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FINAL FOUR FALLOUT Sooners fall to Louisville in a down-to-the wire finish in St. Louis SPORTS, PAGE 1B MONDAY APRIL 6, 2009

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I

t’s always been difficult to separate Sam Bradford and Blake Griffin. Both grew up in Oklahoma City, in houses five miles apart. They attended high schools separated by fewer than 20 miles and went on to have dazzling seasons as the leaders of their teams at OU. And then Sunday, Griffin won the Naismith Trophy, awarded to college basketball’s National Player of the Year, 113

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days after Bradford was named the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner, making OU the first school ever to win both trophies in the same academic year.

Now, the link between the two is tighter than ever, and maybe that’s fitting. After all, the two local kids who decided to take home-state scholarships took similar paths to where they are now.

ROYALTY CONTINUES ON PAGE 2A

© 2009 OU PUBLICATIONS BOARD

VOL. 94, NO. 126

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Monday April 6, 2009

Royalty Continues from page 1A Growing up, Bradford and Griffin knew each other through their parents. Griffin’s parents owned a trophy company that Bradford’s father used. Bradford’s f a t h e r o w n e d a g y m w h e re Blake and Taylor Griffin played basketball.

Bradford and Griffin occasionally played one another in Little League, and they were teammates in the summer of 2005, when they played on the same Amateur Athletic Union basketball team, Athletes First.

Bradford’s mother, Martha Bradford, said it was evident early on what kind of talent Griffin had.

“Blake is just like he was growing up, I promise you,” Martha Bradford said. “He loved to dunk the ball even when he was young.

I mean that’s all he wanted to do was dunk, and it was just amazing to watch him.”

Sports came naturally to both Bradford and Griffin.

As an only child, Bradford busied himself playing football, baseball, basketball, hockey and golf.

Bradford’s dad said it was easy to tell what made his son successful.

“In comparison to the other boys in his age group he was always talented, but probably what set him apart was he paid attention more,” Kent Bradford said. “He was into it more. That and he would have extra practice and extra time shooting or out hitting balls, all those things.”

Meanwhile, Griffin and his older brother Taylor were playing multiple sports themselves. Growing up, Griffin played football, basketball, baseball and soccer.

“That was what I did from the moment I was done with school until the moment I had to go to bed, pretty much,” Griffin said.

“We were out in the yard or out in the driveway doing whatever, so it was a huge part of my [life].”

But after his freshman year of high school, Griffin dropped all other sports to focus on basketball. It was at Oklahoma Christian School, where his father coached, that Griffin began to prepare to play at the next level.

“It was really the time where I made my transition to being a lot more serious and really working on my game,” Griffin said. “Having my dad there, he was someone who really pushed me really hard and looking back on it, I’m so thankful for that now.”

Bradford was slower to select his primary sport. By the time he got to high school, he had stopped playing hockey but was still playing four sports. Knee problems led him to stop playing baseball, so Bradford focused on football, basketball and golf after his freshman year.

“To be honest, for a long time I thought basketball was what I wanted to do in college,” the Heisman Trophy winner said.

CHOOSING OU As Bradford and Griffin progressed in their high school careers, they began receiving attention from universities that wanted to offer them scholarships. Before long, they had decisions to make.

“I think probably after my sophomore year, that’s when I started getting letters from people,” Bradford said. “Then after my junior year, that spring, that’s when I started getting offers from different colleges, but in no way was it like Blake. He had every college in the country calling him and wanting to talk to him every night.”

Kent Bradford said it wasn’t until his son began receiving scholarship offers for football that he finally chose football over basketball.

After a successful junior campaign, Bradford threw for 2,422 yards and 19 touchdowns his senior year of high school. He was named to the second-team AllState team and was a three-star recruit, ranked as the 17th best quarterback in the country.

Bradford said he received five or six official scholarship offers.

Former OU offensive coordinator Chuck Long went to see Bradford’s first spring practice in May prior to Bradford’s senior year and called that night to offer a scholarship.

For Bradford, it wasn’t a tough decision. His parents were OU football season ticket-holders, and Bradford was an OU fan growing up. About a week after the offer was made, Bradford verbally committed to OU. “He was at a basketball tournament, if you want to know the truth, and he was down in New Orleans and I guess he called coach Stoops and committed,” Martha Bradford said. “Then, I think [Kent] got a call from [Bradford’s] high school

coach telling us that Sam had committed. So then he calls us later he goes, ‘Hey I just wanted to tell you guys that I did commit’ and we said, ‘Oh, we already know.’”

For Griffin, the decision was a bit more complicated.

Griffin won four state championships at Oklahoma Christian School, going 106-6 in the process.

His senior year, he averaged 26.8 points, 15.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.9 blocks per game. He was a McDonald’s All-American, the top player in the state and ranked as high as No. 13 in the country by

“Obviously you’re kind of apprehensive about it, you’re anxious about it, you’re hoping everything ends up okay for him,” Kent Bradford said. “It ended up great for him. He just hopped in there and just played and played well.”

Griffin’s first collegiate game came on Nov. 8, 2007, against San Francisco. He went 7-9 from the field and scored 18 points while grabbing 13 rebounds in the game.

Capel said he knew from the start how good Griffin could be.

“I knew he’d work, and that’s the thing that impressed me most

“Playing football or basketball here is a lot bigger than just Blake Griffin, it’s a lot bigger than just Sam Bradford. It’s about this whole program and the legacy and everything that’s come before it and all the people involved. I think those guys both understand that and that’s why they realize there’s no room for them to be doing anything but being a class act and acting how they have been.”

TAYLOR GRIFFIN some recruiting services.

Griffin had the advantage of watching his brother go through recruitment two years prior, but Griffin still had a tough time deciding which school to attend. He had around 10 to 15 offers from schools like Kansas, Florida, Texas, Duke and North Carolina.

Taylor Griffin was already at OU, but the situation wasn’t ideal.

Coach Kelvin Sampson had recently resigned and recruits were pulling out of the program. Under new head coach Jeff Capel, OU went 16-15 during the 2006-2007 season. But late in the recruitment process, Taylor Griffin went home with a pitch for his brother.

“I just said my thing and just told him we had a lot of fun playing in high school and I think we would do the same here,” Taylor Griffin said. “I really believed in coach Capel and … I think Blake felt a lot of the same ways and he went with it.”

about him,” Capel said. “Obviously his talent, but when you have that talent and then you have something inside you – you’re driven like he is – that’s what makes a guy special.”

AN AWARD-WINNING YEAR Both Bradford and Griffin had a lot on their shoulders during the 2008-2009 season.

Before the year even began, OU’s football and basketball teams were expected to perform well and Bradford and Griffin were expected to perform even better.

The OU football team installed a no-huddle offense for the 2008 season, and the Bradford-led offense became one of the most productive in history.

Bradford set the tone for his season early with a 395-yard, five-touchdown performance in the second game of the year against Cincinnati on Sept. 6. Kent Bradford said he couldn’t have

career-high 40 points and 23 rebounds as OU won easily, 95-74.

And then there was the flip.

Bradford’s flip came on Nov. 29 in Stillwater. Late in the game, as Bradford tried to seal a Bedlam victory, he sprinted toward the corner of the end zone and left his feet. As he lunged for the end zone, he was hit low by an OSU defender, upending Bradford. He fell short of the end zone, but the image of Bradford, feet in the air, reaching toward the goal line is what many called his “Heisman moment.”

“I think that’s kind of weird … just one moment,” Bradford said. “I think there’s a lot more to my season and to that award than just one moment, especially in that game.”

It was shortly after that, in May 2007, that Griffin committed to OU. “Blake liked what coach Capel said to him,” Griffin’s mother, Gail Griffin said. “They both were achievement-oriented. Then Taylor coming home and telling Blake that Oklahoma is a good place for him and he felt like it would be great to play together again, I think that was probably what did it.”

predicted Bradford’s success.

“I was always confident in Sam, but as a parent, you normally look just play-to-play,” Kent Bradford said. “It’s all ended up that he’s playing at the school that he’s always dreamed of and he was obviously there at the right time, and he’s had great coaches and great teammates and it’s all worked out.”

Griffin’s tone-setting game came 62 days later, against American University in OU’s 2008 seasonopener. Griffin scored 24 points and pulled down a then-careerhigh 18 rebounds. Capel said that it takes more than talent to play at Griffin’s level.

“There are a lot of really talented guys, but they don’t ever reach their potential because maybe there’s a flaw,” Capel said. “Maybe they don’t work, maybe they’re soft, maybe they think they know everything, maybe they have all the answers, maybe they’re using college, maybe they have one foot in the door and one foot already out. What makes Blake unique and

Griffin’s flip came two weeks after his Texas Tech game. On Feb. 28, again against the Red Raiders, this time in Lubbock. Griffin was playing his first game after suffering a concussion a week earlier. If 20 points and 19 rebounds weren’t enough to convince fans he was healthy, Griffin provided one of the most memorable plays of the season.

While trying to chase down a loose ball, he sprinted across the court and leapt out of bounds, diving over the scorer’s table and into the stands.

The hustle play drew applause from the Texas Tech crowd.

“He only knows one way to play,” Capel said after the game.

“You’re talking about a kid who hadn’t played because of a concussion. He was just so happy to be out there playing today. Just glad to see that he was OK because that one over the scorer’s table was a pretty nasty fall.”

COLLEGE CAREERS COMMENCE When Bradford came to OU, there weren’t many expectations for the Oklahoman. Rhett Bomar, a former top-rated high school quarterback from Texas, had just finished his freshman season and was expected to be OU’s quarterback of the future. However, Bomar was released from the team in fall 2006 after violating NCAA rules, and suddenly Bradford was in the thick of things.

He red shirted his first season, a year Bradford called “frustrating,” because he had never been a back-

“I think it sinks in every time someone asks me about it and the more I’m around it, but it’s taken me a long time to really grasp what’s happened.

SAM BRADFORD up before. In Bradford’s second year, though, he emerged from a three-way quarterback battle to win the starting position.

Bradford’s first game was Sept.

1, 2007, against North Texas. In the game, he broke former Heisman runner-up Josh Heupel’s OU record for passing yards in a half and Heisman winner Jason White’s record for consecutive completions.

In his first two games, Bradford had as many touchdown passes as incompletions, going 40-48 for 568 yards, with eight touchdowns and no interceptions.

so different is that all those things I just mentioned, he’s the complete opposite.”

Both Bradford and Griffin had memorable games against Texas Tech during their award-winning seasons. Bradford’s was Nov. 22 in Norman. He threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns in OU’s 65-21 stomping of Tech, putting OU back in the hunt for the Big 12 South title.

Then, 84 days later came Griffin’s record-setting day. The Red Raiders didn’t double-team Griffin, and he responded with a

THE LEGACIES Bradford finished his 2008 season by leading 12-2 OU to its thirdstraight Big 12 Championship. The Sooners went on to play Florida for a shot at the BCS National Championship but lost 24-14.

Bradford finished the season with 4,720 yards and 50 touchdowns.

“I think it sinks in every time someone asks me about it and the more I’m around it, but it’s taken me a long time to really grasp what’s happened,” Bradford said.

“I grew up watching Oklahoma football. I grew up watching coach Heupel, Jason White and all those guys. The things that they did, for me to be mentioned with those guys it’s still kind of hard for me to grasp.”

Griffin’s season finished in the Elite Eight of the NC AA Tournament after a 30-6 season.

Griffin finished the year averaging 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds per

game.

Bradford received his trophy on Dec. 13. Griffin got his Sunday.

“People always ask me what my favorite moment of this year was or last year was but really its just the process, it’s the whole year,” Griffin said. “It’s winning games, winning close games, pulling it out, watching teammates do this and do that. … I think those are the things I’ll look back on and be like, ‘Man, that was a good time.’”

THE FUTURE Both Bradford and Griffin have stood out because of their accomplishments, but both have been strong representatives of the university, as well. That’s something Taylor Griffin said his family takes pride in.

“Playing football or basketball here is a lot bigger than just Blake Griffin, it’s a lot bigger than just Sam Bradford. It’s about this whole program and the legacy and everything that’s come before it and all the people involved,” Taylor Griffin said. “I think those guys both understand that and that’s why they realize there’s no room for them to be doing anything but being a class act and acting how they have been.”

For Bradford, the near future is certain: he will be at OU for at

PHOTO PROVIDED

Blake Griffin (34) and Sam Bradford play together on Athletes First Amateur Athletic Union team at the 2005 Nike Invitational in Auguasta, S.C. least one more season. Griffin is still weighing the pros and cons of heading to the NBA next season.

However, both have already left their mark on the OU program.

“I know Sam and he deserves everything he’s gotten,” Griffin said.

“To have [the awards] at the same school in the same year, it’s kind of cool. I’ve lived in Oklahoma City my whole life and to kind of do that and for people to know I’m from Oklahoma City, it makes me proud because I’m definitely proud to be from where I’m from.”

Although Bradford and Griffin have been close in proximity their whole lives, that will likely change once one or both of them begins playing professionally. However, the two officially made history on Sunday and will be linked forever because of it.

“I think it’s really cool,” Bradford said. “Growing up with Blake and watching the things that he’s done and playing with him and to see him have the success he’s had, to be a part of it with him makes it even more special.”

See behind-the-scenes video and interviews from our photo shoot with Blake and Sam.

OUDAILY.COM

Monday, April 6, 2009

Nijim Dabbour, managing editor dailynews@ou.edu • phone: 325-3666 • fax: 325-6051

NORMAN NEWS BRIEF: CREWS RESPOND TO APARTMENT FIRE

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Firefighters responded to a fire at University Commons apartments on Oak Tree Avenue Sunday night. The fire started about 8:45 p.m. and was extinguished by about 9 p.m., but during that time building C was evacuated, according to witnesses. - JAMIE BIRDWELL/THE DAILY

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BREAKING DOWN UNIVERSITY FEES • Fees go to support colleges and university services CLARK FOY

The Oklahoma Daily

While many students pay a long list of fees every semester, some students admit they do not know what these fees support.

