The Crimson White - 3/12/09

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Thursday, March 12, 2009

SPORTS Men’s basketball plans to make run in SEC Tournament

Serving the University of Alabama since 1894

Vol. 115, Issue 102

Students talk Holiday of Purim celebrated Tuesday diversity on campus

By Karissa Bursch Staff Reporter

By Victor Luckerson Senior Staff Reporter

Despite the myriad of bright T-shirts, glowing fast food signs and various shades of crimson, the Ferguson Center food court, along with many other places of campus, can mostly be distilled into two primary colors — black and white.

“People are likely to stick with their own kind,” said Fred Appiah, a junior from Ghana majoring in nutrition. “That’s human nature.”

Appiah’s lunch table stood out in the color-coded rows of the food court because of the way it shirked expectation. At his table he was accompanied by a student from Cameroon,

two American-born black students and two white American students.

“It’s going to take a lot of work to make every table like this one,” said Eric Dowling, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering. Dowling is a member of Sigma Lambda Beta.

“There’s got to be an attitude of people on campus. Everyone on campus needs to be all right with everybody else.”

Minorities comprise more than 15 percent of the University population and include blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Americans and international students from every corner of the globe.

See DIVERSITY, page 3

UA shuts down for spring break

By Karissa Bursch Staff Reporter

FAST FACTS

While students prepare to leave for a week to go back home, spend time with family, hit the beach or whatever spring break holds for them, the University also prepares to close down its dorms and other facilities for the week of no activity.

Different facilities on campus, including CrimsonRide, the Ferguson Center, the Student Health Center and RHA all are getting ready to shut down for limited or no spring break hours.

Alicia Browne, the associate director for information and communication for RHA, said most dorms will be closed down spring break.

“Like other offices on campus, the Housing office will be closed during spring break,” Browne said. “Most of our residence halls close during

• Bryant Sports Grill will be the first campus eatery to open on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

UA weather

TODAY

• SHC will close at 5 p.m. on Friday and reopen Monday.

• The Ferg will close at 6 p.m. Friday.

that week, starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 13. They reopen at 10 a.m. on Sunday, March 22. A limited amount of break housing is available in Rose Towers, and students who need that option had the ability to sign up for it.”

Browne said select dorms will remain open for spring

See BREAK, page 3

INSIDE Today’s paper

Coca-Cola scholars honored ..................2

Rain

UA professor returns from China ......................3

58º/45º

Friday Rain

Saturday Rain

Our View: Avoid domestic abuse ..................4

56º/47º

World: Teen kills 15 in Germany .................8

63º/47º

National: Vick must appear at hearing.. 13 Lifestyles: ʻItʼs Blitz!ʼ album review ......... 16

P.O. Box 870170 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 Newsroom: 348-6144 | Fax: 348-4116 | Advertising: 348-7845 | Classifieds: 348-7355 Letters, op-eds: letters@cw.ua.edu Press releases, announcements: news@cw.ua.edu

CW|RF Rains Jeff Auerbach, a senior majoring in anthropology and theatre, dresses as King Mordechi to celebrate the Jewish holiday Purim. Hillel hosted a celebration at Café Venice Tuesday.

Students dressed in costumes ranging from a cowboy, to Super Girl, to Kramer from “Seinfeld” talked, danced and ate late into Tuesday night. However, this was not a Halloween party or even just a costume party. This Tuesday, Jewish students, joined by students of all religions and nationalities, celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim with food, music and costumes at Café Venice with an event hosted by Hillel, the Jewish student organization.

Purim is a Jewish holiday that occurs on March 10, March 20 or Feb. 28 depending on the Jewish calendar.

Purim celebrates the story told in the Book of Esther where Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination after Esther speaks with the Persian king, according to the Jewish virtual library.

Joe Grinenko, the program director of Hillel, said Purim is essentially a way of remembering the story and a celebration of the happiness in avoiding destruction. “[Purim] is a mix of Halloween and Christmas,” Grinenko said. “People dress in secular costumes or in a costume from the story. However, another big part is giving to charity. People go around and give baskets with snacks and gifts to people in their neighborhood.”

Café Venice was decorated for Purim and plates full of cookies and other food were placed about the restaurant.

The Simple Tones, a local Tuscaloosa band, provided music for those who wanted to dance or listen.

Isa Dorsky, a senior majoring in restaurant hospitality management and the president of Hillel, said this year Hillel received money from

See PURIM, page 2

PACT program in jeopardy

By Danielle Drago Senior Staff Reporter

programs. Alabama was the third state in the nation to create such a program.

The letter PACT participants Many students received a letter informing them of the of the received said the program was PACT program’s money woes currently working with the state’s public colleges and unilast week.

The PACT, or Prepaid versities to “allow PACT benAffordable College Tuition, efits to be consistently paid,” is a program with the state of despite the current economic Alabama that allows families to downturn.

A public hearing regarding prepay for tuition for colleges the future of the PACT proand universities.

The program was created in gram is scheduled for today in response to the Section 529 of Montgomery, and a board meetthe Internal Revenue Code of ing will be held in Montgomery 1986, which authorizes states on March 24, according to to create college savings Margaret Gunter, the director

of Governmental Relations for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.

Kellee Reinhart, the spokeswoman for the University of Alabama system, said the system would have to await the decisions made by the treasurer’s office.

“Certainly the University, and the University system, are very concerned about this issue and we’re very concerned about the impact on our students,” said Reinhart. “We are, just like everyone, trying to gain an accurate picture of what the facts are.”

Auburn University President Jay Gogue and University of Alabama System Chancellor Malcolm Portera released a joint statement on March 3 detailing their future courses of action with the PACT program.

The statement said although they were in no position to help the program financially, they would provide specialists to aid in discussing the future of the program.

“It is our hope that the PACT leadership will be able to work through this situation in these challenging economic times,” the statement said.

UAPD, TPD offer safety tips for spring break

By Amy Castleberry Contributing Writer Before students leave campus for spring break, the University of Alabama Police Department and the Tuscaloosa Police Department are encouraging all students to remember some safety tips to keep in mind during their week.

TPD spokesman Captain Greg Kosloff offered some helpful tips for students to consider before leaving their residences.

“Anytime University students leave their residences for an extended period of time, we experience a greater number of residential break ins,” Kosloff said. “Please remember to lock all windows and doors and take anything of value with you on your trip.”

Captain Kosloff also said he encourages all students to be well rested before traveling and to make sure their vehicles have

been properly serviced before heading to their spring break destinations.

“Before you even begin driving to your destination, please have your car serviced • Lock all windows and doors so that the belts, hoses and fluids are all updated and in proper working condition Take anything of value with and that your tires are inflated for safer you on your trip travel,” Kosloff said.

He also said he encouraged all students Avoid traveling on back to travel by interstate roads only. roads “Many times, we are looking for the quick fix to a problem,” Kosloff said. “The For more tips, visit police. police department encourages all students ua.edu/safetytips.html to avoid traveling on back roads, to get from point A to point B. In case of an emergency, it is always safer to be in a location UAPD’s Web site also encourages safety that is accessible to police and can be conduring break, especially when alcohol is trolled.”

Kosloff also said he encourages all stu- involved. UAPD Officer Andy Liles, also dents to keep in contact with either a friend encourages all students to act responsibly. or parent, updating them on the progress to their destination.

See SAFETY, page 6

SAFETY TIPS

• • •

2

PAGE Thursday

TODAY

FRIDAY

• Graduate Student Association general meeting — 6:30 p.m., 309 Ferguson Center

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Send announcements and campus news to cwnews@sa.ua.edu

Earthfest Art Celebration The University of Alabama Environmental Council is accepting applications for artists to display their work at Earthfest 2009. Earthfest, which will be held April 19, is a preliminary Earth Day celebration on the Quad that seeks to unite members of the Tuscaloosa community. We invite University students and faculty, as well as area residents to apply. For more information, contact akmabry@gmail.com.

Creative Campus intern applications due tonight The Creative Campus Initiative is accepting applications for its 2009-10 Intern Class. Creative Campus seeks interns representative of all 13 UA colleges and schools and is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Interns are hired to serve UA and our community by developing innovative ways of approaching art, education, economy and leadership through collaborative student-driven project development and implementation. Applications are available at www.creativecampus. ua.edu and are due by midnight tonight.

QUOTE OF THE DAY “College is four years. If you don’t learn about other kinds of people now, it’ll be too late.”

— Fred Appiah, a junior from Ghana majoring in nutrition on diversity on campus

TODAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY 1933: Eight days after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives his first national radio address or “fireside chat,” broadcast directly from the White House.

SPRING BREAK • West Alabama Quilter’s Guild meeting — 9:30 a.m., Tuscaloosa Department of Transportation

Coca-Cola scholars honored

By Drew Taylor Senior Staff Reporter Corey Whaley had stepped onto the University in the fall without a clue of what he was getting himself into. No one in his family had ever attended college before and he had no idea what to expect. However, Whaley did not have much to worry about as a Coca-Cola First Generational scholar.

On Wednesday afternoon, Whaley joined 11 other CocaCola scholars in being honored at a luncheon at the Hotel Capstone. The Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship program awards $5,000 a year for every year a student is in college. This year’s recipients were Nicholas Charles Bishop, Young Chan Choi, Tasha Lauren Dew, Elizabeth Michelle Doherty, Treasure Fay, Kyle Fox, Melanie Faith Hubbert, Meisha Oliver, Sara Geneva Shipp, Zachary Swiecki, Corey Whaley and Kelvin Williams.

Each person is from Alabama and maintained exemplary grades in high school, many of them being members of elite academic groups, such as the National Honor Society, the math team and the Future Business Leaders of America.

Gary Fayard, executive vice president and chief financial officer for The Coca-Cola Company, said he first brought the program to the University a few years ago in response to how the scholarship was award-

PURIM

Source: history.com

Continued from page 1

THE CRIMSON WHITE EDITORIAL • Corey Craft, editor-in-chief, craft@cw.ua.edu, 348-8049 • Phil Owen, managing editor, owen@cw.ua.edu, 348-6146 • James Jaillet, production editor • Breckan Duckworth, design editor • Robert Bozeman, assistant design editor • Marion Walding, photo editor • RF Rains, assistant photo editor • Kelli Abernathy, chief copy editor • Paul Thompson, opinions editor • Dave Folk, news editor • Brett Bralley, news editor • Ryan Mazer, lifestyles editor • CJ McCormick, assistant lifestyles editor • Greg Ostendorf, sports editor • Ryan Wright, assistant sports editor • Eric McHargue, graphics editor • Andrew Richardson, Web editor

ADVERTISING

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SUNDAY

• “The Environmental Family in a Changing World” presented by the UA Arboretum’s Saturdays — 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., UA Arboretum

March 12, 2009

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SATURDAY

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the Financial Aid Committee through SGA so the celebration was able to occur on a larger scale.

All students were invited to attend the event including those who are not of the Jewish faith, Dorsky said.

“Any student is welcome to join, you don’t have to be Jewish,” Dorsky said. “On a regular basis Jewish students bring their Christian friends [to Hillel].”

The food included some traditional Jewish food like the traditional Purim cookie hamantashen, which are threecornered pastries filled with various flavors, Dorsky said.

Haman was the man who wished to exterminate the Jews in the story of Purim, Grinenko said. Haman always wore a tricorne hat, which is why the cookies are three-cornered.

Another tradition of Purim is the use of a noise-maker called a grogger, Dorsky said.

Groggers were available for attendants to pick up at Café Venice.

Whenever Haman’s name is said you are supposed to use the grogger, Grinenko said.

“You say the name only because you have to as part of the story,” Grinenko said.

“But you don’t want him to be remembered so you use the grogger whenever his name is said.”

The Purim celebration started at 10 p.m. and went on until students got too tired to continue dancing and eating.

Alcoholic beverages were also sold during the event at Café Venice. “[Purim] is a really fun opportunity,” Dorsky said.

“Hillel never hosted something like this before.”

Dorsky said she hopes students attending the event would learn something about Jewish culture and want to learn more about other Jewish events.

“I feel there is a stigma about Jewish students and I hope this is eye-opening,” Dorsky said.

“Students can realize that although Hillel is here for religious faith it is also here to become a part of the community and to socialize,” Grinenko said.

Renee Sharon, a freshman majoring in public relations, thought the Purim celebration was very successful.

“This is the greatest Purim

ed primarily to private institutions in the past.

“The University of Alabama is just as good as those schools,” Fayard said. “When they came and took a look, they came to that conclusion as well.”

Fayard said with the current economic crisis, education is one of the most important assets a person can have.

“The world can be a better place by the way education can service these students,” Fayard said.

Upon receiving the scholarship, the students are monitored throughout the year to make sure that their grades are above par. Fayard said it is possible for a student to lose a scholarship, but that in the three years that the program has been at the University, no students have ever lost their scholarship.

Whaley, a freshman majoring in operations management, said a couple of months before coming to the University, he learned about the Coca-Cola scholarship program while attending Johnson High School, applying less than a week before the deadline. After a while, Whaley said he had thought that his chances of being accepted were very slim, so it came as a surprise when he received a call asking him to do an interview with the selection committee.

Arriving on campus in spring 2008, Whaley was so unfamiliar with the campus that he was lost before finding his way to Nott Hall where his interview

was. Whaley was accepted into the program on May 5, 2008.

“This was too big an opportunity to pass up,” Whaley said.

Although he is the first one in his family to go to college, Whaley said his parents had always encouraged him to do the best he could to get an education.

“My parents always stressed the importance of education,” Whaley said.

Kelvin Williams, a freshman majoring in accounting, said his mother, a customs service representative for Alabama

Blues Cross/Blue Shield, always instilled a drive for the better things in life.

“My mom always wanted me to go to college,” Williams said.

“She pushed me to do the best I could in school.”

In addition, Williams said this scholarship encourages on a daily basis to make his education his own.

“I definitely don’t want to disappoint everyone,” Williams said.

Applications for next year’s scholarships will be due until later this spring.

celebration I’ve ever been to,” Sharon said. “It’s so much fun.

People actually dressed up and I like that some of the people really got into some of the costumes.”

Before you leave: • Make sure doors and windows are locked.

'2 127 OHDYH LWHPV VXFK DV D ODSWRS YLGHR JDPLQJ HTXLSPHQW ÀDW VFUHHQ 79 expensive jewelry, and other valuables you may have in your house/ apartment. If you can easily walk out of your house or apartment with these items, a thief could also.

• Ask a trusted neighbor to check on your house or apartment while you are gone and to get your mail, newspaper and anything else that may be delivered while you’re gone. Give them a contact number in case of an emergency. Consider having the mail and newspaper deliveries stopped until you return.

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• Consider turning the hot water heater down while you are gone.

• Turn off the water to the washing machine. Hoses can break and the water would ÀRRG \RXU KRPH • If you will be gone for any length of time, consider paying your utility bills ahead of time to avoid late fees and service interruptions.

• Make sure you clean up outside and put away trash cans, grills and outdoor furniture. Do not put grills inside your home.

• Empty the refrigerator of any food that may spoil and take out the trash.

• Make sure appliances are turned off or unplugged.

• In the winter, leave the thermostat set on 55 degrees so the pipes won’t freeze.

• Make sure toilets are not running. Check with the Landlord to see if you should turn the water off to toilets.

• You may want to invest in timers for the lights so that it looks as if someone is home and consider leaving a radio on.

• ALWAYS let your Landlord know if you will be gone for more than two weeks so that it is not assumed that you have abandoned the property.

When you return: • When you return, check the outside of the house to see if anything has been moved. Don’t go inside if you notice anything suspicious such as a broken or open window or open door. Call the police: UAPD 348-5454 or TPD 349-2121 • Plug in appliances that were unplugged and turn on the water if it was turned off. /HW WKH ZDWHU UXQ LQ WKH VLQN DQG ÀXVK WKH WRLOHW WR ÀXVK RXW WKH ZDWHU OLQHV • Be sure to let your neighbors know when you return.

