Friday • March 5, 2010

Friday, March 5, 2010
Volume 149, Issue 15
Rally opposes
tuition hikes
Alana Linderoth | WF
Protesters marched through Western's campus
with signs and megaphones. Their chants echoed
off the bricks of Red Square. After a loop around
campus, they scaled the steps to Old Main and
stopped at President Bruce Shepard's office door.
More than 50 students gathered outside the
Performing Arts Center on March 4 to participate
in a rally against further tuition hikes and budget
cuts from public services, such as higher education.
see > Rally, pg. 6
photo by David Gonzales | WF
Western students march through campus in a bid to stop a possible 14 percent tuition increase.
The Western Front
An independent student newspaper serving Western Washington University since 1970 | WesternFrontOnline.net
Lights out for
Nightlight
Lounge
State of corrections in Whatcom County
A Western front investigation: first of two parts
Venue shut down
due to unpaid taxes
Marianne Graff | WF
photo by Hailey Tucker | WF
Bellingham Police Officer Scott Stewart (left) oversees while officer Mark Stokes (right) searches a man's pockets on the corner of East Holly
Street and Railroad Avenue Thursday morning. The officers responded to a suspicious person call after someone reported seeing the suspect
pulling a mask over his face behind a nearby bank.
Bellingham Police suffer cuts to salaries, hours
Caleb Hutton | WF
A
Police Department
combined salaries
and benefits
$ 11,689,061
2004
“
We cannot wait for this task force
to tell us what we already know now:
We need more police officers.
- Sgt. Carr Lanham,
Bellingham Police Department
”
$16,125,024 Department's 2010
salary-related expenses
see > Police, pg. 7
$ 13,081,715
2006
see > Nightlight, pg. 7
$ 16,691,929
2009
$14,909,506
2008 infographic by Alex Roberts | WF
citywide hiring freeze has
spurred Bellingham police to call on the City Council
and the mayor, asking them to
replenish the number of officers
on duty.
The Bellingham Police
Guild is currently part of a task
force, commissioned by Mayor
Dan Pike in December, that will
determine the future needs of
the Police Department.
To the guild, the verdict is
already clear.
“We need our frozen positions back now,” said Sgt. Carr
Lanham, who spoke on behalf
of the guild at a Feb. 23 city
council meeting. “We cannot
wait for this task force to tell us
what we already know now: We
need more police officers.”
Music enthusiasts and bar patrons
will now have one less option for late
night entertainment with the recent closing of the Nightlight Lounge.
According to a notice issued by the
Washington Department of Revenue, a
warrant was filed on Nov. 19, 2009 against
the bar due to unpaid taxes and fees in the
amount of $11,171.
Because the amount remained unpaid after the warrant was issued, the state
revoked the bar’s certificate of registration and shut the establishment down on
Wednesday, March 3.
The bar, located at 211 E. Chestnut
St., has closed twice since it opened in
September 2004, each time because of
financial reasons, including failure to pay
taxes and increasing debt.
Mike Gowrylow, the Department of
photo by Carey Rose | WF
Bellingham resident Corey Chavez,
26, passes by the Nightlight Lounge
on Thursday, March 4, and stops to
read the notices on the door.
2
|
News
See more online at
www.westernfrontonline.net
Friday • March 5, 2010 | The Western Front
Cops Box
University Police
March 4
• Pyrotechnics | At 12:52
a.m. two people were
arrested for criminal trespass in Miller Hall and
given citations for tampering with fire extinguishers.
Bellingham Police
March 3
| (ABOVE)
Western freshman Cody Olsen films the
monster, being played by Western freshman Jordan Renshaw, tearing apart the
bully's fake head. The movie is the final
project for their Theater 201 class, Introduction to Cinema.
• Yard sale | At 9:06 a.m.
someone reported their
lawnmower had been
stolen from their back
porch in the 2600 block
of Nevada Street.
(LEFT) Olsen adjusts the hair on a fake head
being used for a film he and his classmates
are making for a cinema class. Olsen said in
the film, a little boy who is being bullied befriends a monster who beats up the bully for
him. The film is set to the Beach Boys' song
"Wouldn't it be nice."
"I wanted to show something kind of weird
and violent to the Beach Boys' music," Olsen said.
• Chair bandits | At 11:32
p.m. police responded
to a call regarding a
stolen wheelchair from
Squalicum Park. The
wheelchair was retunred and the suspects
were arrested.
Cinematic Monstrosity
• Bass explosion | At 10:44
p.m. a group of teenagers standing around a
car in the 3700 block of
East Connecticut Street
playing loud music
were told to be quiet by
Bellingham Police.
photos by Renee Davies | WF
Around Town
Speak.Easy.3
Cops Box compiled by Alana Linderoth
THE WESTERN FRONT
What: Regional poets Susan J. Erickson, Kari Galbraith, Christine Kendall,
David M. Laws and Oliver de la Paz will read their own selected poetry.
When: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Friday, March 5
Where: Mindport Exhibits, 210 W. Holly St.
Cost: FREE
Info: Call 360-647-5614
Western Washington University
Communications Building 251
Bellingham, WA 98225
SEND PRESS RELEASES TO:
[email protected]
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Streamside restoration
What: Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association and the Bellingham Parks
Volunteer Program will host their Kick-Off Spring Work Party. They will be
helping restore streamside habitat for salmon by removing invasive plant species and planting new, native shrubs along the stream and trail.
When: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Saturday, March 6
Where: Red Tail Reach and the Racine Trail along Whatcom Creek, below
Whatcom Falls Park. Parking available in the Geri Fields parking lots at the
corner of Fraser Street and Puget Street.
Cost: FREE
Info: Call NSEA at 360-715-0283 or e-mail [email protected]
(360) 650-3162
Editor in chief ............................................ Nicholas Johnson, [email protected]
Managing editor ..................................... Katie Greene, [email protected]
News editor .................................................... Kipp Robertson, [email protected]
News editor ............................................. Benjamin Woodard, [email protected]
Arts & Life editor ...................................... Kevin Minnick, [email protected]
Arts & Life editor ................................... Keegan Prosser, [email protected]
Sports editor ................................................ Andrew Mitchell, [email protected]
Opinion editor ............................................... Tristan Hiegler, [email protected]
Photo editor ..................................................... Hailey Tucker, [email protected]
Online editor ..................................................... Alex Roberts, [email protected]
Copy editor ...................................................... Megan Jonas, [email protected]
Copy editor .............................................. Andrea Williamson, [email protected]
Faculty adviser .................................................................... John Harris, [email protected]
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
(360) 650-3160
Advertising manager............................................Michele Anderson
Band Together
Business manager..................................................Alethea Macomber
What: A live show with performers Bekker, Vantage, and Western student
Austin Jenckes. A portion of the proceeds will benefit cancer research.
When: 9 p.m. Sunday, March 7. Doors at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Wild Buffalo, 208 W. Holly St.
The Western Front is published twice weekly in the fall, winter, and spring quarters and once
a week in the summer session. The Western Front is the official newspaper of Western Washington University, published by the Student Publications Council and is mainly supported by
advertising. Opinions and stories in the newspaper have no connection with advertising.
News content is determined by student editors. Staff reporters are involved in a course in
the department of journalism, but any student enrolled at Western may offer stories to the
editors. Members of the Western community are entitled to a single free copy of each issue
of the Western Front.
Cost: $5
Info: Call 360-312-3684
compiled by Brianne Beets | WF
NEWS |
westernfrontonline.net | Friday • March 5, 2010
3
Mongolian literature draws U.S. ambassador
What did you do here at Western?
Basically I have had a chance to interact with the faculty that is interested in Mongolia, and I have had a chance to visit the Mongolia studies collection, which is one
of the best in the United States. I also had the honor to speak about and discuss
Mongolian issues with the beginning Mongolian class , which amazingly enough has
more than 30 students. There would be no other place in the United States where
you would have this many Mongolian students.
What do you think the most interesting aspect of Mongolia is?
I think it is a combination of the landscapes and the culture that is most interesting.
