Daily Helmsman The
Thursday, October 6, 2011 Vol. 79 No. 24
More accolades for women’s soccer Senior defender Lizzy Simonin nominated for Lowe’s Senior CLASS award. see page 8
Students gear up for theatrical spelling bee Play premieres tonight at UM Theatre Bldg.
BY ERICA HORTON News Reporter It was only the second round, but he wasn’t interested in that sort of pressure. “I lost on asparagus,” said Chris Carter, theater graduate student at The University of Memphis. “It was my darkest hour as a sixth grader. My best friend made fun of me about it for two years.” Carter said memories of his sixth grade spelling bee are part of the reason he’s excited to direct the “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” which, premieres at 7:30 p.m. tonight on the main stage of the Theatre and Communication Building. The play is free for students with identification. Tickets begin at $10 for the public. It runs through Oct. 8 and then
again Oct. 13-15. The “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” is about six over achieving adolescents who compete against each other in a spelling bee, each with the intent to win and their own life lesson to learn. One of the traditions of the production is to pull audience members onto stage to compete in the spelling bee with the six characters. Carter said he encourages people to come out and participate in the play. “I don’t want to give out too many details about it, but the audience has an opportunity to win,” he said. “I think the ‘25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,’ is a really wonderful story that relates to contemporary audiences of all ages.” Even people not interested in live theater will be interested in the show, Carter said. “I can guarantee you’re going to have a good time,” he said. Freshman theater major, Brad Waelock will play Chip Tolentino. “I am the jock that thinks he can win it all and gets proven
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by Aaron Turner
Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis
Students perform a scene pertaining to the “magic foot” during dress rehearsal Wednesday night for the play, “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” The play, which involves audience participation, premieres at 7:30 tonight in the Theatre and Communication Building. Chris Carter, U of M theater graduate student, said his memories of participating in spelling bees influenced the play’s production. wrong and gets eliminated for a sexually-related reason,” he
said. “He experiences his first ‘stiffy,’ a boner, and gets elim-
inated. There’s a whole song
see
Play, page 3
Abbreviated Twitter lingo Without leads, investigation often sacrifices grammar into possible abduction stalls Grammar mistakes happen in everyday life, but once published over the web by social media platforms, such mistakes last forever. “Maybe part of what’s happening here is that Twitter is revealing the fact that a lot of people’s writing skills are not really what they should be,” said Carrie Brown, journalism professor and social media guru. “There are folks that could stand to brush up on their writing.” People tend to use Twitter and other social media sites for either professional or personal reasons. The way they present themselves varies, though sometimes is a complete departure from the user in real life. Brown interviewed students earlier this year for a study on how they use Twitter, and many said that they were using the service simply to communicate with friends. “I think there’s a whole subset of the population that is using Twitter like group text messaging almost where they’re
basically just talking to their friends,” she said. “They’re sharing real casual, informal stuff.” Brown said students should practice better grammar because these sites are a public forum, which employers can and have viewed in the hiring process. Every tweet posted since the site began in 2006 has been archived in the Library of Congress’ digital archive, as well. Kris Markman, communication assistant professor, said she doesn’t know if there is a whole lot of research on the grammar and language of social media sites, but understands why people may text the way they do. “You can’t make 140 characters without shortening and abbreviating certain words, like using numbers instead of words,” Markman said. “You change the words so you can get across a basic idea.” Markman said Twitter is a relatively new site that people are using as a way of informal communication, but people need to think before they click
see
Twitter, page 8
BY CHELSEA BOOZER News Reporter Four days after University of Memphis students told campus and Memphis police that they may have seen two women abducted from Richardson Towers, police investigations on the matter have come to a halt. “We’ve done all we can do, and unless somebody comes forward with more information, we are at a dead end,” said Derek Myers, deputy director of public safety with U of M Police Services. In an email sent out Wednesday morning, Rosie Bingham, Vice President for Student Affairs, urged anyone with information to call University police at 901-678-4357. “As of today,” she wrote in Wednesday’s email, “we have been unable to determine if any University of Memphis students were involved. At this time we have no evidence that a crime was committed.” Myers said five officers were assigned to the case, and Police Services had accounted for all but one female resident of Richardson Towers on Tuesday.
