Mustang Daily 05-27-09

MUSTANG DAILY TOMORROW: Partly cloudy High 76˚/Low 55˚

CA L I F O R N I A P O LY T E C H N I C S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

Find out who the Cal Poly baseball team will play in the playoffs.

IN SPORTS, 12

Go online to see video of this weekend’s Rise and Run architecture show.

Famous Chicano activist Luis Valdez speaks on campus.

mustangdaily.net

IN ARTS, 6

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Volume LXXIII, Number 152

www.mustangdaily.net

‘Power Wheels guy’ takes senior project to the streets Cassandra J. Carlson and Lauren Rabaino mustang daily

A picture of a student sitting in what appeared to be a children’s Power Wheels vehicle being ticketed by three San Luis Obispo Police Department motorcycles and one University Police Department SUV gained viral popularity

on Twitter last week and was plastered on the front page of the Mustang Daily with a headline that read “Little wheels cause a big deal.”

So what’s the real story behind this fourwheeled spectacle?

It’s more than just a toy. Rashed Talukder, a computer engineering junior, revamped a Power Wheels car as part of the first stages of his senior

lauren rabaino mustang daily

Computer engineering senior Rashed Talukder was ticketed on campus May 19 for driving a modified Power Wheels vehicle in the bike lane.

project.

Talukder was ticketed the afternoon of May 19 at South Perimeter Street for violation of Vehicle Code 21716: Golf Cart Operation.

The state motor vehicle code states that “No person shall operate a golf cart on any highway except in a speed zone of 25 miles per hour or less.”

University Police Chief Bill Watton said Talukder was ticketed for riding on California Boulevard’s bike lane, causing numerous complaints from drivers who couldn’t see the car, which is low to the ground.

“It would scare the hell out of me to be in that thing in a traffic lane,”Watton said. “There’s no way in the world I’d do that with the drivers and the cell phones and all the things going on.”

The California Department of Motor Vehicles Web site defines a golf cart as a “motor vehicle having not less than three wheels in contact with the ground, having an unladen weight less than 1,300 pounds, which is designed to be and is operated at not more than 15 miles per hour and designed to carry golf equipment and not more than two persons, including the driver.”

Although Talukder’s vehicle wasn’t designed to carry golf equipment, San Luis Obispo Police Department and University Police Department officials say the real issue deals with the student’s safety.

“SLOPD was just doing its job,” Talukder said. “They got a lot of calls so they had to respond.”

Taluker said he had no ill intent for his revamped Power Wheels.

Standing at about three feet above the ground, Talukder modified the plastic vehicle to include a solid frame, headlights and taillights, a horn, iPod connection and speakers, 500-watt motor, rubber wheels and an ignition.

In addition to creating an autonomous vehicle for his senior project — which will implement safety sensors for children’s vehicles and potentially full-sized cars — the car is a cheap and green way of getting to school.

“I made this thing for really two reasons. It costs me like 10 cents each day that I drive it,” Talukder said. “And there’s no maintenance. I don’t have to drive my car around, it’s green, I can park it wherever really, it’s really convenient for me, especially with my chronic asthma,” Talukder said.

Another reason Talukder enjoys riding in the car is the response he gets from the campus community.

“It puts smiles on people’s faces. It literally does,” Talukder said. “I go around and I think that’s one of the best things — one of the highs in life where you can do something for someone and not really expect something back in return.”

Before Tuesday’s incident,Talukder was pulled over twice — once by the San Luis Obispo Police Department and once by the California Highway Patrol — and was warned by University Police. He said he was advised to stay on the see Wheels, page 2

UN Security Council condemns N. Korea nuke test Edith M. Lederer associated press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council swiftly condemned North Korea’s nuclear test on Monday as “a clear violation” of a 2006 resolution and said it will start work immediately on another one that could result in new sanctions against the reclusive nation.

Hours after North Korea defiantly conducted its second test, its closest allies China and Russia joined Western powers and representatives from the rest of the world on the council to voice strong opposition to the underground explosion.

After a brief emergency meeting held at Japan’s request, the council demanded that North Korea abide by two previous resolutions, which among other things called for Pyongyang to abandon all nuclear weapons

and return to six-party talks aimed at eliminating its nuclear program.

It also called on all other U.N. member states to abide by sanctions imposed on the North, including embargoes on arms and material that could be used in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and ship searches for banned weapons.

In an AP interview in Copenhagen, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Kimoon deplored the test as a “grave violation” of council resolutions and called on the council in a statement to send “a strong and unified message” aimed at achieving the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and peace and security in the region.

Ban urged the North “to refrain from taking any actions which will deteriorate the situation.”

Leaders in the United States, European Union and Russia also offered quick and pointed criticism. Even

China’s foreign ministry joined the chorus of disapproval, saying it “resolutely opposed” the test.

“North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “North Korea’s behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia.”

In Brussels, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, denounced the test as a flagrant violation of Security Council resolutions.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current Security Council president, made clear in a statement that the council’s condemnation was only an initial response, and that more will follow. He said it was too early to give any specifics.

