dtrojanOuac.odu
http://www.usc.edu/dt
NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Investigation continues of possible rape
Crime: Non-university student reports sexual assault after party at Topping Student Center
By JENNIFER KELLEHER
Assignment Editor
Police are investigating a possible rape that occurred on campus Feb. 27 when a non-USC student reported to police that she had been sexually assaulted while attending the Southern California Indo-Americans cultural night after party.
The 17-year-old girl is a student at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, said Department of Public Safety Deputy Chief Bob Taylor. “She woke up in the morning under a tree on a hillside with her pants down,” he said.
A rape protocol test was administered at Los Angeles County-USC General Hospital. The results of that test cannot be disclosed at this time, said Lo6 Angeles Police Department Southwest Division Detective John Wong.
The cultural night began at 7 p.m. in Bovard Auditorium. The after party in Topping Student Center started around 10:30 p.m. and two DPS officers were present. No alcohol was served at the party, Taylor said.
The girl claims that someone gave her a soda at the party. Afterward she went outside with an acquaintance with whom she had a previous disagreement with, Taylor said. She did not remember anything after that point until she woke up.
Police are trying to determine if her drink contained any drugs. The victim was not on any type of medication and had not consumed any alcohol, Wong said.
“We think this happened around 11 to 12 at night,* Taylor said. When the girl woke up, she ran back to Topping to find her friend, who took her to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. Since the girl was unfamiliar with the campus, she could not say exactly where she woke up.
The party ended around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, said Guneeta Singh, one of the coordinators of the event and a junior majoring in business. There were about 600 people who attended the party, she said.
DPS was notified when the girl arrived at the hospital around 2 a.m.
Huntington Memorial does not have rape protocol facilities, so the girl was transported to County General
Police do not have any suspects at this time. Witnesses who possibly saw the crime are being interviewed, Wong said, though he added that no new information has been found.
Wong has been keeping in touch with the girl, who lives in San Bernardino County.
“She appears to be doing fine,” Wong said.
USC donates blueprint, money to create family park
Off tt* WIf«
Dally Trojsn #dHor1al
Running for life
Community: Symbolic ceremony heralds arrival of children’s center near university
By SHARON STELLO AMistant City Editor
A Victorian house once stood on npty plot at Budlong Avenue and Street where the Richardson had lived since 1929. On the was a shop where Don Richardson, 78, remembers carving wooden figures.
Now, the plot has only a rickety tree
house that children in the area tried to build. The corner plot is surrounded with wire fencing and blue graffiti is often scrawled across the east brick wall.
But Saturday, nearly 70 people from the community gathered on the plot to make a change.
They performed a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the Richardson Family Park, a project local block clubs have been dreaming about for three years and finally see become a reality when it opens this summer.
“Perhaps this ground was grazed upon, and then a house was built and a family grew up here. As a real symbol of transformation it once again becomes common ground," said Melanie
Stephens, of the Esperanza Community Housing Corporation,who wrote the successful Proposition K that is providing much of the funding for the park.
Besides Stephens, Lillian Meranco, president of the Budlong-Jefferson Block Club and Jennifer Chamofsky, liaison for the groups working on the park, gave speeches just before three or four of the park planners dug into the earth with their shovels.
They took the soil, put it into two large glass jelly jars, sealed them shut for posterity and gave them to Don Richardson and his sister-in-law, Elinor Richardson, who donated the land for the park.
“I’m so excited with the name of the park — I’m thrilled that it’s Richardson Family Park because it has the word
‘family’ in it,” said Elinor Richardson, 84, who came to the ceremony with Don and her son, Steve Richardson.
USC has played a significant role in creating the park, as the Richardsons have quite a few ties to the university. Elinor Richardson is an adjunct professor emeritus in the School of Education and her daughter was also a professor of education.
The university donated about $34,000 to the park project. The original plans for the park’s layout came from a USC architecture class taught by Achva Benzinberg Stein, director of the landscape architecture program and associate professor for the School of Architecture.
“It’s not going to be exactly as we I se« tak. p*e • I
“I'm thrilled that itls Richardson Family Park because It has the word family' in it’
* Elinor
Plf h nrrfa nn mcnarusun
donor
Did you know...
USC’s first Olympian was runner Emil Breitkreutz, who, before entering USC, took a bronze medal in the 800-meter run in 1904.
Finished with class: Senior guard Elias Ayuso scored 25 points to lead USC to an 84-73 win in the final game of his Trojan career.	«• c
................ - -■■■" ■ i 11., .i i —mBLm
Wt Kat Klub: Teri Hatcher goes onstage in the L.A. production of the sexy musical 'Cabaret.'
Graduate student Caroline Wollner will run marathon in memory of her fiance
--
■ -
Doan Le I Daily Trojan
Raco for km. Graduate student Caroline Wollner is training for the L.A. Marathon, which she is running to raise money in memory of her late fiancG.
Mardi a, 1999
Vol. CXXXV1, No. 34
By KODI HIRST
Staff Writer
n March 14, USC graduate student Caroline Wollner will join approximately 20,000 runners participating in the LA. Marathon and run the 26.2 miles in remembrance of her fianc£, who died 17 days after he proposed.
“He would always challenge me to run a marathon,” said Wollner, who is studying health administration and gerontology. “After he was killed, it was something I wanted to do for him.”
In 1997, Wollner trained with her fiance, Alan Hook, when he ran in the Boston Marathon.
It has been nearly nine months since Hook died in a bicycle accident on June 26,1998 in Switzerland while on vacation with Wollner. He was crossing a busy intersection when he was struck by a car, and died in Wollner’s arms at the scene.
Through people sponsoring her in the LA. Marathon, Wollner has raised $2,000 for the 1st Lt. Alan Michael Hook Memorial Fund, which provides a $1,000 scholarship to a senior graduating from Hook’s alma mater, South Torrance High School.
“It was my way of making something good out of something devastating," Wollner said. The memorial fund was set up during the week of the service as friends and family members started giving donations to Hook’s family. Wollner said she feels Hook would be pleased with the fund.
‘He was passionate about public service and helping ldds who were disadvantaged," said Wollner of her fianc£.
Alone in Switzerland, Wollner was taken in by one of the first people on
i see Rumor, page 111