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COLLEGIATETIMES 103rd Year, No. 80 ▪ Blacksburg, Virginia ▪ February 22, 2006 An independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 www.collegiatetimes.com
Businessman sets eyes above the horizon Radford by David Grant Campus Editor It took four years for Elon Musk to turn his first start-up, Zip2, into a $307 million cash sale. It took four years for Musk to make PayPal the largest online payment provider in the world, only for eBay to make it the site’s primary payment engine to the tune of a $1.5 billion. It’s been four years since Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, came into being in El Segundo, Calif., and it has yet to launch a rocket. But if past success is any indication, he will. In a big way. “I said I wanted to take a large fortune and make it a small one, so I started a rocket business,” Musk mused to widespread applause last night in Burruss Hall, the second speaker in the Engineering Excellence in the 21st Century Lecture Series. “But the ultimate goal is to make life multi-planetary.” Musk, a native of South Africa that immigrated to Canada at age 17, unveiled a pure inventiveness characteristic of all of his business pursuits: the motto of his 175-member current company is “keep it simple.” Vertical integration, more engineering (“signal”) and less management (“noise”), and simplicity in design that Musk was shocked hadn’t been employed before are all hallmarks of a company that professes to be able to launch rockets for 25 percent of the cost of space big-boys Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Despite Musk’s even demeanor, be-
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Elon Musk, founder of Zip2, PayPal, and SpaceX, speaks about his plans to take business to new heights with rockets. ing a small company hasn’t been easy on SpaceX. The company filed a lawsuit against Boeing and Lockheed on Oct. 18, 2005, saying that the union of
the two would be tantamount to conspiracy to stifle contracts, specifically those from the Air Force, through 2011.
“If you’ve got a great rocket and the Air Force can’t buy it from you,” you have a problem, Musk said. “They can’t compete with us on a level playing field . . . If I were them, I would be trying to tilt the playing field. The jury is out on whether that will happen.” While admittedly far into the future, making expanding humanity’s universal footprint is a stated goal. “As life’s agents, it’s on our shoulders,” to expand life to places where none has been detected, Musk said. The SpaceX website specifically cites universities as beneficiaries of what the patron of the Lecture Series, Pat Artis from the class of ‘72 called the company’s effort to “change the economics of space flight.” Charles Hill, professor of aerospace and ocean engineering, said the university had a $1 million spacecraft that was mothballed after the Columbia explosion. The talk was attended heavily by engineering faculty, but former engineering dean Hassan Aref noted that it was “a pity that there were so few students this year,” saying that last year’s talk attracted greater numbers. But Musk’s entrepreneurial spirit was encapsulated best by the fact that the owner of a Porsche Turbo, not to mention a McLauren F-1, will soon be leaving his beloved roadster for an electric car created by a Musk-funded company. “It actually has better performance than the Porsche,” Musk said.
County grant bolsters local homeland security by Lindsay Pieper News Assistant Four years ago, U.S. President George Bush coined the term “homeland security,” and 227 miles away from the nation’s capitol, Montgomery County has been quietly gearing up to bolster current security measures. In a Feb. 13 Board of Supervisors Meeting, the board agreed on an appropriation of $87,841 for a federal Emergency Services Coordinator grant. According to the meeting minutes, the members appropriated the money to “purchase equipment for Homeland Security.” “We researched grants available to support the (Montgomery County) Fire and Rescue Services, the Sheriff Departments and things of that nature. The Federal Emergency Services Coordinator grant helps us get some of
the equipment we needed,” said James Politis, the District B representative for the Board of Supervisors. According to Montgomery County Emergency Coordinator Neal Tuner, the money appropriated by the board will purchase gear for “first responders,” which are those departments involved with detection and prevention. “Fire and Rescue Services have an equipment committee that generates a list of equipment they would like to have should funds be available ... Turnout gear, air-packs and rescue equipment is a lot of what they have needs for. If money becomes available, we find something that fits the grant and fits the department,” Turner said. The appropriation of the grant money will buy equipment for rescue squads across Montgomery County, including for the
Blacksburg Fire Department. Homeland security issues also infiltrated certain Virginia Tech research departments. The Environmental Health and Safety Services received a grant to make improvements on campus safety and security. “With this grant we have purchased equipment for the (Virginia Tech) Police Department to improve response capability and we are currently in the process of creating a siren warning system. We also have biosecurity plans for research laboratories,” said Zack Adams, occupational safety programs manager for EHSS. According to Adams, with the introduction of homeland security, federal and state laws now possesses greater oversight for certain areas of research activities. “There is now a heightened scrutiny for lab research,” Adams
said. “People who work with select agents have to be fingerprinted and go through a background check.” Concerns about the potential hazards associated with research and technology led to the creation of Virginia’s Institute of Defense and Homeland Security, of which Tech is an affiliate. In February of 2003, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner announced the creation of IDHS, an organization of state universities and researching industries working to develop and deliver solutions to national security issues. “Virginia Tech not only is an IDHS affiliate, but President Steger is a member of (the IDHS) Executive Committee … and we engage regularly with faculty members,” said Hugh Montgomery, IDHS executive director. A founding university partner,
