**1928**
Students held student body meetings as well as several conferences to discuss interest in installing a motion picture projector and screen in Phi Beta Kappa Hall. A proposal was made for films to be shown on a weekly basis for the general student population.

p. **1965**
Members of the College community formed a committee to regulate the consumption of alcoholic beverages on campus. The policy in use at the time banned all alcohol on campus. The new committee suggested that the rule be changed to allow alcohol as long as “gentlemanly conduct” was upheld.

p. **1978**
Beverly Hawk ’80 was riding the elevator up to the third floor of Landrum Hall when it suddenly dropped, trapping her inside of the elevator cage eight inches below the landing of the first floor. Landrum’s elevator, the last cable-operated elevator on campus, was suspended by a cable that had frayed and finally broken, causing the fall. Hawk was uninjured in the accident.

p. **1984**
The department of modern languages in Washington Hall received a bomb threat during classes. Campus Police were notified immediately, and the building was evacuated. No bomb was found, and classes resumed within an hour of the evacuation.

A team of marine research scientists led by Mark Patterson, a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College, will be presenting six live underwater broadcasts from the world’s only undersea habitat, Aquarius.

p. Known as America’s Inner Space Station, Aquarius is located next to coral reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which lies 3.5 miles off the coast of Key Largo at a depth of 60 feet.

p. The broadcasts are part of “Project SeaCAMEL” (Classroom Aquarius Marine Education Live). They will present live broadcasts of experiments on coral photosynthesis, sponge metabolic activity and oxygen levels in the water surrounding Aquarius. The name SeaCAMEL is derived from Aquarius’s likeness to the desert camel, as both contain an internal life-support system.

p. The final live broadcast, taking place Wed., Nov. 14, will include Gloucester High School senior Michael Crockett’s historical attempt at directing Fetch1, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that he designed. Working at a computer onboard a research vessel, he will rely on a wireless internet connection to control the AUV.

Brad Potter ’08 received the Frank Shatz Prize for his essay titled “Charting a Path to Repair the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime.”

p. The essay focuses on Article IV of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which states that countries can utilize nuclear power for peaceful purposes. This clause has been a central issue of U.S. foreign policy as certain governments, such as Iran and North Korea, have used power to justify their nuclear developments.

p. Potter’s essay suggests that all Treaty participants should discontinue uranium enrichment and instead create a nuclear “fuel bank,” which would produce subsidized uranium to countries in the Treaty.

p. The Frank Shatz Prize is awarded to College seniors who have published outstanding essays in the College’s Monitor Journal of International Studies throughout the year.

**$1000**
The fine for feeding pigeons in public areas in London. One New York City councilman wants to adopt a similar fine to reduce the number of pigeon droppings.

p. **96 percent**
The graduation rate for athletes who entered the College in the 2000-2001 academic year. The average rate among all Division I schools is 77 percent.

p. **27**
The median age at which men get married, according to the Census Bureau. The median for women is 25. In 1950, the median age was 23 for men and just over 20 for women.

**Thursday, Nov. 1 –** A white male was arrested on Waller Mill Road for driving under the influence of drugs, refusal to submit to a field sobriety test, driving on a suspended license and possession of marijuana. **(1)**

p. **Friday, Nov. 2 –** A robbery was reported on the 100 block of Merrimac Trail. The suspect, who is still at large, stole $740 and was last reported to have been wearing a black sweatshirt, pants and gloves. **(2)**

p. **Sunday, Nov. 4 –** A black male was arrested on the 100 block of Magazine Street for driving with a suspended license. **(3)**

p. **Monday, Nov. 5 –** A Gary Fisher mountain bike was reported stolen on the 400 block of Scotland Street. **(4)**

p. **Tuesday, Nov. 6 –** A black male was arrested on Francis Street for driving with a suspended license. **(5)**

p. – A black male was arrested on the 1200 block of Richmond Road for being drunk in public and submitting a false report to police. **(6)**

p. **Friday, Nov. 9 –** A white, male College student was arrested on the 300 block of Richmond Road for being drunk in public and for underage possession of alcohol. **(7)**

__Matt Beato and Ben Strahs tied with 3 votes, Strahs concedes__

Student Assembly Senator Matt Beato ’09 will represent the city of Williamsburg on the Colonial District Soil and Water Conservation Board.

p. Only one person ran for a position on the board in the general election last Tuesday, even though two people get spots. The second position came down to write-in votes, with Matt Beato ’09, Benjamin Strahs ’09 and Stephen Colbert all tying with three each. Both students said they were surprised to be considered for the position.

p. Colbert was immediately eliminated from the running, but the city had been planning on drawing lots from a hat Wednesday to break the tie between the two students, Christine Faia, secretary of the Williamsburg Electoral Board, said.

p. Strahs conceded to Beato Monday night, making the drawing unnecessary.

p. “He is the better candidate, but more importantly, he is planning on staying in Williamsburg long-term,” Strahs said.

p. The position on the board calls for a three-year term and was the only unpaid position on the ballot. Beato said that he has tentative plans to stay in Williamsburg for law school.

