Onondaga Hall hot dog sales have been put on hold, following an anonymous tip made to the Oswego County Board of Health approximately a month ago, said Renee Landers, assistant director of Residence Life and Housing.

"We’re not allowed to sell them until we get approval from Oswego’s Board of Health," said Casey Weaver, hall director of Onondaga.

"We were never notified that we had to report to the board of health," Landers said. "I asked them to stop the sales until we could find out what we were required to do."

In order to continue to sell hot dogs, Onondaga must obtain approval from the Oswego County Board of Health, Weaver said. Once they obtain a permit, Onondaga’s Hall Council will be required to pay $100 per year to continue to sell hot dogs three nights a week, and be subject to inspection by board of health officials.

"The halls have the money to pay for the certification, so their hall councils can pay for it," Landers said.

Rick Kolenda, director of Res Life, met with Auxiliary Services to discuss the sale of the hot dogs. The residence halls are allowed to sell because they are not competing with Auxiliary Services, Landers said.

Onondaga has held hot dog sales Thursday-Saturday from 11 p.m.-2:30 a.m. for the past three years.

Miller makes first trip back to stomping grounds

Several hundred students, parents and children attended Oswego State alumnus Jarod Miller’s "Animal Exploration" night show put on by the Oswego State Biology Club on April 27, in the Campus Center.

Miller brought with him a variety of animals to give the audience an exotic experience, while chatting about his professional life after Oswego.

Many of the animals were recognized by the audience, but there were also lesser-known animals, such as a matamata turtle, a marine toad and a red-necked wallaby.

Miller kept the audience captivated with the circulating animals while providing respective information on each of the creatures.

"Talking about animals is my favorite thing to do," Miller said.

Biology Club students, particularly the zoology majors, were able to experience the animals first-hand. They were trained prior to the show on how to hold each of the animals and walked them around the room to show the crowd. Miller, reminiscing on his time at Oswego, mentioned how he would sneak animals into the residence halls, such as snakes, wolves, cougars and, accidentally, a squirrel.

Many of Miller’s comments during the show were directed toward the students, talking about how significant his education at Oswego was in shaping his future career.

After slow start, Virtual Os to expand next semester

Virtual Os, Oswego State’s online grocery store, has started off slowly, but Auxiliary Services officials remain optimistic for the future.

Despite receiving over 300 visitors since its inception, only 30 deliveries have been made, Oswego State Cash Operations Manager Ruth Stevens said.

"It has not been as successful as we hoped, but has been picking up this week," said Mohammed Ali, the coordinator of Virtual Os, hinting that students who have a significant amount of money left on their Plus Plan might want to spend it on the service before the semester is over.

"As a new venture, I believe this is a successful start for us," Stevens said. "We started with a limited number of food items and added a few during the semester."

Next semester, they hope to add more products, such as shampoos and other hygiene items. They will also be adding a medications section where students can purchase products such as Tylenol.

Grab-and-go food will be another addition to the menu, where students can buy cold sandwiches and salads, similar to what is sold in the Lake Effect Café.

Ali also said that they will begin accepting credit cards for purchases in the fall and that they plan to continue adding more products in coming years.

Christopher McPherson