Mongo: the Saga Begins, Page 7

Mongo: The Saga Begins, Page 7 OYALy THl1E '1WESTER 1848 The Weekly Student Newspaper of Rhodes College Vol. LXXX VII, No. 5 Wednesday, September 29, 1999 Street Fair Commemmorates Central Station Reopening By Volerie Wittle partnership was born. lease to stay in Central Station and News Editor The Alexander Company pro- donated $100,000 to the project. vided five million dollars in funding Johnson called the project a "tri- The city of Memphis celebrated while helping to secure a three-mil- umph" in historic preservation and the reopening of its Central Station lion dollar tax credit on the project. said that cities throughout the United in a street festival on Saturday, Sep- "There is a twenty cent on the States look to the project as a model tember 25. dollar tax deduction on projects like for historic preservation efforts. The According to Alison Burton, this," explained Johnson. Secretary of Transportation and the the Director of Marketing for the The federal government provided Head of the Federal Transit Author- Memphis Area Transit Authority the bulk of the fundingfor the project, ity have also taken notice of the (MATA), the renovation of while the state of Tennessee and other project. Memphis's Amtrak station was Memphis groups also pitched in. "This will have a major impact on spearheaded by MATA, which The project, which began in 1994, the South end of Main Street," usually concentrates on running is not yet finished, but Burton said Johnson said. The area was formerly the Memphis bus system. How- that construction is"more than three- filled with abandoned structures, but, ever, the group stepped outside of fourths complete:' MATA covered the since the development of Central Sta- its usual bounds to help coordi- transportationportions and let other tion, property values have skyrock- nate the project. organizations handle the other com- eted. "This is a development project, ponents, such as the 63 loft apart- Burton agreed that the develop- Photo By Valerie Witte and we led the way," said Burton. ments within the station. ment has made a difference in the dis- Judith Johnson, Executive Direc- The apartments range in size trict. "This used to be a desolate, tor of Memphis Heritage, Inc., said from studio to 1400 square feet terrible area," she said. "People were Chugga, Chu ga, Chugga, that in order to cut costs, she sug- and in price from $600/month to afraid to come here"-but no longer. gested that MATA "try to access his- $1400/month. Other areas of the With the revitalization of the station, Chugga...All Aoard! toric tax credits investment." This building include commercial "the South Main district is going to Fairgoers line up to tour the Amtrak train at Central Station Saturday after- ushered in the Alexander Company, space, Amtrak offices, and a MATA develop further,and we'll have lots of noon. Representatives from various Memphis organizations participated an organization which Burton de- boardroom. There is also a trol- residents." in the reopening celebration, among them The Civil Rights Museum, Mem- scribed as"nationally known for pre- ley stop at the station, "We'll have a train station we can phis Heritage, Inc., and Downtown Neighborhood Association. serving historic property." A Last year, Amtraksigned a 25-year be proud of," she added. Carjacking, Thefts Raise Concerns About Auto Safety By Mohundro Prasad StffWitaM a stick shift, the assailant forced Dr. and even though my car was parked hicle as you can. members of the Rhodes com mu- lAiUio Rbporte g Mathew Shiwp Sick to drive. directly across from the entrance Hatlev also provided a number nitv who own vehicles Twenty minutes later, at South gate where a campus safety officer of tips concerning carjacking. First, "About three weeks ago, One carjacking and a number of Parkway, Sick was told to stop. At is supposed to be," said Lutz. "Cam- carjackings generally occur at inter- [Rhodes] had students, living off auto thefts have recently shaken the this point, the assailant aban- pus Safety can't prevent all crimes." sections and quiet streets. The campus near Thutwiler and McLean Rhodes community. doned Sick and took the vehicle. "The Rhodes community was carjacker will usually be someone and Dickerson, report that their cars On the morning of August 31, He used the vehicle as the mode sympathetic, but they could do who is asking for help or directions, had been broken into while parked Dr. David Sick, Assistant Professor of transportation in the robbery about as much as me in the situa- and the incident occurs quickly. Al- on the street or in a driveway, but of Foreign Languages, was carjacked of a bank on Elvis Presley Blvd. tion, which was nothing," Lutz ex- low space between your vehicle and nothing dose to [the] college yet," on his way to Rhodes from his mid- According to Sick, the assailant plained. the vehicle ahead of you, so you can Hatley said: town home. has recently been apprehended. According to the National Insur- escape. Be aware of persons around