1998 04 08

Titan

C A L I F O R N I A

INDEX

C alendar P erspectives

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VOLUME 66, ISSUE 27

Daily

S T A T E

The

U N I V E R S I T Y ,

F U L L E R T O N

Perspectives Truth and fiction about the “Happiest Place on Earth.”

See page 3.

W E D N E S D AY

Service vanishes into thin airwaves • By Stephanie Guerra •

W

ireless communication has become the hallmark of the ’90s. Pager retailers and activating companies can be found in practically every strip mall and shopping center. Pagers are practically being given away with sign up and activation as companies try to outdo one another in what has become a fiercely competitive market.

Consumers tend to assume advertisements are honest after repeatedly seeing them in print. But not all companies follow through with the claims stated in their ads. If something looks too good to be true, there is a very good likelihood that it is.

What would it take to persuade the average person to sign up, prepaid, for four years of paging services? How about paying $237.04 up front for a top-of-the-line pager with a lifetime warranty, plus free voicemail and tri-state roaming and a beeper bungee cord holder. That divides down to about 16 cents per day. When the four years are up, the pager is yours to keep. Sound too good to be true?

What a deal! Yeah, right.

EconoPage of Southern California closed eight locations on March 4, leaving its 50,000 customers confused and abandoned.

Customers should have already received pages from other pager retailers informing them that their airtime will be turned off soon.

I was a little bit wary after opening my 1996 Christmas gift from my mother because I thought the pager was bought from one of the small, independent resellers that work out of a cart in the mall. I was relieved to see the logo for EconoPage on the information folder. I assumed they were a well-established company after having seen several of their advertisements in the L.A. Times. I could not have been more wrong.

The pager worked fine for a year and three months. I had even recommended EPSOCAL to friends. But things changed on March 14 when I received a page from a 1-800 number. I was told by a representative from PageNet, the company that sold

At Berkeley, the number of black students admitted as freshmen for the fall dropped from 562 to 191 in a class of 8,034; the number of Hispanics fell from 600 to 166.

At UCLA, the number of black applicants admitted fell from 488 to 209; the number of Hispanics admitted went from 1,497 to 1,001.

Those figures show that the university’s elite campuses had been doing more than just using race as a “plus” factor in close calls at the margin, as the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court Bakke decision permitted.

Candidate vies for AS presidency

n ELECTION: Eric Pathe

announces he will run for the Associated Student post.

By JASON SILVER Daily Titan Staff Writer

JEFF CHONG/Daily Titan

The EconoPage in Brea was one of the company’s eight locations to close when the company apparently went bust March 4. airtime and pagers to EPSOCAL, that my contract with EPSOCAL was null and void because the business had been shut down.

My calls to EconoPage were met with a friendly recording that said a high number of calls were being taken and to call back at another time. A separate customer service line rang without any answer and I was left feeling angry as the possible victim of a scam.

EPSOCAL was only the middle man when it came to selling pagers and airtime.

Like other resellers, EPSOCAL bought its pagers and airtime in bulk from a paging carrier—PageNet in this instance. The paging carriers own the pager numbers, but the manner in which airtime is sold is up to the resellers. Therefore, EPSOCAL had no obligations to explain why multiple year contracts were being sold. PageNet is not the only carrier EPSOCAL had a reseller contract with.

EconoPage v. PageNet

The Daily Titan has been unable to reach EPSOCAL representatives. The Brea store is deserted, but somebody took the responsibility to post up explanations and letters sent to PageNet concerning the (then) possible closing of the businesses.

In a letter sent to PageNet on March 2, Larry Nichols, president and CEO of EPSOCAL, stated that the company had failed to be billed for four months until February 2, when PageNet threatened to disconnect airtime unless $104,195.61 was paid by the end of that day. Other letters from Nichols state that EPSOCAL had been writing to PageNet since February asking for a billing. According to a PageNet spokesperson, EPSOCAL had been paying its monthly bill up until January, when only part of it was paid.

Scott Bertral, PageNet director of corporate communications, said that PageNet

see PAGER/

Sign in the window of EconoPage in Brea: Effective March 4, 1998 all EPSOCAL locations are temporarily closed.

PageNet and PageMart (our paging service providers) are currently attempting to steal our customer base and cancel our contracts. ...EPSOCAL will not ask the consumer to take the risk while we litigate this situation. This is a complex matter. ...If you are an existing customer, we are doing everything possible to protect your service. This is not an isolated case. Currently, PageNet and PageMart are defending several class action law suits for suspending service to customers. The best tools for your protection right now are the courts and public opinion. Since it will be impossible to answer all of your questions, please review the press release displayed on the adjacent windows. ...

