North Texas Daily - 7/8/2016

VOL. 107 No.2 SAFETY

Orlando raises campus carry concerns

NTDAILY.COM

FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2016

DIRTY DWELLING

A Scott Brown Property sits at 609 and 611 Amarillo St. Graphic Illustration. Tomas Gonzalez | Visuals Editor

By Adalberto Toledo Senior Staff Writer @aldot29 Amid the shooting that left 50 dead at an Orlando nightclub, the tension surrounding the August 1 inception of the Texas campus carry law has been renewed.

During the vigil at the Denton Square, UNT associate professor of English Deborah Armintor gave an impassioned speech in front of dozens saying she would not allow concealed handguns in her classes.

“I’ve been told that’s illegal, but I don’t care when I think about guns on campus and vulnerable student communities like the LGBT community, women and domestic violence,” Armintor said at the vigil. “We shouldn’t live in fear, and I don’t want anybody on campus to walk in fear.”

Before the final comment period for the policy draft ended Feb. 8, Armintor had been vocal about her disagreement with the new law, which was passed as signed in June 2015.

Since, campus carry has caused controversy across the state, with three University of Texas at Austin professors suing their university over the subject June 6 of this year.

Armintor said the Orlando shooting only affirmed her “long standing opposition” to guns on campus. In protest of the policy, she decided to write a statement on her syllabi last semester disallowing guns in her classroom, among other things. She understands it is a purely symbolic act though, as it would be impossible to enforce.

However symbolic, if the action was enforced, it would violate the law, according

SEE SAFETY ON PAGE 2

Tenants of Scott Brown Properties growing frustrated with management

By Adalberto Toledo & Kyle Martin Senior Staff Writer | Staff Writer @aldot29| @Kyle_Martin35 Scott Brown Properties has been in Denton since the 1990’s and currently rents to roughly 3,000 tenants, but many current and former residents have recently been vocal about bugs, mold, foundation issues, bad customer service and other issues on the properties.

Roughly 3,000 tenants dwell in 1,400 Scott Brown Properties, which translates to

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two-foot-wide hole in the ceiling with drywall hanging from it and mold throughout. She said the agent guiding the tour of the house told her not to worry and that Scott Brown Properties would fix all the damage in time for them to move in.

“They fixed the hole in the ceiling, but I started moving my stuff in and was walking around the carpet, and I realized that there were bugs on me,” Pratt said. “So I called my friend and I had him come over, and we walked around and he was like, ‘These are fleas.’”

Pratt said because she is allergic to mold, the discovery forced to wait another month before moving into the house, due to unlivable conditions. Further inspection of the residence, Pratt said, revealed multiple other flaws, including visible holes in the floors that went down to the foundation, as well as mold in one of the closets.

According to the Center For Disease Control and Prevention, people who have immune system complications and chronic

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ENTERTAINMENT

Stand-upactscontinuealegacyofperformanceatopen-micnights

By Kayleigh Bywater Senior Staff Writer @kayleighbywater

WEATHER

13.1 percent of Denton’s renting population, of whom 75 to 80 percent are UNT and TWU students.

Biology senior Zoe Pratt is one of those students. Pratt looked into a duplex on the 600 block of Amarillo Street in August 2014 after a frantic search for a place to live yielded little return.

When seeing the house for the first time, Pratt said the first thing she saw walking into the duplex was a dead bird hanging from the front porch section. Walking in, Pratt said, revealed a distraught, unkempt house with a

The brew house is packed full of people whispering, guitars tuning and papers crinkling.

While some people sip on beers, others chug a gallon of water to calm their nerves. There’s unwavering tension in the air mixed with tapping feet and long, deep breaths.

But Caleb Coonrod, who hosts these open-mic nights, is used to the sight.

In front of him is are veteran attendees and first timers alike.

There are musicians, comedians, poets and more waiting to get up on stage to share their talents, but Coonrod never knows what new lyrics or witty jokes the

night will bring.

It’s just a regular Thursday to some - to Coonrod, it’s more.

For him, Thursday nights mean open-mic nights at Audacity Brew House.

Coonrod, who helped start up Audacity’s open mic nights almost a year ago, wanted to continue on the legacy that Banter, an old bar and openmic hotspot, had to leave behind when they closed.

“I wanted a place where all of us hell raisers of the night or people who just can’t go home when everything else closes could come together and have a great time,” Coonrod said. “It was the perfect opportunity.”

Two nights later in a Denton apartment, however, the show

goes on in a different manner.

With a mic in hand and a black backdrop illuminated by a spotlight behind , comedian Taylor Higginbotham sits in front of about 30 pairs of eyes all fixated on him. Higginbotham is performing at a Comedy Guerrilla show, an intimate comedy performance started by fellow Denton comedian Angel Garcia. With notes in hand and a smile on his face, he jokes with the crowd in front of him. They laugh, they grin, they cry (tears of laughter) and they interact with Higginbotham.

Although the show may not be as large as an open mic night at a bar in town, Higginbotham is still able to get with his fellow comedians and make people

an opportunity to perform every laugh.

“The idea to start [these night. Coonrod, who said there shows] came from venues is no bad blood between all like The Dirty Dungeon and the different shows in Denton, Lion’s Den closing down,” attends as many nights and Higginbotham, who also started shows that he is able to. Not only up music and comedy group does every show have something E Third, said. “There weren’t new to bring to the table, it also many outlets [for performers] allows for new performers to outside of a bar, and I just contribute to Denton’s growing loved the atmosphere of people performance scene.

“There should be no interacting, loving or hating the competition when it comes to band and talking until dawn.”

While the two forms of art,” Coonrod said. “Instead, we entertainment differ, they both are all providing an outlet for provide an outlet for anybody to people to come and share what share their talents and interests. they’ve got.”

Each week, there are 12 open Venues all around Denton including Audacity, LSA and slots for Audacity’s open-mic Mable Peabody’s - provide a nights. At Comedy Guerrilla, schedule of open-mic nights and shows to where there is almost SEE ENTERTAINMENT ON PAGE 6

ANIMALS

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@ntdaily @thedose_ntdaily @ntd_sports

#Brexit The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a game changing decision.

#AltonSterling Social Media reacts to the shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA when an individual standing by captured video of the incident on their cell phone.

#DallasShooting 11 police officers were shot in a standoff in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7. Police also investigated a potential bomb threat as several officers have been admitted to surgery at Parkland Hospital and Baylor Medical Center in Dallas.

Denton Animal Shelter faces max capacity through summer

By Kayleigh Bywater Senior Staff Writer @KayleighBywater

The lights are dimmed as nurse and Denton Animal Shelter volunteer Monica Ochoa sings “Happy Birthday” with her family and friends. The guest of honor, Richie, sits in front of them, staring down his festive cookie with a hat on top of his head and a look of anticipation in his big green eyes.

It isn’t his actual birthday, but Richie is celebrating one year with his family. One year of hugs, scratches, kisses and being in a loving home. One year of not wondering where his next meal will come from, not knowing what the next day will bring and not having to wonder if someone will finally take him home.

Instead of feeling confused, Richie the pit bull knows exactly what to expect out of every day: a loving family to lie on and slobber up with kisses to call his own.

While Richie was able to find his forever home, the Linda McNatt Animal Care and Adoption Center has reached its limit on the number

City of Denton Animal Shelter - 3717 North Elm. Tomas Gonzalez | Visuals Editor of animals it can take in over the past few months.

“Shelter animals don’t really get the love, attention and home life they need anyway,” Ochoa said.

“When the shelter is maxed out,

it makes finding these animals homes even more difficult.”

A hard few months Currently, the shelter has more

than 70 dogs, mostly large breeds, and over 200 cats available for adoption. The Tuesday after the Fourth of July alone brought in 31 dogs to the shelter with not very many finding homes at the end of

the day.

Even though the center, which opened in February 2015, has room for three times as many animals as the previous city shelter, the influx of animals coming in provides for some bumpy roads.

“Summers are the worst,” shelter volunteer Kim Gaffey said. “We have a lot of student surrenders after the semester ends, and the holidays just make the number of pets we have surge. It’s the most stressful time of the year for us.”

Gaffey has been volunteering with the shelter for five years. In spite of the hardship of the summer season, what started as a simple way for her to volunteer developed into a passion.

Gaffey said when she first began volunteering at the original facility, she saw a heavy need for a bigger residence to host animals in Denton. The new facility includes a quarantine section for animals who are in for bites or injuries, an isolation section for animals who are sick or injured, a freehold section that is not open to the

SEE ANIMALS ON PAGE 5

NEWS Page 2

FRIDATY, JULY 8, 2016

NTDAILY.COM

#TexitgrowsfollowingBritishexit

By Austin Jackson & Matthew Reyna Staff Writer | Staff Writer @a_jack17 @bucko_rogers Underneath the brilliant spectacle of a Texan Fourth of July, Nederland residents sit and stare, mesmerized by the relentless chaos of the grand finale. A few blocks away, Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, sits behind his desk, eager to honor the 13 colonies with a revolution of his own.

