The Oklahoma Daily

GONE WITH THE WIND

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Lone Grove picks up the pieces • Tornado survivors search for belongings, support MEREDITH SIMONS The Oklahoma Daily LONE GROVE — Michael and Margaret Akersten have half of their trailer home left.

The south side of their home has been sheared off to reveal half of a living room. Every surface is covered by broken glass or tree limbs.

They’re some of the lucky ones.

Their half-trailer is now one of the tallest structures in the Bar K Mobile Home Park, which was demolished by an FE-4 tornado that ripped through Lone Grove Tuesday night, killing eight.

By Thursday, residents had returned to sort through the rubble.

The tornado transformed the trailer park into a bizarre collection of outof-place objects. Ceiling fans lay on the ground, mattresses were lodged in trees.

All but one home had disappeared; their contents emptied into loose piles topped by twisted tree branches.

Residents picked through the piles, looking for wallets, money and things that couldn’t be replaced.

“I found some quilts my grandma made me,” Ginger Byrne said as she stood by the lot where her trailer used to be. ”I found my son’s baby pictures. I found my study Bible and a Bible I got from the Gideons in 1954.”

Byrne has lived at Bar K since 1995. She spent Tuesday night with her mother, who has a storm cellar.

The next day she tried to return home but was stopped by police officers.

“They were still riding around on

Eli Hull/The Daily

Lone Grove residents sift through the rubble of the Bar K mobile home park, which was destroyed by Tuesday’s FE-4 tornado. four-wheelers, looking for bodies,” Byrne said.

She was allowed to return Wednesday afternoon and started looking for her belongings, but soon realized she would have to expand her search.

“That’s my iron up there,” she said, pointing to an iron dangling from a tree several dozen yards away from where she was standing.

“And see that tree way down there?

I was looking and realized my favor-

“We had one friend, we thought he was history, but he showed up today ... We were yelling, ‘You’re alive!’ ... We thought he was a goner.”

ite shirt was up there. So I sent my son and his friend down there to get it. They had to work so hard to get it out. They said it was all twisted and knotted, that the bark had split open and the shirt had been pushed into it. I’ll have to wear that shirt every other day now.”

Her home is gone and her possessions are scattered across the park, but Byrne said she considers herself fortunate. She has insurance family.

Byrne’s neighbors weren’t so and she didn’t lose any friends or lucky. Next door, Mark Nevill was videotaping the piles of debris that marked where his parents’ trailer once stood. Nevill, a California resident, got a phone call from his cousin Tuesday night. He told him Nevill’s parents had been hospitalized and his brother was missing.

“I was hoping he was just unconscious somewhere, waiting to be found,” he said quietly. “But when I didn’t hear anything for a few hours after that, I knew it was something worse.”

When Nevill arrived in Lone Grove, he was told his parents, who were still in the hospital, would be OK. But his brother’s body had been discovered down the road from the family’s trailer.

“A tree fell on the main room and saved my parents,” he said. “But my brother was in the back room, and he got blown out.”

Lilly Chapa/The Daily

A van lies under the debris of a home in Lone Grove following Tuesday’s tornado. miss the OU doll that played “Boomer Sooner,” but his daughter interrupted him.

“No, we found that!” she said.

LONE GROVE — It may be 80 miles “Someone picked it up off the ground.” away from Norman and even farther OU is a temporary home to several from Stillwater, but tornado-ravaged Lone Grove is heavily invested in Okla- students from Lone Grove. Jacklyn Chaney grew up in Lone Grove. Her homa’s intrastate collegiate rivalry.

It’s a town that leans crimson, said grandfather’s building on Lone Grove’s main drag was destroyed Tuesday.

Kati Jackson, psychology junior and Chaney, University College freshLone Grove native. man, drove home to be with her family Sooner paraphernalia was visible after the tornado. On her way back to among the rubble Thursday at Bar K Norman Thursday, she rattled off a list Mobile Home Park.

“There’s probably some OU shirts in of familiar Lone Grove businesses that there somewhere,” Bar K homeowner had been destroyed.

“Across the street from my grandMichael Akersten said, gesturing at the pile of debris and household goods father’s store, you have the furniture store, the Chamber of Commerce, it’s that filled his now half-living room. all gone,” she said.

Akersten said he was going to

Lone Grove tornado touches hearts of Sooners

Some students are making plans to help their community with cleanup this weekend.

Frank Wood, zoology senior, stated in an e-mail that his mom has started volunteering and he and some friends will be on their way today. “[My mom] has gone to a friend’s house, to help pick up what’s left of her two-story house,” Wood stated.

Dog chained to fence survives deadly twister What a lucky dog.

Rufus, one of Sherry Franks’ two dogs, was chained in Franks’ backyard when an EF-4 tornado slammed through Lone Grove Tuesday night.

Franks said the tornado caught

Lone Grove resident Margaret Akersten

said they heard tornado sirens for a few seconds before they fled, and they all believed they had barely escaped the tornado.

Byrne said she made it to her mother’s house just as the tornado touched down.

“By the time we got into the cellar, this house was probably already gone,” she said, gesturing to her empty lot.

The Akerstens left too. They were watching TV with their daughter Marie Miller and her children Tuesday night when Akersten thought he heard sirens. He told his wife to change the channel and when the weather map came on the screen, she told everybody to get out of the house.

“I was flying out of there,” she said. Hail and heavy winds battered the family’s car as they made their way to take shelter at the post office, fighting strong winds to get inside.

“I had a hold of a pole and my Escape dog,” Miller said. “When I let go of Most of the people at Bar K the pole to try to go inside, the wind Thursday left Tuesday night. Many picked me up and threw me.”

her off guard. The weather forecast had been bad, but she brushed off her husband’s warnings about a tornado.

“I wasn’t worried,” she said. “It was February. We don’t get tornadoes like this in February.”

By the time she realized the threat was serious, she only had time to grab her smaller dog and rush barefoot into her bedroom.

The tornado came down, snapping trees and ripping off roofs around Franks’s house. It shattered Franks’s windows and drove a stick into the side of her car. Behind her house, the tornado sent a tree crashing down on a trampoline and relocated a barbecue.

But it didn’t hurt Rufus, who was just fine when Franks emerged from her house after the tornado, which

Miller said she fell and rolled away from the door. Her son rushed out of the post office to pull her in the building.

Michael Akersten said he and his family were grateful to be alive, and his community was fortunate to have not suffered more than it did.

“You hate to say you’re lucky, because of the people who did die,” he said as he looked at the trailer park in front of him. “But really, we were lucky there wasn’t a hell of a lot more.”

Uncertainty Bar K residents said in the hours after the tornado, they were literally left in the dark as they wondered what had happened to their friends, families and homes. Power was out and the roads to the park were blocked.

News came slowly Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The few who returned to the trailer park immediately after the tornado were

PIECES Continues on page 2A

TODAY’S INDEX L&A 3B,5B Campus Notes 5A 4B Classifieds 4B Crossword 5B Horoscope Eli Hull/The Daily

Rufus the dog she said “sounded like a freight train coming over the top of us.”

His doghouse had been thrown at least 40 yards north of her house, but Rufus was unharmed.

“There’s no telling where he was flying around,” Franks said. “But he made it.”

— MEREDITH SIMONS/THE DAILY

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Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

Embedded journalist brings video conference class to life • Guest speaker returns to OU to share experiences after 15 months in Iraq KALI CARTER The Oklahoma Daily Mike Boettcher, former CNN and NBC journalist and OU alumnus, returned to OU Thursday to meet for the first time a group of students he communicated with every week for a semester.

Boettcher communicated with students for “War and Media,” a course offered to journalism and mass communication and international and area studies students, while working as an embedded journalist in Iraq for 15 months.

The students in the course explored the differences in the Iraq and previous wars by viewing Boettcher’s first hand accounts.

After nearly three decades as a war correspondent, Boettcher dropped contracts with major news corporations in December 2007 to start his Web site, No-Ignoring, to detail his journeys overseas.

“I’ve seen horrific tragedy and great triumph,” he said. “I’ve had a blessed life, but I was ready for a new role.”

Boettcher’s son, Carlos, collaborated with him to start the Web site and accompanied him to Iraq.

“Once I gave him the idea, he said we would make it happen,” Boettcher said. “For decades I’ve been reporting to an audience I’ve never seen. I wanted to take the time to teach students the truth about what is going on over there.”

Boettcher said journalists have never embedded themselves for a full, 15-month military tour, but he said he’s doing it because he thinks it’s the right thing to do.

“These issues are of vital importance to the country,

but they continue to be ignored,” Boettcher said. “It was the right thing to do for the country and for those who serve the country. It was important to tell their stories.”

Boettcher told students he felt like they had become family because of the unique bond they developed throughout fall course.

Students ate lunch with Boettcher and had a chance to give him feedback about the course.

“It was surreal to have him here,” said Marissa Alberty, international and area studies junior. “We had only seen him on a little screen for so long; it was exciting to get a chance to meet him in person.”

After creating his Web site, Boettcher approached OU President David Boren about bringing the project to the classroom.

Joe Foote, dean of Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Zach Messitte, vice provost for international programs, taught the course from a classroom while Boettcher corresponded with the students through a video conference.

Messitte said “War and Media” was the first course of its kind at OU and courses like it will be more common within the next 10 years.

“In the future, it won’t be a novelty because people will expect it,” he said.

The course examined how the media covered war in the past and present and brought together students of different disciplines.

“It brought all of these different people together, and I think it is something that resonated with students,” Messitte said. “Twenty years from now, there will be very few specific courses the students remember, but I think this will be one of them.”

Boettcher said he continually faced problems like technical difficulties and low funding, but Messitte said Boettcher didn’t want to give up on the course.

“He dedicated himself to this project,” Messitte said.