UC minority numbers steady post Proposition 209

Sacramento Bee

APRIL 8, 1998

Instead, they had been making race central to admission decisions. That system was unfair—it often gave preferences based on skin color to some well-heeled applicants over others who actually had to overcome greater personal or economic disadvantages. And it was unsustainable in a state where there is increasing diversity.

But the figures also show that much of the problem was largely confined to the top campuses in the system. While the number of blacks accepted at Berkeley went down by two-thirds, systemwide the number of blacks admitted fell by only 17.6

percent, and the Hispanic decline was only 6.9 percent. Such numbers do not support the most dire interpretations issuing from the political world. They don’t signal the end of access by minorities to higher education, or prove the schools have “shortchanged” minority students.

In fact, the number of minority students in the state who are UCeligible has risen sharply in recent years. The problem revealed in last week’s numbers is that the bar at the top UC campuses has been rising almost as fast. At UCLA, for example, the average freshman admitted for the fall had a grade point average

of 4.19, SAT scores of 1,324 and had taken an average of 16.8 honors and advanced placement classes in high school. Berkeley turned away 800 minority applicants with 4.0 GPAs. In their admissions policies, the elite UC campuses today are more like private colleges than the UCs of the last generation.

Regent Ward Connerly describes this as no more than the “academic market correcting itself.” But that’s backward. The racial preferences system thrown out by the regents and Proposition 209 was “the market correcting itself”; the current result, in which admissions were driven

largely by numbers, is the market reality, with a vengeance.

It is not a happy result, particularly for the top campuses. Although the final composition of next fall’s freshman class awaits final decisions about who will go to college where, it’s virtually certain that the minority presence at Berkeley and UC will fall sharply, to the detriment of diversity on both campuses.

That’s a real loss, for them and the future leadership of the state. The old system of preferences could not be sustained in this state, but it is hard to imagine that this system can be either.

Eric Pathe became the second candidate for the Associated Students President election when he announced at the AS Board of Directors meeting Tuesday that he will run against board vice chair Christian Tesoro.

Pathe spoke at the meeting about his three-part platform, which includes proposing to build a sports complex without having students pay for it.

Pathe also said he plans to address the parking issue if elected to office.

“There’s always going to be a parking problem. We want to start talking about it. We need to know what the problems are,” Pathe said in an interview after the Eric Pathe meeting.

“I don’t really have a platform. These are things I want to do, not just things to get me elected,” Pathe said.

Pathe had previously served on the AS Academic Standards Committee and the Academic Renewal Committee in 1996. He was also Inter-Fraternity Council President in 1997.

His running mate for vice-president will be Josh Kurpies, who ran for AS president last spring. He was defeated by three-time president Heith Rothman.

Kurpies had two years of experience in AS, serving on the Statewide Affairs Committee and Titan Student Union Governing Board.

“Eric and I are running because we share many ideas to make this campus a better place for current students,” Kurpies said.

Pathe and Kurpies’ opponents in the election will be Tesoro, currently the vice chair and a representative for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, for AS President and Kristine Buse for vice president. The pair announced their candidacy March 10.

The election will be held on April 22 and 23.

Two other candidates also announced they will run for office for different positions at the meeting.

Jared Brummel will run for Board of Directors representative from the School of Natural Science and Mathematics and Thomas Kim will run for the office of Board of Directors Representative from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Brea Lions give scouts a new home n COMMUNITY: A new cen-

ter for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts is being constructed in Brea.

By JOE FLORKOWSKI Daily Titan Staff Writer

MATT LEWIS/Daily Titan

Renovation on the old Brea civic center has begun to provide a new home for local scouts.

Scouts in Brea are raising money to reconstruct a building that was created before they, or even their parents, were born.

The Brea Lions group, in conjunction with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, are renovating the building to use for a new scouting center.

“It’s the only project in the nation where the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and community Lions are in the process of restoring a historical building,” said

Copyright ©1998, Daily Titan

Bernie Kilcoin, the man in charge of Brea’s Scouthouse Foundation.

The city of Brea is also benefiting from the scout center. Tim O’Donnell, the assistant city manager, negotiated a 50-year lease agreement between the city and the scouts.

