VOLUME 102, ISSUE 9
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WEDNESDAY GO NE ONLI NOW
SEPTEMBER 12, 2012
Dagar’s Catering
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COLOR COORDINATING Parking options disproportionate between students, faculty, staff
Residents show support at 9/11 memorial
By Greg Tate News Reporter
Parking Spaces Resident – 3,103 All Zone – 5,061 Campus Apartments – 963 Falculty/Staff – 2,200 Commuter Perimeter – 482 Handicap – 380 Visitor – 92 Car Pool – 51 Total number of parking spaces in different lots on campus according to figures obtained from Parking Services
There are approximately 11 times as many Texas State students as faculty and staff members. However, there are only about two times as many student-exclusive parking spaces as faculty- and staff-exclusive spaces. There are 4,599 parking spaces exclusively for students across commuter, resident, campus apartments and carpool lots. There are 2,200 parking spots for faculty and staff. There are an additional 5,061 non-exclusive, all-zone parking spaces for students, staff and faculty. Joe Richmond, director of Transportation Services, said his department is in the process of reallocating parking resources to better accommodate the university. The parking lot next to the tennis courts had 96 spaces recently reassigned as red parking for faculty and staff only. The spaces were changed to red to compensate for parking spaces near the College of Education that are now unusable due to construction in the area. Student parking spaces in the tennis court lot that were lost due to the reassignment have been moved to perimeter commuter lots. Richmond said there is the assumption that because Texas State faculty and staff come to campus every day, they should have higher quality parking spaces. Richmond said the general industry standard for a reasonable walk to campus is a quarter mile to half a mile. “There’s walking involved in everything we’re going to be doing in the future,” Richmond said. “Historically, because of the ample parking, people didn’t have to walk very far. They got to park pretty close. That’s not the story anymore. ” Richmond said students can be broken down into two categories: those who commute and those who live on-campus. Most of the parking spaces on campus are primarily utilized by faculty, staff and students living in residence halls, Richmond said. Texas State is in the process of replacing surface parking lots with garages, Richmond said. However, garages are more expensive to build than surface lots, so there has to be a balance between the construction cost of garages and the price of parking permits. “The more convenient the parking is, the
READ PARKING, PAGE 2
Carlos Valdez, Assistant Photo Editor
San Marcos residents showed their support for 9/11 victims by lowering the flags to half-mast. By Andrew Osegi News Reporter Eleven years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, residents gathered at San Marcos City Hall Tuesday for the Sept. 11 Remembrance Ceremony. Mayor Daniel Guerrero said it was a day to honor and show appreciation for the service members the country “owes so much” to. “We are here to remember and honor those on the front lines,” Guerrero said. “We depend on and admire our veterans, leaders, fire fighters and emergency responders of all kinds.” City councilmembers, firefighters, municipal workers and citizens were in attendance. By the time Guerrero was ready to deliver his speech, a crowd of more than 50 residents had gathered. “The impact of that day reminds us of our vulnerability as a nation, but also gives us strength as we remember the courage of those emergency responders who sacrificed their lives for the sake of others,” Guerrero said. “As we raise our nation’s flag, try to remember where you were that life-changing day.” An honor guard then proceeded to raise the American flag at half-mast. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited directly afterward. San Marcos Fire Chief Les Stephens
READ 9/11, PAGE 2
Increase in SMPD patrols to occur only during large events By Karen Zamora News Reporter Despite the number of recent hit-and-runs, the San Marcos Police Department will not increase the number of officers patrolling the downtown area. SMPD Commander Penny Dunn said the department has noticed an increase in pedestrian-vehicle fatalities since May 2009, when local bars extended their closing time from midnight to 2 a.m. Dunn said there have been nine vehicle fatalities since Jan. 1. Of the nine car-related deaths recorded this year, five were pedestrians. Dunn said five vehicle fatalities were recorded in 2011, and three were pedestrians. Although the recent hit-and-runs did not take place during a game day weekend, SMPD is only planning to increase the number of officers patrolling downtown during large events. Dunn said they would only increase the