“The members of the Security Council have decided to start work see Korea, page 2

andy wong associated press

A Chinese paramilitary police officer stands guard in front of North Korean Embassy in Beijing, China. Leaders around the world strongly condemned North Korea’s announcement it conducted a nuclear test.

2

News editor: Rachel Glas; News designer: Omar Sanchez www.mustangdaily.net

Wheels

mustang daily

News

fast.”

“I think it’s ridiculous he got a ticket for it,” said electrical engineering senior Myles Still. “I continued from page 1 mean, it’s a Power Wheels car.”

Talukder wouldn’t say whether he plans to sidewalk, instead of in the bike lane when driving fight the ticket, but he researched vehicle codes the vehicle.

“They couldn’t find anything at the time, law before building the car to try to protect himself and restriction wise, to keep me from driving from receiving one.

“I tried to be civil about it, to around, so they said I should be safe about it,” Talukder said. stay on the sidewalk and pos“When they say that it’s for my sibly wear a helmet,” he said own safety, I find that a little hard about the initial pull-over by to swallow ... I told them that I the San Luis Obispo Police. ordered a flag for it and I was goThe day he was ticketed, ing to put it on as soon as it came Talukder wandered from the in.” sidewalk to the bike lane for the However the flag is not needduration of a block because he ed anymore. couldn’t find a disability ramp Talukder said that the police to get on the curb. told him that his car would be “If you were completely impounded if he drives it again. immobilized just with a man—Rashed Talukder Although he doesn’t intend to powered wheelchair, you’d have computer engineering senior ride his Power Wheels again on to roll back down the hill or campus, the image of possible go back down the hill or go a impoundment is comical to Tablock over and all the way around,”Talukder said. lukder.

“That’s completely unacceptable in my opinion.”

“I actually want to see the tow truck driver as Political science senior Tai Dang said the side- he tows it away,” Talukder said, laughing. “I think walk isn’t the best place for a motor-powered ve- it’d be the funniest thing in the world, but at the hicle to be. same time not funny because I don’t want it im“He shouldn’t be on the sidewalk, that’s for pounded.” pedestrians,” Dang said. “I have the same probWatton verified the possibility of impoundlem with skateboarders, but at least (Talukder) has ments. brakes.”

“If he drives it in traffic, that’s probably exactly Talukder had been using the vehicle — weath- the case (that the car will be impounded),” Water permitting — for the past four months on his ton said. “On campus, as long as he stays on the three-and-a-half mile journey from his home to sidewalk, we’re not going to bother him, as long Cal Poly’s campus. At the advice of University as he’s not blocking the sidewalk or anything like Police Department’s Associate Director Cindy that.”

Campbell, Talukder chained the Power Wheels Watton said he has never seen Power Wheels car to a bike rack on campus. being driven on campus before, but has seen other One student, agriculture systems sophomore vehicles that are sometimes hard to regulate, like Stephen Abertolle, said he’d seen Talukder outside power scooters and motor bicycles.

Kennedy Library and he was never disrupting the “There are so many of them out there now,” peace.

Watton said.“The laws are real strange in that you “He was just cruising,”Abertolle said.“It’s kind have to really look closely to see how it fits and of messed up that he got a ticket. He can’t go that what it fits.”

It puts smiles on people’s faces.

It literally does.

mustangdailynews@gmail.com

Korea continued from page 1

immediately on a Security Council resolution on this matter,” he said.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the 15member council agreed that work on the new resolution will begin Tuesday.

“What we heard today was swift, clear, unequivocal condemnation and opposition to what occurred,” she said.

France’s deputy U.N. ambassador JeanPierre Lacroix said France wants the new resolution to “include new sanctions ... because this behavior must have a cost and a price to pay.”

Japan’s U.N. Ambassador Yukio Takasu, a non-permanent council member, said his country was pleased that the rest of the council agreed there should be a new resolution.

But he noted that sanctions imposed against three North Korean companies after Pyongyang’s missile test in April obviously had no effect.

“So therefore I think we really have to think very carefully what will be an effective way to deal with this kind of behavior,” he said. “We have to do something more, and the question is what is more.”

Churkin was asked whether Russia viewed the nuclear test as more serious than the North’s launch of a missile in April.

“This is a very rare occurrence as you

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

know, and it goes contrary not only to resolutions of the Security Council but also the (Nuclear) Nonproliferation Treaty and the (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty,” he replied. “We are one of the founding fathers — Russia is — of those documents, so we think they’re extremely important in current international relations. So anything which would undermine the regimes of those two treaties is very serious and needs to have a strong response.”

Before the council meeting, the five permanent veto-wielding members of the council — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — met behind closed doors for over an hour with the ambassadors of Japan and South Korea.

North Korea claimed the underground nuclear test Monday that was much larger than one it conducted in 2006, which led to the first U.N. sanctions resolution. Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed an atomic explosion occurred early Monday in northeastern North Korea and estimated that its strength was similar to bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. After the council rebuked Pyongyang for its April 5 rocket liftoff, which many nations saw as a cover for testing its long-range missile technology, North Korea announced it was quitting disarmament talks and restarting its atomic facilities.The six-party talks, which began in 2003, had involved North Korea, South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and the United States.

mustang daily www.mustangdaily.net

Ex-NY Times journalists: We fumbled Watergate tip Jennifer Peltz associated press

The reporter rushed up to his editor, thunderstruck by what the FBI’s acting director had just let him know: The former attorney general — maybe even the president — was complicit in the Watergate break-in two months before.

