Raising Awareness UNT Cancer Awareness Week educates community Page 3 Tuesday, April 12, 2011
News 1, 2 Arts & Life 3 Sports 4 Views 5 Classifieds 6 Games 6
Volume 97 | Issue 41
Sunny 80° / 54°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Weekend race fuels fans, economy BY JOSH PHERIGO Managing Editor
SPORTS: UNT looses to FAU during weekend tourneys Page 4
The deafening growl of stock cars sliding around the gravel track at 200 mph drowned out the roars of vibrating stands and 170,000 screaming fans Saturday as the Texas Motor Speedway hosted the Samsung Mobile 500 Sprint Cup Race. Driving the No. 17 Crown Royal car, Matt Kenseth won the race, which culminated three days of track festivities that drew visitors from all across the country to eat, drink and breath racing at Texas’ only NASCAR venue. Thousands of recreational vehicles began descending on the grassy fields that surround the speedway early last week. The temporary cities grew larger as the weekend approached, bringing more visitors that populated the parking lots with coolers full, grills fired and tents popped.
To read the rest of this story, see Page 2
SPORTS: Track and field advance in Texas Relays Page 4
Fans watch cars speed past them during the Texas Motor Speedway Samsung 500 Saturday night.
UNT extends Jones’ contract BY BEN BABY
Senior Staff Writer After 10 years at UNT and f i ve c on s e c ut i ve 20 -w i n seasons, men’s basketball head coach Johnny Jones has been rewarded. The UNT Board of Regents approved a new cont ract extension for Jones in a teleconference meeting Monday morning in which regents also voted to approve the hiring of a new women’s basketball head coach. The seven-year extension will pay Jones an annual base salary of $450,000, according to the Denton Record Chronicle. “We really want to keep
Johnny,” UNT President V. Lane Rawlins said. “We’ve been talking to him about what that would take.” Rawlins said the money for Jones’ pay raise would come out of an athletic budget that is steadily increasing. “We’re not having to rebuild the budget to do this,” Rawlins said, adding that the new stadium should help boost revenue even more. In his time at UNT, Jones has amassed a record of 177-132, ma k i ng h i m t he secondwinningest coach in school histor y. Pete Shands, who coached the Mean Green from 1935 to 1959, holds the school
record with 224 wins. Jones took over in 2001 after Vic Trilli went 20-87 in four years at the university. In Jones’ first year at UNT, the average home-game attendance was 1,809. Last season, Jones drew an average attendance of 3,552, the highest during his tenure. Jones said he had been contacted about coaching positions at other universities, and that he was excited to remain in Denton.
See BOARD on Page 2 To read more about the new head coach see Page 4
VIEWS: Cutting out animal products prevents diseases Page 5
ONLINE: Poll: Who are you voting for in the SGA presidential run-off election? Lightning strikes Denton during a thunderstorm Sunday night.
Follow the North Texas Daily
PHOTO BY BRIAN MASCHINO/INTERN
Downpour drenches Denton Despite 1.51 inches, county still in drought BY M ATTHEW CARDENAS Staff Writer
More wet weather and mild temperatures are in the forecast this week as residents emerge from a weekend that brought Denton its first spring storm of the year. Thunderstorms dumped 1.51 inches of rain Sunday night and Monday morning, bringing the total annual rainfall to 3.74 inches, but not enough to lift
Denton County out of drought conditions, sa id Nationa l Weather Service Meteorologist Jennifer Dunn. “Based on the latest update of the U.S. Drought Monitor, most of Denton County is considered to be in a severe drought,” Dunn said. Storm systems are expected to push through Thursday night, bringing a possible chance of rain, and lowering temperatures into the 70s on Friday. Saturday storms are also likely. Temperatures are expected to remain in the 80s today through Thursday. Dunn also said forecasts
predict the temperatures will be higher than normal next three months. K i n e s iolo g y f r e s h m a n Stephen Simmons said the heat wouldn’t stop him from having fun. “I wish it wasn’t as hot,” Simmons said. “As long as I can go out and play baseball and softball and shoot hoops, I don’t mind being hot.” Business sophomore Jimmy Hunt said he’s not concerned about the heat. “I like warm weather,” Hunt said. “I’ve lived in Texas my whole life. I just don’t like the cold.”
PHOTO BY DREW GAINES/SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Election results trigger run-off BY ISAAC WRIGHT Senior Staff Writer
The Student Government Association presidential race is still up in the air as the top two candidates are gearing up for a run-off election in the coming weeks. Seven percent of UNT students cast nearly 2 , 5 0 0 o n l i n e ballots in t h e BLAKE c a m p u s - WINDHAM wide elect ion held last week. None of t he fou r candidates claimed at least ha lf the votes, KELLIE HILL forcing the two candidates with the most votes to compete in an additional election to decide the winner. Blake Windham, a biology senior, and running mate Edwin Chavez, a mechanical engineering junior, tallied 39 percent of the vote and will face Kellie Hill, a marketing junior, and Monica Saunders, a business junior, in a run-off election after the pair received 28 percent of the vote. Sara Fox, a development family studies junior, and Sean Smallwood, a political science sophomore, received 19 percent of the vote. Valerie Gonzalez, a public relations junior, and Jacob Moore, a radio, television and film sophomore, received 15 percent of the vote. “It would have been very difficult for any candidate to achieve that fifty-plus-one majority,” Hill said. “We were all expecting to have a run-off.” Current SGA president Kev in Sa nders sa id t he student senate would set a date for the run-off at Wednesday’s meeting.
Hill said both she and Saunders worked very hard and felt that effort paid off. “We’re very personable,” said Hill, who received 704 votes. “We spend a lot of time talking to students and making relationships.” Windham, who received 963 votes, said he is planning to continue campaigning to sway those that voted for the other candidates. “It’s just about getting out t here a nd t a l k i ng to st udents,” Wind ha m said. “It’s important that they know we’re in it for them, we’re not in it for ourselves.” Regardless of the election’s outcome, Windham said he plans to remain active in SGA and called for all candidates to do the same. “We hope that they will stay involved in the organization,” Windham said. “We still plan to be involved in SGA. We love SGA, and that’s why we chose to run for the top positions.” Gonzalez said she was disappointed that she didn’t win but is looking forward to seeing the results of the upcoming run-off. “We’re really satisfied with everything we did,” Gonzalez said. “We got out there and connected with students. That, in itself, is pretty rewarding whether we won or not.” Sara Fox could not be reached for comment. Some UNT students said they were not aware the presidential elections were underway last week. Claudia Orue, a finance junior, said she didn’t vote in last week’s election and only knew it was going on because one of the vice presidential candidates was in her class. Orue said she is still undecided about whether or not she will vote in the run-off. “I might vote if the candidates help make people more aware of it,” Orue said. The election schedule will be released Wednesday.