3/26/09

OPINIONS:

Butt out of our SGA elections, FERPA

4

Scene: Zombies! ALIENS!

the

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

SPORTS

13

Hamrick off to hot start in first year

Serving the University of Alabama since 1894

SGA ELECTIONS

Violations to remain confidential

Vol. 115, Issue 105

A St. ‘Paty’s’ Celebration

By Victor Luckerson Senior Staff Reporter Details regarding campaign violations in the SGA elections earlier this month and potential repercussions will stay private.

“We came to some decisions, but because of FERPA laws we can’t discuss them,” said Ben Harmon, chair of the Elections Board.

FERPA, the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, protects the privacy of student education records. According to Vice Provost Mark Nelson, unless withholding certain information about students puts other students in danger, the University is not at liberty to divulge that information. However, Nelson said students involved could divulge information about campaign violations at will.

SGA President-elect Steven Oliver said he would not comment on any specific campaign violations and said conversations he had with the Elections Board were confidential.

“We recognize there are areas of improvement in the online elections,” he said. “The elections manual over the next year needs to be evaluated.”

However, he said overall the online system had been a success.

“I’m excited about using the energy created by the election to kick off a great year,” he said.

Kendra Key, Oliver’s opponent, said while she recognized the University’s policy, she said she thought because the SGA election was public, any violations should also be shared with the public.

“I didn’t have any faults found in me or my campaign,” Key said. “I have not been found guilty of any violations I have to do restitution for. That’s something I’m proud of.”

Kelli Knox-Hall, advisor to the Elections Board, confirmed that no violations had altered the outcome of the election. “It was determined that the election would stand,” she said.

Both Knox-Hall and Harmon said changes needed to come to the election process in the future.

“We are reviewing the manual,” Knox-Hall said. “I do imagine that there will be some changes for the fall Homecoming election.”

Harmon said more than altering a specific rule or regulation, the Elections Board needs to change the attitude on campus.

“We’re trying to think through how we as a board can create a better atmosphere.”

CW | Drew Hoover Skullduggery plays for the second annual St. Patyʼs Day celebration: Geoff Brasher on bass guitar, Stu Parker on vocals and mandolin and Grey Hubbard playing the tin whistle.

Corolla future in doubt

By Danielle Drago Senior Staff Reporter

The future of the University’s yearbook, the Corolla, is uncertain. “[The future of the Corolla] is still sort of in limbo at the moment,” said Paul Wright, director of the Office of Student Media.

With student interest for college yearbooks in steep decline, funding for the Corolla has become an issue. The University has created a committee to investigate the future

UA weather

TODAY

of the Corolla, and to find out how the funding of the publication will continue into the future.

Molly Lawrence, assistant vice president and convener of the committee, said they presented the concern that the Corolla sales have decreased significantly over the past 10 years and are at an all time low.

“At the same time, the size of the book has decreased at the same rate. We don’t have as much sales, [so] we don’t have as big of a book. It’s kind of a

INSIDE Today’s paper

Philosophy series presents Michael Lynch..........2

Scattered thunderstorms

76º/61º

Friday

76º/61º

Scattered thunderstorms

Saturday

65º/43º

Scattered thunderstorms

Our View: UA should disclose violation info 4 National: Obama endorses fellow Democrat ..6 Missing Oregon teen found dead..............7 Lifestyles: Underground film column.............10 Sports: Menʼs golf profile ................... 13

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

downward cycle unfortunately,” she said.

The availability of funds to the Corolla was something that was discussed by the committee, Lawrence said.

“Funding is a critical aspect of being able to continue to produce something. Funding is one of those big things that every university that continues to produce a yearbook has to deal with. There are lots of options that we looked at. There is still a discussion about what is to happen next,” UA spokeswoman Debbie Lane said.

Before spring break, the committee put together a recommendation for UA President Robert Witt’s review, suggesting the cost be included in the semester tuition and divided over the academic year.

This would enhance the quality of the yearbook, Lawrence said.

“We went for broke. We thought that if the University was going to make some contribution for the yearbook, why not give the students to do a

See COROLLA, page 3

United Greek Council to help multicultural groups

By Hannah Mask Contributing Writer The University added a fourth greek governing council to campus in order to better represent multicultural groups, both greek and non-greek, according to the office of greek affairs.

Gentry McCreary, director of greek affairs, said the United Greek Council, which is comprised of Delta Xi Phi, Sigma Lambda Beta and Sigma Lambda Gamma, began in response to a growing number of multicultural groups on campus, specifically Latinos. The three other councils on campus

University has YouTube and Facebook sites Director wants them to be engaging but not ‘spammy’

By Josh Veazey Senior Staff Reporter

Last October, administrators created YouTube and Facebook accounts for the University. Their role, said web communications director Andy Rainey, will be much more than obligatory.

“I don’t think anyone sees this as a stodgy, institutional thing where all we’re going to do is have a picture of Denny Chimes and put our news releases on there,” Rainey said. “The nature

See YOUTUBE, page 2

are the Interfraternity Council, the Alabama Pan-Hellenic Association and the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

“There was a need for [multicultural groups] to have a council of their own, because they didn’t really fit in with PanHellenic, since they’re open to associate members,” McCreary said. “They were kind of without a home in terms of a governing association to belong to.”

The core value of the UGC is to promote multicultural issues on campus by reaching out to Hispanic-student

See GREEK, page 3

CW | Eric McHargue

2

PAGE Thursday

TODAY • The Unbound Art Show — 6 to 9 p.m., Maxwell Hall • Philosophy Today lecture series presents Michael P. Lynch — 7:30 p.m., 110 AIME building

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

• Tuscaloosa Children’s Theatre presents “Annie Jr.” — 7 p.m., Bama Theatre, also 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday

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

• UP presents Movies in the Ferg with “Milk” — 2 and 7 p.m., Ferguson Theater

March 26, 2009

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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

Crosswalk at Hackberry and Campus to be closed The crosswalk at Hackberry Lane and Campus Drive will be closed this week because of construction between the Kilgore House and the new Science and Engineering building. From now on, pedestrians must use the crosswalk at Margaret Drive to access campus. There will no longer be access to campus between the new Science and Engineering building and the Kilgore House.

CW accepting staff applications The Crimson White is accepting applications for next year’s editorial staff. Positions are open for section editors, reporters, photographers, designers and copy editors. If you are interested, please pick up an application from the board on the second floor of the Office of Student Media building. Contact the 200910 CW editor Amanda Peterson at alp357@gmail.com if you have any questions or need more information.

QUOTE OF THE DAY “They have been bringing in some great out of town bands and giving the underage a chance to see some of the local flavor for free. Yes, it’s in a dining hall, but it is far from lame and is worth coming out, definitely.”

Visiting professor to discuss cloning

By Amy Castleberry Contributing Writer Michael P. Lynch, a professor of philosophy at University of Connecticut, will present his lecture “Faith in Reason,” today at 7:30 p.m. The lecture will be held in 110 Alabama Institute for Manufacturing Excellence building and is part of the Philosophy Today lecture series.

H. Scott Hestevold, the chairman of the philosophy department, said Lynch’s lecture will focus on the controversial topic

YOUTUBE Continued from page 1

of social media is that it’s all about establishing and cultivating relationships and conversations. And that’s what we want to do.”

Facebook was chosen specifically over candidates like MySpace and Twitter because of its wide range of users, the fact that it claims to have 85 percent of all college students

of cloning.

“The department asks their distinguished guests, who are the most important philosophers working today in their fields, to share their research with the community and ask them to address provocative topics in their lectures,” Hestevold said.

Lynch is the author of four books focusing on the topics of truth and various ethical and philosophical issues, according to his Web site. He has won the Foreword Magazine Gold Medal in Philosophy in 2005 and was signed up, and the personal feel of one person talking to another. In keeping with this, so far, Rainey has been cautious of how many and what kind of Facebook messages are sent, wanting to conserve the centralized, one-on-one conversational feel of the sight.

“MySpace blew up so fast and became so spammy it seems, that I think it became something that people distrusted in terms of getting

— Adam Morrow, Callooh! Callay!’s vocalist and guitarist on the Lakeside Music Series

THIS DAY IN ALABAMA HISTORY

Cobb Theatres is NOW HIRING! Perfect part-time job for students.

1910: Orville Wright pilots the first plane in Alabama, causing the Montgomery Advertiser to report “a strange new bird soared over the cotton fields west of Montgomery.” Replacement parts for broken machinery were difficult to locate in the area and the flyers’ efforts were frustrated by numerous spectators during their stay.

Just go to www.CobbTheatres.com to print an application and drop it off at the theatre.

Call for Showtimes

The New York Times Editors’ Pick of 2005 for his book, “True to Life: Why Truth Matters?”

Lynch is also presently working on a new book, which shares the title of his lecture, “Faith in Reason.”

Hestevold said this is the second year the Philosophy Today series has run on campus.

“Our goal is to make contemporary work in philosophy accessible to students and encourage thoughtful discussion and debate,” Hestevold said.

The lecture is sponsored by

“MySpace blew up so fast and became so spammy it seems, that I think it became something that people distrusted in terms of getting information.”

–– Andy Rainey, web communications director information. That’s something we’re careful about — we don’t want to overdo it,” Rainey said. “We don’t want to appear that we’re spamming people, or make people say, ‘Okay, we get it — you’ve got something to tell us.’”

Features on Facebook allow messages to be sent only to certain subscribers based on specificities like age and location, and in the future, Rainey said, fans could fill out information that would allow them to only receive messages likely to interest them. So far, he said, they have received very

Source: Alabama State Archives

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

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IF YOU GO...

• What: Philosophy Today lecture series presents Michael Lynch

• When: Tonight at 7:30 • Where: 110 AIME building

the philosophy department, the College of Arts and Sciences, philosophy alumni and various friends of the department.

positive feedback from alumni who use the site to stay connected, both with University activity and with each other.

“One thing that we always hear from alumni that they have a tremendous sense of pride about the University and a connection to the campus,” Raney said. “One thing that is neat about social networking is that it allows us to communicate with those audiences that may have moved on to another city or another state.”

So far, the YouTube account has been used to add extra content and dimension to other UA publications, such as Research Magazine.

“The circulation of some of these publications and Web sites that we put together may be limited to a certain group of people — but that’s really good material,” Rainey said. “With this method, we’re able to show it to potential students, researchers at other institutions and other audiences that might not be predisposed to coming to the University Web site and looking for content.”

It is a potent chance to get information to people who were not looking for it at all, especially with YouTube’s “Related Videos” algorithm, which Rainey describes as unpredictable. He laughs when he mentions that their research video titled “Like a Shark Through Water” might get grouped in with shark attack videos, but he also cites it as evidence that putting information on a thirdparty site is always accompanied by risks. UA videos could become juxtaposed with videos that are less than desirable, or, for example, people could write derisive comments under them.