But The New York Times let the hot tip fall through the cracks, the reporter and editor say after decades of silence about the August 1972 conversation. They say it’s unclear whether the Times pursued information that might have let it beat The Washington Post to the blockbuster story of political espionage, which was described in “All the President’s Men” and helped unravel Richard M. Nixon’s presidency.

“We missed out,” the now-retired editor, Robert H. Phelps, said in an interview Monday, after the Times published a story about the monumental miscue.

Phelps revealed it in “God and the Editor: My Search for Meaning at The New York Times,” a memoir published last month by Syracuse University Press. The former reporter, Robert M. Smith, now a lawyer and mediator in San Francisco, confirmed Phelps’ account.

Smith was headed to law school and in his last day at the Times’ Washington, D.C., bureau when he went to lunch with acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray on Aug. 16, 1972. Smith had cultivated a professional relationship with the FBI chief through writing several stories

about him that year.

As they discussed the intrigue surrounding the June 17 attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate complex, Gray volunteered that former Attorney General John Mitchell was involved, Smith said Monday.

Mitchell had stepped down to run Nixon’s re-election campaign.

Smith said he asked Gray, “’Does it go up higher?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’” Then, Smith said, “I choked and said, ‘The president?’ And he looked me in the eye,” not denying it.

Gray also broached the name of Donald Segretti, an architect of the Nixon campaign’s endeavors to infiltrate and sabotage Democrats, Smith said.

Segretti and Mitchell would eventually go to prison for their roles in the roster of political dirty work that came to be known as Watergate — Segretti for distributing political literature without attribution, Mitchell for conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice.

Segretti wasn’t involved in the Watergate break-in but was associated with an effort to discredit Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Edmund Muskie.

But Segretti’s name hadn’t emerged publicly when Smith hurried back to the Times’ office and told Phelps what he had heard. Nor had Mitchell’s link to Watergate been cemented.

—Associated Press writers Richard Pyle and Adam Goldman contributed to this report.

Wire Editor: Cassandra J. Carlson

News

3

Briefs State

National

International

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A 21-year-old man is dead after being shot at a party organized on the social networking Web site MySpace, officials said.

Chris Curtice, a spokesman for the Fresno County Sheriff ’s office, said the man was one of 300 people gathered at an abandoned property in Fresno County Saturday night.

Authorities were called about a shooting at the scene about 1 a.m.

Sunday morning, Curtice said. The victim, from Selma, Calif., has not been identified.

Curtice said the party, organized through text messages and MySpace, drew people from all over the state.

“There was a DJ, there was five kegs of beer, there were several underage drinkers,” Curtice said. He said some of the attendees were as young as 13 years old.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama avoided a racial controversy on his first Memorial Day in office by sending wreaths to separate memorials for Confederate soldiers and for blacks who fought against them during the Civil War. Last week, a group of about 60 professors petitioned the White House, asking the first black U.S. president to break tradition and not memorialize military members from the Confederacy, the group of Southern states that supported slavery.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Taliban spokesman is urging civilians to return to the main city in Pakistan’s Swat Valley saying militants won’t attack security forces there.

But Muslim Khan refused Monday to call the move an attempt at a cease-fire as he urged residents to return to Mingora.

The army says it has no intention of stopping its battle against militants in the valley despite the apparent overture.

Pakistan’s offensive in Swat has the support of the U.S. Washington wants the Muslim nation to eliminate militant strongholds on its soil.

•••

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Investigators say a suspect in an early morning shooting that left one woman dead in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter might have been photographed by bystanders.

Police are asking for witnesses who used cell phone cameras at the scene to come forward.

Police say several people began fighting in the downtown neighborhood, which is known for its bars and nightlife, at around 2 a.m.

Sunday. One man pulled a gun and fired into the crowd.Lakiesha Mason of San Diego, who was celebrating her 21st birthday, was struck and died at a hospital.

•••

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago resident has died of swine flu, the first death in Illinois and the 12th nationally, from the illness, health authorities said Monday.

Authorities in Mexico, where the swine flu outbreak was identified in April, announced three more deaths, raising its total to 83, and Canada reported its second death.

“With as many cases of H1N1 influenza that have been reported in Illinois, we have been concerned that there would be fatalities,” said Dr. Damon Arnold, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. The state lists 896 confirmed cases of the illness, known both as H1N1 and swine flu.

Before the latest reports, the World Health Organization tallied at least 91 deaths around the globe from more than 12,500 swine flu cases.

•••

BAGHDAD (AP) — American troops on Memorial Day honored their fallen on two battlefields, one war winding down and another ramping up. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military remembered the toll so far on the troops — more than 4,900 dead — with the outcome still unclear.

In Iraq, soldiers and Marines stood solemnly during a playing of Taps at Baghdad’s Camp Victory. They saluted a memorial of a single helmet propped on a rifle beside a pair of boots.

