These are letters that I sent to the Marshall University Campus Newspaper, The Parthenon.
CRAZY GIRL (has yet to be published)
TRANSFORMER BOX (Published)
FIRE EXTINGUISHERS (Published)
Transformer Box:
It seems like yesterday that the transformer box on the North side of Holderby blew up. Days after the accident, I was reading the Parthenon and I read an article about how a guy high-up said something like, “We are going to place larger warnings signs and tell people to get off the box.” When I read that, I laughed my ass off because I knew that it was never going to happen. In the end I was right, it was just talk. This makes me think of my dog, Hiedi, who is all bark but no bite.
Surprisingly, I did not see one person on the box last year because they knew what happened. However this year, it is a different story. Every night I have seen people sitting or laying on that box. I have yet to see one more sign or anyone tell them to get off. What happened to the warnings? Well I am here writing this letter to tell all students to stay off of the transformer box because if it blows again, I don’t want to see anybody get hurt.
The chances of you getting electrocuted from sitting on top of the transformer box are probably about the same as getting struck by lighting. Well the chances of getting struck by lighting are about the same as getting bit by a shark. This year alone we have had 12 sharks attacks this year so it is just a matter of time.
(weeks later these stickers were on the transformer)
CRAZY GIRL:
If you live in Hodges, sooner or later, you are going to hear about the ghost that haunts Hodges. One of the versions of this tale is that of a football player who was playing the field by dating multiple girls. The girls found out about each other and one of them committed suicide by jumping out of the third story window. Legend has it that her soul lives in the attic of Hodges Hall. The question I am pondering in this editorial is: Did the ghost move over to Laidley?
Two weeks ago when a girl in Laidley started hearing knocks on her door and wall. I am not going to mention any names, however the students of Laidley are calling this girl, “CW”, short for “Crazy Woman”. I do not agree with this name, but I am reporting the facts.
It all started off when C.W. heard some noises coming from around her room. She got so fed up about it, she called MUPD! She stated that the noise was coming from the room above and next to hers. The guy living above her was not in the room when this happened, instead he was somewhere far, far away, either working or seeing his girlfriend. Could it be the ghost using his room as her haunting grounds? C.W. even thought someone was bothering her by banging on the radiators, located in her room and everyone else’s room. People were named as suspects, however I, and everyone else believes, it was just the radiator pipes expanding and contracting from the opening and closing of the steam values. In the police blotter, she listed that someone was banging on her door, yet we believe it was the radiator across the hall in the trash room making the sounds. Nevertheless, lets not forget the possibility that it could be the Hodges Hall ghost dragging a chain down the floor.
This past week, signs went up down the hall stating, “Starting at 9:00, quite hours will be strictly enforced.” Another sign went up saying if you want to talk, take it to your room and close the door. I laughed because it made me think of Residence Halls smoking policy. Thus, talking in the hallways is as bad as lighting up a cigarette. You have to take it to your room and keep the door closed!
Laidley Hall is a quiet place, yet you might hear some laughter coming down the hall, but nothing big. If you expect to live in the dorms and not hear a whisper, you must be crazy. With my dorm room door closed, I could hear people walking down the hall, the flushing of commodes, hand dries, clothes washer and dry machines running. I could even hear the beeping of the buttons on the microwave being pushed. Not to mention the sounds of traffic going down 3rd Avenue and the sound of sirens and metal coming from West Virginia Steel 24/7. The thing that I have a tough time hearing is the fire alarm, and the ghost walking down the hall. Maybe I have not heard it since ghost hover above the floor.
Does C.W. thinks she lives above everyone, I think so. When I see anybody in the hallway, I will say, “Hi”. I sometimes even say to myself when I walk across campus “Hi there little squirrel, got enough nuts for the winter?” Yet when I say, “Hi” to C.W., she will just ignore me and keep on walking. At first, I thought it was just me, however this past Friday I went to the Chemistry Building to water plants. While walking through the building, a student I never saw before was behind me. Crazy Woman, was walking down the hallway toward us and I did not say Hi to her because I did not want to waste my breath. The guy behind me said, “Hi <her true name>”, then a couple of seconds later he said, “Fine, don’t say Hi back!” I then told the guy, “I never say, ‘Hi’ to her either because it is just a waste of air.”
