SPRING BLOOMS IN THE STUDENTS. UNION wwnneeenennenenenee LSU hosts urban farming event to raise awareness about eating healthily and sustainably Re ial : ii ™ ASHLEY VIENS photo Charles Dixon, the bus driver who was assaulted 14 months ago, expresses his displeasure with the judge’s ruling on Tuesday. No jail time after bus assault Victim says ruling indicates it is no longer safe on Vancouver buses 66 By ASHLEY VIENS Ihe sentence handed to a man convicted of punching a bus driv- er in the face has sparked out- rage from both the victim and his Del Louie was found guilty of assault Louie punched Charles Dixon, a bus Dixon had asked Louie not to board Don MacLeod, president of CAW Lo- Pve been on ‘Shouse supporters. 2 arrest and handed an 18-month conditional [with in- sentence and two years probation at . . the Main Street courthouse on Tues- J urtes] fe or day morning. 14 months. aoe Danehed Charles Dixon, ’ river for Coast Mountain Bus Compa- That’s four ny, in the head on Feb. 15, 2011. months s hy 0 f from the back of the bus. what he cal 111, the union representing Metro g ets Vancouver bus drivers, was very out- CHARLES DIXON spoken after the sentence hearing. “This sentence is totally unaccept- able,” he said. “Dixon suffers with this assault to- day, like many of our members from past [assaults] still do,” he added. “Where is the justice? Where is the jail time for somebody who assaults a bus driver?” Judge Karen Walker said she consid- ered both Louie’s health issues and First Nations ancestry in handing down her sentence. Crown Prosecutors had asked for nine to 12 months jail time with 18 months house arrest. Speaking outside the courthouse, Dixon was adamant that the sentence implied that it is no longer safe for op- erators or passengers on Vancouver buses. “The decision that came down today wasn’t good enough, the message wasn’t strong enough. It just blows me away why the good people of this city put up with this,” he said. “T don’t think the punishment fits the crime here today. I’ve been on ‘house arrest’ [with injuries] for 14 months. That’s four months shy of what he gets,” said Dixon, breaking down as he described the extent of his injuries. “T don’t care what ancestry he is from,” said Dixon. “He knew what he was doing, he knew how to throw one hell of a punch. You can’t use aborigi- nal ancestry as an excuse to commit crimes, I’m sorry.” “Tm sorry for what was done to the Aboriginal people 148 years ago, but that doesn’t stand true today,” he add- ed. Dixon didn’t know if the Crown was going to appeal the court’s decision. The terms of Louie’s two-year proba- tion include 200 hours of community service. He is also not to contact the victim and must abstain from drugs and alcohol. Aging online software to be replaced After a selection process, Langara settles on new smartphone-friendly Desire2Learn application By OMAR SHARIFF of the Langara College website will undergo a major overhaul come this fall. The Blackboard application on the myLangara website, used for online coursework, will be replaced with the new Desire2Learn program starting Sept. 4. Carol Elder, educational technology advisor and a library and information technology instructor, said the new De- sire2Learn product has many useful features that will appeal to students at Langara. “It has good mobile applications — so the ability to use it on a mobile de- vice,” said Elder. “It was better devel- oped that way, and when faculty and some students did some testing for us . . . they preferred the Desire2Learn product.” Langara chose this new program be- cause the Blackboard program will no longer be supported after January 2013. “It was just an older product, and they’ve got a different product that they are continuing to develop,” said Elder. Elder also added how there isn’t much of a difference in price between the two products. “The cost effectiveness is about the same, in terms of utilizing the prod- uct,” she explained. “The college went through a selec- tion process a year ago,” she said. “De- sire2Learn was the preferred product for our setting.” Many of the features that students are familiar with on Blackboard will 0: of the most important sections See COLLEGE INTRODUCES, page 3 B.C. powers up electric vehicles Government unveils plan to install hundreds of charging stations throughout the province By JEREMY SALLY jolt in support for electric vehi- cles, now that the provincial gov- ernment has announced that it will fund over 500 charging stations along B:: Columbians can expect a ) major traffic corridors. But at the Vancouver International Auto Show, Premier Christy Clark was mum on details about the plan, despite standing in front of a large electric car display. Instead of promoting the new green initiative in a short speech, she high- lighted the auto industry’s $10-billion annual contribution to the B.C. econo- my. The president of the New Car Deal- ers Association of BC, Blair Qualey, spoke before Clark and highlighted the government’s electric vehicle rebate. Afterwards, Ministry of Environ- ment spokeswoman Andrea Mercer described the charging station propos- al. She said this will enable electric ve- hicle drivers to go farther with their vehicle. Currently, vehicles like the Nissan Leaf average 100km of travel, the distance between Vancouver and Chilliwack, per charge. But both announcements failed to See USEFUL IN THE CITY, page 2 > Fe JEREMY SALLY photo Clark offered no details as she opened the auto show.