The Chronicle, 8.1

William Mason High School

The Chronicle Volume 8

Friday, October 1, 2010 Issue 1

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School News

Carrot Country

New healthy choices in cafeteria The absence of the jumbo Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and other cafeteria favorites have left some students up in arms.

But these changes are a result of federal and state legislation that regulates nutritional standards in school lunches.

While some students said they are boycotting the school food, the cafeteria said sales have not decreased.

Page 3

Hallway Talk Seniors arrive late on Testing Day

photos by Megan McCormack

New carrot vending machine causes students to go bananas for carrots

see Page 17

Resident requests to criminally charge Mason City Schools Carlie Sack | Editor in Chief

Mason resident John Meyer requested a criminal investigation of Mason City Schools through a letter sent to Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel on September 9.

The reason for this request was the voluntary deduction of portions of Mason City Schools employees’ paychecks to the pro-levy organization, Mason for Kids, according to Meyer.

Meyer said these paycheck deductions are a possible violation of statute 3315.07 Section C of the Ohio Revised Code, which states that “no board of education shall use public funds to support or oppose the passage of a school levy.”

“How could this not be violation of statute 3315.07?” Meyer said. “Because when school

employees are [donating the money through] Mason City Schools’ payroll system, they’re transferring monies via checks or electronic transfer to the pro-levy campaign.”

Mason Resident Warren John Meyer County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Nolan said that the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office is currently “looking into” the request to decide if they will proceed with a formal investigation. Meyer said he originally sent his request to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office and was directed to the local prosecutor’s office.

Meyer said he believes Mason City Schools has performed “a blatant violation [of the law] without any care or concern.”

Mason for Kids Co-chairs Courtney Allen and Julie Womack said that they are not surprised by Meyer’s outspoken opposition to the voluntary deductions from employees’ paychecks. “[The donations have] been a great opportunity for us and for staff to show their support [of the levy,]” Allen said. “So anytime there is great support for us, we aren’t surprised by opposition trying to challenge that.”

Allen and Womack said they initiated the effort that allows parts of employee paychecks to be automatically donated to Mason for Kids because the

method has been used in other school districts.

“It’s done in other school districts in Ohio,” Allen said. “We figured it was an easier, ongoing way for people to continue to support this organization anytime the school has to go to the ballot with an issue.”

But Meyer said that Mason City Schools has “create[d] a deception to the public in order to empty the public’s pockets.”

But this accusation against Mason City Schools has not negatively affected Mason for Kids or the support of the levy, according to Womack.

“I think the support [of the levy] is strong and I don’t think that [this issue] has an impact on the voters,” Womack said.

Senior students can arrive to school at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, October 13 due to the creation of Testing Day. New to Mason High School this year, Testing Day combines the freshmen EXPLORE, the sophomore PLAN and the junior PSAT tests into one day, according to testing coordinator and counselor Phyllis Bell.

Unlike previous years of testing, students will be will be spread out in classrooms, the KIVA, the small commons or the Harvard Room, instead of being seated in the large commons or auditorium.

During the testing period, senior class advisor Maria Mueller said that seniors will receive information about graduation.

AP students may score higher on exams this May Due to a change in the scoring of Advanced Placement (AP) Exams, Mason students could recieve better scores, according to AP Statistics teacher Stephen Mays. Students will no longer be penalized for incorrect multiple-choice answers, according to CollegeBoard.com, which will encourage students to guess on questions they are unsure of.

“I don’t think [the change] makes the test easier, but the scores may be a little bit higher,” Mays said.

C | PAGE 2

Underlying tensions felt

by Muslims

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

Service hours to be a requirement to graduate Samantha Weaver | Staff Writer

Janica Kaneshiro | Staff Writer Muslims in Mason have faced religious discrimination since 9/11, according to English as a Second Languge teacher Shahrazad Kablan.

But even now, with an uproar over a new mosque near Ground Zero, they are understanding of others’ views on their religion, Kablan said.

Kablan, who is Muslim, said that she has reached an understanding on people’s negative views and misconceptions, but she thinks that now, nine years after 9/11, it is wrong to still retain those negative views of Muslims.

“It’s very understandable if people had misconceptions and fear after 9/11 because of the situation and because of the atrocity of the whole situation at that time,” Kablan said.

“What is not acceptable is [that] people [are] now taking that [negative] stand and that [negative] view after nine years. After we, the Muslim community, have come out telling people, ‘This is not what our people believe in; [terrorism] is not what our religion teaches.’”

Junior Darakshan Malik, who is Muslim, said that she feels that there is underlying racism but that it is considered wrong to act on racism against Muslims, so people hide it.

“I think [racism has] been there since 9/11, but people are just trying not to [show it] because it’s considered morally unjust to be racist,” Malik said. “I feel like it’s [underlying] and I feel like [people] want to be [racist] but they won’t admit it.”

Junior Umeirra Savani, who is Muslim, said that she has noticed some negativity towards Muslims in Mason that it is mostly based on her outward appearance.

“I’ve had negative comments towards me [in Mason] especially since I wear my head scarf or my Hijab,” Savani said. “I think it’s more apparent that I am Muslim that way.”

Despite the criticism on her religion, Savani said she chooses to remain positive on the issue by trying to see things from the opposite perspective.

“Somebody once told me that there are no bad people in the world, and that you just have to look at [racism] from a different perspective,” Savani said. “Like, if somebody is being racist [towards me], I just put myself in their shoes, and try to understand them more. I mean, [their views are] understandable.”

Savani said she understands people’s negative views because the way Muslims are portrayed on TV. “[Negative views of Muslims are] just what’s drilled in your mind since childhood, especially since our generation spends so much time watching TV,” Savani said. “I mean, a lot of that [TV-watching] time is spent focused on 9/11 this time of year.”

Savani said she thinks Mason’s demographics are also a factor in the treatment of Muslims.

“I think since Mason is a mostly white community, it’s a little harder for [Muslims] to be accepted,” Savani said. “We’re in a very conservative community. I think [people are] just

photo by Janica Kaneshiro

Junior Darakshan Malik praying Salah, a prayer that is done five times a day by Muslims, in her prayer room at her home.

close-minded. Most people here don’t know any Muslims, so they don’t know anything about our religion.

They just take what they see on the news…so [their views are] mostly negative.”

Kablan said she agrees that many of the negative views come from media coverage of events involving Muslims.

“The media bears a huge responsibility [for the views of Muslims,] because [media outlets] reach millions and millions of people every day,” Kablan said.

Savani said that because of media coverage of 9/11, people have treated her differently than before the attack.

She said people haven’t been as open to talking to her, fearing that they might offend her.

“Well I think [people aren’t] as open [around me],” Savani said. “They’re more afraid to talk about things [involving Muslims]. I think they feel like I’ll be offended by every little thing they say. They feel like they have to watch what they say.”

Senior Adnan Ilyas, who is Muslim, said that some Muslims do community service during the time of 9/11 to help fix the bad image the media gives to Muslims.

“Right now it’s image control because these [terrorists] don’t represent who we are [and we’re trying to change that],” Ilyas said.

Kablan said that many religions are not fully understood in America, as Christianity is still predominately practiced, and she is unhappy about the way Islam was presented to the American public.

“The fact that America is isolated from the [eastern] world makes it hard for people to know about other cultures and other religions, and it’s sad that the Muslim faith was brought to the attention [of the American public] by such a tragic event [like 9/11],” Kablan said. “Muslims are doctors; they are engineers, teachers, janitors. They’re a part of the fabric in the community and they [contribute] a lot of good things.”

After 9/11, Kablan said that fear was

widespread throughout the victims’ families as well as the rest of America, but the Muslim community was very afraid too.

“Everybody was going through the shock, the fear, and the sadness [of 9/11], so we all went through the same feelings to some degree,” Kablan said. “The Muslim community had extra fear, but the fear was [focused on us thinking,] ‘I hope it wasn’t a Muslim who did this.’ And when it turned out that [the terrorists] were Muslims, [Muslims’] fears multiplied because that’s not what the Muslim community thinks. We are loving people; we are peaceful people.”

Savani said that a solution for the intolerance caused by 9/11 would be for non-Muslims to open up and be unafraid to talk about religion with Muslims.

“I just think people are close-minded, personally,” Savani said. “If they’d just open up and talk to people, they’d learn more, and they’d feel more comfortable [speaking to Muslims] that way. …People are really curious, and I like that. I mean, I ask my friends about the Bible and stuff, so [non-Muslims] should be able to ask me [about my religion], too.”

Kablan said she remains optimistic about the public’s views of Muslims and is unafraid of rising tension.

“As we don’t like people to generalize about us, we don’t like to generalize about Americans,” Kablan said. “We have people who are our friends, who are very supportive of the Muslim community, so we can’t generalize. I think it’s a small segment of the community who [is] a little negative for their political agendas or their personal agendas, but it does not represent America.”

Ilyas said that he also believes in the American public’s good intentions and the negative feelings towards Muslims can change.

“Just take a look and see we’re not these [terrorists],” Ilyas said. “See things through my perspective. I was born in the U.S. [Muslims are] just regular Americans.”

Mason High School is considering the prospect of adding service hours to the graduation requirement within specific academic courses, according to Assistant Principal Antonio Shelton.

