Vol. 94, No. 23 1 section, 8 pages
WEDNESDAY
November 9, 2005
www.acuoptimist.com
Falling short
Role reversal
Running in packs
The Wildcats lose another close game to finish the season at 4-6, page 8
Sadies Week begins Thursday and runs through Tuesday, page 5
Men’s and women’s cross country teams advance to nationals, page 8
KRBC returns for Cox cable subscribers n The agreement between Cox Communications Inc. and Nexstar ended a 10-month stalemate, which kept the NBC affiliate out of many Abilene residents’ homes. By JAYME SMITH Student Reporter
The NBC network and its local affiliate, KRBC-TV, returned to Cox Communications cable Channel 5 in Abilene on Oct. 20, ending a 10-month feud between Cox and Nexstar Broadcasting. Cox Communications Inc., Mission Broadcasting Inc., which owns KRBC, and Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc., which manages aspects of KRBC, signed a retransmission consent agreement Oct. 20. Cox’s lineup has not included KRBC since Jan. 1. Abilene was not the only city affected. Sweetwater and Snyder cable is also connected with Cox Communications, according to the
‘A powerful testimony’
company’s Web site. The Cox cable system covers roughly 20,000-25,000 homes in this area. The university initially was affected because it “receives a direct cable feed from Cox to supply television programming on campus,” said Jim Trietsch, associate chief information officer for the university, but the university has been able to air KRBC since March. “We had received permission from Nexstar to rebroadcast KRBC on campus,” Trietsch said. “Thus, it was shown on ACU cable TV throughout most of the 10 months, but not on Cox Cable.” Cox cable subscribers had been without Channel 5, NBC television shows such as, Law & Order, The Apprentice, ER, The West Wing and Fear Factor. However, they could watch the channel by buying See
KRBC page 7
New law could affect university n If an appeal is not granted, a Federal Communications Commission law could force the university the change its network system at a cost of about $1 million. By MALLORY SHERWOOD Managing Editor
The Federal Communications Commission amended a 10-year communication law this fall, requiring universities, libraries and public institutions that provide Internet service to give the federal government the ability to wiretap Internet connections regardMassingill less of cost. This law, if it goes into effect, will force the university to revamp its Internet system, which could cost more than $1 million, said Dr. K.B. Massingill, assistant vice president for Information Services and chief information officer. Educational groups have opposed extending the law to apply to colleges and universities. He said the extent of the
financial burden depends on the specific requirements of the act. The law, called the Communication Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, originally was written in 1994 and provided rules for how telecommunication carriers would be required to allow access to law enforcement agencies to wiretap the public telephone network, the network that cell phones and most telephones work on, so they could watch for terrorist and criminal activity. Universities were exempted because they had private telephone networks. The university works on an extension program, meaning callers must dial “9” to get out of the private network and enter into the public telephone system. This is no longer true because new programs like Vonage now allow people, including students, to make phone calls over the Internet without ever connecting to a phone line, leaving no record of the call. Massingill said the law, See
INTERNET page 7
GARY RHODES/Contributing Photographer
Renowned NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall addresses the luncheon crown in Teague Special Events Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Summerall discusses his conversion to Christ By JONATHAN SMITH Editor in Chief
Members of the university and community came to Teague Special Events Center on Tuesday for a luncheon to hear renowned National Football League broadcaster Pat Summerall speak. Although some might have come to hear the former kicker for the New York Giants and sports broadcaster talk about his experi-
ences in sports, what they left with was Summerall’s testimony about his struggle with alcoholism and resulting conversion to Christianity at age 66. “We have heard a powerful testimony,” said Dr. Royce Money, president of the university in his closing remarks. “I’m going to venture a guess that you have not heard what you thought you were going to hear. But what you heard was far better.”
Summerall, 75, recalled his gradual decline toward alcoholism and the intervention his family, friends and colleagues staged to convince him to check into the Betty Ford Clinic for treatment. At the clinic, Summerall said he read the Bible for the first time, because it was one of only two books available for reading in the clinic. “I realized that there was a lot of things I had left
out of this life I had,” Summerall said. “I didn’t realize what was missing because life had been so good.” Summerall said he continued studying the Bible, which was mostly new material for him, and he described his conversation with a minister about his decision to be baptized at age 66. Because of his past alcoholism, Summerall said he See
SUMMERALL page 7
‘Noc’ takes home top awards at second annual FilmFest n The student film produced, directed and written by Brady Rector won the best film award, and students voted it as the firstever People’s Choice Award winner. By ANNA CARROLL Student Reporter
BRIAN SCHMIDT/Chief Photographer
Brady Rector, freshman electronic media major from Abilene, gives a speech with his crew after winning the best film award Friday night at FilmFest. Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
The student film Noc came away with the most honors at the second annual FilmFest, which featured 11 student-made films, Friday night at the Paramount Theatre. Judges presented the awards in traditional Acad-
emy Awards style. Milestones was the theme of FilmFest, and students worked the theme into their films however they wanted, said Robyn King, FilmFest co-chair and senior marketing and management major from Fort Worth. “We really kind of leave those open and vague for a reason because there’s so many different ways people can interpret that,” King said.
“Milestones means different things to everybody. In fact, our films were totally a reflection of that.” The lineup included three music videos, one action/thriller and seven dramas. Students submitted films for judging Oct. 14. The judges received a DVD with the films and evaluated each one before the premier night but had to wait, along with the students, until the award ceremony to find out who won.
Abilene Christian University
The judges presented awards for best film, producer, director, technical director, sound designer, production designer and writer. Noc, a film about a bank robbery produced, directed and written by Brady Rector, freshman electronic media major from Abilene, won the People’s Choice Award. This award was added this year and was judged by online voting. SATV, Channel 24, gave students the chance to view the films beSee
FILMFEST page 7
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