While Miller has worked toward Texas independence since the mid ‘90s, the issue of secession has lingered around Texas for 180 years.

In light of Great Britain’s shocking vote to leave the European Union in late June, many Texans have reignited the idea of possibly seceding from the United States.

For Miller, the decision is a nobrainer.

“All roads led to a referendum,” Miller said.

“Texans have transitioned their thoughts from, ‘Hey this is a great idea’ to ‘Hey, this is actually possible.’”

But some Texas political scientists think otherwise. University of Texas at Austin professor of political science Eric McDaniel is skeptical that even the basic premises of Texas nationalism are realistic. “[It’s] not feasible at all. It’s actually illegal,” McDaniel said.

“Even if something was worked out, it would be very messy.”

#Texit on the rise

After the results of the EU referendum, #Texit began trending on social media, drawing attention from the international community to the reborn idea of Texas secession.

The clamor for #Texit grew so loud last week that it forced Governor Greg Abbott to comment on the matter. Abbott insisted the idea of a “Texit” is impossible, and he would prefer Texas to stay in the U.S and make it stronger.

Miller said he leads the Texas National Movement as a politician with a platform rooted in law. He said the arguments decided in the cases for secession had been determined in the decisions made over 170 years ago, and it will be up to Texans to decide.

McDaniel said misinformation is prevalent when it comes to talk about secession.

“Texas was its own independent nation, [and] people pride themselves on being the nation of Texas,” McDaniel said. “We can break up into four states, not secede.”

Miller said he has sacrificed a lot growing the movement, being on the “bleeding edge” for so long.

But the sacrifice has paid off for him, with the group now having 268,996 pledges to vote yes for Texas independence from the U.S. Jesse Kelly, who twice unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Arizona, is also an advocate for secession, but thinks more needs to be done.

“It’s going to have to be done at the state level,” Kelly said. “It’s going to take a heck of a lot more than an

online petition.”

The Texas Movement

Nationalist

Miller credits himself with bringing secession into the digital age with a social media presence that includes 211,000 likes on Facebook – a number he pointed out as outnumbering the Texas Republican and Democratic party Facebook pages combined.

When he is not recording his podcast, tweeting at Governor Abbott or posting dank Alamo memes, Miller hits the road going city-tocity and door-to-door, spreading the TMN’s plan for secession.

“Our focus is to build a critical mass of support so that holding the referendum is the only legitimate political option available for the Legislature and Governor,” Miller said. “How they vote in that referendum is irrelevant to the larger issue, which is this: the people of Texas should be able to have a public debate on our membership in the union and a vote on the issue.”

And while thinking he’s constantly watched by the NSA, he doesn’t believe his sacrifices make him unique.

“Everyone in the United States lives under constant surveillance by the federal government,” Miller said.

“In reality, we all have a big file with our name on it. I just hope that I’m making mine interesting.”

Miller discovered the option of secession in 1995 and was refreshed to have it as a clear solution to the issues he previously felt couldn’t be fixed.

“It just clicked for me and from that time forward,” he said. “I’ve worked tirelessly and ceaselessly towards Texas independence.”

But his journey quickly hit a snag after joining the Republic of Texas, a group now notorious for it’s belligerent track record, began splintering with infighting and division. By 1997, Miller said the ROT was a “dead man walking,” before Richard McLaren went to his house in the Davis Mountains where he took hostages, held a stand off and later declared war on the United State.

In 2003, the smoke cleared and Miller said he along with factions “started putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

The lessons learned from this experience in the ROT are clear in Miller’s leadership. The TNM pushes politics and focuses on building relationships over confrontation and declaring war on America.

Miller said the Texas Nationalist Movement is avowedly non-partisan and Miller said he’ll welcome both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump supporters once the election comes to a close. He said federal overreach is a non-partisan issue but cited executive action on immigration, the affordable care act and other “federal abuses” as issues that have driven momentum his way.

McDaniel says Texas and the U.S may always have a contentious relationship, but that sometimes benefits Texas.

“There’s always been an antagonistic relationship between Texas and the federal government,” McDaniel said. “Texas is basically pushing the boundaries saying how much freedom can we get and how little do we have to give back. Many people think this is a good bargaining relationship.”

To Kelly, the possibility of an imminent “Texit” ever happening is not a serious possibility.

“Ever is a strong word – it’s more of a half joking thing now,” he said.

The history of the world shows its possible, but I don’t think it’s going to

happen this year or next year.”

While he believes the idea is “pretty far fetched,” he said Miller and other secessionists are gaining momentum and could actually generate a few votes in favor.

“If you put it on a ballot at this exact moment, I think you’d be surprised at how much support it would get,” Kelly said.

Whether unlikely or closer than Texans may think, Miller said he plans to remain vigilant toward a cause he has spent his life rallying behind.

“It’s a solemn promise that I made to myself my family, and the people of Texas that I would see this through to the end,” Miller said. “It’s a promise I intend to keep.”

The reality of an actual #Texit McDaniel made clear that there is no legal mechanism for Texas to trigger if they tried to secede, and misinformation is prevalent when it comes to talk about secession.

Daniel Miller, President of the Texas Nationalist Movement, speaking on the South steps of the Texas Capitol. Courtesy

#NTDAILYFIRSTS

OrlandoShootingraisesprofessorconcernasCampusCarrynears campus carry taskforce chairman Eric Fritsch.

“Guns are allowed inside the classroom,” Fritsch said. “Even if it’s symbolic, students may not recognize that.”

Fritsch said in order for action to be taken against a professor, a student would have to file a formal complaint. He said Armintor is not the only professor he has heard of that wants to challenge the policy in the classroom.

He added it would be treated as a violation of policy and referred to the university’s Provost, Finley Graves.

to say ‘No ringing cell phones in the class,’ [or] ‘I don’t want dogs in the class,’ but not guns,” Armintor said. “I have the right to decide what goes in my classroom as long as I’m not violating somebody’s rights. I don’t believe that it’s a violation of someone’s rights to say that I don’t feel comfortable teaching in a classroom where concealed handguns are.”

Fritsch said UNT students and faculty have nothing to worry about, calling an attack on campus from a concealed handgun license holder “extraordinarily unlikely.” Referencing a study

conducted by the FBI over a 13 year period analyzing 160 active-shooter incidents, he said only 39 of them occurred in education environments, which also accounted for some of the higher casualty counts.

The study also said an average of 11.4 incidents occurred annually, with an increasing trend from 2000 to 2013. The study does not contain incidents with CHL holders.

“I don’t think we’ll see a bit of a difference,” Fritsch said. “It’s not the CHL people who are going to be an active

shooter.”

For Armintor, the problem lies with the possibility of violence. The Orlando shooting showed her the randomness of an attack, and she said she would like to minimize the possibility of a shooting as much as possible.

The policy, she said, increases that threat.

“I understand of course that the weapons used in Orlando attack was an assault rif le, not a handgun,” Armintor said.

“But the point is that this was with a gun that was legally obtained, and it just goes to show that all we need is one

evil person whose ownership of a gun has been validated by law for a larger likelihood of violence.”

There is some controversy around the term assault weapon itself, but not assault rif le.

Though regulating jurisdictions differ on their definition of an assault weapon, it does usually include the AR-15 rif le used in the Orlando attack. The AR-15 used, however, is not an assault rif le, as it does not have selective fire. The weapon can only shoot single rounds as the trigger is pulled, therefore is not classified as an automatic weapon.

Assault weapons will of course not be allowed on campus, with campus carry only applying to handguns.

Regardless, Armintor feels guns on campus have no place in a university setting.

“Academia should be a place of peaceful open discourse, and even the possibility of violence, even the threat of violence, shuts down open discourse,” Armintor said. “I want my students to see how silly it is to have a gun in a classroom.”

“We’ve got 800 faculty [members]. We don’t know what they’re all doing,” Fritsch said. “But in the end, that’s what it abounds to breaking policy.”

Graves said the university is doing everything it can to follow the law and would not comment on any potential reaction the administration might have to a professor who challenges it.

“Whatever the law is we follow the law,” Graves said.

“We have generated a policy on that. We do seek to follow that policy.”

UNT policy on campus carry says concealed handguns are allowed in lecture halls and classrooms, and it also lists the situations and locations where campus carry is disallowed, as well as where concealed handguns are prohibited.

These locations are obligated to provide notice of prohibition.

It also states “all faculty, staff, students, guests, visitors, and individuals and organizations doing business on behalf of the university on the campus premises” must abide by the law.

Nevertheless, the issue for Armintor is the safety of her students in the classroom.