A committee of 20 Mason teachers and administrators, led by Assistant Principal William Rice, are investigating the pros and cons of implementing a service-learning hour graduation requirement.

“Service-learning is not just getting a certain number of hours for the week and saying, ‘Okay, good, I have my hours finished,’” Rice said. “It is about interacting with the community and tying it in through the classroom.”

The state hasn’t mandated that service hours are required, but it is highly recommended that service hours are added to the graduation requirement.

“The state actually emphasized that [the service requirement] was something that needed to be done,” Shelton said. “From that point, school districts began to inquire, ‘How do we do this? How do we implement it? What stages and processes do we need to create in order to get this implemented in our school district?’”

Many high schools in the surrounding area already have a certain number of service hours required for graduation.

Rice, Principal Mindy McCarty-Stewart, and Superintendent Kevin Bright participated in a service-learning hour project with Kings High School to see the process that Kings currently uses.

“The kids [at Kings] have to have 75 hours in order to graduate,” Rice said. “I don’t necessarily think that is the way we are going.”

Rice said MHS will be leaning towards a requirement in the classroom where students can reflect on the community service they have done. The goal will be to have servicelearning opportunities in every class, he said.

“There are plenty of opportunities out there,” Rice said. “We just want to be able to tie them in with the implementation of service hours in every class. Students can log on to UGive.com and find projects available to sign up for that relate to their class.”

Freshman Quinn Atkinson said that teachers should be enthusiastic about this opportunity, as well as students. The teachers need to show different opportunities that are available because students won’t be motivated without teacher encouragement, according to Atkinson.

“No kids are going to want to just go find their own [service] to do,” Atkinson said.

“They won’t be motivated. Teachers need to provide the opportunities and be excited about it.”

Freshman AJ Oliver said that he is unsure if the theory of classroom service-learning will be beneficial for students.

“I do think we need to help out our community,” Oliver said. “You shouldn’t be forced into community service though, and I think [service-learning] will defeat the purpose.”

Moreover, students won’t want to be forced into doing community service, Oliver said.

“Some people will have [other] time commitments and some people already will be doing community service,” Oliver said.

Shelton said community service hours being used in the classroom will have a positive impact on the students.

“I think students will gain [a good experience] from this, no matter if they want to do it or if they don’t want to do it,” Shelton said.

“I think it’s a win-win for students and our school district as a whole.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 PAGE 3 | C

Parental supervision required for teens in Tri-County Mall According to the Tri-County Mall Code of Conduct, if the minors arrive on Brittiany Betts was kicked out a Friday or Saturday night after 4 p.m. of Tri-County Mall. without an escort over the age of 21, they When Betts walked into the can be asked to leave. According to the Cincinnati-area mall on Septem- Tri-County Mall Youth Escort Policy press ber 3 at about 6:30 p.m., she was release, valid identification to verify age first asked for identification and is “government-issued ID, such as a state then asked to leave the mall bedrivers’ license or ID card, passport, visa or cause she was under the age of 18. military card.” The new Youth Escort Policy “[When] I was walking in, two was put into effect August 6, 2010 and, police[men] came up to me [and according to an unnamed source from the Springdale Police Department, was caused asked for my I.D.] and I [asked them why],” Betts said. “[One of from rowdy teen behavior. “[The teens’] conduct [at Tri-County them said that guests] have to be was] inappropriate to the point that people 18 or older to walk around the [didn’t] want to go [near them],” the unmall and if [they’re] below the named source said. “[The teens were] basiage of 18, [they] have to have a guardian over the age of 21 with cally chasing customers out of the mall.”* According to Tri-County Mall’s press [them].” release about the Youth Escort ProBetts said she was asked to leave, so she went to get her mom gram, however, the program was “not… to escort her and then returned to implement[ed]…because of previous the mall. incidents at the mall,” but the spokespeople “believe parental or guardian supervision “[They didn’t card me again] will encourage positive behavior and diswhen they saw me with my courage disruptive, intimidating action.” mom, [but] I [literally] had to But Betts said she has seen disruptive be [next to her] the whole time,” teen behavior in previous visits to the mall.

Betts said. “[To keep the policy “Previous times I’ve [gone] to the mall, in effect,] there were [policemen] there [have] been fights breaking out basically everywhere around the between teenagers and…stealing going on,” whole mall.”

Janie Simonton | Staff Writer

photo by Janie Simonton On August 6, Tri-County Mall began to enforce its Youth Escort Policy, requiring teens to be accompanied by a parent after 4pm on weekends.

Betts said. “Tri-County Mall kind of brings in [what I think are] ‘bad’ kids from different areas.”

Betts said that although this policy makes her feel safer from potentially dangerous situations caused by the “bad” kids, she believes it will affect foot traffic at Tri-County.

“Basically when you go to the mall on weekends, it’s filled up with teenagers but when I went, it was kind of dead,” Betts said. “[There] was really nobody there but adults, but [including them, there] still [weren’t] that many people there; in the parking lot there were [almost] no cars.”

According to the Tri-County Mall Youth Escort Policy press release, however, “other malls that have implemented this program have actually seen an increase in sales as a result of this policy.” The release said that the mall’s “primary goal is to create the most family-friendly, enjoyable experience for [their] shoppers, [and] when that is achieved, [they] believe the natural result will be increased sales.” *Please note that it is not the policy of the police department to comment on any policy of the mall, and any statements made represent this individual’s point-of-view only.

Texting and driving to become a crime in Cincinnati Thom Carter | Staff Writer

Within the City of Cincinnati, texting and driving will soon be illegal.

A $100 fine could persuade Mason students to change their driving habits and put a stop to texting and driving. Beginning October 9, students will have to be wary of the new ban that will be enforced within the Cincinnati city limits.

Tony Bradburn, chairman of Mason City Council’s Department of Safety, said that there have been no movements for the City of Mason to follow suit.

The decision was almost unanimous by the City Council with an 8 to 1 vote in favor of the texting ban on September 9.

It comes after other large Ohio cities like Columbus, Toledo, and Cleveland have enacted a similar law which bans texting while driving. 28 states also have a texting and driving ban in place, including surrounding states like Kentucky and Michigan.

According to a survey conducted by Nationwide Insurance, many people are supportive of a texting and driving ban.

The survey reported 80 percent of respondents who were in favor of a ban on text messaging.

Much of this support stems from the clear statistics that display the number of cell phone-related accidents. According to the National Safety Council, 28 percent of accidents are caused by cell phones, where 200,000 of those are directly linked to texting and driving.

Although this law does not apply in the City of Mason, students may still be affected because of the immense number of student drivers whose main form of communication is texting.

Senior Adam Liddell, who drives himself to and from school every day, has confessed to texting and driving on more than one occasion.

“I do not consider myself a reckless driver, but I do text while I drive,” Liddell said.

Liddell said his parents are the kind that encourages safe driving with minimal dis-

Photo art by Jami Bechard

tractions. His mother was even aware of the new law soon after is passed.

“My mom made sure to inform me [about the new law],” Liddell said. “Ever since I got my license she’s always been like, ‘[You’re] not allowed to text while driving,’ and now there’s a law; she’s really being serious about it.”

Liddell said he isn’t worried about the ban, despite the $100 fine that would result if he were to be caught.

“I probably would not change my habits,” Liddell says. “I’m usually only [texting] at red lights and if I’m in a neighborhood setting. I don’t feel like I’ll change because of the law.”

Although Liddell said the law won’t affect his driving, he said he thinks that the ban was the right move by City Council because

of the number of accidents that are caused by the lethal combination each year.

“I do support it,” Liddell said. “It’s causing a ton of accidents, and I think eventually it’s going to become a nationwide law.”

Like Liddell, junior Meredith Touby says she is a responsible driver and abides by safe habits by rarely using her phone and following the speed limits.

“I don’t speed and try not to use my phone when I drive,” Touby said. “I [use my phone at] stop lights, but that’s about it.”

However, upon hearing of the new texting while driving ban, Touby said she thought that the new law was for the best.

“I think it’s good because it will prevent more accidents,” Touby said. “You really don’t need to text at that moment.”

While she does disagree with practice of

texting and driving, Touby does think differently about talking while driving.

“I think you can call [while driving],” Touby said. “You can still focus on what you’re doing.”

Liddell on the other hand, finds both talking and texting contribute distracted driving and does try to limit both of them when he’s drving.

“Just [a] phone in general is bad,” Liddell said. “I wouldn’t say one is worse than the other.”

No matter what the case, Touby admits that a $100 fine means that her driving habits will certainly change, and that other students will soon follow suit.

“I would change my habits,” Touby said.

“Now I’m not going to text and drive.”

C | PAGE 4

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 PAGE 5 | C

Legislation prompts healthier foods in cafeteria Megan McCormack | Staff Writer

The Mason High School cafeteria is getting healthy and there’s nothing students can do about it due to the nutritional standards set by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Mason City Schools’ Office of Child Nutrition, responsible for researching new and healthier foods, made the decision to switch to healthier foods. The popular Otis Spunkmeyer cookies have been replaced by smaller, whole grain ones, the waffle and curly fries are gone and the pizza slices have shrunk. Supervisor of the Office of Child Nutrition Darlene Hicks said these changes were based solely on the new nutritional standards set by the state and national government. “[The changes are] actually directly tied to the nutritional standards,” Hicks said. “The USDA passed legislation at the state and federal levels that impacted all schools nutrition operations.”

