saturday from suspected thief.
Do Over! Brown Act violation Nullifies
Actions Taken by Associated Students
Rita Vega-Acevedo
Senior Staff Writer
The MTA bus and rail strike has
left up to 500,000 people stranded,
including PCC students who have
missed classes and are feeling
added stress with each passing day.
"I'm angry. I think the strike is
selfish, especially with our state's
economy. None of the parties are
trying that hard to end the strike,"
said Scherrie Lemon. She com¬
mutes from Compton to PCC but is
stranded at home.
In Highland Park, Gabriel
Garcia normally rides the Gold Line
to PCC, a 35 minute commute to
* the college. All week Garcia has
been scrambling to get rides to and
from classes.
"I've been using MTA buses and
trains for a total of seven years,"
said Garda. "Neither side seems
concerned about the (strike)
impact on people. The MTA needs
to think about the people they are
hurting."
Both Lemon and Garcia have
grown up using public transporta¬
tion. Many of their neighbors also
use the bus and the Blue and Gold
Line trains.
Lemon says that her neighbor¬
hood in Compton is too quiet and
sad because of the transit strike.
She wonders how much longer the
strike will last. Garcia has a differ¬
ent problem.
He is spending too much
energy worrying about transporta¬
tion instead of his studies. The stu¬
dent is grateful to friends who are
going out of their way to give him
rides, but he knows he can't
impose on them too much longer.
Garcia feels betrayed by the
MTA and he says it's ironic because
he's stuck with MTA for such a long
time. Before leaving to his next
class, Garcia says, "I don't know
how I will get home today."
On Oct. 14 more than 2,000
MTA maintenance employees went
on strike over health care benefits
to union and retired employees.
These employees include mechan¬
ics, service attendants and others
who work to keep buses fueled,
repaired and cleaned before leav¬
ing the maintenance yards.
The maintenance employees
belong to the Amalgamated
Transit Union. The entire system
was shut down when MTA bus,
train and clerks' unions also joined
the strike.
The Foothill Transit bus com¬
pany is not on strike, but it does
not serve the entire San Gabriel
Valley. To assist riders, the company
is accepting MTA passes and
Metrolink transfers at Cal State LA
and Union Station during the
strike. No new service is being
added.
Other bus companies such as
Santa Monica, LA/DOT, Montebello
Bus Lines and Long Beach Transit
are running service. Metrolink is
also running trains from as far
away as Riverside, San Bernardino
and parts of Orange County. All
Metrolink trains travel to
Union Station in down¬
town Los Angeles.
MTA is See page
Former Student Killed in Iraq
Linda Rapka
Entertainment Editor
A fatal accident in Baghdad on Monday claimed
the life of a former PCC student
serving in the U.S. Army.
Pfc. Jose Casanova, 23, was
killed when an Iraqi dump truck
rolled over and landed on top
of his high mobility multi-pur¬
pose wheeled vehicle, accord¬
ing to the U.S. Department of
Defense.
Lt. Col. Kevin Curry, an Army
spokesman at the Pentagon,
said, "Casanova died crushed
inside the vehicle" along with another U.S. soldier.
"The incident was classified as non-hostile," Curry
said. The accident is under investigation.
Casanova served in Iraq since March. He was
assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters
Cassanova
Company, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry
Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort
Bragg, North Carolina.
The accident occurred four months before the
325th regiment was expected to return home.
Casanova joined PCC's marching band during the
fall 1999 semester. In the spring of 2000 he became a
member of the Marching Percussion Ensemble. Soon
after he enlisted in the army.
Tad Carpenter, assistant band director at PCC,
remembered Casanova as "a great student. He was
always willing to go out of his way to help out."
A memorial service for Casanova was held Tuesday
morning at Our Lady of Guadalupe church in his El
Monte neighborhood.
Casanova's family has established a scholarship
fund in his honor. Donations can be sent to: Bank of
America, account number 020199-10637, 11138 Valley
Mall, El Monte, 91731. For funeral information, con¬
tact El Monte City Hail at (626) 580-2001.
