Vol43Issue18

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College revamps structure Page 3

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the clackamas print An independent, student-run newspaper since 1966 Clackamas Community College, Oregon City, OR

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Volume 43, Issue 18

Shuttle frees the pocket

By Erik Andersen News Editor With a look to fit a bachelor including fresh new leather seating and a TV, a free 15 to 20 minute ride from the Clackamas Town Center to Clackamas Community College seems too short. Starting on April 5, the Towncenter Xpress Shuttle, a 14 passenger van, began making its routes from the CTC, county building and CCC free of charge.

This experimental project developed by the partnership with the Clackamas Transportation Management Association, the county and CCC will run free rides four days a week, Monday through Thursday, starting at the Town Center at 6:40 a.m. and ending there at 6:30 p.m. according to the Clackamas Regional Center Transportation Management Association official Web site.

Please see SHUTTLE, Page 2

John Shufelt Clackamas Print

Brent Drake, a local sculptor, drives the new free shuttle that runs from Clackamas Community College to Clackamas Town Center. The shuttle started April 5 and runs Monday through Thursday. The project is still in its trial stages, but ridership has been showing that students appreciate the service.

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the clackamas print

news

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Pay more, ride less

Scholarship deadline closes in on applicants Time is almost up for free college funding!

The Clackamas Community College Foundation scholarship application deadline is April 30. Applications are available in the Roger Rook building and online. A list of Foundation scholarships is available on the CCC Web site.

Some scholarships require more than just the basic personal statement essay and two letters of recommendation.

Essay requirements and application tips are posted on the CCC Web site.

Scholarship Coordinator Darcie Iven is available in the Roger Rook building to advise students seeking information. There are scholarships available for all kinds of students; a high grade point average is not always necessary for quali-

fication, according to Iven.

More than $600,000 worth of scholarship money is available to students.

Several scholarships are available to students studying industrial sciences, such as welding and automotive technology.

Letters of recommendation and a personal statement essay are to be included with the scholarship application. If students bring an outline of their essay to the Writing Center, the instructors there will help students finalize their drafts.

Students can bring applications to the office in the Roger Rook building, or they can mail them in.

Foundation scholarship apllications will not be accepted again until Jan.1 through April 30 of next year.

-Jaime Dunkle

Brad Heineke Clackamas Print

TriMet passengers board bus 32 in downtown Oregon City. Route 32 may undergo significant schedule changes such as a plan to start the routes over 40 minutes later and less frequent.

By John Hurlburt Co-Editor in Chief Exactly one year and one week ago today, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood lauded Portland’s public transportation system as one of the nations’ best, calling it a model for the nation.

Since last year, however, TriMet has seen a decline in both ridership and revenue. Now, instead of being able to build on the city’s reputation for being what LaHood referred to as, “the transportation capital of America,” TriMet is increasing fare prices again as well as reducing service.

Among the 17 possible lines up for reduction are the 32 and 33 buses which run to Clackamas Community College. In order to gather public sentiment towards the forecasted reductions, TriMet held a series of three open forums concerning the cuts and will continue to accept comments from the general public until Friday of this week.

On April 6, one of these meetings was held at the college, letting those in the community with opinions, and knowledge of the event, come forth with how they think the changes will affect users.

Standing in the back of McLoughlin Auditorium as a standard procedure, two security guards watched over the meeting, which ended up being peaceful, with many speaking carrying the somber tone of unwanted understanding.

Harry Wise, a self-proclaimed veteran TriMet user, was one of the few citizens who came out in order to speak his opinion and carry the message of those who couldn’t make it out.

staff

the clackamas print 19600 S. Molalla Ave. Oregon City, OR 97045 503-594-6266

He expressed that many people with whom he had spoken to needed the continuous unaltered services of the 32 bus and in fact many had requested increases.

“I’ve taken off half a day to be here, it’s so important,” Wise said to a room filled mostly with TriMet personnel.

The current plan would cause the 32 to come to Clackamas at 7:01 a.m. instead of 6:19 when it currently arrives. It would also cause the frequency of bus arrivals to decrease from coming every 20 minutes to every 30 between 4 and 5 p.m.

Changes to the 33 bus route would mean that the bus would start its first trip from the college at 4:30 a.m. instead of its current departure time of 4:20 The bus will also run every 17 minutes instead of every 15 minutes from 6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 5 p.m. Between 6 to 8 p.m., it will reduce service from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes.

On weekends, the bus will reduce services from every 17 minutes to every 20.