The standards set by the National School Lunch Program say that school lunches must have one third of recommended dietary allowances of protein, Vitamins A and C, iron, calcium and calories.

According to Assistant Supervisor of the Office of Child Nutrition Tamara Earl, schools will have to meet criteria that will increase healthy options.

“The Institute of Medicine did a study and they have made recommendations to the USDA, [whic is] responsible for the National School Lunch Program,” said Earl. “So, there will be new guidelines lines coming out, probably in November or December of this year.”

The Institute of Medicine recommends that snack and a la carte items are 200 calories or less and should have no more 200 milligrams of sodium. Entrees should have no more than 480 milligrams of sodium. Also, all items sold must be trans-fat free.

Students, however, are not happy about the changes in the cafeteria.

Senior Matt Benton, who used to always buy his lunch from school, said he has been packing his lunch this year because he tastes a change in the food’s flavor.

Sophomores Sami Rutowski and Joel Brown said they are boycotting the school lunches. Like Benton, they bought their lunches last year, but now they bring their lunches from home.

But, even with some students unhappy about the new choices, meal sales are the same as last year, according to Hicks.

“Meal counts here are the strongest that they’ve been,” Hicks said.

Earl said that it was still hard to give up some of the more popular items, like the jumbo cookies and curly and waffle fries, because of the revenue they produced.

“We reluctantly gave up [the popular items] because we knew [they were a good source of] revenue [and] that [were] popular with the students,” Earl said. “But our goal is to try to help guide them to other choices that can be just as satisfying.”

Because the Office of Child Nutrition is self-funded, their revenue solely comes from the money generated from lunch sales. This made it difficult for the office to decide whether to give up the popular options that were big-sellers, according to Hicks.

“We could sell less nutritional things at lower prices [to students]

C | NOTES • All meals this school year increased by five cents

photo by Jami Bechard

Lunches in the cafeteria now are more expensive and more healthy, according to Supervisor of the Office of Child Nutrition Darlene Hicks.

and make more money because we sell such high quantity,” Hicks said. “But that’s not our goal; we want healthier things.”

Sophomore Patty Faas said that the disappearance of the jumbo cookies is the most unsettling change with her, but would be okay with a compromise of big whole grain cookies.

Senior Carson Craig said that the Otis Spunkmeyer cookies were a part of the spirit at Mason and important to the Mason tradition of “spunking” others with the cookies’ stickers.

“If you ever saw a kid with [an Otis Spunkmeyer] sticker on his back…you just felt good,” Craig said.

Freshman Sophie Dowrey says that she was looking forward to the jumbo cookies when she came to the high school.

“I got [an Otis Spunkmeyer cookie] when I came here for the tours [as an eighth grader] and they were good,” Dowrey said. “I was depressed [when I came here and they were gone].”

Faas also said that there seems to be fewer options than last year.

Earl, however, said that the options haven’t gone down; they have simply changed.

“It’s really important to begin integrating [federal and state requirements] in some of the more popular items,” Earl said.

Dowrey, however, said that she wants to see more choice in what students can buy at lunch.

“I understand that they were trying to make everyone healthier,” Dowrey said. “[But,] I think that it’s your choice if you want to eat something [unhealthy]. You should be able to choose.”

According to Assistant Kitchen Manager Kate Bowling, most students have easily adjusted to the new changes. “[Students] pretty much go with the flow,” Bowling said. “They’ll try the [new] cookie and our cookie sales are right up [where they were last year]. And if we do [have any student resistance], we usually talk to them and explain to them why this happened and then they’re more willing to try it.”

• Less than 30 percent of calories can come from fat and less than ten percent can come from saturated fat, due to new regulations • Cookie sales in the 2009-10 school year averaged 410 jumbo cookies a day, while sales in 2010-11 average 375 small cookies a day • Fry sales in the 200910 school year averaged 497 fry boats a day, while fry sales in 201011 average 526 fry boats a day • The new fries absorb 25 percent less oil, making them a healthier choice • The new cookies are 51 percent whole-grain and contain reduced sugar and reduced fat

Two seniors behind effort to register voters According to Hicks, students waiting too long to register may result in delay to Seniors Tamara Perry and Jennifer complete the necessary forms, and they will Philippo helped MHS students register to miss important elections. vote during C lunch for two days.

“If we don’t get kids [to register] by the Philippo and Perry thought of the idea time they are 18, then oftentimes, I think to register fellow students to vote after vol- they don’t register [until] they are older,” unteering for their American Government Hicks said. “They miss election cycle[s] teacher, Katie Hicks, to promote registrawhere they can make a difference.” tion at the home varsity football game on Philippo hopes that the present juniors September 10th. are starting to see the significance of casting Hicks said that she had Philippo and a vote at the polls.

Perry in mind to help at the game, and “I really hope that juniors [are] realizing since the girls gained experience, the idea that it is really important,” Philippo said. “If to register students at lunch arose. you’re able to vote, you should go out and “[Philippo and Perry] are a couple of girls vote, because every vote does count.” that are outspoken and answer questions Assistant Principal Antonio Shelton and I thought they might be interested [to helped the girls collect the necessary forms volunteer],” Hicks said. “It was at the game to register other students. Shelton found where they came up with the idea to talk to Philippo and Perry’s enthusiasm about the their classmates at lunch.” voting process and other government duties Philippo said that she wanted to involve very rare for seniors. the students at Mason with their govern“You don’t see a lot of young people that ment as much as possible. are energized about doing their civic duty,” “I think that it would be pretty cool if we Shelton said. “To me, it’s exciting seeing could get all the seniors in the high school people energized about that and see the to be a part of the community [by voting],” importance.”

Philippo said.

This passion towards the voting process Perry said she believes that leading by ex- was fostered during Hicks’ American Govample will hopefully attract other students ernment class. to take action as well.

“We had to do a project on voting,” Hicks “I feel like if we showed that we were reg- said. “I think Mrs. Hicks saw how much we istering, and we were helping other people loved researching about voting. Then we to register, then that would help get more decided to come up with the idea that durpeople registered [as well],” Perry said. ing lunch, [Perry and I would] actually ask Rebekah Barnes | Staff Writer

all the seniors [to] come up to register.”

With the tables set up for two days, totest the response of students, on the cafeteria stage during C lunch, Philippo and Perry offered the proper forms and knowledge on how to register to vote.

However, Phillippo said it was difficult to get some seniors to notice. Seniors with early release at C lunch did not register. According to Philippo, some seniors are even afraid to walk up to the stage during lunch.

“I don’t think a lot of seniors realize how easy it is to register to vote,” Philippo said. “You just come up and sign a piece of paper.”

Hicks was surprised by the fact that her students wanted to reach out towards other seniors to help them become a part of their government, especially for the upcoming election cycle.

“I had never thought about [registering in] that way and putting [the job] in the hands of the students,” Hicks said. “I really like the idea of [the movement] being student-lead because I think other students have more of a tendency to listen to people their age.”

At MHS, 215 current seniors will be 18

by November 2 and are eligible to register.

Philippo and Perry were happy with the recognition their efforts received from the seniors, registering some students during their time at lunch. Although Philippo and Perry hoped to get more response with their efforts, both were happy with their

results.

“I am glad that at least a couple of people noticed,” said Perry.

Next year, Philippo and Perry will both have graduated. However, they hope that their idea will continue on by future seniors.

“We hope that it expands next year and more seniors get involved,” Perry said.

“Even though we are still in high school, [our votes] count.”

Hicks was pleased with Philippo and Perry’s initiative, giving them very little help throughout their efforts. No extra credit was given to Philippo and Perry.

“I think it was pretty cool of them to be willing to go down to lunch, get on the microphone and put themselves out there [asking] kids to come register to vote,” Hicks said. “I just gave them a few little directions and they did the rest.”

Shelton was very impressed by the efforts made by Philippo and Perry, and hopes that people will take up the responsibility in upcoming years. He said it is important for high schoolers to take part in voting and to become part of their government system.

“What I would like to see is that young people are enthused about all issues: every time there is a voting, every time there is something on the ballot; every time there [are] people running for office,” Shelton said. “I think you have to be [in touch] with our world and our community.”

C | PAGE 6

C EDITORIAL Chronicle Policy The Chronicle is the official student newspaper of William Mason High School.

The Chronicle promises to report the truth and adhere to the journalistic code of ethics through online and print mediums.

The Chronicle is produced by students enrolled in Journalism I, II and III. Editorials reflect the staff ’s opinion but do not neccesarily reflect the opinions of the school administration or the Mason City School District.

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As an open forum for students, letters to the editor are welcome, but are subject to be edited for length, libel, obscentiy, clarity and poor taste. Letters to the editor may be dropped off in room C106 and must be signed.

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Contact Information The Chronicle William Mason High School 6100 S. Mason Montgomery Rd. Mason, Ohio 45040 398-5025 The Chronicle Staff Editor In Chief Carlie Sack Associate Editor Beena Raghavendran Editor Intern Julia Halpin Online Editor Janie Simonton Business/Circulation Manager Cady Meece Technical/Graphic Manager Jami Bechard Editorial Cartoonist Ajay Agrawal Staff Writers Rebekah Barnes Katelyn Cain Miranda Carney Thom Carter Bobby Gibler Rachel Giesel Ian Howard Janica Kaneshiro Megan McCormack James Nosek Joseph Spencer Samantha Weaver Adviser Dale Conner

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

Editorial Cartoon

Staff Editorial

Service requirement will defeat purpose of volunteering

The idea of community service, it is safe to say, is instilled in a healthy number of students at a high school where advantages are plentiful, compared to neighboring districts that are struggling to survive in the midst of a recession. The answer seems thrust in our faces oftentimes; people need help? We can do it, and get recognized for it, too!