The Crimson White

NEWS

Thursday, March 12, 2009

3

UA professor returns from China

By Jessie Gable Staff Reporter Bruce Lee played a major role in helping some UA students see another part of the world — well, indirectly at least. When Professor Anthony Clark was a little boy, he said he watched a Bruce Lee kung-fu movie and became enthralled in the Chinese culture. He then studied Chinese culture and history in college before becoming a professor at the University. In the fall 2008 semester, Clark took 21 students to Beijing for the University’s first study-abroad program in China.

The students took classes in Chinese history and culture, but also made time to see the Chinese culture firsthand. While they were there, they visited Olympic Village, the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Great Wall of China and a Buddhist temple.

“I wanted the students to see what we were studying while we were studying it,” Clark said. “So when we studied the Forbidden City, we

actually went there and could see exactly what we were talking about.”

Clark also got permission from the Chinese government to take the students into Tibet to see a Tibetan monastery.

Most students at the University have never had the opportunity to study abroad and so they have a very different worldview, Clark said.

“The world is so much bigger and I wanted them to see it from a different place,” Clark said.

While there, Clark did research on the growing number of underground Christian groups. Because China is still mostly Communist, worshipping freely is prohibited. The constitution states that groups have religious freedom unless they are considered to be counter revolutionary, Clark said. It is legal to be a Christian, however Chinese citizens have to be a member of one of the government-sanctioned religions.

The Chinese government allowed all different types of religious groups during the Olympics because they didn’t

to the calendar.

John Maxwell, the chief administrative officer of the Student Health Center, said the SHC will be closed for the duration of spring break, closing Friday, March 13 at 5 p.m. and resuming operational hours Monday, March 23 at 8 a.m.

“The SHC will be closed spring break but students are encouraged to go to University Medical Center, just next door, if they need medical attention,” Maxwell said. “We are partners. Their hours are 8:30 until 5 Monday through Friday. UMC bills insurance and student accounts just like SHC and is happy to see and does see students for us during Christmas and spring break.”

The student service CrimsonRide will not be running during all of spring break.

The last buses will run until 6 p.m. on Friday, March 13 and bus

services will resume Monday March 23 at 7 a.m., according to an e-mail sent to all students by RHA. 348-RIDE will also be cancelling its normal hours of operation during spring break and will resume Sunday, March 22 at 10 a.m. for limited service but will be fully operational at 10 p.m. that same day, according to the e-mail.

The Ferguson Center, which usually holds hours from 7 a.m. until midnight, will also be closing for spring break, according to the Ferguson Center Web site.

The Ferg will close at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 13 and will open with regular operating hours on Sunday, March 22 at 7 a.m.

The Student Recreation Center is one facility that will be open during spring break, according to the SRC Web site.

Its hours will be Friday, March 13 from 5:30 p.m. till 7 p.m.,

Saturday, March 14 from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m., Sunday, March 15 from 12 p.m. till 4 p.m., Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20 from 10 a.m. till 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 22 it will open at noon when it will then resume normal hours, according to the Web site.

Browne said as the University closes and students get ready to leave housing wants them to remember a few things.

“We want to remind students leaving for break that they should empty their refrigerators and throw out any perishable food and trash,” Browne said.

“They should be sure to unplug appliances, turn off all lights and lock their doors. We recommend that they take home small, valuable items, such as laptops, iPods and jewelry. Our resident advisors will be conducting health and safety checks during break.”

interaction between groups.

“They could have events where you know a diverse crowd would come out,” he said.

The choice of Hank Williams, Jr. for the homecoming concert would probably only attract a certain type of people, he said.

Samory Pruitt, vice president for community affairs, said natural segregation was not a problem unique to the University.

“I think it’s human nature for people during social and relaxing times to gravitate toward people they know,” he said. “You see some of the same things on other college campuses.”

However, Pruitt said it was important for student to engage with people of

various backgrounds.

“The world today’s students will live and interact in will be more diverse than one we’ve seen in the last 40 years,” he said.

“There are a number of efforts at different levels across the campus that focus on diversity,” Pruitt said.

He said the Crossroads Community Center focused heavily on student interaction, along with several programs in individual colleges.

However, he said any true shifts in cultural behavior would fall on students.

“As I look back at the history of social change, the main driving force has not been the people in charge,” he said.

“It’s been the students. The key to social change rests with young people.”

CW | RF Rains Anthony Clark, assistant professor of Chinese history at the University, recently returned from taking a group of students to study the subject where it took place.

BREAK Continued from page 1

break in order to meet the needs for certain students, especially the international students.

Rose Towers, Bryce Lawn, the Bluff and Palmer Hall will all remain open March 13 to March 22, Browne said.

The dining halls will also be shutting down for spring break.

Bryant Sports Grill will be the last dining hall open on Friday until 8 p.m., after which all dining halls will remain closed until Sunday when Bryant Sports Grill will be the first to open at 4:30 p.m., according to the Bama Dining calendar.

All other dining halls will resume normal hours Monday, March 23 except for Lakeside Diner, which will open at 5 p.m. on Sunday March 22, according

DIVERSITY Continued from page 1

However, when asked whether they considered the University to be a diverse school, many students said they did not.

“It’s not about crunching numbers,” Dowling said.

“Whites sit with whites, blacks sit with blacks, greeks sit with greeks,” Appiah said.

“College is four years. If you don’t learn about other kinds of people now, it’ll be too late.”

Some students attributed sharp racial divisions to carry-overs from high school culture. “When [students] grew up, they were comfortable being around the same race,” said Mark Fleming, a sophomore majoring in general business.

However, Dowling said learning new things from new people was important to him.

“Fred’s more like me than the first five or six friends I had here that are white,” he said.

“I never would have come into contact with soccer as much if it wasn’t for these guys.”

Another racially diverse table echoed the thought that the University does not have a truly diverse campus.

“It’s the norm,” said Robert Little, a junior majoring in marketing. “It’s accepted for you to hang out with people that look like you.”

Little and Carlos Jones, a senior majoring in exercise science, attributed some of the divisiveness on campus to the starkly segregated greek organizations.

“You can make a friend in a class, but if they’re in a fraternity or sorority, they’re not going to invite you anywhere,” Jones said.

Jones said people’s social circles boiled down to individual choice.

“You’ve got to gravitate toward your comfort zone,” he said. “If you get along with those people and you’re cool, that’s that.”

Jones said the University could do more to foster

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want other countries to know how they treated these underground groups, Clark said.

“Technically they have religious freedom, but if the Religion Bureau doesn’t like you, they can just call you a counter revolutionary,” Clark said. “They allow freedom but they’re slowly trying to get rid of it.”

Because of these restrictions, there is a mass influx of underground Christianity, meaning that the churches do not worship in public places and attempt to hide from the Chinese government. Christianity is the fastest growing religion in China.

In 1976, China had a shift in government and moved from being completely communist to a modified version of communism, one that allowed capitalistic tendencies when it came to their economy. Then there were four million Christians in

China. Today, there are more than 40 million Christians in the country. Of those 40 million Christians, more than 30 million are part of underground churches.

While Clark was in China, two of his Chinese friends helped him. After he left, these two friends were approached by the Chinese Security Bureau and told they would be investigated for helping foreigners. Even now, Clark said, his friends are under surveillance for helping him around China.

Clark said since this trip, there has been a larger interest in China at the University.

The number of students who are taking Chinese classes and expressed an interest in studying abroad in China has doubled. At the end of March, there will be an Asian Awareness Week at the University because of the growing interest.

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OPINIONS

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Paul Thompson • Editor

Spring broke Yes, folks, spring break is literally right around the corner. While the locations differ for each student, one thing remains the same for each spring break (besides the copious amounts of alcohol and that mistake you’ll wake up next to), lots of money leaves our bank accounts.

This year, with sultan Obama steering the nation into an economic cesspool the term green means a whole lot more than the stuff that guy on the beach rolled up for you.

Saving money and having fun may seem like a daunting task, but thankfully for you I have compiled the appropriate steps to have a kind of safe, potentially fun, cheap spring break.

Step 1: Choose your dream destination Whether it be laying on a dark sandy beach in Hawaii or hiking through the Alps with a German tour guide, everyone has that one thing they have to do before they die, and everyone would prefer to do it before they’re 75 and wrinkly.

Step 2: Choose a new location Did you really think you’d be going to Hawaii for spring break? Get your head out of the clouds Buzz Lightyear. There’s no way your parents are dropping a couple thousand for you to go hiking through the Alps with some creepy, leftover Hitler’s Youth member.

To save costs you can choose to go to a touristy spot in the states, or somewhere, shall we say, less traveled, overseas.

If your decision is to not jump the pond, let’s be honest, you’re going to Florida. Maybe Destin, Panama City, Daytona, but either way you’ll be in the Sunshine State with just about half your classmates.

However, if you choose to still go overseas there are plenty of economical options that await you. Maybe you want to do a service trip and be a missionary in somewhere with no running water and mosquitoes the size of Hannah Montana’s ego.

If you’re not down with the g-od though, look into going somewhere that isn’t very touristy.

For instance Kazakhstan or maybe Iraq, who knows? I hear Mongolia is nice this time of year.

Step 3: Pack accordingly You need to pack your bags to not only fit in where you’re

Dave Folk going, but also to be safe while your there.

If you’re going to Florida for spring break, make sure to pack jorts (jean shorts), cargo shorts, graphic tees and a flat bill to fit in with the native population. Likewise if you’re going to Kazakhstan for spring break make sure not to pack any of the above and include a bullet proof vest and some form of semi-automatic rifle.

Step 4: Get in a fight prior to leaving Doesn’t matter who its with the chances are you will be in some conflict with someone over your spring break plans.

For instance your parents might argue that Kazakhstan probably isn’t the safest destination, don’t listen to them though.

Step 5: Realize it’s not even worth it and book your sixday, seven-night stay… at your house OK, maybe Kazakhstan was a little out of the question, and maybe it was a little too late to rent that condo in PC. Well kid, it looks like you’re headed back home for spring break.

Just look at the positives, you’ll save plenty of money (which you can use to buy pictures of all the cool places your friends are going for spring break).

Fret not; there is plenty of fun to be had at the homestead. For instance, you can watch TV on your couch while your parents complain about your grades or you could go to all the nearby colleges you chose not to attend. Maybe if you’re really lucky, you can awkwardly hook up with that friend from high school. Either way, the Capstone is just seven days and plethora of stories away.

Dave Folk is a news editor for The Crimson White. His column runs on Thursdays.

I’m not scared

By Trey Irby

other case on such esteemed programs as “Nancy Grace” revolve around the dynamic of child pedophiles and serial rapists and never stop to focus on our economy or on bringing in more than one issue a week?

Shows like this are usually comfortable airing footage of “Tot Mom” crying on a tape and then scolding her for it, despite the fact that airing said footage gives the woman unneeded attention.

And in a society with a media that also feels comfortable telling us how scary the outside world is, or how scary the “antisocial kids” are or how scary the normal everyday person around you is, maybe you should be scared.

Maybe you should run in fear from class to class, hoping that all of the world’s dangers will pass you by with your incredible takeoff speed.

You should lock your doors, protect your things and be prepared for circumstances. You shouldn’t mace every person you see in the face or assume the world is out to kill you, because you will die anyway someday.

Horrific things do happen. So live and let live and just go on with your life, avoiding anything that’s stupidly dangerous.

And most importantly, don’t be so damn scared.

A lot of talk in recent history has revolved around our safety, whether it is from those deadly terrorists, those horrible killers, sharks or people who pose as other people and cause great danger to us by their mere existence. Life as a whole is a deadly occurrence.

I mean, I’m scared every day when I walk the street. What if that car crashes into me? What if that guy with the backpack has a pistol?

So much danger is out there in the world.

Here’s a simple step: calm down. Could bad things happen to you? Yes, absolutely. It can happen. However, I don’t think telling people to “worry about their safety” and to “be afraid” with revelations that rape, murder and thievery happen in this town is really anything new or shocking.

They happen everywhere.

They even happen in places like Yale.

Is it upsetting that we are in a world where these things do happen?

Of course.

But is it shocking, when the nightly news presents us with stories about how some negligent mother in Florida is — according to them — completely careless about the death of her 3-year-old Trey Irby is a freshman majorgirl?

Is it shocking when every ing in journalism.

4

paul.thompson@cw.ua.edu

OUR VIEW

Avoid abuse at all costs Recent events between celebrities like Rihanna and Chris Brown bring to light something we rarely talk about. Domestic violence is a real and dangerous part of our society.

The real problem with violence of this nature is that it usually hides itself well. True, sometimes we see women, like Rihanna, who show up to work or class beaten and bruised. And in those cases,

it’s easy to see what happened and do something to help. What concerns us are the cases that don’t show up as easily.

Women are abused in this — and other — manners every day. We can only hope nothing like this goes on here at the Capstone, but, if we are to be realistic, we must assume at least some relationships on our campus are this kind of toxic.

As we head into spring break, we ask you all to take a look at what your relationship with your girl- or boyfriend is like. Is it abusive?

If it is, now is the perfect time to get out of it. There is no reason to stay in a relationship that is causing you any sort of pain; life is just too short for that, and we believe that you deserve much better.

If you are in a

relationship of this type, there are a number of resources even here, on-campus, that are there to help you. Contact the Women’s Resource Center, The Student Health Center or the Counseling Center and get the assistance you need to make a change for the better.

Our View is the consensus of The Crimson White’s Editorial Board.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR What “other Machine”?

By Shawn Khalilian In Monday’s edition of The Crimson White, Thaddeus Parker wrote a lazy, distasteful and flat out dishonest piece titled “The other Machine.” In it, the case is made that The CW’s unfair coverage of the election had the same effect as the Machine.

Let me ask this — did The CW say something about Steven Oliver’s campaign that was untruthful? What about Key’s? The fact of the matter is that The CW reported facts as facts, and if that “swayed voter opinion,” then you can hardly blame them, can you?

The Machine all but forces its members to vote for their

candidate. The CW, on the other hand, encouraged its readers to become informed on each candidate’s platform, and after doing their homework, endorsed Key. The two can hardly be compared, and Parker’s point about The CW journalists voting against their editor’s wishes having the same effect as a fraternity member

voting against his brother’s wishes is complete garbage.

Would you say the majority of students who read The CW are journalists for the newspaper? No, of course not. Are most members of a fraternity considered “brothers?” Yes, of course they are.

See the difference?

Shawn Khalilian is a freshman majoring in economics.

Suggestions for the Machine

By Micah Russell Since the SGA elections ended I have noticed a complete lack of respect for the great organization often referred to as the “Machine.”

I remember the day when the Machine had that Freemason appeal to it where you only talked about it in whispers and wild conspiracy theories.

I miss that day. Fortunately, there are a few ways to take back that lost respect.

1. Prove the “Machine” can get anyone or anything elected — Start off with someone that’s not even real such as, but not limited to, Harry Potter, Fred Flintstone (with vice president Barney Rubble of course), Mr. Peanut, etc.

After that, move on to inanimate objects like a broom (he

wants to clean up the dirty politics) or a bicycle (speeding up politics since 1817). This would be sort of a muscle flexing move, but I think it would be effective nonetheless.

2. Build a “Lord of the Rings” style tower — Hey, it worked for Sauron (well, for the most part it did). As long as you keep the organization ring of power and hobbit free, this should be a safe bet. Build it in a place where everyone could see it; next to Denny Chimes would work, and for an extra respect factor slap a very ominous crest at the top of it (make sure it glows at night). Then everyone in the organization can wear Tshirts come election time that read, “Respect the Tower.”

3. Promote a “Suits and sunglasses only dress code

policy” — There really is nothing more intimidating/convincing than a large group of people in suits and sunglasses. Make sure the ensemble is black suit with black tie, though for the “Men in Black, I make this suit look good” sass that is necessary for any proper suit wearer. If the sassy way doesn’t sound right for the Machine, then the other option is to add earpieces and turn it into the “Agent Smith, the Matrix is watching you” look.

4. Keep denying the existence of the Machine — I know this sounds contrary to my other suggestions, but in actuality it only strengthens them. Imagine if you saw people around campus wearing suits, sunglasses and earpieces while a giant

tower with an ominous crest on it (that glowed at night of course) loomed over campus and a broom (who was in fact cleaning up the dirty politics) was the SGA president. Now imagine you have no idea who’s behind it, but you know somebody is behind it. Whoa...