“Not only do I think it was important for the students to meet him, but I think he needed it as well.”

Boettcher said it meant a lot for him to meet the students because he said everyone had invested some-

Elizabeth Nalewajk/The Daily

Former embedded journalist Mike Boettcher (left) sits with public relations graduate student Randy Baucom during a luncheon Thursday for students from his fall class, War & Media. The students communicated with Boettcher through video conferences and blogs, but had never met him in person. The class is the first of its kind at any U.S. university. thing in the course.

“Education doesn’t begin and end at semesters,” he said. “Everyone put their time and effort into this.”

Boettcher said he is in the process of redesigning his Web site so he can switch the focus from a father and son’s journey to the issues at hand.

“Sometimes I wonder why I’m still doing this,” he said. “Then I remember I’m doing this for all of my colleagues who believed in it, and all of those who didn’t make it. They deserve more than what they are

getting.”

Boettcher said he will return to Iraq in the next few days, but eventually will return to Oklahoma.

He said he and his wife plan to move to Oklahoma after his journey. Boettcher said he hopes to work at OU after he moves back.

“My mother used to say teaching is the most honorable profession,” he said. “Throughout this experience, I have found that to be true.”

Pieces

Continued from page 1A asked to leave by police officers. No one was allowed back until Wednesday afternoon, when law enforcement had finished searching for bodies.

The uncertainty of waiting led many to fear the worst about the friends they hadn’t heard from.

“We were afraid everybody was dead,” Margaret Akersten said.

But the uncertainty also led to some joyful reunions between friends.

“We had one friend, we thought he was history, but he showed up today,” Margaret Akersten said. “We jumped up and we were yelling, ‘You’re alive!’ We were so happy to see him, because we

thought he was a goner.”

The next step Bar K residents said many of their neighbors don’t have insurance. Federal assistance could be available to Lone Grove residents if President Barack Obama declares it a major disaster area.

A declaration of disaster could come in the next three or four days, said Winston Barton, Federal Emergency Management Association public information officer.

“They’ll get help if there’s enough damage, and there’s plenty of damage

here,” Barton said.

Help could come in the form of money to help repair homes, but there is little left to repair in the park.

Barton said those whose homes have been destroyed could be eligible for $28,000 grants or Small Business Association loans that would allow them to borrow money at 2.8 percent interest and not start making payments for six months.

For now, the residents are in limbo.

They can sort through the wreckage of their homes for personal belongings, but major cleanup won’t begin until FEMA and insurance companies finish

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assessing the damage.

Barton said FEMA will be finished with its work today, and Byrne said she had been told bulldozers might be on the scene as soon as Saturday. Then, residents will begin to decide where, and in what, they are going to live.

In the meantime, they’re staying with friends and relatives and trying to comfort each other.

“During stuff like this, you find out who your family is,” Michael Akersten said. “It’s the people who show up to help you.”

Help has been forthcoming for this community, where FEMA, the Red

Cross and the Salvation Army are on site and organizations and individuals from around the area have come to offer their services.

And the neighbors, even those who have lost almost everything, are supporting each other.

As Byrne leaned on her cane near the tree that held her iron, a pickup truck pulled up beside hers. She walked slowly to the man who got out and asked him how his house looked.

He shook his head.

“God is going to be with you,” she said, putting her arms around him.

“God is going to be with you.”

Nijim Dabbour, managing editor dailynews@ou.edu phone: 325-3666 fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Campus News

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

3

Restaurant, gift shop workers help last minute love birds • Wait staff sees larger tips during busy evening RENEÉ SELANDERS The Oklahoma Daily Regardless of relationship status, it typically goes without saying that Valentine’s Day has the potential to be the most complicated, stressful day of the year.

Singles are trying to figure out their plans for the most notoriously lovey-dovey day of the year and lovebirds can feel the pressure when it comes to planning flawless dinner date reservations or picking out the appropriate “doesn’t-saytoo-much-while-still-saying-a-lot” Valentine’s gifts.

Because these two perspectives are the most talked about, it can be easy to forget about the people who make the holiday happen — the girl at the store helping shoppers select a gift or the guy taking orders at the restaurant. These workers aren’t immune to the pressure of the holiday either.

Casey Prammanasudh, psychology senior, has worked at Misal

Indian Bistro since 2007, and after working on Valentine’s Day last year, she said she’s prepared for the commotion that comes with serving dates.

Because of the high expectations associated with Valentine’s Day, Prammanasudh said the added pressure to make dates’ experiences perfect can cause the work environment to get a little more hectic. Despite the sometimes frenzied condition of the servers, Prammanasudh said the guests’ experiences on Valentine’s Day are not diminished.

“We leave it all in the kitchen,” she said.

Prammanasudh said Misal changes the space of the restaurant for Valentine’s Day by separating tables to accommodate couples and to maintain the intimate atmosphere of the restaurant.

Former OU student Kiel Dehnert has worked at Victoria’s Pasta Shop for three years, and like Prammanasudh, he said the Valentine’s Day rush can be busier for the servers, but the atmosphere is still perfect for a Valentine’s Day date.

“At Victoria’s, we know it’s coming,” Dehnert said. “We’re prepared.”

Dehnert said Victoria’s is

known for being a popular date spot and enhances the ambiance of Valentine’s evening by adding candlelight to the tables. Dehnert said that while there can be some awkward moments serving couples who cuddle on the same side of their booth, the pay-off is worth it. ”It’s one of the best nights of the year for me money-wise,” he said.

Though Dehnert and Prammanasudh’s Valentine’s Day commotion won’t start until Saturday, journalism sophomore Katelyn Wilson is already dealing with the holiday rush. She has worked at Hallmark intermittently for about two and a half years and this year she’s finding that helping the last-minute, Valentine’s Day gift shoppers can be quite fun.

“They just walk in, and they’re like ‘Help me,’” Wilson said.

Though the lines at the cashier form faster and longer than most regular workdays, Wilson said her job becomes easier and more fun because of the holiday.

“It’s definitely easier because people are looking for specific things,” she said. “I have fun. I like helping people find cool gifts.”

Wilson said the stress will pick Amy Fost/The Daily up today and Saturday, with last Mallory Gray, Norman resident and Hallmark employee, checks out some last minute Valentine’s Day items Thursday.

Gray minute shoppers searching for has not worked on Valentine’s Day before and thinks it will be crazy with last-minute shoppers. gifts.

CAMPUS BRIEFS

OU sings in Gospel course

Big Event UOSA Election Applications for UOSA President and Vice President, Student Congress Chair and CAC Chair for the 2009-2010 school year are now available.

The applications are due Thursday, Feb. 19 on the 3rd floor of the Union in Student Life.

—Elise Smith/The Daily

War Weary A world renown journalist and OU alumnus who is serving a 15-month tour covering the war in Iraq stopped on campus Thursday during a week-long trip back home. Page 2.

The Big Event is set for March 28, but applications are due in one week.

Digital Broadcast Conversion Though the national transfer to digital television broadcasting was delayed, many local stations have decided to go ahead with the transfer on the original Feb. 17 deadline. Page 5.

Medical School Expansion The State Board of Regents for Higher Education approved Thursday a proposal to expand the enrollment of OU College of Medicine from 165 to 200.

The approval is an important first step, but the expansion cannot happen until approval from the State Legislature and a national medical accredidation board, said Dr. Dwayne Andrews, College of Medicine dean.

“Assuming the legislature will make funds available, it could not be before 2010 or 2011 because the process would take that long to get approvals,” he said.

To get approval, the college must hire additional faculty, expand educatonial facitlies and develop additional clinical sites.

“This is a very encouraging step, but we have a lot more work to be done,” he said.

—Nijim Dabbour/The Daily

Students will have the chance beginning March 27 to study and produce gospel music with a course taught by Sharri Coleman.

The course material will start with gospel music’s spiritual roots in Africa, move to the songs of slaves and end on a contemporary note.

Coleman said the goal of the course is to teach the beginnings of modern Gospel music and see how people use their experiences to create music.

By the end of the course, students will be put into groups to make their own gospel music. The final exam will require students to perform with the OU Gospel Choir.

The class impacts students by making them come out of their shells, Coleman said. Gospel music is important because it’s a form of expression that isn’t limited to words and delivers a sense of soul. People are able to express their feelings more freely through methods like tempo and tone, she said.

The class will meet on weekends to increase enrollment and bring a level of continuity, Coleman said.

Students will be able to learn theories then practice them, rather than have several days in between, she said.

The course will have a workshop this semester with Michael McCay, a gospel music writer.

ASHLEIGH WOODALL / THE DAILY

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4A

Opinion

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

OUR VIEW

Ray Martin, opinion editor dailyopinion@ou.edu phone: 325-7630, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

COMMENTS OF THE DAY

Students should help relief efforts Students turn out en masse to participate in The Big Event each year.

They flood the South Oval with cardboard homes to raise money for homeless people in the U.S. and refugees in Africa.

Students should be equally as willing to help with tornado relief efforts in Edmond and Lone Grove, both of which were struck by devastating tornadoes this week.

In Lone Grove, eight people have been declared dead and many more injured. More than 100 homes were destroyed and multiple public buildings, including the post office and several churches, were damaged.

Edmond’s tornado wasn’t as serious, but about a dozen houses were destroyed, more than 200 were damaged and many people were left without resources.

Daily staff members witnessed some of the devastation in Lone Grove firsthand on Thursday.

Members of Lone OUR VIEW Grove and the surrounding communities have is an editorial already rallied around selected and debated by the editorial board each other with an outand written after a pouring of support, but majority opinion is they need help. formed and approved Able bodies are going by the editor. Our View is The Daily’s official to be needed to help opinion. clear the debris-littered lots so building can begin again. Money is going to be needed to help people who have lost everything from groceries to antiques get back on their feet.

