The
Fort Lewis College News Magazine
Issue 56
DURANGO
HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES
IDENTITY
THEFT AVALANCHE
DANGER AND MORE... March 2014 FREE
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Carter Solomon
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Anthony Martin
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REPORTING
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Breaking News: Avalanche Danger: How to Prepare for and Avoid Backcountry Slides
Dear Readers,
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Story by Sean Summers
Campus Living Growth in Sciences Brings New Facility to Campus
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Story by Remi Majeski
COVER Durango Housing Opportunities
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Story by Taylor Ferraro
Privacy
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How Money Can Disappear Through Identity Theft
Story by Sean Summers
Green Real Food Serves as a Solution for Real Problems
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Story by Emma Vaughn
Entertainment Music Review and Indy on the Street
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I want to say thank you to Andrew Mangiona for giving me the opportunity to become involved in the video production department of the Indy. I was a photographer my first time at the Indy, and it was satisfying, but I knew I wanted to do something more. I just didn’t know what exactly. The first time I stepped into the video production room, I knew that I had found my future profession. Because of Andrew, I was able to become the editor of that department. Thank you, Haylee Knippel, who is currently in Ireland. She was not only helpful but made Andrew and I laugh every day, and I am very excited for her to come back next fall. I want to say thank you to Ayla Quinn. The first time I met Ayla I was a little intimidated, but as my involvement in the Indy has grown, I have had the opportunity to know her, and she is and has been beyond helpful to me and the video production department. I want to say thank you to Leslie Blood, who enrolled me into the Indy, and without her, I would never have been a part of this great class. The video production portion of the Indy, Fort Fuel News, has been growing and changing since its creation. I’m happy to say that our department is consistently producing videos and new ideas, and I am excited to see where this department is headed. So if there is anybody looking for something new and exciting, join the video production department of the Indy. Who knows? You might find your future profession like I did. Just ask for the James Franco look-a-like, and I’ll make sure your experience with the Indy will be as satisfying as mine is. Though I’m not graduating this semester, I already know that I will miss this class and all of its members. And who knows what the future holds? But, in this moment in my life, I am happy and I love what I’m doing. To quote Chevy Chase, one of my favorite actors, from of one of my favorite films “Caddyshack”-- “I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball. So with that being said, thank you everybody involved in the Indy and most of all thank you, the reader.
From the Editor’s Desk
CONTENTS
Until next time, you stay classy Fort Lewis. Anthony Martin
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Breaking News
Avalanche Danger:
How to Prepare for and Avoid
Backcountry S lide s Story by Sean Summers
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Photos by Jonathan Helvoigt
Design by Graeme Johnston
Colorado is known for large amounts of snowfall, which can lead to avalanche danger.
olorado is notorious for its unstable snow conditions, and the unseasonably warm weather Southwest Colorado is experiencing makes the slopes more likely to react. Colorado leads the country in avalanche deaths on average, Tim Thomas, an instructor of adventure education at Fort Lewis College, said. Prime conditions for an avalanche begin with early season snowfall, Mitch Carrier, a master ski patrolman at Durango Mountain Resort, said. This is because of the characteristic type of snowpack Colorado gets, Thomas said. Colorado receives a continental snowpack, whereas more westerly areas get a maritime snowpack, he said. Continental snowpack is more dry than maritime snowpack, which makes it more slide prone, he said. The nature of the snowpack, combined with the freezing and thawing that the early season snowfall undergoes, makes Colorado’s snow more likely to slide, he said. Colorado often times gets snowfall in the high altitude backcountry beginning in October or November, Carrier said. This snowfall remains stagnant without much more activity for several weeks, he said. The warm weather that the area still experiences during fall days melts the high country snow, and the cold nights refreeze the snow, Thomas said. The freezing and thawing of early season snow changes the
composition of the snowpack, breaking down the structure of the snow crystals, he said. Before the repeated cycle of freezing and thawing, the snow crystals are firm and bond to one another in a form known as rounds, he said. These crystals bond well and create a firm foundation for other snowfall to build on, making it less likely that an avalanche will occur, he said. After the snow undergoes several freeze and thaw cycles, the crystals change into a facet form, he said. Thomas said these crystals become less bondable and thereby less stable. When new snow falls on facet snowpack, it is on a far less stable foundation than on snowpack, which is made up of rounds, he said. When the weather has been warm during the day and cold at night, it primes the backcountry for avalanche conditions, he said. Thomas said most avalanches occur on slopes that range from 30 to 45 degrees in angle. This presents a problem as most skiing, both backcountry and in controlled terrain like resorts, takes place in that range, Carrier said. The San Juan Mountains cover an area about equal in size to the European Alps, and within that area there are over 100 slide zones where avalanches regularly occur, Thomas said. Ski resorts run operations to minimize the risk of slides occurring, Carrier said. When snowfall is likely, the ski patrol team at Durango
