BECOMING NAOMI LEóN
THE CATBIRD SEAT
Pam Muñoz Ryan honored with Tomás Rivera award
Bobcat football looks for an advantageous position over Southern Utah
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TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS
www.UNIVERSITYSTAR.com
SEPTEMBER 8, 2005
THURSDAY
VOLUME 95, ISSUE 6
Faculty work loads, student enrollment on Senate agenda
‘Saint’ Marcos a safe haven Hurricane survivors find refuge, community at local inn
RIGHT: Hurricane Katrina evacuee Marlene McSwain, holds her 15-monthold granddaughter, Ruth Taylor, while daughter Sherione Taylor waits to eat dinner in the backyard of the Crystal River Inn. They are only one of many families staying at the inn. BELOW: Children of the Roché family, as well as other evacuee families, are not finding it difficult to have fun in San Marcos.
By Clayton Medford News Reporter
Courtney Addison/Star photo
By Sean Wardwell News Reporter
Jeremy Craig/Star photo
the yard. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t sinking because of the rain,” Kirk said. “At about 7:30 or 8, I was out there and noticed the water rising. The water was about halfway to my knee at first. Then the water just started rushing up about two inches every 30 seconds.” “I was like ‘oh man, one of the levees popped’,” Kirk said. Kirk found his neighbors and told them to come up to his family’s apartment on the second level of the complex. “By the time we got them inside with us, the water was already waist deep. That’s how fast the water was coming,” he said. The Rochés brought neighbors from the first floor upstairs to their apartment to keep them safe from the rising water. “We had about 30 people in the house during the storm,” said Ola, the Roché family matriarch. “That’s not counting the people who were coming in and out.”
After the hurricane passed, the four-member Roché family was told by personnel to stay in their home to avoid the situation in the Superdome. They, like several other families currently housed at the Crystal River Inn, had no idea it was the beginning of a story about community in the face of disaster, starting in New Orleans and ending in San Marcos. The Rochés, who decided to ride out the storm despite orders to evacuate Aug. 28, were in their apartment on the second story of a four-family complex in New Orleans Aug. 29 when Hurricane Katrina made landfall. “The power went off at two in the morning,” said Kirk Roché, Ola Roché’s stepson. After surviving the brunt of the storm, the Rochés took stock of the damage to their neighborhood, not knowing the worst was yet to come. On the morning of Aug. 30, due to heavy damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina, the levees broke. “I got up at about seven because we had a boat in
See HAVEN, page 4
The Faculty Senate discussed their priorities for the fall semester at Wednesday’s meetings. Among topics that concerned senators was the dissemination by department chairs of faculty workload audits. The audits show which faculty members are overloaded and which are teaching less than the required load. The problem, senators said, is the lack of distribution of these reports. “This thing has always been a public document, but the chairs never sent it out,” said Bill Stone, criminal justice professor and Senate chair. “We even got a (University Policies and Procedure Statement) that required them to send it out, and most still did not. There is no reason for any chair on campus to not send that out after the 12th class day this semester.” The workload required of faculty differs between colleges, but senators said most require undergraduate instructors to teach four courses in a long semester and three courses in two long semesters for graduate school. Any courses taught over the required load result in an overload. “As a matter of course, we all teach overloads,” said Linda Homeyer, associate professor of educational administration and psychological services. “The problem is that chairs have had these secret arrangements with people that no one knows.” Homeyer said an overload in her graduate level department earns the professor $3,000. It is this reason that department heads “greatly discourage” instructors from teaching more than their required load. Stone believes the problem in teaching overages lies in the lack of uniformity between colleges. “Each college runs almost as a separate university with different policies and different overloads,” Stone See SENATE, page 4
City Council discusses Katrina relief efforts, rezoning issues By Sean Wardwell News Reporter The San Marcos City Council began Tuesday’s meeting with a presentation by the San Marcos Fire Department regarding the relief efforts by the city for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The fire department has been taking donations at various locations throughout the city. “We started taking donations at about 6 a.m.,”
said San Marcos Fire Marshall Ken Bell. “The effort continued until about 6 this evening.” The fire department also collected items, like clothing, to help those who have been affected. “The community has done a wonderful job,” Bell said. “We raised close to $8,000 in one day.” Mayor Susan Narvaiz congratulated the efforts of Fire Chief Mike Baker and his department as well as the efforts of local residents in responding to the tragedy.