Maybe students don’t have time to travel for an hour and spend a day picking up debris and helping relief efforts in person. If not, they should do what they can to raise or send money.

Student groups often collect change and raise money for events on the South Oval or in the Union. They could do the same to help victims in these two cities.

Or, if students have parents with deep pockets, they can make contributions to both the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.

Both will provide clothing, shelter, food and water to victims in need.

As Oklahoma reaches out to help the tornado victims of Lone Grove and Edmond, OU students should jump on board and do the same.

Re: Thursday’s column on Lincoln’s legacy

Re: Wednesday’s column on lottery shortcomings

Lincoln suspended the constitution and locked up the people who disagreed with his politics—in violation of the foundation in which America was built.

He also juxtaposed the issue of slavery with federal power in order to mobilize the populous into a war that had very little to do with slavery, and very much to do with federal vs. state power.

Gov. Henry did exactly what he said he would when he ran for office - he put having a lottery on the ballot for a vote of the people. Something that had been unable to happen up until that point.

- POSTED BY DAVE_SHRUGGED AT OUDAILY.COM

- POSTED BY NABECKW AT OUDAILY.COM

STAFF COLUMN

Biased media influence many on Gaza conflict Where you get your news affects how you understand the world and what side of a conflict you will support.

Gaza is a great example of what biased reporting can do to change people’s perspective. Each journalist’s description of the 22-day occupation, siege, war, massacre or conflict that took place in Gaza over our winter break takes one side or another by which facts they choose to present.

Choosing which side you support isn’t as obvious as it should be; the choice comes from where you get your news, what paper, channel, station or magazine has MAX a lot more to do with how you see AVERY the conflict than it may appear.

Both the Israelis and Palestinians want their facts presented. It’s not that the facts are different; it’s the focus that’s different. And it is terribly obvious which side is favored by the facts presented.

Israeli-leaning media prefer to concentrate on rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. In 2008, there were 3,102 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel.

That’s more than eight rockets a day for an entire year. Those rockets killed 16 people in Israel.

Israelis say the rockets provoked the siege.

The media focus on Israel being surrounded by enemies, some of whom have called for the annihilation of the Jewish state, and how Israel has a right to defend themselves.

The media report on Hamas’ terrorist history and poor humanitarian record, and about Palestinians violating the recent cease fire.

Media with a Palestinian slant prefer to focus on statistics of the siege and humanitarian issues, noting that 1,284 Palestinians were killed, including 894 dead civilians (280 dead children and 111 women).

Media with a Palestinian bias prefer to report on the hospitals and schools that were targeted by the Israeli military, including one school that was run by the U.N. They prefer to tell stories about life in Israeli-

occupied Gaza, with no running water, no electricity, little food, no weapons, minimal education and medical care and fences and endless checkpoints.

They compare Gaza to the Jewish ghettos of World War II. They prefer to tell you how all instruments of economic growth, and a majority of farmland in Gaza, were destroyed in the recent conflict.

Both sides accuse the other of human rights violations and old treaty violations.

The conflict takes a long time to understand.

Few people, and certainly not many OU students, have time to read the pro-Israeli New York Times, CNN or the Economist and balance those newspapers out with the pro-Palestinian views of the Guardian, Asia Times or Al Jazeera.

How we learn about a conflict strongly affects our understanding of that conflict. And we should learn about it from multiple perspectives so bias isn’t as strong a factor. Multiple sources on each topic seem to be the only way to hear multiple sides.

The more you read about a conflict, the easier it is to tell the slant of the paper by the facts it

is presenting. Next time you’re reading about the conflict, look at which facts the media outlets is presenting, and consider the article knowing which bias you are reading.

Some other conflicts upon which we’ve heard very biased reporting are: the Islamists takeover of Somalia, Hugo Chavez, protesters in Thailand, Iran’s Nuclear proliferation, Laurent Nkunda, the gas conflict with Ukraine and the FARC and drug war in Colombia.

This ‘“cherry picking” of facts is denying us honest media reporting. Since we know we can’t avoid that bias, we have a choice. We can either be taken in by our limited media, or we can reach out for better information.

The Web is an excellent resource for varied opinions. We need to make use of them and really educate ourselves, not just repeating the talking points, or news slants we hear so often.

We must always give each side consideration and respect, from that we will gain understanding.

Max Avery is a political science senior.

STAFF COLUMN

Career Services not fulfilling proper role Last week The Daily ran a three-part “Next Step” series about graduate and undergraduate degree selection and job market possibilities. The series was uplifting, but conveniently avoided the difficult realities present. The final installment on the nature of medical, law and business graduate schools was the most realistic.

This is no coincidence. The experts cited in this section are actively involved in the process.

Conversely, the first two parts — Choosing a Major and Post-Graduation planning — drew heavily on people from OU Career Services. I think Career Services offers a number of helpful services to students as they transition to the working world. They will fine tune your resume, match your personality with career paths and improve your interviewing skills. Career Services is in the business of informing students of

possible career paths and putting the polish on the college experience they present to employers.

However, they are not in the business of advising students as to what they should do during their academic career to better their employment opportunities.

In part two, Bette Scott, director of Career JACOB Services, puts the shine JONES on for liberal arts graduates. She encourages students to, “adopt the attitude that ‘I can do anything,’” suggesting that students consider applying their degrees to jobs they may not have considered in the past. Shine off? It was a nice way of encouraging graduates to keep their heads up because part-time

warehouse and restaurant work is better than nothing.

Career Services’ advice on major selection was more of the same spin. Either choose a career path and then pursue a major to match, or find the major you love and explore the career options available. Reasonable enough. Career Services is not in the business of telling students that, since they didn’t attend MIT, their majors need to be complemented by a supporting minor or double major to be competitive in the job market. Nor are they in the business of telling students that regardless of majoring in sociology or history, the majors offer nearly identical skill sets to employers.

The series never mentions skills directly, but the graphic in part two implies it just the same. Three groupings: liberal arts, nursing and teaching, and business and engineering. Liberal arts degrees sig-

nal to employer’s literacy and (in theory) a proficiency with the pen.

Up the ladder, one’s degree might signal analytical proficiency, problem solving ability or the ability to work in a group. If we can all be honest with ourselves, it signals work ethic and aptitude.

I don’t think there is any question; a higher ratio of physics/math/engineering students could be liberal arts majors than liberal arts majors could be otherwise.

I am not trying to suggest this would hold true for graduate programs and that liberal arts degrees are worthless.

Nor am I saying people shouldn’t attend a university just for the sake of learning. Instead, I am saying the realities of the job market should reach students choices by way of a pragmatic campus institution. OU’s Career Services is just not that. It is not the role of a resource like OU’s Career Services to fill students

with hot air over their major choice and, to a degree, implicitly encourage them to continue pursing a degree.

Rather, Career Services should be a reality check for all majors. Which minor would help a computer engineering major the most? Broadly, Career Services should tell students where they are skill deficient and give them a plan to turn those deficiencies into proficiencies.

I don’t think that is a dark vision at all.

At the cost of some security, I think able individuals will enjoy more diverse, stimulating, and, ultimately, rewarding careers.

It is not the role of Career Services to shield students from the realities of an increasingly treacherous job market or to oversell students on the value of their education, but to help prepare them for it.

Jacob Jones is an economics senior.

THE RUNNING ARGUMENT

Who was more influential: Darwin or Lincoln?

Charles Darwin

We could continue to rehash the same ideas, battling back and forth about the definitions of words such as “theory,” “fact” and “law,” discussing spheres of influence and their importance, arguing about inevitability or deterministic extrinsic factors and throwing around $10 words and last names. We could, but I’d rather not.

What’s been said has been said. We’ve made our points, and continuing this pattern during our last installment just wouldn’t bring any conclusion. Instead, I would like to acknowledge my appreciation for a (mostly) friendly exchange of ideas.

Mr. Smith has failed to change my opinion that Lincoln was more influential than Darwin, as I have obviously failed to JULES change his opinion.

They were, of course, both great men KUNZE of their time, and both of them deserve recognition for their contributions. Maybe they could have even exchanged birthday presents, had they been friends during the time, or had they known that we would be arguing about them today.

In his Tuesday column, Jules Kunze wrote, “It’s ludicrous to claim Lincoln did not play a major role in reshaping and restructuring the U.S. after the war.”

I responded by pointing out Lincoln died less than a week after the Civil War’s conclusion. On Thursday, Kunze wrote in rebuttal, “The reconstruction era of the U.S. actually began in 1863, well before the Civil War’s end.”

I was, of course, responding to Kunze’s statement on Lincoln’s postwar influence, not his references to Lincoln’s influence on the Reconstruction, specifically.

While Wikipedia does date ZAC the commencement of the Reconstruction to 1863, govSMITH ernment sources such as the Library of Congress place the Reconstruction’s beginnings in 1866, a year after Lincoln’s assassination.

On Wednesday, I prompted Kunze to provide me with evidence that influencing America’s policies is comparably significant to sparking a

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Jules Kunze is a biomedical sciences senior.

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revolution of the biological sciences. Kunze has not. Therefore, I can only conclude that he has no evidence to that effect.

Kunze also lists the ancient Greeks, JeanBaptiste Lamarck and Alfred Russel Wallace as influencing agents who would have led “any ambitious or competent naturalist” to formulate the theory of evolution by natural selection. The ancient Greeks, of course, never devised anything resembling an explanation for the evolutionary phenomenon. Lamarck’s theory of evolution was more or less the status quo while Darwin was developing his own model. If anything, Lamarckism would have discouraged researchers from seeking new explanations for evolution, since there was already one in place which appeared to function.

Wallace, who independently developed a concept of natural selection similar to Darwin’s, did not make Darwin aware of his idea until well after Darwin had developed his own theory. One wonders what the point was of including Wallace at all.