I think if one were to visit, and was interested in that nomadic society, that history,
which goes back to Genghis Khan, those would be the attractions. The music is quite
amazing as well. It is an interesting culture, and quite a beautiful landscape.
What do you think students would gain most from visiting Mongolia?
photo by Caitlin Strasser | WF
U.S. ambassador to Mongolia Jonathan S. Addleton speaks on March 4 in Western instructor
Bolortsetseg Smith's Introduction to Beginning Mongolian Language class.
Addleton: Western hosts more Mongolian
students than any other place in the U.S.
Caitlin Strasser | WF
Jonathan S. Addleton, the United
States ambassador to Mongolia, came to
Western on March 4 to speak to Western's
Mongolian language class about Mongolia, and to visit Western's Mongolian studies collection, the largest Mongolian collection in the U.S.
The Western Front spoke with Addleton.
I think a student, regardless of what their interest is; whether it is a scientific topic
like biology or development, or environmental issues, or economic issues would enjoy
visiting the country. One way or the other, Mongolia deals with those issues, and in
your own discipline you could use those as a case study for particular areas of interest
that one might have.
What opportunities are available for students interested in Mongolia?
People would probably want to come by train, from the Trans-Siberian, or maybe
up from Beijing, and they could spend some time in Mongolia, which is where 40
percent of the people in the country live.
But they would probably want to go to the countryside as well. They could go to
the north near Siberia where there are lakes and rivers, maybe visit the place where
Genghis Khan was from, or often what attracts people is simply the Goudi desert,
which is in the south. Each one of these places is a different kind of experience, but
each one involves adventure travel.
What is the most interesting aspect of being an Ambassador?
What did you like most about Western?
It’s a real honor and a privilege. I think it is fun because it is a broad range of issues.
It is also being able to engage with the people in my society both on an official and an
unofficial level as well. It is those relationships which underscore our relationships to
the countries I enjoy and I like about being an ambassador.
Well, interestingly enough, it is also the landscape here in the Pacific Northwest of
the United States. This is the first time I’ve had an opportunity to visit Seattle and
Bellingham. Flying into Bellingham in the morning and seeing those mountains, and
the water and the islands; those are the kind of landscapes I like.
4 | NEWS
Friday • March 5, 2010 | The Western Front
AS delays KVIK payment request
Manuel Hernandez | WF
The Associated Students Board of
Directors withheld a stipend proposal that
would allow volunteer KVIK-TV producers to receive pay.
During a Feb. 25 meeting, the AS
board delayed the proposal in order to find
alternatives to volunteer payment and will
vote on the revised proposal next quarter.
The advisory committee reviewed the
report and recommended the stipend measure to the AS board of directors, said Jamie Hoover, general manager for KUGSFM radio and KVIK-TV.
Virgilio Cintron, Western senior and
AS vice president for Business and Operations, said the Board will look into other
ways to compensate for their work Independent study credit or gift certificates
could be possible alternatives to a stipend
for executive producers.
Jana Gueck, coordinator for KVIKTV, said executive producers are in charge
of not only the overall production, which
includes locating funding and organizing
production schedules, but also managing
staff to make television programs possible.
“With volunteers you only have so
much control over what they need to do,”
Gueck said. “With a stipend they would
not only be reimbursed for their responsibilities that they are doing, but they would
also have some obligations and hopefully
more of a training process involved with
photo courtesy of Erik Simkins
Western junior Nick Neilsen directs a sketch for the KVIK-TV show You Would!
the Associated Students to have all the
tools to be successful.”
KVIK-TV proposed a stipend for executive producers in the program on Jan.
21 in their assessment program to the AS
Advisory Committee.
Students usually help produce one
episode of an original show once per quarter and can work up to 20 hours a week
without receiving any school credit or
payment, Gueck said.
Every three years, the AS performs
an assessment of AS programs. The report
states what the organization does for students and what resources they might need
to help students succeed.
Currently the program is a volunteerbased group with Gueck acting as its lone
student employee.
Hoover said between 30 and 40 core
members volunteer at KVIK-TV. The program has a total of 14 staff members including editors, production assistants and
filmers, as well as other volunteer staff
positions.
About four executive producers par-
take in the production of programs.
An AS advisory committee, which
runs the assessment program, discussed
setting up a specific amount of funds as a
payment for executive producers as a possibility, Cintron said.
The committee reads proposals, listens to presentations by AS programs and
comes up with recommendations that they
send to the AS board, Cintron said.
Hoover said a different level of responsibility is upheld when individuals
are paid for their work instead of being
volunteers.
“When people receive compensation
for a job, I think there is a different level
of accountability for that,” Hoover said.
“People are being responsible for it now,
but it would be nice to have a stipend…
something that would help them out and
show that we recognize that they are doing an awesome job.”
Cintron said the committee has
thought of setting aside money to pay
executive producers. The KVIK-TV coordinator would then break down specific
projects and award different amounts of
money for each completed television project, Cintron said.
For example, if the stipend fund had
$1,000, the coordinator could decide that
a specific project was worth $100 and so
on, Cintron said.
If the proposal passes, the measure
would come into effect as soon as fall quarter.
Border security: reported Olympic predictions bogus
Ruth Higgins | WF
The 2010 Vancouver Olympics did
not disrupt or benefit Whatcom County as
predicted by area Chambers of Commerce
and local media.
Specialists in security, traffic and
tourism reported what they learned
through the Olympic Games experience
during a March 3 meeting sponsored by
three Western organizations.
Western’s Center for Canadian American Studies, the Border Policy Research
Institute and the Ross Professorship of the
College of Business and Economics sponsored the luncheon with financial support
from the Canadian Consulate General of
Seattle.
Western faculty and students, civic,
business and organization leaders, all
heard good news. No security threats occurred, border highway traffic flowed
smoothly 19 out of the 20 days of the
Olympics, and the number of people lodging in hotels and motels were near the
same as a busy summer week.
David Davidson, associate director
of Western’s Border Policy Research Institute and one of the primary organizers
of the event, said the specialists' findings
reflected conclusions reached in the institute’s 2006 Border Policy Brief focusing
on the 2010 Olympics.
“There were no major threats of terrorism,” said Major Bernard Brister, Canada-United States security professional
of the Royal Military College in Ontario,
Canada.
The Games did not create any change
to the existing cooperation between Canadian and U.S. military and civilian security forces, he said.
Hugh Conroy of the Whatcom Council of Governments in Bellingham said
additional lanes constructed at border
crossings and increased customs and border protection staff kept wait times low,
except for the sunny Saturday of Feb. 20.
“The Olympic [traffic] profile
matched Labor Day and summer weekends,” Conroy said.
That same pattern appeared in the
preliminary data available to Loni Rahm,
president and CEO of the Bellingham/
Whatcom County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Additional information from sales tax
and other tax reports will provide more
measureable data, she said.
Kenneth Mackie, graduate assistant
and liaison to Stephen Blank, Western’s
Ross Distinguished Professor, said the
diversity of meeting participants was impressive.
“Such a range of knowledge and experience usually is not dispersed so widely,” he said.
The Ross Distinguished Professor
of Canada-United States Business and
Economic Relations does teaching, community outreach and research related to
business and economic relations between
Canada and the United States through
an endowment established by the State
of Washington and the Government of
Canada.
NEWS |
westernfrontonline.net | Friday • March 5, 2010
5
Fuel spill spreads in Bellingham Bay
83
55
FUEL SPILL
et
SCALE IS APPROXIMATE
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A diesel fuel spill was discovered Wednesday off of Boulevard Park near the Bellingham
Bay cleanup efforts happening
in the area.
The environmental impact
of this spill is a small part of
the larger picture of cumulative
damage that oil spills can have
on the bay, said Washington
State Department of Ecology
Communications Manager Katie
Skipper.
The fuel was discovered in
the water near one of 12 Bellingham Bay cleanup sites, the
South State Street Manufactured
Gas Plant.
The cleanup sites are part
of a pilot project coordinated
by federal, tribal, state and local
governments in an effort to clean
up contamination in the bay.