Jason Barbour, a student from Portland Community College, came to the meeting with hopes to change TriMet officials’ minds and to get them to seek out alternative forms of gaining revenue. He was especially concerned that bus routes to both CCC and PCC were being reduced.

“We should really look for those dollars and cents elsewhere,” Barbour said. “It’s really necessary that we keep 15 minute services running to community colleges on weekdays.”

According to Fred Hansen, TriMet’s general manager, the changes are only coming after

Co-Editors in Chief: Kayla Berge, John Hurlburt News Editor: Erik Andersen Associate News Editor: Jaime Dunkle Sports Editor: Mark Foster Associate Sports Editor: Steven Weldon Arts & Culture Editor: Annemarie Schulte

nearly every other option has been exhausted.

“We look at service reductions as the last place we want to go,” Hansen said.

Last year TriMet had to fill in a $31 million budget gap, which they sealed with loose-sticking putty consisting of a hiring freeze, executive furloughs and staff reductions of 120 employees.

This year a decrease in money made from payroll taxes, 55 percent of TriMet’s operating budget, and lower than expected ridership are all expected to cause a financial shortfall of $27 million.

Raised fairs could possibly add the money needed in order to maintain the status quo but this time around the transportation company has chosen to increase fairs only minimally, increasing them by 5 cents.

TriMet’s last fair increase took place in September 2008 after fuel prices caused the company to increase ticket prices by a quarter.

Carolyn Young, the executive director of communications from TriMet, pointed out that a dramatic raise in fair would further the budget problems, considering the company has already lost $8 million to not having enough people taking advantage of their service.

According to Young, 84 percent of transit agencies across the country have to either raise prices or reduce services. She also went on to admit that the reductions wouldn’t help retain riders.

“When you decrease quality, ridership will go down,” Young said.

In order to view all service changes and to voice opinions about the future reductions to TriMet, visit Trimet.org.

Ad Manager: Meredith James Copy Editor: Kayla Calloway Associate Copy Editor: John Simmons Design Editor: Kelsey Schneider Photo Editor: John Shufelt Web Editor: Brian Steele

SHUTTLE: Free ride Continued from SHUTTLE, Page 1

The route is expected to run for 10 weeks when it will then go through review to see if people are taking advantage of its direct route from the Town Center to CCC. After the 10 week trial run the county, college, and CTMA will determine whether to keep it or scrap it.

Although a slow first week, Thursday’s shuttle driver, Kent Devault said, “This week it’s at least three times the ridership we had last week.”

Devault, along with the other drivers, carries a chart where he tallies the number of riders each day. Uncertain to how many riders the shuttle will have to carry in order to keep it as a permanent route, it’s hard to determine if it will meet its minimum amount. Riders of the free shuttle on the other hand have already started a petition to have the route continue through Friday.

“One of our very first passengers in the morning that catches the first shuttle, a 75-year-old lady that works at the county office; she does a lot filing and clerk work. She told me in the morning it saves her an hour and in the afternoon it saves her an hour and a half saving her two and a half hours a day in ride time,” said Devault.

Because the shuttle mainly goes from the Town Center to Clackamas, saving money on public transportation seems limited to those who live near in the area but “time” may be a different matter.

Staff Writers/ Photographers Joshua Baird, Brian Baldwin, Michael Bonn, Hillary Cole, Alexandria Coover, George Craig, James Duncan, Cody Ferdinand, Travis Hardin, Brad Heineke, Neil Lundin, Javierh Montero, Robert Morrison, Steven Riley, Mark Sunderland, Kitty Suydam

Stephen Forbes, a student at CCC and a rider of the Towncenter Xpress Shuttle explains that the 10 to 20 minute ride from the shuttle stop at CTC to CCC saves him lots of time because of the direct route as appose to the loop around he would normally have to endure with the TriMet bus. Forbes also said, “From everyone that I have heard that has been on here said that it cut time form anywhere from 45 minutes to hours of their time.”

“

For me, it’s way more convenient.

Deborah Bell Student

Another student and rider, Deborah Bell said, “For me, it’s way more convenient.”

Bell, who shows great interest in the convenience of the pilot shuttle route, said, “If it wasn’t for this, I’d be taking four busses; cuts two hours in transportation.”

For more information and schedules of run time visit the web site at www.crc-tma.com.

Production Assistants Karlie Gilliam, Bethany Jackson, Tyler Kern, Tiffany Myers, Wesley Northcutt, Tom Redick, Corey Romick Journalism Adviser: Melissa Jones

Goals The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased, professional manner.

Content published in The Print is not screened or subject to censorship.