On Thursday, we had a meeting in Laidley where MUPD stated that video cameras are going to be placed in the hallways due to complaints from C.W. and her parents. I do not think this should be done because the students of 2nd floor Laidley Hall did not start this. Instead it was started by her elevated way of thinking. If MUPD does put up a camera, I hope they are heat sensitive cameras ones to see if ghost are doing the haunting.
C.W. even blamed me for writing something on her door because I laughed in the hallway. The reason I laughed was because I was talking to a friend of mine. Let me add that I was washing my car with the RD when the writing was done, nor did I even see the writing on the board.
Crazy Woman, next time something comes a knocking, don’t call 696-HELP, instead call (666) GHOST-BUSTERS.
In the end, all this is is a bunch of non-sense. Laidley Hall is an upperclassman dorm, yet due to our behavior it does not seem like it. We should have enough common sense to know that people are going to make noise and an old building like this one is going to make weird sounds, especially with the water heating system what we have. Maybe CW is so smart, she does not posses any common sense to realize this. In addition, the residents of the floor are not showing their maturity by ripping fliers off the wall and continuing to get CW fired up by doing misc. things to her. MUPD and Residence Services have done everything that they could. They have gone above and beyond the call of duty. Yet what burns my bubble is that the police blotter told one side of the story, which caused the whole building to look bad. In the end, we need to. . . as Rodney King put it, “Can’t we all just get along”.
Fire Extinguishers
I have lived in the Residential Halls for the past five years and I have noticed this problem since day one. I have asked ten residents and two Residential Advisors what they would do in case of an electrical fire. Their actions will result in them electrocuting themselves and making the fire worse. The reason for this is because they grabbed a fire extinguisher that uses 2.5 gallons of water as an agent to extinguish the fire. These types of extinguishers (the ones with a silver canister) are only made to fight Class A fires, which are such things as paper and wood. When you are going to fight a fire, you are going to grab the one closest to you and not pay attention to anything else. You are just going to spray the fire and in the end all you will end up doing is killing yourself and having a bigger fire.
If there were an electric fire, how would you fight it? You first will need to get an ABC fire extinguisher (red canister) but where are they kept at? On every floor of a residence hall they are kept in a laundry room however, they will never be used because no one knows they are there. They are out of sight and residents are never told that this is a special extinguisher that will put out all three types of fire.
Let me also say that Residential Advisors, at the first floor meetings of the semester, do state the location of the fire extinguishers on the floor, but they never say anything about the hazards of using a Class A (silver canister) extinguisher to fight an electrical fire. Nor do they know that the ones in the laundry rooms are ABC extinguisher, which will fight all fires. The only reason that I know these facts is because eight years ago our house caught on fire and I have turned into a fire extinguisher nut because that is the only thing that saved our house. In Laidley and Hodges, Class A only extinguishers out number the Class ABC extinguishers 5 to 1.
Another observation that I have made is that there are no ABC fire extinguishers on the first floor of Laidley. If there was an electrical fire on the 1st floor of Laidley, you will need to use your key to unlock the door leading upstairs, go to the second floor, run to the laundry room (50 yards) run back downstairs (another 50 yards), and then you will be able to put it out. Not to mention that the ABC extinguisher on the 2nd floor of Laidley hasn’t been checked since school started and if they did, they would notice that it is overcharged. Then the one on the third floor is so old; there is not even a pressure gauge on it. To check that one you need a scale to weigh it.
As you can see we, Marshall University, has a fire hazard. I am saying this because if there is an electrical fire, we will just make matters worse. This same situation goes for all old buildings such as Old Main, Henderson Center, Gullickson, Marrow Library, Towers, Holderby, Smith, Hodges, Prichard, Memorial Student Center, Smith Hall, Smith Music, and the Community College. There is no reason way we should still have Class A fire extinguisher in these buildings because they only put out one type of fire. Even if you had a fuel-based fire, this Class A extinguisher will just spread the fire. We need to replace these with ABC extinguishers because these will extinguish all fires. Lets spend a few thousand dollars now to save a hundred thousand dollars later on, not to mention lives.
I am sure that Marshall is following proper fire guidelines by having extinguishers every so many square feet. But we need ones that stop all fires, not just one-third of the fires.
Class A = Used on paper, cloth, wood, upholstery, and ordinary combustibles
Class B = Used on gasoline, oil grease and other flammable liquids
Class C = Used on Live electrical equipment
