Friday, October 26, 2007 Ouestion o t e Sophomore. Int'l Business I would keep the money.' California wildfires continue to risk homes and lives By Matt Schwabenbauer assistant student life editor inp,53870 pqi.edu With over $1 billion in damages, the California wildfires have been named the largest national dis aster in the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina. On Wednesday, President Bush signed a federal major disaster declaration for seven Southern California counties, which experienced the worst of the fires. By signing the disaster declara- Lion, residents will be given funds to rent temporary homes and repair damages to their homes On Thursday, rescue work ers found two more burnt bodies among the wreckage near Poway, north of San Diego. They are believed to he a man and a woman, pos sibly related. Neighbors of the pair claimed to have warned them to evacuate, but were ignored. This brings the total number of bodies found among the wreckage to three. Collectively, there are seven deaths total that have been attributed to the fires. There were three people that died while being evac uated, and four more after they had been evacuated. Nearly 1 million people were ordered to evacuate during the wildfires. All San Diego residents have been able to return to their homes. Currently, there are nearly 20,000 people that are still in shelters across the nation. Qualcom Stadium is the largest of the shelters, which housed 11,000 people at one point, with only around 300 currently residing at the stadium. The fires have destroyed 462,415 acres of land since Sunday, including California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's home. Nearly 8,900 firefighters have been battling the flames, and make up 36 of the 78 fire-related injuries. "It hurts us to have those homes lost. It hurts us to have those injuries. And it Cardboard City raises awareness for Hunger and Homelessness Week By Michelle Quail staff writer ml o 5001 V osmedu A 24 hour long event took place beginning last Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. where students lived in tiny cardboard huts around Behrend campus collecting money for Erie's homeless. Nine student organizations participated: Student Athletic Advisory Council, Alpha Phi Omega, Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, Matchbox Players, Omicron Delta Kappa, Biology Club and Society of Women Engineers. Donations went to the City Mission this year. Cardboard huts were made by the students, and each contained at least one student at all times who stayed in the hut for as long as 24 hours. It was 51 degrees outside and pouring rain as Casey Robinson, a sophomore physics student, sat contently inside of a cardboard house. Robinson was spending his time going over his home work and accepting donations from students passing by. Around him were the materials he brought to survive in a card ou found Freshman, Mechanical Engineering Sophomore, DUS Technology "1 would ask around to see if any one was missing it, then keep it." "It hurts us to have those homes lost...it's frustrating for us to watch our commu nity be devastated by this." MeAshek Firefighter board hut for 24 hours: tape, cof fee, food, and a sleeping bag. He had a cardboard sign in front of his house revealing the club name he was representing along with a change bucket. Robinson has decided to participate in Cardboard City for the second time as part of his Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship Club. "I'm here doing this to support my club, and also because my room mate asked me to participate with him. He also made this box for me," he chuckled. "I will proba bly stay in this thing until I actu ally feel like it is home." Robinson also reports that last year his cardboard house flooded. He stayed in there anyway and pushed the water out and ended up being in the only group still there the next morning. Ellie Repkova, a fellow IVCF member, accompanied Robinson. She added, "I was glad to see the rain today. It's going to help all of us really raise awareness of the homeless. This bad weather seems to open up our eyes to see what homeless people go through every day." Each person was to participate in the event for at least one hour, but everyone was is frustrating for us to watch our community be dev astated by this," says firefighter Andy Menshek. Firefighters are still fighting to contain the Witch Fire in San Diego county, which is the largest fire at 200,000 acres. Fire officials claim that the wildfire is about 20 percent controlled. Firefighters got to experience some natural relief this week. Much of the spread of the fires were con tributed to high wind speeds, which calmed to sin- arrests that have been linked to the fires. One arrest in Los Angeles County, and two more in San Bernardino County. In Riverside County, investigators believe the Rosa Fire which destroyed 400 acres may be a case of arson. Scientists claim that global warming trends may have attributed to the severity of the fires. A study conducted last year states that the fire season has increased 64 percent since 1970. The study also dis covered that in themid 1980 s, the number of wild fires exceeding 1,000 acres had a dramatic increase. 60 percent of the rise of fires has been attributed to the Northern Rockies alone. Another contributor to the extreme fires are record droughts that were recorded this year. The surface temperatures in San Diego are also 10-20 degrees than the air in the surrounding hills, which causes grasses and brush to reach temperatures exceeding 120 degrees. At such high temperatures, even a small ember could start a fire. Once one fire starts, it easily spreads to surrounding brush. encouraged to spend as much time as possible in the cardboard houses, or until the event came to an end. After running the house for only three hours, the two stu dents had already raised over 30 dollars. "People just kind of drop in on their way to class and put in a few dollars," says Robinson. Christa Morris, Acting Coordinator of Community Service, believes Behrend stu dents and employees have been very giving with both time and donations. "I am always impressed with the number of students that are willing to step out of their comfort zone to try and experience homelessness first-hand. Another interesting thing is the amount of creativity and effort that go into the boxes," reports Morris. For the years Cardboard City has been offered, it has been a success at the Behrend campus, according to Morris. It has allowed Behrend students to learn about what it is like to the homeless, become more engaged in the Erie com munity, and also team building for the participating clubs and organizations. NT. \/\/ ee : W "I would try and find who it belonged to, then donate half and use halfPr a hot air balloon." gle digits this week. According to the National Weather Service, wind speeds are predicted to stay calm through the end of the week. In Orange County and Riverside County, arson investigators are finding clues that may lead to the origins of some of the fires. There have been three arson mount of m Community Blood Bank accepting donations on Halloween By Liz Carey stqff writer ea, 5/ /Ma 1 , 111 rift On Wednesday . Oct. 31 Penn State Behrend. the Community Blood Bank, and Alpha Sigma Alpha will he hosting its annual 'Vampire' hlood drive. The blood drive will he open from 11 a.m. to 5 pin. and will he located in the McGarvev (ominous in the Reed Union Building. There is no appointment necessary but to ensure that the donor is at least I 7 years old, a photo ID is required at the time of dona tion. The donor. as well as heing 17, must he at least 110 pounds and in good health. The donor ma \ also not have any tattoos or piercing from a tattoo parlor in the last 12 months and the donor should eat a good meal prior to giving blood. The Community Blood Bank is the only supplier of blood to the hospitals and patients in Erie, Elk. Warren and McKean counties, so this is a very important event. It takes 800 donated units a week to adequately supply the r o utine usage. The number at wou you Senior. Intl Business Nlana2einent It'ottlt/ 111/11 1/iC The Behrend Beacon I Fre,lunan. Nursing liould i;lve the money to chart- is so large because it not only goes to help patients undergoing surgeries but also to accident and trau ma victims. as l% ell as people lighting cancer at the Regional Cancer Center. The plasma portion is used for research in discovering treatments for deadly diseases such as muscular disorders. and bleeding and immune system deficiencies. Behrend donated 81 units of blood in April when 94 donors were screened. This was Sen successful and the largest blood drive in years. hut the Community Blood Bank is hoping to surpass that amount on Wednesday. Deanna Renaud is the mobile drive coordinator at the Community Blood Rank. She commented on hors. "I lalloss een is one of those holidays that just lends itself to Hood donation. so this should be a realls On event.We alss ass have our Little Debbies for donors. hut it's Halloween so we're bringing sonic extra special treats- food, and candy prizes." If ou have any questions you can contact ilenaud at the numbetlB'l4Y4s6-4`206. ' " • •
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