Miami Hurricane, January 19, 1996

              Hurricanes snap a four game losing streak.
SPORTS Page 4
Are we really wasting our lives?
PERSPECTIVES, Page 10
The Miami Hurricane
RESERVE
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1996
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1996
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI • CORAL GABLES, FLA.
VOLUME 7¿}JMMBER 27
Photos by |OEL HOLZMAN/Special to The Humane
The George A. Smathers Wellness Center opened Tuesday to students, facultv staff, booster and alumni after two years of construction that was plagued by several delays.
Now that the Wellness Center is finally open The Hurricane has all the information you'll need to become a part of the action including:
•	How it got here
•	Who to see
•	What's it like
•	What's it got Make sure to see our
special insert on
One-man crime wave ends
Northeastern cities crippled
By AMIE PARNES
Staff Writer
Some students at the University of Miami received a cold winter greeting upon their urrivul home for the semester break.
The “Blizzard of ’96” swept through the northern portion of the United Stutes leaving several inches of snow behind.
Sophomore Jeff Colugross, who is from Cleveland, Ohio, narrowly
escaped the harshest part of the storm.
"I live in Cleveland and we really didn’t get hit with it. We got a lot of snow and I know schools were closed," Colagross said.
Even though the Cleveland airport was not closed, flights into Cleveland were delayed.
"I got delayed for an hour waiting for my flight to come in from New Jersey,” Colagross said.
Other students also experienced delays and cancellations while trying to head back to Miami.
"It took me 14 hours to get
home,” freshman Becky Alberino said. “My first flight was canceled and my second flight was delayed four hours.”
“It was a relief to come back here,” she said. “I hate the snow.”
According to the National Weather Service, New York City reported receiving 20.2 inches of snowfall. Boston received 18.2 inches of snow while Philadelphia received close to 30 inches.
Freshman Susanna Siskind said she tried to leave Philadelphia and for a few days in a row was unable to flv back to Miami.
“It was so frustrating," she said. ”1 had to constantly switch flights. I am happy to be back here in the sun."
Alberino said she thinks Floridians should have considered themselves fortunate to have been in 40-degree weather.
“The people who stayed down here are so lucky," she said. “One day our lows back home were below zero and the high was 22.”
Only a few days after the "Blizzard,” the Northeast faced another storm system, hut not us intense as its predecessor.
BILL WACHSBERGIR/M.injHinH Editor New York City received over 23 inches of snow within five days last week.
Blizzard of ’96 snows in students
By LYNN CARRILLO and WILLIAM WACHSBERGER
Of the Staff
A quirk of fate was all University of Miami Public Safety and the Coral Gables Police Department needed to close an 18-month joint investigation into a string of crimes committed on the UM campus within the past two years.
Ralph Alexander Baptiste. 23, a former UM student, was arrested Nov. 29 by Florida International University Public Safety for possession of a stolen vehicle. Baptiste was a student at UM until 1992.
After following Baptiste for several weeks, FIU Public Safety officers found he would steal vehicles from UM’s Coral Gables campus and
Suspect admits to 50 acts
desert them in the north Miami area at FIU’s north campus or the Barry University campus. His arrest by FIU Public Safety led to the confession of 50 crimes he committed at UM.
Police detectives said Baptiste admitted to committing over 200 crimes, but could only remembei details of 50 crimes. Most of the crimes were misdemeanors with the stolen properties valued at less than $300. He has been charged with at least two auto thefts and eight rob beries, one of which v as armed.
Coral Gables Police Detective Mac McLane. who is in charge of general investigations at UM, said Baptiste is a career criminal hut is cooperating with detectives to help solve the cases after he was identified in a lineup by various UM victims.
Baptiste told detectives he had been on the UM campus almost daily committing crimes He said the onlv reason for missing his daily crime rounds would be that he was too high on drugs to talk
’He would snatch unattended
items such as purses and bookbags at the UC,” McLane said.
Baptiste told detectives that access to dorm rooms, various offices and the library was easily attained.
"His one-man crime wave was greatly aided by the absence of unattended property available throughout the campus," said McLane.
If found guilty of the charges, Baptiste could face between 10 and 25 years in jail.
Police are trying to close the hooks on any pending cases Baptiste may have been involved with. Anyone having information one these should contact UM Crime Prevention Officer Pat Haden at 284-6666.