I just wet myself. If you want a reference for this step just ask any Freemason you meet, oh wait, you can’t because they’re a secret society. Point proven.

So Machine, you don’t have to follow all or any of these suggestions, but wouldn’t it be nice if we could get back to the days where people who talk about the Machine are written off as crazy conspiracy theorists.

Micah Russell is a junior majoring in computer sci-

Alsip takes theatre reviewing to new lows

By Alpha Psi Omega Last Thursday, Mary Katherine Alsip published an article recalling her experience at the Feb. 28 Guerrilla Theatre.

We apologize for our tardiness in responding to these claims.

Most of our membership was in attendance at the South Eastern Theatre Conference and we were unable to make to respond as a group.

Alpha Psi Omega Faculty Adviser Steve Burch had this to say about the article: “While I don’t presume to know what Mary Katherine Alsip was thinking or drinking when she attended the Guerrilla Theatre on Feb. 28, as the advisor to APO I take offense at her snide and unsubstantiated assertion that there was drinking at the event in question, and underage drinking at that.”

We do not deny that drinking precedes a portion of the audience’s and the entertainers’ previous evening’s events before arrival at Guerrilla Theatre. Ms. Alsip, herself, admitted in her ‘review’ that she pre-gamed before coming to Guerrilla. Therefore, how can she point the finger at others for being intoxicated?

Ms. Alsip claims there was drinking, including underage drinking. These claims, while unsubstantiated, are being looked into by the officers and adviser of APO. We have strongly encouraged our membership to set a good example for the rest of the Guerrilla Theatre audience.

“Unless Ms. Alsip can name specific individuals and backup her assertions, what she is then guilty of is libel,” Burch said. “And that is considerably worse than bad theatre.”

Of all her mean-spirited pronunciations, perhaps her dismissal of the performers doing a number from “The Last Five Years” is most revealing.

She complains that the “two drunken people singing it had no idea the show was about divorce and played it as a blissfully wedded couple.” First, she has no evidence to prove that these students were intoxicated. Specifically identifying two students with malicious intent is hardly journalistic integrity.

Ms. Alsip’s opinion of any act is just that — an opinion, as valid as anyone else’s. But singling out and identifying non-guilty parties is wrong.

Secondly, we would like to

point out that the plot actually follows the relationship between a man and a woman that lasts for five years. The woman travels backwards in time, while the man travels forwards. When they meet in the middle, they get married, sparking the only time in the play when this couple is happy together.

So yes, they were a blissfully wedded couple, Ms. Alsip.

Furthermore, she suggests that there is only one way to perform it or any other song. “I think most of us will acknowledge that all songs are interpreted differently each time, especially away from the context of the original show,” Burch said.

We do regret the incident involving an act whose time was cut off prematurely. The acts receive a total of 10 minutes to perform. When this act had reached 6:45, an audience member asked how much time they had left, causing general confusion and uproar throughout the crowd. This was completely a misunderstanding in communication.

These students deserved their full-allotted time, and we sincerely apologize for how this was handled. We are planning

to address this and how to reconcile the situation.

One of the many beauties of Guerrilla Theatre is that it is an unpredictable venue.

People are generally allowed to express themselves on stage however they choose. For this reason, Guerrilla Theatre will not please everyone. Not one person will walk out of that door 100 percent happy with what they’ve seen and experienced that night.

Each time Guerrilla Theatre is in the Allen Bales Theatre, close to 30 people are turned away because of a sold-out crowd. If Guerrilla Theatre is as bad as Ms. Alsip claims, our audience would be dwindling rather than growing.

Furthermore, any member of the audience who is unhappy with the acts seen on the stage are more than welcome to sign up for a Guerrilla spot, rather than writing petty, spiteful reviews in The Crimson White.

We extend this invitation to Ms. Alsip and all Guerrilla Theatre patrons.

Alpha Psi Omega is the Theatre Honor Society and host of Guerrilla Theatre at the University Of Alabama.

WE WELCOME YOUR OPINIONS Editorial Board

Corey Craft Editor Phil Owen Managing Editor Kelli Abernathy Chief Copy Editor

James Jaillet Production Editor Breckan Duckworth Design Editor Paul Thompson Opinions Editor

Letters to the editor must be less than 200 words and guest columns less than 500. Send submissions to cwopinions@gmail.com. Submissions must include the author’s name, year, major and daytime phone number. Phone numbers are for verification and will not be published. Students should also include their year in school and major. For more information, call 348-6144. The CW reserves the right to edit all submissions.

The Crimson White

OPINIONS

Thursday, March 12, 2009

5

A thank you from Zeta Chi

By Latesha Dejean The ladies of the Zeta Chi chapter of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority would like to take this day to say thank you to all the staff and faculty members at the Capstone that have been helpful to us over the course of our time at the University. We would like to recognize certain professors and staff members today in honor of our founders who were also educators and spent their lives helping others.

Amanda Thompson — Thank you for being such a great professor to me at the University. You are a wonderful teacher and person.

Stacy Jones — Thank you so much for always being supportive of me as well as our chapter. We have been through quite a bit since my freshman year but thank you for always believing in me and my

capabilities. You are the realest person I know and can always trust that you will tell me the truth, no matter if I like it or not. My family and I greatly appreciate you sticking by me for so long.

Kagendo Mutua — Thank you so much for being our faculty adviser and even more so, for being such a great professor. I appreciate all the talks we’ve had and the encouragement you have offered me. You are a great inspiration to me as a future special education teacher.

Joyce Stallworth — Thank you for being such a great mentor and listening when I need the ears as well as support. My family and I sincerely appreciate you for all you have done for me so far.

Cecile Komara — Thank you for being a great professor and adviser to me over the years. I’ve learned so

much from you and appreciate the encouragement you have offered me when I needed it most.

Priscilla Davis — Thank you for being such a wonderful professor. You were a great inspiration in possibly looking into a future career in speech therapy in conjunction with teaching special education.

Mary Elizabeth CurtnerSmith — She adds so much to the course because she is able to provide students with information from her own personal research experience.

Rebecca J. Howell — She encourages her students to have a good work ethic, because she understands the importance it serves in excelling academically due to personal experience.

Jannis Brakefield — She is passionate about the students in the HES college been prepared to competitively enter the work force.

Mrs. Kimberly Wright — Much appreciation goes to you for all the thought and care you have put into teaching and assisting students in need. Thank you.

Ms. Dorothy Franklin — No one has given students a chance to express themselves and have fun while learning more than you. Thank you for all of your hard work in English and women’s studies.

You are greatly appreciated.

Michael Dugan — Accounting is a very difficult subject to grasp and you as a professor are always very willing and ready to work with your students. Thank you for being so caring and compassionate to your students.

Yalonda Manora, English Prof. — I had taken Manora classes twice while I was a student at the University and what I enjoyed most about her classes is how she allowed us to

openly discuss any aspects about what we were learning.

My favorite class that I took from her was her African-American women’s literature class and it was in that class that my eyes were opened to classic literature like Toni Morrison’s book ‘Sula’ and Ntozake Shange’s stageplay ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf’.

I am so grateful I was able to take that class and I would recommend it to anyone.

Amalia Amaki, art history Prof. — Amaki is not only a professor to me but I also consider her to be my mentor.

I loved taking Amaki’s class because she was able to bring so much of her own knowledge and experience into the class. Outside of class she was always there to help me with whatever I needed including trying to find a grad school and she also provided me special

opportunities, such as working with her with the Paul Jones collection. I am thankful for all the opportunities, knowledge and experiences she has given me.

Rachel Dobson, slide curator for the department of art history — Rachel Dobson is another person who I consider my mentor and she has helped me in more ways than she knows. She has encouraged me and helped me find internships, provided me connections for grad school and has created countless other opportunities for me. Although she is not a professor, she has impacted me more than any other than any professor at the University. I am so grateful to know her and I thank her for all that she has done.

Latesha Dejean is the historian of the Zeta Chi Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.

Spring break fashion 2009

By Liz Lane

White beaches, blue sky and oh, that wasn’t a good choice for her. Even a few piña coladas and the right lighting couldn’t help that.

Spring break is a time for relaxing, parties, sunshine and a little bit of exposure. This, however, does not mean you should borrow your five-yearold sister’s swimsuit to achieve better tan lines.

Pulling a Britney Spears or resembling a full height Oompa-Loompa clad in beach attire is never a good thing. To help solve fashion dilemmas, I talked with other fashion majors here at the Capstone to give you the dos and don’ts of spring break fashion 2009.

A good tan has been in since

CoCo Chanel stepped off a nobleman’s yacht in 1923. To help you achieve a healthy glow, sunscreen got a unanimous “do.” First called glacier cream in 1938, sunscreen has come a long way to protect your skin.

Not only that, “People are more cautious about covering up everything. There are all sorts of products specifically made to help protect your hair and nails now,” said junior Julia Bradberry.

While products are a “do,” don’t forget the protection afforded by accessories. “Bring a hat or scarf,” said senior Christina Hill. Living through a few traumatic burns on my scalp in the past, I have decided to take this piece of advice. Scarves are also great

souvenirs because they don’t take up any room in luggage.

Buy some to protect your head, and bring one back for a friend who had to work.

Although you may want your skin air brushed, air brush Tshirts are a “don’t,” although some girls admitted to having them made as a joke.

“Air brush shirts are only acceptable when drunk. Let’s keep that in high school.

Actually, let’s keep that limited to middle school,” Hill said.

Henna tattoos are a fun idea, but a lot of things are fun ideas, like Michael Jackson’s last nose job.

I couldn’t get a unanimous do or don’t for these, but for $20 you could take a boat ride or pay for a few meals, or have the beach equivalent of a hicky

awkwardly placed on your lower back. You decide.

Let’s make this short: keep your hemlines long enough to cover what the sunlight shouldn’t even see.

Elizabeth Cook, a sophomore, said “Martha’s Vineyard bathing suits are nice but sometimes boys wear them so short you can see, well, let’s not go there.”

Guys aren’t the only ones showing some skin. Ever heard of “Girls Gone Wild?” Bathing suits victimize everyone at some point.

“When girls have to yank at their bottoms that don’t fit every 25 feet, there’s a problem. Get a bathing suit bottom that fits,” Hill said.

Not only are bathing suits unforgiving toward fitting

mistakes, so are other spring finds.

“Skirts and shorts that are too short are a ‘don’t.’ I understand you have a bathing suit under that, but no one knows that but you,” Cook said.

Everyone agrees — no grandmas in itty-bitty bikinis.

“If you got it, cover it up,” said Bradberry.

Another “don’t” — wearing the same thing you wear on the beach off the beach.

This year, it is easier than ever to transition your look, however. Hill mentioned onesies with a sweetheart top as a cute on-the-go look.

“I wore [onesies] last year and felt silly, but I was just ahead of the trend,” Bradberry said.

Sarongs are the idealized

cover up this year. Worn originally for religious purposes, this garment has been taken to the beach for its light, airy, sometimes-translucent appeal.

Forget the rules about white before Labor Day, but even after Labor Day, white bathing suits are a don’t, with a few exceptions.

“I hate white bathing suits because you can usually see through them,” Cook said.

If you must choose a white suit, remember to check it out under good lighting.

No matter where you wind up on break, be it home or abroad, remember, it is always fashionable to just relax.

Liz Lane is The Crimson White’s fashion columnist. Her column runs bi-weekly on Thursdays.

Outsource your column, please

By Wesley Vaughn Groucho Marx once said, “From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend on reading it.” The same thing happened to me with Jon Reed’s column, “Outsourcing more than jobs,” except that I actually read it.

Like a good Chuck Palahniuk book, I will start with the ending. Reed caps his rant on outsourcing by calling those who pick and choose “which ideals to export” hypocrites. This is funny considering that he begins the same article by stating what ideals “we Americans” export.

Not among those listed is the free market system, which promotes the use of this evil outsourcing. Does this make him a hypocrite since he actually selected ideals that we export without asking us? Or

am I, like Reed, just asking a question and assuming you agree with me since I use the plural nominative similar to a French monarch who continually and stereotypically cries out, “We We!” Also, if you are wondering, Reed successfully utilized the plural nominative 15 times in his, singular possessive, opinion.

Reed poses many questions, six to be exact, and idealistic points that left me as confused as Andre Smith when learning he actually needed to prepare for the NFL combine. He speaks of America bringing “other countries to ‘share’ our beliefs.” If forcing by military action or persuading through economic sanctions means the same as sharing, then I would have to agree.

The article also criticizes Americans who want to spread liberties, but at the same time support corporations who exploit workers overseas.

First, not all Americans really promote spreading democratic ideals passively or aggressively. Second, the underpaid labor Reed speaks of, without citing statistics, does not directly affect Americans. He later proposes a question asking what benefits we citizens obtain by improving labor conditions worldwide. Since Reed failed to answer, I will. Besides higher prices, we get nothing.

This is why Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even acknowledged ignoring rights violations in China to stay focused on economic issues. Especially in times such as these, I suspect most Americans simply would rather have more money in their pockets than the knowledge that foreigners make above the previous minimum wage.

Reed then starts a pessimistic, mostly incorrect tirade. He points to the future “fruitless

job searching” for students.

This does even not coincide with outsourcing, since our potential jobs will not involve menial labor. The ability for a country to send labor elsewhere pushes citizens into higher levels of work. It sucks that some lose jobs to other countries, but they are taken by a foreigner who Reed seemingly cares about anyway.

Another proposed question deals with where a company would rather build a factory if worker pay and treatment were forced to be the same. Reed, I assume, wants us to select Tuscaloosa over Malaysia, but he does not say unsurprisingly. There are so many factors involved in the decision that his question can’t even be answered anyway. What kind of company is it? What country is the company headquarters located in?

Why are you even asking this question since you don’t even

connect it to your opinion?

If the United States did go protectionist, others would just follow. Europe’s response to the later weakened portion of the stimulus bill that reeked of protectionism was not a nice and happy one. Companies like Mercedes Benz and Hyundai would not place factories in the United States, a type of outsourcing, if other countries followed this train of thought.

I will not even go into the foreign relations problems we would encounter.

To answer the second to last question in the editorial, protectionism is not defending America from terrorism.

That is national defense and just a game of semantics.

Outsourcing actually defends America quite nicely be creating jobs, investment, and lifting those in poverty to not even consider terrorism and breed hate towards America.

Reed then finishes by spout-

ing how our country was “founded on stopping tyranny” and how we need to stop the tyranny of corporations. What tyranny? If Reed means the tyranny of businesses in other countries, then it is the problem of those countries, but he does not even cite examples.

I, like most, would love everyone to have decent wages, low prices on goods and democracies everywhere.

That being said, the possibility of these desires happening is slim, especially in this horrid economic situation.

Protectionism will not bring the world out of this crisis.

It is certainly easy to bash outsourcing, but the unseen benefits it provides outweighs any of the harsh rhetoric it receives.

Wesley Vaughn is a freshman majoring in political science and public relations.

Spend your Spring Break with us at Tacky Jacks of Orange Beach, Al

(251) 981-4144

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Oyster Bar Famous “Bushwackers” Live Music Gift Shop Charter Office

6 Thursday, March 12, 2009

NEWS

The Crimson White

Feds spending millions on Kennedy legacy in Mass.

By Steve LeBlanc The Associated Press BOSTON | More than one out of every five dollars of the $126 million Massachusetts is receiving in earmarks from a $410 billion federal spending package is going to help preserve the legacy of the Kennedys.

The bill includes $5.8 million for the planning and design of a building to house a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate. The funding may also help support an endowment for the institute.

The bill also includes $22 million to expand facilities at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library &

SAFETY Continued from page 1

“Stay in control if you choose to drink,” Liles said.

“Drinking leads to many other problems.”

According to their safety tips and statistics Web site, UAPD is encouraging all students to have a designated driver during their vacation.

According to the Web site, on average, an individual is killed by a drunk driver every 40 minutes.

Also, according to the Web site, in 2007, an estimated 12,998 people died in drunk driving related crashes. Over 1.46 million drivers were arrested in 2006 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This is an arrest rate of one for every 139 licensed drivers in the United States.

To look at UAPD’s safety tips online, visit police.ua.edu/ safetytips.html.

Museum and $5 million more for a new gateway to the Boston Harbor Islands on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a park system in downtown Boston named after Kennedy’s mother and built on land opened up by the Big Dig highway project.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Kennedy, who at 77 is battling brain cancer, said he hadn’t requested the money for the library and institute, and that there are dozens of other earmarks in the spending bill for homeless services and community health centers.

The $22 million JFK library earmark was sponsored by fellow Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John Kerry, who is also a top sponsor for the money for the Kennedy Senate

Institute. Kerry defended the library project, which he said is needed to upgrade the facility.

“This National Archives project will eliminate the worst archival storage space problem in the presidential library system and it will facilitate six years of work to expand the library,” Kerry said in a statement. “This shovel-ready project will also bring muchneeded jobs to the area.”

A proposal to build a national institute on the U.S. Senate named after Kennedy has been under discussion since 2003, but accelerated after Kennedy was diagnosed with cancer.

Local officials last year announced they were seeking up to $100 million to build the institute, which they said

would focus on the Senate in general and Kennedy’s more than four decades of service to the body. The facility will be located in Boston on a four-acre plot near the JFK library.

About $20 million has already been raised for the institute, including contributions from drug companies, insurance companies and hospitals.

Tentative plans called for a replica of the Senate chamber itself, as well as programs to train new senators.

The list of earmarks provided by Kennedy, Kerry and the state’s allDemocratic congressional delegation highlights programs throughout the state, including $3 million to preserve New England fisheries; $1.7 million for land acquisition at Cape Cod National

Seashore; and $333,000 to study any links between environmental pollutants and breast cancer.

“These funds will create jobs that are desperately needed, and will provide lasting benefits for all our citizens long into the future,” Kennedy said in statement accompanying a list of earmarks.

The billions in earmarks in the federal spending bill has been a source of contention.

President Barack Obama signed the bill which he described as imperfect.

He said it must signal an “end to the old way of doing business.”

Critics, led by Republican Sen. John McCain have denounced the 8,000 pet projects contained in the bill as pork.

In Congress, U.N. chief calls U.S. ‘deadbeat’ donor

By John Heilprin The Associated Press WASHINGTON | A day after his White House meeting with President Barack Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon raised congressional hackles by calling the United States a “deadbeat” donor to the world body.

Ban’s criticism Wednesday of the U.N.’s single biggest backer irked some members of the House Foreign Relations Committee. They were generally supportive of his leadership but voiced concern about U.N. efforts in areas from Sudan to Somalia.

“He used the word ‘deadbeat’ when it came to characterizing the United States. I take great umbrage [over] that,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the panel’s senior Republican, said after an hour-long, closeddoor meeting. “We certainly contribute a whole lot of U.S.

Stephen N. Catanzaro May 9, 1988 - March 12, 2008

taxpayer dollars to that organization. We do not deserve such a phrase.”

Interviewed after the session, Ban said he had wanted to draw attention to the fact that the U.S. agrees to pay 22 percent of the U.N.’s $4.86 billion operating budget, but is perennially late with its dues — and now is about $1 billion behind on its payments.

That figure is “soon to be $1.6 billion,” Ban emphasized.

Asked if he’d used the word “deadbeat” during the meeting, he replied, “Yes, I did — I did,” then laughed mischievously.

Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said: “The U.S. is the largest contributor to the United Nations and while we are behind in some of our payments, those are not the words we would have chosen to encourage Congress to address this problem.”

Love, your family and friends

ISLAMABAD | Pakistan rounded up hundreds of opposition activists Wednesday and banned protests in two provinces hoping to thwart an antigovernment march on the capital, saying it would not allow “the law of the jungle” to cause instability.

The crackdown threatened to undermine support for the year-old elected government, which the U.S. is counting on to battle Taliban and al-Qaida militants operating in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.

The growing political unrest also raised the specter of a possible military intervention in a nuclear-armed nation prone to army coups. It could put Washington in a prickly position if the civilian government — which itself rose to power on the back of rallies and marches against former military ruler

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stated,” Delahunt said.

He noted America backs U.N. peacekeeping operations — and said it loses credibility if it doesn’t provide financial support. “And at the same time, we have to recognize that there are no American troops involved in the 17 different venues where there are peacekeeping operations,” Delahunt said.

Ban also met with Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who heads a House global warming panel, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Senate Foreign Relations chairman, and other of the committees’ members.

“Around the world, the United Nations is underfunded and overtasked,” Kerry said, standing beside Ban and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind. Kerry said they talked about the need for the U.S. to meet its financial obligations to the U.N. and to adopt climate legislation this year to make cuts

in greenhouse gas emissions.

“I think there will be a very clear vision for all the participants in Copenhagen about what’s happening in the United States, and where we’re headed,” Kerry predicted.

During an Oval Office session Tuesday, Obama pledged to work to help bring peace to Darfur and called it “not acceptable” that Sudan’s president has been kicking out humanitarian aid workers from the region of western Sudan.

President Omar al-Bashir was charged in an International Criminal Court arrest warrant with war crimes and crimes against humanity for targeting civilians.

Ban told Obama his support for climate legislation is “encouraging”, but said 2009 is a “make-or-break” year for the U.N. and its member countries on global warming, Darfur and other prominent conflicts.

Pakistan bans rallies, arrests 100s before march

By Nahal Toosi The Associated Press

Not an hour passes we don’t think of you.

Ban also urged Congress to adopt climate change legislation to boost chances for his top goal this year: clinching a global climate deal. The hope is for accord at a U.N.-sponsored conference in Copenhagen in December.

“I believe for the United States it’s a necessity. It will have a very politically important impact on the ongoing negotiation,” he said. “We need the U.S. leadership at this time. (The) whole world is looking at U.S. leadership.”

Ban generally got a “very respectful” reception from the House committee, said Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., who chairs a subcommittee that oversees U.S. participation in the United Nations.

“Clearly they have an interest in the United States meeting its responsibility. In terms of peacekeeping, we’re about $670 million behind, and I think the argument is well-

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Pervez Musharraf — keeps clamping down on dissidents.

As television channels beamed footage of police dragging activists into vans the day before the march was to begin, opposition party leaders and lawyers spearheading demonstrations vowed to press ahead.

“I cannot rest when Pakistan is being taken toward disastrous circumstances,” opposition leader Nawaz Sharif told a crowd in North West Frontier Province. “We cannot compromise when all institutions are ruined and the system is on the verge of collapse.”

Pakistan’s lawyers are demanding that President Asif Ali Zardari fulfill a pledge to restore judges removed by Musharraf, who moved against many of the same activists in 2007.

Sharif, a former prime minister who briefly allied with Zardari during the campaign to force out Musharraf, supports the judges’ restoration but also is furious over a Supreme Court decision barring him and his brother from elected office. After the ruling, the federal government dismissed the Punjab provincial

administration led by Sharif’s brother.

Sharif claims the ruling was politically motivated and has urged Pakistanis to join the protest march.

Zardari, the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has cultivated ties with the U.S. and sought to rally Pakistanis behind the fight with Islamic extremists. Sharif is considered closer to Islamic parties and conservative factions less inclined to support the U.S. war effort.

Activists have promised to gather in cities around the country Thursday and then set out for the capital, Islamabad, where they plan a sit-in at the parliament building.

Seeking to disrupt the march, authorities announced a ban on public gatherings in both Punjab, the most populous province and Sharif’s stronghold, and Sindh, home to Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi.

Protesters have pledged a peaceful march, but Sharif has used words like “revolution” and other harsh terms in recent speeches, prompting the government to warn him

against committing sedition.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman told reporters the rallies were banned to “avoid bloodshed in the streets.”

While acknowledging her party had staged similar rallies in the past, she insisted that “we never called to raise the flag of rebellion.”

In a statement, her office said: “Pakistan’s constitutional and democratically elected government cannot allow the rule of law to be replaced by the law of the jungle.”

Analysts said the ruling party’s actions undercut its democratic credentials.

“At the moment what we are witnessing ... indicates this government has shades of autocratic rule,” Zaffar Abbas, a journalist and commentator, told Dawn News television.

Rao Iftikhar, the home secretary in Punjab, said about 300 political activists had been arrested there under a law allowing six months of detention.

A leader of the lawyers’ movement, Aitzaz Ahsan, said he believed hundreds of his colleagues had been arrested, but he insist activists would not falter in their protest campaign.

The Crimson White

NEWS

Thursday, March 12, 2009

7

Alleged Nazi guard charged 29,000 times

By David Rising The Associated Press

BERLIN | Retired Ohio auto worker John Demjanjuk was charged Wednesday with 29,000 counts of acting as an accessory to murder while working as a guard at a Nazi death camp in occupied Poland. The arrest warrant could move the 30-year global legal battle over his fate closer to conclusion.

The warrant by a Munich court seeks the deportation or extradition of Demjanjuk, who lives in a Cleveland suburb and denies involvement in the deaths at Sobibor. His family says he is too sick to travel.

The U.S. Justice Department says Demjanjuk, 88, was a Nazi guard and can be deported for falsifying information on his entry and citizenship applications in the 1950s.

The U.S. Supreme Court chose last year not to consider Demjanjuk’s appeal against deportation, clearing the way for his removal. But it had been unclear until Wednesday which country would take him — his native Ukraine, Poland or Germany.

German Justice Ministry spokeswoman Eva Schmierer said it was not clear if the U.S. would automatically deport Demjanjuk, or whether Germany would have to formally seek his extradition.

The case that led to Wednesday’s arrest warrant is based partly on recently obtained transport lists of Jewish prisoners who arrived by train at Sobibor during Demjanjuk’s tenure at the camp from March to September 1943.

“In this capacity, he participated in the accessory to murder of at least 29,000 people

of the Jewish faith,” said the Munich prosecutor’s office, which is handling the case because Demjanjuk spent time at a refugee camp in the area after the war.

His son, John Demjanjuk Jr., said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that his father is innocent, and is suffering from a blood disorder and acute kidney failure that makes him unfit for international travel.

“Whatever the Germans decide to do, we will continue to fight for justice in this sad case as there has never been any credible evidence of his personal involvement in even one murder, let alone thousands,” Demjanjuk Jr. said.

“He has never hurt anyone — before, during or after the war.

He is a good person as his family, grandchildren, friends and neighbors have always maintained.”

Demjanjuk has said he served in the Soviet army and became a prisoner of war when he was captured by Germany in 1942.

He emigrated to the U.S. in 1952 and gained citizenship in 1958 but was extradited to Israel in 1986 after the U.S. Justice Department said it believed he was a sadistic Nazi guard at the Treblinka death camp known as Ivan the Terrible.

Demjanjuk spent seven years in custody before the Israeli high court received evidence that the Nazi guard was in fact another Ukrainian, and freed him.

Demjanjuk’s U.S. citizenship was restored in 1998, but the U.S. Justice Department renewed its case, saying he had indeed been a Nazi guard and could be deported for falsifying information on his U.S. immigration paperwork.

A U.S. court ruled in December 2005 that he could be deported to Ukraine or to Germany or Poland. Demjanjuk spent several years challenging that ruling, until the Supreme Court decision last year.

Munich prosecutors said Demjanjuk will be formally charged in front of a judge once he is extradited to Germany.

In this Feb. 28, 2005 file photo, John Demjanjuk arrives at the federal building in Cleveland for an immigration hearing. German prosecutors said Wednesday March 11, 2009 they have charged retired Ohio auto worker John Demjanjuk with more than 29,000 counts of accessory to murder for his time as a guard at the Nazisʼ Sobibor death camp.

AP | Mark Duncan

Army to review hurt troops’ treatment

FORT BRAGG, N.C. | The general in charge of the Army’s more than 9,000 wounded soldiers said Wednesday he is ordering a review of how the ones at Fort Bragg are being punished for minor violations.

Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek said he is asking the Army Surgeon General to look at all discipline that has been taken against soldiers in the base’s Warrior Transition unit to make sure each case was fair.

Cheek’s comments come a day after The Associated Press reported that soldiers in the unit are being disciplined three times as often as those assigned to the base’s main tenant, the 82nd Airborne Division. The AP also found that discipline rates vary widely across the Warrior

Transition system; some units punish their soldiers even more frequently than the one at Fort Bragg, while others are far more lenient.

“We are transparent enough in this that we want to make sure that we aren’t doing anything bad by our soldiers,” Cheek said in a phone interview from Washington.

The Army set up 35 Warrior Transition units two years ago to help soldiers navigate the medical system and monitor their progress and treatment following the scandal over shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

More than a dozen current or former soldiers who have been assigned to the transition unit at Fort Bragg told the AP that its officers are indifferent to their medical needs and punish

them for the very injuries that landed them there. Officers who oversee the unit said they hold the wounded soldiers to the same performance standards as able-bodied troops, arguing that it helps them get back into fighting shape.

Paul Rieckhoff, founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said his group is hearing similar things from soldiers throughout the Army.

The service needs to view injured troops as patients more than soldiers, he said.

“There is still this culture of toughness that is pervasive throughout the military,” Rieckhoff said. “They are probably in the minority, but they need to alter the system so that you don’t have a guy with a head injury getting screamed at for missing formation.”

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Teen kills 15 in Germany before taking own life

By Vanessa Gera The Associated Press WINNENDEN, Germany | A 17-year-old wielding a Beretta 9 mm pistol burst into classrooms at his former high school Wednesday and gunned down students — some of whom died with their pencils still in hand — in a rampage that ended with 15 dead before he took his own life, authorities said.

There was no immediate indication of motive, but the gunman’s victims were primarily female: eight of nine students killed were girls, and all three teachers were women.

Three men were killed later as the suspect fled.

“I heard two shots and then

screaming,” said a 15-yearold student who gave her name only as Betty. “At first I thought it was a joke, but then someone called ‘Run, run!’ and I saw students jumping out of the windows and took off running.”

The gunman — dressed in all black — took students in the first classroom completely by surprise, evidenced by the morbid scene that awaited the first officers to arrive, said regional police director Ralf Michelfelder.

“Children were sitting at their tables, with pencils still in their hands, their heads fallen over on the table,” he said. “Most of them had shots in their head — it must have all

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happened in seconds.”

Police identified the gunman only as Tim K. But the name on his parent’s home was Kretschmer and local media identified him as Tim Kretschmer.

The dark-haired teen, shown wearing glasses in pictures on German television, apparently took the weapon from his father’s collection of 16 firearms along with a “multitude of ammunition,” police said.

His father was a member of the local gun club and kept the weapons locked away except for the pistol, which was kept in the bedroom.

Police said the suspect was a German teen who was a belowaverage student at the school of about 1,000 pupils, but managed to graduate last year. A sister still attends the school.

“He was lower than average, and he wasn’t engaged in school events,” Michelfelder said.

Sabienne Boehm, 12, said she recently met the shooter through a friend, and that he had shown her a note three weeks ago that he then sent to his parents.

“He wrote to his parents that he’s suffering and he can’t go on,” she said.

Boehm told The Associated Press that the shooter claimed fellow students at the high school had mocked him, and that teachers there ignored him.

Teenagers were sobbing violently and clinging to each other as they left a church service to the victims Wednesday.

Police received an emergency call from the school at 9:33 a.m. The first officers responded about two minutes later, said Baden Wuerttemburg state interior minister Heribert Rech. They heard shots on the second floor and ran upstairs, catching a glimpse of the suspect on a staircase, Rech said.

He fired a shot at the police and then fled, killing his last victims in the school — two teachers — on his way out, Rech said.

AP | Daniel Roland Pupils place flowers and candles in front of the Albertville school in Winnenden near Stuttgart, southern Germany, on Wednesday, March 11, 2009. A 17-year-old gunman dressed in black opened fire inside his former high school in southwestern Germany on Wednesday killing 15 people before he turned the gun on himself, authorities said.

“Our officers were very quick,” Rech said. “Through the immediate police intervention they were able to prevent a further escalation of the crime.”

After fleeing the school, the suspect ran into downtown Winnenden, a town of 28,000, where he shot two people walking by a psychiatric clinic, killing one and wounding the other, police said.

The gunman then hijacked a car and forced the driver to head south while threatening his life from the back seat, triggering a land and air manhunt involving 700 police officers and four helicopters, according to Stuttgart prosecutors.

