The Ranger
Vol. 85 Issue 8
Single copies free
Nov. 5, 2010
A forum of free voices serving San Antonio College since 1926
Veterans remembered
SPRING SCHEDULE 3 SMOKERS GET FLICKED 4 SGA ELECTIONS 6
2 • Nov. 5, 2010
The Ranger
The Ranger •
A forum of free voices serving San Antonio College since 1926
Dorsey Grey, Gateway-to-College music business freshman, is questioned by police Oct. 29 south of Scobee. See story on Page 4. Rennie Murrell
This issue
3 News
Debt-ridden state seeks new funding plan for colleges Story by Zahra Farah
Spring schedule available Monday Story by Jacob Beltran
4 Blotter
No progress on thefts, assaults
7 Student life adds
employees, takes on service learning
Story by Melody Mendoza
9 ‘A brand new start of it’ Story by Stephania Malacrida Photo by Rennie Murrell
10 Alumni group struggles through handoffs Story by Julysa Sosa
11 Group looking
Story by Melody Mendoza Photo by Alison Wadley
of Mexican Revolution
VA dreams of lounge for vets
27 Calendar
Story by Roxanna Flores
19 NVC vet serves
for the ‘brotherhood’ Story by Julysa Sosa
20 Staff veterans tell
their stories ‘Marines made me a man’ Story by D.A. James
for 85 years of alums
Story by Melody Mendoza Photo by Rennie Murrell
Story by Julysa Sosa
5 News
12 Some print shop
Story by Stephania Malacrida
28 Chair warns of constitutional change Story by Megan Mares
29 Editorials
ACES e-mail needs change Stop wasting our money on studies
‘To protect the Marine beside me’
30 Letters to the Editor
Story and photos by Dave Crockett
Letter by J.R. Poole
Printing disputes
Smokers given a new home
employees take pay cut
Story by Abiel Rodriguez Photo by D.L. Gonzalez
Story by Zahra Farah Photo by Tyler K. Cleveland
‘Service is about conviction’
We’re all human
Story by Jason B. Hogan
Letter by León Franco
6 SGA election filing
14 People
31 Officials and policies
Story by Joshua Fechter
16 Soldier recounts deaths of fellow warriors in Iraq
‘Magic words: We pay for college’
SGA’s Barbecue with the Board set for Nov. 12
Story by Roxanna Flores Photo by Alison Wadley
ends today
Story by Joshua Fechter Photo by Julysa Sosa
17 Vet of 4 branches receives certificate
Story by Alison Wadley
24 Silent Killer Photo story by Alison Wadley
32 Revival crowd moves with spirit Story and photos by Rennie Murrell
26 Premiere
Families tell stories
Cover Illustration: Veterans Day Thursday is observed on the anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I in 1918. Juan Carlos Campos
The Ranger
News
Debt-ridden state seeks new funding plan for colleges Memorial for former Staff Council president changes at request of college president.
department of the major for assistance. Castillo said he predicts seeing students flooding departments. He asked if chairs were going to turn away students who ask for assistance but do not have By Zahra Farah the major the department offers. Guerra said it’s unlikely a department will turn The Texas Legislature is considering basing 10 per- away a student and probably be helped the same way cent of state appropriations on performance ratings, it was done with Passport, the old registration system. such as productive grade rate, in-class retention, perMark Goodspeed, public relations webmaster, sistence and graduation rates. Currently, funding is informed staff at a performance excellence advisory based on the number of students enrolled at the cen- group, or PEAG, leadership meeting, the group was sus date, the 12th day of classes. evaluating the role of the chair because every departThis change could reduce the amount ment chair’s workload differs and the plan of funding colleges receive from the state is to make them the same. They’re also because enrollment numbers decrease working on a procedure for chairs to disciafter the census dates. pline tenured faculty. President Geraldo R. Guerra told Staff Guerra, who sits on the district leaderCouncil he learned of the idea at the deans ship committee, said they are looking into and directors meeting earlier Tuesday. the same thing and also are looking into He said by fiscal year 2012-13, the state chairs being administrators. He said they could be funding this way. This means the are comparing data from other districts to amount of funding the college gets will be see how well chairs as administrators work. Gil Castillo measured by the number of students who In other business, members discussed pass a course with a C or higher. the district’s hiring of Dr. Lisa Alcorta, The state’s budget shortfall projection grew from director of academic student success, who will oversee $20 billion in August to $24-$25 billion in October. the development education grant, ensure correct budWhen Guerra broke the news to staff, most grimaced geting and make sure grant guidelines are followed. at the idea of being funded based on retention rates. Staff Council also is planning to create a memorial Dr. Jessica Howard, vice president of academic site for staff, faculty and students who have died. The affairs, confirmed the discussion, but she wasn’t even council raised $380 at Oktoberfest for it. 50 percent sure if this is actually going to happen. Initially, the idea was to create a memorial garden for Guerra also learned at the meeting that the district Gil Castillo, former Staff Council president and student is looking into capping growth, which could force stu- life assistant director, who died in February, but Zeigler dents to enroll in a district college farther from home. recommended the memorial be “more universal.” To Guerra said this is to resolve crowding at Northwest honor everyone who dies would be more appropriate Vista College. Built in 1995 to serve 12,000 students, than the piecemeal memorials the college has erected today the college serves 13,000 students. in the past, he said Thursday. “If we could do it in a more In other news, Guerra said Banner maintenance cohesive way, it would make more sense.” users were eliminated Oct. 29. Chairs and unit assisCreative multimedia secretary Judy Clark said even tants will now be maintenance users. though she and Castillo didn’t get along, she wanted to In a phone interview Tuesday, President Robert do this because she knew what he contributed to this Zeigler said there still would be some form of mainte- college. He advocated for establishing Staff Council as nance user at the colleges to assist faculty. a voice for nonfaculty employees. Faculty will advise more and have access to stuBut Zeigler said, “We have had other staff members dents’ records but will not be able to change records. who have made contributions to the college.” Before spring registration Nov. 15, chairs and unit Castillo also served as an adviser to the Student assistants are supposed to be trained to register stu- Government Association and the Leadership Institute dents, remove holds and add prerequisites. at this college and at the district. He served as local “I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Henry Castillo, and state president of Texas Association of Chicanos Staff Council president-elect, said, adding that even in Higher Education, a position traditionally filled by though the plan is to train chairs and unit assistants, individuals who have achieved a doctoral degree. he doesn’t see it happening before spring registration. In February 2009, Castillo resigned after a month Guerra said students are supposed to go to the on administrative leave with pay. He died in February.
Nov. 5, 2010 • 3
Spring schedule available Monday By Jacob Beltran Spring semester’s class schedule is expected to be posted online Monday under the class schedule/catalog section at alamo.edu. Class schedules are no longer printed. Isabel Castaneda, secretary in enrollment services, said that each course listed has a course reference number instead of a call number used for registration in previous years. Students can copy and paste the course reference number into course search when registering through the ACES registration system. Registration for all Alamo colleges starts Nov. 15 for students with 46 plus hours, Nov. 16 for students with 31 plus hours, Nov. 17 for students with 16 plus hours and Nov. 18 for students with one credit hour or more. Registration for all students is Nov. 19 to Jan. 16. This semester as of Tuesday, 27,133 students are enrolled at this college and 4,000 of them are taking courses at Northeast Lakeview College. As of Oct. 1, 16,023 students are enrolled at Northwest Vista College; 5,252 students are enrolled at Northeast Lakeview College; 9,117 students are enrolled at Palo Alto College and 10,902 students are enrolled at St. Philip’s College. The combined enrollment is 63,792 students. For students applying to this college through applytexas.org Castaneda recommends that students complete only one application because each application generates a banner ID.
Blotter
4 • Nov. 5, 2010
Tip of the week
The Ranger
No progress on thefts, assaults By Melody Mendoza
Turn around don’t drown Fact: Each year, more deaths occur because of flooding than any other severe weatherrelated hazard.
AccuNet/AP
NOAA’s National Weather Service suggests people monitor weather on the radio, move to higher ground if flooding occurs, avoid flooded areas, don’t park along streams and be cautious at night. Call the Alamo Colleges weather line at 210-485-0189. For more information about weather, visit http:// www.weather.gov/os/water/ index.shtml.
Contact Info Emergency 222-0911 General DPS 485-0099 Weather Line 485-0189
On Oct. 29, campus police began questioning and detaining potential suspects who meet the descriptions of black males who were described in recent crimes on campus. Sgt. Ben Peña said Wednesday the cases are still being investigated and officers are still detaining potential suspects but couldn’t give any more information. Chief Don Adams said a number of suspects have been detained this week. A male, who appeared to be Hispanic, was detained Oct. 29 in Lot 21. Music business freshman Dorsey Grey was also temporarily detained on campus to be searched. Adams said Oct. 29, the law allows officers to frisk someone if they suspect involvement in a crime or are in possession of a weapon. VIA Metropolitan Transit police and San Antonio Police Department are also investigating the cases. During October, there were four daylight incidents reported. A crime alert was sent to the Alamo Colleges via SAC-ALL, a districtwide e-mail, about a robbery Oct. 13 between McCreless and Gonzales halls in which two individuals stole a student’s belongings at 2:30 p.m. The second incident involved a Gateway-toCollege student who witnessed another student being robbed of his cell phone and then assaulted by three men on Dewey Place near San Pedro about noon Oct. 15. On Oct. 21, a student was physically assaulted by a male suspect who attempted to steal personal belongings at the bus stop west of San Pedro Avenue at Dewey in San Pedro Springs Park. The suspect is described as a black male, about 5
Dorsey Grey, Gateway-to-College music business freshman, is searched Oct. 29. Rennie Murrell feet 9 inches tall with a heavy build and short, dark, curly hair. He was wearing a light-colored sweatshirt and black baggie pants. A student reported a man stole his phone just before 11 a.m. Oct. 28 at the bus stop west of Gonzales Hall. The student said about 15 minutes later, four companions of the thief assaulted him in Lot 20 between Candler Physical Education Center and the tennis courts. The four men were described as black between the ages of 18 and 20. One is described as about 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighing about 200 pounds with a large afro hairstyle.
SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE
departed before officers arrived.
Candler. There are no suspects.
Oct. 25 — Individual reported damage to his vehicle from a hitand-run accident in Lot 26.
Individual reported graffiti in a men’s restroom in Chance. There are no suspects.
Oct. 29 — Criminal trespass warning was issued to a nonaffiliated male near Chance.