“We take our content, our message, and put it somewhere else and let people run with that. But that’s sort of the reality of what happens with information anyway,” Rainey said. “Certainly, no one at UA is in the business of trying to control what people are saying about us. We sort of embrace what people will say about the University by becoming involved in these networks to begin with. In general, we trust our users — we trust the people that are going to have a high level of interest or commitment to UA to be appropriate in terms of how we relate here.”

The next stage, Rainey said, is getting more UA students involved, which could include letting student groups submit their own videos, or even sponsoring contests.

“Obviously, because this is the university’s official YouTube channel, [a possible submission] has to meet standards both from a quality standpoint and the content of it. It would have to be something we would want to represent the University,” Rainey said. “But if there’s work out there that would be a positive reflection upon UA, that others would be interested in, we’re certainly open to that.”

The Crimson White

GREEK Continued from page 1

associations, as well as minority groups in general. McCreary said the “long, tedious process” of establishing the UGC began about a year ago, culminating in the drafting of bylaws and a constitution.

The greek organizations involved with the UGC decided that no more than two people

COROLLA Continued from page 1

per organization could hold office, so there are two people from each of the three groups filling the six executive board positions. Juan Silvas, a Sigma Lambda Beta junior majoring in political science, was named president of the UGC after elections on March 2.

“As an organization and council, [the UGC] would like to get involved with the associations that don’t necessarily have anything to do with greeks,”

Silvas said. “Being greek or non-greek shouldn’t necessarily be a ‘bad’ or ‘good’ thing. It’s different, but we’re just people.

We don’t really have any differences except for those letters.”

He also said he’d like to “foster more unity” in the greek community.

“We don’t discriminate based on race, gender, religion or anything like that. That’s why we named it the United Greek Council,” Silvas said.

its from book sales, student organizations and the Office of Student Media. A small portion of the funds come from the University.

The cost of printing one edition of the Corolla was about $77,000 in the 2006-2007 year, Wright said.

Wright said of that money, the Corolla lost about $40,000.

“I can’t afford to continue producing the Corolla without University support. We’ve cut costs every way we can. The more we cut costs, we have to cut things out of the book and obviously the less appeal it has to the people who buy it,” Wright said.

The idea of including the fee of a yearbook in a student’s tuition has been discussed by the planning board, Wright said.

“The cost would then be spread out over 28,000 students.

We could provide a yearbook to anyone who wants one,” he said.

Wright said producing the yearbook in another form, such as a DVD, would not be a permanent solution due to the change in technologies.

“The only form I can guarantee 10 years from now you will be able to use is print. And unfortunately that is the most expensive to produce. So, that is the rock and the hard place that we are between right now,” Wright said.

Social networking sites have also diminished the desire for yearbooks across the nation.

“It’s different than it was back then. [Social networks] are kind of the yearbook right now. It’s how students connect with their friends and stay in touch,” Lawrence said.

However, the permanency of

these networks are questionable, Lawrence said.

“That’s fine for today, but what about tomorrow? How long will Facebook and Myspace be around? Ten years from now if you want to look back on your college experience, what will you look back on?” she said.

The importance of the yearbook was also a main concern of the committee.

“It is also [a] significant understanding that historical record of that year of the University’s life is critical. So that committee explored a number of options when it came to how to do that,” Lane said.

The content of the yearbook has been under question by members of the administration.

“There have been relatively recent issues of Corolla that almost appear to be political manifestos more than a pictorial history of the University’s life and the lives of students within the University,” Witt said.

Witt said the change of focus within the Corolla could affect its future funding.

“I don’t argue for a moment that the students who are producing it should have a pretty wide ranging latitude to make the [yearbook] be what they want it to be. But, if they are going to move in a direction of politicizing it, then I would be hard pressed to be comfortable with, in effect, taxing the entire student body to ensure that it come out, because there would be individuals who wouldn’t purchase it due to the direction it was moving who are now being taxed for something that they don’t want and wouldn’t otherwise support,” he said.

Pitts said she has tried to stay away from

Thursday, March 26, 2009

3

Scientists catch shooting star for 1st time WASHINGTON | For the first time scientists matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky. It gives them a glimpse into the past when planets formed and an idea how to avoid a future asteroid Armageddon.

Last October, astronomers tracked a small nonpolitical statements.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say [Corolla] has a political agenda.

My goal as editor is to not make it political, and to include as many people in the book as I can,” she said.

In response to concerns about past Corollas being too text-heavy, Pitts said she was trying to incorporate as many pictures as possible.

“People read a yearbook to look at the pictures and talk about history. The heart of a yearbook is not words. The highlight is the photo of Nick Saban holding up the [Iron Bowl] trophy. I don’t need a 500-word story to look back at that,” she said.

This year the yearbook’s theme is “Defining UA,” which will feature crucial moments to the University and its students, according to Pitts.

Though the future of the yearbook is under discussion, Pitts said the importance of the yearbook should not be forgotten.

“The yearbook has a specific

0 18

Tu

yearbook that really shows the yearbook for the full academic year,” she said.

The committee wanted to allow any student who wishes to come by and pick up a copy of the Corolla, Lawrence said.

“We saw a lot of positive aspects about a yearbook at the University and we’d love for every student to be able to have a copy of the Corolla.

However with the University’s current economic situation, is that the best use of the money?

That’s not a question that the committee can answer. That’s something for the President to decide. He must determine whether that investment in the Corolla is a priority in this point in time,” she said.

Witt has given himself until April 1 to make a decision regarding the future of the Corolla, Lawrence said.

Despite uncertainties, the future is something that did not worry the editor-in-chief of the Corolla, Laura Pitts.

“I think [the Corolla] is something that is going to be here for a long time, [but] I’m not too worried about the future, except I guess to the extent of people knowing about [the Corolla],” Pitts said.

The Media Planning Board has submitted a proposal to the administration to obtain University funds for the yearbook, Wright said.

“Most of the yearbooks that are alive and functioning are supported by student fees of some sort,” he said.

The Corolla currently receives its funding from a variety of sources, including prof-

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threatening asteroid heading toward Earth before it became a “shooting star,” something they had not done before. It blew up in the sky and scientists thought there would be no space rocks left to examine.

But a painstaking search by dozens of students through the remote Sudan desert came up with 8.7 pounds of black jagged rocks, leftovers from the

asteroid 2008 TC3. And those dark rocks were full of surprises and minuscule diamonds, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature.

“This was a meteorite that was not in our collection, a completely new material,” said study lead author Peter Jenniskens of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California.

place on campus, whether or not people realize it. It’s the only way to get all the things that happen in Alabama, whether it’s winning a football game, or someone being crowned homecoming queen or a protest that really changed a policy on campus. That’s the focus of it, that it captures the atmosphere of that particular year. That’s the cool thing about life that there’s always history and there’s always a need for some way to capture that,” Pitts said.

Wright said the Media Planning board would do everything in its power to continue

the production of Corolla.

“We don’t want to get rid of it because it is very much a part of this institution. We’ll try everything we can to keep it,” he said.

Pitts said the Corolla is a necessity on campus.

“As long as administration on campus sees that need for the yearbook, and sees the importance place it has, then I think people will open their eyes and realize that importance they will see that it is not something that we can do away with. It’s something that we need,” Pitts said.

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OPINIONS

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Paul Thompson • Editor

4

cwopinions@gmail.com

OUR VIEW

Butt out of our elections, FERPA The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, more commonly known as FERPA, is the reason the University and the Elections Board are withholding information about SGA election violations, and we find such regulations unacceptable.

We understand the University’s obligations to protect students’ privacy, and the federally established requirements to do so, but we reject the idea that those who violate policy deserve such protection. FERPA may be a federal law, but that doesn’t make it right.

In its current state, FERPA says any information from an education record that could potentially be used to identify a student — such as, in this case, a punishment handed

down or details of a violation — cannot be released.

Just look at the problems The Crimson White had in obtaining details on the punishments of those responsible for the Sigma Phi Epsilon hazing debacle. We said it then, and we maintain it now: the University is being forced to protect the rights of the accused — to an absurd extent — over those of students to know what happens on their campus.

The CW Editorial Board has the exact same issues with the Elections Board’s apparent inability to divulge any information on campaign violations. Elections are, by their very nature, public affairs and as such cannot be conducted in private.

The Board cites FERPA

regulations as they deny The Crimson White access to records about campaign violations. We question whether or not FERPA regulations have application at this stage, or if they have any place in our student elections. Rest assured, though, we will continue to investigate this matter.

Regardless, we want — for the sake of our students — definitive proof that some action has, or will be, taken to punish those guilty of campaign violations. A lack of that proof could create the appearance to students there is no liability in this case, even if that is not true.

Our View is the consensus of the CW Editorial Board.

A fence won’t stop drug-war killings

By Turney Foshee

When the media isn’t busy obsessing over the economy, something that’s been getting a bit of coverage lately is the ongoing drug war in Mexico.

A little over three weeks ago, 9,500 Mexican troops, armored and armed to the teeth, descended upon the border town of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico just miles from El Paso, Texas. They were sent there in an attempt to regain control of a city that has spun into chaos.

Over the past year, more than 2,000 people have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez alone. Last February, there was an average of 10 murders every day.

Four main cartels are vying for control of Ciudad Juarez because of its lucrative placement. It’s a stone’s throw over the Rio Grande away from America. The cartels are the ones doing the killing and their members are the ones being killed — with a great many civilians and cops thrown in for the sake of intimidation.

The violence related to the drug cartels isn’t isolated to one or two Mexican cities on the border. It’s the whole country. More than 10,475 people have been killed since December 2006 as a result

Turney Foshee of the drug war. Nearly 10 percent of those murdered were police. The president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, has committed 45,000 troops nationwide to fighting the cartels, because local police forces just aren’t getting the job done.

It’s no secret that a great many Mexican cops are crooked. When the cartels have so much money to throw around, it’s easy to see why an officer may choose to feed his family a little better rather than uphold the law.

And where is that money coming from? America, the beautiful, of course.

Americans snatch up drugs (mostly cocaine and marijuana) from the cartels, earning them more than $20 billion a year. Besides money, the cartels also get 85 percent of their weaponry from

the States due to our less stringent gun laws. So, like it or not, it is our problem.

Also, by ignoring the problems in Mexico, we are ignoring a huge part of the true cause of illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States. We are quick to bemoan illegal immigration but, until recently, the best idea our government could come up with is to build a fence which does nothing to deter those desperate to flee the violence.

President Barack Obama has committed more federal agents and equipment to the border as well as $700 million dollars in aid for Mexican law enforcement efforts. On Tuesday night, President Obama told reporters, “We are going to continue to monitor the situation, and if the steps we have taken do not get the job done, then we will do more.”

