10 2 13

DAILY HELMSMAN Wednesday 10.2.13

The

For information about the start of the rifle team’s season, see page 8

Vol. 81 No. 023

Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Memphis

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Former English department chair promoted after investigation

By Margot Pera

news@dailyhelmsman.com This summer, the University of Memphis promoted English department chair Eric Link to assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences after accusations by two

English colleagues of bullying and discriminatory behavior.

According to a departmental email from M. David Rudd, provost of the University of Memphis, seven tenured English professors filed complaints with Rudd describ-

ing a hostile and toxic work environment that included bullying and prejudicial behavior.

Link did not respond to interview requests.

In response to these complaints, the provost’s office appointed

Professor Bob Hetherington to conduct a thorough investigation of the department in which he interviewed professors and reviewed policies and financial documents before providing a step-by-step

see COMPlaint on page 4

Brister Street fights to save aging oak tree

photo By NathaNael packard | staff

Current and former university of Memphis students are fighting to save a giant red oak tree from being destroyed during construction on Brister street. the tree has been there for 75 to 100 years and is important to many local residents.

By Joshua Cannon

news@dailyhelmsman.com In the former backyard of Samantha Sharp at 592 Brister St., a colossal red oak towers over the neighborhood, its elongated branches swinging from side to side. Countless leaves flap in the wind and wave to all who pass by on their daily commutes. The tree is taller than a five-story building and flaunts a 15-foot

circumference.

Anyone who drives down Southern Avenue is likely to spot the colossal canopy. It is believed to be 75 to 100 years old, but the only way to truly know would be by cutting it down and counting the rings — which is exactly what Sharp, a senior criminal justice major at the University of Memphis, does not want to happen.

At the beginning of the year, Rael

The Daily Helmsman is a “designated public forum.” Students have authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval. The Daily Helmsman is pleased to make a maximum of 10 copies of each issue available to a reader for free.

Additional copies are $1. Partial printing and distribution costs are provided by an allocation from the Student Activity Fee.

Corp. began phase one of the development of new independent student housing that has a tentative completion date for the end of May. Along Southern Avenue, aging apartments were torn down and construction began.

Phase two will consist of tearing down properties near Brister Street to create parking lots, one originally being Sharp’s home along with the immaculate red oak tree.

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Sharp sought out the help of current and past students from the University, concerned citizens and the Normal Station Neighborhood Association with an online petition titled “Save The Brister Street Tree” that garnered 106 supporters.

Just when Sharp believed that she had “exhausted every avenue” concerning the situation, a proverbial light

see BRisteR on page 4 Tiger Babble Campus Life

2 Tiger Tales 3 Sports

U of M Ranked 3 as Safest Campus Program Aims to Help with 5 Textbook Costs Israel Won’t Let Iran Get 7 Nuclear Arms

Government shutdown affects many

By Omer Yusuf

news@dailyhelmsman.com At midnight Tuesday, the United States government partially shut down after Congress failed to reach an agreement on a new budget by the Sept. 30 deadline.

This is not a new occurrence according to Eric Groenendyk, assistant professor in political science at the University of Memphis.

“I don’t want to overplay the rarity of the situation, but this is not the first time the government has shut down.” Groenedyk said.

While those receiving Social Security and Medicare aid will still receive assistance, as a result of the government shutdown, people cannot visit the Capitol, camp in national parks or visit national monuments.

The government shut down twice during the Clinton administration in 1995 and 1996 over the nation’s actual budget.

Groenedyk also said that this government shutdown is particularly telling about about the current state of American politics.

“There is a very strong division in the Republican Party at the moment,” Groenedyk said.

“That does not exist in the Democratic Party.”

According to Groenedyk, the division in the Republican Party is not about the budget, but is instead about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare”, which the GOP is threatening to defund. In other words, the government shutdown has much more to do with the Afforable Care Act than what’s in the budget.

“The Republican Party is using the budget as a negotiating tool, to negotiate cuts to ‘Obamacare’ even though it has already passed,” Groenedyk said.

