serving the uc davis campus and community since 1915
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volume 131, number 43
thursday, april 5, 2012
Suspect arrested for residential burglaries in
News iN Brief
Santa Monica City College students pepper sprayed while protesting tuition increases
Police are investigating connection to neighborhood burglaries By PAAYAL ZAVERI Aggie News Writer
On March 29, Davis police arrested 37-year-old Kyle
Frank of Placerville, Calif. for a residential burglary on Layton Drive. The police responded to a call from one of the residents, a 12-year-old boy, who was home when the robber broke into the house. He heard someone knocking on the door but didn’t answer. Minutes later, he noticed a
suspicious person in the backyard and immediately called 911 from inside a locked bathroom. The suspect managed to break into the house through the side door
leading into the garage. He was arrested in Slide Hill Park and the two responding police officers found items from the victim’s residence in Frank’s possession. According to the Press
See BURGLARIES, page 6
Irisa Tam / Aggie
Groundskeepers clean up quad
At a Board of Trustees meeting at Santa Monica City College Tuesday night, 30 student protesters were pepper sprayed after attempting to storm the boardroom during the meeting. Two people were transported to the hospital for evaluation. A 4-year-old was also pepper sprayed. A group of about 70 students was protesting the $180-per-unit increase that would add sections to classes that are in high demand. The measure, called Contract Ed, would be the first fee plan of its type in California. Before doors opened, some students were given numbers that would allow entry to the boardroom. Santa Monica City College president Chui L. Tsang issued a statement yesterday that said the use of pepper spray was to “preserve public and personal safety.” The program, Tsang said, would result in an increase of 25 percent more classes than last summer. “The intent of the program is to immediately increase the number of total classroom seats available and provide a way for students to make progress towards their goal,” he said. The college is currently investigating the matter and will pay for all medical bills of those treated for injuries. — Muna Sadek
César Chávez event is this Saturday
Brian Nguyen / Aggie
Yesterday afternoon UC Davis groundskeepers were seen cleaning up remaining tents and objects left by the Occupiers on the Quad. The groundskeepers will also be rehabilitating the grass on which the tents were pitched.
The city rescheduled the César Chávez Celebration from March 31 to April 7 due to weather. It will be at 11:30 a.m. in Central Park during the Farmers Market. This free event is sponsored by the City of Davis through the Human Relations Commission. It will take place at the Rotary Stage at the north end of Central Park. The event will feature music and singing, community group displays and other presentations. March 31 is the anniversary of Chávez’s birthday. Chavez spoke at rallies in Davis’ Central Park during the tomato growers’ strikes in the 1970s. — Angela Swartz
Bottles for Poverty recycles for change Campus group turns bottles, cans into cash for Ethiopian school By ISAIAH SHELTON Aggie Features Writer
One man’s trash may certainly be another man’s treasure. But who would have thought that the weekend’s empty beer bottles and midterm week’s half-crumpled Starbucks doubleshot cans could mean the difference between life and death for kids in a foreign country? A group of like-minded students on campus has made it its mission to see that your recyclables not only save trees, but are a tangible effort to save lives as well. Bottles for Poverty is a newly registered campus organization dedicated to raising money to build a school and ultimately promote education in an impoverished part of Ethiopia in the city of Gondar. Members solicit donations of recyclable bottles and cans, which they then exchange for money at recycling centers. The group finds that education is the best tool for enabling societies to battle lineages of poverty. courtesy “I didn’t know where to start,” said Robel Bottles for Poverty aims to raise money build a school for students like these in Ethiopia. Haile, founder and president of Bottles for Poverty. “The main reason that I wanted for the society to begin fixing its own issues, to get involved is because I always want- forts, Haile said. ed to help less fortunate kids around the “I wanted to use recyclables as a way to as opposed to waiting for federal aid. bring people together to the cause,” Haile Once the money is raised, it will be givworld.” en to the Jewish Distribution Committee Haile had various ideas on how to reach said. his goal, but like many struggling college The organization’s first project is to raise to build the school, an organization that students, didn’t have the monetary means $24,000 by the end of the academic year has been building schools, wells and doing to do so. Bottles for Poverty stands not only to help build a school in Gondar, a city in medical services in Ethiopia for 23 years and as a physical organization, but also as a Ethiopia with a 62 percent illiteracy rate. The around the world for 97 years. The group metaphor for how substantial change can group feels that if the upcoming generations has currently raised a little over $3,000. be rendered via the smallest collective ef- are educated, then there is a better chance Although most of the officers are mana-
Today’s weather Sunny High 61 Low 37
Forecast Sunny skies are in the forecast! It will be a little cold in the morning hours but should be warming up slightly in the afternoon. The weekend will be warming up to the near 70’s! Matthew Little, atmospheric science major Aggie Forecasting Team
Friday
Saturday
Sunny
Sunny
High 62 Low 40
High 69 Low 44
gerial economics majors, take similar classes, and spend much time together, they all have different groups of friends and make it a point to share the weight of spreading word about their mutual mission. “The word ‘position’ is irrelevant in Bottles for Poverty,” said Marketing Director Erica Munoz. “Everyone works together and contributes what they can.” Bottles for Poverty has received recognition and support beyond the UC Davis campus. It was recently chosen as one of the five recipients of the Blum Center Scholarship for Developing Economies and are currently waiting to hear from other possible donors as well. “Besides motivating everyone through recyclables, we are continuously working on finding other ways of raising funds,” Haile said. One such way is by expansion. Bottles for Poverty is currently working on becoming a federally-registered charity. It plans to continue doing community service in the United States and around the world for years to come, but for now asks that students and community members continue using the organization’s small-step blueprint in order to contribute. Members encourage those interested to “Like” the Bottles for Poverty Facebook page. Alexis Liu, junior sociology major, found out about Bottles for Poverty via Facebook and has been contributing recyclables ever since. “It came up on my news feed that one
See BOTTLES, page 2
Here’s a shout-out to the shout-outs from Stephen Colbert and Rachel Maddow. Now the whole world knows that UC Davis is full of pepper-sprayed, gay-loving history majors. Becky Peterson