1997_02 The Daily Collegian February 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIA
Wednesday, February 26, 1997
News
News Editor: Matthew Hart
Telephone: (209) "278-2556
News Of the WErop
Only in the Valley...
• In an eight-day period in Janu-
ary in towns less than 100 miles
apart (Bakersfield and Fresno. Ca¬
lif), police found the corpses of eld¬
erly mothers lhat continued to be
treated as integral parts of the fam¬
ily by'their adult sons. The Bakers¬
field woman, who died at age 77
around September, was thought by
her son to be merely "demonically
depressed" and there for liable to
wake-up at any minute and thus had
been propped up on the sofa.
Now that's a no-smoking
policy
• The Associated Press reported
in January on the 3-year-old anti-
smoking policy of Kimball Phys¬
ics of Wilton, N.H.. which not only
forbids lighting up at work buisub-
jects each employee and visitor to
a sniff test of his breath and cloth¬
ing performed by receptionist Jen¬
nifer Walsh. Those with an odor so
strong that it is likely they smoked
within the last two hours or so arc
not allowed in.
The thin blue lie...
• In February. Schenectady.
NY., patrolman Robert J. O'NeUl
reportedly retired. He had been on
sick leave since 1982, at full salary
lhat now has reached $508,000,
because of psychological problems
related to his Vietnam Marine ex¬
perience that allegedly made him a
danger to the public.
Modern-day Stagecoach
Robberies
• Reuters news service reported
in January that the 400-mile route
from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
.Russia, is being worked by gangs
of armed thieves who rob and hi¬
jack cargo trucks. And in August on
the runway at the airport in
Perpignan. France, gunmen halted
a taxiing Air France airliner that had
just landed with 167 passengers and
stole moneybags containing about
$800,000.
Cultural diversity
' • In a November Associated
Press dispatch from Payiir, Sudan,
a reporter described the local com¬
petition among unmarried Dinka
men to gorge themselves (and re¬
frain from exercise) to become fat."
which is regarded as a way to win
females because it demonstrates
that the men's cattle herd is large
enough for him to consume extra
milk end meat. The typical Dinka
is tall and reed-thin - former bas¬
ketball player Manute Bol is a
Dinka - and some men gain so
much unfamiliar weight so quickly
lhat they have been known to topple
over.
• The hottest selling computer
software in Japan in November was
a "love simulation" game in which
boys try to get a virtual 17-year-old
girl. Shiori. to fall in love with
them. There is even a magazine.
Virtual Idol, devoted to supplying
fictional biographical tales of Shiori
and other virtual girls. Wrote one
young man. Virtual Idol "is just the
right kind of magazine for a person
like me who's not interested in real
girls." By January, several news
services had reported on an equally
popular Japanese computer craze,
the Virtual Pet. a $16 electronic
"bird" the size of an egg that re¬
sponds to nurturing instincts in
many teen-age girls. By pushing
buttons, the owner can feed it. play
with it, clean up after it and disci¬
pline it.
• According to an October As¬
sociated Press story, young moth¬
ers in large Japanese cities have
adopted the city park as a forum for
vying for status. Some young moth¬
ers interviewed claimed they were
"scared" to take their toddlers to the
parks (to make their "park debut")
because of the established cliques
of mothers who dominate the facili¬
ties. Guidebooks teach the proper
"park behavior"; department stores
feature the proper "park clothing",
and a recent satiric movie depicted
a park ruled by 50 authoritarian
mothers
• In Singapore, which is so pris¬
tine that eveh public gum-chewing
is illegal, police expressed concern
in February about the recent crisis
of apartment dwellers in high-rise
buildings who casually toss their
belongings out the window. Fifty-
one people were arrested last year
for throwing objects ranging from
TV sets to tricycles to flower pots
• A September Los Angeles
Times story described what Argen¬
tine writer Tomas Eloy Martinez
called the country's obsession with
"emotional"' necrophilia toward its
prominent citizens. Frequently,
corpses of luminaries such as Juan
Peron are dug up and either cel¬
ebrated or desecrated, to excite na¬
tional pride. (The hands of Peron's
corpse were sawed off by a zealous
grave robber in 1987 and have not
been recovered, last fall, a judge
ordered Peron's body to be disin¬
terred yet again so that a DNA
sample could be taken as evidence
in a woman's claim that she is
Peron's illegitimate daughter.)
• According to a June China
Daily story. 40 million Chinese live
in caves, but many are leaving for
regular houses, putting a strain on
the available arable land in some
areas. Thus, architects working for
the government are designing futur¬
istic cave homes in Gansu. Henan
and Shanxi provinces to encourage
the cave dwellers to stay put
Wide world of animals
• A team of Chinese surgeons
from Zhengzhou. Beijing. Shang¬
hai and Shenzhen reported in Janu¬
ary that, in a 17-hour operation
three months earlier, they had reat¬
tached an elephant's uuck that had
been severed in an accident and that
the elephant was now feeding itself
again, though the trunk was 16
inches shorter.
• In October. Annie Wald and a
partner opened Total Dog, Los An¬
geles' first canine fitness center. For
a fee of up to $800 a year from
.owners too busy to walk their dogs,
the pooches work out on treadmills,
in swimming pools and on an ob¬
stacle course, and massages are
available.
• In August firefighters in Kelso.