Thousands of miles away, in the Afghan capital of Kabul, soldiers left mementos at a similar memorial for two comrades who recently died.

4

Mustang Daily www.mustangdaily.net

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

News

WORD ON THE STREET

“What object would you put a motor on for on-campus transporation? Why?” “I’ve always wanted to put a motor on a reclining chair or a jacuzzi. That could end (badly) when you stopped though the water would go everywhere.”

-Brian Arnold, history junior

“A comfy chair from the (Unitersity Union). It’s comfortable and I could like hanging out at my favorite spot on campus.”

-Erin Brittain, psychology junior

“My bed because I don’t get enough sleep.”

-Kevin Bernotas, business junior

COMPILED AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY LAUREN RABAINO

5

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Arts and Entertainment Editor: Emilie Egger Arts and Entertainment Designer: Milena Krayzbukh

sex column

Long distance relationships: not for the faint of heart So, your boyfriend is graduating but you’ve still got a few years left at Cal Poly? Your girlfriend is studying abroad this summer?

Your high school sweetheart is still in high school (but totally 18 now, right?). Well friend, now is the time to consider attempting the long-distant relationship.

Not only am I currently doing long distance, but this is the second time I’ve done it with the same person. But don’t think I’m going to be sympathetic to you long-distancers. I think it’s a terrible idea. So here is a list of why my long distance relationship works, but yours won’t:

1. The distance My boyfriend lives in San Jose, an easy three-hour drive from San Luis Obispo. While I can’t exactly give him booty call in the middle of the week, I can easily plan a trip to see him for the weekend. I’m even willing to spend six hours driving to make a day trip to visit if we’re having some sort of relationship emergency. So how far apart will you be from your significant other? When you live further apart, your visits will become less often and more expensive. Most couples try to compensate for this by spending “quality time” with each other during visits, i.e. never leaving the bedroom for the dura-

You’re doin’ it

tion of the visit and calling each other every five minutes for an update while they’re apart. These couples don’t have a lot of friends.

Out-of-state relationship? Good luck with that. Out of country?

Time to rethink your options.

2. The foundation of the relationship I’ve been seeing my boyfriend, off and on, for a little over five years now. The first time we tried long distance it was about 10 months into our relationship, past several relationship landmines: exclusivity, “I love yous” and becoming sexually active. This seems like a no-brainer: make sure your relationship works on its own before throwing distance into the see Relationships, page 6

By Jenna Ray

www.mustangdaily.net Always in color

6

mustang daily

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

arts & Entertainment

www.mustangdaily.net

Legendary Chicano writer and activist speaks at Cal Poly Bridget Veltri mustang daily

History came to Cal Poly Friday night in the form of renowned activist, playwright, author and director Luis Valdez, known to many as the “father of Chicano theater.”

Valdez spoke to the packed audience not about his many awards or achievements, but the simple events that shaped his life while growing up.

“I have always believed that you can turn any negative into a positive,” Valdez said.

In many ways, Valdez’s life is living proof of this statement. In 1940 he was born to migrant worker parents in Delano, Calif. and by 1965 he was marching with Cesar Chavez, founding the theater group El Teatro Campesino and using a flat bed truck as a stage to voice the struggle of Chicano rights.

“For 24 years I have taught Valdez’s works in my classes because he represents a point in history and an important facet of Chicano and American history,” modern languages and literature professor Gloria Velasquez said. “And if we don’t know our history we don’t know ourselves.”

His internationally-known play “Zoot Suit” was the first play to appear on Broadway by a Chicano. The play was eventually made into a motion picture. He also wrote and directed the motion picture “La Bamba.”

You could say that Valdez discovered theater through the art of papier-mâché. His teacher was making a monkey mask out of the material for his school’s production of “Christmas in the Jungle,” which he tried out for. He was cast as a monkey but never set foot on stage, since his family was evicted from the labor camp they were living in and had to move.Valdez was heartbroken, and had what he

courtesy photos

Well-known Chicano writer and activist Luis Valdez came to campus Friday to speak of his experiences and influences.

referred to as a “hole in his soul.” He re-framed that experience and now credits that “hole” as the source of his creativity. He also credits that teacher, who forever influenced the life of a first grader she only taught for 30 days.

“Teachers don’t know what they do for their students,” Valdez said.

As a teacher,Velasquez is trying to do everything she can for her students by bringing people like Valdez to Cal Poly.

“At Cal Poly, underrepresented students need more role models and successful examples,” Velasquez said. “This is just another example of making our campus more diverse.

It is not just for Chicano students. It is for students of all backgrounds who can benefit from this; we learn from each other,” she added.

Debra Valencia-Laver, associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and secretary for the Chicana Latino Faculty Staff Association, was also excited to have Valdez speak.

“We are trying to celebrate Chicano culture and contributions both at the university and in the community,” Valencia-Laver said. “Someone like Luis Valdez is the perfect person to come have because he showcases the important contributions that Chicanos have made to California and the United States in general.”

