January 25, 2002
By Marcie Young
Statesman International Editor
When it comes to currency diversity, 12 countries in Europe will never be the same. No more are the days of the Lire, Guilder and Franc.
By Feb. 28 of this year, use of such currencies will be extinct in the European Union. The EU is the institutional framework to unite Europe. Like the federal government in the United States, the EU creates unified policy to apply toward the countries contained in the union.
Just like Utah and New York operate under the same federal regulations, Germany and Italy operate under policies created by the Brussels-based EU. One of the biggest policies implemented by the union came with the crossover from 2001 to 2002.
Beginning on Jan. 1, the Economic and Monetary Union of the EU made the change to one standard currency — the Euro. Although some nations, such as Great Britain, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are members of the EU, officials from these respective countries decided to forgo the switch to the Euro from a national currency, according to the EU's Web page at www.eurunion.org.
Countries who did see the change earlier this month include Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Finland, Luxembourg and Greece. This list of nations represents a large chunk of Western Europe that has been using one currency, rather than a dozen different forms.
The influence of the Euro, however, goes far beyond having the same bills and coins. Basudeb Biswas, professor of economics at Utah State University, said many pros and cons come with the conversion. Exchange rates, he said, are constantly changing from highs to lows across Europe.
The implementation of the Euro creates a more stable currency for the EU as a whole, rather than the separation caused by 12 currencies. The influence of the Euro across the EU is not unlike the dollar's influence in the United States, Biswas said.
Using Alan Greenspan's recent federal policy to reduce interest rates across this country as an example, Biswas said the EU and the United States now function similarly. Just as interest rates in the United States affect each state the same way, each of the nations in the EU follow the guidelines established for all the members of the union.
But this is a problem, Biswas said.
"One country may need a higher interest rate and another a lower interest rate to stimulate the economy," he said.
He also highlighted the concept of one central bank, located in the EU's headquarters of Belgium, as a potential problem. If one country were to go into a depression, he said, it would need stimulus from the central bank. But having one currency and one central bank may be appropriate for one country but not for another, he said.
Germany, Biswas used as a hypothetical example, could be in a depression stage, whereas France's economy could be booming. If this were to happen, he said, Germany would ease its money supply and France would tighten its supply.
In the past this type of monetary control would normally happen within the individual nation, he said, but the creation of the central bank would force each of the nations to look beyond the national boarders. Most of Western Europe using the same currency, however, makes for easier internal trade, Biswas said.
"The value of trade among these countries is increasing," he said.
Ronda Callister, assistant professor of management and human resources at USU, agreed. She said business transactions between the United States and the EU will become easier. Callister, who has talked with her classes about the EU's conversion to the Euro, said a U.S.-based company working with more than one EU nation will no longer have to worry about converting more than one currency.
Using a European manufactured Ford as an example in her classes, Callister said the switch-over is more economically effective. The Ford Escort produced in the EU has pieces from the Netherlands, France and Austria, to name a few. Because the car is assembled in Germany and sold all over the EU, there is almost no transition cost because all of the countries use the Euro, she said.
Biswas said the Euro creates a more stable trading environment among EU nations causing internal trade to go up. When this happens, the United States will also have to be more productive to compete with trade in the EU, he said.
The Euro, Biswas said, will not just affect the EU, but the world, because competition creates a better economy.
The Euro, however, isn't only good for businesses and the economics, Callister said.
"It's beneficial for both business and for retail consumers who travel between countries," Callister said.
Travelers, who typically hit more than one European country when they come abroad, will only have to worry about changing their own currency to the standard Euro, Callister said.
"It makes it a seamless effort from country to country," she said. Although the Euro originally started out a little higher than the U.S. dollar when it was created in January 1999, it has changed with the economy.
Now, the Euro is worth about 88 cents, but Callister said with economic fluctuations, its value could surpass the dollar, depending on each union's economic strength.
© Copyright 2002 The Statesman
1/14/02
Hay bales removed from Old Main Hill for liability
January 14, 2002
By Marcie Young
Statesman International Editor
LOGAN - Utah State University student Janessa Slatky wasn't sure if her car was going to stop on the icy road when she saw an 8-year-old boy fly down Old Main Hill, bump across the frozen gravel and land in a front yard across the street.