Kayakers reported seeing
diesel fuel in the water Wednesday at about 12:45 p.m., but
Skipper said it had probably
been there for several hours because it had spread out quite a
bit. The fuel created a sheen that
stretched half a mile along the
shore from the south to north end
of Boulevard Park.
The source of the spill is unknown.
Responders from the Washington State Department of
Ecology arrived five to 10 minutes after getting the call from
the kayakers, but found the spill
had already spread out too thin.
They could not contain it or soak
it up, so responders left the spill
to evaporate.
Western
environmental
science professor David Shull
wrote in an e-mail that much of
the oil that does not evaporate
will probably either wash onto
the shoreline or be flushed out
into the open ocean.
Skipper said they can tell
a spill is old when the sheen
breaks off into a patchy pattern,
as this one had by the time the
kayakers reported it. She said
diesel spreads out particularly
thin compared to other fuels,
which makes it difficult to clean
up.
At this point, Skipper
said,it’s impossible for the Department of Ecology to know
how close to the shore the spill
occurred or exactly how much
fuel was spilled.
Oil and fuel spills always
cause environmental damage,
but Skipper said this one should
have a minor impact on its own.
“It’s that cumulative effect
of all of these relatively minor
spills that is a detriment and
damaging to the water and the
habitat and the overall environment,” Skipper said.
Dr. Wayne Landis, director
of Huxley’s Institute of Environmental Toxicology, said organisms such as algae at the surface
of the water where the fuel is,
will be impacted the most. Shull
said marine birds are also affected by spills because they spend
time on the surface of the water
and can ingest the toxic oil or get
it on their feathers.
Spills like this one are not
the biggest source of oil and other contaminants to Bellingham
Bay. Shull said the prominent
source of contaminants is runoff
from land (for example, oil on
roadways and parking lots that
make its way to the water).
40
Gina Cole | WF
B E L L I N G H A M B AY
26
Authorities: source of spill remains
unknown, too late to be cleaned
infographic by Sam Vogt | WF
The fuel spill was found in Bellingham Bay near the shore of Boulevard Park on March 3 by a pair of kayakers.
“The important thing about
this spill is that for a short time
the oil slick exposes wildlife to
much higher concentrations of
oil than they normally experience,” Shull said.
Landis and Shull both said
they expect the oil to be difficult
to detect in a few weeks. In six
months, people will probably not
be able to tell the spill even occurred, Landis said.
“We’re investing all of this
effort and all of this expertise
[into] this integrated, coordinated cleanup and redevelopment
effort that goes across multiple
agencies, local governments and
tribes, and then you get a spill
right in front of it,” Skipper said.
“It’s frustrating.”
total spills reported in Whatcom County waters
between March 4 2009 and March 4, 2010
of the county's spills represent spills
reported in Bellingham waters
between March 4, 2009 and March 4, 2010
6 | NEWS
Friday • March 5, 2010 | The Western Front
> Rally
Students argued
for decreased
war spending,
taxes on the rich
< pg. 1
Not only were Western
students protesting on campus,
but March 4 was also a national
day of protest against tuition
hikes.
“Over 123 other active
rallies in 33 countries are
happening right now while
we are protesting here on our
campus,” President of Socialist Alternative Ramy Khalil
said.
Socialist
Alternative
member
Jake
Silberman
opened for the rally, and
throughout it introduced each
speaker. Speakers consisted
of Western students, Western faculty and one Whatcom
Community College graduate
who served in Iraq.
“We are here to protest
the governor’s proposed state
budget cuts, including the $5
million cut from Western’s personal budget,” Silberman said.
The crowd cheered and
waved their signs as their peers
spoke, each addressing the importance of education.
“Without education we
don’t have anything,” Western
student Zach Snover said. “This
is a statewide and national day
of protest for all the same types
of things that we are all gathered
together for today.”
“I have a voice and a
body, and I’m going to use it,”
Snover said.
After Snover finished his
speech, Whatcom graduate
Evan Knappenberger came
photo by Benjamin Woodard | WF
Western President Bruce Shepard answered questions and concerns from the protesters outside administrative offices in Old Main. The protesters marched around campus and eventually ended at Shepard's office,
demanding he come out to speak. "You live in a fantasy land if you think tuition won't go up," Shepard said in
response to students' concern over impending tuition hikes. "We are all in this together."
See a slideshow of the rally at westernfrontonline.net
to the microphone wearing his
military jacket from when he
served in Iraq for one year, and
holding a picket sign that read
“war is expensive” on one side
and “peace is priceless” on the
other.
Knappenberger said the
United States spends more money on their military than all other
countries combined.
“The people in this country
have money, but they are doing
and will continue to do whatever it takes to keep that power
in their own hands,” Knappenberger said.
After an hour of rallying outside the PAC, the protest took to
the streets.
Protesters marched through
campus, holding signs while
chanting slogans such as “Bail
out schools, not the banks, education cuts, no thanks.”
While marching past the
Wade King Student Recreation Center, Western senior
Hans Stroo got the attention
of Knappenberger by yelling
out opposing words toward the
protesters.
When questioned by Knappenberger about why Stroo felt so
strongly opposed to the protest,
Stroo said he felt the protesters
were a big group of infants walking by, whining about paying for
education when in reality things
cost money.
In response to Knappenberger’s sign, Stroo said war is
expensive, but uneasy peace is
expensive too.
“War costs a lot of money,
but maybe it is worth the price,”
Stroo said. The conversation ended
with a shaking of hands between
Knappenberger and Stroo.
The conflict serves as an example of the complexities within
the issue of where money should
be spent, cut and saved.
EPA awards Bellingham with prestigious grant
Chosen from 450 applicants, Bellingham settles in top 25 energy-efficient cities
Jen Sawyer | WF
The City of Bellingham was awarded
a $350,000 federal grant from the Environmental Protection Agency on March 1
for a project aimed to reduce carbon emissions by minimizing energy use.
Bellingham was one of the first cities
awarded with the grant—chosen as one
out of 25 to be given money from 450 applicants. Bellingham and Bremerton are
the only cities representing Washington in
the nationwide program.
The money was given to the city
through the EPA’s Climate Showcase
Communities program.
“[Climate Showcase Communities]
is a program that the EPA created to give
a little bit of funding to cities around the
country in reducing the pollution that is
changing the climate,” said Alex Ramel,
energy and policy manager of Bellingham-based Sustainable Connections. “The
idea is to advance those programs so they
can serve as leaders to other communities
in the nation.”
The recent grant from the EPA will
specifically be used toward education and
outreach programs for the countywide
Community Energy Challenge project.
The Community Energy Challenge is
a collaborative project with Puget Sound
Energy and the nonprofit organizations
Sustainable Connections, RE Sources for
Sustainable Communities and the Opportunity Council.
Ramel said the education and outreach will encompass several different
types of media. He plans to use traditional
print advertising, materials in utility bills
and banners with community goals to
track progress. These are expected to be
seen around Whatcom County as early as
this spring.
“The overarching goal is to make Whatcom County energy efficient,” Ramel said.
The challenge expects a significant
and measurable reduction in energy use
and carbon emissions from businesses,
schools and homes across the county. It
will also create living wage "green collar"
jobs utilizing local contractors, according
to Bellingham officials.
By 2012 the challenge will reduce car-
bon emissions equivalent to taking 1,378
passenger cars from the road, with the goal
of leaving efficiency improvements.
Funds for the challenge have come
from several different state and federal
grants, as well as money from the city’s
stimulus package.
An additional grant of $500,000 from
a state energy program will soon be added
to the financial support for the challenge
project, said Tara Sundin, special projects
manager for planning and community development.
Sundin said contracts are still being
finalized for this upcoming grant.
All funding is placed toward implementing different initiatives and incentives created for those who participate in
the Community Energy Challenge.
Ramel said some rebates include receiving a coupon for purchasing a compact fluorescent lightbulb and getting an
appliance rebate check for installing an
energy efficient appliance.
“The incentives were made to inspire
multiple energy efficiency methods helping people qualify for more of a bonus
back,” Ramel said.
Participation from the same core
partners in a 2006-2007 community-wide
campaign called the Green Power Community Challenge resulted in Bellingham
becoming the EPA’s number one Green
Power Community in the nation.