Mountain Resort prepares to cut snow on the slopes most likely to have snow slides, he said. Teams of three patrollers begin to scour the mountain after a storm yielding a foot or more of snow, in an attempt to get unstable snowpacks to slide before the public is allowed access to the slopes, he said. Carrier said, the teams start on the front side of the mountain, and they focus on the hills that are most likely to have a slide. The team begins at the top of the slope. One person descends the hill while the other two remain at the top to observe the activity, he said. The first person cuts across the hill while descending, pressuring the snow to break loose and slide down the slope, and then exits into a pre-designated safe zone, he said. The second person of the team goes down the slope to the point where the first person cleared, repeating the process to clear more of the hill, he said. The third person continues down the slope to where the second person left off and finishes the process, he said. Carrier said the snow cutting teams focus on the front slope first and then progress to the slopes on the backside of the mountain, he said. The Durango Mountain Resort patrol staff is prepared to perform cutting operations in the morning if they expect a foot or more of snow over night, he said. In that case, the patrol team arrives in the early morning and begins their cutting operation, he said. The probability of a slide, in-bounds or outside of Durango Mountain Resort territory, is very dependent on the weather, Carrier said. This year, the Durango Mountain Resort Patrol staff has only had to perform cutting once, he said. Other ski resorts, such as Copper Mountain, use explosives to dislodge loose slow and create controlled slides, he said. The majority of avalanches that involve humans being buried or otherwise injured are triggered by the people involved, Thomas said. When traveling in the backcountry during the winter, there are several key things people must do to prepare and be safe, he said. A major part of safety in avalanche terrain is communication, he said. It is crucial that the group has a common goal and that everyone sticks to that goal unless the group decides as a whole to change it, he said. Thomas said education is also a necessity for backcountry skiing and snowboarding. People who travel in the backcountry must know what conditions to look out for, conditions that will make an avalanche more likely, he said. Such factors include knowing what terrain is safe to travel on, what the snow conditions are like and having the correct safety equipment, he said.
Three Essentials for Backcountry Travel There are three essential pieces of gear that each person must have if they are traveling in the backcountry during winter, Carrier said. Each person must have an avalanche transceiver, he said. An avalanche transceiver sends a signal to the other transceivers in the vicinity. If a person is caught in a slide, the other members of the party use their transceivers to locate the person as quickly as possible, he said. In addition to a transceiver, anyone traveling in the backcountry must have an avalanche shovel. A shovel allows the other people in the party to uncover a person buried in a slide, he said. Carrier said another piece of equipment needed for backcountry skiing and snowboarding is an avalanche probe, which is a long collapsible pole which is used to locate a buried person once their location is known. More important than having these pieces of gear is knowing how to use them properly and efficiently, he said. “It’s one thing to have the gear,” he said. “It’s another thing to know how to use it.” Educational classes are available to anyone through associations like the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education, he said. Additional pieces of gear which backcountry riders may use include float bags, which act as flotation devices to help a person caught in a slide to stay on the surface, and respiratory systems, which allow a person buried in a slide a supply of breathable air, he said. While these relatively new technologies provide an additional level of safety, they do not make the wearer invincible, said Josh Kling, the owner and lead guide at Kling Mountain Guides in Durango. The added protection allows for additional safety which can help in the case of an avalanche, Kling said. Kling compared the additional technologies to having an airbag in a car. While it will not guarantee your safety, it’s a nice addition which increases your chances of making it out of a bad situation. Having extra technologies like float bags and respiratory systems does not seem to encourage dangerous practices in the users for thinking the technologies make danger nonexistent, he said. “We require all of our guides to wear a float bag when in the backcountry,” Kling said. The three things which are required to set an avalanche into motion are the correct snow conditions, the right terrain and a trigger, he said. If you remove one of those aspects, an avalanche will not occur, he said.