Last year, the sledder would have hit a rock-hard bale of frozen straw. With the disappearance of the straw bales from the bottom of Old Main Hill, sledders are forced to take responsibility for their own actions, USU landscape manager Ellen Newell said.
"Person after person would sail down that hill and hit that concrete wall," Craig Simper, member of the university counsel said. "[Not having bales] forces you to think about the options and the consequences."
The decision to remove the bales — the first time USU has gone without some sort of safety precaution for sledders in decades — did not come easy.
"We just went around and round," Newell said. "No one could come up with a decision."From a legal standpoint, USU was beginning to look toward the possibly of liability from the school-sponsored bales, Simper said.
"This is a case of darned if you do, darned if you don't," he said.
Although Simper said no one has held USU responsible for injuries caused by the bales, he said some of the accidents were getting bad enough to make the university nervous about potential liability. He said USU has posted signs on the hill, warning people that they use the hill at their own risk, but then they put up the bales.
"By saying people should sled at their own risk and then putting up bales was saying [USU] was taking responsibility," he said.
Although Newell collaborated with Simper and the University Counsel, USU Police and Landscape Operations and Maintenance, she was ultimately responsible. Newell decided to go without the bales this year because more people were being injured by the straw barricades.
"People were led into the false assumption that these were soft bales of straw," Simper said. In addition to the threat of hitting a frozen wall, Newell said snowboarders were taking the bales apart to make jumps, leaving metal wires poking out.
Steve Mecham, USU police chief, reported that seven people were injured while sledding on Old Main Hill last year, four of which were caused by hitting the straw bales.
"When the water freezes, hitting those bales is like hitting concrete," Mecham said.
The injuries caused by the bales ranged from broken bones and head injuries to scratches and bruises. One of the worst, Mecham said, was when a parent depended on the bales to stop the sledding children, leaving one child with a broken femur.
"Last year was an exceptional year [for accidents]," Mecham said. "And some thought the bales were there to stop them."
Although the 2000-2001 sledding season may have been a hazardous one, past years have actually reported less accidents on Old Main Hill than this year, without the bales. This winter Mecham reported three have been injured on Old Main Hill, but those injuries happened long before sledders hit the bottom of the hill.
One injury was caused by hitting a tree, another when someone fell off a sled and the third was caused when someone went over a jump, Mecham said.
After the winter of 1999-2000, two injuries were acquired on the hill, one of which was by the bales. The previous year produced a similar report.
Simper, however, said the injuries caused by the bales were actually much more serious than the accidents which have happened this year.
"It wasn't so much the accidents but the nature of the accidents," he said. "I guess we'll live with the cuts and bruises. We're tying to avoid the catastrophe."
David Harston, assistant chief over EMS for the Logan Fire Department, said he doesn't have an opinion about the bales being set up on Old Main Hill.
When an ambulance is dispatched to the hill, it is the Logan Police Department and Harston's EMS team that responds to the call.
"I think it's kind of a toss up," Harston said. "Between a [straw] bale and a car, a [straw] bale will probably be safer, but that's not to say it's the answer."
Mecham and Newell said they are happy people are being more careful when they take to the hill. Parents no longer use the hill as a baby sitter, Newell said, and are staying at the bottom of the hill, catching their children when they zoom down.
"What I see is that everyone knows the curbs are there and the cars are there and they should put on the brakes before they get there," Mecham said.
Most parents who bring their kids to play on the hill say they'd act no differently if the bales were still set up.
Natalie Wilcox, a parent of a 6-and 4-year-old, took her daughters sledding on Old Main Hill for the first time Saturday. Her daughter's first attempt down the hill shocked her.
"I had no idea she was going to keep on going," Wilcox said.
Even though her daughter's first run sent the inner tube nearly into the road, Wilcox said she's much more comfortable being responsible for her children than depending on a straw bale.
Marlan Smith, a father of a helmeted 6-year-old sledder, said having straw bales might be a nice thing to have as back-up, but even if the bales were there, he said he'd be ready to catch his child at the bottom of the hill.
"It's kind of nice to have the [straw] bales there, just in case," Smith said. "I saw one kid fly out into the road when I got here."
© Copyright 2002 The Statesman
By Marcie Young
Statesman International Editor
LOGAN - Utah State University student Janessa Slatky wasn't sure if her car was going to stop on the icy road when she saw an 8-year-old boy fly down Old Main Hill, bump across the frozen gravel and land in a front yard across the street.