This previous recognition and experience in energy efficiency helped Bellingham receive the current grant money,
Ramel said.
Western students helped initiate the
Green Power Fee that is currently in place.
The fee helps Western purchase 100 percent green power.
Ramel said the students’ involvement
with the Green Power Fee and the Green
Power Community Challenge helped put
Bellingham at the top of the nation in
terms of green communities.
“The student leadership at Western
was partially responsible for Bellingham
receiving this current recognition and
award,” Ramel said. “Western students
have another opportunity to help the community with this goal of being a nationally
recognized efficient community.”
NEWS |
westernfrontonline.net | Friday • March 5, 2010
> Police
$567,000 in police
salaries cut by
reducing full-time
employee hours
< pg. 1
Pike reached an agreement
with the Police Department and
the Police Guild in December,
promising to not lay off any officers in 2010. The agreement also
said the department would make
no new hires, except to replace
officers who left during the year.
Lanham said the department
now has fewer than 14 officers
per 10,000 people, lower than
most Washington cities similar
in size to Bellingham. He said
the ratio does not take into account the four officers who are
currently on leave.
Pike said police staff was
cut by less than 3 percent overall
in the 2010 budget, while City
Planning, parks and libraries
have all been cut by more than
10 percent.
“We need to take into consideration all of the city’s staffing
needs within a global perspective,” he said. “When you’re man-
photo by Jordan Stead | WF
Bellingham traffic officer L. L. Leake surveys the flow of cars on East Holly Street Thursday.
aging a city like this, you’re looking at all the competing needs.”
The amount of reported
crimes went down 4 percent
last year, Pike said. Because the
> Nightlight
Planned shows will
be moved to other
venues in Bellingham
< pg. 1
Revenue spokesperson, said he is unable
to comment on any specific tax case, but
was adamant tax warrants are only issued
if other options to retrieve taxes have
failed, such as establishing a payment
plan.
Police Department has 2.5 percent fewer deputies, the overall
workload for city police is actually lower now than it was a year
ago, he said.
“I’m confident we followed every
step we needed to take,” Gowrylow said.
“We don’t like to shut businesses down.
However, there are situations where we
feel we have no choice but to close the
business or losses will continue.”
Mandy Nadeau, former door woman for the bar, said she had been through
both previous closures in 2007 and 2008
and is one of the employees fortunate to
have another full-time job to fall back
on.
“It’s something we’ve always had
in the back of our minds as a possibility
of happening again just because of [the
bar’s] track record,” Nadeau said. “If you
work for any company that’s closed down
“There’s some facts being
misrepresented,” Pike said, referring to the guild’s statistics.
The police chief and lieutenants will receive no wage
twice for tax reasons, you can sense it’s a
reoccurring issue.”
Nadeau said it is not only the staff
who are suffering, but the Bellingham
community as well.
“A lot of people really liked the venue,” Nadeau said. “It had good shows and
was a great spot. It’s really unfortunate
this happened.”
Nadeau said many of the bands and
performers who were scheduled to play
at the Nightlight have been picked up by
other downtown venues, such as The Wild
Buffalo, so the opportunity to see the performances still exists.
The Nightlight was known for its live
shows by both local up-and-coming artists
7
increase in 2010. The Police Department cut about $567,000 in
salaries by reducing the hours of
some full-time employees.
“Two officers are pregnant,
one officer is currently on military leave in Iraq and one officer
is on disability,” Lanham said.
“If properly staffed, we should
be able to absorb these losses
without a considerable impact.”
Addressing the City Council, Lanham asked for the vacant
positions to be unfrozen. He said
the force will be understaffed by
24 officers in the coming year,
and the police chief wants to hire
22 new officers over the next
three years.
“We have a Police Department that has been neglected,”
Lanham said. “The funds are
there. It’s our priorities that need
to be reconsidered.”
Pike said the city does have
money in reserves, but it would
not be prudent for the city to go
ahead and spend all of it.
“No, we don’t have the resources to just, on an ad hoc basis,
add costs to the city,” Pike said.
“There is a process that has been
in play for a long time, which the
guild is a part of. This is, in my
view, an end-run to that process:
to get special treatment, which I
don’t think is appropriate.”
and well-known groups, including Idiot
Pilot and Swollen Members.
Will Glazier, singer and trumpet player for the local contemporary funk/jazz
group Snug Harbor, said the Nightlight
was one of the best places they had performed and they had hoped to book more
shows there in the future.
“They were always good to the artists who played there,” Glazier said. “You
were able to record your performances if
you paid the sound guy $20, which was
always a cool option.”
As for the possibility of the Nightlight reopening in the future, owner
Matt Feigenbaum did not return calls
for comment.
ARTs &
8 | Friday • March 5, 2010 | The Western Front
photos by Carey Rose | WF
Bobby-Fox VanderWoude, 3, gets his
haircut at the Project Homeless connect by Bellingham
Beauty School instructor Michael Nelson on Thursday. His
mother, Tina VanderWoude, said BobbyFox's last haircut was
at the same event
last year.
(lEFT) Tina VanderWoude receives a
haircut on the day
after her birthday
from
Bellingham
Beauty School student Noel Barnes.
THE FAcES O
Project Homeless Connect offers a day of free services for the home
Jaynie Hancock | WF
Mike Pyles is 49 years old, but his
life of homelessness is only four years
old.
He said after being diagnosed with
renal cell cancer in 2004, his right kidney
and three ribs were removed due to the
growth of a large tumor, which was taken
out as well. About $230,000 in medical
bills and no health insurance forced him
to liquidate everything he owned worth
$500 or more.
“Medical bills wiped me out,” he
said.
Pyles said his kidney cancer is currently in remission, but the financial impacts led to his homelessness.
A story like this motivates people
like Gail de Hoog, housing specialist at
the Whatcom County Health Department,
to end homelessness in Bellingham.
“We cannot continue to take the fact
of people being homeless as a norm,” she
said.
In the 2010 Point in Time Count for
Whatcom County, 1,334 homeless individuals were counted, de Hoog said.
This count is conducted every year
so Whatcom County can attempt to count
the number of homeless people in the
community. In order to receive federal
funds, de Hoog said the count is required
by the Washington State Department of
Commerce and the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development, an organization aimed toward increasing home
ownership and access to affordable
housing free from discrimination.
De Hoog said even though
this gives a good point of
reference for the number
of homeless people
in Bellingham, it
is not an accurate meas u r e
of the
issue because
not every homeless person attends the events
where
the
counting is conducted.
Fifty-yearold
Darren
Leazer said he
has been homeless his entire
life, running away from home when he
was 12 years old. Injuries from a motorcycle accident when he was 17 have prevented him from working, he said.
At the time, he said he had no health
insurance and was unable to pay for the
medical attention he needed. He said he
has been
crippled ever since.
H e
said his tent and
sleeping bag were
stolen earlier in the
week, so he has had
to sleep at the Lighthouse Mission Ministries for the time
being.
H a n s
ErchingerDavis, Director of
the Men’s Ministries
Programs
at the Lighthouse
Mission Ministries,
said an average of
150 people sleep at
the Mission every
night. He said 40
mats are laid out on
the chapel floor and
different dormito-
ries are available across the street for the
homeless to sleep in.
Erchinger-Davis said the Mission
serves about 350 meals to about 60 to 80
people a day.
Fifty-two-year-old Ed Conlisk said
he voluntarily became homeless 36 years
ago because he was young and independent.
“Back in the day it was fun and I
was free-spirited,” he said. “I had no
worries.”
Conlisk said he came to Bellingham about two months ago by hopping
on a freight train in Seattle. He said he
has been riding on freight trains for 26
years to get from place to place.
Currently tired of being homeless,
Conlisk said he is starting to become
too old for his lifestyle and being homeless isn’t what it used to be.
“[Then], you could lay your backpack down and two weeks later come
back it would still be there,” he said.
“But now you can hardly turn your
back.”