The average undergraduate student pays $121.10 in fees per lower division credit hour, according to the OU Tuition Estimator on the bursar office’s Web site. In addition, each college has a technology fee and the university requires all students to pay five fees for every semester.

“I’ll have to admit that I really am unaware to all the fees I’m paying and where they go,” said Cole Ford, English and political science sophomore.

And while OU President David Boren said tuition will not be increasing next semester, representatives and public relations officers from the Office of the Bursar, OU Libraries and OU Health Services said they did not know if fees would increase next semester or not.

The technology fees vary by college, and range from $5 in the College of Arts and Sciences to $30 in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication and the College of Earth and Energy.

With the per-credit-hour fees, the mandatory fees that are the same for all students add up to $176.50 for each semester. After these fees, there are also certain fees administered by each college per credit hour or per course a student takes from that college.

Some students say they know about the fees, but not the full extent of fees and how many different fees they are paying.

“I knew I was paying fees, but I didn’t know there were so many different ones,” said Jainelle Daniels, University College freshman. “I’ll admit it is probably because my parents handle it all, but I really had no idea, and I think that is wrong.”

NOT PAYING ENOUGH FOR BOOKS YET? Among the mandatory fees, the “Library Excellence fee” is $11 per credit hour. This fee supports library staffing, new books and

MICHELLE GRAY/THE DAILY

Mandatory student fees implemented by the university as part of tuition for each semester go toward amenities such as paying for numerous health services including; re-filling prescriptions, and providing free flu shots, as well as paying for library and technology fees. documents, and subscriptions to scholarly journals, both online and physical copies, according to the bursar’s office.

“We have access to more than 250 databases, and these provide access to a wealth of information students may not be aware are available,” said Sarah Robins, OU Libraries spokeswoman. “We [also] have databases that provide full-text journal and newspaper articles, scores for classical music and primary sources from the 18th and 19th century, as well as streaming theater and dance productions.”

While some students are unaware of these benefits, Ford said he makes use of the journals frequently for political science essays and other homework assignments.

“I probably go to the library on an average of four times per week,” Ford said. “I make

use of the library fee. It seems like a bargain to me.”

HEALTH FEE OU Health Services charges a mandatory fee of $74 for both the fall and spring semesters, or $37.00 for the summer.

“OUHS offers a variety of services to help meet the health care needs of the collegeaged student,” said Maggie Pool, OU Health Services spokeswoman. “The medical clinic staff consists of board-certified, licensed physicians, physician assistants and medical assistants offering a full spectrum of care in family medicine, sports medicine, disease prevention and treatment.”

Pool also said physicians and registered nurses issue test results, refill prescriptions, give free flu shots, and offer advice and

answers to medical questions. There are also registered dietitians who are available by a appointment for students. The health fee subsidizes all of this at a cheaper price than those around the community.

“Some of the fees seem alright, but I really wish OU would do a better job of letting us know what we are paying,” said Daniels.

“Some of the fee titles sound very vague to me. I wish they would re-evaluate all the fees to see if all of them are necessary and make the bursar Web site less confusing.”

Ford said he was also unaware of the plethora of fees and does not know if he uses every single one.

“Some of them sound alright,” said Ford.

“I have never had them explained to me before though. I honestly don’t really know if they are all reasonable or not.”

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COMMENTS OF THE DAY »

Monday, April 5, 2009

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

In response to Friday’s news story about an Oklahoma legislator’s investigation of Richard Dawkins’ visit to OU YOU CAN COMMENT AT OUDAILY.COM

“This is all part of the rightwing (both Democratic and Republican) censorship in our state that is overt and covert.”

— ROGERG “Listen to all of you, full of hate towards religion... What you are really trying to do is censor Christians, obviously. If you truly believe in free speech, then why

all the hateful chatter toward those with opposing beliefs?

— SUPERGERT “Let Christians say whatever they wish, but it is not censorship if I wish to say something a Christian said is incorrect or foolish.”

— DARGUS

OUR VIEW

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PAGE 4 Let’s get one thing straight: this is the opinion page. It’s the place where people are allowed, even encouraged, to display their opinions. Their biases, if you will.

So we were a little surprised when some students arrived at March’s meeting of the OU Publications Board, the governing body of the department that oversees The Daily, and said they thought the newspaper is biased because of the content of this page.

To those of us who spend more time in the newsroom than the classroom, the distinction between the opinion page and the rest of the newspaper is obvious. After all, we know that Daily opinion columnists are hired separately from the rest of

the news staff in a process specifically designed to ensure that writers from a wide variety of backgrounds and ideological affiliations are represented. We know they don’t spend time in the newsroom and have no influence over what the news reporters cover or how they recover it. We know the columnists have license to write about just about whatever they want, as long as their arguments are well-reasoned.

But as these students spoke, we realized those facts aren’t at all obvious to people who don’t spend as much time here as we do, and we haven’t done a good job of explaining those facts to our readers.

So we’re doing it now.

We’ve revised the information at

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the bottom of this page to do a better job of reflecting the fact that we welcome letters to the editor (we print almost every single letter that we receive) and encourage students to write guest columns expressing their views.

And we’re reiterating both our commitment to balanced coverage on our news pages and good, partisan argumentation on this page.

Many have accused page four of leaning too far in one political direction. We have been accused of being too far to the right, too far to the left and too centrist.

Though the charge of bias within specific columns doesn’t bother us — the page exists precisely to convey specific viewpoints — the charge that

the page as a whole is a propaganda machine couldn’t be further from the truth.

We have columnists who are conservative, liberal, libertarian and apolitical.

The editorial board has urged students and faculty to support President Barack Obama, first by endorsing him in November and then by encouraging patience in the initial weeks of his presidency. We have also supported conservative legislation, like the Academic Freedom and Science Education Act. We suspect this might be the sad irony for some of our critics: they desire The Daily to be the very propaganda machine they accuse it of being, only a machine that touts their

opinions instead of someone else’s.

This is an unfortunate attitude, and we hope it will change.

We encourage you to write letters if you support or oppose a particular column, cartoon or editorial or have ideas of your own that you want to convey.

We hope you will comment and express your views on OUDaily.com, especially on the opinion blog, where you can actually converse with columnists in what we hope will be a civil dialogue.

This page should be a place full of diverse opinions that encourage discourse and the exchange of ideas among the student body.

We hope you’ll participate in making it one.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

JOSHUA WADLIN, ENTREPRENEURSHIP SENIOR

SOONERS SHOULDN’T ALTER ‘STAR-SPANGLED BANNER’ As a member of the Gold and Black Sound, the women’s basketball pep band at Purdue, I was able to see what being a Big 12 fan was all about last Tuesday night. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many Sooners show up for a women’s basketball game, as it can be difficult to get our arena more than half full, even for our most important games.

While both teams warmed up, tension was high and both teams’ supporters were showing off their homemade signs and making the occasional bad-mouthed comment towards the opposing side.

We all took a break when the national anthem started, and everyone was on their feet, looking at the flag of our great nation. As I was watching the flag after which our national anthem is named, I thought to myself how great it was that for at least a couple minutes, everyone could come together and realize we’re all on the same team.

Being raised in California, patriotism is not as valued as in the Midwest, and I am glad people out here place importance on loyalty towards one’s country. As a first-time visitor to Oklahoma, I was certainly impressed with your state’s love of the U.S. While the song finished up, and I was feeling grateful that the

playing of the national anthem is still a tradition before all sporting events, it happened.

Over the last word of the great piece, the crowd yelled “Sooners,” rather than “brave.”

I thought I always enjoyed wellorganized crowd participation, but now I had found my first example of a cheer I didn’t like.

It’s not that I believe it’s too loud, intimidating or tacky, I just think it’s rude. The final line, “Land of the free and the home of the brave” describes our country, and more importantly, the people living in it.

I don’t want to totally crush your enthusiasm toward your university, but I think it’s more important to recognize America as having some of the most steadfast, resilient, and persistent citizens in the world than having some citizens being students or alumni of OU. I’ll even assume you mean anyone from the state of Oklahoma when covering up the last word of the Star Spangled Banner.

It’s still not as important as paying homage to all those who exhibit bravery while fighting overseas, saving lives in our hometowns and finding ways to pay their bills during these difficult economic times.

Customizing the national anthem is certainly not as important as remembering we all need to take a step back every once in a while and understanding our

country comes first.

Hopefully Sooner fans realize this great pregame tradition is something that should be left clean of collegiate bias.

Kenny Eneboe, Purdue student

OU SHOULD MAKE SOUTH OVAL RECYCLING AVAILABLE You have likely seen the slogan “Keep OU beautiful” plastered on the many trash bins placed around the OU campus. While throwing your trash in the bins does its part in keeping the campus clean (and beautiful?) it still ends up in a landfill.

OU has placed recycling bins in most of its buildings, but if one is walking outside he or she doesn’t have any other options but the ubiquitous square-shaped bins. I propose replacing the bins, which have been around for many years, with new ones that have both a place for trash as well as recyclables such as plastic, paper and aluminum.

That way you would, at least, have the option of recycling when outside on campus. What a great opportunity for OU to not only replace its aging trash bins with something more attractive but also to help create a more sustainable university.

Brent Gathright, construction administration graduate student

STAFF COLUMN

Research programs provide important opportunity for undergrads An oft-heard adage is that research is repeated methodical searching.

Re-search, get it?

Anyone who has seriously pursued any sort of research will agree, at least some of the time.

The results of research are often made into books MUNIM DEEN or other media, and truly groundbreaking and widely relevant research can become common knowledge through widespread teaching.

Who today would deny the existence of gravity? For this, we can thank Sir Isaac Newton and Galileo Galilei.

Anyone will tell you kids imitate the adults they see, particularly in modeling aggressive behavior. Social scientist Albert Bandura was the first person to demonstrate this scientifically.

These are just two of the most widely-understood and recognized concepts to have come from research.

Any novel discovery or breakthrough can only come from a series of patient experiments or tests and often years of diligent work. No researcher, no matter how

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brilliant, can undertake such a demanding and protracted course of work without thorough practical training and solid theoretical knowledge.

Every brilliant researcher started out as an inexperienced gatherer of facts or a firsttime experimenter – and luckily for us undergraduates, OU has a great undergraduate research program.

Graduate school was, and is, the primary setting in which most researchers refine their knowledge and hone their skills. The importance of graduate programs is great; in fact, the mere existence of graduate programs is what separates universities from undergraduate-only colleges.

Even among universities, research activity is a major factor in quantitative rankings and qualitative assessments. For example, our own university is classified as having “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation.

Among public institutions, that’s not too bad, although there is definitely room for improvement – the University of Texas, University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska are all area schools with “very high research activity.”

Though it can improve, OU still boasts very vigorous research programs in many

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different areas, from engineering to life sciences to social sciences. It has numerous nationally and globally-renowned researchers on its faculty. One of the main benefits of attending such an institution for undergraduates is the availability of quality research programs.

The mere availability of undergraduate research opportunities is not enough if they are not made particularly accessible for undergraduate students already dealing with a full load of classes, other activities and work. To this end, some departments on campus offer paid research positions. The monetary compensation helps offset the time spent doing research, which may otherwise have been spent working for a paycheck.

Of particular note in making research accessible to students is OU’s McClendon Honors College, which sponsors two great programs for undergraduate researchers.

First, the Honors Research Opportunities Program (HROP) allows Honors students to work for a semester on projects under the guidance of a faculty researcher and receive pay for hours worked – up to 60 hours total over one semester. For students who work, or who would like some compensation for their research work, this is a great program.

For students already involved in research,

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the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) offers competitive grants for continuing projects across all disciplines.

All research requires money for travel, supplies and other needs. These grants help defray those costs, and also give undergraduates valuable experience in writing grants.

The third program is the most visible of the two aforementioned programs – Student Research and Performance Day, which incidentally was Saturday. This day-long event showcases the true diversity and quality of undergraduate research at OU, and shows the great strides that most undergraduate researches make with the opportunities presented to them by OU and in particular by the McClendon Honors College.

Overall, OU could certainly improve its rankings in the research arena, and is taking steps to do so. The completion and expansion of the Stephenson Center for life science research is an example of one such step.

OU provides its students with wonderful opportunities for research, and students should in turn take full advantage of them and further the research done here.

This relationship should be continued and expanded, for a future Newton or Bandura might very well be a Sooner.

Munim Deen, microbiology senior.

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

The opinion page is produced by a staff of columnists and cartoonists who are independent of The Daily’s news staff.

Letters to the editor are welcomed.

Letters should concentrate on issues, not personalities, and should be fewer than 250 words, typed and signed. Letters may 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. Submit letters to dailyopinion@ou.edu or in person Sunday through Thursday in 160 Copeland Hall.

Guest columns are encouraged. They can be submitted to the opinion editor via e-mail at dailyopinion@ou.edu.

Comments left on OUDaily.com may be reprinted on the opinion page. ’Our View’ is the opinion of majority of the members of The Oklahoma Daily’s editorial board.

Editorial Board members are The Daily’s editorial staff. The board meets Sunday through Thursday in 160 Copeland Hall.

Columnists’ and cartoonists’ work is representative of their own opinions, not those of the members of The Daily’s Editorial Board.

Monday, April 6, 2009

5A

Students rally for immigrants’ rights • Rosa Clemente pushes for change and awareness CADIE THOMPSON

The Oklahoma Daily

President Barack Obama should push immigration reform to the forefront of his agenda.

