Western Front - 2003 November 21

              TWO SHEETS TO THE WIND
Sailing team charts a course for Lake
Whatcom to navigate the calm waters.
Sports, Page 12
ISSUE 18
VOLUME 127
TESTING EARLY
Head Start program gives
standardized tests to
children in preschool.
Opinions, Page 13
ACTING FOR AFGHANISTA
Theatre department performs
to raise money for Afghan
orphans.
Accent, Page 7
Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington
JHANISTAN -
The Western Front FRIDAY
NOV. 21, 2003
Vice President for Activities resigns for new job
B Y TRAVIS SHERER
The Western Front
Jason Wilmot, Associated Students vice president for
activities, announced his resignation Tuesday at the weekly
AS board of directors meeting.
Wilmot's resignation will be effective at the end of fall
quarter. The position of AS vice president for activities is
open, and students have until Nov. 24 to apply.
Wilmot accepted a six-month operations product man­ager
position at a Microsoft plant in Reno, Nev. He said he
will work with four other candidates selected from a
nationwide pool of- approximately 50 a p p i ^ a ^ t s ? 0 ; § |^
"I will be working with an operations product group on
planning, analyzing cost logistics and product managing/'
Wilmot said. "We will be basically trying to figure out
ways to help customers in need of Microsoft licensing get
that licensing cheaper to them and for Microsoft."
Wilmot said the AS board of directors has been very sup­portive
of his decision to leave.
"(The AS board) knows you come to college to get a job,
and a lot of us do this to get a job and to understand the
business side of a university."
, Erin O'Reilly, AS board of directors program assistant,
said Wilmot is the fourth vice president to resign in 10
years. The other three, however, resigned because of acad­emic
or performance reasons.
A group of board members, including AS President Paul
Graves, Vice President for Business and Operations Kevin
Stock and Kevin Majkut, associate director of Viking
Union Activities, will narrow the applicants to two. The AS
board will decide who receives the appointment by voting
before the end of the quarter.
Graves said he is uncertain how many applications the
board will receive, but he expects the position to attract a
number of people. Wilmot's electoral opponent last year
SEE AS, PAGE 4
Deputies monitor airport Shoplifting increases
at campus bookstore
JUSTIN MCCAUGHAN/THE WESTERN FRONT
Transportation Security Administration screener Alberto, who did not give his name for security rea­sons,
scans and searches a Horizon Air passenger at the Bellingham International Airport.
Transportation Security Adrninistration. The port
will allocate $30.67 per hour for a deputy to be at the
airport to check baggage and screen passengers
SheriffY Office receives federal
grant to increase airport security
B Y MATT BUCHER
The Western Front
The Port of Bellingham will pay the Whatcom
County Sheriff's Office $267,450.84 from Oct. 1,2003
through Sept. 29, 2004 to provide law enforcement
and screening services for all flights leaving
Bellingham International Airport, said Art Choat,
director of Aviation and Port Security.
Because of a Department of Homeland Security
requirement, the port received a grant through the~^
seven hours per day. It also allows a deputy to be on
call an additional 11 hours per day at the same
hourly rate.
On Oct. 21, the Whatcom County Council passed
the agreement during its afternoon session but tabled
it in the regular meeting because Dewey Dessler,
deputy administrator for the county, said he worried
about some of the wording in the document.
Choat said that while deputies consistently have
been on duty at the airport since the World Trade
SEE Airport, PAGE 4
BY MICHELLE HEMPLE
The Western Front
The re-sale of shoplifted text­books
is a problem the employees
of the Associated Students
Bookstore are very familiar with.
"I think both of the college
(book) stores have a problem with
students and others stealing text­books
and selling them," said
!T5e^bleTjnd:quist, cashier "super-"'
visor of mfe^'Bookstorev - ^ y
*••--• During the 2001-2002 school
year, the AS Bookstore lost approx-.
imately $59,000, AS "Bookstore
Textbook Supervisor Robert Perks
said. Not all of the money was lost
because of shoplifting, but a large
part was, he said.
After installing a security sys­tem,
the amount dropped to
$21,000 this past year, which is
well below the industry average.
Out of approximately 12,000
students on campus, 300 have,
stolen textbooks, Perks said.
Although it often is difficult to
catch shoplifters, the bookstore
has security measures to prevent
thefts from happening.
"What we try to do is be obser­vant
and make sure that (shop-spers)
understand that we are
watching them and use that as
prevention as opposed to go
through the arrest process," AS
Bookstore General Manager Dave
Mac Auley said. "The unfortunate
thing is we're doing a daily buy-back,
which is a ready market for
a customer or anybody to get
immediate cash. We have cooper­ated
with The College Store, and if
Sticky fingers
AS Bookstore theft statistics
|||i|imafei||P
system; "tfelosses dropped
Source: A^Bqofetor^ textbook
SupervisorRobert Perks
we find we're'losing something
or somebody is trying to sell back
a book that is still-in the cello­phane
wrapper, we call each other
and ask if there are books missing."
Typically, honest shoppers have
to pay higher prices because of
shoplifters, he said.
"We pay a hefty price when we
go shopping because (shoplifting)
is built into the pricing structure
of most retail outlets; (the AS
Bookstore does not raise prices)
but other stores do," Mac Auley
said. "We have one of the lowest
textbook prices in the country
because we give a 10-percent dis­count
(to shoppers)."
The AS Bookstore employees
SEE Theft, PAGE 4
•pront
Campus neighbors
complain of nearby
party noise.
News, Page 5
Study shows students
inaccurately measure
alcohol in drinks.
News, Page 6
Students swap cigarettes for food
BY PAOLO MOTTOLA
The Western Front
Western senior Ashley Becker
sat behind a table on Vendor's
Row Thursday exchanging
coupons from local restaurants for
cigarettes. - '••.-••.•'"-.'--.."..•
Becker, ' a volunteer at \ the :'
Wellnessr Outreach Center>" and:".-
Brooke Benjestprf, cp-coordinatof
of the-•Drug' Irtfonnatipn^Ceriter;;
Were prpmpting.-^.^ih.e/^v-.Great;
American Smokeout, a national
event challenging smokers to stop
using cigarettes for the day.
"I don't want to be wagging my
finger at smokers because I don't
think it's an effective method to get
people to stop smoking, but I do
want to encourage people to read
the literature and learn more about
smoking and how it affects them,"
Backer said.
SEE Trade, PAGE 4
PAOLO
MOTTOLA/
THE
WESTERN
FRONT
Bellingham
r e s i d e n t
Paul Evans
trades five
cigarettes
for a food
coupon.