Commentary: Partying like it’s 2012 See page 15
Entering the world of Chatroulette See page 19
Men’s lacrosse of to 3-1 start See page 28
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Tuesday, March 2, 2010 Volume 137, Issue 18
Three UD students robbed by gunmen
Poverty comes close to home on Main Street
BY ERICA COHEN
BY ELISA LALA
Student Affairs Editor
Managiing News Editor
Jerry White, 19, and John Hamel, 46, sit side-by-side at a folding table in the rear room of the Newark United Methodist Church on Main Street. John is eating Ramen noodles out of a Styrofoam bowl and Jerry is reading a book that he borrowed from the Newark Public Library. The church, settled between California Tortilla and Grassroots Handmade Crafts on Main Street, provides the facility, free of charge, to the Newark Empowerment Center — a non-profit organization that provides food, clothing, financial assistance and shelter to people living in poverty. White and Hamel are both homeless. The center is one of 12 branches operated and staffed by The Friendship House, a nonprofit organization committed to helping the homeless population of New Castle. According to its Web site, they believe “the homeless are the people that nobody catches.” So they have held their hands out. The center opens its doors from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. as a sanctuary for the homeless, giving them access to clean See POVERTY page 12
THE REVIEW/Katie Rimpfel
Residents comb through the damage caused by a fire on Haines Street Saturday night.
Fire engulfs student apartment Candle sparks blaze in University Commons Saturday night BY CHRIS CLARK & KATIE RIMPFEL The Review
Flames broke out in the University Commons townhouses late Saturday night, gutting one unit and damaging another. Ed Sobolewski, the owner of the Haines Street property, said he was told the fire was caused by a candle, but the fire marshal has yet to make an official ruling. The blaze began shortly before 11 p.m., said John H. Farrell IV, spokesman for the Aetna Hose, Hook and Ladder Company. When firefighters ar-
rived, there were flames billowing out of the second-story window of 131 Haines St., and threatening the apartment next door, he said. The fire was under control by 11:05 p.m., Farrell said. More than 60 firefighters from five companies helped extinguish the blaze. “What was burning upon arrival was quickly contained, and after we arrived the fire did not progress any further,” he said. Farrell said the second floor of 131 Haines St. sustained extensive damage and the first floor sufSee FIRE page 13
Three university students were robbed Thursday after two masked gunmen burst into their apartment and tied them up. At 7:15 p.m. the suspects, armed with handguns, entered a Main Street Courtyard apartment at 329 E. Main Street, Newark police said, The suspects, once inside, tied up the three victims and began to search the apartment leaving with cell phones and money. None of the three male victims, ages 20 and 21, were harmed, police spokesman Lt. Brian Henry said. The suspects, throughout the time spent in the apartment, continued to ask the victims what apartment number they were in, as if the suspects had made an error. “What we find in almost all home invasions is there’s some type of drug connection,” Henry said. “In this one they looked around and didn’t find what they thought they were going to find.” Henry believes the suspects did not mean to rob that apartment but were trying to find another apartment with drugs or drug money. He believes this is why only a See ROBBERY page 11
Weather Underground founder visits UD
Bill Ayers, controversial ’70s radical, discusses education inequality Bill Ayers, the controversial professor whose alleged ties to Barack Obama drew fire during the 2008 election, spoke to a group of education professors at the university on Wednesday. Ayers’ hour-long speech at Willard Hall Education Building received praise from attendees but sparked a small protest by community members who criticized the university for hosting the BY JOSH SHANNON and MARINA KOREN The Review
Bill Ayers
1970s radical. Forty years ago, Ayers helped found the radical group Weather Underground, which was responsible for a series of bombings around the country in protest of the Vietnam War. He now teaches education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is well-known for his ideas on urban school reform. During the 2008 presidential election, many
THE REVIEW/Josh Shanon
See AYERS page 13 Cathy James protests Ayers’ speech on Wednesday.
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15 Opinion
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