After warning thousands of residents about a possible water contaminant, county officials insist that drinking a glass of tap water is little reason for concern. “It’s definitely safe to drink,” said Jerry Mabry, an engineer for the Montgomery County Public Service Authority. Mabry said the PSA sent letters to more than 4,000 Bethel, Mudpike and Shawsville-Elliston-Lafayette homeowners explaining that the county had failed a state test due to small concentrations of haloacetic acids. These acids are the byproduct of disinfection with chlorine and can cause cancer in large quantities, but Mabry said a person would have to consume 88 glasses of water a day at the gauged levels of haloacetic acids over a period of 70 years before it might lead to cancer. Water quality tests are conducted under the supervision of the Virginia Department of Health as mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Although this is the first time Montgomery County has raised a red flag in regards to this particular form of water contaminant, Mabry
explained that this is no surprise. “This is a new thing that the EPA has been checking for since 2004,” Mabry said. Kelly Lobanov, spokeswoman for the state health department, said the test results showing that parts of Montgomery County had higher-than-average levels of haloacetic acids led to a Tier 2 violation, meaning that a health concern did exist but did not require immediate action. This prompted the county to notify residents of the potential problem. “We have to send out letters to custom-
Water Treatment Terms Disinfection Byproducts: “. . . are formed when disinfectants used in water treatment plants react with bromide and/or natural organic matter (i.e., decaying vegetation) present in the source water.” Haloacetic Acids: “. . . are a group of chemicals that are formed along with other disinfection byproducts when chlorine or other disinfectants used to control microbial contaminants in drinking water react with naturally occurring organic and inorganic matter in water.” Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency LINDSAY LOCRAFT
ers whenever we fail a water inspection,” Mabry said. Lobanov said Montgomery County was not alone. Since testing for haloacetic acids began, other counties across the state have also failed federal water standards. The current water quality, however, differs from the results of the failed test, which took place in the third quarter of 2005. Mabry said that he did not understand why the numbers for that quarter stand in contrast to test results before and after the state analysis but that as future tests took place the results would balance themselves out. Mabry said he had conducted additional tests on the county’s water quality in the affected areas after the failed results but that these numbers could not replace those conducted by the Virginia Department of Health. But Wes Kleene, director of the Office of Drinking Water for the Health Department, said his agency would reconsider test results if county officials could substantiate claims that errors had been made. Jerry Higgins, director of the BlacksburgChristiansburg-VPI Water Authority, was not available for comment Tuesday.
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by Jonathan Pillow News Assistant Mike Mash, vice president of Radford University’s student government association, spoke at the Radford City Council meeting last Monday on behalf of over 2,000 Radford students who felt that the city and its police force does not fully appreciate the university or its scholars. One of the main concerns Mash cited was the Radford Police Department’s lack of respect for students. “It’s not that we don’t want to be punished, because I believe that people should be punished if they break the law,” Mash said. “It’s about the demeanor of the police when they approach you, it’s about harassment of the students and so forth and it’s also about the city and their lack of willingness to support student initiatives.” Grievances with the city included the city’s refusal to allow Greek letters to be displayed on fraternity and sorority houses, its unwillingness to allow the university logo to be painted on the street and a lack of internships offered to students from city businesses. Mash said the council received students concerns well but he thinks that the parties involved are talking past each other instead of to each other. “Too many people are trying to convince the other side that they’re absolutely correct instead of talking to each other and trying to reach compromises and work towards the future and more positive goals,” he said. Mash fears that another problem is that those in positions of power have an interest in maintaining the status quo because that’s what put them in charge to begin with. Mash said after the meeting Radford Police Chief Gary Harmon told him that he had once offered a RU
See RADFORD, page 2
The Association for Bangladeshi Students holds a minute of silence to pay homage to language martyrs of vernacular languages around the world.
E Blacksburg Weather
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TODAY AROUND TOWN
Learn about the unique jewelry sold at Capone’s Fine Jewelry store on Main Street
The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team is heading down south for a opponent in a much different climate. Read about tonight’s game
New Play Festival: Tallgrass Gothic by Melanie Marnich (Squires Studio Theatre, 8 p.m.)
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petitions local police department over perceived grievances
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For those who died
Water deemed safe despite failed test by Michael Sutphin City Editor
Tech specializes in three areas: Center for Wireless Telecommunications, Center for Power Electronic Systems, and Fiber and Electro-Optics Research Center. Through these areas, Tech aids IDHS in the creation and promotion of new technologies aimed at homeland security. Along with Tech, 13 other Virginia universities joined IDHS, including the University of Virginia, Virginia Military Institution, Virginia Commonwealth University and James Madison University. In the wake of Sept. 11, the Bush administration conceived the Department of Homeland Security to prepare, prevent, identify and respond to terrorism and natural disasters. The DHS addresses the concerns pertinent to both the nation as a whole in addition to local areas, such as Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
students bemoan police
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How far are Virginia lawmakers willing to go on the smoking ban?
Rain/Snow Extended forecast, page 2.