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Show www.utahstatesman.com Logon, Utah Utah State Universit] Today is Monday, Nov. 5, 2007 Explosion forces relocation BySETH R.HAWKINS Breaking News staff writer USU's Kevin Robinson becomes the alltime leader in allpurpose yards at USU, with 6,058. Page 16 Campus News Multiple colleges work to find ways to conserve water. Page 3 A MAINTENANCE WORKER inspects the boiler in Rich Hall after Fridays explosion. SETH R. HAWKINS photo An explosion in the boiler room of Rich Hall early Friday evening resulted in a broken window and an extended evacuation of the residents until state safety inspections are completed. USU Police Chief Steve Mecham said dispatch received a call about the explosion at 6:01 p.m. The explosion was heard by a firefighter at the fire station located just north of Rich Hall, who briefly examined the scene before calling in the explosion, he said. "It was the actual burning unit, the heating unit, that's what we figure the explosion was," Mecham said. USU Fire Marshall Steve Bell said when he arrived on the scene there were two or three units already there with hoses extended, but there was no fire and no damage to the building other than one broken window in the boiler room and some damage to the boiler unit, though the extent of the damage is yet unknown. Bell said while the actual cause of the explosion is unknown, it is believed the boiler that heats the water for the building had a "small gas leak (that) found an ignition source, resulted in the explosion of the building." The state inspected all the buildings in the Student Living Center just two weeks ago, said Steve Jenson, USU Housing executive director. "It's one of those freak things," Jenson said. "As far as I know, the state was up here a couple weeks ago and inspected all these buildings, so I'm not sure. This is probably just an unusual incident." Madelyn Vaterlaus, freshman resident of Rich Hall majoring in speech pathology, said she was walking toward Rich Hall from the Lundstrom Center and was about 15 feet away when the explosion occurred, spraying glass across the grass in front of her. "I screamed really loud," Vaterlaus said. "I was so freaked out. I had no idea what was going on and heard a bunch of hissing coming from the boiler room. It was really scary." Vaterlaus said she ran to her room located one floor above the boiler room in the northeast corner of the building and told her roommates to expect a fire alarm, which she said went off two seconds later. She said when she evacuated the building, she could smell gas. In the building one floor above the boiler room at the time of the explosion, Warren Fairbanks, undeclared sophomore, said, "I just heard a loud noise and glass shattered and the room shook. The whole building shook. I just thought that somebody had a bomb, like one of the apartments above was messing around with something." •I See EXPLOSION, page 20 Club discusses origin of Bible Features By ALISON BAUGH staff writer Study Abroad programs offer chances for growth. , ;. ••:-'.-. • • • • ' . ' : . " „ • ; Page 6 Sports Jaycee Carroll scores 32 points to lead the Aggies to a 100-46 . . victory over visiting Leval University. Page 15 Opinion "Let's make the most of this place while we're here. Let's get out and vote on Nov. 6 and hold 'the man' accountable. Let's stun the skeptics and start making a difference."^,v:;(^:..vr.j.fi-.,,-.-^- . ^ . ^ Allowing open discussion among students on campus is a focus for Aggies for Christ, and they held a four-part discussion series on Friday and Saturday to allow more open discussion. "What I really want to foster on campus is open discussion," said John Schadegg, campus administrator for Aggies for Christ before the start of one session. Aggies for Christ brought in Mike Schneider, minister from Laramie, Wyo., to present this series' topic, "How we got the Bible." Schnider's congregation in Wyoming has similar core values to Aggies for Christ, Schadegg said. The two groups often get together for conferences, and this time, students from the University of Wyoming came to the discussion at USU, Schadegg said. Schnider's presentation was broken into four different sessions, the heart of the Bible-eye witnesses to the Bible, claim of inspiration, canonization, and transmission and translation of the Bible. At the end of each presentation, students were able to ask questions, opening questions among the entire group. "I really enjoy presenting things about the Bible, talking to people about it and fielding questions," Schnider said. Words were defined and numerous scriptures quoted in Schnider's presentation, but he also kept it light-hearted with jokes about his hair and "The Simpsons." University of Wyoming and USU faculty and members of the Logan