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Show Tuesday, October 22, 2013 THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE www.dailyutahchronicle.com The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice Since 1890 OPINION •• Sam Pannier applauds the new SAFE program for improving relations between pedestrians and bikers Vol. 123 I No. 35 I ©2013 SPORTS •• ARTS •■ Rocky Mountain PrintmakingAlliance symposium at the U exposes artists to new techniques and styles Columnist Griffin Adams explains why it's necessary that the Utes start winning away games Gill promotes pro bono law work CHRIS SAMUELS/ The Daily Utah Chronicle Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill addresses students and faculty at a ceremony celebrating pro bono work at the S.J. Quinney Law School Oct. 21st. ASUU Green Police implement new strategy in stadium Stephen Willis STAFF WRITER Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill talked about mental health, prison overcrowding and immigration reform at a lecture at the S.J. Quinney College of Law on Monday. The lecture was part of the college's celebration of National Pro Bono Week. 'Pro bono publico' is a Latin phrase meaning `for the public good' or 'the welfare of the whole," Gill said. Pro bono legal advice is free of charge and meant to serve the members of society who cannot afford professional legal advice. "In this complex maze, some have the means to navigate the challenges that confront them and more and more, unfortunately, do not," Gill said. "So in this context the issue of pro bono is a place to serve these populations." On mental illness — a major theme in his speech — Gill said that two to four percent of the general population of the United States and 17 to 24 percent of the U.S. prison population are mentally ill. "We jail more human beings in the United States of America than any other country in the world," Gill said. Gill attributed the overpopulation of U.S. prison systems to attempts in the late 6os and dos to institutionalize the mentally ill. "We said that their conditions were abhorrent so, as a public policy decision, we deemed to institutionalize the mentally ill," he said. "But the public policy failure was that we forgot to fund the community mental health centers." Gill said as a result of this public policy failure the homeless population went through the roof and people who were denied medication began to self-medicate with illicit drugs. "As a result of this, the largest mental health facility in the United States of America now is the [Los Angeles] County Jail," he said. Gill's speech follows on the heels of an ofSee GILL page 3 Honoring the fallen Kevin Tao STAFF WRITER At most home football games, fans might spot the Green Police — volunteers for Recycle Rice-Eccles, a program put on by the ASUU Sustainability Board — scouring the stands for recycleable material. Allison Godbe, the new director of the program, and Kelsey Paulding, a new associate director, are implementing fresh strategies for the recycling program. In its efforts to teach people about recycling, the program has kept icons such as the green man mascot, the Recycle Rice-Eccles tent at tailgates and throwing prizes to fans during the game. Godbe and Paulding hope to bring in new ideas and some changes can already be seen. Paulding, a freshman in business and international studies, was appointed associate director on Oct. 2. She noticed that volunteers often showed up in groups and enjoyed volunteering together instead of individually. "If volunteers were going to stand next to each other, it would make it easier for them and us to go in teams," Paulding said. She instituted a new method for collecting recyclables, assigning individual volunteers to pick up only plastic, glass or aluminum. In groups of three, volunteers collect recyclables from the rows of a tailgate. "The volunteer feedback has been, 'We hate sorting,'" Paulding said. She believes this new collection system can eliminate the need to sort bags of assorted recyclables as the volunteers have essentially presorted plastics, glass and aluminum. "They can spend more time collecting recyclables versus sorting," Paulding said. The new collection method was successful enough during the football game against Stanford on Oct. 12 that Paulding said the program may add someone to collect cardboard. While Paulding works directly with volunteers at tailgates, Godbe, a Ph.D. candidate in health promotion, supervises the efforts and works with Tom Hurtado, ASUU communications advisor, to market the program and collaborate with Facilities Management to organize materials. Hurtado said the goal of Recycle RiceEccles is "to help people know that they can and should be recycling." "In California, we have a huge environmental consciousness. I'm all about teaching people," Godbe said. Godbe hopes to attract more interest for recycling than there has been in past years. "We're doing more PR in advance," Godbe said. "We're reaching out to student groups. We're trying to send out information to let people know