Point News, 1996 November 5

              Danielle Brennan stands proud as a national champion, Photo by Erin Mannion
Living up to her “Olympic potential,” Danielle positions, boosting her final points to 30 in
Brennan took another step toward victory when fifteen races. The closest competitor, Alice
she captured the National Championship title in Manard from Stanford, was still far behind with
sailing once again. She traveled to Stanford a score more than double Danielle’s, 68. Only a
University on October 26th and 27th to compete junior, Danielle has already represented SMC
in the Women’s Single-handed regatta on a course with two National Championships and next year
which was unfamiliar to her. In her first nine appears promising as well,
races, she came out on top in each finish. Two -compiled by KeUy Fetter
races later, she achieved two more first *place
St. M a ry ’s College of Maryland
St. Mary’s campus weekly • 48th year, No. 8 November 5, 1996 • St. Mary’s City, MD 20686
PAUL DADDIO
staff w riter
The SGA has developed a proposal for an
environmental policy and put it before the
faculty and administration for approval.
The policy exists in order to protect the
campus environment, conserve resources,
and promote environmental education. Rep­resentatives
of the SGA presented the pro­posal
to the faculty senate at a meeting last
Thursday. At the meet-do.
Jim Wood, SGA President, said, “A lot
of the things we have put in the policy are
already done by the College. We thought it
would be a good idea to put it into writing to
make sure that students and faculty mem­bers
stick to it.”
The proposal suggests the creation of a
“standing committee consisting of faculty,
students and administrators in order to fully
implement this policy throughout the Col­lege.”
This committee would operate through
the office of the presi­ing,
Provost Mel Endy dent. Students
proclaimed that, “[The "W fe thought it W o u l d b e fl
proposal] is a fine piece rr0 0 rf f 0 p u f { f j n t o
of work.” The Faculty . . ' writing to make sure that
students and faculty mem­bers
stick to it ”
Senate then voted to
“commend the SGA for
developing [the Environ­mental
Policy Act pro­posal]
and recommend
that it be forwarded to ____
the president’s office.”
The proposal will now go before President
Margaret O’Brien and then to the Board of
Trustees, who will decide whether or not to
make it official.
Most agree that St. Mary’s already does
everything that is necessary and reasonable
to protect the natural environment surround­ing
the College. However, the drafters of the
policy are worried that perhaps those who
are entrusted with the protection of St.
Mary’s’ environment in the future will not
take care of it the way that its current trustees
and faculty
members would
bring concerns
and suggestions
before the com­mittee
which
would deliber-
-SGA President Jim Wood ate and come up
_________________ with a course of
action to recom­mend
to the College. The proposal also calls
for continuation of current policies such as
the College’s commitment to “conserve natu­ral
resources, reduce the usage of toxic sub­stances,
promote strategies to reuse and re­cycle
wastes, manage growth and construc­tion
in an environmentally friendly way, and
encourage programs which promote envi­ronmental
awareness.”
SGA Townhouse Senator Michael Moore
and seven other students began work on the
proposed policy in the spring of 1995. They
did an environmental audit using a list of
guidelines used in a similar audit done at
UCLA. In the audit, they looked at the way
St. Mary’s handled solid waste, waste wa­ter,
transportation, pesticides, water use, air
quality, and energy use. From this audit,
they determined that St. Mary’s was run in
an environmentally sound manner. They
then acquired information from the Envi­ronmental
Protection Agency on environ­mental
management. Finally, they talked to
several departments on the campus, such as
facilities, maintenance, the bookstore, and
the administrative offices and made sugges­tions
on how these departments could im­prove
their policies to make them more
environmentally friendly.
In recent years, the College has done much
to make sure that the surrounding environ­ment
is safe. Director of Maintenance Rob­ert
Abell explained that at St. Mary’s, “the
environment is a priority from top to bot­tom.”
Moore claims that there is one flaw in the
College’s current practices. He points out
that a great deal of silt has flowed into the St.
John ’ s pond and that a recent dredging of the
pond caused the destruction of an ecosystem
which had developed there. St. John’s Pond
is man-made and was designed with the
function of gathering silt runoff from cam­pus
construction to prevent it from entering
the St. Mary’s river. Had the pond not been
made, the silt would have filled in part of the
river, causing the water to recede.
In other areas, however, the school's record
is solid. The College uses environmentally-friendly
pesticides and will replace its old oil
tanks with new, safer ones which will pre­vent
leaks from leaching into the soil and
contaminating the water.
Maintenance has installed flow restricters
in the showers to limit the amount of water
used. Also, buildings which are uninhabited
at night are only heated to 55 degrees. The
school’s recycling program has also been of
benefit. Bins for recyclable materials can be
found in every building on campus. Recy­cling
is expected to be joined by a composting
program later this year.
Inside
♦ F o r e c a s t in g w it h f l o y d
St. Mary's County has its very own weather
service-Mr. Floyd Abell. Page Five
♦ M in im a l is t so u n d s t a k e h o l d
Music Reviewer Brad Sroka takes a look at
the classical music o f today. Page Three
EDITORIAL....... ...................................2
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT................... 3
NEW S................................................6-7
FEATURES.........................................4-5
SPORTS................................................8
Warrant requested
following drug seizure
Crack cocaine dealing alleged by witness
PAUL DADDIO
staff writer
Police have requested a crimi­nal
arrest warrant for sophomore
Susan Ertzinger in connection
with various drug paraphernalia
seized from Queen Anne resi­dence
hall the night of October
17.
Maryland State Trooper Drew
Tyer came to a room on the first
left section of QA, on a tip that
Ertzinger was in possession of
illicit narcotics. In searching the
trash room of the hall, Officer
Tyer discovered several items of
drug paraphernalia belonging to
the suspect, including syringes, a
plastic bong (commonly used for
smoking marijuana), a blow tube
made out of a plastic bottle and
stuffed with dryer sheets (com­monly
used to conceal the smell
of marijuana), matches, and a
spoon.
The maximum sentence for
possession of drug paraphernalia
is up to two years in prison.
One student, a QA resident,
discussed times at which she had
sold drugs with Ertzinger. This
included selling crystal metham-phetamines
and crack cocaine to
students on campus on several
occasions. One of Ertzinger’s
hallmates saw her weighing co­caine,
which she apparently in­tended
to sell, on a triple beam
balance in her room.
Queen Anne first left resident
Alisa Bralove, who witnessed
police enter the hall on October
17, said that when Tyer came to
Ertzinger’s room, the suspect re­fused
to let him search the room.
Tyer then told her that he would
leave and return later with a search
warrant. When he left, Bralove
said, Ertzinger took a bag and put
it in the h a ll’s trash room.
Ertzinger later told several people
in Queen Anne that the bag con­ta
in ed drugs. According to
hallmates, she instructed them,
“If the police come, don’t, tell
them where the trash room is.”
Ertzinger left the campus that
evening, and according to a QA
Continued on DRUGS, page 7
Environmental policy endorsed by faculty, adopted by SGA
Brennan wins championship