Wash., listed the official cause of
the fire at Matthew Gould's home
as Sadie's playing with matches
Sadie, a 5-month-old German shep¬
herd mix. had probably gnawed into
a box of matches but failed to drool
enough to douse the sparks. And in
Spencer, Ind.. in December. James
E Baker was shot in the heel by his
Akita, Boo Boo. which had jumped
on the trigger of a 20-gauge shot¬
gun on the floor of Baker's pickup
truck as he sat in the driver's seat
Update of the weird
• In December 1996. News of
the Weird reported that Los Ange¬
les County authorities had decided
not to charge Texan Robert Salazar
i n the death of his employee Sandra
Orellana. who fell from an eighth
floor hotel balcony railing on which
the two were, according to Salazar.
having sex. In January, after drop
ping mannequins from the railing
to see how they fell and examining
the wounds on Ms. Orellana's body
the county coroner called the death
a homicide, the police sought
Salazar for more questioning.
Center: Fresno State discusses possible satellite campus
Continued from page 1.
inched even closer to reality when
Governor Wilson approved finan¬
cial backing for the relocation in his
budget proposal.
However, the Legislative
Advisor's Office, a non-partisan
organization that does fiscal analy¬
sis for the state, slowed the process
when it recommended that the state
neither fund the CSU system's pro¬
posed relocation of the Stockton
satellite campus nor provide the
funds for the first five years of op¬
eration as outlined in Wilson's bud¬
get-
In its annual analysis of the
governor's budget proposal, the
LAO said that the CSU system was
not offering to spend enough of its
own .money. The LAO recom¬
mended that the state sell the prop¬
erty or force the CSU system to
fund the campus with its own
money.
In the wake of the LAO's public
stance against the project, leaders
, on both sides of the issue met yes¬
terday to further discuss the finan¬
cial logistics.
■ "Hopefully we answered a lot of
their questions," said Johnston, who
authored the bill to create the new
University Multi-Campus Regional
Center. "They told us that they did
the analysis with what little infor¬
mation they had available, and that
they promised to listen to our an¬
swers and reconsider."
Fresno State will serve in a part¬
nership with three other CSU cam.
puses (Stanislaus, Sacramento, and
Chico), San Joaquin Valley Delta
College and the University of the
Pacific to provide the new multi-
campus center with educational
programming should the project
materialize. The current satellite
campus is located at the SJVD jun¬
ior college and is run solely by
CSU. Stanislaus.
"The whole thing is still very'
much in the organizational stages
at this point," said Don Hansen,
public affairs specialist for CSU.
Stanislaus. "The indication is that
the funding will come through, and
that the keys will be turned over in
July."
Johnston and other supporters
will next attempt to navigate the
multi-campus center through bud¬
get hearings that should begin
sometime in March.'
The final decision will come in
the form ofthe state budget, which
is traditionally passed in June or
I
July.
"I'm confident [in the project]
because we have worked so hard to
earn support." Johnston said.
Supporters of the complex point
to several examples of budget mea¬
sures that were not supported by the
LAO. yet included in past budgets.
"Our expectation is since the
state recommended the takeover in
the first place, and it is in the state's
best interest because they don't
have a lot of use for the center, that
the funding is likely to be forthcom¬
ing " said Brad Wells, executive
assistant for the CSU's budget and
finance department.
Two separate studies haVe con¬
cluded that the prospects of selling
the property commercially are
bleak because ofthe overwhelming
size and current physical condition
ofthe buildings.
"If the CSU system does not
come in and fix the (facility), then
the state is just going to be stuck
with a stranded asset." Johnston
said. "What they have found is that
there is very little interest in taking
100 acres lhat has infrastructure
below city code, in a neighborhood
that is troubled, and with some
buildings that date back to the 19th
century."
If the bill passes, and the CSU
system gets the $2.5 million to up¬
grade the facility, then Johnston and
others believe that the multi-cam¬
pus center could not only offer an
additional outlet of higheT educa¬
tion to the Stockton area, but also
be revolutionary in terms of educa¬
tional financing.
Because the 100 acres houses
numerous buildings, supporters
want to create a thriving economic
center by leasing unused buildings
to both public and private sector
tenants.
Once all the buildings have been
renovated and all extra space has
been leased, the tenants of the fa¬
cility would essentially fund the
entire multi-campus center.
" We are trying to pay our own
way by leasing facilities so that tax¬
payers are not burdened by the
usual costs associated with a project
like this." said Maynard Robinson.
CSU. Stanislaus vice president of
business and finance. "It is a com¬
munity-based program that should
also be of great social and economic
benefit to the region."
The only current four-year uni¬
versity in the city of Stockton is
UOP. a private and costlier alterna¬
tive to the CSU system. There are
also a number of academic pro
grams that are not currently offered
By UOP.
"We obviously feel there is a
void there that wc can fill." Hansen
said. "The point is not to compete
with UOP.
In fact, they are one of the part¬
ners in the project. The point is to
take advantage of each other's re¬
sources"
Which happens to also be the
reasoning behind having four, not
one. CSU campus collaborating on
the project.
"All of these campuses have ar¬
eas where they-arc very strong in."
Hansen said. "We need to capital¬
ize on all of their resources, and at
the same time save the taxpayers a
lot of money while offering a high
quality education."
According to Johnston, the de¬
ciding factor is the necessity to get
(he budget passed and get the new
multi-campus center in place so that
tentative occupants can be signed
and others can continue to be added
"Other tenants will not come
unless [the center] is the anchor."
Johnston said. "That would be the
Macy's of the mall, and you have
to have a Macy's if you want the
other businesses."
'