SPORTS PAGE 7
LIFE&ARTS PAGE 10
Devotees compete to become the best ‘Street Fighter’
Volleyball head coach makes plea to fill seats LIFE&ARTS PAGE 10
Students invest despite the recession
THE DAILY TEXAN Tuesday, December 7, 2010
TODAY Calendar Science and technology Alfred Gilman, the chief scientific officer at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, will talk about the challenges of funding and developing cancer research on the state level. AT&T Conference Center, 1900 University, Amphitheater, Room 204. 5:45 7:45 p.m. Free, RSVP required.
Qrank! Live Jo’s Coffee House hosts a night of competition for players of the popular trivia game. 7 - 9 p.m.
K-12 education outreach The UT K-12 Educational Outreach Consortium will host a brown bag luncheon for all University programs that provide support or training for K-12 instructors. LBJ Library, Sid Richardson Hall, Classroom A. Noon - 1 p.m.
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Brown confirms resignation of three UT coaches By Will Anderson Daily Texan Staff Head coach Mack Brown put an end to speculation Monday with an e-mailed statement announcing the resignation of embattled offensive coordinator Greg Davis and two other Texas coaches. “I’ve had a great 13 years here and enjoyed every minute of it,” Davis said.
Davis came to Texas with Brown in 1998 and was part of the school’s record nine consecutive 10-win seasons from 2001 to 2009. He drew criticism this year for running an offense that finished No. 59 in the country in total yardage, good enough for a spot between Central Florida and Duke. Texas went 5-7, its only losing season under Brown and first since 1997, and will
not appear in the postseason. Offensive line coach Mac McWhorter and defensive line coach Mike Tolleson also announced their retirements from coaching. McWhorter produced five current NFL players and two collegiate All-Americans during his nine years in Austin. Tolleson coached current pros Lamarr Houston and Roy Miller, plus four others, in his 13
years at Texas. “They are not only great coaches but men who handled themselves with tremendous integrity, class and dignity on and off the field
INSIDE: A look at possible ramifications after the staff changes on page 7
COACHES continues on page 8
STEPStoRECOVERY: Hitting bottom
Drug fixations become destructive habits By Audrey White Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series about students involved in UT’s Center for Students in Recovery — their paths to addiction and how they achieved sobriety.
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roken relationships, failing academics and lost faith — these are just a few of the consequences students recovering from drug abuse and addiction identified from their years as users. But for many addicts, it can take months or years for the
consequences to build up enough to push a person toward recovery and long-term sobriety, they said. It’s difficult for Austin Community College student Wylie Walker to identify his rock bottom moment, he said, because his low point lasted for two years. In high school, he said he was a social drinker, and he experimented with marijuana and other drugs. But when he left for Oklahoma State University, he started using oxycodone to escape the feelings of anxiety and loneliness he was experiencing. When he started running out of money to buy pills,
things got out of control. “I started making Cs and Ds and Fs and Ws because I was just trying to figure out how to get money, trying to get in touch with a dealer, trying to get high,” Walker said. Ultimately, Walker said, it was his failing relationships with his parents and younger sister that pushed him to get clean. When his sister was a senior in high school — after his first failed stint in rehab and after he started using heroin — he pawned his mother’s camera to buy drugs, so she couldn’t take pictures at his sister’s prom.
“Before he started using, he was my hero,” said his sister, Ella Walker. “Even after, I wanted to deny it. Eventually he turned into someone I didn’t even know anymore, and it was the biggest let down.” Wylie Walker finally began recovery in May 2009. He said the people he met in recovery inspired him to commit to sobriety, especially friends in treatment and later at the UT Center for Students in Recovery, a self-funded program offered by University Health Services that gives recovering addicts at UT and in Austin a space to meet
other sober students and work on the 12 Step Program. Another student, who asked to remain anonymous because of the stigma surrounding addiction in her Muslim community, said her best friend helped push her to start recovery after four-and-a-half years of using narcotics every day. She first started using when a doctor prescribed medication after she injured her shoulder. She became dependent, taking five to six pills per day just to function. When she got to UT, the number
STEPS continues on page 2
‘Children of Nature’ Part of the Austin Film Society’s Iceland film series. Two old friends encounter each other in a retirement home and plan an escape to an island they knew as children. Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. 7 p.m. $8.