We must do as much as we can. We are part of the problem, and so we must be part of the solution — before the violence spills across the border and into our streets.

Turney Foshee is a sophomore majoring in journalism. He is a regular contributor to The Crimson White.

MCT Campus

The right apparel for students, pedestrians

By Liz Lane The heel on my favorite pair of stilettos breaks right in half as I run out the door, 10 minutes late to my 8 a.m. class.

Frustrated, I find torn up flats, jump on my bike and ride right through a mud puddle.

It’s raining, and our nationally known campus-wide flooding problem is evident looking at the stains on my new white handbag. They call it “stormy Monday” for a reason.

I walk into class as my teacher happily chirps, “Good morning.” Oh the irony.

That was one walk I don’t want to remember.

Leaving class, I am cold and I don’t know where to turn. Then as I look around, I see a poor old professor spill Starbucks coffee down a pressed suit. The girl next to me carries her shoes, her feet covered in blisters. I am not alone.

I am not about to let bad weather combined with a long walk ruin my day either. I decide to find an alternative.

My first thought was to initiate a campus-wide camping movement. Students and faculty members could pitch tents right outside the buildings they have class. This way no one would have to walk far to class.

On second thought, a tent would not hold all my shoes.

I never have been that into camping anyways.

I have come to the conclusion there is no way around walking on the University’s

pedestrian friendly campus.

I will have to adapt my wardrobe to it.

What should your wardrobe kick to the curb when April showers come around?

Uggs — in the winter, OK. In the other three Alabama seasons, almost-summer, actually-summer and why-isit-still-summer, Uggs are not practical.

Velour — this fabric is best left in the past. For one, it shows every line on your body and two, it is hot, and not in a good way.

Stilettos — I love them too, but walking a mile to class in these will not take you to new heights. They are not flattering when your walk resembles that of a dolled up sloth. If you must, pack them in a bag for your final destination and wear flip-flops.

Constant Texting Syndrome — While walking, an occasional text is fine, but be aware of other pedestrians. Save the long abbreviated convos for an endless, boring lecture class, lol, idk.

So what do you take with you to accomplish a fabulous day in the world of academia?

A light-weight, large scarf — this accessory looks great and will keep you warm in the morning draft without adding to much heat latter on in the day.

Remember Keds, the shoes your mother made you wear when you were in kindergarten? Mother does know best. These low-priced shoes are making a comeback in

street-smart fashion.

A big bag — but not so big you appear to be a) homeless, or b) a kleptomaniac. Fit your books, personal items and a blanket for picnicking on the quad in a chic tote.

Guys, just because you carry a bag does not mean you are carrying a man-purse … well, unless you are carrying a purse. However, if you are so inclined to carry a purse, don’t let me stop you.

Umbrellas — originally invented in the Middle East for protection for a bald monarch, this device is an age old must.

Stylish options are available at every price range, although you may want to avoid getting caught in the University Supply Store’s price trap on a rainy day.

Rain boots — The University was on national news during midterms for having flood problems. And you know the trash thrown on the ground on weekend nights, (beer cans, cigarettes, etc.)? Well, now it’s floating around in the water you are walking through. Protect your feet and your health with stylish rubber boots.

Sundresses — Pair these with flip-flops and you’re set for a great day. Just make sure your dress is not actually a shirt.

I hope walking to class will be a little easier and if not, you only have five weeks left before finals. Goodbye almostsummer. Hello, actually-summer.

With stem cells, research rightfully trumps religion

By Ian McPhail UWire Before an audience of scientists and researchers in the White House, President Barack Obama signed an executive order lifting a ban on federal funding restrictions for embryonic stem cell research.

With $10 billion promised to medical research in the president’s stimulus plan, it is likely that a good portion of that will be directed toward stem cells.

By reversing former President George W. Bush’s religiously motivated prevention of progress, Obama has encouraged new opportunities for medicine. As there is legitimate hope that stem cell research can lead to

treatments for Parkinson’s diseases, Huntington’s disease and liver damage, the U.S. government has a responsibility to its citizens to fund life-saving research.

Many, including Bush, have opposed stem cell research based on their moral position on abortion. Bush limited federal funding for stem cell research to only 21 pre-existing stem cell lines, but researchers needed to use hundreds of new stem cell lines from embryos.

The reasoning behind these limitations was the ludicrous belief that funding for stem cell research would encourage more women to have abortions, as their fetuses would be put to a scientific use. Ignoring the fact that preventing

citizens aiding scientific research through a completely legal action is as muddled and ignorant as the rest of Bush’s presidency, the basic argument makes little sense. Abortion is mainly a last resort for women who are unequipped to deal with a child. The decision to abort is a personal one made by an individual, indifferent to the miniscule gain to science of one embryo.

Since 2001, when Bush’s restriction was enacted, several states have launched initiatives to fund stem cell research.

New York funded $600 million to stem cell research alone, in 2007, and voters in California pledged $3 billion in 2004, sponsoring 12 stem cell research centers. These

investments should place the states in a better position to attract more federal money.

Though Americans should be grateful that a few states were responsible enough to keep stem cell research on life support, the money given pales in comparison to the funds that could be given by the federal government. More importantly, private investors will be less fearful of putting their money in stem cell startups. Venture capitalists and big pharmaceutical companies have been reluctant to invest in stem cell companies due to concerns of further tightening of restrictions in the future.

“It’s a green light that will go a long way in my experience to people committing capital,”

Michael West, chief executive of BioTime Inc., a company that sells stem cell lines in California, told The Associated Press. “Not knowing the future was really a major risk factor.”

Stem cell research has the potential to accelerate understanding of basic biology, cellreplacement therapy, drug testing and development and disease modeling. Scientists are nearly universal in supporting the value of stem cells and the potential impact they could have on the medical community.

“I think over the next five to 10 years, the revolution will have happened in stem cell therapeutics,” Alan Trounson, president of California’s

stem cell agency, said to The Associated Press.

Although the future seems promising, the world will never know how many could have been saved had stem cell restrictions never blocked progress. The cures we could see 10 years from now could have been available sooner had Bush not let his religious views impede science and potentially cost lives.

Obama should be lauded for making stem cell research a priority in his first 50 days in office, and Americans should be continue to be vigilant in funding science into the future.

This story was originally published in The Battalion.

WE WELCOME YOUR OPINIONS Editorial Board

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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.

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Second Annual St. Paty’s Day Right: Jenna Rosenburg gets a snow cone from James Wright during the Second Annual St. Patyʼs Day celebration. Free refreshments were available for all who attended.

CW | Drew Hoover

White collar criminal offers advice to students

By Sydney Holtzclaw Staff Reporter The Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration hosted its second annual J. Craig Smith Lecture on Ethics and Social Responsibility with a discussion with Walter Pavlo Wednesday evening in the Ferguson Theater. Pavlo, a white collar criminal, offered students insight on the issues and pressures facing individuals in high-power positions based on his personal experiences.

William Jackson, a business professor, said the basic goal of the lecture series is to expose students to people who have had to make tough ethical decisions in their lives and deal with the consequences.

“These individuals talk about the moral decisions they faced in their careers and how they would make the decisions over again,” Jackson said. “We believe the series will be very valuable to students as they are getting ready to enter the real world where decisions will have real consequences.”

Pavlo holds an engineering degree from West Virginia University and an MBA from Mercer Univeristy. He is a nationally recognized speaker and co-author of “Stolen without a Gun.” He has worked for several different companies, including MCI Telecommunications where he was the senior manager in the reseller division responsible for billings and collections.

While working for MCI, Pavlo faced pressure and temptation to make the numbers look good in the

accounting books during difficult times with customer collections. These pressures eventually led Pavlo to plead guilty for charges of wire fraud and money laundering and his sentencing to federal prison, he said.

“Our customers weren’t paying their bills on time and MCI was about to be purchased by British Telecommunications,” Pavlo said. “There was a lot of pressure to make MCI’s books appear like the company was doing well. I was doing bad things and good things were happening. It was the weirdest thing in the world.”

At first Pavlo said “cooking the books” was a relief because it took some of the pressure off. However, as he began having to make up money on the account books and borrow money from good standing companies to pay off percentages of problem customers, Pavlo began to feel worse about his actions.

“Three weeks out of the month I was traveling around the country visiting made-up companies who owed MCI millions of dollars and spending the remaining week of the month cooking the books,” Pavlo said. “I was frustrated and ready to quit. I decided to confide in someone outside of MCI.” Pavlo said he spoke with Harold Vann, a young multimillionaire, who convinced him that everyone cheats once in a while and there was no reason the two could not make money off of the deal.

“Harold came up with a plan to rip MCI customers off so we could make money. I rationalized the plan by hand picking companies I didn’t like,” Pavlo

said. “I would write a letter to a company behind on their bills on MCI letterhead. The letter would tell them they had two weeks to pay $2 million. Then, Harold would pretend to be a wealthy investor interested in the troubled company and offer to pay the two million by striking a deal with the owner to have the company pay Harold large sums of money in return. Once we got started I was able to control companies that owed MCI millions of dollars and make money myself because I had a guy on the inside.”

Pavlo said within six months he and Harold were making money off seven MCI customers. By this time Pavlo was getting nervous and wanted out of the deal, but it was too late, he said. British Telecommunications bought MCI and during the merger the British Telecommunications accountants noticed money was being moved in Pavlo’s department.

“When my boss called to ask if I knew who was moving the money, I knew I had been caught,” Pavlo said. “I had to come up with an exit strategy right there on feet, so I quit.”

Several weeks later, Pavlo received a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office saying he was under investigation in the incident.

“My exit strategy didn’t work out. I got my family’s business in order and then turned myself in. I was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison and my life has completely changed,” Pavlo said.

While in prison, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who worked on Pavlo’s case asked him to participate in a

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CW | Marion R Walding Walter Pavlo, who pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering and went to federal prison in 2001, speaks at the second annual J. Craig Smith Lecture on Ethics and Social Responsibility in the Ferguson Theater. The event was hosted by the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration and the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility. case study and be part of an FBI training class.

“He got me out of prison early and used my story as a learning tool. I played the bad guy and he played the good guy,” Pavlo said. “He encouraged me to continue speaking after the case study and since then I have spoken at the FBI Academy and over 100 universities over the last four years.”

To conclude his discussion, Pavlo stressed the importance for students to learn about the issues and temptations faced in business and other high power positions while in college. He said tomorrow’s white collar criminal’s are in college today and he wants to present the issues to them now.

“These are real issues and can and do happen to real, regular people,” Pavlo said.

“The power and pressure can be hard to handle. While students may not think they’ll have such power and success, one day they will and they’ll need to know the potential consequences for the actions.

I had everything in the world and I threw it all away. Don’t let the same happen to you; you only get one chance in the business world. Strive to make a difference.”