The driver swerved off the road to avoid a police checkpoint and managed to escape, while the suspect fled from the car into an industrial area in the town of Wendlingen, about 24 miles (40 kilometers) from Winnenden.

He entered a car dealership, where he shot and killed his final victims — a salesman and a man shopping for a car — and then went back outside, prosecutors said.

He opened fire on police swarming the area, who shot back and hit the suspect, who fell wounded to the ground, Michelfelder said.

But he got back up, reloaded his weapon, and fled into what turned out to be a dead-end street. Police found him there dead, having apparently shot himself in the head.

Two police officers suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

The death toll was close to that of Germany’s worst school shooting.

In the 2002 shooting, 19-yearold Robert Steinhaeuser shot and killed 12 teachers, a secretary, two students and a police officer before turning his gun on himself in the Gutenberg

high school in Erfurt, in eastern Germany.

Steinhaeuser, who had been expelled for forging a doctor’s note, was a gun club member licensed to own weapons. The attack led Germany to raise the age for owning recreational firearms from 18 to 21.

German Chancellor Angel Merkel called the shooting “a horrific crime.”

“It is hard to put into words what happened today, but our sadness and sympathy goes out to the victims’ families,” Merkel said.

The European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, France, stood in silence for a minute, to honor the victims.

“It is our task as responsible politicians in the European Union and, indeed, all the member states to do our utmost that such deeds can be prevented,” said EU assembly president Hans-Gert Pottering, a German.

The Crimson White

NEWS

Thursday, March 12, 2009

9

Ala. gunman left list of those who wronged him

By Jessica Gresko and Desiree Hunter The Associated Press SAMSON, Ala. | The gunman who killed 10 people and committed suicide in a rampage across the Alabama countryside had struggled to keep a job and left behind a list of employers and co-workers he believed had wronged him, authorities said Wednesday.

The list, found in his home, included a metals plant that had forced Michael McLendon to resign years ago. Also on the list was a sausage factory where he suddenly quit last week and a poultry plant that suspended his mother, District Attorney Gary McAliley said.

McAliley was quoted as telling The Dothan Eagle that McLendon also listed people at the sausage factory who had complained about McLendon for such things as not wearing earplugs and slicing the meat too thin.

“We found a list of people he worked with, people who had done him wrong,” the district attorney said outside the charred house where the

rampage began.

But investigators offered no immediate explanation for why he targeted relatives and other people who weren’t on the list as he fired more than 200 rounds in a roughly 20-mile trail of carnage across two counties near the Florida state line Tuesday.

In the span of about an hour, McLendon, 28, set the home he shared with his mother on fire, killed five relatives and five bystanders and committed suicide in a standoff at the metals plant.

“The community’s just in disbelief, just how this could happen in our small town,” said state Sen. Harri Anne Smith, from the nearby town of Slocomb. “This was 20-something miles of terror.”

It was not clear how long McLendon had been planning the attack, but authorities said he armed himself with four guns — two assault rifles with high-capacity magazines taped together, a shotgun and a .38caliber pistol — and may have planned a bigger massacre than he had time to carry out.

“I’m convinced he went

over there to kill more people.

He was heavily armed,” said Sheriff Dave Sutton.

The shooting was the deadliest attack by a single gunman in Alabama history, and plunged Sansom, the community of about 2,000 where McLendon grew up and where most of his victims lived, into mourning.

The town is so close-knit that the mayor coached McLendon in T-ball when he was a boy, and the dead included the wife and daughter of one of the sheriff’s deputies who was sent to chase McLendon.

As word about the killings spread, graduates of the local high school scrambled to find their yearbooks, and many realized they knew the gunman.

“Something had to snap,” said Jerry Hysmith, 35, who worked with McLendon at the metals plant in 2001.

Among the dead were some of the very people who might have helped explain what set off McLendon — his grandmother, his mother, an uncle and two cousins.

This much is clear: McLendon had a hard time keeping a job

over the years, and had been forced to resign from his position at a local Reliable Metals plant in 2003, authorities said.

Investigators would not say why.

That same year, he tried to join the police academy, but lasted only a week before flunking out, authorities said.

His next known job came in 2007, at a nearby sausage plant operated by Kelley Foods.

The company said he quit last week but was considered a team leader and was wellliked by employees. However, the district attorney said coworkers reported him for not doing things right. McAliley also said McLendon had a list of eight lawyers, a clue that he might have been planning legal action.

The rampage started around 3:30 p.m. at McLendon’s mother’s home. Authorities said he put her on an L-shaped couch, piled stuff on top of her and set her ablaze. Before he left, he also shot four dogs.

Investigators did not immediately say whether the woman was dead or alive when the fire was set.

Inside the charred home, a gun safe was left with its door ajar, and military gear, including a camouflage jacket and green military-style backpack, was found about the home. In another room, remnants of his baseball career, including a 1995 All-Star trophy, were prominently displayed.

After setting the home ablaze, McLendon drove a dozen miles and gunned down three other relatives and two others on a porch and shot his grandmother at a house next door, sending panicked bystanders fleeing and ducking behind cars.

His uncle’s wife, Phyllis White, sought refuge in the house of neighbor Archie Mock.

“She was just saying, ‘I think my family is dead. I think my family is dead,’” Mock said.

McLendon went inside the house and chased his aunt out before driving off, said Tom Knowles, who was at his son’s house nearby and saw the shooting. Knowles said McLendon returned moments later in his car as if looking for the aunt, then turned and looked at Knowles.

“He had cold eyes. There

was nothing. I hollered at him.

I said, ‘Look, boy, I ain’t done nothing to you,’” Knowles said.

McLendon then left for good.

Then, McLendon shot three more people at random as he drove toward the metals plant, firing from his car. One woman was hit as she walked out of a gas station. Another person was hit while driving. One man was shot while walking.

At the metals plant, McLendon got out of his car and fired at police with his assault rifle, wounding Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey, authorities said. Then he walked inside and killed himself.

The victims included the wife and 18-month-old daughter of sheriff’s Deputy Josh Myers, who was sent to chase McLendon. Myers did not know at the time that his wife and daughter were among the dead. His 4-month-old daughter was wounded in the attack.

“I cried so much yesterday, I don’t have a tear left in me,” said Myers, who did not know McLendon. “I feel like I should be able to walk in the house and my wife would be there, my baby girl climbing on me.”

Obama OKs $410B spending bill — with earmarks

By Charles Babington The Associated Press WASHINGTON | President Barack Obama, sounding weary of criticism over federal earmarks, defended Congress’ pet projects Wednesday as he signed an “imperfect” $410 billion measure with thousands of examples. But he said the spending does need tighter restraint and listed guidelines to do it.

Obama, accused of hypocrisy

by Republicans for embracing billions of dollars of earmarks in the legislation, said they can be useful and noted that he has promised to curb, not eliminate them.

On another potentially controversial matter, the president also issued a “signing statement” with the bill, saying several of its provisions raised constitutional concerns and would be taken merely as suggestions. He has criticized President George W. Bush for often using such statements to claim the right to ignore portions of new laws, and on Monday he said his administration wouldn’t follow those issued by Bush unless authorized by the new attorney general.

White House officials have accused Bush of using the statements to get around Congress in pursuing anti-terror tactics.

Obama signed the bill in private, unlike a number of recent

President Barack Obama makes remarks on earmark reform, March 11, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. signings that took place with fanfare, but he raised the issue of earmarks in public remarks playing down their scope and possible harm in the measure.

They comprise about 1 percent of the spending package, which will keep the government running through September, he told reporters.

“Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts. And that’s why I’ve opposed their outright elimination,” he said.

Still, the president acknowledged the storm of criticism from watchdog groups, talk show hosts and many Republican l aw m a ke r s

AP

— including some who have obtained earmarks — who call them wasteful and politically motivated. They are special provisions earmarking money in spending bills for specific projects.

Obama, too, has criticized them as overused and subject to abuse.

Proposing new safeguards, he asked Congress to require that any earmark for a forprofit company be subject to competitive bids. He also said he would work with Congress to eliminate earmarks or other specific items in spending bills that he believes serve no legitimate purpose. But he did not specify how.

Critics were unmoved.

Obama “naively asked earmark addicts to police themselves,” said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. Lawmakers “trumpet their pork on their Web sites,” he said, “and nobody believes we will have public hearings on pet projects.”

Presidents can ask Congress to rescind various spending items. But the authority has little bite because lawmakers tend to ignore requests to undo their work.

Sen. John McCain, Obama’s GOP opponent in last year’s election, wants to require Congress to vote on a president’s rescission requests.

Obama is open to such a change, spokesman Robert Gibbs said, but has not proposed it.

“It doesn’t do anybody any good to send up a rescissions package,” Gibbs said, if it “becomes a piece of paper in somebody’s file drawer.”

Congress has wrestled for years with how to regulate earmarks, the targeted spending items for construction projects, weapons systems, research grants and thousands of other programs sought by Senate and House members. Voters tend to disdain earmarks in the abstract, but they often embrace the money and jobs that earmarks produce close to home. Many lawmakers base their re-election bids on the goodies they steer to constituents, and efforts to eliminate earmarks have repeatedly met

Media Planning Board selects new leaders

By Patty Vaughan Staff Reporter

The newly selected editors and managers for the media outlets around Alabama have been selected.

Those that were selected included Kate Lorenz, editor of the Black Warrior Review; Jenny Gropp Hess, managing editor of the Black Warrior Review; Chris Swindle, Southern Historian and Kerry Cohen, assistant editor to the Southern Historian; Laura Teichmiller, Marr’s Field Journal, and Parker White, managing editor of Marr’s Field Journal.

Claire Brucker, a sophomore majoring in broadcasting, was also selected by the board to be the station manager of 90.7 WVUA-FM. Brucker is the first female station manager to run 90.7 WVUA-FM. She has been working with the station for two years and has learned skills such as how to train DJ’s, how to broadcast live events and how to be a program director she said.

“I’m the first female station manager which I thought was pretty crazy,” Brucker said. “I can bring the unique touch of being a female in here because I’m bringing many new ways to bring ideas and I can be really personable including staff and getting to know people.”

Bill Keller, assistant to the

dean for journalism and the chairperson for the Media Planning Board who did the hiring, discussed briefly why these particular students were chose.

“We wanted to bring in new reporters and staff members and make sure that they are covering the news on campus and looking for students all over the campus,” Keller said.

“It was mostly one person as I recall, the radio station manage who showed lots of energy.”

In order to receive the job, one must fill out a form, a resume and then they must be interviewed by the board Keller said.

Another person who was selected was Amanda Peterson for The Crimson White editor.

Peterson has been working for the paper off and on since before classes started her freshman year and has had some experience through the paper, the yearbook and weblogs.

Peterson has new ideas what she wants to bring to the paper in the following year.

“I’m really excited because it is the students’ paper, and I want to be able to provide information that students want to know about,” Peterson said. “I think that’s the most important thing and if we’re not fulfilling that role and we’re not giving it to them or making it fair for them I don’t think we’re doing our job.”

Peterson also talked about bring the paper back to its “glory days.”

“I’ve looked at a lot of the old red books and some of the editors, and I don’t think The Crimson White is as good as it was, and I want to make it as good as it used to be,” Peterson said.

She also wants to make a better connection between the print newspaper and the paper online.

“The future of newspapers is going to be the Web, and I want to find a way to make those two work together and make those work for students,” Peterson said.

Brucker also has ideas she wants to bring to the campus through the radio station.

“My main goal is to get everybody involved at the University,” Brucker said. “I want to run it as a business and I want every student at the University of Alabama to support and enjoy the radio station. I want as many people as possible involved and to be able reach out to the community.”

Usually it is a junior or senior who takes the job as the station manager, but according to Brucker it wasn’t about who had been at the station the longest but who was the most qualified.

“It’s not all about seniority as much as people think,” she said.

“I know that I could make a

different with the station and I’m really excited to do this,” Brucker said. “I’m going to bring a lot to the radio station and I knew I would be the person that could get this job, could do it well and get it done.”

strong resistance in both parties.

Nearly all earmarks serve some public purpose, even the so-called “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska. But abuses have included tying earmarks to kickbacks, including those that sent former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., to prison in 2006.

Congress tightened regulations after that, including requirements that requests for earmark be made public and subject to scrutiny. The number has decreased since then, but they still totaled 7,991, costing $5.5 billion, in the “omnibus” spending bill Obama signed Wednesday.

The president called the bill imperfect and recommended further earmark changes “to ensure that the budget process inspires trust and confidence instead of cynicism.”

For a time, President Bill Clinton enjoyed line-item veto power, which allowed him to strike specific projects, including earmarks, from massive spending bills. But the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1998. Since then, presidents have had to accept or veto entire spending bills, often packed with thousands of items, some of them earmarks.

Congress’ Democratic leaders issued statements Wednesday praising Obama’s remarks and defending

earmarks in general. The House Appropriations Committee announced said it would submit every future earmark to the appropriate executive branch agency for a review.

But a statement issued by the committee’s chairman, David Obey, D-Wis., hinted at irritation with the public’s focus.

“With all of the hyperventilating over the 1 percent of the omnibus appropriations bill that is made up of earmarks,” he said, “Washington has mostly glossed over the important results it has achieved with the other 99 percent of the bill.”

It was unclear how Congress might prevent earmarks from being directed to specific for-profit companies. House Appropriations staffers said the process will be changed to prevent “sole-sourcing” of contracts through earmarks and to require an open bidding process instead.

Obama’s signing statement said he wouldn’t be bound by provisions of the bill in five areas. They involved negotiations with foreign governments, limits on using U.S. troops in U.N. missions, protections for government whistleblowers, a congressional claim of authority over the spending of money already approved by Congress and congressional demands that the administration submit budget requests in certain forms.

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SPORTS

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Greg Ostendorf • Editor

10

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

Tide looks to make run in SEC tourney

By Greg Ostendorf Sports Editor

with four or five other teams needing a win or two in the conference tourney to cataWith no clear favorite in the pult them into the Big Dance.

SEC throughout the course For Alabama and the rest of the season, this year’s SEC of the teams, they need to Tournament is up for grabs. make a run and win the SEC LSU may be the only lock Tournament to have any for an NCAA Tournament bid chance of making the field of

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65. While it may seem nearly impossible, Georgia proved last year that it can be done.

In a wild tournament that was forced to change venues due to tornadoes in the Atlanta area, the Bulldogs won four games, the final three in a span of 30 hours, to secure an NCAA Tournament bid.

“For me [last year is] a great motivation,” Mikhail Torrance said. “We feel like the season’s not over. A lot of people are counting us out, but we’re ready to go starting tomorrow night. It’s going to be something to see.”

Some college basketball analysts have already pegged Alabama as a team who could duplicate what Georgia did last year because of how well the Crimson Tide has

been playing recently under interim head coach Phillip Pearson.

Sunday, the team may have picked up its biggest win of the season when Anthony Brock hit a game-winning shot from half court to knock off Tennessee on the road.

The performance proved the Tide could play with anybody in the conference.

“I’m very happy that towards the end of the season here, I feel like we’re playing some of our better basketball,” Pearson said. “We’ve played better, we’ve had success. We’ve had some success away from our building which is something we hadn’t had in a little while.”

Alabama opens the tournament tonight against Vanderbilt, who has also

enjoyed success towards the end of the season after a disappointing start. The Commodores have won three straight, including victories over top SEC teams South Carolina and LSU. “We also realize that Vanderbilt’s playing excellent basketball,” Pearson said. “I think they’ve won three in a row and seven out of 10.”

The two teams met back on Feb. 5 in Nashville where Vanderbilt used an early second-half run to take a commanding lead and held off a late run by the Tide for a 79-74 win.

Alabama had no answer for Commodore center A.J. Ogilvy, who finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

“For us, I think the first and foremost concern for us

is around the goal,” Pearson said. “Ogilvy for them has been such a force throughout the season. [He’s] very effective around the goal, and he’s a very skilled player away from the goal. So we’ve got our hands full with him.”

If Alabama knocks off Vanderbilt in the first round, they will meet Tennessee in a rematch from Sunday. The Tide has already shown they can beat the Volunteers, but Pearson knows the team has to take care of business against the Commodores before looking ahead.

