Bush, Kerry & bones
Stop Talbert
Basketball player always wanted to come to Texas State/Sports/Page 10
Speak up
Spoken word scene grows in tri-city area/Trends/Page 6
Presidential rivals both members of questionable secret society/Opinions/Page 5
WEDNESDAY
VOLUME 93, ISSUE 48 www.universitystar.com
FEBRUARY 4, 2004
Narvaiz announces mayoral ambitions
GOOD VIBRATIONS
T E X A S S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y- S A N M A R C O S
Child assault charges filed by academy By Kassia Micek Assistant News Editor
City Council member wants to unite city. By Jennifer Wisnoski News Reporter
A San Marcos City Council member has announced she will run for mayor during the May city elections. Susan Narvaiz, Place 3 City Council member and president and chief executive officer of Sedona Staffing, announced her plans last week. “I am focusing on bringing decorum to the Council and bringing the city together,” NARVAIZ Narvaiz said. Narvaiz has served on many boards, including the Youth Commission, Texas Association of Business Chambers of Commerce, Habitat for Humanity-San Marcos and the HaysCaldwell Women’s Center. She has also received recognitions and awards, including the Sam Walton Business Leader Award, Badge of Recognition-San Marcos Police Department and the Woman of Distinction Award from the Lone Star Girl Scout Council. Recently, she was named to the San Marcos Women’s Hall of Fame. The San Marcos Ethics Review Commission investigation of Mayor Bob Habingreither and City Council member
Andrew Nenque/Star photo Jeremy Moore, sound recording junior , and Will Manos, physics junior, make comparisons between measured frequencies and calculated frequencies for their Audio Frequencies Communications class. In this assignment, Moore hopes they can determine the margin of error between both frequencies.
g See NARVAIZ, page 4
Annual survey gauges city quality, resident concerns Results show city officials what to work on
Percentage of Satisfaction with Customer Service at Utlity Bill Payment Centers
Percentage of Satisfaction with Street Maintenance Excellent...... Good............ Fair.............. Poor............. No opinion...
By Amber Conrad News Reporter The results are in from the fourth annual city service survey conducted in 2003, which found, on the whole, that residents are satisfied with the quality of service provided by the city. According to the survey, the top concerns of San Marcos residents are solving traffic problems, repairing and maintaining of city streets, protecting the environment and lowering taxes, fees and charges. “This is a big contribution for the city and the residents of San Marcos to the present and future community,” said Hassan Tajalli, political science professor and
Margin of Error 2003: ±4.8% 2002: ±4.2% 2001: ±4.8% 2000: ±4.9% Confidence Level: 95% for all years
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survey supervisor. “It allows for grass roots communication with our officials about what residents’ priorities are and what needs to be done.” Tajalli said the survey is a scorecard of the performance of city officials. It is performed annually to ensure a more livable city. However, some of the residents’ primary concerns are out of
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the city’s domain. Many of the traffic lights do not belong to the city; instead, the Texas Department of Transportation is responsible for them. Despite this, the city has begun to put pressure on TxDOT to change the faulty timing mechanisms within the traffic lights in response to the 2003 survey. In order to better represent the respondents of the study, subtle
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changes were made within the framework of the survey. Results state that questions relating to bar hours and disannexation were replaced by a single question that asked people to list their top three priorities for the San Marcos community. A second variation was the introduction of two new questions g See SURVEY, page 4
The San Marcos Baptist Academy fired an employee after a complaint was filed Jan. 26 by a 17-year-old male student claiming he was sexually assaulted by the employee. Santiago “Jimmy” Morales, Jr., 25, was fired from the academy Jan. 27 and was arrested Friday at his Wonder World Drive apartment by the San Marcos Police Department. The arrest was a result of a new law passed by the 78th MORALES Legislature that took effect Sept. 1, 2003. It reads as follows: “An employee of a public or private primary or secondary school commits an offense if the employee engages in sexual contact, sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse with a person who is enrolled in a public or private primary or secondary school at which the employee works.” Morales is one of the first to be charged under this new law. Morales worked at the academy since August 2002 as a student activities/recreation assistant and a dormitory residential assistant. According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by SMPD Detective Scott Johnson, Morales also coordinated an alternative learning environment for students dealing with discipline issues. He was charged with a second-degree felony of “improper relationship between an educator and a student,” which is punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine not to exceed $10,000. Students at the academy knew Morales would give them alcohol when he invited them to his apartment, according to the affidavit. The incident took place Jan. 24 at Morales’ apartment. The student told a close friend about the incident and then his dorm parents and counselor. On Jan. 26 the student met with Johnson to file a complaint. According to the affidavit, the student went to Morales’ apartment and drank four cans of beer Jan. 24 causing him to pass out around midnight. The student awoke at approximately 2 a.m. while Morales performed oral sex on him. Another academy employee and friend of Morales was present in the room. Monty Lewis, the academy’s chief financial officer, said school officials had no prior knowledge that Morales was giving students alcohol when visiting his apartment. “We do background checks,” Lewis said. “We do it through a third-party company.” Lewis confirmed that this was not the first case of molestation at the academy. Bradley Wayne Dixon, former dormitory director for the academy, had similar offenses that occurred on the academy’s campus. “It’s hard to tell if this incident will make the school look bad since it was not school-related,” Lewis said. In 2001, Dixon was sentenced to 95 years in prison after he was tried on seven counts of sex crimes and two counts of assault against boys at the acaademy. The San Marcos Baptist Academy is a school for both males and females in grades 6-12. According to its Web site, a 1932 article from the San Marcos Daily Record said, “The academy is endorsed fully in educational and boarding school circles everywhere, and is distinctly and outstandingly a school of applied Christian training.” Morales was released Friday from the Hays County Law Enforcement Center. His bail was set at $20,000. Anyone with information about the incident or anyone who wants to report a non-related offense should call the San Marcos Criminal Investigation Division at (512) 753-2300, said SMPD Sgt. Penny Dunn.
Hispanic group urges participation in Relay for Life I N S I D E
By Julie Suenram News Reporter
The Hispanic Business Student Association invites student teams to join the San Marcos community in the Relay for Life to help raise money for the fight against cancer. The fund-raiser, sponsored by the American Cancer
Society, will take place April 2 at Bobcat Stadium. The event lasts through the night and consists of teams of eight to 15 people who take turns in laps around the track. Cancer survivors are honored with the opportunity to take the first lap around the track. “We just wanted to do a big walk with the San Marcos
community and raise money for cancer,” said Brian Weber, the association’s president and computer information systems junior. “It’s an overnight event because cancer never sleeps. The team members who aren’t walking the track are participating in activities.” The association has recruited about 12 organizations on campus, Weber said. About 25
teams are comprised of San Marcos community members. Those who don’t want to participate as a team have the option of volunteering for the relay. There is no cutoff date for the formation of teams. The association has set a goal for each team member to raise $100. Although that g See RELAY, page 4
Amusements....................8 Classifieds........................9 Comics..............................8 Crossword........................8 Music................................7 News.............................2-4 Opinions...........................5 Sports.............................5,6 Trends............................6,7
Today’s Weather
High: 61 Lo w : 4 4
AM Rain/PM Clouds
Wind: From SE at 9 mph Precipitation: 50% Max. Humidity: 78% UV Index: 2 Minimal Thursday’s Forecast Partly cloudy 68/35