An Amnesty International USA campaign director, Rosa Clemente, told a small group of students immigrants’ human rights are under attack and their plight is being completely ignored by the president, in an informal speech Saturday afternoon at Sarkey’s Energy Center.

With more than 30,000 immigrants detained every day, triple the number it was 10 years ago, now is the time for action, Clemente said.

Clemente, who ran as the vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party in the 2008 elections, criticized the president’s lack of regard for the failing immigration policy and urged the students to demand real change.

“He’s not moving, he hasn’t said anything about immigration reform,” she said.

T h e h y p e s u r r o u n d i n g O b a m a’s

presidency blinds people to the fact that he has not taken any steps towards fixing the broken system, she said.

Immigrants in the United States are not only discriminated against socially, but their rights as human begins are being denied because of their race, she said.

“Let’s call it what it is,” Clemente said.

“This is about people of color. That doesn’t mean all white people are bad and it doesn’t mean every black person is good.”

Clemente highlighted statistics from the report “Jailed Without Justice,” a report released by Amnesty International two weeks ago that sheds light on the circumstances of immigrants in the U.S. detention system.

She said immigrants held in detention centers are often mistreated and detained for prolonged periods of time without access to legal assistance.

A group of about 25 students gathered to hear the grass roots organizer speak and although the crowd was sparse, Clemente urged the students to not be discouraged.

“Movements never start with millions of people,” Clemente said. “Who’s here is supposed to be here.”

All major movements in society start with a small group of passionate people who want

to see change happen, she said.

Clemente opened her speech into a discussion with the students and discussed steps they could take to help spur change in their local communities regarding immigration reform.

She said one way to give a grass roots movement momentum is by bringing the message to the people.

She told the students to stop expecting people to come to them for the message, but to reach out to those in the community by going to where they are. Whether that means going to the strip mall or the laundry mat, to implement change outreach is necessary, she said.

Sarah Warmker, president of OU’s student chapter of Amnesty International, was in attendance and said those who campaign for immigration reform in Oklahoma face intimidating circumstances because so many people are organizing very hard against immigrants, even the legislatures.

Laws like the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, commonly known as HB 1804, prevents illegal immigrants from receiving public assistance and makes it a felony for U.S. citizens to intentionally shelter or transport undocumented

immigrants.

“It’s not going to be easy in places like this, but it’s not easy in places like California either,” Clemente said.

Still, those who care have to get the message out there, despite those who are unwilling to listen, she said.

“If someone is not moving, then you have to move on to the next person,” Clemente said. “Sometimes people aren’t going to change, they’re just not.”

Companies use Twitter to find potential employees • Networking through Twitter advantageous for students ALEX LYNN

The Oklahoma Daily

Tweet. Tweet.

That’s not the first robin of spring. It’s Twitter, and it allows anyone to broadcast their answers to the question, “What’s up?”

Twitter.com, a social networking Web site whose users post short messages called “tweets,” was launched in 2006. The number of users skyrocketed in 2007, and now media experts estimate that as many as 5 million people use

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ELI HULL/THE DAILY

Twitter on a regular basis.

“The way I’ve always described it is as a giant instant message conversation,” said Billy Adams, assistant director of communications for OU’s Recruitment Services. But Twitter users don’t have to wade through posts by all its millions of users. They choose the users they want to “follow,” or receive updates from.

“You choose whose posts you want to receive and people can choose to receive yours,” Adams said. “It’s almost like an old school chat room, but where you select the people who you are chatting with.”

Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters and can be updated as fast as users can type.

The short messages lend themselves to the sort of mundane, moment-by-moment updates that are popular for Facebook statuses. Tweets like “Beautiful day!” and “Grrr. I hate studying...” are common. But Twitter isn’t just the domain of bored students. Businesses, universities and corporate recruiters have gotten in on the Twitter act in order to attract people to their organizations.

Sales and marketing

consultant Mike Merrill said many of the corporations he works with are using Twitter to find potential employees.

“Recruiters are flocking to this medium in droves as they look to build their network,” Merrill said.

“Remember, recruiters are only as good as their network.”

He said students looking to promote themselves to potential employers would do well to open Twitter accounts and follow the accounts of companies they’re interested in.

Barbara Gibson, chairwoman of the International Association of Business Communicators, said she does not check her e-mail that often, but checks her Twitter many times a day.

“If you’re not attuned to Twitter and other social media, you’re just putting yourself on the sideline,” Gibson said.

Kelsey Richerson, marketing senior, said she started using Twitter about nine months ago after reading an article about companies using the service to recruit young people. She checks and updates her Twitter a few times a day using her cell phone.

Adams agrees. He said Twitter

won’t always be as dominant on the social and business networking scene as it is now, but the principles behind Twitter are here to stay.

“Do I think that Twitter will be around forever? No,” Adams said.

“As we’ve seen with all new technologies, something always comes around that’s better. But what I do think has the most longevity is the idea of open communication.”

People who have no use for Twitter charge that open communication is already readily available online and Twitter doesn’t add much to the slate of social networking sites already in existence.

Liz Maute, OU alumna, has a Twitter account but said she does not use it.

“I signed up for Twitter because I thought I might use it to connect with friends,” Maute said.

“But Twitter is pointless because Facebook already provides the same function through the wall.

Twitter is weird because it’s not directed at a person or group.”

But Gibson said Twitter is valuable because Facebook is more directed toward finding people you already know and Twitter is directed at getting to know people better.

“If you’re not attuned to Twitter and other social media, you’re just putting yourself on the sideline.”

- BARBARA GIBSON, CHAIRWOMAN OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATORS

As with any social networking site, Twitter has its share of potential pitfalls. The constant stream of updates could be distracting to some students, dragging out study session and cutting productivity.

And there’s always the risk of oversharing on a site that’s used by friends, family and potential employers alike.

Gibson said it’s best for Twitter users to be friendly but not transparent, and to keep their comments about weekend escapades out of their tweets. She said she tells students to “be personable, but not personal.”

Go to Twitter.com and search OU Daily

Congress-approved budget to benefit students, reduce competition • Despite economic crisis, no student denied loans CADIE THOMPSON

The Oklahoma Daily Students stand to be directly affected by Obama’s $3.5 trillion budget blueprint that was approved by Congress last week.

The budget advocates shifting the government-guaranteed private student loan process to an entirely direct loan program headed by the U.S. Department of Education, substantially cutting private lenders out of the federal student loan business.

According to the budget ,this move will save more than $4 billion a year, money that will be “reinvested” in student aid.

“Right now, the subsidies in the government-guaranteed student loan program are set by the Congress through the political process. That program has not only needlessly cost taxpayers billions of dollars, but has also subjected students to uncertainty because of turmoil in the financial markets,” the budget document states.

Currently, there are two lending programs backed by the government, the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), and the U.S. Department of Education’s Direct Loan Program. The former depends on banks and other lenders to provide loans, while the latter provides money directly from the government.

But Angela Cadell, a spokeswoman for Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program, which facilitates government student loans in Oklahoma, said no student has been denied an educational loan because of the economic crisis.

“I think it is really important to make it clear that money is available for students to go to school,” she said.

The majority of students who take out federal loans for college are part of the privately-funded FFELP, Cadell said.

She said the move to make all federal student loans direct from the government would decrease competition and quality of service.

“What we think is most important about the FFELP program is in terms of the services to students,” Cadell said. “We believe choice and competition matter.”

The FFELP private-public partnership has been in place for more than 40 years,with 51 banks and private lenders in Oklahoma that provide loans to students, Cadell said.

But Daniel Reck, president of The Economics Society of Oklahoma, said for students it’s not as important where the money is coming from, as long as it’s there.

“As economist it’s always nice to see the private sector being involved, but as a student it doesn’t matter as long as the money is there,” Reck, economics senior, said.

While private lenders and banks would lose business from students, and are largely opposed to the idea, the extra

funding provided by redirecting the student loan process could benefit students, Sam Ikard, president of Students for Barack Obama, said.

“I would say it’s definitely a good thing and investing in the future of our country,” Ikard, political science senior, said.

“College is becoming more and more expensive and diminishing the burden of a student to pay for college is always a good thing.”

Whether the shift in process is a good thing or not, banks and other lenders aren’t letting go of student lending without a fight.

Cadell said although the Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program supports Obama’s efforts to make higher education more affordable, it does not support the proposed changes.

The organization is working with grass roots delegates and congressional leaders to keep the private-public partnership of FFELP alive. One group the organization is working with is

the National Council on Higher Education Loan Program.

The Council released a statement last week after the budget was approved that opposed Congress’ move to restructure the loan process.

“For 43 years, the Federal Family Education Loan Program has fostered competition between student loan providers to offer benefits for borrowers and quality customer service.

The program provides locally based services, jobs in every state in this nation and offers a number of customized services to increase delinquency aversion and reduce default,” the organization response stated.

But, despite the rift between Obama’s plans to reinvent the student lending process and advocates like Cadell who are pushing to keep the private sector involved, Cadell said it is now time to let the dialogue between the two sides begin.

“We see the budgetary process as a unique process for a collaborative effort,” Cadell said. “We welcome the opportunity to have these conversations at the federal level.”

6A

Monday, April 6, 2009

Leaders ponder punishing NKorea PAUL ALEXANDER

Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has once again created an international crisis by launching a rocket, once again thumbing its nose at a world community wondering how to deal with the rogue communist state.

The prospect of U.N. sanctions? As the communist government and other renegade states have discovered over the years, there are always ways around those — a recent international report says the ones imposed against the North in 2006 after it conducted a nuclear test have had little effect.

Military action? Not wise against an unpredictable country that has threatened to use nuclear weapons. China, its closest ally and neighbor, is eager to maintain the North as a buffer with democratic South Korea and has been urging calm by all parties to avoid raising tensions any higher.

So after last-minute pleas failed and the North sent a multistage, long-range rocket off a launch pad on its northeast coast Sunday, the question is what the rest of the world can and will do about it.

The North said it was putting a satellite into orbit. The U.S., South Korea and Japan think the communist country was really testing long-range missile technology — a move they warned would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the North from ballistic activity.

Japan immediately requested an emergency Security Council meeting amid talk of strong punishment and hope for a united response. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has promised Security Council “consequences.”

But China has veto power on the council and has watered down sanctions in the past.

While Russia, which also has veto power, seems to be inching closer to the U.S. on the issue in a goodwill move, Moscow also is likely to prefer a mild rebuke — it doesn’t have much influence on its former ally, but it has been reluctant to criticize Pyongyang in the past, fearing it could lose whatever small leverage it has.

Beijing isn’t likely to support tougher action because it doesn’t believe such tactics

have much effect on Pyongyang, according to Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at People’s University in Beijing.

Beijing may be further constrained by a desire to avoid spoiling the atmosphere for commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the communist neighbors, Shi said.

“China’s attitude is very cautious. It has learned from past experience that tough measures will never work,” Shi said. China worries that such measures have damaged its relations with North Korea and could cost China “crucial influence with Pyongyang at even more sensitive moments.

“So my personal opinion is that China would very possibly block any punishment against North Korea,” Shi said.

There are also ambiguities that North Korea appears to be exploiting by saying it has the right to the peaceful use of space.

The Security Council resolution bans ballistic missiles for military use, and some suggest it would be tough to come down hard if there was any sign that a satellite really was the payload, even if the technology could also be used to launch a nuclear warhead.

The ambiguity means any decision on how to respond will be political, said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank that provides detailed analysis about North Korea.

“It’s pretty clear already: I think the Chinese and the Russians, but particularly the Chinese, are not going to support additional sanctions,” he told reporters Friday.

“It really depends upon the views of the permanent five members of the Security Council. And if China or Russia do not support this, then nothing’s gonna happen.”

North Korea has dealt with sanctions already. The ones imposed after it conducted an underground nuclear test in 2006 appear to have had little effect, largely because implementation was left up to individual countries, according to a study by Marcus Noland, a senior fellow at the Washingtonbased Peterson Institute of International Economics. “A major problem appears to be that some of the permanent members of the Security Council, particularly China,

AP PHOTO

South Korean protesters scuffle with police officers during a rally against North Korea’s missiles near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday. North Korea fired a rocket over Japan on Sunday, defying Washington, Tokyo and others who suspect the launch was cover for a test of its long-range missile technology. displayed reluctance to fully embrace and implement sanctions,” Noland wrote.

“In retrospect, North Korea may have calculated quite correctly that the direct penalties for establishing itself as a nuclear power would be modest, or, alternatively, put such

a high value on demonstrating its nuclear capability that it outweighed the downside risks, however large. If sanctions are to deter behavior in the future, they will have to be more enthusiastically implemented,” Noland said.

Bill offers nuclear incentives TIM TALLEY

Associated Press Writer

AP PHOTO

Navy military police walk past a homemade semi-submersible vessel seized on land by Colombian authorities from drug traffickers, at the Bahia Malaga Navy base, on Colombia’s Pacific coast, March 26. Though 11 semi-subs loaded with cocaine were interdicted last year in international waters, the U.S. Coast Guard believes that dozens more have delivered their cargo.

US law fights submarine-like boats with cocaine for cargo FRANK BAJAK

Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA — It’s a game played out regularly on the high seas off Colombia’s Pacific coast: A U.S. Navy helicopter spots a vessel the size of a humpback whale gliding just beneath the water’s surface.

A Coast Guard ship dispatches an armed team to board the small, submarine-like craft in search of cocaine. Crew members wave and jump into the sea to be rescued, but not before they open flood valves and send the fiberglass hulk and its cargo into the deep.

Colombia has yet to make a single arrest in such scuttlings because the evidence sinks with the so-called semi-submersible.

A new U.S. law and proposed legislation in Colombia aim to thwart what has become South American traffickers’ newest preferred means of getting multi-ton loads to Mexico and Central America.

