1995_05 Insight May 1995

              1     IN FOCUS     1
Goodbye Castle
k
Page 3
Announcing:
the Feat of the Spring!
Page 12
I PHOTO STiPRY
Campus cops
hit the streets
Page 14
MAY 17, 1995
INSIGHT
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
VOL. 26, NO. 23
Last-ditch effort to stop UC Academy persists
♦ UC Regents will vote on new UC site tomorrow
By David Mirhadi
StaffWriler
Lorie and Mark McQuinn have been fighting for five long years.
It's a fight that has them prepared to face off against one of California's
largest bureaucracies to protect Native American lands from .becoming the
site of the 10th University of California campus.
The McQuinns, co-chairpersons of the Commiitee to Slop ihe University of
California, are attempting to block the UC Board of Regents and UC president Jack Pellason from recommending the Academy site in eastern Fresno
County as the next site for the University of California.
Two sites are being considered for the next campus:  Table Mountain in
southern Madera County and Lake Yosemite in northeastern Merced County.
The Board of Regents is expected to vote on the next site for the University of
California Thursday. May 18, although no timetable to begin construction
has been set.
The UC Board of Regents forwarded the recommendations of Table Mountain and Lake Yosemite as the two sites to be voted on. although Academy
still could be picked as the next site.
Hearings on thc UC site selection process for thc three sites were held in
March, and the final environmental impact reports on the sites were released
earlier this month.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors, along wiih the Fresno Counly UC
committee, believe Academy still has the opportunity lo become the site for
the 10th UC campus, even though it is not one of the sites to be voted on by
the regents Thursday. The Board of Supervisors have asked the regents to
delay their vole until more work by the UC staff can be completed. UC officials say there is a very slight possibility that the regents would not vote on a
site, and officials al thc UC office in Fresno say the chance for a delay in the
vote or a vote for Academy is an extremely remote possibility. Proponents
and opponents arc still fighting against each other over the Academy site.
The 5.000-acrc Academy site contains highly sensitive archaeological sites, including Native American burial grounds, tools and other
related articles.
The UC Site Selection Factors Report states that the archaeological findings
at Academy could present obstacles for building a UC campus and subse-
See ACADEMY, page 9
Photo by Kor! Rland«/ln»lgh
CSUF Junior Andrea Pruett, 21, attempts one of the high elements of the RLS 75 ropes course.
Ropes course provides valuable learning experience
By Rachel Rosemire
StaffWriler
I wasn't going to do it
Before I eyen went, I had made up my
mind There was no way in hell I was
going to do it
Well guess what? I did it
Get your minds out of the gutter kids,
I'm talking about the ropes course that I
signed up to take for one unit of credit
through my RLS 80 class.
Me, Queen of the Unadventurous.
jumped into the air off of an approximately 30-foot-high pole. I think my insanity had a lot to do with the support and
encouragement of the people I was with.
The ropes course is a one unit class, RLS
75, that was started on campus over five
years ago by Mike Hoffman and L-Jay
Fine, professors of recreational administration and leisure studies.
"I think a lot of people look at it as an
adult jungle gym or something like that,
but really it is a tool for several different
things." Fine said
The course has a lot of therapeutic benefits. It provides the perfect atmosphere
for participants to work on team building, leadership, communication, organization and trust
From my experience, I would say trust
is the biggest factor. The activities
See ROPES, page 13
Medicinal uses
of Marijuana:
illegal or humane
+ The debate continues
over the legalization of weed
By Lisa Dorman-Stubbs
StaffWriler
Efforts to keep marijuana illegal as
a medical drug in California may be
going up in smoke.
David McCarthy, owner of the
Hemp Shack, a new business near
Fresno's Tower District, said he's
been in favor of the legalization of
marijuana for medical purposes ever
since his friend "Larry" was paralyzed by a gunshot wound two years
ago. McCarthy said marijuana is the
only thing that's kept Larry from
shrinking away to nothing.
"He doesn't get hungry." McCarthy
said. "His medication upsets his stomach and he just doesn't cal. With marijuana, he regains his appetite and he
has a better attitude."
Marijuana is often useful in thc
treatment of cancer, AIDS, glaucoma,
multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and
chronic pain, according to a brochure
about the medical uses of marijuana
published by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws, or NORML.
"Seeing how much pain Larry is in
and seeing what a difference marijuana makes for him has made me
realize that marijuana has to be legalized." McCarthy said.
As a result of his views, McCarthy
makes a variety of literature about
marijuana available in addition to his
hemp products. And he works closely
with the local NORML chapter.
McCarthy quoted Dennis Peron. the
founder of the Cannabis Buyers Club
in San Francisco and Califomians for
Compassionate Use, about the injustice of current marijuana laws.
