Point News, 1996 September 17

              September 17, 1996
The Point News N ews
Wood’s answers criticism over food, Rita’s departure
Corporate representatives say popular employee left voluntarily; company promises better food
ELLIE HOPE
staff writer
On Tuesday, September 10th three rep­resentatives
of the Wood Corporation at­tended
the open Student Government As­sociation
meeting. Katrina Crist, the
Director of the Office of Conferences, was
introduced as St. Mary’s College’s liasion
with the Wood Corporation. She explained
that she had come to the forum because
previous efforts to generate a student com­mittee
had failed due to lack of interest
Students countered this notion, citing
the time of the meetings last year as the
reason attendence was low. Because the
meeting was scheduled at noon many stu­dents
could not find time between midday
classes and lunch to participate.
Crist acknowledged the students' point
and planned to look into it.
Crist then invited student comments.
“Where is Rita?” was one of the first
questions asked. Rita Hall,
a former Wood’s employee,
was a favorite of the stu­dents.
She was known for
hugs, friendly smiles, par­ties,
and her trademark
“Hey, Baby.” Paul
Tuehnerman, Wood’s Dis­trict
Representative, fielded
the question. “It’s not practical to discuss
human resource issues,” Tuehnerman be­gan,
“but Rita has decided to pursue other
things.” He went on to say that Rita was
not fired but resigned. When one student
asked Tuehnerman to explain in plain
"We have not been
doing the job we
should. We've
screwed up."
-Paul Tuehnerman
Pointj continued from page one
This relationship is very important to
Reverend Ball, who said, “Students make
a difference. . . [They] provide a diversity
we wouldn’t have otherwise . . . We value
them.” He is interested in finding ways for
the college and the church to work to­gether
in a “partnership.”
Logistically, this partnership is very im­portant
for the college to maintain because
the church's property is interspersed with
parts of the St. Mary's campus.
Therefore, many reciprocal agreements
must be reached pertaining to such things
as the plumbing or electric lines. These
utilities which run from Calvert Hall, St.
Mary’s Hall, or Kent Hall to the rest o f
campus must go across land owned by the
church. Other agreements include the re­sponsibility
of St. Mary's campus mainte­nance
for the trash collection at Church
Point.
For the members of the congregation of
Trinity Church, this partnership extends
further to include the campus in its weekly
church service. In addition to including
several SMC students in its congregation,
during the Prayers of the People, Trinity
Church parishioners pray for the students,
faculty and staff of St. Mary’s College.
In addition to involving SMC in Trinity's
weekly services, Reverend Ball is notified
immediately by parishioners who hear of
an emergency on campus. Reverend Ball
will then call someone on campus to see if
he can give assistance to the student.
Harry Tafe, director of Public Safety,
stated that his officers are given permis­sion
by the state of Maryland to enforce
laws “only on property of St. Mary’s Col­lege
of Maryland.”
However, because Church Point is land
which is frequently used by members of
the community, it is legally considered a
public land. Therefore, certain laws can
be enforced in this way on the property.
For example, no one, including those over
the age of 21, is allowed under MD law to
have open containers of alcohol on public
lands.
This means that the St. Mary’s County
Sheriff’s Office has the right to come onto
the property and enforce these laws. Fur­thermore,
Public Safety officers are re­quired
to assist county and state police
officers in this enforcement when re­quested
to do so.
Reverend Ball stated that although he
has to keep in mind that the church can be
held legally responsible for any accident
which may occur on the property, he “will
not call [the police] to come and check
ID’s.”
Harry Tafe stated that at times, the people
across the St. Mary's River have called
him to complain about the noise coming
from Church Point. When this happens, he
must “refer them to the county police.”
Tafe has also confirmed that there is
now an off-duty St. Mary’s County deputy
who has been hired by Historic St. Mary’s
City to patrol on weekend nights, and that
this officer would easily be able to see any
activity on Church Point.
English he responded “She ain’t coming
back.”
One other issue covered was the prob­lems
during the first week of food service.
The Wood’s represen­tatives
cited various
pieces of malfunc­tioning
kitchen equip­ment
as the reason for
poor service during
the first week. Sev­eral
additional per-
------------------- sonnel were brought
in to correct the problems and Woods
expects smooth operations from now on.
Students in attendance at the SGA meet­ing
had a multitude of complaints against
Woods. The use of shrimp three days in a
row created a health concern for some stu­dents.
Tim Lockett, the director of Woods
at St. Mary ’ s, described proper thawing tech­niques
of frozen shrimp and assured listen­ers
that his staff followed these safe instruc­tions.
Issues between vegetarians and meat
eaters also were discussed regarding
marinara versus meat sauce. Improvement
was called for at Stacks Deli, the salad bar,
and the baked potato bar.
Woods is refocusing the way they do
business in total, from the top manage­ment
to retraining of staff in the dining
units. The representatives promised that
students will never see mashed potatoes
out of a box, and Woods will try to provide
at least one fresh vegetable at each lunch
and dinner. Wood’s has been able to make
successful changes in the past, including
offering Chesapeake Bagels and, more
recently, Top Hits, the chef stand at din­ner.
Tuehnermann mentioned that em­ployees
will taste everything before it is
served and if anything fails to meet their
approval, it will be replaced. Wood’s is
also monitoring meal portions which have
gone uneaten, and popular items will be
repeated more often.
The Wood Corporation is a 350 million
dollar a year business, operating solely in
the mid-Atlantic. The Corporation serves
the dining needs of almost every type of
institution. The College first contracted
with Wood’s in June of 1989. There are 55
people employed on campus by Wood’s,
in the main dining area and Pete’s Arena.
Tuehnerman has been working as the dis­trict
representative since July 15th 1996
and supervises seven dining units.
“We have not been doing the job we
should. We’ve screwed up,” Tuehnerman
readily admitted, “and I am not leaving
until we get it right.”
Alcohol\ continued from page one
officers to its weekend patrols. Both the and theJSt Mary’s County Police. When
Dean and Director of Public Safety Harry the police reports document 1000 alcohol
Tafe, agree that the two officers are here citatior&: in approximately four years and
to keep theft-at a 4ow, rather than to the cVxliege reports document none/ the
control partying. They also agree that the ' ;^stat& 'gets suspicious.But a goal of'the'
campus is somewhat lenient on alcohol college is to deal withdrinking “discreetly,” i
violations, making it a policy to aVbid said Freeman, fafe says he knows thatf
giving out many. They trf to deal wj& Public Safety is“ moving to where we’llf
underage drinkers in alternative ways, , issue alcohol citations.” He feels that a ^
like encouraging students to take the alca- stricter method of dealing with campus
hoi awareness class'.1 * problems wift help to solve them. Tafe'
Both Freeman and Tafe--acknowledge and Freeman also believe that if students^
the probleTrfs^that arise when the repSfts dcf fto't violate the rules, the policies will
go to the state’s attorney from the college not have to be more strict.
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