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TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS
www.UniversityStar.com
FEBRUARY 1, 2006
WEDNESDAY
VOLUME 95, ISSUE 48
SMPD Crisis Response Team seeks volunteers By Kathy Martinez The University Star The San Marcos Police Department Victim’s Services program is conducting training classes for volunteers to serve on the Crisis Response Team. Training will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Feb. 18 to 19 and Feb. 25 to 26. Eugenia Rinaldi, Victims’ Services coordinator, currently has six trained members on her team and is looking to find more volunteers to train in February. “We are looking for people who are trustworthy, have common sense, definitely a care for humankind and especially a backbone,” Rinaldi said. Rinaldi said it is essential volunteers know when to make decisions concerning victims and possess good boundary skills as well. “Sometimes we want to help a victim so much, but often enough, victims don’t want or are not ready for our help. We need to learn to respect that,” Rinaldi said. Rinaldi hopes to have a team of 25 to 30 members by the end of the year. Rinaldi recalled being the only member on the team at the time a fire occurred at Ye Olde Colony Apartments on Aquarena Springs Drive last year. “We need more help, and disasters like that require the assistance of many to the victims involved,” Rinaldi said. Volunteers in the program will participate in the support of victims involved in major crimes in San Marcos. These crimes include survivors of homicide victims, driving while intoxicated hit and run fatalities, assault, family violence, child abuse, sexual assault and traumatic events or disasters. The Crisis Response Team also volunteered to help Hurricane Katrina victims at the Austin Convention Center. Rinaldi said the basic role of the volunteer is to provide a helping hand for victims going through a difficult time. “These victims feel confused and lost, and they need the support of other people who know the system and can navigate them in the right direction for help,” Rinaldi said. The Crisis Response Team primarily acts as a referral of information about community resources in regard to legal options, the criminal justice process and victims’ rights and compensation. Volunteers will also accompany victims to court and provide transportation to shelters. Because they will have access to crime scenes, Rinaldi said volunteers must practice strict confidentiality in every case as they become a part of the investigation process. Candidates interested in the team must be 18 years old. They are also required to fill out an application form with a notarized waiver for release of information. Background checks and a drug test will also be conducted by police for every applicant. Applicants will participate in an interview with Rinaldi and then a second interview with a panel before final selection. Rinaldi, who conducts the training with the help of other experts in areas such as sexual assault, family violence, legal advocacy and the criminal justice system, welcomes student volunteers. “We don’t ever want to prejudge applicants because of their age by assuming just because they are young that they could not bring a lot to the program,” Rinaldi said. See TEAM, page 3
The Web site PickaProf has debuted a new service for Texas State students called CourseCasting on its Web site. The service allows professors to record their lectures and make them available on the Internet. For students’ opinions regarding CourseCasting, see Opinions page 8
PickaProf offers lecture recordings online By Ashley Richards The University Star Holes in student’s notes could soon be filled, not with information a fellow classmate jotted down in their spirals, but rather with the words straight from the professor’s mouth, given that the professor records his or her lectures and uses CourseCasting, a recently developed service available through PickaProf.com. The new service allows professors to log recorded lectures at the Web site, making them available for students to download and listen to on media devices. Initially tested at the University of Texas and Texas A&M University, CourseCasting proved to be a success in the eyes of both teachers and students, said Karen Bragg, PickaProf ’s director of university relations. CourseCasting is now available at 130 universities, including Texas State; however, Bragg said because the service became available just last week at Texas State, professors here have
not yet begun recording and posting lectures. Bragg said PickaProf interviewed students and professors at UT and Texas A&M after CourseCasting came in to use. “Students said they used it as a study aid or if they missed a class, but they didn’t miss a class because (CourseCasting) was available,” Bragg said. “There’s certainly that apprehension that students might skip class because this is available … we interviewed the professors, and they did not notice a decline in class attendance.” Pablo Martinez, criminal justice assistant professor, said he has been posting his lectures online for years in the form of PowerPoint slides. He was hesitant to say he would participate in CourseCasting because he questions whether or not students would continue to attend class regularly. “The lectures would be more complete (with CourseCasting),” Martinez said. “But part of See ICOURSE, page 3
