THE The Independent Newspaper Serving Notre Dame and Saint Mary's VOLUME 40: ISSUE 12 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2005 NDSMCOBSERVER.COM St. Joseph County debates going smoke-free Public hearing held to Students have mixed reactions to proposed legislation discuss possible ban By KATIE PERRY "All over the country, people are try­ ing to tell me how to live my life," Toler on lighting up in public News Writer said. "It's my body, and I should be able to smoke where and when I like. I'm By MARY KATE MALONE A proposed law in St. Joseph County tired or the government telling mn News Writer that would ban smoking in spneified what's good for me." public areas ignited fiery opinions on For many smokers, like sophomorn It was standing room only in the both sides of the issue and left Notre Nick Cottingham, the ban came to no St. .losPph County Council eham­ Dame's small population. of student surprise. hnrs Tunsday as rnsidents took part smokers fuming. "I know thorn have bonn similar bans in an intense debatP over a pro­ Area rnsidents dis1:ussed and debated around the U.S. and I ligure it's a mat­ posl~d smoking ban that would out­ the pending legislation - whkh would ter of time bel'orn they arn all ovnr the law lighting up in almost 1wery pub­ prohibit smoking in rnstaurants, private country," he said. lic venuP within the county limits. businesses, sports arenas and other In 199S, Boulder. Colo. bm:arne the Tho publie forum allowed resi­ public areas 7"" at a public hearing held first U.S. city to outlaw smoking in pub­ dents to voieo thoir opinions to Tuesday in South Bend. lic places. Throe years later. Calili1rnia coundl nwmbnrs about the highly No oflkial polls have been condueted implemented a similar bill and instigat­ c:ontrovnrsial issun that will likely to estimate the approximate percentage ed a wave of' copycat legislation w:ross lw voted on this fall, eoundl mem­ of student smokers at the University, the nation on both statn-widn and ber Mark Hoot said. though numbers appear low. But rngion-wide levels. ''I'm just trying to got tho facts despite their diminutive numbnrs, stu­ Today, dozens of' cities like Lexington, labout tlw ordinance!," Hoot said. dent smokers at Notre Dame have Ky .. Lineoln, Neb. and Austin, Texas ''I'll go honw, look through the vocalized their anger and frustration maintain smoke-l'ren environments in information. but my opinion is not over the proposed bill. speeilied public areas. Nine states have going to ehange tonight. It's a long Sophomore Dan Toler called the ban proenss." "ridiculous." see SMOKING/page 8 lie said in his aroa 91 percent of n~sidenLc.; support the smoking ban. "I want to represent the commu­ nity," lw said. ''I've b1~on doing what Above, soph01nore Chris Hoos I ean." Hnsidents from tho health eare smokes outside of Cavanaugh industry defnmkd the ban - dting sncondhand smokn as the third Tuesday. At right, junior Tim lmtding eauso of prnventable dnath in the Unitml Stat1~s. Falvey speaks at a meeting But several Michiana bar and restaurant owrwrs said the ordi­ about the proposed nancn would not only hurt their busirwsses, but also infringe on smoking ban. tlwir rights. "Tiw gn~ator issue is freedom; I dispute tlw definition of a public • place in the ordinance," said Ken PHOTOS BY l>omwlly, a St. .Joseph County resi­ DUSTIN MENNELLA dent and restaurant owner. "A AND MAlT SMEDBERG see HEARING/page 6 FACULTY SENATE SMC students threatened Group gathers at first llleeting on popular facebook site Members address TCEs, academic freedom and the Legion loading information. By KATIE KOHLER Keith Fowlkes, Director of News Writer By MADDIE HANNA AND Internet Technology at Saint Mary's, JOHN THORNTON re'peatnd Holens' warning. News Writers Women at Saint Mary's recently "I echo her IHolensl remarks and received threats on the popular col­ would strongly advise caution and Faculty Senate chairperson lege Web site facebook.com, a common sense wlwncvnr communi­ Seth Brown wasted n·o words College security official said. eating with anyone online," he said. in ((}lling members the pri­ In an e-mail, Head of Security Fowlkes stressed that giving out mary goal for the group's first Patty Rolens warned students that personal information such as pie­ meeting of the year - agenda some women have received both turns, telephone numbers, or setting. threats and abusive e-mails. The addresses both at sehool and at ''I'm going to set the mood, facebook.com system had even been home are dangerous even at what if you will," said Brown, who infiltrated by Belles impersonators seems to be an inrwcent organiza­ began with "the charge" to in order to gain personal informa­ tion