“We’re going to treat Vanderbilt as our championship game, and see what will happen in that game,” Pearson said. “Hopefully we’ll have a chance to continue moving forward after that.”

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Five members of the Alabama men’s swimming and diving team are headed to the upcoming NCAA Championships, which will be held March 26 to 28 in College Station, Texas.

All-Americans Mark Randall and Catalin Cosma along with freshman Joe Ziegler will swim the 500m freestyle with Randall seeded No. 13, Cosma

No. 18 and Ziegler No. 23.

“We’ve got a strong group of guys heading to the championships,” head coach Eric McIlquham said. “We’ve got a chance to do some damage and score some big points in our events.”

Randall, the school record holder in the 500m, 1,000m and 1,650m freestyles, will be making his return to the NCAA Championships after redshirting last season to train for the Olympic Games. He is also swimming the 1,650m freestyle, where he is ranked No. 10, and the 200m freestyle.

Cosma, who finished seventh in the mile at last year’s NCAA Championships, is ranked No 26 coming into

this year’s championships.

Ziegler also qualified in the 200m freestyle and the 200m backstroke. The rookie is the school record holder in the 200m backstroke.

Sophomore Denes Zubcsek, making his NCAA Championship debut, is seeded No. 15 in the 200m butterfly.

He also qualified in the 100m butterfly and the 200m freestyle.

The Tide’s school record 800m freestyle relay of Cosma, Ziegler, Zubcsek and AllAmerican Alin Mihalca will also be looking to perform well at the championships. The foursome broke the previous school mark, set in 1983, during the SEC Championships

last month.

While the swimmers have punched their tickets to the Big Dance, Alabama divers Aaron Fleshner and Adam Booher have their chance to earn bids to the collegiate championships this weekend at the NCAA Zone B Championships held in Knoxville, Tenn.

“Aaron and Adam have had great seasons up to this point,” McIlquham said.

“Getting them to the NCAA Championships will give us a big boost in our scoring potential.”

Fleshner, a junior, is the 2009 SEC Diver of the Year, while Booher, a sophomore, was a finalist in both the threemeter board and platform.

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The Alabama baseball team put on an offensive display Wednesday, capped off by a three-run eighth inning homerun by All-American second baseman Ross Wilson, as the Tide powered its way to an 11-6 victory over the Samford Bulldogs Wednesday night.

The Tide found themselves in a groove at the plate all night, piling up 19 hits, including six doubles and three homeruns. Alabama holds the distinction of hitting at least one homerun in every game this season. “[The offensive production] was good,” Alabama head coach Jim Wells said. “It should be good on a night like this … It’s just one of those games where we outslug them.”

Red-hot senior right fielder Kent Matthes gave the Tide early momentum with a monstrous bomb to centerfield, putting the Tide up 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning. It was Matthes’ 11th homer of the 2009 season, tying his previous season-high after only 13 games. Matthes was 3-4 on the night, improving his season batting average to a mindboggling .460.

“He’s been on a tear,” Wells said. “He’s that big guy in the middle of your lineup that people have to be aware of.”

“I didn’t hit it that good, but I got a little help from the wind,” Matthes said.

Alabama didn’t let up, pushing the score to 3-0 in the second inning when Jake Smith scored on a Taylor Dugas double to right-center field.

Samford would answer back in the third with a run of their own, narrowing the lead to two before the Tide blasted back in the bottom frame, scoring three runs. The final two came on a Smith double, putting the Tide up 6-1.

After a scoreless fourth inning, reserve catcher Cody Trotter subbed into the game for starter Vin Defazio, belting a pinch-hit homerun in his first plate appearance of the game to give the Tide a 7-1 lead at the conclusion of five.

The sixth inning proved to be a struggle for the Tide, as relief pitcher Tyler White walked the bases loaded before shortstop Josh Rutledge misplayed a routine grounder, allowing two Samford players to score, narrowing the Tide lead to 73. The error was part of a long night for Rutledge, who also struggled at the plate, going 15 with two strikeouts.

Alabama found themselves in a pinch once again in the seventh, as the Tide once again loaded the bases on free passes before Samford’s Matthew Bennett punched a two runsingle to narrow the gap to

7-5. Samford would add another run in the eighth to cut the once six-run Alabama lead to one.

“They weren’t hitting it, we were just walking guys,” Wells said. “A couple errors at the wrong time, and you look up and they had more runs than hits for a while.”

The game was cemented on Wilson’s three-run homer, belted over the left-field fence on a pressure-packed 3-2 pitch and runners on second and third. It was Wilson’s third homerun of the season and the 18th of his career. Smith added an RBI single to give the Tide an 11-6 lead heading into the final inning of play. “[Wilson] gets a big hit when we’re clinging to a onerun lead,” Wells said. “That’s what you’ve got to have.”

“They got ahead of me early, and I was just trying to battle,” Wilson said. “I saw a curveball and put a pretty good swing on it.”

Alabama begins a threegame series with the undefeated and top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs beginning Friday.

“It feels kind of good having the No. 1 team coming to our field,” Matthes said. “It will be a fun weekend.”

“Georgia’s very talented,” Wells said. “The number one team in the nation.”

The first pitch for the Friday game is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

The Crimson White

SPORTS

Thursday, March 12, 2009

11

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

Venezuela beats U.S. to win Group C surprising Netherlands team earlier in the day.

The matchup with Puerto Rico will reunite Derek Jeter with former Yankees teammate Bernie Williams.

“It’s going to be fun,” Jeter said. “I’m sure I’ll mess with him a little bit. He worked out with (the Yankees) in Tampa before we left. It’s always good to see Bernie.”

Chris Iannetta hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning but Team USA couldn’t finish the comeback in the ninth.

Jimmy Rollins walked and Jeter reached on a one-out error by third baseman Luis Maza. With cleanup hitter Kevin Youkilis at the plate, the United States tried a double steal and Blanco’s strong throw cut down Jeter — the trail runner — at second base.

Detroit mayor hopeful Bing retracts his MBA claim

By Corey Williams The Associated Press DETROIT | Mayoral candidate and former NBA great Dave Bing said Wednesday it was “not correct” when he earlier claimed to have earned a master’s degree in business administration.

But the claim on a videotape touting education and staying in school on the National Basketball Retired Players Association Web site was meant to be interpreted in a different manner, Bing told The Associated Press.

The founder and chairman of the Bing Group, a steel manufacturing operation and auto supplier, was responding to a Detroit Free Press story revealing he didn’t earn an MBA from General Motors Institute, now called Kettering University in Flint, as he said on the tape.

“I felt I had an MBA for the work I had done in the industry I was in,” Bing said. “When I made references to an MBA it wasn’t that I went there and got it, but through what I had done.

“I made reference to how important education was for players, active and retired, and young people, that they should stay in school as long as they can and get their degrees.”

The newspaper also reported that Bing didn’t receive

his bachelor’s degree in 1966 from Syracuse University in central New York, as the former college star also claimed.

Syracuse spokesman Kevin Morrow said Bing got his degree in economics in 1995, after he completed additional coursework.

In the videotape, Bing said, “I got an MBA from the General Motors Institute” after earning a BA from Syracuse. “I was one of those guys who graduated in four years.”

Bing, 65, explained the difference over the Syracuse degree as a simple discrepancy that wasn’t discovered until 29 years after he left Syracuse for a Hall of Fame career in professional basketball. He doesn’t remember which class it involved, but Bing said the incomplete left him three credits short of graduating.

“I did turn it in in 1966,” he said of the paper. “The assumption was it was a dead issue. I surely had no reason to believe it was a problem.”

But he learned in 1995 from an assistant basketball coach at Syracuse that the school did not list him as a graduate. Bing said he rewrote the paper.

“It was all about the auto industry and the challenges with being a supplier,” he said.

“I mailed it in. They mailed the degree out in 1995. It’s at home.”

The questions about Bing’s education comes at a critical time, with a May 5 mayoral runoff to fill the remainder of disgraced ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s term less than two months way.

Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff were charged with lying on the stand during a whistle-blowers’ trial about having an intimate relationship and their roles in the firing of a police official.

During the primary campaign, Bing released his financial records and challenged the other candidates to do the same. The major candidates, including Democratic Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr., refused. The same challenge was issued to Cockrel after they finished as the top two vote-getters in the Feb. 24 nonpartisan primary.

The winner of the runoff will serve as mayor until the regularly scheduled 2009 primary is held in August, followed by the general election in November.

Cockrel told The Detroit News on Wednesday that he didn’t see “how somebody can forget that they never actually got a diploma.”

“I think for most people, they’ll tell you that’s something that they got on their wall someplace, either in their office or in their house,” he said. “The only thing that I will say is we’ll see how the facts play out.”

Auburn’s Barber relies on quickness, not bulk

By John Zenor The Associated Press

AUBURN, Ala. | A lean 6-foot7, Korvotney Barber can’t always outmuscle bigger opposing players going up for rebounds.

So the Auburn forward relies on his quickness in launching that “second hop.”

“He’s one of those guys that can go two or three times and you go once and he’s missed it, come back down and gone back up,” Tigers coach Jeff Lebo said. “And he’s long. He’s as quick a twitch player as there is in the country. That quickness allows him to do so many things.”

Those things include leading the Southeastern Conference in rebounding and offensive boards and guiding the Tigers (21-10) into NCAA tournament contention. Barber is the only SEC player averaging a double-double in league games and one of only 10 to manage that feat in a BCS conference.

Auburn plays either

Arkansas or Florida on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament in Tampa, Fla. Barber is coming off perhaps the best week of his four-year career. He had 17 rebounds against both Alabama and LSU and collected a total of 29 points in those games.

Barber earned SEC player of the week honors for the first time, in the final week of his last regular season.

The 225-pound Barber, a second-team coaches All-SEC player, doesn’t look necessarily like he’d be such a force on the boards.

“Coach just tells me to get out there and rebound like it’s mine,” Barber said. “That’s what I try to do. Stay out of foul trouble and get as many rebounds as I can and help my team get wins.

“I just use my quickness.

Everybody’s bigger than me, so I just use my quickness.

I have a pretty quick second hop, so I just have to use my quickness.”

It’s been an effective strategy so far. Barber is averaging 12.8 points and 9.8 boards, and is shooting 54 percent to rank fifth in the SEC. Barber has also helped forge a significant turnaround for the Tigers. The team struggled badly last season, when he broke his left hand in late December and was unable to return. He was leading the nation with a 72 percent shooting percentage at the time.

Barber would have had at least one nod for first-team All-SEC if coaches were allowed to vote for their own players.

“He’s had an unbelievable year,” Lebo said. “He’s the best defensive player on our team, and I think one of the best defensive guys in the country. What he does night in and night out against bigger guys has been unbelievable.

“I can’t vote for my own kids on the All-SEC first-team, but there’s no doubt he’s a firstteam All-SEC performer.”

innings of work.

“There’s a lot of guys there that have never played in the major leagues, there’s a lot of guys there that don’t even have a job right now,” Gregor Blanco said. “They never played in a ballpark like this, they never played against Derek Jeter or Pedroia or Chipper Jones, those guys.”

Baltimore right-hander Jeremy Guthrie was the loser, giving up four runs and seven hits in two-plus innings. He walked two and struck out two.

Venezuela opened the scoring in the third when Henry Blanco, a veteran backup catcher now with the San Diego Padres, led off with a homer to left off Ted Lilly, the U.S. starter.

Team USA tied it in the fourth. Jeter singled, went to

second on Adam Dunn’s walk and scored on Ryan Braun’s double down the first-base line.

Venezuela reclaimed the lead in the fifth against Guthrie. Henry Blanco doubled and scored on Gregor Blanco’s triple to center.

Guthrie was tagged for two more in the sixth. Miguel Cabrera led off with a double, Magglio Ordonez walked and Marco Scutaro hit a two-run single.

Venezuela chased Guthrie in the seventh when Cesar Izturis doubled, went to third on Gregor Blanco’s single and scored on a base hit by Melvin Mora.

Lilly allowed one run and three hits in three innings, walked none and struck out two.

Tomlinson was slowed during the regular season with in brief a toe injury, then hurt his groin in the season finale.

He was forced out of an overThe Associated Press time playoff win against the Indianapolis Colts and sat out LT reaches new deal against the Steelers, the first game he’d missed due to injuwith Chargers ry in his brilliant eight-year SAN DIEGO | Star running career. back LaDainian Tomlinson agreed to a renegotiated deal Wooden released that gives the team salary from hospital cap relief, the Chargers confirmed.

Financial terms weren’t LOS ANGELES | Coaching immediately available for great John Wooden was the three-year contract for released from the hospital Tomlinson, the 2006 NFL MVP. after a bout with pneumonia.

UCLA, the school Wooden A news conference was scheduled for Wednesday morning. coached to a record 10 nationTomlinson had been due al titles, said the 98-year-old is $24 million over the next three resting at home. Wooden was seasons, including $6,725,000 admitted to a Los Angelesin 2009. His salary cap number area hospital Feb. 13.

Na n Muehlhausen, would have been $8.8 million in 2009, including a prorated Wooden’s daughter, says her share of the signing bonus father is happy to be out of the hospital but still needs plenty from his 2004 contract.

of rest.

His family requested that well-wishers not call or visit.

Wooden spent time in the hospital a year ago after breaking his left wrist and collarbone in a fall at his suburban condo.

He retired from coaching 34 years ago.

“It was a perfect throw but I can’t get thrown out in that situation, not the tying run,” Jeter said. “We tried to be aggressive. I had an idea that Jimmy was going to go. That can’t happen, whether it was a perfect throw or not.”

Rodriguez closed it out on the next pitch by striking out Youkilis.

“It was fun, the adrenaline was going 100 percent,” Rodriguez said.

Victor Zambrano allowed one run and three hits in 3 2-3 innings to earn the win before a crowd of 12,358. He walked two and struck out one.

Venezuela’s bullpen was tagged for 13 runs over five inning in Sunday’s rout by the U.S. but redeemed itself in this one, with five relievers combining to allow two runs in six

SPORTS

Linebacker death suit settled

COLUMBIA, Mo. | The University of Missouri has reached a settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of a former reserve linebacker who collapsed on the field during a 2005 preseason workout.

A Boone County judge still must approve the undisclosed settlement, referred to in court records filed this week in the lawsuit over the death of Aaron O’Neal.

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TORONTO | Francisco Rodriguez loves pitching for his country.

Henry Blanco homered and made a key throw in the ninth inning to help Rodriguez earn the save as Venezuela beat the United States 5-3 on Wednesday night to win Group C at the World Baseball Classic.

“For some reason I feel like right now I’m at another level,” said Rodriguez, who signed a $37 million, three-year contract with the New York Mets this offseason. “Just to be able to wear a Venezuelan jersey, it’s totally different for some reason. I don’t know why, but it’s totally different to be able to play with your country.

“I’m not saying I give it more (effort), I just feel more

adrenaline, more pressure,” he added. “There’s no question about it. Don’t get me wrong.

Every time I wear a different jersey I take it with a lot of pride, but today was something really special.”

Gregor Blanco added three hits for Venezuela, which avenged a 15-6 loss to the Americans on Sunday night.

“It’s a big deal for us, beating the United States, because they’re one of the greatest teams in the world,” he said.

“We showed them we can play baseball, too. We showed them we can win games.”

Both teams are headed to the second round of the tournament in Miami, where the U.S. will open against Group D winner Puerto Rico (3-0) on Saturday night.

Venezuela will face a

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SPORTS

The Crimson White

Football Pro Day The Alabama football team held its annual Pro Day Wednesday afternoon inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility.

The Crimson Tide Pro Day featured over 50 scouts, coaches and front office personnel from all 32 National Football League teams. Eight Crimson Tide seniors, along with juniors Andre Smith and Glen Coffee,

worked out for the NFL personnel with a large contingent of media and family looking on. The NFL Network was also in town chronicling the days’ performances while getting immediate reaction from the Alabama players looking to take the next step into the NFL.

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SPORTS

Thursday, March 12, 2009

13

Lindsey wins World Cup title The Associated Press ARE, Sweden | Perfect start, perfect ending for Lindsey Vonn.