by Aaron Turner
BY CHRIS DANIELS News Reporter
The parking lot of Richardson Towers, where the alleged incident took place. However, police don’t think the woman fits the description of those reported leaving campus Sunday, he said. The resident in question hadn’t returned officers’ calls as of Wednesday afternoon, but Myers said that the woman had a class Wednesday night and police planned to check if she was there. Bruce Harber, Police Services director of public safety, was at The U of M’s Lambuth campus Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. Earlier in the investigation,
Harber said, “There is a lot of speculation, but there really isn’t anything right now that we can seek our teeth into.” Myers reiterated Harber’s sentiment. “It’s almost useless to speculate because we have no idea what was going on there. You could have had a domestic situation. You could have had somebody that wasn’t suppose to be here. There is really no telling what was going on unless someone comes forward with more information than we’ve got,” he said.
2 • Thursday, October 6, 2011
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550 S. HIGHLAND Across 1 Olds compact 6 State secrets? 10 “Casablanca” character 14 Logger’s competition 15 Get to 16 Like Switz. in WWII 17 Bottomless pit 18 Strike callers 19 Major-__ 20 *Test that sounds easier than it often is 23 Fill with bubbles 25 Major stories 26 *”End of discussion” 30 Weather map figures 31 Symbol of strict control 35 Cycle opener 36 *Z’s 39 Compete 40 She has a memorable smile 42 Hamlet, for one 43 *Thing to do before a heist 47 Scrub, at NASA 50 Either “Cathy’s Clown” singer 51 What the first words of the answers to starred clues describe 55 Genesis victim 56 Swedish furniture giant 57 Egg holders 61 Hindu royal 62 Tumbled 63 Corkers? 64 Howard’s wife, to the Fonz 65 Offended, with “off ” 66 Homework assignment Down 1 Notre Dame’s Parseghian 2 Tennis tactic 3 Bridge guru Culbertson 4 Vacation destinations 5 Brass band sound
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6 Brown-haired boy 7 Trunk attachment 8 Chow chow 9 Affectionate gesture con los labios 10 Thorough 11 April 1605 pope 12 “Poison” shrub 13 Elemental bits 21 Greek vowel 22 “The Family Circus” cartoonist 23 “Bullying is __!”: school rule 24 Dickens’s Drood 26 Homecoming guest 27 Occupy, in a way 28 Roman numeral 29 Today, in Toledo 32 Help
33 Dolt 34 Bug bugger 36 November ticket 37 Embroidered word 38 Put to the test 41 Painter’s medium 42 Half-story windows 44 Cape May County weekly 45 Time for celebration 46 Foster’s dream girl 47 Security device 48 Kid-lit elephant 49 “Hee Haw” host 52 Break 53 __-Ball 54 Manuscript marking 58 Family nickname 59 Org. with body scanners 60 Retiring
S u d o k u
Complete the grid so that each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.