And who can forget college? Community service seems to be the beacon for institutions of higher learning, almost as if students’ college applications glow when volunteering is fulfilled and admissions officers immediately ship packages of scholarship money by airmail to those qualified.

But this individualistic method in which the community service of today is done, and the reasons, which, we admit, are not thoroughly motivated by a love for giving, could be demolished by two words: service requirement.

Though it seems the district may hope to teach us to embrace the world of helping others, the after-effect will only be students’ disconnects from the world of service, and more internal dislike for giving.

Students will not want to be dragged away from their busy lives of jobs, athletics, extracurriculars and friends to merely fulfill a requirement for school, especially for a new requirement that other graduates did not have to fulfill. They’ll grumble, groan and gripe about it; they’ll complain that the class before them didn’t have a requirement; they’ll trudge over to a nursing home to put in their oneand-a-half-hours; they’ll leave, muttering that the experience was “such a waste of time.”

But more than anything, the service requirement will further detach students from what it actually means to serve, to give, to help. Without a willingness to volunteer and to enrich our community, we will all fail and become even less compassionate than we are now.

Between religious debates, a serious recession and terrorism, people are more in need of learning ideals than ever. Important morals learned from true service include those that can’t be taught -- looking past a first glance to see what’s really down there, the wonderful feeling of compassion for something to which you are otherwise unconnected, leaving selfish

ideas for pure ones.

So yes, it’s true that required service ultimately does benefit the community, though the students may not get any kind of satisfaction. Yes, the requirement could eventually win students over into the world of service, and serving with passion. Yes, the student body could be reshaped into a population of service. Mason High School is also considering service-learning requirements with service-based interactions within classes -- so yes, classes will have a real-life pull and a stronger connection to our world.

But let’s get real. Out of students that volunteer today, probably less than half do it out of the goodness of their hearts. To expect that more students would be won over onto the side of passion and volunteerism with the implementation of a service requirement is to ignore the context in which we live.

This voluntary, whole-hearted population will only emerge if we, as a student body, shift the focus from ourselves to the bigger picture.

Let’s be realistic here: in our worlds, it’s all about us.

make I don’t know who yourself made Hey, this wasn’t supposed to be need to findheard out

Who was in charge of I don’t understand That’s not what we wanted why is it that

I guess I’m fed up with that affect this means What’s the point of story behind

That ticks me off

stop but how will complaining about what’s the real

What? Who came up with

I

I can’t figure out why Stop

how did they come up with

it’s like we’re all meant to

Nobody listens to me

write a letter to the editor

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 PAGE 7 | C

C OPINION

Meet

Column

Enjoy your senior year: 2011 only comes once

time we want to spend enjoying the last hoorahs of senior year.

Ahh, senior Think I’m kidding? Listen to this: year. All I had over four senior friends miss the fun and their final home cross country meet freedom because they were retaking the ACT. we’ve fought I had another friend miss her senior for over last tailgate football game because she three years was working on college apps…on is here. And a Friday night (see how much it’s yet, we can’t taking over our lives?). My college exercise it. visit to Indiana University is planned Why, you ask? Because, to put in to clash perfectly with my last anconvolutedly, our future is preventing nual cross country parent-cooked us from enjoying our present. Need breakfast, ever. I’m sacrificing crepes, some clarification? Okay, here’s what smoothies and a much-loved tradiI mean: the time we spend preparing tion with friends to spend 3.5 hours for college is taking away from the on a country road, driving to BloomJanie Simonton | Staff Writer

ington, Indiana.

All that being said, I’m not trying to impart that college isn’t important.

It’s just that our preparations for it are keeping us from the final traditions of senior year and preoccupying our minds, making us stress about whether or not Kenyon College will give us enough money to let us attend. This isn’t a personal example, of course.

So what to do? I mean, we can’t just let the envelopes of apps envelop us. I guess the best we can do is to click the final “submit” button by that looming November 1 deadline, so we can unwind and enjoy senior year and all the traditions that come

Where are Julia and Janica?

?

?

See what Julia has to say...

“Is it actually cooler to be a Christian? ”

Janica sounds off...

“Store employees assume that because you’re a teenager, you could only possibly be there to create mischief.”

Each issue you will find two columns in print and two columns on our online companion, The Chronline.

Keep up with your favorite columnist at www.masoncomets.org/features/chronicle/

Column

The U.K. versus the U.S.: a tale of two tellys

Thom Carter | Staff Writer

With the new school year comes a brand-new season of primetime television, and people are feverish for the return of some of their most beloved shows. This made me begin to ponder the difference between television here in the U.S. and television in the U.K. Spending much of my summer across the pond, I couldn’t help but notice the drastic difference in how shows are rated in each country.

Beyond 8 p.m. here in the States, it’s common to come across a CSI or similar crime drama where grisly

murders are quintessential to the overall plot. However, profanity isn’t uttered once while the bodies keep piling up. Things are entirely the opposite in the U.K. Past 9 p.m., or what is commonly called “the watershed,” cursing is entirely unedited, whereas scenes of violence garner a much more mature rating. The same goes for movies. Some films here that achieve a PG-13 rating often get what is the equivalent of an R rating in the U.K., simply because of the mindless violence that plagues them. It begs the question, which is worse?

In a school like Mason, language has become second nature, and with each passing year the normality of an f-bomb becomes greater and greater. So, what if language took the place of fiery explosions and bloody shootouts on nighttime telly? Perhaps

light-hearted American adults are too enthralled in the battle over profanity that they don’t realize what their children are really watching. Witnessing a toddler doing his best Jack Bauer impression and saving his parents from a nuclear holocaust is quite a sight to behold.

I’m not that knowledgeable of the law, but I believe the repercussions are much greater for someone who has blown something up than someone has blurted out a curse in public.

Of course, I’m not asking you to go home and begin mouthing off to your parents, but to merely take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

Maybe, just maybe, Britain has got something here.

[

your columnists

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col·umnl·ist (n)- a journalist who writes for a publication in series and offers commentary and opinions

Thom Carter “I have a cat called Stubbs, with two ‘b’s,’” Carter said.

“He’s an American bobtail.”

Carter is an avid moviewatcher who loves music and pickup soccer games. He plays cello. happens to be a dual-citizen, all while living on the southern tip of Mason. Carter’s favorite television network is the BBC.

Julia Halpin “I aspire to be Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls,” Halpin said.

“Except for the blue eyes.”

Halpin is a Pump It Up employee and an active Young Life participant; her favorite color is yellow and she is a retired swimmer and water polo player. Halpin loves takeout Chinese food and that just-been-paintedroom smell.

Janica Kaneshiro “My name is Janica,” Kaneshiro said. “I was destined to be abnormal.”

Kaneshiro is a cross-country runner who has lived in eight states. Her favorite TV show is Grey’s Anatomy; she loves Olived Garden and is obsessed with Goldfish crackers. In her spare time, Kaneshiro collects socks.

Janie Simonton “If you rearrange the letters in ‘Janie Simonton,’ it spells ‘ninja emotions,’ ” Simonton said.

A lover of paper-editing who runs crosscountry, Simonton loves bike riding. She is a member of her Episcopalian church’s Rite 13 youth group; Simonton loves sleeping and, of course, laughing. photos by Beena Raghavendran

C | PAGE 8

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 PAGE 9 | C

SPORTS C

Representin’ the

Seniors Emily Wright, Erin Michel, and Jessica Zhang finished first, second and third, respectively, to lead the girls’ golf team at the GMC Girls’ Golf Championship at Weatherwax. The Comets made a record-breaking 592, shattering the previous record by 24 strokes.

TEAM

TRACKER

The

Artof

Girls’ junior varsity tennis

Motivation

Varsity football coach Brian Castner utilizing his own method of motivation during practice.

The girls’ junior varsity tennis team has an undefeated 12-0 record, as of September 20. Coach Mike Reid attributes the team’s success to the girls’ teamwork and unity.

“We have a lot of depth on our team which helps to create a strong team, and also the girls work together really well; they are a cohesive unit,” Reid said.

Reid said he is optimistic about the rest of the season.

“Everyone needs to keep a positive attitude and keep improving in practice,” Reid said. “With those two things, I think we can continue to succeed. …I am thrilled about our prospects. I think we are going to finish up the season very well.”

photo by Megan McCormack

While the coaches at Mason High School may not be sculptors or painters, they are experts in one form of art… the art of motivation.

Joseph Spencer | Staff Writer

Athletics are not just physical events; players’ emotions play a huge part in the game as well, according to junior Zachary Boden, a varsity football player. It is a coach’s job to get players ready for the emotions of a game, Boden said.

Junior Josh Dooley, a varsity football player and boys’ varsity track runner, said the type of motivation needed by an athlete varies from sport to sport. “[The type of] motivation really has to do with the sport,” Dooley said. “For football, I need to be yelled at and pumped up to get ready for the battle at hand.