E-mail comments to chiefed@clackamas.edu

news

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

CCC restructures college to maximize spending

By Neil Lundin The Clackamas Print

CCC president Joanne Truesdell (right) speaks with Rochelle Feltz (left) and Jan Godfrey (center) in the Gregory Forum on Jan. 30, 2009.

By Brian Baldwin The Clackamas Print Flashback to the year 2000: Clackamas Community College undergoes an administrative restructure and reorganization to better serve the needs of its students. Since then, the college has endured two recessions and enrollment has grown by 10,000 students and has also added a renewable energy program, according to a memo from CCC President Joanne Truesdell. Now come back to today, spring 2010; we’re due for another change.

The college administration that students may directly deal with on a daily basis is divided into three sections: advancement, college services and instruction and student services. Advancement is Clackamas’s administration area that supports the entire college’s mission and provides and houses offices such as public affairs. College services handle internal activities such as information and technology services, human resources and college maintenance. Finally instruction and student services is primarily made of the faculty and the divisions of departments students are familiar with.

“This restructure was necessary because of the complexity of how education is changing so rapidly in its funding mechanism, technology and deeply embedded processes.

It’s difficult to move a college forward with models that were developed years ago,” said Bill Briare, dean of arts, humanities, and social sciences.

In an interview with Truesdell and Janet Paulson, they clarified that the goal of this restructure is not to save money through budget cuts but rather that “the focus of the organizational restructure at this time is to maximize our ability to be flexible and seek better funds,” adding that it is “not meant as a budget saving tool in this budget.”

College services will continue to maintain their current structure and day-to-day responsibilities but also will “focus next year on implementing the second round of state stimulus money,” according to a March 19 memo from Courtney Wilton, Vice President of College Services. Also mentioned in the memo is the need to recruit new deans for the entire institution since Jan Godfrey of HR is retiring, and Joe Austin of IT and Laura Zentner of Business Services have accepted job offers elsewhere in Oregon.

As stated in an e-mail to all CCC staff from Vice President Elizabeth Lundy of Instruction and Student Services, the most “notable

feature of the new structure” is the reduction of eight divisions to five. There will be two broad-based divisions and three instructional divisions: Regional Educational Services, Curriculum, Planning and Research, the Arts and Sciences Division, theAcademic Foundations and Connections Division and the Technology, Health Occupations and Workforce Division.

Taking over as dean of the new Curriculum, Planning and Research division, Steffen Moller, current dean of math, business and sciences, plans to continue the responsibility of reporting to the state agencies in regards of approvals of curriculum.

“I will be working with the connections we have with high schools to work with … advance college credit,” Moller said. “How do we make the connection with high schools for those that want an early start here for instance, and … connections between us and four-year institutions?”

To make these changes happen and to find additional funding for the college to be more flexible, Advancement has put together a draft for a Grants Development Office that will be tasked with constantly finding opportunities for additional funding from community, state, or even federal sources.

The staff selected will also provide assistance in drafting the project proposals for these grants. No faculty have been nominated for potential staff yet, as the proposal must be heard in front of the CCC budget committee in May and then again in front of the CCC board in June.

So why now are we reorganizing Clackamas? It is the best time of year since the budget for the 20092010 fiscal year is ending on June 30. According to Truesdell it also seems to be because of possible reduction in public funding from the state. It is forecasted that we may be facing the lowest amount of state funding in ten years. So far, no reduction enforcement notices, or layoffs, have been issued.

“I wouldn’t do a restructure simply because of budget, and I would never do a restructure simply because I woke up one morning and decided that would be a good thing to do,” said Truesdell.

Both she and Paulson are positive that this restructure will be able to provide the same level of service the college has to offer and focus on the areas that their staff and student feedback have brought attention to.

To visit the memos and staff emails listed visit www.clackamas. cc.or.us/fyi/ and proceed to budget information.

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Walk for charity The National Alliance on Mental Illness is putting on another walk to raise funds for the organization; it is the only fundraiser they put on during the year

Contributed

the clackamas print

Are you finding yourself having some free time on the weekends and feel the need to get out and do something? Or even feeling the need to go for a nice long stroll to clear your head? If so, there is a fundraiser walk for you to consider participating in.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness will be doing another benefit walk on Sunday, May 23. This year Clackamas Community College’s club, NAMI on Campus, has a team for the walk.

NAMI seeks to help anyone who has a mental disorder whether it is severe or not. Many do not seek

help to cope with their mental illness and instead choose to try and cope with it themselves when there is a huge support structure out there to help them. The support even goes as far as providing housing support for those with mental illness who cannot house themselves.

