Thursday, February 26, 2004
New computer viruses:
What they can do
and how to safeguard
your computer
See story p. 10
THE PENDULUM
NEWS
• Page 7
Emergency
contraceptives:
What you need to know
about them.
See story p. 11
Winter weather pushes park’s completion to June
John David Parsons
Online Editor
An 18-hole disc golf course, nat-
ural-surface running trail and play
ground are planned for the Town of
Elon’s $700,000 park to be complet
ed this June.
Located on Cook Road, the 25-
acre park will also include a garden
pond, picnic areas with grills and a
community building with rest
rooms.
“Ultimately, what the communi
ty wanted was a passive park,”
which means no recreational fields,
said Town Clerk Sabrina Oliver. She
explained that the park was not big
enough for recreational fields, and
the parking, lighting and noise asso
ciated with the fields were inappro
priate for its residential location.
“[The location] was attractive to
the town because it was near down
town and within walking distance of
several hundred homes,” Oliver
said.
After the park’s completion, a
bike path from Haggard Avenue to
the interstate will intersect the park.
Parking will hold about .“iO cars, said
rENODionoi
coiflitUNmrCBni*
FUTUXEN.C DOT BiK£ UN’S
UND9CAPSN0 (TmCAa
swwwr WH* KATtlAL
tUSStfiCtVtkO,
TOWN CAZE80> KMD. AND
OAJLOGKAKEA
iS DRIVE TO fARIC
rwocoNNzcnoMS
OK«OAI)A.VDJ7
fs»srAcxf
OOTWIDBHATUIWt
ACKJOOCSNQAND
I^TKAILS
A disc golf course, running trail and
playground will grace the 25 - acre Town
pfElon Park, set to open in June.
Mike Dula, town manager.
The Town of Elon owns 76 acres
near Western Alamance High
School to be used for recreational
fields, but no immediate plans for
development have been made.
The North Carolina Parks and
Recreation Trust Fund Committee
provided a $250,000 grant for the
park. The Town of Elon matched
that grant with money set aside in its
budget. Twin Lakes Center, a retire
ment community, donated
$150,000, while Elon University
and Glen Raven Inc. each donated
$25,000.
The park’s projected completion
date in April was pushed back to
June due to the icy weather of the
past month, said Dula.
One interesting feature of the
park is its fenced “bark park” for
bigger dogs and a “pup park” for
smaller dogs, Oliver said.
Another feature of the park is its
$220,000 playground. The play
ground committee, comprised of
Elon citizens and parents, raised
additional money to make the play
ground universally accessible. For
example, the playground includes
swings designed for children with
disabilities and the elderly.
The park includes porch swings
that will be separate from the play
ground, .a feature that caters to
grandparents who take their grand
children to the park.
“We really wanted this play
ground to be unique as compared to
anything else in the area,” Folger
said.
The committee is currently
assessing the bids that have come in
from playground vendors.
“Since we are just citizens, all we
can do is go to the Board of
Aldermen and make a recommen
dation, but the town has been very
open to all our suggestions,” said
Folger who, indicated
the playground’s contracting deci
sion will be made next month
Contact John David Parsons at
pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.
Elon students and faculty discuss politics in national teleconference
Andrew Baker
Reporter
Approximately 40 Elon students
and faculty members took part in a
national teleconference regarding
“The New Student Politics” Feb. 19.
Additional representatives from
colleges across the nation also par
ticipated in the teleconlerence,
which was broadcast trom
Michigan State University, the host
site of the debate.
Seven pane)i.sts debated issues
written in “The New Student
Politics: Wingsprcad Statement on
Student Civic Engagement,” a doc
ument that was written by 33 juniors
and seniors from 27 colleges and
universities in 2001. Tlie docurnent
is described as one that examines
contemporary con
ceptions of civic
engagement, politics
and service.”
“It’s really about
students talking
about their voice,”
said Jeff Stein, assis
tant dean of students
at Elon.
The document
gives specific sug
gestions about how
campuses can
improve their com
mitment to student
civic engagement through service-
learning, increased support for stu
dent political activity and attentive
ness to student voice. The docu
ment also articulates a clear vision
Elon students
took place in
Andrew Baker/ Photographer
exchange ideas during the teleconference that
McKinnon Hall Feb. 19.
for what it means to be engaged in
civic life and why they chose partic
ular forms of engagement.
The discussion panel was com
prised of seven professionals and
students, including David
Cooper, a Michigan State
professor, as moderator;
Ernie Boone, executive
director of Black Child
and Family Institute;
Piyali Nath Dalai, a
University of Minnesota
graduate; John Keiser,
president of Southwest
Missouri State University;
Sarali Long, an author of
“The New Students
Politics;” Fabricio
Rodriquez, a member of
the national Campus
Compact Advisory Board and
Emily Yee, a senior at University of
California at San Diego.
The Michigan State host site-
began broadcasting the panel dis
cussion at 2 p.m. to schools around
the nation. For 30 minutes, panelists
debated issues raised in the “New
Student Politics” document. During
the last 30 minutes of the broadcast,
the piinel took questions via e-mail,
telephone and from the audience.
Elon University student Brett
Cooper was one of the few students
whose question was addressed dur
ing this short time. He asked,
“Aren’t the students proposing
forced service learning in the cur
riculum?”
Panel member Ernie Boone
answered the question by saying,
“Sometimes you have to force peo
ple to open their eyes.”
Contact Andrew Baker at pendu-
lum@elon.edu or 278-7247.