THE BIG WONDOLOWSKI Former Chico State men's soccer player moves from small town to earning a spot on the national team Story B1
Chico State's Independent ndependent Student Newspaper paper since 1975
PORTRAITS OF SELF-DOUBT Self-Worth Project confronts fears and vulnerabilities through photography Story D1
VOLUME 66 ISSUE 2
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 2, 2011
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Chico’s air quality given ‘D’ Hailey Vincent STAFF WRITER
A free lecture marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean War will be presented at 7:30 p.m. today in RowlandTaylor Recital Hall. James Matray, professor of history at Chico State, will discuss his lecture, “Fighting for Peace: Lessons of the Battles of Pork Chop Hill.” Source: Student Announcements
THE ORION • ESMERALDA F. RAMIREZ
OUTDATED WARNINGS More efforts besides using signs that prohibit smoking in Chico State buildings are slow to take place.
Chico was given a “D” grade by the American Lung Association. Northern California was cited as not doing enough to prevent the use of tobacco and advocating smoke-free areas, according to a State of Tobacco Control report by the association. Other factors like agricultural dust, smog and pollution were also aspects in the low grade Chico received. Chico would have received an “F” rating were it not for the recent change of the downtown plaza to a smoke-free area, said Shelly Brantley, project director for the American Lung Association. Recent changes in policies regarding tobacco use show Chico’s potential for improvement, Brantley said. “Chico is one of the few communities that has >> please see SMOKING | A6
A.S. Live! will be putting on a speed dating event at 7:30 p.m. in Common Grounds Feb. 11. Students that are interested and would like to invite a special someone are encouraged to send an anonymous e-rose invitation. For more information, call 530898-6005 or send an e-mail to aslive9@csuchico.edu. Source: Student Announcements
A sand mandala will be started in the atrium of the Bell Memorial Union Feb. 14 and completed March 5 by a Tibetan monk, Venerable Lama Losang Samten. He created two sand mandalas in spring 2008 and gave one to Chico State and another to Butte College.
THE ORION • DANIELLE BUIS
WORKING TOGETHER Shaheen Khan, a senior majoring in communication design and Dallas Madison, a junior majoring in communication studies are helping create “save the date” event reminders.
Source: Student Announcements
Shipwreck artifacts were brought to Chico State to be documented, conserved and analyzed. Artifacts from Nantucket Island’s Two Brothers U.S. whaling vessel include three whaling harpoon tips, two whaling lance tips, two creaming shards and one cast iron trypot. Completion for the project is expected in fall 2011. Source: Student Announcements
Groups share common idea Organizations hope to inspire youth through African-American past Alexander Seymour STAFF WRITER
C
hico State’s Office of Diversity has organized a versatile set of activities and discussions to celebrate the past achievements of the African-American civil rights movement and build on them for the future. Varied organizational
background of this year’s Black History Month means that events lack a central theme, said Diversity Coordinator Tray Robinson. Instead, groups will head individual events and offer a spectrum of discussion. Activities are led by the Office of Diversity, but are a patchwork of cooperation between the Black Faculty and Staff Association, Black Leaders on Campus, Cross Cultural Leadership Center, University Film Series, Multicultural and Gender Studies and Men of Honor, according
to a fl ier distributed by the Office of Diversity. “Organizations have a lot of their own messages and discretion,” Robinson said. “I just put it in one place.” The Black Leaders on Campus, a student organization that addresses the need for recognition and acknowledgement of people of African-American decent, wants to add more than just the typical historical celebrations that are usually carried out in February, said Malcom Dixon, a representative of >> please see HISTORY | A6
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Source: Student Announcements
BY THE NUMBERS 25 cars stolen March 2010 27 cars stolen May 2010 33 cars stolen July 2010 25 cars stolen Sept. 2010 15 cars stolen Nov. 2010 source: CPD
Ben Mullin STAFF WRITER
Butte College student Christine Schneider was shaken awake by her roommate at 6 a.m. Sept. 13, 2010 to discover her gray 2002 Ford Focus had been stolen during the night. “I was in shock,” Schneider said. “I couldn’t comprehend it because I was still half asleep.” The Saturday before her car was stolen, an unidentified person threw a brick through the window of her West Sixth Avenue home and ransacked
INDEX >>
it, she said. The thief stole Schneider's purse, computer, textbooks, keys and came back two days later for her car. “I don’t trust having my car parked outside my house,” she said. The incidences of car theft in Chico have skyrocketed in the last two months, increasing from 17 thefts in December to 32 by mid-January, according to a press release by Sgt. Rob Merrifield of the Chico Police Department. “It could be that some car thief got released from jail
Andre Byik STAFF WRITER
The partial skeleton of a child thought to be between the ages of 3 and 4 was unearthed Friday from a backyard in the 800 block of Verbena Avenue. The skeleton was transferred to the Chico State Human Identification Lab for analysis, said Chico Police Department Sgt. Scott Franssen in a phone interview. The bones are thought to have been buried for many years, according to a press release by Chico Police. A conclusion to the lab’s analysis will have to happen before determining how old the bones are, Franssen said. Getting results will take some time, though. About two-thirds of a skeleton were discovered by workers while digging to install an irrigation system, according to the press release. A call to the police was made Thursday evening from a resident saying “they just found a human head in the ground,” according to police records. When Franssen saw the bones, he thought the bones were very old, but said he couldn’t confirm whether they were prehistoric, Franssen said. Assistant professor of anthropology Eric Bartelink, who is assisting with the analysis of the remains, declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but the procedure for the lab is to do an analysis and write a report, he said. Radiocarbon dating and checking the teeth for wear are some methods the lab uses in analysis, Bartelink said. Wear on the teeth could be a result of a diet consisting of more abrasives, a characteristic that could be attributed to a prehistoric Native American. Chico Police opened an investigation and began researching missing persons, but a lot will come from what Chico State finds, Franssen said. The police are satisfied that all the remains have been recovered and did not see any evidence of other burials in the area. Franssen called this a “special” case and Chico State’s Human Identification Lab is one of the best resources the police have in the north state, he said. The Human Identification Lab does case work for 17 counties, Bartelink said. Chico State anthropology faculty member Colleen Milligan and emeritus faculty member Turhon Murad are also assisting with the analysis. Andre Byik can be reached at
INSIDE Check out a list of February's Black History Month events List A6
Increased car thefts around Chico Chico State and Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park will present four tours showcasing an extensive collection of native and exotic plants and trees, starting February. Tours will cover groups of 20 to 30 trees around the mansion and Chico State. Tour dates are Feb. 25, March 11, March 25 and April 8 between 10 and 11:30 a.m. Those interested should meet in the gazebo. Parking will be free.
Skeleton unearthed, taken to lab
and he’s trying to get back to work,” Merrifield said. “Or it could be a group of people moving through Chico with a chop-shop somewhere.” Of the 32 cars that have been stolen in the last month, 14 of them were Honda sedans, he said. It is a bewildering statistic that can be explained by streetwise economics. “Because there are so many Hondas on the road, there’s a huge demand for Honda parts, which is why so many of them are stolen,” Merrifield said. “With high>> please see THEFTS | A5
abyik@theorion.com
Roundabout proposed to help students Dario Gut STAFF WRITER
Major road changes are planned for the summer in downtown Chico. Construction for a $1.4 million project is scheduled to start May 24 and finish before students return to Chico State in August, said Jeff Jukkola, associate civil engineer for Capital Project Services. Modifications in downtown will include a roundabout, changing a two-way road into a oneway and expanding sidewalks. Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement, a program formed by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, is helping fund the project with $1.2 million, Jukkola said. The rest will come from money the city had leftover from previous projects. The roundabout will be constructed on West First and Salem streets near Celestino’s New York >> please see ROUNDABOUT | A6
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