Volume 103 Issue 50
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Thursday May 10, 2018
Two Titans Contaminated groundwater under OC earn Big West men’s golf recognitions
Derek Castillo and Mark Cobey were awarded with all-conference honors. JARED EPREM Sports Editor
Sophomore Derek Castillo and senior Mark Cobey of Cal State Fullerton men’s golf received All-Conference honors for the Big West conference on Wednesday. In his first year at CSUF, Castillo made the All-Conference first team. Cobey earned second team honors in his final season with the team. Castillo’s best performance of the season came at the Bill Cullum Invitational on Oct. 16 and 17. He took first place overall at 14-under-par 202 as he led the Titans to a fourth-place finish out of 12 teams. Some of his top performances of the season include the Sacramento State Invitational (tied for eighth at 2-over-par 218), the ORU/SFA Challenge (tied for seventh at 4-over-par 217) and the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate (tied for seventh at even par 216). In the Big West championship, Castillo shot 2-over-par 218 for a 19th-place tie. At the Waves Challenge on Jan. 29 and 30, Cobey earned his best finish of the season, tying for 10th place at 10-over-par 226. He finished tied for 14th at the El Macero Classic (8-over-par 224), tied for 16th at the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate (2-under-par 211) and tied for 20th at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic (1-under-par 215). Cobey’s 6-over-par 222 put him tied for 26th at the Big West championship. Although Cobey played his final season, Castillo is set to return for his junior season.
The north Orange County pollution plume contains three volatile organic compounds often used for degreasing.
Polluted drinking water prompted visit from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. DANIEL INGA TYRAH MAJORS For the Daily Titan
Just two miles from Cal State Fullerton, dangerous chemicals have leaked from the soil into the groundwater that supplies up to 75 percent of the drinking water for 2.5 million people in 22 Orange County cities, including Fullerton and the CSUF campus, according to the Orange County Water District. The plume of pollution stretches from S. State College Boulevard and W. Commonwealth Avenue to Brookhurst Street and south of CA-91 into Anaheim. The pollution is so severe that the state recently asked the United States Environmental Protection Agency to step in, and it did. After the EPA’s Administrator Scott Pruitt visited
Orange County, the polluted 5-square-mile area was added to a list of 21 sites around the nation that need immediate cleanup. Known as the Orange County North Basin, the area could be listed as a Superfund cleanup site soon. Superfund is a federal program that allows the EPA to clean up pollution and force polluters to pay for the cleanup. The public should not be alarmed by the pollution, according to city and county officials. “Just because the EPA is here, doesn’t mean our water quality is bad. We just want to protect it before it gets bad,” said Hye Jin Lee, water system manager and assistant city engineer for Fullerton. “City of Fullerton will check the water quality of the wells monthly,” Lee said. The Orange County North Basin plume contains three volatile organic compounds often used for degreasing operations. The compounds in the groundwater led to the shutdown of five drinking water wells in Fullerton and Anaheim, according to a 2018
DALIA QUIROZ / DAILY TITAN
EPA study of the area. Volatile compound levels in the plume have exceeded 200 times the maximum contamination level allowed in drinking water. The hazardous chemicals, 1,1-DCE; TCE; and PCE, are known carcinogens, said Jeffrey Knott, professor of geological sciences at CSUF. “This is a significant amount, it has to be from some sort of industrial facilities, this isn’t from some guy in his backyard dumping his oil change from last month,” Knott said. TCE has been found in drinking water wells in Fullerton as recently as April, but in amounts that are below the maximum contamination levels set by the EPA, according to a document from the City of Fullerton. Orange County’s water is “very clean,” said William Hunt, director of special projects for the Orange County Water District. “When people buy bottled water, I’m amazed; it’s nowhere as good as the water here.” SEE SUPERFUND
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Disney opposes movement to raise employee wages “
Advocates for workers in Anaheim resorts and parks get over 20,000 signatures.
I smile, I give them the magical dream, but there’s no dream for me when I clock out and get in my car.
“
BRANDON PHO News Editor
An unprecedented movement by labor unions to raise Disney park and resort worker wages, through city legislation, is facing opposition by the company itself. The Disneyland living wage ballot measure, which would raise the minimum wage in Anaheim to an eventual $18 an hour in 2022, aims to primarily benefit people who work at the Disney-owned parks and resorts. It was drafted by the Coalition of Resort Labor Unions. Petitioners for the measure have gained more than 20,000 signatures, and the initiative will be on the November ballot, according to a May 1 Facebook post by the Anaheim Resort Workers for a Living Wage, a campaign supporting the measure. If passed, the measure would apply the minimum wage requirement to “larger hospitality employers,” which the measure defines as hotels, motels, theme parks and adjacent restaurants
GLYNN DANA SHEVLIN Disneyland employee
TRACY HOANG / DAILY TITAN
If passed, proposed wage hikes would apply to Anaheim resort hotels, motels and theme parks.
and retail stores. The coalition has been met with an entire website dedicated
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to discrediting and denouncing the measure proposal, calling it a “job killer.” The website was
put up by a counter-coalition of city interests and associations, including Lucille Kring and Kris
Murray, Disneyland Resort and Anaheim city council members “While the proponents of this measure want you to believe that it targets only certain businesses, the reality is that it is drafted in a way that would allow it to expand to many more businesses in the resort district and eventually be expanded to all employers in Anaheim,” the Anaheim Job Killer website reads. On April 10, the Anaheim city council received and filed a report titled “Working for the Mouse,” which was presented by the coalition at the council meeting and serves as the foundation of the ballot measure. In the report, which was funded by the coalition, approximately 75 percent of surveyed employees said they do not earn enough money to cover basic expenses every month. SEE MOUSE
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