African American Leadership Conference to deliver speakers with inspirational messages By Zandria Avila News Reporter For the past 13 years, it has been a standing tradition at Texas State for Bobcats to gather in the fall for the African American Leadership Conference, and from Friday through Sunday, that tradition will continue. “This conference serves to future leaders of this campus as well as African Americans. Workshops will confer on subjects whose goals are to prepare them to be diligent students thus well prepared citizens,” said Jonnie Wilson, assistant director of multicultural student affairs.
On Saturday, world-renowned gospel singer Denise Tichenor will be the keynote speaker delivering a personal message of inspiration and perseverance. “Tichenor’s brother was a victim of gang violence. As an alternative to being bitter she has founded an organization which ministers to gang members,” Wilson said. “She travels to various jails and prisons to minister to the inmates conversing about their lives. It is a great ministry.” Amon Rashidi from Project Just Another Means of Success who will be the keynote speaker See AALC, page 3
Today’s Weather
Mostly Sunny 95˚/67˚
Precipitation: 20% Humidity: 48% UV: 10 Very High Wind: ENE 6 mph
“The council extends its thanks to all the citizens that have come together in our community,” Narvaiz said. City Manager Dan O’Leary then outlined the city’s efforts to assist those affected by the recent tragedy. San Marcos Fire Rescue and Police helped with triage at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The city also set up the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, which will go to the American Red Cross.
Narvaiz created an initiative called “Homes for Hope,” which finds local homes that could take in one of the affected families. “Firefighters and paramedics told me 75 percent of the people on the planes needed medical attention. This includes diabetics who have not had insulin for days and people with other special needs,” O’Leary said. See COUNCIL, page 4
Prime Outlets expansion adds 16 new stores By Danea Johnson Special to The Star With construction still in progress, the initial phase of the Prime Outlets-San Marcos mall expansion was completed Friday, with 16 of the planned 30 stores open to the public. Lorie Kennedy, Prime OutletSan Marcos marketing manager, said the project was proposed in September 2004 and was well received by the San Marcos community and many retailers in the shopping center. “There were a lot of phone calls when (the retailers) saw the renderings,” Kennedy said. “The entire expansion is great for the outlet mall, giving another reason to come to San Marcos.” The renderings were done by architecture firm Carter & Burgess, who used Venice, Italy, as
inspiration. The architects will incorporate a bell tower, piazzas, a lagoon, canals, gondolas, statues and gardens. “The architecture is great; the color palette is very pleasing,” said Crystal Brewer, who woke up at 6:15 a.m. to drive from Houston to shop at the expansion’s opening. Brewer was shopping the shoe section with her three friends at Neiman Marcus Last Call, the mall’s largest new retailer, occupying 28,000 square feet of the 150,000-square-foot expansion. Other new retailers include Benetton, Chico’s, Gymboree, Jimmy’Z, Tommy Bahama, Treza and White House/Black Market and range from 2,500 to 6,100 square feet. Promotion materials for the See OUTLETS, page 3
Two-day Forecast Friday Mostly Sunny Temp: 95°/ 69° Precipitation: 20%
Saturday Isolated T-Storms Temp: 91°/ 70° Precipitation: 30%
Tiffany Searcy/Star photo The Prime Outlets-San Marcos completed the initial expansion phase Friday with 16 of the 30 stores open to the public. The completion of the remodeling is scheduled for Nov. 18 through 20.
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