By Rusty Simmons staff reporter Two teen-age boys were arrested at about 11 a.m. Wednesday after TCU maintenance men saw them trying to take stereo speakers from a blue Nissan car parked on North Bellaire Drive, in front of the Physical Plant, said TCU Police Sgt. John Pachecko. Pachecko said one of the boys, 14, broke the car window on the passenger side and was placing the rear-seat speakers on the sidewalk when the TCU Police were contacted by the maintenance men. TCU Police Sgt. Chris Drake said the boy had broken the entire panel holding the speakers and was attempting to steal a bass booster as well. "It is odd that they would do it in broad daylight," Pachecko said. "People are driving in and out of the Physical Plant entrance all day. Obviously, someone would see them." When TCU Police arrived on the scene, the 14-year-old ran to the creek bed, which runs between the Physical Plant and back of Worth Hills. His partner, 18, drove away in a red Pontiac Grand Am, Pachecko said. The Fort Worth Police joined the chase, using the Air One helicopter. After receiving the Grand Am license plate number, TCU Police Officer Henry Lewis and Pachecko said they were able to catch up with the 18-year-old on North Bellaire Drive, but the 14-year-old avoided the police by hiding. Drake said less than 10 feet down the creek bed pathway, he and Detective Kelly Ham were able to find the 14-year-old. "It looked like there was about two feet of Levi material, and I realized that there was a leg in it," Drake said. "I told him to come out, and he did without saying anything." Drake said some good fortune was involved in the arrests. "It was lucky because you can be 10 seconds off of a robbery scene, and the robbers can already be gone," he said. "In this instance, we were able to get there while the robbery was in progress." The owner of the Nissan is a temporary employee at the TCU Physical Plant but was unavailable for comment.
Rusty Simmons
By Yonina Robinson staff reporter While TCU administrators are breathing a little easier this year after the installation of the new PeopleSoft software, Cleveland State University administrators are not breathing quite so easily. Cleveland State administrators have hired three consulting firms to pull the university out of an administrative crisis that began two years ago when it installed new software from PeopleSoft Corporation. According to the Feb. 28 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, Cleveland State was one of the first universities to convert to PeopleSoft's software for student information systems. "We installed three different modules: finance, human resources and student administrative enrollment," said Pat Cunningham-Reid, client services manager for Cleveland State. "We're having problems with the student module." David Edmondson, TCU assistant provost for information services, said the human resources module is designed to handle things such as staff and faculty information and payroll and payment information. Finance handles general ledger, budgets, management and inventory. Student administration handles administration, financial aid and degree audit, Edmondson said. Reid said Cleveland State is considering suing the PeopleSoft Corporation. Joseph Nolan, the Cleveland State's vice president for human resources development and labor relations and the official spokesperson regarding the issue, was not available for comment. But according to his interview in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Nolan said Cleveland State hopes to resolve the problems it has had in processing financial aid and student records for two years. In February, Cleveland State's trustees awarded a one-year contract worth up to $2.4 million to Science Applications International Corporation of San Diego (S.A.I.C.) who bid on the project with SoftLink Inc. A second one-year contract worth up to $946,000 went to the Hunter Group of Baltimore, according to the Chronicle. All three companies have extensive experience in fixing problems with PeopleSoft student-information systems installed at other universities, said Joseph Valencic, a Cleveland State spokesperson. "The bottom line is Cleveland State University mismanaged the implementation in our perspective," said Steve Swasey, the director of corporate public relations for PeopleSoft. "The success of implementation certainly contains many variables. You have to have a real budget, the appropriate staff and real expectations. "We don't like to criticize our customers, but we have to call it like it is. Any implementation that does not go well is a concern for us. We want happy customers wherever we go. But that's not always possible." Swasey said there are 427 institutes of higher learning that are using PeopleSoft, including Stanford University. Edmondson said TCU installed the same three modules Cleveland State did. "I can't speak on behalf of Cleveland State," Edmondson said. "Not to say we don't have problems. With any new software, you're going to have problems. We kept the door open, and, essentially, we're operating with the software." Edmondson said, like Cleveland State, TCU had problems with financial aid. Administrators also had problems with grade calculations, but they got the modules to work. "If students were not able to enroll for classes for the spring semester, that was PeopleSoft," Edmondson said. Patrick Miller, TCU's registrar and director of enrollment management, said employees in his office are pleased with PeopleSoft. "We had a real good enrollment," Miller said. "We had to do a lot to work to make it work and work well. We identified problems and solved them. We're better with PeopleSoft than with the Legacy Program."