Individual reported a vehicle almost hit her as she crossed a street near Loftin.
Oct. 27 — Individual reported lost district keys near the nursing complex.
Individual was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.
Individual reported misplacing his parking permit.
Individual reported receiving a disturbing phone call.
Oct. 26 — Individual reported a male acting strangely. The male
Oct. 28 — Individual reported stolen personal property near
Individual reported his vehicle was burglarized near Park Place. Oct. 31 — Individual reported a female refusing to leave the tennis courts.
The Ranger
News
Nov. 5, 2010 • 5
Smokers given a new home Police designate a safe smoking spot near campus. By Abiel Rodriguez Anyone entering the Methodist Student Center last week might have needed a face mask to avoid second-hand smoke. About a week ago, the entrance to the Methodist Student Center at Dewey Street and Belknap Place was blocked by a swarm of smokers. “They’re creating a smoking and health risk,” said the Rev. John Feagins. “We can’t open our doors because all the smoke will come in, and there are cigarette butts all over the floor.” Methodist Student Center office administrator Brenda Menses said, “Some students would help pick up cigarette butts, but there was still a lot of them on the floor.” According to Feagins, the smokers were driven there by campus police who were issuing tickets to smokers who usually linger on west Dewey between Belknap and San Pedro Avenue. Since the entrance to the building is not this college’s property, witnesses explained, campus police said it was beyond their jurisdiction. Officers told smokers they wouldn’t ticket them if they moved across the street and smoked on that corner. On Oct. 28, the ministry held an event in front of its entrance that included music, food and preaching. Chairs and speakers playing Christian music occupied the space where the smokers usually stood. Menses said some smokers
attended the event while others moved elsewhere. The next day the smokers came back with a stereo. “They were playing loud music, using our planters as ashtrays and stepping on our plants,” Menses said. “We called city police to clear out the crowd and they informed campus police that the entrance of the Methodist Student Center was not beyond their jurisdiction.” Feagins called President Robert Zeigler to address the issue. Zeigler apologized and talked about the problem on campus radio station KSYM’s “Speaking of SAC” segment on “The Sauce” morning show. The segment airs at 7:30 a.m. Thursday on 90.1 FM. Students interviewed Tuesday said they were redirected to another spot where police told them they wouldn’t get ticketed for smoking. They said they were told they could smoke on the western sidewalk of Belknap between Courtland Place and West Dewey. “The police said we could smoke while we’re standing, but if we sit on the wall, they’ll give us a ticket,” said business freshman Ethan Ayala, as he stood on the sidewalk and smoked a cigarette. Ayala pointed to a concrete edging connected to the sidewalk that begins in the middle of the block. Many students refer to this area as the “smoker’s wall.” Sgt. Ben Peña of campus police said tickets are $15 if paid within 10 business days, and $22 after 10 days. For more information, call district police at 210-485-0088 from 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
The Rev. John Feagins moves cigarette butts from the yard of the Methodist Student Center to the sidewalk Oct. 29 before disposing of them. D.L. Gonzalez
6 • Nov. 5, 2010
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The Ranger
SGA election filing ends today Balloting begins Nov. 15 after a candidate forum in Loftin. By Joshua Fechter Today is the last day for students interested in Student Government Association to turn in an application for its upcoming special election. Students can pick up packets from the office of student life in Room 256 of Loftin Student Center or e-mail adviser Frances Crawford for an electronic version. Students must turn in packets to the office of student life or e-mail the application to Crawford at fcrawford2@alamo.edu. Tyler Archer, assistant coordinator of student leadership activities, said she has received one candidate packet.
Crawford said via e-mail that she has received three packets. This special election marks a change from SGA’s traditional election cycle. Starting this election, SGA officer terms will extend an academic year instead of a calendar year. Candidates will run for a term from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31. To be eligible for candidacy, students must currently be enrolled in at least six hours at this college and maintain a minimum of 2.5 GPA. The GPA requirement is waived for students who are in their first semester of college. Other requirements for candidacy include not having an administrative hold on a transcript and not being on academic probation or under suspension for disciplinary reasons. Students must also submit a photo.
The packet asks for personal information about the student as well as opinions on the campus role of SGA and why they want to join SGA. Applicants also need to address their qualifications for the position, initiatives they believe SGA should continue, how they have represented students in the past and other organizations they are involved in. Campaigning is scheduled for Nov. 8-19. SGA will conduct a candidate forum from noon to 1 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Fiesta Room of Loftin Student Center. Voting will begin after the forum Nov. 15. SGA meets at 2 p.m. the first three Mondays of each month in the craft room in Loftin. For more information, call SGA at 210-4861430.
SGA’s Barbecue with the Board set for Nov. 12 By Joshua Fechter To familiarize students with their representatives on the board of trustees, Student Government Association will conduct Barbecue with the Board from noon to 1:30 p.m. Nov. 12 in the Fiesta Room of Loftin Student Center. “Students understand the effects of the trustees’ job but not what’s involved,” said Tammy Kothe-Ramsey, SGA president and psychology sophomore. District 1 trustee Joe Alderete Jr., District 7 trustee Blakely Latham Fernandez and District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel are expected to attend. District 3 trustee Anna U. Bustamante and District 5 Roberto Zárate accepted the invitation but changed their plans. If five trustees attend, that would be a quorum, and the event would have to adhere to meeting requirements. The event agenda includes trustees’ opening comments and an explanation of which districts they serve, their duties as trustees and their positions on student issues. After their opening remarks, they will move into an open discussion about tuition, parking, budget cuts, textbooks, financial aid and Banner’s affect on financial aid in the fall. Kothe-Ramsey said in a Wednesday interview the event will most likely be conducted like a Q and A. Students will have the opportunity to ask
SGA President Tammy Kothe-Ramsey, psychology freshman Jacob Wong and Vice President Sam Huckleberry tell trustees about the deleterious effect Banner had on students in the Oct. 26 regular board meeting. Julysa Sosa questions, but Kothey-Ramsey and adviser Frances Crawford don’t know if questions will be submitted on cards or asked aloud. “Seeing students and their interactions may open their eyes more to student problems,” Kothe-Ramsey said. Kothe-Ramsey said students do not always have the time to attend board meetings, and this event provides an opportunity for students to interact with their representatives. “The more students show up, the more we will send the message that students do care,”
she said. District 2 trustee Denver McClendon and District 6 trustee Gene Sprague will be out of town. Kothe-Ramsey said District 4 trustee Marcelo Casillas and District 9 trustee James Rindfuss did not respond to SGA’s invitation. SGA will also host Chili with the Chairs at noon Nov. 29 in the Fiesta Room. SGA meets at 2 p.m. the first three Mondays of each month in the craft room in Loftin. For information, call SGA at 210-486-1430.
The Ranger
News
Nov. 5, 2010 • 7
Student life adds employees, takes on service learning By Melody Mendoza
they called me in, I thought my secretary was moving.” Student life added two faces to its staff and a Grams said she found out Aug. 16 that Archer new task to its list of responsibilities. would temporarily oversee service learning. Two new employees are Jeff Jackson, associ“That was a little confusing,” Grams said. “I ate director of student life, who was hired in didn’t take it too personally though … I knew March, and Mark Bigelow, assistant coordinator many people were moving around.” of student leadership and activities, who was Though Archer’s position is temporary, no hired in September. one could say what is expected as a permanent Tyler Archer, who has the same title as solution. Grams said she understood the change Bigelow, added service learning to her workload was because of cuts and her position as service this semester. learning coordinator would be discontinued. Jorge Posadas, director of student life, said Howard said the executive team, made up of Jackson maintains Loftin Student Center, overPresident Robert Zeigler, the vice presidents and sees the student life budget and serves as direc- deans of the college, decided the change would tor in his absence. He said Jackson was hired be more efficient. “The colleges decided that we before the district’s hiring chill from districtwide could do service learning by utilizing software budget cuts. Posadas said Bigelow was hired and the student life office,” she said. for transitional programPosadas said he ming to “help high school understood the change “I was shocked. When they students transition into was “to make things called me in, I thought my the college setting.” more affordable.” secretary was moving.” Posadas said stuGrams now visits Audrey Grams dent life was able to hire area high schools and College Connections recruiter Bigelow because he is not represents this college paid with institutional in College Connections, funds, but is funded by a program that helps the student activity fee, which is assessed on each navigate high school students through the student at a rate of $1 per semester hour. Posadas Accuplacer test; FAFSA, the free application for estimated that Bigelow is paid $50,000, which federal student aid; and other requirements of includes $40,000 of salary and $10,000 in benefits. registration. Although Grams likes her new job He said this is the fourth year the student and team, she said she was passionate about activity fund committee approved funding the service learning. She said Ruben Flores, dean position. The committee is made up of five of evening, weekend and distance education, students appointed by Student Government requested she join his office. Association and four faculty and staff members. As service learning coordinator, Grams said Student committee members are Tara Haley, she kept detailed reports and managed 50 faculty Leo Herbeck, Daniel Having, Sam Huckleberry members in more than 26 disciplines. She said and Jacob Wong. The employees serving are John faculty would call her for changes curriculum or Visintainer, Dehlia Wallis, Charles Falcon and to integrate service in course work. She involved Melody Hull. Posadas is listed online as commitnew faculty in service learning by matching them tee chair. He said he facilitates meetings but does with nonprofit organizations, but most profesnot vote on funding requests. sors managed it from there. Posadas, who said he was surprised by the Under her direction, the service learntransfer, said the assignment will be different ing program was honored with inclusion in from traditional student life tasks, but the staff the President’s Higher Education Community will focus on what faculty needs. “We want to Service Honor Roll in 2007 and 2009. “I thought make it as easy as possible.” what I was doing was just fine,” she said. Audrey Grams, College Connections recruitGrams also played a major role in the Phi er, was the previous service learning coordinator Theta Kappa food pantry in the Catholic Student and one of the many faculty and staff members Center. “I had many plans for this year,” she said. who were reassigned because of cuts. She said She nominated PTK for the Pepsi Refresh she got a call from Dr. Jessica Howard, vice Project for the month of June in which they won president of academic affairs, Aug. 13 about her a grant of $5,000 for the pantry. Grams said she reassignment. “I was shocked,” she said. “When still volunteers time to the food pantry but can’t
do as much as she used to because of her transfer. Posadas said this semester, student life is working on electronic time sheets for students to log their volunteer hours. He said they are working on getting students and faculty online access to service learning and volunteer websites, so even students outside of a service learning class can have the opportunity to volunteer. Posadas said student life staff had a general information service learning session Sept. 12. He said six faculty members attended, and student life received e-mails from 15 who didn’t attend. Posadas said Archer has met with three faculty members and is setting appointments with other faculty to see who is interested in incorporating service learning in their coursework. Archer referred all questions about her new duties to Posadas and refused to answer any questions. Posadas said student life is planning a volunteer service fair in the spring because they hadn’t prepared for adding service learning to their event calendar this semester. He said they want to incorporate service learning with civic engagement opportunities and volunteerism in the future. “We want to stay true to what service learning is and maybe more,” he said. Archer, Bigelow and Posadas are attending a conference Friday through Tuesday in St. Louis for professional development. He said conferences are “usually very pricey,” this one costing about $6,000, however, “there wasn’t a lot of excitement about the conference,” because they are responsible for 16 to 17 events per week on campus. He said half of the funds will be paid with operational funds and the other half will come from student activity fee funds. David Mrizek, vice president of college services, said about $400,000 were collected this fiscal year and $154,518.83 was transferred into the account for underpayments for fiscal years 2007-10. Although the committee has declined funding other academic programs, funding for service learning was approved. Service learning projects traditionally have involved assigned projects in the classroom required of all students for a grade in a course. Howard said service learning is “more under student affairs but is academic as well.” Posadas said service learning is not a stand-alone academic entity. “We are enhancing the classroom,” he said, noting a fine line between academic and nonacademic programs, but service learning and student life can go together. For more information about service learning, call student life at 210-485-0125.
