C I T Y C O L L E G E O F S A N F R A N C I S C O ’ S N E W S PA P E R S I N C E 1 9 3 5
Volume 152, Issue 3
TheGuardsman.com
September 21 - October 5, 2011
ON THE INSIDE Mayoral Candidate Page 5 interviews
Chinatown’s Annual Moon Festival Page 7
Gang related killings escalate near Mission campus City College students fear for their safety BETH LABERGE / THE GUARDSMAN
Sports - Football and more Pages 11-12
A memorial on a post at Camp Street, a quiet spot near Guerrero in the Mission District of San Francisco, where the fatal shooting of Dwayne Spruell, also known as ‘Double O,’ took place on Sept. 5, 2011.
By Brian Rinker THE GUARDSMAN
The Mission District is known for hip bars, cafes and boutiques, but in recent weeks the sunny community has been clouded by three fatal shootings serving a bloody reminder that gangs, drugs and violence are a continuing problem, and some City College students are getting caught in the middle.
The end of August and the beginning of September were the two bloodiest weeks of the year for the Mission District with four shootings killing, which left three men dead. The escalation in violence began when Gaspar Puch-Tzek, 29, was on break smoking a cigarette near the intersection of 19th and San Carlos streets by the restaurant Hogs and Rocks where he worked as a cook. Two Latino
men approached and shot PuchTzek, a father of two, in the head. He died later at San Francisco General Hospital. Police said the shooting could be gang related and Puch-Tzek may have been mistaken as a Sureño and targeted by rival gang, Norteño. Mistaken identity and gang violence is a real fear threatening the safety of the whole community.
SF State assigning classes using lottery system By Darren Girard THE GUARDSMAN
Instructors at SF State have resorted to “class lotteries” in response to the newest wave of
fiscal cuts, which have led to fewer classes for even more students in the ever-crowded college. SF State is one of the most popular and crowded of the 23 California State University
campuses, and in recent years 16 percent of faculty have been cut, along with 300 courses, leaving 30,000 students to contend for coveted seats. Cut-throat competition makes for disgruntled
BONNIE EVA CHAN / THE GUARDSMAN
Students cross Malcolm X Plaza on the SFSU campus on Sept. 13, 2011 in San Francisco. Budget cuts and employee layoffs have made it difficult for SFSU students to enroll in many required classes.
students, many of whom may not graduate on time. “I am supposed to graduate at the end of next semester and now I can’t get into the main classes I need for this semester,” said a SF State student who requested anonymity. “I lost the lottery in a much needed class.” He worried about the future of education. “The law makers in Sacramento need to really look at what’s going on here and make cuts elsewhere,” he added. “Our education system is really suffering.” The overwhelming sentiment among SF State students is plain, “It sucks!” Community colleges are pipelines for the educational system ushering the majority of transfer students to 4-year universities like SF State. City College students wanting to transfer to a CSU will now have a harder time getting necessary classes. The lack of available classes and the bad luck of a lottery has many students reconsidering their options. In a recent reader’s survey LOTTERY: Page 2
“It’s a security issue for the whole neighborhood,” said Ismael Chel, 37, who lives, works and attends school in the Mission. “We people who live here all have a tiny fear. It could happen to anyone.” Originally from Yucatan, Mexico, Chel is a City College student and president of the Mayan club on the Mission campus. He is also a cook at a restaurant on 25th and Mission GANGS: Page 4
Tattoos may pose new health risk By Anna Shoriak THE GUARDSMAN
Tattoos have been around for over 5,000 years as a popular, expressive form of art however, according to recent reports, they could come hand in hand with risks we are just becoming aware of. In July of 2011, German scientists from the Department of Dermatology, at the University of Regensburg released the results of lab tests on black tattoo ink, which were rather unsettling. Of the 14 commercially available inks tested, all were found to contain trace amounts of the chemical dubutyl phthalate, an industrial plasticizer added to increase fluidity in printing inks and adhesives. Dubutyl Phthalate is also under suspicion of being an endocrine disruptor, which is known to mimic estrogen, disrupt testosterone, cause severe ADD and other learning disabilities. TATTOOS: Page 3