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September 8, 2005
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PCC
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Page 8
Vol. 92, Issue 3
Students, Staff
T ouched by
Katrina Disaster
Jennifer MacDonald
News Editor
PCC football players Brandon and Justin Garrett
experienced lots of hurricanes growing up in Baton
Rouge, La., but the brothers never went through any¬
thing like Hurricane Katrina.
“We have so many hurricanes,” Brandon said.
“[My family] was warned but they weren’t prepared.
The trees came down and destroyed everything.”
Garrett’s relatives evacuated and are safe, but
when the brothers try to call anyone from home they
get a message that says no service because of the hur¬
ricane.
“It makes you want to go back home and check up
on your family,” Brandon said. “But my mom wants
me to stay and finish school.”
Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast last
Monday, 1,600 miles from Pasadena. The disaster
has touched staff members and students at PCC who
have family members who live in the hardest hit areas
of Mississippi and Louisiana.
One staff member, human resources
technician Patsy Perry, grew up in
Louisiana with her sister but moved to
Pasadena when they were still young.
Perry’s sister returned to work at a naval
air base located in Belle Chasse, La. a few
years ago. She evacuated the New Orleans
area by car with a friend’s family and two
stranded students.
“They heard about it and they got
nervous, so Sunday morning they thought
they’d better get out of there,” Perry said.
The five-and-a-half-hour drive to
Grambling, La. took 15 hours because of
all the traffic away from the coast.
Over a week later, Perry’s sister learned that her
apartment in
Нага
Han, La. sustained no water dam¬
age and little wind damage.
“She’s emotional,” Perry said of her younger sis¬
ter. “She’s feeling better now. She said that she finally
did a little bit of crying. She’s been distraught about
the whole thing.”
Also distraught about his family’s situation is
Lancer quarterback Tru Vaughns who remembers
hurricane warnings as a normal part of Gulf Coast
life. “They had a lot of hurricane warnings in the
Katrina ^
Page 6
Drive Raises
Funds for
Katrina
Victims
Dean Lee
Staff Writer
A massive fundraising
drive for survivors of
Hurricane Katrina was
held last Thursday at the
Rose Bowl. According to
the American Red Cross,
the event raised almost
$500,000.
Dereck Andrade,
adjunct faculty for visual
arts and media studies, is
the director of public
affairs for the San Gabriel
Valley chapter of the Red
Cross and played a large
part in organizing the
event.
“The money is
still being added
up,” Andrade said. “It
will then be put in a bank
account, sent to the feder¬
al government and given
to the survivors as debit
cards so they can buy
basic needs such as food
and shelter.
In addition to working
for the Red Cross,
Andrade has taught pub¬
lic relations and organiza¬
tional communication
classes at PCC for the last
two years.
The stories told in the
aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina are horrific.
Thousands have been
stranded without basic
Drive
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Page 4
Murder
Suspect
Awaits
Hearing
Crystal
Samuelian
Contributing
Writer
Attorneys met in
Alhambra court
Thursday, August 25
to set a date for a
final meeting before
the preliminary
hearing in the trial of
a Pasadena man
accused of murder¬
ing his girlfriend.
George W.
Pigman is being held
on $1 million bail for
one count of murder
in the beating death
of Eimi Yamada, a
foreign exchange
student from Japan.
The 23-year-old
Pigman, a former
PCC student,
appeared in court on
July 27 shackled,
bearded and very
thin. Judge Carlos
Uranga respectfully
declined defense
attorney Jose
Colon's request to
have the shackles
removed.
“The judge
denied it just
because it was going
to be a quick pro¬
ceeding,” Colon
said.
Colon would not
state whether his
team was trying for
an acquittal or just a
light sentence.
According to
Michael Villalobos
from the Los
Angeles District
Attorneys office,
Pigman could be in
prison- for 25 years
to life if convicted
although he will not
be eligible for the
death penalty.
Representatives
from the D. A.'s
office and public
defense attorneys
have been in court
twice in the past two
months trying to get
a date for the prelim¬
inary hearing set.
