NORTH GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
POINTE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2013
SINCE 1968
Michigan may cut the cord on landlines in 2017
Proposed Senate bill would allow companies to discontinue service with 30 days notice By Dayle Maas MANAGING EDITOR
SPORTS Step team prepares for basketball halftime performances in their winter season
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RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE
Monday, Dec. 9 at 8 a.m. in the PAC lobby
Sophomore Ava DeLoach’s family said goodbye to their landline phone when she was in sixth grade. “I had to get rid of the phone so it wouldn’t mess up the computer,” DeLoach’s mother, Sheri, said. “I had Comcast, and the way that they wired my telephone and my computer, the telephone would mess up the computer.” “She said she kinda misses it,” Ava said about her mother. “She still wishes we had one.” Many families are following this trend of discontinuing their landline service due to reasons north Pointe – Friday, dec. 6, 2013other –8 than computer problems. In a National Health Statistics Report from 2011, one
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in four American households had only wireless telephones. This overshadows the 12.9% that only had landline. A proposal to allow service providers to eliminate landlines in 2017 is currently making its way through Lansing legislature. Sponsored by state Senator Mike Nofs, this new bill was proposed by the Senate Energy & Technology Committee. Known as Senate Bill 636, it states “A telecommunication provider proposing to discontinue a regulated service to an exchange shall file a notice of the discontinuance of service with the commission, (and) publish the notice.” The bill is not specific to landlines, but it allows phone companies such as AT&T to pick and choose what geographic areas they want to provide an additional source of service to.
Thursday, Dec. 12 & Friday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. at First English Lutheran Church
NORTH VS. SOUTH BOYS VARSITY BASKETBALL GAME
Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the PAC
STRINGS EXTRAVAGANZA
Thursday, Dec. 19 in South’s PAC at 7:30 p.m.
Lizzie Marck Senior
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In last month’s online AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) opinion survey, 84% out of the 1,323 questioned currently have a landline. Additionally, 80% of those surveyed are satisfied with their landline even though 84% of those questioned have cell phones as well.
IN-DEPTH
Smith said they still sell many landline phones. “Everybody, every time when they come in looking for a certain phone, most of the Panasonics and the AT&Ts are the top sellers,” Smith said. “We’re always running out, and everybody’s always so upset.” Senior Lizzie Marck was raised on her landline and just recently got her first cell phone. Though she finds her cell phone “helpful,” and she “really likes it,” she disagrees with the follow-through of this proposal. “What about for people who can’t afford those huge cell phone plans? You can’t discontinue their landlines, especially in Detroit. A lot of those people can’t afford that, especially if you have to get a phone for every one of your family members,” Marck said. “People are still using their landlines. Why would you get rid of them?”
1470S THE USE OF THE PRINTING PRESS LEAD TO THE FREQUENT SPREAD OF
“I learned that in
real life, people
don’t
remember
the price
of your car,
but the
places
you’ve been with it.
“
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1870S THE FIRST FEW TELEPHONES WERE USED EARLY 1900S ROTARY PHONE SYSTEMS WERE USED
1970S FIRST GENERATION OF CELL PHONES WERE INVENTED
SINCE THEN THE RATE OF CELLULAR COMMUNICATION HAS EXPONENTIALLY INCREASED
Adopt-a-Family unites with South, easing student responsibilies
1960S CORDLESS PHONES WERE INVENTED
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By Jen Kusch
Adopt-a-family, North’s 30-yearold tradition of providing needy families in the District with Christmas gifts, has undergone a much-needed overhaul. The original guidelines encouraged both clubs and homerooms to participate by adopting their own families, and although intentions were in the right place, involved North students were overwhelmed. Student Association adviser Jonathan Byrne recognized the past strain on students and wanted to help. “We felt in the past that students were overburdened,” Byrne said. “So, if a student was in their third hour class (that) adopted a family, and they were in Impact Club, and Student Association, and their class and all these different organizations, they were overburdened with the number of gifts they had to provide.” This realization led to North’s partnership with South High School in an effort to ensure that all families in the program have adequate gifts and winter necessities for this
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1940S PUSHBUTTON DIAL PHONES WERE USED
winter without causing undue stress on the students and families who are donating. “I’ve convinced Grosse Pointe South that they should be a part of the program as well, so they will be taking half of the families, which will be taking some of the burden off of North,” Byrne said. By partnering with South, the 80 families that receive presents and winter necessities this year can continue to have a better, more stress-free holiday, as will the students providing them with gifts.
New Chinese teacher shares passion for 1150S PIGEONS WERE USE philosophy, TO RELAY MESSAGES language with students By Anu Subramaniam & Ritika Sanikommu
ASSISTANT EDITOR
IDEAS
With cell phones’ glitchy service coverage but useful portability, Smith sees landlines and cell phones going hand in hand. “You should actually have both because now, cell phones aren’t always gonna be handy, you know, ‘cause they can also lose reception, and then you always need a back-up phone. Sometimes if you just have a house phone, then that can blow out from a storm,” Smith said. “They’re the same thing. It’s just one is wireless, portable, you can take it anywhere, whereas the house phone stays at home. I just think it’s the second player in case something happens to your cell phone.” AT&T publicly supports the proposed bill. They claim that for them, the cost to maintain established landlines in addition to wireless coverage is too costly. With this bill, AT&T and other providers such as Verizon can eliminate the expenditure of landline maintenance.
Kristen Kaled
ACT TESTING
PRACTICE ACT SCORE RETURN
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People are still using their landlines. Why would you get rid of them?
1150S PIGEONS WERE USED TO RELAY MESSAGES
Friday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. in North’s gym
Saturday, Dec. 14 at 8 a.m. in the cafeteria
“That’s a bad idea because a lot of people still use them,” Mack Ave. RadioShack sales associate Marissa Smith said. “It is crazy how many people still use landlines. It is crazy.”
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When he was in high school, Chinese teacher John Patrick Cohan found his passion for Chinese philosophy and culture when he randomly came across his dad’s old Taoism textbook. “When I was at school in Grand Valley I studied philosophy and needed a second major to complete my credits, and since I had already taken a year of Chinese, I decided to keep going and ended up double majoring in Chinese,” Cohan said. After former Chinese teacher Tsen Joslyn resigned, her position was left vacant mid-semester.
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Luke sturgill
www.myGPN.org
VOLUME 46, ISSUE 6
© 2013 North Pointe