Today in History In 1982 Charles Brooks in Texas is the first person executed by lethal injection in the United States.
Campus Watch Deck the halls
Jester West, 201 E. 21st St. Several UT police officers responded to Jester on a report of a highly intoxicated student who was going in out of consciousness and was acting violently in the hallway. The officers noted a very strong odor of alcohol on the subject’s person as well as evidence that she had an extreme physical reaction to the over consumption of alcohol in no less than seven different locations while in the hallway.
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Quote to note “Even before I went to Japan, I noticed the bad posture at American arcades and tournaments. I always thought that was really uncouth. It’s said if you have good posture you can concentrate better. I felt it was a good quality to have for fighting games anyway. We are trying to be focused.” — Ryan Harvey Owner of Arcade UFO LIFE&ARTS PAGE 10
Anonymous
Wylie Walker
UT anthropology junior
ACC student
She first found narcotics when she was recovering from a shoulder injury in high school and quickly became a daily user. A nearly fatal withdrawal, the support of her best friend and involvement with the Center for Students in Recovery helped her find and maintain sobriety. She asked that The Daily Texan not use her name because of the stigma in the Muslim community surrounding addiction.
Wylie Walker used drugs in high school, but when he got to Oklahoma State University and began using oxycodone he became chemically dependent. In May 2009, Walker got sober to save his education and his relationship with his family. He hopes to attend UT and is active at the Center for Students in Recovery. Photos by Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff
ON THE WEB: Check out an interactive documentary about students at the center @dailytexanonline.com
Lake Patrol brings service offshore Council questions provost By Aziza Musa Daily Texan Staff Unlike the Austin Police Department’s area command patrol, the agency’s Lake Patrol Unit takes a more service-oriented approach to enforcing the law. Austin Lake Patrol — comprised of one sergeant, one corporal and eight officers — began in the 1940s. Only recently did it become a part of the police department’s responsibilities, said APD Sgt. Louis Candoli. In 2008, APD consolidated other law enforcement agencies, acquiring park police, airport police and city marshals. Candoli and Cpl. Steve Scheurer transferred from SWAT to the boat patrol following the merger. “It’s slow, but it’s necessary,” Candoli said. “There’s not a lot of law enforcement out here, but a lot of city ordinance enforcement things. We’re like the AAA. Most of our calls come from stranded boaters, so we go out and tow their boats.” The Austin Lake Patrol Unit — one of about 425 units in Texas — look over the three major lakes in the city: Walter E. Long Lake, Lady Bird Lake and Lake Austin.
on academic centers’ cuts By Collin Eaton Daily Texan Staff Several members of the Faculty Council asked UT Provost Steven Leslie on Monday how the central administration would assist academic centers through the budget cuts and challenged him on the measurements used to determine the productivity of the centers.
Danielle Villasana | Daily Texan Staff
APD Officer Jose Delgado, who has worked for the Lake Patrol Unit for four years, patrols Lake Austin on Saturday afternoon. “Ninety-eight percent of what we do is out here,” Scheurer said. “We just have two people on duty at any time, so it’s kind of hard to spread out and cover everything.” The unit possesses two jet skis and seven boats, three of which are defunct, said Officer John Scott. But they acquired two new “unsinkable” boats, made mostly of steel, before the 2010
Labor Day holiday. “I feel like I’m running for office every time I get in the boat,” said Officer Jose Delgado. “Everyone usually waves at you even though they don’t know you.” The boating season begins on Memorial Day and ends on Labor Day, and the unit’s officers
LAKE continues on page 2
The College of Liberal Arts, faced with a reduction in expected funding from tuition, decided to form the faculty-led Academic Policy and Advisory Committee to determine from where the budget should be cut. In early November, the committee recommended a total $1 million budget
CENTER continues on page 6
Special court for veterans first of its kind in county By Joshua Barajas Daily Texan Staff After his March 2003 deployment to Iraq, Lance Cpl. Domitilo Ponce III faced psychological injuries within the confines of his home despite being far from the dangers of combat. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Ponce made a habit of thrill-seeking and
eventually turned to self-medication. His drug and alcohol abuse led to several arrests in Travis County. “I created an atmosphere of constant conflict, having to always be on your toes, having to be vigilant ... and having to engage in some form of fighting,” Ponce said.
IRAQ continues on page 2