ELESCOPE Friday, March 19, 1993
Palomar Community College, 1140 West Mission Road, San Marcos CA 92069-1487
Volume 46, Number 16
Accident maims student By Mireille Samson
Copy Editor
Palomar student Yvonne Verger
A Palomar student may be blind in one eye and her face permanently altered as a result of being hit by a suspected drunk driver in Escondido on March 13, according to the family. Yvonne Verger, 28, was driving down San Pasqual Road in Escondido early Saturday morning when Escondido resident John HamiltonreportedlysmasbedhisFordF150 truck into Verger's Volkswagon Jetta. ACC<Xding to police reports, Hamilton was driving an estimated 65 mph down the curving road when he went across the center divider and hit V arger' s car bead on.
Vecger and Hamilton were taken to Palomar Hospital in Escondido. Hamilton is being treated f<X a bruised heart and other minor injuries. The family reports that Verger sustained a compound fracture in her right leg, a broken right wrist and nerve damage to her left eye, which may leave her blind. All of the bones in the her face were shattered, shifting its entire left side a quarter of an inch. The fractures reached up into the skull, where a piece of bone was lodged during the crash, said Verger's sister Debby Verger. The right side of her face~ fractures as well, including the jaw, although her teeth are only chipped, Verger said.
V ecger sustained other minor injuries to therestofherbody, whicbcouldhaveworse, said Debby Vecger. "If she hadn't been wearing her seatbelt, she would have been dead for sure," she said. After two extensive surgeries, Verger got a plate put in her left cheek, pins in her left leg and a rod put in her right leg. Verger's neurosurgeon said that be was fairly certain she does not have brain damage, and if she does it will be very minor, only affecting her mem<Xy. According to her father, Bert Verger, Verger came out of a drug-induced coma on Wednesday. • See ACCIDENT, page 12
Students rally against proposed fee hikes By Christine Doan
Staff Writer "This is a warning to Pete Wilson-OOn't get me angry or you'll wake a sleeping giant Have the guts to come up to the front line and see how angry we students are."Thistbreatfromlaid-offGeneral Dynamics employee Mike Burns, came at the open forum rally held March 12 at the Student
Union. The rally was in protest of the fee inaeases the Gov. Wilson proposed for the fall semester. The poposal calls for per unit fees to go to $30 and differential fees to be raised to $104 per unit ACC<Xding to a packet handed out by the Associated Student Government, the tripling of the fee will most likely put an end to all hopes low and middle class students have of a higher education. Enrollment of students with bachelor's degrees has already dropped 50 percent and is expected to go down even more once the increases are in effect. Although the enrollment figures of students holding bachelor's
degrees are looking grim, Presi- tell them to." dent/Superintendent Dr. George Not only did the ASG urge stuBoggs said that students in general dents to get involved, but other were dropping out of school be- studentsspokeoftheneedformore cause of the inaeased fees. involvement on the part of the stu"We've already lost 4 percent dent body. of our students with the 650 per"No one likes to face the truth. cent increase in tuition fees from We all seem to be in our own little fall of 1992-93," he said. world. It's about time we all wake "'They want to rob us," said up and face reality," said student ASG Senator Joseph Coyle about Mario Silva the legislators in Saaamento. "All "We've got to get in there and those legislators up there are in petition with letters and make those make-believe land. They're look- phone calls,"Silva added. ing for us to bail them out They Fifty letters and close to 200 want to bargain our future with participants were the result of last fool's gold." week's rally. ASG senator Tom ASG Senator Jim Coyle spoke · Anderson felt the rally "had a poor with Bill Larry, who is a friend of turnout but got a lot ofletters writWilson, and convinced him to ten (to the legislators)." lobby on behalf of the students. "'The legislators were available "We need to continue to send to hear the phone calls made at the those letters against the fee hike to rally. "Friday is when the legislalettbemkoow tbatwedohave people tors are in the district after being in in government on our side work- Sacramento all week," ASG Presiing to keep fees low," Coyle said. dent Lowell Kepics said. "Education is aright, nota priviIn an effort to get more students lege," said ASG Senator Rebecca involved in speaking out against Faubus. "When are you going to the fee increases, the ASG will get up here and do something? continue to have petition-signing, (The legislators) are not going protestpostcards, letter-writing and to do anything unless you free phone calls to the legislators.
Dominique Mierowski places her letter of protest inw a collection box at a rally on March 13. The letters will be sent to Sacramento.
KKSM shuts down after recent thefts By Salvador Marquez
Open Forum Editor KKSM suspended its broadcasting on March 15 after a series of recent thefts and vandalism to the studio. How long KKSM will be off· the air is yet to be determined. The theft of a$500 sound effects CD library, the music beds (background music) and the key to the news room, as well as vandalism to the equipment checkout records cabinet spurred the voluntary shutdown ofKKSM' s transmission according to Kyla Maney, KKSM program director. The station will be back on the air as soon as the items are returned, said Maney. Broadcasts might also continue if the newsroom locks are changed and a security arrangement is made. "Wethinkit'sonlyoneortwopeople . who have to ruin it for the 55,000 potential listeners we have," said
Maney, citing the approximate number of cable and campus listeners. "I hope the thieves feel guiltier than sin." The annual lip sync contest, slated for March 28, has been rescheduled for April 1. Maney had hoped that KKSM would be on the air in time for the contest. Furnishing the front door with a doorbell system that would alert the radio studio inside - an idea proposed by Maney - would cost between $1,500 to $2,000, according to Mike Ellis, director of Buildings and Grounds. In a conversation he bad with KKSM adviser Rob Branch, Ellis said that Branch felt the station would have to wait until July 1, the beginning of the new fJSCal year, to consider such an expense. The cost of such a project would have been higher than normal because of the March 1 work request deadline, said Ellis. After the deadline, Buildings and Grounds contracts
outside agencies, <X charges overtime for an emergency rush job. At the latest, KKSM would rebroadcast at the beginning of the Fall semester, if all other alternatives fail, said Maney.
The theft was the last straw The decision to halt broadcasting was a result of a Feb. 9 staff meeting. In response to prior thefts, Maney decided thatifanotbertheft was committed, KKSM would shutdown. "In the past, the things that have disappeared are really hot CDs and albums," said Maney. "A banner was stolen on the day of the Natasha's Ghost concert, a banner that was donated to us by a local business." One of the stolen items, the music beds, will be difficult to replace, said Priscilla Borlan, production manager. "Over half of the music beds come straight from the manufacturer," she said. The sound effects library can be par-
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