8 • Nov. 5, 2010
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The Ranger
Rey Hinojosa is home from New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music after a semester to save for tuition and living expenses. Rennie Murrell
The Ranger
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Nov. 5, 2010 • 9
‘A Brand New Start of It’ Student saves to return to New York conservatory By Stefania Malacrida Rey Hinojosa, a former student, didn’t study music in high school. He was a beginner when he started taking piano classes at this college three years ago. Hinojosa doesn’t even have a piano at his South Side home. When he picked up the interest, he learned on an electronic keyboard and still uses one at home. Hinojosa, who next month will be 25, is one of the few students accepted by The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Lower Manhattan in New York City. One of the most prestigious jazz conservatories in the country, the university every semester accepts a small number of students from all over the world on the basis of their curriculum. Of 300 preselected candidates, only about 20 get in, and Hinojosa was one of them. He smiles while recalling the moment of the audition in New York City one year ago. “When you are that way under pressure, your hands sweat and your fingers tremble. I don’t even exactly remember what I played.” Later, however, those memories resurface. “I played one of my favorite pieces, ‘Ask Me Now’ by Thelonious Monk, who is considered the father of swing,” he said. “That melody inspired me to get into the world of jazz when I was a student at SAC from 2006 to 2009.” Hinojosa described some of Monk’s ballads as “abstract painting” and “a splatter of notes, but all cohesive, that all makes sense.” Apparently, his passion was communicated to the New York jury that selected him after the
Rey Hinojosa, a music graduate of this college, poses in Koehler Cultural Center, 310 W. Ashby. Hinojosa plans to return to The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York where he studied one semester. Rennie Murrell audition. “Probably, I was not the best student musician, but they saw that I was really interested in learning music and that I had a potential.” After entering the university, he said a whole new world opened to his eyes. “Not having a music background, studying at SAC was hard for me. In New York, it is 10 times
harder,” he said. “Some days, I would be at school from 8 a.m. to midnight looking for a room to practice in.” He spent the spring semester at The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. “The school is extremely professional,” he continued. “You play with other students, develop projects and get in touch with the faculty members who are
all great musicians. You also are able to play with the instructors.” Over the years, the teaching staff at the university has included 1970s legend John Coltrane, his bass player Reggie Workman and guitarist Adam Holzman, who played with Miles Davis in the late 1980s. “You are exposed to several genres and to the New York music background. You really have the chance to explore your preferences and express them,” Hinojosa said. The downside, he said, is that the school is expensive. That’s one of the reasons he is back in town. Tuition can reach about $18,000 a semester, not including living costs, and students need to know that the opportunities to apply are out there. Before enrolling, students should be aware of the high costs of a professional conservatory and immediately apply for as many scholarships as possible, he said. At the moment, Hinojosa is trying to save money for the coming years, applying for jobs and practicing his piano skills on his home keyboard. The school allows a year of absence from the program. This will allow Hinojosa to come up with the tuition and return to New York to complete a bachelor’s degree. He said he had a good experience at this college, so he “wouldn’t mind teaching.” He said he is anxious to get back to the Big Apple but doesn’t mind being home. “I was born and raised in San Antonio,” he said, gesturing to his neighborhood around Brooks CityBase. “My family is from here, and my intentions are to return and give back what I’ve learned.”
10 • Nov. 5, 2010
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Alumni group struggles through handoffs New director takes over in 85th anniversary year. By Julysa Sosa In the 1930s, this college established the San Antonio College Alumni Association for its first graduates. The college first offered classes in 1925 at the German-English School on Alamo Street in La Villita. The association was membership-based and completely self-funded. Eighty years later, the college is celebrating its 85th anniversary but still struggling to maintain an alumni organization. Among the planned events for the 85th anniversary was a fundraising gala Oct. 9 at the Westin Riverwalk Hotel that brought in $86,993 for scholarships and programs. Pamela Tyrone-Tyler, institutional advancement director, organized the event. She came to this college in February from the district where she was a donor relations coordinator. She oversees fundraising for this college and
“Anything you want to grow and be successful in, you have to start from square one.” Pamela Tyrone-Tyler institutional advancement director
now also the Alumni Association while the college looks for a new coordinator. She is the third administrator for the group in as many years. Emily Kahanek, who came to the college from H-E-B Grocery Co. as a senior public relations coordinator in February, resigned as coordinator the first week of September to pursue a master’s degree. Kahanek also planned the Christmas Tree lighting at Alamo Plaza as well as the annual Feast of Sharing, which raised an average of $12,000-13,000. Kathy Armstrong preceded Kahanek as coordinator of the association from February 2008 until February when she was transferred to the
media services department. Armstrong, a former director of student activities, now works in the media services department as programming coordinator of inTV, the educational programming station cooperated with the City of San Antonio. About the same time, administration of the Alumni and Friends Association was transferred from the office of the dean of learning resources to the office of institutional advancement but development of membership expansion and programming has yet to get under way. Kahanek’s departure left Tyrone-Tyler and senior secretary Carla Warren as the only employees in institutional advancement. “Anything you want to grow and be successful in, you have to start from square one,” TyroneTyler said. The modern version began with a grant in 1995 to establish an alumni association. But the organization experienced a number of false starts. Tyrone-Tyler envisions the future of the Alumni and Friends Association as having a
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The Ranger strong board with members who are passionate about this college, she said. “We will not have a strong Alumni and Friends Association until we have a strong board,” she said by phone Oct. 21. She added she expects the board to be unafraid to ask for things from the college that benefit students such as scholarships. Tyrone-Tyler said there were about 16 members in the association in February and within the last eight months 15-20 new members have joined. However, she could not provide a specific figure. Her hands full with her original duties, Tyrone-Tyler has not been able to keep up with all the details her new assignment brings. The association website at http://www.alamo.edu/sac/ alumni/contact_us_page.htm still lists Kahanek’s office telephone number as the contact and her voice mail greets callers.
Nov. 5, 2010 • 11
Group looking for 85 years of alums Member benefits include discounts at movies. By Julysa Sosa Despite a potential pool of a million former students, the Alumni and Friends Association has few members, but the new coordinator plans to change that. Along with connecting with current students, Pamela TyroneTyler, director of the office of institutional advancement, wants to ensure alumni members are reconnected. Whether through volunteer work, or exclusive member dinners, she hopes to intertwine current students, alumni and the college. Tyrone-Tyler said she sees potential in the association and is
motivated to get things moving as soon as possible. “We’re not there yet, but we are on the right path.” The benefits of joining include discounts at Santikos Theaters, Hilton Hill Country Resort & Spa, Danny’s Road Service Inc., L&M Bookstores and D.O.V. Photography. Tyrone-Tyler says she is constantly contacting companies and businesses to build more benefits for members. In addition, she monitors current sponsors to ensure they continue to provide what has been promised, “All these things that we promise, we have to follow through.” Tyrone-Tyler said the association offers benefits to alumni and friends for a $25 membership. However, the website and appli-
cation show several membership levels, including a lifetime membership for $250. Graduates from 2009 and 2010 do not have to pay a membership of $20; graduates from any other year do. This college’s faculty and staff pay $25, and friends of SAC, including former students who did not graduate, pay $20. Retired faculty and staff and current students pay a $10 membership fee. The membership application is online. Return it to the second floor of Koehler Cultural Center at 310 W. Ashby Place. For a full list of benefits, go to http://www.alamo.edu/sac/alumni/benefits_page.htm. For more information, call 210486-1389.
