PALOMAR COLLEGE, SAN MARCOS, CALIF. MONDAY MARCH 17,2008 VOL. 61, NO. 16
the-telescope.com
T
FOCUSED ON PALOMAR
Sprinter railway finally takes off
Opiaioa
How you hold the key to controlling • PAGE 4 gas pnces Focus
What to do for spring break
PAGES
Entertaia•eat
Irieside rocks the
~ -·- Royal
Dive PAGE 11
TURN TO
Palomar College
ELLIOT DE LISSER I THE TELESCOPE SPRINTER PAGE 9 Passengers exit the Sprinter at the Mission.Road ex.it.on March 12. ~he 22~mile rail line
runs from Oceanside to Escondido. The Spnnter off1c1ally began tram serv1ce on March 9.
Teachers reach accord with district SHAHRAZAD ENCINIAS THE TELESCOPE
Sports
Aspaas brings his A-game in Comets 9-ovictory
over Arabs PAGE 19 L __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
public utility approval, which typically they don't provide it until the day before the The third time was the actual start date," North charm when it came to the County Transit District marSprinter rail line final start keting representative Sarah date. After numerous delays, Benson said. "The first day the new 22-mile rail line we had 12,951 passengers on along Highway 78 from 37 revenue trains, so it Escondido exceeded our t 0 expectations by UPDATE Oceanside far." received its Man sleeping on Sprinter tracks Benson said the f i n a l first day was a suchas his lower legs cut off approval cess. Page 9 from the "Passengers California were happy, even Public Utilities Commission the ones that were delayed and officially began train up to an hour and half," service on March 9. Benson said. "Most riders With the final approval, were pleasure riders the first the first-ever Sprinter train day, so they were just there ride on the century-old-right- for the experience." of way, that hadn't seen pasThe only real issu s the senger service since the first day were minor delays 1940s, started at 4:33 a.m. with timing due to the heavy with around 100 passengers number of passengers. taking part in history. "We averaged 350 riders "We were waiting for final per train on Sunday and we MELISSA CASTON THE TELESCOPE
~
The Palomar College administration and the Palomar Faculty Federation have come up with a "tentative agreement" over faculty contracts after months of dispute. "It's good for the administration," said Palomar College President Robert Deegan. "We have the utmost respect for faculty." Deegan said this new threeyear contract is the number one annual salary increase among the comparison colleges in California. The contract changes include salaries, sabbatical leaves and benefits. "It's well deserved," Deegan ELLIOT DE LISSER ,.. 'I £SCOPE said. Deegan isn't the only one satShannon Lienhart, co-president of the PFF, gave instruction to her Math 120 c.lass last week. After months of negotiation, Lienhart and the PFF have reached atentative agreement with Palomar administrators on its faculty's labor contracts.
isfied with the agreement, which was agreed upon on March 3. Shannon Lienhart, faculty union co-president, is happy with the result compared to how the negotiation was going. "This past year has been very hard," Lienhart said, adding they were able to reach a verbal agreement. She said extra money will come to faculty when the college gets money. Money for faculty was the final concern in the 26-chapter contract. Lienhart said they have been working on the compensation since September 2007. "The district made some major movement," Lienhart said. During a Governing Board TURN TO
PFF PAGE 3