De Hoog said the Project Homeless
Connect event is important in connecting the community to the issue of homelessness and the fact the homeless aren’t
& Life
westernfrontonline.net | Friday • March 5, 2010
|9
photos by Jaynie Hancock | WF
Ed Conlisk (shown with event guide Phyllis Smith)
• 52 years old (homeless for 36 years)
• Ran away from home at 16 years old.
• Conlisk has lived without a home in 26 different states.
He came to Seattle at age 21 after his former boss­—
who had been allowing him to stay in his garage in
Santa Barbara, Calif.—died of a heart attack.
• He lived in a tent under the Seattle viaduct for 27
years.
“
I’m actually not homeless, I’m houseless. Homeless is a
state of mind...There’s always opportunity if you look, and we
find that opportunity everyday without really asking for anything...it’s not always what we want, but it’s what we need, and
we get what we need every day.
- Eric Arseneaux,
12 weeks houseless
”
Mike Pyles
• 49 years old (homeless for four years)
• Pyles met another homeless man in Roseburg, Ore.,
who told him Bellingham was laid back and the
people were cool.
• He said out of the 20 states he has been to, Bellingham is his favorite place to live.
• He keeps a positive attitude and said he has it much
better off than a lot of people: “Self-pity is a killer.”
OF HOMELESSNESS
eless to highlight issues most take for granted
much different than anyone else.
Rebecca Rayner, projects and
events coordinator at the Whatcom
Volunteer Center, said she was part of
planning and running the Project Homeless Connect annual event on March 4.
She said the one-day event consisted of
more than 50 services donated by different providers to the homeless, and
anyone was welcome to volunteer and
help out.
“It’s about hospitality,” Rayner said.
“It makes the guests feel welcome and
makes them feel like people.”
According to the Whatcom Volunteer
Center’s Web site, attendants can obtain
medical and vision screening, dental,
mental health services and Department of
Social and Health Services, Washington
State ID cards, housing information, haircuts and pet care.
This annual event contributes to
Whatcom County’s 10-year plan to end
homelessness. Each county in the state
is required to have a plan as part of the
Homeless Housing and Assistance Act
passed in 2005, de Hoog said.
“It is a privilege to have contact with
those who are suffering and to expose
something that is unacceptable,” she said.
Eric Arseneaux and Thomas Parnell
• Arseneaux, left, is 45 years old (homeless for 12 weeks)
• Parnell, right, is 30 years old (homeless for 10 months)
• Arseneaux hitchhiked for nine weeks from Louisiana to Bellingham
because he had heard good things about the town.
• Arseneaux met Parnell while traveling to Bellingham. Parnell had
been hitchhiking from New York to Bellingham in search of work.
They are planning to travel to Petersburg, Alaska, to work at Icicle
Seafood Process.
10 | arts & life
Friday • March 5, 2010 | The Western Front
Student actors take
global stage
Western theater troupe prepares to perform shows across the country, world
Sarah Richardson | WF
Some props, wigs and a mustache
—
that’s all the Western Theatre Ambassadors are using for their international tour to New York, London and Kobe, Japan this spring break.
The six troupe members and their director, Western assistant
theater professor Rich Brown, have one last weekend of performances
at Western’s Old Main Theater before embarking on their tour. The
WWU Theatre Ambassador's Tour will begin in New York during finals
week.
The performance is made up of six 10-minute plays, all written by
Northwest playwrights. Brown said each play features a limited number
of props, which enables the actors to focus on their talent rather than
their surroundings.
Created three years ago to give theater students experience with a
touring show, the Western Theatre Ambassadors have traveled in past
years to the star-studded cities of New York and London. This year,
a former theater instructor made connections with a theater group in
Kobe, Japan and the ambassadors included the location in their tour.
This year's tour has been dubbed the NewJapangland tour in honor
of the four locations the troupe will be visiting.
The shows’ themes vary from a comic Western to a political playground conversation, though Brown says the plays are mostly comedies. Brown said this year’s production is unique because the cast will
be performing four of the plays in either intermixed or full Japanese
when the tour reaches Japan.
This weekend, the Friday and Saturday performances will be entirely in English, but the troupe said Sunday’s performance will feature
some in Japanese.
Western junior James McGrath said the tour is a great opportunity
to perform in another country.
“Outside of this tour that’s really only something I’d get a chance
to do if I moved to one of those places,” McGrath said. “It’s an opportunity I may not get again.”
photo by David Gonzales | WF
Western seniors Andy Davison and Kyle Henick challenge each other to a Pokémon match in the short play
“Johnny Elgam and the Newport Kid,” Thursday at Old Main Theater. Henick and Davison are two of six Western
theater students who will tour in New York, London and Japan this spring break.
The Western Theatre Ambassadors
are performing at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on
Sunday at Old Main Theater. On Sunday, four of the six plays will be performed in Japanese. The cost is $5. To see the full Q&A
with three of the troupe's members, visit westernfrontonline.net.
Rashawn Scott
James McGrath
Kyle Henick
A Western junior, Scott is a theater major with a
concentration on acting and directing. Scott
has been acting since first grade and is a member of the Dead Parrots Society.
A Western junior, McGrath plans to declare a
major in theater with an acting concentration
and possibly minor in business. He is also a
member of the Dead Parrots Society.
A Western senior, Henick is a theater major with
an acting concentration. Henick has also studied the Japanese language for seven years.
WF: What are you most looking
forward to on the international
tour?
"Being in Japan and not knowing at all where
I am and being caught up in the fact that I’ll be
on a different continent. We got the brochure
of the hotel and it’s along this beautiful coast
and everything looks so beautiful and clean and
very architecturally cool... I’m going to want to
stay forever."
WF: What was it like to learn
Japanese for your roles?
WF: Why did you start
studying Japanese?
"I did not learn—I memorized. It was hard. I’m really into voices and accents and I didn’t really study
at all to adopt an accent. We learned it all phonetically. It was like memorizing gibberish essentially
because I have no idea how to speak Japanese. It’s a
beautiful language and I have no idea what it means.
It was literally memorizing syllable by syllable. It
was hard."
"My mom is a flight attendant and when my
sister and I were little she would fly to Tokyo
all the time and she would bring us back things.
And I remember in particular these cookies,
“Every Burger.” They look like little burgers,
but they’re cookies. Ever since I was little I’ve
been really interested in [Japan]."
photos by Sarah Richardson | WF
arts & life |
westernfrontonline.net | Friday • March 5, 2010
11
Migrant squirrels flaunt funky fur
They are furry, they are cute and they are...black
Students, experts weigh in on Bellingham's black squirrels
The Eastern Grey Squirrel has two breeding periods each
year, during which time it will produce about six offspring.
he black squirrels that populate the region are one of the first things
The life of a squirrel is not easy. With so many predapeople notice when they come to Bellingham.
tors and larger rodents, these animals are forced to endure if they
“I’ve never seen them outside of Bellingham and when I first saw want to make it to their maximum life span, which is usually about
one, I thought someone spray painted it,” Western junior Taylor Boglioli 12 to 13 years.
said. “Then I saw two at once and realized they were actually like that.”
In general, many infant squirrels do not make it to adultThe black squirrels belong to the Eastern Gray Squirrel species, but pos- hood. Wise said she receives a lot of baby squirrels at her
sess a black gene, that darkens their fur,
rehabilitation center because
said Wildlife Services field office mantheir parents were killed or the
ager David Vinke.
babies fell out of a tree.
As its name suggests, the Eastern
Competition for space
Gray Squirrel is not a native Washingbetween the native and invatonian. Their native habitat ranges down
sive species is one reason why
the East Coast, reaching as far west as the
people think they often take
Mississippi River.
residence in houses and human
A black squirrel can be produced
environments, where they chew
from a mating pair of Eastern Gray Squirthrough wires and ceilings.
rels, and mixed litters are common in
Vinke said he removes all types
some areas with dense populations.
of squirrels from attics and homes
Stacy Wise of the Wildlife Rehabiliregularly, and the squirrels have adtation Center said it is widely believed
opted a reputation as a pest. While
the black variations’ success could be
the squirrels prefer the trees, they
photo by David Gonzales | WF
attributed to their adaptation to colder A black squirrel in the grove of trees between Old Main and the are essentially just like any other
Viking Commons.
weather.
rodent.
