The Oklahoma Daily

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA’S INDEPENDENT PEN NDENT STUDENT STUDENT VOICE

Who will take the field next weekend?

Landry Jones or Sam Bradford?

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Read about our drink of the week, gin bucket, in today’s Life & Arts section.

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Saturday’s Weather

84°/57° owl.ou.edu CAMPUS BRIEFS BOB STOOPS DONATES TO COLLEGE OF BUSINESS To establish a business faculty fellow program, Bob and Carol Stoops donated a $150,000 gift to the Michael F. Price College of Business.

The gift will support junior faculty through the Bob Stoops Business Faculty Fellow Program and will assist untenured assistant professors with research in the areas of accounting, finance, management, management information systems and marketing and supply chain management.

“It is gratifying for Carol and me to help out in this way now,” Bob Stoops said in a press release. “We hope that this program will ultimately benefit OU students.”

Awards in the Bob Stoops Business Faculty Fellow Program will be made to junior faculty who have shown research promise and potential.

Bob Stoops is a 1983 marketing graduate from the University of Iowa and in his 11th season as OU head football coach.

UOSA RECALLS MEMBERS OF STUDENT CONGRESS Move part of effort to reform student legislation RICKY MARANON The Oklahoma Daily

O k l a h o m a St u d e n t s f o r a Democratic Society’s petitions to recall 21 members of Student Congress was approved by UOSA General Counsel Thursday.

The group filed 21 petitions, one for each member of Congress they wanted to recall. The members being recalled should be chosen by a vote of the students rather than automatically taking a position

in Congress because they ran uncontested in last spring’s UOSA election, said Matt Bruenig, group spokesman.

“Students will have the opportunity to choose in the recall election whether their current representative should retain office or whether they should be removed from office,” said Michael Davis, UOSA General Counsel member.

The date for the recall election has not been determined, Davis said.

“In a recall election there is not an opponent, there is only the question of whether someone should keep their position,” Davis said.

Davis said if a member of Congress is recalled, Student Congress may either appoint a replacement or hold a special election.

Bruenig said a special election should take place to fill the seat of any member removed from office.

“SDS believes that appointing people to fill vacant seats after the recall is not a solution,” Bruenig said. “It will only perpetuate the non-representative nature of the organization that we are seeking to reform.”

He said if there are any vacancies produced by the recall election and a special election is called, the

CELL PHONE

[in Senegal] or use the computers at my school,” Ly said.

She said she goes to campus computer labs anywhere from three to six times a day to do homework, do research or check her e-mail.

“One disadvantage is that I feel really comfortable doing my homework in a small space in my room instead of the large computer lab,” Ly said.

Katherine Rose had never thought she would enjoy being without a cell phone.

But when Rose, political science junior, worked at a camp last summer in Wagoner — where there was little cell phone reception and she could only use her phone rarely — she realized she enjoyed the independence from her phone.

“That freedom of not [having to] answer people instantly felt really great,” Rose said.

Rose often feels tied to her phone, she said.

“I’m doing homework, and I get a text, and I’m required to respond almost instantly because people get offended,” she said. “It’s like always having to be tethered.”

Rose recently considered getting rid of her cell phone and replacing it with a landline, but she opted to keep the cell phone after considering the challenges that not having one could present.

Not having a cell phone would have been difficult when it came to planning, Rose said. She would have had to make plans further in advance and would have not been able to make as many last-minute plans often prompted by the convenience of cell phones.

Chelsey Henderson, University College freshman, has been without a cell phone for the last week. She lost her phone somewhere on campus last weekend and will not be able to get a new one for weeks, she said.

“My social life has just dropped completely,” Henderson said. “I’m stuck doing everything alone because I can’t meet up with anybody.”

She said she did not realize how dependent she was on her cell phone until she lost it.

“I always think to myself, ‘What did [previous generations] do without phones?’” Henderson said. “I’m miserable because I’m a freshman, and I’m just getting started.”

Nonetheless, Rose said she has not completely eliminated the idea of throwing out her cell phone.

She said she likes the idea of living at a slower pace and not feeling accountable to everyone all the time.

“It’s like a new societal expectation, kind of,” she said. “It’s a new way to offend someone.”

-Natasha Goodell/The Daily

-Caitlin Harrison/The Daily

HEALTH CARE FORUM TO BE HELD AT CHURCH A health care forum will be held Sunday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Norman, 555 S. University Blvd.

The forum will contain speeches from five panelists, including Charles Kimball, director of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma; Brian Karnes, Executive Director of Health for Friends in Norman; Dr. Chris Sieck, a Norman family physician; Craig Jones, president of the Oklahoma Hospital Association; and Rev. Bob Rice, pastor of First Presbyterian Church.

The event is free and open to the public.

LEADERSHIP PROGRAM OFFERS BOOK SESSIONS The University of Oklahoma Leadership De velopment and Volunteerism, a division of OU Student Affairs, is encouraging students to sign up for the Read & Lead Book Club. Students can sign up for either the first or second fall book club session.

According to an e-mail alert from Becky Barker, Director of OU Leadership and Volunteerism, the Listen & Lead session will be Sept. 29 and 30, and the Read & Lead session will be Nov. 17 and 18. Students will have to pay a $5 deposit prior to the sessions. The Listen & Lead session includes discussion lunches from noon to 1 p.m.

-Jono Greco/The Daily

MEMBERS CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

The Lost World

-Daily Staff Reports

-Charlotte Lunday/The Daily

group will select candidates to run for open seats.

“The petitions were signed before the meeting Tuesday and no member of Congress was singled out for a personal attack,” Bruenig said.

Davis states in the General Counsel’s report on the recall petitions that the signature was dropped because the second signature was a student who is not in Gress’ district.

Student Congress said they respect the group’s right to petition for a recall election, but said it is

TEEKO YANG/THE DAILY

Catie Dabney, art junior, talks on the phone, listens to an iPod and uses her laptop simultaneously Monday in the Bizzell Memorial Library. Some students experience campus life without these luxuries.

COMPUTER For some students, grabbing a laptop to check e-mail and Facebook is not feasible because they do not own a computer.

“I go every day to the computer lab,” said Lauren Freie, University College freshman, who does not have a computer. “I go once or twice a day depending on what homework I have.”

Freie said she goes to the computer lab before her classes and during much of the time she has in between.

She said it is “very hard not having a computer” because she works and does not usually do her homework until late at night.

Haby Ly, an international student from Senegal studying civil engineering, said she does not have a computer here or at home.

“I would go to the Internet Café

FACEBOOK Andrew Nimeh, University College freshman, said he tells people to get off Facebook since it becomes an addiction.

“I’m not a fan of virtual conversations,” he said. “I’m more of a face-to-face guy.”

Nimeh is not the only OU student to not have a Facebook account. Several OU students have avoided joining the popular social network because they value other forms of communication.

Facebook is “an easy way to talk with friends who don’t live around you,” said Chaz Black, journalism sophomore. But “it’s definitely time-consuming,” he said.

Students have plenty of other ways to talk to friends, said Erin Stokes, University College freshman. Stokes said she pre-

fers to call or send text messages to her friends instead of using Facebook.

“It doesn’t matter who I’m around,” she said, “they say something to me about getting one.”

-Brittney Brown/The Daily

Venezuelan university professor speaks about Chavez opposition Foreign polarization can teach through U.S. political situation JARED RADER The Oklahoma Daily

Venezuelan opposition to Hugo Chavez and his government will have a chance to gain political ground in the country only if it defines what it wants to change in the government and recognizes the successes of the Chavista movement, a professor from a Venezuelan university told an audience of students and faculty Thursday in the Oklahoma Memorial Union’s Frontier Room.

Steve Ellner, director of the Center for Administrative and Economic Research at the Universidad de Oriente in Venezuela, said the Chavez opposition has failed to

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remove Chavez from power because it has “no notion of what’s going to get scrapped and what’s going to be retained” if they were to take control of the government. He said this confusion is due to the opposition being related to the period of the 1990s before Chavez was in power.

“Even those Venezuelans who dislike Chavez very much… don’t want to go back to the [1990s],” Ellner said.

Ellner said the legitimac y of the Venezuelan government from 1958 to 1989 was based on a strong interventionist policy in the economic and social affairs of the country. Nationalized industries, especially the oil industry, were used to promote economic and regional development and lessen social inequality.

In 1989, everything changed when Carlos Andrés Pérez, the president of Venezuela at

the time, privatized industries that had been state run or owned by the Venezuelan public, and transferred these large sectors of the economy to foreign markets.

“Regardless of what we think of globalization, the fact of the matter is that the legitimacy of those governments for that extended period of time was based on the idea that the Venezuelan state was promoting national development,” Ellner said.

When Chavez came to power in 1998, he renationalized these industries, bringing back the kind of government Venezuela had identified with for a 30-year period, Ellner said.

Chavez also established social programs as a priority in his government, giving the poor the ability to be directly involved in government affairs, something Ellner said was a positive aspect of the system, but which had

© 2009 OU PUBLICATIONS BOARD

negative effects as well.

“Poor people feel that they have, for the first time, been incorporated and have some say-so in the decision-making process [of the government],” Ellner said.

“That’s really essential to understand Chavez’s political success.”

Ellner said it was these successes of Chavez’s government that the opposition has failed to recognize, only focusing on the negative aspects, which has pro- HUGO moted unity among oppos- CHAVEZ ing political parties.

“The opposition has done too much to promote unity among itself, among the different parties, so much so that they brush aside differences so that the opposition

VOL. 95, NO. 27

2 Friday, September 25, 2009 Meredith Moriak, managing editor dailynews@ou.edu • phone: 325-3666 • fax: 325-6051

OUDAILY.COM »

POLICE REPORTS The following is a list of arrests and citations, not convictions.

