Issuu

Off to a hot start Freshman scores 4 goals in 1st 4 games SPORTS, 1B

Wednesday October 3, 2012

The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

High: 70˚ Low: 53˚

Vol. 142 Issue 28

FREE

Emanuel encourages students to work in city BY CARINA LEE STAFF WRITER

CLAIRE EVERETT THE DAILY ILLINI

Hailey Olson, 11, puts a saddle on her 18-year-old horse, Boots, in her family's stable. They own and board horses and have not had to give any away due to the rise in hay prices from this summer's drought.

Increase in hay prices from this summer’s drought forces farmers to let go of horses BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER

This summer’s drought has caused yet another crisis: Horse owners are giving up their horses because of the extreme increase in hay prices. Kelsie Vaile, sophomore in ACES, has a family hay farm in Amboy, Ill. She said the average horse consumes half a bale of hay a day, which used to cost between $2.50 and $3 per bale. Now, she said horse owners are paying between $7 and $10 per bale. Vaile said her family used to get about 300 bales out of their 9-acre field every time they cut it. But after the drought, they only got 87 bales in their cutting this week. “People can’t spend all that mon-

ey on hay when they have other animals to feed,” Vaile said. “We usually have a lot of hay to sell to people and make money to feed our horses (and) other things, but this year, because the hay has been so terrible, we’ve had to get rid of a couple of our horses.” Sarah Everson, freshman in LAS, had to give up one of her two horses because her family couldn’t afford hay. “It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “The timing was tough on my parents’ jobs, but it was getting to the point where both horses were eating through the hay so fast, we couldn’t keep up with them.” Everson said there would be times when her horses wouldn’t have hay for a couple of months because her

family couldn’t afford it. She said her family still owes money to a nearby hay farmer. Katrina Olson, visiting lecturer at the University, is a horse owner and boards horses as well. Olson’s family buys hay from a hay farmer in northern Champaign, who said prices will start to come down because of the rain from Hurricane Isaac. Olson said other economic considerations may drive farmers away from keeping horses. “More than the cost of hay, I think it’s all the maintenance that goes into the care of a horse,” Olson said. “Hay is certainly a big factor. Especially as we get into winter, and the prices go up again.” The Society for Hooved Animals’ Rescue and Emergencyis a nonprofit

humane society in the Champaign area. Linda Hewerdine, founder and director of the rescue agency, said they receive two or three calls a week from people wanting to give up their horses because they are too expensive to feed. But because the society has 64 horses from Illinois Department of Agriculture investigations, the organization isn’t taking donated horses at this time. “I believe most of it is because of the economy. The horses we have taken in this summer have been starved all summer,” Hewerdine said. “We’re too full to take the other animals from people. They’re going to have to solve their own problem.”

Claire can be reached at everett5@ dailyillini.com.

Engineering and computer science students are building up the training they need in Champaign-Urbana. But too often, they’re zipping off to cities outside of Illinois, at least according to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. But to encourage them to stay closer to their alma mater, Emanuel came to the University’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications on Tuesday. “There are the entrepreneurs, money, culture and the quality of life that is ready to happen (in Chicago),” he said. “We have to collectively close the 140-mile distance between us, and we have to be next-door neighbors.” Emanuel and tech company representatives such as Brad Keywell, co-founder of Groupon ; Eric Lunt, chief technology officer of FeedBurner and BrightTag ; and Mike Evans, co-founder of Grubhub, made up a panel during the talentrecruiting event “Chicago After Hours,” hosted by World Business Chicago. Panel members shared their experiences working in Chicago and encouraged students to start a business in the city. “If there is one thing we need more of, we need you guys to spend time in Chicago,” Keywell said. “What we are missing is this right connection between Champaign and Chicago, and that’s why we’re here.” Attendees asked panel members about various subjects, including why students should choose

See EMANUEL, Page 3A

PRITEN VORA THE DAILY ILLINI

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel answers a question at a panel held in the National Center for Supercomputing Applications on Tuesday. Emanuel organized to have various Chicago tech companies come to Champaign to recruit students to the city.

Chaz Bono discusses issues with his gender identity, male-to-female transition BY JESSICA AHN STAFF WRITER

LGBT and transgender advocate Chaz Bono took his audience through his journey of self-discovery Tuesday at the Illini Union. Sponsored by the Illini Union Board and the LGBT Committee, “An Evening with Chaz Bono, Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man” brought Bono to campus to give audience members an idea of what it means to be a transgendered person. Leslie Morrow, director of the LGBT Resource Center, said she hoped the talk would have “people walk away with a better understanding of his story and exposure to what it means to be gender nonconforming and gender non-normative.” “He’s here simply to tell his story and to talk about his challenges and opportunities that he’s had a chance to experience and be exposed to.” University staff, students and other community members lined the hallways of the Union in anticipation of Bono’s presentation. “Our goal is to reach out to everyone and hear his story,” said Tolu Taiwo, president of the Illini Union Board and Illini Media employee. “I think it’s really cool that we can get everybody on campus to come and hear what he has

INSIDE

to say because he is an individual with a unique story.” Bono said his journey began around age 4, when he became aware that there was something different about himself. He said his choice in friends, activities and interests aligned with those of a young boy rather than a young girl. He said he felt “uncomfortable all the time and started to detach from my body and live my life inside my head.” After years of struggling with his identity, Bono began hormone therapy. “It felt like something my body has always been needing,” Bono said. “It helped me come down from my head and live in my body for the fi rst time in a long time.” Bono said he later underwent top surgery, which made his chest appear more masculine. He referred to the surgery as “a big piece of the puzzle of my life.” “After that, I started really feeling like me and liking myself when I looked in the mirror,” he said. “My life really started when I transitioned.” Bono ended the evening by telling the audience to “take the risk to be yourself, whoever yourself is” and said “a life fi lled with secrets is not a life at all.”

Jessica can be reached at ahn51@dailyillini.com.

KELLY HICKEY THE DAILY ILLINI

LGBT activist Chaz Bono tells the University community about his experience of realization and of becoming transgendered during a presentation at the Illini Union on Tuesday night. Bono detailed his journey from being an “extreme tomboy” as a child to realizing that he “wasn’t a woman,” to finally making the decision to undergo gender-reassignment surgery.