“I think it’s funny that I have the right as a professor

UNT campus carry task force chair and criminal justice professor Eric Fritsch goes over the campus carry requirements at the first town hall style forum regarding the new law at the Gateway Center on Tuesday. Kristen Watson | Courtesy

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Frustration grows among Scott Brown property tenants HOUSINGCONTINUEDFROMPAGE1 lung diseases have increased risk of fungal infection in the lungs.

“There was so much mold that I just couldn’t even breathe at all, but there wasn’t anything that you could do about that,” Pratt said “They just said it was an old place, so I was like, ‘That sucks I can’t breathe in my own home.’”

Pratt is not the only student who has had problems with mold.

Other Scott Brown Properties residents found similar conditions in their houses.

One particular current Scott Brown tenant, who asked to remain anonymous because he is still a tenant, used a home testing kit to find toxic mold in his property. They said after notifying Scott Brown’s offices of the mold, “they refused to check for toxicity” and gave them “a bottle of some bleach spray and said to clean it.” After repeated calls, e-mails and visits to the offices, the resident said their mold problems still have not been taken care of.

A former Scott Brown tenant, marketing senior Colin Wheeler, began renting in June 2014 and said during his 12-month lease, he and his roommates still came across issues with his house, including mold.

Though the properties may be in poor condition when a tenant views it, Scott Brown property manager Jay Brakefield said the company tries hard to make repairs. He added that it’s difficult to deal with both the tenants and the investors and owners of the properties they manage, calling the owners the backbone of the business.

But Brakefield said a student would never rent out a place if they saw it in poor condition.

“If a house is bad, nobody needs to be living in it,” Brakefield said. “But what do you do? The owner’s calling you, ‘You got that place rented?’ You’ve got to tell the owner something. We work for the owner.”

Brown said his company is trying to “weed out” the owners who do not meet his company’s standards, and that what he really wants to emphasize is neither he nor the company owns everything that their sign is on.

A local business The company’s standards have developed along with Brown.

When Brown was 17 years old he bought his first rent house with $10,000 his father gave him for his high school graduation. Brown said when his father offered to buy

“

Mold grows on wood in a Scott Brown Properties home. The renter of the home asked to remain anonymous. Hannah Breland | Staff Photographer him a new car after graduation, he instead took the money and invested in a house, with his father as co-signer. In 1992, he began his surge into the housing and real estate business with Scott Brown Properties.

“The way I bought the other ones through college is I’d sit down with older couples who already had their houses paid for, they didn’t have any debt on them, and I’d go have dinner with them or take pizza over or whatever,” Brown said. “And I’d sit in there on Friday nights and have pizza with these people, and they would own or finance for me so I didn’t have to go to the bank.”

Brown graduated from UNT in 1986 with a degree in management and real estate living. He drove a bus for most of his time at UNT to keep money in his pocket and bought the current offices of Scott Brown Properties in 1999 - a five acre plot on the 1400 block of Dallas Drive.

Since

his

business

began,

Brown said he’s made an effort to keep a one-on-one relationship with his investors and his tenants.

He also said owners need to take responsibility for their properties – not just the company.

“Scott’s taken a personal interest to go out into town and look at the properties that we manage, and he’s looking to really get these owners in here,” Brakefield said of Brown. “I mean [the house on] Amarillo, if you look at every house around there, it’s been remodeled. And the guy who owns that, I’ve personally contacted [him] and said, ‘Hey every house around you is been remodeled. Let’s do something with your house.’”

Mold only the beginning After dealing with the mold, fleas and other problems at the Amarillo Street house for a month, Pratt decided to get out of her lease, though it was not an easy process.

She finally moved out of the property in November 2014, believing she was in the clear with Scott Brown Properties. However, Pratt received a call from her roommate in January long after she had already left the house because her name still appeared on the lease.

She decided to formally break the lease, and over the next few months she created an itemized list of things wrong with the house that she believed were violations on the part of Scott Brown Properties and hand-delivered it to their offices. In the end, she said Scott Brown Properties agreed to Mold grows behind an AC unit in a Scott Brown Properties home. Rent- use the owed first month’s rent to er asked to remain anonymous. Hannah Breland | Staff Photographer waive her lease-breaking fees, but having no record of the agreement,

Scott Brown Properties could not break the lease.

Brakefield said breaking a lease is a very difficult process because the tenant signed a legal document agreeing to pay rent until the term is over. He said the typical process is to ask the tenant to find a new tenant for that property, and then the lease could be broken.

“We’re very personable people up here,” Brakefield said. “I mean, what’s to stop anybody from coming through that door and saying, ‘Hey, I need help.’ We’ll do our best to help out anybody.”

The duplex on the 600 block of Amarillo has since been off the market. Brakefield said the property is not currently being rented out due to foundation issues, and leasing agent Maggie Quam said the house is currently going into “pretty heavy construction” and does not know when it will be available to rent out again.

More concerns more tenants

from

Pratt and her roommate said they had been to the Scott Brown Properties offices several times before and met people with the exact same problems as her. She said one time in particular, she arrived to the offices to find a line out the door of tenants, all of whom were looking to voice complaints.

Wheeler shared similar objections about his time with Scott Brown Properties.

“The previous tenants were just terrible. It was really, really gross,” Wheeler said. “They hadn’t moved out yet at all. We walked in and it was still lived in, they just weren’t there, and it was disgusting. It looked like they had five or six cats and they just peed everywhere all the time. It smelled awful. ”Wheeler didn’t stress about the mess because he knew it would be cleaned before they moved in. For the most part, according to Wheeler, it was cleaned upon move-in.

This is because, according to Brown, the company conducts a “make-ready” on each property to prepare for a new tenant. He said they do about 300 make-readies during the summer months - their busiest time of the year. But even after the make-ready, Wheeler said other issues, including mold and a damaged bathroom, were things he had to fix himself due to lack of response from Scott Brown Properties.

“We tried to get that at least looked at or fixed pretty much from the get-go whenever we first

A home on 415 Amarillo St. sits vacant after increased dilapidation. Sanchez Murray | Staff Photographer

“There was so much mold that I just couldn’t even breathe at all, but there wasn’t anything that you could do aboutthat,” Pratt said “They just said it was an old place, so I was like, ‘That sucks I can’t breatheinmyownhome.’”

moved in,” Wheeler said. “But that never got looked at, I don’t think, once.” However, he couldn’t fix one particular incident. He believes Scott Brown Properties lost one of his rent payments.

After checking with his bank and confirming the rent check had been withdrawn from his account, Wheeler still received a notice in his mailbox from Scott Brown Properties, warning of missing rent. Wheeler said he had to pay rent for a second time and later received a call from Scott Brown Properties that said they would refund his missing check combined with his security deposit.

But a month and a half after moving out of the house, the solution went awry.

“It was strange because they divided up the security deposit three ways, because there were three people living there, and I think he also divided up the money he was going to pay me back,” Wheeler said. “So I never really got all of my money back for that, but I just stopped caring. It had been such a long time.”

Overall, Wheeler said his time with Scott Brown Properties wasn’t “that bad of an experience,” but still found drawbacks and failings on their part.

UNT senior Maddie Migis said her time with Scott Brown Properties has been good, saying she’s had only good experiences, feels her rent price is “more than fair,” and the maintenance have been “good, quick, and polite.” She added she has nothing negative to say and that she “absolutely love[s]” Scott Brown Properties.

A “First Class” company

With all of these problems that some of Scott Brown Properties residences have, many previous customers have made it clear that they would never rent from the company again and added that they would not recommend them to new tenants.

Scott Brown himself sees a problem with previous tenants leaving properties messy and said those are usually the people with the most complaints.

“It seems that the tenants that pay their rent late or don’t pay and then they party and tear the places up, they’re the ones it seems like with the most talk,” Brown said.

Brakefield added Scott Brown Properties is doing everything “within [their] limits” to keep their properties in the best condition possible, but admits “there are some bad rent houses out there.”

Brown said he feels that “without a doubt” his staff adequately manages the properties his company owns and manages.

He said his office is “first class.”

“I’ve worked since I was 17 building all this stuff, and I’m doing the very best I can do and I care about people,” Brown said.

“If they’ve got a problem, they come sit right here and talk to me.”

He said his work is made more difficult by these types of situations, and that he wants to do everything in his power to keep his tenants happy.

“I mean, [if] the tenant’s miserable, we’re miserable,” Brown said “We don’t want mad tenants. I don’t want any tenant leaving us unhappy.”

ARTS&LIFE Page 5

NTDAILY.COM

FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2016

INTERACTIVE

Be a part of the art at Juicy Pig Barbecue

By Madison Wilie Staff Writer @MadisonBWilie On the exterior of Juicy Pig Barbecue, popular Denton blues musician from the ‘70s and ‘80s Tom “Pops” Carter looks out from an airstream trailer.

Local restaurateur Ken Currin, the owner of Greenhouse Restaurant and Loco Café, joins the musician and floats through a sea of choppy water in front of his latest eatery adventure.

The Texas heat is thick with the smell of fresh barbecue and new paint as artists Melanie Little Gomez and Des Smith locked flying pigs into a

perpetual journey toward a floating Denton Courthouse.

Currin recently opened his third establishment on Locust Street, this time going for a more traditional Texan theme.

Juicy Pig Barbecue has both a walk-up and dine-in option, combining Southern charm with convenience.

“Barbeque is a Texas staple and there is a lot of good barbeque around,” Currin said.

“We wanted to be part of that tradition.”

Juicy Pig Barbecue opened in early January. The inside is quaint but modern, with hightop tables next to the counter and country music softly thumping in the air. Outside,

there are picnic benches where the walk-up windows face a large brick wall. Until recently, the wall was white and bare.

Currin said that the original idea was to use the surface as a way to designate available parking. Later on, he favored the wall’s creative potential.

“When I looked at it, it was just a big, blank canvas,” Currin said, a grin stretching across his face. “And a big blank canvas just makes me want to put something on it.”

Once the idea was formed, Currin met with a few local artists and gave them parameters to follow. Among those artists were Gomez and Smith, who call their collaborative duo ARTLAB3000.

“We create mind-blowing artistic solutions for special projects,” Gomez said on their webpage, artlab3000.com.

She and her husband draw

A recently completed interactive mural sits outside Juicy Pig at 708 N Locust St. Tomas Gonzalez | Visuals Editor

A recently completed interactive mural sits outside Juicy Pig at 708 N Locust St. Tomas Gonzalez | Visuals Editor the set each year for Cirque Du Horror, a Halloween musical performed at Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival, and created the video for the 35 Denton music festival this year. The two are professional artists in their early forties, at a point in their careers that Gomez feels as though they have more freedom to pour themselves into projects that they enjoy.

Currin had asked for a mural featuring “1950s, Monty Python, pigs and Denton” as the theme, Gomez said. So they looked for influence in ‘50s magazines for insight into the pop culture of the time and local legends. The couple would conjure an array of brilliant, quirky images.

“Melanie and Des came back

and blew me away,” Currin said. “I think they had the exact vision that I did, except better because they’re artists.”

The mural is not only filled with a collection of retro pop culture icons and other mesmerizing subjects, but it is also interactive. Customers can walk up the steps to an airstream trailer filled with stars, sit on a bench swing next to a ballerina with a cat’s head, or stand holding a cluster of balloons.

They can enjoy barbecue and be one with the painting.

“Just like I said that it’s fun to be a part of the good barbecue in town, it’s fun to be a part of all the murals,” Currin said.

Not only does the Juicy Pig’s new decor include

musician “Pops” Carter, but you’ll find a pig dancing next to Denton saxophonist Jeffrey Barnes and former mayor L.A. Nelson nonchalantly riding a motorcycle over the trailer.

The painting shows a dancing Egyptian, a skeleton horse and a wandering Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. It brings the idea of Denton being kind of funky and being completely different than it is now, Gomez said.

“I think part of the motivation to getting it done was wanting to see it that day,” she said. “We started painting it and we were just so anxious to see it.”

ANIMALS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Denton Animal Shelter faces max capacity through the summer to the public a nd the adoption a rea up f ront. W h ile there is more room now to house more a n ima ls, more a re com ing th rough the doors ever y day.

Despite the center’s 93 percent adoption rate, if more a n ima ls keep com ing in, there a re some that a re going to f ind themselves in a rough sit uation.

“W hen we get new a n ima ls, we have to ma ke room for them somehow,” Ga ffey sa id. “It’s rea lly life or death for them. T hat’s why we push so ha rd for people to adopt because the a n ima ls that have been here the longest m ight not ma ke it.

A nd it’s absolutely hea r tbrea k ing.”

T he shelter, however, isn’t giving up, Ga ffey sa id. A lthough the sum mer months a re ha rd, they do what they ca n to ensu re ever y a n ima l f inds thei r home.

Lending a helping hand I n order to keep the shelter in

viable shape for these a n ima ls, it t a kes a la rge a mount of volunteers a nd donations. Ma ny people who have adopted a n ima ls f rom the shelter have been stepping up these past few months in order to assist the facilit y in keeping up with the la rge number of d rop -ins a nd st rays.

A mong moneta r y donations, Ga ffey sa id the shelter collects donations ra nging f rom a t r uck load of dog food to ch ild ren br inging in toys a nd t reats they received for thei r bi r thdays in lieu of presents.

Psychology jun ior Elizabeth P r ice adopted a brown a nd g ray t abby cat na med A h r i f rom the shelter in Apr il, r ight when the facilit y bega n to f ill up. P r ice is living on a college st udent’s budget, but she sa id she desi res to give back to the shelter a nd the a n ima ls that deser ve the best t reatment possible.

W hen she has ext ra cat food or some that A h r i doesn’t li ke, she t a kes it st ra ight to the shelter.

“Living on a college budget isn’t easy, but I t r y to help when I ca n,” P r ice sa id. “I k now it’s not a lways possible for those st r uggling with money to be able to help, but these a n ima ls need a g reat [envi ron ment] wh ile they a re wa iting for somewhere to live out the rest of thei r days.”

Besides adopting, the shelter has a lso received a lot of inqui r y about people tempora r ily foster ing a n ima ls until there is room in the shelter to house more a n ima ls.

Ga ffey sa id that though a foster system would be benef icia l, the shelter on ly ta kes into account those who a re ser ious about helping these a n ima ls for the long haul.

Both Ga ffey a nd Ochoa, however, foster a n ima ls f rom the shelter that either wouldn’t do well in the shelter envi ron ment, a re inju red or just need love. Cu r rently, Ochoa is foster ing f ive puppies f rom the shelter wh ile Ga ffey is foster ing th ree others.

Ochoa fostered R ich ie last yea r at a time when the shelter was f ull. Since pit bulls a re seen as vicious a nd a re proh ibited by ma ny apa r tment complexes in Denton, ma ny pit bulls come to the cit y shelter. Ochoa, however, sa id she insta ntly fell in love with R ich ie.

W hen she rea lized that R ich ie m ight not be adopted - in pa r t because of a n ACL inju r y that would requi re su rger y - Ochoa decided to t a ke h im in a nd help h im hea l. T h rough donations a nd a veter ina r ia n discount, Ochoa ra ised the money to f ix R ich ie’s ACL a nd helped h im a ll th rough h is recover y.

“Even though I didn’t rea lly k now it at the time, I was R ich ie’s last cha nce,” Ochoa sa id. “Some f r iends of ou rs adopted h im a f ter we fostered h im, so we get to see h im of ten. But there’s no telling if he would have even been here today, the sweet, loving dog he is, without the oppor t un it y he had.”

T h rough foster homes, volunteers a nd donations, the shelter is able to continue on th rough sum mer, even with the h igh number of a n ima ls that a re brought in. Despite the help, Ga ffey sa id it’s impor ta nt to remember to keep t rack of you r pets, to spay a nd neuter them a nd to see whether or not you ca n ma ke room for a nother a n ima l in you r life.

By the end of sum mer, the shelter is hoping the number of a n ima ls in the facilit y d rastica lly decreases.

Until then, they have to ma ke decisions a day at a time.

“We have a rea lly big shelter, but when you’re ta l k ing about hund reds of a n ima ls, it’s ha rd,” Ga ffey sa id. “A nyone who helps spread the word, whether it’s just sha r ing one of ou r Facebook posts or act ua lly ta k ing one of these loving a n ima ls home, is ma k ing such a huge impact. Each a nd ever y one of these a n ima ls deser ves the absolute best home possible.”

“Once upon a time, there was a little ogre named Shrek…”

And thus begins the tale of an unlikely hero who finds himself on a life-changing journey alongside a wisecracking Donkey and a feisty princess who resists her rescue. Throw in a short tempered bad guy, a cookie with an attitude, and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits, and you’ve got the kind of mess that calls for a real hero. Luckily, there’s one on hand...and his name is Shrek.

October 21-30, 2016 Book by David Lindsay-Abaire Music by Jeanine Tesori Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire Based on DreamWorks Animation

Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm | Sundays at 2:00 pm

Campus Theatre 214 W. Hickory Street in Historic Downtown Denton For tickets and information 940-382-1915

musictheatreofdenton.com

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 4 THEFT

Bus service between Denton and FortWorth could open in September

By Jessy Diamba Staff Writer @JessyDiamba The Denton County Transportation Authority and Fort Worth Transportation Authority are joining forces this fall to offer new bus services between Denton and Fort Worth.

Scheduled to begin Monday, Sept.