However, during the summer, "A guy walked up, asked for di- Also, authorities have located the ance Crime Bureau, the Memphis the vehicle. assailants stole a stereo from Lutz's rections, and I didn't know, and he vehicle and returned it to Sick. Metropolitan area was ranked as the In addition, if somebody asks vehicle, which was parked in the looked like he was pulling out a map In addition to the carjacking, city with the fourth highest vehicle for directions, beware and drive to Robinson lot. and instead pulled out a gun," said some students have experienced theft rate in 1997. the nearest safe place to call the Lutz expressed frustration with Sick. auto break-ins. Trent Lutz ('00) has To prevent auto theft, Director police to inform them that some- lack of safety on the Rhodes cam- "If I had the idea he had cased had his vehicle broken into twice. of Campus Safety Ralph Hatley body at such and such a location pus in particular. my house, it would have been a lot In the first instance, Lutz's car said that common sense is the best needs directions. "I have lived in Memphis for more frightening." After the assail- was parked on the street outside of guide. Always lock all doors and Hatley stated that the recent three years now, and have parked in ant pulled the gun on Sick, he or- Stewart Hall. raise all windows. Park in a well- crimes are not isolated incidents some shady areas of town, but I fear dered him to lie on the ground. "I figured that it wasn't anyone's lit area if possible. Also, remove as but, rather, a phenomenon that for the safety of my vehicle at Then, realizing that the vehicle was fault, because I wasn't on campus many valuable items from your ve- has affected and can affect all Rhodes more than anywhere." OpimionU(YSTE Wednesday, September 29, 1999 - --- -- S&U'WESM &AFF Not Seffish -Are You? Editor-in-Chief Matthew Shipe express myopinions about what capi- Gates himself, handed out $1 billion nomic crisis. Why? Not because AssocioteEditor talism allows us, as a society and as to create scholarships for minority stu- they are a society aspiring to capi- TIM HASS SteeleMeans individuals, to do. dents. talism-but The View From because they are a Given a choice between, say, wak- We at Rhodes have, on the whole, Buiness Manqen The Moon nation working toward democ- ing up tomorrow a citizen of the grown up in varying degrees of afflu- racy. It is America's economic jrgSchwchenmbher U. Brian Willis United States, Angola, or China, my ence. Most of us have pretty cars and prosperity that allows us to do guess is that many of you wouldprob- nice wardrobes, but we likely spend that. SECTION EDITORS There seems to be an increasing ablyopt for the good ol' U.S. of A. We more time seeking out opportunities Above all, of course, America's vogue in academia today, beginning can all sit around and rather sardoni- to volunteer with VECA or Habitat or prosperity continues to guarantee OpiEd Editor Blake Rollins A & EEditor cally condescend to capitalism's cre- at the Snowden Amy Holcombe to border on clichi, of rather School than we do (love'em or hate'em) sacred entitle- Scene Editor Patrick Lane dismissively denouncing capitalism ation of such hopelessly self-absorbed shopping in a given week. ments like Medicare and Social Secu- News Editor Valerie Witte as an economic system that has cre- citizens, but most of us, when the Many of us willsoon (we hope) be rity, as well as maintaining social Sports Editor Susan Hughes ated a nation of selfish, materialistic chips are down, would ultimately pre- making pretty sizable salaries, but we liquidity through its encouragement Rhode'ster Editor Barrett Hathcock individuals whose primary concern fer America's capitalistic society over aren't going to devote all of that new- of free enterprise and entrepreneur- is their own economic well-being. other, less desirable alternatives. found wealth to the glorification of ial ventures. We are a nation of pros- STAFF WRITERS Criticizing capitalism is certainly Why? Well, because of what the ourselves or our family. We'll give it to perous and, perhaps more than any Emily Bays KennethLukas Kalman Beneath Anne Mazyck not a new idea-anyone who's read capitalistic prosperity of late- the church or to St. Jude's or, believe it other nation, free individuals, eco- KatieCox Ami Okasinski Dreiser's account of a society that twentieth-century America, with its or not, to the very school to which nomically prosperous, who, on the Brad Damue Mahendra Pruad booming Jennifer Durovdic Beth Purve, commodifies its interpersonal rela- stock market and growing we've already given nearly $100,000 in whole, continue to worry about those Ni Grane Nathan again tionships (Sister Carriein particular) budget surplus, not to mention one tuition, so that others that come here less fortunate and less prosperous MuCrth Matt Reed or Granville Hicks' anti-capitalist and of the longest sustained periods of in the future might have the chance to than ourselves.

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