Eastern News
Thursday
“Tell th e t r u t h a n d d o n ’ t b e a fr a i d . ”
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OC TOBER 11, 2012 V O LU M E 9 7 | N o. 3 7
EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILL. D A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M T WIT TER.COM/DEN_NE WS
Resources available for victims
Race grows as tennis captain teaches others
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Page 8 HOMECOMING
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Haunted house open weekends for Halloween By Samantha McDaniel Daily Editor
TIM DETERS | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Tyler Mink, a senior kinesiology and sports studies major, sifts through a pile of Panther T-shirts Wednesday in the Union Bookstore. Mink donated a Notre Dame T-shirt to receive a 25 percent discount as part of the “Bleed Blue” T-shirt Swap.
T-shirt swap brings confusion By Tim Deters Features Editor
Students had the opportunity to donate their T-shirts from other universities to support Eastern pride Wednesday in return for a coupon, despite confusion from the Homecoming website. In past years, students were encouraged to bring T-shirts from other universities and donate them to charity, and they would receive a free Eastern T-shirt in return. However, this year students received a 25-percent discount on any Eastern clothing item that had blue on it in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Bookstore. Judi Konrad, assistant manager of the Bookstore, said the change from a free shirt to a discounted shirt was a result of budget decreases for Homecoming Week. She also said she was not informed of the change until Tuesday. Anika Guinto, a junior business major, works at the Bookstore and said she had plenty of students bring T-shirts in to swap. She said she received shirts from many Illinois colleges, including Lake Land College in Mattoon and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. However, Guinto said many students were
confused and frustrated when they came to the Union Bookstore and expected to receive a free Tshirt. Until Wednesday, the Homecoming website on Eastern’s webpage said students could receive a “complimentary” T-shirt if they donated a shirt from another university. A discount was not mentioned. The website was updated Wednesday with information about how students could receive a 25-percent discount with their donation. Guinto said she had several students who decided to keep their shirts because of the confusion. “After they hear that is only 25 percent off, some of them haven’t given their shirts and just kind of left,” she said. As students shuffled through the many racks of Eastern clothing, past the sweaters, T-shirts and shorts, they held the items against themselves to see how they fit. Corey Stewart, a junior biology major, sifted through the rows of basketball shorts and other athletic wear, choosing a Panther T-shirt and sweatband to use his discount on. At the counter, Stewart handed over his bright orange University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign T-shirt. “It’s just one of those shirts I got given to me
one time, and I just never really wear it,” he said. Stewart said the T-shirt was his only Illini shirt, but he had no trouble giving it up for charity. “I was like, ‘I might as well just give it away,’” he said. Tyler Mink, a senior kinesiology and sports studies major, sifted through the neatly folded rows of Panther T-shirts, flicking through the tags to find one his size. As he was shopping, Mink held his green Notre Dame shirt, emblazoned with the word “Irish” and featuring a large four-leaf clover. Mink said he has multiple Notre Dame shirts and had no reservation giving one up. “I had a couple, and this is the one I didn’t want to wear anymore,” Mink said. Norte Dame is not Mink’s favorite college team. “I’m actually a huge Wisconsin Badgers fan, but I wasn’t giving up any of those shirts,” he said. As Mink brought a Panther T-shirt up to the checkout counter, the clerk threw the Notre Dame T-shirt into a cardboard box filled with the colors of numerous T-shirts from other universities.
Local haunted house Ashmore Estates, full of scares and nightmares, is up and running for the month of October. Ashmore Estates was a poor farm and a mental institution located in Ashmore before being turned into a haunted house attraction by Scott Kelley, the current owner. Kelley said this is the seventh year they have done the haunted house at Ashmore Estates. Kelley said Ashmore Estates Asylum is the largest haunted house located in Central Illinois with about 12,000 square feet and around 40 rooms. “We call ourselves the premiere haunted house of Central Illinois,” Kelley said. He said there is a long history behind the building. “A little over six years ago, everyone believed that the place was an asylum,” Kelley said. “The building has never been an asylum.” He said the area has been a mental institution, a poor farm and a house for developmentally impaired people. “An asylum is the kind of place that a Hannibal Lecter would be in,” Kelley said. “You wouldn’t want people in an asylum to get out, and we don’t have a place for the criminally insane here.” Kelley said they decided to stick with the myth in their haunted house. “We like to highlight what people are already scared of,” Kelley said. He said he has been in the haunting industry for 41 years, just one less than the industry has been around. The industry was started with the Knott’s Berry Farm haunted house in 1970, but has grown to include more 3,000 haunted attractions in the United States, Kelley said. Kelley said every year around January he and his wife, Tanya Kelley, try to come up with a new conceptual idea for the design. He said his haunted house is more actor/ human intensive. “Some haunted houses think that animatronics and animated things are scary, and I don’t believe that,” Kelley said. He said people are better for scaring people. “You never know what someone is going to do,” Kelley said. “If a haunted house tries to use animated props, I have a real hard time getting scared by it.” He said it is the unpredictability that makes people more scared.
Tim Deters can be reached at 581-2812 or tadeters@eiu.edu.
Haunted House, page 5
C AMPUS
Lecture to explore the possibility of world’s end By Kara Harris Staff Reporter
A forum addressing the Mayan calendar’s prediction of the world’s end in 2012 will take place Thursday. The Latin American Student Organization will host the forum, “Is it the End?” at 6 p.m. in Phipps Auditorium of the Physical Science Building as part of Latino Heritage Month. The date of the forum was originally Oct. 4. Dana Barnard, the assistant director of the Student Life Office and LASO adviser, said they decided to change the
date because many students returned home for Fall Break. The Mayan calendar was discovered in the ruins of La Corona, Guatemala. It is believed to predict the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012. “A lot of people know about the calendar,” Barnard said. “We want to look at the history of the Mayan calendar, how it was put together and why it reads differently from our daily calendar.” José Deustua, a professor of history, will speak during the forum. “The Mayans were one of the largest civilizations in Latin America,”
Deustua said. “It was also a very original civilization that discovered many things.” The forum will consist of some lecture along with a presentation. Deustua said he wants students to do research, ask questions and interact during the talk. He said he hopes students will leave the forum with a better understanding and appreciation for the Mayan culture. Deustua said the Mayans recorded cosmic changes throughout the year and calculated their calendar by observing the sun and the moon.
“They had an understanding of space and mathematics,” he said. “Some Mayan temples were observatories.” Anastasia Lindsey, president of LASO and a sophomore management information systems major, confessed that she did not believe that the world would end this year. She said she thought the Mayans perhaps did not know how to continue with the calendar instead of predicting the end of the world. Lindsey said the forum’s purpose is to discuss the historical aspect of the Mayan calendar and not to persuade.
The organization might also provide a Mayan snack, Lindsey said, so guests can get a taste of Mayan culture. She said it was an element that she thought people would be interested in along with the content of the forum. Barnard said LASO members chose the topic because of their interest in indigenous cultures with Latino heritage. “We want our membership to understand their history and roots a little bit better,” she said. Kara Harris can be reached at 581-2812 or kmharris2@eiu.edu.