The walk itself is a 5K walk (3.1 miles) at the Eastbank Esplanade in Portland starting at 1 p.m. Michelle Veenker, a Clackamas County board member for NAMI, said that last year Clackamas County raised $9,000 towards NAMI and previous years up to $30,000. The walk also had 1,800 participants here in Portland last year.

The NAMI on Campus team currently has four participants that have signed up to walk.

Karen Edwards, a student at CCC, did the walk last year and said it was fun and everyone was enjoying the atmosphere of doing a fundraiser during a beautiful day. But sunny or not the walk will take place.

The walk is very important for NAMI because it is the main and usually only fundraiser for the organization during the year. The walk also helps raise aware-

ness for severe mental illness which has rates as high as one in 16 Americans and affects one in four families.

“The goals of the NAMI Walks program are: to fight the stigma that surrounds mental illness, to build awareness of the fact that the mental health system in this country needs to be improved, and to raise funds for NAMI so that they can continue their mission,” said Kathy Fredrickson, president of the club NAMI on Campus, in a letter to everyone at Clackamas.

Fredrickson encourages everyone to come, with or without money.

“You bring in as much money as you can,” said Fredrickson.

To register for the walk, you can show up to the NAMI on Campus club meeting on May 7 at the Fireside Lounge at noon or pick up one of the pamphlets in the community center and follow the instructions listed on there.

For more information about NAMI you can call the Clackamas County NAMI office at 503-723-4989 or for information about NAMI on Campus you can contact Kathy Fredrickson at 503708-3088.

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the clackamas print

sports

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Improving Cougars keep heads up A rough start to a promising baseball season does not sway the up-andcoming Cougars

By Robert Morrison The Clackamas Print

Brad Heineke Clackamas Print

Cougars pitcher Cody Ching delivers a pitch as pitching coach Mick Ellet looks on. Ching has only pitched one inning so far.

Baseball coach brings infield and team together

By James Duncan The Clackamas Print Trevor Rooper, the infield coach for the Clackamas Community College baseball team, plans to help lead the team to a solid victory.

Rooper played for CCC in the late ’90s about 13 years ago.

“I played a little for Robbie and my little brother played for him in 96,” said Rooper.

Head coach Robbie Robinson said, “He would have been one of the best.”

Then in 2005 Rooper went on to be the head coach for a team in the Netherlands outside Amsterdam and later in his career coaching for another team in Australia in the winter of 2007.

Now Rooper has been the assistant coach for three years.

“I think we’ve been getting better every year since I’ve been here … we can go to the NWAACC tournament and win it,” said Rooper. “You have to get first or second in your league and then you go to the playoff tournament in Longview. We did that last year for the first time in 15 years, and I’m hoping to go back there and do the best I can.”

NWAACC is the parent organization for 35 community colleges in the states of Washington and Oregon.

Clackamas currently has a

.600 PCT according to the NWAACC Web site, putting it number two among teams in the southern region.

“He’s a great guy; he’s a great coach; he knows the game really well. He loves the game, he loves coming out here all the time and showing us different things,” said shortstop Isaiah Ferrer. “He taught me so much last year and what to do with fielding and throwing the ball that I had never learned before, and he’s probably one of the best coaches I had as an infielder.”

Everyone has only positive things to say about Rooper.

“He’s a great coach and he brings a lot of energy. He’s really fun. He knows what he’s talking about. Had a lot of good drills. Makes us work hard for sure,” said second baseman Johnny Wade.

Robinson said, “He’s got great wisdom. He coaches a lot more like a player still. He hasn’t been out there as a head coach very much. He has been coaching in whatever capacity. A great young man. We are trying to get him to go back to school … to give himself another chance. He is a players coach … he talks to the players like they talk, is down to earth, he is the straight line to the kids … the kids just love him. He has such an impact on players. They like to listen to him talk, he has got real good words to say.”

Being runner up is never as good as winning and that is where Clackamas finished last year in the NWAACC South Region for baseball.

The Cougars finished 10 games back of favorite Mt. Hood. Last year was the first time in nearly a decade that Clackamas made the NWAACC playoffs. This year, the team has high hopes to make it far into the NWAACC playoffs and winning the South Region.

David Greenstein, AllRegion sophomore outfielder and pitcher for Clackamas, said, “I think that we can go deep into the tournament and win the South Region.”

Going into the April 20 game against Chemeketa, the Cougars have a record of 6-4 in the league and 11-12 for the season. The Cougars are second in the South Region.

