OPINION
Does the A. S. Board have time
for students?
Page 2
FEATURES
Stephen Johnson is the new assistant
dean of student services
Page 5
SPORTS
Lancer Football team
preparing for new season
starting Sept. 10
Page 5
THE
COURIER
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 80 No. 2
THURSDAY
si:m ember
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Serving the Pasadena Community since 1915
RAFAEL VEGA/ THE COURIER
Cars follow a student in a parking Lot 3 hoping to get his parking space.
Three arrested in
stabbing incident
By JAMES WHALLEY
COURIER STAFF WRITER
A dispute in a PCC parking lot between
two students and a construction workerended
in a slabbing and three arrests after a violent
encounter erupted early last Thursday. Ac¬
cording to campus police reports, a cadet on
duly reported a disturbance in Lot 3 at
around 8:40 a.m. on Sept. 1 involving three
males.
“What we had was a l ight for the parking
spots,” said PCC policcSgl. Vincent Palermo.
Apparently, two males in one car asked a
woman on her way to her car if they could
have her space. When she said yes, they
followed her and saw another car already
waiting. The driver of the waiting car
managed to get the space, Palermo said.
Witnesses reported they saw Sang
Mong, 20, and Dung T ran, 2 1 , both students,
confront Albin Castillo, 24, the construction
worker, after he got out of his car. The report
said that Mong and Tran began a physical
altercation with Castillo, who pulled out a
knife and stabbed Mong in the buttocks and
cut Tran on his hand. The knife, which is
still being held as evidence, had a two and
one-half inch blade. “It was a work knife, I
believe, that he uses on his job,” Palermo
said. “It wasn’t a stiletto or a dagger.”
Within minutes, Castillo was taken into
custody by two campus police officers, and
the Pasadena Fire Department was notified
and responded to treat the injuries. T ran was
treated for minorculs at the scene and Mong
was transported to Huntington Memorial
Hospital and Iatcr'relcascd. “There were no
major injuries or anything,” Palermo said.
He added, “One student went back to class
and the other one went to the hospital and
came back here."
Tran was spotted exiting the campus
security office later that morning with a
small blood stain on his shirt. He declined
to comment on the incident.
Mong and Tran were charged w ith bat¬
tery on school grounds, a misdemeanor, and
cilc-rcicascd, which amounts to being is¬
sued a ticket and ordered to appear in court
at a later date.
Castillo w as taken to the Pasadena Police
Department and booked for assault with a
deadly weapon, but on T uesday the case was
rejected by the District Attorney’s office.
Investigators fell the worker had acted in
self defense, Palermo said.
Palermo characterized the incident as
“very isolated.” We have never had this
before. The only other crime we had in the
parking lot was last year where they stole a
student’s car at gun point. Tempers were
flaring. It was hot out and you know how it
is just trying to get a parking space. So these
two thought it was their space and the other
one thought it was his. It led to a fight with
one of them getting stabbed.”
In an unrelated matter, two women were
involved in a loud confrontation in front of
the campus center at around the same lime
as the stabbing. The incident occurred when
Anesa Hayes refused paperwork from Renee
Williams, who then followed Hayes to the
cafeteria. The two exchanged words in the
quad and the altercation ended. Hayes was
escorted to the health center for treatmentof
scrapes.
According to Palermo, the incident was
not investigated further.
He added, "It is our concern that the
atmosphere on campus be condusi vc to learn¬
ing. Our job is complete if we maintain the
peace.”
ANITA NARDINE' THE COURIER
Press questions man released
in INS impersonation probe
Christopher Aguayo, 22, identified by
the news media as a PCC student, was
released Tuesday after being arrested as a
suspect in the case of a phony INS officer
sexually attacking women and children.
After police released Aguayo saying
he was no longer a suspect, he wanted to
gi ve his side of the story. He called a news
conference Wednesday in front of
Harbeson Hall. Newspaper and televi¬
sion reporters attended to hear about the
student’s five days in jail.
There is some dispute over whether
Aguayo is actually a student at PCC. He
claims he is registered in a Spanish class
but did not pay his Ices. He says he is a
PCC student, since his name is on the
roster, and he continues to attend classes.
College officials, however, say if he has
not paid his fees he is not a registered
student.
Police arrested Aguayoon the strength
of a composite sketch from information
victims supplied to a police artist. Later
when witnesses actually saw a photo of
him, they told police he was “not the
man.” “At first, I wasjuslgiad to
be free,” he said. “Now, I’m
angry about all this.”
According to Aguayo, a
woman, allegedly a co-worker
of his, turned him in. He feels he
was turned in because he is very
aggressive with women and some
people at work don’t like him.
He said “I’m a touchy, feely
person and some people don’t
like that.” Also, there was a
SI 0.000 reward for ihe arrest of
the suspect, he said.
Aguayo says that he was un¬
aware of the INS incident until
he was arrested. El Monte Police
held him for live days and ques¬
tioned him repeatedly. The rest
of the lime in the cell, Aguayo
said he had plenty of time to
reflect. "During the five days I
was in jail I had enough lime to
realize how aggressive and for¬
ward I was towards women. Be¬
cause of that m
у
w hole personal -
Plase see PRESS, Page 4
RAYMOND CHIU THE COURIER
Above: Christopher Aguayo at press conference.
Below: Crews from several news organizations
question him about his time in jail.
Black college catalogs locked down
GEORGE GONZALES/ THE COURIER
The Transfer Center's collection of college catalogs from “historically black” institutions is
secured in racks to protect the books against theft. The measures drew criticism from students.
By ADAM F. SMITH
COURIER STAFF WRITER
The PCC Transfer Center has
placed us collection of catalogs
rccicved from “historically black"
institutions of higher learning to
metal security racks. Complaints
arose when students objected to the
image projected by a policy in which
special security arrangements were
applied only to resources used pri¬
marily by African-American stu¬
dents.
“Is this a school policy? Do we
trust some students more than oth¬
ers?” Associated Students president
Robert Bowman said as he viewed
the racks. He then stated the appear¬
ance of unbalanced treatment of dif¬
ferent groups of students is an issue
requiring sensitivity.
Employees of the center, located
in D200, fastened the catalogs in
question in racks that use metal rods
across the binding to anchor the book s
to the framework.
The racks arc surrounded by many
other college catalogs and other re¬
sources that arc not secured in any
fashion. The security racks fold open
as a unit, allowing only one student
at a time to comfortably utilize the
racks.
Some newer resources arc held
behind a central counter in D200.
Those catalogs require the exchange
of a driver’s license to for the mate¬
rial being examined, a policy similar
to that the Shallord Library uses in
it’s handling of reserve materials. A
student can then look at those mate¬
rials in a leisurely fashion within the
building.
“It’s an issue of being fair,” George
Battle, student trustee said, “If one
set of materials is being handled one
way, why so obviously handle an¬
other differently?”
Dr. Matthew Lee, assistant dean
of matriculation and research ser¬
vices, said those catalogs were placed
in the racks to make them visible to
minority students. He said that plac¬
ing them behind a desk would de¬
crease their usage.
“We wanted to feature them, not
hide them. It didn’t occur to us there
might be problems,” Lee said.
DcnaChasc is responsible forday-
to-day operations of the center. She
said they had not intended to protect
any part of their collection any dif¬
ferently than another due to those
most likely to use it.
“We want to keep our resources
as accessible as possible. Catalogs
from various kinds of schools have
turned up missing in the past, and we
don ’ t have m u 1 liplc copies from these
Please see CATALOGS, Page 7