News
12 • Nov. 5, 2010
Some print shop employees take pay cut By Zahra Farah District print services ideally will close by Nov. 30 and colleges will use Thomas Reprographics Inc., according to a memorandum Monday from Gary O’Bar, district director for purchasing. The date could change if print shop employees are not reassigned by then. Tuesday, O’Bar said the colleges started using Thomas Reprographics’ services Monday. O’Bar said the vending contract was signed Oct. 22. He has been working with the printing company to figure out work ordering flow, billing, point of contact and Web page development so colleges can easily transition into using their services. Staff, faculty and administration at St. Philip’s College and Southwest Campus, Palo Alto College and this college have used on-campus print shops for 31 years. The district offices also have a print shop. No services exist at the two youngest colleges. June 1, The Ranger reported that 11 print service employees were recognized for a combined 181 years employment with Alamo Colleges, averaging 16.4 years of service per employee; One had 25 years. Employment supervisor Roberto Echevarria said of the 11 employees, two resigned; one employee was placed at St. Philip’s, one at Palo Alto and one at Northeast Lakeview College but are being paid with district’s budget. One additional employee is also at Northeast Lakeview but is being paid with the college’s budget. One has taken a position in fiscal affairs at district. Four employees have not been placed. Linda Boyer-Owens, associate vice chancellor of human resources, said she didn’t have the exact amount print shop employees are paid or by how much pay has changed but said employees
Reprographics technician Mary Esther Abundis binds pages of law enforcement training academy instruction booklets Wednesday in the print shop in Room 205 of Fletcher. “We don’t need the fancy machines, the color stuff,” she said, noting one way district could save money. Tyler K. Cleveland wages either stayed the same or changed only slightly. Ruben E. Rangel, this college’s print shop supervisor, said three employees he knows have retained their same pay grade, but he and four other employees still left were offered positions that would be a cut in pay. One position would be $5,000 less than what they are paid now and two other positions entailed a $10,000 cut in pay. Thomas Reprographics opened six positions at its shop, but Rangel said no one accepted because print shop employees had already served so much time with the Alamo Colleges. An average print shop employee has worked with the colleges for about 16 years. Rangel has worked with Alamo Colleges for 21 years. Accepting a job at Thomas would change their retirement eligibility and benefits. “We’ve put in too many years to leave and go to a vendor,” Rangel said. Eliminating print shops across the colleges was brought up as a cost-cutting initiative at the May 15 board retreat. At the time, Diane Snyder, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said outsourcing print shops should
save colleges $100,000. Outsourcing print shops was one of the district’s 12 strategic initiatives in cutting costs for fiscal year 2011. This move was part of the district’s goal to cut $7,154,068, from the remainder of this fiscal year and fiscal year 2011 because of Gov. Rick Perry’s mandate to cut 5 percent of state appropriations. John Strybos, associate vice chancellor of facilities operation and construction management, said the initial plan was to find a vendor by the August board meeting and place the contract by Sept. 1, but instead Thomas’ contract was approved at the September board meeting in the amount of $44,600 monthly. In return, the district expects to save $350,000 annually by outsourcing its print services. On June 1, print service employees learned from Strybos their jobs were going to be eliminated likely Sept. 1. Southwest Campus print shop employees have already moved so the shop closed Monday. O’Bar and Strybos said they want employees to have time to transition to jobs and to give faculty and staff time to learn how to work with the new print vendor.
The Ranger
HEALTHY WOMEN & MEN AGES 21-54 that drink beer, wine, or mixed drinks are needed for participation in research studies.
Participants will be compensated for their time and travel. Volunteers should drink 1 to 4 days each week. Participation will last from 7:30am to about 7:30pm for 6 to 8 weekdays across a two week period. Participants may also be invited to participate in weekly visits that last for 30 minutes to 1 hour over 16 weeks. Volunteers must be height/weight proportionate. For more information, please contact Dina at 210‐567‐2752.
The Ranger
Nov. 5, 2010 • 13
14 • Nov. 5, 2010
People
Phlebotomist Sherri Doyle helps liberal arts sophomore Reiley Atkinson (left) and pre-nursing freshman Yolanda Smith give blood Tuesday in the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center blood mobile east of Candler. The blood drive was in memory of pre-nursing freshman
The Ranger
Briaramae Francis, 20, and psychology freshman Scott Foss, 22, who were killed in a traffic accident Feb. 7 on Loop 410 near Perrin-Beitel. For location and hours to donate, visit www.bloodntissue.org/locations_hours.asp. Tyler K. Cleveland
Frances Crawford, writing center director; Sam Huckleberry, Student Government Association vice president; and Carrie Hernandez, student activities specialist, judge carved pumpkins displayed Oct. 28 in Loftin. The winners won an iPod. Architecture freshman Pedro Silva won most scariest, education sophomore Eder Davila won most humorous, and Miguel Ceceña won most creative. Julysa Sosa Left, dance freshman Lindzy Shepherd performs a contemporary dance to the song “Your Guardian Angel” by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus during talent show tryouts Wednesday in the Fiesta Room of Loftin. The talent show will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Fiesta Room of Loftin. Jenny Robles
The Ranger
People
Nov. 5, 2010 • 15
From left, speech and theater sophomore Matt Turner, who plays Brighella; theater freshman Andy Silva, who plays Leandro; and theater freshman Alex Bernal, who plays Pantalone, rehearse Oct. 27 for the “The King Stag.” The play directed by Ronald L. Watson will be at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Nov. 12 and 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in McAllister. Jenny Robles
Officer David Gutierrez tells psychology sophomore John McClellan, Phi Theta Kappa president, that he can’t park on campus walkways Tuesday after being given a ticket for $15 south of Gonzales. McClellan parked near the building so he could unload supplies for the honor society. Tyler K. Cleveland
Six of 11 employees recognized for 40 years at this college pose Wednesday west of Loftin. Faculty and staff who have been at this college for 15, 25 and 40 years were honored at a coffee in the employee lounge. The total number years of service for 49 employees was 1,140 years. Julysa Sosa
16 • The Ranger
“ … Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in th
Soldier recounts deaths of fellow warriors in Iraq Music business freshman joined the Army to find direction in life and prepare for a police career.
ing lot,” Gomez said, who was in the passenger seat. “When we got there shots had already been fired, and the guy was running away and had thrown the gun on the side of the highway. The cops found the gun, got an By Roxanna Flores ID and found the guy.” Gomez graduated from the Metropolitan Technical People who roamed the streets of Providence, R.I., and Career Center in 2004 and a couple of months with no place to go, motivated 23-year-old music prolater, moved out of his mom’s house to his older sister’s duction freshman Angel Gomez, to get his life straight. house in New York. “Growing up, I’ve While he was living always seen homeless with his mother and his people,” Gomez said. sister, Gomez floated “That’s been my worst from job to job for about nightmare, that’s somea year. He had six jobs, thing I wouldn’t want including Burger King, myself to go through.” Arizona Tea Co. and a From an early point roofing contractor. of his life, Gomez knew After resigning from he wanted to be a police jobs because of unfair officer. wages or schedules, Gomez attended the Gomez realized he Metropolitan Technical needed to do something and Career Center in with his life. “I thought Providence. about being homeless, “It wasn’t a regular and I thought, I am not high school where you going out like that. I sat down in class all day have to go and do a proand studied. It was more fession — something I hands on,” Gomez said. like doing.” His passion for Gomez chose the becoming a police military. He was sworn officer led him to join in to the Army in New a cadet program as an York in August 2005. intern. Gomez said he was Every Tuesday and also influenced to join Thursday, Gomez would the Army because he visit with the Providence wanted to become a Music production freshman Angel Gomez poses on Police Department and campus. Gomez is a medically retired Army veteran. police officer. “I also ride along on shifts. wanted to have experiAlison Wadley “I loved it because ence with the military every day I was over there. I’d be doing something difbecause when you go into the police department with ferent,” Gomez said enthusiastically. “They taught me military experience, it’s not a lot easier, but you know a how to do police reports, how to search a vehicle and lot more of what you’re doing,” he said. how to write a ticket.” Gomez graduated from basic training Dec. 14, 2005, Gomez said he volunteered his time to the police and was able to return home for the holidays but had department and volunteered for the graveyard shift to be back at his post in Fort Riley, Kan., before New because being part of the cadet program wasn’t enough. Year’s Day. On a particular night, Gomez had a first-hand expeAt Fort Riley, Gomez was trained to be a gunner on rience of how dangerous police work can be. a Humvee and after 11 months of training, he was told While filming a police video, the officer he was he would be deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, along with two shadowing got called to a club for a possible shooting. “There was a guy in a coat waving a gun in the parkCONTINUED ON PAGE 18
A Marine sniper emerges from a sa operations to an almost complete sta Operation Iraqi Freedom. Ranger pho
Albert Bogdan, criminal justice certificate holder, poses for a photo with the certificate he received in May. Bogdan is the oldest criminal justice major to receive a certificate, and he is a veteran of the Marine Corps, Navy, Army and Air Force. He also was in JROTC in high school. Alison Wadley
Nov. 5, 2010 • 17
he country’s service and with gratitude for the victory … ” President Woodrow Wilson
and storm that slowed combat and-still in the first few days of otographer Dave Crockett cap-
VA dreams of lounge for vets By Roxanna Flores
tured the image while serving with 2nd Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5, 1st Marine Division. He is one of five veterans serving on staff at The Ranger. Read about them on Pages 20-23 and online.
Vet of 4 branches receives certificate By Melody Mendoza Albert Bogdan, 84, is the oldest criminal justice major to receive a law enforcement certificate from this college. He collected his certificate in May. Bogdan is also a local veteran who served in four military branches starting when he was 15 years old. Although Bogdan had enough credits since 2006 to earn his certificate, he thought he still needed one more class. Criminal justice Chair Marshall Lloyd said he remembered Bogdan while watching “The Pacific,” a miniseries of America’s battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II. Lloyd said when he called Bogdan, he found out that the vet hadn’t received the certificate, so he filed the application.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
The office of veteran affairs relocated May 10 from the first floor of Moody Learning Center to a slightly bigger location on the second floor. The recent move has caused the staff to contemplate how a lounge for their students can be beneficial. Unfortunately, space in Moody is limited, keeping those ideas only a dream. Before the move, veteran affairs staff occupied cubicles in the corner of the counseling center. James DeMasi, coordinator and student counselor of veteran affairs, said, “We ran out of space downstairs. We were running into each other.” The office needed more space to be able to serve an additional 2,000 veterans taking classes at Northeast Lakeview, DeMasi said. Senior secretary Gloria Gonzales said she would also love a lounge for her veteran students. Student services assistant Antonio Rabago said a lounge would be a good idea. He added that having extra computers would help veterans with benefit or financial aid questions, “Veteran students can check their benefits, register for classes and can sit with a veteran one-on-one to help them with their questions.” In the entrance of the room, Gonzales and Jeremy Bradley, freshman architect and work-study student in the office, said they would like a resting area. Bradley said, “The lounge would be great to have because veteran students can come and relax and have their own space where there aren’t that many people.” DeMasi said students can come in and talk about problems, and not necessarily war stories. He said they may also talk about moving frequently and how their families cope with it. Although space is an issue on campus, staff and veterans still envision a space they could call their own. “It’s just a thought; it would be something nice to have,” DeMasi said.