Solutions on page 8
The University of Memphis
Thursday, October 6, 2011 • 3
Feature
Maintenance man by day, drummer by night
Play from page 1
Billy Holland isn’t just any maintenance worker. During the day, he works on maintenance problems in the dorms. At night, he heads to his next job-- playing in a band called the Memphis Yahoos. Holland has played the drums for about 35 years, but has been with the Memphis Yahoos for almost eight years. “That kinda happened by chance,” Holland said. Holland has played with other bands in the past before joining the Memphis Yahoos. “We played on Beale for probably about a year, setting up tip jars,” Holland said. The Memphis Yahoos used to do a lot of in-town shows, but now they do more traveling. “Now we’re in Arkansas, Mississippi, sometimes Kentucky,” Holland said. The Memphis Yahoos usually stay within reach of the city limits, playing at Joe’s Crab Shack, Bob’s Sports Bar and Grill, Dan McGuiness, Fox and Hound, and more. Holland said most of his shows are out of town. “We do a lot of the resorts in the summertime, Paris Landing close to Murray, Kentucky,” Holland said. Holland has been trying to get the band to perform in casinos. “That’s something new that we started, and I’m trying to get that going. That’s a totally different thing, you have to dress a different way, you have to play quiet,” Holland said. Holland has worked with maintenance for almost ten
by Aaron Turner
BY CHRISTINA HOLLOWAY News Reporter
Physical Plant employee Billy Holland replaces a blind in a room in Rawls Hall. Holland is also the drummer in the Memphis Yahoos, a local band. years. “It’s a lot of times where I leave work, and go straight from work and barely make it to the gig, with five or ten minutes to set up,” Holland said. The work sometimes wears him out, but he keeps going. “Sometimes I feel like a major undertaker, when I go from one place to another,” Holland said. Even though it takes a lot to get from one job to the next, Holland said it’s worth the effort. “We always seem to do it, and get everything going like they’re supposed to-- usually people are pretty happy with what we do,” Holland said. Along with the stress that comes with running from one job to the next, Holland also has to deal with the pressure of being in a band. “Tensions get high -- I guess
that’s with anything; we’ll just do the best we can,” Holland said. Bass player Scott McEwen said Holland is a great addition to the band. “He just fits right in with what we were doing,” McEwen said. McEwen, who also books venues, said that they usually tour around the same areas. “It’s gotta be workable in order to be financially sound,” McEwen said. The bond that the members share is strictly business, however, they also have their brotherhood moments. “We’re just like brothers, probably a little more than brothers, because brothers kill each other,” McEwen said with a chuckle. McEwen said that they have played “Animal House” type of music at fraternity parties off campus. The band has also
played at a toga party at the University of Tennessee. Larry Joyce, Holland’s coworker who works in Richardson Towers, said that Holland is a “go-getter.” “He’ll tell us every now and then when he’s playing,” Joyce said. Joyce worked with Holland before at the south campus, doing a lot of summer work which included painting, fixing ceiling tiles, patching, replaced light fixtures, among other things. “He’s good to work with; I don’t mind working with him,” Joyce said. Although tensions get high at times, Holland still has faith in the band “It’s challenging but fun, once you get set up and play, it’s worth it. It’s all the other stuff that makes it a challenge,” Holland said.
about it.” Waelock said the “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is his first production. When he found out the play was greenlighted, he screamed with excitement, he said.. “I did theater all through high school and I heard about the auditions and I just went for it. I didn’t think I would get called back,” he said. “I had never even read the play before and so I was just hoping to get on stage.” Waelock recently played as a dancing cigarette at the annual student health fair in the alumni mall. Only showing his eyes, the costume covered his face and nearly his entire body as he waved and beckoned students to participate in the fair. “It was so fun,” he said. “If nobody can see my face, I’ll dance to the day’s end.” Waelock’s cohort and junior theater major Keegon Schuett will play character Leas Coneybear. “My character is pretty much one of many children. His parents were former hippies. He makes his own clothes,” Schuett said. “He didn’t really win his district spelling bee so he kind of lucked into getting into his county spelling bee. The first and second place winner couldn’t go, but he’s just happy to be there.” Schuett said the show is “tremendously fun,” with a lot of heart and energy. “It’s very dynamic,” he said. “We have audience participation and it’s always fresh. It’s so fun to watch it and experience it changing every day.”
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4 • Thursday, October 6, 2011
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Volleyball tries to continue winning Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies at 56 ways on road trip against UTEP Steven P. Jobs, the charismatic technology pioneer who co-founded Apple Inc. and transformed one industry after another, from computers and smartphones to music and movies, has died. He was 56. Apple announced the death of Jobs -- whose legacy included the Apple II, Macintosh, iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad -- on Wednesday. “We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” Apple said. “Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.” He had resigned as chief executive of Apple in August, after struggling with illness for nearly a decade, including a bout with pancreatic cancer in 2003 and a liver transplant six years later. Few public companies were as entwined with their leaders as Apple was with Jobs, who cofounded the computer maker in his parents’ Silicon Valley garage in 1976, and decades later -- in a comeback as stunning as it seemed improbable -- plucked it from near-bankruptcy and turned it into the world’s most valuable technology company. An intensely private person,
Mudball at Rich. Towers BY JACK SIMON News Reporter The University of Memphis Student Ambassador Board will host their 27th annual mud ball event this Friday in front of the women’s dormitory at Richardson Towers. Students can register teams to compete in volleyball or tug-of-war, while sinking their feet deep in the mud pits donned “Tiger Beach.” Official team registrations will begin at 1:30 p.m. B&C Construction and Firehouse 18 will provide the dirt and water, needed to create the two six-foot-deep mud pits. SAB Advisor Sean Carter said firemen from Firehouse 18 will be on hand for event. More than 30 teams from different campus groups, including Greek organizations, are expected to compete at the event. “It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said SAB President James Ramson. Proceeds will benefit the J. Wayne Johnson Memorial Scholarship, the first person to ever don the Tiger mascot uniform, according to SAB Vice President of Programming Kasson Cosmini.
