Western Front - 2002 October 18

              Campus commandos
Western students dress up, and
sometimes down, to get a flag.
See Story, Page 9.
Traveling songwriter
Mason Jennings tours while
managing his home life.
See Story, Page 6.
Western Washington University Volume 123 Issue 8 Bellingham, Washington
Needy find food, warmth downtown
BY BRENDAN MCLAUGHLIN
The early evening chill was
unable to wipe the warm smiles
from the faces of several volun­teers
as they handed out sand­wiches
and soup from the rick­ety
folding table. .
The outreach group Coffee
and Sandwiches provides
meals on Tuesday and Thur­sday
to the homeless and hun­gry
citizens of Bellingham. The
program moved Tuesday from
the corner of Railroad and
Holly to 1111 Cornwall St.
"The city said we would have
to move this week because of
construction," said the Rev.
Dick Christensen, founder of
CAST and pastor of Faith
Lutheran Church. "I will be
inquiring as to whether the
city changed its mind on the
timeline."
City planners recently asked
CAST to move because Dawson
Construction Company will
begin building on the "pit" site,
said Steve Price, manager of
downtown development for the
See FOOD, Page 4
Heather Trimm/The Western Front
Carly McMacken, 18, receives a cheese sandwich from CAST volunteer Penny Berg
yesterday. "I don't eat all day and wait for this," McMacken said. "I wish it was everyday."
Berg said the group feeds 60 to 100 hungry people every Tuesday and Thursday night.
Professor fined $7,500 for improper e-mail use
BY MATTHEW HIETALA
Western business professor
Dan Warner received a $7,500
fine last Friday for using his
Western e-mail account for cam­paigning
and non-Western-relat-ed
business.
Warner used his e-mail account
to campaign for the position of
Port of Bellingham Commiss­ioner
last year, as well as for con­sulting
with an off-campus recre­ation
club.
The state Executive Ethics
Board, which deals with the
ethics of state employees, im­posed
the fine on Warner.
"When you work for the state,
you need to restrict your per­sonal
business to your own time
after (business) hours," said
Debbie O'Dell, executive ethics
board information specialist.
Warner said he did not know
he was breaking a law but knew
the political and personal uses
of his Western e-mail account
were questionable.
"It was inappropriate and
wrong, and I shouldn't have
• done it," Warner said.
.Mindy Chambers, state audi­tor
spokesperson, said cam­paigns
cannot be conducted with
state resources.
She said even if Warner had
used a private e-mail account on
Western computers, he would
have been violating state law.
"The bottom line is there can
be nothing done with state
resources to campaign for an
election, period," she said.
Warner lost the election to
Scott Walker in November 2001.
Chambers said the auditor's
office received a complaint in
September 2001 and began inv­estigating
in January.
She said auditors discovered
127 campaign-related e-mails
on his computer.
Warner said he was also in
violation of state law when he
used his Western e-mail acc­ount
to conduct business with
an outside agency.
_ Warner, who is an attorney
and a Western legal studies pro­fessor,
said he consults for. a
non-profit recreation club in his
spare time and reports the'
money he makes to Western.
He said he also donates half
of the money he receives to
Western.
" He said he did not think he was
doing anything wrong by consult­ing
with the group, but under­stood
the board's reasoning.
Warner said he had $2,500 of
his fine suspended because he
agreed to avoid similar violations
in the future. He also had to pub­licly
apologize to the board.
Student
'smashed'
with bottle
at local club
BY KIRSTEN CARLSON
Western junior Adam Harvey
said he was furious and confused
after an unknown man assault­ed
him with a beer bottle in the
Christo's Club parking lot after
exiting the club last weekend.
Harvey said when he got
home that night he filed a police
report and the fire department
checked him for injuries.
"We were walking out the
door and a guy walked up from
behind me and smashed a beer
bottle over my head," he said. "I
was pretty much in shock."
Lt. Dae Jamison of the Bell-/
ingham Police Department said
enough evidence does not exist
to pursue the case.
Attorney Breean Beggs said
Christo's could be held responsi­ble
for a fight in their parking
lot if the club allowed out-of-control
behavior that encour­aged
the fight, such as serving
too much alcohol.
He said the'same rules apply
to any bar or club where a fight
takes place outside the estab­lishment,
even if it is public
property, such as a sidewalk.
Beggs said Christo's employ­ees
were not required by law to
call the police unless an injury
required immediate medical
attention.
Harvey said the bouncer saw
the incident and told his friends
to leave.
"My biggest complaint is not
that I got a beer bottle smashed
over my head because that's
probably not even the bar's
fault," Harvey said, "but the
See ASSAULT, Page 4
Party Patrol issues minor in possession citations at unprecedented pace
Peter Louras/ The Western Front
Lt. Oac Jamison of the Bellingham Police Department
stands beside the bus that accompanies the party patrol.
BY JOSHUA FEJERAN
With a modified bus, flashing
red and blue lights and citations
to spare, the Bellingham Police
Department's Party Patrol can
end a party faster than a dry keg.
So far this school year, the
Party Patrol, a special enforce­ment
team of the BPD,. has
given out 194 minor in posses­sion
citations, 86 more than it
gave out during all of fall quar­ter
last year, said BPD Lt. Dave
Doll, who oversees the patrol.
The patrol, also known as the
"Party Bus," "Paddy Wagon" or
"Drunk Bus," has also issued 32
citations for furnishing liquor to
minors and 54 disorderly con­duct
tickets this fall, Doll said.
"Over the past couple of years.
we have had a more aggressive
approach to neighborhood noise
complaints," he said. "If we focus
on the larger parties, those peo­ple
usually don't have a party
for a while."
Doll said all of the citations
have come from the 27 loud-party
complaints the patrol has
responded to this fall.
Western junior Jen Garlock
was issued an MIP citation at a
party on Oct. 6 when the party
patrol arrived.
"I think the bus is a little
much," Garlock said. "They went
to five parties and pretty much
cashed in that night."
Doll said the increase in cita­tions
is not because the patrol is
looking for more parties to bust.
"We have run the party
patrol consistently for the past
three years," he said. "We don't
drive around looking for par­ties;
we only respond to noise
complaints."
BPD spokesman Lt. Dae Jam­ison
said a consistent pattern
emerges in parties each year.
The number of large parties at
the beginning of the quarter
directly relates to the increase in
MIP citations, he said.
"If you and four friends are
playing a friendly game of bridge
and drinking, we're probably not
going to show up," Jamison said.
"But if you have 100 people
standing in your yard throwing
beer cans onto your neighbor's
lawn, we probably will."
The beginning of the school
See BUS, Page 4
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