The information is compiled from the Norman Police and OU Police Departments.

Those listed are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

MUNICIPAL WARRANT Muhammad Abdul Basir, 18, 201 W. Gray St., Wednesday OTHER WARRANT Jason Earl Eldredge, 32, 1325 W. Lindsey St., Wednesday PUBLIC INTOXICATION Neil A. Nelson, 37, Ed Noble Parkway, Wednesday Mitchell Wade Schneider, 37, W. Robinson Street, Wednesday DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Angela Christine Shore, 46, E. Apache Street, Wednesday Freddy Robert Williams, 47, E. Alameda Street, Wednesday, also unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of marijuana DOMESTIC ABUSE IN THE PRESENCE OF A MINOR Jonathan Cole Torres, 20, 4115 W. Main St., Wednesday, also domestic abuse by a spouse

CAMPUS NOTES The Daily draws all entries for Campus Notes from OUDaily. com’s comprehensive, campuswide calendar. To get your event noticed, visit OUDaily.com and fill out our user-friendly form under the calendar link.

TODAY CAREER SERVICES

Career Services will hold two dining etiquette lunches at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in the Union’s Associates Room.

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY

“Climate Change, Local Communities and Environmental Justice: Local Research and Practice for Sustainability” will be held at 2 p.m. in Sarkeys Energy Center.

DAVID ROSS BOYD LECTURES

The Eleventh Series of the David Ross Boyd Lectures will present “Darwin and Group Selection” at 5 p.m. in Dale Hall.

OU SOCCER

The OU soccer team will play Texas at 7 p.m. at John Crain Field.

OU FINE ARTS CENTER

The College of Fine Arts will present “Is He Dead?” at 8 p.m. at the Max Weitzenhoffer Theatre in the OU Fine Arts Center.

SATURDAY OU FINE ARTS CENTER

The College of Fine Arts will present “Is He Dead?” at 8 p.m. at the Max Weitzenhoffer Theatre in the OU Fine Arts Center.

OBVIOUSLY UNREHEARSED IMPROV! AND STUDENT FILM PRODUCTION CLUB

Obviously Unrehearsed Improv! and the Student Film Production Club, in conjunction with the Campus Activities Council, will host a Neutrino video project workshop in the Union’s Frontier Room.

SUNDAY OU SOCCER

The OU soccer team will play Texas A&M at 1 p.m. at John Crain Field.

OU FINE ARTS CENTER

The College of Fine Arts will present “Is He Dead?” at 3 p.m. at the Max Weitzenhoffer Theatre in the OU Fine Arts Center.

The College of Fine Arts will host a joint recital of percussionist Ricardo Souza and composer Konstantinos Karathanasis at 6 p.m. at the Pitman Recital Hall in the Catlett Music Center.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

The College of Engineering will host an ExxonMobil information session at 5 p.m. in the Union’s Scholars room.

Professor Continued from page 1 doesn’t recognize the differences among themselves,” Ellner said.

If the opposition accepted the division among itself and recognized the successes and complexities of Chavez’s government, Ellner said it would be seen as a more legitimate movement.

“I think that any analysis, be it on the part of intellectuals like myself, or on the part of politicians and activists, has to take into consideration the complexity of what is taking place in Venezuela,” Ellner said.

Latin-American students attending the event had their own opinions on Chavez’s government.

“All the politicians around him… just care about havi n g p o w e r,” s a i d P a b l o Baraja, Colombian Student Association president and petroleum engineering graduate student. “He took the right of normal people and gave it to poor people.”

Erica Perdomo, international and area studies graduate student said, “I do agree with some of the policies [Chavez] has, I just don’t agree with the way he has been implementing them.”

Perdomo, who said she

LOG ON TO OUDAILY.COM TO WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HUGO CHAVEZ AND HIS RECENT VISIT.

came to OU from Venezuela five years ago, said it can be hard to express your ideology in Venezuela.

“Our society is really polarized. You’re either pro-Chavez or anti-Chavez,” she said.

Evans said Chavez is frequently in the news and the same kind of polarization that exists in Venezuela exists in the U.S. Ellner has taught as an economic history professor at the Universidad de Oriente in Venezuela since 1977. He has also authored several books, most recently Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict, and the Chavez Phenomenon.

Members Continued from page 1 unfortunate they do not respect the work being done by Congress, said Spencer Pittman, UOSA Student Congress spokesman.

“It is unfortunate that they are seeking to recall good members of Congress,” Pittman said. “[These members] are working to change the way things are on and around campus.”

Pittman said members of Congress hope the recall election will draw attention to the work being done by current representatives and also said members of Congress will continue to work on current projects and legislation as if there was not an upcoming recall election.

“We are not going to work any less on projects and ideas that come to the Congress,” he said.

“We will continue to work to make great change happen on campus for the good of the entire student body.”

Friday, September 25, 2009

3

OU student, Miss Oklahoma, focuses on giving back to the community Service learning topic of speech to Presidential Community Scholars JARED RADER The Oklahoma Daily

As a student at OU, you are not only learning how to get your degree, you are also learning how to serve others with your degree, Miss Oklahoma winner, Taylor Treat, told the 2009-2010 President’s Community Scholars Thursday in Davenport’s.

Treat, a human relations senior who is taking the year off from school while serving as Miss Oklahoma, shared the story of how her service learning experience, which began in high school, lead her to winning the title of Miss Oklahoma.

As Miss Oklahoma, she is promoting service learning to public schools across the state, and going all the way to Capitol Hill to support the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. The bill aims to triple the size of the AmeriCorps program over the next eight years and expand ways for students to earn money for college.

“With service learning, there are two parts to it: the service and the learning,” Treat said. “When I was going to school ...

I was learning those different things so I could help someone else in the community.”

Treat traced her passion for community service back to her sophomore year at Ada High School, which requires students to participate in service projects as part of their requirements for graduation.

“I began to completely transform as a student,” Treat said.

She said her grades began to improve and she began to get involved in many school programs as a result of her service learning activities.

During her senior year she took part in a safe driving program called Project Ignition, which has grown into a national program for schools. “[Service learning] really has changed my life,” Treat said.

“I believe it is the only way to make a difference in education in America.”

Treat said her service learning initiatives in high school got her a scholarship to OU, where she got involved on campus, joining the OU Pom squad, and eventually competing for the title of Miss OU. “She showed us that even though you think that you’re just a freshman on this huge campus, and that nothing you do is going to count, it really is,” said Cristine Segui, University College freshman.

P r e s i d e n t ’s C o m m u n i t y Scholars is a group of about 100 students chosen for their service to the community, leadership ability and achievements, according to NEIL MCGLOHON/THE DAILY an OU Web site.

T re at w a s c row n e d Mi s s Bria Stewart, international studies sophomore, presents Miss Oklahoma 2009, Taylor Treat, Oklahoma June 6 in Tulsa. Since with a President’s Community Scholars T-shirt for speaking to the group Thursday evening in winning, Treat has been tour- Davenport’s Cafe. Treat talked about her journey to become Miss Oklahoma and her current ing schools across the state to efforts to become Miss America. promote her platform of service learning. Treat said she has over not be able to go back to school for another two years.

150 school visits booked for this year.

Despite the big competition ahead, Treat is focused on She said she claimed over $17,000 in scholarships for her sharing the importance of service learning to Oklahoma victories in the talent and swimsuit competitions in addition schools. to the crown. She said she would use the money to pay for “As Miss Oklahoma, I just want to be able to reach people college expenses when she returns to OU. on a personal level, and not be put on a pedestal,” Treat said.

Treat said she is also training for the Miss America pageant, “I just want to be able to talk to everybody and let them know which will take place Jan. 30 in Las Vegas. She said she has to what’s going on in the state, and let them know how great work out six days a week for 10 weeks, and is being trained by Oklahoma is.”

OU’s mascot coach, Erik Gransberg.

If she wins the title of Miss America, Treat said she would

Guantanamo Bay prison still subject of various debates Alleged treatment of prisoners main reason for contention MEREDITH MORIAK The Oklahoma Daily

During a discussion Thursday afternoon, two lawyers debated whether the United States should promptly close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba and whether those responsible for writing, approving and implementing the authorization of unlawful interrogation techniques should be fully prosecuted.

Robert Turner, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and co-founder of the Center for National Security Law, said closing Guantanamo Bay would waste money and fail to solve anything.

“We have treated these guys exceptionally

Guantanamo Bay, about 5 percent were capwell ... with a few exceptions,” Turner said.

Turner said nothing is inherently wrong tured on battlefields and should be held. with the facility and that it was built for The other 95 percent are being held on the prisoners of war. He said prisoners receive assumption of terrorism, he said.

“The global war on terror is a war without better medical and dental health care than end,” Coyne said. most Americans on the island.

Detainees should be removed from the Randall Coyne, OU law professor, said it camp and sent to safe is essential to close the prisons where center and said suspi“The global war on terror is a federal there is room for them, cion of terrorism is not Coyne said. a means for preventative war without end.”

Turner said the treatdetention.

“Torture is immoral,” -RANDALL COYNE, OU LAW PROFESSOR ment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is not he said. “Torture does not work. Torture is illegal. It puts our people the first or worst civil liberties violation at risk, and torture is not what the United during war time and that former President George W. Bush and his administration States does.

Torture is prosecutable regardless of who should not be punished for their decisions.

Turner said all wars involve collateral commits or endorses it. Nobody in America damage, and this accompanies the current is above the law.”

Coyne said that of the detainees at war on terrorism.

