Western Front - 2003 April 18

              Up in the air
'Suspended Momentum' takes
dancers off their feet.
See Story, Page 9.
Skimming the Sound
Bellingham residents find
satisfaction in skimboarding.
See Story, Page 11.
FRIDAY, April 18, 2003 The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 125 Issue 5 Bellingham, Washington
City officials respond to anti-Canadian acts
By Katie Grimes
THE WESTERN FRONT
On March 30, Canadian citi­zen
Charlaine Badock returned
to her van after shopping at the
Meridian Cost Cutter to find
an unwelcome surprise. On her
windshield was a note from an
unspecified person reading,
"We in America are disappoint­ed
in Canadians and your gov­ernment.
You are not welcome
in America. Go back to where
you belong and stay there."
Badock, 44, of Richmond,
B.C., and her daughters, 8 and
11, were visiting Badock's sis­ter
for the weekend. After
receiving the note, Badock said
she and her family returned
home immediately.
"The States are not the
place for my children right
now," Badock said. "I made the
mistake of reading the note
aloud, and they are scared."
The note left on Badock's car
last month has brought
Bellingham into the interna­tional
spotlight. Though Badock
never reported the note to offi­cials,
she said she sent aii e-mail
to Canadian television net­work
Global TV the day after
the incident. Global TV received
Badock's story and ran a news
brief on April 1 during the 6
p.m. news that highlighted
Bellingham as an area of high
anti-Canadian sentiment.
Global TV cited Canada's stance
on the war as a possible reason
for Badock's note.
"After people learned about
the note, I was flooded with
calls," Badock said. "I received
See CANADA, Page 4
Women lead march to end violence
By Leslie Sugiura
THE WESTERN FRONT
Chanting "Claim our bodies.
Claim our rights. Take a stand.
Take back the night," and
holding signs reading "Love
your Vagina," approximately
100 women marched through
the streets of downtown
Bellingham and Western's
campus Thursday night as
part of the annual event Take
Back the Night. ----'—~-'—
Western Women's Center
sponsors Take Back the Night
every year as part of a way to
end violence against women.
The march is traditionally a
women-only event, but most
women said they encouraged
men to attend the rally and a
candlelight vigil.
The biggest misconception
men have is that they think it's
an anti-male event, said
LesLee Bickford, co-coordina­tor
of Take Back the Night.
The meaning of the event
becomes which gender is supe­rior
instead of recognizing the
common goal of ending vio­lence
against women, she said.
"We want to encourage
men's participation because we
don't think that anything can
be done without their help,"
Bickford said. "But at the same
time, we want to be sure that it
is a safe spot for women."
In the past, men's attendance
at Take Back the Night was dif­ficult
to balance, said Brian
Pahl, Men's Violence Prevention
Pastor
By Ian Alexander
THE WESTERN FRONT
Christianity and homosexual­ity
have conflicted in the past,
but Lutheran Campus Pastor
Christopher Berry dispelled
these religious taboos Tuesday.
Berry was invited to speak
about the topic "Combating Bible
Thumpers" as part of a weekly
Tuesday night series organized
by Western's Lesbian Gay
Bisexual Transgender Alliance.
"I grew up telling every gay
Christina Tercero/The Western Front
Western students and Bellingham community members joined to march in the 'Take
Back the Night" rally Thursday night. Approximately 150 men and women participated
in the night's events.
project coordinator. Men want to
show women that they do care,
but some are wary about attend­ing
because they think it is
about anger against men, he
said.
"I get questions from a lot
of men asking about why
women are so angry and why
do they need to do this," Pahl
said. "I believe that if we lis­tened
to women and honor
their experiences, there would
be a lot less anger."
Men want to honor the fact
that the march is a women-only
event, but they want to be
a presence so women know
that men care about them and
support them in their struggle,
he said.
"I thought that I would come
and give my support and hear
the speakers," Western senior
Connor Clark said. "It seemed
like a great idea. I am more
nervous about other women
feeling uncomfortable about
having a guy here than feeling
hated by^women. I don't feel
that way at all."
The event this year included
a rally at the Performing Arts
Center with guest speaker Emi
Koyama, a self-defense demon­stration
and a skit from the
Vagina Monologues called "My
Short Skirt."
Bickford said the theme of
the night was, "If you had one
thing that you could tell people
See RALLY, Page 3
Commiinication
Facility nears
completion for
fall quarter 2004
By Matt DeVeau
THE WESTERN FRONT
Now a mere steel skeleton, the
new Communications Facility will
resemble a completed building from
the outside when students return to
classes next fall, project manager Ed
Simpson said.
Simpson said the facility, located
south of the Environmental Studies
building, is on schedule to be ready
for fall 2004. The building, which
will house the communications, jour­nalism,
physics and computer sci­ence
departments, is also under its
allotted budget of $40,473,400, said
Renee Roberts, Western director of
capital budget.
"Things are going well so far,"
Roberts said. "It's still early, but (the
budget is) in very good shape."
Simpson said the construction,
headed by lead contractor Hoffman
Construction, is following the project
plans, and the exterior of the build­ing
should begin to take shape this
summer.
"Right now the most significant
(development of the project) is get­ting
the exterior walls framed and
sheeted so we can start doing the fin­ishes,"
Simpson said.
He said the exterior framing will
be completed by mid-May when
brick, pre-cast concrete and copper
siding will be installed. The concrete
roof slab for the south section will be
completed next week, allowing the
building to be "dried-in" so work on
the interior of the building can
begin.
Simpson said a minor concern
arose when Fairway Mechanical, the
mechanical sub-contractor on the pro­ject,
broke its contract with Hoffman
Construction, citing financial con­cerns.
Hoffman hired another
mechanical sub-contractor, Diamond
B Mechanical, a Bellingham company
that has already started work on the
site.
George Pierce, Western vice
See CONSTRUCTION, Page 6
Bible's references to homosexuality
joke I knew," Berry said. "Then
when I was 20 or 21, my best
friend came out to me, and I had
to choose what really mattered."
As a philologist, one who stud­ies
the historical aspects of lan­guage,
Berry is one of approxi­mately
40 in the world who can
translate ancient Syriac, the
language in which original
Biblical texts were written.
Berry said he and two col­leagues
spent six years re-trans­lating
all of the Biblical texts
that address homosexuality.
"There are no legitimate rea­sons
for society to be anti-homo­sexual
on the basis of Christian
and Hebrew writings," Berry
said. "It never ceases to amaze
me at how much the Bible is
mistranslated."
Words such as "adam" and
"havah," Adam and Eve respec­tively,
were not proper nouns in
Hebrew text but were made
proper nouns after translation.
Berry said when the Bible was
translated into English, much of
See PASTOR, Page 4
Ian Alexander/
The Western Front
Western sopho­more
Shey Hurlbut
discusses homo­sexuality
and reli­gion
with Lutheran
Campus Pastor
Christopher Berry
at "Combating
Bible Thumpers"
Tuesday.
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