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Campus Living
Growth in Sciences Brings New Facility to Campus Story By Remi Majeski
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Photo by Andrea Araiza
he geosciences, physics and engineering departments at Fort Lewis College are waiting on approval for construction of a new building that will satisfy their modern requirements and provide updated facilities. The proposed construction project for the geosciences, physics and engineering building will provide a new home for the geosciences, physics and engineering departments as well as facilities that will match their modern equipment and growing student numbers. The building has been in the works for some years now, with the design already finished, but construction has yet to start because of the wait for state funding. “We received funding from the state of Colorado to design and started working with an architecture firm in the summer of 2009,” Maureen Brandon, the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, said. “If we get funding, we are hoping to be in construction mode this summer,” Michele Peterson, the director of budgets, said. Peterson said the demolition and construction is planned to take place in May. “It will probably be completed within two years, in the summer of 2016,” she said. Peterson said if construction of the new geosciences, physics, and engineering building is approved, then only the far west portion of Berndt Hall would be demolished. “The plan is to tear down the portion of Berndt Hall where biology used to be housed,” she said. “It is where the Math Assistance Center, STEM Cubed offices, and the physics and engineering offices are located,” she said. Peterson said, the plan would be to dig down to have a basement and then build up three stories from there. Based off of these plans, if FLC receives funding from the state to start construction, they will still have to raise funds for a portion of it. “The overall budget is $32 million dollars,” Peterson said. The total funds coming from the State is $28 million, and FLC will have to raise another $4.2 million. Peterson said there was a program which received funding in 2009 where design work was done but the program has been on hold until state funding is received. In order to get funding from the state for construction of academic buildings, requests have to be put in, and then those requests have to be justified based on how many students are in the programs and why the current square footage is too small, Brandon said.
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Graphic by Julia Volzke “This is a very political process,” she said. Multiple committees have to review the requests received from all state institutions in Colorado, including FLC, she said. “They prioritize all the requests, and they send it to the Joint Budget Committee, which prepares it for preparation for voting on by the state legislature,” Brandon said. There is however a waitlist for state institutions to get construction funding based on priority level. “We get in line all the time, and we don’t always get funded,” Brandon said. “The state hasn’t had a lot of construction money over the last few years,” she said. While the college has liked to update many of its buildings, it is a competition between the institutions and the available funding from the state, she said. There is hope, however, that funding will come soon. Brandon said the Joint Budget Committee has the geosciences, physics, and engineering building positioned on the priority list for state funded construction projects. The decision to fund the construction will be made in mid to late March, she said. If the funding is approved, then construction will begin, providing the new building with updated facilities that will be able to properly house the modern equipment the geosciences and the physics and engineering departments have. The department will have several new up to date laboratories, enough space to add in the equipment the labs already have and two large general use classrooms for students in all departments, Brandon said. “One is a 50 seat and one is an 80 seat classroom,” Brandon said. The architects have been told that students are in need of places to be when they are not in class, so there will be several study spaces, she said. “Every time they have a nook somewhere, they build that into a gathering space for students to study,” she said. “The departments have also asked for student study rooms,” she said. The portions of these department facilities in Berndt Hall were built in 1956 and are in need of an update, she said. “The infrastructure like the electrical and plumbing is not designed for modern science equipment,” she said. “We’ve also grown so much in those areas that that size of
The Enginerring department and Geoscience department wil be undergoing expansion in the future.
