Mirror - Vol. 17, No. 12 - February 04, 1992

              The
FairfieldMBRRORV Volume 17, No. 12 Thursday, February 4, 1993 Stay Dry This Semester Rez Is Prez
Debra De Shong
News Editor
One of FUSA's own,
Mark Resnick, was elected to the.
office ofFUSA president Tuesday,
defeating challenger, junior Frank
Longobardi, with a vote of 697 to
524. The election began as a four-man
race several weeks ago, with
Shawn McVicker and Al Koines
being knocked out of the race last
week in the primary. Voter turnout
was "disturbing," according to
Longobardi, and was considerably
lower than last year. However, the
majority of the votes went to
Resnick, who boasted two years of
FUSA experience.
One of Resnick's goals
as president will be "to improve
the marketing of
FUSA. Up until
now, FUSA has not
marketed who they
are, what their goals
are and what they
provide," he said.
Resnick hopes to
improve this aspect
of FUSA by
installing a
newsletter to keep
students informed
about exactly what
their student
government is doing.
The main
focus of Resnick's
platform, which will
serve as the blueprint
for his administration, is the
expansion of programming. He
would like to see the clubs take a
more vital role on campus and will
attempt to plan two major concerts
a year, as well as four minor
concerts. In
addition, he would
like to increase
multi-cultural
programming as
part of a campaign
to increase
awareness of
multicultural issues
within the
community.
Like the
other candidates,
Resnick believes
that the office of
president must be
more open to
students. "The
president must be
more personable
and more approachable," he said.
The experience of going door to
door for the campaign was an
effective way to talk to students
and Resnick would like to continue
this manner of open
communication.
Resnick cited his two
years in FUSA as the Director of
Student Entertainment Committee
and as the editor of the first
successful class newsletter.
Resnick was also a member of the
Inter-Residence Hall government.
Both Longobardi and
Resnick agree that the campaign
was too negative, focusing on the
faults of each candidate and past
administrations. Resnick accounts
this mudslinging for the low voter
turnout.
Longobardi gracefully
conceded the election and
expressed an interest in
participating in Resnick's
administration. BACK TO THE BEACH
Eye on the Storm:
One Student's Account
ofthe Flood that
Rocked Fairfield
David Harris
Contributing Writer
The ten-foot wave broke
approximately forty yards away
from me, as I stood on my porch
looking out to the ocean. The crest
crashed onto a neighboring deck.
White spray and foam erupted from
the house and I decided that it was
time to leave. A severe storm
watch was in effect from the
previous night. I had seen all the
news and I heard the warnings. I
had heard them before. This storm
would be like all of the rest: huge
waves, a lot of rain, maybe a few
annoying puddles around my car
parked down the street. But that
would be it.
As the wave crashed into
the house, I heard a helicopter. It
flew in from the south and hovered
fifty feet above us. It was definitely
time to leave.
Around noon I felt a
rumbling in my stomach. I donned
my rainpants and waterproofboots
and ventured out into the storm.
My plan was to reach the car and
run a few errands.
The conditions quickly
altered my plan. As I stepped into
the four-foot stream that was once
our path, my boots filled with
bitterly cold water. I made it to the
parking lot and my car, which was
fifty yards away. The road was
swamped but my car was still above
(continued to p. 3)
Picking up the Pieces after Nor'Easter Beth
Claire St. Louis
Editor-in-Chief
When Lori Hamel woke
up on the morning of December
11, she had no idea that by the time
she went to bed that night, she
would lose her car, her home, her
exam notes, and contact with half
of her friends. But then again, few
people were prepared for the havoc
that one of the most violent storms
in history would wreak in their
lives that day.
Hamel
rolled out of bed
early that
morning, drove a
mile down
Fairfield Beach
Road to deliver
her Spring Break
deposit, and
headed back
toward home.
She
never made it.
Instead,
she watched the
road disappear
under the frigid
waters of Long
Island Sound, her
car slip beneath
the surface, and her Accounting
textbook float up to the dashboard.
Among the last to be evacuated,
she was eventually airlifted by
helicopter to safety. Earlier, while
the water covering the roads was
still relatively shallow, her friends
had hitched rides in army trucks
and in the buckets of bulldozers to
escape the rising waters.
Hamel was one of
thousands ofvictims ofNor'Easter
Beth, a storm that drove over 400
students and even more residents
oiit of their homes in search of dry
land.
And her victims are still
picking up the pieces.
Robin Morrissey, a
resident of The Zoo, left her house
before the storm hit and could not
get back home. She did not know
where her friends were or whether
she still had a place to live. Several
Up the Creek with only one paddle: John Doyle and Dan
Forgie drift in a dingy down Reef Road. photo: R. Getty
days later, when the skies had
cleared and the waters had receded,
she returned to her home to survey
the damage. The "Condemned"
sticker posted on the front of the
house said it all.
"It was a mess,"
Morrissey says. "It was a disaster.
We had sand in our front yard up to
the top ofthe fence. Niff's (Jennifer
O'Neill, Morrissey's housemate)
car was buried halfway in the sand.
The porch was falling apart, the
windows were destroyed, the floor
was warped.... I just started to cry.
I wasn't expecting it to be that
bad."
Residents of the first
student-rented house to be
condemned, Morrissey and O'Neill
were told to make other living
arrangements for the Spring
semester. But after further
evaluation ofthe house foundation,
construction
crews set to work
and had the girls
back in their
house this week.
The construction
crews replaced
the living room
floor, window,
and carpeting,
and are currently
rebuilding the
porch that wraps
around the house.
Morrissey,
pausing over the
curtains she's
hanging on a
brand-new
window, marvels
at how quickly she has her home
again.
"I never thought we
would live here again," she said.
She commends the
University for its handling of the
flood crisis—Seiler's for feeding
them, the administration and
faculty for excusing them from
exams.
The Fire and the Flood:
Fireman Injured
Fighting Both
Claire St. Louis
Editor-in-Chief
A firefighter lost a portion
of his toe during the severe storm
and floods of December 11 after
standing in the frigid floodwater
for several hours, according to Fire
Chief Daniel B.C. Gardiner.
The fireman was assisting
in extinguishing fires along the
west end of Fairfield Beach Road
as well as a fire that leveled a home
on the corner of Rowland Road
and Fairfield Beach Road.
Several other firefighters
of the Fairfield Fire Department
were treated for hypothermia and
released, says Gardiner.
All the firefighters have
since returned to work.
Hamel agrees, and also
notes the town's performance in
dealing with the flood.
"The town of Fairfield
was unprepared for this," she says.
"But once they got on the problem,
they did well. They got everyone
out safely and no one got hurt."
Each generation vows
never to become like its parents,
telling tales of "When I was your
age...." But Fairfield students will
surely tell their children and
grandchildren of how they had to
wade through four feet of freezing
water, ride in army trucks and
bulldozer buckets, and squat in
helicopter baskets smaller than
shopping carts just to get to class
on that stormy December day.
Check out the wrath ofNor'Easter Beth —footage on page 9
Co-Chairs
Won't Take
Job Sitting
Down
Vv page 3 JJ
Is Class of
'96 Going off
the Air?
^
page 7 J %=
Registrar
Woes
page 11
JJ
Best Films of
'92
V
page 13 J
Stags Win
Four Straight
V
page 20
JJ