DAILY LOBO new mexico
Pilgrim prayers see page 2
April 25, 2011
monday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
GPSA elects chair after re-voting twice O’Laughlin wins; some members skip out of final vote by Kallie Red-Horse kallie69@unm.edu
Junfu Han / Daily Lobo Senior pastor Skip Heitzig of Calvary of Albuquerque delivered his sermon during the church’s annual Easter sunrise service Sunday. More than 20,000 people attended the service at University Stadium.
Easter service fills empty seats by Kevin Forte
kforte@unm.edu How do you beat UNM’s average football game attendance from 2010? Have an Easter bash at Lobo Stadium. Calvary of Albuquerque held its annual Easter service at Lobo Stadium Sunday. An estimated 22,000 people attended, Calvary Pastor Justin Marbury said. On average, 20,188 attended each of the Lobo football team’s first six home games, according to ESPN. com, and an average of 17,715 people attended each of the team’s last three games. Nancy Baldwin, who has attended
Easter services at Lobo Stadium for the last four years, said attendance jumped this year. “From last year to this year, there’s a huge difference,” she said. “I sat right here last year. Those bleachers over there, I guess that’s how they know there was over 20,000 people here.” Calvary has held the event for 1520 years, Pastor Brian Nixon said. He said last year’s attendance topped 18,000 and the previous year’s 15,000. “I think generally, we do view this as a community event — inviting the community together for the sole reason to celebrate the resurrection of Christ,” Nixon said. “This is the one
area where you could put down denominational lines. … We’re here for the single purpose, for the historical fact that Jesus rose from the dead, and we’re here to proclaim that.” This year, Jars of Clay, a Grammywinning Christian pop band, performed at the event. The band’s keyboardist, Chris Lowell, said performing at a worship service of this magnitude is different than performing at other concerts. “It’s a different thing to be leading worship because it’s a real posture of humility, and you have leadership at the same time,” he said. “It’s just a little different vibe for us, but I think we try to approach it with real humility...”
GPSA has a new council chair, Megan O’Laughlin. It was a tight race between candidates Shannon Crowley, Victor Lopez and O’Laughlin. Council members voted three times before yielding results at the April 23 meeting. The Council decided to cast a re-vote after the first ballot count had a tie between Lopez and O’Laughlin, but some members left the meeting before the second vote. The votes should reflect the active members in the organizations, representative Rachael Sydlowski-Sewards said, and those who left are not actively participating. “I think it is unfair that so many of us left the meeting,” she said. “We are all adults in this room. We don’t take on any responsibility without being able to fulfill it. Walking out after voting is showing you don’t value this time commitment.” Representatives Jessica Carlisle and Japji Hundal said they would prefer current council chair Megan McRobert make a tie-breaking vote. McRobert said she would be comfortable doing so, if the council approved. “I think it is a bit presumptuous of us to assume that because we are able to be here every Saturday that our votes count more,” Carlisle said. “I think it makes perfect sense that the tiebreaker would be in Megan’s hands.” The re-vote yielded another tie, O’Laughlin and Lopez each receiving 14 votes and Crowley with 10. The council then held a written vote between the front-runners, and O’Laughlin won the vote 19-17.
Representative Michael Verrilli said he thought the re-voting process was fair, because those regularly involved in GPSA had the opportunity to determine its future leader. “I think I did see a few people come in, cast a vote and then take off that I had never seen before,” he said. “It is the voice of the people who are taking the time to be here consistently — they are the ones who are sticking around today.”
“We are all adults in this room — we don’t take on any responsibility without being able to fulfill it.” ~Rachael Sydlowski-Sewards GPSA Representative O’Laughlin is an Anderson School of Management representative seeking her master’s degree in accounting. In her candidate statement, O’Laughlin said she would focus on assisting the legislative process by creating a unified, efficient and accessible forum. “In life, I have given my time and talents to serve organizations which foster community growth,” she said. “I’m committed to building a stronger and effective council by engaging underserved departments and promoting greater collaboration with external organizations.”
City: Housing homeless saves public money by Chelsea Erven cerven@unm.edu
Data compiled by the city finds housing some of Albuquerque’s homeless is cheaper than leaving them on the streets. Mayor Richard Berry’s Heading Home initiative aims to house 75 of the city’s “most vulnerable” homeless, but the initiative’s primary concern is to save money, said Chris Ramirez, a spokesman for Berry. Ramirez said vulnerability was determined with both need and cost in mind. “This model surveys the entire homeless community, and through a vulnerability index, determines who are the most needy and costly to the public sector,” he said. Berry launched the initiative in early January. It surveyed hundreds of homeless and selected the 75 “most vulnerable” to be placed in city-funded housing. Ramirez said the initiative aims to defray the economic impact of homelessness by reducing public dollars spent on hospitalizations, ER visits,
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 115
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jail time and calls for public safety service. “We believe these types of public expenditures go down when people have a safe home to live in,” he said. The most expensive person surveyed, who was also considered one of the 75 “most vulnerable,” cost the city more than $100,000 last year. The individual reported 30 inpatient hospitalizations and 120 emergency room visits. Albuquerque Fire Department firefighter Jose Gomez said the economic impact of homelessness is “huge.” “The economic impact is significant, just in fuel wasted going to pick them up,” he said. Last year, the Albuquerque Fire Department responded to more than 3,000 “down-and-out” calls from homeless people suffering from drug or alcohol addiction, and Gomez said those calls account for nearly 80 percent of his station’s calls. Another fireman, Derrick Ross, said responding to a high volume of “down-and-out” calls limits the number of other calls AFD can respond to.
see Homeless page 3
Dylan Smith / Daily Lobo A homeless man holds the day’s earnings as he sleeps on a bench outside the UNM Law School. Mayor Richard Berry’s initiative, Heading Home, gives housing to 75 of Albuquerque’s homeless and, in doing so, saves thousands of taxpayer dollars.
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