Western Front - 2004 October 1

              BOLD BEATS
The world music festival
unites artists and fans.
Accent, Page 8.
MONEY FOR VOTES
Politicians should not mortgage
voters' future in hopes of re-election.
Opinions, Page 13.
NOR'EASTER
New Englander Craig Keenan
playing up a storm for Vikes.
Sports, Page 12.
Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington
ISSUE 4
Volume 131 The Western Front FRIDAY
Oct. 1, 2004
Former student
goes missing in
Alaska crash
By Jonathan Bradley
The Western Front
The search for a missing floatplane piloted by Western
graduate Erik Johnson has been suspended, Lt. Charter
Tschirgi of the U.S. Coast Guard said Sept. 29.
The Coast Guard called off the search for the pilot and
four passengers after 10 days pending further development,
although Mark Hackett, Harris Air director of operations,
said, "Friends and family members and Harris Air are
continuing the search."
Hackett said he did not know what the likelihood was
that the searchers had of locating the plane.
According to a Sept. 23 Seattle Times article, Johnson,
25, took off in a Harris Air
Beaver floatplane from
Sitka, Alaska, on Sept. 20,
heading 20 miles east to
Baranof Warm Springs.
Tschirgi said the
passengers, identified by
the Coast Guard as Lloyd
Koenig of Pleasanton,
Calif., Jeremy Balmer
of Auburn, Calif., Jim
Murphy of Sequim and his
|j twin brother Joe Murphy
of Bremerton, rented the
plane.
The passengers attended
SEE Johnson, PAGE 6
Photo courtesy of
James Dalton
Erik Johnson
Fewer spaces on Indian
Chris Taylor/The Western Front
A bicycle lane from Chestnut to Oak streets will replace nearly 100 parking spaces near campus.
Bike lanes to replace up to 100 parking spaces
By Byron Sherry
The Western Front
Parking will soon be harder to find
near north campus as five blocks on
the west side of Indian Street will make
way for a bicycle lane.
The project, which costs
approximately $5,000, is aimed to make
biking on Indian Street safer, Western's
alternative transportation coordinator
Carol Berry said.
A bike lane will extend from Chestnut
Street to Oak Street, removing roughly
80 to 100 parking spaces, the city's
transportation technician Justin Taylor
said.
The idea of a bicycle lane on Indian
Street first came from the city's Bicycle
and Pedestrian Advisory Committee
approximately fouryeafsago, committee
member Dan Remsen said.
"I think that it is good for as many
people as possible to have as many
transportation options as possible,"
Remsen said.
Cars crowd Indian Street so a bike lane
would help, Western junior Catherine
SJEE Parking, PAGE 6
Climber recounts amputation
Aron Ralston makes stop in
Bellingham on U.S. book tour
By Mari Bergstrom
The Western Front
Aron Ralston amputated his arm after an. 800-pound
boulder trapped him for six searing days in Utah's remote
Blue John Canyon in May 2003.
Now recovered, Ralston promoted his book about his
six days of hell Tuesday at Village Books in Fairhaven.
Ralston described the horrific event recaptured in his
book "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" to a sweltering,
crowded room composed of people of all ages. His
extraordinary survival story began when a large boulder
he was climbing shifted, trapping his right arm against a
canyon wall.
'T shouted out against the boulder in fury and then let
this rage go on it, and I was trying to lift it — this 800
pound mass of rock — and here I am with one hand trying
to heave it off of me," Ralston said.
Over the next five days with limited supplies and only
two burritos, Ralston endured hypothermia, dehydration
and the painful realization that no one knew where he was.
His water supply quickly dwindled away, leaving him no
choice but to drink his own urine, he said.
Using the video camera from his backpack, Ralston
taped his goodbyes to his family and friends and etched his
name, birthday and presumed date of death on the canyon
walls in hopes that someone would find them.
But his passion for life led him to the horrific decision
to amputate his own arm with the small blade of his
Mari Bergstrom/The Western Front
Aron Ralston captivated his audience Tuesday at
Village Books while he told the story of amputat­ing
his own arm in May 2003.
pocketknife, Ralston said.
"The last moments of the amputation, I think I
experienced what will hold as the most beautiful feeling of
my entire life, the euphoria and the joy of thinking about
SEE Tour, PAGE 6
Candidate discusses
WASL test reform
By Porfirio Pena
The Western Front
The outcome of Ihe Nov.
2 election for Washington's
next superintendent of public
instruction could have a lasting
impact on how public schools
design their curricula.
Judith Billings, a candidate
for Washington state
superintendent of instruction
and a past Washington state
superintendent, said she
fears teachers may become
frustrated with the rigid nature
of the Washington Assessment
of Student Learning.
An education reform bill
passed in 2003 requires
Washington high school
students to pass the WASL
as a graduation requirement
beginning with the class of
2008.
"We've become totally
obsessed with the WASL,
which is only reading,
writing and math, and it's a
snapshot of one time in the
year, and it does not come
near measuring the breadth of
a kid's knowledge," Billings
said. "You want to know
what a child's strengths and
weaknesses are, and with the
WASL, you don't get that.
All you get is if the child met
the standard or did not meet
the standard." „
But Steve Mullen, president
of Washington Round Table,
a nonpartisan public-policy
review committee, said the
WASL should help students
build test skills necessary for
the professional world.
Washington has a lack of
high-paying jobs for people
who do not have strong
reading, writing and math
skills, and the WASL, taken
from fourth grade until
graduation, monitors students'
progress and identifies
problems, Mullen said.
"The WASL is the strongest
test ever developed to identify
students who need more
SEE WASL, PAGE 5