such as f'acebook.eom. the Faculty Senate ineluded in tion about its students. Many women at Saint Mary's have the University's Academic "In this high tech age we live in, taken Fowlkes and Holens' advice. Articles. there is someone who is even more Freshman Beth Caseiari removnd This charge, Brown said, high tech and can lind ways to mis­ her personal information after, gives the Senate great liber­ use the multitudes of information "bning eontaetnd using my informa­ ties in the issues it chooses to that the ·Internet provides," Rolens tion by people I didn't evnn know." pursue. said. Freshman Brigid Fenlon rmnovnd "In many ways, this is an Rolens also highlighted the impor­ her information from faenbook.eom extremely broad mandate," tance of keeping passwords private because she often received ealls Observer File Photo Brown said. "Areas where and logging off all computers, espe­ from individuals she did not know. Faculty Senate members said Tuesday that students cially those in public places, in often demonstrate vulgarity at home basketball games. see FACULTY/page 4 order to avoid identity fraud or mis- see FACEBOOK/page 8 ------------------ ---- ----~~-------------------------------------~-------------------------------------- page 2 The Observer+ PAGE 2 Wednesday, September 7, 2005 INSIDE COLUMN QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PROPOSED ST. JOSEPH COUNTY SMOKING BAN? Embarrassing m.om.ents We all do stupid things. Things that make us cringe, cry or even want to curl up and die. Sometimes Ryan Bailey Eric Buell Alex Wulz Val Allen Derek Lipp Erin Ramsey we do these things with the best of sophomore senior sophomore freshman sophomore freshman intentions, other times they are embarrassing Fisher Keenan Stanford Lewis Keenan Pangborn accidents, and Kelly Meehan on occasion "We'll see how "Sounds like "It's about "I never did like "It's a good idea "It will help these incidents " may be the News it turns out. " they're trying to time. smoke with my that promotes keep my lungs result of the con­ Production nip cancer in food." general health clean." sumption of too Editor the butt." and comfort. " much alcohol. Take for exam- ple a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, who had my house number stored in her phone instead of my cell phone. Just today she called me wanting to meet up for dinner. Thinking it was me who answered, she yelled, "Hey girrrrl! Where you at?" On the other end was my unsuspecting mother who IN BRIEF responded by saying. "Excuse me?" My friend immediately realized her error when my mom informed her Notre Dame and the that I was at indeed not at home, University of Guadalajara stu­ but instead at college. dent teams will present reports Another friend of mine was in a of their 2005 summer intern­ rush the other day to visit her ships in Mexico on Thursday at crush. While getting ready she was 3:00 p.m. in C-103 Hesburgh rather indecisive in what shoes to Center. The summer intern­ wear. While hanging out with some ships are part of a U.S. Agency friends in her crush's dorm room, for International Development someone pointed out that in her grant received by the Mendoza rush to get ready she had put on College of Business and the two completely different sandals Kellogg Institute. Students and had not noticed her fashion interested in 2006 summer blunder the entire night. internships in Mexico are invit­ I have laughed hysterically at a ed to attend. friend who performed an entire choreographed dance to the song A conference titled "Capture "Getting' Low" playing loudly from Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy and a nearby car in Main Circle after Related Topics" will take place having too many drinks on her all day through Friday in the birthday. McKenna Hall auditorium. The Some embarrassing moments are themes of the conference more common than others. We include Nuclear Structure, have all seen someone completely Nuclear Symmetries, Nuclear wipe out on ice while rushing to Astrophysics and Instrumenta­ class during the winter, talk badly FRANCESCA SETA/The Observer tion, Facilities and Applications about someone who is in the same Father Peter Rocca leads a prayer service dedicated to the victims of Hurricane of Nucie·ar Science. room as them or drop their tray in Katrina Tuesday in the Basilica. Such a service will occur every evening at the dining hall. 6:30 p.m. for the next eight days. The tri-military branches of I have seen a friend run his head ROTC will sponsor a Patriot's completely into a street sign while Day ceremony Friday at 7 a.m. walking down the sidewalk in next to the Hesburgh Library Rome, I have cringed when wind OFFBEAT Reflecting Pool.