STUDENTS MUST HAVE ID CARDS T0 UNLOCK DORM DOORS | PAGE 4 WEDNESDAYKENTUCKY Sk diving 0 ersfree- falling thrills | PAGE 6 October 8, 2003 Celebrating 32 years of independence http: www. kyiiernel. com LCC poll shows Fletcher winning governor' 5 race By Amanda L_ucliworth STAFF WRITER A new poll conducted by Lexington Community College students shows Rep. Ernie Fletcher nar. rowly defeating Attorney General Ben Chandler in the governor‘s race. The survey has Fletch- er beating Chandler 45 per- cent to 40 percent with 15 percent of voters remain- ing undecided The poll‘s margin of error is 2.9 points. The semi-annual poll. now in its 15th year, was conducted Sept. 17-25 by students in LCC political science classes taught by Tim Cantrell and Don Fer- ris. The poll surveyed 1,142 registered voters Fayette County and sur- rounding counties on is sues ranging from the fu- ture of Kentucky-Ameri- can Water Co. to President George W. Bush’s approval rating. Predictions made from this poll have been very successful in predicting winners in major political races. It has predicted the Fayette County winner in every major race since 1988. “It is not a scientific poll, but it has been accu- rate over the years." Cantrell said. Cantrell started having his students do polls in 1972 at Western Kentucky University. and in 1988 he moved to LCC and resumed doing the polls. Students in American government. state government and polit- ical behavior classes are involved with the polling. In other races, the poll predicted State Rep. Greg Stumbo will win the attor- ney general race 36 percent over independent Gate- wood Gailbraith's 26 per cent and Republican Jark Wood' 5 12 percent. Nearly one-fourth of voters re- main undecided in that race. Former UK basketball player Richie Farmer is predicted to win the secre- tary of agriculture race with 47 percent over Alice See SURVEY onlO THE RECRUITING FUTURE iLLUSTRATiON PROVIDED BY UK ATHLETICS UK Athletics plans to build a $3. 94 million facility to house banquets and host recruits and their families when they visit UK’s campus. Once enough funds are raised, the construction must meet state legislature approval. Officials said the process should take about IO months. The facility will be modeled after those at Ohio State and Tennessee and will host recruits for all 22 sports By Derek Poore SCENE EDITOR Surrounded by larger- than-life murals of UK sports stars, a UK football re- cruit dines with his family and gazes over to the big screen television. The live video feed captures the Wild- cats as they jet into the end zone and the room erupts into cheers and applause. This is the scene UK Athletics hopes will be a cen- terpiece for recruiting visits in the future. Last year, UK Athletics performed a feasibility study and realized they had no place to host recruits. With a new “multipurpose room” UK will be able to do just that. For now. UK Athletics hosts visiting recruits in the corner of Nutter Field House, a training facility lo- cated on South Campus next to Commonwealth Stadium. Executive Associate Ath- letics Director Rob Mullens said the current atmosphere isn’t all that appealing. “It‘s not really a very inviting family environ- ment," he said. The new facility, which will cost an estimated $3.94 million, will feature a kitchen facility UK currently has food prepared off-site and then trucked to Com- monwealth Stadium on game days or to Nutter for recruit- ing visits. Sodexho has been cater- ing for UK football games since July 1, and UK received $1.2 million from a food ser- vice contract with the com- pany that will fund the kitchen portion of the facili- ty, Mullens said. He said this gives UK the advantage of preparing meals on site. The site will also hold daily team training table meals and be used for all re- cruiting functions, team ban- quets, and any type of spe- cial meal, Mullens said. The project received an anonymous donation in re- cent weeks of $1.2 million. Mullens said the project has See RECRUIT on 5 By Cara Blevins STAFF WRITER mic core.” spaces. eiaz'er basketball courts move to new location JOliN rosm I more canon Electrical engineering junior Chad Clearland (right) reverses his layup against friend, Steve Terry (left). Courts move to location along Lexington Avenue; students fear they will lose parking spaces For 01/ R1 parking permit holders, the reloca- ‘ tion of the North Campus basketball courts may add to the list of parking woes. The basketball courts that are south of Blazer Hall and facing Euclid Avenue are being relocated to a western portion of the Cl/Rl lot along Lexing- ton Avenue. A total of 85 parking spots are affected by the project, according to a UK Parking and Transportation Services e-newsletter. “Prior to construction there were a total of 524 student spots for R1/ C1 permit holders," said Don Thorton, Director of Parking and Transportation Services. “These spots include the student parking between College View and Maxwell Street." Students who may be upset about the construc- tion can receive a refund for their pass but Thor- ton said they have another alternative. “We knew this was going to happen so we re- duced the number of passes sold," Thorton said. “If any student has a problem, probably com- muters more so than residents, they should come to parking services to see if there are any other op tions to move them somewhere close to the acade— Thorton also said students should ask parking attendants for help finding available parking See COURTS on 10 New travel agency caters to students STA Travel targets students to provide affordable trips; students can now visit the agency in the Student Center By Jason Futch CONTRIBUTING VIRlTER Without leaving campus, students can now plan trips to anywhere from Daytona, Fla. to China. said employ- ees of a travel agency that re- cently opened in the Student Center. STA Travel was chosen from among several poten- tial travel agencies that were bidding for a spot in the Stu- dent Center. ”STA seemed to have the best service for the stu- dents," said John Herbst, the director of the Student Cen- ter. Two Australian stu- dents, dissatisfied with the lack of affordable travel op- tions, started the company in the 19708. “We try to be the travel agency for students." said Lee Ellis, UK branch manag- er. “We're here for them." Since then STA, former. 1y known as Student Travel Australia, has grown out of its Australian boundaries. moving its headquarters to London. They now operate in more than 75 countries and have about 400 branches worldwide. STA is one of the only travel agencies with the aim of drawing a customer base of students, Ellis said. “Students who have adopted the popular method of shopping the Internet for travel packages may want to consider using the travel agency this year.“ she said. “Because of the size of STA Travel we can go to the air‘ lines and say. ‘Hey, this is what we want,‘ and we get contracts directly from the airlines for discounted stu- dent tickets." Sarah Thue, an integrat- ed strategic communications See TRAVEL on 10 Ttavel agents Gretchen Sonnenberg (far left) and STA Branch manager Lee Ellis (left) search for fares to France for Nlti Gupta (right) at the newly- opened STA TTavel in the Student Cen- ter MATT COINS . KERNTL STA“ Newsroom Phone: 251-1915 I E-mall: liernelOukyedu INSIDE Two UK colleges merge reaeu Kentuckians should expect nice fall colors I m: in Classifieds Phone: 257-28” l E-rnell: classifiedsOlrylrernel.com Display Ads Phone: 257-2872 I [-mail: advertisingflyirerneLcom First issue Free. Subsequent issues 25¢ The Student Newspaper at the University of Kentucky, Lexington