Thursday Update: September 29, 2011

Life at Elon for one student

By Brandon Marshall

Nearly 200 students meet at Johnston Hall each Tuesday for class this semester. But this isn’t your typical looking class and these aren’t your typical looking students.

All of the students are over the age of 50. The university offers a weekly class called Life at Elon to members in and around Alamance County. These baby boomers are given the opportunity to learn about global awareness and enjoy access to Belk Library and the dining halls.

Richard McBride, retired Elon Chaplin, is the chair of the curriculum committee for the program. “The use of social media – understanding our grandchildren” and “post-civil war history in Alamance County” were classes selected for the students.

“It’s amazing how our minds continue to want to learn,” McBride said.

Thomas Enoch, 61, of Burlington, N.C.; said he’s very excited about being a student again. In 2008, Enoch was in a severe car accident and spent three months in the hospital. Two of his neck vertebrae broke and the right side of body was partially immobilized.

Riding around in a scooter, Enoch enjoys the program as a second chance in his life. He says he’s happy he didn’t suffer from any head injuries.

“I went through some soul-searching and some gathering of my thoughts to get to this point and then when I saw this opportunity it was just interesting,” Enoch said.

Enoch received a scholarship for the program and plans to attend both the fall and spring semesters.

Dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, Alison Morrison-Shetlar says the program is a great opportunity for intergenerational learning.

“Elon is all about engaged learning and therefore this part of the community is going to be a part of engage learning as well Morrison-Shetlar said.

Court appearance for peeping Tom

By Elizabeth Kantlehner and Joe Bruno

Update:

Keary Branson Davis, of Burlington, appeared in Alamance County Criminal Court on Thursday for a second-degree trespassing and a misdemeanor peeping charge.

Davis was arrested for flashing two Elon female students near Lake Mary Nell last year.

There were no other witnesses present in court at the time of his hearing. Davis’ case will be continued until December 8th.

 Stay with Phoenix14News as we continue to cover this story.

Student appears in court

By Elizabeth Kantlehner and Joe Bruno

Update:

Former Elon student, Brandon Huggins, plead guilty to multiple offenses in Alamance Country Court last Thursday. These charges included second degree trespassing, underage consumption of an alcoholic beverage and resisting a police officer.

Huggins’ offenses totaled a maximum of 280 days in jail. The judge did grant Huggins permission to enter a first offenders program to avoid jail time. Huggins is also required to complete 80 hours of community service.

Last April, Elon police arrested Huggins on campus after he was asked twice by Elon residents to leave their Greek court housing area. Residents called Elon’s campus safety and police and when they arrived, it was then that Huggins resisted.

Huggins was taken to Alamance County Jail, where he continued to resist police and detention officers, and was tazed by a police officer after refusing to comply with their instructions.

Copperhead sightings around campus

by Jeff Ackermann

 

There have been several reports of snake sightings on campus this year. Junior, Derricus Spear was walking home from Colonnades at the end of August and saw one on the sidewalk.

“I thought it was a branch from far off,” Spear recalls. “But the closer I got to it I realized it was a snake.”

Junior, David Belyea also reported a similar incident a few weeks ago after seeing two snakes near the Danieley Apartments.

Environmental Services confirmed that the snakes sightings as copperheads. These types of poisonous snakes are approximately three feet in length and have a distinct, pattern on their back.

There have been sightings in both water and on land, around the areas of Danieley and the Crest. If someone sees a snake, they should avoid them, according to Environmental Services.

Thomas Bowie, Area Director of the Danieley Center said, “these snakes are indeed poisonous, however if left alone they will leave us alone.” He also said these sightings are not surprising since they are appearing in habitats that have been disturbed due to construction.

David Worden, Director of Environmental Services, said his staff responded to half a dozen sightings so far this year.

“We do it in a really humane manner when we capture the snake,” Worden said.  “We actually capture it alive and actually transport it out to the woods so it can remain in its habitat.”

