“Custer should have been a lawyer. He would have had a better chance when he got Siouxed.”
Blood Drive: They made their donations. Will you make yours? pg. 12 Vegan for the holidays: A nice warm turkey on the table. Wait, what if you donʼt eat it? pg.3 November 19, 2004 Volume XVI, Issue 4
Dexter High School 2200N. Parker Road Dexter, MI 48130
JD and NYC: Jarrod Dillen reflects on his trip to the city that never sleeps. pg.6
Journalism trip to Atlanta doesn’t go as planned Sarah Craft editor in chief
Seventeen students from the newspaper and yearbook classes traveled to Atlanta, on Nov. 18 with advisor Rod Satterthwaite, video production teacher Matt Martello and principal Glen Stevenson for the Journalism Education Association’s fall convention. At the convention, The Squall won sixth place for the Best of Show for the 12-16 page category. And according to Satterthwaite, that was one of the largest categories. “I heard there were 80 to 90 entries nationwide for that category,” he said. “We have a really great newspaper, especially compared to other schools, although, I am a little biased.” However, Satterthwaite said the trip didn’t end up being as successful as he had initially thought. Once the group got back, Satterthwaite said he heard rumors about some of the activities that went on during the trip. “Some of the students were bragging (in other classes) about drinking in Atlanta,” he said. After Satterthwaite notified administrators about the rumors, he spoke with the students who attended the trip. Five students confessed to drinking alcohol and were suspended for three days. However, Satterthwaite said he believes there are still students who haven’t come foreword. “Mr. Stevenson and I are in the process of investigating exactly what happened,” he said. “We found out that some students wrote about what happened in their (online) Xanga journals but were deleted once the administration found out about the activity. Satterthwaite and Stevenson are working to contact the Xenga company to find out if they have access to the deleted pages and use the pages as evidence. Additionally, Satterthwaite said he and Stevenson are trying to discover where the alcohol was purchased and if possible, see the surveillance cameras in the store. Satterthwaite said he was very upset when he found out his students were participating in an illegal activity at a school event. “All through the trip, we got nothing but praise about our behavior,” he said. “But then once we get back I find out what really went on, and it’s really upsetting. “I also think it’s really unfortunate that the people who were honest and confessed right away were punished, which they should be, when the people who weren’t honest are getting away with it. To me, that’s the worst part.”
Photo by Kendall Goode
Administrator: Social Studies teacher Ken Koenig will become new assistant principal, spending part of his week at the high school and part of it at Mill Creek.
Koenig becomes administrator
Photo by Mike Vickers
Spreading the word: Dan Leonard speaks to students about his experiences with HIV/AIDS during AIDS Awareness Week. The G.L.O.W. club sponsored the event, trying to teach students AIDS awareness.
Awareness saves lives
Sarah Craft editor-in-chief
Social studies teacher Ken Koenig was notifoied that he will be the new assistant principal taking place of current assistant principal Andrea Glynn. Although Koenig said he loves teaching, he wanted to see what education was like from a different point of view. “If there’s a way to make a change, I’m the type of person who wants to be in on the change,” he said. “I want to help get things done for the best of the students.” Since he will be replacing Glynn’s position, Koenig will also be splitting his time at the high school with time at Mill Creek. This, he said, will be a very new experience. “I’ve never really had to deal with any kids at that age level, and it will be challenging having to adjust,” he said. “In a week, I’ll be dealing with kids as young as 12 or 13 and as old as 18.” Although it will be a change from what he’s used to, Koenig said he’s excited to take on the challange for the upcoming semester. “I’m nervous but excited,” he said. “I know the staff will be there to help me through the transition, and I hope it will go well.”
Enviromental Club sells In order to make donations to save the rainforest, the Environmental Club is selling fair trade chocolate and decorating the chocolate with recycled holiday cards. According to club advisor and science teacher Amanda McLenon, buying these chocolate bars helps to preserve the rainforest trees the coco beans are grown under. “If the coco bean farmers were not paid a fair wage for the beans,” McLennon said, “they would sell the rainforest trees to be cut down instead.” The chocloate bars will be sold at lunch for $3.