Twelve people have been arrested under the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act of 2008 since it went into effect in October. It outlaws such unregistered craft plying international waters “with the intent to evade detection.” Crew members are subject to up to 15 years in prison.

“It’s very likely a game-changer,” said Jay Bergman, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s regional director, based in Colombia. “You don’t get a get-outof-jail free card anymore.”

The law faces legal challenges, though. The defendants have filed pretrial motions saying it violates due

process and is an unconstitutional application of the so-called High Seas clause, which allows U.S. prosecution of felonies at sea.

The vessels, hand-crafted in coastal jungle camps from fiberglass and wood, have become the conveyance of choice for large loads, humping nearly a third of U.S.-bound cocaine northward through the Pacific, said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich, commander of the Joint Interagency Task Force-South based in Key West, Fla. That’s up from just 14 percent in 2007, according to the task force, which oversees interdiction south of the United States.

Colombian Navy chief Adm. Guillermo Barrera told a counterterrorism conference in Bogota last week that 23 semi-submersibles capable of carrying between 4 and 10 metric tons each have been seized in the past three years.

Though semi-submersibles aren’t new to cocaine transport, a bigger, sleeker, more sophisticated variety that average about 60 feet (18 meters) in length began emerging three years ago. Earlier versions, christened “floating coffins,” couldn’t compete with fishing trawlers and speed boats known as “go-fasts” for maritime transport of drugs.

But drug agents started policing trawlers better, leading traffickers to new methods.

V-shaped prows designed to leave minimal wakes, semi-submersibles are nearly impossible for surface craft to detect visually or by radar outside a range of about 10,000 feet (3,000 meters.)

That accounts for their relatively high success rate.

OKLAHOMA CITY — More than 25 years after Oklahoma’s only nuclear power plant proposal ended in failure, state lawmakers are touting nuclear power as an alternative energy source with legislation that would streamline the state permitting process for a nuclear plant and give utilities new incentives to build one.

The proposed Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant near Inola was the focus of citizen protests and legal battles before it was abandoned in 1982, and nuclear power is again running into opposition in the state. But this time safety is not the central issue in the debate. It’s the enormous cost that has most people concerned.

“It’s the wrong idea at the wrong time,” said Sean Voskuhl, associate state director of the AARP in Oklahoma.

The senior advocacy group estimates that a nuclear power plant would cost between $6 billion and $10 billion and cause consumer rates to rise 20 percent to 40 percent, based on an analysis of similar legislation in other states.

Tom Schroeder of Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers, an alliance of large energy consumers like manufacturers, refineries and steel producers, said the bill erodes the ratemaking authority of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and “provides a blank check for utilities to recover costs from ratepayers.”

“The cost of electricity plays a very important role in the ability of these companies to compete in domestic and world markets,” Schroeder said. “We want to insure that legislation will not adversely impact the competitiveness of these industries.”

Voskuhl said the bill under consideration by Oklahoma lawmakers would make it easier for utilities to raise rates to recover construction costs while a nuclear power plant is being built and allow them to recover costs even if the plant is abandoned before it is finished.

“They want to shift the burden from the stockholders and the companies to the ratepayers. Even if the plant’s not built consumers will be stuck with the bill,” Voskuhl said.

But proponents of nuclear power said it is a stable,

emission-free alternative to traditional fuels like oil and natural gas, whose costs have risen in recent years, for meeting the state’s growing demand for electrical power.

“Long-term, we’re going to have to pay for energy some way or the other,” said Rep. Scott Martin, R-Norman, author of a nuclear power bill now pending in the Oklahoma House.

“We believe that if we can get a plant online, it will provide a more cost-effective, clean form of power,” Martin said.

Martin’s measure, modeled after similar bills in states like Virginia and Florida, creates a cost-recovery mechanism for utilities that are building a nuclear power plant and a task force to study tax incentives for a nuclear plant.

Nuclear power generates onefifth of the nation’s power, and there are currently 104 nuclear plants in more than 30 states including Arkansas, Kansas, Texas and Missouri.

But no nuclear plants have been built in the past 30 years since an accident at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station near Harrisburg, Pa., resulted in a partial core meltdown in a nuclear reactor.

A nuclear power plant is unlikely in Oklahoma without assurances that regulatory agencies like the Corporation Commission will support the utilities behind it, said Bud Ground, manager of governmental and environmental affairs for Tulsa-based Public Service Company of Oklahoma, developer of the failed Black Fox plant.

“The assurance of rate recovery. The assurance that if the commission approves it they’re not going to come back at a later date and try to disapprove it,” Ground said.

Raising consumer rates to help pay construction costs would not give a utility a return on everything it invests in a nuclear power plant but would help pay interest costs on the money it borrows, Ground said.

“It does give you some cash flow during that long construction period,” he said. It also prevents consumer rate shock when the plant is completed, he said.

“We look at the legislation as a starting point,” said Brian Alford, spokesman for Oklahoma Gas and Electric.

7A

Monday, April 6, 2009

Luke Atkinson, L&A editor dailyent@ou.edu • phone: 325-5189 • fax: 325-6051

Images of the fair

The Medieval Fair came to Norman this weekend and brought with it some amazing food, interesting people and a unique look at lifestyles of the historical period.

We’ve got video and interviews from Norman’s Medieval fair online.

OUDAILY.COM Miss the Medieval fair? Check out more photos online.

OUDAILY.COM

A man dressed as a jester (above) slowly wandered the fair, striking poses for those who passed him by.

ELI HULL/THE DAILY

The king (top left) gets a kiss from two maids Saturday. Fair-goers (above left) take a ride on “Davinci’s Hurlinator.” Fair attendants crowd Piper’s Pub (above center) to purchase some of the McGilly Clan’s root beer. Crowds line up to purchase turkey legs (above right) Saturday afternoon.

See y

e h t t a u housing&food o

FARMERS’ MARKET

Thursday, April 9 Walker-Adams Mall Noon-4 p.m. (cash & checks accepted) ELI HULL/THE DAILY

Lauren Fort drops tiny gems into the hands of a mother and her children Saturday afternoon. Fort has been been a mermaid at the Medieval fair for three years.

featuring: great free giveaways, display cooking, fresh produce and goods from 10 local farms!

Housing and Food Services is a department in OU’s division of Student Affairs. The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.

For accommodations on the basis of disability, please contact Aaron at 405.325.4419.

8A

Monday, April 6, 2009

REVIEW | FOOD AND DRINK OF THE FAIR

BREW FIT FOR A VIKING The award for best drink of the fair goes to Clan McGilly’s Odin’s Ale, Valhalla Brew. It was available at this weekend’s Medieval Fair, and is pretty much just a fancy Middle Age name for “root beer.”

The delicious brew was available for $10 from Clan McGilly’s drink booth, which was one of the weekend’s most productive vendors, boasting long lines all day, every day. In order to fill the wishes of thirsty fair-goers, McGilly’s employed a small army of beer wenches, procuring and refilling various drinks nine hours each day.

MATT CARNEY Amongst the other drinks was a fruit punch, a raspberry lemonade and a cream soda – all featuring unnecessarily long, but appropriately silly medieval nicknames. The raspberry lemonade in particular stood out, as it bubbled with carbonation.

However, the root beer is of the greatest quality. I refilled my one-liter jug three times after walking around in the weekends’ heat.

It’s a bit heavy on the sugar, but it comes in a great souvenir bottle and lasts a while because of the stopper on top.

Hopefully it’ll tide me over until next year’s fair.

SOME HEART-STOPPING FOOD This weekend’s Medieval Fair boasted a cornucopia of highcholesterol, fried, unorthodox and otherwise delicious and unhealthy food, and I spent a decent chunk of the three days living up to my family name.

Among the different foods I sampled were “carnie” classics like the giant funnel cake, cream soda and all manners of fried meat on a stick – as well as previously un-experienced tacos from Dan’s Indian tacos – and some pretty crazy Far Eastern cuisine. However, the ultimate combo I arrived at relied heavily on the fair’s more traditional fare.

For my entrée, a hunk of grease-dripping, steroid-poisoned turkey leg; the breakfast of a true carnie. It provides the protein one needs for a long day of tricking customers into shelling out inordinate amounts of cash on futile attempts to win cheap relics made in China.

While incredibly impractical to consume with only one hand (recall, your other one is clutching a sticky bottle of root beer), it is nonetheless delicious, at least for the first few bites, given that it is cooked properly. After grappling with the leg for a few minutes, it generally becomes clear who will win this matchup (hint: not you), as the standard carnie turkey leg is roughly the size of your head. This is where the root beer comes in handy.

The “Valhalla Brew” root beer mentioned above is incredibly valuable to the turkey leg-consuming process, as you have no hope of ELI HULL/THE DAILY washing down the big stinky Lisa McGilly, a family member hunk of brawn and skin and employee at the Piper’s Pub, without it. The stickiness of smiles over several bottles of the bottle, combined with Clan McGilly’s famous root beer. the sweetness of the drink itself forces you to recall every time you have ever exercised, only to realize that it was all in vain. But the beverage segues nicely into dessert.

My highlight dessert of this year’s fair certainly faced stiff competition from one of the biggest bags of cotton candy I’ve ever seen (yes, size does matter) and the standard powdered sugar funnel cake, yet still emerged victorious in a landslide. Nothing beats kettle corn when it’s done right, and the so-called “honeycorn” I found was among the best I’ve ever had.

For a mere $6, one could purchase a bag of “honeycorn” roughly the length and width of one of Blake Griffin’s arms, though I’m sure the honeycorn would be far more delicious. I intend to be scraping kernel shells out of my teeth for the next six to eight weeks.

I have some serious cardio to do this week.

JAMES CORNWELL/THE DAILY

Cody Nichols (left), University College freshman, and Tanner Jones (right), University College freshman, duel in a Mass Action Combat session in the Walker-Adams mall on Thursday. Mass Action Combat combines medieval jousting and elements of live action role playing.

FIGHTERS, NOT LOVERS SANDRA KUNZWEILER

The Oklahoma Daily

Cody Nichols has killed more than 10,000 men and has yet to be convicted of murder.

How does he get away with such violence?

Three words: Mass Action Combat.

If this concept doesn’t ring a bell, never fear. It’s just for fun and games.

A mixture of medieval jousting and live action role playing, “mass action combat” is a new phenomenon at OU. Nichols, University College freshman and “Grand Master” of Dagorhir battle games, established OU’s Medieval Sporting Society this year out of a love for medieval culture and friendly competition.

“I’ve been in this for four years, and I started the group in Edmond,” Nichols said. “When I went off to college, I spoke to some people on my floor and got a few of them interested.”

With a small group of 10 members, Nichols was able to register the group as an official organization, once he was granted approval by the administration. He said the group, which has to sign individual liability waivers, has doubled in size since its conception.

Mass combat involves duels and 10-second group battle with handmade shields and swords, Nichols said. Occasionally, javelins and arrows are used.

There are three kinds of blows which can jeopardize a fighter’s hope of surviving: the “arm chop,” “leg chop” and “torso chop.” If a fighter loses two limbs, he or she pretends to die. This realism is an important aspect of the sport, Nichols said.

It all comes with practice, said Bryan Garza, University College freshman and “squire” of the mass combat group.

The group practices for two hours at least three times per week, Garza said.

“It keeps me active, gives me something to do, and I can socialize with a bunch of my friends,” he said.

Drew Hamilton, University College freshman, said he joined the group five months ago when he saw membersplaying capture-the-flag in the WalkerAdams mall.

New members like Hamilton are always welcome, Nichols said.

“This is one of those sports where the more people

you have, the more fun it is. You get tired of fighting the same person 50 times, so you want to bring in some fresh blood, so to speak,” Nichols said.

The group recently ran a booth at the Medieval Fair this weekend where they performed demonstrations and distributed information about the organization.

Kaitlan Nichols, University College freshman and a “knight” of the Norman group, made the costumes group members wore to the fair.

Although out-numbered by her male competitors, Nichols is the team’s third oldest member. She said being a girl on a primarily boys’ team is challenging but enjoyable.

“I wish it was more accessible to women, and I wish women would give it more of a shot even though it’s really intimidating,” she said. “It’s really unique, and I feel like it’s something special that I’m a part of that very few other people are involved in.”

Nichols said she puts her participation in the organization on her résumé.

When the group is practicing outside, she said they receive two kinds of reactions: those from people who think the sport is cool and those which deem the group “nerds.”

“Since this sport is not mainstream, lots of people let their pride get in the way of trying it,” she said.

Her boyfriend, Cody, said they have a good way of handling disapproving spectators.

On a particular occasion, he said they gave swords to students who had been tormenting them, challenged them to a battle, and proceeded to “kill” all of them. He said the students never bothered them again.

Tanner Jones, University College freshman, said his parents support his imaginary war antics.

“Unlike the movie Role Models, they do approve,” Jones said.

The group plans to attend a number of events across the nation to conclude the year. The largest battle, “Ragnarok,” takes place this month in Ohio and pulls in about 2,000 people.

FOR MORE INFO

Miss the Medieval fair? Check out more photos online.

For more information on the Alterra Chapter, visit www.embracethestar.com.

We’ve got video and interviews from Norman’s Medieval fair online.

OUDAILY.COM

OUDAILY.COM

L&A BRIEFS MADONNA LEAVES MALAWI AFTER ADOPTION SETBACK LILONGWE, Malawi — Madonna left Malawi on her private jet Sunday after being rebuffed in an attempt to adopt a second child from the poor African nation, air traffic control officials said.

It was bound for London’s Gatwick Airport, air traffic officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

The singer’s lawyer has said that she will appeal against a court ruling that she is not eligible to adopt a three-year-old orphan girl, Chifundo “Mercy” James, because she hasn’t lived in Malawi.