Cost of a fire alarm

by Sophie Nielsen-Kolding

In 2010, the Elon Fire Department responded to more than 400 calls, 135 of them were to Elon University. Students on campus might consider themselves lucky to live right down the road from a constantly manned fire station. The Elon firefighters respond to alarms set off by everything from burnt food to shower steam. People know how to set them off, but do they know how much time and energy goes into responding to an alarm?

If you ate dinner at Colonnades dining hall last Thursday, your meal was probably interrupted when the alarm went off around 6:50 p.m. The entire building was evacuated because one of the stoves in the kitchen overheated.

That was just one of the many alarms the fire department responds to on campus every year, though most of the time the alarms are set off in residence halls.

David Wright, a Captain at the Elon Fire Department, said that most of the calls are cooking related.

“We run an awful lot of burnt food and stuff. We’ll run a few steam calls, not as many as we used to, and then the other ones are generally just actually mechanical problems some type of problem with the detector head or problem in the alarm system.”

When the alarm goes off, the fire department has no way of knowing if there’s an actual fire or not, but they always have to be prepared for the worst. Most calls respond with two engines, a ladder truck and six men. Wright explained what the men have to do each time before they turn on their sirens.

“Our driver for the day, depending on the call, will usually put his bunker pants on. Driver will make his way over and go ahead and get the vehicle cranked… Our firefighter will come out and get ready and start putting his gear on. We’ll get in the vehicle, make sure we’ve got everything we know where we’re going. And out we’ll go,” Wright said.

There are two fire trucks located at the station on Williamson Avenue.  They each cost about $200 per hour to operate. If you include the extra $200 it costs to operate the ladder truck, you can see how responding to a call can quickly become expensive.

It only takes the station about 15 minutes to respond to an alarm and come back. But adding together the trucks and the cost of man-power, that’s about $150 every time someone burns popcorn.

Elon indirectly contributes to that cost with an annual donation, as does the rural tax district outside of Elon, the Town of Elon and the Twin Lakes Retirement Community. In 2010, Elon University gave $42,000. All of that money goes into a pot which the fire department can use for responding to calls.

Family Weekend pictures

Have photos you took from Family Weekend? E-mail them to phoenix14news@elon.edu and they might appear on the show.

 

Thursday Update: September 22, 2011

Phoenix14News: September 11, 2011 Special Report

Click for part 2.

Elon sophomore walks a fine line

By Don Granese

Between classes, homework and extracurricular activities it can be difficult for Elon students to manage their time. Sophomore Will Stern is able to find balance between his work load and his height defying hobby.

Stern has been ‘slacklining’ for five years. Slacklining originated in the 70’s in Yosemite Valley. It’s a hobby of many mountain climbers who tie their ropes between two objects (mostly trees) and they try to balance their way across.

You can find Stern and his friends out in front of Moseley most afternoons with a line set up between two trees. Stern likes to try out new tricks all the time.

“I can turn around and do like a drop knee” he explained, “and I’m going to try to do one today that’s called a ‘lemur’ where you pretty much just jump as far as you can across the line and try to land on it again.”

One of Stern’s favorite things about slacklining on campus is that other students are so interested in his hobby.

“It’s really fun here because no one really knows what’s going on,” he said “They get really excited and it’s cool to show them how to try it and see if they like it.”

Ursula Saelzler is one of the students who joins Stern as much as she can now that he’s taught her the basics of slacklining.

“Will showed me how to do it and I just kind of love it now.” she continued, “He’ll text me and be like ‘hey slacklining three o’clock?’ and I’m like “absolutely!’”

While some slackliners set up their ropes across canyons, master tricks and compete in events around the world, Stern and his friends are just trying to enjoy themselves. They want to perfect their walks and their turns. Stern is even getting closer to landing the ‘lemur’ trick.

He said he’d consider forming a slacklining club in the future so that he can teach people how to walk the line. For now, he’ll stick to being three feet in the air between the trees in front of Moseley.