The QC, Vol. 90, No. 08 • October 23, 2003

              The Voice Of Whittier College Since 1914
October 23,2003
QUAKER CAMPUS
http://web.whittier.edu/qc
Students affected by grocery strike
Patrick Holmes
QC News Co-Editor
Senior Harmony Valuet, a bagger at the La Mirada Albertsons, is
among the 70,000 picketing grocery
workers in Southern and Central California, and is concerned that not
enough people on campus understand the situation.
"Alotofpeoplearelike, 'tell me
the whole story because I have no
clue what is going on,'" Valuet said.
"There is a lot of mixed media right
now and Albertons, Ralphs and Vons
are printing their message in the
paper because they have the money
to. and the unions don't have the
money to be able to respond. I just
don't think people know the whole
story."
According to Valuet, she and
her fellow employees at Albertsons
are picketing not because they are on
strike, but because they are locked
out from working. Valuet and other
local Albertsons employees are a
part of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union,
Local 324. which is the same union
for Ralphs and Vons employees.
"When they were negotiating and it
was looking like things weren't going to work out, the union decided
that we would strike only Vons to
not inconvenience customers. Vons
employees voluntarily walked off
their job, we did not," Valuet said.
Instead, Albertsons Inc. and Kroger
Co., which bargain jointly with Safeway (owner of Vons), locked out
their workers after the Vons strike
began.
"They have said the strike might
goon until December or maybe even
longer," Valuet said. "I'm going to
make $100 this week for picketing
20 hours, but that will go down next
week because it will start to be taxed,
and eventually, as the strike drags
on, people will probably have to
work less and less." Valuet pointed
out that checkers that are used to
making $350 a week for 24 hours of
work will have to picket for 40 just
to make $300. The pay that Valuet
and other strikers receive while
locked out of work comes from the
union's strike fund, which has been
amassing funds from union dues
since the last strike in the 1970s.
The main reason for the strike is
a disagreement between the union
and the corporations over employee
health care benefits. "People are
upset because they think we get too
good of benefits for being part-time,"
Valuet said. 'The fact that [the corporations] have done it all these years
shows they can take care of their
employees, but are trying not to do
so anymore."
While picketing, Valuet has noticed that students from nearby Bio-
la University have been "set in their
PATRICK HOLMES / QC NEWS CO-EDITOR
Senior Harmony Valuet pickets outside Albertsons in La Mirada.
ways" and continue to shop at the La girl is out there picketing with me
Mirada Albertsons. "We have a cou- and she will tell people 'hey, can you
pie college students from Biola that 	
work in our store and this one poor seeSnUKEfx&e6
Campus Safety tickets stop sign runners
Genevieve Roman
QC Assistant News Editor
PATRICK HOLMES / QC NEWS CO-EDITOR
Athletic Center (foreground) and Turner/Harris (background)
stop signs, both of which were monitored by Campus Safety.
Six students were issued tickets for running a stop sign on Harris hil on Monday, Oct. 13. A few
days before the citations were issued at the two stop signs on the
hill that leads up to Turner and
Harris Residence Halls, Chief of
Campus Safety Bernard Alex and
another administrator were looking at the AC lot in preparation for
the disaster drill and were almost
hit by a car that didn't stop at the
Hartley House stop sign. The tickets included a $50 fine.
Assistant Chief of Campus
Safety John Lewis said that Campus Safety has to crack down on
stop sign violations every few
months. "It's ongoing... we have
to keep reminding people because
that intersection's pretty busy.
That stop sign is there for a reason. Come on, folks."
First-year student Michelle
Araw contested the ticket, "and
they waived it. I live in Wanberg
and I'd parked up there because
there was no parking... I didn't
actually see the stop sign because
of a tree that was blocking it, but
I did see the white line at the
bottom of the hill so I knew to
stop." Araw admitted that she
was taken off guard by the Campus Safety officers. "They were
like hiding behind the bushes and
seeSPOPSIGNpc&5
Beer review
"6 Days of Beer" kicks off with
our review of Anchor Steam
Beer. We do the beer tests so
that you can drink the best.
CampusLife,Page10
ISSUE 8 • VOLUME 90
Book review
Alumnus "Tricky Dick"
rises from the grave! Check
out our review of the latest
Nixon biography.
A&E,Page12
Vehicle
break-ins
Tammy Marashlian
QC Staff Writer
Between the afternoon of
Monday, Oct. 13 and the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 14, a Honda
Civic and GMC Sierra truck were
broken into in the parking lot of
the Athletics Center. Although
the attempts to steal the cars were
unsuccessful, there was some
damage damage to the vehicles.
Upon returning to her Honda
Civic that had been parked overnight, first-year student Cindy
Morales "noticed that her car had
been broken into and a student
officer was flagged down," said
Assistant Chief of Campus Safety John Lewis. After inspection
of the car, it appeared that "the
steering column of the student's
Honda Civic showed signs of
tampering and damage," said
Lewis. Also "several parts from
the steering column were removed. The glove box had been
ransacked and papers were shuffled around the passenger's seat.
The tools of the suspect were
also found in the car." According to Lewis, "the Whittier Police Department took fingerprints
of the car and also collected the
tools." The report classified the
break-in as "attempted grand theft
auto."
Lewis went on to explain that
"while officers were investigating the previous incident, a second car was found to be damaged." The damaged car was in
fact Junior Artie Straus' GMC
Sierra."There was damage to the
rubber seal in the upper window
of,|he driver. The driver's side
mirror was also broken," said
Lewis. According to the report,
"an unknown suspect attempted
to enter the vehicle by prying the
window." Although entry was not
made, there was "damage to the
driver's mirrorand weatherstrip-
ping." The Whittier Police Department took fingerprints. The
report showed the break-in as an
"attempted burglary from mcrtnr
vehicle."
"I had nothing stolen, said
seeACBREAK-INSpage7
Women's Soccer
The women's soccer team-
comes back with a win, putting
them in first place in the
SCIAC. Go Poets!
Sports,Page16