Western Front - 2004 October 19

              ISSUE 9
Volume 131
NO MORE RAIN
Local farmers market to get
cover from the downpour.
Features, Page 12
JUVENILE CRIMES
Should the United States allow the
death penalty for juveniles?
Opinions, Page 17
STILL KICKING
Women's soccer defeats
Central after losing to SPU.
Sports, Page 14
Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington The Western Front TUESDAY
Oct. 19, 2004
mcandidates urge [Kucinich rallies for Democrats
students to vote
in local elections
|~ By Lauren Hardin
The Western Front
Despite their opposing views, Republican State
Senate candidate Gerald Baron and Democratic
state Sen. Harriet Spanel said they agree that
^ involving Western students in national elections,
and local elections is an important way of
contributing to the community.
As Election Day nears, many students will
have the chance to participate in the community
by voting for the next president of the country as
well as the state senator of District 40. The district
^ begins at Lakeway Drive and extends to Mount
Vernon, and includes Lake Whatcom and the San
Juan Islands.
"All levels of our democracy depend on the
participation of a community, which includes
Western students," Spanel said.
I As community members, students have a chance
to influence decisions that directly influence them,
she said.
"Students need to vote in their own community,"
Spanel said. "They are affected by what happens
to them, and they also have the ability to change
what happens."
P Students need to show their support, participate
in discussions and not feel embarrassed because
they have different views, Baron said.
"Students should get involved and register to vote,
but they also need to get involved in campaigns,
learn about the issues and understand that there are
| values on both sides of it," Baron said.
Baron is a lifetime Whatcom County resident and
is president of Baron & Co., a marketing and public
relations firm located in downtown Bellingham.
He regularly works with Western students on
research projects concerning marketing and public
relations.
^ Baron's campaign issues focus on the legal
reform of health care, job security and preserving
farmland.
"We are losing our doctors, and Western
students should be very concerned because at the
rate that we are going in Washington, there is a
* SEE Senate, PAGE 5
Lauren Miller/The Western Front
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, speaks to an audience at Sehome High
School about education, health care, workers' rights and the war in Iraq.
By Timory Wilson
The Western Front
" An energetic crowd filled the bleachers in
Sehome High School's gymnasium Saturday
as Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, urged the
audience to vote for the Democratic Party on
Election Day.
"This state is so critical because if you are
able to provide the energy to guarantee that
John Kerry is going to carry Washington,
then the Kerry campaign can begin to focus
on some of the other states, like Ohio," said
Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential
candidate.
The topic of the forum was "What it means
to be a Democrat." Kucinich addressed issues
such as education, health care, worker's rights
and the war in Iraq at the town hall forum.
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and state Rep.
Mike Cooper also accompanied Kucinich to
encourage people to vote.
Kucinich is giving speeches throughout the
United States promoting voting for the Kerry-
Edwards campaign and other Democrats in
the upcoming election, political civic activist
Marian Beddill said.
"This is the moment that we must decide
that .we are going to step forward to reclaim
our country," Kucinich said. "There are a lot
of Americans who are'afraid that if they elect
a new president, we are going to be unsafe.
The truth is the only way we can ever be safe
is to get rid of this administration."
SEE Kucinich, PAGE 3
Professor wins award for slave-trade book
By Jamie Badilla
The Western Front
Western history professor Alan Gallay
said he has imagined himself as a historian
or writer since age 4, and now he is the
winner of a 2004 Washington State Book
Award.
His book, "The Indian Slave Trade:
The Rise of the English Empire in the
American South, 1670-1717," was one of
10 recipients of the award.
Gallay also received the 2003 Bancroft
award, the most prestigious award for
American historians.
Gallay said he wanted to reveal the
role the Indian slave trade played in the
establishment of the United States by
providing financial assistance to the
African slave trade.
"It's one of the more important revisions
of how we understand the origins of
American slavery in the last generation
of American historians," Western history
department Chairman Christopher Friday
said.
After conducting research for 12 years
prior to the completion of his book, Gallay
said he learned to take pleasure in every
small achievement. He said he sees writing
as a means of personal communication
with others.
"The greatest reward is getting read
because you feel like people are engaging
SEE Gallay, PAGE 3
Transit initiative may increase tuition
, By Timory Wilsoni
The Western Front
The Transit Fee Initiative Steering Committee, a
group assessing the transit fee initiative, is making
changes to a proposal that would give students
alternative modes of transportation and increased bus
" service next fall quarter.
"The initiative is working towards making other
forms of transportation more available and accessible
for students going to and from campus," said Mark
Hamilton, a Western senior and member of the
committee.
The committee is proposing a transit fee initiative
that will give students a quarterly Viking Xpress
bus pass, provide frequent bus routes in areas the
Whatcom Transportation Authority is not servicing
often and will make available a nighttime shuttle
for Western students, said Seth Christian, a Western
senior and member of the committee.
Associated Students President Rachel Zommick
said the transit fee is a suggestion right now and
the AS board of directors will not make any official
decisions about the proposal until the committee
submits it to them.
The transit fee would cost students $20 to $30 a
quarter and would be included in tuition, but that is
subject to change depending on how much it will cost
for a nighttime shuttle and additional bus service,
Christian said.
"We want to make this an affordable program
that students can get a lot out of for their money,"
Christian said. "Driving a car is $4,000 a year on
average because of gas, maintenance and repairs. Chris Taylor/The Western Front
That is $4,000 you could spend your money on Western students exit a bus at the Lincoln Creek Park and Ride;
elsewhere. It is money in your pocket." Alternative transportation may be more readily available for stu­dents
if the Associated Students Board of Directors approves a
SEE Initiative, PAGE 4 ,ransit ^ inmat|ve_
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