However, if the governmental shutdown is not resolved, it can led to unprecedented events such as the United States defaulting

see COngRess on page 3 5 8

2 • Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The

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D AILY

H ELMSMAN Volume 81 Number 23

Editor-in-Chief lisa elaine Babb Managing Editor l. taylor smith Design Editors Faith Roane hannah Verret Sports Editor Meagan nichols

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Administrative Sales sharon Whitaker

“My school’s a state school; does it get shutdown as well, or do we merge with a private school until the gov’t things pans out?” @isaacpwilson

Advertising Production John stevenson Advertising Sales Robyn nickell Christopher Darling

“The lie of the century: ‘Memphis is a smoke-free campus’” @shelbytlscott

Contact Information news@dailyhelmsman.com

“Can I nominate myself to win an honorary doctorate from the University of Memphis?” @megs_brianne

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“The first time I used #tigerbabble & I got in the Helmsman. Needless to say, I’m famous.” @tressie_Marie “My professor didn’t even know the word ‘sedentary.’” @quinncyyy “I swear if someone doesn’t turn up the heat in Meeman 112, I will bring a personal heater to school.” @spencerturney

DOMINO’S PIZZA Across 1 Diana’s companion 5 Off-the-wall play 10 “... baked in __” 14 An awfully long time 15 Meter reading 16 Without 17 Glowing sugar cube?

20 Electrical pioneer whose last known U.S. patent was for a helicopter-plane 21 A soprano one has short strings 22 Team competition 23 Ant who sings 25 Some film-book relationships 26 Campaign to raise mailing fees?

31 Forearm bones 32 Cyclotron bits 33 Convenience store convenience 36 Clinches 37 Polynesian porch 39 Tennis coups 40 Cow or sow 41 Tax that funds Soc. Sec. 42 More patrician 44 Easy strikeout victim?

46 Field of plants?

49 Regarding 50 Somewhat inclined 51 Outback runner 53 Goof 57 Wedding song for Ivana or Marla?

60 Mall map word 61 Discourage 62 Cheeseboard choice 63 While lead-in 64 Spring for lunch 65 Lairs Down 1 Bonkers 2 People-watch inappropriately 3 __ ex machina 4 Cuts off 5 Stick for breaking, at times 6 Take for granted 7 Rooftop accessory

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S u d o k u

8 Decorative molding 9 “Eight __ Out”: 1988 baseball movie 10 In the arms of Morpheus 11 Eighth-century pope 12 Jude Law’s “Cold Mountain” role 13 July awards show, with “the” 18 Speed demon’s undoing 19 Cuts back 24 Gymnast’s asset 25 Open D and open G, for guitars 26 Frat letters 27 Smart remark?

28 Barrie buccaneer 29 Old Testament peak 30 __ fault 33 Scopes Trial gp.

34 Swarm 35 Auto ad no.

38 Tread the boards 39 Couldn’t stomach 41 Slice competitor 43 Santa’s reindeer, e.g.

44 Balanchine’s field 45 Vertigo symptom 46 Get clean 47 Survey choice 48 Levels 51 Observer 52 Itty-bitty bug 54 Uncivil 55 Sultanate whose flag features two swords and a dagger 56 Tach nos.

58 Banned pesticide 59 Works in a gallery

Complete the grid so that each row, column and 3-by3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

The University of Memphis

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 • 3

Campus Life

U of M ranked safest university in Tennessee

By Austin Reynolds

news@dailyhelmsman.com The University of Memphis recently released its annual report detailing crime statistics in and around campus. For the fourth time in the last six years, U of M had the lowest number of crimes per capita among the 10 largest universities in the state of Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Burea of Investigation.

The largest factors in keeping campus safe are technology and lighting according to Deputy Director of police services Derek Myers.

“When the UC got rebuilt, the new one has something like 40 cameras. The old one had two or three,” Myers said. “When you saw the Central lot get re-done it got better lighting.”

Myers also believes that peo-

uuCongress Continued from page 1 on its debts.

“I hope people realize that the government shutting down is a bad situation, but down the road it can intervene with the debt ceiling crisis, and I don’t want people to mix those up,” Groenedyk said.

Antonio de Velasco, associate professor and graduate studies coordinator at the U of M, said

ple reporting crime goes a long way towards keeping the campus safe.

“The other thing is that we have a very, very active community that is quick to call us on even the minor things.”

Un d e c i d e d freshman Mackenzie Coleman and junior hospital service administration major Adam Tack both said that they typically feel safe on Memphis’ campus.

Neither Coleman nor Tack have been a victim of crime around campus, and both said that they do not know anybody who has been a victim.

While the U of M is ranked the safest university in Tennessee, Tack thinks that with more security cameras around campus it could be even safer.

Another way that campus police also cut down on crime is

through routine traffic stops.

“One of the tools we use very often is a lot of traffic stops,” Myers said. “We’ve been lucky to receive grants the last few years. We put extra officers on the road looking for DUIs and other violations. We investigate everything that we’re able to investigate.”

The crime statistics are very low across the board except for one that jumps out — 45 instances of burglary in 2012. However, this may not be a statistic that students need to worry about.

