1993_03 Insight March 1993

              March 3,1993
Page 7
Pepsi/Johnny Quik Men's Baseball Tournament March 15-20.
Three Nationally ranked
teams will compete at this
year's tournament: Fresno
State, Clemson and Arizona.
The 'Dogs (8-6) will return
for a three-game series with
Wyoming and a single game
at St. Mary's before the tournament in two weeks.
Red Division
Fresno State
Arizona
Texas Tech
Kansas State
Blue Division
Clemson
Nebraska
St. John's
SWMissouri State
Fresno State
' Athlete of the Week'
Brian Santiago, Basketball
Height: 61"
Weight: 200
Hometown: Provo, Utah
Major: Business
Last week Santiago guided
the 'Dogs to a perfect 2-Orecord.
HehadHassistsandonlythree Brian Santiago, Guard
turnovers as the 'Dogs (12-13, Texas-El Paso.
7-9) avenged two mid-season      Santiago is averaging 10.4
losses to   New Mexico and points per game in his last nine
games and now has his free-
throw percentage up to 75.8%
after going 8-9 last week.
Thursday, on ESPN,
Santiago had 15 points, 7 rebounds and tied his season-
high of 10 assists as the 'Dogs
rolled over New Mexico 71-
57.
Saturday, against UTEP, he
had 11 points and 4 assists as
the 'Dogs won 60-57. Fresno
State will play Wyoming and
Colorado State before the
WAC tournament starts.
Highway,
from page 1.
politan Area using existing rail lines.
STAND also wants to see Clovis
and Hemdon Avenues upgraded, the
completion of Freeway 180 sooner
than the 2007 set deadline, computerized traffic signals to reduce stop and
go traffic and a system of bike paths
built
STAND members, Jeanne Larson
and Beki Moody, acknowledge the
need for transportation improvement
and would rather sec these measures
taken to solve inner city congestion
problems.
"The completion of the 168 project
would ruin our way of life," Larson
said. "The project is primarily backed
and driven by developers and the City
of Clovis. It's a dream come true for
them."
Larson said that the Caltrans draft
Environmental Impact Report is inaccurate.
"It's garbage. They arc still using
maps from the 1950s when Fresno's
downtown area was still the center of
business for the community," said
Larson. "The entire plan is out of
date."
Appcr said that the proposal for the
urban 168 project has beenpanofThe
Fresno General Plan since the late
1950s and that the land was predetermined for freeway use by the early
1960s.
"For a while finances were low and
the freeway was considered what wc
call a paper street," said Apper. "Measure C made funds available for the
project."
Funding for the project will come
from Measure C, a half-cent, 20-ycar
sales tax increase passed by Fresno
County voters in November, 1986.
The proceeds were to be allocated for
the completion of the County Transportation Plan, which includes the
168 project, and other roadway improvements.
Enabling legislation for Measure C
(Senate Bill 878) stated that 75 percent of all proceeds may go toward
eligible state highway routes including: Route 168 from Shaver Lake to
Huntington lake, and construction of
freeway or expressway segments on
the designated State Highway Route
168 alignment from Temperance
Avenue to existing Route 168 freeway to Pine Ridge to Shaver Lake.
The remaining no less than 25 percent shall be allocated to each c iiy and
the county for local transportation
purposes determined to be priority
projects by local governments.
STAND notes in its position paper
that the urban portion is never mentioned and was not endorsed by the
voters. The organization also points
out that the wording on the ballot for
Measure C is not specific in stating
what projects would receive funds,
Therefore, voters did not and could
not have voted for the construction of
the urban portion of 168.
STAND has also expressed concern
for the effects on neighborhoods both
socially (because of relocations) and
visually, and the decline of noise and
air quality in the areas around the
proposed freeway.
Apper said that most of the homes
that will be displaced were built before the 168 project was planned. The
area most affected by construction of
the freeway is between Olive and
Dakota, on Jackson Avenue.
r^-55rS»
Insight
*T*\      INSIGHT .
oports
JameS, from page 6.
Two members of the improving
group of 35-pound weight throwers
are Texas-El Paso's Marko
Wahlman and Mika Laakfonen.
Wahlman's best throw of the season prior to last weekend's WAC
Championships was 70'-33/4".
Laakfoncn's top mark is 68-11/2".
—Last Saturday, James competed
against Wahlman and Laakfonen at
the Western Athletic Conference
Indoor Championships, finishing
third.
James has improved by two feet
since last season, and has turned in
solid marks with regularity.
"What's important in thcsccvcnis is
consistency," Pagani said. "He's
reaching that point."
Improved consistency has been good
for James' self confidence.
"Consistency is the result of a lot of
practice," James said. "I am more
consistent now than I have been in the
past. It gives me confidence to know
I can compete and do better things."
James said the nerves that develop
at a championship meet can be
productive.
"You get nervous at times and
wonder if everything you've done
will pay off," James said. "But I'm
more stable now. I can turn the
nervous energy into physical energy and use it to my advantage."
Even though James is a returning
All-American in the event, he said
he feels no pressure.
"Ifldowcll.rilbchappy.lflPR
[personal record] that would be
greaL" James said.
Track, from page 6.
season and make a run for the WAC
title in May."
Other winners in the men's division
were David Cox in the pole vault and
Joe Amendt in the 800m dash. Cox's
vault of 17' 7 3/4" was a meet record.
