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Volume 100 | Issue 01
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
PHOTO BY ERIKA LAMBRETONS/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Construction workers Jose Tinajera and Jose Plaza work on the ramp of the pedestrian bridge, which will link the UNT campus to the new Apogee Stadium. The bridge will not be open in time for UNT’s September home games.
Opening of bridge to Apogee Stadium delayed DANIEL BISSELL Intern
The opening of the pedestrian bridge connecting UNT’s main campus to Apogee Stadium has been delayed until at least October. The bridge, originally scheduled to open Sept. 8, will likely still be under construction during UNT football’s two home games in September, said Helen Bailey, director of facilities management and construction. “We do not have a definitive opening date at this time,” Bailey said. The $2.5 million project, which
straddles the highway between North Texas Boulevard and Bonnie Brae Street, began Feb. 29. The university paid $1 million of the bill and donated the adjacent land to the state – the Texas Department of Transportation covered the rest through toll revenue from throughout the region. TxDOT is responsible for the construction of the bridge itself. UNT is responsible for installing lighting and sidewalks, which must be completed before the bridge can officially open to the public. TxDOT shut down Interstate 35E
overnight to install the main structure in July but still has to build railings and complete additional welding, Bailey said. “Once TxDOT finishes the bridge, we have to build sidewalks to connect it,” she said. “We plan to start immediately after the bridge is completed, which will hopefully be in the latter half of September.” The finished bridge will span 354 feet across the interstate and will provide UNT football fans with a safer and quicker alternative to crossing via North Texas Boulevard
or Bonnie Brae Street. It will also relieve some of the notorious game day congestion that occurs on those streets during Mean Green football, Bailey said. Thousands of people are expected to use the bridge on game days. “We’re anticipating two kinds of uses for the bridge: daily use and game days,” Bailey said. “Daily use will probably not exceed a couple hundred, but we could see several thousand people crossing it on game days.” Some students expressed dissat-
isfaction with the bridge’s delayed opening. “I think there could be a more efficient way of building the bridge,” psychology senior Alex Schluter said. “This makes all involved in its construction appear to have a lack of foresight and abundant laziness.” The original scheduled opening date of Sept. 8 would have coincided with UNT’s first home game against Texas Southern, but football fans will have to continue using old crossing routes for now. “I think that building the pedes-
trian bridge was a good idea,” Schluter said, but expressed concern that the delayed opening would decrease student attendance at home games. UNT and TxDOT are pushing ahead to complete the bridge and sidewalks as soon as possible, ideally in time for the Oct. 16 football game against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, which will be nationally broadcast on ESPN2. “The construction of the bridge is nearing completion,” Bailey said. “But construction takes time. We will have it operating as soon as we can.”
UNT prepares to kick campus smoking habit JASON YANG
Senior Staff Writer UNT Denton will start transitioning to a smoke-free campus with a six-month trial period beginning Jan. 1, 2013, university officials said. Student Government Association President Rudy Reynoso said the trial period will be used to inform students about the smoking ban and make adjustments to the university’s official policy, which will go into effect next June. The campus’ smoke-free future was first announced by UNT President V. Lane Rawlins in May. “The single motivation of this ban is so we don’t endanger the students, faculty and staff, and visitors’ health,” Rawlins said. SGA failed to pass a smoking ban referendum during the fall 2011 semester, but the ban gained momentum following university research into the adverse health effects of secondhand smoke and a survey of students and faculty conducted by the university in the spring. The survey polled 528 students and 307 faculty and staff members. The result: 72 percent of students and 78 percent of facult y and staff were in favor of a smoke-free campus. Rawlins said the entire process will be examined by a policy committee made of different
campus groups. Although the committee is still working out logistics and nothing has been made official, Rawlins said the new policy will remove ashtrays from campus and will permit the use of electronic cigarettes, which produce water vapor instead of smoke. Students, faculty and staff will also be allowed to smoke in automobiles on campus if the vehicle’s windows are up. The ban will have no effect on tuition, and UNT will offer smoking-cessation programs to student smokers, including a free starter kit for students trying to kick the habit. Enforcement of the policy will rely on communication and voluntary compliance rather than punishment, Rawlins said. If self-enforcement isn’t found to be effective, the university will revisit the issue. UNT will join more than 700 universities around the U.S. that have banned smoking on campus in the last several years, including the University of Texas and Texas State. In Febr uar y, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas announced a new policy for schools eligible to receive funds, calling for tobacco-free zones around university research buildings. UNT receives about $200,000 a year from the Institute
for prostate cancer research in the Life Sciences Complex. Students opposed to the looming change s for me d a Facebook group, “UNT Students Against a Smoking Ban,” which has about 630 members. The group, which welcomes both smokers and non-smokers, states that its objective isn’t to completely stop the ban but to reach a compromise that could include designated smoking areas. “If they don’t want the hazard of secondhand smoke, why smoke in your car with your windows up,” said mathematics junior Abby Martin, a member of the group. “Not to mention students’ safety just to have a cigarette away from campus.” Reynoso said drafting and executing the policy were two separate and difficult issues. “ With such a dramat ic change, I know a lot of students won’t be happy with the ban,” Reynoso said. “But I look at this more as an investment. It’ll dip initially but the return will be greater.” He said st udents w ith suggestions about the smokefree policy should call SGA at 940-565-3850 or visit Office 320S in the Union.
PHOTO BY JAMES COREAS/VISUALS EDITOR
Denton Mayor Mark Burroughs and City Attorney Anita Burgess pose questions to health professionals in an emergency city council meeting Monday morning at City Hall to discuss aerial spraying for the West Nile Virus.
Denton declines aerial spraying for West Nile BEN PEYTON Staff Writer
The city of Denton will not participate in countywide aerial mosquito spraying to combat a record-setting outbreak of the West Nile Virus, which will begin for at least 26 of Denton County’s municipalities Thursday night. The city council voted 4-1 to opt out of the spraying in an emergency meeting Monday morning, prompted by County Judge Mary Horn’s order last week that called for countywide aerial spraying but
left the decision to participate up to individual cities. Denton County has recorded 128 West Nile cases so far this year, including two deaths, both attributed to elderly residents with previous health conditions. D e nt on C o u nt y He a lt h Depar t ment Dire c tor Bing Burton, who recommended the aerial spraying, said he believed the county had the highest rate of cases in the state. “We can’t prevent this disease, we don’t have a vaccine for it,
there’s nothing we can do to make it go away and when people do get sick with it, medicine doesn’t have a very competent cure for it,” Burton said. Denton began f ighting the virus with vehicle-based ground spraying in targeted neighborhoods with a particularly high incidence rate in late June, said Ken Banks, the city’s environmental director.
See VIRUS on page 2
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