Jobs rarely discussed his personal life and had little taste for the trappings of celebrity. As a philanthropist, his public profile paled beside that of Gates and Warren Buffett, and critics wondered why Jobs -- who had an estimated net worth of $8.3 billion -- didn’t give more money away, or if he did, why he kept it secret. For years, Jobs’ health was an issue that wouldn’t go away. Although he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, he did not reveal his illness for nine months, according to a Fortune magazine report. He finally agreed to surgery in 2004. After the surgery, Jobs announced that he had recovered. But in 2008, he underwent a liver transplant that was only later brought to light by the Wall Street Journal. As time went on, Jobs looked noticeably thinner in public appearances. In a Stanford commencement speech in 2005, Jobs spoke at length about mortality and its value as a force against complacency. “Death is very likely the best invention of life,” he said in the speech. “All pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.” Jobs’ survivors include his wife, their son Reed Paul and their daughters Erin Sienna and Eve, as well as his daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs.
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Fresh off their first Conference USA road contests of the season, in which they split the two games, The University of Memphis volleyball team (14-4, 3-2 in C-USA) looks to keep up the momentum from their three-set victory over Tulane when they head back on the road for two games against Texas-El Paso. But the team wants to make sure that they put their loss against Southern Mississippi behind them. “The goal is to win at home and at least get a split on the road,” said head coach April Jauregui. “We didn’t play our best game against Southern Miss, but we bounced back strong against Tulane.” The Tigers defeated the Green Wave in straight sets (25-19; 25-19; 25-17) behind reigning C-USA Setter of the Week’s Hajnalka Molnar and her 34 assists and 11 digs. The Tigers also got another strong game from junior outside hitter Altrese Hawkins, who had 19 kills in the first two matches and sealed the third match with an array of kills. “They’re having the success that they’re having because it’s the team succeeding,” Jauregui said. “Volleyball is a true team sport and it really helps when you have solid players like Hajnalka and Altrese. But Maja (Kostic) is also important to our team’s offense, but it’s the collection of our team as a whole that makes them get the recognition that they’re getting.” Though the team is having success so far this season, there still have been bumps in the road. A three-straight set loss against Southern Miss
DOES SEX HURT?
by Joe Murphy
BY David Sarno and Christopher Goffard Los Angeles Times
BY ADAM DOUGLAS Sports Editor
Junior setter Hajnalka Molnar, the reigning Conference USA Setter of the Week, sets a pass during a recent Lady Tigers volleyball match at The U of M’s Elma Roane Fieldhouse. (18-25; 23-25; 18-25) last Friday gave the Tigers their third loss on the road this season. And despite the double-double effort of Marija Jovanovic and 14 kills by Hawkins, players know that they have to work harder when not in The Elma Roane Fieldhouse. “We really just need to come out a lot stronger the way that we did come out,” Hawkins said. “Conference matches are always a lot harder to win just because of the environment and the fan base of the other
teams – we struggled a little bit with that.” With knowing what they need to do after last weekend’s games, another tough road contest is ahead of the Tigers. They take on a UTEP team that is also 3-2 in conference, and 13-5 overall, tied for third. “This will be two big matches,” Jauregui said. “We need to play well while we’re down there so we can set ourselves apart in conference, because there’s like three or four teams that are tied at third.”