“We started off the season good but fell off for a time and are gaining our form back,” said Isaiah Ferrer.

The year has gone good so far in the players’ eyes, and they look forward to making even more improvements from last year.

“Our teamwork is our biggest improvement from last year,” said Taylor Hill, a sophomore starting pitcher that made the switch from reliever this year. Hill is also an AllRegional, Gold Glove, and All-NWAACC player for his position.Greenstein and Ferrer both said that they thought that the biggest improvement was the hitting; every player in the lineup could hit the ball.

Rayce Belmont, an outfielder for Clackamas, said, “I look forward to making a run and trying to make a little gap between us and the rest of the teams.”

When asked about his personal improvement, Belmont said, “I think my biggest improvement is my patience at the plate and my confidence at the plate.”

The Cougars have a number of players that received various honors last year returning this year for another chance to prove that they have the stuff to win. This year’s team is a variety of both freshmen and sophomores. They hold a lot of experience in what has started off as another playoff run for the Cougars. There still are a number of games left to be played and according to the players, the sky is the limit.

The next game at Clackamas will be played on April 22, and like all games this season, it will be a double-header. To see dates and times of future games, visit the Cougars Athletics link on the Clackamas Community College Web site.

Cougars Baseball March 25-Game One: Clackamas 5 Green River 9 April 8-Game One: Clackamas 4 SW Oregon 1 Game Two: Clackamas 4 SW Oregon 3 April 10-Game One: Clackamas 3 Lane 5 Game Two: Clackamas 6 Lane 1 April 13-Game One: Clackamas 7 Mt. Hood 2 Game Two: Clackamas 3 Mt. Hood 4 April 15-Game One: Clackamas 13 Chemeketa 8 Game Two: Clackamas 3 Chemeketa 0 April 17-Game One: Clackamas 1 SW Oregon 2 Game Two: Clackamas 3 SW Oregon 11

sports

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

the clackamas print

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Track coach aims for NWAACCs From grades to scores, Keoni McHone pushes men and women to do their best

By Brian Baldwin The Clackamas Print

F

or the last 10 years, Keoni McHone has coached track and field at Clackamas Community College and the last four years as head coach.

Throughout these recent years, the women’s track team has lived up to or exceeded his expectations. The men’s team is improving from last season, but they provide the challenge to one of McHone’s main goals of the season: “To finish in the top three on the men’s and women’s side.”

For this to goal to be achieved for CCC, each team needs at least three athletes to place in the top eight of most of the events in track and field such as the discus, javelin and 800 meter matches.

M c H o n e appeared to be confident in the wom-

All photos by Brad Heineke Clackamas Print

Keoni McHone and Emma Buchholz train in pole vaulting for upcoming track and field meets. Buchholz and the other athletes need to score in the top eight of their events so that the men’s and women’s team accomplish McHone’s goal. en’s team coverage of almost all the events, but the men have a bigger burden since they do not have many distance runners.

“If we have some that we’re going to be weak in, then, we have to make sure to give a little more in the other events,” McHone said.

“It puts a good deal of pressure on us; there are so many events they can score points in that the guys of [CCC] have to push up to a higher

said John Chisman, a freshman thrower out of North Salem High School.

However, while McHone creates the main team goal for the season, he lets his own players set up their own guidelines to help achieve the team goal. Such as Chisman’s goal, “150 to 160 in discus [and] 40 to 45 in shot put, so those I’m getting close to [accomplishing] them … as I go along.”

“

From here on out, it’s more of figuring out how to compete ...

Keoni McHone Head track and field coach

score to make up because there are so few distance runners eligible,”

“Right now we are actually are kind of sharpening them up,” said McHone, adding, “From here on out, it’s more of figuring out

how to compete, making sure the body is fresh for competition days and the mind as well.”

When asked if academics have been an issue for his athletes trying to balance school and their track and field rankings, McHone said, “On our women’s side, we don’t have that problem. Our team GPA on our women’s side is usually around a 3.2, which is pretty solid.”

He went on further to say that the men do struggle a bit. To try and help bolster their grades, the coach sits down with them and tries to make sure that they are organized and setting goals for the classroom. He makes them keep a daily planner that his athletes keep notes for their classes and show McHone their progress.

Just as they set their own goals for sports, he tells them to “take that same mentality with their academics.”

“That’s one big thing that Keoni wants us to be very well prepared for the academic portion of college. He doesn’t want any of us taking short credits,” said Kenny Echternkamp, freshman thrower from Mt. View High School.