The event ended with a standing ovation. After speaking,Valdez signed books and posters for audience members waiting in a long line that stretched to the door of Philips Hall.

The event was sponsored by the Chicana Latino Faculty Staff Association, Cal Poly’s College of Liberal Arts, the modern languages and literatures department, ethnic studies department, theatre and dance department, the Division of Student Affairs and the Movimiento Estudiantil Xicana/o de Aztlan.

Relationship continued from page 5

So, your boyfriend is graduating but you’ve still got a few years left at Cal Poly? Your girlfriend is studying abroad this summer?

Your high school sweetheart is still in high school (but totally 18 now, right?). Well friend, now is the time to consider attempting the long-distant relationship.

Not only am I currently doing long distance, but this is the second time I’ve done it with the same person. But don’t think I’m going to be sympathetic to you long-distancers. I think it’s a terrible idea. So here is a list of why my long distance relationship works, but yours won’t: 1. The distance My boyfriend lives in San Jose, an easy three-hour drive from San Luis Obispo. While I can’t exactly give him booty call in the middle of the week, I can easily plan a trip to see him for the weekend. I’m even willing to spend six hours driving to make a day trip to visit if we’re having some sort of relationship emergency. So how far

apart will you be from your significant other? When you live further apart, your visits will become less often and more expensive. Most couples try to compensate for this by spending “quality time” with each other during visits, i.e. never leaving the bedroom for the duration of the visit and calling each other every five minutes for an update while they’re apart. These couples don’t have a lot of friends.

Out-of-state relationship? Good luck with that. Out of country?

Time to rethink your options.

2. The foundation of the relationship I’ve been seeing my boyfriend, off and on, for a little over five years now. The first time we tried long distance it was about 10 months into our relationship, past several relationship landmines: exclusivity, “I love yous” and becoming sexually active. This seems like a no-brainer: make sure your relationship works on its own before throwing distance into the mix. There are already so many other factors working against your new relationship. And don’t fool yourself into trying to make “just dating” work over long distance.

mustang daily The voice of Cal Poly since 1916 Graphic Arts Building, Suite 226 California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 (805) 756-1796 editorial (805) 756-1143 advertising (805) 756-6784 fax mustangdaily@gmail.com e-mail

editors & staff editor in chief Marlize van Romburgh managing editor Giana Magnoli news editor Rachel Glas news designer Omar Sanchez wire editor Cassie Carlson sports editor Scott Silvey sports designer Kate Nickerson online editor Lauren Rabaino arts editor Emilie Egger arts designer Milena Krayzbukh copy editors Alex Kacik, Jennifer Titcomb, Breehan Yohe-Mellor, Megan Hassler,Tim Miller head photographer Kristen Hays photographers Nick Camacho, Patrick Fina, Megan Keating, Matt Fountain layout manager Andrew SantosJohnson advertising coordinator Jessica Lutey business managers Sarah Carbonel, Ian Toner, Brittany Kelley advertising managers Gaby Horta, Ashley Singer, Charlotte Lilley ad designers Daryl Daley, Justin Rodriguez, Andrew Santos-Johnson, Mai-Chi Vu, Jason Cope, John Dixon, Sara Hamling advertising representatives Megan Dilley, Jessica Schroeder, Kacy Shin, Jenny Staskus, Colin Princi, Brittni Kiick, Kristin Coplan, Adam Plachta, Erika Powers, Drew Toney faculty adviser Teresa Allen general manager Paul Bittick

write a letter Mustang Daily reserves the right to edit letters for grammar, profanities and length. Letters, commentaries and cartoons do not represent the views of the Mustang Daily. Please limit length to 250 words. Letters should include the writer’s full name, phone number, major and class standing. Letters must come from a Cal Poly e-mail account. Do not send letters as an attachment. Please send the text in the body of the e-mail.

By e-mail: mustangdailyopinions@gmail.com By mail: Letters to the Editor Building 26, Room 226 Cal Poly, SLO, CA 93407

corrections

The Mustang Daily staff takes pride in publishing a daily newspaper for the Cal Poly campus and the neighboring community. We appreciate your readership and are thankful for your careful reading.

Please send your correction suggestions to mustangdaily@gmail.com.

notices

The Mustang Daily is a “designated public forum.” Student editors have full authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.

The Mustang Daily is a free newspaper; however, the removal of more than one copy of the paper per day is subject to a cost of 50 cents per issue. printed by

University Graphic Systems ugs.calpoly.edu

ugs@calpoly.edu

May 26, 2009 Volume LXXII, No. 152 ©2009 Mustang Daily “If we ever had kids, they’d be little ‘fro kids with big noses.”

opinion/editorial mustang daily

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Editor in chief: Marlize van Romburgh Managing Editor: Giana Magnoli

mustangdaily@gmail.com

www.mustangdaily.net

Vertical farms could supply fresh food year round By the year 2050, nearly 80 percent of the Earth’s population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. On an urban planet, closing resource and energy loops — creating zero-waste systems for meeting the needs of people who live in highly dense cities — floats in front of us, grail-like, as a goal. An estimated one trillion hectares of new land (about 20 percent more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80 percent of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use.

Historically, some 15 percent of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster?

