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Show USU employees will be paid bi-monthly BY FAWN RECK Staff Writer Waiting a full month for a paycheck won't be a problem for USU workers much longer. Instead of university employees receiving their hard-earned money on the sixth day of the month, it will soon be available on the 10th and 25th of each month. This change is specifically for "wage hourly" employees who do not receive staff benefits of health insurance, sick/annual leave or retirement. Most of these employees are students, but do not include graduate assistants. "The change in payment procedure is to help the students out," said Dave Cowley, associate vice president, who said he has high hopes that this change will be a positive one. Jennifer Reece, a sophomore and USU employee, describes the new policy as "super rad." She agrees with Cowley that it will assist students with their finances and not living so much paycheck to paycheck. Cowley said his only concern is for the payroll workers. It is quite a lot of work to get everybody paid, and doing it twice a month will be more time-consuming and harder work for them. To efficiently and correctly process the twice monthly payments, direct deposit will become mandatory. The payroll faculty are requesting that employees not using direct deposit should submit the authorization form as soon as possible to ensure the proper routing of payroll wages to their bank account prior to the implementation of the policy. Cowley said there are many benefits to direct deposit, one of them being that it is just one less thing that the average student needs to take care of. He said the majority of the wage-hourly employees are already on direct deposit, so it shouldn't be an issue for most of the students. Kortney Teiger, a junior employee, says, "I don't think its a big deal — its way more convenient to have direct deposit. You can keep track of your money better and pay bills easier." There is still some work that needs to be done on getting the system started. There is also some practice of inputting different work hours for the staff that needs to be achieved as well. The faculty in charge of the policy look forward to bringing it about and will keep let students know the exact date that it will be implemented. -freck@cc.usu.edu Cars crunch near Fieldhouse BY LIZ LAWYER Editor in Chief A minor car accident occurred around 7 p.m. Monday on 700 North in front of the Fieldhouse. The USU police officer who responded to the accident said there were no injuries. He said the accident was a matter of one driver turning and not seeing the other vehicle. The two vehicles, a gray Ford Tempo and a gray Honda, sat in the turning lane near the intersection at 800 East. Cars slowly filed by on either side of the accident scene. Damage to the vehicles included a large dent and scrapes on the rear right side of the Honda and a dent on the left side of the front bumper of the Ford Tempo. ~ella@cc.usu.edu • GUNS From page 1 case of the University of Utah's teaching hospitals). "It is difficult for any of us to conceive why one would need to carry a gun in any of these settings," Albrecht said. "We will work with our colleagues at the U and with other presidents of colleges and universities in the state system of higher education on this potential legislation. We do not anticipate any changes in our current policies at Utah State University until we see how all of this works out." President of the Utah Senate John L. Valentine praised the court's decision: "I appreciate what this ruling does for the second amendment issue but, more importantly, it reaffirms that government by the people, through their elected representatives, is the law of the land. There is really no room for independent islands of authority within state government." In a statement after the ruling, a university spokesperson from the U said school officials were disappointed with the ruling, the only intent from the beginning was to keep students safe. The schools administration says they will continue pushing the case to federal court in order to maintain a safe school environment. -sastewart@cc.usu.edu E. COLI From page 7 To date, there have been 175 cases of illnesses caused by E. coli O157:H7 in spinach that have been reported to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the FDA. This number includes 93 hospitalizations and 28 cases of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, a form of kidney failure. Illnesses related to this outbreak have been reported in 25 states. There have been 18 cases in Utah. One death has resulted from the consumption of spinach carrying E. Coli 0157:H7. -ariek@cc.usu.edu Briefs K_ampus & Community Business speaker tells rags-to-riches story It would have been a long-shot to predict in 1954 that someone working for a two-employee company, operating out of a 600-square foot store, would eventually build a company that would be purchased by Warren Buffett. Bill Child, who is now chairman of the board for R.C. Willey, made it happen. His company, that he has led since 1954, was purchased by Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway company in 1995. R.C. Willey now employees more than 3,000 people and has 14 large stores located in Utah, Idaho, Nevada and California. At 12:30, on Sept. 27, Child will be telling his story in the George S. Eccles Business Building Auditorium at the College of Business. The Dean's Convocation Speech is free and open to the public. "Bill Child succeeded in a very competitive marketplace," said Doug Anderson, dean of the College of Business. "While many of his competitors have gone out of business, he led a company that has continually grown. To build a business that Warren Buffett wants to buy is quite an accomplishment." Deaf students to perform ASL stories Members of the deaf community will share their rish tradition of literature and folklore on Thursday, Sept. 28, at 6 p.m. in BNR room 102. Students and faculty are invited to experience a taste of the tradition with ASL stories told by members of the deaf community. A deaf community panel discussion will also be held Wednesday, Sept. 27. Come meet the panel and learn more about the lives of the deaf community. Questions are welcome. Memorial dinner held to raise money Business workshop for ag scholarship registration opens B Y STEVIE STEWART Staff Writer JamieCrane/jomiecmnefsXtusu.edu A CAR ACCIDENT occurred outside the Fieldhouse Monday night. No one was injured, but the vehicles were dented and scratched. Facebook modifies news feed feature to create more privacy for users BY SHANNON JOHNSON Staff Writer The glow of a screen accompanied by quiet ticking is all that is seen of a silent and furious conversation. The college networking site Facebook is one of many ways people can stay in contact