the current building is not accommodating for the number of students we have,” Brandon said. “Both programs are growing, and we’re reaching the boundaries of our limits of capacities for classrooms and the ability to have a space for labs,” David Gonzales, the chair of the Department of Geosciences, said. As the departments grow they are starting to feel a few more of the pains of space limitations, Gonzales said. “We’re trying to get some new equipment to use in classes, teaching, and research, and we’re finding we don’t have a lot of space to put those instruments and other equipment,” he said. “In the three programs we have which are physics, engineering physics, and engineering, we have grown by over a hundred students a year for the last two years,” Ryan Haaland, chair of the Department of Physics and Engineering, said. Haaland said there are around 275 students total in the three engineering programs. According to Haaland, the departments share one lab room for up to four classes at a time. “We have new equipment that we’ve received for our engineering labs that we have to juggle around because we don’t have enough lab pace to set them in a permanent position, and we’re having a huge growth in enrollments, so we’re trying to run more and more students through a fixed set of space,” he said. One of the reasons the physics and engineering department has experienced so much growth is the new Bachelor of Science and Engineering Program. “We started a new Bachelor of Science and Engineering Program in 2010-2011,” Brandon said. Brandon said, the departments conducted research and talked with students who transferred from FLC. “Our question was ‘If we had a bachelor’s, would you stay?’” she said. Since then, Brandon said, they worked with Admissions to track the number of requests received from prospective students who were interested in engineering programs. “We made a prediction that a bachelor’s degree in engineering would attract students to the institution, and our predictions ac-
tually turned out to be too low,” she said. “We got more students than we thought.” But, with this increase comes a need for space and equipment. “There’s a real demand in this region for that kind of program, which is another reason this building was put at the top of Fort Lewis’ list of construction projects because our response to the bachelor’s degree has been so overwhelming,” Brandon said. “It’s something we want to continue and support in the best way,” she said. Before the new Bachelor of Science and Engineering Program, FLC had been a transfer program for students interested in pursuing this degree. “Students come here for the first two years of the engineering program, and then we helped them transfer to another school to finish,” she said. “In order to receive a bachelor’s in engineering, students had to transfer,” she said. Brandon said, the department saw several great students who had to leave to finish their degree, although they had no desire to leave FLC. Aside from providing new facilities and more space for the geosciences and physics and engineering departments, this new building will hopefully attract more students to the campus. “Normally in higher education, a new facility attracts students,” Brandon said. “When the biology building was complete, we had about a 10 or 15 percent increase in students interested in biology,” she said. While it is hard to say that this is directly related to the facility, it is a common observation, she said. “You have state of the art equipment, and that’s what we need to give our students the best education,” she said. Working in a new facility, professors have new equipment needed in order to deliver a quality program, she said. “That’s really satisfying when you’re trying to make due with facilities that aren’t optimal. It’s a lot more work. You have to figure out what to work around, and that’s something we won’t have to do once we have a new building,” she said. Brandon said she hopes the faculty and students will be happier. There is also hope that the new building will help increase funding for more equipment for the departments. “In many of the federal grants applications, you have to show the funding agencies you have the space to put equipment in and the infrastructure to support it,” Haaland said. By doing so, this will also help FLC become more competitive for grant funding because FLC has been denied funding before because of lack of space, he said.
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Cover Story
Durango Housing Opportunities Housing in Durango is limited, especially to college students.
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Story by Taylor Ferraro
Design by Graeme Johnston
tudent housing in Durango presents challenges that students have to consider before deciding where to live for the school year. Things to take into consideration are accessibility, convenience, availability, affordability, safety, space and privacy. Housing options for students are available on campus as well as off campus.
Campus Housing
Fort Lewis College is currently accepting housing applications for both summer 2014 and the 2014-2015 academic year, Julie Love, director of Student Housing and Conference Services, said. The residence halls and apartments on the FLC campus are designed to house 1572 students, she said. In the fall term, there were 1521 residents living on campus. This spring there are 1381 residents, she said. Love said, both FLC enrollment and occupancy on campus decrease in the spring term each year because of students graduating and studying abroad. “This past fall, we housed every student who wanted campus housing,” she said. “We could house approximately 150 more students if we converted some spaces to hold more than the current designation,” she said. Love said, this would mean turning some of the single rooms into doubles, double rooms into triples, and repurposing rooms that are now designated as lounges as bedrooms. “FLC has a larger quantity of student housing than many other schools our size,” she said. FLC requires all first time freshman students to live on campus for at least two academic semesters, unless they meet one of the exemptions. The exemptions are if they live with parents or guardians within a 60-mile radius of the campus, are 20 years of age or older, have previously lived in a residential school for at least a year, have prior military service, are married, or are a parent, she said. Love said students also have the option to request their roommate. “If they apply for housing by the middle of summer and have the same type of accommodation requested by their potential roommate, then they will almost always get the roommate they have requested,” she said. It is only the late applicants that the Student Housing staff has more difficulty honoring the roommate requests, she said.
Off-Campus Housing
The average amount of rent that students will pay in Durango is between $400 and $500 per month if the student has roommates, Mariann MenorLewis, owner of Action Property Management, said. There is a huge demand for housing in Durango, Lewis said.
