Vol 120 | Issue 4
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Publishing since 1913
Independent Student Newspaper of Sam Houston State University
Library considers moving to 24-hour system, pg. 3
Visit us on Facebook: “The Houstonian SHSU”
Women sweep UTSA, pg. 7
INDEX Viewpoints ....... pg. 2 A&E ................... pg. 5 News .................. pg. 3 Sports................. pg. 7
From Hollywood to Piney Woods CONNOR HYDE Contributing Reporter Burning incense masks the aroma of disinfectants and A&D ointment. Rob Zombie booms from the stereo system obscuring the insidious buzz of the tattoo gun. Skin, blood and ink needled into permanent artwork are only admired once by the artist before their masterpiece walks out of the studio. Gerald Theiler may be old school but he has surgical precision with a tattoo gun. Theiler’s reputation was molded by tattooing at major conventions throughout the United States. Musicians such as Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee are just pocket change to the celebrities that Theiler has had the privilege of working on. Bands such as the Dangerous Toys and Korn are just pages and photos in his extensive portfolio. “It was circumstance,” Theiler said. His work with celebrities came with the opportunity of demonstrating his tattooing ability. Dabbling in acrylics and oil paints, Theiler began his career as a teenager from Galveston experimenting with different
mediums of paint. “I’m completely self taught” Theiler said. “I’m self educated when it comes to art technique.” His artistic style developed and expanded as a tattoo apprentice. He apprenticed for two years under a student of Bert Grimm; a pioneer artist from St. Louis that renovated and developed the traditional style of tattoo in the early twentieth century. Theiler started his apprenticeship scrubbing grimy toilets in the back and earned his way to designing his own tattoo pieces. “I was the shop bitch... the low man on the totem pole,” Theiler said. “It teaches you everything in the industry”. Outside of his apprenticeship, Theiler intensively studied Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body after long nights of toilet scrubbing. He strove to understand the muscle structure and skin textures of the human anatomy to become adaptable under different circumstances a tattoo artist may face. As an artist outside the tattoo industry, Theiler’s personal style developed and embellished into bold statements parallel to Grimm’s traditional style of
Jessica Gomez | The Houstonian
TAT IT UP. As an artist outside the tattoo industry, Theiler’s personal style developed and embellished into bold statements parallel to Grimm’s traditional style of bold lines and powerful colors. Theiler interprets modern images and events then composes them into artwork both haunting and elegant.
bold lines and powerful colors. Theiler interprets modern images and events then composes them into artwork both haunting and elegant. Theiler settled in Huntsville early in the millennium. The quiet coziness of Huntsville’s country side and homey atmosphere attracted Theiler to found his own tattooing business. In 2003, Theiler opened shop to
the Yellow Rose Tattoo Studio on Sam Houston Ave. He and his staff are dedicated to producing tattoos as an art form while enjoying the freewheelin’ motorcycle lifestyle. In their nine years of service, Theiler’s studio has won awards at conventions throughout the past five years and has employed talented and respectable artists. Recently Theiler enjoys his career in quiet solitude. Cruising in on his Harley and
Local club sues city Shenanigans, Tarvin claim police cause loss of revenue STEPHEN GREEN Editor-in-Chief A lawsuit against the City of Huntsville currently in a U.S. District Court alleges the Huntsville Police Department violated civil rights violations and led to a loss of business at Shenanigans, a nightclub in the city. Darrell Tarvin and D&S Entertainment, operating as Shenanigans, is suing the Huntsville claiming that Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment violations by the Huntsville Police Department led to a “legal debt and damages due….by reason of systematic abusive actions,” the lawsuit says. Former Police Chief Allwin Barrow is also listed as a defendant
individually for his role in the allegations. “[The city] engaged in conduct to shut down [Tarvin and D&S Entertainment’s] business concern,” court documents say. “[The city] employed a ‘full court press’ to cause [the] business to suffer materially. The defendants, by their actions caused… customers and patrons to stop patronizing [the]…business causing a loss of income.” In February 2011, Tarvin sent a letter to the city requesting more than $285,000 for alleged civil rights violations that came after Shenanigans was shut down for a wook to investigate after the Dec. 30 stabbing of John Wayne McCrary, according to a Feb. 16 article in the Huntsville Item. “Through embellished information, my client’s business was wrongfully shut down for a week, causing financial losses as well,” Huntsville attorney Bennie Rush (who represented Tarvin at the time) said in the article. “Thereafter, the full court press was instituted and patrons were harassed and driven away by the Huntsville Police Department.” William Helfand, attorney
opening his studio in the early evening to enjoy a cup of coffee while sitting in his barber chair, Theiler enjoys the peaceful pace that Huntsville moves at. Theiler is the owner and lead tattoo artist at his studio. Monday’s and Wednesday’s they are open 4 p.m. to midnight. Tuesday’s as well Thursday’s through Saturday’s the studio is open 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Sammys nominations open to public MISTI JONES Senior Reporter
Meagan Laurie | The Houstonian
UP TO SHENANIGANS. Shenanigans is a club in Huntsville frequented by locals and Sam Houston State University students.
representing the city, said he doesn’t think Tarvin has a case against the city. “It’s not at all inappropriate for the police to charge someone who is breaking the law,” Helfand said. “If anyone that is a patron
of the bar is found to be violating the law, they are subject to being charged with the crime and fully prosecuted by the court system.” The parties will hold a conference on May 2, 2012 to discuss the specifics of the case.
The 18th Annual Sammy Awards, the university’s official student awards ceremony, will be held April 11 at 6 p.m. in the Gaertner Performing Arts Center’s Payne Concert Hall. Sam Houston State University and the Department of Student Activities will host the event to recognize and honor the campus’ finest student leaders, organizations and their advisors. All university students, faculty and staff are permitted to go online and fill out a nomination form for students to win these awards before 5 p.m. on February 6. However, the students nominated must have at least a grade point average of 2.5 and must complete the required number of hours for their classification. A total of 25 awards will be bestowed upon individuals chosen by a committee. “There are 13 committee members including representatives from each of the six dean’s offices of each college,” — SAMMYS, page 3
SGA considers abandoning Homecoming election responsibilities to focus on students’ daily concerns AMANDA MORGAN Contributing Reporter Every year, the Student Government Association (SGA) sends out a Homecoming election email to the more than 17,000 students attending Sam Houston State University (SHSU). Included in this email are the names, pictures and brief description of all of the candidates for both SHSU’s Homecoming king and queen. A couple of bills are usually attached below the candidates
information, in order to let the student body voice its opinion on certain ideas or topics. Unfortunately, this next Homecoming, there might not be an election email sent to students from the SGA. Recently, there has been discussions about halting the election tradition and handing it off to another organization. Joseph Le, College of Business Administration Senator and Technology Committee Chairman for SGA, explained SGA’s intentions and reasons for wanting to drop the annual elections.
“SGA wants to pass along the large portion of the responsibility to Student Activities” he said. “They have more resources to perform the Homecoming duties”. T h e Homecoming elections have been a significant part of the duties of the Student Government for many years.
Le assures that the Student Government has good intentions regarding the forfeit of most of the Homecoming duties. “ We ’ r e passing the duties along so that SGA can concentrate on the day-today concerns of the student body,” he said. No physical bill, concerning
“We’re passing the duties along so that SGA can concentrate on the day-to-day concerns of the student body....”
the removal of SGA from having majority control over the Homecoming election duties, has been put into writing; the notion has only been discussed between the members of the Student Government. It will be interesting, however, to see what will happen if talking leads to any action happening in bringing a bill, that hands over control of the Homecoming elections, to life.