COLLEGIATETIMES
tuesday october 21, 2008 blacksburg, va.
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Families Allen makes first ’08 stop at Blacksburg HQ react after weekend meetings
best of blacksburg A QUICK LOOK AT A FEW OF THE WINNERS BEST RESIDENCE HALL 1. Lee 2. Ambler-Johnston 3. Peddrew Yates BEST GREEK ORGANIZATION 1. Sigma Kappa 2. Delta Gamma 3. Delta Delta Delta BEST NON- GREEK ORGANIZATION 1. GERMAN Club 2. Car Club at Virginia Tech 3. SGA BEST LOCAL BAND 1. The Shack Band 2. Always Morning 3. BoogieBurg Look for all of your Best of Blacksburg winners —from El Rodeo to Zeppoli’s — on B1 inside.
news STAY ALERT FOR PHISHING SCAM SAYS VT ALERTS A VT Alerts email has warned students of an on going phishing scam. The Oct. 20 email stated more than 90 VT webmail users have responded to messages for Tech PID passwords. The VT Alerts email stated users should never divulge personal information through email, nor respond to any requests for passwords regardless of the phishing email’s alleged credentials or official sounding rhetoric. The university will never ask for your password, the email stated.
weather SUNSHINE high 60, low 33
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coming up TOMORROW’S CT Find out how men’s soccer faired against Appalachian State tonight. See the entirety of the remarks delivered by Barack Obama in Roanoke on Friday.
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An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 105th year issue 95
ZACH CRIZER
ct news reporter
PETER VELZ/SPPS
Former Virginia Senator and Governor George Allen greets well-wishers at the Republican headquarters in downtown Blacksburg.
CANDACE SIPOS
ct politics editor Former Virginia Senator and Governor George Allen stopped in Blacksburg for a half-hour Monday morning. About 50 College Republicans, party officials, and other McCain supporters crammed into the Republican Party’s Victory Campaign headquarters in downtown to hear Allen speak. “If we win Virginia, we’ll win America,” Allen said. “We’re in the two-minute drill here. We need to execute.” Allen drove home America’s need for energy security. “We waste too much in this country,” Allen said. “What we need to do is have diversity of energy supply.” He said that 41 percent of the American trade deficit is because of foreign oil and referred to America as “the Saudi Arabia” of the world for coal. However, he said Americans don’t use this position to its full potential. Allen pushed for using more nuclear energy, solar panels in all college and government buildings and battery plug-in vehicles. He also backed allowing states to explore the possibility of oil and natural gas off of their coasts.
The hot topics of his speech, which lasted about 15 minutes, were the economy, energy policies and the war in Iraq. “What people care about is rejuvenating the economy,” Allen said. Referring to the now-legendary “Joe the Plumber”, Allen said middleclass Americans who own small businesses are the people McCain is fighting for. As for the war, Allen’s words seemed to mirror the Bush administration’s view.
ON THE WEB Check out video from Governor Allen’s visit to Blacksburg yesterday at collegiatetimes.com “We don’t want (our troops) coming home in retreat and defeat,” Allen said. “We want them coming home in honor and victory.” Patty Manthe, chairwoman of the Montgomery County Republican Party, said that the party found out last Friday that Allen would be stopping in Blacksburg. Allen had not previously visited Blacksburg during this election season. Though scheduled to be in town in August for a fundraising dinner, he had to cancel because his mother was ill. Those who came out were glad he could make it this
time around. “I have children and grandchildren and I want to try to leave a better country to them,” Christiansburg resident Cynthia Stone said, noting that she believes McCain can better the country because of his smaller government policies, tax cuts, and pro-life ideals. “The one job the Constitution gives to the President is to protect the people, and he’s very strong on that,” Stone said. She added that the media does not present the whole picture because they are “in the tank for Obama,” so she said McCain supporters have to work harder to get his message out. Eleanor Repp, a 90-year-old from Ashland, Ohio, came out to the event while vacationing with her daughter in Blacksburg. “This election is very important, because we need a change,” Repp said, stating that the Bush administration is failing. “I think McCain will straighten this all out,” Repp said. When asked what he would like to say to the student body, Allen said, “The key for our future in Virginia are the talented and skilled people coming from Virginia Tech … It’s good to see the energy and excitement here, but also it makes you feel good about the future of our
news in brief MARCUS VICK GUILTY OF DUI CHARGES Former Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick pleaded guilty and was convicted of driving under the influence on Monday morning in a Norfolk courtroom. Vick was also convicted on counts of driving on the wrong side of a divided highway and eluding a Police Officer. Vick had one charge of driving on a suspended license dismissed, and one count of reckless driving withdrawn, because it’s not pos-
VICK
sible to be convicted of DUI and reckless driving as a result of the same offense, according to Virginia
law. Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney spokeswoman Amanda Howie said that all five of the misdemeanor charges came as result of a June 13, 2008 incident in Norfolk, in which Vick was arrested after fleeing from a bicycle patrol officer. Vick and Delicia Lenora Cordon, a resident of Miami,
Fla., were observed to be involved in an “altercation” while sitting in a vehicle. A police CORDON o f f i c e r approached the vehicle to see whether assistance was needed, but Vick fled the scene at “a high rate of speed” when the officer asked for his driver’s license. Stopped minutes later, Vick failed a sobriety test and was taken to the Norfolk City Jail. Vick was charged with his five misdemeanors at the jail, according to a Norfolk Police
University assessment claims successful alerts GORDON BLOCK