The errancy of Kunze’s statement is also demonstrated by the fact that, of the hundreds of naturalists working at the time, all aware of the

T H E The Fine Print

Abraham Lincoln

U N I V E R S I T Y

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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

Greeks and Lamarck, and a few familiar with Wallace, no other devised the theory that Darwin did. Kunze continually pads his columns with vague assertions of Lincoln’s shiny wonderfulness, rarely substantiating them with actual data.

And, finally, Kunze refuses to counter the evidence that I’ve provided demonstrating Lincoln’s views were not exceptionally progressive for his time.

I’d like to conclude with a quote from Abraham Lincoln which I think serves as an appropriate capstone to this debate.

“I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races. I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people. There is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality.

“I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”

Zac Smith is an English junior.

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

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The board meets Sunday through Thursday in 160 Copeland Hall.

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

News

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

5A

Professors get to use self-authored textbooks • University officials say royalties do not create conflict ALEX LYNN The Oklahoma Daily Textbooks are usually written by professors, for professors, but when a professor decides to require his or her own book for class, policies are in place to assure students are not taken advantage of.

Nancy Mergler, vice president and provost, cited the faculty handbook’s policy that states faculty can receive royalties for textbooks assigned in their own classes as long as any compensation is disclosed in advance. She said as long as they meet certain ethics criteria and pass an administrative review there is no conflict of interest.

International and area studies director Robert Cox said university-wide procedures provide some oversight to what textbooks and materials professors use. “[Administrators] review the cost of the book,” Cox said. “It has to be below a certain threshold.”

Cox said the threshold is different for each college and department.

“Our annual review process would also catch anything egregious,” he said.

Cox said there are no routine checks to make sure the least expensive textbook is being used for each class, whether a instructor wrote it or not. Cox said the responsibility to use the least expensive and most relevant textbook is up to the professor.

What conflict?

own stuff, do so because I believe it’s the best thing out on the subject.”

Fishel said he keeps his share of the royalties from the sales of his book. He said it amounts to a few hundred dollars a year.

His co-author also receives a share of the royalties.

“Using one’s own stuff is not a conflict of interest, provided that it is appropriate to the course and reasonably up to date,” Fishel said.

Erin Murphy, advertising senior, said she does not think it is wrong for a professor to receive money from a required textbook they wrote.

“I’m okay with that as long as I don’t feel like I’m getting ripped off,” Murphy said. “They put in a lot of time and hard work to get a book published.”

Jennifer Harrison, international and area studies and Spanish sophomore said she enjoys using books written by her professors because they guide her through their course more than another author’s would.

“I would only see it as wrong if the professor was assigning an inferior text simply because he or she wrote it,” Murphy said.

Sociology professor Robert Franzese said he assigns his own textbook because the royalties he receives from OU students is negligible.

“With the three editions of the Youth Gangs book [that I co-authored], we made very little money. So money is not the incentive. I don’t feel like it’s a conflict of interest because the most I can make is 10 percent,” he said.

“I felt I could write as good as any other book I’d use. I feel really comfortable with it. It’s exciting to use your own book in class.”

John Fishel is an international and area studies professor who requires his book, “Uncomfortable Wars Revisited,” in two of his classes.

“My books are the result of research over more than 25 years, and they were Creative solutions written as scholarly contriEven with the policies in butions to my field,” Fishel place to protect students’ said. “I, and I assume my interests, some professors colleagues who use their get creative to go above and

beyond the policy prescriptions.

Jim Avery requires his own textbook, “Advertising Campaign Planning,” for his advertising capstone class.

“Every penny I earn on the sale of the book from students in my class I give to the dean of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication,” Avery said.

Dean Joe Foote then gives the money to the OU Foundation to be donated to the university.

Avery said the amount is about $50 per semester.

“It’s unethical for me to make money from my students,” Avery said.

Avery said he uses his textbook because no better one is available.

Marielle Hoefnagels is a biology professor currently on hiatus. She required her own textbook for biology classes she taught, and a textbook committee also selected it for use in a zoology class.

“When I get royalties from the OU sales, it will go to a textbook scholarship,” Hoefnagles said.

Hoefnagels said by donating the money back to OU, she is removing any percieved conflict of inerest.

Hoefnagels said she decided creating the scholarship was the “right thing to do.” The scholarship Amy Frost/The Daily has not been set up yet, Robert Franzese, professor of sociology, talks with some of his students after his Juvenile Justice because Hoefnagels has not yet received any royalties class Wednesday. For his Sociology of Deviance class that he also teaches this semester he uses his own textbook. from her book.

Congress delays mandatory digital conversion • Most stations still opting to switch sooner S ANDRA KUNZWEILER The Oklahoma Daily Despite Congress’s recent approval to extend the digital

OUR COMMITMENT TO ACCURACY The Daily has a long-standing commitment to serve readers by providing accurate coverage and analysis. Errors are corrected as they are identified. Readers should bring

conversion deadline to June 12, most local television stations plan to adhere to the original deadline and convert to digital at 1 p.m., Feb. 17.

The United States Congress approved the bill Wednesday.

KWTV-9, KOKH-25, KOCB34, and KAUT-43 will make the digital switch Feb. 17. KSBI52, KOCO-5, AND OETA-13 will also go digital, but keep their

errors to the attention of the editorial board for further investigation.

ERROR SUBMISSIONS

ALPHA SIGMA KAPPA Alpha Sigma Kappa is hosting a tea party at 5:30 a.m. in Felgar Hall.

CAREER SERVICES Career Services will host an interviewing workshop at 10 a.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

UNION PROGRAMMING BOARD The Union Programming Board will provide free chocolate and chocolate crafts at 8 p.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

OU LAB THEATRE The OU Lab Theatre will present “Anna in the Tropics” at 8 p.m. in Old Science Hall.

OU MEN’S BASKETBALL The OU men’s basketball team will play Texas Tech at 12:30 p.m. in the Lloyd Noble Center.

OU LAB THEATRE The OU Lab Theatre will present “Anna in the Tropics” at 8 p.m. in the Old Science Hall.

SCHOOL OF MUSIC The OU School of Music students will perform at 8 p.m. in the Reynolds Performing Arts Center.

SUNDAY SCHOOL OF MUSIC The OU School of Music will present the Sutton Concert Series at 3 p.m. in Catlett Music Center.

OU LAB THEATRE

SATURDAY

The OU Lab Theatre will present “Anna in the Tropics” at 8 p.m. in the Old Science Hall.

POLICE REPORTS

DOMESTIC ABUSE

Names are compiled from the Norman Police Department and OUPD. The reports serve as a record of arrests, not convictions. Those listed are innocent until proven guilty.

Christopher Don Davis, 50, 2510 W Brooks St., Tuesday

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Jamie Renee Holley, 22, Nebraska Street, Wednesday

DRIVING WHILE IMPAIRED Robert Brett Taylor, 49, East Alameda Street, Wednesday

DISTURBING THE PEACE Donald Wayne Stephenson, 20, 2021 East Alameda St., Feb. 6

PUBLIC INTOXICATION Timothy Idell, 29, Shiloh Drive, Tuesday

PETTY LARCENY

Carl Owen Cabbiness, 43, 2733 Walnut Road, Tuesday Chad Allen Istook, 32, West Robinson Street, Wednesday

Cassandra Mare Mask, 21, 333 North Interstate Drive East, Tuesday Jessika Renea Reyes, 20, 333 North Interstate Drive East, Tuesday

COUNTY WARRANT

POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA

MUNICIPAL WARRANT

Leah Rochell Nicholson, 45, West Main Street, Wednesday

in the Oklahoma City area are ready for the digital conversion, leaving the remaining three percent, or 20,000 homes, unprepared.

Brady Bruce, general manager of KSBI-52, said KSBI-52 will withhold from complete digital conversion on Feb. 17 because of lawmaker requests and people’s need to prepare.

A deadline delay is necessary for the viewers who are still using analog signal, especially during storm season, he said.

Brent Hensley, general manager of KOCO-5, said his station

is taking a similar approach to Bruce’s.

“With the recent tornados, it could have been disastrous if people weren’t completely ready,” Hensley said.

The date extension will provide viewers added time to get converter boxes, new televisions, or subscribe to cable or satellite services, he said.

OETA-13 will switch to digital with its four main transmitters, but will keep analog on 13 transmitters until late summer or early fall for those in more rural areas.

“The reason we are mov-

ing forward is because we are tightly budgeted, and for technical reasons,” said Ashley Barcum, public information manager at OETA. Julie Cameron, KWTV-9 director of engineering, said her station was one of 368 stations in the country that applied for authorization to turn off analog signals. KWTV9 was one of 123 stations that were granted it, she said.

“We are turning off signal because there were a lot of steps we had to take that had already been set in motion,” Cameron said.

e-mail: dailynews@ou.edu phone: 325-3666

CAMPUS NOTES TODAY

analog transmitters running until a later date. KFOR-4 will not switch on Feb. 17, but plans to before the Congressional deadline.

“Congress has told us the past two years that this was going to happen,” said Joe Rossi, general manager of KOKH-25 and KOCB-34 in Oklahoma City. “We’ve been instructed by federal guidelines, and we’re sticking to it.”

Rossi said FOX and CW viewers are getting tired of conversion advertisements.

According to Nielsen Media Research, 97 percent of homes

Marshall Trevor Smith, 19, 2400 West Lindsey St., Wednesday

New art project provides thrifty entertainment • CART trolley service visits local art museums JAMIE BIRDWELL The Oklahoma Daily Norman’s newest artistic experience, the Second Friday Circuit of Art, begins tonight at 6 in downtown Norman and will travel through Campus Corner.

The Norman Arts Council and the Cleveland Area Rapid

Transit have teamed up to create a monthly event where citizens can ride CART trolleys to different art exhibits in downtown Norman and Campus Corner, said Kris Glenn, CART spokesman.