6 Thursday, March 26, 2009

NEWS

The Crimson White

Obama enters campaign, fundraising fray

By Liz Sidoti The Associated Press

WASHINGTON | In a pair of political firsts as president, Barack Obama endorsed a fellow Democrat in a competitive special congressional election and was the main draw at two Democratic National Committee fundraisers on Wednesday.

“Sign up and pitch in to elect Scott Murphy to Congress,” the president implored in an early morning e-mail to at least 50,000 people in New York’s 20th Congressional District. Tying his agenda to the election’s outcome, he

added that electing Murphy would “make a big impact on my efforts to bring about a lasting economic recovery.”

By evening, Obama headlined two fundraisers in Washington expected to bring in an estimated $3 million for the Democratic National Committee. The party is struggling to keep financial pace with its Republican counterpart despite coming off a successful election in which Democrats won the White House and expanded power in Congress.

The country’s new chief executive has been ramping up his dual role as the

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Democratic Party’s leader in recent days after largely shunning campaigning and fundraising over the past two months as he focused on a country struggling through economic recession and two wars.

During remarks at a highdollar fundraiser, Obama tied his record to Democrats’ hard work on an economic stimulus package. He specifically noted his pending budget proposal, which faces skepticism from some inside his party and hostility from Republicans.

Obama made clear that his fellow Democrats should fall in line.

“It’s a vision of what the Democratic Party stands for,” the president said, citing his budget’s plans for health care and education.

Obama has shied from overtly partisan activities since taking office, mindful that engaging in Democratic politics while the country was ailing would leave him vulnerable to criticism and, perhaps, run counter to his call for bipartisanship in Washington.

But, over the past week, Obama activated his grassroots campaign apparatus, Organizing for America, and its almost 14 million e-mail address list to put pressure on Congress to back his budget proposal. And, now, the party’s standard-bearer is jumping with both feet into the game, largely out of necessity.

With the election Tuesday, polls show a tight race between Murphy, a political newcomer and a venture capitalist running in a heavily Republican district against the well-known Jim Tedisco, the GOP leader of the state Assembly. At the same time, the DNC significantly trails the Republican National Committee in fundraising as both parties start raising money for upcoming elections.

Democrats hope to avoid losing the upstate New York seat where Republicans

AP President Barack Obama, followed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., waves as he arrives for the weekly Senate Democrat caucus luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday. outnumber Democrats by 70,000. It became vacant when New York Gov. David Paterson appointed moderate Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand to serve the remainder of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s U.S. Senate term.

Obama said in the e-mail

that Murphy “has the kind of experience and background we desperately need right now in Washington” and asked voters to send him to Congress, “where we’ll work together to get our economy moving in the right direction.”

“He’s created jobs by

building and growing small businesses while bringing people together to address difficult challenges,” Obama added. “He supports the economic recovery plan we’ve put in place, and I know we can count on him as an ally for change.”

Democrats aren’t ruling out top administration officials, perhaps Obama himself, participating in some form of advertisements or phone calls in the coming days. The DNC also sent $10,000 to New York for the homestretch; the RNC has poured $200,000 into the race.

Later Wednesday, Obama headlined his first pair of DNC fundraisers. He’s a guaranteed draw, having raised nearly $750 million during his presidential campaign and shattering fundraising records.

He addressed a big-donor audience — with tickets costing $30,400 per couple — at the National Women in the Arts Museum before appearing at the Warner Theater, where singer Tony Bennett was to perform. Tickets for that event range from $100 to $250 to $1,000.

Democrats said both events were sold out.

“You are here to support the Democratic National Committee, the political arm of the White House,” DNC chairman Tim Kaine told high-dollar guests, who ate dinner and listened to jazz before Obama spoke.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs defended Obama’s political fundraising in tough economic times, saying: “We haven’t seen politics by either party stop in this period, though I think the president fully understands the situation the American people face.”

“It’s also safe to assume that the president wants to see a strong party system in this country,” Gibbs added.

The party is seeking to fill depleted campaign coffers for special congressional elections and governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey this year, as well as congressional elections in 2010.

Republicans are in healthier financial shape than Democrats.

The DNC raised a relatively paltry $3.2 million in February despite Obama’s proven powerhouse fundraising, while the out-of-power RNC brought in $5.1 million. Overall, the DNC reported $8.6 million on hand and $7 million in debt, while the RNC reported $24 million in the bank and no debt.

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

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ID of teen’s remains a tragic end to Ore. mystery

By Joseph B. Frazier The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. | A man walking his dogs found what investigators and a heartbroken family had sought for more than a decade: the remains of a southern Oregon baby sitter who was just 14 when she vanished in 1998.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said Wednesday that the remains found March 13 are those of Stephanie Condon.

Nevada authorities assisting in the Oregon investigation arrested a longtime suspect in the case on an unrelated charge around the time Hanlin made his announcement.

“Now, it’s really about finding justice for Stephanie,” said her father, Marty Condon, as he held back tears at Hanlin’s news conference.

She was 14 in October 1998, when she disappeared while baby-sitting her cousin’s

2-year-old twins in Riddle, a small town about 180 miles south of Portland.

Investigators say Dale Wayne Hill, who was arrested in Dayton, Nev., on Wednesday on a charge of failure to register as a felon, is the last person known to have seen her alive.

Hanlin said Condon’s remains were found by a man was walking his dogs on a logging road near the town of Glide, about 30 miles northeast of Riddle.

Joseph Mellin, of Glide, told authorities he found a human skull when he stopped to rest the dogs at the base of a tree.

It took a week to recover all the remains, Hanlin said.

The Oregon State Police crime lab confirmed the identification last week through dental records. Au Hanlin said other significant evidence was found but did not elaborate.

“The family has never forgotten, has never stopped

working on trying to find her and who did this,” neighbor Carol Linton told the Roseburg News-Review. “They’ve updated billboards constantly.

They’ve worked constantly to keep her face out there, her name out there. There’s relief they finally found her, but it still definitely hurts.”

Hill, 39, had been identified from the beginning of the investigation as a suspect.

Deputies say he told them he saw the girl the night she vanished when he stopped by the house where she was baby-sitting.

No charges related to Condon’s death were filed against Hill as of Wednesday afternoon. Hanlin said the recovery of the remains would lead “the arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for Stephanie’s death.”

Douglas County Sgt. Aron Alexander said numerous people were investigated “and Hill

is the only one who hasn’t been cleared. He’s still a suspect.”

A year after Condon disappeared, deputies said they believed Hill harmed her in retaliation against Cheryl Richey, the mother of the children Condon was watching.

Richey was at a bar with another man the evening Condon vanished. She returned home about 1:30 a.m., finding the twins asleep and Condon gone.

Douglas County sheriff’s spokesman Dwes Hutson said Wednesday that Hill and Richey were acquaintances but would not elaborate.

A month after Condon vanished, Hill was arrested and charged with burglary for breaking into a Myrtle Creek home and stealing a pair of women’s panties. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.

During the decade of investigation, Douglas County

detectives said Hill’s .38-caliber handgun was missing, and that Hill told them he had sold it but could not remember to whom.

Search and rescue teams combed back roads near Myrtle Creek, especially in areas where a truck similar to one owned by Hill had been reported by local residents.

Hundreds of clues poured in, from as far away as Kentucky and Missouri and even some foreign countries. The reward fund for information reached $25,000.

“I never expected them to find her,” said Kayla McCurry, a high school freshman when Condon disappeared and now a substitute teacher in the Portland area. She remembered classmates feeling kept in the dark at the time.

“It’s nice that there’s some closure for her family,” she said. “This is 10 years of just kind of floating around not knowing.”

AP The Douglas County Sheriff announced at the press conference in Roseburg, Ore., on March 25 the identification of the human remains found near Glide, Ore., earlier this month as those of Stephanie Condon, a 14-year-old who disappeared while babysitting in 1998.

Mexico captures another ‘most-wanted’ trafficker

By Mark Stevenson The Associated Press MEXICO CITY | Soldiers captured one of Mexico’s mostwanted smugglers, a man accused of controlling the flow of drugs through the northern city of Monterrey for the powerful Beltran-Leyva cartel, the Mexican army said Wednesday.

The announcement came hours before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Mexico promising to do more to help Mexico crack down on drug violence that is spilling over into the U.S. Gen. Luis Arturo Oliver said Hector Huerta was detained Tuesday in a Monterrey suburb, along with four men identified as his bodyguards. Soldiers also seized assault rifles and four grenades.

Huerta was arrested on an outstanding homicide warrant;

the other four suspects were being held pending charges.

Huerta is the first mostwanted trafficker to be captured since the government on Monday published a list of top suspects. The list identified him as a top Beltran-Leyva cartel lieutenant, with a $1 million reward offered for information leading to his capture. It was not clear if a reward was paid in this case.

Two men on the list had already been captured by the time it was published.

The mustached, chubbycheeked Huerta is nicknamed “La Burra,” or female donkey.

“Burro,” or male donkey, is a common slang word for the people, usually poor and desperate, paid by the cartels to transport drugs across borders.

But Huerto is no peon — Mexican authorities say he oversaw the cartel’s operations in Monterrey, an industrial

hub and Mexico’s third-largest city. They say he met with the rival Gulf cartel to divide territory between the gangs, two of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations.

“We have information that as the representative of the Beltran Leyva cartel he held meetings with members of the Gulf cartel with the aim of agreeing on drug distribution zones, in order to avoid clashes between the rival gangs,” said Marisela Morales, the federal deputy attorney general for organized crime.

Mexican cartels have been known to engage in such temporary alliances or truces when violent turf battles sap their ranks and draw too much attention from law enforcement, and this may be one of those moments. A federal police report last week said executions due to cartel power struggles and arrests of traffickers have

diminished their labor force and capabilities.

Others questioned the timing of Huerta’s arrest, and the detention of another Monterrey trafficker, Gulf cartel hit man Sigifrido Najera Talamantes, in the days leading up to Clinton’s visit to Monterrey.

“It is quite something, that as soon as Mrs. Clinton confirms her visit, by coincidence the government starts making big arrests of drug traffickers,” the newspaper Reforma wrote in an editorial. “Maybe the authorities think, naively, that this woman doesn’t have information of her own about the reality of Mexico’s situation, and that by sweeping the garbage under the rug they can convince her that nothing is happening here.”

Mexico intensified its fight in Monterrey after traffickers grew so bold that they paid demonstrators to block streets

A soldier escorts alleged Mexican drug cartel lieutenant Hector Huerta Rios after a press conference in Mexico City on March 25. Huerta Rios, who allegedly ran operations for the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, was detained Tuesday in Monterrey, northern Mexico.

AP in protests demanding that the army withdraw troops from the city.