While for track, I have to stay calm and not let the adrenaline build up to much.”

While adrenaline in some sports can be healthy, in long-distance running, it can kill any chances of success, boys’ cross country coach Tony Rapp said.

“If you get the guys too fired up, then they start their race too fast and don’t run well because they have all this adrenaline at the beginning,” Rapp said.

Senior Brenna Hallum, a girls’ varsity cross country runner, said she agrees that runners are best motivated privately.

“Praying during a race keeps me going,” Hallum said. “Having faith in God is always recurring in my head as I run. This faith gives me the [motivation] and will to finish out the race with everything [I’ve] got.”

While faith can keep pushing some athletes, tough competition and pride influence others, Dooley said.

“The pride of playing for Mason High School and the ability to go all out for my teammates [are] what flashes through my mind when I tire during play,” Dooley said.

Although Dooley is motivated by playing as a team, varsity football coach Brian Castner must inspire each individual player.

“Motivation is key, but with motivation, you must know your audience first,” Castner said. “Even with

your [own] team, [you must be able to] push the right buttons within each unit, within each player.”

Sophomore Alex Ebel, a boys’ varsity golfer, says that motivation for golf is very self centered.

“When we arrive to the golf course, it is all very individual,” Ebel said. “We study the course lengths and get ready to go play. I am personally motivated to win the match and receive the lowest score.”

While there is no cheering crowd at the golf matches, Ebel said that it doesn’t mean the players aren’t inspired to do their best.

“When I am out there [on the course], there is little motivation [from others],” Ebel said. “I feel at home there, but no emotion is involved. It is just me, my clubs, my ball and the green.”

This individual approach relates to the girl’s tennis team. Junior Abby Rohlinger, a varsity tennis player, said that she must motivate herself on gameday.

“While our team captain pump us up a little bit before the match, I must motivate myself,” Rohlinger said. “I must find motivation from my heart, [which] is tough on my mentality because I am the only one to blame when a mistake is made.”

This mental focus is also shared before a cross country meet, according to Rapp. “[Before the race it’s] quiet and calm,” Rapp said.

“Distance runners don’t react to yelling a whole lot.

The idea of cross country is about 16 minutes of running and you have to spread that energy out over 16 minutes without ever stopping.”

But, the locker room of the football team before a game is roudy and filled with loud speeches by the coach, Castner said.

“I just let it rip,” Castner said. “I speak from my heart; I depend on my heart. I look [back at] the week of events to lead to what I focus on. I then pitch it to the team and pitch it with heart and passion.”

Freshman football The freshman football team has gotten off to a slow start with a 1-3 record, according to head coach Harold Grice.

Grice said the team is underachieving.

“We have a lot of talent but the mental approach, [is what] we haven’t gotten yet,” Grice said.

The Comets beat Gahanna Lincoln High School in week three, winning the first game of the season with a 17-7 score.

“The Gahanna [Lincoln] game showed all the positives we’ve had,” Grice said. “It was 11 guys playing as one.”

Boys’ varsity soccer The boys’ varsity soccer team has a record of 7-1, as of September 27, ranking them first in the city. As the team continues their Senior Mason Hoge hard-hitting GMC schedule, senior Mason Hoge is confident in the team’s ability to remain victorious.

“We’re the best team in the GMC,” Hoge said. “We have a good senior class.”

Senior Ryan Goodhew said he is proud of the team’s achievement so far.

“Our season has gone great until we had an overall letdown by the [referees] against Milford,” Goodhew said. “We still had a great game with only nine players.”

Like Hoge, Goodhew said the team is in a good position to win the GMC title.

“We expect for us to win the GMC and at least districts,” Goodhew said. photo by Beena Raghavendran

C | PAGE 10

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 PAGE 11 | C

Strength program gets new Head Trainer Female takes over weight room for first time

Trading Punches Why is Congress spending so much time chasing down athletes who may or may not have used performance enhancing drugs instead of focusing on the economy, immigration or our troops in the Middle East?

It’s ridiculous that Congress is spending so much time chasing down the steroid users because Katelyn Cain steroids should be secondary to other issues.

Although the athletes should be punished harshly for abusing steroids, Congress should not be taking their time to punish them; it should be the state and local governments that deal with that.

photo by Janica Kaneshiro

Head strength trainer Blair Burke helped students in the weight room, during her first year as trainer in the strength program.

according to Burke, but she said the goal is the same: to help student athletes.

A new era began for the Mason “[I] get to know people’s personaliHigh School strength program as Blair Burke was named head strength ties and find the best in each athlete,” trainer. A female will take the torch Burke said. “[To] get them to move [and] some people need a more as head strength trainer at MHS for relaxed approach to get the same the first time. results.”

Burke is a Sports Essentials TrainBurke said her different background ing-Conditioning Specialist with the helps athletes to get a new training Atrium Medical Center in Mason. perspective.

Burke is taking over the program “Helping athletes see that we can but she said gender is not significant to the program’s main goal, which is work on different flexibility and balto improve athletes individually and ance training will help them be better athletes in the long run and injuryas a team.

“I would hope [athletes’] mentality free,” Burke said.

The expectations Burke has are no is to come in, get better [and] win championships, not just [worry] if different than any other trainers’ in a certain person is in here [training the past. them],” Burke said.

“It’s a job,” Burke said. “You come Burke replaced Adam Heines, who in, work people’s muscles, you make worked with the strength program them sweat [and] get them breathing last year. hard. Those are the things I expect Heines and Burke’s personaliwhen people walk in the door.” ties and backgrounds are different Burke was a 2001 MHS graduate -- Burke comes from strictly exercise and looks forward to returning to the physiology and a strength and conschool once again. ditioning background, while Heines “I [participated in] athletics [at had an athletic training background, MHS], so I am excited to pay forward James Nosek | Staff Writer

[all the] things I learned in college to all the student athletes here at [the] high school,” Burke said.

After graduating from Ohio University, Burke received her Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Burke worked with Global Fitness Holding/Gold’s Gym Personal Trainer until she joined Atrium in 2006.

“I had some real-world experiences [working] with a lot of boy athletes,” Burke said.

Junior Mike Nocerino, varsity football defensive linemen, is glad to already start working with Burke this season.

“She knows what she’s talking about,” Nocerino said. “She’s all business.”

Taking over the strength program is thrilling, Burke said.

“I’m excited to be here,” Burke said. “People are going to come in and work hard. We need some GMC championships this year.”

Congress is spending so much time chasing down athletes who are accused of using Joseph Spencer performanceenhancing drugs because these athletes are the people who have the greatest influence on pop culture and on the values American kids. Congress wants our children, who are the future of America, to learn what is right and what is wrong.

Congress is focusing so much on these athletes because professional sports have James Nosek blown the problem with performance-enhancing drugs out of proportion.They are worrying about players who played six to seven years ago or were linked to performance-enhancing drugs.Those years are over, and even if they did take steroids, there’s nothing that can be done about it in 2010. Congress also has gotten so heavily involved because these athletes are committing perjury in court, lying that they have never have used steroids.

photos by Beena Raghavendran

Outside the Lines...

Coach’s Corner

SPORTS IN PRINT

SPORTS ON THE BIG SCREEN

Four-time Sports Writer of the Year Peter Gammons’ most recent book, “The Best American Sports Writing,” took the shelves September 28.

This is the 20th book from the “Best American Sports Writing” series. This anthology includes 20 of the best sports writing pieces from the last year. Every article gives a different perspective in the world of sports, from stories about sportsmanship to how football affects the brain.

The Walt Disney Company is releasing its new film, “Secretariat,” on October 8. “Secretariat” tells the story of the 1973 housewife and mother who fosters a horse, Secretariat, to compete to win the Triple Crown, which hasn’t been done in 25 years. The Triple Crown is one of the hardest events in sports to accomplish, and a horse even having a shot to win the Triple Crown is an impossible feat. The story of Secretariat is an important event in sports history because the horse’s owner is a woman, while the horse-racing was a predominately male business.

-compiled by James Nosek

-compiled by Katelyn Cain

SPORTS ON REALITY TV Jimmy Johnson already has an impressive resume with a NCAA national championship as a player and a coach, as well as two Super Bowl rings, but now he looks to add another title to his resume: “Survivor” champion. Two weeks ago, the 21st season of “Survivor,” “Survivor: Nicaragua” started.

Viewers can see a Hall of Fame coach go from the sports world to the world of reality competition.

The teams this season are ‘youngversus-old’ with Jimmy Johnson leading the ‘old’ tribe. Through two weeks of competition, Johnson is still in the running. The show is on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CBS. -compiled by Joe Spencer

Michelle Lipka Head Boys’ varsity Golf Coach 3rd year

Heading into her third year as the coach of the boys’ varsity golf team, Michelle Lipka uses her extensive background to her advantage. “I’ve been a PGA golf professional for 20 years, and I’ve been in golf for as long as I can remember,” Lipka said. She said her many years of experience help her to motivate and coach the boys. “It helps to have a strong background,” Lipka said. “I’ve learned and I try to tell them all the time that golf is not a game of perfection.”

-compiled by Katelyn Cain photo contributed by MasonComets.org

C | PAGE 12

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 PAGE 13 | C

Round and roundabout we go

“It is easy to drive around [the roundabout] once you know what you’re doing,” Gregor said.