She captured the overall title for the second straight year by winning the last downhill of the season Wednesday at the World Cup Finals. She is the first American woman to win two World Cup overall crowns.

Vonn won the seasonopening downhill in early December at Lake Louise, Alberta, and finished in the points in the remaining five races.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “It’s been a long season and it’s been really difficult and challenging, but I’m really happy that it’s over. Winning today

and finishing out the season strongly means a lot to me.”

Vonn completed the Olympia course in 1 minute, 42.49 seconds after posting the fastest splits all the way down. The course, designed by former Swiss downhill great Bernhard Russi, is one of Vonn’s favorites. Two years ago, she won two silver medals in the downhill and super-G at the world championships.

Vonn already had clinched the downhill title for the second straight year, matching hero and friend Picabo Street’s consecutive titles in 1995 and ‘96. She needed at least an eighth-place finish to clinch the overall.

“It’s a really special moment in my life,” she said. “I give my whole life for the sport and to

be able to win something like this for a second time in a row, it means a lot to me. It’s why I work hard, it’s what I live for and it’s special to have been able to put my own mark in the history books.”

Maria Riesch of Germany was second, 0.40 behind, and also finished second overall.

Austria’s Renate Goetschl, a five-time winner at Are, was third, 1.26 back.

“I was surprised that I ended up second. I’m really happy,” Riesch said. “It’s great to ski here. It’s a really nice hill.”

With three races left at the finals, Vonn leads the overall standings with 1,688 points.

Riesch is second with 1,299 and Anja Paerson of Sweden third with 990.

A double gold medalist a

last month’s worlds, Vonn also has a chance to win the superG title, trailing Fabienne Suter of Switzerland by 15 points.

The last super-G is Thursday.

“It’s going to be a fight, for sure,” Vonn said. “But I’m only 15 points behind and I think that anything is possible,” Vonn said.

With this season coming to a close, Vonn can start to look toward next year and the Vancouver Olympics. The 2006 Turin Games were most memorable for her frightening crash during a training run, and she failed to win a medal.

“I hope these Olympics will be my time, and I’ll be able to accomplish my childhood dream of winning an Olympic gold medal,” Vonn

Judge: Vick must appear at hearing The Associated Press NORFOLK, Va. | Fallen NFL star Michael Vick must appear at a bankruptcy hearing next month but should pay his own way from the Kansas prison where he is serving time for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy, a judge ruled Wednesday.

At an hour-long hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Santoro rejected the government’s suggestions that he either postpone Vick’s April 2 bankruptcy confirmation hearing or allow the suspended player to testify by video hookup from the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan. “I’m not going to be put in a position of determining credibility or demeanor over a television,” said Santoro, who has insisted since Vick filed for bankruptcy in July that he would have to testify in person.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria, Va., objected to a

proposed court order compelling federal marshals to pick up the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback and bring him to Virginia. They cited the logistical burdens, security risks and costs of the temporary transfer.

Santoro said the government provided no evidence to back up the inconvenience and security concerns. However, he agreed with the government’s claim that the taxpayers should not have to foot the bill.

The government provided no estimate of how much the trip would cost. One of Vick’s criminal attorneys, Lawrence Woodward, presented receipts showing it only cost about $3,636 to bring Vick from Leavenworth to Surry County, Va., in November to plead guilty to state dogfighting charges.

Vick paid for that trip.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Coulter also argued that Vick’s transfer would compromise “the integrity of the

corrections system” by temporarily springing him from the federal penitentiary to tend to his personal affairs. Santoro disagreed, saying Vick probably would rather stay put.

“Mr. Vick is not going to more luxurious accommodations by moving from Leavenworth to the Newport News lockup,” where he will be housed while in Virginia, the judge said.

Santoro also balked at delaying the hearing, citing the rights of creditors who are owed millions of dollars.

For the first time, Vick’s attorneys publicly confirmed that he has been approved for transfer to home confinement home no sooner than May 21, about two months before his scheduled release from federal custody.

Vick’s attorneys had been saying his move to a halfway house was imminent, but Woodward said Vick’s probation officer told him Tuesday that Vick will serve the last

few weeks of his 23-month sentence at his home in Hampton.

Coulter cautioned that problems still could arise that would delay the move. Though he did not elaborate, Santoro rejected the idea of postponing the confirmation hearing without any assurance that Vick’s transfer to home confinement will come off as planned.

Vick’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan is based largely on his intention to resume his NFL career. Vick was suspended indefinitely after his 2007 indictment, and league Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he will review Vick’s status after he is released.

The Falcons still hold the contract rights to Vick but have said they will try to trade him. Vick’s bankruptcy plan would allow him to keep the first $750,000 of his annual pay.

After that, a percentage would go to his creditors based on a sliding scale.

said on a conference call later Wednesday.

Vonn, who holds the U.S. women’s record for most World Cup wins with 21, said the downhill course was a big challenge.

“It was a little bit bumpy and there is quite a bit of terrain in the course,” she said.

“There were a lot of jumps and the light was flat, so those things definitely made it really tough. I knew that I had to be aggressive and really charge if I wanted to get on the podium today.”

Vonn has been racing with a special splint after surgery.

She severed a tendon in her right thumb on a broken champagne bottle while celebrating her second world title at Val d’Isere, France, last month.

“It still hurts and it makes my starts a lot more weak, which has definitely cost me time,” Vonn said. “But, during my run I feel like it is almost normal. It’s a little awkward with the tape and I can’t quite put my pole exactly where I want it, but I think that I’ve gotten used to it.”

Vonn topped the final downhill standings with 502 points.

She was followed by Andrea Fischbacher of Austria (326) and Riesch (292).

Paerson returned for the first time to the hill where she won the downhill, super-G golds at the 2007 worlds. She started fast but lost pace at the bottom, winding up 16th of 24 finishers. The race was held in snowy conditions with fog at the top of the course.

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14 Thursday, March 12, 2009

LIFESTYLES

The Crimson White

Students plan to relax over break

By Kelsey Stein Senior Lifestyles Reporter Students consider the longawaited spring break to be the proverbial silver lining on the cloud of a daunting spring semester. They begin making plans with friends or family mere weeks after returning to school in January.

In the days leading up to their mid-March week of freedom, an indefinable buzz of excitement lingers across the campus, as students describe their vacation plans.

Most people have typical hopes for their trips: tan until a golden-brown replaces the paleness of winter, spend so much time on the beach that it almost wasn’t worth paying for a hotel room, get drunk and make bad decisions, ignore any thoughts even distantly related to schoolwork.

Ask any student what his or her plans are and the answer is almost sure to include some combination of these activities.

Some UA students (and faculty members), however, have chosen to branch out from the traditional Alabama/Florida beach scene this year.

Their plans run the gamut from family road trips to volunteer work to exploring foreign countries and are sure to be the envy of those of planning to economize by cramming way too many people into one hotel

room and living off ramen noodles for the week.

Meg Watson, sophomore majoring in public relations: I’m going to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with my mom, my dad and my cousin. Deciding to spend a week with my family instead of heading to Panama City with my friends was not easy. I’m an out-of-state student, and home is nine hours away for me, so I don’t get to see my parents very much. Since I’m spending the summer in Tuscaloosa and haven’t been home since Christmas, it was important to me to see my family over spring break. And, I LOVE to travel.

Seeing the Grand Canyon and experiencing Las Vegas will be an awesome experience — that my Dad paid for.

My cousin Kim and I are meeting my parents in Charlotte and flying to Las Vegas on Sunday.

We’re going to spend the day and night in Vegas, but head to the Grand Canyon the next day.

We are hoping to take a Jeep down into the Grand Canyon.

I can’t wait to see that view.

Thursday we will head back to Vegas and spend the day and night there before flying back Friday.

I’m most excited about seeing Las Vegas ... even though I’m not 21 and I’m going with my dad, who happens to be a PCA Minister.

Josh Burford, coordinator of Freshman Community

Outreach in the Community Service Center: I will be heading off to Denver to relax and do some volunteer work with the Matthew Shepard Foundation. I want to have fun but also have my break time matter.

Logan Dowell, junior majoring in human development and family studies: I am going to work with John Boscoe’s Boys Orphanage in Jamaica, about an hour away from Montego Bay with about 50 students from UA through Younglife, including 12 of my [Pi Phi] sorority sisters. We are going from Saturday to Saturday. I chose to go on this trip because I have done the traditional beach trip for as long as I can remember, and I knew it was time for me to do something different at this point in my life.

Tyler Deaton, sophomore majoring in management information systems and Spanish: I’m not having a spring break, but I get a week off for Semana Santa and another week off for Fería de Abril. I’m going to Paris then Amsterdam before catching the last few days of Semana Santa and then going to the beach at Lagos before returning for the weeklong party of Fería.

On April 2, Jamye and Lindsay, two of my friends I met in my study-abroad program,

and I are flying from Seville to Paris, my first time to visit there. We’re probably going to do some of the typical tourist stuff like the Louvre and see the Eiffel Tower. On Monday, after four nights in Paris, we’re taking a train to Amsterdam.

There we’ll probably go to some more museums and do some typical Amsterdam tourist stuff. We’re coming back on April 9, and I’ll spend the last few days of my break taking in the incredible sights of Semana Santa in Sevilla. The whole week various Catholic brotherhoods in the city carry their “pasos,” sculptures of various scenes of the actual Holy Week when Jesus entered Jerusalem.

The streets are full of people for the most of the week, which is one of the reasons I wanted to get out of town for part of it, but I’ll be back for the climax on Thursday night and Friday morning.

Allyson Golden, freshman majoring in mechanical engineering: I am flying to New York with my family over spring break, and we will be there almost a week. I’m glad we are staying there most of spring break because it will give us time to relax and see everything that everyone wants to see while we are there. I am very excited about going to New York because I have never been, and everyone tells me how fun

it is.

Although I am sad I will be missing out on the traditional beach activities with my friends, I am so excited to travel to a new city with my family.

I miss them because I haven’t been home all semester. While we are in New York, we are staying at the Grand Plaza which is right on Broadway in Times Square, so we will be right in the middle of the action. We have tickets to see “Guys and Dolls,” which I am so excited about. My favorite actress, Lauren Graham, who is the mother in the TV show “Gilmore Girls,” is starring in the play, so I will get to see her act. My dad and I also have tickets to see David Letterman.

Julia Roberts is a guest on the show, and I am a big fan of her and her movies as well. We will be there over St. Patrick’s Day, so I’m sure we will try and see the parade. We will probably do the traditional New York things too: see the Empire State Building, eat pizza from the street vendors, etc.

Katherine Smith, junior in New College: I’m leading a UA Outdoor Recreation backpacking trip to the Cheaha Wilderness. We’re going 17 miles over three days and two nights. Everyone that signs up has their camping gear, trail use fees, transportation and guides covered.

Jonathan Lenning, sopho-

more majoring in communication studies: Tyler Campbell, Trey Cartledge, Bradley Pinkerton, Jon Thompson and I are going to California. We are making overnight stops in Dallas, the Grand Canyon (camping) and Las Vegas. Our final destination is Los Angeles where we will stay with our friend Chase Brooks, a film student there at Chapman University. We will spend several days and nights there and probably a night, or at least a day, in San Diego. We will take a day to see a friend in Malibu, watch the filming of Jeopardy, do some of the popular cliché tourist things and hang out with our friend Chase. On the way back we’ll stay overnight in Phoenix and Dallas again. With the exception of the MGM Grande in Las Vegas, we are staying with people we know the whole time. We plan to take a lot of our own groceries to make it as cheap as possible, and gas cut five ways isn’t terribly bad.

It is a lot of driving, but there are five of us to split it up, so we should be able to manage even the 12-hour stretches. It should be exciting and adventurous. Why do something typical that most of us have done before? Why not take a long road trip? God has blessed me with amazing friends and this trip will be a celebration of that.

COLUMN | UNDERGROUND CINEMA

Witty French comedy a fast-paced thrill

By Matthew H Glasscock Contributing Writer

dark sense of humor. Which is completely fine. I tend to have leanings that way myself from time to time, but I realize that A French comedy.

I know, I know. Many of you many people don’t. But don’t are immediately turned off discount the French altogether. just by the pairing of those Truffaut was a pretty funny guy two words. You may be asking and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s films yourselves, “Since when are the are hilarious. Well, it seems French funny? I mean, aren’t that I can add another name to these the same people who the very short list of amusing ordained Jerry Lewis as their auteurs. That name is Francis patron saint of comedy? While Veber.

Apparently, Veber is a big you’re at it, are you going to try and convince us that Gallagher deal in the cinematic world of French comedies. I am a little is a comedic genius, too?”

I suppose I deserve your reser- embarrassed to admit that I vations. I was a little suspicious have never seen anything by at first, as well. Granted, the the man before this film, but I French traditionally have what assure you, I’ll definitely be seemost would consider a perverse, ing more.

The plot of “The Dinner Game” deals with a group of pretentious professionals that meet once a week for a dinner party. Each member of the group is required to bring an idiot as his guest of honor to the dinner. The point of the game is to see who can land the biggest doofus. It’s a lot like the frat-boy game of who can get the ugliest date. The participants of the game evidently get some sort of charge out of listening to morons go on and on, and I suppose this does something for their self-esteem.

I work in the public arena 1301 University Blvd. and I deal with buffoons on a “On the Strip” daily basis. I can tell you from

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experience, this does nothing for my self-esteem, nor does it encourage me to surround myself with even more imbeciles for my amusement. But hey, that’s just me.

“The Dinner Game” gets off to a slow start, but once the momentum begins to build, the jokes get faster and the situation even more archaic until the film reaches its final punch-line.

The thing that surprised me the most was how well the jokes translated. Most of the humor is dealing with language, such as double-entendres, manipulation — much like “Arrested Development.” In spite of them being in a foreign tongue, the jokes still made sense and were quite funny.

The film was obviously originally conceived as a play. Most of the film takes place in one setting, an apartment. This is usually a telltale sign of a stage production. I feel the cast deserves some credit here, too.

Most plays, no matter how well they are written, can live or die by the cast alone. The script for “The Dinner Game” is very witty and the humor is quick. In the hands of a more mediocre cast, the film would certainly lose some of its charm.

“The Dinner Game” reminded me of a 1970s era Woody Allen film. Remember those, when he was actually

funny and not obsessed with Scarlett Johansson? Not that there is anything wrong with being obsessed with Scarlett Johansson or, even more specifically, the magical way she fills out a pair of pink, sheer grannypanties.

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of the editor, specifically those found in the closing paragraph, and even more specifically in the second sentence of the closing paragraph.

Note on Editor’s note: In case of confusion, here “editor” refers to “Ryan Mazer,” and the opinions with which he takes issue, and in fact adamantly opposes, are those regarding Woody Allen and his current lack of comedic skill.

FAST FACTS Director: Francis Veber Starring: Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret

Release: 1998 (France), 1999 (USA)

Runtime: 80 min nihibymouth.blogspot.com

750-0203

USA network sending Tom Brokaw on a road trip The Associated Press NEW YORK | NBC’s Tom Brokaw never claimed he was retiring when he left “Nightly News” after the 2004 election.

He’s almost as visible on TV as he was before.

Brokaw has signed on for a USA network project that will have him traveling along U.S. Highway 50 in the coming months, reporting on the economic crisis and Americans’ reaction to the first year of President Barack Obama’s administration.

He’ll even get behind the wheel every now and then.

This is after filling in on NBC’s “Meet the Press” for half of last year following Tim Russert’s death, and frequently appearing alongside Brian Williams during coverage of high-profile events like the

inauguration and election.

“What I’ve learned is it’s pretty hard to shift my motor into a lower gear,” Brokaw said.

However, Brokaw, 69, said he’s careful to make sure his schedule isn’t all work and no play. This year he’s been hunting, skiing and fishing, and he just returned from a bike-riding trip to South Africa.

“My generation — all of my friends — we’ve been in touch with each other and we’ve kind of made this unspoken pledge, that the best way to stay alive is to stay alive,” he said.

Brokaw’s road trip along Highway 50 is an unusual foray into news for USA network. Some of his pieces will appear on NBC News programming before “Highway 50: A Road Trip Across Obama’s

America” is aired next year, around the first anniversary of Obama’s inauguration.