Last year, the sledder would have hit a rock-hard bale of frozen straw. With the disappearance of the straw bales from the bottom of Old Main Hill, sledders are forced to take responsibility for their own actions, USU landscape manager Ellen Newell said.
"Person after person would sail down that hill and hit that concrete wall," Craig Simper, member of the university counsel said. "[Not having bales] forces you to think about the options and the consequences."
The decision to remove the bales — the first time USU has gone without some sort of safety precaution for sledders in decades — did not come easy.
"We just went around and round," Newell said. "No one could come up with a decision."From a legal standpoint, USU was beginning to look toward the possibly of liability from the school-sponsored bales, Simper said.
"This is a case of darned if you do, darned if you don't," he said.
Although Simper said no one has held USU responsible for injuries caused by the bales, he said some of the accidents were getting bad enough to make the university nervous about potential liability. He said USU has posted signs on the hill, warning people that they use the hill at their own risk, but then they put up the bales.
"By saying people should sled at their own risk and then putting up bales was saying [USU] was taking responsibility," he said.
Although Newell collaborated with Simper and the University Counsel, USU Police and Landscape Operations and Maintenance, she was ultimately responsible. Newell decided to go without the bales this year because more people were being injured by the straw barricades.
"People were led into the false assumption that these were soft bales of straw," Simper said. In addition to the threat of hitting a frozen wall, Newell said snowboarders were taking the bales apart to make jumps, leaving metal wires poking out.
Steve Mecham, USU police chief, reported that seven people were injured while sledding on Old Main Hill last year, four of which were caused by hitting the straw bales.
"When the water freezes, hitting those bales is like hitting concrete," Mecham said.
The injuries caused by the bales ranged from broken bones and head injuries to scratches and bruises. One of the worst, Mecham said, was when a parent depended on the bales to stop the sledding children, leaving one child with a broken femur.
"Last year was an exceptional year [for accidents]," Mecham said. "And some thought the bales were there to stop them."
Although the 2000-2001 sledding season may have been a hazardous one, past years have actually reported less accidents on Old Main Hill than this year, without the bales. This winter Mecham reported three have been injured on Old Main Hill, but those injuries happened long before sledders hit the bottom of the hill.
One injury was caused by hitting a tree, another when someone fell off a sled and the third was caused when someone went over a jump, Mecham said.
After the winter of 1999-2000, two injuries were acquired on the hill, one of which was by the bales. The previous year produced a similar report.
Simper, however, said the injuries caused by the bales were actually much more serious than the accidents which have happened this year.
"It wasn't so much the accidents but the nature of the accidents," he said. "I guess we'll live with the cuts and bruises. We're tying to avoid the catastrophe."
David Harston, assistant chief over EMS for the Logan Fire Department, said he doesn't have an opinion about the bales being set up on Old Main Hill.
When an ambulance is dispatched to the hill, it is the Logan Police Department and Harston's EMS team that responds to the call.
"I think it's kind of a toss up," Harston said. "Between a [straw] bale and a car, a [straw] bale will probably be safer, but that's not to say it's the answer."
Mecham and Newell said they are happy people are being more careful when they take to the hill. Parents no longer use the hill as a baby sitter, Newell said, and are staying at the bottom of the hill, catching their children when they zoom down.
"What I see is that everyone knows the curbs are there and the cars are there and they should put on the brakes before they get there," Mecham said.
Most parents who bring their kids to play on the hill say they'd act no differently if the bales were still set up.
Natalie Wilcox, a parent of a 6-and 4-year-old, took her daughters sledding on Old Main Hill for the first time Saturday. Her daughter's first attempt down the hill shocked her.
"I had no idea she was going to keep on going," Wilcox said.
Even though her daughter's first run sent the inner tube nearly into the road, Wilcox said she's much more comfortable being responsible for her children than depending on a straw bale.
Marlan Smith, a father of a helmeted 6-year-old sledder, said having straw bales might be a nice thing to have as back-up, but even if the bales were there, he said he'd be ready to catch his child at the bottom of the hill.
"It's kind of nice to have the [straw] bales there, just in case," Smith said. "I saw one kid fly out into the road when I got here."
© Copyright 2002 The Statesman
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