Kate Delenick
Co Editor-in-Chief

The Westminster Police Department has identified 29 year-old, Shawron Gabriel Bibbs as the man responsible for the hit and run crash that resulted in the death of Thomas Rouleau, a sophomore at McDaniel College.

A warrant for Bibbs’ arrest has been issued charging him with: negligent manslaughter by auto, theft over $500, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, and unauthorized removal of property. He’s also been charged with 6 counts of failure to remain at the scene of a collision involving injury/death, 6 counts of failure to give information and render aid, 2 counts of reckless driving and driving without a license.

All of those charges are added to the two standing warrants Bibbs had after failing to appear in The District Court for Baltimore City for possessing an open container and theft for less than $500 both on February 12, 2007.

Students across campus are trying to cope with the loss of such a beloved friend and classmate. Susan Glore, Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Wellness Center said they have been operating with extended hours to help students cope. Glore also said they sent out an information sheet to all campus buildings and dormitories on “dealing with grief and grieving; in general it’s a 1 page sheet about the feelings you may have and what you can do to help.”

Senior Leahanne Marino trained Rouleau at the campus phone center the day the accident occurred. “I trained him for like 2 hours that day and he just seemed really cool. It was a sick feeling when I heard that happened to him. This situation doesn’t deserve to happen to anyone.”

The police are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to Bibb’s arrest. And anyone with information is being asked to call the Westminster Police TIPS Line at (410) 857-8477.

(Editor’s Note: This column by Jen Noel is dedicated to some of the most inane calls to which Campus Safety officers respond ? or should respond. Incidents actually occurred, but the names of the culprits are not included to protect the not-so-innocent).

Jen Noel
Staff Reporter

There are always the highs and lows in college life. Tough exams, cramped dorm rooms, and cafeteria food can become a real downer. It seems though, since returning to campus after the break, many of McDaniel’s students are living the high life, literally.

In the three weeks since students have been on campus since the January term, Campus Safety has documented six incidents of possession of illegal substances. Possession was not the only problem; in almost every incident paraphernalia was also confiscated.

On February 1, one group of students thought they would risk discovery and have a 70’s style party in Rouzer. When a suspicious odor was reported, Campus Safety didn’t discover any wacky weed but did find the students decided to burn several candles and cover the smoke detector with a plastic bag. That’s not suspicious at all; and some say marijuana doesn’t impair your judgment.

The Rouzer boys obviously couldn’t manage to stick to their New Year’s resolution and stay out of the blotter for at least a week. The freshmen pranksters hit campus running and strung together a series of incidents in the blotter.

On February 12, one student did not want to be part of the antics anymore. It was discovered that a culprit or culprits had made a buffet out of his room door. A smattering of food and popcorn was splattered from top to bottom. Was this a crime of passion or Chef Boy-R-Dee cooked just right?

The Whiteford girls must be spending too much time in Rouzer, because the mischievousness of the boys is rubbing off. Whiteford quickly became party central this round in the blotter, as several incidents were reported involving possession of alcohol.

On February 2, a group of students went 4-for-4 in the freshmen girls’ dorm. The under-aged quad squad was charged with possession of hard liquor, a multi-liter container and controlled substances. What a fun call home to the parents that must have been.

It seems that the underclassmen were not the only students “thirsty” after being away from campus for a month. The upperclassmen forgot to take some of the necessary precautions when hosting a party, like closing the blinds in a first floor apartment.

The students in Garden Apartments should have just waved and invited Campus Safety in to play a round, as the officer reported the party was disbanded because drinking games were seen through open blinds from the outside. Oops.

The campus is buzzing with activity as winter is turning into warmer days and many students are itching with cabin fever. The combination inevitably equals a bustling campus blotter in the future.

Katie Smith
Staff Reporter

Despite McDaniel’s no-pet policy in the dorms, CATS can now be found on campus.

The Carroll Area Transit System (CATS) has added a stop to its shuttle route at McDaniel. The stop is located at the north parking lot outside the rear entrance of Gill gym. CATS shuttles operate Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They stop at McDaniel at 8:43 a.m., 10:13 a.m., 11:43 a.m., 1:13 p.m., 2:43 p.m., and 4:13 p.m. The shuttle, normally one dollar per ride, is free to all McDaniel students with ID cards until March.

“It’s a good thing because it helps include McDaniel in the community at large,” Rachael Stecyk, a senior, says of the new stop on campus.

Other CATS shuttle stops in the Westminster community include the Carroll County government, College Square, Carroll Plaza, Cranberry Square, Crossroads Shopping Center, the post office on Main Street, Pennsylvania Avenue and Union Street, Target, TownMall, Wal-Mart, and the Westminster Shopping Center. Shuttles can also be taken from the Westminster Wal-Mart to Taneytown and Eldersburg and on-call transportation is available within Carroll County if CATS is notified at least 24 hours in advance.