26, the newly proposed route would run on Mondays through Fridays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m, with a bus running every three hours. A trip from either location to the other is approximately 40 miles and would take between 8090 minutes. This factors in a midway stop at the FWTA’s North Park and Ride lot, near where Interstate-35W crosses with Heritage Trace Parkway.

There have been seven proposed stops in total, not counting the midway pause at North Park and Ride, including three stops in Denton and four in Fort Worth. A 2016 Gillig 40’ low-floor commuter bus was chosen as the vehicle for use, which is powered by clean-burning natural gas.

Phil Dupler, a service planner for FWTA, said he is embracing the idea because his sister used to commute to UNT via bus.

“She rode a bus every day from [Fort Worth] to UNT and back,” Dupler said. “I was just a little kid, but I remember dropping her off at 6:30 in the morning, and she’d ride up there and be back at like 6:30 in the evening.”

The FWTA has a Major Service Change Policy, which states the company “is required to conduct equity analysis of effects of potential service changes and hold public meetings.”

The FWTA’s resulting analysis came out positive, and this week, they —as well as the DCTA— held public hearings in both Denton and Fort Worth for residents to obtain more information and ask questions about the service. Questions ranged from how each city would benefit from the new service to whether the Denton/ Fort Worth route could expand to offer service directly to special events.

Another resident wanted to know

File Photo if the buses would be equipped with Wi-Fi for students to do classwork during the commute.

“It is being debated,” said Curvie Hawkins, assistant vice president of planning at the FWTA, though he also noted it would not be available on day one.

Possible connections to other DCTA services being discussed include the UNT Campus Shuttles, the DCTA’s Connect Route 6 to Texas Woman’s University, and Route 7 to

the Euline Brock Downtown Denton Transit Center.

Denton commuters interested in using the service to Fort Worth would be able to park at Apogee Stadium.

The FWTA also plans to work with UNT to advertise the new route to students and commuters once the fall semester begins.

All that is left between now and September is one last meeting with the FWTA’s board of directors, which will take place Aug. 22. The members

will vote whether to approve the proposed route, though they had already approved the initial idea of connecting Denton and Fort Worth back in February.

The board will also vote on what the bus fare should be, since both organizations charge different fees for their passengers.

“We’ve wanted to get to Denton for a while,” Hawkins said. “We’ll be there by September.”

Created and Originally Directed By Ted Swindley Based on a True Story July 1 - DCT’s Encore Gala at 6:00PM Followed by 8:00pm Show - $50 for Gala & Show July 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 2016 - 8:00PM July 3, 10, 17, 2016 0 2:00PM All Tickets $20 - Reserved Seating Performances at Campus Theatre 214 W. Hickory 940-202-1025 www.campustheatre.com ANY TAPING, FILMING, RECORDING OR BROADCAST OF THIS PLAY (MUSICAL OR OTHERWISE) IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. MUSICAL CLEARANCES SECURED AND USED BY PERMISSION.

Thanks to All of Our Wonderful Sponsors!

Presenting Sponsor Marta & Frank Dudowicz Kwik Kar Lube & Auto Centers of Denton Platinum Sponsor Denton Record-Chronicle • Daisy Rogers Gold Sponsor Schmitz Realty Group Silver Sponsor AccessBank, Texas • Roni & John Beasley PointBank • Sue’s Bookkeeping-Suzanne Weaver EagleWheeler Printing Co. Denton Community Theatre Governing Board Bronze Sponsor Diane & Phil Gallivan • Bob & Phyllis Eames Rob & Peggy Houdek • Guaranty Bank & Trust Frenchy’s Lawn & Tree Patron Sponsor Lona Wolfe • Euline & Horice Brock Dr. David W. & Mia Price • June & Perry McNeill Marsha & Lindsay Keffer

GOVERNMENT

Renewable Denton Plan approved by City Council

By Matthew Reyna Staff Writer @bucko_rodgers The Denton City Council narrowly passed the Renewable Denton Plan during a contentious city council meeting that lasted until 1 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21.

The approval, which came by a 4-3 vote, authorizes $265 million in revenue bonds to go toward paying for a 12-engine gas plant. Although the council made it clear they will be tinkering with the details in the coming weeks, the plan’s stated goal is to achieve 70 percent renewable energy for Denton by 2019.

Members of the council listened to over two hours of public testimony, with the city council chambers reaching overflow capacity well before the meeting started. Dozens of citizens spoke to the council during the public hearing, and the vast majority of speakers were firmly against RDP, with a few notable exceptions.

Denton County Commissioner Hugh Coleman and recently unseated Denton City Councilman Greg Johnson encouraged the council to approve the plan, and Coleman also disagreed with the idea of putting the ordinance on a referendum ballot.

“I voted for you guys. You need to make the decision,” Coleman said.

“Don’t pass it off to the voters. Don’t pass the political buck.”

Denton County Commissioner Hugh ColemanHugh Coleman, Denton County Commissioner, speaks about the RDP at a City Council meeting For the most part, councilmembers faced scathing criticism during the hearings.

“How many asthmatic children have to come up here before we start to take that in consideration?” asked Denton resident Cindy Spoon, who spoke multiple times at the meeting.

After the public hearings, internal discussion between the council members was tense. The final vote was delayed multiple times for additional statements.

Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Roden, Councilman Joey Hawkins and Councilman Dalton Gregory supported full implementation of

the plan and considered anything less than two sites and twelve engines a compromise.

Mayor Chris Watts and Councilwoman Kathleen Wazny staked out a middle ground on the issue and suggested they could vote for a compromise measure.

Councilwomen Sara Bagheri and Keely Briggs expressed opposition throughout the proceedings.

At one point, Roden called the council’s vote on RDP a historic decision.

“I think it is a historic decision. I feel like Detroit in the 70s right now,” Bagheri said in reply to Roden. “And I don’t want my name anywhere near this plan with a hundred-foot pole.”

Councilwoman Briggs was quick to agree with Bagheri.

“This plan started five years ago, and I think we were at a lot different place environmentally five years ago,” Briggs said. Briggs also accused the rest of the City Council of not reading the hundreds of letters sent by citizens. Only Mayor Watts said he had also read some of the letters.

Members of the “yes” side who thought the ordinance would pass became uneasy when Mayor Watts and Councilwoman Wazny considered compromise measures.

Watts announced he would be voting no, and the “yes” voters were not happy with the development.

Roden accused the Mayor of flipflopping, saying Watts had agreed to the terms of the ordinance during the work session.

“You are a bit of a moving target.

We are trying to get you on board” Roden said. “I can’t imagine you’d want to vote against this.”

For a time, it seemed possible that Wazny would join the Mayor in voting no, which would have been enough for a different outcome.

“Everything just got mucked up,” Hawkins said. “I don’t even know where we are as a group.”

When the dust settled, Wazny sided with the “yes” voters, thus approving the ordinance.

“If you’re concerned about our reliance on fuel, this is the plan,” Roden said. “The thought that somehow the fossil fuel industry wins when we only rely on it for 30 percent of our industry is an absurd conclusion.”

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 6 LIFESTYLE

Heels, thrills and business as usual at Mable Peabody’s

By Austin Jackson Staff Writer @a_jack17

The speaker returns to life, killing conversation and dragging eyes toward a towering blonde royal named Ivory Dior. Her bold black eyelids shrink into a glare as her six-inch heels click purposefully across the stage. She stops, lets the crowd squirm, then strikes a pose to give them what they want.

Dior, “Denton’s Resident Bourbon Blonde” flexibly blurs art, gender and sex with a nuanced subtraction of clothing. After dropping it shockingly low, “Candy Man” by Christina Aguilera fades out and the crowd roars in, echoing their wallets as Dior cleans the cash-littered stage.

Most of the time, the platinum-blonde empress dons new clothes, shorter hair and an older name. Off the stage, Dior is known by

her coworkers at Sprouts Farmers Market as Cody McGuire, a 23-year-old vitamin specialist from Denton.

At Mable Peabody’s, Denton’s only gay bar, McGuire is elevated. But it’s not just the stage and high heels that leave him towering over the crowd.

“Ivory has become so much more,” McGuire said.

“She is a walking piece of art for me.”

Cody said his alter-ego

Ivory Dior poses for a crowd at Mable Peabody’s. Hannah Breland | Staff Photographer

FOOD

NorthTexansflocktolate-night doughnutfixbehindQueenie’s

By Kyle Martin Staff Writer @Kyle_Martin35 Bar-goers and concert attendees from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights have the opportunity to stumble past the back door of Queenie’s Steakhouse and indulge in a decadent, deep-fried treat. That is, if they’re not all gone before they arrive at late-night doughnut shop Back Dough.

Chef de cuisine of Queenie’s, Tony Neglia, said that executive chef Tim Love thought of opening Back Dough one random day after Love made some dough in the kitchen with one of his good friends. What began as a simple thought has now matured into a late-night munchies stronghold.