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The University of Memphis
Thursday, October 6, 2011 • 5
Sports
Pencil and Paper
Mosser tapped as new softball assist. coach
Natalie Poole, Lady Tigers softball head coach, will be joined by one of her former players at McNeese State on the sidelines at The U of M.
she led the team with a .377 on base percentage and sixth with a .233 batting average. As a senior she was selected to the Southland Conference all- tournament team. “I’m really excited to be here,”
Mosser said. “Since I’ve spent the last three years playing for Coach Poole and working under her as a coach, I’ve developed a good relationship with her. We trust each other and kind of know what each other expects.”
by Aaron Turner
University of Memphis head softball coach Natalie Poole announced the hiring of new assistant coach Heather Mosser, a former player of Poole’s from McNeese State, on Monday. “I’ve coached Heather for two years and always had a feeling watching her presence on the field that she would be a good coach,” Poole said. Along with coach Poole and assistant coach Andy Lott, Mosser comes from McNeese State where she played for Poole as the starting first baseman from 2009-10. After serving the 2011 season as a studentvolunteer coach, Mosser was named assistant coach in the summer. “I didn’t have any hesitation moving her here because she is someone who wants to be a coach, knows how to play the game and I know she will be loyal to our staff and that’s exactly what we want.” The native of Mont Belvieu, Texas, Mosser will assist with hitting and infield as well as working some in the outfield. She was a standout at McNeese State as a two-time all Southland Conference performer in 2009 and 2010. As a junior,
courtesy of U of M Media Relations
BY JASMINE VANN Sports Reporter
First year architect student Joseph Shackelford works on a special visual exercise for a class in the 4th floor studio of Jones Hall. “The assignment concept consists of parallel and perpendicular lines and proportions and the development of elevation,” Shackelford said.
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6 • Thursday, October 6, 2011
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National
As US marks war milestone, Afghans say insurgents are biding their time The fear of a Taliban murder campaign keeps many at stand-still BY Jonathan S. Landay McClatchy Newspapers When the muezzins’ calls summon the faithful of Afghanistan’s second-largest city to morning prayers, the senior cleric remains inside the crumbling walls of an old army base, sitting at the microphone of a low-power radio station that’s become his pulpit. “I am so much under threat that I can’t walk on the street,” said Maulawi Ubaidullah Hikmat, the head of Kandahar Province’s official Islamic council, who beams daily sermons over a 1,000-watt transmitter, protected by a solitary bodyguard. “I can’t even preach in my own mosque.” Hikmat’s fear— driven by a Taliban murder campaign that’s killed hundreds of Afghan officials, clerics, tribal elders and others affiliated with the U.S.-backed government—contrasts sharply with the Obama administration’s assertion of “great progress” 10 years after the Oct. 7, 2001, invasion of Afghanistan. As he tries to wind down the longest war in U.S. history, President Barack Obama says his strategy has turned the tables on the Taliban and allowed U.S. combat forces to begin withdrawing. But many Afghan officials and ordinary people counter that the insurgents are merely laying low, waiting out the U.S. drawdown, and worry that U.S. policy is turning the clock back to the civil war that was convulsing their country at the time of the invasion. “How can they say there is security here?” asked Zmari Khan, a Kandahar city police chief and a survivor of four assassination attempts by Taliban suicide bombings. The attacks scarred his body, blew off fingers and toes and rendered his left arm useless. “There is no option for me,” he said. “I am killing them (the Taliban) or they will kill me. We have been betrayed by everybody.” U.S. officials and commanders argue that last year’s surge of 33,000 U.S. soldiers, inten-
sified U.S. and Afghan night raids and larger, better-trained Afghan security forces have turned the tide against the Taliban in their southern heartland and brought relative stability to areas long under their sway. “We have reversed the Taliban’s momentum in
accompanied by a translator and a driver. Districts where it once was too dangerous to drive were thick with traffic. Local bazaars appeared to be thriving. Schools were open. Gaggles of young men splashed in irrigation canals to escape the broiling heat. Fields brimmed with
kidnappings. The attacks have eroded public trust in the government of President Hamid Karzai and fueled U.S. opposition to the war. “Where is the weakness of the Taliban? Even with two men, they can shake the province. Why are the Americans saying the Taliban is weak?”
