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Show StatesmanCampus News Sept. 24, 2007 Public transit popular choice in Cache Valley than a month away. The daily transit record was 7,554 trips in January. It has been broken three times this year, most recently on Sept. 5 with 8,053 trips. A "trip" is defined as a one-way destination. Bus drivers click a counter each time a passenger boards. Beutler said the demand for public transit is growing. "Overall, L • "Overall, our rider- our ridership "As we are out talking to people, we're hearing that they want more service," Beutler said. ' continues ship continures to t o c l i m b Voters will decide on two separate transclimb. More and portation measures. The transit district has Beutlersaid. proposed a quarter-cent sales tax increase that "More and more people are would generate funds to expand services. The people using public tran- more are county has proposed an initiative for road using construction and repairs. public transit." Both would generate about $3 million annually and could end up competing against thers Todd Beutler, district ? one another for votes. arentsosure County Councilman Craig Petersen said the genterai manager a b o u t t n e increase in bus passengers could be because totals and more students are attending Utah State the timing. University and using the public transit system. The transit district and Cache County "I think it doesn't reflect necessarily an are both trying to get a sales tax increase increased popularity of the bus. It simply approved in the November election. County reflects the fact that we have more students on officials who favor a proposal to fund road campus than we've had before." construction are wary of the bus system's latest statistics with the election a little more Team Hoyt: Tough as nails IJ continued from page 1 Briefs Campus & Community Ag Week begins with tractor procession LOGAN, Utah (AP)- Public transit in Cache County is a popular choice these days. The Cache Valley Transit District's ridership is at an all-time high and has broken daily and weekly ridership records, district ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ i | ^ ^ ^ M general man- Speak U p Another one bites the lip Page 3 RICK H O Y T spoke Friday in the TSC Ballroom. Rick's son, Dick, was born with cerebral palsy. Since Dick was in middle school, the two have been competing in triathlons, marathons and Ironman competitions. Team Hoyt has raised money for nonprofit organizations selling DVDs and a book. GIDEON OAKES photo including triathlons, marathons and Ironman competitions. They have also biked across the United States and raised millions of dollars for charity. Dick represented the team at the celebration, as Rick was unable to attend, and went on to tell their inspiring story of love and perseverance. Rick was born with cerebral palsy in 1962. Doctors told Rick's parents to institutionalize the boy because they were sure he would never do anything and would be a vegetable for the rest of his life. Refusing to take that as an answer or an option, Rick's parents decided to raise the boy as normally as possible. Now, 45 years later, Rick has graduated from high school and college with a degree in special education, and he lives alone in his own house in Boston. He can communicate by means of a Touch Interactive Communicator, which allows him to speak by selecting letters on a computer screen. "We still aren't sure what kind of vegetable he is," Dick said. While in middle school, Rick had a physical education teacher who would take him to sporting events at the local college. At a basketball game, it was announced that there was to be a charity race for a recently paralyzed lacrosse player and anyone could participate. Rick wanted to race because, as he said, "I want him to know that life goes on even though you are paralyzed." Because of the severity of Rick's handicap, Dick said he got an old wheel chair, put Rick inside and started pushing. They finished that race, and from that grew the legacy that is now Team Hoyt. The duo has been all over the world running, biking and swimming together. One might ask what would compel a father and a son to work together in such a way. Dick said the answer came after the first race they ever ran. After finishing, Rick turned to his father and said, "Dad, when I'm running I feel like my disability disappears." With that as inspiration, Dick has continued to push, pull or pedal his son all these years. "I don't see why any other father wouldn't do the same," he said. The pair shows no signs of stopping. Currently they travel the country, speaking and raising money for charity and promoting the causes of disabilities. Last year alone the two raised more than a million dollars for nonprofit organizations. They have also published a book and released several DVDs in hopes of inspiring more people. The two have faced challenges from the more obvious ones of disabilities to the subtle mechanical problems on race days. But, according to Dick, "'Can' is never followed by an apostrophe 't.'" -c.snider@aggiemail.usu.edu The Agriculture Technology Club is sponsoring a tractor procession on, Monday Sept. 24, at 2 p.m. The procession will be led by a tractor that will have a wreath symbolizing each person in the Sept. 26, 2005 van accident. The event kicks-off the annual Ag Week and marks the two year anniversary of the accident. The rollover occurred while the students and the instructor were returning from an Agriculture field trip near Tremonton, Utah. Students killed in the accident were Steven Bair, Dusty Fuhriman, Justin Gunnell, Justin Huggins, Jonathan Jorgensen, Curtis Madsen, Ryan McEntire and Bradley Wilcox. Their instructor Evan Parker was also killed. Students Robbie Peterson and Jared Nelson survived the accident. The route begins in the lower Dee Glen Smith Spectrum parking lot, travels south on 800 East, turns east on 700 North, travels to 1200 North, turns west on 1000 North and ends at the ASTE building. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to take time to view the procession. Space Dynamics Lab offering scholarship The Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University is offering new undergraduate student scholarships. Scholarship awards are for women beginning their sophomore year at USU in the Dept. of Physics or the College(s) of Engineering, Natural Resources, Science and Agriculture. SDL will fund 2 students $l,000/year ($500/semester), renewable for 3 years, with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The goal is to encourage women to pursue careers in science and to consider working at SDL after graduation. Candidates must be U.S. citizens. Applications will be reviewed by a committee composed of SDL staff members and the Research Office. Working at SDL beginning the junior year may be a possibility. Applicants should submit the following materials to the Research Office to the attention of Dr. Kinkead, Associate Vice President: 1) a letter describing their educational and career goals; 2) a resume; 3) a statement about current financial support (e.g., existing scholarships, grants). E-mail these toJoyce.Kinkead@usu.edu no later than Oct. 20 for priority consideration. Questions about SDL's educational outreach may be directed to Gayle.Bowen@ sdl.usu.edu. Latino Voices Project Hearing: Conditions in question garnering interest [1 continuedfrompage 1 STUDENTS TOOK ADVANTAGE of True Aggie Night Friday, participating in the school's long standing tradition of kissing on the Block A near Old Main.True Aggie Night was held as part of USU's Homecoming celebrations. GIDEON OAKES photo this conversation is occurring. He said he was with the committee for nearly two hours and described the experience as enlightening and positive. "The outcome of the bridge collapse was that it got the discussion going. It is unfortunate it takes a tragedy to get us to do this," he said. The discussion, Womack said, is perhaps the greatest thing to come out of the Minneapolis bridge collapse and the Congressional hearing. "We have to be sure that something positive comes out of this disaster," Womack said. "We can't let (the discussion) die in a few months and then go on our merry way like we have before. We have to continue to talk and prevent collapses in the future." -arie.k@aggiemail.usu.edu PoliccBlotter Friday, Sept. 14,2007 • Police responded within three minutes to a fire alarm at Snow Hall. It was determined that two individuals were throwing water balloons and struck a smoke detector causing the alarm. The alarm was reset and the individuals were warned about throwing things in the building. • Police responded to a medical injury on the west lawn of Bullen Hall. A female individual was transported to Logan Regional Hospital for a back injury. Saturday, Sept. 15,2007 • USU Police stopped a vehicle for weaving and discovered that the driver's driver license was suspended and that she had a failure to appear warrant for her arrest. The individual was booked into the Cache County Jail on the warrant and cited for driving on a suspended driver license. • USU Police received a report of a stolen bicycle from the bicycle racks at Valley View Tower. The bicycle was locked to the bicycle racks on May 6 and was observed missing on Aug. 24. The bicycle is described as a blue Giant, Uplander and is a Mountain Bike. Police are investigating. • Police responded to a report of an individual wearing a monkey suit and walking into apartments and scaring people. The individual was located and identified. He was warned for disorderly conduct. • Police responded to assist Logan City Police with a noisy house party by providing security at the front door. A warrant was served on the house and a number of individuals were arrested for underage drinking. Sunday, Sept. 16,2007 • USU Police assisted Logan Police Department with looking for a suicidal individual in some buildings just below campus. The individual was not located in this area, but was located west of Logan on Valley View Drive. The individual was taken into custody. Contact USU Police at 797-1939 for non-emergencies. Anonymous reporting line: 797-5000 EMERGENCY NUMBER: 911 gated. Monday, Sept. 17, 2007 • USU Police received a report of a hit and run accident from a third party. The accident took place at about 800 North and 1200 East and was a bicycle v. car accident. Along with Logan City Police Department USU Police attempted to locate the suspect vehicle and were unsuccessful. • USU Police responded to the HSRC building where they captured a bat that was located near the main entrance. The bat was released in Logan Canyon. • USU Police are investigating an incident involving graffiti in the Science & Engineering Research building. Police are following up on some leads and are reviewing the surveillance tapes. • Police responded to a report of individuals who might be consuming alcohol. Police spoke to all of the individuals and none had consumed any alcohol. • USU Police responded to the engineering dock for a report of a suspicious person loading items into a car. Police arrived and were unable to locate anyone at the dock. Police are investigating. • Police responded to assist North Park Police with a domestic violence call. The victim was given medical attention and the case is being investi- [•Compiled by Arie Kirk With more than 45 interviews conducted to date, Utah State University's Latino Voices Project is well over its goal to collect 40 interviews from Cache Valley Latino citizens. And with recent funding from the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation and the Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board (USHRAB), the project will now move into the next phases - transcription, translation and digitization of the oral interviews. The Latino Voices Project is part of Northern Utah Speaks, an umbrella collection of oral histories with the aim to capture the voices from all northern Utah communities. The collection is coordinated by and housed in Special Collections and Archives at USU's Merrill-Cazier Library. Funding from the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation has proven critical to fulfilling the goals of the Latino Voices Project, said Randy Williams, project director and folklore curator for Special Collections and Archives. The foundation's financial contributions will enabled the library to have the oral histories transcribed and have portions of the collection translated into English. The recent USHRAB donation also funds the transcription of the oral interviews which will be digitized and stored in Special Collections and Archives and in the online Digital Library at the Merrill-Cazier Library. In addition to benefiting the Latino Voices Project, another award from USHRAB to Utah State University's Special Collections & Archives for the purchase of audio digitization tools will allow improved preservation of thousands of audio recordings dating from the 1930s to the present within the Northern Utah Speaks oral history collection. This project has also received funding from the Utah Humanities Council, Utah State Division of History and the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies. For information on Latino Voices Project, contact Williams at (435) 7973493. {MCompiled from staff and media reports |