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Photo by Hana Mohsin
“A lot of students have trouble finding housing because owners have had a bad experience in the past or they know somebody who has had a bad experience, and they do not want to take the risk,” Dawn Wright, real estate broker for Durango Property Management, said. “Renting a property to anyone includes the risk of damage to your property that you may or may not be compensated for.” There are often parameters that the owners of the property will give to the property manager, Wright said. Some of these parameters may be no students, no smoking, or no pets, she said. The owner also decides whether to rent out the property for a year or on a month to month basis, she said. Property owners can say students are not allowed to live on certain properties because students are not a protected class under the state fair housing law, she said. “We are hired by the owner of the property,” she said. “We work for them and have their best interest, but we do have to offer fair and honest dealings to any tenant.” Wright said the owner of the property will set all of the parameters and will ask the property manager for certain guidelines, particularly for rental rates. “We like students. They are a big part of our market, and we want them to be happy,” Lewis said. “We are willing to go the extra mile if that is what they need.” The city ordinance allows for no more than five unrelated people to live under the same roof, within city limits, Wright said. It is different on a case to case basis, but some of the properties Action Property Management handles are available to rent out to students, she said. If an individual is interested in a certain property and the unit allows students, Durango Property Management will rent to first time renters but will require a cosigner, she said If a student has fewer than two years of rental references, a cosigner is still required, Lewis said. It usually takes no more than a day or two to process a rental application, she said. “On average, we have over 400 properties that we manage” Lewis said. “At least half of those are being rented to students.” The busy season is typically from April to August, she said. In the summer, the availability rate for many of the properties that Durango Property Management deals with is around 12 percent, Wright said. “We try to keep the vacancy as low as possible because owners have mortgages, homeowners associations and insurance companies that they
have to pay,” she said. Some students will rent a house at the beginning of the summer to secure a room for when they get back to Durango for the school year, she said. Other students who are first time renters will typically look for housing later in the summer because they know they will not be in Durango from May to August, and they do not want to pay rent if they are not living there, Wright said. Other students start looking for housing later, and it is just hit and miss, she said. By August, there is very little housing available, and students have to take what they can get, she said. “As the rental market has been tighter, it would be wise to start looking for a place by the first of July at the latest,” Lewis said. When a tenant’s lease ends, the property manager has to do a walk through to determine whether or not the tenant will get the deposit back, Wright said. The lease will outline what the guidelines are for cleaning and moving out of the unit, she said. “When the current tenant gives notice that they are not going to be renewing the lease at the current location, we give them move-out instructions to remind them of the parameters in the lease,” she said. When tenants first move into a unit, the property manager will give them a move-in inspection report to fill out. This allows the tenant to document any
wear and tear on the property, she said. A walk through is done at the end of the tenants lease to make sure that there is not any damage to the property and that it has been properly cleaned, Lewis said. Renter’s insurance is also something that can be beneficial for students, she said. In the case that a tenant’s house gets broken into and personal items are stolen, renters insurance will cover the cost of the items, she said. Renter’s insurance will cost anywhere from $10 to $15 per month, and tenants can go to any insurance provider to get renters insurance, she said.
Housing Expansion in Durango
Before the building process is started, the individual wanting to start the project must obtain a building permit, Community Development Coordinator, Crystal Twedt said. Building permit applications must be submitted for new construction projects, remodels, additions and demolitions, Twedt said. When a building permit is submitted it is reviewed by the building, engineering and planning departments, she said. “They are each looking at different issues,” she said. Twedt said, the building committee does the first review. Before signing off on the permit, the building official will look at the safety of the structure as well as the building codes, she said. Then it will go to planning. The planning department will look for land use requirements. This includes specifics, such as the allowed height of the structure and the allowed lot coverage of the structure, she said. The engineering department will make sure that certain construction specifications required by the city such as driveway and sidewalk standards are being met, she said. Once the engineering department gives the review of the plans, the building department will issue the building permit, she said. Housing in the Durango area is limited. There are a couple of building projects that are currently being worked on, she said. The two main projects that the city is currently working on are the Twin Buttes building project and the Three Springs expansion, she said. This will help increase the amount of residential housing options, she said. “We are working on expanding the outskirts of town,” she said. Three Springs has done a lot of expansion within the last year and is continuing to do so, she said. Twedt said, the infrastructure of the Twin Buttes project is currently worked on. “They have to get water to the site before they can start construction,” she said. This project will have a long construction build out because it is such a big project, she said. Twedt said, the project is planned to start at the end of summer, she said.