To help high school students like Gregor, teaching proper use and etiquette of roundabout has begun to show up in driver’s education courses.

“It is just like a new sign or different traffic signal, or something to that effect,” Bender said. “There is always going to be some kind of learning involved. New drivers should definitely learn about [roundabouts], especially if [they] are going through [some kind] of driving class.”

Bender said that an advantage to the roundabout is that it will keep steady traffic moving.

“Traffic doesn’t have to stop, [so cars] can just keep rolling,” Bender said. “[The roundabout] makes traffic a lot smoother.”

While it may seem as though a road with no stop signs would seem dangerous and prone to collisions, fatalities are reduced by 90 percent and injuries by 70 percent with the introduction of a roundabout as opposed to an intersection, according to the Insurance Institution for Highway Safety.

“The roundabout decreases [the] number [of] angles [in which] you can hit somebody [compared to intersections] because you only have to look one way,” Bender said.

Your guide to navigating the new roundabouts of Mason Rebekah Barnes | Staff Writer

Get ready to get dizzy, Mason—the new roundabout offers a completely different way to travel through town.

With the new roundabout built at the intersections of Mason Road, Sarah Drive, and Hickory Woods Drive, Mason plans for more in the future. Another roundabout has been authorized by the city to be built at the intersection of Mason-Montgomery and Bethany Roads, but no construction has started yet.

Bryan Bender, a roadway engineer with TEC Engineering, Inc. in Mason, has become an expert on roundabouts. According to Bender, the roundabout will be a smart alternative to the four-way stop, due to the lack of left turns.

“It takes a lot of guesswork out of intersections and four-way stop[s] because you aren’t constantly having to look [in all directions],” Bender said.

The city has had the plan of the roundabout since last year, but the community may not be as familiar with the new system of transportation.

“With roundabouts, it’s not like [cities] can plop these in and have

!

!

Cars on the outsides must yield to those inside of roundabout

If you see an emergency vehicle, do not stop in the roundabout, proceed out and pull over.

photo art by Jami Bechard and Ajay Agrawal

!

everyone know how to read them or and use them,” Bender said. “You kind of have to train everybody.”

For those in high school, this may be the first roundabout ever encountered, according to Bender.

“The [younger] generation of drivers and probably the older generation of drivers will have the hardest time because they don’t know [all] the rules yet for [roundabouts],” Bender said. “They aren’t [always] confident behind the steering wheel to begin with.”

Sophomore Ashton Gregor has her temporary permit and has recently driven the roundabout herself for the first time. “[The hardest part of navigating is] with all the other cars and each having their own right of way,” Gregor said.

Seiler said that the topic of yielding and right of way are the main problems for people new to the roundabout.

“People within the roundabout have the right of way, so as you are approaching the roundabout, you yield to anyone [inside the roundabout],” Seiler said. “People just need to be comfortable in the gaps [of traffic] and the speeds of cars coming around.”

Learning how to handle those types of problems will come with time, according to Gregor, the process becomes more natural.

Pedestrian should use designated crosswalks and not cross into the center of the roundabout.

!

Trucks can use the concrete apron for wider turns.

!

Turn signals can, and should, still be used in a roundabout.

Kurt Seiler, a city engineer for the City of Mason, said that the extremity of accidents also decrease with the roundabout.

“If there is any kind of accident [on the roundabout], it is not a Ttype accident where there could be a lot of injury[ies],” said Seiler.

“It’s typically a very minor accident [on a roundabout].”

One of the city’s initial reasons behind building the roundabout was to act as a test run for future roundabouts, according to Seiler.

To build the roundabout, the city applied and received a state grant of $273,000 (which is 50 percent of the entire project) from the Ohio Public Works Commission. “[Mason] thought that this would be a great location for a singlelane roundabout to introduce them to the community so people would be comfortable with driving in [roundabouts],” Seiler said.

Seiler said the commmunity is still getting used to the roundabout. “[Mason] thought it would be a good transition area for traffic calming to help slow people down as they [enter] the downtown area,” Seiler said.

With the final concrete being poured and pavement being painted, the Mason community may still be questioning operation of the road. But Bender said he hopes that roundabout will be a

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 PAGE 15 | C

MHS students find a new nighttime hangout spot

Miranda Carney | Staff Writer

after dark

photo by Miranda Carney

Walmart is to go to the outdoor area and make a place to relax with his friends.

Once the sun goes down, Walmart turns “Sometimes, if we’re at Walmart, we’ll find the lawn into a place of mischief for many students furniture section and we’ll just sit there and make a who are looking to hang out with friends, camp and talk for awhile, ” Carozza said. “We’ve also according to junior Chris Rueda. been known to play tag around the store.”

Rueda said he is very familiar with the Sophomore Olivia Small says she frequently hangs out activities and pranks that happen at night in Walmart. at Walmart at night with her friends and has fun by giving “There’s a game called 333 ways to get kicked out of shoppers mystery merchandise.

Walmart and it’s a list off the internet,” Rueda said. “We “My friends and I put random items in people’s carts,” try to do a couple every single time we go.”

Small said. “[We used] basically anything we pulled off of While some students head to Walmart to perform shelves like socks, water bottles, and bowls. They probably harmless pranks, others just like to go to hang out with didn’t notice until they went to check out.” friends. According to Rueda, he enjoys going to the toy Senior Paige Hecker goes to Wal-Mart frequently to do area and competing in battles by assigning teams of random activities with friends or for scavenger hunts. friends of his to different aisles.

“Me and my friend were hula-hooping in Wal-Mart “We go to the toy section and get a bunch of nerf and one time me and my friends just walked around in swords and have a great battle across the entire store bathrobes, ” Hecker said.

“You can just buy anything. For a and divide up the areas.” Rueda said. “It’s really fun scavenger hunt, we had to take pictures of random people.” when you have a lot of people there with you and you According to Hecker, Wal-Mart is the best place to go can spread out in the open area.” before seeing a movie at Regal.

Rueda said that he frequently heads over to Walmart “If [my friends and I] see a movie, we usually go to Walon Mason-Montgomery Road after a movie at Regal or Mart before hand and get candy and stuff,” Hecker said. “If photo contributed after dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Seniors Paige Hecker (right) and Nikitaa Nath found a nighttime you’re just bored you can go there and walk around.” ”During the summer, [my friends and I] went like hangout spot at Walmart.

Darrel Wooten, an employee at Walmart, says that altwice a week just because we had nothing better to do,” though a noticeable amount of teens hang out at Walmart, trouble for her pranks, she continues to hide in the clothes Rueda said. “And it doesn’t cost any money, so that’s reit hasn’t become a disruptive issue. department to see how customers react to hearing articles ally helpful since a lot of high-schoolers are broke.”

Senior Jesse Cherubini frequently sees teens he knows of clothing talk.

Freshman Ev Olyha said she likes to have fun in hanging out in stores at night.

“I tried to do that thing where you hide in the clothes Walmart, regardless of the strange looks she gets from and you tell people, ‘Pick me,’” Olyha said. “I did it to some “A lot of teens don’t have a place to hang out and when customers in the store.

Olyha said that along with bouncing rubber balls up and old lady and she just walked away. It was really awkward.” you get a car, you feel like you just wanna go out and do things,” Cherubini said. “So they feel like the only thing to According to junior Michael Carozza, Walmart is the down the aisles, she enjoys hiding in clothes racks to surdo is go hang out at the store. ...The only free thing to do is perfect place to go at night to have an indoor camping trip. prise innocent shoppers. Since Olyha has never gotten in loiter.”

He said that one of the most entertaining things to do at

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 C | PAGE 16

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

PAGE 17 | C

New carrot vending machine defies normal connotations of vegetables

Inside the Carrot Vending Machine Beena Raghavendran | Associate Editor

They’re orange, crunchy, easy-to-eat and packaged appealingly in a vending machine, but there’s one catch: these carrots are healthy junk food.

With all the similarities of chip brands ending with “-itos” and its recent vending machine placement at Mason High School, Baby Carrots are the new nutritious snacks for teenagers, according to Bolthouse Farms Chief Marketing Officer Bryan Reese.

“Baby Carrots have many of the same characteristics of conventional junk food: crunchy, dippable, poppable, bright-orange and delicious,” Reese said. “[They’re] ‘the original orange doodles,’ as we like to say.”

MHS and Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Syracuse, New York, were picked out of all schools in the nation to test the machines for two months. According to Reese, Bolthouse Farms, one of the largest carrot producers in the nation, targeted the Cincinnati area because of its retail partnerships. Assistant Principal George Coates said the company chose MHS because of its already healthy tendencies.

Physical Education teacher Stacy Schuler said that along with their tasty appeal, carrots are the vegetable with the most Vitamin A, giving them an edge over other healthy foods.

“Vitamin A…protects against cardiovascular disease [and] protects against cancer,” Schuler said. “It also promotes good vision and night vision, which is why there’s that urban legend if you eat carrots, you’ll be able to see better in the dark.”

But Schuler said this disguise as junk food is turning carrots into something they are not; carrots can never be junk food, no matter how they are marketed, she said.

“Carrots are very healthy for you…and everybody should eat them,” Schuler said. “I don’t like [that the campaign is] trying to say [that] carrots are junk food because, by definition, junk food is empty calories, or not nutritious, and that’s not true for carrots.”