CART trolleys will travel to 15 art stops, said Rick Fry, Norman Arts Council executive director.

Entire evening passes will be sold for $2 in the parking lot of Copelin’s Office Center, he said.

Without a pass, individual stops are 50 cents, Fry said.

The idea began in a Norman Arts Council committee meeting last August, Fry said.

“The Paseo district in

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Oklahoma City has an arts walk every first Friday of the month,” Fry said. “We didn’t want to copy so we took the second Friday.”

The idea is to connect the downtown Norman art centers to the Campus Corner art centers, Fry said.

“We loved the idea of connecting with the Norman community in a larger way,” said Michael Bendure, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art public relations officer.

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art will have live music from the OU School of Music, handmade valentines and three short films from the Dead Center

Film Festival in Oklahoma City, Bendure said.

“Fred Jones was a key component in putting this together,” Fry said. “They were so excited that they changed their calendar year to have second Fridays free.”

The goal is to make second Friday Circuit of Art a permanent staple in the Norman community, Fry said.

“You can measure a town’s vibrancy with how active their arts are,” he said.

Boarding will begin at 6 p.m. in front of Copelin’s Office Center at 425 W. Main St. The trolley will run until midnight.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC ACCESS During the Regular Meeting Of

The University of Oklahoma

PUBLICATIONS BOARD 2:00-3:00 p.m. TODAY Copeland Hall, Room 146 Students, staff, faculty and others in the community are invited to express their views concerning The Oklahoma Daily or Sooner yearbook to the Publications Board.

6A

Photo Essay

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 Lilly Chapa/The Daily

Left: Tammy Farrell, Lone Grove resident, holds a photo of her niece Thursday afternoon while cleaing up after Tuesday’s deadly tornado. She found the photo hundreds of yards away from the original location of her sister-inlaw's mobile home.

Gone with the wind

• The Daily captured images in Lone Grove, 80 miles south of Norman, where an FE-4 tornado killed eight and injured dozens on Tuesday

Eli Hull/The Daily

Below: A car lies destroyed under branches and debris.

Botom: A Toyota RAV4 sits in the flower bed of a home in Lone Grove.

Eli Hull/The Daily

Metal and debris rest in a tree damaged the tornado.

the majors/minors

FAIR Wednesday, February 18, 2009 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., Union Ballroom Visit with university departments and get great information about the perfect major or minor for you! Free cokes, pizza, and giveaways!

featured speaker

Don Asher Monday, February 16, 2009 Meacham Auditorium

“Finding Your Major” 12:30 - 2 p.m.

“Finding a Job with Any Major” 2:30 - 4 p.m.

W E N ng i r lo p ex

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Sports

Steven Jones, sports editor dailysports@ou.edu phone: 325-7630, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Men’s Basketball

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

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No. 2 Sooners to host reeling Red Raiders Saturday • The Daily’s Eric Dama examines OU’s matchup vs. Texas Tech ADVANTAGE/DISADVANTAGE Perimeter game: Advantage OU It was junior guard Tony Crocker Saturday and senior guard Austin Johnson Wednesday. Each night it can be any Sooner guard that goes off on a scoring tear. Defensively, the guards did a good job of containing Baylor’s highlyregarded perimeter players.

Inside game: Advantage OU With sophomore forward Blake Griffin now seven games into a consecutive double-double streak, it’s hard to say any opposing team will stop him or his fellow big men. Factor in that junior guard-forward Juan Pattillo is contributing as much as some starters, and it’s downright impossible.

Motivation: Advantage Tech Come on, I had to give the Red Raiders at least one category. As bad as Tech has been this year, their 0-7 road record doesn’t do them justice. Excluding Wednesday’s double-digit loss to Kansas State, Tech has been competitive in nearly all of those games. The Red Raiders are desperately searching for that elusive road victory, and Norman is next on their itinerary.

Michelle Gray/The Daily

Sophomore forward Blake Griffin looks to score against four Colorado defenders on Saturday.

BE THERE What: No. 2 OU vs. Texas Tech When: 12:30 p.m. Saturday Where: Lloyd Noble Center For ticket information check out the OU athletics ticket office

HE SAID IT

“

“In this league, or really against anybody, you can’t get off to a start like that. We show up in the second half, but then it’s too late.”

— Texas Tech coach Pat Knight on his team’s slow starts “We stepped up and made plays. And it was different guys. That’s kind of been what our team’s been about this year.”

— OU coach Jeff Capel after Wednesday’s game on how his team finds a way to win

“That’s what comes when one team is on a roll and the other is struggling. It was deflating.”

— Baylor coach Scott Drew on OU’s strong shooting performance in Wednesday’s win over the Bears “It was just a really lucky shot. Stuff happens like that sometimes. It was just a lucky shot.”

— Senior Austin Johnson on his circus-like three-pointer against Baylor “I had to tell them, ‘We don’t want the game to be close late. We don’t want to put ourselves in that position. We have to get a hold of the game.’”

— Junior guard-forward Juan Pattillo on what he said to get his team going Wednesday night “We played under control the whole game, and that is important on the road.

Guys hit big shots, everybody stepped up and everybody played well.

— Sophomore forward Blake Griffin on OU’s win against Baylor

”

WEEKEND COVERAGE For updates on all of OU sports this weekend, including highlights of Saturday’s game, go to OUDaily.com.

Merrill Jones/The Daily

Sophomore forward Blake Griffin fights for a rebound against Texas A&M’s junior forward Chinemelu Elonu on Feb. 4 at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners won the game, 77-71.

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2B

Sports

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

FRIDAY FACEOFF

Is Alex Rodriguez still a Hall of Famer?

YES

NO

was in a conversation earlier this week with a friend, a baseball purist, and the conversation turned into an argument when the topic of whether or not Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez should be in the MLB Hall of Fame.

At some point he compared A-Rod to banned baseball legend Pete Rose, implying he believed three years worth of JONO steroid use and GRECO his negative image is equal to years of betting on the game.

Based off the “facts” given by my friend and other Rodriguez bashers, A-Rod should not be allowed anywhere near Cooperstown, N.Y. without paying general admission.

That argument is ridiculous.

Even though a player’s public image is almost as important as career statistics for some writers and voters, it should not be as big of a factor as it has become over the years.

Just look at the Hall of Fame as it stands now: it consists of alcoholics, drug users, cheaters and bigots.

But if you are unfaithful to your wife and considered a jerk, you apparently have no shot of joining baseball’s highest fraternity.

Now, image aside, let’s take a look at A-Rod’s career stats.

The biggest argument is that steroids helped Rodriguez’s performance and stats more than any other area of his game. If you break up A-Rod’s stats into career however, steroid period and non-steroid period, A-Rod has been amazingly consistent.

I

C

Julie Jacobson/AP Photo

In this Feb. 20, 2008 file photo, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez glances at fans while warming up during spring training baseball workouts. A-Rod’s admission to steroids has left his Hall of Fame candidacy in question.

He has hit .306 during his 15-year career, .305 during his years using steroids and .306 in 12 clean seasons. Remarkably, he may have had a better average if he had never used steroids.

The only areas where it seems steroids have helped him are home runs and slugging percentage. From 2001 to 2003, A-Rod has averaged 52 round trippers a year and a slugging percentage of .615.

If you take out all of Rodriguez’s stats and awards from his stint as

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www.barry.edu/podiatric Photography by mariapaola

heater? Check. Liar?

Check. Fraud? Judging by his recent interview with ESPN’s Peter Gammons, Alex Rodriguez is certainly that as well.

W h i l e watching the nearly 30 minute interview, I gave my DVR a workout, reviewing several incredible segments in JARROD which A-Rod YOST issued some of the most farcical responses in recent memory.

I must include a couple of the gems from the Gammons interview.

The simple fact that Rodriguez claims to not know what he was putting in his body is bogus, and an insult to the intelligence of any self-respecting human being. Not to mention the fact that Rodriguez claims that at age 21 he had never even heard of the idea of taking any performance enhancing substance.

That’s clearly ludicrous.

But did he come clean? Sort of.

He admitted to using an illegal substance between 20012003, but only after the information regarding his positive test was leaked.

Lest we forget, in a December 2007 interview which aired on 60 Minutes, Rodriguez flatout denied using performance enhancing drugs at any point in his career. Only upon the realization that he was officially caught did A-Rod finally admit it. Bravo, Alex.

A-Rod is on-field greatness.

Barring injury, he will assume the position of Major League Baseball’s home run king. To

8504 10/08

a Texas Ranger, he has accumulated 1,835 hits, 397 homers and 1,211 RBIs. If that were the case, baseball would be about to celebrate many A-Rod milestones in 2009.

Did A-Rod lie? Yes. Did he cheat? Yes. Does he deserve to be left out of Cooperstown? No. Rodriguez won’t be a first ballot selection, but he will be getting the call into baseball immortality.

JONO GRECO IS A JOURNALISM SOPHOMORE.

understand his true place in history, however, we need only look at some other sluggers currently mired in a similar cloud due to their regrettable past.

While Mark McGwire is not an all-around talent like Alex Rodriguez, he is one of the most prolific home run hitters of all time, and was part of perhaps the most memorable summer in baseball history.

Although McGwire has never tested positive for steroids, the speculation that he did contributed to the slugger receiving just under 25 percent support his first time on the ballot, and even less support in this year’s vote. A player must receive 75 percent of the vote to be admitted in to the Hall of Fame.

And then there is Roger Clemens. In case you ‘misremember’ the aura of Mr. Clemens prior to last year’s congressional hearings, let me remind you.

The seven-time Cy Young winner was a media darling; a golden boy who could do no wrong. Oh, how the tables have turned on The Rocket. Recent polls of HOF voters show sup-

port is low for Clemens, who will be eligible for consideration in 2013.

