Dia de los
Muertos
Honored,
see page 4
. r, . . .
Тц
1Ш
' ' '
illiililllllll!
Иг
К!!!
I
Don’t be a
Jackass,
see page 5
Lancers
Outlast
Mt. Sac, 12-6,
see page 7
P A S A D E N A
C I T
E G E
RIER
Since 1 915
VOL. 88 NO. 10
www.pcc-courieronline.com
Photo Illustrations by Luis Romero/Courier
Gho&s?
Spirits at PCC,
' The truth is
out there'
By Luis Romero
Staff Writer
Halloween is the day when we expect tiny
ghosts and goblins to come knocking on our
door for treats. But no one really believes in
ghosts, right? You may be surprised to know
that a real ghost might haunt the PCC campus.
In 1987, the Courier reported, “It seems
Sexson Auditorium houses the spirit of a for¬
mer PCC stage technology teacher named
Frank Latshaw. Latshaw died of a heart attack
in 1949. Since then he has been assigned to
take care of the auditorium, according to a
seance held in 1968.”
The following year, the paper ran a story of
“ghost hunter” Richard Senate who taught a
class on paranonnal activity and who
researched the ghost of PCC.
The graveyard shift custodians refer to the
ghost as Charlie. Most have a story to tell. “I
was changing the light in the hallway and I felt
Charlie come behind me,” said Jose Melendez,
custodian for last seven years. “Sometimes I
hear him whistling.”
Charlie or Frank, whatever the name, it was
about time the phenomenon was investigated. I
decided to spend an evening in Sexson
Auditorium and see if in fact a ghost was
haunting the campus.
The plan was to organize a group of three,
who would come equipped with high-powered
microphones and video recorders to catch the
slightest movement or noise. With
any luck I’d get Richard Senate, para¬
nonnal specialist, to offer his expert¬
ise. None of this transpired. Instead I
got two sports writers and a busted
tape recorder that switched speeds
while it recorded.
According to the news stories and
the custodians, we knew this going
in:
1) The ghost is protective of the
auditorium.
2) The ghost does not like things
unorganized.
3) The ghost dislikes rock and roll.
4) The ghost does not like men.
5) The ghost is often heard
whistling.
6) The ghost can sometimes be felt hovering
over people’s shoulders.
Joseph Narvaez, Mitchell Wright and I
loaded our backpacks with a ouija board, pens,
papers, tape recorders, digital cameras, food,
and a Rubik’s cube. We were prepared in the
event that the ghost was feeling shy.
10:17 p.m.
We entered Sexson Auditorium. It was
much darker than we imagined. Neither Joseph
nor Mitchell nor I said anything but we consid¬
ered backing out. On stage sat a tiny lamp try¬
ing to illuminate the large auditorium. We hov¬
ered around it and reached for our equipment.
10:20 p.m.
Joseph claimed to have heard whistling. We
rewound the tapes and listened. We didn’t hear
anything. We suggested perhaps it was the
wind. Joseph seemed unconvinced.
10:24 p.m.
Joseph claimed to have seen a shadow move
up along the balcony. Mitchell and I looked but
saw only darkness. We looked away and then
turned back quickly, trying to trick the ghost,
but we still saw nothing. Either Joseph was see¬
ing things or the ghost was smarter than us.
Both remained options.
10:47 p.m.
After a period of silence, we decided to try
Ф
continued on page 3
By Terrance Parker
Staff Writer
"Absence makes the heart grow
fonder," is a saying so old that it's a
stale cliche. It is also not true, at
least when it comes to the
Associated Students Board (ASB)
and the Inter-Club Council (ICC).
Two clubs just missed having
their charters revoked at the Oct. 25
ICC meeting.
• The council voted 21-13 in favor
of de-chartering Caduceus and
Korean Campus Crusade for Christ
(KCCC) for violating ICC atten¬
dance rules.
The motion missed the required
two-thirds majority by only two
votes.
If a club loses its charter then it
can no longer use PCC facilities,
sponsor on-campus events, or
access any money in the club's
account.
A club may re-apply and be re¬
chartered at a subsequent ICC meet¬
ing if a majority of the council
approves.
The ICC then
approved, without
dissent, a motion
to send a warning
letter to the two
clubs involved in
the previous L.ODD
motion plus any
other club that was in danger of
breaking the attendance rules.
Neither Caduceus nor KCCC
was represented at last Friday's
meeting.
This was the third straight
absence for both clubs. Current ICC
bylaws allow up to two consecutive
absences or three total absences per
semester.
If a club exceeds this limit, the
council can vote to revoke that
club's charter.
One club, A.W.A.R.E., has
missed the last two meetings.
If A.W.A.R.E. does not have a
representative present at the Nov. 8
meeting, the council would be justi¬
fied in removing the club from the
list of official campus organiza¬
tions.
Attendance was also the major
focus of the Oct. 23 AS meeting.
Their bylaws are very explicit. No
AS member shall have more than
two unexcused absences or three
total absences per semester; no
member shall have more than three
unexcused or five total absences per
academic year.
A tardy is being five or more
minutes late for a scheduled meet¬
ing. Three tardies equals one unex¬
cused absence.
Any AS officer who exceeds
these limits is automatically dis¬
qualified from holding office.
A two- thirds majority of the
board can grant an exception to this
disqualification in mitigating cir¬
cumstances.