Now, the back door of Queenie’s has been transformed into one of the only places in Denton to get a doughnut fix before last call on the Square.

“At first when we started, it was like word of mouth,” Tony Neglia said. “We didn’t even have the sign.”

Especially with the congested location it sits on just off of Hickory Street so close to the bars, this doughnut shop doesn’t struggle to attract interest. Many find it to be a place to stop in just before the night turns wild.

Marketing senior Stephen Menchaca and his friends were headed to Fry Street to celebrate Menchaca’s 21st birthday, and

stopped to grab something to soak up the shots that would be taken in just a short while.

“I’ve got 10 minutes, so I’m eating up while I can,” marketing senior Stephen Menchaca said, enjoying his Dreamsicle pastry, courtesy of Back Dough.

Menchaca and his friends heard of the operation by word of mouth.

This was their first time trying the place, and they said they enjoyed every bite.

“And then all of a sudden, it was just like 150, 200 people - it was just crazy. It just blew up,” Neglia said, recalling the early days of startup for Back Dough.

“Denton’s just so crazy like that.”

Neglia and the late-night crew roll their own dough, make their own toppings and design their own creations each night that Back Dough is open. Usually, the team comes up with three sweet choices and one savory.

So far, they’ve output things like Irish Coffee and Jalapeno-Popper themed doughnuts that seem to attract foodies from all over North Texas.

“He said he had something special planned,” Jenny Reynolds said, who hadn’t heard of the place until this night.

Jenny Reynolds and Kyle Atlas finished an “unbelievable, fantastic” dinner inside the restaurant. Their night, so far, involved Wagyu, Halibut, brussel sprouts and red chile marinated shrimp. Waiting in line just before

11 p.m., the two were ready for the finishing touch on their evening out.

“We didn’t get any dessert because we’re banking on the doughnuts,” Atlas said.

Atlas and Reynolds both work

Ivory Dior first manifested when he was just 5 years old.

He didn’t find her after a romp in his mom’s closet, but instead through crayons and pure imagination.

“When I was younger I used to draw all these characters until I got bored and decided to paint them on me,” McGuire said.

Over the years the canvas has changed, but the need to articulate the blonde girl he sees in his mind’s eye remains the same.

On Saturday, The Whiskey Tongue Burlesque Show features men as women, women as men and even women as women. The show, like Mable Peabody’s, is open to everyone.

Hollie Biemeret, a performer who said they’re gender-fluid, explores both sides of the spectrum. On one night, they’ll perform as a “Drag King” named Ike Onyk, and on others, they’ll flip the script and become Lana Del Gay, a “BioQueen” who they described as a female performing as male who’s performing as a female. On Saturday, Biemeret put on the hat of Ike, thrusting and snarling energetically to Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell.”

Biemeret drives from

in the D-FW area. They said they were in Denton for the first time in a while and were excited to try Back Dough. Originally from New York City, Atlas said after reading about Queenie’s doughnut endeavor, he was reminded of a place two blocks away from where he used to live called the Doughnut Plant.

“I read about this, and I’m like, ‘This sound better than the Doughnut Plant.’ And people came from all around to this place

Dallas twice a week to access the accepting atmosphere provided by Mable Peabody’s and said they make the drive to explore their gender and soul in a place where they’re not just tolerated, but where they’re celebrated.

In Denton, like Orlando, the bar is home to acceptance and tolerance. Early the morning of June 12, just hours after the Saturday show, the world woke up the news of the deadliest shooting in United States history, a massacre that took place in a gay sanctuary not unlike Mable Peabody’s.

Mable Peabody’s transformed into a place of healing the following Thursday, hosting a packed house where people shared their grief over drinks and poetry.

Caitlin Pryor coordinated the poetry readings, she said she put together the event to help process the emotions of the past week as well help publicize gay spaces. Pryor said that places like Mable Peabody’s are special.

“Mable’s is an institution— it’s a sanctuary,” she said.

“It’s a place where we can all be okay together.”

One poem was a

on the Lower East side called the Doughnut Plant,” Atlas said.

“But I’m more excited about this place than any doughnuts that the Doughnut Plant ever had.”

Reynolds, 40, and Atlas, 39, left their evening at Queenie’s and Back Dough happy with their time in Denton and musing over the fare they had experienced for the night.

Chef Neglia and the Back Dough team are looking to expand the back door menu. Neglia said

collaborative piece that brought 18 people to the stage. They each read a phrase that had a theme, you are loved and you are not alone.

Kat Ralph, who runs Keep Denton Queer as well as Outreach Denton, has been a regular at Mable Peabody’s since she came out eight years ago. She said this week has been hard and she was nervous about being at a gay bar so soon, but the idea of being with her community made it all worth it.

“This whole week I’ve been thinking I want my people, I want my community around me,” Ralph said.

She said Mable’s was the one place in Denton she could go and know she’s safe.

“My girlfriend actually said this is the first time she’s seen me smile in four days,” she said. “Although I am a little hypersensitive, for the first time since this happened I feel like I can breathe.”

Featured Image: Ivory Dior, or Cody McGuire, poses for a crowd at Mable Peabody’s. McGuire, now 23 years old, has been imagining and drawing his alter-ego since he was five-years-old.

he has ideas like a social media fueled flavor-concept contest, or adding coffee to dunk the pastries in. He said he even made a funnel cake, taken as a request from a curious patron.

“I love cooking food and stuff, but I don’t know, I never thought I’d be making doughnuts for people that are driving 45 minutes to get them,” Neglia said. “ That’s insane.”

Customers wait for dounughts.Back Dough is open from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Sanchez Murray | Staff Photographer

ENTERTAINMENT

Stand-up acts continue a legacy of performance at open-mic nights eight performers take part in an interactive performance with the crowd. Although that may not seem like a lot in the eyes of some people, Coonrod said that every week at every venue, performers bring something fresh.

One veteran performer, musician John Schaab, has lived in Denton since 1989 and has been playing guitar for over 40 years. Although Schaab works in the technical side of the radio industry and said he just loves making music, you will usually find him either signed up to perform at an open-mic or in the audience cheering on whoever is up on stage.

“Sometimes I’ll be in the crowd, relaxing and having a few beers. But there are also times where I’m up there with my guitar, doing what I had wanted to do 45 years ago,” Schaab said. “I’m just an old man wanting to have fun, and now that I am older, it’s

important for me to not only teach people new things, but to learn even more from others. It’s my time to be irresponsible.”

Schaab said that the shows and open-mics provide Denton performers with more than just a stage and a few listening ears.

Whether it is a veteran on stage or a first time act, there is an overall sense of camaraderie among several different people.

“Denton has such a rich music heritage,” Schaab said. “Last week’s featured artist was a 15-year-old, and now this week it’s a 68-year-old man. No matter who you are or what you do, it’s as easy as just signing up and getting up there.”

Not only do these opportunities provide for the chance to perform for fellow residents, it also gives performers a shot to make it one step further. Coonrod, who is in a band called “Remain,” said he has been involved with the

opportunities open-mics bring to these artists ever since he moved to Denton four years ago.

Through these collection of shows, Coonrod said the performers form a community that works together to push these artists deeper into their careers.

“Pretty much everyone I know I met at some sort of open-mic night,” Coonrod said. “It’s like, if you show up to an open mic show for the second time, you’ve pretty much been bitten by the bug.

We’re here to make connections, meet new people and book gigs for these people who deserve to have their talents heard.”

And although the E Third and Comedy Guerrilla house shows are usually smaller, the sense of community is just as strong.

“A performer needs to use open-mics as a means to get up on stage to hone their craft,” Higginbotham said. “[These shows] can and should also be

used to share and improve ideas, to network, to find other outlets for expression, and ultimately connect other people struggling to been seen or heard.”

Even though Denton hosts a daunting array of open mic nights and house shows, Coonrod said people shouldn’t feel intimidated to get up in front of others to perform their craft. In spoken word, comedy and music, Denton’s scene for artistic expression is supported through these venues.

“These shows provide a way for college students and senior citizens to come together to celebrate this common interest that they have,” Coonrod said.

“Whether it’s good, bad, happy, hearty or serious, it doesn’t really matter because everyone is there to learn, feed off of each other and just have an amazing time.”

Audacity Brew House hosts open mic nights on Thursdays at 7pm at 1012 Shady Oaks Dr. Tomas Gonzalez | Visuals Editor

OPINION Page 7

COLUMN

The need for justice, action, and #BlackLivesMatter

By Ashley Boyd Contributing Writer @TheAshMarieShow Less than a week ago, I found myself unable to partake in celebrations consisting of fireworks, friends and festive Snapchat filters for the Fourth of July. Commitment to reality wouldn’t allow me observe a holiday that precludes me or my ancestors. Black America has repeatedly been shown through action that justice is only available to individuals with scarce quantities of melanin.