The same story is true for Sammy Sosa, the man who has apparently found multiple avenues in his quest to cheat the game of baseball. Sosa, you will remember, forgot how to speak English when questioned on Capitol Hill.

Slammin’ Sammy, however, has never tested positive for steroids, and was not named in the Mitchell Report. The speculation of steroid use may be enough to derail Sosa’s HOF candidacy, as only 20 percent of voters surveyed by ESPN in late 2007 said they would vote to induct Sosa upon eligibility.

Can we really believe Rodriguez when he says that he quit using steroids after the 2003 season? After all, he was not truthful about 2001-2003 until he had to be. Even so, the relatively small time span in which A-Rod admits to having used performance enhancers will be enough to keep him out of the Hall.

JARROD YOST IS A JOURNALISM SOPHOMORE.

AP Photo/ESPN

In this video frame grab provided by ESPN, Alex Rodriguez is interviewed by ESPN’s Peter Gammons on Monday. Rodriguez admitted during the interview that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003.

“FINDING A JOB WITH ANY MAJOR” Monday, February 16 2:30 - 4 p.m.

Meacham Auditorium in OMU

featuring Donald Asher, America’s Job Search Guru

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.

For accommodations on the basis of disability, call 405.325.1974 or 405.325.2574.

Luke Atkinson, L&A editor dailyent@ou.edu phone: 325-5189, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Life & Arts

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

3B

YOUR GUIDE TO ANTIVALENTINE’S DAY SIX THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR A FUN SATURDAY

Valentine’s Day is a terrible day for single people.

While couples get to bask in the “joy” of being together, singles have to try and make their own fun.

Now I’m not necessarily evil but I am all right with crashing people’s party.

Here are three things you can do on Feb. 14 if you are single with a soul and three things if you are the anti-cupid.

photo provided

‘International’ lacks big thrill ccording to Tom Tykwer’s duller-thandull, globetrotting thriller “The International,” bank executives will do whatever it takes to finance foreign wars, reap the profits and kill you if you even think about attempting to stop them.

They might have a passerDUSTY by inject you SOMERS with a chemical that causes an instant heart attack; they might gun you down in broad daylight in the middle of a crowded museum.

Funny, I thought these guys just took fancy company retreats with government bailout money.

Tykwer, whose brilliant “Run Lola Run” was one of the most inventive films of the 90s, fails to display even a tenth of the imagination exhibited in that film. Granted, a good deal of the blame has to fall on newbie screenwriter Eric Singer, whose waterlogged script is packed with unnecessary characters (including the two leads), laughably bad dialogue and an ending that’s going to send the masses to the exits steaming mad.

Clive Owen stars as Louis Salinger, an Interpol agent teaming up with Manhattan attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) to investigate corruption in the pow-

A

erful International Bank of Business and Credit (IBBC).

The film opens with one of Salinger’s colleagues in the midst of making a deal for information with a high-ranking IBBC executive. Salinger watches from a distance as his associate exits the car where the meeting takes place and promptly falls down dead on the side of the road. Later that evening, Salinger learns the bank executive was killed in a car crash.

Being the suspicious man he is, Salinger enlists the help of Whitman, and they take off all over the world to get to the bottom of things. They discover the IBBC is laundering money, and acting as a gobetween for foreign weapons deals. Trouble is, anyone who has information or who can help them winds up dead.

The rest of the film plays out like any other James Bond knockoff, with dramatic scene changes from Milan to Manhattan to Istanbul that merely serve as a lazy excuse for actual exposition.

We never learn much about our supposed protagonists, Salinger and Whitman.

There are some mild attempts at infusing their characters with motivation and conflict – he’s got a hinted-at reckless past, and she’s got the safety of her husband and son to worry about, but these are so briefly passed over, there’s little point of even trying to create any character depth with them. They talk in vague generalities about

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things like justice, but their goal is never clear.

About two-thirds of the way into the film, you can tell that the producers got worried about the meandering talka-thon script, because out of nowhere comes a spectacularly staged shootout scene in New York’s Guggenheim Museum. It’s completely incongruous with the rest of the film, but at least it’s somewhat interesting – visually, if not story-wise.

As the film builds to a conclusion that basically renders the preceding 110 minutes pointless, Whitman finally drops out of the picture, and it’s about time – her greatest achievement thus far was getting run over by a car.

Salinger might as well disappear from the screen too, but he’s there until the final scene, when it becomes all to oclear that the film has been wasting his, and our, time.

To say the ending peters out would be far too generous.

Tykwer is capable of far better, and Owen and Watts just look bored silly for two hours. Who can blame them?

“The International” might be tempting counterprogramming against Valentineready chick flicks like “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” but expecting a worthwhile two hours from it is like trusting shady executives with a government handout.

You’re probably going to get screwed.

– DUSTY SOMERS IS A JOURNALISM JUNIOR.

2. Anti-Valentine’s cards

Good things

Believe it or not, they’ve come out with a line of Anti-Valentine cards, as well as e-cards to send online. Send some of these to your fellow bitter single friends, or possibly to friends who are lucky enough to have someone.

1. Hit the town

3. Valentine’s bonfire

If you’ve got nothing else to do, go out to the various restaurants and bars. Go sing karaoke. Go stroll down Campus Corner. Maybe you’ll meet some new people.

If you intend to do this, use caution. As long as you keep the flame under control, build a fire, buy some Valentine’s crap and torch it. To be on the safe side, do not do this unless you have a way to stop the fire and don’t do this near any buildings. Think of it this way, you can really vent your frustrations by throwing that red and pink garbage in the fire.

2. Treat yourself

Clive Owen and Naomi Watts star in “The International.” The film centers around an Interpol agent (Owen) who spearheads an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful banking institutions in an attempt to expose them for worldwide arms brokering, corruption and murder.

them while they’re out with that someone. Don’t do it to the extent that it angers them, but do it to give yourself a laugh and see how they react.

Need an excuse to go buy a box set or a new game? Give yourself some Valentine’s gifts. Go buy yourself some food or something new to pass the time.

– AJ LANSDALE IS AN PROFESSIONAL WRITING SOPHOMORE.

3. Virtual communication munication If you want to findd people to socialize with, but don’t like the bars, rs, head for the Internet. If you are a gamer, go with some online gaming, such as World of Warcraft, Xbox Live orr Playstation Network..

Bitter things 1. Bother friends ds on dates If your friends are re lucky enough to have someone to spend that dreaded day with – but you don’t on’t like them – repeatedly text photos.com

4B

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

PLACE AN AD Phone 405.325.2521

E-Mail classifieds@ou.edu

Fax 405.325.7517

Office Copeland Hall 149A

Mail The Oklahoma Daily 860 Van Vleet Oval, 149A Norman OK 73019-2052

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Place your classified line ad by 9 a.m., Monday-Friday to run in the next issue.

Display Ad. . . . .3 days prior Classified Display or Classified Card Ad are due 3 days prior to publication date.

PAYMENT s r

r

L

Classifieds

Lost & Found

LOST & FOUND Lost Shi Tzu, neutered male, vicinity of SW 44th (North Pole City), no tags. Call to claim, 6051932.

Announcements ENTERTAINMENT FEMALE SINGER NEEDED Local Recording/Publishing/Production Company seeking fresh, sound to develop into possible solo/collaborative projects. Song writing and live performance skills important. Please call 405945-1959 or e-mail us studio115norman@yahoo. com.

C Transportation AUTO INSURANCE

Auto Insurance Quotations Anytime Foreign Students Welcomed Jim Holmes Insurance, 321-4664

BICYCLES & MOTORCYCLES ‘08 Honda Shadow Spirit motorcycle, VT750C2, 400 miles, metallic silver, $5900. Call 312-4227.

Employment

HELP WANTED TUTORS WANTED!!!

Available positions in the OU Athletics Department!! Junior, Senior, Graduate, Post Graduate applicants only!! LATIN (upper division), ARABIC, KIOWA, CREEK, CHEROKEE, CHOCTAW!! Hiring for spring 2009. Call 3250117 for more info!

STUDENTPAYOUTS.COM Paid survey takers needed in Norman 100% FREE to join. Click on Surveys.

Now hiring lifeguard, swim instructors, and AM pool managers. Apply at the Cleveland County Family YMCA, 1350 Lexington Ave. EOE.

J Housing Rentals APTS. FURNISHED $400, bills paid, efficiency LOFT apartments, downtown over Mister Robert Furniture, 109 E Main, fire sprinkler, no pets, smoke-free. Inquire store office.

Studying Abroad Fall semester? Come live in a 4 bd, 4 bth condo at The Edge Condominiums just 1 mile from campus, $1200/mo, available January 1, 2010. Another 4 bd, 4 bth unit is available May 15, 2009 for $1400/mo. Call 480-225-9779.

J

R.T. Conwell, advertising manager classifieds@ou.edu phone: 325-2521, fax: 325-7517 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Housing Sales

CONDOS The Edge Condo, 2 bdrm, 2 full bath, new fully furnished with everything, new appliances, 2200 Classen Blvd. Sale $115,000, without furniture $110,000. Call 626-826-9262 or christina_ 91773@yahoo.com.

Sell your stuff. classifieds@ou.edu

Being

NUMBER ONE is nothing to celebrate.

1 bedroom near campus, $340/mo plus all utilities, $200/dep, no pets, Call 886-6709.

APTS. UNFURNISHED

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Services

Payment Payment is required at the time the ad is placed. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express; cash, money orders or local checks accepted.

Credit Accounts Businesses may be eligible for credit in a limited, local billing area. Please inquire with Business Office at 405.325.2521.

RATES Line Ads Rates are determined by the price per line, per day. There is a two line minimum charge; approximately 40 characters per line, including spaces and punctuation.

1 day ............. $4.25/line 2 days ........... $2.50/line 3-4 days........ $2.00/line 5-9 days........ $1.50/line 10-14 days.... $1.15/line 15-19 days.... $1.00/line 20-29 days.... $ .90/line 30+ days ..... $ .85/line

Classified Display Ads Rates are $16.00 per column inch, per day with a minimum of 2 column inches.

Classified Card Ads Classified Card Ads are $170 per column inch with a minimum of 2 column inchs and run 20 consecutive issues. Ad copy may change every five issues.

Game Sponsorships Classified Display Ads located directly above the following games/puzzles. Limited spaces available – only one space per game.

2 col (3.792 in) x 2 inches Sudoku ...........$760/month Boggle............$760/month Jumble ...........$760/month Horoscope .....$760/month

MISC. SERVICES FREE DIVORCE RECOVERY SEMINAR at Alameda Church of Christ, classes begin Feb 18, 6:15 pm, led by Arlene McGlone, LCSW. Free childcare. To register call Arlene, 231-8738.

Employment HELP WANTED Bartending! Up to $250/day. No exp nec. Training provided. 1-800-965-6520, x133.

TUTORS WANTED!!!

Available positions in the OU Athletics Department!!! Junior, Senior, Graduate, and Post Graduate applicants only!! All Subjects! Hiring for Spring 2009. Call 325-8453, for more info!!

Make up to $75 per online survey, student opinions needed www.cashtospend.com.

MISAL OF INDIA BISTRO Now accepting applications for waitstaff.

Apply in person at 580 Ed Noble Parkway, across from Barnes & Noble, 579-5600.

University College is seeking current students to work with the Summer Enrollment Program for entering freshman. Positions are FT temporary, May 18-July 31, $8/hr with weekends and holidays off. Apply online at uc.ou.edu, for questions contact Brian Nossaman at bnoss@ou.edu or 325-3521.

www.3MonthsFreeRent.info Brand New Apartments. Limited Availability.

1/2 OFF 1st MONTHS RENT* Immediate Move-Ins Only / Prices Reduced! $99 DEPOSIT! PETS WELCOME! Models open 8a-8p Everyday!

1 & 2 Bedrooms Available!

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HOUSES UNFURNISHED AVAILABLE IN MAY A short walk to OU, 1-5 blks west of OU, nice brick homes, wood floors, CH/A, w/d, disposal, good parking.

3 Bdrm $1200-1800 2 Bdrm $700-$900 1 Bdrm $420-$460 MISTER ROBERT FURNITURE 9-4 pm, Mon-Sat, 321-1818

3 room efficiency, 413 Elm,$395/mo, bills paid, one year lease, smoke-free no pets. Call 3603850.

5 This year, more than

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4 5 3 2 9

cancer killer.

Join Lung Cancer Alliance in the fight against this disease.

7 2

NUMBER ONE

3

5 7 1

8 4 3

9

6 7

ROOMS FURNISHED NEAR OU, privacy, $260, bills paid includes cable, neat, clean, parking. Prefer male student.

Call 329-0143.

lungcanceralliance.org

CLASS MONITORS WANTED!!!!

Available positions in the OU Athletic Department!! Junior, Senior, Graduate,and Post Graduate applicants only! Hiring for Spring 2009. Call 325-8453.

5 9 1 6

8 9 1 5 6 4 7 3 2

1 5 6 2 3 8 9 7 4

7 8 9 6 4 1 2 5 3

4 2 3 9 7 5 1 6 8

6 4 8 3 1 2 5 9 7

9 7 2 4 5 6 3 8 1

3 1 5 7 8 9 4 2 6

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

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.

ACROSS 1 Recover from a sprint, perhaps 5 Defect 9 Prolonged attack 14 Beautycream additive 15 Misplace 16 “That’s What Friends Are For” voice 17 What raindrops do 20 Get a sense of 21 Splits up evenly 22 Always used by poets 23 Moll Flanders’ creator 24 What base stealers do 28 Type of log 32 Suffix with “benz” 33 Verses of tribute 34 “Nova” follower 36 To any extent 38 It’s much sooner than later 40 Remains to be seen?

41 Grayish green 43 Breaker 45 Mediocre mark 46 Bit of sediment 47 What beach balls do

$5,000-$45,000 PAID. EGG DONORS for up to 9 donations, + Exps, non-smokers, Ages 19-29, SAT>1100/ACT>24/GPA>3.00 Contact: info@eggdonorcenter.com ENGLISH TUTORS/ WRITING CONSULTANTS WANTED!!!

Available positions in the OU Athletics Department! Junior, Senior, Graduate,and Post Graduate applicants only!! Hiring for Spring 2009. Call 325-8376, for more info!

Norman Zoo Tour Guides, flex hours, enthusiastic students with good people skills. 366-7229.

Cricket Wireless is now hiring for full and part-time sales, $8-10/hr.

Apply in person 1000 Alameda.

Fun part-time positions available at Autographs Sports Bar inside Riverwind Casino. Servers, Hosts, Bartender, and kitchen positions. Must be at least 21 to serve and 18 for kitchen and hosts.

All positions require right to work documentation.

Apply in person at Autographs or at Traditions Spirits, 2813 SE 44th, Norman, 405-392-4550.

(located just below the puzzle)

POLICY

50 Ladd and Freed 52 Animal pouch 53 Zigzags downhill 56 Female player 60 What airplanes do 62 Certain liqueur flavoring 63 Nephew of Cain 64 Arraignment offering 65 Uses a bus pass 66 Russo of “Two for the Money” 67 The fourth man DOWN 1 Butcher’s hook 2 Botanist’s wings 3 Oxford part 4 Air rifle projectile 5 Prepared for frying, maybe 6 Politician Trent 7 It’s a grate thing 8 Garden neatener 9 Electronic control mechanism, informally 10 Start of Barney’s theme song 11 A case of pins and

needles 12 Used up 13 Expires 18 Rock climber’s need 19 They’re kept under wraps 23 Writes out of the will 24 Presided over, as a case 25 Put six feet under 26 Take a playful poke at 27 ___ of iniquity 29 Carthage neighbor 30 Certain closet contents 31 Reduced, as tension 35 Having a scalloped edge

SOONERS

Drink Responsibly.

Call the Hotline at

325-5000

Previous Answers

37 Attorneys’ jargon 39 Money roll 42 San Antonio landmark 44 Type of rayon 48 Reply 49 Meal leftovers 51 Rich sources 53 Old wound mark 54 Burt’s ex-wife 55 At the center of 56 Like ___ of bricks 57 First name in mysteries 58 Editor’s “Let it stand” 59 Former Iranian monarch 61 Butte-toGreat Falls dir.

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate www.upuzzles.com

“DROP ZONE” by Carla Azure

The University of Oklahoma is an Equal Opportunity Institution.

2 6 7 1 9 3 8 4 5

Edited by Timothy E. Parker February 13, 2009

Survey Takers Needed Make $5-$25 per survey GetPaidToThink.com

to report illegal or unsafe drinking.

All calls are anonymous.

5 3 4 8 2 7 6 1 9

Universal Crossword

1 col (1.833 in) x 2.25 inches Crossword .....$515/month

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 405.325.2521 before the deadline for cancellation in the next issue. Refunds will not be issued for early cancellation.

Errors not the fault of the advertiser will be adjusted.

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.

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Advertisers understand that they may not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion or gender unless such qualifying factors are essential to a given position.

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

9 1 4

making it America’s

But new treatments offer hope.

Previous Solution

2

Life & Arts

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

5B

Dinner + Movie ‘Chocolat’ for your valentine When thinking about Valentine’s Day, two things come to mind: chocolate and love. Why not have both with this week’s dinner and a movie?

The Melting Pot 4 E. Sheridan Ave. OKC “Chocolat” and The Melting Pot’s chocolate fondue is a perfect match for this week’s dinner and a movie.The Melting Pot has a specialized menu for Saturday’s in honor of St. Valentine.

The menu includes an appetizer of tomato basil cheddar cheese with an assortment of vegetables.

The entrée consists of lobster, filet mignon, breast of chicken, shrimp, teriyaki sirloin and spinach gorgonzola raviolis.

Now for the best part; chocolate fondue.

Fresh raspberry milk chocolate will be served with fruit and dessert dippers.

If that didn’t make your mouth water, I’m not sure what will.

In 1959, Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her daughter move to a rural town in France that is centered on the Catholic Church. They decide to open up a chocolate shop across the street from the church during Lent, much to the townspeople’s dismay.

While reluctant to visit the chocolate shop at first, the inhabitants of the town soon become tempted by Vianne’s high spirits and ultimately end up loving her scrumptious treats.

The town’s mayor tries to shut down the shop, but with the aid of a strikingly attractive Irish Gypsy named Roux (Johnny Depp), the mayor is unable to get in Vianne’s way.

Pick up “Chocolat” at your local Blockbuster and sit back and relax with your Valentine.

– LAURA PEDEN IS A BUSINESS FRESHMAN.

HOROSCOPE

By Bernice Bede Osol

zaza

WINE of theWEEK

“Chocolat”

For this week’s wine, we will be looking into something different from your average white or red wine. My suggestion for you first timers is a ‘ZaZa’ Garnacha Rosé 2007 imported from Spain.

This wine is a perfect selection for the up-and-coming day of love, and for you well wishing boyfriends, I think you’ll find it a good way to get on the sweeter side of your lucky lady, as it is made for a sweet loving palate.

This rosé – having neither the full bouquet of a red wine nor the too clean finish of a white wine offers its assessor a nice subtle bouquet – usually with a rich fruit flavor and a strong finish like a red wine.

‘ZaZa’ is particularly divine as a before dinner or appetizer wine, as its aroma and bouquet are good for the palate before meals. Think of it as a way to get your loving partner warmed up before you take them out for a nice, romantic date.