An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting-edge technologies. Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier has generated a fair amount of attention with his concept for “vertical farms”: stacked, self-contained urban biosystems that would — theoretically — supply fresh produce for city residents year round. The New York Times showcased artists’ conceptions of what such farms might look like. Twelve pilot projects are supposedly under consideration, in locations as far-flung as China and Dubai.

The concept has captured the imagination of at least the sliver of the public, who laments the enormous resource demands of our food production system and yearns for something easier on the land, easier on our aquifers, and less demanding of fossil fuels.

Vertical farms seem to promise all that. But first and foremost, a vertical farm must be efficient, cheap to construct and safe to operate. Vertical farms, many stories high, could be situated in the heart of the world’s urban centers. If successfully implemented, they may offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production) and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.

I still need a bunch of convincing that vertical farming can, with the designs offered and technologies currently available, make sense on a grand scale. But it’s a promising idea.

Promising, of course, is different than delivering. Construction requires a lot of energy. Keeping vegetables warm in winter requires a lot of energy.

Recycling water requires a lot of energy. Generating artificial sunlight requires a lot of energy.

In other words, the secret ingredient that makes vertical farms work (assuming they work at all) is boatloads of energy. No one seems to have actually done the math on the monetary and environmental costs of such a scheme, but they would no doubt be considerable.

In its most superficial aspect, the vertical farm is a hot-looking amenity for a progressive city. But its deeper potential is as a tool that might prove invaluable when times get more desperate. Climatecontrolled skyscrapers aren’t as susceptible to crazy weather fluctuations as conventional farms. As the global population struggles to shrink its footprint by congregating in cities, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and devising ways to feed more people without degrading more natural green space, a working farm in the sky wouldn’t be a bad thing to know how to build.

I do think it may be worth investing now in developing an idea that might help to save us when we need it. And I applaud thinkers like Despommier (and Seattle-based Mithun), whose creativity will bring us closer to the solutions we need. It’s also worth considering that what we are building in an urban farm is more than just a showpiece of great design. I hope that, no matter which city accepts the challenge first, executing a wildly imaginative idea like this one should be a project considered with utmost practicality. As the world’s population booms, we need to keep to continue growing and greening our cities. And that means keeping the focus where it belongs: on people. Our cities could be seen as machines for transforming water, biomass and minerals into people and pollution. If we’re serious about building a bright green future, we need to redesign those machines, keeping the people, but bringing the mechanism into a balanced cycle with the Earth. That’s going be a bit challenging.

One thing we can do to increase our odds of success is to understand how our cities grew into the complex systems they now are. Indeed, not understanding what accidents, choices and forces shaped our cities almost guarantees that the new designs, policies, plans and technologies we introduce will either fail or produce monstrous unintended consequences. As Wendell Barry once said, “All good work remembers its past.”

Ben Eckold is a business administration senior, the former president of the Empower Poly Coalition and a Mustang Daily columnist.

8

It is unfortunate such a tragedy has struck our campus. But really who can say that this could not have happened elsewhere on our campus? Many people are quick to point the finger to greek organizations and members. But what about other organizations that also hazing and alcohol abuse? In a national study on hazing (hazingstudy.org) it was found that 74 percent of varsity athletic teams take part in some form of hazing, 73 percent of greek and 64 percent of sport clubs. What has been done to educate them?

Being greek myself, I know that the school has taken steps to help prevent this tragedy from occuring again. When will people realize that hazing and bingedrinking is not a greek issue but a Cal Poly issue and help to stop the tide of students going to Sierra Vista Hospital on any given weekend? Think about when you pass out or “black out” from drinking. Essentially, that is your body telling you to stop drinking. This is anyone’s danger of drinking. Luck in the game of Russian Roulette ran out for the members of SAE and it is sad to see. The justice system is harsh.

These young men already feel the pain and guilt of what happened.

Their lives already ruined and from December on would never be the same. Please take a lesson from Carson’s death, one which does not point to the Greeks but to binge drinking instead: “Less is more and look out for your friends, if your Greek or not, it can happen to you.”

—D Response to “UPDATE: Four SAE members charged in hazing death” Those who say that Carson chose to consume beyond his limit dangerously belittle the severity of hazing. In a “brown bag” event, the pledge’s ability to monitor their alcohol intake is taken away from them because they do not know what they are consuming.

By the time they feel the effect, it is already too late to realize they needed to have stopped. Carson put his trust in his fraternity brothers to be, and their criminal irresponsibility killed him. Hazing of this type intentionally strips people of their power to make their own choices. Suggesting that Carson was somehow responsible for his own death or that he should have made better choices is to me just as harmful as saying that rape victims are somehow responsible and should have made better choices to not have someone rape them. Instead of saying that Carson was the victim of hazing, if these convictions are accurate, it should be said that two men hazed Carson to death.