The exact time of their introduction
“[They are] basically like a rat
to the West Coast and other parts of the world is debated, however, one thing in a cuter outfit,” Vinke said.
is certain: over the past several years they have slowly worked their way to
For Western students coming from out of town, spotting a black
the Puget Sound, Vinke said.
squirrel is a right of passage that is sometimes frightening.
One complaint about the Eastern Gray is that it chases the native Doug“Their little beady eyes stare at you and your food,” Western julas Squirrel and often invades the native squirrels' habitat.
nior Isabelle Delise said. “They freak me out.”
Vinke said he receives a lot of complaints about squirrels in his line of
wildlife rescue work.
Western sophomore Dylan Mangini made this black squirrel
“I love squirrels, but we have to manage the populations,” Vinke said.
sculpture (right), located outside the Fine Arts building, for a proj-
T
Raymond Flores | WF
ect on environmental sculptures.
photo by Raymond Flores | WF
12
|
opinion
compiled by Olena Rypich
Opinions of the Editorial Board
Thaw out police hiring freeze
T
he Bellingham Police Guild
has stated that Bellingham
needs 22 more officers to effectively patrol the city. The department
is in the middle of a hiring freeze
and while they have not taken sig-
Katie Colito
Senior
"I think it's innovative and new and cool
as long as it's used for the right purposes.
The second people start taking their
clothes off is when it's not so good."
Friday • March 5, 2010 | The Western Front
Frontline
Viking Voices
Opinions from around campus
What do you
think about
Chatroulette?
See more online at
www.westernfrontonline.net
nificant cuts, they do not have the
personnel to get the job done.
Some may wonder why more officers
are needed. Crime is down in Whatcom
County lately. And can more money be
reasonably added to the police budget in
tough economic times?
According to Whatcomcounts.org
data, property crimes, such as theft, shoplifting and vandalism, decreased in 2008
to 38 crimes per 1,000 people. In 2007,
the county saw 44 property crimes per
1,000 people and 48 in 2006.
Violent crimes, such as homicide, as-
sault and robbery, remained the same in
2006, '07 and '08 at 2.4 crimes per 1,000
people.
While these statistics seem to show
a decrease in property crime and a stabilization in the number of violent crimes,
such conclusions could be misleading.
Crime statistics do not represent the actual number of crimes committed, only
those reported. If the police force is never
contacted about a crime, or has officers
on patrol who don’t observe a crime, the
crime never officially happened and is not
represented in crime statistics.
A decrease in crime statistics does
not equal a decrease in crime. A reduced
or overworked police force is quite simply
less likely to catch criminals. If the force
does not have the numbers to effectively
patrol a city, crime rates may drop but actual crime may be continuing unabated.
The Bellingham Police has 111 officers, which evens out to 14 officers for
every 10,000 people in Bellingham. The
Police Guild contends that this number is
too low, and evidence seems to support
that assertion.
Lakewood in Pierce County has a
population of 59,000. In 2008 they had
just more than 3,500 reported property
crimes. They have 102 officers in their
police force.
Bellingham, on the other hand, had
a 2008 population of more than 75,000
people and had nearly 4,400 property
crimes. Bellingham has roughly 20,000
more people than Lakewood and nearly
1,000 more property crimes, and yet Bellingham maintains just nine more officers.
The hiring freeze on the Bellingham
Police imposes an unfair restriction on an institution the city trusts to protect its citizens.
Without a full roster, the police cannot patrol and handle crime as effectively. Cities of
comparable size have more officers—something the city should consider if an effective
police force is any priority at all.
The Bellingham Police are stretched
thin. The hiring freeze must be lifted and
more officers hired to ensure a safer Bellingham.
The Editorial Board is comprised of
Editor in Chief Nicholas Johnson, Managing Editor Katie Greene and Opinion
Editor Tristan Hiegler.
Marijuana use a matter of personal choice
Colin Sternagel
Senior
“
"Chatroulette sounds extremely dangerous. I don't know why anyone would want
their child­—or their social life­—
to be via the fiber optic."
Jeremy Schwartz | WF Columnist
Breanna Jefferson
Freshman
"I've been on it a couple times. I don't
know how to explain it. It's weird being
able to talk to different random people
from around the world. But at the
same time, it's kind of cool."
complex.
reasons for it not to
The release of
be legalized.
this study could not
For one, no
The marijuana legalization
have come at a worse issue has always been a bit of a no- documented cases
time for proponents brainer (no pun intended) for me. exist of anyone dyof an initiative that In my eyes, there are no reasons for ing from marijuana
use. Not one case. In
would legalize mari- it not to be legalized.
fact, existing scienjuana use in Washtific
evidence
supports
the use of marijuana
ington state. The measure needs approxifor
its
medicinal
benefits,
such as relieving
mately 240,000 signatures to get onto the
nausea
associated
with
chemotherapy.
November ballot.
Even if people were getting wiped out
While I am always in favor of more
by
marijuana
use left and right, that still
scientific research into pretty much anywould
not
be
an
acceptable reason, for me
thing, I fear the results of this study will be
anyway,
to
keep
it
illegal.
co-opted and waved about by lawmakers
Alcohol
causes
approximately 22,000
who want marijuana use of any kind to redeaths
per
year,
according
to the Centers
main illegal. Fear is an incredibly effective
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention.
Cigamethod to get people to vote a certain way.
I have never used marijuana, nor do I
rette use causes approximately 20 times
ever plan to. But I would be flat-out lying if
that number at 443,000 deaths per year.
I said I don’t know people who indulge on
Yet both those substances remain legal.
a regular basis. Similar to my feelings on
How lawmakers nationwide manage to
alcohol, I don’t want to smoke marijuana,
disregard that glaring inconsistency always
but I could not care less if other people do.
baffles me.
The marijuana legalization issue has
The issue boils down to one concept:
always been a bit of a no-brainer (no pun
personal freedom. If I, or any other competent adult, want to smoke a joint or partake
intended) for me. In my eyes, there are no
in any other illegal drug, what right does
the government have to stop me?
As with any other mind-altering substance, precautions would have to be taken to
ensure people don’t drive while impaired by
the effects of marijuana. In that sense, marijuana use would have the capacity to harm
people, but no more so than alcohol use.
Lawmakers across the country need to
look carefully at what marijuana does and
realize there are few credible arguments left
for its continued status as an illegal drug.
Whether it causes psychological problems
or not, marijuana deserves to be legal.
On Monday, Reuters.com published
an article reporting the findings of a recent
scientific study on the effects of long-term
marijuana use.
The study found that, compared to
people who had reported never smoking
marijuana, young adults who had used
marijuana for six or more years are twice as
likely to develop a non-affective psychosis,
such as schizophrenia. Non-affective psychoses are those that do not affect a person's temperament or mood.
However, the lead researcher in the
study, John McGrath of the Queensland
Brain Institute in Australia, was careful to
point out that more research on the topic
needs to be done since the relationship between marijuana use and psychosis is so
”
| WF
Jeremy Schwartz is a Western senior majoring in news/editorial journalism and minoring in philosophy and Latin. Contact Jeremy at
[email protected]
sports | 13
See more online at
www.westernfrontonline.net
Friday • March 5, 2010 | The Western Front
Senior Night smackdown
Vikings finish season perfect at home, Dunbar sets single-season 3-point record
Nick Schiffler | WF
The Western women’s basketball team
sent their seniors out in style on Thursday
night, cruising to an 85-43 victory over Montana State University-Billings at Carver Gym
in the final game of the regular season.
The Vikings’ record improved to 23-4
overall, and 14-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. They finished the regular
season with a perfect 13-0 record at home.
Western still has a chance to win a
share of the regular season GNAC championship. If Seattle Pacific University loses to the University of Alaska-Anchorage
on Saturday night, the three teams will tie
for first place in the conference.
Thursday’s game was also Senior
Night, and the four Viking seniors—forward Jessica Summers, forward Willow
Cabe, guard Ashley Fenimore and center
Krystal Robinson—were honored in a
ceremony on the court before the game.