Soldiers have made the biggest arrests, including detention on Friday of Najera

Talamantes, who is suspected in an Oct. 12 attack on the U.S. consulate in Monterrey. One man opened fire and another threw a grenade that failed to explode, but nobody was hurt.

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8 Thursday, March 26, 2009

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Clinton: U.S. shares blame for drug wars

By Matthew Lee The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY | U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday pledged to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Mexico in its violent struggle against drug cartels, and acknowledged the U.S. shares blame because of its demand for drugs and supply of weapons.

She said the United States shares responsibility with Mexico for dealing with violence now spilling across the border and promised cooperation to improve security on both sides.

“The criminals and kingpins spreading violence are trying to corrode the foundations of law, order, friendship and trust between us that support our continent. They will fail,” she told Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Patricia Espinosa. “We will stand shoulder to shoulder with you.”

On Tuesday, the Obama administration pledged to send more money, technology and manpower to secure the border in the U.S. Southwest and help Mexico battle the cartels. Clinton also said Wednesday that the White House will seek an additional $80 million to help Mexico buy Blackhawk helicopters.

All that is in addition to a three-year, $1.4 billion Bush administration-era program to support Mexico’s efforts.

Congress already has approved $700 million. President Barack Obama has said he wants to revamp the initiative.

Obama said Tuesday he wanted the U.S. to do more to prevent guns and cash from illicit drug sales from flowing into Mexico.

But Clinton’s remarks appeared more forceful in recognizing the U.S. share of the blame. In the past, particularly under the Bush administration, Mexican officials have complained that

Washington failed to acknowledge the extent that the U.S. drug demand and weapons smuggling fuels the violence.

“I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility,” Clinton told reporters, adding: “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”

Criminals are outgunning law enforcement officials, she said, referring to guns and militarystyle equipment such as nightvision goggles and body armor that the cartels are smuggling from the U.S. “Clearly, what we have been doing has not worked and it is unfair for our incapacity ... to be creating a situation where people are holding the Mexican government and people responsible,” she said. “That’s not right.”

Clinton said she would repeat her acknowledgment as loudly and as often as needed during her two-day visit to Mexico City and the northern city of Monterrey. Officials said her priorities included encouraging the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon to increase its battle against rampant corruption by promoting police and judicial reform.

Just hours before she arrived, the Mexican army announced it had captured one of the country’s most-wanted smugglers, a man accused of controlling the flow of drugs through Monterrey for the powerful Beltran-Leyva cartel.

The measures outlined Tuesday include increasing the number of immigrations and customs agents, drug agents and antigun-trafficking agents operating along the border, as well as sending more U.S. officials to work inside Mexico.

Those measures fall short of calls from some U.S. states that troops be deployed to prevent further spillover of the violence, which has surged since Calderon stepped up his government’s battle against the cartels.

AP U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, meets with Mexicoʼs Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Wednesday.

3M boss held hostage

By Emma Vandore The Associated Press

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PARIS | French workers burned tires, marched on the presidential palace and held a manager of U.S. manufacturer 3M hostage Wednesday as anger mounted over job cuts and executive bonuses.

Rising public outrage at employers on both sides of the Atlantic has been triggered by executives cashing in bonus checks even as their companies were kept afloat with billions of euros (dollars) in taxpayers’ money and unemployment soars.

As the U.S. administration seeks ways of recouping some of

the $165 million in bonuses paid to executives at insurance giant American International Group Inc., kept afloat by $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is threatening new laws on bonuses and golden parachutes.

Sarkozy is also trying to deflect anger against his government’s failure to ward off the job losses and economic hardship that comes with recession.

The €3.2 million ($4.3 million) exit bonus paid to the former head of Valeo SA, an auto parts maker that received state aid, has fueled outrage in France. Controversy also grew Wednesday over bonuses at brokerage company Cheuvreux,

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“The risks of repercussions of ill-feeling from employees and from a political backlash are real if execs continue to be compensated at pre-crisis levels,” said Cubillas Ding, a senior analyst at financial research firm Celent. “Bonus and pay cuts are now seen as the politically correct thing to do.”

Rising public outrage at employers has led to kidnappings, marches and strikes in France, a country with a long tradition of labor unrest.

A French 3M executive was being held hostage for the second day at a plant in Pithiviers, south of Paris, as workers protested layoffs. The situation was calm, however, with labor talks taking place there Wednesday.

Detained 3M manager Luc Rousselet told an AP reporter “Everything’s fine” and workers planned to bring him mussels and French fries for dinner.

In Paris, rage boiled over into an angry march on the presidential palace and a bonfire of tires set alight by workers from Germany’s Continental AG, whose auto parts factory in Clairoix, northeast of Paris, plans to shut down in 2010.

Similar resentment is emerging in many parts of Europe.

Vandals smashed windows early Wednesday at the home of the former CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Sir Fred Godwin resigned in disgrace but waltzed out at age 50 with an annual pension of about 700,000 pounds ($1.2 million).

Bonus payments are dominating headlines in Sweden, which prides itself on a relatively egalitarian society. Big companies like truck maker Volvo and bank SEB have been forced to withdraw compensation schemes for top executives amid public outrage.

And in Switzerland, top executives at UBS AG, which is benefiting from a $60 billion government bailout, have given up their 2008 bonuses.

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NEWS

Thursday, March 26, 2009

9

It’s fear that keeps Baghdad’s peace

By Hamza Hendawi The Associated Press BAGHDAD | The streets are calmer now. The fighting between Shiites and Sunnis has largely ceased. But this is not a sign of normalcy in the Iraqi capital. It’s fear that keeps the peace.

Only an estimated 16 percent of the mainly Sunni families forced by Shiite militiamen and death squads to flee their homes have dared to return.

It takes two sides to have a fight, and there’s really only one side left in Baghdad after violence and fear turned parts of neighborhoods into ghost towns.

Families that have gone back are sometimes met with spraypainted threats and other forms of intimidation. “Back after a break, the Mahdi Army,” is a Shiite militia’s slogan — playing off the same words that Iraqi television uses as a leadin to commercials.

The findings — based on statistics obtained by The Associated Press from U.S. and Iraqi officials as well as AP interviews in key Baghdad neighborhoods in recent weeks — are acknowledged by U.S. military commanders on the ground. And they point to a troubling prospect.

Baghdad has been much calmer since the massacres reached their peak in late 2006 and the first half of 2007. And a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday that attacks nationwide had fallen to their lowest level since the first months of the war.

In the capital, however, the calm has been achieved in part because the city is now ethnically divided. Shiites predominate. Sunnis have largely fled.

The situation is somewhat similar to Bosnia after the war of the 1990s — years of calm but no lasting political reconciliation after its populations divided into different regions and governments.

“Baghdad has been turned from a mixed city, about half of its population Shiite and the other half Sunni in 2003, into a Shiite city where the Sunni

population may be as little as 10 to 15 percent,” said Juan Cole, a prominent U.S. expert on Iraq.

No accurate census has been taken since the bloodletting.

But Cole’s estimates, backed up by AP observations and U.S. statistics, hold troubling implications for the future should Sunnis come back in greater numbers.

A Sunni government employee, Mohammed Abdul-Razzaq, fled his home in the Jihad neighborhood of west Baghdad for majority Sunni Amiriyah after Shiite militiamen threatened to kill him. Iraqi police last year forced out the squatters who had moved into his house, but he has no plans to return.

“Security is still fragile,” Abdul-Razzaq said. “I was forced to flee once, and it can happen again. Next time they may kill me.”

Most startlingly, the ethnic divides remain even though the Iraqi and U.S. militaries have driven Shiite militiamen and death squads off the streets.

That suggests Sunnis still do not trust Iraq’s government to protect them in the long run.

Their mistrust could hold the seeds of future bouts of violence, especially as the U.S. military begins to draw down this year.

“The potential for renewed sectarian violence is definitely there,” said Capt. Nathan Williams, the U.S. military commander at Hurriyah, a northern Baghdad district that saw the worst sectarian bloodletting. “We believe if it restarts in Hurriyah, it will spread to the rest of the city.”

Even more remote is the hope of restoring Baghdad’s traditional character as a city where people can live together — though not always in harmony — regardless of faith or ethnicity.

Among the statistics obtained by the AP: — Only an estimated 50,000 of 300,000 displaced families — or 16 percent — have returned to their Baghdad homes, according to the U.S. military. Most are believed to be Sunnis.

— In Hurriyah, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 families, most of them Sunnis, fled in 2006 and 2007. Of those, only 648 families — or 16 to 22 percent — have come back since September.

In addition, 350 to 400 of the displaced families have sold or rented their Hurriyah homes, suggesting they intend to stay away forever, said Maj. Hussein al-Qaissy, Hurriyah’s Iraqi army commander.

— The violence has virtually emptied parts of the city, particularly on the mainly Sunni western side of the Tigris river.

In Amiriyah, for example, 100 of the 252 Shiite families that fled are back. Roughly the same number of Shiite families, 250, fled Khadra, another western Baghdad area; only 70 have returned.

Baghdad’s sectarian violence began as early as 2003 but picked up dramatically after suspected Sunni militants blew up a revered Shiite shrine north of the city in 2006. At its peak, dozens of bodies, some decapitated or with executionstyle gun wounds, turned up at outlying areas of the city or in the Tigris each day.

Shiite militiamen who led the attacks against the Sunnis are largely thought to have won the sectarian conflict in the capital. The Sunnis, who are generally better off economically than the Shiites, largely fled to Jordan or Syria.

That has given Baghdad a distinctly Shiite character, which becomes obvious during the sect’s religious holidays when traditional Shiite banners are hoisted over most of the city.

In Hurriyah, the signs of sectarian division are still stark.

Attacks on Iraqi and U.S. forces have been rare since they rid the neighborhood of Shiite militiamen and death squads and Sunni militants.

But most of the 18 Sunni mosques remain shut or in ruins. Some are now used as sleeping quarters for Iraqi troops, with attached rooms turned into offices.

A recent prayer held in a Sunni mosque to mark a major religious occasion attracted

AP | Dusan Vranic U.S. patrol talks to an Iraqi Sunni woman who recently returned to her home after she fled the sectarian violence three years ago in Hurriyah neighborhood in Baghdad, March 18. a meager 48 worshippers, according to Iraqi army Maj. Imad Rassoul.

Some returning families have been greeted with threats spray-painted on the walls of their homes, according to Williams, the U.S. Army captain stationed at Hurriyah.

The neighborhood also remains walled off, with access tightly controlled by Iraqi security forces. U.S. and Iraqi officials argue that removing the walls could erode some of the security gains made by allowing militants to move freely.

Resettlement has provoked 10 attacks, one deadly, since September. Half of these, according to Williams, involved families that had not coordinated their return with the Iraqi army as required.

Williams said he believes Hurriyah is now generally safe.

