Area Ghosts Spell Spooky Friday the 13Th

JOHNNY HOLM, PAGE 9 VIEWPOINTS, PAGE 5 VOLLEYBALL, PAGE 6 Johnny Holm Band Columnist questions lack of Two volleyball players to return for RF’s 24-hour eateries in RF reach 1,000 kills Homecoming for career highs TUDENTUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN OICERIVER FALLS OctoberS 13, 2006 www.uwrfvoice.com V Volume 93, Issue 4 Recent violence sparks safety concerns Beth Dickman a person with a valid school ID can Homecoming to enter the building without being [email protected] stopped. Even if the person is borrow- Safety at UW-River Falls and around ing an ID card or is not a resident of on- the nation is becoming an increasingly campus housing, he or she can still bringAmber Jurek backHomecoming spirit posters have important topic due to recent acts of enter. been placed throughout campus, violence. At each entrance, a scanner allows stu- [email protected] and flyers about the festivities On Oct. 2, in a one-room Amish dents easy access to the building. By After months of preparation, are available in the Leadership schoolhouse in Pennsylvania, five swiping the card correctly, the door the UW-River Falls Center. young girls were killed and another five opens. In the entrances there are signs Homecoming will be a week UW-RF student Nikole Cisar wounded before the shooter turned the urging visitors to check in with the stu- packed with fun, entertainment agreed that it has been better gun on himself. In Montreal on Sept. dent manning the front desk, but with and events — all with a cowboy advertised this year. 13, a student at Dawson College opened hundreds of people occupying each theme. “Another problem we had fire, killing one woman and injuring 19 building, it is nearly impossible for one “Showdown at the RF Corral” before is that it has been geared others. Police eventually fatally shot the person to pick out non-residents. events begin at 9 a.m. Oct. 16 specifically towards organiza- self-proclaimed “angel of death” in one At 10 p.m. the scanners change to with the medallion hunt, and end tions,” Bonde said. “This year it of the school’s buildings. allow only registered occupants access after the Homecoming football is also geared towards students.” Most recently, an alleged bomb threat to the buildings by using the electronic game Oct. 21. Bonde said the goal of the was made in North Hall Sept. 29. system. “This [Homecoming] blows Homecoming events is to Though there was no real reason to “We allow access to students with everything out of the water,” strengthen campus pride. worry about the threat and no casualties University IDs so that friends may visit Homecoming Committee Chair “The spirit level is lacking on of any sort, it brings the scare of the friends across campus,” Director of Marcus Bonde said. this campus and we are trying to ever-increasing trend of campus vio- Residential Life Terry Willson said. The committee has put a lot of build it up,” Bonde said. lence home to students at UW-RF. “Access is limited to building residents effort and emphasis on advertis- The events will allow students After such incidents, questions are only after 10 p.m. Any locked access ing Homecoming festivities this to connect with one another, as raised about safety on campus not only security system is only as safe as stu- year. well as student organizations. in academic buildings, but in the dorms dents allow it to be.” “We have done more advertis- The big events for students are Beth Dickman/Student Voice However, an ongoing problem, As a safety precaution, students should make as well. ing than I know of since I have In any residential building at UW-RF, been on campus,” Bonde said. sure residence hall doors close behind them. See Safety page 3 See Homecoming page 3 Public Safety informs RF Area ghosts spell spooky Friday the 13th about crime Blair Bengs Nick Sortedahl [email protected] nicholas.sor [email protected] For anyone afflicted with paraskevidekatriaphobia, the com- bination of their fear of Friday the 13th, two ghosts, a polter- The annual Campus Crime geist and the upcoming Halloween holiday forecasts a spooky Report is e-mailed to UW-River end to October. Falls staff and students from While Friday the 13th and Halloween superstitions occur Public Safety to raise awareness across the globe, three known spirits are very local, as a ghost of criminal issues on campus resides on the UW-River Falls campus, a poltergeist is found from the past three years. in a River Falls house and another ghost calls Hudson home. The report is required because UW-RF professor Jim Zimmerman is all too familiar with