Coyne said the U.S. needs to work harder to move cleared prisoners out of the facility.

“John and Kate Plus Eight might be able to take some of these people,” Coyne said jokingly.

Turner said it is important that the government educate people on the situation at Guantanamo Bay. “Bush and his people did an atrocious job educating people what they were doing and what the effects were,” Turner said.

Coyne said the men should be tried in a federal court, but Turner argued that they should be tried in military court because some evidence would be thrown out if they were to be tried in federal court.

The debate took place at the College of Law and was hosted by the Federalist Society, a group of conservative and libertarian students interested in the current state of the legal order.

WELCOME Principals and Counselors to the University of Oklahoma for the 2009 OU Principal and Counselor Conference.

We’re glad you’re here!

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- THE IMPACT OF EXCELLENCE

4

Friday, September 25, 2009

Will Holland, opinion editor dailyopinion@ou.edu • phone: 325-7630 • fax: 325-6051

COMMENT OF THE DAY »

In response to Jelani Sims’ Wednesday column, “OU museum mishandling intelligent design documentary”

OUR VIEW

“It’s the museum of natural history...not supernatural history. By invoking a non-natural mechanism for “design” you’re inherently going against the princples of the museum. I for one, applaud the museum for releasing this statement.”

-sjohnson

STAFF COLUMN

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Old feature to return to opinion page next week On Monday, The Daily will bring back a popular feature that hasn’t been a regular part of the opinion page since fall 2007: Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down.

Basically, each Monday we will list the hits and misses, the goods and bads, the highs and lows from the previous week in addition to the Our View editorial.

The topics covered in the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down feature will vary and include national or international news, events going on here on campus and our general thoughts on the previous week.

Essentially, if students are talking about it, we want to give readers our quick-hit opinion on it.

Throughout each week, The Daily’s editorial board will be keeping an eye out for potential issues to go in this feature, and we want to encourage you to do the same.

If something happens in the library Tuesday afternoon or on Campus Corner Friday night that you think would make a good Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down, email us at dailyopinion@ou.edu.

Hopefully this feature will foster more discussion and allow us to develop our opinions on a wider variety of issues.

I must say I am embarrassed by the quality of journalism produced in the article “OSDS Interrupts Student Congress Meeting.” I attended this meeting neither as a Student Congress member, nor a member of OSDS, and can honestly say the article published today was biased in every way possible.

While it is undeniable that OSDS was forceful in their comments, it is inaccurate to say they “interrupted” during the meeting. The leader of the organization spoke after raising his hand, after a time set aside for questions. However, it is to be noted that however forceful OSDS’s comments were, they were obviously not forceful enough, because the Student Congress refused to listen to their remarks on the record during the meeting.

I believe the newsworthy information about this meeting was not the interruption, but instead the resistance of our student representatives to hear their constituents.

Chairman John Jennings said there wasn’t time in the meeting to listen to their comments during the question period because there were immediate issues to be handled. The “immediate” issues he covered during this time were the pressing issue of beverages before or after the meeting, a thank you to Dave Annis and a three minute discussion of a possible new election chair.

There were relevant topics, for instance when the board members discussed some of their plans, however this portion of the meeting lasted no longer

than ten minutes.

The last portion of the time was spent debating whether or not the Congress had time to hear the complaints of the students. This argument took over 20 minutes, longer than it would have taken to actually let them speak. Only a handful of Congress members recognized the ambush of audience at the meeting as something positive.

This raises the question, what is the Student Congress for if not to hear what the students have to say? What is the point of holding public meetings for the student body if they have no voice in them?

The counterargument to this would be we elected these representatives, and they are our voice. This isn’t true in all cases; some offices ran unopposed and were appointed, meaning students have no voice in their government at all.

UOSA wants students to get involved and have a voice but doesn’t give them the opportunities to do so. The newsworthy portion of this meeting is perhaps Tuesday night proved democracy doesn’t exist at all at OU. Furthermore, what is the point of having a newspaper at OU if the news it provides is biased? As journalists, the position of The Oklahoma Daily is to provide accurate information to its audience, without a bias. This article forces readers and students like me to question the credibility of the paper as a whole.

Colbi Beam

STAFF COLUMN

A columnist’s wake up call to the youth of America Close the blinds, turn the volume up, But we’d rather debate the existence of flip the lights off and gather round the global warming than have discussion over television for another daily dose of self- solutions. imposed oblivion.

My question is why? Why is our genThere’s no learning on The Learning eration more politically detached and Channel, no history on The History apathetic than our predecessors? Why do Channel. News channels don’t we blind ourselves to a world that broadcast news, and MT V demands our attention? doesn’t play music.

I believe the answer to these Yet, our generation insists on questions lies in the fact that our poisoning its sense of reality, generation is paralyzed by our domesticating its moral outrage own indecisiveness, incapacitatand subscribing to what can be ed by modernization and utterly described as nothing less than attention-deficit. willed ignorance. I can assure There is a psychological comyou that such naiveté will bring EVAN ponent to our generational apathy.

DEFILIPPIS neither bliss nor safety.

The constant stream of images that Never mind that though; it’s flows from media outlets facilitates entertainment. It makes people a resigned sense of hopelessness laugh, it makes people cry, but most of all, and despair. it makes people forget.

These images are pornography. They It makes them forget there is a reality satisfy nothing but our sense of voyeuroutside the weekly lineup of comfortable ism in that they show us everything but story lines and familiar characters, and explain nothing. The inaccurate hyperboit makes them forget just how intimately les broadcast by news stations do nothing connected we are with the rest of the but contribute to a sense of powerlessworld. ness. They don’t stimulate interest, they We are all components of a human mo- don’t stir sympathy and they don’t evoke saic that is in dire need of artistry. So set change. the controller down because it’s going to They only remind us of how fractured be a long ride. and irreparable the world is. They insist I hope I’m wrong about my sobering on reminding us just how afraid we should analysis of public ignorance, but my con- be and just how insignificant we are. victions are confirmed every day.

Our compassion is fatigued beyond Half of us can send a text message in 30 repair. seconds but agonize over writing essays.

When we hear about the plagues in We update our Twitter feeds with greater sub-Saharan Africa, the incalculable regularity than our reading lists. We spend number of children who have died from more time watching “reality” TV than we starvation or the countless innocent men do actually learning about reality. tortured for political reasons, we feel reAn allergy to realism has metastasized lieved when we donate to a non-profit. into a societal epidemic, and we’ve beAlthough we are fully aware these gescome infected with the dangerous idea tures are, like giving Tylenol to the victim that we cannot change the world around of a gunshot wound, futile, we insist on us. We’re incapacitated by fears of our doing them because we cannot morally own powerlessness. justify inaction. Despite our reservations Our generation is fighting wars in about the efficacy of our assistance, we Afghanistan and Iraq, yet we dedicate do them because they’re convenient. our time to discussing the dramas of “The It’s comfortable to click a link and forget Bachelor” or “Grey’s Anatomy.” Our gen- about the suffering. eration has the opportunity to pass one of Why should we travel to countries the most comprehensive pieces of health and administer vaccines when we can legislation, yet we are silent, our political feel good about ourselves by donating “a absence filled by the propagandistic lies dollar a day” to save a life? Why should of the older “birther” and “teabagger” we care about global catastrophe, when generations. we can absolve ourselves of guilt by givWe’ve inherited an extinction-level ing our credit card number to the “right” problem of climate change: Sea levels are organization? rising, glaciers are melting, temperatures Why should we educate ourselves with are escalating and species are dying. television when we’re only losing a war

on three channels but solving mysteries on all the others? We can’t cope with the magnitude of crises, so we fatalistically resign ourselves to the convenience of inaction.

If we do act, it is almost always out of externally-imposed obligation. We embrace superficial gestures that are just enough to make us feel like we’ve done something but not enough to be noticed.

We feel “accomplished” by joining a Facebook group. We express our indignation by updating our Twitter feeds. We cathartically write blog posts and call it a day.

Our complete reliance on technology has co-opted our very ability to act. It has stolen our voices and replaced it with a status box, it has exchanged our agency with a diminutive profile “pic” and it has engendered the facade of accomplishment by connecting us with a community of the sycophantically like-minded.

Our youthful passion may persist, but it is perverted and disjointed by the asymmetry of Internet communication.

Technology, while making communication efficient, has decentralized politics, divided our attention and stimulated inaction.

We don’t need any more updates, we don’t need any more blog posts and we don’t need any more amateur journalism.

We need to get angry.

We need letters to congressmen and calls to the White House. We need our students to seek knowledge for knowledge’s sake, to put education over entertainment and to believe in their own abilities to make a difference.

Problems are not intractable, and people are not powerless. It is important to understand this. Our generation will be judged by the decisions we make now, and we mustn’t sabotage our legacy to the future.

Wake up, America. Stop hitting the snooze alarm. Stop pulling the blanket over your eyes. And stop thinking you can’t change the world.

If I sound frustrated, it’s because I am. It’s because I know people won’t even be patient enough to read this far.

Congratulations to the people who did.

You probably didn’t need to hear this.

Evan DeFilippis is a political science, economics and psychology junior.

T=: O@A6=DB6 D6>AN Jamie Hughes Editor-in-Chief Meredith Moriak Managing Editor Charles Ward Assistant Managing Editor Ricky Ly Night Editor Will Holland Opinion Editor Michelle Gray, Merrill Jones Photo Editors

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e-mail: dailynews@ou.edu

‘God is probably not pro-life’ Recently, I was in a debate with a Christian, and the topic of abortion came up, as it sometimes does.

I asked him why he held his pro-life belief. His answer was that God was pro-life and abhors the practice of abortion.

