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Wednesday, September 16, 2009
News 1, 2 Arts & Life 3 Sports 4 Views 5 Classifieds 6 Games 6
Volume 94 | Issue 12
Stormy 74° / 67°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
UNT restores campus power BY MELISSA BOUGHTON Staff Writer
Students who live in Mozart Square, Honors, Kerr, Maple and Clark halls waited in the dark on Tuesday to have power restored to the buildings. The southeast portion of campus lost power around 6 a.m. and the outage affected buildings used for classes and dorms. Stephen Harper, one of the hall directors at Kerr Hall, said some blown fuses at a substation down the street from the dorm caused the power outage. “We had an equipment failure in one of the underground cedar lines — probably had a short,” Charlie Jackson, the executive director for facilities, said. Power was restored to all the buildings except Matthews, Scoular and Stovall Halls a little before noon, Jackson said. Troy Choate, a communication design freshman, lives at Kerr Hall and was working on a design project when the power went out. “I just kind of went about my business and went to class,” he said. Choate lives on the seventh floor at Kerr Hall and said the stairwells were dark and hard to navigate during the black out. Harper said the hall staff let students know about the outage as soon as they were made aware. “We call the hall directors and the RA’s, and they go and knock on every door to let students know that there is a
power outage,” Harper said of the procedures taken after outages. Classes in the buildings with restored power resumed at 1 p.m. “We apologize for the outage, but equipment failures happen sometimes,” Jackson said. Students can stay updated about power outages by checking www.unt.edu.
The buildings impacted by the outage were: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Matthews Scoular Stovall Clark Crumley Honors Kerr, Maple Mozart Square Gateway Center Willis Library Music Building Music Annex Murchison Performing Arts Center • Fouts Field and all associated buildings (Air Force ROTC, Track and Field and Risk Management Services) • University Services Building • Ave. C Info Booth
Courtesy of UNT
PHOTO BY RYAN BIBB / INTERN
Kinesiology senior Daniel Montgomery and Joy Sullivan, 4 , of Lewisville ISD, practice stretching during a class that teaches kinesiology students how to work with children with disabilities. Joy has sensory issues and hides from large groups.
Students work toward inclusion BY A MBER A RNOLD Senior Staff Writer
Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the sounds of children laughing, balls bouncing and little feet pattering on concrete fill the Physical Education Building. But it’s not just playtime. The children are part of a UNT class called Movement for Special Populations, a required course created for kinesiology majors to gain hands-on training to teach students with disabilities. The class is in its fourth year and isn’t limited to offering help to children with mental and physical disabilities, said Simon Driver, the class professor. Siblings of children with disabilities are also encouraged to attend, Driver said. Kimberly Williams, a mother and special needs advocate, said bringing both of her children has not only helped her son, who is severely mentally disabled, but has also helped her daughter to be more sensitive to other children with special needs. Williams’ 11-year-old son, Colin, is severely mentally disabled, and her daughter,
Peyton, 9, has no physical or mental disabilities. The children have attended for three years. “I do this program because it helps the students here learn to work with [special] needs kids,” Williams said. “I want good physical education teachers coming into our schools, and this is a good way to help.” Most physical education teachers in the public school district do not put kids with special needs high on their list, Driver said. This leads to most of them being left out of activities or P.E. class altogether, because teachers don’t know how to integrate children with disabilities into normal activities, he said. Driver said he hopes the class and program will help kinesiology students involve kids with special needs when they become teachers or coaches. The class also differs from traditional classes in that the students’ complete attention is required, said Kelley Irwin, a kinesiology graduate student and teaching assistant. “It’s a huge deal for the univer-
“They have to be able to befriend these kids to work with them.”
-Kelley Irwin Kinesiology graduate student and teaching assistant
sity students here because they have to apply everything they’ve been learning for they past few years. They don’t just take a test,” she said. “They have to be able to befriend these kids to work with them.” For the first hour of class, students learn about different teaching approaches and methods of learning. Afterward, they pair up with their teaching assistant and professor, who guide them while they teach the children. Students are also required to create a lesson plan for each class that incorporates different activities meant to improve certain skills, Driver said. Lauren Goudie, a kinesiology junior, works with three other UNT students to teach their group of three children. Goudie said she hopes to become a coach and a teacher
in the future and is aware children with special needs could be in any or all of her classes, so she sees this program as training for the future. “Children work at different paces whether or not they’re special needs kids or just have motor skill problems,” she said. “This program teaches us how to use the same game and teach different levels of kids to involve everyone.” When the program began four years ago, it involved roughly 10 children. But through word-ofmouth, it now includes 50 children, ages 3- to 12-years old. “I love doing this. I think it’s a great experience for my students,” Driver said. “Any time faculty can include service learning, it really enhances the educational component of any class and provides a much more rounded learning experience.”
Fry Street lot remains untouched by developer BY CHRIS SPEIGHT Senior Staff Writer
Ever y day, Denton residents walk down Fry Street and see bars, fast food venues and empty lots. For now and the near future, those lots will remain vacant. Other than the newly established Public House at 125 Ave. A, development on Fry Street is at a standstill. In 2008, a drive-thru CVS Pharmacy was proposed for the space. However, the city council did not approve a special-use permit required for the drivethru because of community disapproval, said Linda Ratliff, the director of economic development for Denton. “There was a lot of community input to the council of not wanting to drive through there and it not being safe,” Ratliff said. The property The Tomato occupied is owned by United Equities.
United Equities is a realestate, development and leasing firm that owns at least 300 million square feet of property in Texas. The properties are offices, office warehouses and retail shopping centers, said Tim Sandifer of the acquisitions, development and retail leasing departments at United Equities. Sandifer said CVS pulled out of the development deal because it requires all of its stores to have a drive-thru pharmacy. To make its money, Sandifer said Equities leases out the square footage it owns. “We had a development that we thought would be in demand,” he said. “It’s all contingent on having leases with tenants.” Sandifer said that leasers are more cautious now and not expanding as aggressively as they had. “It’s just not t he rig ht climate,” he said.
Sandifer said he would love to see people start leasing more on Fry Street to accommodate an ever-expanding student population. Mike Sutton, owner of Big Mike’s Coffee House at 1306 W. Hickory St., said he’d like to see more student-friendly social places developed and fewer fast food places. “I’d like to see a lot more independents come back down to Fry Street and get the air revitalized,” Sutton said. “You don’t see it happening because the landlord down here wants a lot of money for the rent.” Because of rent prices, Sutton said he feels it is practically impossible to have small retail stores come back to Fry Street. “They would just have to have so much money,” he said. Sutton said he hopes to have his coffee shop open in several weeks. Rick Reid, owner of the Garage, said he has not heard
PHOTO BY MELISSA BOUGHTON / PHOTOGRAPHER
Danh Nguyen, a design junior, walks past the empty lot on the corner of Fry and Hickory streets. of any businesses moving onto vacant properties. “I know with the way the economy is right now, it’s not going to happen anytime soon,” he said. “I mean nobody is going
to loan for something like that. I don’t see anybody with the next three to five years getting what they want done.”
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