Senior Elizabeth Redwine said that although she loves carrots, the culture of teenagers to turn away from something that they are told to consume may hinder the intended effect of today’s healthier options. “[Carrots have] that name

of ‘healthy’…[and] kids are always taught…to eat [their] vegetables,” Redwine said. “So then [kids say], ‘Oh, they’re not very good,’ and so [they] have that kind of impression as [they] get older.”

Schuler said that an appeal to any kind of vegetable depends on experiences in food as a child -- meaning that a new vending machine may or may not be able to change all minds.

“Your food choices and patterns and likes and dislikes are all developed at a very early age,” Schuler said. “It’s really what [children are] used to and what they’ve been given, and they develop a taste for it, so it starts early. If the parents aren’t giving them vegetables, [or] if the parents themselves don’t like vegetables, then they’re not developing that taste for vegetables at an early age.”

Redwine said that though the options are there, sometimes nothing hits the spot like a bag of chips or candy.

“I think people are starting to really try to make healthier decisions, but there [are] still those temptations,” Redwine said. “I mean, [manufacturers] make junk food taste so good, even though it’s basically so bad for you. It’s because it tastes so good that people are like, ‘Oh, I don’t have to worry about it.’”

While a change from the junk food mindset may not occur overnight, Schuler said she has already seen people pick healthier options.

“I have seen a significant change just in my lifetime,” Schuler said. “[Today,] the choices are out there and I think given those options, people will start to make better decisions if they have...the knowledge and understanding of why they need to [make them].”

Coates said he is hopeful that the vending machine will defy the connotations of conventional vegetables -- in fact, he said it already has.

“Even before the carrot machine, I’m seeing more and more people choose baby carrots as one of their side items,” Coates said. “Now that the carrot machine is here -- [this is] not a good thing -- but I’m seeing wrappers of the purchased carrots that the kids aren’t throwing away… there is proof that they are selling.”

The facts behind the healthy junk food LONGEST CARROT

Canned Carrots

Joe Atherton of Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire, U.K. holds the record for the world’s longest carrot -- 19 feet and 1 7/8 inches.

John Evans of the U.S. holds the record for the world’s heaviest carrot at 18.985 pounds.

What's up, Doc Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, was not very fond of carrots.

Owl-Sense In fact, carrots do help night vision, because of the betacarotene to Vitamin A conversion that helps the retina.

Purple Carrots Carrots were originally purple thousands of years ago when they were cultivated in Asia and the Middle East.

Carrot Medicine

Turning Orange Carotoderma is when a person turns orange from too much carrot consumption. When a person has excessive amounts of carotene in the blood, the body converts the carotene to Vitamin A, and it’s stored usually in the palms or behind the ears; the places in which it’s stored turn orange.

The Originals The orange carrot that we know today originated from the yellow-rooted carrot in Afghanistan.

Carrots were first used as medicines.

photo by Beena Raghavendran

Need more carrots? FIND out the reasons behind the new vending machine at The Chronline masoncomets.org/features/chronicle/

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

DECODING Language disorder causes struggles in school Julia Halpin | Staff Writer

For most students at Mason High School, a lack of desire is the only thing stopping them from reading their history text books; but according to junior Danielle Tuell, her struggle with dyslexia is what makes reading a challenge.

“Any time I have to read out loud, [it’s difficult],” Tuell said. “English is hard because I have trouble finding the words to say something. If I’m trying to write a sentence in English class or even in science class and it’s not coming out right, I could lose points because I left out a word that I didn’t find in my head.”

Though she wasn’t diagnosed at birth, Tuell said that her dyslexia had affected her even before her diagnosis.

“I was diagnosed in April with a language disability,” Tuell said. “But my parents kind of knew…when I was really young, maybe nine.”

When facing challenging texts, Tuell said that she can often be overwhelmed and sometimes made fun of for not saying or reading words correctly in front of her classmates.

“I got made fun of for not knowing the word ‘colonel’ because there’s no ‘r’ in it,” Tuell said. “When I read, if I’m focusing on just one word at a time, then I drift off and [think], ‘Oh no, that’s another big word that I have to read.

Oh no, there’s another one.’ [So,] I have to use a note card to go down [the page] and [focus on what I’m reading].”

“

got made fun of for not knowing the word ‘colonel’ because there’s no ‘r’ in it,” Tuell said.

Tuell said that while she faces challenges in the classroom due to her dyslexia, it also affects her while participating in theater.

“If I get a new script, I read all my lines and then I read other peoples’ lines,” Tuell said. “I just read [the lines], I don’t act them out or anything. [Then], I record myself saying the other people’s lines and I have pauses of where [my lines] should go. [Doing all of that] helps me remember [my lines] because [I’m hearing] my cues.”

According to Jody Bergman, Special Education Supervisor of Mason High School and Mason Middle School, dyslexia is primarily a language disorder over anything else.

“Most people think [those with dyslexia] read things backwards or [write] backwards,” Bergman said. “[That’s] kind of the myth about dyslexia, but essentially it’s how a student might process the written word and how their brain kind of takes it in. [Students with dyslexia] might jumble it up, so it takes them a little longer.”

To help with his dyslexia, freshman Garrett Frank said he takes prescribed Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) medicine every day. According to Frank, taking medication helps him focus on making sure he reads everything twice in order to comprehend the text.

“I do [take medication every day],” Frank said. “If I don’t take it, I’m very off. I can’t concentrate on the work and I don’t usually do as well at all, because I only read [the text] one time [and can’t understand the work].”

Tuell ventures outside of school to make improvements in her dyslexia.

“I’m going to language therapy on Thursdays,” Tuell said.

“I’ve only gone to two, and what we [read are] books like Sleepy Hollow. [We] listen to [them] on audio[books], and then break down every single sentence [to understand] what [they’re] talking about. [This is a challenge for me,] but it’s good that I’m not reading out loud. It’s good to hear someone else read it.”

According to Frank, who has been dyslexic his entire life, the schooling system has always helped him overcome his

dyslexia while in class.

“When I was little, [the difficulty] was more [in] reading,” Frank said. “Now, [seeing numbers and letters] are [equally challenging]. In the past, [teachers] would always make sure I had extra time on tests and assignments.”

The Mason City School District is very fortunate when it comes to teachers’ dedications to helping students with learning disabilities, Bergman said.

“I think we’re lucky here because our teachers are really involved with kids and they know their students very well,” Bergman said. “A science teacher will know a lot of information about the student, [like] how [he or she] learns, and [the teacher will] get to know [his or her] students very well. [Teachers are] very willing to pitch in and very willing to try different strategies because, obviously, all kids within the classroom run differently.”

Specifically, Bergman said, there are always things teachers can do in the classroom to help a student with dyslexia better their education.

“Most teachers will try some of the initial accommodations of allowing students extra time to complete something,” Bergman said. “We often have kids who will attempt to read on the first attempt and then will listen to an [audiobook] or CD to be able to help hear it as well as see the words. Our teachers will give [some of] them copies of [class] PowerPoints or notes in order to help them with the note-taking process or any kind of accommodation for reading. Depending on the significance, there may be students who will actually leave the classroom and will go work with an intervention specialist to have a test read aloud to them, if that will help.”

Bergman said that the specific challenges for students with dyslexia will vary, and that it’s important for them to take charge of their own learning as they get older.

“I think the challenges are a lot different [for students with dyslexia],” Bergman said. “I think many students at the high school level become more involved themselves in helping to figure out [the best way for them to learn] or they initiate help or support for themselves, and become a little more of a self-advocate. That is really essential for kids who are going to go on to college, and students with dyslexia or a reading disability in general, because dyslexia is really just a part of a learning disability.”

“

ssentially... [dylsexia is] how a student might process the written word and how their brain kind of takes it in,” Bergman said.

According to Bergman, the team of Special Educators in Mason aim to help students overcome their learning disabilities while continuing in their education.

“The ultimate goal is to figure out what the student knows,” Bergman said. “[Teachers will] put accommodations in place to allow the student to show what they know and take the disability out of it.”

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

The legend of 101 East Main Street Haunting does not deter new business Rachel Giesel | Staff Writer

The building of 101 East Main Street, currently inhabited by eight-weekold Thai restaurant Banana Leaf, has been surrounded by the haunting of a murdered woman’s ghost and the Underground Railroad. The building has expelled multiple businesses, but current owner of Banana Leaf, Dana Tongdangjoue, said her restaurant has been triumphant so far, and she feels it will stay successful. She said she hasn’t had any experiences with the alleged haunting, but thinks the ghost could be possible.

“Customers have come in [and] they’ve mentioned [the building being haunted], but we haven’t experienced anything,” Tongdangjoue said. “I wouldn’t know [if the building is haunted, but] I would never say that it isn’t.”

Erin Winters, a longtime Mason resident who once lived at 101 East Main Street, said her encounters living in the building prove the stories to be true.

“There are several reasons why [I believe in the haunting],” Winters said. “When I was about 12 years old, my family moved in. We lived there for 18 months and it was probably one of my most incredible, exciting, emotional, fearful years. It is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”

Senior Chelsea Shepherd, a lifelong Mason resident, said she hasn’t had any direct experiences with the haunting, but still believes in the ghost stories that suggest it.