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18 • Nov. 5, 2010 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16
after the U.S. entered World War II because the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Bodgan’s daughter Barbara Marshall said, Because he wasn’t 17, he went to the county “He was in a rehab center when Lloyd got a hold courthouse, claimed he was 17, paid $5, got a of him. It brought his spirits up.” drivers license and enlisted. “It was the biggest Bogdan said, “It’s strange, but I remember mistake I ever made.” each instructor; night or day, female or male, I Despite regrets about his education, Bogdan remember.” praised his military training. “I have to say, one Lloyd said he talked with thing they do teach you is selfBogdan for two hours as the pride. They make you feel like “I saw individuals vet related war stories. He you’re doing something great.” jump into the water met President Harry Truman On his 17th birthday, “I and get between the in 1945 and Gen. Douglas requested for my parents to mine and ship.” MacArthur. sign papers for the Navy. It was Students from the crimikind of a shock to everyone Albert Bogdan criminal justice major nal justice program delivered when I said I want to go again.” Bogdan a birthday cake Oct. His four years in the Navy 23 and sang “Happy Birthday.” was “the best thing I did.” Bogdan said Wednesday that he enjoyed the He said he worked in the landing craft infancake very much but laughed that “it didn’t last try, or LCI, which was one of the smallest boats in very long.” the Navy at that time and was used for invasion. During an interview Sept. 19, he said he He said he remembered one night in regrets not going to college after high school. “I Okinawa, Japan, they were being harassed. He was always in some kind of problem.” said they got into the mine-filled water. “If hit, He said he was expelled and the only way he they explode,” Bogdan said. “I saw individuals could go back was if his dad went to the school, jump into the water and get between the mine but “I didn’t see eye to eye with my dad.” and ship, pushing it away with their bodies. Before getting in the military, Bogdan said That to me was a hero. You don’t find better he worked in the radio booth at Wrigley Field, people than that.” the Chicago Cubs’ baseball field. He joined He said another time, during an invasion, the Marine Corps in December 1941, a week he ran into two friends from Chicago who were
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17 of his close friends. “We had a feeling that something was going to happen to us ,but we didn’t know what,” Gomez said. On Jan. 29, 2007, Gomez deployed to Iraq. The following April 6, Gomez’s close friend, Spc. Daniel Fuente was shot him through the head with a sniper rifle by a member of a radical religious group. A month later on May 22, his friend from Del Rio, Pvt. Oscar Saucedo got killed by an explosive fragment projectile bomb or EFP. a heat-censored roadside bomb made of lead shaped like a cement block. He said, “They take out the cement blocks and put a fake one in, basically the bomb, making it look just like it and once you go by it, it blow ups and when it shoots it shoots like a shotgun so it melts through the armor and takes
everything out,” He described Saucedo’s injuries. “Shrapnel went through his ribs and took out his lungs and his heart, and it blew up through his back.” After his friends’ deaths, Gomez’s sergeant noticed behavioral changes and sent him on a three-day leave in the Green Zone. “At the time, I was going crazy. I just wanted to finish everything and look for the people that were doing this,” Gomez said. June 10, three days after returning from leave, tragedy struck again. The same type of bomb that killed Saucedo also hit Gomez’s Humvee. It took Gomez about 40 seconds to regain consciousness. “Little by little, I was getting my senses back. I could literally taste the bomb. I couldn’t feel from my waist down, I thought I was paralyzed and all I could see was white
the Marines with him. “I was kind of lucky not catching up with them,” he said. He found out about half of the unit never returned home. In 1947, Bogdan said he joined the Army, where he worked in communications. The next year, the Army gave the communication unit an option to transfer to the Air Force. “It sounded pretty good to me, so I transferred to the Air Force for 20 years.” He worked in crypto-analysis, coding and decoding messages, under four-star generals and always knew what was going on in the war. “If I was 22 or 23, I would have to pick the Air Force,” he said. “You don’t walk around on an airplane; you live that airplane. You get much more education out of the Air Force.” He said in his last four years of active duty, he was a recruiter. At 44, he retired and taught flying. He also worked at a golf course where he met his wife of 35 years. Bogdan tried real estate but said it wasn’t very interesting and worked a few months in the evidence room for a homicide squad. Although Bogdan has done so much, he said, “I’m not outstanding.” Of his many accomplishments, he said, “If I thought I could walk a little better than now, I would go back to school, back to SAC,” he said. As Bogdan held his certificate, he said, “You don’t know how proud I am of this. If you have the chance to stay in school, stay.”
and all I could hear was a loud ring,” Gomez said. He counted himself lucky with some open wounds in his stomach, some shrapnel in his back and a leg that was hanging on a piece of flesh. He said the rest of his unit suffered far more deadly hits. His sergeant, who was sitting below him, lost both his legs and an arm and the driver was hit in the head with shrapnel that ejected him from the vehicle. Gomez said he remembers trying to pull himself up so that he could see over his gun; however, when he was able to, he saw many Iraqi soldiers running toward them ready to ambush. Gomez said he frantically tried to pull the trigger, but his other sergeant told him he couldn’t open fire and that they had to get away. Gomez said he was transferred from hospital to hospital for five
days. He was in Camp Victory Hospital and then transported to Germany, and then to Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. After multiple surgeries, he was fitted with a prosthetic leg. He learned to walk in three months. “As soon as I was able to walk by myself and was more independent, I just took off. I didn’t want to be over there,” Gomez said. He attributes his quick recovery to his family and friends. “I don’t want my friends and family seeing me down. If you actually show them that you are doing good, they won’t be as worried about you.” After a year’s vacation, visiting friends in New York and sleeping in, Gomez returned to San Antonio and registered for fall classes here. Despite his life-altering experiences in the Army, Gomez said he is still optimistic and sees his future as bright as ever.
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Nov. 5, 2010 • 19
NVC veteran serves for ‘brotherhood’ By Julysa Sosa Army veteran and Northwest Vista College Adjunct Joseph A. Drozd recalls the discipline and effort that pushed him far in his career. Drozd was born and reared in San Antonio in a military family. His father served three years in the Air Force, but Drozd credits his interest in the military to his older brother, who served 30 years in the Navy. “I kind of followed in my brother’s footsteps,” he said. Drozd enlisted in the Army during his junior year of high school and became active duty after graduating from Robert E. Lee High School in 1984. “Discipline and drive are what helped carry me through my education,” he said. Drozd recalls having a difficult time maintaining good grades throughout high school and ended up graduating with a 69 percent average. “It’s not that I didn’t like school; I found it difficult,” he said. In 1987, Drozd took a break from the military and focused on furthering his education. “I had always wanted to be an officer. That’s when I went back to college to get my degree.” Drozd attended San Antonio College in 1990 and earned an associate degree in psychology. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos in 1992. He re-enlisted in 1996 and spent three years as a soldier before being commissioned as an officer in 1999. Drozd earned his master’s degree in administration from the University of Incarnate Word in 2001. “I didn’t find out until my senior year (of college) that I had dyslexia, he said. “I share that with the students that I teach.” Drozd served as a transportation platoon leader in 2004 while in Iraq and received a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service while in a combat zone. He was awarded 14 awards throughout his career.
Joseph A. Drozd, S-4 battle captain of mobilization and deployment brigade, at base camp Courtesy photos
Drozd said serving the tour in Iraq was the most memorable of his military career. “It was really rewarding to me to be able to lead soldiers and do my best to bring my soldiers back,” he said. The platoon’s was transferred for medical reasons after an April 9, 2004, ambush that killed three soldiers and left four missing. “When I took over the platoon, no one else died.” Drozd explained how promising families of soldiers that their loved ones would return home safely was something he found important. “We don’t like war; we just like to be there to take care of our soldiers,” he said. “It’s like a brotherhood.” After returning from Iraq in 2004, Drozd worked a full-time at Northwest Vista College as a student success team leader in enrollment services. He started teaching student development classes for veterans as an adjunct in 2007. “My entire career has been in military, and education as well, and now I do both.” In addition to teaching at the college, Drozd has worked since
Joseph A. Drozd in 2004 in Iraq
2007 as a senior operations analyst for General Dynamic Information Technology, a worldwide company that delivers IT services and solutions to military, government and commercial customers within the U.S. and around the world. Drozd’s unit, the 418th Movement Control Team, was deployed once again to Iraq, but medical reasons kept him home. “I was very disheartened that I wasn’t able to go with my unit,” he said. “Being part of the military, it gets integrated in you.”
Drozd listed the seven Army values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage, as being ideals that have shaped him as a person. “These are the guiding principles upon which I do my best to live by every day,” he said. Drozd has served 18 years of active and reserve duty. He is currently on active duty at Fort Bliss in El Paso and is employed by the district as an adjunct faculty member. He is not teaching this semester but hopes to when he returns.
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Staff veterans tell their stories
‘Marines made me a man’ By D.A. James
A Marine rappels from a helicopter in 1964 at Camp Pendleton, Calif. D.A. James
Lance Cpl. D.A. James, at right, with other Marine security guards in the U.S. Ambassadors office in Katmandu with the Charge de Affairs Barnes May 2, 1966. “They weren’t happy that I looked at the camera. I think that’s the reason that I got the picture.”
I graduated in 1963 and decided that going to college at that time would be an unjust burden on my parents because of my poor academic background. In July, I went into the Marine Corps as a private making $78 a month, and when I got out after four years, I was a corporal. At the time, I thought it would be a big adventure, but the grind of everyday life had a way of grounding me, reminding me of all of the things that I didn’t know, and the things that I should strive to learn. The Marine Corps gave me self-discipline and time to grow and learn about the world. I experienced things in the four years that most people never experience. One of the 1965 passthings that really inspired me port photo in Washington, was rappeling out of a heliD.C., before copter. They called it a vertigoing to cal assault or vertical envelop- K a t m a n d u , Nepal ment. Rappeling out of helicopters didn’t last because it took too long, but it was a lot of fun. Now that I look back on that magical time in my life, I realize that it was an adventure. It was a time when I became a man. My first two years were spent in 1st Recon Battallion in California followed by a year of state department duty in Katmandu, Nepal, and ending in 2nd Shore Party Battallion with one six-month cruise to the Mediterranean and a three-month cruise in the Caribbean. I went to Field Radio Operators School, Camp Pendleton in 1964; amphibious reconnaissance techniques at Camp Pendleton, 1964; Mountain Operations Training Course in Bridgeport, Calif., 1964; Marine Security Guard School in Arlington, Va., 1965; and Radio Telegraph Operator Training at Camp Lejeune, N.C., 1966. When I got out of the Marine Corps, I had earned a Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Letter of Commendation — Sept. 14, 1967; Rifle Badge M-14 Sharp Shooter; Pistol Badge; and .45 Pistol Expert.
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Nov. 5, 2010 • 21
Marines with 2nd Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5, 1st Marine Division, wait in fighting position in reaction to “lightning, lightning, lightning,” a tactical message warning of an incoming missile attack in Tactical Assembly Area Coyote on the northern edge of Kuwait. In just hours, they will cross the border into Iraq as the lead force to commence ground combat operations for Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003.