Turns out my feelings would soon validate themselves.

In the wee hours of July 5th, local police shot 37-year-old Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was selling CDs outside of a small convenience store. A shaky video from a cell phone surfaced via social media, alarming blacks across the country that yet another member of our community had been lost senselessly. Sterling died at the scene.

Almost immediately certain aspects of the media searched for ways to discredit Sterling’s innocence.

Major news networks broadcasted his criminal record, and rather than acknowledging the facts of his death, viewers were spoon-fed an opinion of a man unable to defend himself. Conversely,

NTDAILY.COM

FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2016 AWARENESS

Dealingwithprevalent sexualassaultoncampus

By Haylle Moody Contributing Writer @Haylle_Renee

A protestor holds his hands up at a rally following the shooting of Alton Sterling. Elroy Johnson IV | Courtesy

during a routine traffic stop for a broken taillight. While he bled out into his girlfriend’s car, she broadcasted the aftermath on Facebook Live.

She could be heard telling the officer that Castile was retrieving the driver’s license he’d requested. Castile, like Sterling, was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Both men, now dead, will stand trial via public opinion.

But when the hysteria dies down and officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, who will comfort the families of the victims? What can we do long after the videos stop circulating and the protesters clear the street?

An ideal step towards justice for the families would be to shift focus from the grievous situation to the validity of the law.

Our government has a judicial process that boasts its purpose as the interpreter of the law and of the Constitution, which states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process. Were Castile or A young boy looks into the crowd at a gathering following the shoot- Sterling somehow exempt from this? ing of Alton Sterling. Elroy Johnson IV | Courtesy If our law is designed to social media buzzed with new allegations of police brutality.

Black publications hurried to be the first to publish the latest think-piece regarding this death. A new hashtag began to circulate as a call to action of our judicial system.

But before I could crawl into bed that night another black family would lose yet another brother and son. On July 6th, Philando Castile of Falcon Heights, Minneapolis was shot four times by a police officer

protect every citizen of our country, why does it seem to only cover some? This is unacceptable. It’s time to call upon the service of those that have more access and more resources.

Your federal, state and locally-elected leaders are where you need to start.

They are the people that the public voted in. These are the individuals who have the ability to implement change publicly. Start there. Email.

Call repeatedly. Create a paper trail as evidence that you’ve solicited help and expressed your concerns.

While it will not produce immediate reform, it will ignite an issue in your community showing that our present standards are not enough. Hopefully enough of us reaching out will spark a change. Because like Malcolm X once said, “You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”

And at the very least, you’ve created momentum demanding due justice for the next hashtag.

I mean, tragedy.

When comparing various dangers college students face, sexual violence leads as the number one risk for college-aged women whether a student or not, according to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network.

Although there are efforts to educate students on safety, some still think enough is not being done within college communities to make a lasting impact that will lead to fewer assaults and more victims reporting their assaults. Women aged18-24 are at the highest risk and among college women, nine out of 10 sexual assaults are by perpetrators the victim knows, according to UNT’s Statistics for Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence report.

“It’s definitely something that needs more attention and really needs to be brought up more often than what is probably being done,” Denton police officer Shane Kizer said. “Any sexual assault is too many and most believe that most sexual assaults aren’t reported.

There are still quite a few that are happening that we don’t know about, so for whatever reason, whatever education is being put out there isn’t enough.”

Since May 7, 2016, there have been a total of three reported sexual assaults, according to the UNT police daily crime log. In 2014 there was a total of 12 reported rapes, and a total of seven reported rapes on campus in 2013, according to the Denton Record Chronicle.

In all 12 of cases reported in 2014, the victim was assaulted by an acquaintance, UNT police chief Ed Reynolds said in an interview with the Denton Record Chronicle.

Among undergraduate students, approximately 20 percent of females experience this type of violence, according to RAINN. “I know that it’s something people know about but maybe don’t think about when going out,”

THE DOSE

The Dose: Blink-182’s‘California’gets nostalgic, brings unforeseen style

By Alex Kelly Contributing Writer @AlexFKelly On July 1, pop punk kings Blink-182 released “California,” its first full-length release from the band since they released “Neighbors” in 2011.

While that album felt stale throughout every track and didn’t leave fans with many new favorite songs, “California” offers a wide array of sounds, ranging from their old Blink sound to slow acoustics, and even a new sound with the recently acquired guitarist Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio.

Moreover, the album would never be complete without a few joke tracks courtesy of lead singer Mark Hoppus.

The first single from the album, “Bored to Death,” brings back the familiar sounds that became mainstays in hits like “Feeling This” and “Stay Together for the Kids,” and further cements Travis Barker as quite possibly the best drummer alive, with a nice balance of snare and cymbals.

Want a track to party too?

Look no further than “Kings of the Weekend,” which puts together a fast pace and lyrics like “Until Monday morning strikes again/We are the kings of the weekend,” Hoppus has crafted a song that can easily be an anthem for millions who want to enjoy their weekend.

While most of their music has dealt with the torture of being an angst-ridden teenager, they delve into the complexities of adult life more than once, as is highlighted by the track “Sober,” an ode to realizing mistakes that can be made from a night of partying, begging someone to

talk to them the next morning. “I know I messed up and it might be over/But let me call you when I’m sober” are words that most college kids have tried to use to plead to a friend or loved one.

Skiba had spent a lot of time cultivating a sound when he was in Alkaline Trio, and he brings some of that sound into this new batch of songs, with his soaring vocals in “No Future,” and guitar throughout, breathing new life into what was becoming a repetitive machine of cookie cutter songs.

While the instrumentals in the album are superb, the lyrics are lacking in multiple songs, having to resort to slow group chants or long stretches of the band only saying “na na na na na,” something that feels lazy, but can be excused when they choose to make this new album a 16-track affair.

Overall, Blink-182 has proven that they can still deliver new music that not only harkens back to the nostalgic hits, but also delivers new styles that they can build upon for however many more albums they have in them.

Instrumentals: 4 out of 5 Lyrics: 2.5 out of 5 Overall: 4 out of 5

Blink-182 | Courtesy

design student Paola Lozano said.

A friend of a friend of Lozano’s recently disclosed the details of her sexual assault that happened with a male friend she thought she could trust. She said has not reported the assault and does not intend to because she knows the assaulter. The only people aware of the assault are Lozano and another friend. This victim is also a college student, but not at UNT. “She knew that if she told, he would find out,” Lozano said. “And it was nothing that she had done either.”

The Dean of Students office hosts a variety of programs and events that focus on sexual assault education to bring awareness and help to those who need it. Efforts are being made for improving reporting options. There are listed definitions on the university’s Dean of Student’s website explaining what conduct is prohibited and what penalties to expect if these codes are broken. These definitions address sexual violence, stalking and even detail a step-by-step process of what happens once a report is made.

Additionally, there are student advocates like Renee McNamara, who serves as the assistant director of Student Advocacy, ready to help.

“My job is the UNT survivor advocate, and I work with students who have been impacted by violence,” McNamara said. “A student who has been impacted by violence is not alone and I am here to help.”

Even so, there are still unreported cases of sexual assault. According to RAINN, only 20 percent of female student victims aged 18-24 report their assault. Some reasons for not reporting range from a fear of retaliation to believing that a police officer could not help.

NOTE: If you you or someone you know needs to talk to someone about sexual assault, contact Renee McNamara at 940-369-6027.

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 8 COLUMN

WeneedFREEtampons

By Morgan Sullivan

New York City made history last month after passing the nation’s first legislation that ensures access to menstrual products in public schools, shelters and correctional facilities. For those who don’t have to deal with periods, this may not seem like a big deal, but for those who suffer through Mother Nature’s cruel punishment month after month, this was a long awaited victory.

Being a girl going through puberty is awkward enough. Your boobs get bigger, you start growing hair in places you didn’t really want hair and, worst of all, you start bleeding with no prior warning. It can strike at any time, and for many, that time happens to be at school.

Imagine sitting in class, when all of a sudden, the Niagara Falls of periods begins. A gushing wave of red, sticky mess is happening in an uncomfortable area, and if you can’t find a tampon ASAP, everyone is going to know it.

If you’re lucky enough, someone you know came to class well equipped. Many girls carry extra equipment just in case. However, imagine a world where none of this panic was necessary. You could walk into any women’s bathroom and find a cabinet wellstocked with anything you’d need – for free.

Many people who don’t experience the menstrual cycle don’t understand why New York City’s newest legislation is so groundbreaking. In an era where talking about women’s reproduction is still very taboo, NYC is standing up for women everywhere. New York is one of many states that pushed to abolish its “tampon tax.”

