ALETHEIA
Volume XXVn, Number 10
Montreat-Anderson College
December 10,1993
Campus To Dance Night Increased Police Patrol Discourages Speeders in Montreat
Away at Christmas
Semi-Formal
By Sean Anderson
Students will dance until lam
tonight at the Christmas Semi-Formal
located in Howerton Dining Hall. The
festivities will begin at 9pm.
The activity was planned origi
nally to be held at Dekko’s night club
in Asheville. However, there were
conflicts over the cost of reserving the
club for a non-alcoholic night. M-AC
would have been charged $2,000 to
boogie the night away.
Student Amy Dill commented
on whether it would have been benefi
cial for M-AC to have held the dance
at Dekko's, "It could have given the
college a bad reputation. The people
on the outside, wanting into the club,
would have been told that it was re
served for us. They would not have
known that it was a non-alcoholic
night. I don't think it would have been
good for the school's name."
Sophomore Greg Steinbarger
also added, "From what I’ve heard.
Dekko's doesn't sound like a big deal
to me. I'd like to have the dance in the
traditional place anyway."
The Student Activities Commit-
By Cara Weiss
A new luxury has brought about
increased police protection. Since
Montreat Road has finally been re
paved, the community has found that it
is more pleasurable to drive on.
Students have been taking advan
tage of the improved driving condi
tions by whizzing to and from the gate.
The Montreat Police department has
been discouraging this recklessness by
issuing more speeding tickets.
According to Chief Ronnie
Halford, the court cost and the fine
combined add up to around $75 per
ticket. People receive these costly tick
ets for going ten miles over the speed
limit. Offenders may have their license
revoked for up to one year for going 15
miles over the speed limit.
Student Amy Standifer believes
that other students should not complain
about the speed limit, and should just
be thankful that the road has been paved.
Montreat roads are patrolled city
wide, 24 hours a day. Along with
speeding violations, car owners can
also be ticketed, or even towed for
parking illegally. Recently there has
been some illegal parking, but Chief
Halford defended, "I've seen a greater
increase in obeying the law."
Tickets forpaiking amount to five
dollars when paid within 15 days, how
ever, $10 penalties will be issued for
late payments. The Buncombe County
School system will receive most of the
revenue from the speeding and parking
violations.
Police officers have been seen
occasionally venturing into the build
ings on campus just to socialize. In the
past, the old administration required
police officers to call before entering
dorms, however, the new administra
tion encourages cops to be social.
Chief Halford claimed that there
has never been serious crime problems
in Montreat due to continued police
patrol throughout the Montreat com
munity. Although the Montreat and
Black Mountain Police Departments
are separate, they still have a mutual
aid agreement.
When asked if he thought in
creased police patrol was beneficial,
M-AC student Aaron Shipp expressed,
"I think it's a good idea because it keeps
speeding down."
While another student anony
mously disagreed, "I don't think they
patrol enough. Usually they just leave
their cars parked."
Any violation in driving, for ex
ample failure to stop for stop signs and
not wearing a seatbelt, could result in a
person receiving a ticket. Chief Halford
reminds the Montreat community that
driving a car is a privilege, and that the
privilege can be revoked.
tee wiU be coordinating the dance. They
will be in charge of setting up, decorat
ing, and cleaning up afterwards. Din
ner will not be served in the Dining
Hall tonight so that the Student Activi
ties Committee will have more time to
set up for the dance. Dinner will be
held in the Cavalier Grill.
Student Activities Committee
Chairman Rena Sawyer stated, "Every
time we have an activity, there's a small
group ofpeople that always help. Any
one that would like to help decorate for
any of the upcoming activities, please
join in. There will be signs posted
telling when and where we will be
meeting."
Some students really enjoy par
ticipating in the dances. RobbySuddeth
contributed, "It's fun to dance with girls
and get out there and act crazy."
President and Mrs. Hurt Offered Relaxing Study Break
Students Experience an Old-Fashioned Christmas
By Kathryn Letterman
Last Tuesday night, Decem
ber 7, students were invited with
open arms into the home of Presi
dent and Mrs. Hurt to take a break
from studying and to enjoy relax
ing fellowship.
