West Two Years Later Long After the Fire, Prevention Measures See Lack of Progress
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Wednesday | April 22, 2015 West two years later Long after the fire, prevention measures see lack of progress Kalli Damschen “There were a number of dis- Staff writer placed families,” said Suzanne JESS SCHURZ | LARIAT PHOTOGRAPHER Hack, executive director of West LARIAT FILE PHOTO It’s been two years since the Long-Term Recovery. “We dealt Two women mourn the tragedy that was the deadly West explosion at a A cross commemorating the West Fertilizer Co. explosion stands at the site deadly explosion in West, but law- with a large number of homes that memorial service that took place two years ago after the incident. near the incident occurred two years ago. makers have yet to make the criti- were completely destroyed. In ad- cal changes that would prevent po- dition to that, a number of homes implemented through the Office of any combustible material. tential recurrences. “There’s not a state-wide fire bins where they stored the ammo- that needed extensive repairs, the Texas State Chemist, however. “I would just grill it down to On April 17, 2013, a fire at the code,” said State Fire Marshal nium nitrate near the fertilizers,” moderate repairs and just things The OTSC regulates the sale of am- separate and ventilate,” said Dr. West Fertilizer Co. storage and Chris Connealy. “Many of these Connealy said. “It originated in like windows blown out.” monium nitrate. In recent years, Tim Herrman, state chemist and distribution facility spread to the facilities were built in the very few what we refer to as the ‘seed room’ The West explosion brought the Texas Administrative Code has director of the OTSC. “Having company’s stores of ammonium jurisdictions that have a locally that was adjacent to those bins. the safety hazards of ammonium expanded to include new regula- companies separate is well within nitrate, a highly explosive chemical adopted fire code. Those facilities There were combustibles in that nitrate to national attention, but tions about the risk management our regulatory authority. We re- compound used as a fertilizer. The were built prior to that fire code seed room. We still don’t know two years later, the system has of ammonium nitrate. quire separation of chemicals in resulting explosion killed 15 peo- being adopted, so they don’t have what started the fire, and there’s made few changes regulating the According to Title 4, Chap- the feed industry as well, separat- ple, primarily first responders, and to meet the current standards asso- still an active fire investigation. safe storage of ammonium nitrate. ter 65, paragraph D of that code, ing pesticides from feeds and hav- left over 200 injured. More than ciated with it. There’s not a whole But having those combustibles in The State Fire Marshal’s Office has a person that stores ammonium ing drugs isolated at particular 150 buildings were damaged or lot of present standards.” there, the fire was able to grow and no enforcement authority, so if nitrate must provide evidence of locations.” destroyed, including West Middle Although ammonium nitrate it ultimately reached the ammo- they discover fire hazards during compliance with the regulations, While the OTSC can regulate School, nearby apartment build- caused the explosion, the original nium nitrate bins. That was cata- voluntary inspections, facilities are post warning placards outside the the separation of ammonium ni- ings, houses, shops and a nursing cause of the fire is still unknown. strophic.” not obligated to make the recom- storage area and store ammonium home. “The fire didn’t originate in the A few new standards have been mended changes. nitrate at least 30 feet away from SEE WEST, page 4 Campus rooming set to change with new software By Shannon Barbour “As we go through this, we roommate only if the students Staff Writer anticipate the roommate match- mutually choose each other. Co- ing [satisfaction] to drastically henour is looking to match stu- Campus Living and Learning increase from what we have now,” dents who don’t know each other is looking to provide a new hous- said Ryan Cohenour, associate di- already. ing software for students to select rector for housing administration. “There’s no way to openly their own roommates and possibly Cohenour predicts the new search for another person that SKYE DUNCAN | PHOTO EDITOR change rooms if they are not satis- system will improve these num- may be from a thousand miles “Extreme Couponing” participant Kelly Gibbs is set to speak today over coupons and savings from 3:30 and 7 p.m. today at the Bellmead Civic Center. fied. bers, which he said are often col- away but may actually be the best Baylor is deciding among lected before students