“We get the scout center occupied and maintained by a Brea based, nonprofit, youth organization,” O’Donnell said. “We’re really excited about having another community building in Brea.”

He added that Brea is also happy to have a building in the National Registrar of Historic Places functional again.

The new scout center, located on the corner of Date Street and Brea Boulevard, is being built on the remnants of Brea’s old civic center.

The building was first built during the 1920s and contained Brea’s coun-

cil chambers. Currently, the building is empty and is regarded as a historic building in Brea.

At present, the scouts have no center to meet in and will have to wait for almost two more years until the new scout center is completed. The scouts’ first center in Arovista Park was condemned several years ago.

Jan Wingerter, the chair of the Brea Girl Scouts, said that the scout center has been long awaited, especially since the old scout center was only for the Boy Scouts.

“It’s really exciting to see what the building is going to look like and see where the kids are going to meet,” said Wingerter.

Meeting rooms, a kitchen, and a banquet room to hold dinners are among

see DONATION/

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2 n NEWS

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A GUIDE TO WHAT’S HAPPENING

PAGER • from

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never received most of the letters posted. Bertral disputes Nichols’ assertion that EPSOCAL was not being regularly built.

“We went into business in good faith and found out they are not a good company,” Bertral said.

A possible mismanagement of money on EPSOCAL’s part could have resulted when its customers paid up front for services while EPSOCAL paid monthly for customers’ airtime.

It was only by second-hand information that PageNet discovered that EPSOCAL was selling four-year and even lifetime contracts, Bertral said.

PageNet discouraged selling prepaid airtime, but did not have legal authority to regulate EPSOCAL’s customer service policies.

What about my four-year contract?

PageNet owns about 30,000 pager numbers activated through EPSOCAL and is currently converting these customers to PageNet’s airtime. Customers can keep their numbers without interrupting their service through PageNet or another carrier, but PageNet is offering a discounted rate for a prepaid one-year service contract.

A posted letter to EPSOCAL customers at its Brea store said, “PageNet and PageMart are attempting to steal our customer base and cancel our contracts ... this is not an isolated case ... we had no other choice.”

Beyond the notice, EPSOCAL is not offering its customers an expla-

nation, not even a phone number.

One notice suggests that customers seek protection with the courts and public opinion. Nichols’ phone number has been blacked out of the posted letters.

“They left customers high and dry and they’re looking for someone to point the finger at,” Bertral said.

PageNet works with 9,000 resellers.

Bertral said that taking over EPSOCAL’s customers has no benefit to PageNet. “We want our resellers to do well,” he said.

In defense of itself, EPSOCAL posted a news article at its Brea store about PageNet being sued by an Oregon reseller that claimed it was falsely charged for numbers that had been deactivated months prior.

Bertral stated that the Oregon reseller allegations are false. Besides, he said, PageNet is the biggest seller in the country since 1981, so rare instances of lawsuits are inevitable.

“Out of the 9,000 resellers that we deal with, we have had fewer that 10 lawsuits,” he said.

It has been over a month since EPSOCAL shut down, but my pager is still working. I have decided to sign up with PageNet as soon as I stop receiving messages. My EPSOCAL paging service agreement states that my next payment is due January 1, 2001, when my pager airtime agreement would have ended. My original agreement will not be honored, but to compensate for the confusion customers have had to endure, PageNet is offering up to six complimentary months of activation from PageNet as long as customers switch and contract with PageNet for a year.

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Unless implied by the advertising party or otherwise stated, advertising in the Daily Titan is inserted by commercial activities or ventures identified in the advertisements themselves and not by the university. Such printing is not to be construed as written or implied sponsorship, endorsement or investigation of such commercial enterprises.

The mail subscription price is $45 per semester, $65 per year, payable to the Daily Titan, Humanities 211, CSUF, Fullerton, CA 92834.

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April 8, 1998

WEDNESDAY

CALENDAR OF EVENTS The Association for Intercultural Awareness is sponsoring a week of events for the Arab Student Union. A mini bazaar with ethnic food, music, henna tattoos and jewelry will be held today at noon. The Classic Arabic Orchestra “Kan Zaman” by will perform at noon on Thursday. All the activities will be held in the Quad.

PRSSA will have its gen-

DONATION

eral meeting on Thursday at 7 p.m. Keri Gee Barnett, a public relations professional, will speak in the Gabrielino Room of Titan Student Union. Food and drinks will be provided. Call 590-2260 for more information.

