Eastern Illinois University The Keep January 2004 1-12-2004 Daily Eastern News: January 12, 2004 Eastern Illinois University Follow this and additional works at: http://thekeep.eiu.edu/den_2004_jan Recommended Citation Eastern Illinois University, "Daily Eastern News: January 12, 2004" (2004). January. 1. http://thekeep.eiu.edu/den_2004_jan/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the 2004 at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in January by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 7 January 12,2004 + M Q N0 AY Living in a THEDAILYEASTERNNEWS.CDM,:::~:-:=:~~;: ~~~ THE n~n "IT L '.1. ghost town 22 Eastern students stay on campus over break. EASTERN NEWS Page 3 NEWS State could get unclaimed deposits Suspect found +Many students forget to submit a written request to be refunded money is turned over to the Unclaimed in '99 murder claim $25 after leaving Eastern the $25 fee, something few students do, Property Division of the state, Coffey Coffey said. said. By Kevin Sampier "The deposit is very small. Most stu­ The last time unclaimed deposits were of an Eastern ADMINISTRATION EDITOR dents forget about it," Coffey said. "It's sent to the state was last October. something they pay for before they come Unclaimed deposits are usually sent once More than 7,000 students have to Eastern and by the time they leave, a year, Coffey said, adding that any unclaimed housing deposits on record they forget about $25." accounts older than 1996 have been taken student with Eastern, money that will go to the When students fail to request the care of. state if it remains unclaimed. refund, a survey is sent to the students Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka By Jamie Fetty Linda Coffey, Eastern's bursar, said from University Housing and Dining has a Web site explaining the Unclaimed SENIOR WRITER although Eastern has $229,016.29 in Services. The survey asks students what Property Division and a program called unclaimed housing deposit fees, only a action they would like to take with the fee. Cash Dash, created to help people find Nearly four years after the murder of Eastern portion of that money belongs to students "The surveys are sent out twice a year, unclaimed money. student Amy Blumberg at her uncle's dance appar­ who are no longer attending Eastern. September and February," Miller said. "In On the Web site, www.cashdash.net, el store, O'Fallon Police have charged a suspect. Students living on campus pay a hous­ September we sent out 1,206 (surveys) Thpinka said "every year business and Edward Scott "Eddie" Phillips, of the west cen­ ing deposit fee of $50, of which $25 is used and in February we sent out 475 for a governments send millions of dollars to tral Illinois town of Mount Sterling, was already in for an application fee, said Kelly Miller, grand total of 1,681." my office. It is all wealth that people have jail for unrelated offenses when police charged assistant director of student housing. Miller said around SO percent of the forgotten about, lost or never knew they him Dec. 19, O'Fallon Police Sgt. Mark Berry con­ When a student leaves Eastern through surveys are returned. had. Our job is to get it all back to the firmed Sunday. graduation or for other reasons, they can If students still don't respond, the rightful owners." Blumberg was a 20-year-{)ld junior family and consumer sciences major at Eastern when she was killed while working at her uncle's store Dec. 31, 1999 in the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon. The Collinsville resident and member of Eastern's Sigma Kappa sorority was shot once in the head, O'Fallon police told the The Daily Eastern News when the crime occurred. Blumberg's parents "Sometimes say they didn't worry their daughter's case when cases go, would go unsolved, but her father Kenneth like, three Blumberg admitted they were relieved years or so, when they heard police had a suspect. the clues dry "We always thought we would see this case up. But I solved, but we decided understand if we never did, that was something we the police could live with," he said Sunday. never gave up Vanesa The Blumberg's Anderson, a and kept sophomore haven't decided family whether to attend working." consumer and Phillips' trial. President Lou sciences major, -President Lou Hencken unpacks her car Hencken, who was vice outside of president for student Lawson Hall affairs at the time of Blumberg's death, said the Sunday call from the O'Fallon police was the first he afternoon. received in 2000. He said he worried since then that leads in the case would grow cold as years DAILY EASTERN NEWS PHOTO BY COLIN MCAULIFFE passed. "Sometimes