Maulvi Noor ul Aziz, a veteran mid-level Taliban commander who surrendered earlier this year because of what he charged was a growing Pakistani role in the insurgency. “A peaceful Afghanistan is not in the interests of Pakistan, because there would be no more aid money from the United States sent to Pakistan,” he said. S o m e A f g h a n s expressed little confidence that their forces could replace the U.S. surge troops. “The ANA ( A f g h a n National Army) just sit in their posts and don’t come out,” complained Sardar Mohammad, 24, as he sat with other villagers in a field next to piles of purple eggplants they’d just harvested. “They won’t bother with what is going on in the villages.” The men complained that village guard units known as “arbaki” —recruited, trained and armed under a U.S.-funded program extolled as a success by American military commanders—are resorting to extortion and robbery, creating new recruits for the insurgents or forcing victims to flee. One man, Shah Wali, recounted how an arbaki threatened to plant explosives near his house and tell U.S. forces that he was an insurgent unless Wali paid him 50,000 afghanis —about $1,150. Worried that if he bowed to the blackmail the arbaki would double the sum, Wali fled his village and came to Kandahar. Many local officials and Afghans are deeply afraid that the U.S. troop drawdown will reignite the devastating civil war between the Taliban, who are dominated by the largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, and the Northern Alliance, a coalition of mainly ethnic minorities whose leaders now control key government posts. They worry that Pakistan —obsessed with preventing Afghanistan from falling under
“If we continue to draw down forces
at pace while...public and systemic corruption is left unchecked, I believe we risk leaving behind a government in which we can not reasonably expect the Afghans to have faith. At best, this would lead to localized conflicts inside the country. At worst, it could lead to government collapse and civil war.” —
Mike Mullen
chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Afghanistan,” Obama declared to Congress in a Sept. 30 letter accompanying his latest status report on the war. After 1,800 U.S. soldiers dead, some 13,000 wounded and more than $444 billion in costs — not to mention an economically battered electorate at home that’s increasingly opposed to the war -- Obama on June 22 announced the start of the U.S. combat troop pullout. The surge troops are to be gone by next summer, and Afghan forces are to assume full responsibility for security by the end of 2014. “The insurgents’ ability to control territory has diminished” and they are “losing ground,” Assistant Defense Secretary Michele Flournoy assured a Sept. 23 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. On the surface, that assessment seemed accurate during a recent visit to Kandahar city and surrounding areas— where the hard-line Islamic movement began in 1994—by a McClatchy correspondent wearing Afghan garb and
eggplants, melons and other crops. “Now, it’s totally different,” said Shah Mohammad Ahmadi, the governor of Arghandab, a district of 150,000 people, rich with orchards and vineyards, that for several years saw some of the war’s bloodiest fighting. “Now we have access to all of the villages and the villages have access to us.” But Ahmadi works inside a fortress-like combat outpost manned by U.S. and Afghan troops. He echoed warnings by other officials and ordinary Afghans that the security gains in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand Province, another Taliban stronghold, were superficial. “I’ve told the Americans many times that they need to stay longer,” Ahmadi said. “If they leave, we will lose all of our gains for the last 10 years.” Afghans say that the Taliban —unable to prevail in conventional battles against the stronger, high-tech U.S. forces —have resorted to guerrilla tactics of roadside and suicide bombings, assassinations and
asked Haji Toorjan, a former low-level insurgent commander. “Look how the Russians were defeated here. They were defeated by guerrilla warfare.” Toorjan is among only about 150 militants in the south who have surrendered this year under a U.S.-backed amnesty program, according to a U.S. military document obtained by McClatchy. The insurgents maintain shadow local and provincial governments across the country, and when members are killed or captured in night raids, they’re quickly replaced, often by younger, more radical militants, according to some Afghan officials and independent experts. The insurgency’s top leaders, meanwhile, are biding their time in sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan, supported by Pakistan’s armyrun Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, waiting for the U.S. troops to leave, according to Afghan and U.S. officials. Pakistan denies the allegations. “The Pakistani goal is that they don’t want Afghanistan developed or peaceful,” said
The University of Memphis