The Chamber of Music Recital will feature guest artists and faculty in Little Theatre at 8 p.m. on Thursday. For more

first stage.

The second stage of the plan calls for installing up-walls and carpet• from page 1 ing, painting, and bathrooms to be the rooms planned to be included in installed. However, to complete the new building. The Girl, Boy, and the second stage, the scouts need Cub scouts, as well as the Explorers $175,000.

The entire project is expected to will all be allowed to use the scoutcost $600,000. Supporting the Lions ing center upon its completion. and Scouts are The new scout “It’s the only project in funds provided center will be built the nation where the by the Scouthouse in two stages. The scout center is in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, foundation, which the middle of the and community Lions raised $200,000 for the project. first stage, which is are in the process of T h e c i t y o f expected to be comrestoring a historical B r e a m a t c h e d pleted in five to six building.” funds as part of months.

Bernie Kilcoin, the first stage of In the first stage, Brea Scouthouse the project. The the building is being Foundation county also gave earthquake retrothem $100,000 fitted, because the because the buildalmost 80-year-old ing has historic building did not significance. need the retrofit when it was first The Scouts and Lions have also constructed. A new roof, fire sprinbeen holding fundraisers over the klers, heating and ventilation syspast 10 years to raise money for the tems are also being installed in the

information call 278-2434.

The female version of “The Odd Couple” by Neil Simon will play in the Arena Theatre. Running times: April 10-19 and 1518 at 8 p.m.; April 11 and April 18 also at 2:30 p.m. For more information call 278-3371.

“Wealth Management: Keeping it in the Family” will be presented by the School center. TV auctions have been held for the last three years, bringing in $33,000 for the project.

The money being raised by the scouts to fund the building is not being wasted, either. Due to the lease agreement, the money used by the scouts to fund the reconstruction of the building will count towards the rent the city is charging for use of the building. According to O’Donnell, the scouts will not have to pay rent for at least 20 years.

“If anybody has any contacts and

of Business Administration & Economics and the Family Business Council. The discussion will take place April 14 from 7:30-10:30 a.m. at The Center Club in Costa Mesa. For more information contact Elizabeth Champion at 278-2434.

where materials can be collected, we’re looking for them. We’re also looking for people for their time,” Kilcoin said .

Kilcoin is part of the Scouthouse Foundation and has been a member of the board since 1989. He recently took over coordination of the project after the last member of the foundation left in December of 1997.

“We are just anxious to get stage one of the project completed and get the project finished,” Kilcoin said .

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Perspectives

Wednesday, April 8, 1997

THE SECRET WORLD OF WALT

Was Walt Disney really the Devil? And was he cryogenically frozen to return as the Anti-Christ in the future?

Story and photos by Stephanie Guerra

As a child, Disneyland fascinated me in every way and I really did think of it as another world. It may be just a tourist trap to others consisting of endless lines and screaming children, but it holds a special place in my heart. I recently visited this place of my childhood, hoping that the carefree memories would come flooding back to me. The crowds are bigger and rowdier. The lines are longer. The rides seem shorter.

Captain EO and the Electrical Parade are long gone.

And when did ghouly-looking teenagers decide to roam Tomorrow Land daily?

A lot has changed and I’ll never see it with the same childlike innocence until I take my own kids for their own ride on King Arthur’s Carousel. But with age comes understanding and cynicism, and I have stumbled upon a few unknown facts about this alleged “happiest place on earth.”

I can still see my parents grasping my hands and lifting me up as my legs swing forward, as we walk down Main Street USA. I remember the sticky, swirly lollipops that seemed to end up more on my clothes than in my mouth. My heart and stomach would drop as my knuckles turned white from holding on for dear life through the dips and turns of Space Mountain. Screams of terror and excitement echoing from my ears. With heavy eyelids and tired feet, I would fall asleep on the

Graphic illus-

car ride home wearing a glow-in-the-dark neck-lace and Mouseketeer Ears with my name sewn on back.

All the years of going to Disneyland, I thought I had seen and experienced it all. The parks’ mysterious and secretive reputation finally meant something to me. Are there really secret tunnels underneath us as we walk through New Orleans Square? Was Walt Disney really cryogenically frozen and secretly hidden somewhere inside the park? Millions of people come from all over the world to visit and take snapshots at this park, but I don’t think realize what’s going on right under their noses.

