PALOMAR COLLEGE, SAN MARCOS, CALIF.
MONDAY SEPT. 29, 2008
FOCUSED ON PALOMAR
VOL. 62, NO. 4
the-telescope.com
Palomar proposes $1.3 million to improve safety MONIQUE GARCIA THE TELESCOPE
School officials are considering spending $1.3 million to improve campus safety, according to President Robert Deegan. Palomar’s Strategic Planning Council will be reviewing proposed safety improvements Oct. 21. Safety upgrades focus solely on Palomar’s emergency preparedness. The plan would allow Palomar to purchase equipment needed to adequately handle a crisis should one occur. “In terms of our emergency preparedness we’re kind of a mid-level college,” Deegan said. “But with the equipment we can purchase, we believe we’ll be at one of the highest tiers of prepared colleges to address emergencies.” It was last year’s events that spurred this sudden need to improve emergency safety. The wild fires, bomb threats and power outages were a glaring reminder that Palomar needed to get better at handling disaster situations. “We recognize we needed to improve our emergency preparedness and that’s why I asked to have this report prepared to bring to our strategic planning council,” Deegan said. “We’re just recognizing that...we’re prepared, but we’re not as prepared as we need to be and we need more equipment.” Last year’s bomb threat situation exposed several flaws regarding Palomar’s emergency plan, especially faulty communication with students, faculty and staff on and off the campus. “One of things with the bomb threat that we learned was that you can’t use cell phones because of a fear of a detonation, if indeed there really was a bomb,” Deegan said. Not being allowed to use cell phones while handling the bomb threat crisis hin-
While there are some students like Patsy Rico who feel investing in emergency preparedness is a smart way to ensure Palomar doesn’t make headlines like other schools have in the past, other students feel that Palomar’s safety doesn’t need any improvements. “Overall, I feel pretty safe, I don’t see anything that goes on that I’m worried about,” Freshman Cassandra Johnson said. “Everybody was out of here pretty quick, I guess that’s the best thing you hope for if a bomb is about to go off,” Robert Contrado, who was in class during last year’s bomb threats, said. “No one was panicking or anything, everybody was just… calm. Everybody pretty much got out at the same time. As soon as our class got out I saw everybody else’s class…so [Palomar] must’ve gotten the word out pretty fast.” In response to spending 1.3 million dollars toward emergency preparedness, “I think that’s just a waste of money,” Victor Valdez said. “I see that everything is going fine so far and we need that money mostly for education. Anything can happen even YUKIE ZUILL| THE TELESCOPE with a lot of safety...I think right now the safety of [Palomar] is at an okay level.” Palomar is spending $1.3 million on safety so that Officer Christopher Dillard and other emergency personnel on “When it comes to safety, I guess that’s campus will be prepared to respond in case of an emergency. always a good idea but to spend all that much money on [safety] seems to me that dered how well Palomar was able to exe- for injuries that might occur in case of a it’s not a very smart decision. But then cute their emergency plan. The campus’ disaster and acquire appropriate supplies again everyone cares about their safety.” safety proposal would not only allow like water and blankets that will be need- Edgar Hernandez said. Despite student’s feelings, if the proPalomar to purchase low-tech emergency ed if students are forced out of the classposed campus safety plan is approved purequipment such as bull horns to communi- room for a few hours or a few days. The campus safety plan will use chasing preparedness equipment will cate with students, faculty and staff but forms of high-tech communication, as well. Proposition M to get the funds to purchase begin over the next couple of months. According to Deegan, it’s very important Having communication that can be trig- the new safety equipment. Proposition M entails “our local bonds that Palomar ranks as one of the best colgered off campus would have been helpful during last year’s bomb scare, according to being used to build new buildings around leges to handle emergency situations. “We’ll do everything necessary to campus…It’s not only to build new buildDeegan. The new proposal will also allow ings but it’s to renovate buildings and to ensure the safety of our students, faculty and staff. That’s number one.” Palomar to purchase an apparatus to care upgrade our technology,” Deegan said.
Library displays student art Budget stalemate ends
State finally approves budget three months late
ALEX BREIDENTHAL THE TELESCOPE
The furniture at the Palomar College library is not just for sitting, some of it is art. and Cabinet Palomar’s Furniture Technology Department is celebrating the accomplishments of its students by displaying their works in the library until Oct. 4. “It’s our most popular display by far, people come from all over the place to view the beauty of these antique inspired pieces,” said Katherine Gannett, the manager of the library. The exhibit is meant to showcase student work, sell some pieces and also entice students to take one of 55 different classes available in the Cabinet and Furniture Technology program. “I think it’s a great opportunity for students to see what working classes can do for your future,” said Patricia Wade, senior library media technician.
OPINION
MAGGIE AVANTS THE TELESCOPE
HEATHER SNIDER | THE TELESCOPE
Cabinet and Furniture Technology students made all the pieces displayed in the library. “The exhibit also helps spread the word that around 600 students enroll in the program each year,” said Professor Chris Feddersohn. Of those students, 150 are first-year students while
Media influences bad decisions PAGE 5
the other 450 are returning. Some have traveled here from Germany and Japan for the program, according to Feddersohn. TURN TO FURNITURE PAGE 3
ENTERTAINMENT
Hudson’s new movie doesn’t bring laughs PAGE 6
After an initial look at the revised California budget, Palomar College will most likely receive a .68 percent increase for cost of living, down from 4 percent in past years, according to school officials. They will also get a 2 percent growth increase, a decrease from the 3 to 4 percent that they are used to seeing, and a lot lower than the originally stipulated 5 percent. However, according to Bonnie Dowd, vice president of finance at Palomar College, the school won’t know anything specific about Palomar’s budget until the state budget is signed and the state chancellor’s office has analyzed the budget to determine the impact on each district, including the actual growth rate for each district. She doesn’t anticipate knowing any final information until at
FOCUS
Drinkof the week: Mulled Wine PAGE 8
least the first full week of October. “A cost-of-living increase of .68 is better than zero in this economy, but it is way less than we are accustomed to getting,” said Dowd, who attributes the small increase to the current financial situation in California. Dowd explained that when the cost of doing business goes up, the college is used to getting a cost-of-living increase to cover the added expenses. Not getting these funds and not knowing when and how much they will get has put enormous strain on the college’s budget. For the first two and a half months of this semester, Palomar College did not receive its usual monthly paycheck from the State Amidst the of California. California state budget crisis, Palomar was just one of the 110 community colleges around the state who were forced to operate TURN TO BUDGET PAGE 3
SPORTS
Palomar has 29 straight wins in SD area PAGE 12