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INSIDE THIS ISSUE NEWS Pages 1-4 Speaker highlights Internet sites as ‘hate speech incubator’
Volume 99, Issue 25
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THURSDAY
OCT
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Author discusses right-brain thinking By Chase Birthisel Assistant News Editor
An author of a New York Times best-seller spoke to a split crowd last night. Daniel Pink, author of the ASG leadership claims common experience book favoritism was not motivation A Whole New Mind, drew a for appointments crowd at his presentation at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The Evans Auditorium, OPINIONS which housed the event bePages 5-6 cause of bad weather, quickly filled to capacity. Students Companies abuse pink ribbon arriving to the presentation to attract consumers were directed to the LBJ Ballroom, where video of Pink Trauth open-door meetings was streaming live. Students should be better advertised crowded into the ballroom, but some found the situation frustrating. Students said they could not TRENDS hear the presentation and the event was overcrowded. OthLights, charity, fashion! ers were required to stay until the end of the speech, at which Entrepreneur measures time they could swipe their success in social networking, student ID’s as proof of attenhappiness dance. Todd Tribble, undecided Tricks for cheap Halloween freshman who watched from outside the ballroom doors, costumes said writing his required paper about the presentation Band of Heathens at Glade would be difficult. Outdoor Theatre “I can’t hear anything,” Tribble said. “I think they could Student performs song about have held this at Strahan with crush better results.” Lilien Hester, pre-internaA Bobcat to Know: Ashley tional studies freshman, said Flores university personnel should have taken the freshman class into account before changing the location. “I think it’s kind of ridicuDIVERSIONS
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SPORTS Pages 15-16 Women’s soccer battles Lumberjacks, Bearcats
Lindsey Goldstein/Star photo GUEST SPEAKER: Daniel Pink, author of the book A Whole New Mind, spoke to students Wednesday at Evans Auditorium as part of this year’s Common Experience.
lous,” Hester said. “A lot of people are just sitting out in the halls until it’s over.” Pink spoke to students about the changing times and how students can adapt.
Pink said he wanted to give students a preview of his next book, Drive. “A Whole New Mind argued we’re moving from a world of left-brain to right-brain abili-
STI screening
Cameron’s Commentary: Neither the sports teams nor the car companies are doing well in Detroit
By Clay Thorp News Reporter
Bobcats face 0-6 Northwestern State Demons
74°/47° Isolated T-Storms Precipitation: 30% Humidity: 61% UV: 5 Moderate Wind: NNW 13 mph
Friday
Mostly Sunny Temp: 72°/46° Precip: 0%
Saturday
Mostly Sunny Temp: 74°/54° Precip: 10%
don’t work.” Pink said one of the major failures in schools is the impersonal attitude. see PINK, page 3
Students share universal Health center police code, ‘risk safety’ may offer free
Volleyball takes on Nicholls State Thursday in Strahan
Today’s Weather
ties. So the logical question after that is how do we foster these abilities?” Pink asked. “A lot of the ways companies and schools try to bring out these abilities, science shows they
Kayla Hartzog/Star photo SECRETS REVEALED: The “secret” police code that is meant for exclusive use by law enforcement to enter local apartment complexes is known by students and residents.
By Lora Collins News reporter The code police use to enter apartment complexes is no longer secret. Howard Williams, San Marcos police chief, confirmed officials use a single code to get into local apartment complexes in case of emergencies. However, he said the code is frequently passed around. “Periodically we have to change them because often times people who work in these apartment complexes may let someone know what the code is,” Williams said. “Or they will write it down and leave it out somewhere and someone finds it. Next thing you know half the town knows the emergency gate codes.” Section 503.6 of The City of San Marcos fire code requires apartment complexes to provide a working emergency code to police and fire officials.
Complexes are not allowed to change the code without permission. Williams said changing the code is a hassle because of time and money. He said it is inevitable students know the code, but it becomes a problem when apartment officials give it out. “Whether or not people who live in the apartment complexes are giving out the code, they shouldn’t know what the code is,” Williams said. “They should know their gate code, but they shouldn’t know what the emergency gate code is necessarily.” Brian Hawthorn, property manager at The Sanctuary Lofts apartments, was not aware there was a universal police code used at the apartments. Hawthorn said the code has been the same at all apartment complexes since 2006 when he began working there. Sanctuary Lofts does not keep
records of how many times the emergency code is used. Williams said students using the code at friends’ complexes is a concern. “It certainly can reflect upon the safety of the students,” Williams said. “The purpose of the controlled access gate is to keep people out who don’t live there.” Williams said students are given back-up codes at some complexes in case a keypad or gate clicker malfunctions. Jahcel Glover, biochemistry freshman, said he knows the code but never gives it out. “The fact somebody knows the code should be alarming,” Glover said. Glover was not aware the code came from the police. He said the code spread in his apartment through word of mouth. “I heard it from a friend,” see CODE, page 3
Free sexually transmitted infection screenings could become available at the Student Health Center. Students and faculty have begun calculating the financial costs of providing free STI screening following a grievance brought to ASG Sen. Colter Ray, University Relations Committee chair. Shanna Shultz, Bobcat legislative intern, is in charge of researching the possibility of free STI screenings. “If students approve an increase in their medical service fee of $8 to $10, that would pay for the testing,” Shultz said. “But the free testing needs to be coupled with education toward a responsible sexual lifestyle.” Other students say the university should educate students about STIs and sexual health. The Student Health Center currently provides testing for $75 for most STIs. The testing
includes screening for Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, HIV and syphilis. The Health Center also provides a herpes blood test for $65. The test does not include the cost of medicine. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services’ Web site, teens and young adults have the highest rate of STIs. Approximately 63 percent of STIs occur each year in persons under 25 years old. Three million of those are teenagers. One in every four females of the same age group in 2008 had or previously had a STI. The Student Health Center conducted 4,635 STI tests for the fiscal year of 2009 at a total cost of $96,360. Chlamydia was the most prevalent of those with 140 positive results. “I don’t know if (students) realize how expensive free testing would be,” said Dr. Emilio Carranco, director of the Student Health Center. Carranco said it would repsee TESTING, page 3
Apartment shooting sends man to hospital
San Marcos police arrested two San Antonio men after a home invasion at University Heights apartment complex Tuesday night that left one man shot. The residency had seven people in it at the time of the crime, two of which were residents, one Texas State student and one alumnus. The victim is in the University Medical Center at Brackenridge in Austin and in stable condition. Police arrested the suspects, Michael Wilson, 23, and Justin Pickaree, 19, after a foot chase following the break in. Commander Terri Nichols said police are trying to determine why the suspects chose the residents’ apartment, but “there does not appear to be a relationship at this time.” Two handguns were found at the apartment complex, which police said the suspects threw away during the foot chase. — Staff report compiled by Scott Thomas and Allen Reed