from the editors November 17, 2010 + Over the Edge Volume 17, Issue 6 November 17, 2010 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Shelby Petersen MANAGING EDITOR Kali Flick PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Gavin Ireland COPY EDITOR Jessica N Shapiro NEWS EDITOR Hanna Petersen FEATURES EDITOR Ecaterina Ciugureanu CLUBS EDITOR Emily Gauvin ARTS EDITOR Darcie Smith SPORTS EDITOR Brock Campbell PHOTO EDITOR Garce Waddel CONTRIBUTORS Alexie Stephens Kaleigh Milinazzo Devon Flynn Nick Spector Lindsay Bockl Joyce Kwan The deadline for the next issue is Wednesday, November 24. Be sure to get your articles in on time! Over the Edge is the official independent publishing media of students at the University of Northern British Columbia. As such, it is our mandate to report on issues of interest to students in the North- ern Region. We encourage all students, both on the main and regional campuses to submit to Over the Edge. Over the Edge is part of the Canadian Uni- versity Press network of papers, otherwise known as CUP. CUP is an organization that is entirely owned by member papers, and provides such services as a news wire and advertis- ing to Over the Edge. Over the Edge is published every second week during the fall and winter semesters. Office Location: 16-350 MAILING ADDRESS 3333 University Way Prince George, BCV2N 429 PHONE (250) 960-5633 FAX (250) 960-5407 E-mail over-the-edge@unbc.ca The Editor’s Edict What's new at Over the Edge? SHELBY PETERSEN EDITOR IN CHIEF ae SHELBY PETERSEN OTE Editor in Chief Shelby Petersen Can you believe that there is just over a month left until Christmas? Christmas may still feel like it's ages away, but we are certainly being bombarded with Christmas displays and ads almost everywhere that we go! | don’t know about you, but | haven’t even begun to start my Christmas shopping yet. However, if the thought of Christmas shopping makes your bank account run and hide, Over the Edge is currently hosting a contest that could really help you out! Over the Edge is offering up $50 to one lucky student who contributes to the paper. All you need to do to win is submit an article to Over the Edge. The article can be about anything you want. That means that you could write a movie review, a sports piece, or a piece on a local UNBC event. The more articles that you submit to Over the Edge, the more times that your name will be entered into the draw! The contest runs until Wednesday December 8 — So keep your submissions coming in and you could be $50 richer! If you are ever wondering how you can get in touch with Over the Edge — whether it to be to ask questions, submit an article, volunteer, or see when the next issue hits the news stand — there are so many ways to get in contact with us! Your first option is to drop by our office in the NUSC building. We are located right next to CFUR in room 6-350 and we have editors in the office everyday available to hear your story ideas or help edit you with your articles. You could even come just to hang out! Your second option is to send us an email. Our email address is over- the-edge@unbc.ca and it gets checked round the clock! If you send us an email you will normally get a response within a day. This is a great way to get into contact with any of the editors on the Over the Edge team. Over the Edge also has a website (web.unbc.ca/edge/). On our website you can find old issues of Over the Edge dating as far back as 2005. You can also see who currently works for Over the Edge and if any positions are available. The third option is Facebook. | know you all have it, so c'mon and “like us”! All you need to do is type Over the Edge into your search bar on Facebook and you can be privy to contests, deadlines, and news updates before anyone else. The fourth and final option to get into contact with Over the Edge is Twitter. You can follow us on Twitter by clicking the link on our Facebook page, or by searching OVERtheEdgeunbc. With all of these options available, there is no reason why you wouldn't be able to talk to a member of Over the Edge. After all, we are your official student newspaper and it is our duty to be available to all UNBC students! So, don’t hesitate to contact us! Editorial: The Prince George Transit System Trying to get somewhere on time? Better leave an hour early SHELBY PETERSEN EDITOR IN CHIEF As many students who come from bigger cities than Prince George may know, the Prince George transit system leaves little to be desired. With most busses coming only once an hour, taking public transit in Prince George can add anywhere from an hour to two hours onto any journey. The worst thing about the transit system in Prince George, however, is its Sunday Service. Prince George transit Sunday Service does not begin until 9:45 am on most routes and can even start as late as noon. Sunday, like other days, is still 24 hours long and is a fully functional day with stores and other services managing to open their doors. It is astonishing that a service that so many people rely on can manage to scale their hours back so much on this one day. Moreover, if you want to go anywhere in Prince George past 5:30pm on a Sunday and you do not own a car, you either have to walk or call a taxi because the busses have quit for the night. There are many students who, along with their part time jobs and full- time course load, have little time during the week to get all of their grocery shopping and other errands done. The weekend provides the only opportunity for these errands to be accomplished. However, the poor weekend service (which is scaled back for both Saturday and Sunday) makes doing these errands all the more difficult. During the summer months, the Prince George transit system operates as if it were in perpetual weekend mode. Both the 15 and 16 busses are scaled back to one an hour service and the buses run no later than 10:00 PM. This is incredibly inconvenient for the people who still live in Prince George and must adjust their lives to accommodate this scaled back bus system. Over the years, the argument has been that the bus system and schedule are so poor because not enough people take public transit in Prince George. While the transit system has improved over the years as the University has gotten larger (there was once no Sunday service at all), it is still not where it needs to be. The more logical argument is that not enough people take public transit because it is so infrequent and unreliable. If the transit system were to be improved in Prince George, and busses ran more frequently and later into the night, more people would be willing to give them a chance. More importantly, the transit system should be doing all that it can to entice more people to ride the city busses because it is a more environmentally friendly alternative. Prince George is home to Canada’s Green University, and it is time that the city does all that it can to live up to UNBC’s standards. a tes, —— { 99. HART CENTRE SHELBY PETERSEN ‘The 89 only comes once an hour on the weekends.