Not wanting to take his word for it, I did some research and came to the conclusion that God is probably not pro-life.

I realize I could take the easy road and cite all sorts of passages that demonstrate the Christian God is not pro-life by pointing to many Old Testament passages where he happily brings about the death of people including unborn children.

TARRANT But I know where the discusCARTER sion will go if I take that route. It will divulge into a New-Testamentsupersedes-the-Old-Testament conversation, which is a cop-out of an answer. Or some Christians will argue I do not understand the context or my interpretation is wrong.

However, I don’t like Biblical arguments because many people assume at the outset that God is prolife and cite passages that help their cause while minimizing ones that harm it.

I could take a more direct route and prove God is not pro-life by the very fact that God instituted physical and spiritual death. It’s kind of hard to consider yourself pro-life when you made death a possibility for your creation. The problem with this argument is that it’s too short to fill an entire opinion column.

Instead, I would rather take a different angle on the whole question. The argument only requires establishing two facts.

First, I must discuss miscar r iage rates.

Miscarriages are commonly defined as spontaneous abortions that occur before the twentieth week of pregnancy. According to some studies, about 10 to 25 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage.

The second important fact is God’s responsibility for some people’s deaths. I usually hear from Christians that when people die it is because it was God’s plan. You here things from Christians when people die such as “God has another purpose for him,” or “it was God’s will.” So it is obvious from the mouths of Christians that God is responsible in some way for the deaths of people.

Now we reach a major conundrum for the thesis that God is pro-life. How can somebody that is responsible for the nearly one-fourth of naturally occurring abortions be considered pro-life?

I thought being pro-life was an absolutist stance against abortion. Clearly God didn’t get the memo.

He has as part of his plan the death of one-fourth of all conceived individuals before they take their first breath (and these rates are actually higher for nonindustrialized nations).

Perhaps the even more twisted part of the story is human-caused abortions. In the United States, induced abortion rates have hovered around 20 percent of all pregnancies for the last couple of years.

Ironically, in a given year, God is responsible for more abortions than Americans are. Yet I don’t hear the Christian pro-lifers denouncing their own God for his apparent lack of a pro-life agenda.

If you compare the miscarriage rates, it would seem the most prudent and logical way to save more lives would be to pray to or ask God to cut back next year on spontaneous abortions.

The nice thing about this argument is that it doesn’t rely on the supposed words of God, but instead his actions.

Many people believe actions speak louder than words, and I am one of them. If God is to be considered pro-life, he cannot pay lip service to the term by aborting one-fourth of all conceived individuals.

So if God is not pro-life, the reason why some Christians are pro-life falls apart.

I want to make it clear that I am not arguing that abortion is right or wrong but instead challenging the reasoning or justification some Christians give for their position.

I think there are better arguments for the pro-life position. God’s opinion on the issue just happens to be a terrible argument. Christians, or anyone else for that matter, would be better served if they dropped the God is pro-life argument and argued on more substantive grounds such as one of human rights.

Tarrant Carter is a philosophy and psychology senior.

The Oklahoma Daily is a public forum and OU’s independent student voice.

Letters should concentrate on issues, not personalities, and should be fewer than 250 words, typed, double spaced and signed by the author(s). Letters will be cut to fit. Students must list their major and classification. OU staff and faculty must list their title. All letters must include a daytime phone number. Authors submitting letters in person must present photo identification.

Submit letters Sunday through Thursday, in 160 Copeland Hall. Letters can also be submitted via e-mail to dailyopinion@ ou.edu.

Guest columns are accepted at editor’s discretion. ’Our View’ is the voice of The Oklahoma Daily.

Editorial Board members are The Daily’s editorial staff.

The board meets Sunday through Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in 160 Copeland Hall.

Columnists’ and cartoonists’ opinions are not necessarily the opinions of The Daily Editorial Board.

Friday, September 25, 2009

5

Dotson inspires journalism students at Thursday presentation Bob Dotson shares stories of his first experiences on the job CHARLES WARD The Oklahoma Daily

Bob Dotson advised members of the OU Nightly crew on Thursday to prepare for any eventuality during their careers in journalism by acquiring as many job skills as possible.

“At 22, or 15 or 17, that’s too early to say this is what I want to be, especially if you’re worried about what your job classification is going to be,” he said.

“Because the job is going to disappear.”

Dotson told his audience a story about one of the first female journalists he worked with, when he was at WKY-TV (now KFOR). Not only was she trying to break into what Dotson described as the male-dominated world of television journalism in 1969, she also had to use crutches to walk, because of an earlier bout with polio.

Many of Dotson’s co-workers doubted her skills because of her gender. Others questioned whether she could overcome her disability.

“She came in with the curiosity to learn everything she could about journalism. And because of that, she had a meteoric rise, and became a wonderful anchor as well,” Dotson said. “But she didn’t come in saying I want to be the weather girl. She said I want to learn how to light [the set], and I want to know how to do this [and that].”

Matt Pepe, one of the OU Nightly hosts and producers, found Dotson’s words valuable.

“It was good listening to him talk about how you shouldn’t try to be one thing in life,” Pepe said. “You should always aim to learn everything in your entire

field.”

Dotson also discussed one of his very first on-air experiences. He was supposed to provide two minutes of Oklahoma-City oriented content as a drop-in for the Today Show. However, his microphone broke as he began his broadcast, causing him to spend most of his two minutes fumbling around for it.

Dotson said his news director greeted him after his miscue with a single sentence. “You know Bob, they don’t pay us to look stupid.”

“It really is inspiring to know that he made it when he wasn’t as good when he was little,” said Melanie Stone, a camerawoman for OU Nightly.

After this story, Dotson told the Nightly crew that they were “light years” ahead of where he was when he began.

The NBC News and Today Show correspondent’s question-and-answer session on the set of OU Nightly came as part of his visit to the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

He spoke at a breakfast and to a class Thursday morning, before offering an afternoon speech, open to not just students, but anyone who wanted to listen.

“In the 10:30 [a.m.] session, what he said, which I think is really great that I think people need to always remember is the art of story telling, and that no matter ... whatever the new media is, you must remember the fundamentals of good story telling,” said Alex Shumate, a broadcast journalism graduate student.

Dotson will conclude his visit to Norman today by offering the keynote address at the NewsTrain event, held at the Gaylord College Friday and Saturday.

The event is sponsored by the Mid-America Press Institute and is hosted by the Associated Press Managing Editors.

MARCIN RUTKOWSKI/THE DAILY

Dotson sat down with The Daily’s Charles Ward to discuss his views on storytelling, journalism in modern time and his collection of about 6,000 video cassettes of his reporting, which he donated to the Oklahoma Historical Society and to the Gaylord College.

Q: You talked about geography. You seem to have a little bit of a connection to Oklahoma, not just starting at WKY (TV, now KFOR), but you agreed to give your collection to the journalism school. Is there something in particular about Oklahoma that draws you back?

A: Two things. One is, when I was here, I did 19 documentaries. So, I traveled all over the state, and I met all different kinds of people. So, I got a real sense of this state, and I kind of fell in love with it. And then I fell in love with one of the girls in this state, and I’m still in love with her after 40 years.

So I’ve got a lot of relatives in and around Oklahoma City. And then, over a period of 40 years I’ve come back every year but two for the National Press Photographers, which meets here in Norman. So, I found out after many, many years ... Oklahoma is really kind of where I made my bones and got my chops, and I have great friends, and I have a lot of history here.

Q: How is the restoration and digitizing and archiving of your collection going?

A: I never owned the copyright to anything, but I saved it all. And the reason I saved it all is because when I first started out here in Oklahoma, I got a call from a fire chief in Stillwater. And they were tearing down one of the original fire stations. And they found

in the attic boxes and boxes of nitrate-based film, which is explosive, old-style film. And they didn’t know what they had, so they asked me to come up and take a look. It turned out to be the archives of ... an early day ... NewsReel photographer here in Oklahoma from about 1906 to about 1946. And he was enough of a storyteller and curious that he would shoot stuff he knew couldn’t sell to his folks in New York. So, for instance, he would do stories about black lawmen. Or, stories about women who are not just in swimming suits. Or, stories about Native Americans, not just dancing with feathers ... So, as a young producer, I found that some of the best stuff was always in somebody’s basement.

Because if you did something you were proud of, the company might have tossed it out after so many years when they sold the company, but you would have kept a copy ... Then I started doing kind of this unique beat, and so I kept it all, first in my basement and then in three warehouses, at my expense ... Not only did I keep the stories, but I kept every field cassette ... So, [Bob Wright, then president of NBC Universal] came up with $10 million, and he started with my archive ... and [NBC] got it all digitized. So, somebody making minimum wage could, for like a buck-fifty, make an advertiser in Phoenix ... a reel of stuff of what Phoenix looked like in

NBC correspondent Bob Dotson speaks with journalism students in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications about a variety of journalism topics Thursday afternoon.

1975 and sell it to them for $5,000. So, they’re making millions off this thing. So, as a thank you they gave me a copy of every story I ever did, and that is what I, in turn, gave to the University of Oklahoma, because I knew if I kept it, A) you don’t know how long the material is going to last and B) you don’t want it to just go back in boxes ... The stuff that the university has not been digitized, but it’s on state-of-the-art video, and so eventually, it will be. We’re trying to figure out how to do all of that. On top of that, I’ve got all the artifacts. I’ve got pictures of some of the things people gave me, and I was able to put all of that in the archive as well.

Q: The question that goes around every body even tangentially related to the business is how are we going to start paying for this stuff? Newspapers are going down, TV network ratings are going down.

All the traditional media, people aren’t doing, and the ones that are popping up, people really haven’t found a way to pay for. Do you have any ideas about how that’s going to happen?