of the Clery Act, which was the campus ghost, as it paid him a visit one summer evening. enacted in 1990 in response to The account of his paranormal experience is recorded in the 1986 rape and murder of 19- retired UW-RF professor Michael Norman’s book, “Haunted year-old Lehigh University Homeland.” freshman Jeanne Ann Clery. After finishing a rehearsal, Zimmerman was on the stage of Clery’s parents raised support the Blanche Davis Theatre, writing some notes for his cast. for the law after discovering stu- Feeling someone walking on stage, Zimmerman looked up dents at the Bethlehem, Pa., uni- to see a man dressed in a red T-shirt and jeans walking to the versity weren’t notified of 38 center of the stage. violent crimes committed on Not recognizing him, Zimmerman asked the man if he need- campus during the previous ed anything, but there was no reply. The man was gone. three years. This year’s UW-RF When Zimmerman spoke of the incident, he was told he saw crime report was compiled by Sanford Syse, a former UW-RF speech professor who Interim Director of Public Safety designed the Blanche Davis Theatre. Mark Kimball. It provides com- The unsettling aspect of Zimmerman’s story is that Syse prehensive data, along with died on Nov. 28, 1973. security and preventative infor- “I know it seemed as real as if you ... came and sat right mation for students, their parents here,” he said, speaking of a chair directly across from where and any other interested party. he was sitting in his office. Kimball said he hopes every While the occurrence did not seem paranormal at first, student reads the report. Zimmerman now has a different opinion. Freshman Amanda Monarski Looking back, the incident seems “surreal or ghostly said she read the report because because of not being able to logically figure out where he it looked interesting. She said went,” he said. “The back door was the only place he could Public Safety does a good job of have gone.” keeping campus safe. Zimmerman knows Syse did not exit through the back door “Basically, they’re every- because there were students standing there who said they did where,” Monarski said. not see anyone. Kimball, who took the director The experience left the UW-RF professor puzzled and position in March 2005, said pleased. Public Safety does the best it can “I can’t figure out any other rational reason for him disap- to keep campus safe with the pearing,” he said. resources available. While the sighting may have left some uneasy, Zimmerman UW-RF has no reported wishes it could have lasted longer. instances of murder or “It would have been nice to talk to my predecessor, to sit manslaughter during the three- down and have a conversation with Sanford,” he said. “If it year span of the report. was him, in retrospect, it was nice to have him pay a visit.” There were two reported Throughout Zimmerman’s time at UW-RF, some of Syse’s forcible sex offenses on campus former students have come back and talked about the man in last year and one reported inci- Jen Dolen/Student Voice dent each of the previous two The Parker mansion, located at 315 Maple St., is one of several haunted locations in the years. River Falls area. The mansion is supposedly home to a poltergeist. See page 10 The residence halls are one area Kimball has recently focused on. Last spring, Public Safety decided to experiment by adding liaison officers to tighten securi- Parking issues still abound ty in and around the 10 UW-RF bers to consider parking meter denomination and residence halls. Rachel Ogrodnik time changes,” Leque said. “Some possible expan- “Adding this liaison on campus [email protected] sion of parking meters could also be advanced for is kind of reorganizing our consideration as well, however, an exact time frame patrols,” Kimball said. Last year, rumors circulated campus about parking for consideration has not been determined.” He also said two officers are meters being installed along Cascade Avenue. The problem with meters, Braun said, is “it would patrolling the residence halls for Apparently they were more than just rumors. discourage students from staying on campus.” Once an average of 16 hours per day. Campus Planner Dale Braun said meters were pro- a student’s time is up on a meter, he or she would be “We want to have more double posed by the River Falls City Council, but the UW- compelled to leave campus. coverage so that we can better River Falls didn’t want them. The proposal has come Braun also said in the future there would be a cost serve the campus community,” up twice since the initial proposal, the last time dur- for parking in the streets.

Load more