Newspaper of the University of Southern California
Wednesday April 19,1995 Vol. CXXIV, No. 60
Headlines
Tell me if you’ve heard this one...
Classic bands like Led Zeppelin and Kiss are once again in the mainstream. A revival? Not quite. Some of today's groups are hitting the airwaves with tribute albums.
Diversions, page 14
The USC baseball team held off UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday, 9-7, for its 10th straight win with Jason Garner's 10th save of the season. Geoff Jenkins and Gabe Alvarez each homered.
Sports, page 28
Behind the wheel for better or worse
A lot of people, including certain policemen, think Michelle Ishida is a bad driver. At least, as she argues, she isn't an annoying one. Leam the faux pas of the Los Angeles highway life.
Viewpoint, page 4
Lost and found items to be sold
A man on campus prepares for impending rainstorms as the sun shines above.
Singing in the sun
The Office of Student Activities will hold their Lost and Found Sale and Auction today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Topping Student Center Fireside Lounge. Bicycles, calculators, watches, jewelry and other items of value will be auctioned at 1:30 p.m. by Dean Robert Mannes.
• • •
USC will hold a "Help the Homeless Day" today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Hahn Plaza. For each large bag of clothing and / or food an individual donates, they qualify to enter a raffle drawing for prizes including gift certificates to local merchants and amusement parks, eee
The newly complete Smoking Tree literary magazine presents an open-mike event tonight at GroundZero coffee house beginning at 8 p.m. with "poetry, music, angst, bad grammar, um, et cetera."
Disorder still
plagues Row, officials state
By Jennifer Hamm
Staff Writer
Despite a decrease in the number of Student Conduct reports involving the Greek community, disorderly activity is still common on the Row, officials say.
Recent incidents include a couch fire in front of one fraternity house on April 10.
While driving down 28th Street on the way back from a call just after 10 p.m., Los Angeles firefighters noticed a blaze at 720 W. 28th Street, the Chi Phi fraternity house. Members were burning a couch in the fire pit on the house's front deck. LAFD extinguished the fire with a garden hose.
"It was an intentional fire," said LAFD Captain Wayne Boswell. "We assumed it was a warming fire."
DPS officer Jim Farrington was at the scene and said the fire "wasn't that big of a deal." He did not make a report because the fire was not a safety hazard, although it had the potential to become unsafe because of the wood deck.
"It was one of those things that happens on the Row all the time," he said.
Chief Deputy Bob Taylor echoed those words, saying this type of activity is common on the Row.
"People doing things they should not do on the Row probably occurs almost daily," he said.
Joe Becerra, president of Chi Phi, said he was not at the house when the incident occured.
"I don't know why it was done," he said. "I did not like hearing about it."
Despite these officials' comments about disorderly conduct on the Row, these types of incidents occur regularly. Few are ever put on review in the Office for Student Conduct.
Office director Sandra Rhoten said 24 of 435
(See Couch, page 18)
DPS skeptical about proposed truancy law
City Council soon to vote on plan to cite minors
By Anisa Abeytia
Staff Writer
The Los Angeles City Council will soon vote on a truancy ordinance that would allow police officers to cite minors for being on the street during the day.
However, USC Department of Public Safety officials are skeptical about the law, saying most young people on the USC campus are here to avoid unsafe environments elsewhere.
Although the law works well in the small suburb of Monrovia, DPS Deputy Chief Bob Taylor is uncertain of its potential success rate in a large city.
"This law seems a little strange. I don't know how they would enforce it," Taylor said. "With so many schools off track (in terms of hours of the school day), I'm interested in how the officers will ID the kids that are on track from off.
"It's another attempt to repair things with a law. If the parent is responsible for this (truancy), how are they going to react? Is it going to be physical or constructive?"
Taylor added that at USC most of the schoolchildren who are on campus are not troublemakers, while Couch said Monrovia's law is directed at trouble makers.
"We get kids that don't have any place to recreate that is safe. Most places are gang hangouts," Taylor said.
The author of the Los Angeles ordinance, Councilwoman Laura Chick, was not avalable for comment.
A subcommittee has recommended the ordinance, which is similar to a successful law in the San Gabriel Valley suburb of Monrovia.
Last October, the City of Monrovia passed a truancy law that will allow officers to issue citations to minors who loiter in public places between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
"It's a tool the officers can use to hold kids accountable for what they do," said Monrovia youth service officer William Couch, the author of the ordinance. He said he feels the Los Angeles ordinance will pass.
After being cited, the truant's parents are called. Violators must appear in juvenile court with their parents and face a fine up to >250 or 20 hours of (See Truancy, page 3)
Trojans win 10th consecutive game
Former Surgeon General Elders defends her work
By Richard Cordova
Staff Writer
Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. Surgeon General, brought her controversial views on sex and education to campus Tuesday, saying "nobody needs to teach anybody how" to masturbate, referring to the remark that led to her being fired last December.
Elders denied that she had advocated such instruction for
schoolchildren, placing her comments in context.
"It was a U.N. conference . . . I was asked about alternative methods of preventing AIDS," Elders said.
The topic "should be part of any comprehensive human sexuality course," she added. "We should stop lying to our children (saying) 'you'll go blind.' We should be open and honest with our children. Nobody
needs to teach anybody how to do it. God taught us how."
An overflow crowd filled the Bovard Lounge in the Topping Student Activities Center to hear Elders speak. The lecture was moved at the last minute from in front of Tommy Trojan, because of the inclement weather.
"We in Arkansas think the sun always shines in Califor-(See Elders, page 3)
Kally Kagan / Dally Tro|an
Joycelyn Elders speaks about her work as Surgeon General.