Guests munched on cookies
and sipped hot cider while gath
ered around the piano for an old-
fashioned sing-a-long. Heath Peek
and Brian McDonald tapped away
at the piano, encouraging others to
join in the celebrating.
Peek commented, "Their
home was a warm haven for stu
dents to go to catch a little warmth
of the Christmas spirit." SGA
President Jeff Reardon also agreed
with Peek, "It was very warm and
homey. Instead of feeling like a
student visiting an administrator, I
felt like I was visiting with friends."
Mrs. Hurt estimated that ap
proximately thirty students partici
pated in the event, and she ex
pressed disappointment in the small
number. Even though not as many
people took part in the gathering,
Mrs. Hurt was still pleased, "It gave
us time to talk with the students,
and that was the best part of the
evening."
Confrontations Make Programs User-Unfriendly ...
Updates in Computer Lab Result in Frustration
By Cara Weiss
Microsoft Word is a new word
processing option for the newly in
stalled computer program called
Microsoft for Windows. Many stu
dents have found it a confusing alter-
native to the old program,
WordPerfect 5.1. Off-campus student
Sheila Huntley stated, "With
Microsoft Word, I'm totally lost. It's
easier to let someone else type papers
for me."
Sophomore Chris Holda com
plained, "If they want students to use
Microsoft for Windows, they need to
have a seminar on how to use it."
Microsoft for Windows has re
cently been programmed on every
computer in the computer lab on the
3rd floor of the Belk Center. Pete
McDanel, computer science profes
sor, stated that some options for this
program are still being installed.
McDanel realizes thatmany stu
dents are frustrated with the new pro
gram. He claimed that he did not
mean to upset people by installing
this new program. In reference to
this, McDanel commented, "I didn't
realize it would cause this much of a
problem. Anyone who has a problem
with their papers should come see me."
McDanel's major concern is for
the students who are taking computer
classes. He is in the computer lab
mainly to teach the new program to
computer students, but anyone else
who needs to type papers on the com
puter is welcome to ask for his help.
McDanel wanted to install this new
program because he believed that it
was his responsibility to keep up with
the new software, and he felt that
WordPerfect was too old to continue
to be a major program.
Although WordPerfect 5.1 is stiU
listed as an option under Windows, it
is only available on two computers in
the computer lab. McDanel insisted,
"Windows is the standard operating
environment for computers." 40 mil
lion versions of Windows have been
sold since 1990.
Microsoft Word is picture-based
rather than word-based like
WordPerfect. The mouse that is at
tached to the computer is used to select
commands which format the docu
ment. Every command is a little pic
ture inside of a box. The mouse can be
moved to any box, and clicked on to
choose a command. Some students
appreciate this program because it is
more advanced. Student Pharon
Anderson assented, "I think it is better
than WordPerfect because you have
more options to enhance the quality of
your work."
the paintbrush program." M-A HaU
resident Heather Rich also com
mented, "I only started working on it
recently. If I don't go too deep, I
understand it."
Since the new program has
caused so much controversy, McDanel
thinks that he should have waited until
next semester to shock students with
Senior Naj Alicea replied, "I like this element of change.
MACTEER Pn^jram Recruits Volunteers
By Anna Shimaya
M-AC has coordinated a new pro
gram called the Montreat-Anderson
College Volunteer Program, or
MACTEER. According to This Month
at M-AC, a community relations news
letter, this program’s purpose is to iden
tify and to unite the talents and skills of
the residents of Montreat, Black Moun
tain, Swannanoa Valley, and the greater
Asheville area, with M-AC students.
This program provides opportunities
for those talented individuals to share
their abilities as volunteers. These vol
unteers can benefit from the college's
unique character and academic envi
ronment.
Participants in the MACTEER
program wiU be appointed as academic
or staff associates of the coUege. Also,
they will have clearly defined respon
sibilities related directly to the mission
of the college, and they wiU be recog
nized as active participants of the col
legial partnership.
The faculty and staff have al
ready identified over 30 areas in which
a volunteer could share their skills and
talents as Associates of the College.
These areas range from a commitment
of one hour per year as a guest lecturer
to as much as several hours per week in
a supporting staff position.