Madonna first spotted Mercy during a 2006 visit to an orphanage where she found David.

Then, unlike now, she was able to leave the country with the infant and the adoption was completed last year.

In a ruling Friday, Judge Esme Chombo said Madonna did not meet Malawi’s strict definition of “resident.” Noting that Madonna had last visited Malawi in 2008, the judge said the pop star “jetted into the country during the weekend just days prior to the hearing of this application.”

Malawi requires prospective parents to live

Matt Carney is a journalism sophomore.

in the country for 18 to 24 months while child welfare authorities assess their suitability — a rule that was bent when Madonna was allowed to take David to London in 2006.

No date has been set for a court hearing to appeal the judge’s ruling.

BE A PART OF OU HISTORY. (AND FIT IN DAD’S WALLET.)

CELEBRITY CHOREOGRAPHER ACCUSED OF RAPING 4 WOMEN LOS ANGELES (AP) — A dancer and choreographer featured on the FOX television show “So You Think You Can Dance” was arrested Saturday on suspicion of sexually assaulting four of his dance students, police said.

Alex Da Silva, 41, a well-known salsa dancer who teaches at several Los Angeles dance studios, was taken into custody after teaching a class at a Hollywood studio and booked for investigation of sexual assault, Det. John Eum said.

Da Silva, who was being held on $3.8 million bail, is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday.

Da Silva had been accused in 2003, 2004 and 2005 of sexually assaulting three women.

–AP

100

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1B

« SLIDESHOW Check out all the photos of Bradford and Griffin

Monday, April 6, 2009

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

OUDAILY.COM

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Sooners fall to Louisville, 61-59 ANNELISE RUSSELL

The Oklahoma Daily

ST. LOUIS — The Paris era is over after the Sooners lost to Louisville Sunday night in the Final Four, 61-59.

A strong first half by the Sooners was matched by a stronger second half by the Cardinals, and the Sooners fell one game short of the National Championship game.

The Sooners problems were not evident in the first half, however.

OU’s first possession to start the game did not go the way the Sooners wanted after senior forward Ashley Paris got called for a travel; however, the Sooners came back and scored on their next trip up the court.

Louisville struggled from the field early while OU played tight defense.

Freshman guard Whitney Hand was given the daunting task of guarding Louisville’s star Angel McCoughtry.

“Angel’s very physical and Whitney took a beating in the first half,” head coach Sherri Coale said.

After more than five minutes of the first half had passed, the Cardinals still had no points on the board.

OU started off the game 0-4 from beyond the three-point arc, but Hand came back with two three-pointers to extend the Sooner lead to 16-2.

OU cooled off slightly and made a few bad passes that allowed the Cardinals to close in on the lead.

OU began to struggle from three again and the Cardinals were able to drive the ball and pick up fouls.

The Cardinals went 10-12 in the first half from the free throw line.

As the half closed, the Sooners felt the momentum swing their way again and they headed into the locker room with a 34-22 lead.

OU came out of the break sluggish and nothing at all like they ended the first half.

Louisville went on a 13-1 run to start the second half.

“I just felt like they came out with a lot more energy than we did,” Coale said.

The Sooners could not expect the Cardinals to only shoot 22 percent for a consecutive half, and Louisville came out like they had something to prove.

At 15:04, the Cardinals took a two-point lead to go up 37-35 on the suddenly struggling Sooners.

“We just completely miffed in the second half as if we had never done it before,” Coale said.

MORE SPORTS ONLINE To stay up -to-date on Sooner sports action, log on to OUDaily.com. There, you can see all the coverage and analysis on OU sports. Today, see video of Sam Bradford and Bake Griffin, the first athletes from the same school to win a Heisman Trophy and Naismith Award in the same year.

AMY FROST/THE DAILY

Senior forward Ashley Paris (left) and senior center Courtney Paris (right) weep during the postgame press conference after OU’s 61-59 loss to Louisville Sunday.

All-American senior center Courtney Paris struggled underneath to put the ball in the basket.

“They crashed and got a ton of offensive rebounds,” Ashley Paris said.

Louisville looked crisp on offense, making extra passes and taking high-efficiency shots — something OU could not seem to get a handle on.

OU looked tired, but the Sooners managed to string together a few stops against the Cardinals and tied the game back up.

The clock ticked down to the five-minute mark and the OU offense shut down again.

The Sooners never regained the momentum from the first

half and Louisville capitalized to overtake OU in the end.

OU had a chance to tie at the end, but the Sooners could not find an open three-point shooter. They settled for two and sent the Cardinals to the free throw line.

After Louisville converted one-of-two at the line, junior guard Nyeshia Stevenson missed a three-point shot that would have given OU the win as time expired.

Ashley Paris ended her OU career with 16 points.

Courtney Paris finished the game with 14 points.

“It seems like it has only been six months since I have been at OU,” Ashley Paris said.

Louisville moves on to the championship game at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

2B

Monday, April 6, 2009

Griffin takes Naismith Award STAFF COLUMN

Griffin deserving of Player of the Year

R

ZACH BUTLER/THE DAILY

egardless of whether or not you picked OU to make it to the Final Four this weekend in Detroit, you knew at least one Sooner was going to be there no matter what happened in the tournament.

The announcement over the weekend that Griffin was named this season’s Naismith Player of the Year simply made official what reporters and pundits had been writing and saying for the past few months.

What started out at the beginning of the year sounding like an intriguing race among a select few of the nation’s elite players quickly changed tunes and turned into a one-act play.

ERIC The Blake Griffin Show. Guess DAMA who was headlining.

With UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough, last year’s recipient of the award, entering his senior year this season, the wideeyed kid known as “Psycho T” was supposed to be Griffin’s main challenger.

Stephen Curry of Davidson, which played the part of Cinderella in its run to the Elite Eight of last year’s tourney, and Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair, who emerged as a candidate a few months into the season, were also in place to compete for the sport’s highest honor.

But the double-doubles kept on popping up in the box scores, and the Sooners kept on winning, and by mid-January, the title, “Presumptive Player of the Year,” preceded any referral to Griffin.

Now he’s got the hardware to prove it.

And as much fun as it was this year to watch the stellar sophomore throw down all those rimrattling dunks, and dominate the boards like no collegiate player has since Tim Duncan in 1996-97

at Wake Forest, his impact off the court was just as significant.

After all, what do you expect from a 6-10, 251pound behemoth who, after every one of the many cheap shots thrown his direction this season, displayed the tranquility of Gandhi?

Following Griffin’s break-out freshman year, when he reminded the country that OU still had a basketball program, the Oklahoma City-native became a major reason that prized-recruit Willie Warren chose OU. Also, if you’re in a grocery store soon, you may want to pick up a “Thank You” card for Griffin to show your gratitude for the highly-rated recruiting class expected to arrive in Norman this summer.

As much as head coach Jeff Capel and his staff — the people who are actually in charge of the recruiting process — deserve credit for the influx of talented, high-school seniors, the fact that Griffin was a SportsCenter regular couldn’t have hurt.

His awe-inspiring play during games, as well as his polite, humble attitude on and off the court — from my perch on press row, he could regularly be seen saying “thank you” to the ball boy each time he or she wiped the floor — made him the perfect choice for this year’s award.

Now, with OU’s season officially over, the conversation moves to Griffin’s future.

Just as people have been certain he was going to win Player of the Year honors for months now, many also have been saying the sophomore will forego his final two seasons of eligibility and declare for the NBA draft.

If he decides to go, no one will blame him. He’s going out on top and Sooner nation won’t soon (or ever) forget him.

But if he decides to stick around…

Man, that’s a scary thought.

Eric Dama is a journalism junior.

BLAKE’S TROPHY CASE Griffin has been many people’s runaway choice for Player of the Year since the middle of the basketball season. Since the season has ended, he’s racked up the awards and honors. Here’s a look at some of Griffin’s awards.

— James Roth/The Daily

• Consensus first-team All-American an • Wooden Award All-American team • Associated Press Player of the Year ar • Oscar Robertson Trophy • Adolph Rupp Trophy

• Sporting News Player of the Year • Naismith Award • CBS/Chevrolet Player of the Year • First-team All-Big 12 • Big 12 Player of the Year Adolph Rupp Trophy

Still in the running for ...

• Wo Wooden award

Naismith Trophy

BLAKE’S SEASON AT GLANCE Nov. 11 VS Davidson: In a matchup against Stephen Curry, Griffin put up 25 points and 21 rebounds in OU’s first big test of the season.

Feb. 21 at Texas: Griffin suffered a concussion after multiple blows to the head en route to the Sooners’ first Big 12 loss.

March 19 against Morgan State: Morgan State forward Ameer Ali flipped Griffin to the hardwood, but he did not retaliate while helping the Sooners advance to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.

Feb. 14 VS Texas Tech: Griffin scored 40 points and brought down 23 rebounds and Texas Tech head coach Pat Knight called him “The Terminator.”

DATE : Saturday, April 11, 2009 Feb. 28 at Texas Tech: In his first game back from a concussion, Griffin jumped over the scorer’s table, proving that his relentless play would not be hindered by a previous injury.

LOCATION: University of Oklahoma

Memorial Stadium North East TIME : 9: 00 am – 2: 00 pm

March 29 against North Carolina: Despite a 72-60 loss in what could be Griffin’s final game as a Sooner, he outperformed 2008 Player of the Year forward Tyler Hansbrough with 23 points and 16 rebounds.

Time line collected by Jono Greco/The Daily

THEY SAID IT ...

Sophomore forward Blake Griffin has drawn a lot of praise this season. Here’s a look at what some people had to say about the super sophomore.

» “He is as good in and around the basket as anyone I have ever seen.”

— Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim

» “Have you ever seen The Terminator? Our players were like Sarah Conner and it didn’t matter what we did or who we put on him, he was going to kill us slowly.”

— Texas Tech head coach Pat Knight

» “I had the opportunity to work with him at the Nike Skills Academy and he is one of the toughest and hardest-working kids I have been around” » “The kid is just a winner. If you locked all of the college basketball players in the country in a room and only one could battle his way out, it would be Blake Griffin coming out of that room.”

— ESPN Analyst Jay Bilas » “Tyler Hansbrough is a very good player with a place for him on the next level ... But Blake Griffin is just special. They shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence.”

— ESPN Analyst Stephen A. Smith » “Please don’t make this to be a comparison -- [but] he is LeBron James-like. He’s got such a package of strength, explosiveness, touch, power.

You know, it’s hard to match that. In person when you’re sitting on that bench, it even looks more awesome than it does when I’m watching it on TV.” — North Carolina head coach Roy Williams

ZACH BUTLER/THE DAILY

Take center stage!

Take home the prize!

Quotes compiled by Daniel Martin/The Daily

Rock your style – and the stage – at the Garnier Fructis Sing in the Shower event.

Give your hair the star treatment at our makeover station. Then step into the spotlight and perform to win tickets to the American Idol finale, $ 5,000 and more!

Monday, April 6, 2009

3B

SOFTBALL

OU gets sweep against Nebraska Sooners beat Cornhuskers 3-2 on Saturday, Sunday AARON COLEN

The Oklahoma Daily

OU and Nebraska have been known to play each other tough over the years, and that tradition continued over the weekend when the 12th ranked Sooners swept the Cornhuskers in a two-game series with both games ending in a score of 3-2.

With the win, OU improves its record to 30-11 overall and 7-3 in the Big 12.

On Saturday afternoon, OU prevailed in a close eight-inning game in which the teams went back and forth scoring runs.

Senior first baseman Samantha Ricketts went 4-5 in that game, including a game-winning single in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Senior pitcher D.J. Mathis started for OU and pitched 5 1/3 innings before being relieved by freshman Allee Allen who got the win and improved to 13-2 on the season.

BE THERE AMY FROST/THE DAILY

Sophomore third baseman Dani Dobbs gets a hit during the second game of OU’s doubleheader against Baylor Wednesday at the OU Softball Complex.

OU swept the Lady Bears in the double-header and Dobbs was 1-2 in the second game with a walk. The Sooners played Nebraska twice on Saturday and Sunday, and won both games 3-2. In the series, Dobbs struggled, going 0-5 over the weekend.

» The Sooners next game will be this week in Norman. Here’s all the information you need to be there.

What: OU vs. Arkansas When: 5 p.m. Wednesday Where: OU Softball Complex

The Sooners completed the “We came in knowing that the sweep on a cold and windy Sunday, wind was a factor, so we ran a lot overcoming 30-plus mile-per-hour today,” Gasso said. “Their catcher is very good, but it’s tough to throw winds to take another victory.

The team jumped out to a 3-0 in this wind.”

Mathis started once again in lead and Nebraska’s comeback atSunday’s game. It was her first time tempt fell short. “[The weather] was very diffi- making back-to-back starts since cult,” head coach Patty Gasso said. February 13 and 14 against North “Going in a 40-degree drop from Carolina St. and Houston. She went yesterday is not easy on a pitcher 3 2/3 innings before being relieved again by Allen. Mathis got the win especially.”

The wind had a visible affect on to make her record 10-3, and Allen Sunday’s game. Several balls hit by picked up her first save.

“D.J. [Mathis] went as far as she both teams were blown foul, and could, and said on a few occa‘this is enough sions potential “[The weather] was very diffor me’ and that home runs were ficult. Going in a 40-degree means she’s at a knocked dead by drop from yesterday is not the strong gusts. easy, on a pitcher especially.” place where we need to pull her,” Simple fly balls Gasso said. were made diffi- HEAD COACH PATTY GASSO The third piece cult by the wind. of the heart of “ T h e re w a s OU’s lineup, benothing routine out there today,” Gasso said. “Center field was the sides Flores and Ricketts, junior toughest position out there today.” catcher Lindsey Vandever, did not The weather didn’t stop junior have many opportunities to swing second baseman and Player of the her bat, as she was walked five Year finalist Amber Flores from times and hit by a pitch once in the going deep, as she hit a line drive series. She went 0-1, her one ofsolo home run in the bottom of ficial at bat resulting in a fly out in the third inning, her 11th of the the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Sooners will stay in season.

“I didn’t think I hit it that hard, Norman this week and prepare but it just kind of took off,” Flores for Wednesday’s game against Arkansas before traveling to said.

Neither team could rely on Lawrence, Kan., on Friday to face power because of the wind, but the the Kansas Jayhawks in a two game Sooners were able to manufacture series. Wednesday’s game begins at 5 p.m. runs in a variety of different ways.

SPORTS BRIEFS MEN’S GYM TAKES SECOND IN CONFERENCE The No. 2 OU men’s gymnastics team placed second at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference championship this weekend in Palo Alto, Calif. It was OU’s first MPSF conference championship loss since 2004.

OU posted a score of 358.350 Saturday, finishing behind No. 1 Stanford (363.750).

The Sooners claimed the event title for vault with a 64.350, and sophomore Steven Legendre won the individual title for the event, posting a 16.450.

Senior co-captain Chris Brooks finished second in the all-around with a score of 90.050, while Legendre came in fourth with an 87.450.

Oklahoma will defend its 2008 national title at the 2009 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships April 16-18 in Minnesota.

Team Results — Claire Brandon/The Daily

TENNIS SPLITS MATCHES OVER THE WEEKEND There have been up and downs all throughout the year for both OU tennis teams, but over the weekend both teams were able to get at least one win.

The men’s team was able to get its tenth win of the year against the Rice Owls on Saturday. The Sooners won the match 4-3. The men also returned to Big 12 play over the weekend as they beat Nebraska by a score of 4-3.

The women’s team has now won two games in a row and could be turning around late in the season after having a rough patch during the middle of the year. The Sooners were able to beat Iowa State on Friday by a convincing score of 6-1. The Sooners tried to make it three in a row when they played the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday. The women’s team was not able to get the victory and extend the streak.

The Sooners lost by a score of 6-1.

— James Roth/The Daily

BASEBALL TAKES TWO OF THREE FROM MISSOURI The No. 12 baseball team took two of three games from the Missouri Tigers in a weekend series in Columbia, Mo. The Sooners (25-7, 6-3) took the first two games of the series 2-1 and 7-4, but fell in Sunday’s finale 5-4.

A five-run second inning was all the Tigers (15-16, 5-7) needed Sunday to avoid a series sweep as the Sooners could not provide any late-inning heroics. Junior center fielder Jamie Johnson lined out into a game-ending double play with the tying run on second base.

The loss ended junior shortstop Bryant Hernandez’ 13-game hitting streak. He went 4-12 against Missouri, including a 3-4 performance in the series opener.

Saturday’s victory was a back-and-forth affair that featured good play out of the bullpen as it allowed one run and three hits in six innings of work.

Juniors Garrett Richards and Chase Anderson and sophomore Ryan Duke combined for eight strikeouts in relief. Richards (3-1) was credited with the victory and Duke recorded his seventh save of the season.

OU’s two fifth-inning runs Friday were more than enough for junior pitcher Andrew Doyle (4-2) as he out-dueled Tigers junior pitcher Kyle Gibson in a 2-1 series opener. Doyle went eight innings while giving up one run on four hits and struck out six.

Duke came in for the save by pitching a perfect ninth inning to record his first of two saves during the series.

The Sooners play again at 7 p.m Wednesday in Wichita, Kan., against the Wichita State Shockers.

TRACK AND FIELD EARNS REGIONAL MARKS

— Jono Greco/The Daily

WOMEN’S GOLF LEADS SUSIE MAXWELL CLASSIC

WOMEN’S CREW COMPETES IN SAN DIEGO The women’s novice rowing team placed fifth in the Grad Final Sunday in San Diego at the San Diego Crew Classic.

The Sooners recorded a time of seven minutes, 47.33 seconds, good for fifth place behind UCLA, Washington State, Oregon State and Washington, who won the event.

“It was a great weekend of racing,” head coach Leeanne Crain said.

“I am really proud of the performance of our team in our inaugural season of racing. It was a great experience for our novice team to go up against some of the best teams out of the Pac-10. They did an outstanding job.”

On Saturday, the varsity women’s crew beat San Diego and San Diego State, and claimed first.

Women’s crew is in action next on April 18 at the SIRA Championships in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Associated Press

Michigan State has been itching for this do-over since December.

Not only is the NCAA title at stake when the Spartans play North Carolina Monday night, Michigan State will try to avenge that 35-point beatdown the Tar Heels laid on them four months ago.

“We got embarrassed,” Kalin Lucas said after the 98-63 loss in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, also played at Ford Field.

Oh, how things have changed.

The Spartans (31-6) are an inspired bunch these days, playing for their third national title and the pride of their state.

Now comes another in North Carolina (33-4). It will be the fifth meeting between the Tar Heels and Spartans in the NCAA tournament, and North Carolina has won the first four. The Tar Heels are an early 7-point favorite.

The Spartans were a weakened bunch when they played the Tar Heels back in December. Center Goran Suton was out with a knee injury, and Michigan State was playing its fourth game in a week. They managed to stay with Carolina early but had fallen

In its final regular season tournament, women’s golf leads the 31st Susie Maxwell Berning Classic with a two round total of 629. The Sooners lead Oral Roberts by four strokes going into Monday’s third and final round.

After round one, second place OU trailed the University of Texas-El Paso by just one stroke, recording a 315 (+27). The Sooners will begin their final round Monday, with a shotgun start at 9 a.m.

— Jarrod Yost/The Daily

WOMEN’S GYM GOING TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP The No. 9 women’s gymnastics team is going to the NCAA Championships for the sixth time in six years.

With a team score of 196.600, OU was the runner-up at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships in Tuscaloosa, Ala. No. 3 Alabama won the event.

OU now moves to the NCAA Championships April 16 in Lincoln, Neb. — Daily Staff

Michigan State, N. Carolina meet tonight NANCY ARMOUR

Track and field was in Austin this weekend for the Texas Relays.

The women’s 4x400-meter relay team of redshirt sophomore Ti’Anca Mock, senior Leslie Cole, junior Scottesha Miller and freshman Sherine Wells placed third with a time of 44.26.

The women’s 4x200-meter relay team took second behind Texas A&M, after recording a time which broke a 12-year old record which had stood for the program.

The 4x400 team of Wells, Cole, redshirt junior Amanda Mayfield and freshman Tiara Sims finished third with a time of 3:38.42 Miller and junior Latoya Heath both achieved regional qualifying times in the 100-meter dash.

On the men’s side, junior Paul Gill qualified for regionals with a jump of 6-10.75.

Sooners who qualified will compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional, May 29-30.

behind by 14 at the half and were thoroughly outmatched in the second half.

Then there’s the crowd factor. With their Breslin Center home court just 90 miles away, Michigan State is playing the closest to home of any Final Four team since Kansas won the 1998 title in Kansas City, and Detroit is awash in green and white. A Final Fourrecord crowd of 72,456 turned out Saturday night, and about two-thirds of the fans were there for the Spartans.

“We definitely know they’ve gotten better,” Deon Thompson said. “They didn’t have Suton last time, and he’s a big-time player. I really think it’s a different team from when we played them back here.”

North Carolina, however, is just as daunting.

They’ve won every tournament game by 12 points or more. They took a lead three minutes into the game Saturday night and never trailed again. They limited the Wildcats to 33 percent shooting, including just 5-of-37 from 3-point range.

“We are a confident team, but we will not be overconfident Monday night,” North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said.

“My team knows that they’ll have the battle of the state of Michigan.”

MERRILL JONES/THE DAILY

Senior Kendall Dye tees off Sunday, the first day of the Susie Maxwell Tournament held at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club.

4B

Monday, April 6, 2009

Monday, April 6, 2009

Pakistan sharpens tone over aid conditions STEPHEN GRAHAM

Associated Press

ISLAMABAD — When U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke arrives in Pakistan this week he will be publicly feted for President Barack Obama’s pledge of massive, longterm aid for a wobbling nation critical to America’s strategy for turning around its the war in Afghanistan.

But the money doesn’t come without conditions, and Pakistan — while eager for the funds to shore up its faltering economy and develop its ability to counter insurgents — is honing a list of questions that highlight significant differences over the right way to combat al-Qaida and its growing band of regional allies, officials and analysts say.

Holbrooke, Washington’s special representative for the region, is expected in Islamabad on Monday, the first high-level U.S. visitor since

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COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE Outstanding Academic Achievement in Architecture Erica Goranson Outstanding Academic Achievement in Construction Science Jason Hammond William Bolt Outstanding Academic Achievement in Interior Design Amy Feekin

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Outstanding Senior in Natural Sciences Jennifer Lindsey Wallace Outstanding Senior in Professional Programs Lessye Marie Cam Outstanding Senior in the Social Sciences Mary Elizabeth Kaszynski The Roberson Outstanding Senior in the Humanities Bethany Burkland THE CORTEZ A.M. EWING PUBLIC SERVICE FELLOWSHIPS

A 10-week summer internship in Washington, D.C. funded through the Ewing Foundation established in 1971 by four prominent former students of the late Professor Cortez Ewing

Matthew Gress Samuel Ikard Nicholas Moellman Shagah Zakerion

Obama labeled Pakistan’s border region “the most dangerous place in the world” for America because of the terrorists it houses, “almost certainly” including Osama bin Laden.

But Obama has warned that the pledge of $7.5 billion in civilian aid over five years will only be forthcoming if Pakistan demonstrates its commitment to uprooting al-Qaida and other violent extremists — comments that have done nothing for the often-strained relationship.

Islamabad points out the hundreds of Pakistani troops killed by militant attacks or in a series of illfated operations along the Afghan border since Pakistan dropped its support for the Taliban in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

“We have sacrificed much more than they have sacrificed,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Thursday. “We have sacrificed

our soldiers. We have sacrificed our economy. What else do they want?”

What Washington says it wants is better cooperation from Pakistan’s powerful but reluctant security establishment, especially the pivotal Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

After months of leaks to U.S. newspapers, Holbrooke, U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen and other American officials have in the past week gone public with allegations that the ISI has sustained links with — and perhaps secretly aided — some militant groups, a charge vehemently denied by Islamabad.

There also seems little doubt that Washington expects steppedup Pakistani military operations this year to complement those by the expanding American forces in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is accompanying

COLLEGE OF ATMOSPHERIC AND GEOGRAPHIC SCIENCES Clyde and Hazel Bollinger Geography Award Andrew Hewlett Ralph and Margaret Olson Geography Scholarship Stephen Waldrop School of Meteorology Undergraduate Academic Achievement Award Brett Roberts

period to boost Pakistan’s counterinsurgency forces will also go down well.

As well as boosting the army, the new package will “build up the paramilitary and police forces, which is quite critical to holding areas that the military clears,” said Shuja Nawaz, director of the U.S.based Atlantic Council.

David Petraeus, the four-star general overseeing the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, last week encouraged Congress to approve the aid package quickly, saying it would help persuade Pakistan of America’s long-term commitment — reducing the temptation for Pakistan to hedge its bets in case of U.S. and NATO failure in Afghanistan.

But that hope is eroded by the yet-to-be-elaborated conditions attached to the promised financial assistance and the fact that

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Jane MaGrath, Professor – School of Music

ANJUM NAVEED/AP

A Pakistani paramilitary soldier stands guard as investigators examine the site of Saturday’s suicide bombing in Islamabad, Pakistan on Sunday. A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a base housing paramilitary troops in the heart of the Pakistani capital on Saturday, killing eight troops and wounding several more, officials said. President Barack Obama announced a new comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Friday in Washington. On Sunday, Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s top envoy for Afghanistan, was in Kabul to meet with Afghan president Hamid Karzai and discuss Obama’s new plan for security in the region. The status of Pakistan has become increasingly important to stabilizing Afghanistan as Taliban militants have found strongholds along the countries’ mountainous border.

MEWBOURNE COLLEGE OF EARTH AND ENERGY

CAMPUS AWARDS PROGRAM

BIG MAN AND BIG WOMAN ON CAMPUS

THE PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING FRESHMEN

Recognizing outstanding achievement in one or more areas of involvement: leadership, service, honors or academics.

Recognizing excellence in the areas of scholarship, character, leadership and service to the university community. This award is the highest honor bestowed to freshmen by the university community.

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Brooke Allen Holly Berrigan Brett Bone Evan DeFilippis Niekia Franklin Michael Massad Dana Mohammad-Zadeh Ganga Moorthy Allison Mrasek Darwin Roman Neal Sharma Ashley Zumwalt

Big Woman on Campus Amy Backel Andrea Fowler Jessica Haddad Kasey Hendrix Clara Mitcham Alissa Myers Vanessa Nixon Brittany Ryan Pam Stockwell Tran Thi Kieu Oanh Tobi Olusola Cherrie Warden Meredith Willinger

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Outstanding Senior in Architectural Engineering Eric Holderby Outstanding Senior in Civil Engineering Michaela Campbell Outstanding Senior in Environmental Engineering Brandt Fleharty Outstanding Senior in Environmental Science Jacob Messina Outstanding Seniors in Computer Science Susan Collins Outstanding Senior in Industrial Engineering John Rodgers Jonathan House The Outstanding Senior in Electrical & Computer Engineering Feng Nai The Outstanding Senior in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program Brandon Reed Outstanding Senior in Aerospace Engineering Alison Nevels Jacob Sutton Outstanding Senior in Mechanical Engineering Kevin Bagnall Outstanding Senior in Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering Tyler Gibson Outstanding Senior in Engineering Physics Christian Crowe

SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND AREA STUDIES Admiral William J. Crowe Award Meredith Simons

THE PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SOPHOMORES Recognizing excellence in the areas of scholarship, character, leadership and service to the university community. This award is the highest honor bestowed to sophomores by the university community.

Samantha Ali Kendall Baginski Buzz Becker Carrie Bugg Matthew Deimund Summer James Taylor Krebs Michael Nash Shane Pruitt Austin Slaymaker Sarah Swenson Benjamin West

REGENTS’ AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING JUNIORS Recognizing excellence in the areas of scholarship, character, leadership and service to the university community. This award is the highest honor bestowed to juniors by the university community.

Erica Brown Tyler Coker Jacob Elliott Andrea Fowler Jessica Haddad Kasey Hendrix Michael Kubala Clara Mitcham Alissa Myers David Stubsten Cherrie Warden Meredith Willinger

The Charles N. Gould Award Bethany Hogrefe The Alan Witten Award Aliya Urazimanova The David W. Stearns Award Andrew Thiel The Estwing Hammer Award Mohammed Salih Altarooti

Presented April 3, 2009 4:30 p.m.

Reynolds Performing Arts Center

School of Meteorology Faculty Recognition for Outstanding Performance as an Undergraduate David Brooks Sherman

GAYLORD COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

PAKISTAN CONTINUED ON PAGE 5B

Pakistani official said that stance should soften — perhaps after a successful summer military campaign in which the U.S. strengthens its bargaining position — to secure long-term stability in the two countries.

Some doubt Washington’s ability to push Pakistan beyond a certain point.

“We can’t buy Pakistan’s support for our goals rather than supporting their goals,” said Carl Levin, chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. “We should not tie Afghanistan’s future totally to the success of efforts in Pakistan or to Pakistan’s governmental decisions.”

With Holbrooke, Pakistan says it will again object to a campaign of CIA missile strikes that Washington says has killed a string of top militant leaders in Pakistan’s border region. Pakistan says the tactic is counterproductive because it fans anti-American sentiment and undermines its own efforts to woo relative moderates among the militants.

The University of Oklahoma

The James Davis Early Scholar Award in Geography Heather Hollen Jones

WALTER NEUSTADT AWARD THE CARL ALBERT AWARD John Greenert

Holbrooke, meaning the American delegation is likely to face the skepticism of Pakistan’s military as well as of its political leaders. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad declined to give any details, citing security concerns. The two U.S. officials were in Kabul on Sunday.

Asif Ali Zardari, the pro-Western president atop Pakistan’s year-old civilian government, has described Obama’s aid pledge as “an endorsement of our call for economic and social uplift as a means to fight extremism.”

More precisely, the American money, and billions more expected from other donors meeting in Tokyo on April 17, will help avert a sharper deterioration in an inflation-ridden economy from which many foreign investors have fled in the face of the violence and political uncertainty.

Analysts say discussion of up to $3 billion in aid over the same

Washington has yet to explain how it plans to measure Pakistan’s performance.

“There are some aspects of the new policy that we would ask the U.S. to elaborate and others where we would hope for some modification,” said Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States.

A senior Pakistani official, who agreed to elaborate on the points of contention only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issues, went further.

“We think they (the Americans) should decide once and for all if they want a strategic relationship or a transactional relationship,” he told The Associated Press.

The official said Pakistan still believes the Afghan government needs to be rebalanced in favor of ethnic Pashtuns, the group from which the Taliban draws its major strength and a major constituency in Pakistan as well.

Obama has ruled out reconciliation with an “uncompromising core” of Taliban leaders. But the

LETZEISER HONOR LIST AND MEDALISTS The Letzeiser Awards are presented annually in memory of the late Alexander Letzeiser as a stimulus of good citizenship and achievement. These are the highest awards presented during the Spring Campus Awards Program. The selections are made each year by a student/faculty/staff committee and are based on leadership, scholarship, and service to the university.

Three medals — bronze, silver and gold — are presented to three men and three women who are selected as the most outstanding.

LETZEISER HONOR LIST Amanda Ashby Megan Bebb Benjamin Bigbie Marcia CastellanosAymat John Gawey John Greenert Koby Harrington Allison Hay Michael Hesseler Samira Khan

McKenna Lossman Lauren Marek Stafford Marquardt Mark Nehrenz Tran Thi Kieu Oanh Brittane Parker Sarah Serlin Chris Shilling Sarah Shutts Pamela Stockwell Claire Turmelle

BRONZE MEDALIST Amanda Ashby Mark Nehrenz SILVER MEDALIST Claire Turmelle Koby Harrington GOLD MEDALIST Sarah Shutts Chris Shilling

JOE C. AND CAROLE KERR MCCLENDON HONORS COLLEGE The Outstanding Ambassador Christine Gonzales The Outstanding Honors Student Association Member Andrea Fowler The Outstanding Peer Mentor Michelle Boyer

J.R. MORRIS CAMPUS LIFE AWARD Recognizing outstanding service to the university community, leadership in extracurricular activities and academic achievement

Susan Adams-Johnson Megan Bebb Kurt Davidson Amanda Holloway Brandon Oldham Vincent Winston

5B

PRESIDENT’S TROPHY RECOGNITION Outstanding Housing Center Sooner Housing Outstanding Sorority Alpha Gamma Delta Outstanding Fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha

The Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering Outstanding Senior Award Emad Alabbad

Outstanding Commuter Students Chris Shilling David Stubsten

The Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering Outstanding Junior Award Nkiruka Nweze

MELVIN C. HALL

The Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering Outstanding Sophomore Award Kristin Weyand The Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering Outstanding Freshman Award Kylie Bohanan

WEITZENHOFFER FAMILY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS The Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts Outstanding Senior and the Van Heflin Award Sarah Burnham The Elmer Capshaw Award Colleen McCoy Dance Partners Outstanding Senior Award in the School of Dance Jacquelyn Boe The Outstanding Senior Award in the School of Music Barron Ryan The F. Donald Clark Award for Excellence Brittany Bollinger

MICHAEL F. PRICE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS Outstanding Senior in Accounting Corinne Whitefield Outstanding Senior in Economics Matthew Kemp Brown Outstanding Senior in Energy Management Tyler Jennings Outstanding Senior in Entrepreneurship Stafford Marquardt Outstanding Senior in Finance Elijah Lavicky Outstanding Senior in Human Resources Management Julie French Outstanding Senior in International Business Caitlin Dempsey Outstanding Senior in Management Whitney Olson Outstanding Senior in Management Information Systems Erin Cowee Outstanding Senior in Marketing and Supply Chain Management Amanda Holloway

PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION Mary Ellershaw Heckendorn Outstanding Student Mother Award Rebecca Reed

Leadership-Scholarship Award

Recognizing a student who has helped make campus diversity a true strength of the University of Oklahoma

Andeneshea Kemp

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE PACE Award

Top 1% of the freshman class recognized for participation, academic achievement, community service and excellence

Vanessa Appiah Emily Mapes Christine Ariana Michael Massad Holly Berrigan Elizabeth Nelson Jonathan Clark Stephen Pittman Katherine Cunningham Caleb Prentice Evan DeFilippis Kara Przybyl Alice Dombrowski Jennifer Quitoriano Jess Eddy Madelyne Randolph Gregory Emde Montana Rangel Shakir Feroz Jacqueline Ratkey Niekia Franklin Darwin Roman Gaurav Ghosh Neal Sharma Alexandra Glavas Brooke Sheppard Whitney Hand Eddie Shimp Jasmine Hartman Brianna Stewart Peter Jones Katy Tipton Ta’Chelle Jones Angela Tran Nicholas Kirch Lauren Weaver Sara Lavas Sarah Willey Ruozhou Liao Whitney Young Patrick Luong Ashey Zumwalt Thomas Luscomb

GEORGE HENDERSON JR. AWARD

FERN L. HOLLAND AWARD

Adam Pinkney

Moireach McKinzey

6B

Monday, April 6, 2009

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

C Transportation

J Housing Rentals

AUTO INSURANCE

APTS. FURNISHED

Auto Insurance Quotations Anytime

Foreign Students Welcomed Jim Holmes Insurance, 321-4664

Campus Address: COH 149A

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

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

PAYMENT s r

r

TM

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

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

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

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, Classified Card Ads or Game Sponsorship Contact an Acct Executive for details at 325-2521.

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

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

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

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

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

Need Peace and Quiet?

Large, private studio. Furnished, bills paid incl basic cable, near I-35 & Hwy 9. $375/ mo, $200 dep. 360-9983 (W) 639-7571 (C) or suzanne.wyatt@yahoo.com

APTS. UNFURNISHED

Employment HELP WANTED THE MONT Now accepting applications for the following positions: SERVERS-must be available for day shifts beginning at 10:30 am, experience preferred HOSTESS must be available nights and weekends. Apply in person MF, 11am to Noon, 1300 Classen

$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 Eskimo Sno NOW HIRING for ALL locations. Fun & Energetic people for Spring/ Summer Full/Part Time.

Must be able to work weekends and have reliable transportation.

Summer Bonuses available.

Call 321-SNOW or come by Eastside store @ 867 12th Ave NE Traditions Spirits is seeking a motivated, energetic, and personable Bar Supervisor for Riverwind Casino. The ideal candidate must: have at least 1 year experience in high volume club, hotel, or resort; be skilled in staff management; be knowledgeable of wine and spirits, and have open availability. Apply in person at 2813 SE 44th, Norman or email resume to michelle.snider@traditionsspirits.com or 405-392-4550.

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

Errands/Office Help. Part time M-F. Flexible hours 10+. Medical Spa. Email resume to firstglance@att.net. Fax 9282114, phone 928-2099.

Bartending! Up to $250/day. No exp nec.

Training provided. 1-800-965-6520, x133.

Patient needed for dental hygiene exam.

Pays $250. Call 817-714-3236 for details.

P/L Now for Summer & Fall! *Free Membership at Steel Fitness! $99 Deposit! No Application Fee! Models open 8a-8p Everyday!

Elite Properties 360-6624 or www.elite2900.com 1 BLK FROM OU, very nice 4 room apt, 800 sf, wood floors, 1016 S College, Apt 1, $295/mo. Call 360-2873 or 306-1970.

FREE RENT or up to $300 off First Month!

Student and Military Discounts Models open 8:30-5:30 M-F; 10-4 Sat 1-2 bedroom apts/townhomes with washer/dryer hookups in 2 bedrooms.

Pets Welcome! Free Tanning! Immediate Move-in! Two locations, Apple Creek and Hillcrest Estates Call us at 329-2438 or 360-2048 or look us up online at apartmentguide.com

CONDOS UNFURNISHED Summer Rent Slashed in 1/2!

Leasing 1-4 bdrms, amenities galore, The Edge Call Iris, 303-550-5554

J Housing Rentals

small step no. 34

HOUSES UNFURNISHED NEAR OU, 915 W Lindsey. 1/2 bd, 1 ba, NO PETS, $500 per mo.

NEAR OU, 1104 Grover Ln. 2 bd, car garage, CHA, W/D, stove, refrigerator, microwave, compactor, NO PETS, $800 per mo.

NEAR OU, 707 Juniper. 3 bd, 2 ba, CH/ A, W/D Carport, Garage, NO PETS, Ref Required.

FETCH THIS PAPER YOURSELF

Contact: 329-1933 or 550-7069 Clean 3 bdrm, 1 bath near campus, big yard, fireplace, basement, $800/mo. 4478313.

TAKE A SMALL STEP TO GET HEALTHY www.smallstep.gov

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

4 $1,800-$2,000 3 Bdrm $750-$1500 2 Bdrm $600-$800 1 Bdrm $420-$460 MISTER ROBERT FURNITURE Mon-Sat, 321-1818 805C Cardinal Creek Condo’s, 2 bdrm, 2 bth gated community, pool, weight room, on-site washer/dryer, close to campus, nice enviroment to study, overlooks OU golf course $585/mo. Call (580) 7634278

TOWNHOUSES UNFURNISHED Taylor Ridge Townhomes 2 Bdrm, 2.5 Bath, Fully Renovated Townhomes near OU! Pets Welcome! • Call for current rates and Move-in Specials!!!

Taylor Ridge Townhomes (405) 310-6599

HOUSES UNFURNISHED NICE 3-4 bd, 2.25 ba. 929 Branchwood, $750. 1621 Chaucer, $850. 826 Jona Kay, $950. 2326 Lindenwood, $1150. Call 3602873 or 306-1970 211 W Symmes, 4 bd, 2 bth, CH/A, wd, dw, $1500/mo, security dep, no pets, 719748-5141 4 bdrm house (incl servants apt). 4 blocks west of OU. Wood floors, CH/A, W/D, DW. Deck, good parking, no pets. $2000/mo.

Call Bob 321-1818.

3 bdrm, 2 bath, 1 mile east of campus!New carpet and paint, fridge, w/d included. Pets okay, $825/mo. Call 637-7427.

ROOMS FURNISHED NEAR OU, privacy, $250, bills paid includes cable, neat, clean, parking. Prefer male student. Call 329-0143.

J

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Housing Sales

CONDOS Edge Condo, 4 bd/ 4 bath, $126,900 - 1st time homebuyers: $8000 tax rebate Call Carol Lindley 401-0246 - Dillard Group

GREAT STUDENT JOB Part time leasing agent, M-F Rotating Sats. Pay based on experience.

Must be friendly & detail oriented.

Apply at 2900 Chautauqua Or call 360-6624 for more info.

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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.

BILL’S RESTAURANT Now hiring part time servers. Apply in person. 1101 Elm St. 364-2530.

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

Universal Crossword

GREAT STUDENT JOB Part-Time Leasing Agent 12:45pm-6pm M-F, Rotating Sats.

