Western Front - 2005 April 29

              ISSUE 9
VOLUME 133 HE WESTERN FRONT
Y, APRIL 29, 2005 • WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY • BELLINGHAM, WASH. • WESTERNFRONTONLINE.COM
Koenen kickin' it with the Falcons
BY MICHAEL LYCKLAMA
The Western Front
Michael Koenen, Western senior
punter and place-kicker, signed a
Si two-year contract with the Atlanta
Falcons after the National Football
League draft concluded Sunday,
and he left for a weekend of
practice with the team Thursday.
Koenen will compete for the
punting and kickoff job with eight-
••' year veteran Toby Gowin, who the
Falcons signed March 7 from the
"New York Jets, and Ryan Flinn
who was signed March 21 and has
yet to play in a game after coming
from Central Florida University in
2004. The winner of the three also
will serve as a backup field goal
kicker for 11-year veteran Todd
Peterson.
"I didn't get a phone call for 15
or 20 minutes after the draft," said
Koenen, a general studies major.
'Twas actually really nervous, and
then my agent called me and said,
'You're a Falcon.'"
Terry Todd, Western football's
offensive back and punting and
kicking coach, said Koenen has a
99 percent chance of making the
Falcon's 45-man roster.
"I've been coaching this position
for 30 years, arid I've seen a lot of
players come and go," Todd said.
"He's something special."
Approximately 11 NFL teams
showed interest in Koenen, a
Ferndale High School graduate,
before the draft, said Kristine
Rosendahl, Koenen's agent. During
the draft, the teams interested in
Koenen narrowed to four: the
Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons,
Seattle Seahawks and Cleveland
Browns.
"As I was talking with Michael
with an offer from Atlanta, he had
Cleveland on the other line telling
him riot to take it," Rosendahl
said.
Koenen was most interested
in the Atlanta Falcons and the
Seattle Seahawks, who talked
about drafting Koenen with one
of its seventh-round picks. Instead
Seattle selected outside linebacker
Cornelius Wortham from the
University of Alabama and
offensive tackle Doug Nienhuis
from Oregon State University.
"I'm a little disappointed in
see KICKER, page 4
AS president still undecided
Editor's note: Shannon Hutchinson and
Liz McNeil were not interviewed for this
story, nor is their association with The
Western Front the basis for this article.
BY PETER JENSEN
MARK REIMERS
The Western Front
During a grievance hearing Thursday night,
the Associated Students election board voted
unanimously to disqualify Western senior
Tony Russo, a candidate for AS president, for
AS election code violations. Russo won the
presidency, garnering 57 percent of the votes.
The board's vote was 5-0, with Western
junior Kevin Stupfel abstaining from voting
and another member absent.
-Russo said he plans to appeal the, board's
decision in a special meeting before the AS
board ofdirectors next week.
"I am appealing this decision not for myself,
but because I am concernedthat students' right
to vote and to choose their representatives has
been compromised," Russo said in a prepared
statement.
The seven-member board of directors could
overturn the election board's ruling with a four-vote
majority. Russo, the current vice president
for business and operations, said he would
abstain from voting on his appeal.
The election board found Russo guilty of
violating three sections of the election code and
breaking rules the board set in previous rulings
this year. In three grievance hearings this year,
the board has found Russo guilty of violating a
total of six sections of the code. One of Russo's
opponents, Western junior Nick Cizek, filed all
of the grievances.
"I hope the students of Western Washington
University will move on after the decisions,
and the campaigns will abide by the rulings,"
Cizek said.
Cizek said he filed the latest grievance
because Russo's campaign volunteers
distributed campaign handbills, created a
second group on Thefacebook.com promoting
Russo's candidacy and taped a campaign sign
to a table in Red Square. Previous election
board rulings prohibit Russo and his campaign
volunteers from doing these actions.
Because of the previous violations, the board
felt that disqualification was appropriate, said
Western sophomore Brett Jordan, chair of the
election board.
"I'm hoping it is a precedent because there
were already three code violations," Jordan
said.
Russo received 57 percent of the votes in the
presidential race, followed by Western junior
Shannon Hutchinson with 24 percent and
Cizek with 16 percent. With Russo disqualified,
the election code requires a run-off election
because no other candidate received the 33 and
one-third percent of the vote plus an additional
vote the code requires, Russo said.
Western senior Tyler Kimsey, AS elections
coordinator, said a run-off election between
Hutchinson and Cizek will take place
Wednesday if the board of directors upholds
the ruling. Having a run-off will not be an
extra cost for Western because a contract with
Votenet Solutions Inc. will cover the online
voting, he said. Western could easily afford the
cost of running the polling stations, he said.
Several Russo supporters said they plan to
protest this ruling.
"It's rough, but we have righteousness on
our side," said Western junior Alanna Ahern,
the vice president for campus and community
affairs and a Russo supporter. "This is not how
a democracy works."
Community members discuss 85-acre Fairhaven development
BY LEAH WEISSMAN
The Western Front
The rumbling sound of approximately 200
community members clapping their hands
bounced off the walls of the Bellingham
City Council chambers in City Hall Monday.
The council extended the public comment
period at the meeting to 30 minutes, giving
community, members the opportunity
to voice their opinions concerning the
Chuckanut Ridge Development, the largest
housing development in Bellingham's
history.
ThenamesChuckanutRidge,OneHundred
Acre Wood and Fairhaven Highland sound
different but refer to the same area — a 100-
acre plot of wooded land located between
Fairhaven Park and Chuckanut Drive in
Bellingham.
On April 18, Greenbrier Construction, in
collaboration with Horizon Bank, turned
in an application to the city for a planned
housing development on 85 acres of the
forested land. Since that time, community
members and local nonprofit organizations
such as Responsible Development! have
been sharing their concerns with the
community about the proposed 739-home
development.
David Edelstein, the developer for
Greenbrier Construction, and Bob Tull, legal
representative for Horizon Bank, could not
be reached for comment.
"We're not against development; we're
just against irresponsible development,"
said Brad Rose, member of the Responsible
Development! work group. "As far as
zoning goes, (Greenbrier Construction and
Horizon Bank) are totally within their rights
to develop this land. But just because they
can doesn't mean they should."
Developers expect the Fairhaven
Highland housing development to consist
of 739 units, Rose said, including duplexes,
triplexes, multi-family homes, single-see
WOODS, page 4
DANCE- VING!
Dance department begins
new dance lab at downtown
studio.
ACCENT, PAGE 7
ineffective and can lead to poor health.
STAYING FIT
Western students help
adults stay in shape.
SPORTS, PAGE 9