Political reporters often refer to the highway that stretches from Maryland to California as the spine of the country because of the political and ethnic diversity represented along its route, the former NBC “Nightly News” anchor said.

“I have felt for a long time that we do an inadequate job at covering Washington from the outside looking back, rather than Washington looking toward the rest of the country,” Brokaw said. “If there is anything from the early stages of the Obama campaign that is, if you will, a strong theme, is that they wanted to knit the country together again. So we’re going to go out and take a look at how they’re doing.”

The Crimson White

LIFESTYLES

Monday, March 12, 2009

15

16 Thursday, March 12, 2009

LIFESTYLES

The Crimson White

ALBUM REVIEW | ‘IT’S BLITZ!’

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ new album a step backward

By Trey Irby Contributing Writer Six years ago, three feverish punks from NYC called the Yeah Yeah Yeahs managed to create one of the finest albums of the new millennium, a frantic, dirty and raucous album titled “Fever to Tell.” This album became the first album out of the Brooklyn underground music scene to earn the attention of the music press, predating TV on the Radio and current indie favorites The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Unfortunately, high expectations soiled fans on the merely good “Show Your Bones” and the charming “Is Is” EP, and after six years, fans are wondering if they’ll ever see the old band they used to love.

Of course, “Fever to Tell” was a specific moment that worked because three mid-20s kids got together and made a crazy album with a collection of fine songs. Meanwhile, the newest Yeah Yeah Yeahs record “It’s Blitz!” is a fine collection of songs, but not all of them are crazy or great.

In fact, the album gets off to a horrible start with “Zero,” a jarringly annoying dance

track that may be the worst track the band has ever recorded (and yet inexplicably, it is the album’s first single). However, everything else after that is more pleasant and decent, with some of the band’s new sonic directions working, and others merely failing in a small scale.

Even though vocalist Karen O is now in her early 30s, she still possesses the ability to grab the listener, either through her raw sexuality or her ability to be soothing and attacking within a three-minute span of time. Unfortunately, though, she’s left more or less wanting something that isn’t there throughout “It’s Blitz!” There’s funky rhythms throughout — such as a meaty one on “Shame and Fortune,” fine craftsmanship and decent lyrics on the album, but the intangibles are sort of missing. None of these tracks have the ability to instantly catch the listener, and that seems near impossible on an album with a cameo from TV on the Radio vocalist Tunde Adebimpe as well as being coproduced by fellow TV on the Radio member David Andrew Sitek.

It also hurts that there is

‘It’s Blitz’ Bottom Line: After two amazing records, “Blitz!” feels like a definite step down.

Critic’s rating:

no killer track, unlike the past two records. “Maps” was the standout track of “Fever to Tell” and was a perfect example of Karen O’s almost psychotic presence in its lament of lost love. “Show Your Bones” had the amazing “Cheated Hearts,” which was a lament on its subject. The closest solid lament on “It’s Blitz!” however, is “Runaway,” a song that runs far too long even at five minutes and doesn’t hold a candle to the vulnerability that Karen O shows on both songs nor plays to what she’s capable of emoting as an artist. To this day, mp3review.name I still feel a bit misty-eyed The new album by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Itʼs Blitz!”, was released in digital form on March 9. with “Maps” and still feel selfaware with “Cheated Hearts,” is not horrible music, this much more accomplished than but I can’t imagine a feel- when I play “Runaway.”

Ultimately, while “It’s Blitz!” record could have been so it turned out to be. ing other than indifference

Rapper ‘C-Murder’ to remain jailed AP countersues GRETNA, La. | A judge decided Wednesday that Corey Miller — who gained fame as rapper C-Murder — will remain in jail until his second-degree murder trial because he broke the rules of his house arrest.

State District Judge Hans Liljeberg said he was puzzled by reports that Corey Miller, who has been on house arrest for three years, had left his

grandmother’s house for a few minutes at a time on several occasions. But he said he did not have that problem with hundreds of others he oversees.

“I don’t think it’s terribly unjust for the defendant to await trial across the street,” Liljeberg said in ordering Miller back to jail and doubling his bond to $1 million. Miller’s attorney, Ron Rakosky, would not say whether Miller will pay the higher bond.

Miller, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and shackled at the wrists and ankles, was surrounded by deputies and taken from the courtroom after the ruling. He is scheduled for trial April 20 in the death of Steve Thomas, a 16year-old who was killed during a 2002 brawl at a nightclub in Harvey. As a condition of his original $500,000 bond, Miller was prohibited from leaving his grandmother’s home.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff ’s deputy Mike Dawson, who supervises Miller’s incarceration, testified Wednesday that he was alerted about 3 a.m. Monday by an electronic monitor that indicated Miller had left the house.

Dawson said he called Miller’s house at 3:17 a.m., and Miller’s fiance, Sabrina Green, answered the phone and then handed it to Miller.

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While he was speaking to Miller on a portable phone, Dawson said he heard in the background the monitor reacting as it would when Miller re-entered the property.

At Wednesday’s hearing Miller, his grandmother, cousin, aunt and fiance — who all live with him — testified that he was in bed sleeping when Dawson called.

Rakosky claimed an equipment malfunction caused the loss of signal and said Miller took an earlier warning from the judge too seriously to risk leaving his house.

Prosecutors last month asked the judge to jail Miller on grounds that he allegedly was out of range five times since October, for as little as two minutes to as long as 18 minutes. At that time, Liljeberg said he was not convinced that the monitoring equipment worked properly and refused to jail Miller.

However, the judge reminded Miller of comments he made in January, when he told the rapper he would “be looking for a reason” to increase his bond and warned him to conduct himself accordingly.

Miller has generally used the name C-Miller since his arrest. He has written a novel, “Death Around the Corner.”

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The Associated Press NEW YORK | The Associated Press countersued an artist Wednesday over his famous image of Barack Obama, saying the image’s uncredited, uncompensated use of an AP photo violated copyright laws and signaled a threat to journalism.

The artist, Shepard Fairey, sued the not-for-profit news cooperative last month over his artwork, titled “Obama Hope” and “Obama Progress,” arguing that he didn’t violate copyright law because he dramatically changed the image.

The artwork, based on an April 2006 picture taken for the AP by Mannie Garcia, was a popular image during the presidential campaign.

According to the AP lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, Fairey knowingly “misappropriated The AP’s rights in that image.” The suit, which also names several companies Fairey uses to market his work, asks the court to award AP profits made off the image and damages.

“While (Fairey and the companies) have attempted to cloak their actions in the guise of politics and art, there is no

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doubt that they are profiting handsomely from their misappropriation,” the lawsuit says.

Fairey’s lawyers and representatives for the companies had no immediate response.

The red, cream and lightblue image depicts a pensive but determined-looking Obama gazing upward, with the caption “HOPE” or “PROGRESS.” It became a familiar sight on buttons, shirts and other items, garnering Fairey a thank-you letter from Obama and more than $400,000 in profits, according to published reports.

Fairey’s lawyers acknowledge the image is derived from Garcia’s photograph, made at the National Press Club in Washington while Obama was a senator.

But Fairey’s lawsuit says he didn’t violate copyright law because he transformed the picture into a “stunning, abstracted and idealized visual image that creates powerful new meaning and conveys a radically different message.”

The AP argues the Los Angeles-based artist’s image amounted to “blatant copying” and commercializing of another’s work. Fairey piggybacked on the AP picture’s “distinctive characteristics,” including its composition, light and shadows, the cooperative’s lawsuit says.

The AP contends news organizations need to protect their intellectual property rights so they can continue providing information, an endeavor financed in part by licensing their material to others.

“This lawsuit is about protecting the content that The Associated Press and its journalists produce every day, with creativity, at great cost, and often at great risk,” AP President and CEO Tom Curley said in a statement.

“The journalism that AP and other organizations produce is vital to democracy.”

The cooperative said it tried to work out a license agreement with Fairey and agreed to donate proceeds from his prior use of the photo to a charitable fund that helps AP staffers who suffer personal losses in natural disasters and conflicts. Fairey cut off negotiations, the AP’s lawsuit said.

A street artist known for a rebellious bent, Fairey, 38, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 12 counts of vandalism in Boston. A spokesman for prosecutors said the charges were related to the artist’s Obama and “Obey Giant” stickers, posted around the city.

The Crimson White

LIFESTYLES

MELLOW Continued from page 18 Much of the music McGill writes reflects his parents’ interests, like his dad’s favorite band, Led Zeppelin, and his mom’s favorite singer, “old, old Willie Nelson before the long hair,” he said.

“I get most inspiration from outside the music world, like last summer on the road which was a really happy time,” he said. “The weather also affects the way I write. Most of our music has a sunny-weather feeling, but you can tell the songs that I wrote on rainy days.”

Come On Go With Us formed as a collaboration between McGill and Jacob Simpson, both Mississippi State students who wrote their own original music.

In April 2008, they began

practicing together at violinist Dustin Hedrick’s duplex, where they initiated the style of singing in harmony that the band has become known for.

The first song they rehearsed was McGill’s “Please Don’t.”

“When we booked a little tour last May, we really needed to decide on a band name,” McGill said. “We chose it because it’s an old country folk saying, like when after church your grandma says, ‘Hey, we’re about to go get some fried chicken. Come on go with us.’”

The three band members played their first shows acoustically at small dives and bars, with both McGill and Simpson playing guitar and doing vocals and Hedrick on violin.

Eventually these bars began requesting that they return for weekend shows.

Prompted by the need for a bigger sound, the band expanded to include Hurt, who plays bass and does some

vocals, and Justin McKenzie on drums.

They played their first show as a full band at Rick’s Café in Starkville, Miss. Now they play in many college towns and venues throughout the Southeast.

“There’s a really cool vibe in Tuscaloosa,” Hurt said. “It has the potential to have a flourishing music scene, and it seems like Mellow Mushroom is providing a venue for that.”

Freeman said he urges people to support the music booked by Mellow Mushroom and other venues in town branch out to include original artists.

“Tuscaloosa needs a musical identity,” he said. “It’s bad that on a Friday night I can walk into six or seven bars and hear the same song at every one, not on the radio but from the bands. Unless we want a million bars that are exactly the same, we need to change this and promote original artists.”

Thursday, March 12, 2009

17

Filmmaker conceals camera in prosthetic The Associated Press BRUSSELS | A one-eyed documentary filmmaker is preparing to work with a video camera concealed inside a prosthetic eye, hoping to secretly record people for a project commenting on the global spread of surveillance cameras.

Canadian Rob Spence’s eye was damaged in a childhood shooting accident and it was removed three years ago. Now, he is in the final stages of developing a camera to turn the handicap into an advantage.

A fan of the 1970s televsion

series “The Six Million Dollar Man,” Spence said he had an epiphany when looking at his cell phone camera and realizing something that small could fit into his empty eye socket.

With the camera tucked inside a prosthetic eye, he hopes to be able to record the same things he sees with his working eye, his muscles moving the camera eye just like his real one.

Spence said he plans to become a “human surveillance machine” to explore privacy issues and whether people are “sleepwalking into an Orwellian society.”

He said his subjects will not know he’s filming until afterward but he will have to receive permission from them before including them in his film.

His special equipment will consist of a camera, originally designed for colonoscopies, a battery and a wireless transmitter. It’s a challenge to get everything to fit inside the prosthetic eye, but Spence has had help from top engineers, including Steve Mann, who co-founded the wearable computers research group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Ryan Mazer • Lifestyles Editor

18

ryan.mazer@cw.ua.edu

Flicks to catch COBB HOLLYWOOD 16 •“Confessions of a Shopaholic” (PG) • “Friday the 13th” (2009) (R) • “He’s Just Not That Into You” (PG-13) • “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience” (G) •”The Last House on the Left” (R) • “Miss March” (R) • “Race to Witch Mountain” (PG) • “The Reader” (R) • “Slumdog Millionaire” (R) • “Taken” (PG-13) •“Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail” (PG-13) • “Watchmen” (R)

Nightlife THURSDAY • Mellow Mushroom — Come On Go With Us, El Cantador • Egan’s — Dark Knights of Camelot • Little Willie’s — The Matt Wiley Jazz Trio

FRIDAY • Mellow Mushroom — Squirrelhouse, 13 Ghosts • Egan’s — Beware the Sides of March Birthday Massacre • Little Willie’s — Little G Weevil

SATURDAY

Exciting bands go Mellow

By Kelsey Stein Senior Lifestyles Reporter Since changing ownership about a year and a half ago, Mellow Mushroom strives to bring original bands to play in Tuscaloosa for shows like tonight’s featuring Come On Go With Us and El Cantador.

“We’re trying to change [Mellow Mushroom] a lot from what it was, really from what any Tuscaloosa venue is,” said Alex Freeman, the bar manager and music promoter. “Not to hate on other venues, but sometimes whatever is on stage is background music that’s not getting the attention it needs. Mellow [Mushroom] is a way to fight back against that.”

Tonight’s show will begin at 9 with El Cantador playing first, followed by Come On Go With Us. The cover charge is $5 for people 21 and up and $7 for anyone under 21.

Mellow Mushroom will sell $3 domestic pitchers and $10 liquor pitchers.

El Cantador has an original sound, generally in the vein of rock and roll but including folk and Americana, said Heath Underwood, who plays guitar and does vocals.

“We’re four individuals who listen to some overlapping music but a lot of different artists as well,” he said. “We’ve been compared to anyone from Modest Mouse to Wilco to Pavement, but it just depends on where the songs go.”

Along with Underwood, the band includes Johnny Gwin, who plays bass and does their graphic design; Melody Duncan, who does vocals and plays violin; and Sean Murphy who plays drums.

El Cantador has played in Tuscaloosa before at Egan’s and Mellow Mushroom. With an Alabama graduate playing bass and Tuscaloosa crowds

that are “receptive and cool,” the band has yet to play in Auburn, Underwood said.

They have released two EPs, “Orange” in 2007 and “The Ground” in 2008. The release of a third EP is slated for this spring.

The two EPs and band stickers will be available at the show.

El Cantador formed in December 2006 when Underwood and Murphy began rehearsing their original songs at Backdoor Studios, Murphy’s parents’ recording studio, according to their Web site, elcantador.com.

They later recruited Gwin and Duncan to join El Cantador, which means “the singer” in Spanish.

“One time I changed the lyrics of a song into Spanish, but I never wanted to feel gimmicky about it,” Underwood said. “It’s really just a name, and music is more important than the name of the band.”

They have huge local support in their hometown of Mobile. The band plays across the Southeast, consistently performing in bigger and better venues, and has been working on performing on the East Coast after the release of their third EP, he said.

Come On Go With Us is no stranger to Tuscaloosa, either, having played at Jupiter Bar & Grill with the Dexateens, Egan’s with Squirrelhouse and at a house party at 220 Reed St. “Our show goes over really well in Tuscaloosa, and we love playing there,” said Chase McGill, who plays guitar and does vocals. “We try to keep a good mood going throughout the show by playing really upbeat stuff that people can dance to. Usually in Tuscaloosa it’s a party.”

Come On Go With Us hesitates to limit the band’s sound to a specific genre. They signed to Nashville-based indie label Severe Records, but

are self-described as country, folk, indie, rock or any combination of these descriptions.

“Although a lot of bands will say this, I think our music really is capable of reaching a wide variety of audiences,” said UA graduate Chris Hurt, who plays bass and does vocals. “Young people like our songs especially at our live show, which is fun and energetic, and people our parents’ age tell us they like our music because it reminds them of things they listened to back in the old days.”

Come On Go With Us released their first CD, which is self-titled, on March 6, for which they hand picked their 10 best songs out of about 35 originals. CDs and T-shirts will be for sale tonight for $10.

Much of the music McGill writes reflects his

See MELLOW, page 17

• Mellow Mushroom — Noize • Egan’s —Beware the Sides of March Birthday Massacre

submitted photos

FAST FACTS What: El Cantador and Come On Go With Us in concert

When: Tonight at 9 Where: Mellow Mushroom

Cost: Cover charge $5 submitted photos

for people 21 and up and $7 for anyone under 21

24-Hour Fitness Making sense of living.

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