“It’s not bad for our size and the number of buildings,” Myers said. “Carelessness (by victims) is the number one thing that could help us cut it down.”

Among many, there is confusion as to what constitutes burglary as opposed to theft.

“Theft would be you sitting

outside at the UC, and you set your book bag down, and someone picks it up and walks off.

Burglary is if I walk out of my office, then someone steps in and picks up my laptop. We get several of those a year,” Myers said.

According to Myers, the main difference between burglary and theft is whether or not the criminal has the right to be in the space where the crime is committed.

In comparison to the 45 burglaries in 2012, there were only three robberies.

Other notable crime statistics for 2012 include four motor vehicle thefts, four aggravated assaults and one forcible sex offense.

The U of M is required to report their crime statistics to the United States Department of Education every fall.

that the impact of the shutdown would be different for different groups of people.

“Any Memphians that rely and deal with the government will be affected,” de Velasco said. “For example, private businesses will not function in the way we want them to.”

Groenedyk also said that the biggest effects Memphians will feel are the economic effects.

“Anything that requires interaction with the government will

be slowed down,” Groenedyk said.

De Velasco said local government, as well as the state government, will also be affected due to heavy reliance on the federal government.

“Think of it as one big chain of effects,” de Velasco said.

Overall, Groenedyk said that the consequences of the shutdown could be felt in the next negotiation between the two parties.

“Frankly, it has terrible political effects on Washington D.C.,”

Groenedyk said. “The parties get more angry with each other, and it will be harder to negotiate the next time around.”

De Velasco said that while students may not be feeling the shutdown today, they might feel it six months from now.

“It’s like a bad seed that is planted now that reaps fruit later on,” de Velasco said.

“It can ruin things in a small way, that you can’t see until later on.”

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Memphis Healthy U offers Midday Moves to boost the mid-day drag

By Samantha Esgro

news@dailyhelmsman.com Statistics show that the average person yawns four to six times daily — meaning that the average person yawns about 146,000 times over their lifespan.

During the average school day, students sit restlessly in desks or staring at computer screens, while faculty members are busy answering phones and sitting in meetings. Generally, movement is at an all time low.

Memphis Healthy U is offering a solution to the midday drag — Midday Moves. This focuses on boosting energy before the “2:30 feeling” even hits.

The schedule of events for Midday Moves is listed on the Healthy U website, and every event starts at 12:30 p.m. and ends about 20 minutes afterward.

Midday Moves is sponsored by a plethora of the University’s schools and organizations such as the Loewenberg School of Nursing, the Alumni Association, the department of health and sports sciences and more.

“The idea is just that faculty and staff sit at their desks all day, and really any sort of movement is healthy,” said Meta Laabs, the vice president of Student Affairs.

Different departments are in charge of different days of the week to provide maximum diversity to the activities.

“There has been line dancing, yoga, tai chi — just a lot of different types of activities for everyone to be involved with,” Laabs said.

This is for graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty, staff and the general community on the University of Memphis campus.

“As a graduate student, I felt disconnected from student life, but this involves everyone, and I was able to meet undergraduates, alumni, graduates — it’s a great network,” said Jasmine Ellis, a graduate student at the U of M. “That little physical movement encouraged me to do something more that night or to get up and go to the gym the next morning. It’s a nice jump start.”

This concept began with Brad Martin, who believed it was a good idea for the campus to be involved in activities during the weekdays.

“The key is that all parts of campus are involved in planning it, and since midday is the central

see healthy on page 5

4 • Wednesday, October 2, 2013

www.dailyhelmsman.com

uuBrister Continued from page 1 shined on her red oak and quite literally saved paradise from being paved into a parking lot.

According to Brenda Solomito, the local project manager for Rael Corp., the development will now include saving the life of the historic tree.

“We’re going to save the tree,” Solomito said. “We’re going to have an arborist come and do an evaluation of the tree and give us recommendations on how to save it, along with methods to protect the root system, before construction begins.”

According to Fred Morgan, a commercial arborist in Shelby County, red oak trees are very common in west Tennessee and can be found on or nearby most people’s properties. Barring major flooding or lightning, a red oak can typically live more than 100 years.

“People don’t hold them to the value that they deserve,” Morgan said. “In other parts of the country, people would kill for the trees we have here. We often take them for granted.”

For Sharp, this is one less thing to worry about.

“It baffled me that they would have ever tore it down,” Sharp said. “It adds so much character to the neighborhood.”