Yonina Robinson
By Victor Drabicky staff reporter This weekend, hundreds of TCU students will be staying up all night, but not to study or drink. Up 'Til Dawn is an all-campus philanthropic event benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. The party will last from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. and feature various concerts and other games designed to keep people awake and busy throughout the night. Zeta Tau Alpha president Lisette Gerch said a large part of the Zeta sorority is going to participate in the all-night Up 'Til Dawn party. "We actually only have one team registered, but I expect more than 75 percent of the sorority to be involved in some way," Gerch said. "Up 'Til Dawn is a good way for the TCU community to come together without having to worry about alcohol being a factor." Director of Up 'Til Dawn Megan Korns said about 180 people are already registered to participate in the event. "We only expected to have about 20 teams of six register to compete in the event," Korns said. "However, we already have almost 30 teams registered and may see a few more sign up before the week is over." Korns said each team registered will compete in a mixture of events including karaoke, swing dancing and fund-raising events. "Each team pays a $300 entrance fee, then goes out and gets sponsors to help fund St. Jude's," Korns said. "Whichever team raises the most money, wins the competition." Korns said additional prizes will be given to teams that show the most spirit. "We wanted to make sure Up 'Til Dawn wasn't just a competition about money," Korns said. "That is why we will also award first prize to the team that shows the most spirit and is the most involved." Up 'Til Dawn public relations director Elizabeth Stablein said teams are willing to pay the entrance fee because they know the money is going toward a good cause. "All the money is going to help fund the St. Jude Hospital," Stablein said. "We will also have two St. Jude's patients at the party so that participants can see whom their money will be helping." Stablein said despite having more teams register than expected, Up 'Til Dawn was not designed to be a huge event. "Our main purpose is to get things started," Stablein said. "We are not trying to blow the hospital away with all the money we can raise. We are hoping that Up 'Til Dawn will become an annual event at TCU." Korns said a group of people tried to start Up 'Til Dawn last year but was unsuccessful. "When they tried to start Up 'Til Dawn last year, the planners had a few problems with public relations and getting the word out," Korns said. "This year we have been really successful, especially with fund raising. Sam's Wholesale Club donated $5,000, and a bunch of other TCU area businesses such as Jons Grille donated money, too." Gerch said she is surprised at the amount of money that has already been raised. "It's great to see that people are giving so much money to Up 'Til Dawn," she said. "I'm happy to see that the money is going to a good cause and hope the money will help the children that need it most."
Victor Drabicky
By Reagan Duplisea staff reporter As a young man was racing his motorcycle at Daytona Beach, Fla., he lost a tire and shot into the Atlantic Ocean for an unexpected swim. "I accidentally went swimming," said Fred Butz, TCU security guard, of his big splash in the 1960s. Butz said he was not hurt, just wet. The security guard said he enjoys working at TCU because he is given the time to pursue his motorcycling hobby. He began working at TCU in 1995 after retiring from American General Life Insurance. He said the thing he likes most about his job is being able to work outside. "I needed to stay active," Butz said. "I don't do very well in an office five days a week." Butz said he and his wife had been TCU sports fans for years before he began working here. He said he applied to TCU on a whim. "I was just driving down University (Drive), saw Human Resources and pulled in," he said. "I said 'I want to work for TCU. There's bound to be something.'" The new guard shelter has made his job more pleasant, he said. Physical Plant built the brick shelter, located between the Tom Brown/Pete Wright Residential Community and the Student Center, over Winter Break.
Butz said it has really made a difference in cold weather. During winter, he would wear two jackets, sweatshirts and a long sleeve shirt, he said. "For years, he's been out in the rain and the cold and he never complained," said Steve McGee, chief of TCU Police. "He would be out there in 40 degree weather and the rain, with an umbrella, just doing his job." Many people suggested that the structure be built, but Ferrari was the main initiator, McGee said. According to Butz, the shelter aids the campus. "When visitors come to campus, they automatically go up to the guard shelter," he said. Butz said he keeps maps and brochures there that he gives to visitors. His typical day consists of telling students where they can park and helping parents and other visitors find their way around campus. The main problem he confronts on an almost daily basis is people driving the wrong way past the Student Center, he said. It happens about four to six times a week, mostly with visitors, he said. Butz said he does not find his job monotonous. "Every day is different," he said. Butz said the hardest day for him was when they tore down Tom Brown Hall. "That was my saddest day," Butz said. "It held a lot of memories for a lot of people." Although the memory of driving into the ocean at Daytona Beach remains vivid, it did not stop Butz from continuing to pursue his hobby. He continues to ride today on his own and with the club DFW Freedom Riders. "The overgrown kid never got out of me," Butz said. "There's the saying 'The older the boys, the bigger the toys.'" Butz said he likes riding his motorcycle because of the fresh air, the freedom and the sense of adventure. He has even recruited his wife into hitting the roads. "She got into it after I took her out the first time," Butz said. "Last month she decided she wanted her own." The couple works rallies in the summers in Asheville, N.C., and Billings, Mont., where about 2,000 motorcyclists participate and ride across the country. During the school year, the couple take to local streets on the weekends. "We ride every weekend, weather permitting and sometimes when it's not," Butz said. "Last week, we were in the Hill Country when the rain hit." Butz said he and his wife take motorcycle safety very seriously. The two take safety courses twice a year and he is working to earn a teaching certificate so he can teach courses in motorcycle safety. The couple's son, Fred Jr., also owns a motorcycle. They are all planning to take a trip to Arkansas and Oklahoma, the May 1999 alumnus said. "We're going to see the submarine he served on that's in a museum in Oklahoma," the younger Butz said. His father served on a submarine during the Suez Canal crisis. Butz grew up in Miami and joined the U.S. Navy after high school. "I came to Texas in '63, fell in love with it and never went back," Butz said.
Reagan Duplisea |
The shelter is affectionately known in Sadler Hall as "Fred's
Shed," Chancellor Michael Ferrari said in January.| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |