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SPORTS PAgE 6 — Senior sprinter paves the way for young team
The Daily Texan Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
Concert, drive benefit local children
Debbie Eynon Finley | Daily Texan Staff
Corporate communication senior MeiLee Langley organizes donations in her garage for the Austin Children’s Shelter on Monday afternoon. Langley organized a benefit concert and an item drive to collect supplies and raise money for the Austin Children’s Shelter.
Student-organized fundraiser proves successful despite double-booking mishap By Lena Price Daily Texan Staff One person almost stopped Monday night’s benefit concert for the Austin Children’s Shelter at Aces Lounge from happening. That person was Afroman. The rap artist booked Aces Lounge on the same night as the benefit show, forcing corporate communication senior MeiLee Langley to reschedule all of the bands she had already booked to play the venue. “Afroman is obviously a much bigger name,” Langley said. “Aces Lounge came to me and said, ‘Would you be willing to move everything forward one day?’ So I had to do a complete 180.” Other than the Afroman crisis, Langley said organizing the combination benefit concert and item drive went better than she expected. “I was worried that I wouldn’t get that many donations this time of year, with finals and everything,” Langley said. “But I’ve gotten over 600 pieces of clothing and two tables full of food.”
“This year in particular, we’ve seen a drop in donations coming in. The economy is still struggling, and people who might normally donate are just being very careful.” — Julia Burch, shelter marketing director Langley held a competition between service organizations to see which could raise the most donations. Several service organizations dropped food and clothing off at Langley’s makeshift collection center in her garage. When they couldn’t drop off the items themselves, Langley would spend her evenings driving around to pick them up. “It’s really awesome that members of these organizations went out of their ways to go to H-E-B and buy giant boxes of cereal,” Langley said. Langley has been a part of several service organizations in the past, but she organized the fundraiser independently. When she first came
to UT, she managed several country bands, which helped her understand how much money she would probably have to spend. “I was getting quoted ridiculous prices like $15,000 [from national agents],” Langley said. “I told them it was for a local benefit, and they would tell me, ‘No, sorry.’” Eventually, Langley started to get in contact with three bands based out of Texas and managed to get the price down to about $2,400. She had some community sponsorship but paid most of the fees out of her own pocket. “If I don’t get paid back all the way, that’s fine,” Langley said. “I’m not too worried about it.” Langley selected the shelter be-
cause she noticed that very few service organizations sponsor them. The shelter houses up to 30 children at a time and is in the process of expanding. After the expansion is complete, the shelter will be able to hold twice as many kids for longer periods of time. Shelter marketing director Julia Burch said the center receives about 70 percent of its funding from donations and that this time of year it sees a drop because people are busy preparing for summer. “This year in particular, we’ve seen a drop in donations coming in,” Burch said. “The economy is still struggling, and people who might normally donate are just being very careful.” Burch said Langley’s effort was tremendously appreciated, but she encouraged students to get involved on a smaller scale. “You can go to our Web site and set up your own virtual event,” Burch said. “You can write a personal story about what the shelter means to you, send it to your friends and ask for donations.”
Acevedo said Quintana arrested the driver, about whom no details were disclosed, and placed him in his patrol car while Sanders and Smith continued to sleep. When Quintana tried to rouse
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McCracken ends bid for mayor By Pierre Bertrand Daily Texan Staff Mayor Pro Tem Brewster McCracken ended his candidacy for mayor Monday afternoon after results from Saturday’s municipal election showed his opponent, City Councilman Lee Leffingwell, leading by a 20-point margin. McCracken declared his intent to concede to Leffingwell during a joint press conference with the Leffingwell campaign. McCracken said a runoff election would distract from the many issues facing City Hall and would not be in the city’s best interest. “The worst thing we can do as candidates is make decisions that are bad for this city,” McCracken said. “In that respect, it wasn’t that hard [to concede].” The city expected a runoff between the two councilmen. Neither candidates received a majority of the vote to win the race outright. With McCracken deciding not to proceed, Austin residents will save an estimated $500,000 to $600,000, which would have financed the monthlong runoff race. McCracken said the election returns coming in late Saturday signified he did not have the support needed to conduct a successful runoff campaign. Results released Sunday showed Leffingwell leading with 47.24 percent of vote. McCracken, with 26.8 percent, would have entered the runoff having earned roughly half the votes that
MCCRACKEN continues on page 2
Jordan Smothermon | Daily Texan Staff
Mayor Pro Tem Brewster McCracken embraces a supporter after resigning his candidacy for mayor Monday afternoon.
Web site connects PR, advertising students with alumni for jobs
Sanders from the backseat, the man made a movement toward a handgun in his waistband, Acevedo said.
QUINTANA continues on page 2
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Nancy Rosenthal | Daily Texan Staff
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo releases details about an officer-involved shooting at the Walnut Creek Apartments on Monday. The incident, which left an 18-year-old man dead and a 21-year-old man wounded, occurred during a police patrol that began after an aggravated robbery Friday night. on Springdale Road in East Austin, Acevedo said. Residents at a nearby complex had complained Friday night that men in the same car had been firing guns into the air.
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By Rachel Platis Daily Texan Staff A new social and professional networking site unique to UT aids graduating advertising and public relations students in their job searches by connecting them with alumni around the nation. After a year and a half of development, senior lecturer Gene Kincaid launched AdGrad in 2007 using alumni and students with whom he kept in touch. The program expanded to include PRGrad this year and looks like an intermediate between popular social networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn. “I kept up with 400 alumni by e-mail and funneled their job opportunities down to my students,” Kincaid said. “I thought everyone did that, but everyone doesn’t. This site automated a process that I was doing manually.” Developed by Kincaid’s digital media and interactive classes, the program received a $100,000 grant from the University Co-op in 2005, through which Information Technology Services developed the proprietary Web site. “Our class helped spread the word about it,” said advertising senior Jordan Caldwell. “Graduating students need all the help they can get. Our main goal was to create a dialogue with alumni.” ITS designed the program so any department at UT could ultimately adopt it if it proves successful. “It’s not ready for prime time just yet,” Kincaid said. “But we grabbed the best practices from MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn to provide students with job openings that alumni send back.” Students and professionals can fill out job genealogies, post pictures, write on walls, share resumes, display portfolio clips, send messages to others and find alumni on a world map. “This allows students to look at a professional’s job history to understand where to start and how to progress through the industry,” Kincaid said. The two programs have about 1,600 members total and include alumni from all over the world. “A public relations or advertising degree equips
Officer-involved shooting leaves 1 man dead By Avi Selk Daily Texan Staff A police officer shot to death an armed 18-year-old man who was in the backseat of a parked car Monday morning. Another man, 21-yearold Sir Lawrence Smith, was shot after exiting the vehicle and is in stable condition, police said. Officer Leonardo Quintana, who has both commendations and a temporary suspension on his record, has been placed on leave pending an investigation into the shooting — standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting case. A document on the Office of the Police Monitor’s Web site shows that Quintana was suspended for 15 days in 2006 after forcing his way into the home of another officer, his girlfriend at the time. Police had no comment on the suspension Monday afternoon, but e-mailed reporters a list of several commendations Quintana has received, including one for “superior service.” While speaking at a Monday afternoon press conference at City Hall, Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo pleaded for patience as police investigate the matter. “Whether it is right, wrong or indifferent, the officer is very shaken, very contrite,” he said. “It’s a traumatic incident for all of us.” At about 5 a.m., Quintana spotted Nathaniel Sanders and two other men sleeping in a station wagon parked at an apartment complex
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