“It's not their
fault,” said
Villalobos. “They've
been waiting for all
the discovery.”
Pictures of the
crime scene, blood-
work, drawings and
the autopsy report
are still missing, said
Villalobos.
Pigman's next
court date,
September 15, will
be a short proceed¬
ing to schedule the
actual preliminary
hearing.
Yamada, who
would have been 22
years old in August
was found beaten to
death on May 7 in
her apartment on the
8500 block of Palma
Vista Avenue in San
Gabriel. A large
metal pair of barbe¬
cue tongs was found
near the victim,
according to
Villalobos.
Pigman was
quickly arrested
when someone
noticed him naked
and covered in blood
on top of a nearby
San Gabriel apart¬
ment building.
Yamada was tak¬
ing ESL classes at
the PCC
Community
Education Center
and was also a stu¬
dent at Poly
Languages Institute.
Pigman has a his¬
tory of citations
ranging from failure
to wear a helmet
while skating to pos¬
session of marijua¬
na, burglary and dis¬
turbing the peace.
He was dismissed
from PCC in 2004
for being disruptive
in classes, attending
class while under the
influence of alcohol
and failure to attend
his disciplinary hear¬
ing.
The defendant's
father, George W.
Pigman III, is a pro¬
fessor at Caltech, but
would not comment
for this article.
Hot Diggity Dog
Stephen Juarez, the newly elected Associated Students president, dishes out hamburgers and hot dogs at
a barbecue hosted by the AS on Wednesday.
PCC Drama Student
Killed in Car Crash
Courtesy of Whitney Rydbeck
Kate Murray
Editor-in-Chief
During the summer, tragedy
struck the PCC drama department.
On Aug. 12 Miwa Sugimori, 28, a
former theater arts student at PCC,
was killed in a car crash in Gilroy,
Calif., en route to San Jose.
Sugimori, who transferring to
UC Berkeley, was making a final
trip up to Berkeley to finish moving
into her new home. Not wanting to
waste time, Sugimori started out
early Friday morning, despite hav¬
ing been at a party late the night
before.
According to Sugimori’s
friends, early road trips were not
uncommon for her. However, on
this occasion she apparently dozed
off and veered into oncoming traf¬
fic. At 6:38 a.m. her gray Toyota
Camry crashed into another
Camry, killing the driver and injur¬
ing the five additional passengers.
Sugimori, who was driving alone,
was airlifted to Stanford Medical
Center, her condition critical. She
died there in the hospital.
Sugimori’s family, living in
Japan, found out about their
daughter’s death soon after.
Minako Isokane, a fellow actress
and friend of Sugimori’s, received
a call the following day that
Sugimori had passed on.
“I found out, and my body was
shaking,” Isokane said.
Isokane, Sugimori’s senior by
more than 40 years, attended the
same two-year music school that
Sugimori graduated from in Japan.
When Sugimori moved to the U.S.
nearly five years ago, the two came
in contact and have been friends
ever since.
ing is that she [was] my grandchild.
I couldn’t believe those things hap¬
pened [to her].”
Sugimori was a performing arts
veteran. A professional actress in
Japan, she also excelled in singing
and planned on returning to Japan
to become a theater arts teacher.
Her talent landed her some of the
most memorable roles in recent
PCC productions, her biggest being
the nanny in “Baby in Bathwater.”
“It wasn’t a simple role for
someone with English as their sec¬
ond language,” said Lindsay
Foose, 21, who acted alongside
Sugimori in the play. “There were
tons of English literature refer¬
ences and pretty heavy vocab. I
was so impressed to watch her
deliver some of that dialogue.”
It seems everyone who knew
her loved Sugimori. Whitney
Rydbeck, a PCC theater arts pro¬
fessor was extremely impressed
with her, both as an actress and as
“When I had a conversation
with her, I didn’t feel the age dif¬
ference,” Isokane said. “My feel-
Sugimori
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