about this opportunity." Many volunteers have returned to volunteer with the program multiple times. Angel Demirev, a sophomore in business, volunteered twice. "It was so fun the first time. [Fans] are happy to see you, and they want to recycle so it's a good interaction," Demirev said. Natasia Crowe, a freshman in accounting, is an active volunteer and has See RECYCLE page 3 CHRIS AYRES/The Daily Utah Chronicle Richard Torney of Power Practical makes a PowerPot, a device that allows any USB device to be charged using heat. CHRIS SAMUELS/The Daily Utah Chronicle ROTC cadets, along with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (second from the right), stand at attention after unveiling a new monument dedicated to fallen solders at the Fort Douglas Military Museum. The memorial is a piece of concrete recovered from the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 attacks. U break dance club offers exercise and friendship Ian Smith STAFF WRITER A student group at the U is managing to squeeze in both fun and exercise between classes and work. The group meets each Wednesday at the Peterson Heritage Center from 7 to 9 p.m. to break-dance. Rachel Savage, the group's instructor, also teaches a beginning hip-hop class. She started break-dancing as a way to cope with having a lot of energy as a child. "I think I was just a really hyper kid. I needed some kind of physical outlet and it dawned on me one day to try it," Savage said. "I started looking up on the Internet how to break and taught myself." Savage also said that dancing has an element of individuality in addition to providing a release. "I think it's about finding your individual style and expressing yourself. Basically just taking on this whole attitude of life and not taking it too seriously and just have fun," Savage said. Rachel has made a career out of break-dancing and teaching, traveling all over the U.S. for competitions and a variety of other events. She pointed at the culture of break-dancing and hip-hop in general as her favorite part about dancing as COLE TAN/The Daily Utah Chronicle Danny Pond, a breakdance club member, spins on one hand while breaking to the beat on Wednesday night in the Heritage Center dance room. a whole. "Breaking is a huge part of hip-hop. You don't have hiphop without breaking. So I just love the culture and the whole mentality of just having fun in life and living it up. You could take someone from poverty and they can make something of themselves through hip-hop with enough passion and work," Savage said. Torill Contos, a junior in elementary education, likes dance as a hobby and enjoys going to the class. "It's a combination of a way to let off steam, it is way fun. It's more of a hobby. It's like a passion," Contos said. "It's a super friendly environment." Friendships play a big role in bringing other students to the break-dancing class. Jeff Denning, a sophomore in Spanish, saw Savage dancing when he first arrived at the U and knew he wanted to be a part of the club. He said he has found great relationships in the club. "A lot of friendship comes from this. Building camaraderie with your classmates. I wouldn't know a bunch of See DANCE page 3 Invention a more efficient way to charge tech devices Stephen Willis STAFF WRITER Two U graduates have created a way to make electricity with a camping stove. Power Practical, a company started by David Toledo and Paul Slusser who both received degrees from the U in material science, have created a pot with the ability to capture the energy from a flame. Toledo said the company's mission is to make electronically efficient devices. The company's recent cornerstone product is the PowerPot, which is a standard sized camping pot, but when placed over a flame it generates electricity for charging cellphones and MP3 players. The PowerPot is an anodize aluminum container which is installed with thermodynamics equipment on the bottom. The equipment has the potential to generate as much electricity as "your phone can take," meaning that it's possible to charge an iPhone while backpacking with the same efficiency as with a wall charger. "So at five watts it's at the same rate as at home, off your wall charger. For most phones that's like an hour [to charge]," Toledo said. "So when I make a ramen or something, for example, it'll put, like, 20 percent into my phone." Toledo and Slusser are both outdoor enthusiasts and they came across this idea while they were sitting around a campfire. "What we wanted to do was harness some of the power of the campfire, which mostly goes up into the sky," Toledo said. Their original benchmark was something to generate enough power to run small USB speakers. After experimenting and "tinkering," Toledo said, they found that the method of installing thermodynamics onto the bottom of a pot was "a really good a way of generating power." So far, Toledo said, they have sold roughly 6,000 PowerPots. The PowerPot sells for retails at $149. This means a cash flow of $894,000 within the past two years. "We started going after retail, trying to See POWER page 3 |