the influence of its foe and regional superpower, India — will step up support for the Taliban. India, determined to stop Pakistan from turning Afghanistan into a sanctuary for Islamic militants who’ve killed hundreds of its citizens, could respond by backing the minorities as it did before the U.S. invasion, raising the danger of a direct clash between the nuclear-armed rivals. Senior U.S. officials seldom discuss it, but they also see the threat of renewed civil war. On Sept. 22, in his final testimony to a congressional committee before retiring as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen warned: “If we continue to draw down forces at pace while ... public and systemic corruption is left unchecked, I believe we risk leaving behind a government in which we cannot reasonably expect the Afghans to have faith. “At best, this would lead to localized conflicts inside the country. At worst, it could lead to government collapse and civil war.” The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, insisted in an Aug. 13 interview that “we are not going to repeat 1990,” when the United States disengaged from Afghanistan at the end of the 1979-89 Soviet occupation. That policy contributed to the Taliban takeover in 1996, which paved the way for al Qaida’s arrival. Crocker said that the United States envisions “a strategic relationship” with Afghanistan “as far as the eye can see.” But that’s hardly comforting to Haji Khallar Khan, one of many tribal elders from around the province who have fled to Kandahar city to escape assassination by the Taliban. “In my district, only the district office and a U.S. base are safe, yet they are still fired on,” said Khan, a local council member from Maiwand, a district bordering Helmand Province. “You can’t go anywhere else without security. In the bazaar, in the shops, the Taliban just sit there. The Americans don’t recognize them.”
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the share button. “The most important thing is nothing ever dies on the Internet. Once you put it out there it will be out there – forever and ever,” she said. Richard Bausch, English professor, said whenever you’re talking about the English language and how people use it, it’s all a matter of context. “If I don’t understand it then I ask them to translate it,” he said. Bausch said he doesn’t think the English language is at risk of turning into a shorthand, text-based language. “Language is always changing and when it stops changing it dies,” he said. Marcus Matthews, Teen Appeal coordinator, uses social media sites daily and said he thinks people don’t realize how wide their audience is. “I’ve been approached by people I don’t know,” Matthews said. “And they know about me and they know about what I do publicly.” Matthews, who wrote the book “I Am Not The Father,” said that he, too, sometimes takes liberties with grammar on sites like Twitter, but that his body of work represents his capabilities as a writer. “(Users) don’t have an avenue that shows they have mastered the standard language over these sites,” he said. “People just don’t understand their slang. There’s a bunch of different ways to say ‘money’, but we all know money.” Matthews said you have to know when using poor grammar and explicit content is appropriate. “The content of some posts is really an issue,” he said. “Like if you’re posting naked pics, pics of drug paraphernalia or abusing drugs —that is definitely without any doubt detrimental.”
Solutions
Soccer
Tigers’ Simonin named finalist for Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award
by Joe Murphy
www.dailyhelmsman.com
Senior defender Lizzy Simonin strikes the ball during a recent women’s soccer match at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.
BY ADAM DOUGLAS Sports Editor University of Memphis women’s soccer senior defender Lizzy Simonin has been named one of 10 finalists for the 2011 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in NCAA Women’s Soccer. Simonin is the first Lady Tiger to be named a finalist for the prestigious honor. “This is a fantastic honor and she is very deserving of
this award,” said head coach Brooks Monaghan. “What she has brought to this program is something I can’t put into words. She brings so much to this team on and off the field and is a big reason we have had success in recent years and this season. I am delighted for her and we are hoping she can win this award.” To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I
senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Lowe’s, an official Corporate
Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award winners during the 2011 NCAA Men’s and Women’s College Cup championships. The Women’s College Cup will take place Dec. 2 and Dec. 4 in Kennesaw, Ga., while the Men’s College Cup will take place Dec. 9 and 11 in Hoover, Ala. The Lady Tigers return to action on Friday at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex for a clash with SMU scheduled for 7 p.m.
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