5 Wildcatter
Issue
Calallen
2010-2011
February 2011 Photos and Text by Calallen Publications
Inside:
News Page 2
Feature Page 3
Sports Page 11
SHOOTING DOWN AMERICAN HOPE Arizona Shooting Shakes The Nation
By Alexandra Taylor
There was a shooting him out of the gunman’s executors. Nine-year-old in Tucson, Arizona on line of fire. Roll was later Christina Green’s death, on January 8th. A disturbed shot to death in the back. the other hand, exemplifies man attempted to end “What Roll did was the murder of hope and the life of the Arizona Representative, Gabrielle Gifford. It has received much publicity and inspired much controversy. Looming even greater than the event itself, however, are the connotations of what occurred and the exceptional personalities of those whose lives and deaths were involved. “I feel that the people who were harmed by the actions of the shooter in Arizona were representative Half Mast. Flags at the nation’s capital fly at half mast to honor the victims of the January 8th of some of the best parts shooting in Tucson. of America,” sophomore Dillon Vaughan said. “Their extremely brave, even if innocence. Christina was deaths and manner of death he died in a horrible way,” one of the ‘50 Faces of Hope’ represent some of the worst.” sophomore Bryce Kneip children born on September One of the unwitting said. “He was right to 11, 2001. She was already victims of the attack was protect the man, even at a budding politician and federal judge John Roll. the cost of his own life. both conscious and hopeful Roll attended the rally as Roll’s death child at her untimely death. a supporter of Gifford, emphasizes his heroic actions “Christina was the and, when the shooting and morals, often considered brightest thing that happened began, saved the life of admirable and necessary that day (September 11, another man by forcing traits in American justice 2001.) Her birth lent a
Op/Ed Page 13
grace note of hope to that terrible day,” Christina’s mother Roxanne Green was quoted in an interview with the New York Times. Mrs. Green hopes that Christina’s death will help bring the shooter to justice. The dark destruction of the innocence and goodness exemplified in Roll and Green, not targeted in the attack, only unfortunate bystanders, were accomplished through the efforts of a mentally disturbed man named Jared Loughner. Loughner’s disagreement with Representative Gifford’s political opinions led him to harbor and act on personal grievances. “I am not sure if it has been fully decided why Loughner did what he did, but in a way many feel he was expressing his political views,” AP History teacher Jennie Syamken said. “However, this expression and the violent nature of it will haunt Americans for many years. The emotional trauma this caused has led to another burden the U.S. government has to deal with
Entertainment Page 15
and also increased fear of the American people that this will happen again.” Loughner’s actions have forced the nation to address the presentation of political decisions and the venom of unhinged public response. Representative Gifford’s injuries are serious and the deaths and injuries somber. The reason this harm befell so many blameless individuals is even more stark. The tragedy of the event has forced the nation into an unprecedented uproar over the deeper meaning this occurrence points towards. Horrible enough in the threat of life and safety alone, this shooting has also caused Americans to question what other moral and political ideals, no matter how innocent, are being slaughtered in a similar manner. “Many people might think this incident is due to the idea of freedom of speech, however, the founding fathers did not have this type of freedom or expression of freedom in mind,” Syamken said. “This incident raises many questions of how to handle a situation like this