By Rusty Simmons staff reporter Police arrested a man in front of Tandy Hall at around 5:30 p.m. Monday after junior marketing major John McConnell tackled and held the man down for allegedly trying to steal his bike. Fort Worth police officer Al Hart said the 46-year-old suspect was found with two pawn tickets which he admitted were from the sales of bikes he stole from campus earlier in the day. The suspect had a total of $102 from the stolen bikes he pawned, Hart said. Hart said the suspect will be held in custody at John Peter Smith Hospital, where he was taken after being arrested. He will then be charged with attempted robbery, Hart said. "When we got to the scene, the suspect complained of leg and hip pain," TCU Police Sgt. Ramiro Abad said. "We have to take care of (his injuries before he's taken to jail)." McConnell said he was coming out of his management of information systems class when he saw the suspect attempting to remove the lock on his Roadmaster bike with a bolt cutter. "He started walking away when I saw him trying to take my bike," McConnell said. "So I tackled him into the bushes." McConnell said the two struggled for about three minutes, but he was not worried until the suspect threatened him. "He managed to get his hand under his stomach, and he said, 'I have a gun, and I'll use it,'" McConnell said. "I grabbed his hands, but he tried to bite me, so I let them go." McConnell said the suspect did not have a gun when police searched him. During the struggle, an unidentified TCU student came to help McConnell and George Low, an assistant professor of marketing, called the police. McConnell said he exchanged words with the suspect as the police arrived at the scene. "It was nice to get to yell at him," he said. "I was mad that he tried to take my bike." Abad said he was thankful nothing else happened to the students involved. The awareness of the TCU community was a great assist in the arrest, he said. "It makes our job easier when people call right away instead of waiting around for 30 minutes," he said. "When people are more aware, it brings to light what has occurred."
Rusty Simmons
By Jeff Anderson staff reporter Renovations currently in progress for Foster Hall will be completed in August, said officials for Linbeck - the construction company hired for the project.
"The (renovation) schedule is like an accordion," Swing said. "Some (stages) are fast, some slow." Foster Hall is currently being renovated to improve its major electrical, heating, air conditioning and plumbing systems. The residence hall closed after finals last semester and will reopen in Fall 2000. Bevin Kurtz, future Foster hall director, said the renovations were necessary. "The building was not handicapped accessible," Kurtz said. "It will be a lot better after renovations." Kurtz said the ramps to the lobbies and the addition of the elevator will make it more accessible. Also, the laundry rooms will be on each floor and not in the basement, she said. Roger Fisher, director of Residential Services, said six rooms in Foster will be handicapped accessible after renovations. Two rooms on each floor will have wider doors, wider closets, lower lavatories and lower light switches, he said. In order for the process to move on schedule, "critical path" items must be completed on time, Swing said. The critical path is the route through the schedule that shows items which must be completed ahead of time or on schedule to maintain the timing of the project, he said. Items such as demolition and asbestos removal are critical path, he said. "If one part is not done, we can't move on," Swing said. "Plumbing inspections are critical because we can't close walls until it passes (inspection)." Swing said after the walls are closed, they will be prepared for painting. A lot of the major utility work was done over Spring Break, so students would not be bothered by the noise, he said. Waterlines had to be run near Waits Hall, he said. Swing said different floors and wings are at different stages in the renovation process. In the Foster renovation, the work is basically going from the basement to the third floor, he said. Some sections of the building have been inspected for plumbing, and others are not to that stage yet, he said. Fisher said the hearing-impaired designed rooms will be equipped with flashing lights to alert someone unable to hear a siren. Handicapped-accessible rooms not filled will be used as regular double-occupancy rooms, he said.