— Steven Wolf Response to “UPDATE: Four SAE members charged in hazing death”

Mustang Daily

is now accepting applications for next year applications forms at mustangdaily.net all majors welcome! applications due Friday, May 23 email to emilieeegger@gmail.com

section editors

photographers

columnists

web editor and web developer

page designers

e c n a l e fre rs e t i wr

games

Pop Culture Shock Therapy by Doug Bratton

Girls & Sports by Justin Borus and Andrew Feinstein

mustang daily

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Padres

sports Baseball

continued from page 12

continued from page 12

“Offensively and defensively we just got caught in a couple of lapses that could have made the game a little bit easier at the end and didn’t, and they took advantage of it.”

Henry Blanco, who had replaced Hundley, led off the 10th with his second single, then Headley hit a 1-1 pitch from Tony Pena (4-2) some 424 feet off a sign above the swimming pool in left-center.

“It’s just the best feeling in the world,” Hundley said. “You go up there and you get a big hit in a big situation and it ends up being the game winner. There’s nothing better than that.”

Edward Mujica (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory. Heath Bell had a perfect 10th for his 13th save in 13 tries.

Drew Macias had the big blow of the rally, a three-run double to slice the lead to 7-6.

San Diego relievers have allowed one run in the last 33 games.

Arizona’s Chad Qualls blew a save for the second time in 13 opportunities, giving up a leadoff double to pinch hitter Brian Giles, who advanced to third on David Eckstein’s ground out and scored on Scott Hairston’s single to tie it at 7-7.

The Padres’ Adrian Gonzalez hit his 17th homer, a leadoff shot in the fourth.

A grounder through the legs of Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew opened the way for the San Diego rally.

After started Doug Davis left with the bases loaded and one out, reliever Jon Rauch gave up RBI singles to Kevin Kouzmanoff and Henry Blanco. Lefty Clay Zavada, who had yet to give up a hit in two appearances since being called up from Double-A Mobile, got Headley to pop out, but Macias doubled to the right-center gap to make it a one-run game.

“He threw a slider and it didn’t really slide,” Macias said.

“I think it’s a good regional for us,” Lee said. “We’re an offensive team and it’s an offensive ballpark. Arizona State is a good team; they’re as good as anyone in the country. A team like them is there year in and year out.”

Despite having to bus to San Jose and fly to Tempe, Lee was pleased with the team’s regional selection. The Mustangs would not be allowed to travel to Irvine or Fullerton due to those host teams being part of the Big West Conference, so Tempe was the next closest

www.mustangdaily.net

associated press

San Diego Padres’ Chase Headley rounds the bases after a 10th inning homerun in San Diego’s 9-7 victory on Monday.

Hundley and Black were tossed after Cooper ruled that the catcher had come off of home plate after receiving a throw from the first baseman Gonzalez for what would have been a force out with the bases loaded. Hundley then threw to first for what the Padres believed was a double play to end the inning.

“We were thinking home-to-first double play,” Black said. “From what I saw, that’s what I thought we got.

But Eric thought Nick had slid off the plate before he caught the ball.

Nick disagreed with him, and so did I.” The run that crossed the plate on the play made it 7-1.

Chris Snyder’s home run and Davis’ triple on the first two pitches of the inning from Chad Gaudin ignited Arizona’s five-run third.

After the game, Black watched a television replay of him being tossed as Sen. John McCain grinned broadly in the background.

“I’ve never been thrown out in front of a presidential candidate,” Black exclaimed. “I love it.”

Sports designer: Kate Nickerson place to travel.

“It was the logical (regional venue),” Lee said.

“If we continue to make regionals it’s a logical place to send us. It’s probably the best possible scenario for us.”

The regional is a double-elimination format meaning that to advance a team will need to win at least three games to move on.

The winner of the Tempe Regional will play the Clemson Regional champion (Clemson, Tennessee Tech, Oklahoma State and Alabama) June 5-7 or June 6-8 for a trip to the College World Series in Omaha.

The Mustangs hope to follow the blueprint set forth by Fresno

11

State last year.The Bulldogs arrived at the NCAA Regionals unheralded and ran a streak of hot hitting straight to Omaha.

Fresno State would go on to beat Georgia 6-1 in the national championship game.

“Once you get to a four-team regional anything can happen,” Lee said.

“If things fall into place anything can happen — that’s what happened to Fresno State last year…

I think the most important game is that first game. We just need to come out and weather the storm early in the game and be in control ourselves and try to get that first win. Once that happens it seems like everything settles down.”

SPORTS

mustangdaily.net Tuesday, May 26, 2009

sPOrts eDitOr:

Scott Silvey mustangdailysports@gmail.com

MUSTANG DAILY

Scott Silvey mustang daily

Larry Lee’s wait is finally over.

After a number of years in which the Cal Poly baseball team had its bubble burst by the NCAA selection committee, Lee’s team will finally see the postseason for the first time at the Division I level on Friday at 2 p.m. when they travel to the Tempe Regional to face Oral Roberts (31-13).

“I didn’t think we were a bubble team but you just never know,” Lee said. “I know it’s not a Western United States based committee.”

While the committee may not have caught many Cal Poly games this year, it couldn’t ignore the Mustangs solid résumé this year. Cal Poly (37-19) finished in third place in a

THEY’RE IN! After years of close calls, the Cal Poly baseball team finally got its first Division I postseason invite on Monday.

Big West Conference that saw the top two teams, UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton, earn two of the top eight national seeds this year.

The Mustangs weren’t far behind, earning a Top 25 ranking throughout the majority of the season and holding victories over several Top 25 teams including then-No. 3 Rice

REGIONAL

and two victories against defending national champion Fresno State.

Lee said that regardless of how his team performs in this postseason, the Mustangs have taken a huge step forward.

“I think getting to the regional is the important thing,” he said. “No matter what you do it helps out in

every aspect of your program. It breaks down that initial barrier of getting to the playoffs. It gets you accustomed to that and it allows continuing athletes to know what its all about.”

While Cal Poly may feel postseason jitters in their first regional experience, Oral Roberts has become

CHAMPION

#1 Arizona St. (44-12) #4 Kent St. (42-15)

SUPER REGIONAL CHAMPION

#3 Cal Poly (37-19) #2 Miami (FL) (36-20)

#1 Clemson (40-19)

REGI

ONAL

CHA

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

N MPIO

#4 Tennessee Tech (30-22-1)

Cal Poly’s road to the

#3 Oklahoma St. (32-22) #2 Alabama (37-19)

Men’s College World Series KaTe niCKerSon mustang daily

accustomed to it.

The Golden Eagles have made 12 consecutive trips to the NCAA postseason. They defeated South Dakota 6-2 on Saturday in Tulsa, Okla., to win their 12th straight Summit League championship. “(I don’t know) a lot about them,” Lee said. “Pitching is one of their strengths but we’re just collecting our scouting information on them right now.”

The Mustangs will have three full days to prepare for Oral Roberts, but Lee has already made the decision on who is going to start for his team on Friday.

“We’ll throw Radeke on Friday night,” Lee said. “He’s our most consistent pitcher. He’s able to spot his fastball inside and out. He allows you to call a game for him and he competes.”

Radeke (6-1) has become one of the Mustangs best starters late in the season. The freshman has allowed just 18 walks in 71.2 innings this year.

“He’s resilient,” Lee said of Radeke. “We know we can throw him on Friday and he can come back on one day’s rest if we need him to.”

The winner of Cal Poly’s first game will play the winner of the Arizona State (44-12) and Kent State (42-15) contest.The Sun Devils are the No. 5 seed nationally after winning the Pac-10. Kent State defeated Toledo 5-3 on Saturday to capture the Mid-American Conference tournament title.They finished third in the regular season. see Baseball, page 11

Buschini wins final Big West Player of the Week award mustang daily staFF report

NICK CAMACHO MUstaNG daiLY FiLe pHoto

Cal Poly junior second baseman Adam Buschini, shown above, had seven hits last week to claim Big West Player of the Week honors.

Cal Poly junior second basemen Adam Buschini was named Big West Player of the Week after collecting seven hits — including four homeruns in four games last week.

Buschini, who currently has a 15-game hitting streak, raised his team-high batting average to .412 over the weekend — tying the school Division I record set by Scott Kidd in 1997.

Many of Buschini’s hits came in clutch moments including a home run Friday night snapped a 3-3 tie and he also drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning to force in what proved to be the winning run in a 6-5 victory.

He also hit a two-run homer to snap a tie in the eighth inning on Sunday but UC Riverside would rally for three runs in the ninth to claim the victory.

Buschini, who missed the entire 2008 campaign following Tommy John surgery, now has 23 multiplehit games and a team-leading 18 multiple RBI contests this season.

He leads the team in RBI (57), total bases (128), doubles (18), triples (2), homeruns (11) and slugging percentage (.723). He was second to freshman second baseman Matt Jensen’s .493 on base percentage and also had 11 stolen bases in 13 attempts this season.

associated press

Arizona Diamondbacks’ Augie Ojeda, front, up ends San Diego Padres second baseman David Eckstein on a double play attempt on Tuesday.

Headley’s homer help Padres win 10th in a row Bob Baum associated press

PHOENIX — The San Diego Padres were down by six runs with two innings to play. Their manager had been tossed. So had their starting catcher.

Those old road woes seemed to be back.

Then came one big hit after another, capped by Chase Headley’s two-run homer in the 10th, and the Padres won their 10th straight game, beating Arizona 9-7 on Monday.

“It’s not unlike the first couple of weeks of the season,” manager Bud Black said. “We came back from 7-1 in Philadelphia ... We’ve done it before. It’s something we as coaches always remember, to remind our guys that we can do it. If you do it once,

you can do it again.”

San Diego, which snapped an 11game road losing streak, trailed 7-1 before scoring five in the eighth, one in the ninth and two in the 10th.

“It’s been a lot of fun to come to the ballpark these last 10 days,” Headley said. “We come here and we expect to win. It’s not that we come in here and hope to win, we expect to win.We just couldn’t give up today.”

Black and Padres catcher Nick Hundley weren’t around to watch the impressive finish. They were thrown out by home plate umpire Eric Cooper in the bottom of the sixth.

It was a painful loss for an Arizona team just back from a 6-3 road trip.

“We just didn’t find a way to finish the game,” manager A.J. Hinch see Padres, page 11