‘To protect the Marine beside me’ Story and Photos by Dave Crockett As a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I get asked quite often if I feel that invading Iraq was the right thing to do. The honest answer is I don’t know. Decisions, such as whether one country should invade another half way around the world, are way beyond my scope of expertise. I do not pretend to have all the answers, even after I’ve “been there, done that.” I stood on the bank of the Tigris River in Baghdad, got lost in one of Saddam’s palaces (yes, it was so big I got lost), and on more than one occasion, I survived bullets whizzing by my head with an unnerving “crack!” It’s easy for thousands of armchair generals to say we should not have invaded or that it was about time we did so. But the reality of it is that the answer is far too complicated for anyone to truly know. What I do know is the reason I was there wasn’t for some huge pie-in-the-sky moral or ideological cause. I wasn’t there to dethrone Saddam. I did not go there to free the Iraqi people, find chemical weapons or exact
revenge for 9/11. Those are all burdens far too big for my shoulders. I was there to protect the Marine beside me and make it home alive in one piece, God willing. When you’re in combat, you’re not thinking about the big picture. All you’re thinking about is the moment that is staring you in the face, my fellow Marines and a family half way around the world whom you can only remember by a picture tucked securely in your pocket. While I was in Iraq, I saw horrible things. Things I could not share with you here. But I also saw good things, too. I saw thankfulness in the eyes of the Iraqi soldier I gave water to while guarding him. I saw the excitement in the waves of all the Iraqis who came out of their homes to greet us with cheers as we patrolled their streets. I shared hope and praise with Iraqis as we celebrated Easter together singing in a Baghdad Catholic church —and I am neither Iraqi nor Catholic. I know my time in Iraq has affected me deeper than I will ever understand, and I think I will fade away far sooner than the memories I have of that experience. However, I am glad to have the memories of the smiling Iraqi children as they waved to me, and I am thankful for the smiles of my own children when I came home.
A Marine with Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa clears a World War II bunker looking for potential terrorist activity while on a security patrol on the outskirts of Djibouti City, Djibouti, Africa, in 2004.
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‘Service is about conviction’ Story and photos by Jason B. Hogan Running through the perils of Iraq and Afghanistan can change anyone’s perspective. The only question was if I die, what am I dying for? Was it really for the benefit of my country and its people or for one administration? Ask 500 soldiers and you’ll get 500 answers. The more things change, the more they stay the same is a recurring theme that has become essential to me. There is a misconception that members of military service are self-made heroes. If that is true, I had no place being in the Middle East; but sometime between April 2003 and March 2004, all of that changed for me. The funny thing to me when I reminisce with other veterans are the inner conflicts that seem to be so apparent to us all. You tell yourself that you will not allow military service to become your life, but it becomes a pervasive entity that takes on a life of its own. You might call it deviant behavior and an unorthodox self-infliction to your own psyche. A regular practice for a lot of soldiers is making peace with themselves and arriving at the fact that their lives might very well end in the near future, not a personal death warrant, just preparing for the worst. Everyone who has the gumption to sign the dotted line and join the military must find it in themselves to be relegated to a destiny not of their choosing. It is that individual’s sole responsibility to commit themselves; there is no such thing as being without a choice. Attempt to send some soldiers in the U.S. Army to the Middle Eastern theater and they choose to go AWOL, absent without leave, cause themselves personal injury or use whatever method to keep themselves out of harm’s way. Those kind of people tend to leave a sour taste in my mouth. Conflict flows in every corner of the world, leaving no one safe. A personal moment of conflict occurred when I was “stop lossed” in January 2004. It ensures the unit’s stability during a time of conflict, guaranteeing they sustain a proper number of soldiers. My final date to leave the Iraq theater was changed to March 15. Service is about conviction while not solicit-
4th Battallion, 1st Field Artillery prepares for deployment in support of a quick reactionary force team responding to a bomb threat July 2003 in the Al-Mansour district in Baghdad.
ing the beliefs of others. That is what constitutes who we are, individually and selectively. Outside forces can have little to no bearing on our decisions; otherwise, we condemn ourselves as puppets forever. In Baghdad, Iraq, I was a member of a field artillery unit armed primarily with machinery of any large-caliber, crew-operated, mounted firearm designed for easy movement in the field, especially for troop fire support. Truthfully, a field artillery unit’s function is the protection of ground forces in a combat zone; we did not see much of that because we were the ground forces, so essentially, we protected ourselves. My area of responsibility revolved around a military area dubbed the Green Zone where we controlled a palace area known as Four-head Palace because of four dominating copper figures carved in the likeness of Saddam Hussein on the four corners. When we arrived there, about mid-June, the conditions were condemnable. The major military forces that traipsed through the area in the early campaign left it in disarray. Its ghastly conditions revolved around everything from the remnants of heavy combat, a 2-ton JDAM bomb, joint direct attack munition, that was dropped through the roof of the palace and remained as unexploded ordnance to human fecal matter left behind in buildings we occupied for housing. The conditions were deplorable, but we made it home.
4th Battallion, 1st Field Artillery, Headquarters platoon, conducts a patrol October 2003 of a residential street in Baghdad. After three months of occupying the area, we had been afforded the materials to construct our own basketball court, volleyball and horseshoe pits. From Fallujah to Basra and the Moshapan Valley, what remains apparent is how many ways there are to die in war. The people change, but the stories are what linger on and meld camaraderie into a lifetime friendship.
The Ranger
Nov. 5, 2010 • 23
‘Magic words: We pay for college’ By Alison Wadley I joined the military when I was 21, went through basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and advanced individual training at Fort Gordon, Ga. My military occupational specialty was MOS, multichannel communication systems operator/ maintainer, aka radio operator. (My recruiter said it was computers.) I initially took interest in joining the Army because a recruiter called me, and as I explained to him the Army wasn’t for me, he said the magic words, “We pay for college.” Who wouldn’t be willing to at least listen to what he had to say? After much discussion and soul-searching, I went active duty, not only for the educational benefits but also for the sense of honor and pride in serving my country. While in the military, I learned a lot of things, like never trust a recruiter and how to field strip an M-16, administer intravenous fluids, rappel, perform preventive maintenance checks and services on every piece of equipment my MOS used, handto-hand combat and a long list of other things. All of the things I learned technically were somewhat expected, but there were many unexpected things I took away from my service. One of these was the camaraderie. The closest thing to it would be immediate family. It was like having a ton of brothers and sisters. You bleed, sweat, cry, laugh and struggle together every day through the hardships and joys,
Pvt. 1st Class Alison Wadley and weapon in a field exercise April 2005 at Camp Long, Korea Courtesy photos
whether it’s in training, during deployments or being stationed overseas or abroad away from your family. I spent my first Christmas away from my family with fellow soldiers eating hot dogs and Doritos with Korean orphans at Camp Long, Korea. Looking back now, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I cannot recall many instances where I was alone in my experiences during my service. When I speak with my old Army buddies, it’s like picking right back up where we left off. Sometimes I miss it and think about re-enlisting, but if I do, it won’t be until I complete my education.
During a field exercise, Pvt. 1st Class Alison Wadley, right, and a fellow solider, use local vegetation for camouflage at Camp Long, Korea.
24 • Nov. 5, 2010
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Adjunct Joe Hernandez instructs Cadet Lts. David Skloss and Shawn Valdez during a First Responders Academy exercise Saturday in Von Ormy.
Silent Killer Photo story by Alison Wadley
Adjunct Joe Hernandez, lieutenant in the Castle Hills Fire Department, instructs a cadet to move along the hose during the live fire exercise Saturday.
Odorless, colorless, tasteless and deadly at high levels; carbon monoxide can kill in mere minutes. Fire science Instructor Eddie Bramhall said, “The most common cause of death in a fire is carbon monoxide poisoning. It is odorless, colorless and has a large KYA factor.” He said KYA stands for “kill your ass.” The Centers for Disease Control website states, “Each year, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning, more than 20,000 visit the emergency room and more than 4,000 are hospitalized due to CO poisoning.” Symptoms often begin with a headache, nausea and dizziness, a lot of the symptoms of alcohol intoxication, Bramhall said.
The incomplete burning of carbon, a nonmetallic chemical element found in all organic elements and many inorganic elements, produces carbon monoxide. As a part of the Basic Fire Suppression course, cadets at the First Responders Academy undergo live fire training exercises. They perform three live fire scenarios — a two-story apartment building, a basement fire and a vehicle or propane tank fire. The academy uses accelerants, fuel for fires, that aren’t as toxic as fuels that would burn in a regular fire, Bramhall said. “We try to provide as safe an environment for kids to be unsafe.” During the live fires, cadets go through the process of connecting hoses, searching in systematic patterns and advancing charged hose lines upstairs and downstairs.
The Ranger
News
Nov. 5, 2010 • 25
Above, Cadet Erik Reyes attaches his breathing apparatus from a compressed air tank to his mask. Right, Cadet Steven Criollo takes Cadet Lt. David Skloss’ blood pressure as they and Cadet Erik Reyes listen to a debriefing on how they performed in the live fire exercise.
Fire science Cadets David Miller, Joel Johnson and Gilbert Molina practice using force to enter a second floor apartment Saturday. They also remove, install, clean and trouble shoot a self-contained breathing apparatus. Bramhall said all equipment has been tested and meets national standards. “They use the same stuff front line firefighters wear. We cut no corners,” he said. Jim Kitchens, adjunct instructor and San Antonio Fire Department lieutenant, said the students in this class are the future of firefighting and he is confident in them. For a home fire safety checklist, visit http://www.cpsc.gov/ cpscpub/pubs/556.html. For information on First Responders Fire Academy, call academic unit assistant Rita Ogden at 210-486-1692.
Cadet Gilbert Molina picks up a draining hose used to extinguish the fire during a live fire exercise. Cadets had to drain the hoses and return them to the truck after the exercise.