“It’s a struggle,” said Williams, who along with local tribal leaders recently tried to persuade Hurriyah refugees north of Baghdad to come back. “Our struggle here is to counter misconceptions about

security in Hurriyah.”

Williams’ men go door-todoor to check on the families that returned to Hurriyah, pleading with them to report any intimidation or threats.

He also offers grants of up to $3,000 to returning families to start a business.

In a hopeful sign, some of the returning Sunnis in Hurriyah and elsewhere in Baghdad say longtime Shiite neighbors extended a warm welcome.

“They said they could not do anything to help us when the Mahdi Army came to force us

out,” said Bassem Mahmoud, a 35-year-old father of two, speaking outside his Hurriyah home with his mother next to him. “They said they feared for their lives if they tried to help us.”

Omar al-Jibouri, a taxi driver and father of three, said his Shiite neighbors in the Dora district of western Baghdad helped repair his damaged home when he returned a month ago.

“For a whole week after our return,” he said, “they kept giving us food.”

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Outsourcing condoms may cut Ala. jobs

By Ben Evans The Associated Press

WASHINGTON | The last U.S.based supplier of condoms for global HIV/AIDS prevention programs could be forced to shut its doors because the federal government sent the work to cheaper suppliers in Asia.

The change came earlier this month as Congress dropped a requirement that the government buy American-made condoms when possible, with exceptions for price and availability.

Congress traditionally has directed the U.S. Agency for International Development to use American suppliers for the hundreds of millions of condoms it sends into developing countries. The main supplier to benefit from that directive is Alatech Healthcare Products, a southeastern Alabama

company with about 300 employees.

Over the years, Alatech became the program’s sole U.S. provider.

USAID says Alatech has had problems filling orders, and there were complaints from the field about the quality of its condoms.

Despite Congress’ direction, the agency has gradually outsourced part of the work to companies in Asia that provide condoms for less than half of Alatech’s price.

Just after Congress omitted “buy American” language for the program in its latest spending bill, USAID quickly signed new contracts with three foreign suppliers and dropped Alatech altogether. The new contractors are in China, South Korea and Malaysia.

“Our responsibility is to provide good stewardship for the

taxpayers’ dollars,” said agency spokesman Harry Edwards.

“That is what we are trying to do.”

Company President Larry Povlacs said Alatech provided durable condoms at USAID’s request and was never asked to address any complaints about that style. He said USAID simply wanted the cheapest product without regard for his workers in Dothan and Eufaula, Ala. “I’m faced with telling people that I’ve worked with for 30 years that they may no longer have a job,” Povlacs said.

Gloria Steele, an assistant administrator at USAID, said Alatech’s price of about 5 cents per condom versus 2 cents elsewhere wasn’t competitive, even when using a preferential contracting advantage that agencies give domestic bidders. The work has traditionally been worth between $10 million to

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$20 million per year, Steele said, with annual production of about 400 million to 500 million condoms.

Povlacs said he had received assurances that USAID would continue buying domestically, and his company has spent millions of dollars to ramp up production.

“Congress’ intent has been to buy American,” Povlacs said.

“They put that in appropriations bills year after year.”

Povlacs said he is working with lawmakers to get “buy American” language restored in next year’s spending bill, and company officials are meeting with USAID this week.

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LIFESTYLES

The Crimson White

Lakeside series presents Callooh! Callay!

By Jessica Cheek Lifestyles Reporter Local indie-folk band Callooh! Callay! will perform tonight as part of the Lakeside Music Series at 6 p.m. upstairs in Lakeside Dining Hall. Made up of three students from the University and one from Shelton State, the band composes its own original music and lyrics. The songswritten

by Callooh! Callay! typically have a rock foundation and incorporate bluegrass and folk sounds.

The name Callooh! Callay! comes from Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky.” Adam Morrow, the band’s vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, said

the name is “an exclamation of joy.”

Morrow, a sophomore in New College, began playing acoustically with guitarist Dan Walker while in high school. The band came together in 2007 and now has four members — Morrow, Walker, bassist Natalie Jensen and drummer Bowen Robertson.

Callooh! Callay! plans to release an EP in April.

Andrew Bird, The Weepies, Bob Dylan and the Beatles are a few of the many influences Callooh! Callay! has drawn from to develop its own style.

The band uses two acoustic guitars and often incorporates less common instruments like the glockenspiel

and the melodica. Morrow said the other instruments and a looping pedal help to create a broader, more enriching texture to give the band a sound that is unique from other groups.

“We can play music for a party or at a bar if that’s where the show is, but that’s not all our music is meant for,” he said. “We hope it sounds good in a more traditional throw down rock show environment and when you’re alone driving in your car or sitting at night listening to your iTunes or whatever. You know, stuff that connects to people.”

Tonight’s show may include two or three cover songs, but most of the one hour set will

be original compositions.

Songwriting is a lengthy process for Callooh! Callay!, though Morrow said the effect of the band’s music on audiences makes it worthwhile.

“We know how powerful a good show can be, and while we don’t claim to blow people’s minds or change their lives or anything, we know that even what lowly folks like us do can affect people, and seeing anyone engage with a piece of music you’ve created or lyrics you’ve written is an amazing feeling,” he said.

The Lakeside Music Series gives students the opportunity to see accomplished bands perform without going to a bar. Everyone is welcome

to attend the shows, and all performances are free. Past performers have included The Grenadines from Birmingham, Southpaw Bandits from Tuscaloosa and Blaine Duncan and the Lookers, also from Tuscaloosa.

“If you haven’t already been to one of these shows, they are cool things,” Morrow said.

“They have been bringing in some great out of town bands and giving the underage a chance to see some of the local flavor for free. Yes, it’s in a dining hall, but it is far from lame and is worth coming out, definitely.”

Callooh! Callay! has several other shows planned for the rest of the semester, including

an acoustic show at Crimson Café on April 4.

Anyone interested in more information about the band can look them up on their Myspace page, myspace.com/ calloohcallaytunes, and on Facebook.

IF YOU GO...

What: Lakeside Music Series presents Callooh!

Callay!

When: Tonight at 6 p.m.

Where: Upstairs of Lakeside Dining Hall

COLUMN | UNDERGROUND CINEMA

Asian horror anthology an impressive array

By Matthew H Glasscock Contributing Writer

Spring break has come and gone (very abruptly, I might add) and much like most of you, I find myself scrambling to focus on the last half of the semester.

I would like to say that I personally feel giving college students a week off of school and expecting us to return to campus motivated to complete the massive load of final assignments for the term is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

In the spirit of the mid-semester malaise that many of us are trying to shake off, this week’s film is not the traditional “deep cut” that you have come to expect from this column. Look, I’ve got a ton of work to do just like the rest of you.

Sure, you could argue that “Three Extremes” is not that underground, in fact you can find several copies at any local Blockbuster. Just relax, and enjoy the film.

“Three Extremes” is, as I’m

sure you could deduce from the title, three vignettes from some of the best Asian independent horror directors currently working. With the recent rash of ill-advised Hollywood remakes of Asian horror films, it would behoove you to educate yourself with these directors’ works. And what better/easier way to familiarize yourself than with short films. Hey, we’re all a little pressed for free time now anyway, right?

The first segment, “Dumplings,” is directed by Fruit Chan from Hong Kong.

I am less familiar with his body of work than the other two directors, so I really don’t have too much to elaborate on about him. His direction here is pretty straightforward. There aren’t many unique compositions, lighting or effects here.

However, do not let this deceive you. The actual story is quite sinister.

“Dumplings” depicts the story of an aging actress looking for the ever-elusive fountain

of youth. She has exhausted every traditional method of trying to recapture her youth and she turns to a ... let’s just say unorthodox manner of rejuvenation. It’s repulsive, disturbing and makes for good entertainment.

“Cut,” the second segment, is directed by Chan-wook Park from South Korea. I am a huge fan Chan-wook’s work and if you’ve been paying attention, you’ve already read the review for his film “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.” “Cut” deals with a director making a horror film. I loved the way Chan-wook blurs the line between reality and fantasy here. For example, the set of the fictional film is a mirror image of the fictional director’s own home. The piece itself is so self-reflexive that anyone who enjoys film will get a kick out of the parody. The story deals with a disgruntled extra getting revenge (another signature trope of Chan-wook’s) on the oblivious director. Chan-wook also brings to the table his trade-

mark inventive composition and direction. This was hands down my favorite vignette of the three. The tongue-in-cheek humor coupled with the gruesome images was a brilliant move.

The third and final segment, entitled “Box,” is from a true master of the bizarre and creepy, Takashi Miike, from Japan. I have had the good fortune to see most of Miike’s work, and I am a fan. “Box” is a bit subtler compared to the director’s previous work, but it still has all the earmarks of a Miike production. There were considerably less bodily fluids than most of the other Miike films, but it was still a joy to watch. If you find yourself wanting more by the end, be sure to check out some of his other films, especially “Audition,” “Visitor Q” and “Ichi the Killer.”

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Jeremy Piven arbitration hearings set for June 8-9

By Michael Kuchwara The Associated Press NEW YORK | The dispute between the Broadway producers of “Speed-the-Plow” and Jeremy Piven is officially on to its next act — arbitration.

In a statement, the show’s producers said Wednesday the case

will be heard June 8-9 in New York by George Nicolau, a professional arbiter. It follows a grievance hearing held last month at Actors’ Equity Association in which a committee composed of five Equity members and five members of The Broadway League, which represents the producers, did not resolve

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the dispute.

Piven abruptly left the revival of the David Mamet play in December after his doctor said he was suffering for mercury poisoning after eating too much fish over a lengthy period of time.

The producers said in a statement that they were preparing their case, and “in connection with that, have requested a wide range of relevant information from Mr. Piven relating to his claims that an alleged illness required him to leave the show.”

Among the information requested, the statement said, were “medical records and documentation of Mr. Piven’s activities both during and after the run of the show.”

In response, Piven spokeswoman Samantha Mast, said in a statement that the actor was looking forward to testifying at the arbitration.

“The fact that the producers issued a statement announcing the arbitration dates suggests that this is part of a punitive strategy to intimidate actors so that they ignore serious health symptoms and the advice of medical professionals due to fear that they will be sued,” she said.

“Speed-the-Plow” opened last October to favorable reviews and by the time the revival ended its limited engagement Feb. 22 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, it had recouped its $2.26 million production costs.

Three different actors — understudy Jordan Lage, Norbert Leo Butz and William H. Macy — followed Piven in the role of movie mogul Bobby Gould. Mamet’s three-character play about Hollywood glamour, sex and power, also starred Elisabeth Moss of AMC’s “Mad Men” and Raul Esparza.

The Crimson White

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EVIL Continued from page 16 be familiar with the controls because they are almost an exact replica. The analog sticks control movement and aiming, while shooting, reloading and knifing are controlled by the shoulder and face buttons.

