Massachusetts Daily Collegian: Nov. 14, 2013

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THE MASSACHUSETTS

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DAILY COLLEGIAN DailyCollegian.com

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Serving the UMass community since 1890

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Problems arise in new dorms Panic spreads

in Philippines after typhoon

This article is part one in a series addressing student reactions to the Commonwealth Honors Complex.

By Jaclyn Bryson

By alexandra Zavis and sunshine de leon

Collegian Staff

The recently constructed $192 million Commonwealth Honors College Residential Community (CHCRC) at the University of Massachusetts has attracted both freshmen and upperclassman in search of the best housing options possible. “I thought it would be cool to live somewhere new, see what it was going to be like,” said Shannon Moore, a junior living in the new dorms. “They’re really nice. I do like living here.” But even as some students enjoy living in the CHCRC, there are also some still experiencing problems in the buildings. “I think there are still a lot of adjustments that have to be made since it’s all new,” Moore added. Some students have noted that some of the dorms have inadequate cell phone reception. Kimberly Wong, a sophomore, said that despite having a reputable cell service provider like AT&T, it is nearly impossible to make a call or send a text from her dorm room. “In my suite I don’t get service,” she said. “It does bother me because not only do you have to pay a fee to be (a student) in the honors college, we’re also paying more for the dorms themselves. To be paying so much and not be able to

Los Angeles Times

JAMES JESSON/COLLEGIAN

A view across the street from the Commonwealth Honors College Residential Complex, which opened this fall. make a phone call from your room is really frustrating.” S o p h o m o re Julie Morissette added that many students with different service plans are experiencing different issues. “I have Verizon, so Verizon is always good,” she said, adding that those with other providers like AT&T typically have problems. To combat this, many students have noticed that telephones have been installed in the hallways. But some students don’t think this is a solution to the issue. “They put phones on every floor, right outside our door we have a phone,

“If there was more space to commune, I feel like you would get a better idea of who you are living with.” Ezra Dantowitz, junior but I don’t know if we would ever use that,” said sophomore Colette Kramer. One of the biggest perks that attracted students to the dorms in the first place was the promise of their own personal air conditioning and thermostat. And while many say that it came in handy during the first few blistering hot weeks of September,

it has definitely not been without its problems. “You can’t really control it,” said sophomore Byron George Georgellis. “You can’t really customize it to what you want. You have a variance of two degrees or three degrees.” Sophomore Ali Strand added that there have been see

CHCRC on page 2

MANILA — Five days after Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the central Philippines, panic was spreading Wednesday and parched, hungry residents were resorting to increasingly desperate measures, including breaking into the homes of the dead. Eight people were crushed to death when a huge crowd stormed a rice warehouse near Tacloban, one of the worst-hit cities, authorities said. More than 100,000 bags of rice were carted away in the melee, according to news reports Wednesday. Elsewhere, residents dug up underground pipes and smashed them open to get water. The official death toll stood at 2,275, but aid workers feared it would continue to grow. The United Nations estimates that more than 11 million people were affected by the storm, one of the most powerful ever to make landfall. As concerns grew about rampant looting and lawlessness, Philippine security forces sent reinforcements and imposed a nighttime curfew in Tacloban. Armed assailants have been holding up aid convoys headed to the city. On

Tuesday, troops killed two suspected communist rebels who attacked one such convoy, the military said. Local officials said bands of looters, having cleaned out shops in Tacloban, were beginning to break into the homes of people who had died or fled the city. But there were reports that newly arrived troops were restoring order. Flights delivering aid from around the world are arriving at the airport in Cebu, which has been turned into a logistics hub for the relief effort. The many donations included a field hospital from Belgium and a portable purification plant from Germany, according to European officials. By the end of the day Wednesday, the United States had delivered nearly 274,000 pounds of supplies to Tacloban, about 100 miles northeast of Cebu, said two senior Obama administration officials who briefed reporters in Washington on condition of anonymity. The shipments included plastic tarps, hygiene kits, blankets and medical supplies. U.S. military personnel had also evacuated about 800 people from Tacloban to Manila for medical treatsee

TYPHOON on page 2

Band staff continues Victims’ families lash to prepare for parade out at ‘Whitey’ Bulger UMMB managers readying for Macy’s This article is part four in a series as the UMass Minuteman Marching Band prepares for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

By Jaclyn Bryson Collegian Staff

D

uring this time of year, the biggest concern for most students is getting through the end of the semester. But for Rebecca Baturin and Alexis Sabol, it’s figuring out how to get 400 students on seven buses through Thanksgiving Day traffic in New York. “We’ve never been to New York City as a band,” Baturin said. “It’s not going to be easy.” Baturin, a senior, and Sabol, a junior, are both co-band managers of the University of Massachusetts Marching Band. According to Baturin, the job requires them to supervise a staff of 35 students who run the day-to-day operations of the band. “We have a uniform staff, we have a personnel manager, equipment staff. We kind of oversee all the mangers

that run those individual staffs,” she said. “It’s definitely an on-the-fly job. It’s like figuring out problems, and getting stuff done.” But with the band performing in the upcoming Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, there is more they need to do, like coordinate transportation to New York, get copies of music from the library manager and check in regularly with the public relations staff, to ensure that the band is ready for their televised performance. “It’s a lot of work, but I don’t think the band would be able to function without an (administrative) staff and without some sort of student leader in charge of it,” Baturin said. “So it’s definitely worth the effort that we put in.” As students, Baturin and Sabol also said that balancing schoolwork and band management can be challenging. Baturin added that

they also have office hours, so one of them needs to be available at all times. “There are some days where it’s very easy and some times where you have to climb ahead and make sure you are fulfilling your duties as a student and a band manager,” Sabol said. And since both Baturin and Sabol play the clarinet in the band, they have to prepare to perform in the parade alongside their fellow band members. In order to get ready, they have to master their parade march routine, something the band is not used to. Despite their numerous administrative duties, Sabol stressed that it is still important for them to make time to practice for Macy’s. “Whenever we have rehearsals, we put usually 100 percent effort into getting our (administrative) staff work done first so that we can be present at rehearsal,” she said. Despite the work they must put in before their debut in the parade, both Baturin and Sabol agreed that it would all be worth it. Baturin said that when the band played at other schools in the past, they would see

PARADE on page 2

Mobster believes that trial is a sham B y edmund h. m ahony The Hartford Courant

BOSTON — Relatives of James “Whitey” Bulger’s victims lined up in court Wednesday, struggling to describe broken dreams and horrible murder. But descriptions of loss came with flashes of hatred for a crime boss whose alliance with corrupt law enforcement agents enabled him to litter the city with bodies and escape arrest for decades. “This man has built up so much hate in my heart that I would like to strangle him myself, “ said Steven Davis, whose younger sister Debra was choked to death in 1981 and buried in a salt marsh because Bulger suspected she knew too much about his relationship with a corrupt FBI agent. “Look at me,” Davis barked at Bulger, who was seated nearby in the courtroom, scribbling at a legal pad, trying to look disinterested as his two-day sentencing hearing opened in U.S. District Court. “This son of a bitch should be forced to look every one of his victims I the eye.”

As if distracted, Bulger, 84, set down his pen. He put on a pair of eye glasses and turned an empty expression on Davis. “She was a beautiful young woman that was a threat that had to be dealt with,” Davis said, in tears. “She did not deserve to be harmed this way. I hope Whitey dies the same way my sister did, gasping for breath as he takes his last breath.” Marie Mahoney tried to describe the blow she took as a 12-year old girl in 1973 when she learned from her mother that her father, William O’Brien and known as “OB,” had been cut down by a crew of Bulger gunmen. “So here I am, 40 years later, trying to put into words how this horrific night molded by life,” Mahoney said.”The only solace I have is knowing that the man who murdered my father will never walk the streets again. Rest in peace OB.” The she turned to Bulger, glaring, and she snarled, “We got you, you rat.” David Wheeler, whiteheaded now and older than his father lived to be, recalled the day in May 1981 that Roger Wheeler Sr. was shot between the eyes on Bulger’s orders. Roger Wheeler was a fabulously successful

Tulsa businessman who had just bought Florida- and Connecticut-based World Jai Alai. Bulger and his partners were planning to skim money from the business and were afraid Wheeler would find out. Wheeler complained, as relatives of other victims did, that Bulger’s role as a secret FBI informant and his partnership with corrupt agents allowed him to kill with what amounted to government sanction. “Shame on you Mr. Bulger,” Wheeler said. “For all your notoriety, you are a punk. You don’t even matter anymore. You’ve turned from a government assassin to pile of jail house rags. Enjoy your retirement. My family and I have nothing but contempt for you.” The wives, children and siblings of 10 victims of Bulger or others in his gang took advantage Tuesday of an opportunity to describe their lives to U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper. Their brief statements consumed most of the opening day of Bulger’s sentencing hearing. The hearing is expected to close Thursday. The only real mystery about the proceedsee

BULGER on page 2


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