“It was a great way to end our career
here at Carver,” Fenimore said. “It was
amazing having all us seniors together. It
would have been nice to have a little bit
more of a game, but it was fun just to go
out there and play together.”
Summers led the Vikings with 20
points and 12 rebounds, and four other
Vikings finished in double figures. Cabe
had 13 points, as did junior guard Amanda
Dunbar. Freshman guard Corinn Waltrip
had 11 points off the bench, and junior
guard Megan Pinske added 10.
The result of the game was never in
much doubt. Western began with an 11-4
run in the first three minutes and never
looked back.
With six minutes remaining in the first
half, Dunbar made a 3-pointer to make the
score 28-11. It was her 88th 3-pointer of
the year, which set a new single-season
school record.
Western led 47-19 at halftime, and
mercilessly opened the second half with
photo by Brett Flora | WF
Western junior guard Amanda Dunbar drives for a layup over a Montana State UniversityBillings defender March 4. Dunbar hit her 88th 3-pointer of the season in the game, a new
school record.
an 11-0 run.
“To be honest, [the blowout games]
are not really that fun,” said Pinske. “I
mean, obviously it feels good to win by 40,
but you always like the intense games.”
With the win secured, Western head
coach Carmen Dolfo was able to substitute out each senior individually in the final minutes of the game. Each player drew
a standing ovation from the crowd as they
came off the court for the last time.
Fenimore, who transferred to Western
from Central Washington University, has
played with the Vikings for one season,
and she said she was overwhelmed by the
emotion of Senior Night.
“It’s been a great experience,” she
said. “People welcome me with open arms
and make this day special for me even
though I’ve only been here one year.”
Although the regular season is complete for the Vikings, they are guaranteed
a spot in the NCAA Division II West Regional playoffs. The University of California-San Diego is likely to receive the
number one seed in the regional, so Western will probably have to travel to San Diego for a game next Friday night.
Western does not yet know their first
opponent in the regional. Dolfo said the
team will probably find out late on Monday.
But the Vikings weren’t worrying
much about the playoffs after Thursday’s
game. Instead it was a night to honor the
seniors, and for the seniors to look back
on their time at Western.
“My time here definitely helped me
grow not just as a basketball player, but as
a person,” Summers said.
Fenimore said the things she will take
away most from her time playing for Western
are the friendships she’s made on the team.
“I’ve got really great bonds with each
of my teammates, and I’ve grown really close to the other seniors,” she said.
“It was just a great way to go out. Those
friendships, I’ll have those for life."
SEE A SOUNDSLIDE OF THE GAME ONLINE
www.westernfrontonline.net
Western honors four seniors:
Guard Ashley Fenimore, forwards Willow Cabe
and Jessica Summers, center Krystal Robinson
“People welcome me
with open arms and
make this day special for
me even though I’ve only
been here one year.”
Ashley Fenimore,
Senior guard
photo by Brett FLora | WF
Western senior forward Jessica Summers kissing her sister
Hannah Kean during Senior Night ceremonies March 4.
“My time here definitely
helped me grow not just
as a basketball player,
but as a person.”
Jessica Summers,
Senior forward
14 | SPOrTS
Friday • March 5, 2010 | The Western Front
Men's golf struggles on green
Putting problems place Vikings seventh, 23 strokes behind tournament winner
aren’t rewarded with good putts,” Card said.
The Vikings finished Monday’s first
The Western men’s golf team traveled
round at 12-over-par and 14 strokes behind
to California for the second consecutive
the leader. The second round was pushed
week and placed seventh among 17 teams
back to Tuesday because of darkness.
on March 1 and 2 at the Coyote Classic in
Unranked California State UniverSan Bernardino, Calif.
sity-Monterey Bay won the tournament
The nationally-ranked No. 9 Vikings
by three strokes, shooting a cumulative
finished with a 54-hole total of 31-over-par.
8-over-par. Western’s score was 23 strokes
Western junior Xavier Dailly led the Vikings,
behind Cal State-Monterey Bay.
placing 28th overall with an 8-over-par fiWestern junior Patrick Boag tied for
nal score. Western senior Julian Peters and
44th place with a score of 12-over-par.
sophomore Nick Varelia finished one stroke
Rounding out the Vikings’ five-man team,
behind Dailly at 9-over-par and tied for 31st.
Western sophomore Adam Brisben tied for
The
tourna59th at 16-over-par.
ment pitted Western
“Finishing out“We aren’t playing bad side the top few
against stiff competigolf. But we expect to teams is not meeting
tion, which included
No. 1 ranked Barry
be finishing high in every our expectations,”
University and No.
said. “We
tournament we play in; Dailly
3 ranked Chico State
need to play better
we have that kind of to get to the top.”
University.
“We went down
The seventhtalent."
there with intentions
place finish follows
Steve card,
of competing for the
a fourth-place fintournament title, so in
ish one week ago in
Men's golf head coach
that regard I’m frusBakersfield, Calif.
trated with the way we finished,” Western
Card said he is OK with his team’s perforhead coach Steve Card said. “Our guys struck
mance so far, but he expects improvement.
the ball well, we just couldn’t get it from the
The Vikings got off to a strong start in
green into the hole.”
the fall when they competed in four tournaPeters said the Vikings had difficulty
ments, finishing one in first place and in the
putting throughout the entire tournament.
top four of the rest. Western had not compet“Reading the greens is an important
ed in a tournament since last October before
part of golf and the course we were playit placed third at Bakersfield, Calif. last week.
ing played very different than the ones we
The Vikings have the next two weekare used to up here,” Peters said. “I’d set
ends off for dead week and finals before
up a putt that I thought would break left
traveling back to California to play in the
and it would go the opposite way."
Notre Dame de Namur Invitational on
Card, who helps his players line up
March 22 and 23 at the Poppy Ridge Golf
their putts on the course, said his team’s
Course in Livermore, Calif.
inability to get the ball close to the hole
“We will be practicing hard and cordiscouraged a few of his players.
recting our mistakes over the next couple
“It’s morally defeating when you hit
weeks,” Peters said. “The bottom line is,
good shots from tee to the green and you
we need to improve.”
Willy Delius | WF
photo by Hailey Tucker | WF
Western sophomore Nick Varelia practicing putting at Bellingham country club March 4.
Varelia tied for 31st at the coyote classic with a score of 9-over-par for the tournament.
SPOrTS
westernfrontonline.net | Friday • March 5, 2010
| 15
Climbers face chill of ice
Outdoor Center leads experts, novices on ice climbing expedition in Canada
Marianne Graff | WF
Western sophomore Evan Derickson is
70 feet above the snow-covered ground. His
face is inches away from a wall of ice as he
lifts one of his ice tools above his head and
briefly wonders what he got himself into.
In the world of ice climbing, water is
more than just the refreshment at the end
of a game.
Over the weekend, Western’s Outdoor Center hosted a trip to Lillooet, British Columbia, about 150 miles northeast
of Vancouver, to give eight students the
opportunity to ice climb.
Ice climbing involves climbing inclined ice formations and is divided into two
main types: water and Alpine. Water ice is
frozen water, usually from a waterfall, while
Alpine ice starts as snow and is gradually
compacted into hard ice, such as a glacier.
Kapper Richmond, excursions co-coordinator for the Outdoor Center, started ice
climbing two years ago and said the process
is pretty straightforward. Climbers use ice
tools and crampons to create holds in the ice
and work their way up the formations.
Richmond said some prior experience
in rock climbing does give an advantage, but
almost anyone can ice climb and some even
find it easier because of the ability to make a
hold anywhere in the ice, rather than have to
search for a hole or crack in the rock.
Derickson, one of the beginning climbers on the trip, said ice climbing was one of
the most exhausting things he had done in a
long time, but also one of the most exciting.
“Being able to start at the bottom of
something and look at a point and say ‘I
want to get up there’ and actually have the
ability to do that is not something I’ve really done before,” Derickson said.
He said his most challenging climb was an
almost vertical ice face that sloped toward the
top, known as Icy BC, where he spent most of
his time pressed as close to the ice as possible.