Church of Christ also added their thoughts. "I get answers to questions I had before, how the Bible was put together in collection of books," said Wington Brito, USU freshman in computer engineering from the Dominican Republic. Getting questions answered was also a big plus of the discussions, said University of Wyoming student Jessica Szwast. She said she decided to go after being in a Bible study class [J See BIBLE, page 20 Almanac Today in History: In 1912, Woodrow Wilson makes history, defeating two former presidents - William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt - and is elected the 28th president of the United States. Weather High: 59° JLow: 19* -•-•---V' fSkies: Mostly clear. CELL PHONES are influencing behavior for better and for worse. DEBRA HAWKINS illustration Cell phone impacts on social behavior mixed By BRITTNY GOODSELL JONES assistant features editor Lawrence Fishburne, while acting in a Broadway play, turned to an audience member after putting up with a cell phone ring for 20 seconds and yelled, "Will you turn off that — f ing phone, please?" This incident, found in the article, "An Investigation of Mobile Phone Use: A Sociotechnical Approach," is one of many cell phone interruptions experienced by people as they go about their day. By the year 2001, 97 million Americans used a mobile phone, the article stated, and this growth is having an impact on social behavior. Determining if that impact is more positive than negative, however, is what American society is currently deciding. FACE-TO-FACE COMMUNICATION Stefani Nelson, graduate student in psychology and USU alumna, said she wrote a paper that included information from a news story concerning teenagers and cell phones. The newscast, she said, reported a certain police department is trying to encourage teens to report crimes by text messaging emergencies on cell phones ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ directly to T the sheriffs -r, -,-i 1 he idea i A closer look at issues ••-•• behind this, affecting USU Nelson said, is teens are more comfortable communicating through electronic methods, such as text messaging, than communication through speech. U See CELL PHONES, page 20 Candidates discuss election, issues By KATE ROUSE staff writer In preparationfor Tuesday's election, city council candidates spoke to Vie Statesman about pressing issues. VAL EWELL, CANDIDATE SEAT 1 Utah Statesman: If you are elected, how will you improve Logan? Ewell: Primarily, I would want to improve Logan by paying down the debt that we are in right now and trying to reach countywide government. ELWELL US: How V will your decisions affect university students? VE: University students are citizens just like everyone else, so the decisions that are made on the council and in the city affect university students as they do everybody else. One of things (we need to look at carefully) is parking and this booting nonsense. US: What do you feel are the important issues in this years election? VE: The debt and traffic. Mostly the debt, they're spending us into oblivion. US: What kind of experience do you have to bring to this position? VE: I have the background, experience and training to analyze the things that are coming before the council to a degree that very few have. I have managed budgets, I have created budgets, I have been a contracting officer, I've been a project manager, I've been a cost analyst, I've been a price analyst. US: Why are you running for City Council? VE: I have been complaining since I've been here about how it's run, and I decided it was time to give it a go to see if I could do it better. US: If you had been on the council at the time, how would you have voted in regard to the Intermountain Power Plant 3 Program? VE: I would have voted for it, because we had not examined the alternatives and assured that there was reliable energy available before we voted it down. US: How will you address Logan's air quality problem? VE: Forget it. There's no big barrier up there that keeps pollution from Franklin County and everywhere else from coming into Logan. So don't kid yourself that Logan alone can do anything - other than heckle some people about getting a handle on automobile emissions - seriously about air quality. We don't own the air. I do think the automobile emissions (testing) is a good idea. If you go beyond that, you're going to have to look towards Idaho, the surrounding areas, and enlist their cooperation. LARAINESWENSON, INCUMBENT SEAT 1 US: If you are elected, how will you improve Logan? Swenson: I serve on the Cache Regional Council, and I think the biggest improvement for Logan would be a valley wide plan. That's what we're working on right now with the council through Envision Utah, to facilitate a plan where each city* J See CANDIDATES, page 3 |