CAT C H IND I E NI GHT AT THE NEST , SEPT . 25 THE P l e a s e r e c y c l e t h i s Thursday, September 25, 2008 newspaper when you are Volume 46, Issue 5 finished with it. YOURNUGGET STUDENT NEWSPAPER EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA SENATE ELECTION DAY! Vote for your school’s reps – story, page 3; candidates, pages 12, 13 Photo by Javier Salazar LEADING THE LEAGUE NAIT Ook midfielder Daniel De Sousa heads up field against the Grande Prairie Wolves on Sunday Sept. 21. NAIT won the match 2-0 and the team finds itself first in the ACAC standings. More in Sports, pages 8-11. 2 The Nugget Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008 NEWS&FEATURES StAT cuts service to NAIT ChrIS CArMIChAel-POWell Senior Issues editor NAIT students who take St. Albert Tran- sit may be forced to find an alternate mode of transportation to NAIT following a couple of key changes in the way StAT serves its riders. Last week, a page ad in the St. Albert Gazette informed riders that if they were not parked in specified stalls, an external secu- rity company would be towing the offending vehicles. According to Dawn Fedorvich, co-ordina- tor of customer service for St. Albert Transit, roughly 10 percent of StAT riders will be able to park at the Village Transit Station. “StAT has 500 park and ride stalls avail- able at the Village Transit Station. These do fill up very fast and riders are encouraged to take their local bus to the transit station and com- mute from there.” However, those 4,500 daily riders who drive but don’t get a stall have no other options to park-and-ride for their daily commute. “Transit users are not to use the St. Albert Centre parking lot as this is private property and the owners have not authorized its use for transit riders ... Commuter passes are valid locally and riders can use their local route to Photo by Javier Salazar connect to the commuter buses; thus StAT will St. Albert Transit has decided that ridership numbers in the evening have dictated a reduction in service to NAIT. not compensate commuters who have bought bus passes and cannot find park and ride stalls on this finding, and the fact that the round trip “We acknowledge that a few riders will be StAT’s advice to the roughly 5,000 daily available.” time with the longer route via NAIT created inconvenienced but the vast majority will ben- commuters who no longer benefit from direct These changes come in the wake of service scheduling problems, therefore direct service efit from a more reliable and consistent Route NAIT access in the evening is as follows: cuts to NAIT for StAT users. to NAIT was reduced,” stated Fedorvich in an 201.” “NAIT students needing to get to St. Albert “We did a ridership survey in February, interview. At the time of print, Fedorvich had not sup- in the evening can walk to Kingsway Avenue which is the busiest spring session month, and Fedorvich freely admits that riders will be plied the Nugget with the requested statistics and catch the 201 back to St. Albert in front of discovered a noticeably low number of riders inconvenienced by the change, but the choice indicating how many riders were using the eve- the AMA, or take ETS to downtown and con- getting on or off at NAIT after 7:20 p.m. Based to cut service was made regardless. ning service formerly available to NAIT. nect there.” Orlando, the land of awesome My favourite thing about Orlando dearly and to help those they love. and hooking up VIPs to everywhere, Universal Orlando is practically Dis- is the people – people in the south- Florida is a mostly conservative and we all enjoyed some great drinks. neyWorld for adults. For about $15 ern states seem to be so friendly, it’s state. Many people there are god- It was great times with great peo- you can get a pass that gets you into just awesome. For example, I sat next fearing people of strong religious ple. The tourist attractions were great, all of the clubs and the free movies at to a really sweet couple on my flight. views and they are very family-ori- and I got to have quick business dis- the theatre for all of City Walk. After some wine and a great debate entated and tolerant. Despite the fact cussions with my boss while we hit The only complaint I have about on U.S. politics, my flight just went that I stayed in a five-star resort in Splash Mountain. Orlando is the heat, I never knew it by. DisneyWorld, attended a great con- Orlando is one of the most hap- could be too hot. Nor did I ever think ShANT ChAKMAKIAN They were definitely the sweetest ference, and saw all the great sights, pening places I’ve ever seen. Stay- one could sweat to death in the mid- people I ever met and even after my the people just stand out. ing at the Buena Vista, I was only dle of the night, but it’s true. Florida is such an amazing state flight they were nice enough to give For example, when I went to minutes away from Pleasure Island, I’m so sold on that place I intend that one could refer to it as the Cali- me a ride to my resort. go light up the festivities of Church which gave me access to all the night- to live there for a few months one fornia of the East Coast. Last week They even made it clear that if Street in downtown Orlando I was clubs Disney has to offer. day and suggest that anyone who can in the quieter moments of a busi- something ever went down while I approached by the friendliest of But for the older crowd, Univer- should check it out. It’s absolutely ness trip, I got to enjoy the hospi- was there, they had my back. This gangbangers. One would think I got sal Studio’s City Walk is where it evident that if you haven’t been to tality of Orlando and it was a great is a trait most Americans hold dear, robbed, but actually they ended up is at. If you like movies, clubs, res- Orlando you’re missing out and they experience. which is to protect anything they love giving me a tour of all the best clubs taurants and rides, that’s your place. just can’t wait to see you come down. Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008 NEWS & features The Nugget 3 The Nugget Room E-128B 11762–106 Street Edmonton, Alberta T5G 2R1 Production Office 471-8866 [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Gabrielle Hay-Byers [email protected] Senior Sports Editor Nahreman Issa [email protected] Sports Editor Amber Tienkamp [email protected] Senior Entertainment Editor Bryce Althouse Photo by Patricia Andrade SOUNDS OF A PeOPle [email protected] Drummers perform on Sept. 17 in the NAITrium during Aboriginal Awareness Week. Senior Issues Editor Chris Carmichael-Powell [email protected] Managing Photo Dept. Editor Javier Salazar Just get out and vote! [email protected] Photo Submissions Editor Another NAITSA Senate elec- So get out and vote on the 25th. Polling stations will be available across Patricia Andrade tion is in the air, and the time to prac- the main campus and at our external campuses as well. [email protected] tise your voting skills is Sept. 25. For pictures and information about the slate of candidates, see pages 12 Online Editor NAITSA President Brent Con- and 13. Kathleen Versteegt stantin is encourag- [email protected] ing all students to Production Manager get out and vote for Frank MacKay their representatives, GABrIelle hAY-BYerS following last year’s [email protected] editor-in-Chief eight percent voter turnout in Senate elections. For advertising, call 471-8866 “The elections will impact the school in that those chosen or e-mail: [email protected] will formally represent their fellow students at the executive level, helping to give a voice to those students that might not Submissions encouraged. have the time or ability to do so for themselves,” said Con- [email protected] stantin in an interview with the Nugget. The DeADlINe IS ... “The Senate is basically a body that represents the gen- Noon on the last school day of eral student body, asking questions and making suggestions the week. (All submissions must to the executive with the aim to improve the students’ asso- include your name and student ID ciation and student life,” he said. number.) “Although the executives are elected as the voice of the students, the Senate offers addi- The opinions expressed by contribu- tional perspectives and ideas tors to the Nugget are not necessarily unique to their viewpoint as full- shared by NAIT officials, NAITSA or time students – the executives are elected school representatives. full-time employees of NAITSA that take a minimal course load.” Eighteen NAITSA members make up the Senate, with two representatives from each school Letters at NAIT, of which there are nine. Each senator receives a vote card We want your views Is something bugging you about that corresponds to the number of Brent NAIT or the rest of the world? Do students in the school that they you have some praise to dish out Constantin represent. about the school or life in gen- NAITSA senators take on many duties during their ten- eral? ure with the Senate, and are another way that students are Get those thoughts into print.