“I like to think that it’s haunted just because of all the stories,” Shepherd said. “I don’t know if [there is] someone there, actually, but I like to think that it’s haunted.

[However,] I’ve never seen the ghost.”

The legend The myth varies from person to person, but there are a few common characteristics, according to most versions of the legend. The most familiar telling is that a woman living in the building was brutally murdered by her husband, and her spirit still occupies the residence today, Winters said.

“John murdered Rebecca,” Winters said. “He took a log from the fireplace and he beat her with [it]. He murdered her and he was acquitted, so that’s why we think she’s not gone.”

Junior Chloe Brown, a resident who lives near the building, and walks past it to school every morning, said she thinks it’s haunted as well. “[I walk to school by it] every morning,” Brown said.

“Just from the stories I’ve heard, [I think it’s haunted.]

I think that she went out and did something that her husband didn’t like. Back then, the husbands were in control and the wives had no say. I think he suspected of her of something and got mad and killed her.”

Shepherd said she knows many stories that follow this same pattern.

“We heard [that] the lady [who] lived there was murdered in her sleep because of her husband,” Shepherd said. “They were in an argument. The murder room is the bedroom and there was supposedly blood everywhere.”

Rose Marie Springman wrote in her book “Around Mason, Ohio: a Story,” the first murder of Mason occurred in this building. Rebecca McClung was found murdered in her bedroom on April 12, 1901. Spring-

man wrote of “marks -- cuts and bruises on [Rebecca’s] head, [her] face badly smashed [and] nearly all the face bones broken,” and the “cause of death...was murder.”

The murderer was never found or convicted, according to the book. However, the only evidence discovered pointed to Rebecca’s husband, John McClung, because “McClung’s coat, trousers and vest were covered with bloodstains, [and] bloody footsteps were found all around the house,” according to the book describing the thoughts of a local policeman, Bert Reed.

The book said John was arrested, bailed out, and pleaded not guilty in trial. Winters said John’s innocence was predicted because of the time period and his reputation.

“The first murder of Mason happened in [the building],” Winters said. “John had status in Mason. 200 years ago, a woman’s place was behind her man -- [to be] submissive, passive. For him to be acquitted was probably a given thing.”

first time I saw it, I was absolutely petrified. Of course my mom and dad didn’t believe me; any time anybody came into the room, the vision was gone.”

This freaky vision left her terrified and doubted by many people for years, Winters said. But this vision was actually confirmed by a psychic brought in by the owners of The Chocolate Morel, according to Winters.

“Years after I had told that story, when The Chocolate Morel people came in, I told them all my stories,” Winters said.

“They hired a séance person and validated that vision as a slave that had been there years ago.”

Brown said some of the stories she has heard attribute the success or failures to whatever photo by Rachel Giesel Rebecca’s pleasures were.

Her ghost will decide whether to permit or banish a production, Brown’s version of the legend said.

“I’ve heard that [Rebecca didn’t] like what the place [was],” Brown said. “I think Tea Roses survived there for a while because she liked tea. [But] Chocolate Moral [didn’t succeed] because she didn’t like chocolate. People said they had dishes thrown at them and other stuff like that.”

Will the business survive?

According to Winters, Rebecca can either help or hurt people and businesses, depending on her interests.

“Every person that’s been there [has] had different encounters,” Winters said. “Rebecca was fine to us. She didn’t hurt us in any way; she wasn’t aggressive. We never had any issues where we felt Rumors of a tunnel in the buildlike we were in danger.” ing circulate through Mason as well, Only time will tell according to Shepherd. Winters said Rebecca’s feelings of Thai she can validate the mythic tunnel food, but Tongdangjoue as a part of the Underground Railsaid she thinks her busiroad, even though it’s sealed off now. ness will be successful.

“It was part of the Underground She said the traffic has Railroad,” Winters said. “There’s been steady, the produca specific place where the slaves tion has run as planned, would go through to the building and the customers are on the left. They had a way to get commenting nicely. through to each other. There used “I know that we will surto be hieroglyphics where you could vive,” Tongdangjoue said. photo by Rachel Giesel “I think it really has to do see stick people walking, and it was their language to tell the slaves where The friendly Thai statue stands guard outside of Banana with the business model to go. [Even though the hole is all ce- Leaf, the current business at 101 East Main Street. and how well the business mented up,] you can tell [it’s there.]” is run. To run a successful Winters said the most “traumatizbusiness, certain key eleing” thing was a recurring appearance, that only she ments have to be in place, [such as] right location, could see, of an African-American male near her community needs, [and consistency]. We meet all bedroom window, at night, when she was alone. those criteria so I don’t know why it wouldn’t suc“The first encounter that I had with any haunting ceed, based on [those].” was the very first day I was left alone in that room by myself,” Winters said. “I [saw] a vision of a black man in the far corner of the room [by] the window. The

The building

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 PAGE 21 | C

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[

of fame

[

col·umn inch (n) - an area one column wide by one inch deep, measuring the type that fills the space

Throughout high school, most students worry about their grades, what they’re wearing and what people think about them. But sophomore Ben Magana is known for exactly the opposite. He’s carefree, quirky and has landed himself 15 Inches of Fame.

From pigskins to plooms Senior Gabe Perez, three-year football player, is spending his final year on a different part of the field: in the bandstand.

Bobby Gibler | Staff Writer

Would you rather eat a gallon of cockroaches or have your shoes tied together for the rest of your life?

“Tying my shoes together would be kind of fun. I could be hopping everywhere; it’d be sweet.”

I am best known for....“my ‘Mexicanism,’ because in my posse, it’s a pretty big inside joke.”

My ideal iPad app would be... “a Star Wars hologram where people could communicate like Skyping, but you pop out of the iPad like a hologram.”

What’s the most interesting dream you’ve ever had?

“Once there were these aliens with purple hair. It was just so weird because they were in my old house, and I had to beat them up.”

People label me as... “super-energized… like that one bunny.”

What’s on your bucket list?

“Skydiving and having a home zoo.”

Are you team Edward or team Jacob?

“Team Jacob. Edward is just a noob.”

What is something that you struggle with?

“Saying the right things to my mom to keep her happy.”

Do you care about what other people think about you?

“Not much actually. I just like being myself.”

What makes you happy?

“Oranges, and I’m not even kidding. I eat four oranges at lunch a day.” compiled by Katelyn Cain

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010

of luck. And marching band is also mentally exhausting After three years on the grid- because you have to memorize iron, senior Gabe Perez traded all the music.” in his helmet and shoulder Music teacher and marching pads for a saxophone and sheet band director Bob Bass said music. Perez was a junior varthat while marching band is sity football player with varsity not as physically difficult as a experience, but decided to join contact sport like football, is the marching band, fueled by just as large of a time commithis love for music. ment. According to Bass, the “I thought that if I wanted effort that must be put forth by to surround myself with the each student is equal to that of a musical experience, I should sport like football. join the marching band,” Perez “Marching band is difficult,” said. “I’m considering music as Bass said. “We don’t do weights a minor or maybe even a major or anything. We run a little bit, in college.” and exercise a little bit, but it’s In addition to his passionate demanding. But there’s condiinterest in music, Perez said tioning involved; it’s just like a that his desire to play football sport. Everyone is responsible slowly disappeared after his ju- for their own person.” nior year for reasons other than Bass said that marching difficulty or exhaustion. band is initially “I first starting playing footvery intimiball [in middle school] because it was a good way to make friends,” Perez said. “I stopped [after junior year] because . . . I really wanted to focus on music for college. And [last year] I was supposed to move to Spain, so I never did the summer workouts [required for football].”

Perez said that he hasn’t been teased because of his decision to quit football. Despite some disbelief from his fellow teammates, Perez said that his friends have remained supportive of his decision. “[The football team] didn’t really make fun of me,” Perez said. “My closer friends understood [the decision I made], but a few of the football players were [surprised]. I think a few of my old teammates might have been [upset when I left]. I think because I was there for so long, they kind of expected me to be there.”

Though students may think playing in the marching band may be easier than playing physically demanding sports, Perez said that playing and marching for several hours in extreme heat for marching band is no less strenuous.

“I would say that football is more physically demanding [than marching band],” Perez said. “But [both of them] are exhausting.

You’re out in the heat [during band practice] and not allowed to sit. If you don’t bring water, you’re pretty much out

dating for new students, but is very rewarding after students have gotten used to its routines.

“There’s a hesitation [with new students],” Bass said. “[Since] marching band’s a different kind of sport that’s not as glorified [as football], there’s a lot of recruiting that needs to be done. Once we get [new students] in, most of them go all four years.”

Perez said that while his interest in football waned slowly over time, he enjoys reminiscing about his time spent playing.

“I do miss [football],” Perez said. “I really enjoyed hitting people, the exercises, the workouts, the feeling you get before a game. [But] it’s kind of cool looking at the field, since I’ve seen it in so many different ways now.”

Despite his feelings of nostalgia, Perez said that he does not regret his decision to leave the football team behind and is excited for his future in the marching band.

“I live with [the ideology of] never looking back, unless you’re going to reflect on it positively,” Perez said.

“I honestly think this has been a very positive experience. I used to go home and complain about football, but now I go home and pick up my guitar. So there’s no regret; I’m loving it.”

photo by Bobby Gibler

15 inches

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