“Resident Evil 5” is a beautiful game and is set in a fictional African desert area called Kijuju. The outside environments seem realistic. Fruit, meat, water and fire all have excellent textures and realistic visuals.

Indoor buildings and cave areas display gorgeous lighting effects from sunlight filtering through a window, to lanterns in the dark. The realistic visuals alone will keep you immersed in different environ-

Tonight

LIFESTYLES

ments.

Enemies are visually impressive as well. The main enemies in “Resident Evil 5” are the Majini. These are people that have taken a new form of Las Plagas, which gives them enhanced physical abilities at the price of their human identity.

Enemies give realistic facial expressions while attacking you with various weapons like pitchforks, shovels and axes or when reacting to your actions.

Voice acting has come a long way since “Resident Evil.”

Each character you encounter, from Chris to the Majini, sounds excellent. Character reactions and emotions also sound realistic.

There are some comedy relief characters that are victims of bad writing, but their voices are great.

Other sounds such as dogs,

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explosions and gunfire sound excellent, too.

The soundtrack, composed

by Kota Suzuki, sets the mood and is not intrusive to your experience. “Resident Evil 5” is also the first in the series to receive an originally composed theme song.

Online co-op gives “Resident Evil 5” excellent replay value if you have a high-speed Internet connection. If you are in the middle of a game you can immediately go back to the previous checkpoint and have a friend join your game.

There is no lag when the AI has to take over because your friend goes offline, and you can tweak the settings allowing others to join your online game.

“Resident Evil 5” has trophy support and boasts a numerous unlockables like three difficulty levels, alternate costumes, more game modes and new weapons.

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners should add “Resident Evil 5” to their collections.

The co-op, immersive environments, beautiful visuals and interesting storyline in “Resident Evil 5” make putting your controller down difficult.

The Crimson White

PIKMIN Continued from page 16 given 10 to 15 Pikmin in all three colors.

At the end of the mode, the top five Pikmin-building scores are displayed. Challenge mode is a rewarding experience if you have other players to compete with.

When “Pikmin” was released on GameCube, it had beautiful looking environments — as long as you didn’t zoom in. Since “New Play Control! Pikmin” is

a mere port of the GameCube version, don’t expect polished graphics.

The sound quality in “New Play Control! Pikmin” is also less than impressive. Sound effects and music sound obsolete. “New Play Control!

Pikmin” does implement sound effects through the Wii remote, but I believe further improvements could have been made to enhance the game’s audio quality.

“New Play Control! Pikmin” is a great game, but not worth the $29.99 price tag. The Wii motion controls make “Pikmin”

accessible, but the wonky camera controls take away from the overall experience. The environments and music are lush and organic, but the textures and sound quality are noticeably outdated.

If you are looking for a unique Nintendo Wii game, “New Play Control! Pikmin” may not be for you.

However, if you just want to experience an old classic in a new way, or you have never micromanaged your very own army of flower minions, “New Play Control! Pikmin” will not disappoint.

Producers guilty of accounting fraud

By Rob Gillies The Associated Press

of Livent, a major Broadway theater company in the 1990s, were convicted of two counts TORONTO | Two co-found- of fraud and one count of forgers of a Broadway theater ery. They each face a maxicompany that produced hit mum of 14 years in prison. shows such as “Ragtime” and In the 85-page ruling, the “Showboat” were convicted judge said the Tony awardWednesday of accounting winning producers knowingly fraud for overstating their business’ finances by millions submitted financial statements to investors misrepreof dollars for several years.

Garth Drabinsky and senting their company’s cirMyron Gottlieb, co-founders cumstances from 1994 to 1998.

The Toronto-based company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998 after the fraud was revealed when former Walt Disney Co. President Michael Ovitz invested in Livent.

Authorities said the cooked books helped build $100 million in shareholder value that was lost when the fraud was revealed by the new management team headed by Ovitz.

LIFESTYLES BRIEF Creative Campus, Office of Disability Services and VSA Arts of Alabama present “The UNBOUND Art Show”

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The Creative Campus Assembly Arts Ambassadors, part of the umbrella organization of Creative Campus are hosting “UNBOUND,” which is affiliated with The Kennedy Center’s Very Special Artists Show today. This event will be the first of its kind on the UA campus. It will also be the first time VSA of Alabama has partnered with an organization in this capacity.

The art show will open at 6:00 p.m. at Maxwell Hall on the UA campus. It will consist of works created by UA students and individuals within the community.

Any visual form of artistic expression is acceptable. Along with these showcases, renowned blind

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Alabama artist Ricky Trione will be displaying original pieces, created for this show.

This will be the inaugural event for what will be an annual signature event hosted by the Creative Campus Assembly.

If you would like more information about the event you can visit creativecampus.ua.edu, or stop by Maxwell Hall, home of Creative Campus and located right across from the Bruno Business Library, is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Maxwell Hall is near BryantDenny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Or feel free to contact Michael Wynn — e-mail mawynn07@gmail.com for more information.

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SPORTS

Greg Ostendorf • Editor

13

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MEN’S GOLF

Freshman golfer off to quick start

By Jessica Whitehead Contributing Writer Hunter Hamrick started like most kids do with a sport — at his home in Montgomery just playing in his yard. But unlike most kids, he was barely old enough to walk when he started.

“I have pictures of me swinging in the front yard when I was 18 months,” Hamrick said.

He was pretty good at doing incredible things at a young age.

“I played in my first tournament when I was 8 … my first time in the 60s, I was 11.”

Hamrick made it pretty clear that being young had no effect on his natural ability to swing a golf club. Growing up wanting to be Tiger Woods, Hamrick had the support from his dad, who also played golf his freshman year at Alabama.

Hamrick is one of seven freshmen on this year’s

Alabama men’s golf team. Head coach Jay Seawell met Hamrick through another Montgomery native on the Tide golf team.

“I’ve known Hunter since he was about 12 or 13 years old,” Seawell said. “I watched him play. He made it to the U.S. juniors of 13 years old. I knew about him probably a little bit before that, but we also have another guy on our team form Montgomery, Matthew Swan, so when I was recruiting Matthew, I kind of met him.”

In the past few weeks Hamrick has pulled away from the group and shown what he can really do. Hamrick shot par or better in six consecutive rounds of golf leading up to the Callaway Match Play Championship earlier this week.

In the consolation bracket of the match play, Hamrick posted a perfect 3-0 record to help the Tide clinch the bracket.

Alabama lost the nucleus of

last year’s team, who won the SEC Championship. With Swan and Matt Hughes the lone seniors this year, it has been up to Hamrick and the rest of the freshman to step up.

“We have seven freshmen on our team,” Seawell said. “We start three or four freshman every week, so you know you’re going to need young guys to step up if we’re going to be any good.”

Seawell has taken notice of Hamrick’s play to this point, but the head coach also understands that Hamrick has work left to do just like all the freshmen.

“He is a good ball striker.

He is always in play, [and] he is a straight hitter,” Seawell said. “He needs to work on his mental toughness, which all young people need to do, and to become a better putter.”

When he’s not on the golf course, Hamrick spends his time doing other things like

Hunter Hamrick is one of seven freshmen on this yearʼs Alabama golf team.

UA Athletics | Kent Gidley

fishing and hunting. However, of his everyday life.

“I would like to play golf you when asked if he had any plans for the future it was clear that know,” he said. “If that’s a posgolf would continue to be a part sibility, that would be nice.”

SWIMMING AND DIVING

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Six headed to championships From UA Athletics

Tide will also field the school record-holding 800 freestyle relay team of Cosma, Ziegler, Zubcsek and All-American Alin Mihalca. The foursome broke the previous school mark, set in 1983, during the SEC Championships last month.

Randall, Cosma and Ziegler will compete in the 500 freestyle and Fleshner off the onemeter board on Thursday, the championships’ first day.

The Toughest Job You Will Ever Love

holder in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyles, is making his return to the NCAA Championships after redshirting last season to train for the Olympic Games. In addition to the 500, he is swimming the 1650 freestyle, where he is seeded 10th, and the 200 freestyle.

Cosma, who finished seventh in the mile at last year’s NCAA Championships, is

ranked 26th coming into this year’s championships. Ziegler also qualified in the 200 freestyle and the 200 backstroke.

The rookie is the school record holder in the 200 backstroke. Sophomore Denes Zubcsek, making his NCAA Championship debut, is seeded 15th in the 200 butterfly. He also qualified in the 100 butterfly and the 200 freestyle.

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UA Athletics | Cory Johnson All-American Catalin Cosma is one of five swimmers and one diver who will represent Alabama at the NCAA Championships Thursday at Texas A&M. Cosma, who finished seventh in the mile at last yearʼs championships, is ranked No. 26 coming into this yearʼs championships.

From staff reports

The UA bass fishing team is having their first annual fundraising tournament on Lake Tuscaloosa Saturday. They will be launching at Rock Quarry.

The entry fee is $75 with an additional $10 for Big Bass.

The funds they make at this tournament goes toward helping the team travel to events around the country.

The team will be paying out 70 percent of the entry fees and 100 percent of the Big Bass fee. The members of the Crimson Tide Bass Anglers will be at the landing starting at 4:30 a.m. to take up entry fees.

If anyone is interested in participating in the tournament or has any questions, they can contact Foster Bradley at fkrbradley@bama.ua.edu or David Rogers at drr.rogers@ gmail.com

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas | The preparation is over; now it’s time for five Alabama swimmers and one diver to measure themselves against the nation’s best as the NCAA Championships get underway Thursday at Texas A&M’s Student Rec Center Natatorium.

“We’ve worked hard all season pointing toward this meet and we are ready to get going,” Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. “We’ve got a chance to do some damage and score some big points with this group of guys.”

The Crimson Tide’s swimming contingent includes three that are ranked in the top 25 of the 500 freestyle while junior Aaron Fleshner, the 2009 SEC Diver of the Year, should contend for a title.

Fleshner, the 2008 and 2009 SEC three-meter champion, finished third off the threemeter board at last year’s NCAA Championships and was seventh off the threemeter at last summer’s U.S. Olympic Trials.

All-Americans Mark Randall and Catalin Cosma along with freshman Joe Ziegler will swim the 500 freestyle with Randall seeded 13th, Cosma 18th and Ziegler 23rd.

Randall, the school record

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14 Thursday, March 26, 2009

SPORTS

The Crimson White

1 Pittsburgh

1 Louisville

Today

Friday

4 Xavier

12 Arizona

EAST

MIDWEST

3 Kansas

Saturday

Sunday

Today

Friday

CHAMPION

2 Michigan St.

2 Duke April 4

April 4

1 North Carolina

April 6

1 Connecticut

Friday

Today

4 Gonzaga

5 Purdue 3 Missouri

3 Villanova

WEST

SOUTH

Saturday

Sunday

3 Syracuse Friday

Today

2 Oklahoma

2 Memphis

CW | Eric McHargue

NCAA TOURNAMENT

Last week basketball, this week saving a town

By Tim Dahlberg The Associated Press A week ago they were on the big stage at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, playing the defending national champions in a game they were supposed to have no chance of winning.