A: If I did, I would be president of the world. I’ve talked to some people about it who I think are on the right track. First of all, we’re at a tipping point. New media has survived, because they’ve been sucking off old media. The New York Times does something, and everybody talks about it, and that’s how

they can do their blogs and all that stuff. And that’s about to go away, because the New York Times is only around because it’s selling off its real estate. So, they’re not making a profit. And when the New York Times is in trouble, how about the rest of us? ... The myth is out there that everything’s for free, and eventually we’re all going to be working at Starbucks. And the only thing left of what we think of as journalism is going to be opinion and YouTube ... The Associated Press and some others have started coming up with an extension of the copyright law, using the computerized world that we have. So that if you’re a blogger, and you want to use the New York Times article, and you want to comment and quote from it, they have ways of figuring out that you’ve done that, and you’ve got to pay them 3 cents. It’s not going to be huge, because they don’t want people not to use it, they just want to get a trillion revenue streams ... You could do government [funding], but then you’ve got government’s finger in it, that says, well after a while, you’re getting our money, just do what we want to do. So, if you want to keep it in the free enterprise system, it seems to me that you’ve got to figure out a way to get small revenue streams coming back, so that you can keep journalism from becoming just opinion and YouTube.

Okla students watch shows, movies on Web site more than TV Hulu.com provides a convenient and trendy way for viewers to catch up on primetime shows KATHLEEN EVANS The Oklahoma Daily

For the first time, an online television Web site, Hulu. com, drew in more viewers than major cable company Time Warner Cable. Many OU students said they are among the thousands of viewers who log-on to Hulu weekly.

“It’s more convenient to watch it online because you can do it in more places,” said Robert Rose, University College freshman.

At OU, students are contributing to these viewers because Hulu offers advantages regular television does not.

In July 2009, Hulu had approximately 38 million viewers, ranking it above Time Warner Cable by 4 million viewers, according to a study by comScore, Inc. The study also reported that Time Warner is the second largest cable company in the U.S. Overall, Hulu was third in ratings, only beat by Comcast and DirecTV. Hulu is an online video provider that carries movies, television shows, clips, and trailers, according to its Web site.

Though it is an independent company, it works with TV networks to provide primetime hits. Users do not need an account to watch videos, just Internet connection.

“Pretty much any time I watch TV, I watch it on the Internet,” said Niekia Franklin, zoology sophomore. “I probably watch it most when I’m getting ready in the morning. My laptop sits on the vanity.”

Rose said Hulu and other online television sites are handy to use.

“You don’t need cable. I don’t have a TV in my room, so

if I miss [the television show “House”] or something, I can go [on Hulu] and watch it,” Rose said.

Even if students have a TV, Hulu and other Internet television providers allow a degree of portability not found in most TV sets.

“At home I have a wonderful new high-def plasma screen [TV], but I still prefer using my laptop to watch television,” Franklin said. “I like to take my laptop into the kitchen so that I can alternate between a cooking tutorial on YouTube and an interesting show while I’m cleaning.”

Internet television also LAUREN HARNED/THE DAILY has fewer commercials and greater ease to catch up on Studies show that students are watching television shows and movies on Hulu.com more a show if I miss an episode, often than they watch from their television sets.

Franklin said.

Although some champion There are no reports about what direction the U.S. will take Hulu for its convenience, it does not change the fact that one with online television, but OU students seem to think of it as must still take the time out to watch it. less and less trendy and more and more permanent.

“I don’t watch too much TV,” said Drue McCraw, pre-phar“[Hulu] definitely has a future, no doubt about it,” Rose macy sophomore. “I don’t like to keep up with it – there’s a said. “As long as people keep using it, as long as people still lot out there. The Internet makes it a little easier to keep up have Internet, then [online TV] is going to be used.” because you don’t have to be just at home, but there’s still a lot out there.”

6

Friday, September 25, 2009

Annelise Russell, sports editor dailysports@ou.edu • phone: 325-7630 • fax: 325-6051

«SOCCER Go online this weekend for game w updates on OU u soccer. OUDAILY.COM

FRIDAY FACE-OFF:

Who lines up behind center?

Landry Jones Sam Bradford may be the greatest quarterback in the history of OU football. He’s broken records, won the Heisman and kept OU as one of America’s premier football institutions.

But maybe it’s time to let him go.

By returning to OU for this season, Bradford passed up millions of dollars and the chance to prove his worth on the professional stage. Against BYU, all of that was potentially jeopardized.

JAMES If he is healthy enough CORLEY to return next week, I say Stoops and the coaching staff should respectfully thank him for all he has done, then tell him to stay on the sidelines.

Bradford could take his success at the college level to new heights in the NFL. He could become the next Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Why should he put that all on the line again, after everything that’s happened the last few weeks? It’s not like he’d be abandoning the program. Freshman

Landry Jones has done an exceptional job stepping in for Bradford. He’s been steadily improving, building team chemistry and finding a solid rhythm. He also broke the school record for touchdowns in a single game last week and tied the NCAA record for freshmen.

But if the staff pulls Landry now, he’ll lose the progress he’s taken to inherit the reigns of the team, that chemistry and rhythm only playing time can develop.

And God forbid something should happen to Bradford again, but where would we be? Personally, I’d rather Jones’ “breaking in” period have been against Idaho State than against Miami or Texas.

Also, if Bradford comes back to play and is not 100 percent, what does that do for OU? Remember that he hasn’t been on the field in three weeks. And he might play differently than he has, fearing another injury.

My whole point is why make an unnecessary change? Jones has been playing well, and the Sooners have a good thing going with him at the helm. It’s time to let Bradford go to fully heal so he can move on to setting pro records and winning Super Bowls.

James Corley is a journalism senior.

MICHELLE GRAY/THE DAILY

Quarterback Landry Jones (12), waits for the snap during the Sooners game against the University of Tulsa Saturday.

VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT OUDAILY.COM FOR WEEKLY PODCASTS

MERRILL JONES/THE DAILY

Quarterback Sam Bradford (14), prepares to make a pass during OU’s game against BYU Sept. 5.

Sam Bradford Before I get into it, my hat goes off to Landry Jones. Really.

While Idaho State’s prestige is a little less than “cupcake,” Jones looked pretty good against Tulsa despite two picks, not to mention his record-setting six touchdown lobs.

And if you take another look at some of his better passes, they could not have been thrown any better.

With that being said, I’m still not impressed, at least not enough to start Jones over a recovering CLARK Sam Bradford against the FOY University of Miami.

Since Bradford’s injury status is unknown and will not be known until potentially next week, let’s take several hypothetical views .

The first and most ideal (and incredibly unlikely) situation is Bradford makes a 100 percent recovery by the week of the game, in which case it is a no-brainer that he gets the start.

However, as we have seen with Bradford,

but also Jermaine Gresham, Tom Wort and Mike Balogun, this will not happen.

In the more likely scenario that Bradford comes back, he will be playing at 75 or 80 percent, and I would still go with Bradford’s experience and leadership.

This is for one simple reason; I want the player who will make the least mistakes. And against a fast, unforgiving defense like Miami, avoiding mistakes is half the battle.

If Jones goes in against Miami and starts off with an interception like he did against Tulsa, I have no faith he will come back with any confidence.

Instead, Jones will get flustered and rush his passes as the blur that is Miami’s defense feasts on every little mistake he makes, not to mention the fact that the Sooners will be on the road.

Bradford knows the offense, knows the players and, most importantly, knows himself as a player better than Jones does.

In the end, that’s all we need. Forgive me Landry, you’ll be ready someday, but I’m not ready to let you go out into the real world of on the road top 10 play just yet.

Clark Foy is a journalism junior.

Friday, September 25, 2009

7

Sooner volleyball’s chance to bounce back JAMES CORLEY The Oklahoma Daily

The OU volleyball team (9-3, 2-1) travels to Boulder Saturday to play Colorado at 8 p.m.

The Buffaloes (5-7, 0-3) are on a threegame losing streak, all against conference opponents.

OU VS. COLORADO However, two were No. 6 Nebraska and Where: N o . 2 Te x a s Coors Events Center back to back.

Boulder, Colo.

Colorado When: may be a little 8 p.m. down, but they’re not out OU: yet.

Recently lost to Kansas “They are in five sets a very, very tough team at Colorado: home,” coach Three-game winning streak Santiago

Restrepo said. “They play very good defense and are well-coached.”

The altitude could also play a factor.

The university is nearly a mile above sea level, positioned high amongst the Rocky Mountains.

The thin air makes it difficult to get oxygen as easily and can wear out visiting opponents.

“I think it’s very key for us to learn from these kinds of matches and to close matches,” Restrepo said.

The team has had no problem starting strong, but he and the staff have been teaching them to close out matches.

The Sooners had Kansas on the ropes Wednesday night after the first set, but OU lacked the consistent play to close out the match and allowed the Jayhawks to rally back to steal the win.

“Our girls played very strong and never JEREMY DICKIE/THE DAILY gave up,” Restrepo said. “When you’re on the road, it’s tough. And unfortunately it (Left to right) Right side Suzy Boulavsky (2), and middle blocker Sarah Freudenrich (13), strategize just before a serve during Saturday’s game against Missouri. went (Kansas’) way.”

OU cross country team headed north Soccer hosts Red River rival ERIC DAMA The Oklahoma Daily

What: 2009 Roy Griak Invitational Date: Saturday Location: Minneapolis, Minn.

Time: 9 a.m. C.S.T. Course: This year’s Roy Griak Invitational is at the University of Minnesota Les Bolstad Golf Course.

Runners can expect rolling hills and grassy terrain throughout the entire course.