Some secrets are helpful. Mickey Mouse shaped balloons are sold all over the park. In the event that yours should pop, take it back to any balloon master and you shall cheerily be handed a new one. And what about those sneaky people that want to bring a deflated balloon back to the park? Hopefully they’ll take a lesson from any of the rides in Fantasy Land (i.e. Snow White’s Scary Adventures or Peter Pan’s Flight) and realize that evil doings are never rewarded. Ice cream bars, popcorn and churros can also be replaced if dropped or damaged. People in need of quick pick-meups should know that coffee refills are free with the original cup. Visitors from other countries would be happy to know the Disney Shops accept foreign bills that can be traded into U.S.

—see DISNEY pg. 4—

DISNEY

n from page 3 currency, at the current days exchange rate. Neat, huh?

Some secrets are ride oriented.

Take the Matterhorn Bobsleds for example. The track on the side closest to Tomorrow Land is rumored to be bumpier and faster than the track on the side closest to Fantasy Land, although the bobsleds are designed to speed up as more weight is added to them. While rocketing through Space Mountain, a meteor strangely resembling a giant chocolate chip cookie whizzes by amid the twirling stars. While waiting in line for Snow White’s Daring Adventure, touch the brass apple sitting outside the building on a podium. The wicked witch will cackle and thunder will clap.

Some secrets are full of tradition.

Nick Brennen, journalism major and Disneyland cast member, said that each time a new ride replaces an old attraction, a piece of memorabilia from the

old must be placed or hidden in the new.

The giant microscope that shrunk visitors on “Journey Through Inner Space” has a cameo in the Star Tours ride as does George Lucas. Lucas is the man who ducks down behind a desk at the end of the ride. The Eeyore section of the parking lot had to be sacrificed so that the Indiana Jones Adventure ride could be built. In keeping with tradition, an old blue and white Eeyore sign is hidden in the movie room section of the line. It takes a little patience and a good little flashlight to see it though. Standing underneath the film projector and directing the light above the highest scaffold will reveal the sign amid whispers and stares from other line holders.

Some secrets are just downright weird. Avid Disneyland fans are all abuzz about the “hidden Mickeys”, distorted or camouflaged Mickey Mouse shaped heads, that are said to be found on walls, walkways, ceilings, and everything else left to the imagination. While waiting in line for Gadget’s Coaster, I was amazed to stumble upon this infa-

mous shape. A short wall made of stones and mortar observed by the keen eye of an idle, bored line holder will show three perfectly round stones in an inverted triangle. An over active imagination or the possible misuse of hallucinogenic drugs may cause a person to see a Mickey vision in just about anything. Circular shapes are scattered everywhere in Disneyland. Skepticism has always been my fallback, but who is to be the judge?

Some secrets are eyebrow raisers.

Disneyland has always had a rodent problem. Even clean up crews can’t sweep up all the salty popcorn and sugar sprinkled churro pieces. To solve the problem, stray cats were brought in. Dawn Young, former Cal State Fullerton student and Disneyland cast member, said that when litters of kittens are found, some cast members adopt and take them home. The cats in the park are never fed, but learn to fend for themselves, said Young. The rumors of couples having their way together when the mood strikes them are definitely true. Visitors are monitored constantly

the second one steps past the main gate, even during the rides. “The People Mover was known (to Cast Members) as the People Maker,” Brennen said.

Hormone driven romps aren’t exclusive to gutsy teenagers and adventurous married couples, but to Cast Members as well. People have been fired for getting in on behind the curtains of the Country Bear Jamboree. Other popular makeout spots are the boats of the Pirates of the Carribbean and the buggies on the Haunted Mansion. Even the pristine Cinderella from the Electrical Parade was caught with a man riding along the parade under her enormous twinkling

skirt.

Some secrets were whoppers that never turned out to be true. Walt Disney was cremated. He is not in a freezer with fruit juice bars patiently waiting for the best time to rejoin society. Brennen said that Disney’s personal apartment above the firehouse cannot be rented out for wild reckless nights. Nobody has officially died at Disneyland, although bodies taken from Disneyland have been pronounced dead at nearby hospitals.

The singing bust towards the end of the Haunted Mansion ride is rumored to be modeled after Walt, but that might be stretching it a little.

After my strange journey through the secret world of Disneyland, I think of it as one of the most weirdest places on earth. All of these years that I’ve been riding the Matterhorn Bob Sleds and I never knew that there was a half basketball court above me. On my next visit, I’ll try not to go crazy by all the “hidden Mickeys” that my mind will uncontrollably conjure up. I’ll impress my friends and family with all the strange trivia that I know.