Latoya Sturge, vice president for
public relations, and Manny
Rangel, AS secretary, compiled a
list of absences and tardies for each
board member starting with the first
meeting in June.
OCTOBER 31, 2002
Student Info
Exposed on
the Internet
By Kevin Awakuni
Associate Editor
Hundreds of PCC students who
received scholarship or grant money
in 1998 or 1999 have had their per¬
sonal information, including Social
Security numbers, addresses and
full names, exposed on the internet
for as long as three years.
An oversight by the Internal
Revenue Service and a website
company that displays tax forms for
non-profit organizations have put
hundreds of students in danger of
having their identities stolen.
Students who were contacted by
the “Courier” expressed outrage and
disbelief. Sarah Ward, 21, said, “It’s
shocking this information leaked
out, I wish there was a way to stop
it.” Lisa Moon, 23, said, “It’s scary.”
The “Courier” was unable to
determine whether or not any stu¬
dents experienced credit problems.
Bob Berardi, a sergeant on the
Los Angeles Identity Theft Task
Force, said, “A Social Security num¬
ber is the key to open up all the
financial statements.” A Social
Security number along with an
address is more than enough infor¬
mation for somebody to steal an
identity. A spokesperson for the FBI
said that a Social Security number,
along with the date of birth, are the
two things that define a person’s
identity.
When the “Courier” informed
school officials last week, they
expressed shock and immediately
contacted the organization to have
the information removed. Ernestine
Moore, vice-president of student
services, said the school would
never knowingly submit this kind of
information. Moore also said they
were just doing what the IRS
required them to do and that they
had no idea that this kind of infor¬
mation would be posted on the inter¬
net.
The Federal Trade Commission
said it costs the average victim more
A.S. Criticizes Member Absences
Two Clubs Nearly Have Their Charters Stripped by Inter-Club Council
According to this list, six mem¬
bers are already past the allowed
number of absences.
"The reason I did this is that we
have a problem," Sturge announced.
"This needed to be brought to the
attention of the board so we can
clean up our act."
"To tell you the truth, guys, this
is really pitiful," said Manny Torres,
vice president for internal affairs.
"I'm ashamed to see this list."
However, some of the absences
might not count. "When AS board
members are doing AS business,
historically these are not considered
absences," said
Rebecca Cobb,
student affairs
adviser.
Also, summer
meetings might
not count. "PCC
does not consider
summer dates as
part of the
аса-
Sturge
Ф
continued on page 8
than $1,000 to clean up the fraud.
An Associated Press story from
early January said that, identity theft
may affect as many as 750,000 vic¬
tims a year, and that credit card
fraud costs consumers over $1 bil¬
lion annually.
Berardi said because the stu¬
dent’s personal information has
been on the internet for so long they
can only take preventive measures
at this point. He said that students on
this list should contact the credit
reporting bureaus and check their
bank statements carefully.
Berardi also .-v*
emphasized the
need for people
to shred any
documents that .
may contain *
sensitive infor- Computer
mation, and to Crimes
avoid carrying
their Social Security card. “The less
exposed you are, the better off.”
The tax form, also known as the
990, required schools to list all
scholarship recipients until 1999,
when the IRS ceased requesting that
information.
Suzanne Coffman, a spokesper¬
son for the website, which will not
be named for security reasons, said
the company downloads the tax
forms from the IRS and then posts
the returns on its website for the
public to see.
When the website was notified
about the sensitive information
being posted, Coffman said that it
would be taken down immediately.
The IRS takes the information of
before it’s posted, and they must
have just missed it Coffman said.
She also said it is the IRS’
responsibility to take off the infor¬
mation and not the website’s.
However, when the website does
find out that sensitive infonnation is
being listed it is usually taken off
within 24 to 48 hours.
However at time of publication, the
# continued on page 3
Group Turns 75
By Terrance
Parker
Staff
Writer
Seventy-
five years ago OMD, the college's
honorary service organization,
selected PCC students by tapping
them into its =====
ranks.
Today, it still
“OMD membership
is a chance for
taps in staff and faculty to
members. The . ,
recognize and give
back to students
some of the service
these students give
to our community.”
name has
changed, but the
organization is
the same.
"The school's
first mascot was
the Pirates, so
the name was the
Order of Mast
and Dagger,"
said Robert Bowman, PCC web
design technician.
He said the second mascot was
the Bulldogs, so the Greek letters
Omicron Mu Delta were used.
In 1954 the name was officially
changed to the Order of
Distinguished Service.
No matter what the official
name is, the group is usually called
OMD.
Bowman was one of several
OMD members who spoke at a
dinner reception celebrating
OMD's 75th anniversary.
The event, held Oct. 25, drew
45 current' and former students,
faculty and staff to
the Circadian Room.
Tony Georgilas,
retired PCC com¬
munications profes¬
sor, served as master
of ceremonies.
"Seventy-five
years, founded in
1927," Georgilas
said to start the
, affair. "We’re as old
Ghrystal Watson, .... ..
1 as Mickey Mouse,
Speech Professor ^id y0U i<now that?"
Olympia
Santana, OMD president, said
many students think OMD is a
club, but it's not. "Students can't
just join," she explained. "They
must be nominated by a member of
the PCC faculty or staff.
ф
continued on page 3