CourseCasting is now available at Texas State • The program was tested at the University of Texas and Texas A&M University. • At UT, 44 lectures were posted by three professors on the Web site. The lectures were downloaded more than 800 times and used by 145 students. • Professors can record their lectures, and students may listen to them on iPods, MP3 players or computers. • Texas State students are charged $5 per semester for PickaProf services. • CourseCasting is available at 130 universities. • In test studies, professors did not see a decline in class attendance when they used CourseCasting. Mark Decker/Star Photo illustration
Distinguished expert to give fiery lecture as part of Lovell series By Clayton Medford The University Star Distinguished fire expert Stephen J. Pyne will be on campus today to speak about his favorite subject — fire. Pyne said his lecture will look at the role of fire in the modern environment and the problems with fire faced today. “There are a lot of possible themes,” Pyne said. “Mostly, we will look at the last century of development and the factors that play into
how we deal with fire.” Pyne described man’s relationship with fire as a “species monopoly.” “We’ve always had fire and no other species does,” Pyne said. “And I don’t see any other species ever getting it.” Pyne is a professor in the Biology and Society Program of the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He has written extensively on the subject of fire, including a five-part series called Cycle of Fire. In one book of the suite, Vestal Fire, Pyne chronicles 3,000 years of
man’s interaction with and use of fire. His most recent work is titled Brittlebush Valley. Pyne spent 18 seasons fighting wildfires in Grand Canyon National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park and Yellowstone National Park, according to a press release from the Lovell Center. He is also the most recent recipient of the Honorary Geographer Award from the Association of American Geographers, “which recognizes excellence in research, teaching or writing on geographic topics by nongeographers,”
the release stated. Pyne has toured the country speaking about the nature of fire. The lecture is the eighth annual installment of the Lovell Distinguished Lecture, a series sponsored by the James and Marilyn Lovell Center for Environmental Geography and Hazards Research. “Students that are interested in environmental careers, issues and environmental management will especially enjoy the lecture,” said See SERIES, page 3
Bush calls for decreasing dependence on Middle East oil By Ron Hutcheson Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vowing to break the nation’s “addiction” to foreign oil, President Bush called Tuesday for cutting oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent over the next 20 years. “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world,” Bush said. That long-term energy goal was a centerpiece of a State of Chuck Kennedy/KRT the Union address that combined soaring rhetoric about President Bush greets Associate Justice Samuel J. Alito before America’s role in the world with he delivers his State of the Union address of 2006 before a joint relatively modest policy prosession of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Tuesday posals. Bush vowed to increase evening.
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production of alternative fuels like ethanol, expand tax breaks for health-care expenses and train more math and science teachers. He essentially gave up on his plan to overhaul Social Security — his top priority in last year’s State of the Union speech — by calling for a bipartisan commission to study changes to the retirement system as part of a broader overhaul of Medicare and Medicaid. But even as he scaled back his domestic ambitions, Bush reiterated his determination to change the world, focused on the difficult work ahead in Iraq and urged Americans to resist the temptation to turn inward.
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“The road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting, yet it ends in danger and decline,” Bush said. “The only alternative to American leadership is a dramatically more dangerous and anxious world.” For the first time since he took office, Bush delivered his remarks to a national audience that generally disapproves of his job performance. Polls put his job-approval ratings in the low 40s, the lowest of any sixth-year president since Richard Nixon. Bush said his long-term goal is “the end of tyranny in our world.” Bush won a standing ovation from lawmakers in both parties
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by taking a tough line against Iran and Hamas, the terrorist organization that won recent Palestinian elections. He warned Iran that its support for terrorists “must come to an end” and said other nations cannot let Iran acquire nuclear weapons. He said Hamas “must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism and work for lasting peace.” The speech, nearly an hour long, offered a preview of Republican themes for the upcoming elections, and Democrats responded in kind. Their official response, delivered by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, blamed Bush See BUSH, page 3
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