Distance: Men – 8,000 meters Women – 6,000 meters

Previously: OU’s women’s and men’s cross country teams opened the season Sept. 5 at the Hurricane Festival in Tulsa. The women finished fourth overall, behind (in order) Tulsa, Oklahoma State and Oral Roberts, while the men finished fifth, behind Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Texas and Oral Roberts.

Women to watch: •Jr. Kelly Waters. The leader of the women’s team, Waters earned All-Big 12 Honors last year while

finishing fifth in the Big 12 Championships. The junior did not compete in the season opener in Tulsa, but she should be more than prepared for this weekend’s competition.

•Sr. Lauren Watson. The Oklahoma Baptist University transfer has showed major improvements over the previous two seasons.

Watson, whose first action as a Sooner was the 2007 Roy Griak Invitational (where she placed 117th), will certainly be aiming to improve upon that finish this year in Minneapolis.

She started the season off well, leading the Sooner women with a solid fourth-place finish three weeks ago at the Hurricane Festival in Tulsa, completing the two-mile course in 11 minutes and 15 seconds.

Men to watch: •Sr. Chris Sweeney. The Colorado native has a knack for starting the season off strong. Sweeney has been the OU men’s highest finisher at the previous two Hurricane Festivals. This year he finished 11th, completing the four-mile course in a time of 21:03.

•Sr. Tony Clement. Right behind Sweeney three weeks ago was Clement, who took a mere two seconds longer to finish the course, clocking in at 21:05.

Although a senior, as all scholarship runners redshirted last year, Clement figures to be one of several athletes ready to take advantage of last year’s learning experience.

TOBI NEIDY The Oklahoma Daily

Soccer opens conference play tonight at home against Big 12 rival Texas at 7 p.m.

The L onghorns are 3-5 for the season, after losing to both Washington State, 4-0, and New Mexico, 2-0, last weekend.

The Sooners are coming off a 2-0 shutout last Friday evening against Lamar and a tough 1-0 loss to USC last Sunday afternoon.

The Sooners are now 5-3-1 for the season.

Freshman goalkeeper Kelsey Devonshire recorded her fourth shut out of the season after Oklahoma’s w in over Lamar, and was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week Tuesday according to the conference office.

Devonshire continues to lead

the Big 12 in shutouts for the season. Devonshire also leads the conference with 40 saves. This includes her season-high 10 saves against USC, allowing the Trojans to score only one goal.

The Sooners continue Big 12 action at home with No. 13 Texas A&M Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

T h e A g g i e s a re 5 - 3 f o r t h e season, after coming off wins last weekend against No. 2 Portland, 3-1, and Sam Houston State, 4-0.

Friday’s game against Texas features the “Kick for the Cure” promotion to raise breast cancer awareness.

All fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game and the first 1,000 fans will receive pink ‘Kick for the Cure’ bracelets. Friday is also 50 cent hot dog and coke night at John Crain Field.

8

Thursday, September 25, 2009

Cassie Rhea Little, L&A editor dailyent@ou.edu • phone: 325-5189 • fax: 325-6051

« BLOG Check out the Life & Arts blog on oudaily.com.

HYPED FILM PROVES TO BE A DISAPOINTMENT If you stumble into a megaplex showing “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell,” chances are you’re going to wish the theater served something with memoryimpairing qualities.

Author Tucker Max is famous primarily for being an insufferable jerk, so it’s hardly surpr ising the film based on his 2006 book of the same name is equally unbearable.

Whereas the book’s collection of outrageous anecdotes managed to be a guilty pleasure thanks to its sheer deplorability, DUSTY the film is humorless, SOMERS dull-witted and engaged in a sloppy, disgusting love affair with itself.

The script, co-written by Max and the heretofore-unknown Nils Parker, is the result of a massive ego careening against a keyboard with reckless abandon and minimal understanding. S omeone, somewhere should have called this ugly monstrosity of a screenplay out for the poorly-paced mess it is, but methinks Max isn’t a guy who likes to be told no.

In the film, Tucker is portrayed by the doofy Matt Czuchry (“Gilmore Girls”), who seems terribly miscast as a pantiesdropping, liquor-swilling bad boy. He wants to take his buddy Dan (Geoff Stults, “Wedding Crashers”) out for a memorable bachelor party to a legendary strip club 150 miles away, but it requires lying to Dan’s fiancé (Keri Lynn Pratt, “Cruel Intentions 2”) and convincing their misanthropic friend, Drew (Jesse Bradford, “Flags of Our Fathers”), to tag along.

The exhausted strip club/bachelor party premise is actually one of the strongest elements of the screenplay, which vacillates between witless, raunchy humor (“[He has kids] — they’re just all in the compost heap behind Planned Parenthood”), pseudo-edgy insults (“Fat girls aren’t real people!”) and a plethora of cheesy, dated jokes that make it seem as if the script was written sometime around the turn of the millennium (“He’s

PHOTO PROVIDED

“I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” can be seen in theaters accross America tonight.

going to fail worse than a ‘Friends’ spinoff,” “She’s like a hot Miss Cleo!”).

“Beer in Hell” lumbers along stupidly through the way-too-long bachelor party sequences, and eventually, the charade comes crashing down when Dan’s fiancé discovers the deception, and it appears as if Tucker has ruined his friend’s life.

It could have been a much stronger film if it didn’t put its main character — who’s supposed to be an unrepentant jerk — in the position of learning a

Drink » of theWEEK Ingredients: 1 bottle of gin 2 two-liter bottles of lemon lime soda 5 large lemons 8 limes Recipe: Combine the gin and soda in a large bowl or bucket. Halve the lemons and limes and squeeze their juice into the gin and soda mix. Leave the squeezed lemons and limes in the bucket. Stir and serve over ice.

nice little lesson, but adventurous script structure was clearly not in the mix for Parker and Max, who seemed to have found their ending among the well-worn pages of their copy of “Screenwriting for Dummies.”

The film can’t even give due time to its supposed comic centerpiece — a bit about a diminutive stripper — as it’s simply tacked on to the end as an underwhelming flashback. With no real comic payoff to be found, “Beer in Hell”

The Daily’s Ashley Berntgen chooses a gin bucket mix as her pick for what to drink this weekend.

whimpers out quietly.

Outside of the legions of Tucker Max fans who idolize the man — it’s scary these people exist — I can only recommend this film to discouraged students currently laboring away at their own scripts. Their own works-in-progress won’t seem so bad 100 minutes later.

Dusty Somers is a journalism senior.

WEEKEND MUSIC THE ANTHONY NAGID ELECTRIC BAND The Anthony Nagid Electric Band will perform at 9 p.m. at the Second Wind Coffee House, 564 Buchanan St. on Campus Corner in Norman.

When I think of gin, certain stereotypical scenarios come to mind.

A flapper sipping a martini at a wild, Great Gatsbyesque party.

ASHLEY A slick Don BERNTGEN Draper type Madison Avenue ad man lunching over a martini, or perhaps a lawyer sipping a gin and tonic at the country club after playing a grueling 18 holes. I think it’s time we took gin off its pedestal and enjoy it with the same reckless abandon we enjoy beer,

vodka or tequila. This week I give you a drink in the grand tradition of trash can punch or jungle juice: Gin Bucket.

Its easy, tastes good and can satisfy the thirst of a relatively large group of people.

Ashley Berntgen is a public relations senior.

SUTTON ARTIST SERIES The Oklahoma Chambers Players will perform as a part of the Sutton Artist Series at 8 p.m. in Morris R. Pitman Recital Hall, 500 W. Boyd St. in Norman.

SUMMER BREEZE CONCERT SERIES Bluegrass group John McEuen and Sons will perform as part of the Summer Breeze Concert Series at 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 27 at Lions Park, 201 W. Gray St. in Norman.

HIGHLIGHTING G OR COLOR

WITH HAIRCUT • $49.99 WEAVE OR FOIL ADD $10.00

HAIRCUT • $11.99 Non-Requested Stylist Only

The Works $15.99 Shampoo/ Cut/Blowdry

116 S. Main, Noble 872-1661

Manicure $11.99

127 N. Porter 360-4247

129 N.W. Ave. 360-4422

1215 W. Lindsey 364-1325

Thursday, September 25, 2009

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BRAD PITT GIVES KATRINA UPDATE AT CLINTON MEETING NEW YORK — The average electric bill for one of the energy-efficient homes built in New Orleans by Brad Pitt’s Make It Right foundation is $35 a month, the actor said Thursday during an update on the project at the Clinton Global Initiative.

The cost of building the homes also is dropping. And by the time all 150 promised homes are completed, the cost will be comparable to standard buildings, Pitt said.

“I don’t know how we build any other way anywhere else,” he said. “We can no longer tell ourselves that implementing this technology is too complex a problem because it’s just been proven on this little spot on the map.”

Pitt started the foundation in 2007. The program focuses home construction in a section of New Orleans heavily damaged when Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. The homes are being built with features including rooftop solar panels and energy-efficient appliances to help reduce electricity consumption.

The Clinton Global Initiative, an annual event started by form e r P re s i d e nt Bi l l C l i nt o n , brings together the public and private sector to discuss solutions to problems in four areas — climate change, poverty, global health and education.

At an afternoon panel discussing education, Queen Rania of Jordan said it was an evergreen subject in political campaigns but one that loses priority once politicians are in office because there often isn’t any immediate political gain.

“The benefits of education sometimes don’t fit in with the political cycle because you reap the benefits way down the line,”

she said. “What we need to do is realize that sense of urgency when it comes to education, because education is a matter of life and death.”

She also emphasized the importance of the quality of education, saying that while educational enrollment was high in the Middle East, there hasn’t been enough focus on teaching young people the skills to get them through life.

