WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 25, 2015 VOLUME 104 ISSUE 61 www.UniversityStar.com
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SAFETY
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incapacitating injury crashes from January 2010 to February.”
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ALCOHOL
UPD officer ‘one-man team’ in pioneering drunk driving simulator By Alexa Tavarez SENIOR NEWS REPORTER @lexicanaa
JOHNEL ACOSTA STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Interstate Highway 35/Highway 123 intersection exceptionally dangerous By Jon Wilcox NEWS REPORTER @thrilcox
D
ata from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) show the intersection of Interstate Highway 35 (IH-35) and Highway 123 to be the most dangerous in San Marcos. From January 2014 to February, the intersection was the site of 82 total crashes, including two fatal accidents and eight with incapacitating injuries, according to TxDOT data. Two datasets, one from January 2010 to February and the other from January 2014 to February, verified the intersection has the
highest number of deadly and incapacitating collisions in San Marcos. Heavy traffic congestion, wide street clearance and the number of entrances and exits on Highway 123 have likely contributed to the frequency of fatalities and serious injuries, said Ning Zou, San Marcos transportation engineering manager. TxDOT makes a distinction between the South Guadalupe Street side of the intersection and Highway 123. Data from the IH-35 and South Guadalupe Street intersection show zero fatalities and incapaci-
See INTERSECTION, Page 2
ENVIRONMENT
UNIVERSITY
By Alexa Tavarez SENIOR NEWS REPORTER @lexicanaa
By Darcy Sprague NEWS REPORTER @darcy_days
Backyard composting piles are increasing in popularity due to educational efforts by the City of San Marcos and nonprofits. A two-week master training course provides composting certification. The program is sponsored by the city, Bobcat Blend at Texas State and the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling (S.T.A.R.). “We want to create a program that reflects the values of the city,” said Neil Kaufman, president of Bobcat Blend. “We don’t want to ignore the fact that we’re in a beautiful, ecologically rich city.” City and Bobcat Blend officials have similar goals but answer to different audiences, Kaufman said. Tex-
The Texas State American Marketing Association (AMA) has been selected as one of eight finalists to compete in the Collegiate Case Competition, an international contest in which students work on a real-life marketing campaign. The conference will take place beginning March 19 in New Orleans. Eight teams, including Texas State, will present a marketing campaign created for a client chosen by competition officials. This year’s client is Glacéau, the company that makes Vitaminwater and Vitaminwater Zero. The team will spend five days over spring break in New Orleans for the competition. Funding for the team comes from a grant. The team fundraises for the rest. This is the tenth time in 11 years the team has competed and the ninth finalist-level participation, said Gail Zank, associate marketing professor and AMA adviser. The team consists of 11 marketing students who take a class in the fall devoted to working on a case for the competition, Zank said. The students write a 40-page brief presenting research on the client and product as well as a marketing strategy. Zank picks the five-hardest working students to present the case at the competition. Zank attributes the team’s success to the strength of the marketing program at Texas State and the group’s previous achievements. “Success breeds success,”
Bobcat Blend and city offer composting certification course
“We want to create a program that reflects the values of the city. We don’t want to ignore the fact that we’re in a beautiful, ecologically rich city.” —NEIL KAUFMAN, PRESIDENT OF BOBCAT BLEND
as State students are Bobcat Blend’s audience, while the city primarily serves residents. “That doesn’t say that our constituencies don’t overlap,” Kaufman said. “We would like to work together to accomplish both of our goals.” Amy Kirwin, solid waste program coordinator, said collaborating with
See BOBCAT BLEND, Page 2
I-35 & Highway 123 53 Non-injury crashes 82 Total crashes 2 fatalities
I-35 & Highway 82 73 non-injury crashes 108 Total crashes 0 fatalities
University marketing team finalists in international competition
ANDRES J RODRIGUEZ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Kaitlyn Powell, Yvonne Davila and Madison Stephens, marketing seniors, pose Feb. 19 at McCoy Hall. Zank said. “We have always had hardworking and motivated students on our team.” The Texas State AMA team won the national “Platinum Chapter of the Year” award in 2014. “We have some big shoes to fill,” said Yvonne Davila, marketing senior and AMA president. The point of participating
in the competition is to put students in a unique learning environment, Zank said. Collaborating on the case gives students an idea of how realworld marketing works. Students often take the cases they worked on for the competition to job interviews after graduating, Zank said.
See MARKETING, Page 2
A university police officer is working to show the effects of drinking by building a drunken driving simulator. Otto Glenewinkel, University Police Department (UPD) crime prevention specialist and executive director of Driving While Intoxicated Pod (DWI) Corporation, narrowly escaped a fatal car crash as a high school student. Gelnewinkel planned to meet up with some friends and drive from Gruene to San Antonio. Glenewinkel and a peer were late to the meeting, and the five others went on to San Antonio without them. A drunk driver collided with the vehicle that night, leaving two dead, two paralyzed and one brain-dead. “I looked at this and thought, ‘There’s got to be a different way to try and combat this problem and educate people on how bad of an idea it is to drink and drive,’” Glenewinkel said. In 2008, Glenewinkel started working toward creating an appealing and effective method of educating the public on the dangers and consequences of drunken driving. “I had a driving wheel at the house, and I used the big projector in the training room and ran a bunch of cables and wires and put together a makeshift simulator,” Glenewinkel said. Glenewinkel applied for $3000 grants from the Texas State Family Association to build a prototype after his improvised simulator received positive responses and support from his fellow officers at UPD. Glenewinkel is working on a simulator for the university, which is projected to be finished by March. The simulator will be showcased at student events around the university, Glenewinkel said. “With the prototype, we used it here at the university for about a year,” Glenewinkel said. “It worked really well, and (we) had it up in the Quad.” Glenewinkel saved his money to start the DWI Pod Corporation non-profit he now runs. He marketed the prototype to organizations across the state. Glenewinkel received a phone call from City of New Braunfels officials after a year of unsuccessful marketing. Officials wanted to purchase one of his simulators. “I took it out there, and they loved it,” Glenewinkel said. “Now there are 11 simulators around the state.” Glenewinkel’s other customers include the Watch UR BAC Organization running under the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, the Budweiser Distribution Center in Lubbock, as well as schools, churches and hospitals across the state. All of the simulators are paid for by grants from the Texas Highway Safety Administration and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Glenewinkel said. Glenewinkel used the “Need For Speed” racing game as the foundation for the simulator and altered the controls to create the sensation of driving inebriated. “We try to target the people that are most at risk,” Glenewinkel said. “Those are males from the ages of 16 to 24.” Beverly Kellner, program manager for the Passenger Safety Project at AgriLife Extension, thinks DWI Pods are an effective tool for creating a lifelike experience without the dangers of consequences. “It’s an experience that attracts someone to sit down,” Kellner said. “Having the experience for themselves in a safe environment makes more of an impression versus listening to a presentation.” Lecturing isn’t as effective as it once was, said Laura Dean-Mooney, program coordinator of Watch UR BAC. Handson engagement is critical to a student’s learning, she said. “In a real-life situation, there isn’t a restart button for them,” Dean-Mooney said. “After the simulation, they return to their class with zero consequences, but they must face the consequences in real life.”