Most importantly to McHone, there is another goal that takes precedence, “Our other part of [our goal] is that I want to make sure that our team has a good reputation as far as being professionals. They are representatives of the track and field p r o gram, of Clackamas Athletics and of the w h o l e school.”

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& Mitzil Loncheria is deliciosa

the clackamas print

Four-year college calls you to enroll

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

arts culture

By Annemarie Schulte Arts & Culture Editor 1. More classes: most universities offer a greater number and variety of classes than community colleges, and that’s a good thing if you like to take unique classes or extra classes not related to your major. Where else can you take a course named “Underwater Crime Scene Investigation”?

2. Better resources: there is so much more access to study groups, tutors, fitness clubs, intramural sports, you name it. There’s always something new and fun to do at a four-year, even if you start it yourself.

3. More people: more people means … more diversity! Clackamas isn’t that small of a college but ever notice how you start to see the same people all the time? And they become the only people you talk to? At a university you’re meeting new people every day and making friends you have a lot in common with, without even trying.

4. More opportunities: sororities, frats, clubs, internships, jobs … the opportunities are, for a lack of a better word, endless at a secondary school, and there’s just some opportunities at a 4-year that aren’t available at a community college.

5. Bigger campus: imagine a sprawling campus so big you’re forced to ride a bicycle from class to class. While a bigger campus has its pros and cons, one cool thing is that you’re likely to discover something new often, so you’ll never get bored.

6. More clubs: if you’re interested in joining a club, while there are many here at CCC, there are usually so many more at a university.

Just think of all the weird groups you can join for fun.

7. College athletics: while we’re proud of our Cougar basketball team, we just don’t get the college experience of packing into a stadium and cheering on the football or baseball team. If you’re into them, athletics are a great reason to attend a university.

8. Change of scenery: there’s so much more to see and experience and sometimes a change of surroundings is just what a college student needs to really thrive. So pick the college with the best weather and scenery and go for it (Miami anyone?).

9. Classes specific to your major: a four year university, when you’re a transfer, is the place where you really get to sink your teeth into your major. Most of us can hardly wait to be done with our general education classes. This is where we really get to get into our future careers (and change our majors five or six times).

10. School spirit: the number of kids wearing “Clackamas” gear compared to another school, like say Oregon State, is not even comparable. Kids at universities have a lot more school spirit, and it’s exciting to be proud of your school.

Michael Bonn Clackamas Print

The mixteado at Mitzil Loncheria is a grilled corn pouch filled with meat and cheese. Mitzil Loncheria is a locally owned Mexican café located on Molalla Avenue in Oregon City.

Mitzil Loncheria in Oregon City pleases the palate with its authentic and local foods; the hours, however, aren’t so accomodating

By Joshua Baird The Clackamas Print After finding out that the Spanish club was going to be taking a lunchtime field trip on April 28, I decided it was time to try out the café in Oregon City called Mitzil Loncheria.

When I arrived the first thing I noticed was the exte-

rior which made me feel like I was walking through somebody’s back door. Once inside however I was met with a rush of festive colors that would make anyone with a palette for visually pleasing aesthetics go into a celebratory rush of enthusiasm. The walls and ceiling were all painted in various colors spanning the rainbow and beyond.

The room was packed with 10 tables meant to seat 30 people. Nearly all of the tables were occupied by men and women from all walks of life, carrying on conversations and chattering about this and that between bites of food.

While perusing the menu, the only woman working the dining room brought out a tray with warmed tortilla chips and a mildly spiced bean dip with a dusting of cotija cheese.

The service was a bit slow;

but seeing as how busy they were the server was as prompt as possible. According to Blake Wyland, a customer who has been going to Mitzil since they opened, they generally are not that busy so each customer gets more personal attention. “Business comes in spurts,” he said about the service time.

“I enjoy [coming in] once a month,” said Wyland, because he likes things with meat and cheese.

The thing that struck me most was that most of the items were things that I was unfamiliar with such as mixteado, a grilled corn meal pouch filled with meat and cheese.

Mine was stuffed with barbacoa which is a well seasoned shredded beef, and topped with lettuce, tomato, sliced avocado and sour cream. The flavor can only be described

as divine and unique. My meal was washed down with a glass of limonada or limeade.

Overall the prices were very reasonable for a small, local café ranging from $1.75 to $5.75 for appetizers and $5 to $10 for entrees.

The only thing that I didn’t like is the hours of operation.