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Privacy
How Money Can Disappear Through Identity Theft Design by Leah Payne
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Story by Sean Summers
Photos by Jonathan Helvoigt
dentity theft can affect people of all ages, and it can have a Prins checked her debit card account and noticed suspicious particularly profound impact on college students. activity labeled to other parts of the country which she hadn’t Identity theft covers a wide range of fraudulent finan- traveled to, she said. cial dealings, Nick Johnson, a banking officer at Alpine While she does not know exactly how the thief got her inforBank in Durango, said. mation, she suspects it may have been from online purchases she Fraudulent use of an identity made, she said. can occur at a variety of levels, Since the fraudulent transaceach one having different imtions were caught early within pacts, Johnson said. a week of purchases, it is more The most common form of likely that Prins will be able to identity theft is when a debit or recover the money spent on the credit card is compromised and card by the fraudulent user. another person has the informaIf a fraudulent transaction is tion on the card, he said. spotted on an account, it must The first sign to look for to be within 30 to 60 days after identify this level of identity the transaction is made in ortheft is fraudulent purchases beder to recover the money used, ing made on an account, he said. Johnson said. It’s important to check online Prins spotted her account’s statements for any account held fraudulent activity the same day in your name on a daily basis. it occurred, so it is likely that the Johnson said the bank will money will be recovered, she said. often contact a person who has Once the fraudulent transachad their information stolen betions were spotted, Prins confore the victim even knows anytacted her financial institution Students should take precautions in thing is wrong. immediately, she said. protecting themselves from ientity theft. While there are safeguards The account was deactivated within the bank, the responsibiland an investigation began, she ity doesn’t fall completely on the said. financial institution to keep account information safe, he said. Prins advises that students check their statements on a daily Banks have fraud detection software which monitors activity basis to catch fraudulent transactions as soon as possible. on accounts and reports suspicious activity, he said. Beyond diligently watching account activity, it’s important to Alpine Bank uses a method for identifying possible fraud know that websites you shop on are reputable, she said. called the speed limit rule, he said. It is wise to not do any financial dealings on public Wi-Fi “If two purchases are made in locations that are too far apart networks, Johnson said. to travel to in the time they were made using the legal speed Places like coffee shops and other open Wi-Fi networks are limit, we suspect fraud,” Johnson said. known to have instances of fraudsters who steal information For example, if a purchase is made in Durango in the morning from the open networks, he said. and then a purchase in New Jersey is detected within a few hours, Accessing financial information on open networks allows for the account is closed and the owner is notified, he said. people nearby to access your computer’s activity and record your However, the responsibility falls equally on the account holder financial information, Diane Worker, vice president and risk as it is on the financial institution, he said. manager of First National Bank in Durango, said. Fraud can lead to financial troubles as well as additional stress Another popular area for card information theft is gas staon an already busy life, Meagan Prins, a student at Fort Lewis tions, Worker said. College and a victim of identity theft, said. People can use skimming machines, devices which record
a card’s information, to gather financial information and charge Once a person realizes their identity has been stolen, it’s imthings to a card fraudulently, she said. portant to contact police right away and file a report such as their Restaurants are also common sites for people to have their card social security number being used, Worker said. information stolen with skimming devices, Johnson said. When the police have been contacted and a report has been To protect against such devices, it is best to use a card only filed, it’s crucial that the victim contact any financial institutions in areas which you are familiar with and trust where the card with which they have accounts and deactivate any checking and doesn’t leave your sight, otherwise it’s best to use cash for all credit accounts, she said. transactions, he said. After these steps have been taken, it becomes an issue of provEmail and text message scams, known as phishing, are also ways ing that the victim is the true owner of the identity that he or she which identity thieves try to get information, he said. claims, she said. Johnson said fraudulent messages are often sent out via email Worker said, this process becomes extremely frustrating and can and text messages which ask for account information. consume the victim’s life in more than one way. No bank will ever ask for financial information over email or Clearing your name of identity theft becomes financially and text message, he said. emotionally exhausting. The amount a person is liable for repaying Another way which identity thieves try to gain information is varies from case to case, but there is almost always a financial debt through fraudulent phone calls, Worker said. a victim must pay, she said. “It’s usually easy to tell when it’s not a legitimate call,” she said. Emotionally, the stress of financial problems and attempting to If you do