Left: Students enjoy
ASNIC fest's reggae. See Page 7.
fright: Flag football: an intrc1.mural sport. See page 14.
the
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North Idaho Colleges' Student Newspaper • Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Volume 72, Number 2
NIC garden gets helping hand by Uelh Carey Srmilwl Reportt•r Harvest on the NIC Fnnn bcgnn on Wednesday with some unexpected help 1hn1 left 1hc garden·~ carctnkers c,citcd nnd encouraged. Five devclopmem:illy disabled members from 1hc Pathway, To Independence (PTI) program. a bmnch of TES H. showed up to. among other things, dig po1:11oc, nnd p1cl pumpkins. "For us i1·s a re:il treat." ~aid Joelle Storey. one o( the founders of 1hc garden. "Nol only i~ it help for the gnrdcn, bu1 it', getting the community nwnlvcd, which 1, wh,11 we originally wanted." PTI 1eachc, 1hc dcvclopmcmJlly dio:i1bkd everyday hving skills 1hnt will pn:parc 1hom for inclcpcndcncc. The purpo~ of 1hc garden projcc1 w,I\ 10 get lhllm involved b) u, ing 1hc1r hands and 10 mtroduce them 10 the "ms nnd outs" of gnrdcmng. And for ~omc. it wa., 1heir fiN experience gardening. Storey so1d ~he enjoyed sc,:ing the lool , of surpn,c and exci1cmc111 on mnny of the pnnici1m 11, face, when they pullcll a plunt nnd found an onion :u the end of II or d1~overcd lhnt porntoc, grew underground. "We nll ~hnrcd 1hc joy of introducing them to ~omething new and seeing how they embraced the citpcrience," Storey said. The NIC Farm wa.~ founded in Mnrch with the hope that Mudent\ would get involved and enjoy being a part of it. but the lack of panicipa1ion wa.~ discoumging. Storey ~nid. Now ~he l\ excited nboul the prospect of working with the clcvelopmentolly photo by Kibbee Walton disabled, who will continue tu help with the garden. "Sharing their enthusiasm." b how she described wlmt she Green thumb- (Back lrom left) Terry McKenzie and Ron Sullivan from the Pathways to Independence program enjoyed about the citpcricncc. "They ore so innocent ...so tend to the NIC Farm as Rhonda Pickles of the NIC transportation department helps out. appreciative,"
Staff complaints about Hedlund Building continue Uy Beth Corey Seminrl Rtporru The myMery or the Hedlund Vocational Center continues to plngue adminis1m1ors who hnvc decided to allow clnsses to continue in the building despite a lawsuit and protests from Mudents and instructors. "You make the best decisions you can at the time," said Dean of Instruction Jerry Oee. Administrators say a major factor in their decision was the lack of physical evidence from extensive testing 10 back up s1udcms and staffs complaints that the fumes and chemicals from the technical classes in the building were making them sick. Another factor was the high cost of moving the technical programs off campus, said Robert Bennen, NIC president. "Those arc very expensive kinds of spaces," Bennen said. "We wanted to ensure
thnt the programs that nre currently offered would be continued." But Sharon Smith, Leaming Assistance instructor. said she feels a responsibility to warn others nbou1 the building that has cost her $60,000 in doctor bills and years of pain. " I think I have a duty 10 say 10 the students that the Hedlund Building. a1 this time, is not safe," she said. Smith moved in 10 the building in 1989 and within three months began experiencing health problems ranging from massive headaches and 10$$ of sensa1lon in her legs 10 short-tcnn memory loss, she said. Smith now wears a beeper-sized device 18 to 20 hours a day 10 mask lhe pain she feels. "We were like canaries," said Smith. "We were being poisoned in the Hedlund Building." She said she has no doubt that her injuries arc a rcsul\ Qf her time in the tlcdlµ{ld
Building. "My doctors. all of them without exception. say that the injury I' ve suffered is a result or carbon monoxide and other neuro-1oitins in the work place," she said. So why haven't the hundreds of
"We we,e like canaries. We were being poisoned In the Hedlund Bui/ding." - Sharon Smith thousands of dollars NTC has spent in commercial testing revealed anything? "I can't explain it," said Physical Plant Director Roger Brookhoff. Brockhoff has been pan of an ongoing investigation into the cause of the problem. He has been working in pannership with college administrators to hire engineers he labeled as the "best industrial chemical
te.o,ters in the U.S." All the IC\t results, including one for carbon monoitide were ncga11ve, Brockhoff said. "We get ~hrugs back from the 1cs1ing eng.ineer6," ~a1d Norm Gissel. chaim1an of the Board of Trustees. Still. in 1992 and '93. NIC spent nearly $300.000 n:vamping the ventilation system and renovating the building, which Gissel admitted is "improperly designed". He called the idea of having fume-producing machinery on the first noor and classroom~ on the second "silly:· "It's the equivalent of having no elevator in the Empire State Building and the toilets on the top noor." Gissel said. lnspite of the repairs, the complainlS of health problems persisted.
see Hedlund on Page 19