ct news reporter An assessment from Virginia Tech administration officials asserts an Oct. 8 test of the school’s emergency notification system was a successful one. The test, coordinated by University Relations, was the first for the system of the semester. According to the assessment, which started at 10: 13 a.m., messages were sent to all university students, faculty and staff, and from this 6,729 people responded. Ninety-six percent of those replying confirmed they had received the test message, with 82 percent getting the message within the first 10 minutes. Messages to students were put out through a variety of methods, including e-mail, text messages, phone messages, outdoor sirens, an update on
the university’s Web site, and a message on newly installed OnAlert boards inside general purpose classrooms. Officials at the university were very happy with how the test went. “The test went well. The key is all of the parts, including the sirens, messages, e-mails and other methods, went through,” said Mark Owczarski, university spokesman. Officials noted that using multiple methods helped get the word out quickly. “When you test it in a real life situation, there’s no one way to reach everybody,” Owczarski said. “Because life puts people in different places at different times, you need these different things to reach you where you are.” Also important to the test was the coordination of different forms of reaching students concentrated into one message. Currently, only a handful of officials through University Relations and the
Department news release. Cordon was also taken to the jail and charged with being drunk in public. Vick was sentenced to 12 months in jail, though this sentence was suspended in its entirety. He will face a $250 fine and have his driver’s license suspended for 12 months. Additionally, Vick was assessed fines of $250 for eluding a police officer and $30 for driving on the wrong side of a divided highway. Vick was permanently removed from the Tech football team in 2006, just six days after stomping on the leg of Elvis Dumerville, a Louisville defensive end, in Tech’s Gator Bowl win. —by Caleb Fleming
Members of the Virginia Tech policy group met with families of April 16 victims this weekend, attempting to ease concerns about the events of the day and the actions of the university. Saturday’s meeting for families of the wounded began at 11 a.m. and lasted for just under six hours. Sunday’s meeting for families of those killed began at 2 p.m. and lasted for approximately eight hours. University spokesman and policy group member Larry Hincker estimated that between 40 and 50 family members attended on Saturday, while another group of similar size attended Sunday’s meeting. The Tech policy group is an assembly composed of vice presidents, vice provosts and others who, along with the president, make critical policy decisions in times of urgent need. Hincker said an extensive amount of time spent with the families focused on specific details concerning the actions of the university. “There were lots and lots of questions concerning nuances,” Hincker said. “There are some people that don’t recollect, for instance, if a phone conversation was at 8:40 or 8:45.” Despite this trend in the questions, Hincker said the chain of events did not become any clearer. “I believe that it might have actually been muddled up,” Hincker said. “There is a lot of bad information going out.” Some material published about the meetings added to confusion, Hincker said. Peter Read, who lost his daughter Mary Read, attended Sunday’s meeting. He said some of the timeline still confused families. “It struck us that during the whole time they were trying to decide what statement to make, it didn’t occur to any of them there might be an armed assailant loose on campus,” Read said. Hincker said the meetings were a success in connecting the officials to the families. “The effective part of the meetings was being able to greet, touch and get to know these people on a one-onone basis,” Hincker said. Read said the university avoided taking full responsibility or liability for the events. “There were a lot of questions that they clearly had a formulated answer for,” Read said. University officials gave short presentations, but did not have notes during the question and answer portion of the meetings. Hincker said that the university knew many questions could not be answered adequately. “There continue to be lots of pain and anguish,” Hincker said. “I think that our role, what we tried to do, was to explain what happened, when and why.” Read said the families all came with different goals for the meeting, and many did not hear what they wanted to. “Not everyone got what they were looking for,” Read said. “Some people are more focused on accountability, some people are focused on an apology, some people are more focused on details.” While he could not speak for all the families, Read said some families are looking for a formal apology. “We’ve always looked for a straightforward, heartfelt apology, and we’ve heard parts of it from President Steger and others,” Read said. When the issue was brought up at Sunday’s meeting, Read said Steger would not take the step to making it formal. Read did not push for the firing or reprimand of any officials. Hincker said many apologies were made during the meetings. “It was a very hard meeting,” Hincker said. “It was a very emotional meeting. Many of us apologized individually for ways in which we may have failed them.” Read said time limitations did not strain the Sunday meeting. “They did stay with us the whole time,” Read said. As for future meetings with the families, Hincker said no more group gatherings are planned, but many individuals are working to help the university, and he hopes to further ease concerns of the families. “Hopefully, we can continue to close the communication gap,” Hincker said. Some family members who could not attend, or have further questions, will be communicating with university officials via telephone.
Roanoke hosts Obama
KYLE SWANSON/SPPS
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama works the line during his campaign stop in Roanoke Friday. The Commonwealth’s swing-state status in 2008 has both parties scrambling for votes.
see ALERTS, page two
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