Western Front - 2004 January 30

              ISSUE 6
VOLUME 128
DEATH'S BACK
Death Cab For Cutie comes
home to Bellingham.
Accent, Page 7
TOf) YOUNG TO DIE
Juvenile offenders are not mature
enough to face capital punishment.
Opinions, Page 10
DYKSTRA ffl
Devin Dykstra stands out in
a family of athletes.
Sports, Page 8
Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington —:
The Western Front FRIDAY
JAN. 30, 2004
A night of remembrance
More than 150 people attend student's memorial service
By Jason Egan
The Western Front
Students, friends and family members of
Western senior Jacqueline Paulette "J.P."
Eckstrom gathered at the Wade King Student
Recreation Center on Thursday night to
honor and celebrate her life. Eckstrom died in
an avalanche near the Mt. Baker Ski Area on
Dec. 12.
Warren Eckstrom, one of her uncles, strug­gled
to fight back tears as he reflected on the
life of his niece.
"She touched so many people in such a
short life," Eckstrom said. "We know we're
not the only ones feeling the loss. The com­munity
and the world are, too."
J.P. Eckstrom, 21, was a communication
major who impacted the lives of many peo­ple.
Dr. Karen Stout, an assistant professor of
communication at Western, used words such
as "joyous," "loving," "intelligent," "hope­ful,"
"articulate" and "fearless" to describe
Eckstrom.
"But these are merely descriptors, adjec­tives,"
Stout said. "j.P. was a woman of action."
Eckstrom also taught as a rock climbing aide
at the Recreation Center and was interested in
music, sports and women's issues, said Mary
Kay Morgan, her aunt. Eckstrom also was
active at the Shalom Center as a member of the
choir.
Friends of Eckstrom who spoke at the
Ben Arnold/The Western Front
More than 150 people attended J.P. Eckstrom's memorial Thursday night at
the Wade King Student Recreation Center. Family, friends and acquain-
SEE Memorial, PAGE 4 tances came to honor her, many of whom took part in a candlelight vigil.
Construction to begin on new park and ride
By Lauren Fior
The Western Front
Western plans to move the Civic Field
Park and Ride to the former Samish Twin
Drive-in on Lincoln Street with parking
beginning fall quarter.
The university leases 450 parking spaces
at Civic Field from the city, which costs
$32,000 for nine months of use, said Jim
Shaw, director of public safety at Western.
The department of public safety also is
leasing the former drive-in property with a
plan to close the sale for $2.5 million by
October 2006, Shaw said. Proposed fund­ing
will come from a federal grant through
the Department of Transportation, he said.
Construction will begin before the grant
receives approval, but Shaw said he is con­fident
Western will receive prpper funding
within two years.
The project, which has two phases, began
this month, Shaw said. The first phase, cre­ating
a new park and ride at the drive-in.
This includes removing old movie screens
and speakers and making the space avail­able
to students and faculty.
"Phase two includes paving, emergency
telephones, lighting, storm-water mitiga­tion,
covered, waiting areas and possibly a
restroom facility," said Ed Simpson, facili­ties
management planning manager.
Western has hired a grant consultant to
aid in the grant process, which could take
two to three years, Simpson said. The con­sultant
is experienced with parking and
transportation issues and is advising
Facilities Management and Financial
Affairs, said George Pierce, vice president
of Business and Financial Affairs.
SEE Civic, PAGE 4
Level III sex
offender gone
from Western
By Eric Berto
The Western Front
After two-and-a-half quarters at Western,
Sumas resident and Level in sex offender
Thomas Tucker Jr. no longer is enrolled.
"They tossed me out because.of the
change to Level HI," Tucker said.
The change comes after Western aclmin-istratprs
learned that Tucker, whom the
university previously had labeled as a
Level I sex offender, had been changed to a
Level HI — the most likely to reoffend.
"Mr. Tucker is no longer enrolled at
Western," said Eileen Coughlin, Vice
President of Student Affairs. "It should not
indicate that the university made a deci­sion."
She said she was unable to comment fur­ther
because of privacy restrictions.
Tucker, who said he was attending
Western to pursue his goal of becoming a
marine biologist, said the classification
came as a surprise to him when a letter
from the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office
arrived, Jan. 19 informing him of his new
status.
"This was-my lifelong dream," he said.
"I'm retired, and I was going to go back to
school."
Tucker said that since he first met with
Dean'of Student Affairs Ted Pratt on
Tuesday, he knew Western officials were
going to remove him. When they told him
he had officially been expelled, he was.
speechless for most of the day, he said.
"I've been working on (processing) it all
week>" he said.. "I don't know what's
next."
Pratt> who met with Tucker again
Thursday morning, said he could not com­ment
on the details of his meetings with
Tucker because the matter is private.
.' "We will be able to remove the notice of
a Level HI sex offender from campus,"
Pratt said.
Pratt said Western and Tucker reached
the decision based upon the university's
commitment to the safety of the Western
community.
SEE Thicker, PAGE 3
ATUS will request more laptops
By Lauren Miller
The Western Front
Western freshman Adrian Kuschnereit has worked
behind Wilson Library's media and circulation desk only
since the school year started and already has seen the stu­dent
rush to check out laptops, which often leaves the
desk without any.
Western's Academic Technology and User Services is
asking for 30 more laptops and other programs from the
Student Technology Fee Committee, said Rob Galbraith,
assistant director of ATUS.
Western has 46 laptops. The library has 30, the Viking
Union has 10 and the Science, Mathematics and
Technology Education building has six.
"Lots of the time we're out (of laptops) or can't check (a
laptop) out because the batteries are low," Kuschnereit
said. "It's the number one thing getting checked out, that's
for sure."
ATUS will send the proposal Friday for the committee
to review and will announce the outcome in April,
Galbraith said.
ATUS also proposed to expand the number of wireless-access
areas on campus.
The laptops will cost approximately $50,000, and the
new access points will total $30,000, Galbraith said.
The wait to check out a laptop is five to 10 minutes, but it
would disappear with additional laptops, Kuschnereit said.
ATUS is working on more than obtaining new laptops.
The Communications Facility, opening next fall, will
have four general university labs with approximately 150
computers, as well as the new student technology center.
The quarterly student technology fee funds the center.
In a survey that a marketing class conducted a few
Lauren M i l l e r / T h e Western Front
Western senior Kelly White returns her laptop to
Western senior Kenny Rutherford, an assistant at
SEE Labs, PAGE 4 the Wilson Library media and circulation desk.