No one from North Dakota State believed that. Neither did any of the 10,000 fans who drove down I-94 from Fargo to cheer the Bison on in their first

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NCAA tournament appearance.

“My last memory of college basketball was walking off the court to their cheers,” senior Brett Winkelman said.

“They’ve given us so much over the last few years.”

Now the Bison are giving back. They’re trying to save their town.

Once again, the odds are against them.

Snow was falling Wednesday in Fargo, just more bad news in the city’s fight against the swelling Red River. The bad weather was hampering efforts to fill a staggering two million sandbags to protect the city amid new projections that the river would crest at levels never before seen by the weekend.

Thousands of people from all walks of life, many of them with vivid memories of the disastrous 1997 floods, are racing around the clock to keep the city dry. With school canceled, students are stacking sandbags, while others are taking time off from work to do what they can to help.

Working right alongside them, shovel for shovel, are

coach Saul Phillips and the Bison basketball team.

Had a few more bounces gone their way, they might be in Indianapolis right now, practicing for a third-round game against Michigan State. Instead they’re working on something a little more urgent — saving people’s homes.

“It’s just the way of life around here,” Winkelman said.

“It’s obvious that if anyone needs a helping hand, they can expect to get help.”

People in Fargo first began worrying about a possible flood about the same time the Bison were eliminated by Kansas in the first round, a game they were in until the final minutes.

The Red River is bloated from heavy winter snows made even worse by spring rains, and has risen some 20 feet in the last week alone.

The prognosis isn’t good, which makes the sandbagging even more critical. Every able body is needed, including the big bodies of the Bison.

Phillips began calling his players during the weekend when it became apparent how bad things might get. He hoped to have the entire team

AP Ben Woodside (left) and Andre Smith of North Dakota State narrowly lost to Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Now the team is helping set up sandbags to save the city from a potential flood.

working together, filling and the front lines.

“You go from a terrific diverstacking the sandbags.

205-345-7783 232 McFarland Blvd. N His players beat him to it. sion like the NCAA tournament Half of them were already on to everybody literally walking down streets asking if anyone needs help,” Phillips said. “It’s a really weird dynamic. I don’t think you could find two more opposite deals.”

The team has worked together the last few days, going house-to-house near the river to offer help. Like all volunteers, they’re braving freezing temperatures and muddy lawns that quickly give way to size 17 boots.

The people being helped are not only grateful but eager to talk some hoops.

“They want to talk about the Kansas game and how much fun it was to watch,” senior center Lucas Moormann said.

The basketball players are just a small part of an army of thousands of volunteers, some from other towns, who have been working long hours to protect homes and businesses along the river that separates the city from Moorhead, Minn.

They work in shifts as dump trucks loaded with sand rumble by on a continuous loop.

Phillips worked an extra shift, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., figuring that would be a time the Order the Offical Class Ring, personalized graduation announcements, caps and gowns, and diploma frames. city would be hurting for volunteers. He was wrong.

Have your cap and gown portrait made by Stacy Jones Photography. (A variety of portrait packages will be available for order.)

“I went to the Fargodome Eat Lunch! (Refreshments will be served.) to hop on a bus and the buses were all jam-packed,” the coach Get your questions answered by representatives from Student Financial Services,Loan Receivables, the Career Center said. “There were so many coland other student services offices. lege students on them going out to help.”

Register to win daily door prizes including diploma frame, basic announcement package, bachelor's cap and gown package, A week ago those students, master's cap and gown package. like the rest of the town, were No purchase necessary to win. ready for a wild ride in the NCAA tournament. It didn’t happen.

Now, instead of coming together for a team, they’re coming together for a town.

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The Crimson White

NEWS

Thursday, March 26, 2009

15

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Scene Zombies! ALIENS!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Ryan Mazer • Lifestyles Editor

ryan.mazer@cw.ua.edu

16

Flicks

COBB HOLLYWOOD 16 • “12 Rounds” (PG-13) • “The Cross: The Arthur Blessitt Story” (PG) • “Duplicity” (PG-13) • “The Haunting in Connecticut” (PG-13) •”The Last House on the Left” (R) • “I Love You, Man” (R) • “Race to Witch Mountain” (PG) • “Knowing” (PG-13) • “Monsters vs. Aliens” (PG) • “Monsters vs. Aliens 3D” (PG) • “Taken” (PG-13) •“Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail” (PG-13) • “Watchmen” (R)

Nightlife THURSDAY • Mellow Mushroom — Mansfield • Jupiter Bar & Grill — Matt Kabus • Egan’s — Shrapnel Petals • Little Willie’s — Glen Butts and Libba Walker

FRIDAY • Mellow Mushroom — Dubconscious with Entropy • Jupiter Bar & Grill — The Hypsys; Vinyl Soup • Egan’s — The Last Great Fiction; Lucky Prime; The Zou

SATURDAY • Mellow Mushroom — Laura Reed and Deep Pocket • Jupiter Bar & Grill — The Gnomes • Egan’s — The Tumbleweeds; Squirrelhouse

Prepare for their arrival with these games

By Stephen Swain Contributing Writer “Resident Evil 5” continues the story after the events in “Resident Evil 4.” Players control Chris Redfield, first playable in “Resident Evil,” and Sheva Alomar.

“Resident Evil 5” departs from previous “Resident Evil” titles by focusing on a cooperative play (co-op) experience.

While the first player controls Chris, a second player or computer controls Sheva.

This opens new avenues in “Resident Evil 5” as Chris and Sheva investigate the recent activities of the new corporation, Tricell, and its connection to the Umbrella Company.

New mechanics in “Resident Evil 5” include a cover system and the ability to map items and weapons to the D-pad.

Certain areas give an onscreen button to press so your character can lean against a wall or duck behind a box.

Cover renders you immune to most damage unless you choose to peak out to shoot.

The D-Pad buttons can be mapped to instantly select a weapon or item. This is useful due to the crowd quantities and unique enemies you have to face. While all items fill the same block of space, both Chris and Sheva can only hold nine items each during combat.

Good aim is also essential because you cannot move while aiming, and when enemies are shot in key areas, like the head, they will clutch that area in pain.

During this time, on-screen prompts to perform melee attacks can be used and linked together between players for maximum damage. Melee attacks also help conserve ammo.

The two can exchange items and weapons between each other,

but only if the recipient has space.

Discarded items now disappear instead of appearing on the ground for later pickup like in previous “Resident Evil” titles.

Fortunately, you can manage items and weapons, upgrade weapons, sell weapons or treasures and reorganize your inventory after dying and between chapters.

Chris and Sheva access new areas by working together, and jumping and flipping switches require Chris and Sheva to synchronize their actions.

S h eva ’s artificial intelligence has two modes, attack or cover, but they do not compare to playing with a person.

S h eva ’s AI is useful early on, but you will become frustrated with Sheva’s bad aim, needless deaths and waste of ammo later in the game.

Chris and Sheva’s h e a l t h must be m o n i tored since a gameover will occur if either dies. If all their health is lost from a melee attack or explosion, the “dying” status is shown and the other partner has a set amount of time to revive their teammate. If unsuccessful, then it’s game over.

Fans of “Resident Evil 4” will be

See EVIL, page 12

By Tiara Dees Contributing Writer “Pikmin” was released on the Nintendo GameCube in 2001 and boasted beautiful graphics and innovative gameplay. “New Play Control! Pikmin” is not a “new” game, but like “Mario Power Tennis,” it’s a resurrection of the previous title with Wii motion controls.

You play Captain Olimar in story mode. Olimar is left stranded on an alien planet when his ship, the Dolphin, is damaged by a meteorite.

Olimar’s life support system will only last 30 days on the toxic planet, and the Dolphin needs 30 parts to be repaired.

So it’s a race against the clock.

“New Play Control! Pikmin” features a new control system, and in “New Play Control!

Pikmin,” you are free to point your cursor and select the Pikmin you want to use.

However, you must pay attention to where the cursor is on the screen because I accidentally threw Pikmin into ravines, fires or enemies while I was not paying attention to where the Wii remote was pointing.

The downside to this “user friendly” interface is that the remapped camera control can obstruct the game experience. Rotating the camera around Olimar is simple, but it was difficult positioning the camera in the correct direction.

The camera perspective and zoom are mapped to the directional pad on the Wii remote and it’s sometimes a problem switching between them. I recommend keeping the camera at a range where you can completely see the field as you look for parts and defeat enemies.

The only modes in “Pikmin” are story mode and challenge mode.

While guiding Olimar around the planet, you will discover a red, leaf-like creature that can be plucked from the ground. These Pikmin form small armies and do your biding. They carry parts to the ship, defeat enemies, destroy barriers and build bridges.

Only 100 Pikmin can be commanded at a time, so no enemy or obstacle is too big for your force to handle.

Commanding members of your army

to carry Pikmin food, that grow on flowers, or the spoils from battle back to the nest, the “Onion,” creates new Pikmin sprouts to pluck later.

There are three types of Pikmin, and each type has their own special abilities. Red Pikmin are invulnerable to fire and are your best offensive force against enemies. Yellow Pikmin handle explosive material and it’s easy to throw them at high angles, and Blue Pikmin can withstand

water.

Allowing your Pikmin to bloom while they are planted in the ground increases the effectiveness of their abilities.

Time management is very important in “Pikmin,” and using too much time causes the doomsday clock to catch up to you.

However, the heads-up-display (HUD) does a great job of tracking remaining sunlight, the number of Pikmin you have on and off the field, the damage status of your spacesuit and the number of days remaining.

You can restart from a previous day if you fall behind, but you will lose your progress.

Challenge mode ironically focuses less on strategy and puzzle solving, which I found to be the most demanding aspect of “Pikmin.” It’s more similar to story mode, but with a few minor variations.

The goal in challenge mode is to create as many Pikmin as you can in one day by collecting Pikmin food and battle spoils.

Only stages that you have unlocked can be chosen in challenge mode. After selecting a stage to challenge, you are

See PIKMIN, page 12

‘Pikmin’

‘Resident Evil 5’

Platform: Nintendo Wii

Platforms: PlayStation

ESRB Rating: E for

3 and Xbox 360

Everyone

ESRB rating: M for

CW critic’s rating:

Mature

CW critic’s rating:

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Join us on Tuesday, March 31 at the Bama Theatre 6:30 p.m. Silent Auction 7:00 p.m. Film Screening

Alpha Chi Omega

$12 Student $18 Faculty/Staff $22 General Call 348-5040 for Info.

18329

Ticket Costs: