Western Front - 2000 January 28

              Friday, January 28, 2000
The Western Front
Western Washington University Volume 111 Issue 6 Bellingham, Washington
Water worries halt lakeside development
Lake Whatcom residents face sewer system, clean drinking water conflicts
By Kristin Bigsby
THE WESTERN FRONT
On Dec. 2, 1999, the Skagit
County Superior Court declared
support for an appeal filed by
citizen activist Sherilyn Wells
and the Clean Water Alliance
challenging a permit for an
additional sewer interceptor in
the Lake Whatcom watershed.
Water District 10, which pro­vides
water services to residents
outside Bellingham city limits,
was granted the sewer intercep­tor
permit on conditional terms
by Whatcom County in
November 1998.
The current sewer interceptor
and transmission line in place
in the watershed is at capacity,
Water District 10 Commissioner
Deborah Kingsley said.
The district has attempted to
address the problem of sewage
overflows since 1992.
Plans for the additional sewer
interceptor included support for
60 percent of the remaining
development potential in the
watershed, Wells said.
Currently, 4,684 homes are
established in the Lake
Whatcom watershed, a drinking
water source for more than
66,000 Whatcom County resi-
Matt Anderson/The Western Front
Jet skis are a contributing factor to the pollution of many lakes, including Lake
Whatcom, which is open to recreation of all types.
dents.
Whatcom County Hearing
Examiner Michael Bobbink
signed the permit for the sewer
interceptor on the basis that
denying existing land owners
the chance to develop their land
- through the denial of sewer
services - in order to protect the
public interest in the water
quality of Lake Whatcom, was
• inappropriate.
"We don't know how much
additional urbanization is too
much before water quality
degradation becomes a serious
and expensive problem," he said
in his decision to grant the per­mit.
See LAKE, page 12
Difficulties in new login system frustrate students
By Tami Olsen
THE WESTERN FRONT
A new computer login system,
implemented this quarter, is
designed to secure the use of
Western's computer labs for stu­dents
only. Despite difficulties
in activating accounts,
Academic Technology and User
Services at Western assures the
transition is moving smoothly.
"The program is catching on
well," said Rob. Galbraith, assis­tant
director of ATUS. "Many
students have activated their
accounts. This is a big project."
Galbraith said the system is
designed to assure access is only
for students in Western comput­er
labs.
In April 1999, greencoats
began patrolling the computer
labs in Haggard Hall because an
increasing number of non-stu­dents
were using the labs. The
current system requires a per­sonal
password to access all
general university labs.
Mike Massey, manager of
computer maintenance and con­sulting
services, said more than
7,000 of the estimated 8,000
computer lab users have acti­vated
new accounts.
"Considering the amount of
users, things have gone
smoother than expected,"
Massey said.
"The immediate advantage is
the reduction of off-the-street
folks using the computers,"
Massey said. "The number of
street people and high school
students using the computers to
Looking at the lake
/Igirl takes axlrink
sten The Lake \A^
play computer games had
dropped considerably."
The system not only restricts
access to non-students, but pro­vides
25 megabytes of personal
storage space for each student,
which, Massey said, is equiva­lent
to 15 standard floppy disks.
Massey said the stor­age
space has been available,
but the new system allows stu­dents
a way to access it.
Activating student accounts is
not a perfect process. Mark
See LOGIN, pagel2
Security system
reassessed after
ALF break-in
By Meghan Pattee
THE WESTERN FRONT
Since the Oct. 24 Animal
Liberation Front break-in and
theft of 41 animals in Miller
Hall, security issues have been
reconsidered.
"From our standpoint, we've
made some progress in defin­ing
security issues," said Dave
Doughty, assistant chief of
University Police.
Police have been working
with the psychology depart­ment
and the Physical Plant to
meet psychology program
demands and to determine
what parts of and times Miller
See ALF, page 12
Western targeted
by organization
designed to help
reduce prejudice
By AnnMarie Coe
THE WESTERN FRONT
Today, 150 Western students,
staff and faculty took their first
steps toward reducing preju­dice,
said Pat Fabiano, pro­gram
director for Prevention
and Wellness Services.
Those participants, who reg­istered
last quarter, will attend
a workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 4
p.m. today at St. Luke's
Community Health Education
Center in Bellingham.
The workshop is designed to
awaken people's sensitivities to
the diversity of their cultures,
said Deborah Terry-Hays, chief
trainer for the Washington
chapter of the National
Coalition Building Institute.
NCBI is a 25-year-old insti­tution
dedicated to reducing
prejudices and teaching con­flict-
management skills,
Fabiano said.
The NCBI has organized
workshops all over the world,
including Northern Europe, in
places luce police departments
and schools.
Although the initiative to
bring NCBI to Bellingham was
the work of Western President
Karen Morse, the idea
stemmed from Fabiano.
She attended a three-day
training session in Washington
D.C., where NCBI headquar­ters
are located.
During the NCBI workshops,
the attendees break into
groups based on how they iden­tify
themselves, Fabiano said.
For example, a lesbian may
choose to join a group of les­bians
who feel they have been
oppressed because of their sex­ual
orientation.
Participants share stories of
See NCBI, page 4
IN THIS ISSUE
Western's sharp shooter
Jared Stevenson is 81 points
away from Western's all-time
career scoring record.
See story, page 9.
Art in Bellingham
Local photo,
mixed-media
and audio­visual
art
exhibits offer
several
options for
Bellingham
art-seekers.
See stories, pages 6-7.
WESTERN FRONT ONLINE
http:/ /westernf'ront.wwu.edu