get to know roommate for you,” Cohenour multiple softwares to replace the their roommates. said. “We wanted to have a room- current system, RMS Housing, Roommates are placed togeth- mate matching suite where they ‘Extreme Couponing’ guest which has been used by Baylor for er based upon their room type weren’t going to Facebook, they about 10 years. Possible softwares preference and residential hall weren’t going offsite, that we were include StarReZ, a system that preference. Majors are not taken able to offer it all for our students allows students to search for and into account outside of specialized internally.” to talk savings at local event message roommates in addition to residential communities. Weatherford sophomore Amy reporting maintenance issues and “Students are placed upon Davis said she would sign up for By Rebecca Flannery will be speaking at 3:30 and 7 p.m. should be registered for in ad- tracking incident management. them wanting that hall or indi- a roommate matching program to Staff Writer today at the Bellmead Civic Cen- vance at wacotrib.com/coupons. According to data collected last cating that it’s one of their prefer- have more compatible roommates. ter and 3:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday Derek Ivey, Waco Tribune- year by CL&L, about 60 percent of ences and the other student also “I live in North Village so I Coupons are reaching a differ- at The Barn in Hewitt about taking Herald circulation sales manager, students are satisfied with their indicating it,” Cohenour said. “We have five roommates, and I can see ent audience. advantage of coupons. roommates. CL&L is working to put them in order and put them in how someone in my situation who improve low roommate satisfac- Kelly Gibbs, featured on the Waco Tribune-Herald is spon- SEE LOCAL page 4 without looking at any other data.” SEE CAMPUS, page 4 TLC show “Extreme Couponing,” soring the free events, which tion rates with the new software. Students are able to select their Mock trial takes fifth at national tourney Dane Chronister New York University participated loss was to against Baylor’s mock Reporter as well. trial team. The team was in Ohio from The three All-American Award The Baylor Mock Trial Team April 17 – 19 and took 10 members winners included sophomore All- won fifth place in its division and of the mock trial team. American witness Wimberly Dick had three All-American award Illinois senior Taylor Hoogen- and the All-American attorneys winners in the National Champi- doorn serves as the President of included Hoogendoorn and Waco onship Tournament last weekend the Baylor Mock Trial and said he senior Christopher Clark. at the Hamilton County Court- is honored he and his team mem- According to the American house in Cincinnati, Ohio. bers will receive these acknowledg- Mock Trial Association, these This was the team’s first trip ments. awards are considered the highest to the National Championship Even though Harvard’s team honor in college mock trials COURTESY PHOTO Tournament where schools such won the National Championship Members of the Baylor Mock Trial Team wins fifth place in the National Championship Tournament in Ohio. as Cornell, Emory, Harvard and with 15 wins and one tie, its one SEE MOCK, page 4 Vol.115 No. 95 First copy free. Additional copies 25 cents each. © 2015 Baylor University Opinion Wednesday|April 22, 2015 2 The Baylor Lariat Spanish websites Sitios en Español assist campaigns ayudan campañas ticality. For one, if a person who lacks the ability to podría parecer que los Latinos ya se han mani- Editorial speak English has trouble reading the page, it is less El Editorial festado sobre el sentido de su voto en las elecciones likely that the individual will be able to navigate del 2016, todavía hay una oportunidad para cual- Four months into the year and America already through the Google settings necessary to activate El año ya ha empezado y los Estados Unidos ya quiera de los dos lados para ganar la mayoría del has four politicians who have announced their the translation bar. Second, even if first- and sec- tiene cuatro políticos que han anunciado su can- voto Latino — o al menos lo suficiente para ganar. presidential bid for the 2016 elections. Although ond-generation Hispanics already have the trans- didatura presidencial para las elecciones del 2016. La posibilidad de influenciar el voto Hispano es more candidates are expected to come forward lat- lation bar enabled, the language used would vary. Aunque es posible que más candidatos van a an- especialmente evidente cuando se compara con el er in the year, it is never too early to start analyzing This is because Google translate is not designed unciar su candidatura, nunca es demasiado pronto votante Demócrata Afroamericano margen de 91 political strategy.