Scroccas plea with community for answers

I would like to ask the community’s help in finding answers to the fire that led to the death of my son, Michael Scrocca, on April 30, 2005. I am asking that anyone with any information please call Steve Kerpelman at Legal Investigative Group. Steve is a private investigator my family has hired to help us get much-needed answers about the fire that was started at Mike’s house on Princeton Avenue.

The private investigator only reports to me and not to the police. I am not looking to press charges, I am just looking for answers that might help my family have some closure. We are also offering a reward of up to $50,000 for any information that will lead to answers on how the fire started.

If you have any information please contact: (301) 742-2233 or reward@michaelscrocca.com

I will be at tonight’s football game and will have a table set up outside the student entrance to the game. Please feel free to stop by and see me. Thanks for you help.

Tony Scrocca

Parking accommodations unfit for gameday

As a football fan, I will most likely be enjoying tonight’s football game. But the issue of parking makes the game a little less enjoyable for me. I understand the need to accommodate the thousands of football fans that will be attending the game, but I don’t understand why the lots are being closed down so early, except for the obvious reason (tailgating).

Because of the closing of Lot 1, a class that I have from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. had to be canceled and my professor had to cancel a midterm exam that was scheduled during that time. It’s not that I am not welcoming the extra study time, but it is rather ridiculous that a football game takes precedence over the midterm that was scheduled.

Maybe in the future when Thursday night games affect the parking schedule, students will have a little more time to remove their cars (by 6 p.m.) rather than having the students that attend the night and midday sessions at school being affected by parking restrictions. Also, students should be able to park in Lot 1 all day until 4:00 p.m., not just those students who get to school before 10 a.m. Believe me, I am excited to watch the Terps dominate the Hokies, but it would be nice to do so without having to worry about my car being towed.

Diana Gimmi

Senior

Criminology and criminal justice

Time in spotlight merits good behavior

Get ready for your close-up because all eyes will be on us tonight. People love to see a spectacle (in the stands and in the streets as much as on the field), especially when there will be no shortage of cameras to capture every moment of it. The choice then lies with each one of us to decide whether we’re going to be “that student” who does something that, when we see our picture in the paper the next morning, we really wish we hadn’t. There is a lot more at stake tonight than the outcome of the game starting with whether or not we as individuals make the decision to cross the thin line from being the best fans in the country to the worst.

We expect to see an exciting game tonight. We expect the Hokies to find our community hospitable, to find our stadium intimidating and to leave with the taste of defeat in their mouths. All of that is up to you. But please, do not let your mother see you on the 11 o’clock news. Go Terps!

Joel Willcher, student regent

and Andrew Rose, SGA president

Advising statistics outweigh annecdotes

As an adviser, I too, support advising improvements that would enable a greater outreach and level of services to students (“Advising Not Satisfactory,” Oct. 19). Additional resources and changes in advising policy implemented this semester have been directed towards the improvement of advising services for students. However, while hanging one’s hat on a 70 percent satisfaction rating leaves room for improvement, 70 percent of 1,700 responses statistically has somewhat more weight than the advising horror stories of “several” students, which your published opinion appears to emphasize.

If the “satisfied” students were the ones capable of interpreting their degree requirements, making their own four-year plans, registering on time and/or were able to get appointments, then on behalf of the advising community I thank those students. This allowed us to spend time with other students for valid academic, career and personal issues affecting their studies and academic progress toward their degrees. Also, this allowed us to spend a significant amount of time with students that vested little or no competence or responsibility in understanding their requirements, could not read/interpret instructions for registration, and had academic/administrative difficulties because they did not come in for advising earlier and ultimately dug a hole they expected advising to fix.

So, if your standard for measuring improvement is based on the stories of several students, there is always an abundance of criticism from students toward The Diamondback for their coverage or lack of coverage of issues and their “opinions.” Based upon your own criteria, what’s your plan?

Thomas Gray

Economics undergraduate academic adviser