BAPTISTE
LAW STUDENT COUNCIL TO HOLD DISCUSSION
The Law Student Council of the Greater Miami Jewish Fcderationfs Attorney Division is holding a panel discussion and networking session Jan. 31 at 4200 Biscayne Blvd. in Miami. Participants can network from 6-6:30 p.m., and the discussion will run from 6:30-8 p.m.
Nine members make up the panel. These include Beth Bloom, a judge in Dade County Circuit Court; Ben Daniels, training chief of the Dade State Attorneys Office; and Alan Kluger, senior partner of Kluger, Peretz. Kaplan, and Berlin.
Issues to be covered in the discussion include working in the public sector, alternatives to traditional law practice, large and small firms and the judicial bench.
The cost is $5 per person and reservations are required. To R.S.V.P. or for more information, call Carolyn Newman at 576-4000 extension 290.
HEALTH CRISIS NETWORK SEEKING VOLUNTEERS
The Health Crisis Network is searching for dedicated and caring people to help care for people with AIDS and to prevent the spread of HIV. Opportunities to volunteer exist with the Buddy Program, the Nursing Home Visitation Program, the Thrift Store, Speakers Bureau, the AIDS Walk and with fundraising and clerical support.
In order to work as a volunteer with a person with AIDS, participants must attend volunteer training sessions. The next sessions are scheduled for Jan. 20. 21 and 27.
Anyone interested in becoming a Health Crisis Network volunteer should attend a volunteer orientation. These are held the first Saturday of every month at 10 a.m. and the third Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Health Crisis Network office, 5220 Biscayne Blvd.
For more information, contact Mark Ketcham or Mike Vigil at 751-7775.
ORIENTATION STAFF TO BE SELECTED FOR FALL 1996
Opportunities are available for resident, commuter and transfer students to become part of the Orientation Stuff for the Fall 1996 semester. The positions require participants to be energetic, highly motivated and interested in welcoming new students to UM.
Applications will be available in the Smith-Tucker Involvement Center, UC 209, Feb. 1. The deadline for applications is Feb. 12.
For more information, call the Smith-Tucker Involvement Center at 284-6399.
YESTERDAY'S HEADLINES
jj
Fifteen years ago this week, UM's football team returns to Miami after beating Virginia Tech In the Peach Bowl 20-10. Led by sophomore quarterback and game MVP |im Kelly, the Hurricanes win their ninth game of the season. The last time the Canes had won nine games In a season was back in 1950.
ARMANDO BONICHI/Hurncane Staff
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Wellness Center opens after continuous delays
By LYNN CARRILLO
Editor In Chief
The road to fitness just got wider for the University of Miami.
The George A. Smathers Student Wellness Center is open for business.
After years of anticipation and waiting, the Wellness Center opened Tuesday to great fanfare, a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony and enthusiastic speeches by University administrators President Tad Foote, Vice President of Student Affairs William Butler and Campus Sports and Recreation Director Norm Parsons.
After the doors opened 200 students made themselves familiar with the Center’s new exercise machines and weight room. Other areas of the Wellness Center, such as the basketbull/vol-leyball court, are still undergoing final touches, but those problems did not detract from the
facility’s first day.
The Center, which was scheduled to open lust August, had been delayed several times by minor construction problems.
“ This is one of the happiest occasions in my 15 years as UM president,” President Foote said.
Made possible by the $10 million contribution from U.S. Senator George Smathers, after students passed a 1992 referendum approving the project, the Center is the newest addition to the 70-yeur-old campus.
On hand at the ribbon-cutting ceremony was Smather: ’ son, Bruce, who used a giant scissor to sever the ribbon as the student presidents from undergraduate, law and graduate schools stood by.
The project developed from what was origi-
"... until you see it you can't imagine how wonderful it is.
LESLIE MONREAL
CSR Advisory Board Chair
nally planned as an expansion of the Lane Recreation Center to the building that opened Tuesday.
"Students didn't realize how much needed to he done to get this going," said Leslie Monreal, chairwoman of the Campus Sports and Recreation Advisory Board. CSR will be in charge of running the facility. “You try to imagine how big it's going to he. hut until you see it you can't imagine how wonde. jl it is.”
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