“Take young people who are opportunity starved, and there is political conflict around them, and that makes a very dangerous social mix. As you all know, what happens in the Middle East, does not stay in the Middle East,” she said. “Critical thinking, problemsolving, creativity, those kinds of skills are extremely important to empower our young people.”

Among those joining the queen on the panel was U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who referred to her own history as the first in her family to go to college in talking about the need for both government and private investment in expanding educational opportunities.

“I was the first one to go to college and it wasn’t because my parents could afford it, it was because we have the Pell grant program, we have programs that help to provide assistance,” Solis said. “Those programs work and it’s a good investment in our young people.”

At t e n d e e s a t t h e C l i n t o n Global Initiative are expected to commit to steps they will take to work on global problems. Those who don’t follow through on their commitments won’t be allowed to return to subsequent events.

AP PHOTO

Actor and founder of Make It Right Brad Pitt speaks during a Building a Better Future panel during the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009 in New York.

-AP

Art could imitates life in former president’s steamy novel PARIS — It was a passionate but hidden love. The president of the French Republic and the Princess of Cardiff had no choice.

“The Princess and the President” recounts the ballet of secrecy led by a man of power and a royal beauty watched by the world — whom the novel’s author, former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, says is Lady Di. But who was the inspiration for the hero?

The book is a bold venture for the 83-year-

old Giscard d’Estaing whose stiff, pompous “au revoir” to the nation upon his defeat to Francois Mitterrand in 1981 remains the stuff of comedy routines.

A member of the prestigious Academie Francaise, the watchdog of the French language, Giscard d’Estaing has written books in the past, like the weighty “The State of France” or three tomes on “Power and Life.”

His new creation, in bookstores Thursday, has taken everyone aback.

AP PHOTO

Copies of the novel “The Princess and the President” by former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing are seen on sale at a bookstore, Thursday Sept. 24 in Paris.

“Diana-Giscard. And If It Were True,” reads the headline of an article in the glossy magazine Paris Match whose cover features the two standing in gown and tux at a state affair in 1994 at the Chateau of Versailles, their arms touching.

Is art imitating life in the work by Giscard d’Estaing, who like many other French leaders maintained a reputation as a womanizer?

The former president resolves half the mystery in an interview published Thursday.

He confirms that Princess Patricia of Cardiff is, indeed, modeled after the Princess of Wales. He also says that he and Princess Diana discussed his writing a love story revolving around a world leader. Their last conversation on the subject, in June 1997, came six weeks before her death in a car accident in Paris with her lover Dodi Fayed. The book’s dedication reads: “Promise kept ...”

“I considered it a promise I had to fulfill,” Giscard was quoted as saying in the newsweekly Le Point. However, he maintains the enigma about who might have inspired the other half of the couple.

Patricia is “a celebrated beauty” whose changing blue eyes are framed in a face tilted forward. Her husband, the crown prince, keeps a mistress and she frankly admits to her need to be loved, and her passion for her causes, such as anti-personnel mines — for which the Princess of Wales became a symbol.

The president, Jacques-Henri Lambertye, is, unlike Giscard d’Estaing, a widower who serves two terms in office. But like Giscard, he is tall and thin and as seen in some photos

unbuttons the fourth small button on his jacket sleeves, “not indifferent to the fashion tendencies of the moment.”

The princess and the president first meet in London at a G-8 summit of the leaders of the world’s most industrialized countries.

Months later, he covertly but boldly takes her hand, under a luncheon table of dignitaries that include the U.S. president, on a train from Normandy to Paris following D-Day ceremonies.

In the style of romance novels, the affair unravels slowly amid meticulous descriptions of royal palaces and presidential residences and a fashionista’s attention to clothes. Tension over the risk of getting caught is ever-present. The reader must wait until page 66 of the 265-page book for the first kiss.

The love affair is consummated in trysts in Kensington Palace, which was Diana’s residence, as well as the chateau of Rambouillet where Lambertye hunts, and on the Riviera among other places.

“This is a novel in which Princess Diana is the main figure,” Giscard d’Estaing told Le Point. “I wanted to pay homage by bringing her to life again” and correcting the image of a princess he believed was misrepresented in the press. “I invented the facts,” he said.

-AP

10 Friday, September 25, 2009 Thad Baker, advertising manager classifieds@ou.edu • phone: 325-2521 • fax: 325-7517

PLACE AN AD Phone: 325-2521 E-Mail: classifieds@ou.edu Fax: 405-325-7517

Announcements ENTERTAINMENT FEMALE SINGER NEEDED Established recording studio and producer looking for new talent. Interest in song writing and performing also important.

115norman.com (405) 945-1959 leave message.

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DEADLINES Line Ad ..................2 days prior Place your line ad no later than 9:00 a.m. 2 days prior to publication date.

Display Ad ............2 days prior Classified Display or Classified Card Ad Place your display, classified display or classified card ads no later than 5:00 p.m. 2 days prior to publication date.

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Employment HELP WANTED Cayman’s - Part-time stock room, gift wrappers and holiday staff needed. Apply in person.

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Payment is required at the time the ad is placed. Credit cards, cash, money orders or local checks accepted.

Businesses may be eligible to apply for credit in a limited, local billing area. Please inquire with Business Office at 325-2521.

RATES Line Ads There is a 2 line minimum charge; approximately 45 characters per line, including spaces and punctuation.

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Previous Solution

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3 8 2

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7 8 1

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4 9 1 5 6 7 3 8 2

7 2 3 8 4 1 6 9 5

6 8 5 9 2 3 7 1 4

1 6 8 3 5 2 4 7 9

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2 1 9 6 3 4 8 5 7

3 5 4 7 8 9 2 6 1

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Monday- Very Easy Tuesday-Easy Wednesday- Easy Thursday- Medium Friday - Hard

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Instructions: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

Universal Crossword Edited by Timothy E. Parker September 25, 2009

ACROSS 1 Chops for dinner 5 Play the ukulele 10 Hindrance to fairness 14 Shivering fit 15 Bottle’s bouquet 16 Unpopular teenage spots 17 Signs of fright 19 Nerve network 20 They may be pierced 21 Started a paragraph, perhaps 23 Coating of frozen dew 24 Galley drudge 25 Approach abruptly 28 Alpine singers 31 Incline 32 Double denial 33 Au ___ (with milk) 34 Pine-___ (cleaning brand) 35 On the hunt for 38 Mauna ___ (Hawaiian peak) 39 Computes the bottom line 41 “I couldn’t agree with you more!�

42 “What did ___ you?� (“See?�)

44 Ending for

2 col (3.792 in) x 2 inches Sudoku ...........$760/month Boggle ............$760/month Horoscope .....$760/month 1 col (1.833 in) x 2.25 inches Crossword .....$515/month (located just below the puzzle)

POLICY The Oklahoma Daily is responsible for one day’s incorrect advertising. If your ad appears incorrectly, or if you wish to cancel your ad call 325-2521, before the deadline for cancellation in the next issue. Errors not the fault of the advertiser will be adjusted. Refunds will not be issued for late cancellations.

the phrase “right back where�

46 Not in agreement 47 “When you wish ___ star ...�

48 Mineralogical deposits 49 Popular snack chip 51 Doctor who hears animals 55 Huber of tennis 56 Birds Eye offering 58 Not obscured 59 “The Courtship of Miles Standish� character 60 “The ___ and Future King�

61 Axton who wrote “Joy to the World�

62 Rundgren and Bridges 63 One way to hold your horses DOWN 1 Add punch to the punch 2 Eastern title of honor (Var.) 3 Conservationist John 4 Hotel gofer 5 Midnight assembly of witches 6 “___ words were never spoken�

7 “CD�

followers 8 Ballpark figure?

9 Extinct tusked mammal 10 Gym weight 11 Getacquainted soiree, e.g.

12 Poker term 13 Apple pip, e.g.

18 Takes off the leash 22 Reverent wonder 24 1998 De Niro film 25 Allegro ___ (very brisk, in music) 26 Blockheads 27 One way to kick a habit 28 Joined a team 29 Cambodian cabbage?

30 Lacking originality

32 Ancient Greek festival site 36 “Jack Sprat could ...�

37 Cry uncle 40 Discerning 43 Determine the presence of 45 Become compost 46 Sen. Specter’s namesakes 48 Moved like goo 49 “The Incredibles� son 50 Count Basie’s “___ Clock Jump�

51 “Mark Trail� cartoonist Ed 52 Voice mail cue 53 Activity centers 54 “East of ___�

57 Postal abbr.

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

Š 2009 Universal Press Syndicate www.upuzzles.com

NIPPY AND THEN SOME by Oscar Lyndley The onset of eye disease may not be as visible as the appearance of new wrinkles. An eye doctor can spot the early warning signs of vision problems like glaucoma and macular degeneration, as well as other serious health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. Early detection is key.

For men and women over 40, it might be wise to look into your eyes. For more information, visit checkyearly.com.

A public service message

All ads are subject to acceptance by The Oklahoma Daily. Ad acceptance may be reevaluated at any time.

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Contact an Acct Executive for details at 325-2521.

Help Wanted ads in The Oklahoma Daily are not to separate as to gender. Advertisers may not discriminate in employment ads based on race, color, religion or gender unless such qualifying factors are essential to a given position.

9

Classified Display, Classified Card Ads or Game Sponsorship

The Oklahoma Daily will not knowingly accept advertisements that discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religious preference, national origin or sexual orientation. Violations of this policy should be reported to The Oklahoma Daily Business Office at 325-2521.

