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Show Tuesday, April 7,2009 THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE www.dailyutahchronicle.com The University of Utah's I n d e p e n d e n t S t u d e n t Voice Since 1890 Vol. 118 No. 123 ©2009 Burnt car belonged to U student Police cannot identify charred body found in Southern Utah Michael McFall ASST. NEWS EDITOR A rancher in Washington County found U student Zach Ruble's car engulfed in flames Thursday. The rancher ran home and called for help, but by the time Washington County Sheriff deputies found Ruble's car on a lone dirt road near Zion National Park, the fire had already burned itself out. Deputies found a body inside the smoldering Kia Sorento. Remi Barron, a spokesman for the U, said the car belongs to Ruble's family, who is waiting to find out if the body is Zach Ruble's. The body was too badly burned to identify— deputies couldn't even determine a gender— and was sent to the state medical examiner in Worker injured after fall A construction worker fell 30 feet at a construction site in Research Park on Monday. , He was doing steel work on the fifth level of a building expansion at 460 S. Wakara Way. The construction site is in the northeast corner of Research Park, the area closest to the Sage Point Building 813 of the residence halls. The worker, 25, was walking across a beam when he fell, breaking both of his arms and possibly his leg, said Scott Freitag, spokesman for the Salt Lake City Fire Department. No one knows why he fell, Freitag said. "He hadn't gone unconscious after he fell, and was breathing," said site supervisor Val Creamer. Emergency crews arrived at 9 a.m. and transported him to the University Hospital in serious condition, Freitag said. The fire department is not releasing the name of the construction worker. The worker was wearing a harness when See FALL Page 3 Salt Lake City for an autopsy and identification, said Washington County Detective Nate Abbott. The examiner requested Ruble's dental records from the family on Monday, but has not yet confirmed whether or not the body belongs to Ruble, who has not been seen or heard from since April i. Ruble's friend Todd Zolka, a freshman in business who lives in Sage Point Building 812, the same residence hall as Ruble, said Ruble, a freshman in bioengineering, loves to go on trips to the outdoors. However, for Ruble to drive all the way down to Zion National Park in the middle of the school week is out of the ordinary, he said. "His roommate said it's really strange," Zolka said. When Ruble was gone Wednesday night, his roommate figured he went to get some din- old Gregory Nelson's body out of the vehicle. They found two propane tanks and a can of paint thinner in the backseat, which accelerated the fire's destruction. Deputies can't confirm if Nelson left them in the car in a suicide attempt, or if someone placed them there to quickly destroy evidence of a homicide. Lt. Don Hutson of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office said he doubts that either case will ever be classified one way or another. Capt. Lynn Mitchell of the U Police Department said their agency knows nothing more than Washington County has made public. The Washington County Sheriff's Department declined to comment until the state medical examiner identifies the body and alerts the family. m.mcfalt@ chronicle.utah.edu All clear ••u LENNIE JAAHLtR/The Daily Utah (hronkii Capt. Marty Peterson of the Salt Lake City Fire Department signals to Graduate Teaching Assistant Eric Blackburn that it is safe for his Introduction to Literary History class to enter OSH after a fire alarm caused the building to be evacuated Monday morning. Yet, the class remained outside in the warm weather. Peterson said someone might have intentionally pulled the alarm and that doing so is a misdemeanor offense. "Usually we get these during test weeks," he said. Researcher looks at animals' ability to adapt to climate Lana Groves ASST. NEWS EDITOR Wood rats lost their favorite juniper snack more than 10,000 years ago when climate change dried the Mojave Desert, forcing them to adapt their diets. Now the projected speed of global warming could make adaptation more difficult for animals. U biology professor Denise Dearing has been studying how wood rats adapted to the creosote bush, a toxic plant to many herbivores, thousands of years ago when the bush replaced juniper in the Mojave Desert. The plant can survive with limited water in the desert region of the Mojave that is home to many wood rats. "Most mammals can't tolerate milk after they're weaned," Dearing said. "They lose the ability to process lactose. Human populations that are pastoral have evolved the ability to keep their lactase gene switched on, but it's not true for all humans. The same kind of thing happened to these wood rats." Wood rats evolved in tl^eir ability to tolerate the poison in creosote plants, but the species had about 7,000 years to adjust when their environment slowly began heating up 17,000 years ago. Even now, the plant only makes up 75 percent of a wood rat's diet. If forced to take in any more of the plant, the rats will either show signs of toxicity or starve themselves. . In the drier parts of the Mojave Desert where the bush outlives other plants during parts of the year, wood rats starve themselves until other plant food grows, Dearing said. However, global wanning will make plants more See RATS Page 3 ner, Zolka said. Ruble came to the U in the fall, leaving his hometown of Maysville, Ky, where his family lives. James Ruble, the student's father, declined to comment until the examiner confirms the identity of the body. Deputies have not been able to rule the incident as a homicide, suicide or accidental death, just as in two similar incidents last month. On March 9, Salt Lake County Sheriff deputies found a burning car at a Big Cottonwood Canyon campground. They found 28-year-old Lorin Fischer's body inside. Like Thursday's incident, the car was found at a remote location in the early morning hours. On March 20, deputies responded to a call about a car engulfed in flames near Saltair, this time late at night. Firefighters pulled 35-year- Greeks raise funds for high school trip Kassidy Mather STAFF WRITER The Beta Theta Pi fraternity raised $355 for Youth Making a Difference, a nonprofit organization that will organize a trip for 20 high school students from the Salt Lake City area to travel to thirdworld countries to give aid and gain leadership experience. The students will travel to Chamba, a small town in northern India, in the fall after six months of leadership training. The students will visit four orphanages in the area and help with education and renovations. "These little renovations, these little things make a huge difference to the people over there," said Sam Chagzoetsang, a senior in public relations and member of Beta Theta Pi. Chagzoetsang has family from the northern India area, so this organization immediately appealed to him. He said he is always looking for opportunities to get Greek Row involved with good causes. Utah local Robert Baird organized YMAD in 2004 when he became aware of the needs in Chamba during a trip through the area. People in the Chamba region are living in homes with broken windows and no doors, and are sleeping without beds. They need things like socks and underwear, Chagzoetsang said. The traveling students will have to raise $3,500 to pay for their travel, and the money Beta Theta Pi raised will go MIKE MANGUM/fftf Daly Utch(hrctiide U students Jackson Chambers and Mary McCreedy play foosball at the Beta fundraiser party to raise money for high school students to travel to India. directly to the people in India. "This is a great way for the university and Greek Row to reach out to some young leaders who are really trying to excel, really want to do something with themselves, and it kind of gives them a set up," Chagzoetsang said. Quinn Wilcox, vice president of the Interfraternity Council, member of Beta Theta Pi and a sportswriter for The Daily Utah Chronicle, said Greek Row is all about leadership opportunities. Wilcox said he was able to inform other houses on Greek Row about this organization because he has weekly meetings with all the chapter presidents. Cornerstone, a local audiovisual company, donated four plasma television sets and four Nintendo Wii systems for the night's event to entice students to come to the philanthropy event and donate to the organization. See INDIA Page 3 |