26 • Nov. 5, 2010
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Families tell the story of Mexican Revolution By Stefania Malacrida In 1915, a 13-year-old boy crossed the border on foot walking from Piedras Negras into Central Texas. He had no money or transportation, but he had some relatives in the Alamo City. So he walked, stopping and asking for directions to San Antonio along the way. This was the story told by Virgilio Elizondo, the founder of the Mexican-American Cultural Center in San Antonio, a former rector of San Fernando Cathedral, and a visiting theology professor at Notre Dame University. The young boy was his father, also named Virgilio Elizondo. Elizondo shared his father’s memories, contributing to the first oral history exhibition by the Institute of Texan Cultures. The exhibit, “Leaving Home, Finding Home: Texan Families Remember the Revolution,” opens Saturday and continues through May 11 at the Institute of Texan Culture. The exhibit at 801 E. Durango St. on HemisFair Plaza is free to all Alamo Colleges students with ID. The institute is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. The exhibit celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, a major popular movement that overthrew the dictatorship of President Porfirio Diaz in 1910. The turmoil caused thousands of Mexicans to flee their homeland and seek a new life in Texas. Except for few historical photographs, the exhibition is entirely made of oral witnesses captured in videos some months ago. “For the first time in 40 years, we did an exhibit without artifacts or documents, just relying on the oral word of Mexicans’ descendents whose parents or grandparents escaped from the revolution,” said Rhett Rushing, oral historian at the institute and coordinator of the exhibit. “These grandchildren are now adults, like Elizondo, who kept their family memories and retold them to us on camera,” he said. Helped by a group of UTSA students, Rushing spent the entire summer looking for the right people to interview. The institute is a division of the University of Texas at San Antonio. At the end, Rushing and his staff settled on seven families. “Some families are prominent, so it wasn’t
Mexicans flee the revolution by coming to Texas. Courtesy of the Institute of Texan Cultures
difficult to find them,” he said. They also interviewed U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez and former San Antonio Councilwoman Mária Antonietta Berriozábal. Rushing’s team found families by word of mouth and by using the institute’s records. “Some people donated to the institute specific objects of that period, so we contacted the owners and asked if they had memories going back to the revolution time,” Rushing said. The revolutionaries and President Porfirio Diaz’s soldiers rode through an area and took everything, he said. There were aristocratic families who lost everything, and farmers, cowboys or labors whose lives were threatened by the incursions of the two competing armies. “It was civil war,” Rushing said. “If you didn’t want your family to be part of it, you left.” Each family was asked the same questions: What they were doing before the revolution, how they escaped from Mexico, what they did once they arrived in Texas and their contribution to Texas. The real focus of the exhibit is not the Mexican Revolution but the process of storytelling. A family story can come from a little girl cooking in the kitchen with her grandmother or from a grandfather and his grandson sitting on the porch. These personal features can make the exhib-
it touching. One example is the story of Mercedes Olvera. Her grandmother Elizabeth came to Texas when she was 17 in 1919. The family was so poor they sometimes had to eat banana peels to survive. Once in Dallas, she started working in a kitchen. She vowed she would never get hungry again, and somehow food became a stable feature of her adventure in the U.S. Years later, Elizabeth’s sister Mária Luna joined her in Dallas and started a gastronomical company called the Luna Tortillas Factory. The Luna Tortilla factory is still working today. In 1936, Elizabeth founded her own restaurant. Old photographs show the two women on a burro, or donkey; other Depression-era photos show lines of hungry people welcomed and fed behind Elizabeth’s restaurant. Rushing said there is more to know about the Olveras, but “I don’t want to spoil the surprise; I prefer Olvera herself tells her story through the videos we shot. Also, students are invited to come and share their own stories.” The last part of the exhibit is an entire wall covered in blank pieces of paper. Visitors are welcome to add the stories of their own families — so the storytelling continues, Rushing said. For more information, visit http://texancultures.com.
The Ranger For coverage in Calendar, call 486-1773 or e-mail sac-ranger@alamo.edu two weeks in advance.
Today Concert: Gershwin and Ravel by San Antonio Education Partnership 8 p.m. at the Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston. $8 students, $21.75 for faculty and staff. Call 210-486-0121. Saturday
Calendar SAC Meeting: Society of MexicanAmerican Engineers and Scientists 3:30 p.m. in the MESA study center in Room 204 of Chance. Call 210-486-1309. SAC Sports: Women’s volleyball vs. PAC 8 p.m. at PAC. NLC Event: Blood drive 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in Lot 7. Call 210-486-5404. SAC Meeting: Astronomy Club 1 p.m. in Room 111 of chemistry and geology. Call 210-486-0063.
SAC Benefit: Annual racquetball tournament 9 a.m. in Room 119 of Candler. Racquet and eye protection required. $5 donation. Call 210-486-1029.
SAC Club: Cheshyre Cheese 3 p.m. in Room 100 of Gonzales. Call 210-486-0125.
Monday
SAC Transfer: St. Mary’s University 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on first floor of Chance. Continues Wednesday 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.-6 p.m. Call 210-486-0864.
SAC Transfer: University of Texas at San Antonio 9 a.m.-11 a.m. on the first floor of Chance. Call 210-486-0864.
Tuesday
SAC Worship: Campus Crusade for
Christ 1:30 p.m. in Room 119 of chemistry and geology. Call 210-486-1233. SAC Transfer: Texas Lutheran University 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m. on first floor of Chance. Continues 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 17. Call 210-486-0864. SAC Meeting: Students in Free Enterprise 9:25 a.m. in Room 318 of academic instruction. Continues Thursday. Call 210-486-0197.
Nov. 5, 2010 • 27 Wednesday SAC Transfer: Texas A&M University 9 a.m.-11 a.m. on first floor of Chance. Continues 9 a.m.-noon Nov. 15. Call 210486-0864. SAC Lecture: Smoking cessation with Nicole Townsley from the American Cancer Society 11 a.m. in the craft room of Loftin. Continues Thursday. Call 210-486-0125.
SAC Meeting: Society of Women in SAC Meeting: Gay and Engineering noon in MESA center in Lesbian Association 3 p.m. in Room 204 of Chance. Continues Room 613 of Moody. Call 210Tuesdays. Call 210-486486-0673. Daylight-saving time 1309. ends 2 a.m. Sunday. SAC Meeting: Society Turn clocks back SAC Hot Potato: for the Advancement one hour. “Domestic Violence” of Chicanos and Native with Denise Barker noon Americans in Science 3 at the Methodist Student Center, 102 p.m. in Room 204 of Chance. Call 210Belknap. Free baked potato after lecture. 486-0342. Call 210-733-1441. SAC Sports: Women’s and men’s basketball vs. Southwest Texas Junior College. Women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m. at Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde. Call 210486-0125. Thursday SAC Transfer: Our Lady of the Lake 9 a.m.-2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.-6 p.m. on the first floor of Chance. Call 210486-0864. SAC Event: Self-defense seminar with Medin Barreira by the SAC Wellness Committee 12:15 p.m.-1:15 p.m. at racquetball court in Candler. Call 210-5881936. Nov. 12 SAC Deadline: Last day to drop fall courses with a W.
Calendar Legend SAC: San Antonio College NVC: Northwest Vista College SPC: St. Philip’s College SWC: Southwest Campus PAC: Palo Alto College NLC: Northeast Lakeview College
28 • Nov. 5, 2010
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Chair warns of constitutional change Hot potato series considers anchor babies and terror babies. By Megan Mares Federal law has been amended to prevent undocumented immigrants from having children in this country simply to acquire U.S. citizenship. The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009 limits citizenship to babies born to U.S. citizens and those born here to legal immigrants. Prior to that, any child born on U.S. soil would automatically be a citizen. Criminal justice Chair Marshall Lloyd addressed “What Makes a Citizen? Birthright vs. Naturalization” Tuesday at Potato Lunch Debate in the Methodist Student Center. Anchor babies, babies born here to undocumented immigrants,” provide a reason for close relatives to come to the U.S. to gain citizenship. Lloyd showed a clip of CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper interviewing U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, in which Gohmert tries to
defend theories that terror babies, supposedly a minority group because of high immigrant born here to undocumented immigrants and numbers and increased birth rates among then smuggled into the parents’ country of oriHispanics. gin, return to the U.S. and attack decades later. Many Americans with this concern want to Without offering any evidence that terror change or remove the 14th Amendment, which babies exist, Gohmert rambled and ranted with guarantees that anyone who is born in the U.S. little solid information. should never be deprived “Sir, you’re just yelling! of, “life, liberty, or propYou’re not having a conerty without due process,” versation,” Cooper said. of law or the denied equal Gohmert shouted that he protection of the law. was feeling attacked and “It’s not easy to change that the government has the Constitution, and if “gaping holes” in immiwe change it enough, we gration law and border could lose our own citisecurity to fix. zenship,” Lloyd said. Lloyd said, “Terror Courtesy of CNN.com One of the students in babies are raised as pintattendance at the lecture, sized, America-hating terrorists.” anthropology sophomore Paola Lopez, said “I The director of United Methodist Campus believe there’s a way of balancing our human Ministry, the Rev. John Patrick Feagins, said rights and security for our country.” that most of the worrying is coming specifiFor more information, contact Feagins at cally from white Americans who fear becoming 210-733-1441.
The Ranger
Editorial
Nov. 5, 2010 • 29
Alexandra Nelipa
ACES e-mail needs change Stop wasting our District administrators blame students not checking their collegeprovided e-mail for problems they had with Banner, but who could blame them? ACES e-mail is outdated, undesirable and inefficient. Students can check their e-mail all day and still not find a word about drops, financial aid checks, processed scholarships or how to update contact information. Who would choose to use a second-rate e-mail account if they can get what they need from free user-friendly accounts? ACES is not an e-mail provider that can replace yahoo or hotmail. When students log into ACES, they easily overlook the tiny e-mail icon. Most of the time, when students click the icon, the window that pops up does not load. This is annoying and uncommon in other e-mail accounts. Students have to close and reopen several times before the unattractive screen finally opens. For Macintosh users, attachments are not easy to download
and must be forwarded to another e-mail account to download. There also is no function to automatically forward to a personal account. Why would the district make checking e-mail so hard if they really wanted us to use it? The whole ACES system is a joke and is essentially as bad as PALS was. If it was going to remain exactly the same, then why spend thousands of dollars on a new system? Furthermore, don’t blame the students for not checking the district’s rubbish. Registration through Banner was a disaster and that had nothing to do with students refusing to check e-mail. It had more to do with administrators wasting money on technology that doesn’t serve our needs. Is this what the new $8 technology fee will fund? Technology that no one wants to use apparently is very expensive. The district needs to get it together and quick.
money on studies
The district paid $147,065 to a College Station engineering firm to evaluate parking but followed neither of the firm’s suggestions. Instead, administrators opted for doubling the price of parking permits. According to Lockwood, Andres & Newnam, Inc. findings, this college is identified as having the biggest need for parking, yet a chart in the report of 2009’s parking supply and demand shows Northwest Vista College having the greatest need, issuing 10,626 permits per 2,050 parking spaces. Although this college ranks next, the district is planning a $16 million garage at Northwest Vista and a $1 million lot or $15 million garage at Northeast Lakeview, which has the second least demand for parking, according to the study. Instead of wasting money on studies, put the money toward police officers and surveillance equipment for the colleges. This college and St. Philip’s topped the crimes per parking space list. If trustees haven’t heard yet, this college had four daylight incidents including three physical assaults in October alone.