Pay based on experience.

Must be friendly & detail oriented.

Apply at 2900 Chautauqua Or call 360-6624 for more info

Edited by Timothy E. Parker April 06, 2009

ACROSS 1 Be first with the news 6 Almanac contents 10 Give off, as fumes 14 “Violet” or “sound” introduction 15 They sometimes need boosts 16 Corporal punishment unit 17 “Psycho” establishment 18 Baldies’ cover-ups 19 ___ au Haut, Maine 20 Police informant 23 Waterproofing material 24 Walter Raleigh’s title 25 Flower cluster 27 Start for “day” or “wife” 30 Adverse fate 33 Alexandra’s Nicholas, for one 34 Sal the mule’s canal 36 Lustrous gem 38 Aluminum manufacturer 41 Offering 44 Shenanigan 45 House of Lords title 46 Jidda native 47 Swedish

Part time and full time help wanted. $7-10 per hour. Fun work environment selling top name brands such as Toms, Sperry, Chaco, Nike, etc. Apply in person at Tradehome Shoes in Sooner Mall or call 321-4652.

MERCURY POST & PARCEL needs p/t customer assistant. Apply at 121 24th Ave NW. Now hiring lifeguard, swim instructors, and AM pool managers. Apply at the Cleveland County Family YMCA, 1350 Lexington Ave. EOE. CAYMAN’S seeks part time Sales Associates. Must be motivated, fashion-driven, self-starter with excellent customer service skills. Some Saturdays and holidays required. Apply in person 2001 West Main.

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.

OUDaily.com

Save a Life.

chain 49 Offering greeting 51 Like some wines 52 Picked out 54 Abbr. in business names 56 She may feel cooped up 57 Easy target 64 Asian caregiver 66 Tie at anchor 67 Criminal match play 68 Well-done’s opposite 69 Oppositionist 70 Berry’s Johnny B. 71 Cameo stone 72 Chablis sediment 73 Speaker between other speakers, perhaps DOWN 1 Concludes one’s remarks (with “up”) 2 Blood-flow stoppage 3 Sgt. Snorkel’s sidekick 4 After-lunch sandwiches 5 Ashen 6 She played Molly in “Ghost” 7 With eyes-apoppin’ 8 Have more

than a few 9 Arrange 10 Yale graduate Whitney 11 Certain piece of plastic 12 Fatima’s faith 13 “All done!”

21 Smoking gun 22 Like some sprays 26 Lily variety 27 Flat tableland with steep edges 28 Home to Lake Urmia 29 Definitive book?

31 Mayberry resident 32 Colorful parrot 35 Satie and Estrada 37 Italian coin no longer minted

39 Mr. Sharif 40 First name in advice 42 Slurpees’ competitors 43 Famous chipmunk 48 Certain kingdom 50 Mesh gears 52 The “cuchicuchi” girl 53 Defender of Castle Grayskull 55 Computer drive insert 58 Tuning fork’s output 59 Shopping bag 60 Subject for Monet 61 Sports org. based in Colorado 62 Secret language 63 Dummy’s perch 65 Evil spell

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate www.upuzzles.com

“CREATURE COMFORTS” by Oliver Klamp

Call the Hotline at

325-5000

to report hazing, illegal or unsafe drinking.

All calls are anonymous.

The University of Oklahoma is an Equal Opportunity Institution.

Previous Answers

Monday, April 6, 2009

CAMPUS NOTES

TODAY WOMEN’S GOLF The OU Women’s Golf Team will participate in the Susie Maxwell Berning Classic at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course.

TUESDAY CHRISTIANS ON CAMPUS Christians on Campus will host a bible study at noon in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

OU LIBRARIES OU Librarians will present Research Rescue, a seminar helping students with assignments that require use of library resources, at 6 p.m. in Walker Tower.

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

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Reed Isaiah Stokes, 34, 1150 E. Alameda St., Thursday Michael Ray Williams, 45, 2500 48th Ave. SE, Wednesday AGGRAVATED DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Joshua Michael Hall, 19, 2400 W. Robinson St., Friday PUBLIC INTOXICATION Johnny Dale Campbell, 39, 401 12th Ave. SE, Wednesday Edward William Frakes, 48, 201 W. Gray St., Wednesday Angela D. Beson, 32, East Acres Street, Thursday MUNICIPAL WARRANT Curtis Dewayne Carson, 52, 201 W. Gray St., Thursday Tamara Lynn Hadlock, 26, Boardwalk Street, Thursday Aimee Renee Francis, 22, 1123 E. Constitution St., Friday Ryan Allen Gillett, 27, 201 W. Gray St., Friday COUNTY WARRANT Anthony Lynn Defreeze, 33, 5800 York Drive, Thursday Jason Wayne Long, 21, 201 W. Gray St., Thursday Michael Aaron Mays, 27, Lamp Post Road, Friday PETTY LARCENY Chinita Catherine Garcia, 21, 1111 Oak Tree Ave., Thursday, also molesting property INTERFERENCE WITH OFFICIAL PROCESS Christy L. Martin, 24, 1111 Oak Tree Ave., Thursday POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA Abidemi Ehinmisan Sakote, 28, Interstate 35, Wednesday LEAVING THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT Joselito Iturrino, 38, Almond Drive, Friday, also eluding a police officer AGGRAVATED ASSAULT Mitchell Allen Herrian, 43, 1323 12th Ave., Friday TRESPASSING Leroy McRae, 49, 901 N. Porter Ave., Thursday

ODD NEWS TEXAS ROOFERS FIND LIVE GRENADE

7B

EARLY GRADUATION

TEXAS CITY, Texas — Workers removing a roof in Texas nearly had the job done for them by accident.

Police in Texas City said a construction crew found a live World War II-era hand grenade in the attic of a home Thursday.

Police say an FBI bomb technician was called and the grenade was detonated at a shooting range with no injuries.

Doug Johnson says he bought the house in 1992. It’s more than 50 years old.

The roof was being replaced because of damage from Hurricane Ike last year.

APRIL FOOLS: YOU’RE ACCEPTED... NOT! NEW YORK — New York University officials weren’t laughing when hundreds of people mistakenly received word that they’d been accepted to grad school on April Fools’ Day. NYU says it sent out acceptance e-mails April 1 to 489 applicants to the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Those applicants should have received rejection letters instead.

The school sent out a second e-mail about an hour later to the applicants, saying they hadn’t been accepted after all.

NYU spokesman Robert Polner blamed the mixup on a clerical error. He says the school apologizes for the mistaken e-mails and is looking into it to prevent it from happening again.

DETROIT POLICE HALT PILLOW FIGHT DETROIT — Police in Detroit ruffled some feathers after they cracked down on an organized pillow fight in a downtown park.

The Detroit News reports that police at Campus Martius Park prevented the feathery fight Saturday by disarming pillow-toting participants. The bout was part of a worldwide event organized on social networking Web sites.

Michael Davis of Hamtramck says police confiscated the 32-year-old man’s pillows but returned their cases. He says he was told that he needed a permit.

Scott Harris of Ferndale told the News that it’s “not illegal to own a pillow.”

Detroit police spokesman James Tate says cleanup was the issue.

POP STAR DRESSED AS PINEAPPLE ROBBED STOCKHOLM — Police say a Japanese pop star dressed up as a pineapple has been robbed while shooting a music video in southern Sweden.

Police spokesman Bo Paulsson says three young men beat up 41-year-old Hideki Kaji and robbed him of camera equipment worth around 20,000 kronor ($2,500) late Saturday.

Paulsson says the pineapple-clad artist had been left alone with the equipment while the camera crew went for a break. He was left with a cut lip and lost a dental implant.

Police said they had no suspects for the crime Sunday.

Kaji has released more than 10 solo albums since splitting from the band Bridge in the 1990’s. He is also famous for recording a duet with Saint Etienne singer Sarah Cracknell.

AP PHOTO

Aidi Adnan is showered with foam after graduating from Baghdad University’s medical school at a celebration for 85 students at a private club in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday.

‘RESEARCHERS’ LEND FIN TO CLIMATE SCIENCE CHARLES J. HANLEY

Associated Press

TROLL RESEARCH STATION, Antarctica — Into the Antarctic enigma, the puzzle of a place with too few researchers chasing too many climate mysteries, slowly waddles the elephant seal.

The fat-snouted pinniped, two ugly tons of blubber and roar, is plunging to its usual frigid depths these days in the service of climate science, and of scientists’ budgets.

“It would take years and millions and millions of dollars for a research ship to do what they’re doing,” Norwegian scientist Kim Holmen said of the instrument-equipped seals, whose long-distance swims and 1,000foot (300-meter) dinnertime dives for squid are giving investigators valuable data about a key piece of southern ocean.

Climatologists and others say the icy continent has been monitored too thinly for too long in a warming world. Weather stations, glacier movement detectors and research treks over the ice are too few and far between.

“We’re monitoring routinely a small portion of the continent. I’d say 1 percent,” said David Holland, an Antarctic expert at New York University.

The reason to worry is clear: If all the land ice here melted, it would raise ocean levels 187 feet worldwide.

That theoretical possibility would take many centuries, but “Antarctica is huge, so even a small change would make a big difference,” said Jan Gunnar Winther, director of the Norwegian Polar Institute which operates this research station in East Antarctica.

Even a 1 percent loss of Antarctic ice would raise sea levels 2 feet, a slow-motion disaster for global coastlines.

New data “confirm that warming in the Antarctic is much more widespread than was thought prior to IPY,” said the organizing committee of the International Polar Year.

Because the planet’s future may hinge on the future of Antarctica, its least studied continent, “the need for polar research” — human or otherwise — “has never been greater,” it said.

VA. BOY DRIVES TO TEXAS RODEO GROUNDS JETERSVILLE, Va. — A 13-year-old Virginia boy apparently loaded his family’s pickup truck with food, clothes and his dog, hitched up a trailer with two horses in tow and drove nearly 1,300 miles to Texas, police said. The teen’s parents found him safe Friday.

Police are unsure why the boy ran away Wednesday morning from his Jetersville-area home. He apparently was wellprepared, even bringing extra propane tanks along.

Wyatt E. McLaughlin was found about 2 p.m. Friday on a rodeo grounds near Weatherford, Texas, where he had performed several times before. His parents looked for him there on a hunch, said Sgt. Tom Cunningham, a Virginia State Police spokesman.

“These all don’t turn out well,” Cunningham said Friday night.

“We’re pleased to report the outcome was positive.”

Surveillance video from a gas station in Mount Pleasant, Texas, appeared to show the boy pumping gas Thursday into his family’s pickup truck. The parents flew to Texas to view the video and believed the boy on the tape was their son, Cunningham said.

— AP

HOROSCOPE

By Bernice Bede Osol

Copyright 2008, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

Monday, April 6, 2009

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- Don’t hesitate to refuse to help another do something that you know this person can handle alone; be forthright, especially if you feel imposed upon or you’re simply too busy.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- Don’t be shy about expressing your hidden needs with someone who is sincerely interested in your welfare, especially if he or she is in a position to help and would be willing to do so.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- You wouldn’t want to be labeled a bad sport by acting in an unbecoming manner on the playing field, so keep your feelings in check. Be as gracious at losing as you are at winning.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Be careful not to put too much stock in the opinions of negative friends.

They could convince you that you’re not capable of doing something you’d like to try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- Don’t expect to get away with easy outs or taking shortcuts when it comes to an important project. You can accomplish what you set out to do, but big achievements must be earned.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- When you can laugh at your mistakes, you’ll find others will laugh with you, not at you. If you take your ego seriously, they will accommodate you on that point as well.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- No matter how tempting it is to blab about some juicy, unflattering news you have, keep it to yourself. Don’t talk about another unless you have something nice to say.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -People aren’t interested in hearing viewpoints about which they are diametrically opposed, and they will stand up for their position when challenged. Be selective when voicing your opinions.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Beware of behaving in a stingy manner when it comes to sharing your resources or possessions with someone who has always treated you generously in the past. It’ll make you look bad.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- A couple of your more notable points are fairness and objectivity, yet they could be absent owing to a hidden desire to see another fail. It doesn’t become you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Respect another’s privacy, and do not attempt to pry information from anyone who is reluctant to make public certain personal matters.

When this individual needs to speak out, he or she will.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- You can either focus on the sunny side of life or dwell on the negative; it’s your choice. Frankly, you do both well, so would you rather be happy or sad?

8B

Monday, April 6, 2009

Luke Atkinson, L&A editor dailyent@ou.edu • phone: 325-5189 • fax: 325-

Eve of Nations

The International Advisory Committee hosted the 39th annual Eve of Nations “Footprints: A Walk Around the World” Friday night in Lloyd Noble Center. This year’s performance featured dances and performances from 27 student groups that are a PHOTOS BY ELI HULL part of IAC.

Masked members of the Peruvian Student association performsLos Shapis de Chupaca at Eve. Los Shapis de Chupaca is a tradition dance to celebrate the return of the Wanka’s army after fighting with the Incan Army.

Performers from the Arab Student Association dances along to Beyonce’s hit song “Single Ladies.”

The Malaysian Student Association performed Dakir Barat. Dakir Barat is usually performed during festive occasions in Malaysia.

The Thai Student Association gives a performance that shows dancing styles from each of the three major regions of Thailand.

The Society of Chinese Students and Scholars perform a piece called “Descendants of the Dragon.”

Fourteen students participated in the dance that mixed traditional Chinese culture with modern Hiphop music .

The Saudi Student Association performs a traditional celebratory wedding march. The performance featured a mix of Saudi traditional dances.

The Society of Chinese Students and Scholars perform a piece called “Descendants of the Dragon.” Fourteen students participated in the dance that mixed traditional Chinese culture with modern Hip-hop music .