She and her family bought the house nearly six years ago when her brother enrolled at the University so that they could live near campus. Over the years, the tree in her backyard has served an important role in her life by adding a sense of character and naturalization to the urbanized hustle and bustle of the community. Last Saturday, they sold the home and moved, but knowing that the red oak will live on is a major sigh of relief.

“In 30 years, It’s going to be such satisfying feeling to drive by Southern and see the tree,” Sharp said. “My parents are graduates from the University. I am. My brother is. The tree is historic. It’s a part of Memphis, and it’s incredible to be able to say that I helped save it.”

uuComplaint Continued from page 1 guideline for restructuring the department from the ground up.

Tom Nenon, interim dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, said Hetherington found that there were “long standing conflicts that have endured for decades, including the most recent complaints” and the department is in crisis due to a range of issues, including concerns of teaching loads, promotions and several personnel decisions, in addition to a persistent lack of civility between faculty members.

“Normally, when people are exercising their best professional judgment, they can find positive ways to resolve issues,” Nenon said.

“I think in this case things became highly personalized.”

Two of the complainants, Cary Holladay and John Bensko, English professors at the University as well as husband and wife, said Link used physical intimidation to persuade Holladay out of a promotion and discriminated against older faculty members, according to letters sent

by Holladay to former university president Shirley Raines, Link and assistant provost Henry Kurtz.

photo By Nathanael Packard | staff

After hearing about the petition, Rael Development Corporation, partnered with arborists to find ways to build a parking lot without harming the tree.

According to the letter, Holladay approached Link and announced she wanted to be promoted to full professor, citing that she wanted a more active role in the department’s decision-making. Link allegedly cornered her in a staircase and told her she couldn’t become a full professor. In her letter, Holladay said she is still traumatized by this event.

Holladay’s letters state that Link showed favoritism toward younger faculty by taking them out toward lunch, and Bensko’s letters stated that younger faculty learned they could side with Link against older faculty and gain Link’s approval.

Bensko and Holladay filed a complaint about an incident where Link and the creative writing faculty met in 2010 to discuss a potential hire. According to the letter, Bensko suggested that Link hire a candidate with published work and teaching experience, since the hire would be teaching in the graduate program.

According to Bensko, Link immediately interrupted and stated strongly that he disapproved of the idea and said he thought they should, “Get some young Turks in here.”

In late 2009, Link, according to Bensko’s letter, came into his office to speak with him, and Bensko brought up an evaluation Link wrote on Bensko’s poetry class suggesting new material for the course.

After deliberating back and forth, Link allegedly became furious and yelled at Bensko.

Brad McAdon, an associate English professor, called Bensko after the alleged fight.

“The only thing I will confirm is that the conversation between Bensko and Link became escalated so much so that Dr. Link was yelling,” McAdon said.

McAdon was also present at a faculty meeting where, according to Holladay’s letter, Link showed pictures of book covers, which “made fun of women over 50.” Among the book covers were “Down Home Gynecology,” “Who Cares About Old People?” and “All of My Friends are Dead.” After showing the cover for “Who Cares About Old People?” Link said, “I do not think anyone does,” according to Holladay’s letter.

McAdon confirmed that the slides were shown, but he would not confirm nor deny Link’s comments.

Bensko and Holladay’s letters

both said Link “used demeaning language” to faculty members who are age 50 and older. Bensko stated that he asked him not to use that language to which Link allegedly responded “that is just the way I am.”

Nenon said he used the occasion of this conflict to take steps of a hands-on approach for change and decided that Link had the skills useful for the position as dean of College of Arts of Sciences and has been very helpful during his brief time working with Nenon.

Ayanna Adams, an English instructor who has been with the department for seven years, described Link as open minded, personable.

“During my brief interactions with Link, I never got a sexist or racist vibe,” Adams said. “A lot of women in my department are over 50, however. So, just because it did not happen to me, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

As for possible favoritism toward younger professors, Adams said department chairs often promote like-minded people. Adams said that generally with any department chair, any faculty member might say favoritism is being shown when

a chair promotes some faculty over others or goes out to lunch with them.

Adams and her other colleagues were concerned over the summer about the explanation of the new department structure to students.

“It is almost like breaking news of a divorce, the department was blind sided by all of this,” Adams said. “People have disagreements, we should have just all sat down in a room to hash it out. Link’s departure came out of nowhere.”

Adams said that during Link’s five years as department chair, graduation increased and the department grew.

“I love my job and all of the talented people I work with,” Adams said.

Leslie Graff, communications coordinator for the Department of English, said the department is really focused on the students and trying to meet their needs with their 200 lower division courses serving 5,000 students.

“We are a growing department committed to the students and objectives outlined by the president for the University as a whole, and

see english on page 5

The University of Memphis

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 • 5

Tigers’ Ta es “Basketball season.”

Tyler Marshall, Film and video freshman

“It’s cold, and everybody’s like all bundled up, and it’s warm and friendly and cozy.”

Taylor Mitchell, Musical theatre sophomore

“Just the calmness of the weather and the calmness on campus.”

Talitha Ragland, Accounting freshman

What’s your favorite thing about fall?

By Stuart Settles

“Pumpkin everything.

Everything that tastes pumpkin and just has pumpkins on it.”

Courtney Sage, Theatre performance sophomore

“It’s almost winter.”

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uuEnglish Continued from page 4 we look forward to meeting those objectives,” Graff said.

McAdon reaffirmed the strength of the department.

“Over the last five years, our department has faced serious difficulties, but we have the people in it to overcome these difficulties and move on,” he said.

Holladay and Bensko also hope

the department can move pass this situation.

“While we believe that the incidents outlined in our complaints reflect behavior that should not be tolerated, we feel that the solution found helps to protect us from its direct effects, and if no retaliation or further behaviors of this type occur, we feel it’s in our best interests and those of the University to put this behind us and attempt to heal,” Bensko said in a written statement.

uuHealthy Continued from page 3 part of the day, it gives people a chance to rejuvinate, get out from their desks and iPods and have fun with their friends,” Miriam Levy, the head of Healthy U said.

Every Wednesday, the physical activity is yoga — in which both the students and President Martin share an interest.

Ellis, who has been a partici-

pant in more than one activity for Midday Moves, feels that a lot of free offers around campus oftentimes have the misfortune of going unused or unnoticed and does not want Midday Moves to be one of those offers.

“I think everyone should come to at least once just to see how it is, and if you like it, tell someone else about it. Everything is free and provided, and people are living healthier in Memphis,” Ellis said.

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Program aims to help students with the high cost of textbooks

By Ellyahnna Hall

news@dailyhelmsman.com The growing cost of tuition isn’t the only thing putting a financial weight on students. Textbooks can add a heavy weight to that cost.

Every semester, students hurry to get their textbooks for class.

Ashley Deering, a junior Journalism student at the University of Memphis, wants to do something to ease that financial burden by starting a loan-a-book program.

“The goal is that students at the end of the semester would donate their books to loan a book, and at the beginning of the next semester students that can’t afford their books, because of them being too expensive or they have a class where they have to buy a passcode and a book and they can’t afford both can borrow one,” Deering, 22, said.

Many students think the cost of

textbooks can sometimes be problematic at the start of the semester.

“I paid $220 this semester and $350 last semester for my books,” Kelvin Traywich, a junior foreign language and finance student said.

“I think I would like to participate in something like that.”

According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, the cost of textbooks has been increasing by about six percent a year. Some college students and professors at other universities have been trying their own ideas at easing the costs of textbooks by adopting free or lower-cost course materials online.

“Something like this would really help a lot of people,” Deering said. “They would get a book with the intent that they give it back at the end of the semester, and then it would start all over again.”

Although the idea of students needing help with the cost of text-

books is gaining support, some disagree with the best way to do this.

“There would be pros and cons to a program like it,” Shelia Gaines, department head of circulation at McWerter Library said. “It would benefit students that couldn’t afford a book. The problem would be if they are not able to have enough books. That could be a problem.”

For students who need help with costs whether with textbooks, tuition or the cost of living while attending school, any help is appreciated.

“I’ll take any help I can get,” said Michael Ware, a computer technology student. “It costs a lot to finish school: books, tuition, all of it. Somebody needs to start something.”

Some measures are already in place that can help students as far as having textbooks in class, so that they can keep up.

“We already have the reserves

where professors have copies of text books and the materials for the course,” Gaines said. “We see a lot of students coming to use the reserves. I think some of it is order issues or students not being able to get a copy of it at that time, but we do have a lot of request for books that we don’t have on hand so there is a need there. How such a program would work is yet to be seen.”

The loan-a-book program is still in its beginning stages but could give some help to students that need it in the future.

“It’s a lot of tedious w o r k ,” Deering said. “So I’m looking for some people that

are looking to help with an organization that will benefit everyone, and it’s done with the intent that eventually the student will buy their own book, but it’ll help them out in the short run.”

Students who are interested in helping establish the program can email Deering at adeering@memphis.edu.

tackle and resolve glitches.

In Obama’s home state, dozens of people who came to a Champaign, Ill., public health office to sign up for coverage found computer screens around the room flashing an error message: “System is unavailable.”

Kimberly Shockley — logging in from Houston, Texas — and Mike Weaver, who lives in rural southern Illinois, ran into the same glitch as many others: They could not get past the security questions while trying to set up their personal accounts through healthcare.gov.

“I’m frustrated, very frustrated,” said Shockley, a selfemployed CPA. She spent more than an hour trying to get the security questions to work without success. When she clicked on a drop-down menu of suggested security questions, none appeared. She then tried to create her own questions, but that didn’t work either.

Weaver, a self-employed photographer, said he also ran into problems with the drop-down menus. And when they started working, he still wasn’t able to set up his account.

“The first day of something that you know is going to have a lot of bugs, it’s not that frustrating,” he said. “If it was the last day to sign up ... then I’d be terribly frustrated.”

Shockley has health insurance, but is looking for a better plan.

Weaver is uninsured.

State-operated sites also experienced trouble.

Minnesota got its site running after a delay of several hours. Rhode Island’s site recovered after a temporary crash.

A spokesman for the New York Department of Health blamed difficulties on the 2 million visits to the website in the first 90 minutes after its launch. Washington state’s marketplace used Twitter to thank users for their patience.

Exchange officials in Colorado said their website would not be fully functional for the first month, although consumers will be able to get help applying for government subsidies during that time. Hawaii’s marketplace wasn’t allowing people to compare plans and prices.

Connecticut seemed to be a bright spot, although some users reported some snags. Access Health CT sent out a tweet shortly before noon Tuesday, confirming the marketplace logged 10,000 visitors in the first three hours of operation and 22 enrollments. A family of three was the first to sign up for coverage.

California, home to 15 percent of the nation’s uninsured, reported delays online and on the phone because of heavy volume.

The first completed health insurance application was taken at 8:04 a.m., just minutes after the exchange opened.

In Portsmouth, N.H., Deborah Lielasus tried to sign up for coverage but got only as far as creating an account before the website stopped working. She said she expected problems.

Lielasus, a 54-year-old self-

employed grant writer, currently spends about $8,500 a year in premiums and more than $10,000 for out-of-pocket expenses because she has a health condition and her only option has been a state high-risk insurance pool.

She said she expects those costs to decrease significantly.

As excited as she was to sign up, she said, her anticipation was tempered by dismay over the government shutdown that was led by congressional Republicans who want to block the health insurance reforms.

“I’m really happy that this is happening, that this is being launched ... I feel like it’s a child caught in the middle of a really bad divorce,” Lielasus said.

The shutdown will have no immediate effect on the insurance marketplaces that are the backbone of the law, because they operate with money that isn’t subject to the annual budget

wrangling in Washington.

The marketplaces represent a turning point in the nation’s approach to health care. The Obama administration hopes to sign up 7 million people during the first year and aims to eventually sign up at least half of the nearly 50 million uninsured Americans through an expansion of Medicaid or government-subsidized plans.

But if people become frustrated with the malfunctions in the computer-based enrollment process and turn away from the program, the prospects for Obama’s signature domestic-policy achievement could dim.

“You’ve got to launch this thing right the first time,” said Robert Laszewski, a consultant who worked 20 years in the insurance industry. “If you don’t, financially you will never

Insurance markets open to surge of new customers

By Carla K. Johnson Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Americans got their first chance Tuesday to shop for health insurance using the online marketplaces that are at the heart of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, but government websites designed to sell the policies struggled to handle the traffic, with many frustrated users reporting trouble setting up accounts.

State and federal agencies were working to fix the sites, which represent the biggest expansion in coverage in nearly 50 years.

There should be time to make improvements. The open-enrollment period lasts for six months.

Administration officials said they were pleased with the strong consumer interest. At least 2.8 million people had visited the healthcare.gov website as of Tuesday afternoon, said Medicare administrator Marilyn Tavenner, whose office is overseeing the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. The website had seven times the number of simultaneous users ever recorded on the medicare.gov site.

But at most only a handful of people had been able to successfully enroll online through the federal website in that time period, according to two industry officials with knowledge of the situation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the issue publicly.

The number of those enrolled is expected grow as technicians

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uuInsurance Continued from page 6 recover.”

Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, which helped work for passage of the law, cautioned against rushing to judge on first-day performance. Numerous observers had predicted bugs and setbacks.

Trained outreach workers in many states are having trouble getting the certification they need to start helping people to enroll.

In Texas, a federally funded network of “navigators” hired to help people enroll was off to a rocky start because of backtracking participants — including some cowed by the politics of the health law.

At least four regional government councils — covering more than 30 counties statewide — reversed course in the past two weeks and turned away funds that would train navigators in their areas. Local leaders described their hesitancy as a mix of uncertainty surrounding state rules and a fear of running afoul of Republican leaders.

Many states predicted that an initial surge of interest would test the online system, but they expect most people to sign up closer to Dec. 15, which is the deadline for coverage to start Jan. 1. Customers have until the end of March to sign up in order to avoid tax penalties.

Under the law, health insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to someone with a pre-existing medical condition and cannot impose lifetime caps on coverage. They also must cover a list of essential services, ranging from mental health treatment to maternity care.

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Israel won’t let Iran get nuclear arms

By Edith M. Lederer Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played the spoiler Tuesday to Iran’s attempts to ease relations with the West, calling the Iranian leader “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and declaring that Israel will do whatever it takes to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, even if it has to stand alone.

Speaking to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu gave a point-by-point rebuttal of President Hassan Rouhani’s speech last week signaling a willingness to discuss Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Accusing Rouhani of a “charm offensive” aimed at getting the West to lift crippling sanctions, Netanyahu portrayed him as “a loyal servant of the regime” who has done nothing to stop his country’s nuclear program since he took office in June.

Rouhani, he added, must have known about terrorist attacks carried out by Iranian agents in Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Berlin in the 1990s because he was national security adviser at the time.

Israel’s hope for the future is challenged “by a nuclear-armed Iran that seeks our destruction,” the Israeli leader said.

A year ago at the General Assembly, Netanyahu held up a drawing of a spherical bomb with a sputtering fuse, then pulled out a red marker and drew a line across what he said was the threshold Iran was fast approaching and which Israel would not tolerate — 90 percent of the uranium enrichment needed to make an atomic bomb.

“Iran has been very careful not to cross that line,” Netanyahu said Tuesday. “But Iran is positioning itself to race across that line in the future at a time of its choosing.”

“I wish I could believe Rouhani, but I don’t because facts are stubborn things, and the facts are that Iran’s savage record flatly contradicts Rouhani’s soothing rhetoric.”

He pointed to Iran’s continuing enrichment of uranium to a 20-percent level, its addition of thousands of new centrifuges and its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles “whose sole purpose is to deliver

nuclear warheads” that the U.S. says will be capable of reaching New York in three or four years.

“Israel will never acquiesce to nuclear arms in the hands of a rogue regime that repeatedly promises to wipe us off the map,” Netanyahu declared. “I want there to be no confusion on this point: Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

After his address, Netanyahu, like Rouhani, received warm applause but Iran’s seat in the assembly chamber was empty, as it continued its longstanding boycott of Israeli speeches.

Iran exercised its right of reply later, with Khodadad Seifi, a deputy ambassador to Iran’s U.N. mission, accusing Netanyahu of “saber rattling” and warning that he should “avoid miscalculation.”

“Iran’s centuries-old policy of nonaggression must not be interpreted as its inability to defend itself,” Seifi said.

“The Israeli prime minister had better not even think about attacking Iran, let alone planning for that.”

He reiterated Iran’s readiness to engage in “meaningful, time-bound and result-oriented negotiations” and “to ensure that its nuclear program will continue to remain exclusively peaceful.”

Earlier, Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said Netanyahu’s nature was “to lie.”

“Over the past 22 years ... Israel has been saying Iran will have nuclear arms in six months,” said Zarif, speaking in New York in an interview broadcast on Iranian state TV. “The continuation of this game, in fact, is based on lying, deception, incitement and harassment.”

At the White House, press secretary Jay Carney said Netanyahu’s skepticism about Iran and its intentions is “entirely justifiable” because until recently Iran’s leadership “was pledging to annihilate Israel.”

The U.S. shares Israel’s goal of keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Carney said. He stressed that President Barack Obama will be “very firm” on demanding verifiable, transparent action to ensure that Iran has given up its nuclear weapons ambitions.

Netanyahu warned that a nucleararmed Iran would have a choke-hold

on the world’s main energy supplies.

“It would trigger nuclear proliferation throughout the Middle East, turning the most unstable part of the planet into a nuclear tinderbox. And for the first time in history, it would make the specter of nuclear terrorism a clear and present danger,” the Israeli leader said.

Netanyahu said the greater the pressure, the greater the chance for diplomacy to succeed. The only diplomatic solution, he said, is one that requires Iran to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program and prevents it from starting one in the future.

This would require a halt to all uranium enrichment, removing uranium stockpiles from Iran, dismantling the infrastructure for “nuclear breakout capability” — reaching the point where the country can make a quick dash to a nuclear weapon.