30 • Nov. 5, 2010
Printing disputes Editor: Oct. 29, I attended a session on sexual harassment that is mandatory for all Alamo Colleges employees every other year. The session was informative and interesting but outraged me because of the waste of paper used for handouts. In my department, faculty is told not to print handouts for students because of budget problems. We were told to print only tests. The copier in the department office is to be removed. Beginning this school year, whenever I need only one or two copies of something, I will have to take my dimes to Moody or another building where I can print a page for a dime. Each person who attended the sexual harassment session was given 11 printed pages, and the title page has only seven words on it. As the session is required
Letters to the Editor for all employees at five colleges and district offices who did not take it in 2009, this would involve several hundred copies of the title page alone and thousands of pages of the complete handout. This is outrageous! The mandatory “ethics” training is online. Why is sexual harassment not online? We cannot even print handouts that could help some students learn information, yet there is money being wasted on printing for other purposes. J.R. Poole History Professor
We’re all human In response to the Oct. 29 viewpoint’s anti-immigrant sentiments. As a Mexican-American who was born a U.S. citizen, I understand your conflict, but where I differ is when I noticed the car-
toon depicting the criminalization of the Mexican and the Border Patrol agent with a gun holster. This seems as if you wanted the Mexican dead, and that is very offensive, especially considering a recent incident in El Paso, in which a Mexican boy on the Mexican side of the border was shot by a Border Patrol agent from the U.S. side. My point is that I have noticed in the past years that an antiimmigrant sentiment has flooded the media from “South Park” to “Family Guy,” even some instances of “Robot Chicken,” Jay Leno, David Letterman, etc. And what scares me is that, in Germany, there was an anti-Jewish feeling that led to the atrocities of World War II. There have been isolated instances of anti-immigrant groups attacking Latinos who are U.S. citizens and even killing them because they were suspected of being here without papers.
The Ranger That is a clear example of the anti-immigrant feeling going too far. There was even a horrible case in Florida where an “angry American” followed some international students and asked them for their status with no authority. Then one day killed a few of them saying, “It’s begun.” Not to mention the SB 1070 controversy, in which Latinos are being racially profiled as we speak. My point is that we are all human and moving toward a global society someday anyways. Why should we distinguish who is here and how? The gravity of the situation is that those people who you demonized in this cartoon suffer a great deal for you and produce tax revenue. If it wasn’t for them, the country would fall apart, and we’d be even more divided than what we are now. León Franco Business Management Freshman
The Ranger
Officials Chancellor: Dr. Bruce H. Leslie 201 W. Sheridan, Bldg. B, San Antonio, TX 78204-1429 Work: 485-0020 Fax: 208-8149 E-mail: bleslie@alamo.edu District 1: Joe Alderete Jr. 1602 Hillcrest Drive, San Antonio, TX 78228 Cell: 863-9500 E-mail: jvajr711@aol.com District 2: Denver McClendon 3811 Willowwood Blvd., San Antonio, TX 78219 Work: 281-9141 E-mail: denvermcclendon@satx.rr.com District 3: Anna U. Bustamante 511 Ware Blvd., San Antonio TX 78221 Work: 882-1603 Fax: 927-4557 E-mail: abustamante20@alamo.edu District 4: Marcelo S. Casillas 115 Wainwright, San Antonio, TX 78211 Home: 922-6815 Fax: 923-3167 E-mail: mcasillas19@alamo.edu District 5: Roberto Zárate 4103 Buffalo Bayou, San Antonio, TX 78251 E-mail: rzarate11@alamo.edu District 6: Dr. Gene Sprague 14722 Iron Horse Way, Helotes, TX 78023 Work: 567-5544 Fax: 520-9185 E-mail: sprague@uthscsa.edu District 7: Blakely Latham Fernandez 755 E. Mulberry, Suite 200, San Antonio, TX 78212 Work: 244-8879 E-mail: bfernandez35@alamo.edu District 8: Gary Beitzel 15403 Forest Mist, San Antonio, TX 78232 Home: 496-5857 E-mail: gbeitzel@alamo.edu District 9: James A. Rindfuss 109 Laburnum, San Antonio, TX 78209 Home: 828-4630 Work: 375-2555 Home Fax: 832-8292 Office Fax: 375-0301 E-mail: jrindfuss@alamo.edu
Presidents San Antonio College, Dr. Robert E. Zeigler 486-0959, rzeigler@alamo.edu Northeast Lakeview College, Dr. Eric Reno 486-5484, ereno@alamo.edu Northwest Vista College, Dr. Jacqueline Claunch 486-4900, jclaunch@alamo.edu Palo Alto College, Dr. Ana M. “Cha” Guzman 486-3960, aguzman@alamo.edu St. Philip’s College, Dr. Adena W. Loston 486-2900, aloston@alamo.edu
The Ranger Editor Laura Garcia
Managing Editor Zahra Farah Calendar Editor Jennifer M. Ytuarte Photographers Tyler K. Cleveland, Rennie Murrell, Julysa Sosa, Alison Wadley Photo Team Noel Bracy, Christopher Michael Brown, Dave Crockett, D.L. Gonzalez, James Lazo, Henriette Mutegwaraba, Nicole Jacinta Gaskin-Paulsen, Pam Ramsey, Jenny Robles, Carmen Sanjuan Illustrators Juan Carlos Campos, Alexandra Nelipa, Fred V.M. Nockroes III Staff Writers J. Almendarez, Jacob Beltran, Kristina Coble, Joshua Fechter, Roxanna Flores, J. Hernandez, Rachel McKee, Stefania Malacrida, Megan Mares, Aaron Nielsen, Creshawna T. Parker, Abiel Rodriguez, Riley Stephens Production Manager Melody Mendoza Production Assistants Krystal Barcenez, Jason B. Hogan Web Administrator D.A. James ©2010 by The Ranger staff, San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro Ave., San Antonio, TX 78212-4299. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission. The Ranger, the student newspaper at San Antonio College, is a laboratory project of the journalism classes in the Department of Media Communications, published Fridays except during summer, holidays and examinations. News contributions accepted by telephone (210-486-1773), by fax (210-486-1789), by e-mail (sac-ranger@alamo.edu) or at the editorial office (Room 212 Loftin Student Center). Advertising rates available upon request by phone (210486-1765) or as a download at www.theranger.org. The Ranger is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, the Associated Collegiate Press and the Texas Community College Journalism Association.
Nov. 5, 2010 • 31 Guest Viewpoints: Faculty, staff, students and community members are welcome to contribute guest viewpoints of up to 450 words. Writers should focus on campus or current events in a critical, persuasive or interpretative style. All viewpoints must be published with a photo portrait of the writer. Letters Policy: The Ranger invites readers to share views by writing letters to the editor. Space limitations force the paper to limit letters to two double-spaced, typewritten pages. Letters will be edited for spelling, style, grammar, libel and length. Editors reserve the right to deny publication of any letter. Letters should be mailed to The Ranger, Department of Media Communications, San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro Ave., San Antonio TX 78212-4299. Letters also may be brought to the newspaper office in Room 212 of Loftin Student Center, e-mailed to sac-ranger@alamo. edu or faxed to 210-486-1789. Letters must be signed and must include the printed name and telephone number. Students should include classification, major, campus and Banner ID. Employees should include title and telephone number. For more information, call 210-486-1773. Single Copy Policy: Members of the Alamo Community College District community are permitted one free copy per issue because of high production costs. Where available, additional copies may be purchased with prior approval for 50 cents each by contacting The Ranger business office. Newspaper theft is a crime. Those who violate the singlecopy rule may be subject to civil and criminal prosecution and subject to college discipline.
32 • Nov. 5, 2010
The Rev. John Feagins reads from the Gospel of John during a revival Oct. 28.
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Music freshman Brandy Watts plays her drum before the Rev. John Feagins begins his sermon on the front steps of the Methodist Student Center revival.
Revival crowd moves with the spirit Story and Photos by Rennie Murrell Songs of spirituality and words of inspiration echoed on the front steps of the Methodist Student Center Thursday during a day of Holy Revival. The Rev. John Feagins recited words from the Gospel of John encouraging students, faculty and staff to open their hearts to God. Music freshman Brandy Watts outstretched her arms taking refuge in Feagins’ words. Watts said she remembers being a Christian at the age of 6. “I felt the spirit of God moving through my soul and my heart,” Watts said. Feagins spoke of the time in his life when bingeing on alcohol was a problem. This was the norm of the day so he decided to attend a party sober. “Do you know what it is like to be the only sober person at a party?” he questioned. He realized these people were annoying. “God came into my heart and asked ‘are these the types of friends you want in your life?’” “No, not if they are setting the agenda for me,” he said. He is still in touch with some of these people from his past and said this was his main reason for seeking out a campus ministry. “Friendship is one of the needs we have in
life,” he said. He asked one of the performers, liberal arts sophomore Eric Lewis, to speak to the audience about his times of trial. “I remember a time in my life when drugs and alcohol were practiced amongst my friends,” Lewis said. “I blacked out and woke up some time later, and none of my friends were there. I was left all alone.” Lewis said most of those friends are dead or lost to drugs and gangs. Music sophomore Jessica Wilson said she is a nondenominational Christian, and she hopes one day to graduate to become a pastor with a ministry. “It’s important to spread the gospel beyond the walls of the church,” Wilson said. About 50 people attended the revival throughout the day from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. At noon the center served lunch to 40 people. Education sophomore Alejandra Vasquez said, “I like the way he is singing; it sounds like his words come right from his heart.” Vasquez was talking about Lewis who sang 10 to 15 songs at the revival Feagins said, “We have seen faces here we have not seen before.” The revival and sermon compelled people of all colors, creeds and religions to stop and listen. “We have no reason to fear God,” he said.
Music sophomore Jessica Wilson sings “Give Us Clean Hands” at the revival. “It’s important to spread the Gospel outside the walls of the church,” she said.