Western Front - 2002 November 19

              Perfect once again
Volleyball concluded its second
straight undefeated GNAC season.
See Story, Page 11.
Spin and win
Western students take home cash
on 'Wheel of Fortune.'
See Story, Page 8.
TUESDAY, November 19, 2002 The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 123 Issue 16 Bellingham, Washington
Sex offender
on Indian St.
gets verbal
harassment
BY KELLYN BALLARD
Three apparently drunk col­lege-
age men harassed Steven
Cline Griffith, a Level III sex
offender living at 1000 Indian
St., on Friday night, Bellingham
Police Department Lt. Dae
Jamison said.
Griffith was returning home
at 1 a.m. Friday when the men
threatened to kill him if he did­n't
move out of the house.
He felt threatened by the
harassers and told the men he
was going inside to call the
police, Risk Management
Specialist Thad Allen said. The
men were gone when police
arrived.
Griffith said media attention
will bring more harassment.
"When the situation was put
in the paper, that's when the
harassment started," Griffith
said. "I think the less that is
said about it, the better."
Jamison said the police will
not proceed with an investiga­tion
because the description of
the harassers is too vague.
Allen said harassments
endanger the state's ability to
notify the public of Level III sex
offenders.
Offenders can use such inci­dents
to claim the notices put
them in danger, Allen said. The
offenders can then challenge the
state's ability to post their infor­mation
in the community.
"We need to have that kind of
information and people need to
use it responsibly," Allen said.
He said the community
should not use the information
as an excuse to commit crimes.
Jamison said notification is
See HARASSMENT, Page 4
Heather Trimm/The Western Front
Christina Frost will soon be evicted from her room in The Bellingham Inn. Frost said she applied for housing assistance
from the Bellingham Housing Authority but was denied three times. The housing authority has lots of red tape, she said.
The Bellingham Inn on its way out
BY KIRSTEN CARLSON
The Bellingham Inn, located
next to The Royal Restaurant
and Lounge, will be torn down to
help end the drug and prostitu­tion
problem downtown.
On Monday the Bellingham
City Council unanimously app­roved
Bellingham Mayor Mark
Asmundon's proposal to file a
lawsuit allowing the city to
condemn the inn.
Asmundson said the inn has
long been a center for illegal
activities.
"It's a place where there is
consistent ... criminal activity
that can't be controlled,"
Asmundson said.
He said the owner of the inn,
Lisa Woo, has made efforts to
control the behavior that
occurs there.
Asmundson said he wants
city officials to purchase part of
the property and leave the rest
for the owner to redevelop. A
judge will determine the selling
price of the property because
Woo and the city could not
reach an agreement.
Woo said she is cooperating
with the city and supports tear­ing
the inn down.
'The motel is not the right use
for that corner," Woo said. "It
would be better used as commer­cial,
residential space or an
office building."
Woo said she received an offer
from a private financier who
wanted to keep the property as a
motel but said she declined the
offer because she wants to do
what is best for downtown
Bellingham.
~~ See COUNCIL, Page 4
Supreme Court addresses sex offender privacy rights
BY MEGAN BURCHAM
The U.S. Supreme Court heard
arguments Wednesday whether
some states unconstitutionally
punish convicted sex offenders by
putting their pictures and infor­mation
on the Internet.
Justices will decide if states
should give offenders a chance
to prove they are not dangerous
and avoid having their picture
and address posted on the
Internet.
Bellingham Judge Michael
Moynihan said people need to be
informed about sex offenders
living in their communities. He
said convicted sex offenders lost
their right to privacy when they
were convicted of their crimes.
"Because it's the truth, it's not
defamation," Moynihan said.
In 1996 President Clinton
signed Megan's Law, which
requires sex offenders to regis­ter
in their communities and
gives states the right to disclose
information about sex offenders,
including putting their informa­tion
and photo online.
Megan's Law was named for
7-year-old Megan Kanka, who
was raped and murdered by a
twice-convicted sex offender liv­ing
in her New Jersey neighbor­hood
in 1994. Her parents had
no idea the sex offender was in
the neighborhood.
See LAW, Page 4
Bigfoot's Bistro loses money, Sodexho looks to increase revenue
ie Western Front
Western senior Kelli O Brien works at Bigfoot s Bistro.
BY ZEB WAINWRIGHT
Western's University Dining
Services is considering ways to
revitalize the slumping Bigfoot's
Bistro, which loses approxi­mately
$4,000 per year.
"Sometimes we close it down
early because it's not worth it to
pay an employee to be here
when we don't make a dollar,"
said Mandy Howe, Western
junior and Bistro employee.
Nori Yamashita, Dining
Services general manager said
the bistro sometimes earns less
than $100 per week. The opera­tion
costs are approximately
$600 per week.
Most of the bistro's funding
comes from a $10,000 subsidy
the Viking Union gives to the
bistro every year. Yearly opera­tion
costs nearly $14,000.
Any amount more than what
the VU subsidizes results in a
loss for Sodexho, Yamashita
said.
"There is not enough traffic,"
Yamashita said. 'That's a big
factor, and we've tried different
things in the past to try to build
student awareness that we're
here."
The combination of poor loca­tion
and lack of promotions
leads to slow business and oper­ating
costs that exceed the prof­its
the bistro makes.
Money has always been an
issue with the Bistro, and it has
struggled just to break even,
Yamashita said.
He said the $10,000 the VU
contributes to the Bistro is not
students' money.
"All of the food services on
campus, I believe, have to be
self-sustaining," Yamashita
said. "We can't touch the state
funds."
Sodexho operates the bistro at
the request of Western, said Lisa
North, Sodexho Business Devel­opment
director. Sodexho main­tains
the bistro and is working
with the Associated Students to
find a way to keep it open and
profitable.
See BIGFOOT, Page 4
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