Jim Mayola, Liaison for the Community Outreach Service, believes that the new shuttle stop on campus will be beneficial to many students. “I hear from students, especially freshmen, that they don’t always have a way to get around?. This allows students to get all around the town of Westminster,” says Mayola.
“I hope students take advantage of it. It only costs a buck and it’s a quick and easy way to get out,” Mayola adds.

Some McDaniel students think the CATS shuttle stop at McDaniel will be beneficial to many students. Tara Russell, a senior, has a car on campus and does not plan on utilizing CATS. However, she does believe that other students may benefit from it.

“I think it’s great for freshmen, especially?. It can be hard to find rides as freshmen,” Russell says.

Alyssa Barry, a sophomore, agrees and believes CATS could provide students without cars a safer alternative to walking. “That way they don’t have to cross 140,” she says.
Despite some positive outlooks from students, it may not always be a convenient transportation option for some students. With only six pick-up times each day during the week, students with tight schedules may find it difficult to find a pick-up time that works for them.

“It’s a good idea for freshmen and others without cars, but it could be a problem if they can’t go during the times [the shuttles come],” says Rachel Smiroldo.
Regardless, Stecyk believes the addition of the CATS stop at McDaniel is something that will “add to the list of good things [about McDaniel] for potential students.”
For more information about CATS, call 410-876-RIDE (7433) or visit the website at www.carrolltransit.org .

John Wahman
Staff Reporter

Every summer several McDaniel Cadets step foot at Fort Benning Georgia ready to take on the massive task of learning how to safely jump out of a perfectly good airplane and land on the ground in one piece.

The experience is part of a U.S. Army program called Airborne. For over 50 years, McDaniel’s ROTC program has participated.

“Airborne afforded me an insertion capability as a reconnaissance team member, which allowed me to get to areas within enemy held territory that would be difficult to do by any other means of insertion,” said Captain Paul Gump, a military science instructor at McDaniel College.

“When people ask me what I did last summer, I tell them that I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane five times (twice in one day even, and once at night),” said Cadet Tom Boehm, a sophomore at McDaniel.

Now you may think, psh! I can do that, but when you factor in the excessive heat, extensive physical training received in the three week course at Benning, and then the fact that right before you jump the only thing between you and death is a few string in a piece of canopy, you may think twice.

“On some days it gets to be 105 degrees with 70% humidity,” said Cadet John Lower, also a sophomore at McDaniel.

So far, McDaniel cadets have had a 100% success rate here at McDaniel, and this year’s ‘09 class is already intensely competing for their own slot to jump school.

“In the past we have enjoyed an outstanding graduation rate among cadets. This is due in no small part to the quality of cadets we have in our program,” explained Captain Gump. “These are truly some of the most outstanding young men and women this generation has to offer. I am sure we will continue to enjoy future success in ROTC based upon the quality of student that McDaniel College draws to our ROTC program.”

Only the top cadets get slots and there are not many available. Recipients of a slot are not only physically qualified, but also maintain strong GPA’s and have no conduct issues. Once cadets graduate successfully from jump school, they receive a set of wings, which is pinned on their uniform on the left side of the chest.

If you see cadets walking around in uniform with a set of wings, go up and congratulate them; they have completed a rather awesome feat.

I mean who doesn’t want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?

Danielle Azoulay
Staff Reporter

“Please verify your mcdaniel.edu email account,” is one of the various subject lines of several dangerous emails circulating around campus.

With sender addresses like “Admin Helpdesk” this email and several others like it have tricked McDaniel account users into relinquishing important and sensitive information including user name, password, date of birth, and country or territory of origin.

Senior Stephanie Abrams said, “I received one of them a while back, but I knew that the school would never ask for my password, and that I should never ever give it out.”
According to Network Communications Systems Administrator Chris Palsgrove, these emails have been showing up over the past year, during which McDaniel has been updating it email system. Palsgrove believes this is simply a coincidence, but says that the timing has caused several students and faculty to fall for the scam.

Last spring alone, over 150 students and faculty surrendered their information, some more than once, and some offering up additional information including student ID numbers, and the last four digits of their social security numbers, said Palsgrove.

Once a student or faculty members information has been received the sender then changes the name on the account and proceeds to send the email onto everyone in the accounts address book. The biggest problem with this is that major servers such as Yahoo, MSN, and Hotmail will then block all emails sent from a McDaniel account due to the large amount of spam received by them.

IT team members contacted and gave new passwords to those that have responded to the email, and for those who could not be reached their accounts had to be temporally shut down said Palsgrove.

So how do you avoid getting caught up in this hoax?

“I can not stress it enough,” says Palsgrove, “Never give out your password. Passwords are for the user only, not us, not the bank, not Myspace, or Facebook. The school will never ask for your password.”

Other ways to check if an email is legitimate is to be sure that the email address is a mcdaniel.edu account. Although the sender may be a mcdaniel.edu account, the reply address may not be. Anyone unsure of the legitimacy of an email can also postmaster@mcdaniel.edu for verification.