receive a call from someone claiming to be a financial prove your identity can take a toll on the victim, she said. institution, such as a credit card company, tell the caller you will “It can consume your life for quite a long time,” Worker said. call back later, she said. “It’s definitely an added hassle,” Prins said. “I could be out 80 to Worker said, look 300 dollars.” for a company phone The key to preventing number on the back identity theft is awareof the card below the ness, Worker said. security code that It’s important to the caller was asking be aware of your surabout. Call the number roundings when comon the card to be sure municating financial that it is in fact that ininformation. stitution calling. Whether it’s through A more severe form an online medium, on of identity theft occurs the phone or otherwise, when a person falsifies it’s crucial to know your documentation and fisurroundings and who nancial information such may be monitoring your as a social security numactivities, she said. ber, Johnson said. Identity theft can At this level of idenseverely impact anyone, tity theft, the thief asbut it has particularly sumes the victim’s role hard impacts on young and physically acts as people who are just enthe person whose identering financial indetity they stole, he said. pendence, Johnson said. Thieves at this level Having your identiIdentity theft is a real problem that can will often times take ty stolen brings the vicaffect anyone, including students. out lines of credit in the tim’s credit score down victim’s name, which significantly, which has will usually go unnoticed until the victim applies for credit, he said. a wide range of impacts, he said. Johnson advises that each person check their credit report at In order to apply for a loan or a line of credit, you must have a least three times a year. certain level of credit, and identity theft essentially ruins the vicA credit report shows all accounts that are open in a the name of tim’s chance for approval, he said. the person checking, including savings accounts and lines of credit Johnson said, beyond just loans and lines of credit, if a person’s in the person’s name, he said. credit history is negative enough, they are often denied simple serIf a person checks their report and sees accounts which they did not vices like checking accounts. open, that is usually a sign that their identity has been stolen, he said. While it can have serious negative impacts on a young adult, Some cases involve the identity thief seeking employment and higher levels of identity theft typically happen with older, more evading taxes with the victim’s information, he said. financially developed adults, he said.
10
Green
Real Food Serves as a Solution for Real Problems.
Story by Emma Vaughn
F
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Design by Graeme Johnston
ort Lewis College has signed on to the Real Food Challenge. The RFC is part of a bigger movement for healthier eating called the Real Food Movement. In 2012, students at FLC were polled by the Environmental Center about what their highest environmental concern was. Seventy-six percent of the student body answered that they wanted to see both healthier food and food that was better for the environment, said Rachel Landis, the coordinator at the Environmental Center. This could represent a larger percentage of people across the country who are interested in looking at the health of themselves and the environment, Landis said. “There’s all these different systems in play,” she said. The Real Food Challenge National Campaign Director, David Schwartz, will be on campus from March 16 to March 18, she said. Schwartz will be on campus to give a keynote address called “The Real Food Challenge: Big Food, Campus Action and the Change to Come in American Agriculture”, said Alex Brooks, the assistant coordinator at the Environmental Center. During this time, there will also be the Real Food Challenge Chow Down on March 18, where students and members of the community can go down to learn more about the RFC’s definition of “real food.” The keynote will be held after the Real Food Challenge Chow Down, Brooks said. During these days, students will be able to voice any concerns they may have about things such as cost. Individuals can also use their own money to help decide what
Photos by Andrea Araiza
foods come in to stores based on what they buy, Landis said. “Then, on the other hand, you have the foodservice industry, and so these are kind of an organized industry serving food to the masses,” she said. This would include changing the foods in colleges, hospitals, and K-12 schools, among other places, that mass produce food for consumers, she said. The amount of money that the food service industry spends is equal to what all the private consumers across the United States are spending on food, she said. Landis said it is a huge section of that sector. The size of this market share is cause enough for people participating in the RFC to believe they can push for a significant amount of change in the way food is produced, she said. “So, we don’t have these crazy things that are making people sick,” she said. Real food is a title given by the Real Food Challenge Organization to include foods that come from within 250 miles, organic, fair in their productions, fair trade and humane in the treatment of the animals they use, she said. The RFC is a national organization, said Rex Lish, the front of the house manager of Sodexo. This is where the Environmental Center and Sodexo receive part of their goals and ideas from, Lish said. The goal of the RFC is to aggregate $1 billion of purchasing power for colleges and universities who take the challenge, and to approach companies that sell processed foods, such as Tyson, he said. This would help to hopefully convince these companies to
shift their practices towards what they, as the consumers, demand, Landis said. We can tell them that we don’t want hormones in the chickens we buy, she said. The Environmental Center, Sodexo and FLC administration’s part of the challenge is to be able to have 20 percent of their purchasing dollars of on campus dining going towards real foods by 2020. As of last year, the college is using 4.7 percent of its purchasing dollars towards real food. This includes products that are local, organic, or fair trade, she said. The Environmental Center and Sodexo are currently in their second round of assessment to see how this number has changed, she said. Some of the changes that have been implemented include new vendors being brought in, changes in the salad bar and in retailers, such as Jazzman Perks, she said. One difficulty of the challenge is the sheer amount of food that the school consumes. “A lot of times we want local,” Lish said. “One of our biggest problems is we can’t get enough of it. We serve 12,000 meals a week, so any local farmer could maybe, most of the time, could produce for a day or two, and we have a whole semester to get through.” Pedro Ulibarri, executive chef at Sodexo on campus said that is one of the reasons why they have included organic, free range and fair trade products in addition to local produce. “It’s about getting back to the basics, what we used to eat 200 years ago, without all the chemicals and pesticides, things of that nature,” Ulibarri said. Some of the local members that will be included are Adobe, Old Fort Farm, James Ranch, and Honeyville, he said. Sysco, who is Sodexo’s largest supplier, does offer organic, fair and humane trade products, Lish said. However, these do come at higher prices. Because of this additional cost, the challenge could result in higher tuition and fees for students, Lish said. This additional cost is another reason why the Environmental Center and Sodexo are working towards gradually implementing the full 20 percent, instead of all at once, he said. “We do take into account our plate cost per plate, and that’s something that we would like to do, but it’s not going to be able to happen overnight,” he said. “It would definitely affect the stu-
dents greatly, and we don’t want to have huge jumps in price.” However, at the national level, the RFC hopes to be able to eventually lower the cost of the foods the schools and colleges would offer, Landis said. At the national level of the RFC, the size of aggregated schools may be enough to influence the cost, she said. “In theory, it’s like the Walmart model. By giving more out there, you can drive prices down,” she said. Ulibarri hopes that working with local farmers will help keep the costs to students low. Dealing with local farmers over time and letting them know what the school needs at what time of year could keep the profit margin from being so high, he said. Students are encouraged to help participate in the challenge, Landis said. “There’s a very large student element and campus element to this campaign,” she said. There are many different ways of engaging in the RFC, from volunteering in the kitchens to helping to prepare the “real food” meals to joining the team that is dedicated to help think of new ways to change food policy, she said. For Ulibarri, one of his personal goals is to get students more educated in what they are putting in their bodies. If the challenge can get at least 20 percent of the students more self conscious and aware of what they put in their body, I’ll be happy, he said. The Real Food Movement also has supporters in the community. Linda Illsley, owner of Linda’s Local Food Café, supports the college’s participation in the challenge. After reading of the relationship between a person’s health and the food consumed, Illsey changed her own menu to reflect this. Illsey tries to deal with primarily local producers and organic food providers. But some food, like chicken, is not available anywhere locally. The Ore House, in support of the movement, has used locally grown food in their business model for years, Ryan Lowe, general manager and executive chef at the Ore House, said. There is a difference in quality in the food, Lowe said. It is important to know where the food is coming from and that it comes from humane sources, he said. “By keeping the money within the community, we keep each other in business,” he said.
12
Entertainment
Indy on the Street What are you doing for spring break?
James Santistevan Alamosa, CO 22 Political Science
Jake Nugent Aspen, CO 19 Exercise Science
Traveling to visit my brother in Albuquerque, NM
Going to South Padre
Sophia Hampton Bosque Farms, NM 18 Environmental Biology
Emily Bjorge Littleton, CO 18 Undeclared
Mission trip with Connect (on campus) We are going to downtown LA.
Backpacking in Arizona Jasmine Lopez Dolores, CO 18 Graphic Design
Scott Watkins Cortez, CO 22 Engineering
Getting a job!
Continuing to work on a helmet impact tester for a senior project
Photos by Jaimee Souder
Music Review Artist: Beck
Album: Morning
Phase
Morning Phase, the latest release from genre shifting musician Beck, is another stepping stone toward his releases that are going for lazy, Laurel Canyon perfection. Beck Hansen is getting old, and that’s really okay. Not everything can be Odelay. It’s natural for a prolific musician like Beck to embrace songwriting and time in the studio to craft a record of songs. Morning Phase shows the musician keeping in the realm of Mutations and Sea Change, making a quiet record of slacker folk. It what you would expect from Beck: Being his twelfth proper record is a stunning example of a musician comfortable in releasing a product that exemplifies his role in the indie and not so indie rock scene. Review by Bryant Liggett
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