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Thumbs tap away as texting celebrates 20th
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INDOOR SMOKE CHOKES FULLERTON BARS
After 20 years of development, texting has become a global standard in interpersonal communication JONATHAN WINSLOW Daily Titan
Twenty years ago Monday, the very first text message was sent from a computer the size of a file cabinet to a five-pound brick that passed for a mobile phone. Technology has come a long way since Dec. 3, 1992, when British engineer Neil Papworth sent a message that said “Merry Christmas” to Richard Jarvis, an executive at Vodafone. What was once a massive accomplishment in communications technology now occurs almost constantly; today, millions of people around the world are texting, not just engineers and executives. The Orange County Register reports that 8.6 trillion text messages were sent this year alone, which generated about $231 billion in revenue. The rise of texting can be attributed to a great number of things. The convenience of sending a short message can be more appealing to many people in certain situations than picking up the phone and initiating a full-on conversation. Texting is easier for Lekhapriya Kumar, 21, a biotechnology major at Cal State Fullerton, who uses text messaging to keep in touch with her family. “I’m an international student—I have friends back home, so that’s how I keep in contact with them, rather than just calling them,” she said. Convenience is not the only thing that can be attributed to the widespread popularity that texting has enjoyed in recent years. Another advantage that texting has over placing phone calls is that it can come in handy during emergencies, where phone calls are either too time consuming or too dangerous. SEE MOBILE, 2
CAMPUS | Philanthropy
Students host fundraising events for those in need
Business students hope to raise awareness and funds for local alcohol and drug abuse rehabilitation programs Monday and Wednesday on campus DOMINIQUE ROCKER Daily Titan
Cal State Fullerton students, faculty and staff have the opportunity this week to participate in events aimed at assisting patients recover from alcohol or drug abuse through rehabilitation programs. The two-day awareness and blood drive event is hosted in part by the work of four CSUF business students. The first day of the event, Monday, is aimed to raise awareness for Operation Rehab, a non-profit organization founded three years ago by President Steve Connally. Connally describes Operation Rehab as an organization that “raises funding to pay for quality in-patient alcohol or drug rehabilitation for addicts who can’t afford it on their own, which most people (in that situation) can’t.” The Kogi food truck will be parked in Lot R, between the Titan Student Union and the State College Parking Structure Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Operation Rehab will set up a booth with free candy, a donation box and brochures with information about their organization. Titan Radio will also be on site to play music for the participants. Students can also sign up for the Blood Drive taking place on Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. For this event, Operation Rehab partnered with Blood for Missions, whose bloodmobile will be parked outside of the Kinesiology and Health Science building. Every blood donor, Blood for Missions will donate $20 to Operation Rehab, said Leah Espinoza, a sophomore business major. She is working on this event as a group project with three other students in their honors Business Writing class. SEE DONATIONS, 3 CONTACT US AT DTNEWSDESK@GMAIL.COM
ROBERT HUSKEY / Daily Titan
A man smokes his cigar in 8Eightyeight cigar shop where smoking laws have become more and more hazy from its status as a bar and cigar.
Smoke clouds laws Cigarette smoke found seeping into downtown Fullerton bars and restaurants
DANIEL HERNANDEZ
SMOKE SIGNALS:
Daily Titan
Unfiltered hazes of smoke from abandoned cigarette butts curl through an open window into a bar, slipping through the cracks in the wall of labor codes that govern smoking at restaurants and bars in downtown Fullerton’s locally famous night scene. The labor law in California with smoking in places of employment stipulates as of 1998, smoking is prohibited in bars and taverns, yet establishments have found ways to circumvent the law, allowing its patrons to smoke at the bar. Back Alley Bar & Grill can usually be found with the aroma of burnt tobacco due to the indoor patio with a garage-like opening to the outside area which acts like a patio. But it connects to the bar through an opening in the wall where ashtrays wait for smokers. To the casual observer, it is unclear whether the space is a patio or a hallway. The general manager maintains the room is a patio and says the bar is in compliance with California Labor Code 6404.5, which states places of employment are not to allow smoking indoors at their establishments. “It’s pretty ingrained in everybody now that that’s the way it is, so we don’t really get complaints,” said Back Alley Bar and Grill general manager Chris Presta about the indoor covered patio at the bar that allows smoking. “I think they like that because they can still smoke, and if the weather is like it is today, they could come inside. They can be covered and still smoke and have a good time,” he said. In 1995, when California first adopted the labor law that prohibits smoking at places of employment, the tobacco industry was under heat for hiding the
Number of annual U.S. tobacco-related deaths (2000-2004)
49.9k
(secondhand only deaths)
0
443k
(total deaths directly attributed to the use of tobacco, including secondhand smoke)
100k
200k
Deaths
300k
400k
500k
SOURCE: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION From 2000 to 2004, tobacco products accounted for almost half a million deaths in the United States.
addictive effect of nicotine in cigarettes. The public seemed ready for changes in the law, accepting that there are harmful effects of cigarette smoke. California was the first state in the country to pass a law that acknowledges the harmful effects from secondhand smoke. The state passed an indoor-smoking prohibition restriction for restaurants. Bars and taverns were given four years to prepare for the execution of the law, as the state was also waiting to see if some air vent strong enough to expel cigarette smoke from a building would be invented. But in 1998, bars and taverns crumbled under the restrictions and were forced to comply. “I’m not a cigarette smoker … but the government shouldn’t dictate what you could do or can’t do with your business,” Presta said, whose father was a smoker and died from lung cancer. Not all bars initially followed the law, and one bar in Fullerton decided to challenge it in court.
Lucky John’s in Fullerton admitted to violating the smoking law and was cited in January 2000 by the Fullerton Police Department, according to the Los Angeles Times. Initially in June 2001, Lucky John’s won a court appeal to the Orange County Superior Court, arguing that the California law was unconstitutional. But the same court later overruled its own verdict and forced Lucky John’s to comply with the California law. The studies about the harmful effects from secondhand smoke have not changed since the law passed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports “secondhand smoke exposure causes an estimated 3,400 lung cancer deaths annually among adult nonsmokers in the United States,” and nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their lung cancer risk by 20 to 30 percent. SEE SMOKE, 3
CAMPUS | Holiday donations
Camp Titan Toy Drive lacking gift donations
The annual event provides presents to roughly 50 underprivileged children ERINN GROTEFEND Daily Titan
Camp Titan is hosting their annual Camp Titan Toy Drive where Christmas gifts are donated to underprivileged children in Orange County. Students, faculty, staff and friends are encouraged to participate in this meaningful program. Unwrapped toys and monetary donations are being collected at the Titan
Student Union (TSU) Information and Services Desk. Wednesday is the last day to donate gifts for the toy drive. Ray Edmondson, Camp Titan codirector of staff management, said the turnout this year has been extremely poor. “We have about half of the toys that we did at this time last year, and there’s only a week until the holiday party,” said Edmondson. Kids that take part in Camp Titan are from group homes or other disadvantaged backgrounds. If it was not for the toy drive, many of them would not have a presents dur-
ing this Christmas season. Susan Bolter, Camp Titan co-director of staff management, worked with the event last year and considered it a great success. Last year the event had about 50 children that received at least 10 gifts each. But this year the event has received a low response from donors. “We will be lucky if each kid is able to walk away with one gift,” said Bolter. The children chosen to participate in the toy drive are those who were served by Camp Titan over the summer. These children are specifically recruited to camp due to having a disad-
vantaged background. “The children who attend Camp Titan are truly amazing and all deserve to be given a Christmas,” Bolter said. “We really need the community as a whole to work together to help make this happen.” Edmondson has taken part in previous Titan Toy Drives and considers it a great experience. He added that providing gifts to the children is lifting a burden on their families that would otherwise struggle to provide for their child. SEE TOY DRIVE, 5