Today: High: 54, Low: 30 Tuesday: High: 37, Low: 23 Wednesday: High: 41, Low: 24
Daily Egyptian MONDAY
LETTER PAGE 5: Gus Bode says don’t panic, but SIUC may not be open past March.
DECEMBER 14, 2009
VOLUME 95, NO. 73
12 PAGES
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ISAAC SMITH | D AILY E GYPTIAN A railroad worker walks past six Canadian National freight train cars that derailed just north of Carbondale Sunday. Mayor Brad Cole issued a statement saying the train was derailed because of a faulty wheel and caused the accident. Cole said there were no health risks for anyone in the area as there were no chemical spills.
Stile T. Smith DAILY EGYPTIAN STS34@SIU.EDU
A faulty wheel caused a Canadian National freight train to derail in the north part of Carbondale at approximately 1:35 p.m. Sunday, Mayor Brad Cole said. The accident was on U.S. Route 51, just north of city limits. Cole said six of the freight train’s cars derailed in the accident. He said five of the cars were carrying corn or corn meal, while the sixth did carry ethanol. “It poses no threat either for anything in the air or any chance of explosion,” Cole said. Cole said a section of U.S. Route 51 was closed from the time of the derailment until about 8 p.m. and rerouted. No injuries or health risks resulted
from the accident, Cole said. “There is no threat to safety, there is no threat for either vapor or explosions,” Cole said. A voluntary evacuation was offered to residents in the area of the derailment and they set up a location at the Carbondale Civic Center for the residents to go to, Cole said. Cole said the derailment was an accident. “A bad wheel hit a switch and that caused a chain reaction,” Cole said. Cole said he wanted to go beyond what was needed to ensure no injuries occur. “We’re taking every precaution and that’s why we also ordered the voluntary evacuation of the residents across the street just to go one step further than we probably need too, but just to air on the side of safety,” Cole said.
ANTHONY SOUFFLÉ| D AILY E GYPTIAN A railroad worker photographs a Canadian National freight train that derailed Sunday on U.S. Highway 51 north of Carbondale.
!"#$%&&'(')*+$(%,&'-.,/$)0%1/$+23',4$+.5.+/.3 Erin Holcomb DAILY EGYPTIAN EEERIN9@SIU.EDU
Undergraduate Student Government spent a lot of time this semester cleaning up the mess past administrators have made, and now senators say they’re ready to continue serving students better than before. The earlier administration over allocated money to Registered Student Organizations in the spring, leaving the fall administration to try and pick up the pieces. USG President Priciliano Fabian said the rocky start to the semester allowed the group to enhance communication between the executive members and the senators. He said now that the financial situation has been addressed, the members in the future should not have to worry about money woes. “We’re going to make sure that what we have is the correct number so we don’t go over that,” Fabian said. “We want to allow the next administration to have a safe, secure amount to work with.”
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think now that (the senators) have that confidence, next semester is going to run a lot smoother; people are going to be working together more and more. — Priciliano Fabian Undergraduate Student Government President The senators started with $16,000 to distribute to organizations this academic year, $8,000 for each semester. Rhonda Daugherty, chairwoman of the Finance Committee, said all of the money for the fall semester has been given out to organizations, but the group gained an additional $8,000 from transfers for the spring semester from events that were funded but never held. In addition to the now-fixed budget problems, the senators barely — and sometimes did not — meet quorum this semester. Quorum is met when at least two-thirds of the members attend a meeting, allowing them to vote on various bills. Fabian said he is confident meeting quo-
rum will not be a problem in the spring semester thanks to the ambitious nature of the newly elected senators and the devotion of the veteran senators. “I can’t wait to start working with them,” he said. “I think now that (the senators) have that confidence, next semester is going to run a lot smoother; people are going to be working together more and more.” John Kiwala, executive assistant, said he is happy with the increase in senators, but does not think the group should stop its recruiting just yet. His hope is to fill every seat in the senate, Kiwala said. “That’s my main goal, that’s what I’m
going to strive to do,” he said. Kiwala said he encourages students to sit in on the USG meetings so they know where their money is going. “Next semester, we’re going to do a push to get the word out and let students know a little bit about what we’re doing,” he said. Ashley Epps, vice president, said she thinks the most important accomplishment the senators made this semester was getting the word out to students about the Monetary Award Program Grant. “That was the most important thing to us and we accomplished that,” Epps said. “I felt like that was a big thing we did.” The fight for the grant is not over yet, she said, so the senators will try to get even more students together again in the spring semester for another rally. Fabian said he is positive another rally in the spring will continue the funding for the grant, and the help from the USG will be even better than this semester. “This semester was awesome,” Fabian said. “Next semester’s just going to be great; it’s just going to be better.”