They are closed Sunday and Monday, but are open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. till 2 p.m., closing midday to restock the kitchen and prepare for the dinner rush from 4:30 until 8 p.m. Saturday they are open all day from 9 a.m. till 8 p.m. Because of their irregular hours, after classes are over you may have to wait until dinnertime to enjoy the fabulous fare that they have to offer.

Mitzil Loncheria is located at 212 Molalla Ave., in Oregon City.

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arts culture

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Photo illustration by Brian Steele Clackamas Print

Superhero breaks free from comic nerdom A brave kid once said, “With no power comes no responsibility.” His name is Dave Lizewski, though others may know him as Kick-Ass. “Kick-Ass” is a movie based of the graphic novel written by Mark Millar and drawn by John Romita, Jr. There are many liberties taken with the story in its adaption to the big screen. Fans of the comic book should still like the movie because it is more than just a copy and paste from the comic. The main differences in the movie happen near the end but are a pleasant change from book.

Both stories are set in New York City, which has absolutely no superheroes and a high crime rate. With crime being the large problem that it is some individuals have grow tired of watching things happen time and time again to people that deserve better.

So some of these people decide to break free of the norm and become much more by taking the law into their own hands.

Dave is the first superhero to come out of the cave and take up a masked persona. He has been reading comics for a long time and began to wonder why no one has fought crime like in the comic books.

Donning a scuba diving suit, ski mask and wielding leather wrapped clubs, he starts to train so that he may walk the streets as its champion.

However being Kick-Ass isn’t like the comic books.

It isn’t till after he had his dignity handed to him that he was able to act like the hero he knew he could be.

He gets put on YouTube after being recorded protecting a man from attacker and the world is then shown what Kick-Ass could do.

Kick-Ass meets a few other superheroes in this adventure. These characters, like, him are new to the hero scene, and they too use comic books for guidance.

The first two people Kick-Ass encounters are Big Daddy and Hit-Girl.

This father and daughter team shows Kick-Ass that

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‘Date Night’ springs more than romance

By John Simmons Associate Copy Editor

By Brian Steele Web Editor

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they are more than willing to kill to stop crime by protecting him from a gangster. The third hero he meets is Red Mist. Red Mist idolizes Kick-Ass and has wished to team up with him since he became a superhero.

The movie lets you see all the characters in both their secret identities and in their alter egos. The film makes it easy to see what’s going to happen before it’s shown; while the comic book lets you see things unfold when Kick-Ass figures them out. This is one complaint some may have but it is an action movie and follows the basic herowins story structure. The comic on the other hand is quite different with its ending.

The cast of the movie was well chosen. The character Kick-Ass is played by Aaron Johnson who hasn’t been in too many notable rolls, but he plays this role quite nicely when you compare him to the character in the comic. Nicolas Cage plays Big Daddy really differently than his comic book counterpart. Instead of being an imposing tank of a man like the comic, Cage is a quirky older man who hunts mafia figures.

Chloe Moretz plays her role, Hit-Girl, as a happy little girl well. She has mostly been in Disney movies and television show so this is a change from her previous roles. Because her character is a happy, foulmouthed girl, it’s creepy when she kills people without remorse. Christopher Mintz-Plasse was McLovin from “Superbad” and he acts similar while being the Red Mist. The comic’s Red Mist seemed to be a stronger character than MintzPlasse portrayed him, so he didn’t quite fill the role like a fan of the book might have hoped for.

This movie is a good film to watch if you’re a comic book fan. If you’re not into comics, this is a action packed movie that has a superhero story line.

Both the movie and the book are extremely violent and are made for mature audiences. So if you have a problem with fake blood and or foul language, this is a movie you may want to avoid. Grade: A

Despite having two of my favorite comedians in the lead roles, I went to see “Date Night” with some anxiety.

Judging by the previews, I assumed it would be funny, but not very enthralling and certainly not something that I would want to see again. I couldn’t have been more wrong, as leads Tina Fey (“30 Rock”) and Steve Carrell (“The Office”) did an amazing job pulling this movie beyond a typical romantic comedy and making it into a movie that was genuinely fun and enjoyable.

The story begins by showing a typical week for New Jersey dwellers Phil (Carrell) and Claire Foster (Fey); waking up ridiculously early to get the kids ready for school, working tedious middle-class jobs, going to boring book club meetings and then going on a weekly date night to the same restaurant to order the same food.

The romance is all but gone from their relationship, and they have fallen into a rut that neither one seems to be able to break. As another character puts it, they have become nothing more than “excellent roommates.”