online, but a recent format change has led to division amongst users. A new news feed feature informs every other user on a person's contact list when someone joins a group, sends a message or makes a post. Many users protested this change, with one group totaling more than 400,000 in the largest group, according to the Ball State Daily News Online, which protested and forced the company to remove the feature. Perhaps the greatest power online is the feeling of anonymity it gives the user, and with the recent news about MySpace, the news feed could not have been released at a worse time. "I can see why people would not want it," says Amanda Callister, a junior in liberal arts. The news feed allows for a person to easily monitor online behavior, which lead to a response from the users who petitioned Facebook until the CEO took action. "We really messed this one up," admit- ted CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "Somehow we missed this point with feed and we didn't build in the proper privacy controls right away. This was a big mistake on our part, and I'm sorry for it." Most of the users agree-that the news feed is good, but too invasive, as Amanda Lamkin, a junior majoring in interior design, emphasized. "I like the news feed, but it's kind of creepy," she said. "I think that people should be able to chose whether or not you want to be included." It is easy to inform friends when a user adds to their page, as Dan Peffrey, a sophomore majoring in business, pointed out. "I posted some new pictures and some of my friends that I haven't talked to for a year [looked at them]. They never would have looked at my pictures without the news feed," Peffery said. Rather than remove the feature, Facebook has chosen to modify it to include privacy safeguards. Zuckerberg said, "So we have been coding nonstop for two days to get you better privacy controls. This new privacy page will allow you to choose which types of stories go into your mini-feed and your friends." With the modification, a person can choose what stories to have posted and help maintain privacy while still using the news feed's draw. ~skjohnson@cc.usu.edu More than two hundred people gathered Friday night in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom to honor the legacy of the Utah State agriculture students and professor that died one year ago. Teaming up with USU, the Justin Wade Gunnell Foundation organized the Ag Tech Memorial Scholarship Benefit Dinner. At the dinner, homage was paid to the eight young men and one professor that lost there lives in a tragic van rollover accident that occurred Sept. 26, 2005. The Justin Wade Gunnell Foundation was created by Connie Gunnell, the wife of Justin Gunnell, who was one of the victims in the accident and Mel Torrie, President of Autonomous Solutions, Inc. a former employer of Justin Gunnell. The foundation was started in February and completely under way by May. It serves to provide funding and service for several charities in Justin's honor, Connie said. "We created the foundation because Justin loved to help others," Torrie said. "He often complained that he didn't have enough time to help everyone he wanted to." Torrie said he has always believed everything happens for a reason. After unsuccessfully finding a reason for this tragedy, he said he concluded that this foundation and helping others in Justin's name would have to be his reason. The Ag Tech Memorial Scholarship fund was started last fall ensuing the accident. Torrie said donating to the fund is just one of the many ways the foundation plans to pay tribute to Justin. Cody Bingham, last year's senator for the College of Agriculture spoke at the function and explained to attendees how the Ag Tech Scholarship would be allocated to USU students. Bingham said this coming spring, the first recipient for the scholarship will be chosen. Requirements for scholarships usually have grade point average guidelines, credit hour requirements or certain guidelines within an area of study, he said. Bingham announced that currently the fund has over $27,000 in it, enough to create an official scholarship endowment. "In honor of these agriculture students who loved their farming backgrounds, the main requirements for awarding the scholarship are that the recipient(s) love the agriculture industry and have plans to continue those traditions," Bingham said. A highlight of the evening was when Connie Gunnell presented Bruce Miller, Agriculture Technology Systems and Education department head and Logan Ipsen, current Agriculture Senator, with a check for $9150 to be added to the scholarship fund. Before the presentation of the check, Connie addressed the audience, saying Justin loved school because he could spend time with fellow farm boys doing what they loved to do. She said he enjoyed school at USU and through his joy of helping others, several things he loved could be accomplished. -sastewart@ccMSU.edu The USU College of Business is hosting its fall 2006 small business workshop. The topic for the conference will be "Business Plan for Success - Learn Successful Business Techniques". Classes for the workshop begin Oct. 2, and are held every Tuesday and Thursday night through Oct. 26. from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. They will be held in the business building, room 216. Parking is available in the lot just south of 400 North, directly south of the College of Business. The cost is $250. Business partners may attend for $99Scholarships may be available. Pre-registration is required. For more information call the SBDC at 797-2277- Childhood hearing loss seminar in SLC Permanent hearing loss is the most frequent birth defect in the United States, affecting 12,000 newborns each year. If not detected early, childhood hearing loss dramatically interferes with a child's language, learning and social development. Utah State University professor Karl White, one of the world's leading authorities on early identification and treatment of hearing loss, will present the latest findings about this important issue during a USU-sponsored "Sunrise Sessions" seminar Sept. 28, 7:30-8:45 a.m. in the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City, White's presentation, "Early Identification of Children's Hearing Loss: A Silent Revolution," will discuss why early identification of childhood hearing loss is so important and how it is detected. He will detail work being done at USU's National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, in particular the research efforts under way that are leading to better screening, diagnostic and intervention programs for infants and young children with permanent hearing loss. For more information about the Sunrise Sessions, contact Kent Clark, 435-797-2645 or kent.clark@usu. edu. ^Compiled from staff and media reports |