Western Front - 1984 December 4

              Newa
grabs onto tliiater
Reflections on
a student's life
and death
/ io
Racers ready:
Hopeful Vikings
ski Mt. Baker
/13
PI.KASK RK( VCI.K
VOL. 76, NO. 57 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WA TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1984
'He's trapped^ m he's still with us'
Patient; lbvei J t ^ s | | l t e|
the frustraliiPiliirla 1
By Bob Bblerjack
In one sense, former Western
student Michael Loebcould be
considered lucky to be aliye.;V-:
Early one morning in April,
after a night of drinking with
friends. Michael lost control of
his motoreycle a t a high speed,
c ra sh.i n g head -f i rs t i n to a con -
crete wall. .•"//'"
But - in another sense.
Michael "s e xistence si nee that"
accident can be-seeh as a- tor-;
t ured 6he--f6r Michael a rid'
those closest to him.; ;
The -very thing that saved
Michael's life-—a motorcycle
helmet—protected his skull,
leayitvghimwLtlta^
injury and ^extreme:; intra­cranial
pressure. Had the skull
cracked, that pressure may
have been lessened.
M ichael, 28, has been coma­tose
ever since.
Each yearjin the United
States, some 50,000 people
suffer serious;head injury; Few
of them everjreeoye^
.•tnaany;;;lik^
^ftilliiiliiHl^feftliiMiil
vietimi'si;/;farriilyi ;• Althpiigh/:
;Miehael;W
cdm Mcdi c a 1 B ur ea u, ihis po 1 ie-y:
'contained ;j a: •:"sSta.ndard;V::c:iaus<?-;:.
that 'caheels coverage lif |the
policyrholdeKisat &ultandhas:;
alcohol inlhis system at the;time
;;orthe:$ccjd'eh!,':C^
; Without: i nsura nee cOVerage.;
/.- Michael's earlf' medicai>;bilis-were
pa id pa rt I Vrb y- Ca rl,; no w %
Michael's legal guardian,;
• by t he- )it:aie-.:'^::
;Michael:underwent a
of operations; at -Belling^ianr's: /
' S t ; Luke'sv-::;H:^spital;;::tp::Jrel:pS
relieve^tHeliferit-Kre^WnlhgiprBC
sure inside his heacL A slruntVor;
tube, was implanted inside:his :
skull ./It ru ;ns through ;hi,i s; b Od v.
.'; drainirig-eranial: fluids-into'His "
stomac h'; where t hey a -re//
reabsorbed. v -
In July, whendoctors deter-;
mined nothing more could be
done surgically, Michael was
moved to Nor Bell Nursing
Home, near Ferndalcv .
A1 Nor BellvM ichael receives:
Tegular; attention T^^^
,;;:;W ho/: t u r hj lb . ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ g u e ^ i ^ y
l^liSifciilii*iiii;!iil^iH
:: I
Jane¥aiide; left, exercises an
who has Been in a coma since a
Michael now Responds to..-/•-:,://
-stirnulation. both physicaI ;and:;
verbal, something he didn't do
;duri;ng: the first vmoriths of: his ; -;
j p j d e a l v :^
•/.fielktes;^
;:ijei;k;s/|ae^
Ill^illi^lftBliS^pBiHliHi
lSill©^MiiftBiiliHSSillft8iS
arm of her boyfriend, former W
motorcycle accident in April.
eyes; The human element is still
vlhexe;'v::
-r::;::"-:'.Ai.the time of the accident.
Michael; was la king the quarter
pffTrpmAVcstern, trying to get
luic^
:;§|?;H^;w^:s ;C.rp;playe^
^^^S;i||i||||||||||||fi|^:^
Blii^il^iftiisiiiiBttiiiBi
IBSBflliBiii©(ilftllliiiilMl
H015 Bt)l I K . l \ ( K
estern student Michael Loeb,
frustration- his inability to get
out of his shell and touch any­body."
Carl said.
Although Michael had many
deep friendships. Yaudeisaid.
/few qf hi s frie n d s vi si t h i m n ow; ;;
.••But;she/:and.;-tva.rl dph;^|>!amc//
• see COMA, page 2
AS center requests management funds
By Mark Connolly
Financial and managerial prob­lems
at the Associated Students
Recycle Center (ASRC) have cli­maxed
and the center requested
funding for a new manager which
should lead to greater financial
solvency.
Recycling Center Adviser Jim
Schuster said the center's presenta­tion
at Wednesday's AS Board of
Directors meeting was "basically
to inform the board of the prob­lems
we're having in recycling." He
said the center now can discuss
with the board what might be a
variety of problems requiring a
variety of solutions.
The ASRC's financial strain
began in February when Bel-lingham
pulp manufacturer
Georgia-Pacific closed its doors to
recyclable paper.
Since then, the recycling center
has had to hand-sort recyclable
paper and deliver to more distant
markets. Increased labor and
transportation costs are com­pounded
by the loss of revenues
from Georgia-Pacific who paid the
center twice the market price for
recyclable paper.
According to a proposal
researched and written by ASRC
Operations Manager Jeff Brown,
"staff size has tripled, the tonnage
quadrupled, the service area
tripled and equipment overhead
has doubled (for the ASRC) since
the mid 70s."
The proposal offers three
options. The first option creates a
half-time positio/i for a profes­sional
non-student manager at a
salary of $ 12,000 a year. This man­ager
would share operational
responsibilities with the coordina­tor
and operations manager, and
devote time to marketing and
financial problems ASRC Coor­dinator
Carla Bartlett said.
The second option would be a
half-time non-student program
assistant who would share respon­sibilities
with one of the AS advi­sors
or another full-time employee.
This position would cost SI0.500.
The final option of the proposal
would be to create more levels of
student management at the ASRC.
This would require funding of
$6,000 to $8,000 per year for three
positions.
Bartlett said the first option was
favored by the AS Facilities and
Services Council when it reviewed
the proposal recently.
Currently, Bartlett and Brown
each work 40 hours per week des­pite
fixed salaries and a job des­cription
listing only 1.5- to 19-
hours per week. Both are full-time
students.
Brown will graduate at the end
of fall quarter. His replacement is
committed to working only the 15
to 19 hours listed in the job
description.
"The recycle center has probably
needed a manager for a year or
two." Bartlett said. She said the
problem was recognized during the
summer. Schuster. Bartlett and
Brown met at that time to analyze
the problem and pursue options,
she said.
AS Vice President for Academic
Affairs George Sidles said he was
"really skeptical" of the ASRC
proposal. Sidles said he was
involved last spring in hiring the
new ASRC coordinator, and
heard in passing of the center's
potential problems.
"Why didn't we hear about this
earlier?" Sidles said of the center's
problems.
Bartlett said she discussed the
problems during summer quarter
with AS Board members Majken
Ryherd and Yvonne Ward.
"The AS has been raked over the
coals by doing good gestures."
Sidles said. He cited Western's day
care and the recycling center as
programs the AS has funded where
there has been "more promised
(financial) support from the uni­versity
than has been delivered."
Sidles said recycling should be a
university function and not a stu­dent
services function. He said
"there has not been the response on
the part of the university that we've
been looking for."
Bartlett explained other sources
of funding have been pursued.
• see RECYCLE, page 6