Wednesday, March 19, 2014

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W W W .W E STERNGAZETTE.C A • @UW OGAZETTE

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Speed Kills Aaron Paul goes nowhere fast in this dull racing film. >> pg. 4

thegazette Not missing front office since 1906

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014

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CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906

VOLUME 107, ISSUE 86

St. Paddy’s quiet this year New app makes Students and police show mutual respect

going out easier Jesica Hurst ONLINE EDITOR

Bradley Metlin GAZETTE

TIME ISN’T WASTED WHEN YOU’RE GETTING WASTED. Not all Western students let the frigid temperatures yesterday get in the way of their St. Patrick’s Day festivities. This funnel was spotted on Huron Street.

Amy O’Kruk GAZETTE STAFF Students took to the streets to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day once more this year, but much to the London Police Service’s relief, the day passed without a lot of commotion — aside from a few keggers that were shut down. The LPS removed a total of 11 kegs this year, nine of which came from a house party on Westview Drive. The remaining two were removed from a residence on Huron Street. This number is down from the 21 kegs that were confiscated last year. Notably, this St. Patrick’s Day marks the London police scaling back from a zero tolerance policy to a combination of warnings and the issuance of offence notices. The LPS released a press statement detailing that 74 offence notices were issued this year, which pales

in comparison to the 274 issued in 2013. Additionally, there were no criminal charges or arrests in connection with St. Patrick’s Day activities. There were also 190 warnings issued for a variety of inractions, including noise complaints and Liqour Licence Act violations. The police also publicly thanked the Fanshawe Student Union and Western’s University Students’ Council, who worked hard to stress the importance of mutual respect to each of their student populations. USC president Pat Whelan, reflected on the importance of a healthy relationship between the police force and Western. “The relationship between students and police has been strained in the past and it’s an issue we care passionately about because students have said over and over again they don’t always appreciate the [police’s] practices,” Whelan said.

“We’ve really reached out this year and have been building stronger relationships and working together to solve the problem.” Like the LPS, Deepak Jain, a firstyear student at Western, stated that his St. Patrick’s Day was ultimately a success. “Everyone was dressed up and it was just exactly what you wanted […] overall it was a fantastic day and I love the spirit that Western brings to [St.Patrick’s Day],” Jain said. Whelan explained that he was happy with how Western celebrated the Irish holiday this year. “It’s important as students that we continue to show our neighbors out in London that we care to be part of this city and we care to be a good neighbor and that doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy ourselves on St. Patrick’s Day or homecoming.” Whelan said. “We’re all in this together, as opposed to separated camps.”

Going out tonight? Because of the free new iPhone application Tethr, making plans to party no longer has to be as stressful as writing an essay. Laura Smith, a fifth-year software engineering and Ivey HBA student at Western, recently released Tethr with two Western alumni, Myles Lane and Drew Stevens, as well as Matt Hornick, a Ryerson graduate. According to Smith, Tethr, helps users make plans by seeing what their friends are up to, and giving them the opportunity to broadcast their own plans as well. “Tethr provides a clear list of which friends are going out and not going out,” Smith explained. “It also shows where your friends are going if they have decided and which places are most popular.” According to the application’s description on iTunes, Tethr not only provides a detailed map of where users’ friends are headed in their city, but also shows which “friends of friends” are going out and provides destination reviews from Foursquare. Smith explained the creation of Tethr was not an assignment — it was a group effort that took long hours outside of work and school for everyone involved in the development. “Matt designed the app, I coded it and Myles and Drew developed the strategy and business end of it,” Smith said. “We all immediately saw the value in the idea since we’ve all experienced the stress of making plans. Trying to coordinate where

people are interested in going and managing the expectations of your different social circles is a timeconsuming and stressful process.” According to Smith, the team’s long hours have paid off — Tethr has been downloaded nearly 1,000 times since its release two weeks ago, and 40 per cent of users who have downloaded it have been using it on a regular basis. Recient spikes in usage began last Wednesday when students started going out, and there was a peak in usage this past Monday, on St. Patrick’s Day. “We’ve had a lot [of ] excellent feedback from Western students and have already submitted an update, which will be coming out this weekend,” Smith said. “One feature we added to this update is the option to see friends everywhere — not just in your city.” “For example, if you’re deciding whether to go back to your home city or stay in London tonight, you’ll be able to see what’s happening in both cities.” While the current version of Tethr is only available for the iPhone, the team is scoping out the development of an Android version. At this point, Smith explained the team’s focus isn’t on making money — their primary goal is to expand the number of users, since Tethr becomes more valuable as more friends are added to the network. If you’re interested in trying out the application, download it from the iTunes app. Or, if you are interested in giving the team feedback or ideas, you can do so on the app’s Facebook page at www.facebook. com/tethred.

Bill Wang GAZETTE


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