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PROFESSOR RUNS OVER STUDENT'S FOOT
Saja Hindi, 09-07-06
The Technician (North Carolina State University campus paper)
At around 12:25 p.m. yesterday, a professor driver ran over a student pedestrian's foot as she was crossing the road on Stinson and Yarborough streets.
"We've got an accident where a vehicle accidentally ran over a person's foot," Sgt. Jon Barnwell of Campus Police said.
The student, Barbara Buskard, a junior in French language and literature, said that the accident was nothing huge and that in part, it was her fault because she wasn't using the crosswalk, but that there were other pedestrians crossing at the same time as she was.
According to Barnwell, the driver was K. Steven Vincent, a history professor. Buskard said not until after the accident did she find out the driver was a professor.
Buskard alleged that she made eye contact with the professor as she was walking, but that he continued driving his vehicle without stopping and then ran over her foot.
"I was in the front. I kind of let out a holler when he was on my foot," Buskard said.
She said that Vincent had his window open, so she went to talk to him and told him that he had run over her foot.
"I don't know if he didn't want to hear me or he chose not to hear me, but he kept going," Buskard stated.
Buskard said Vincent continued, made a right and parked his car on Yarborough Drive. Witnesses encouraged her to file a report and so she called Campus Police.
"When he parked his car, he didn't even seem to look back," she said.
Campus Police arrived on the scene, took pictures and took down his permit number. They tried to get in contact with Vincent, but he didn't answer and Campus Police said he was probably in a class, according to Buskard.
"There was no huge injury at all. It felt as if someone had stomped on [my foot]," Buskard said.
Buskard added that the tire had a left a mark on her shoe, which Campus Police took a picture of, but that that was the only damage.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, threw his support behind Barack Obama for president Friday, delivering one of the most coveted and tightly held endorsements in the race for the Democratic nomination.
The New Mexico governor joined Obama at spirited rally Friday and said the Illinois senator demonstrated his leadership abilities this week with his speech on race. "You are a once-in-a-lifetime leader," the governor said from the stage. "Above all, you will be a president who brings this nation together."
Richardson dropped his own bid for the nomination in January. His support for Obama comes during a tough period for the senator, the leader in the delegate chase over Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama has seen his lead in national polls wither as he's grappled with the fallout from divisive remarks by his former pastor.
Richardson was relentlessly courted by both candidates and his support for Obama represents a potential counterweight to Clinton's strength among Hispanic voters.
As a Democratic superdelegate, the governor plays a part in the tight race for nominating votes and could bring other superdelegates to Obama's side. He also had been mentioned as a potential running mate for either candidate.
Richardson backed Obama despite his ties to Clinton and her husband, the former president. Richardson served as ambassador to the U.N. and as secretary of the Energy Department during the Clinton administration. Last month, Richardson and former President Clinton watched the Super Bowl together at the governor's residence in Santa Fe.
Richardson praised Hillary Clinton as a "distinguished leader with vast experience." But the governor said Obama "will be a historic and great president, who can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad."
Richardson was a roving diplomatic troubleshooter when he was a congressman from New Mexico, negotiating the release of U.S. hostages in several countries and meeting with a rogue's gallery of U.S. adversaries, including Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro.
"There is no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama has the judgment and courage we need in a commander in chief when our nation's security is on the line," Richardson said. "He showed this judgment by opposing the Iraq war from the start, and he has shown it during this campaign by standing up for a new era in American leadership internationally."
A WHIZZING IDEA
Sci-TechAFP
Middle East Times 02- 17- 2007
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA -- Urinals in the US state of New Mexico have a few words to say to drinking men before they zip their pants, leave bar restrooms, and head for their cars: only drive if you are sober.
Electronic urinal inserts, bought for a pilot program launched this week by the state department of transportation, sense when someone is in position and then a female voice delivers a sultry warning not to drive drunk.
The message warns about the dangers of crashing or being caught by police and then playfully concludes with "Your future is in your hand."
"The woman's voice is flirtatious yet stern," said Tom Trowbridge of the New Mexico Department of Transportation, which bought 500 Urinal Communicators from Long Island-based Wizmark Technologies for $22.50 each.
The devices were distributed to bars and restaurants in the southwestern state.
"Usually the last place a man goes before he gets behind the wheel of a car after drinking is the bathroom. There is no more captive audience than a man at a urinal."
Richard Deutsch of Wizmark Technologies said he came up with the idea for talking urinal devices while using a restroom in a US airport and realizing he had little to occupy his attention while relieving himself.
"It is urination with imagination," said Deutsch, a chiropractor with a background in bioengineering. "We are doing our best to incorporate a little humor and a little dry wit."
Wizmark devices are motion-activated and have microprocessors powered by batteries that typically last three months.
They are programmed to allow time for men to "get unzipped and be truly captured" before beginning the message, Deutsch said.
The woman greets "visitors" with: "Hey there big guy, having a few drinks? Then listen up!" She goes on to firmly contend it would be smarter for a drinker to rely on a cab or a sober friend for a ride home than to risk driving inebriated.
"It makes you think, especially because a man is not used to a woman talking to him at those moments," Trowbridge said, saying the program could be expanded if it proves effective.
"Will it end drunk driving? Of course not. But if it saves a couple of lives it is worth it."
Wizmark interactive urinal communicators have been used in other US states to deter drunken driving, smoking, and sexually transmitted diseases.
They were also used recently to promote the 2006 Universal Pictures film Let's Go To Prison.