“I had one moment when my foot just
broke loose,” Derickson said. “That was a
pretty intense five seconds. Being secured
with a rope and harness is honestly a big
confidence booster.”
Katy Howell, one of four student trip
leaders, said she understands why some
people would find the idea of ice climbing strange. Ice is often not thought of as
the most stable material, especially when
flowing water can be seen deep below its
frozen surface.
Western sophomore Brianna Gibbs, a
first-time ice climber with no rock climbing
experience, said one of the hardest parts was
getting used to the equipment involved.
“You are pretty much putting all your
ICE TOOL
Two ice tools are needed, one for
each hand. The tools are curved and
swung into the ice to be used as a
grip. The head is double-sided, with a
pick on one side and an adze, a
chisel-like tool for chopping holes, on
the other. Some have a hammer on
one side instead of an adze.
ICE AXE
A multi-purpose tool used as an aid
to walk on frozen terrain. It can be
used as a walking stick, sunk into the
ground to be used as an anchor or
used to cut seats in the ice.
CRAMPONS
Spiked metal devices that attach to
boots to provide traction on ice and
firm snow. Crampons generally have
spikes on the bottom and some that
stick out from the toe to make first
contact with the ice.
PROTECTION ( “PRO” )
Ice climbers use ice screws and
ropes to protect themselves as they
climb. Ice screws are placed in
strategic areas throughout a climb
and then ropes are clipped in.
Screws come in different sizes and
need to be screwed into the ice.
BELAY
Safety technique used to secure a
climber by harnessing them to a rope
so that they will not fall too far.
TOP-ROPE
To belay someone from below
using a rope that loops up
through a high anchor and then
back down to the climber.
PITCH
A section of climbing between two
belay points, no longer than the
length of a climbing rope.
“PUMPED”
photo courtesy of Evan Derickson
Western freshman McKenzie Danforth, a novice ice climber, climbing the left portion of icy
Bc, arguably the steeper, higher and more challenging of the two portions.
trust into equipment,” Gibbs said. “You
have these spikes at the end of your crampons and you’re sticking them into this
vertical sheet of ice and hoping that you
get everything stuck in deep enough.”
Richmond said one of the best parts,
other than the fact that you are climbing
a waterfall, is picking up new skills and
learning to identify ice conditions, which
can help in deciding where to climb.
WI, or water ice, grade levels are also
important to know. WI one is the easiest
to climb, while WI seven is a challenging
route best left to professionals and thrillseekers, Richmond said.
In Washington, Richmond said one
location nearby is Pan Dome Falls at the
Mt. Baker Ski Area. This location usually
freezes every season and provides a moderate WI three climb.
Although ice climbing is relatively
safe, Richmond said there is a common
mistake that makes climbing more uncomfortable than necessary: pulling with
arms rather than pushing with legs.
Since the arms are above the head
almost the entire time it causes poor circulation to the hands. That, combined
with constant pulling, causes the arms to
weaken and the hands to hurt.
If a climber mentions they are
pumped at the end of a climb, they are not
Severe weakening of the arms and a
sometimes burning sensation
caused by over working the forearm
muscles coupled with poor circulation from having the arms over the
head constantly.
illustration by Sam Vogt | WF
referring to excitement but to the condition that sometimes results from lack of
blood flow and muscle fatigue.
“My hands hurt so much I couldn’t
hold onto the tools," Gibbs said. "It was
almost like a searing pain that started off
tingly and then felt like my hands were being squeezed.”
Gibbs said the sport presents both
mental and physical challenges, but the
basic aspects involve simple movements,
making it learner friendly.
“It’s addicting,” Gibbs said. “I would
do it again in a heartbeat. There was a moment on top of that ice face where I seriously felt I could do anything.”
16 | SPOrTS
Twining's Take
Friday • March 5, 2010 | The Western Front
Club sports offer balance of competition, commitment
Jeff Twining | WF Columnist
As a former varsity athlete, I’ll admit
I often viewed club sports as second-tier to
varsity sports. Even though I was only a Division II football player, I often viewed myself as better than club sport athletes because
I was actually playing for “something.”
But now that my football career is
over, I find myself wondering what I was
actually playing for: A post-college football career? Unlikely. Fame and fortune
throughout Bellingham? Keep dreaming.
At the collegiate level, varsity sports are
focused more on money and success and
I represented a revenue generator. If my
team wasn’t generating enough money for
the school, we were eliminated.
The varsity athletic program at Western
is like a fraternity or sorority. A student cannot
simply join without first going through the
process of meeting with the coaches, proving
their skill level and possibly competing with
other eligible walk-ons during a tryout.
In the end, only a small majority of
students at colleges and universities will
make varsity athletic teams. So what are
the other options for those high school
graduates who were forced to give up
competition upon entering college?
For some, Western’s extensive intramural program provides a laid-back
semi-competitive atmosphere to enjoy
sport and camaraderie. But what about
those athletes whose competitive fire isn’t
quenched through intramurals? My answer: club sports.
So, athletes of Western, here’s my take.
If your sports career died when you left
high school because you didn’t have the option to play varsity sports and intramurals
just aren’t satisfying, give club sports a try.
Western club sports are available to athletes
of all skill levels and provide the organization, competitiveness and camaraderie of a
varsity sport in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Although club sports operate through
Campus Recreation Services and are not recognized by the university as official Western
sports, almost all of the 20 club sports listed
on the Wade King Student Recreation Center Web site compete against other colleges
and are members of organized leagues. The
Western baseball team, for example, is a
member of the National Collegiate Baseball
Association and its biggest rival is the University of Oregon.
Because club sports are not fully funded
through the university, each player is responsible to pay some fees, accounting for league
dues, equipment purchases or facility rental
costs. Baseball head coach and player Adam
Cochran, a Western senior, said the highest
costs occur during the first year on the team
because of equipment purchases.
At the varsity level, sports are funded
through the athletic department. Because of
this, athlete accountability is based on a fear
of punishment from coaches or dismissal
from the team. With personal finances on the
"Not everyone is
capable of playing
varsity sports and
therefore club sports
offer many of the
same benefits, just
with a different level
of commitment."
line, many club sport athletes are personally
held accountable for their actions because
they are paying to be a part of the team.
One of the biggest attractions club sports
offer Western students is the ability to participate in an organized sport while still enjoying everything college has to offer. Unlike
varsity sports, which require daily practices
and meetings, weekly workout schedules and
intense off-season training, club sports don’t
require the same time commitment.
Western senior Mitra Akhaven came
to Western on a track scholarship her
freshman year. However, after a year of
five-days-a-week practices for an individualized sport, Akhaven said she missed
the team dynamic of other sports and
wanted more time to enjoy college life.
“I felt as though the commitment
level of the track team practice five days a
week wasn’t as fun as the team aspect of
rugby,” Akhaven said. “[After joining the
rugby team] I have been able to more fully
enjoy college because I have more time
available for school and social things.”
An advantage of participating in club
sports is the ability for veteran players to assume leadership roles within the team. Two
years ago, Cochran was voted in as a coach
by the players and now, as the head coach,
he has leadership opportunities that wouldn’t
be available if he was playing a varsity sport.
In addition to coaching opportunities,
club sports provide participants with the ability to recruit their friends to join. I’ve personally been recruited to the rugby team by my
former football teammate Matt Karuza.
“I’m always promoting the sport because it’s a good sport and I love it," Karuza said. "Most club sports allow any
student to come out and play.”
With all the benefits club sports offer,
I want it to be clear that I am not bashing
varsity sports. I was a varsity athlete once
and learned valuable life lessons about
work ethic, team building and sacrifice.
Nevertheless, not everyone is capable of
playing varsity sports and therefore club
sports offer many of the same benefits,
just with a different level of commitment.
So, for all those former high school
athletes out there who are severely missing competition and intramurals just aren’t
enough, try a club sport. With 20 different sports available, you are bound to find
something enjoyable and may even fall in
love with a sport you had never experienced.
Jeff Twining was a four-year member
of the Western football team and is a journalism and communication double major.
To reach Jeff, e-mail front.sportscolumn@
gmail.com.