number of officers when there is an event, like a football game, that brings in a large volume of bar-goers. She said on a normal night there are usually two police officers patrolling downtown. San Marcos Police Chief Howard Williams said there were 10 police officers patrolling The Square Saturday night after the Texas State vs. Texas Tech football game. He hopes to eventually have more officers downtown, but in the meantime there will only be an increase during game day weekends. Williams said officers stopped pedestrians who were jaywalking Saturday night and informed them about the dangers of not crossing at an intersection. He said this was in response to a Sept. 2 hit-and-run that left three pedestrians injured. According to a Sept. 6 University Star article, the incident occurred in downtown San Marcos at approximately 2 a.m. during Labor Day weekend. Cas Kutach was a criminal justice junior,
but had to withdraw from Texas State after sustaining multiple physical injuries during the incident. The two other injured pedestrians, his sister and brother-in-law, are Texas State alumni. Kutach, Kristin Fanelli and Roman Fanelli were crossing the Hopkins and North LBJ intersection after leaving Taxi’s Piano Bar when a pickup truck struck Roman Fanelli first, then Kutach. Kutach said the truck nipped his sister’s leg, but she was not severely injured. He said it was their rightof-way, and the driver was speeding and intoxicated. Kutach was released from Brackenridge Hospital in Austin six days after the accident. The injuries he received were a fractured skull, a shattered knee with multiple torn ligaments, a broken right arm, several cracked ribs and a punctured lung. He requires surgery to repair a torn ACL in his knee. The driver of the vehicle fled the scene,
but several witnesses were able to write down her license plate number, Kutach said. She ran a red light before hitting him and his relatives. The driver, 25-year-old Tiffany Dahl, was charged with three counts of failure to stop and render aid and two counts of intoxication assault. Dahl was released from jail after posting the $75,000 bond on the five charges. Williams said SMPD is trying to get ahead of the curve to “prevent collisions from happening, period.” He wants pedestrians to be mindful of where they are walking, and to use the proper intersections. Keeping people out of the streets and making sure they are crossing at the appropriate time would solve a lot of the auto-pedestrian collisions, Williams said. “There is not a whole lot we can do,” Williams said. “It’s really hard for us to have any proactive effort to reduce the leaving-thescene collisions.”
Commissioners Court considers handicap parking program By Taylor Tompkins Assistant News Editor Hays County Commissioners voted to begin research and discussion with Access Improvement, a non-profit corporation, to help the county’s Parking Mobility Program during their Sept. 11 meeting. Access Improvement would aid in penalizing those parking in handicapped spaces without necessity. Mark Kennedy, special counsel to the court, said the Access Improvement soft-
ware program will be a more efficient way of taking down and storing incidents of individuals parking in handicapped spaces without a placard or license plate. First time offenders will have the option of an educational program through Access Improvement that is similar to defensive driving. The program costs $250 for the offender, but they can decline the program and pay the $500 fine or take their case to trial in an attempt to get it dismissed. “People need to know it is not ok to do this,” Kennedy said. “It will be treated like
any other misdemeanor offense.” Ray Whisenant, commissioner for Precinct 4, said his constituents had voiced concerns about the proposal. He said they were worried about being able to appeal the fine if they had a placard or license plate and were wrongly accused. The questions of money and whether the justice of the peace will preside over these cases are still topics of discussion. The court moved forward with the process of deciding whether or not to implement the program. Judge Bert Cobb said another issue with
the proposal is the availability to receive a handicapped placard or license plate in the state of Texas. If the offender has a placard but is not handicapped, the ticket still will not go to court. The court said getting the word out to the community will be vital to the success of the program, if it is approved for use. “It’s a good program and I am looking forward to it,” Cobb said. “We are trying to educate the public to not misuse the handicapped parking spots. When you don’t enforce the law, people disregard it.”