He also said it would require stopping all work at a heavy water reactor aimed at producing plutonium, which like uranium can be used to produce nuclear weapons, he said.

At the U.N. last week, Rouhani presented a more moderate face of the hard-line clerical regime in Tehran.

He agreed to the first nuclear talks with six world powers since April at a meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the General Assembly, where Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met privately. On Friday, Rouhani and Obama spoke on the phone for 15 minutes, the highest-level contact between the two countries in 34 years.

But Netanyahu said Rouhani’s goal was the same as his hard-line predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Ahmadinejad was a wolf in wolf’s clothing. Rouhani is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a wolf who thinks he can pull the wool over the eyes of the international community,” Netanyahu said.

All Iranian presidents serve the same “unforgiving regime” where the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a dictator and the real power, Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu asserted that Rouhani must have known about the murder of 85 people in a terror attack on the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in 1992, as well as the killing of 19 American soldiers in Saudi Arabia in 1996 and the slaying of Iranian opposi-

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tion leaders in Berlin in 1992 because he was head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council from 1989-2003.

The U.S. has also accused Iran of sponsoring acts of terrorism around the world throughout the 1990s, blaming Iran and its proxy Hezbollah for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people, as well as the community center attack two years later. Some analysts linked Iran’s Quds Force to helping direct the 1996 bombings of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American military personnel.

Netanyahu said Rouhani condemned the “violent scourge” of terrorism. “Yet in the last three years alone, Iran has ordered, planned or perpetrated terrorist attacks in 25 countries on five continents,” he charged, without providing any evidence.

He also accused Iran of lamenting the human tragedy in Syria, while at the same time directly participating in President Bashar Assad’s murder and massacre of tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children.

He said Iran is propping up a Syrian regime that just used chemical weapons against its own people.

He said Rouhani denounced attempts to change the regional balance in the Middle East through proxies. “Yet Iran is actively destabilizing Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain and many other Middle Eastern countries,” Netanyahu said.

He cited an attempt by Iranian agents to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States in Washington two years ago, and the arrest of an Iranian agent three weeks ago trying to collect information “for possible attacks against the American Embassy in Tel Aviv.”

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency says Iran recruited the Belgian-Iranian national Ali Mansouri last year and sent him to Israel to spy. He was arrested on Sept. 11 at Israel’s international airport.

A lawyer for Mansouri said the allegations are baseless.

Israel announced the arrest on Sunday as Netanyahu left for the U.S. Israeli media have speculated that the timing of the announcement was politically motivated.

Solutions

8 • Wednesday, October 2, 2013

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Sports

Rifle team starts shooting on Wednesday

By Corey Carmichael

sports@dailyhelmsman.com The University of Memphis rifle team travels to Oxford on Wednesday to compete in the Ole Miss Open. It will be the first match this year for the team, who came into the season ranked No. 10 in the nation.

There will be high quality opponents in Mississippi — four teams that finished last season in the top 10 were invited, including Texas Christian University, Army, Ole Miss and Jacksonville.

Head coach Butch Woolbright said the team is looking forward to the opportunity.

“If we finish in the middle of the pack of those teams, we’re in good shape. I think we are better than last year,” Woolbright said.

The Tigers lost one player from last year’s shooters, Kelly Audet.

Woolbright recruited freshman Amy Fister from Kutztown, Pa., to fill a former All-American’s shoes.

“My senior All-American (Dan Hermsmeier) is solid, he’s been doing excellent in practice,” Woolbright said. “Maya (Arredondo) has made giant strides, over the past years. She hasn’t been at full capacity for reasons, but she has had solid practices for several weeks in this year already.”

One of the factors that is important for the rifle team’s improvement has been the addition of electronic targets for the Tigers.

“With electronic targets, we’re not behind the curve,” Woolbright said. “On the electronic targets, the scoring is more precise on them, and you don’t have to reset to move to the next target.”

The electronic target system allows shooters to stay at the same target instead of moving to the next target like with paper targets. Woolbright compared it to practicing kicking field goals.

It is easier for the kicker to line up

photo By Jared Brown

University of Memphis rifle team travels to Oxford, Miss. Wednesdsay to compete in the Ole Miss Open. The team officially began the season Saturday with the Tiger Open. in one spot and practice that one spot over and over again instead of moving to the right and trying

again after each attempt.

Improving the practice situation is one of the reasons the

Tigers expect to grow from last year, when the team was ranked eighth in the nation at one point

in the season, the highest ever for the program.