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OPINION
Baseball to take on rival Long Beach this weekend Page 6
Illegal immigration crosses boundaries at home in SoCal Page 4 Geologists warn Southland due for massive quake that could cause serious damage
Caffeine Craze Creates Addicts
surviving
By Joey T. English
and other major disasters
For the Daily Titan
O
n April 18, 1906, at 5:12 A.M., the San Andreas Fault shocked a slumbering San Francisco with Americaʼs most disastrous earthquake. Horrified moans from beneath collapsed walls filled the early morning fog. Busted fuel tanks and broken gas lines sprayed incendiary gasses along streets littered with power lines. Defective water lines left citizens watch defenseless. It looked as though the entire city would burn in the hellish aftermath. The quake, later computed as a magnitude 7.8, and subsequent fires killed 3,000 people. In a seismic snap, the San Andreas Fault, which divides the Pacific plate from the North American plate, reminded Californians that their envied location has its faults. Geologists warn 100 years after the San Francisco disaster that the focus of another massive earthquake lies in the heart of the Southland. Earthquake scientist David Bowman, associate professor of geology at Cal State Fullerton, said the last major earthquake produced by the San Andreas Fault in Southern California was in 1857, and that section of the fault awakens every 132 years on average. This quake has not yet awakened. Bowman said the seismic gap is not clockwork, but the quake remains geologically inevitable. “Itʼs not a prediction in the Channel 5 news kind of way,” Bowman said. “For us to test the hypothesis, we need to have an earthquake.” Neither is it clockwork to predict which fault will jolt first. Scientists recognize that a repeat of the 1857 quake of magnitude 8.3 would have severe consequences for both Los Angeles and Orange Counties simply due to its sheer size. But for Southern California, San Andreas is not the only culprit. Bowman said Southern Californians work and play atop hundreds of smaller, unnamed faults that in some ways pose a greater hazard because they are directly beneath our feet. These faults include the Puente Hills fault, just east of downtown Los Angeles, which Bowman said is “capable of producing a magnitude 7 plus earthquake.”
Stimulant provides students quick jolt to stay awake, but has its side effects By Adam Levy
For the Daily Titan
Photo provided by U.S. Geological Survey
Fullerton to call upon residents to aid in local disaster preparedness, relief By Jessica Horn
Daily Titan Staff Writer
T
o be better prepared in the event of a natural disaster, the Fullerton Fire Department is launching a new program to prepare citizens for emergency situations. The new program called the Community Response Volunteer/Community Emergency Response Team, will call on Fullerton citizens to step up as leaders in their neighborhood by volunteering their
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time training with real firefighters, paramedics and specialists in different areas of disaster preparation. “I was involved with the CERT program and wanted to bring a high quality program to Fullerton,” Fire Chief Wolfgang Knabe said. Volunteers will be trained in disaster preparedness, basic first aid, fire safety, basic search and rescue techniques, and proper use of a fire extinguisher. Training starts April 8, and continues for three consecutive Saturdays. Each training session will last eight hours. “We are going by the FEMA training module,” said Capt. Tom Schultz, disaster preparedness officer for the fire department. Schultz, along with two teams from the cityʼs fire department, flew to the Gulf
Coast after Hurricane Katrina hit, and saw the devastation that had taken toll on the area. Fullerton fire officials did not want to see their own city end up like this in the event of a natural disaster, bringing about the idea to form the program for the city. “It really showed how crucial it is for citizens to be prepared because citizens are on their own for a while until their emergency personnel can bring everything together,” Knabe said. “Weʼve had such a tremendous interest in it already,” said Knabe. “Itʼs really in the forefront of everyoneʼs minds.” The new program will divide Fullerton into six districts to match up with the cityʼs six fire stations.
Caffeine -– taken in the form of coffee, tea, soda, pills and energy drinks – has become a habit on college campuses. On the Cal State Fullerton campus there are multiple Starbucks outlets and energy drinks available at nearly every vendor. “In the latter part of the evening, most of the customers are ordering extra [espresso] shots in their drink,” said business major Amber DaSilva, who is a Starbucks barista. Sales of energy drinks in the United States climbed a dramatic 61 percent last year, pushing the overall total to about $3 billion in annual sales, according to Beverage Digest. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, having the effect of warding off drowsiness and resorting alertness, according to Wikipedia.org. Side effects when one has consumed too much include nervousness, insomnia, dehydration, stomach irritation and fatigue, according to the CSUF Student Handbook drug-free schools information. Countries such as France, Denmark, Norway and Argentina have outright banned Red Bull beverages due to their high levels of caffeine. “Iʼm a big fan of coffee,” said history major Blake McWhorter. “It quickens my mind and helps me stay awake in class”. Major institutions – such as the American Medical Association and the Food and Drug Administration – have asserted that in moderation of about 300 milligrams a day, caffeine does not pose a major health risk to the user. Other studies have shown that as little as 100 milligrams daily can foster a
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Kit Spots Date Rape Drugs Soon-to-be released Drink Detector achieves results in less than 30 seconds
“It’s a protection tool to empower women to take control of the situation.”
By Desirae Macias
Phill Richer
For the Daily Titan
A
small package with a big tool that can help save your life will be available in local drug stores soon. The Drink Detective is an affordable chemistry kit about the size of a credit card that can be used in detecting date rape drugs in drinks. It detects over 60 different illegal drugs including: Ketamine, Gamma-hydroxybutyrate and Benzodiazepines, commonly known as tranquilizers or sleeping pills. The results appear in less than 30
WayPoint Biomedical
seconds and are very easy to perform by using a pipette provided in the kit and putting a drop from your drink on the test strips. The makers of the Drink Detective, WayPoint Biomedical, are also launching a national awareness campaign to make people more aware of just how serious drink tampering has become, especially as spring break approaches. Phill Richer, WayPoint Biomedical global director of sales and marketing, said the main goal of Drink Detective is
to create awareness and let every person know to be careful. “Itʼs a protection tool to empower women to take control of the situation,” he said. Date rape is the most common form of rape, with one out of eight college students being victims of rape, according to WayPoint Biomedical. Drugs put into drinks can be odorless, colorless and have no taste to them, according to the Drink Detective Web site. Ketamine – which is most commonly used in veterinary medicine – results in a mild dreamy, floating feeling when ingested, but higher doses produce a hallucinogenic effect, according to the Drink Detective Web site. SEE DETECTIVE = PAGE 3
OC Water Cleans Up Its Act With Filter System New facility slated to open in 2007 transforms sewer water into high quality reserve By Jickie Torres
Daily Titan Staff Writer
The Orange County Water District may soon be providing water for its 22 locally served cities that will easily rival the quality of any bottled water on the market. Thanks to more than $486 million in construction for new a filtration facility and pipeline being built for a Groundwater Replenishment System set for 2007, the Orange County water supply will be reinvigorated with water that will be transformed into high quality reserve rather
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than waste destined for the oceans. “All water is recycled. There is no new water.” This is the water districtʼs homepage statement and likely slogan for the Groundwater Replenishment System. In this case, the water being recycled is sewer water. The filtration process, described by the water districtʼs Web site, takes highly treated sewer water and refines it with a procedure much like that used to process baby food, fruit juices and soda. The water goes through rigorous cleaning to achieve high levels of purity. The first step is micro filtration in which fiber-like filters trap larger particle elements like bacteria, protozoa and
Mostly Sunny High: 76 Low: 50
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SATURDAY Partly Cloudy High: 70 Low: 49