Jeff Anderson
By Courtney Roach staff reporter Joshua Thaden, a junior physics major, leads a normal college life. He is a resident assistant in Clark Hall, a mentor for the Chancellor's Leadership Program and is on the leadership council for Student Development Services. It is what Thaden does in his spare time that sets him apart from other TCU students. Thaden spends six hours every week outside of class researching cancer by analyzing the functional analysis of a gene involved in cell cycle regulation and genetically programmed cell death. A specific gene helps regulate the cycle of cells. Thaden said people who have certain types of cancers do not have that gene. For his efforts, Thaden has received the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for research in math, science or engineering and will be awarded $15,000 over the next two years. The scholarship must be used on tuition, room and board, books and fees. "I found out about the application for the Goldwater Scholarship through Rhonda Hatcher, the coordinator of prestigious scholarships for the Honors Program, and I thought it would be a great honor," Thaden said. "Plus, I hoped it might give me a boost for graduate school." Thaden said his interest in cancer research is mainly an intellectual one because of its complexity, but he said he does have a family interest: Three of his grandparents died of cancer. "This summer, I'll be doing independent research under a cancer-related doctor at the Mayo Clinic (in St. Paul, Minn.), but I'm not sure of the project yet," Thaden said. After he graduates in May 2002, Thaden said he plans on attending medical school, although he has not applied yet. Thaden competed with 1,176 nationwide applicants who also excel at research in either math, science or engineering. There were only 309 people awarded. "The application was pretty extensive," he said. "It asked for essays about my future, my research and my future research. It took me a long time, though, only because I went through drafts and drafts and revisions and revisions." Hatcher, also an associate professor of mathematics, said the Goldwater Scholarship is selective. She said the school has to nominate a student in order for him or her to be eligible. "I would consider it the highest honor for underclassmen in math, science or engineering in the nation," Hatcher said. Thaden said he knew the competition would be stiff, and he did not think he would win. "It was a lot of work, but there were so many people who helped me out and made my research and the award possible," he said. Efton Park, an associate professor of math, was the first to tell Thaden about winning the award. "He was shocked, and I don't think he believed me at first," Park said. "Josh is a very diligent and friendly student. I wish that all of our students were like Josh." Julie Anderson, an assistant professor of biology, has been working with Thaden on his research projects and said he deserves all the credit for winning the award. "Josh is so self-motivated, very mature, and, plus, he has a great sense of humor," Anderson said. "The main thing that has impressed me with Josh is he has an amazing intellectual curiosity, not necessarily even in science. He just loves learning." Anderson started working with Thaden on small research projects after he came to her asking for help. They are currently working on two cancer research projects. "Josh has an innate ability to understand, and he'll go wherever he wants in the future," Anderson said. TCU nominated two students for the Goldwater Scholarship last year, and both students received the award. Hatcher said she credits TCU's winning record to excellent students. "We have always been good about encouraging students to apply who have been doing this research," Hatcher said. "Professors have really pulled through with recommendations. We've just had great applicants."
Courtney Roach
By Priya Abraham and Reagan Duplisea staff reporters Staff members of the TCU Daily Skiff placed first in five on-site competitions at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Conference Thursday and Friday in Waco. "In recent years, I'm not aware of the Skiff staff winning as many on-site awards," said Eva Rumpf, student publications director. Hundreds of students vied for awards at three competitions that took place over the weekend - the TIPA on-site competition, the 1999 TIPA pre-published material competition and the 1999 Southwestern Journalism Congress competition. TCU students entered 11 on-site contests Thursday, which involved covering a staged event or transforming fragments of information into a newspaper's front page. "You're given an hour and a half to put together a page with bad stories and bad photos," said Joaquin Herrera, Skiff editor in chief and first-place winner of the newspaper design competition. "If you can do it and win, it shows you can actually work under deadline pressure." Other on-site winners included: Matt Welnack, first place, sports writing; Matt Jones, first place, magazine design; Jacqueline Petersell, first place, headline writing; and Jason Crane, first place, public relations press release writing. The Skiff took third place best overall newspaper for 1999, Herrera said. Skiff staff members also garnered 27 individual awards for work produced in 1999. Some categories included design, newswriting and photography. "We're one of the smallest schools that won," Herrera said. "It shows that we're trying to become a more professional paper overall. We've succeeded in doing that in the past two semesters." Image magazine won first place best general magazine overall and sweepstakes for the most points won in the various contests. "It makes me feel good that others recognize all the hard work we put into producing our student publications," said Crane, editor of Image magazine. Tommy Thomason, chairman of the journalism department, said his department is proud Image has consistently won top awards over the years. "We're proud that the No. 1 award is where it needs to be - at TCU," he said. TCU won 16 awards at the SWJC ceremony on Saturday, including an honorable mention for best newspaper. TCU competed against other schools in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, including state universities like Texas A&M University and the University of Texas-Austin. Jones won first place best first-page design, and Aaron Brown won first place for his cartoon strip, "Rudy." "This confirms what we as a department have known throughout the years - that the Skiff is an example of good college newspaper journalism," Thomason said. "Awards like this are one of the reasons our graduates are so sought after by newspapers across the United States."
Priya Abraham Reagan Duplisea |
Blair Swing, project superintendent for Linbeck, said the
renovation process is moving along on schedule. The projected finish date
is Aug. 4.| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |