Little Critters
Fields of Mean Green dreams Find out where to watch UNT’s fall sports teams compete Sports | Page 5
Heat, drought force wildlife into the open Arts & Life | Page 3
News 1,2 Arts & Life 3 Sports 4,5 Photo Story 6 Views 7 Classifieds 8 Games 8
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 Volume 98 | Issue 8
Cloudy 87° / 57°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Group gives opinions on city surplus A LEX M ACON
Senior Staff Writer About 50 Denton residents attended the Denton City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to give their input regarding the city’s proposed 2011-2012 budget plan, where the conversation quickly turned to the implementation of a new bike plan. A diverse group that included cyclists, college students, children and an elderly woman who said she rode her bike 10 miles, voiced their support for the city’s bike plan. Mayor Mark Burroughs read from the comment cards of other Denton residents who said they wanted the city’s surplus money to go toward the bike plan. Devin Taylor, a cyclist and supporter of the bike plan who drew a raucous round of applause after his brief presentation on the plan, suggested the city spend $232,295 of its current surplus to add 20 miles of bike lanes in the next year. “This is a start,” Taylor said. “If we build a mile a year, we’ll never catch up, but if we build 10 a year we’ll get there.” The city’s budget includes a $333,676 surplus for city council initiatives. The surplus was initially estimated at $192,000, but went up because of an increase in the city’s projected sales tax revenue.
See COUNCIL on Page 2
PHOTO BY BRIAN MASCHINO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The remains of a house located at 537 Highway 21, Bastrop, Texas. Over the past week, more than 118,400 acres of land in the Austin area burned from wildfires.
Wildfires continue path of destruction WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS
Four people have been killed and more than 1,000 homes destroyed as fast-moving central Texas wildfires raged Tuesday, the third day of one of the most devastating wildfire outbreaks in Texas history. Severe drought conditions have contributed to the outbreak of about 180 separate fires across the state in the past week, the most severe of which
continued to blaze Tuesday outside the town of Bastrop, 30 miles southwest of Austin. The fire has claimed more than 600 homes and forced the evacuation of several thousand mostly rural residents. Governor Rick Perry cut short a campaign trip to South Carolina on Monday to oversee the disaster response. In what Perry has called the “worst Texas fire season ever,” wildfires have burned more than
3.6 million acres, and Perry has issued disaster proclamations nine times since December. About 1,200 firefighters from local departments and across the country are battling the Texas flames, and more are expected to arrive in the coming days.
To see a photo story of the Texas wildfires and aftermath, see Page 6
A-train ridership grows, students demand more routes CAITLYN JONES Intern
After less than two months of service, Denton County Transportation Authorit y’s A-train seems to have hit its stride during UNT’s first week of classes. Ridership spiked from about 1,100 riders per day before school started to 1,500 last week when hundreds of commuting students between Dallas and Denton used the rail line to travel to and from campus for their first week of classes. “We’re now carrying 1,400 to 1,500 passengers on the trains and another 17,000 on shuttles,” said Dee Leggett, vice president of communications for DCTA. “The trains have been full and we can safely assume that it’s been because of students.” The A-train is a regional rail line that connects Denton to Dallas via DART lines in Carrollton. It follows parallel to Interstate Highway 35E, making stops in Dallas, Denton and Lewisville. The cost of a monthly regional pass is $120. The peak hours of ridership are in the mornings around 7-9 a.m. during the week when
1,100
riders per day before the start of school
1,500
riders per day after the start of school
17,000
shuttle riders per day
$120
for a DCTA monthly regional pass
$8.2
million a year to operate the A-train system
both college students and work commuters fill the trains to their maximum capacity to reach their destinations. While the trains have many shuttles in the morning and evening, some students are unhappy with the lack of multiple mid-day shuttles for commuters who are done with classes early or who have afternoon classes. No northbound
UNT seeks to enhance public perception
ARTS & LIFE:
Alumni premiere comedy cartoon
trains run between 8:36 a.m. and 3:06 p.m., and southbound trains are not in service between 8:51 a.m. and 3:19 p.m. “I currently cannot ride the train due to the hours,” communications junior Delori Brittain said. “I would make it to UNT without difficulty. The issue is that they don’t start running again until three, so I’d be waiting two hours for the train.”
DCTA says it will develop a survey to collect information about travel needs of the riders. Until then, riders will have to work their schedules around the A-train. “I understand DCTA is recouping the cost of the train,” Brittain said. “But the bus running once an hour is not an adequate solution in my eyes.” DCTA spends $8.2 million
PHOTO BY JAMES COREAS/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
a year to operate the A-train system. With the increase in ridership in the past few weeks, the revenue from the project is expected to increase as well. “Although we don’t make profits off of the trains because they’re a public service, we do expect to make up 15 percent of the total cost in revenue,” Leggett said. As of now, DCTA is leasing
trains from DART to use for the A-train system. Permanent trains are being imported from Switzerland through the Gulf of Mexico and shipped up to Denton. “Two trains have already arrived and another is set to arrive today,” Leggett said. “But because we have to run tests on the trains, they won’t be running until spring.”
New ordinance addresses game-day parking
What’s Inside NEWS:
Two men board the A-train on its opening day. Since then, ridership has grown to 1,500 riders a day.
Page 2 Page 3
forward earns SPORTS: Senior conference award
Page 4
McCarney writes VIEWS: Coach open letter to students
Page 7
NICOLE BALDERAS Senior Staff Writer
With this weekend’s first UNT football home game in mind, Denton officials are taking measures to be sure that neighborhoods surrounding UNT’s new Apogee Stadium don’t become a new tailgating spot. Ordinance No. 2011-138 was passed and approved by Denton Mayor Mark Burroughs Aug. 16 to ensure the safety of Denia neighborhood residents. The neighborhood, which borders Apogee Stadium, was thought by some of its residents to be at risk for game-time traffic. “We do have some traffic concerns,” said Denia neighborhood resident Bruce
Chamberlain. “Bonnie Brae is such a skinny road, so we’re willing to go along with this plan.” The ordinance, which can be viewed at cityofdenton.com, will restrict street parking in the neighborhood during stadium event times. Signs indicating times of enforcement will be put up about two hours before stadium events, said Emerson Vorel, director of parks and recreation for the city of Denton. Anyone parked along the street during an event must visibly display a resident or guest permit in his or her vehicle. “It’s been for mu lat ing for severa l months now while we talked with the cit y and w it h residents,” Vorel said.
“This seemed to be the best answer.” Denia residents have been notified of this change, and now it’s up to event attendees to use caution when choosing a place to park. “I don’t know that we’re really anticipating [extra ticketing] because we have sent out notification to residents, so I think most people know about it,” said Denton deputy officer Renz. Because times of enforcement will vary depending on the event, residents a nd v isitors of t he Denia neig hborhood should be vigilant when parking and plan ahead for large events, Vorel said.
See PARKING on Page 2