"Dennis said that people who just
want marijuana for personal reasons
can always get it." McCarthy said.
"It's thc people who need it for medical reasons who have trouble finding
connections. It's jusl not fair."
Larry, who said he wasn't a frequent
marijuana user before he was paralyzed, now uses it every day. It helps
him cat, relax and sleep.
"It helps me quite a bit." said Larry,
who is paralyzed below his upper
chest. "I'd be so skinny, I'd literally
blow away in the wind if I didn't
smoke it. 1 still have quite a bit of pain
in the parts of my body that I can feel
and the marijuana relaxes me so I can
sleep. I'm not used to being so idle
all thc time."
Larry, age 40, said his experience
w ith thc medical benefits of marijuana
has inspired him to become politically
vocal on thc issue. He has spoken with
Peron and has someone helping him
write letters to various legislators.
"There would be less crime and
fewer arrests if il were legal," Larry
said. And others who are suffering
like himself have difficulty obtaining
marijuana on a consistent basis.
Peron's Cannabis Buyers Club provides an environment where patients
with a prescription from their doctors
can buy marijuana to help ease their
symptoms. Although selling and possessing marijuana is illegal, thc Cannabis Buyers Club has operated since
the beginning of 1994 without legal
interference.
When the Drug Enforcement
Agency and FBI agents attempted to
raid the club earlier this year, their
efforts were thw arted when they were
unable to convince San Francisco
See MARIJUANA, page 5
Store owner
sells hemp in
Tower District
By Lisa Dorman-Stubbs
StaffWriler
David McCarthy sells products
made from marijuana — but you
can't smoke them.
The Hemp Shack, the first store
of its kind in the Central Valley,
sells items made from hemp, a versatile plant that dates back to at
least 8000 B.C.
While McCarthy's six-toed cat,
Delilah, roamed through the store
like she owned the place,
McCarthy said, "I'm into saving
the planet."
"We've got to find a way to get
away from all the pesticides,"
McCarthy said. "Look at this Valley; it's a big chemical bowl. I've
seen all the things farmers put on
cotton, like pesticides and fertilizers. They don't have to use those
products on hemp. It grows like a
weed."
Weed -- in that small word lies
the controversy. Except for the way
the plant is harvested, there's no
difference between hemp and
marijuana, also known as weed.
McCarthy describes his store,
located at 220 E. Olive Ave., as
"earth friendly." He sells backpacks, clothing, jackets, soap, bum
salve, cooking and massage oil,
candy, lip gloss and necklaces, all
made from the hemp plant or its
by-products. He also sells
"cruelty-free" incense sticks and
shirts, the majority of which are
made from unbleached cotton.
Everything sold in McCarthy's
store is legal. A sign behind the
counter says, "Please do not discuss illegal activities while in the
store or you will be asked to leave
by management." McCarthy made
a deliberate decision not to sell any
paraphernalia associated with illegal marijuana use.
See HEMP SHACK, page 5
Boot camp looks to turn
young offenders around
•f Local boot camp receives $500,000 grant
By Michael Yparrea
Staff Writer
"A cadet will not lie. cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those
who do so."
So reads the first line of the honor code that cadets of
the new Tulare County Probation Youth Facility are expected to know. ■*
It is also the foundation of ethical behavior and first in
the development of the Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect. Responsibility, Fairness. Caring and
Citizenship.
Monday, Jan. 9, marked the opening of the Tulare
County Probation Youth Facility at Sequoia Field near
Tulare, the first co-ed juvenile boot camp in California.
Since its opening, oiher communities have been keeping a watchful eye on the new "boot camp" to judge its
effectiveness.
Talks continue of opening a second facility near Visalia.
The Fresno Board of Supervisors rccenUy approved an
application which could bring in $500,000 of federal grant
money to fund a local boot camp for juvenile offenders.
Superior Court Judge Gary Hoff told the Board that a
boot camp would be a very effective way to deal with juvenile offenders.
The proposed program, to be instituted at the C.K.
Wakefield School, would increase not only the number of
offenders in the program, but also the number of days offenders would be in the program.
Juvenile boot camps have been a much-talked about issue in counties across the country. Officials are desperately seeking new and effective ways to deal with juvenile
offenders as youth-oriented crimes continue to rise at a
staggering pace.
In her document, "Doing Something About Juvenile
Crime in Fresno," author Nancy M. Richardson found startling and disturbing statistics regarding juvenile crime in
Fresno: Assault and battery was up 34 percent from 1984,
grand theft auto was up 920 percent from 1984 and possession of weapons was up 512 percent from 1984.
Such increases are visible in other counties as well, including Tulare. The result there is the newly opened y c
facility.
See YOUTH,
§im