Unfortunately, for those who are struggling, saving mere pennies isn’t enough. The cost of pads or tampons is around $10 a month, an expense that many cannot afford.

It seems as if condoms are passed around in every high school and college, and are freely available in clinics. When menstrual products are rarely (if ever) given away, society sends the message that safe sex – which is a choice – is more acceptable than a bodily function.

New York’s agenda emphasizes menstrual product access in the most vulnerable populations: schools, shelters and cor-

Q&A

Smatresk hits on a few

rectional facilities. Where toilet paper is available in every restroom, menstrual products are not. Pads and tampons a re just as necessary and should be just as easily obtained. You don’t have to pay for toilet paper, so paying $1.50 for one tampon is a ridiculous fee.

This legislation is so important because it starts a dialogue.

The problem causing the disconnection between women’s health and government is that women are often not at the helm of decisions. Men are making decisions with no firsthand experience of how things work. The “tampon tax” that many states have deems tampons and pads as a “luxury.” Anyone who has experienced a period knows this is untrue.

“Wait, you mean that if you don’t go, you’ll just keep on bleeding? I thought that women could turn it off any time that they wanted!” is a quote from a male state representative one Tumblr user interned for.

The scary fact is, there are grown men in the world who don’t understand the menstrual cycle. They don’t want to. They assume women are overdramatic about their experiences because women are stereotyped to be weaker than men.

By passing legislation that makes menstrual products widely available, women in government are forcing their male counterparts to listen and understand why this is important. NYC’s agenda will set an example for other states to follow.

Women’s health shouldn’t be taboo. Although the U.S. still has many strides to take, there are women in underdeveloped countries who still have to bleed onto a rag. There are women in countries that teach them to be ashamed of their periods. If the U.S. is truly an example for the rest of the world to follow, our government must ensure women are treated fairly under the law.

The revolution of women’s health starts now. No more allowing men to make decisions about our bodies. No more telling young women not to talk about periods because it’s “gross.” It’s time women take a stand. New York is our city upon a hill. It’s time we let the light shine.

@sadsquadch

We’veenteredrap’sglamphase no need to worry.

Every genre of music undergoes its own experimental “glam” phase, and hip hop is finally catching up.

Much like today’s flamboyantly-dressed rappers, glam rock saw poppy musicians creating their own psychedelic music – often drenched in androgynous clothing, makeup and ridiculous hairstyles. It was the heydey for glittered faces, campy spectacle and the tedium of “The Rocky Picture Horror Show.” Fortunately, it lasted only during the ‘70s and early ‘80s.

This offbeat era gave us Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper and especially David Bowie, who was the model for artists like Kanye West and Marilyn Manson to constantly reinvent themselves. Without the Bowies or Coopers, we wouldn’t have had Elton

John, Freddie Mercury or even Prince to forge their careers from glam inspiration.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is country music, which had its own glam phase in the early ‘70s after pop country became the norm in Nashville. As a reaction to this wave of simple songs and lush production, contemporaries like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings introduced “outlaw music” to reinvigorate the genre.

A distinct mix of Hank Williams-style honky tonk with traditional folk rock, outlaw music maintained its own scene in Austin, where many musicians grew out their hair to combat country’s social conservatism.

Above all else, it paved the way for songwriters stuck in the Nashville system to

Columnist Preston Mitchell asked UNT President Neal Smatresk some quick questions about UNT’s 2016 so far.

Looking back on the past school year, what changes to campus are you the most proud of?

Smatresk: In our last year, which was our 125th anniversary, we had a lot of high points. My team and I are proud to have brought in our largest freshman class and having the most national merit scholars. Those are huge achievements which speak to have better we have gotten about promoting our brand and promising newcomers that they can receive a great education. In addition, we’ve had a good year for fundraising.

While it’s modest, all the arrows are moving up. To date, we’ve hired two very accomplished deans - signifying our improving leadership.

Coming here, I wasn’t even sure if we could complete our student Union. We experienced low bond ratings and pretty severe financial difficulties, including negative cash flow. So to not only complete Rawlins Hall and reopen the Union were both high points of the year.

Our the past two years, we’ve moved mountains in regards to deep infrastructure, landscaping, and physical changes to the grounds. A lot of people don’t notice and take it for granted, but we’ve made started to make the campus a lot prettier than it was.

We’re now focused on improving academic research and our scholarly reputation, which we’ll achieve by hiring more prestigious workers, remodeling Sage Hall into a student career students for those in need of support, and interacting with chairs more.

What are the changes that fell short? If so, how should they improve in the year to come?

By Preston Mitchell

If any genre differs from the music of my youth, it’s rap.

From its late ‘70s conception to the ‘90s Golden Age, the genre has prided itself on clever lyricism and storytelling. While the last decade popularized trap music – in which artists like Gucci Mane, Jeezy and T.I. depicted hardships in impoverished settings – wordplay was still the focal point.

Today, we’re witnessing the rise of the subgenre called mumble rap: trap artists supersede emphasis on punning for melodic flows that, quite frankly, don’t make much sense.

There’s “Panda” by Desiigner, which was the No. 1 song in America for two weeks, and “Lifestyle” by Rich Gang. As much as this new generation of Future, Young Thug and Fetty Wap has divided rap listeners, there’s

key points on a big year

break new ground in their own way — like Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle and Dolly Parton. As the late Merle Haggard would say, they all liked “living right and being free.”

Rap music is only 37 years old, so it was inevitable that it would encounter a weird chapter. Not all trap is necessarily bad, but the current crop has more misses than hits.

Much like pop, jazz and even classical music, hip hop will continue to progress and play around with various oddities before returning to its lyrical roots.

If you’re someone like me, you’ll simply have to wait for that time to come.

What a time to be alive, indeed. @presto_mitch

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Smatresk: One of our biggest disappointments sprang from dumping over $500 million into graduate education. We did it to offer tuition waivers for students who are funded on state lines. There is a complicated financial plan for graduate kids, led by Victor Prybutok, that he can elaborate more about if you do a follow-up article. A lot of the information proved to be inaccurate, the plan was implemented but was not communicated well and created confusion. There were certain departments and programs that were working their GA’s really hard, and several that were giving their students free rides. It was a division that created winners and losers (via perception) and it created discontent for a while. In the end, I think graduate students will eventually benefit because tuition waivers are more useful than the insurance benefits they were receiving beforehand. For scholarship students, the plan left them behind and that’s what I would call one of my biggest failures.

It’s going to take us a year or two to sort it all out. Our graduate numbers have been static for quite some time and they need improvement.

A big project that has come to closure are our IT projects, which are hugely expensive systems that run the university. We’re currently undergoing a huge financial transportation and acquiring a data warehouse to improve customer service in the long run. We kind of how to be in on the specifics to fully understand

it, and this should be invisible to a lot of people. After a year of stalling, work on the warehouse is finally moving forward.

We’ve fallen short with transportation and parking.

For many students, one of their key interfaces with this university is that students drive their car to campus and can’t find a guaranteed parking spot despite paying for a permit. Those are all frustrating things. We have more or less completed a transportation master plan to correct this.

I think that we have fallen short of serving our students well with our current transportation and parking. We’ve already began changes that will cheapen and expand parking within the next year, including authorized two new parking garages. We also need to run our shuttles faster and more late to help students transport to class more effectively and ensure that students staying later still have their own means of transport.

In your opinion, how did the deaths of Ryan McMillian and Sara Mutschlechner shape the UNT community, as well as your presidency?

Smatresk: I think that the two tragic deaths of our students was a shock to our university. As for any tragedy, some people accepted it and moved along, while others were more impacted by it.

That’s always going to be the chance. Internally, we had a lot of conversations on why these things happen and how we can properly teach the students about the importance of human life; even to the extent of changing the expectations of downtown Denton and how our students go about “having a good time.” We would like to enhance our students’ understanding of substance and alcohol abuse, and how to be safe and secure in their environments. Denton is not immune from the kinds of challenges that occur in many areas, which is what I think shocked so many about the back-to-back tragedies. It’s everywhere now. So, I would never see an event like this, it would be great. In a community of over 37,000 students, however, there will be tragedies. Anything we could do to mitigate them, we will do.

We’ve already stepped up our counseling and clinical program.

We have to recognize that behavioral issues are of major concern in universities, due to the vast diversity of students’ backgrounds and how intoxicating many backgrounds can be on an individual. It’s our job as a community to be more sensitive to those experiencing life changes in this vital period in their lives, and support them in any way we can be. We knew that, but due to the tragedies, we’ve really internalized this as opposed to “Well, a lot of these kids have problems.”

Our athletics have recently undergone changes in leadership on their own. Do you believe that they can boost school spirit this fall?

Smatresk: I’m also very excited for the new coach and football program. It’s going to be a few years before we see the full potential of the program, but I believe choosing [Seth Littrell] was the right decision.