1997-03-12, The Samford Crimson

the Samford Crimson 81st year, 18th issue to inform the mind, to voice the unheard March 12, 1997 New World Hanoi to pay Vietnam War debts Vietnam has agreed to re¬ pay the United States mil¬ lions of dollars in debt in¬ curred by the former South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The New York Times re¬ ports the debts, now worth about $140 million, were in¬ curred for roads, power sta¬ tions and grain shipments during the war, in which the United States backed South Vietnam. Vietnam was anx¬ ious to reach a trade accord with the U.S., and last week Slate Department officials were in Hanoi to discuss the situation. Nation Quakes jolt San Francisco Four mild earthquakes shook the San Francisco area late Monday night, but there arc no reports of injuries or damages. The two strongest jolts measured 3.6 on the Richter scale and were centered 10 miles southwest of San Fran¬ cisco along the San Andreas fault. The tremors were also felt 60 miles south in San Jose and 20 miles north in San Rafel. Ex-NFL star sentenced in murder conspiracy Former NFL star Darryl Henley was sentenced to more than 40 years in prison for drug trafficking and con¬ spiracy to murder a judge and the cheerleader who testified against him. Henley, who is a former cornerback for the Los Ange¬ les Rams, was sentenced by two federal judges in Los Angeles yesterday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to murder and guilty of drug trafficking. Source: www.yahoo.com Prepared by Heather Strehlow Convo Today: Bulimia/Anorexia Awareness Mon., March 17: Charles Bugg, Professor of Preaching, Baptist Theologi¬ cal Seminary of Richmond Wed., March 19: Tim Raikes Impact Family Counseling Step Sing brings SGA big money Step Sing Revenue: Where does the money go? by Brandom Gengelbach Staff Reporter This year's Step Sing will bring a payday to the tune of $28,000 to the Student Government Association for scholarships, a secretary and sup¬ plies. SGA Treasurer Tim Nabors said Step Sing, unlike what most of Samford thinks, is not put on to make money for the university. “The SGA is a service organiza¬ tion; therefore, our success is not judged on money brought in by Step Sing but by student involvement,” Nabors said. “The more students that are in¬ volved, the more successful Step Sing and the SGA will be in the fu¬ ture.” Director of Student Activities Kristie Chandler said Step Sing has a $ 1 4,000 budget. The three days of stepping and singing brought $37,000 in ticket sales. The budget covers costs includ¬ ing prize money, trophies, screens and projectors, T-shirts and various judges' expenses. Chandler said. “Our goal is to stay within the $14,000 budget for everything ex¬ cept the video production done on the last night of Step Sing,” Chan¬ dler said. “ To my knowledge, we have never gone over it,” she said Step Sing’s profits return to its sponsor, the SGA, and are divided up into four categories, Chandler said. She said $4,500 goes toward pay¬ ing a portion of the salary of Stu¬ dent Activities secretary, Betty Caterinichia, Chandler said. This payment originated in the Students by Kathy Kitchens Staff Reporter Student Ministries will be work¬ ing in an inner-city neighborhood in Birmingham during Spring Break as part of the Student Ministries Re¬ treat. Christy Lewis, organizer of the event, said that Student Ministries will be working with South Avondale Baptist Church and the surrounding community. "We’ll be doing construction work and food and clothing minis¬ tries in the morning," junior Span¬ ish major Lewis said. Besides helping the community, another goal of the retreat is to reach out to kids ip the neighborhood and expose them to Christian ideals, Lewis said. Sports camps will be led at a park across the street from the church in the afternoons to give the students a chance to form relation¬ ships with the children in the com¬ munity. Lewis said that since, so many children today idolize sports stars who are not good role models. The camps will be aimed at fourth through eighth graders to expose them to a different kind of role model. 1993-94 academic year, when Caterinichia began as the Student Activities secretary, Chandler said. “Before then, the Student Activities office had never had a secretary,” she said. Before the Student Activities office hired Caterinichia, workers knew they did not have enough money in their budget to pay a sal¬ ary, Chandler said. In order to hire a secretary for the Student Activities office, the office had to find additional money, she said. Students Activities personnel decided to use a portion of the money made from Step Sing to help pay Caterinichia’s salary. Chandler said. Caterinichia is, in a way, a SGA secretary, since much of her work is for the SGA. Therefore, the Stu¬ dent Activities office personnel agreed it would be acceptable if a portion of her salary came from the SGA-sponsored Step Sing position. Chandler said. In addition to the $4,500 used to pay a portion of Caterinichia’s sal¬ ary, another $4,500 funds the Step Sing video production, and $20,000 from Step Sing ticket sales goes into the SGA scholarship account, Chandler said. Nabors said the SGA scholar¬ ship account is used for the six $500 Step Sing scholarships as well as to help SGA officers take classes during the summer and January terms to lessen their load during the regular semester. This lets them devote more time to their elected position, Nabors said. “This is the first year, that I am “We’ll be reaching out to the kids in the neighborhood — we can go in with sports and show them different examples of leaders and hopefully they will learn more about Christ,” Lewis said. The Student Ministries Retreat by Carey Oldfield Staff Reporter Since Coach Tommy Walker came to Samford 9 years ago to coach baseball, fans have crammed into uncomfortable bleacher seats to watch the games. That will soon change, however, as the new 684-seat sta- dium will be finished within a few weeks. The stadium has been Walker’s dream since he started coaching at Samford, and the making of concrete plans for the stadium began last summer. Construction started the be¬ ginning of February, and will be finished as soon as chair-back seats arrive and are installed, aware of, that the money from Step Sing going to the SGA scholarship account has been capped at $20,000,” Nabors said. “Before, the left-over money from paying the video expense and the portion of Caterinichia’s salary have all gone towards the SGA scholarship account," he said The scholarship account was capped this year because the offic¬ ers will no longer receive a stipend for their work with the SGA, Nabors said. But the SGA officers are being better compensated for the lack of a stipend by being given the option of taking more credit hours with fi¬ nancial assistance during the sum¬ mer and January terms than previ¬ ously, Nabors said. In previous years, the president of the SGA received $3,000 for the will start on Monday night of Spring Break with a big “street jam." The students will invite ev¬ eryone from the neighborhood to the jam where there will be games , face painting and upbeat Christian music. Also, the people from the Walker said. He said the stadium consists of 475 bench seats with backs, 205 chair-back seats, and four handi- year. The two vice presidents re¬ ceived $1,500, and the treasurer was paid $1 ,000, Nabors said. Former SGA President Eric Motley’s administration stopped the stipends at the end of last year, Nabors said. “I don't mind not getting paid, because the SGA is a nonprofit or¬ ganization for the Samford stu¬ dents, but I do hope that the money that would have been used to pay . all the SGA officers can be used to help make improvements in SGA,” he said. Chandler said the remaining Step Sing profits goes to the SGA. Nabors said the SGA this year received $8,000 from Step Sing. The money bought five new com¬ puters and one printer to replace outdated computers and a printer in the SGA office, he said. ■ community can meet the pastor. "The people from the church are so excited that we’re going to reach out to this community,” Lewis said. “And we’re excited to know that whatever we start, they’ll con¬ tinue.” ■ capped places. The chair-back seats can be purchased for $200 Please see Stadium, p. 3 Samford UnlVersity'Library reach out to inner city need New stadium to seat baseball fans Jackie Vooee/Phuto Eom* Workers have almost finished a 684-seat baseball stadium.