After the news that their closest married friends (played by Mark

Ruffalo and Kristen Wiig) decide to divorce, the Fosters are inspired to break their routine and go on a date to the newest and trendiest seafood restaurant in New York City, The Claw. They arrive without a reservation and cannot get a table, and when another couple is a no-show for their reservation, Phil – in a last-ditch effort to make that night different from their other dates – pipes up and claims to be them.

But it turns out the couple they are pretending to be are in some trouble with a mob boss, and the Fosters end up on a wild adventure to clear their names and get home safely.

This movie is as much an action movie as it is a romantic comedy, with lots of running, gun fights, cool technology and one particularly entertaining car chase. But there is also a more serious side to the film, and throughout the movie the main characters stop to express their feelings about their relationship and their fears about where it is headed. Although they break from the action, these scenes never felt boring or too long but instead created a nice contrast to more exciting parts of the film and helped the Fosters seem all the more real.

Fey and Carrell work extremely well together, and most of the laughs

in the movie come from them and their dialogue with each other. But there is more to their characters than the laughs they create; they are very well fleshed out and I found myself connecting with them on many levels. If it were any other actors in these roles I don’t think this movie would have worked as well as it did.

The supporting cast was also great, and Mark Wahlberg was particularly good as a shirt-challenged ex-government agent. In general I don’t really like his acting, but he filled this role well and was a good straight-man for Fey and Carrell. James Franco and Mila Kunis do an excellent job as a young couple in dire straits and really add to the overall humor of the movie. I did not know that Franco could be funny, but his scene was one of the best in the movie.

There were one or two inappropriate parts of the film, but they were pulled off well and were not as bad as what is allowed on television these days. Most of the PG-13 rating comes from language and suggestive topics.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to anyone who wants a fun and mostly clean movie to watch with friends or family. Or better yet, go and see it with your significant other as part of your very own date night. Grade: B

Illustration by Kayla Berge Clackamas Print

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

the flowers that bloom in the spring

word search key

l e z a h h c t i w s r n m l

a k g w o l l i w y s s u p

e r d b e l l e h d s a l w

a n w f x g g c a e f u n t

i p a p p l e n r c m o e p

h o b r y e d i e o r c t l

t m h h c e y u n d c b r i

4 8 9

y n r v l i u q n o j u s d

s u d i s q s e c y v t s o

r t o c z a d s t h s f v f

o n z a a o a e u h e i g f

f v l c d y p n l s y r a a

r e n o d o h a i u u i r d

a i h m i g n p p e a r i y

v r k j o r e a i l e m a c

d o o w g o d j t e l o i v

8 7 3 5 4 6 1 9 2

6 4 5 1 9 2 7 8 3

7

1 2 6 6 5 8 3 1 5 9 4 4 6 5 3 9 1 3 9 7 1 3 8 2 9 7 5

apple azalea camelia cherry crocus daffodil daisy dandelion daphne dogwood forsythia hellebore

Created by Roxanna Matthews GED Proctor

2 9 1 8 7 3 4 5 6

4 1 6 9 8 7 3 2 5

5 2 9 3 1 4 8 6 7

7 3 8 2 6 5 9 1 4

9 5 4 7 2 1 6 3 8

1 6 2 4 3 8 5 7 9

3 8 7 6 5 9 2 4 1

Last week’s sudoku answers

sudoku

How to play: Make sure the numbers 1-9 are in each box. At the same time, there must be the numbers 1-9 vertically and horizontally. All numbers must match up accordingly.

horoscopes for the week

By Swami R. Astley (AKA Y.H.B. Rick Rolled)

Aries (March 21-April 19): We ’ r e no strangers to love … You know the rules and so do I. Taurus (April 20May 20): A full commitment … that is what I’m thinking of. You won’t get this from any other guy.

Gemini (May 21-June 20): I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling. I gotta make you understand.

Cancer (June 21-July 22): We’ve known each other for so long. Your heart’s been aching but you’re too shy to say it!

Leo (July 23August 22): Inside we both know what’s been going on. We know the game and we’re gonna play it!

Virgo (August 23September 22): And if you ask me how I’m feeling, don’t tell me you’re too blind to see …

Libra (September 23-October 22): Never gonna give you up!

Scorpio (October 23-November 21): Never gonna let you down!

hyacinth iris japanesequince jonquil narcissus pear plum pussywillow tulip vinca violet witchhazel

Sagittarius (November 22December 21): Never gonna run around and desert you!

Aquarius (January 20February 18): Never gonna say goodbye!

Capricorn (December 22-January 19): Never gonna make you cry!

P i s c e s (February 19March 20): Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!

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