On the women's side, Tanya Dooley,
Jennifer Viavia and Tara Didyk came
away with first-place finishes.
Dooley, timed in 54.42 in the 400m
dash, will be making her second
Robert Foster, Hurdles
straight trip to the NCAA Indoor nationals in two weeks.
Viavia's shot put went 50' 2 3/4" and
Didyk's jump of 39' 3 3/4" in the
triple jump gave Fresno State 109
points, 40 behind conference-champ
Brigham Young.
Terry Bowcn, with a time of 6.25 in
the 55m dash, pulled his hamstring
and is expected to be out for a few
weeks. His time is the 19th best in the
nation this year.
He said that the rest has been left
primarily vacant over me years due to
anticipated construction of the freeway.
"I know that die effects on people
who arc forced to move are often
traumauc,especially if they havelivcd
in the same home and neighborhood
for many years," said Apper. "But the
law requires that we leave people
economically whole, and Caltrans
docs its best to do so."
"The impact on the environment is
measured carcfuU y and steps are take n
at every step to reduce possible strain
on neighborhoods and land around
the freeway," said Apper.
Caltrans has already made suggestions in its report to plant three trees
for every one losu build pedestrian
overcrossings to maintain neighborhood cohesion and plant landscaping
and build noise barriers to reduce
noise and improve visual quality.
The report also states that space wil I
be left vacant on the median of the
freeway for high occupancy vehicle
lanes (public transportation) if there
is a future demand for them.
"The reason why a light-rail system
isn't part of the plan at this time is
because there is simply no demand,"
said Appcr. "Only one percent of the
population uses the mass transit that
already exists, and that just isn't
enough usage lo build a whole new
system."
Apper said that Fresno Area Express has been part of the planning
process and that mass transit elements
arc part of ihc plan for the future.
Caltrans expects approval of the
project in fall of 1993, right of way
acquisition to begin in 1994 and construction in three phases from 1997 to
anywhere from 2000 to 2006.
Swindle,
from page 1.
All wc can do is inform the con-
sumerthroughtclcvision.radioand
through people who call in,"
Broten said.
"Postal authorities are the only
ones that can shut them down," he
said, though he feels they don't do
as much as they should.
"It's a very lucrative business.
These guys aren't in this business
to lose money," Broten said.
"They're making literally hundreds of millions of dollars every
year from people."
Bom Medina and Broten said
consumers should never give their
creditcard numbers over the phone
if they haven't initiated the call
and arc not very familiar with the
company.
Medina and Broten said mat
people shouldchcck with the BBB
before making a decision and
should not make a decision based
on one phone-call whether they
lose a prize or not.
"They should recognize that if
the person on die other end of the
phone is forcing them to make a
decision, that means it's probably
a rip-off," Broten said.
"If an offer is good today,it's
going to be good tomorrow."
"These guys arc very, very, very
good at whai they do. They re
making very good salaries and
commissions off of it and they
don't stay in this business unless
they know what to do," Broten
said.
"If you ha ve to buy anything, you
haven't won anything."
A company that doesn't work with
the the BBB in resolving complaints
or receives patterns of complain is and
doesn't answer them.will receive an
"unsatisfactory business performance
record."
This will be turned over to any callers asking about the business.
"If they aren't acting up to our standards, we'll leiconsumcrs know that,"
Broten said.
"There are an awful lot of people
being ripped-off by some of these
companies. There's no relation to
age.sex.disability,education level,
anything."
"Everybody has to watch out for
them."
The BBB is a non-profit organization that is supported by local businesses that pay lo be members.
The minimum annual membership
cost is S200.
Membership in the BBB means a
support of ethical business practices,
said Broten.
"We're the only group in the San
Joaquin Valley, or for that matter in
the whole country, that's primary
purpose is to support and promote
ethical business practices in the community," Broten said.
While other groups are promoting
an industry or bringing in more
business,"our job is to keep the marketplace honest and ethical. That's
what wc try to do," he said.
The consumer benefits from the BBB
by being provided information on
buying decisions and getting help in
resolving complaints between businesses and consumers.
Consumers are also informed when
they're wrong and offered mediation
and arbitration programs to resolve
disputes.
The BBB gives general information to consumers, provides pamphlets and gives speeches to student groups.
Also offered is a service called
tele-tips which allows consumers
a 24-hour a day, 7-day-a-weck
number which allows them access
to general information on selected
topics by phone.
"Wc won't tell you who to or
who not to do business with," said
Medina, "but we can tell you about
a business."
Broten said,"If customers have
better information, they're better
"If you know more about a product before you purchase it and you
know what you're looking for and
know what questions to ask.you' re
more likely to have a good experience with that business," he said.
"What we try todo is educate and
help resolve problems," Broten
said.
The Central California division
ofthe BBB in Fresno is one of 15
offices in California, and covers
the area from Merced to Tulare.
It operates on an annual budget
of $450,000 with 13 employees.
More than 500 complaints are
made by phone and between 200-
300 written complaints are processed every month, Broten said.
The BBB requires all complaints
be made in writing.
Broten said this is done so that
the person making the complaint
will accurately present the problem and provide information about
what they want done to resolve the
problem.
CATHOLIC STUDENTS
Welcome to...
&t. #auf s Jktoman €tntev
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A placebo worship, study, socialize, pray,
share and grow...
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SUNDAY
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(209) 436-3434
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