p. “If anyone knows anything about me, it’s that I will do this job to the absolute best of my ability,” Beato said. “I think residents of Williamsburg shouldn’t be concerned about this phenomenon. If anyone voted last Tuesday, they should have been ashamed that a ballot like that would ever be produced in the United States. Since literally every position was uncontested, no one — Democrat, Republican, retiree, student — had a choice at all, for any positions. I’m glad that people did write-ins to protest this.”

p. Gregory Hancock, an associate geology professor at the College, is the only person who ran for the position. He was appointed to the board a year ago to fill a vacancy, but this was his first time running.

p. “The goal of the soil and water board is to help promote responsible soil and water use as well as management techniques,” Hancock said. “We help municipalities make good decisions, and we also go out to farmers and help let them know best techniques. Recently we also started talking with homeowners, letting them know what they can do.”

p. The board is primarily an advisory committee, Hancock said, but it also has some regulatory capacity and funding from municipalities and the state to promote responsible soil and water practices.

p. Hancock also said he had no problem serving on the board.
“Just like anybody else … if the [students are] genuinely interested in the issues, and they know what the board is supposed to do, then it’s great,” he said. “I don’t see any difference between students and non-students.”

p. Hancock added that technical expertise in geology was not necessary for board membership.

p. “Most people on the board don’t [have technical expertise],” he said. “The board oversees activities of conservation activities and decides how to spend money. A student doesn’t need technical experience, just a desire to learn things and to figure out what the board needs to accomplish.”

__Two students listed in critical but stable condition after crash on way to fencing tournament__

Peter S. Conomikes, the longtime coach of the College’s fencing team, was killed in a car accident on an interstate near Richmond Saturday afternoon. He was 86.

p. Two of the fencers in the car, Spencer Butts ’11 and Ben Gutenberg ’11, were seriously injured and were taken to the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond for treatment.

p. “[They] are in critical but stable condition,” Sam Sadler, vice president for Student Affairs, said in an e-mail to students Sunday afternoon.

p. In yesterday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, Tom Hennig ’08, one of the captains of the fencing team, said that the two freshmen “are going to be in the hospital for a while, but they’re doing reasonably well.”

p. A third fencer, Matt Peppe ’11, was less seriously injured. He was treated for a broken wrist and was released from the hospital.
The College’s fencing team was on its way to compete in an event for the Middle Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association in Haverford, Penn. Conomikes was driving three freshmen fencers in his car, while the rest of the team followed in a 15-passenger Student Activities van.

p. At about 1 p.m., approximately one hour into the trip, the two vehicles were traveling on I-295 near Richmond when the car suddenly veered off the road.

p. Luke Davis ’07, former president of the fencing team and a graduate student of chemistry at the College, was driving the van that carried the majority of the team and had a clear view of the accident.

p. “The short of it is that his car just swerved off the road to the left and drove straight into a tree,” Davis said.

p. He said that emergency vehicles from Henrico County arrived on the scene within five minutes of the accident.

The College responded immediately, offering support for the fencing team.

p. “The College has been phenomenal,” Davis said.

p. Recreational Sports has offered to pay for expenses related to the accident, including food and lodging for the families of the injured players. A counselor was brought in Saturday to talk to members of the team, and further counseling is available through the school. The dean of students arranged for those players who were not yet ready to deal with academic obligations to be excused from classes and exams for the week.

p. Davis said that fencing team members often ate together, especially before competitions. To encourage this tradition, Sadler signed up those team members who previously did not have College meal plans for dinner-only plans so that the fencers could eat together as a team for the rest of the semester.

__Fencing Coach Pete
Conomikes sustained the College’s fencing program__

Fencers often joked that their 86-year-old coach was immortal.
Pete Conomikes fought in World War II and Vietnam. He worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. And at 86, he was still out-maneuvering members of the College’s fencing team.

p. But the fencing community lost a legend Saturday afternoon, when the car Conomikes was driving veered off the interstate near Richmond and ran into a tree. He died shortly after.

p. “I couldn’t even try to count the number of times over the years that we’ve made jokes about Pete living forever,” fencer Lauren Thompson ’09 said. “I think that’s actually why so many people are having trouble with this whole thing.”

p. “He is going to be a huge loss,” she added. “It is hard to find a coach that dedicated to a sport and to a team.”

p. Conomikes had been with the team since 1972, when he joined the coaching staff of the then-varsity program. He had been a top-rated fencer and had trained under legendary fencing master Giorgio Santelli.

p. “Even until the time of his death, his blade-work was still better than pretty much any person on the team,” Thompson said. “Just last Thursday, I contemplated asking him for a lesson but didn’t because I wasn’t in the mood to be totally exhausted.”

p. According to former fencing club president Luke Davis ’07, when the College decided in the 1990s that the fencing team would no longer receive College funding, Conomikes continued running the program using donations from team alumni.

p. “That direct loyalty to Pete should tell you something about who he was as a coach,” Davis said. “[The fencing team alumni] were doing it because Pete called them, and that’s sort of the way it was with Pete. They would do anything for him because they knew he would do anything for them.”

p. Davis said that Conomikes touched the lives of thousands of fencers over the years, and that he will be remembered both for his tough attitude about coaching and for the way he cared deeply about each of his fencers as people.

p. “I just can’t tell you how much he meant to all of us,” Davis said. “Pete was just, almost beyond human.”