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MHCC slugger faces possible season-ending injury
dvocate Mt. Hood Community College Gresham, Oregon
Sports p. 4
www.advocate-online.net
april 2, 2010
Volume 45, Issue 22
College closure helped avoid major danger Brett Stanley The Advocate
It was several gallons of water that led to the shutdown of the power supply Monday on MHCC’s Gresham campus, which resulted in a school closure Tuesday and which could have led to a “major catastrophic event,” college officials said this week. The leakage was discovered early Monday and resulted in a 5 p.m. closure. The campus was evacuated and all classes and services were cancelled for Tuesday. Water leaked into conduits that house the main underground power lines and that led directly into the main transformer and caused electrical arching to occur “between the bus bar and glastic supports,” according to Richard Byers, director of facilities management, and Russ Johnson, associate director of facilities management. “It would have caused a flash-over,” Byers said Tuesday. “There would have been a lot of heat, a lot of fire, a lot of damage. It would have been a major catastrophic event.” “We don’t know how the water got into the conduits,” said Byers. Johnson said Tuesday, “It’s still a mystery.” Over a period of almost 24 hours — Monday evening to Tuesday afternoon — repairs were made to the main power supply, preventing a larger systemic failure of the electrical system. As of press time Thursday, the full extent of the impact to MHCC services was not known, according to several sources in the administration and other MHCC departments. Temporary repairs were made to the main power supply Tuesday, and the college announced about 5 p.m. that all activities would resume Wednesday. An outage will be scheduled in the near future so that permanent repairs can be made, Byers said.
Byers said the scheduled outage will take place whenever the impact to MHCC will be the least. “We’ll have to schedule that shutdown for when it has the least effect on college operations,” he said. The cost of repairs is also unknown. “Estimates for permanent repairs are not known at this time,” said JoAnn Zahn, vice president of administrative services. Other sources also did not know how much repairs to MHCC’s power supply would cost as of press time. “We don’t have any idea what it’s going to cost,” said Byers. Despite the power outage, computer services maintained operations throughout the closure. The move of computer services from their old location to their new one, where Multnomah Community Television had been located, is what allowed the main college computer servers to stay in operation, according to Mike Callaghan, manager of infrastructure technology services. “The reason we moved was exactly because of what happened on Monday,” said Callaghan. “The power goes out on campus, the generators kick on, and everything in that room stays up.” According to Callaghan, computer services had completed moving the college servers the previous Friday, days before the power outage. “Did we plan to have a power outage the day after we moved everything? No, but I can sleep easier now that it all worked,” said Callaghan. Monday’s emergency campus closure at 5 p.m. was caused over fears of an explosion of the chemical conductors that regulate and maintain power to the main campus, according to Byers. Johnson originally found the problem Monday morning, “As soon as Russ showed it to me, we knew it was going to be serious,” said Byers. The main power lines coming into the school were shut down by PGE shortly after 5 p.m. Monday and power was not restored until 4:26 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 24 hours after
electricity was shut off. The repairs to the electrical supply were made as a “three-way” effort by PGE, MHCC and EC Electric,during the 24-hour outage, according to Johnson and Byers.
Light-hearted sculptor brings his work to the Visual Arts Gallery A&E Page 6
Photos by Chelsea Van Baalen/The Advocate
Pieces of Daiken Asakawa’s work will be on display in the Visual Arts Gallery until April 29.
"It would have caused a flashover. There would have been a lot of heat, a lot of fire, a lot of damage. It would have been a major catastrophic event." Richard Byers, director of facilities managment
ASG president: Application deadline around the corner Jordan Tichenor The Advocate
Deadline for turning in applications to run for Associated Student Government president is April 12. Those looking to run must be taking at least six credits and have an accumulative GPA of 2.5. Applicants must also submit a elections petition form to the elections committee, along with a certificate of scholastic eligibility verified by the Office of Admissions and Records and a minimum of 200 signatures of support from current enrolled students. Those interested in running should see Meadow McWhorter in the College Center to obtain an election packet. Campaigning will begin April 26, with debates for the candidates on April 28 and April 29. Voting will be online and begins May 3 and ends May 6, with the winner announced May 8 at the Spring Dinner Dance. Asked about what advice he would give to those considering running, current ASG President Bradley Best said, “Anybody that is thinking about doing it, do it, because you don’t know if you’ll ever get a chance to run for president again.” Vice President Bethany Peterman said the most important thing is to “have fun.” Best said, “Get ready for the biggest ride of your life.”
MHCC District board chair says restoring college's emergency fund is top priority
Index
News p. 3
Opinion
Vicki Hammond moves work into the Fireplace Gallery A&E p. 6
Track & Field team prepares for Shotwill Invite at Puget Sound CC Music p. 5
All-female jazz group performs tribute for Women's Herstory Music p. 7
p. 2
News
p. 3, 8
Sports
p. 4-5
A&E
p. 6
Music
p. 7