Housing Sales

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3 bed, 1530 Willowcliff Ct, $625 - 910 Quanah Parker, $625 - 1616 Rock Hollow, $675 - 800 Branchwood Ct, $700 - Call 360-2873 or 306-1970

from Vision Council of America and AARP.

Previous Answers

Friday, September 25, 2009

Feds probe US Census worker hanging MANCHESTER, Ky. — When Bill Sparkman told retired been established, state police will focus their investigation in trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door col- the appropriate direction,” Beshear said in a statement.

Sparkman’s mother, Henrie Sparkman of Inverness, Fla., lecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former police officer drew on years of experience for a warning: “Be careful.” told The Associated Press her son was an Eagle scout who The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged moved to Kentucky to direct the local Boy Scouts of America. from a tree near a cemetery with the word “fed” scrawled on He later became a substitute teacher in Laurel County, adjahis chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the cent to the county where his body was found.

She said investigators have given her few details about her FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-governson’s death. They did tell her his body was decomposed and ment sentiment.

The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to haven’t yet released it for burial.

“I was told it would be better for him to be cremated,” she discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest said.

Acciardo said he became suspicious and went to police of Sparkman, who was supplementing his income doing Census field work. He was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch when Sparkman didn’t show up for work at the after-school program in Laurel County for two days. Authorities immediof Daniel Boone National Forest. ately investigated, he said.

State police said Thursday that the “He was such an innocent person,” cause of death was asphyxiation. State poAcciardo said. “I hate to say that he was lice said in a statement that he was found “He was such an innocent naive, but he saw the world as all good, with a rope around his neck that was tied person. I hate to say that he and there’s a lot of bad in the world.” to a tree, but that he was “in contact with was naive, but he saw the Sparkman had worked for the Census the ground.” Capt. Lisa Rudzinski, commander of the Kentucky State Police post world as all good, and there’s since 2003 in five counties in the surrounding area, conducting interviews in London, said authorities have not yet a lot of bad in the world.” once or twice a month. Much of his recent been able to determine if it was an acciwork had been in Clay County, officials dental death, suicide or homicide.

-GILBERT ACCIARDO said.

“Even though he was with the Census The Census Bureau, which is overseen Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as ‘the government.’ I by the Commerce Department, has yet to begin door-to-door just was afraid that he might meet the wrong character along canvassing for the 2010 head count, but thousands of field the way up there,” said Acciardo, who directs an after-school workers are doing smaller surveys on various demographic program at an elementary school where Sparkman was a fre- topics on behalf of federal agencies. Next year, the Census Bureau will dispatch up to 1.2 million temporary employees quent substitute teacher.

The Census Bureau has suspended door-to-door inter- to locate hard-to-find residents.

For now, Sparkman’s mother is waiting for answers. views in rural Clay County, where the body was found, until “I have my own ideas, but I can’t say them out loud. Not the investigation is complete, an official said.

Police said the area has a history of drug trouble including at this point,” she said. “Right now, what I’m doing, I’m just methamphetamine trafficking and marijuana growing in its waiting on the FBI to come to some conclusion.” forested valleys between steep hills and ridges.

“That part of the county, it has its ups and downs. We’ll get —AP a lot of complaints of drug activity,” said Manchester Police Chief Jeff Culver. He said officers last month rounded up 40 drug suspects, mostly dealers, and made several more arrests in subsequent days.

Dee Davis, president of the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg in southeastern Kentucky, said Clay County is impoverished and has a “pretty wild history of a black market economy, a drug economy.”

“I don’t think there is any deep-seated hatred of government there,” he said. “Government is not seen as the enemy, except for people who might fear getting caught for what they’re doing.”

Davis said it was a dangerous time of year for someone to go knocking on doors because marijuana producers are typically harvesting their crop. “It would be reckless.”

“Things can go bad really quickly,” Davis said. “There are places that you would not send a Census worker this time of year. “ Manchester, a town of about 2,000 that is the county’s main hub, is an exit off the highway, with a Walmart, a few hotels, chain restaurants and a couple gas stations. The drive from town toward the area where Sparkman’s body was found winds through sparsely populated forest with no streetlights.

FBI spokesman David Beyer said the bureau is assisting state police and declined to discuss any details of the crime scene. Agents are trying to determine if foul play was involved and whether it had anything to do with Sparkman’s job as Census worker, Beyer said. Attacking a federal worker during or because of his federal job is a federal crime.

Lucindia Scurry-Johnson, assistant director of the Census Bureau’s southern office in Charlotte, N.C., said law enforcement officers have told the agency the matter is “an apparent homicide” but nothing else.

AP PHOTO Census employees were told Sparkman’s truck was found nearby, and a computer he was using for work was inside, she In this undated 2008 photo, Bill Sparkman is seen with 7th grade student Jessie Roberts during a lesson about sound waves. said.

Gov. Steve Beshear expressed his condolences to A law enforcement official says Sparkman, a U.S. Census worker found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery, had the Sparkman’s family.

“The Medical Examiner’s office is awaiting test results to word “fed” scrawled on his chest, and the FBI is investigating determine cause of death, and once a cause and manner have whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

11

Classes resume after fatal school stabbing TYLER, Texas — A makeshift memorial surrounded a flagpole Thursday at a high school where classes resumed under tight security a day after a teacher was fatally stabbed, allegedly by one of his students.

Uniformed officers were stationed outside John Tyler High School, where Todd Henry, a 50-year-old special education teacher who had a passion for music, was attacked in a classroom Wednesday and later died.

A detention hearing for the 16year-old male student in custody was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, said Nelson Downing, director of Smith County Juvenile Services.

U.S. and Texas flags were flying TODD outside the school. A card was nestled HENRY among a few bouquets that encircled the base of the flagpole.

“To a man that had a heart for the kids and music.

May you rest in peace and may God be with you,” read one card signed by three people.

Westwood Baptist Church, across the street from the high school, was flying its U.S. flag at half-staff.

Angela Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the Tyler Independent School District, said in a statement the entire school district police force was on the John Tyler campus, along with four Tyler police officers and six Smith County sheriff’s deputies.

The deputies parked their trucks in the school lot and stood watch nearby before classes started. Other uniformed officers were seen along sidewalks in front of the school.

Jenkins said Principal Carol Saxenian began the day with a moment of silence and “reassured students that what occurred ... was a random act by an individual student.”

One student, 17-year-old junior Tambria Moore, disagreed with the district’s decision to hold classes a day after the stabbing.

“I didn’t think the school was safe yesterday, and I don’t think it’s safe today,” Moore said. “I think it’s stupid to have your school still open and available for students when a murder just happened at school.”

Tyler schools Superintendent Randy Reid said a student approached Henry around 8:50 a.m. Wednesday and stabbed him in the neck with a sharp object. A teacher’s aide and two other students were in the classroom, and the aide subdued the suspect, Reid said.

Authorities have not offered a motive in the slaying. A police spokesman didn’t immediately return a phone call Thursday.

A makeshift memorial surrounded a flagpole at John Tyler High School as classes resumed under tight security a day after the slaying of Henry.

Smith County Criminal District Attorney Matt Bingham has declined to comment on the case.

Tyler is about 90 miles southeast of Dallas.

—AP

HOROSCOPE

By Bernice Bede Osol

Copyright 2008, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- Problems will stem from rationalizing matters rather than seeing issues in a realistic light. If you want a productive day, take off those rose-colored glasses.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- Unless you listen attentively to what others have to say, you could miss something extremely important to your future success. Stay focused at all times; the clue may be in the little things being said.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -Put away your tool kit and stop trying to fix things that aren’t broken. Don’t disassemble things that are working well merely for the sake of change; it will mess up your serene life.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- To accomplish your purposes, carry credit cards or a little extra money in your wallet because some unexpected expenses could arise.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- Before getting yourself and your team in too deeply, be sure that everyone is aiming at the same target. Check out the objectives of others before you take anyone onboard.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- You may feel pressure to alter your course of action in order to appease a colleague who is giving everyone a hard time. If you do, you’ll end up serving no one, including yourself.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- It’s ill-advised to assign critical tasks to those same people who have performed poorly in the past. You first need some proof that they’ll do better this time.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- Guard your tongue, as well as your intentions, because something that should not be revealed could slip out. If you spill the beans, you might cause a lot of trouble for yourself and others.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- You’ve always shown yourself to be a bold and enterprising person, yet your sights could be placed on the wrong target, calling for a foolish risk rather than a strong initiative.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- You have as much chance as anyone to realize your wishes. However, if you give the impression that you’re more entitled to something than others, you can expect them to gang up on you.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -Unless you keep your emotions in check, angry and excitable outbursts are likely to prevail, especially in domestic situations.

Stay in control at all times.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -The moment you begin to coast, regardless of your reasons, you will find yourself falling way short of the mark. It’s going to take a lot of extra determination and persistence to be an achiever.

12

Friday, September 25, 2009

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/ VERIZON WIRELESS STORES

* Our Surcharges (incl. Fed. Univ. Svc. of 12.9% of interstate & int’l telecom charges (varies quarterly), 7¢ Regulatory & 92¢ Administrative/line/mo., & others by area) are not taxes (details: 1-888-684-1888); gov’t taxes & our surcharges could add 7% - 27% to your bill. Activation fee/line: $35.

IMPORTANT CONSUMER INFORMATION: Subject to Customer Agmt, Data Plan, credit approval & rebate form. Up to $175 early termination fee, up to $.10/MB after allowance. Mobile Broadband is available to more than 280 million people in the U.S. in 259 major metros. Offers & coverage not available everywhere. Rebate debit card takes up to 6 wks. & exp. in 12 mos. Network details & coverage maps at verizonwireless.com. ©2009 Verizon Wireless.

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