when cases go, like, three years or so, the clues dry up," he said. "But I understand the police never gave up and kept working." Students return after 3-week break Hencken said that assuming Phillips' arrest leads to a conviction, he hopes it will bring closure By Brittany Robson ing time with her friends and family over "I got a new Nextel phone and a gift to the Blumberg family. ACTIVITIES EDITOR the three week break. certificate for a massage and facial," "It's very difficult to lose someone, of course," he "The funniest thing that happened over Tesdal said. said. "But to never be able to catch the person and Many students spent their holiday break would have to be dancing to the Perhaps the most exciting gift some­ realize they're still walking around must be worse." breaks catching up on movies, sledding, milkshake song in the snow with my two one received over the holidays was a tick­ The university does not yet have plans for sipping hot cocoa and just spending time best friends on Christmas Eve," she said. et to London. memorials like the ones that took place during the with their family and friends. The best gift Steben said she got for "My parents got me a digital camera trial for Anthony Mertz, convicted last spring of Some looked forward to coming back Christmas was being able to spend time and are buying my plane ticket to London murdering Eastern student Shannon McNamara in to their Charleston abodes after a three with her friends and family. But for over spring break," said sophomore span­ the summer of 2001. week break while others dreaded it. Freshman business education major Thry ish education major Amanda Frame. Hencken said, however, that the administration Sophomore career and technical edu­ Tesdal, her favorite gifts were more would be in contact with the Counseling Center to cation major Erin Steben had fun spend- material. SEE STUDENTS+ PageS discuss any such plans this week. Mad Cow Questions Eastern has no Mad Cow Disease worries Q. What is Mad Cow Disease? By Evan Hill the USDA responsible for regulating the dled in any way lower quality." CAMPUS EDITOR production and slaughter of cattle in the Under USDA guidelines, downers must A. USDA defines it as, "Bovine spongiform United States. be segregated from the rest of the ani­ .- encephalopathy {SSE), widely referred to as The confirmation of the first known Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, mals, and tissue samples must be submit­ "mad cow disease."' 'Mad cow disease' is a case of Mad Cow Disease to be found in ted for testing. chronic degenerative disease affecting the also known as "Mad Cow Disease," is a central nervous system of cattle. The disease the United States came as a shock to the disease causing deterioration of the nerv­ Samples from the animal found in .was first diagnosed in 1986 in Great Britain."..._ agriculture industry and consumers ous system, was detected Dec. 9, 2003 at Washington were sent to the USDA's worldwide; however, director of Panther Verns Moses Lake Meats, a slaughter National Veterinary Services Q. What is being done to stop the spread of Mad Dining Jody Horn said the beef served at plant in Moses Lake, Wash., according to Laboratories in Ames, Iowa for testing. Cow Disease? Eastern's dining centers was safe. a chronology on the USDA's Web site The case of BSE was given final confor­ "We buy all of our food from Allen http://www.usda.gov. The animal was mation at the BSE World Reference A. The USDA requires inspectors and veterinari--.......... Foods out of St. Louis," she said. "They identified as a "downer" and segregated Laboratory in Weybridge, England. ans to be on hand at all times. Ingredients have assured us that they do not buy from from the other cattle. from any cattle parts are banned from cattle any of the companies that are involved in Jim Herlihy, of Swift and Company, Economic Fallout feed. The USDA has quarantined all cattle in the findings related to Mad Cow one of Eastern's beef suppliers, defined a Since the BSE case was discovered and connection with the case discovered in Disease." "downer" as a cow unable to enter the confirmed, many countries have banned Washington. Several cow body parts, lnalud- Horn said all companies supplying slaughterhouse under its own power. beef imports from the United States. ing the central nervous system, are identified Eastern with beef comply with guidelines "Our policy is in place because any ani­ These bans have driven beef prices down by the USDA as "risk materials" and many companies do not use these risk materials in set by the United States Department of mal that is incapacitated is not up to our significantly.