Hilary McCown copy editor
Dan Leonard, a member of the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project, was 24 years old when he received the worst news of his life. “I remember the exact date and time,” he said. “I remember the doctor comming in and saying, ‘Mr Leonard, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, you are HIV positive.’” Leonard, who was invited to speak to HIV is not all students by the GLOW club for about dying. Life AIDS Awarestill goes on. ness Week, was strongly affected by this piece of news. Within a -Dan Leonard year, he was fired from his job because of the HIV, a common but illegal action. He then entered a state of depression. Never believing he would live to see his 30th birthday, Leonard never went to college or got a degree. He contemplated suicide, and it took a positive attitude and therapy from his friends to overcome his initial shock. Through talking with other infected people, he said he was able to realize that “living life would be better than not living it.” For the past 10 years, Leonard has dedicated the majority of his time to helping people with HIV/AIDS. And though he’s spent a great deal of time teaching and re-telling his story, it is still a very emotional topic for him. While informing students of the history of HIV/AIDS he had to pause to collect himself before telling the story of a little boy named Ryan White who aquired HIV though a blood transfusion in 1988. “All he really wanted to do was go
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to school,” Leonard said. But in Indiana, where the boy lived, he was told that he couldn’t go to school because he “could give it to the other students.” The case went to court and ultimatly made its way through the system until it reached the Supreme Court, who finally told the school that White was allowed to attend. “That was probably about the first point when the Regan Administration started to talk about AIDS,” Leonard said. He also said the world ignored the epidemic when it was first discovered in gay men. They ignored it when it was found in HIV drug users. And they ignored it when it was discovered in AfricanAmerican women. According to Leonard, it wasn’t until an innocent white child and a rich white female named Marry Fisher that “people started realizing that HIV can affect any of us. “It’s not just a disease that you catch and someday you might get sick,” Leonard said. “There’s also red tape, paper work, dealing with the government, dealing with your employer, being sick.” Leonard’s employer doesn’t offer health insurance, which he said is exceptionaly discouraging for someone with HIV. Consequently, Leonard is forced to ask the government for money to pay his bills. “Three doctors visits over the course of the last four months, that cost me $900. That’s not cheap,” he said. Leonard also recalled a time when he was taking 30 pills a day, three times a day. Fortunately for him, there is a program in the state of Michigan that pays for HIV medications for those who can’t afford them. “That’s most of us,” Leonard said. “One pill can cost about $1000.” It’s not just because of the HIV though that infectees are required to buy so many expensive medications. “It’s all those other ugly diseases
that come along with HIV,” he said. “Once your immuse sysetem starts to become depressed, the other forms of disease are pretty much what take over.” Skin cancer, dementia (a disease similar to Alzheimer’s), and CMB which can cause overnight blindness are all illnesses that come along with HIV. Along with these diseases, which are all deadly, AIDS patients also have more common ailments such as diarrhea and vomiting. “It’s really hard to contol when both ends are going at the same time,” Leonard said. Though students laughed at this remark, Leonard made it clear that even though it may sound amusing, it is not a laughing matter. “When you’re an adult and you cannot control your bodily functions due to your illness or the fact that you’re taking some really costly medications,” he said. “It’s really kind of embarrasing.” While Leonard said he still suffers daily from issues related to his HIV, he seems optimistic about his future. This is due to new technologies that can raise the life expectancy of an infected person by about half. As for his remaining 10 or so years, he said he plans to go to college and is hopeful that science will uncover a possible way to extend his life even further. “HIV is not all about dying,” he said. “Life still goes on.” And though he still struggles from day-to-day, feeling like a “leper” and suffering the discrimination received by many infected with HIV, he is able to maintain a positive attitude. “I’ve got (HIV),” he said. “But I’m not going to let it get me.”
Drawn attention: Staring at the speaker, senior Kevin Vlasney sits with his friends and learns about the risks involved in sex and sharing needles.
Fifteen Pioneer flood the parking lot during school Students attempt to start fight with junior Corey Beneke during A lunch hour Kyle Muse news editor
As a large group of Ann Arbor Pioneer students headed toward DHS from the parking lot on their half day, senior Cassie Thompson happened to be heading out to pick up her cap and gown. “I was leaving to get my cap and gown and saw a group of kids talking to (senior) Sarah Simmons, so I went over and talked with them,” Thompson said. “They asked me if I knew Corey Beneke, and I told them yes. They told me to get him. “When I told them to get him theirselves, they told me if I didn’t get him they would kick my a--,” Thompson added. Although the two groups and
Beneke never met, it was apparent why the Pioneer students were here. Even though Beneke attended Pioneer his freshman year, “It started about a week or so ago,” he said. “They wanted to fight.” School liaison officer Paul Mobbs said the group of students told him they were visiting a friend who attends DHS. Unfortunately for them, superintendent Evelynn Shirk walked into the school the same time the group of Ann Arbor students began to congregate. “When Mrs. Shirk walked in, she saw the group and asked me if they were ours,” principal Glen Stevenson said. “She asked me if they were our kids grouped outside. We went and checked. “We walked outside, and when they saw us, they walked to
their cars and left.” Thompson said that on her way back from getting her stuff, “There were a bunch of police that had a car blocked in that I had talked to before I left.” Stevenson said, “The police caught a car full of kids, spinned them around a little bit and sent them on their way.” Senior Max Harris also ran into the Pioneer group as he was leaving to go home for the day. He stopped and rolled his window down. “When I stopped to ask who they were,” Harris said, “they immediately started talking trash about how they wanted to find trouble, so I looked at them and said, ‘You just found trouble.’ “As I was about to drive away, two of the kids came over and kicked my car, and I just left.”
“We are still trying to get to the bottom of the situation,” Mobbs said. This seemed like the end to the story, but it was far from it. When the schools got wind of this encounter, DHS immediately called the parents of the student they believe was involved. As for Beneke, he gave up and went inside, but talked to the main Pioneer student later that day. “He said that he got in trouble with the school and that they want us to talk together with an administrator,” Beneke said. “I guess people told him they heard he pushed me into a locker and ripped my shirt off.” Stevenson said he wasn’t allowed to comment in detail on the situation, but he did confirm that the Pioneer student who was the leader did
Prepared: After Pioneer students came to Dexter, junior Corey Beneke said he was expecting his former classmates. “They said they were coming to the school to fight,” he said.
get in trouble with his school and this student and Beneke might meet to discuss their problems with each other, adding this meeting is still in negotiation and planning process, “The rumors are ridiculous,” Beneke said. “I just hope we fight and get it over with.”
Student’s car stolen from parking lot during school When she walked to the parking lot after school on Nov. 15, junior Cherie Durham noticed her car was missing. According to Durham her car was stolen by her former boyfriend, Gary Fritz, also a former DHS . “The day I found out he (Fritz) took my car, he was found on Strawberry Lake Rd, but I later found out he has done this before and usually went to Ypsi,” Durham said. Although Durham got her car back, she said it wasn’t in the shape that she left it. She said her car came back with less gas in it and had cigarette burn holes in the seats along with bent rims. “I just want people to know the truth. People think that I knew he took it, but I didn’t,” Durham said. Fritz refused comment and school liaison officer Paul Mobbs has yet to finish the police report about the incident.