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Frank Turner plays at House of Blues Flatland BMX Rider comes to CSUF - Watch Terry Adams demonstrate his flatland skills on campus.
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SPACE SHUTTLE LANDS IN LOS ANGELES AFTER CALIFORNIA CIRCUIT
Endeavour adorns the ‘spacious skies’
ROBERT HUSKEY / Daily Titan
After a scenic tour around California, including flyovers of San Francisco and Sacramento, the space shuttle Endeavour finally came to rest at Los Angeles International Airport Friday. Carried by a Boeing 747 and escorted by two fighter jets, Endeavour flew low past several Southern California landmarks packed with spectators, including the Griffith Park Observatory and Disneyland. The air show halted traffic on the 105 Freeway as motorists stopped completely to watch Endeavour land. The shuttle will remain at LAX until Oct. 12, when it will begin its trek across city streets to its final destination, the California Science Center, just south of Downtown Los Angeles. SEE MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 3
LOCAL | Placentia’s money
CAMPUS | BMX flatland
Famous BMX pro turns riding into fine art
Even with changes, Placentia still faces financial problems Failed projects and debt add to the small city’s grim economic outlook JAZMIN SANCHEZ Daily Titan
Number One Rider Award recipient Terry Adams visits campus Friday as part of Southern California tour DAVID HOOD Daily Titan
Gold medalist and BMX flatland extraordinaire Terry Adams visited Cal State Fullerton in a campus tour sponsored by Red Bull to get the personal brand of Terry Adams as a professional extreme sports athlete and to meet students who are interested in (or impressed with) his sport. BMX flatland is described by Adams as the more elegant side of BMX. There are no ramps and no rails, just the rider and his bike. “It’s breakdancing on a bike almost,” said Adams, who recently celebrated his 29th birthday. “It’s more of the art side of BMX and I’ve been doing that since I was 12.” He started his bike-dancing waltz when he was 12, but his passion for BMX was kindled about two years earlier, when he began racing and doing basic jumps off ramps. Later when he discovered flatland, he said, he never looked back. Since 2002, Adams has appeared at four X Games competitions and won a gold medal in 2005. In 2005 and 2008, he won the Number One Rider Award (NORA) in flatland, BMX’s most prestigious award.
CARA SEO / Daily Titan
Terry Adams, a BMX flatland expert, shows off his skills outside McCarthy Hall on Friday.
“It was a good way to show off his sport,” said Red Bull CSUF student brand manager Kendall Unbehand, who was impressed with Adams’ performance. “He made the BMX tricks look super easy, which I think was the most impressive thing.” Unbehand said it is very rare for an athlete to promote not only the brand, but themselves as well. She said that Adams is an ideal person to market because he is passionate about both the Red Bull brand and his sport. Adams said that his campus tour is not meant to
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be an organized show, but more of a way for him to “pedal around and do his thing.” Students, he said, are encouraged to approach him to watch, ask questions, and meet him. “It’s really cool because it’s not something you’d normally see on campus,” Adams said. “What’s cool—the students who do walk up or who do hear about me being here is different from a traditional sports athlete.” SEE BMX, 3
Placentia, Fullerton’s neighbor to the east, may finally be feeling the burden of past financial troubles. City Administrator Troy Butzlaff told the Orange County Register the city of Placentia is collectively working hard to recover from years of deficit-spending. The city spent $23.2 million between 2010 and 2011 and had a negative fund balance of about $294,000, according to a recent audit. Fortunately for Placentia, the city spent less than it took in last year which resulted in a saving of surplus funds, Butzlaff said. The city has set aside $500,000 in an emergency account—that amount, however, makes up only 2 percent of what the city usually spends in one year. Until the economy improves, Placentia will have to improve general fund balances, Butzlaff told the Register. “We are going to have razor-thin general fund reserves, and we have to be careful not to incur unanticipated costs,” he said.
Placentia has been largely affected financially by its police department. The Register reported that the Placentia Police Officers Association sued the city in 2011 because the city was in violation of the police contract, which involves the use of part-time officers and officer raises. Experts said Placentia pays its police department roughly $217 per resident of the city—an estimated $11.1 million each year. Outsourcing with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department could save the city of Placentia a chunk of change, but Mayor Jeremy Yamaguchi, a Cal State Fullerton alumnus, is not interested in the switch. “Having control over our own police department, and the community policing it does, is more valuable to us than what we might get by getting a bid from the sheriff’s department,” Yamaguchi told the Register. “It’s not just a cash-flow issue. All the factors need to be taken into account.” Placentia resident Jason Grenon agreed with Yamaguchi. “The problem with using the sherriff’s department (for outsourcing) is they have such a big territory that they don’t police your area as well,” said Grenon. “If you were going to try to save money at all you would try to maybe share someone else’s fire department.” SEE PLACENTIA, 2