So my suggestion for this Valentine’s Day date is to try to impress the guy or girl your choice with a nice bottle of ‘ZaZa’ as appetizer wine. And, cliché though it may be, strawberries and ‘ZaZa’ rosé complement each other nicely – especially on Valentine’s Day. – BRITTANY BURDEN IS AN ENGLISH LITERATURE SENIOR.

Copyright 2008, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -Keep your plans flexible, because some nice friends will want to spend some quality time with you, and you’ll want to be free to do so. They’re people you’ll really want to be with.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- Don’t be shy about assuming an assertive role when you see someone floundering during a critical situation. You’ll know what to do, and your input will be greatly appreciated.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- It can be smart at times to go to another for advice when you can’t get a handle on things, as long as it is someone whose judgment you respect. This might be just what you need to do at this time.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -Offer as much meaningful work as you can, especially if that involves working on a job of importance where its success means more than merely a financial windfall. Your contribution will be priceless.

photo illustartion by Zach Butler/The Daily

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Your heart could warm considerably toward someone you recently met but knew little about. This person is apt to do something nice that you find way beyond what is called for.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Go shopping if you’re so inclined, because much of what you purchase could end up being many of your favorites. You’ve got an eye for not only what’s attractive but comfy and cozy as well.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- One of your greatest assets is your ability to get along with most everyone. You’ll know how to treat someone who is normally withdrawn in such a manner that brings out the best in this person.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Conditions in general are especially good, but you can help matters along even further by being hopeful and expectant.

Having good thoughts makes good things happen even faster.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- Stick with optimistic friends, because they’re the ones who will bring out the best in you, enhancing both your talents and outgoing personality.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- Because you’ve first made a friend out of a business contact, this person could become an important individual in helping to further your career. He or she is apt to open all kinds of big doors for you.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -Express your artistic and creative instincts without hesitation to beautify that which surrounds you and those you love, whether that means decorating, cooking or warming the hearts of others.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Although you will be a high achiever, most of what you do will actually benefit others more than you, and that’s your intention. You realize what you do for them you do for yourself.

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6B

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

February 15th - 21st Sunday, February 15 -Road Rallye (Willoughby Lounge, 1 pm) An auto scavenger hunt with a cookout at the final destination. Cash prizes to the top three finishers!

Monday, February 16 -Kickball Tournament (Reaves Park, 1:30-3:30 pm) Students compete in a kickball tournament. Cash prizes to top three teams!

-Games Tournament (Willoughby Lounge, 6 pm) Partners compete against other teams in pool and ping-pong. Cash prizes to the top three teams!

Tuesday, February 17 -Stress E-liminator (WSSC, 10:30am-12:30pm & 1:30-3:30pm) Reduce your stress with massages courtesy of Heritage College.

Mr. Engineering Pageant (OMU, 7 pm-9 pm) Men studying various disciplines in engineering compete for the title of Mr. Engineering.

Wednesday, February 18 -Blood Drive (Willoughby Lounge, 10:30 am-3 pm) -Casino Night (Willoughby Lounge, 7 pm) Try your luck in our Las Vegas style games. Bring canned goods for extra chips.

Thursday, February 19 -Corporate Festival (Felgar/Carson Lawn, 11 am-3 pm) Network with E-Week sponsors and enjoy free pizza, popcorn, cotton candy, drinks, mechanical bull, and bungee run.

Friday, February 20 -LKOT Fireout (Felgar/Carson Lawn, 5:22 pm) -Fluid Dynamics Lab (Logan’s, 6:30 pm) The study of the movement of low viscosity, green, effervescent fluid into human oral cavities.

Saturday, February 21 -Banquet (OMU Ballroom, 6 pm Social & 7 pm Dinner) Outstanding students, faculty, and staff recognized.

St. Patrick’s Day is drawing near, and it will once again be time for the Engineers to pay homage to their patron saint, St. Patrick, who is revered through legend as the oldest Engineer. In modern times, we do this by electing new E-Club officers, listening for the distant rumble of the cannon being fired in the night, and consuming healthy portions of green brew.

In the spring of 1903, the University of Michigan began construction of a new Engineering building. While the construction crew was digging, a large stone with a faint inscription was unearthed. The stone told the adventures of St. Patrick and his ties to the Engineering profession. Later that year, a geology instructor from Missouri brought a small piece of the stone to Oklahoma where OU Engineers kept it. Each year thereafter, graduating seniors would survey their way into the woods, bury the stone, and leave their calculations for the next year’s seniors to locate and rebury the stone.

From the ideals and values set forth by St. Patrick, each year a student is elected the St. Pat of the College. His of her fellow students acknowledge that student’s devotion to the Engineering profession and to the Patron Saint of Engineering, St. Patrick.

The rivalry between Engineers and Lawyers is one of our most time-honored traditions. The beginning of the rivalry at OU can be traced back to 1915, when a group of Engineers “confiscated” a cannon and fired it to honor St. Patrick. The firing destroyed every window in the Law Barn, and so began the rivalry.

Although the Engineers have clearly shown their superiority through the years, the Lawyers have had their moments. In 1919 a female law student gained entrance to the Engineering Banquet and “Old Trusty #7,” LKOT’s cannon. A cannon much like this one was managed to spike the coffee with a mixture containing pepper, casfirst fired in 1915, which destroyed the windows of the Law Barn. tor oil, and other assorted ingredients. The combination caused considerable gastric distress among the guests. Some guests caused an interruption due to their nausea-related exit. In the seventy-five years following this incident, the best the Lawyers have managed to do is campaign for a few of their less desirable female cohorts for E-Queen and paint scales on top of the LKOT Engineers’ Club was founded in 1910 and has grown to become the shields. What the lawyers lack in imagination they make up for in largest Engineering program in the Sooner State. With more than gullibility.

In 1926 the owl on the Law Barn received the first of many fu2,200 undergraduate and 700 graduate students, it is the largest student organization on the University of Oklahoma campus. E- ture coats of paint, which have continued to this day.

In 1980 Engineers posing as construction workers poured a Club’s purpose is to promote fellowship among Engineering faculty cement footing on the lawn of the new law center in broad daylight. and students and to help students develop leadership skills in addiLater that night, a large concrete tombstone was erected on the tion to their technical expertise.

There are several opportunities for students to become involved footing with the inscription, “IS THE RIVALRY DEAD?” Due to exwith Engineers’ Club. Regular activities include general meetings on tremely cold temperatures, the tombstone was not fully cured and the first Thursday of each month, hamburger feeds before each was found the next morning on the Engineering lawn upside down home football game, along with annual events like Fall Festival, Ca- with the words “HELL NO!” spray-painted on its face.

In 1982 a couple of fine Engineering students attached a green reer Fair, Open House, Engineers Week, and Williams Student Leaddye injection system to the law center’s water supply. Every time a ership Retreat.

Engineering Open House is the oldest annual event that is still fountain was turned on or a toilet flushed, green water held at OU. It offers high school students from across the state a “mysteriously” appeared. That E-Week the law center was ceretaste of what Engineering is all about. Students design and produce moniously decorated each night with green toilet paper. The Lawentries for contests such at the Egg Drop, Rubber Band Vehicle yers responded by presenting a restraining order to LKOT during fireout, stating that the cannon could not be fired. The restraining races, and Load-Bearing Bridge competition.

Engineers Week is celebrated nationally each spring as a time for order was rolled up and placed exactly where it belonged: in the students to escape the pressures of the classroom and have fun muzzle of Old Trusty. There was not much left after the first shot with fellow Engineers. The principles of dedication, perseverance, sounded. A small riot ensued and the Lawyers once again found and hard work, on which E-Club was founded, are still apparent to- themselves on the wrong end of the beating stick. If they had only remembered a few years later, when a “Lawyer” was found buried day and guarantee its continued and successful future. face-down (with only his feet to be seen) on the Engineering lawn.

The epithet classically read:

A group of Engineering students “confiscated” an old civil war cannon which became known as “Old Trusty,” and decided to establish a tradition of firing the cannon on a regular bases. In 1920, the Loyal Knights of Old Trusty was formed, and the university and the College of Engineering have been under their watchful eye ever since.

The membership of LKOT is made up of students who actively participate in College of Engineering programs and organizations.

The members closely monitor all events within the college and act accordingly to ensure that traditions are observed, upheld, and continued. Their service to the college is selfless. Public appearances are limited to their annual fireouts and other special occasions such as St. Patrick’s Day and Engineering Convocation. The spring fireout will take place on the lawn between Carson and Felgar on Friday,

February 20 at 5:22 pm.

Here lies the poor lawyer His legal work undone He mouthed off to an engineer When he should have run During the winter of 1985, a profuse growth of winter rye grass in the shape of a shamrock adorned the north-side lawn of the Law Barn. Accusations were raised but what would Engineers know about gardening anyway?

In 1989 the Engineers were once again blamed for a law school computer malfunction that resulted in letters being sent to more than 500 law students informing them that their records had been lost due to computer error. Fearful that they would not graduate, they proceeded to call the 24-hour hot-line listed on the letters; good thing it was the law dean’s home phone number.

It has been quiet lately; rumor has it the law students don’t have what it takes to play with the Engineers anymore. Don’t be disappointed, there is always the business college…

Remember, LKOT is watching you.

Vote Online at elections.ou.edu Tuesday through Thursday of E-Week.

Winners will be announced at the Banquet on Saturday!

Queen Candidates (from left to right): Ashley Do, Erin Britton, and Jessica Callahan

Engineers’ Club would like to give a special thanks to UOSA for their support of Engineers Week.

King Candidates (from left to right): Shay Smith, Porter Cunningham, and Toby Deen Engineers’ Club would like to thank our Premier Sponsors: