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Campus Quotes
Art
Student Life
Fantasy Football
How are students getting involved in campus events this semester?
The ‘Language of Drawing’ will be A university health insurance plan Sports Editor Chris Wescott finally spoken at UCO’s exhibit of A.D. hopes to keep students covered enters the addictive, cutthroat Donovan’s work on Sept. 9. through college. world of fantasy sports.
SEPT. 9, 2010 uco360.com twitter.com/uco360
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA’S student voice since 1903.
SEXT, SEXT, SEXT ARMY WORKOUT ROTC
By Brittany Dalton / Contributing Writer
P H OTO BY K AT H L EEN WEL L S
GETS THE BOOT
With technology advancing in leaps and bounds, communication is faster and easier than ever before. Instant communication is possible through such means as texting, webcams and instant messaging. However, this growth has lent itself to a phenomenon that is causing both families and lawmakers to take a closer look: “sexting.” Sexting is defined by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as “youth taking sexually explicit photos of themselves or others in their peer group, and transmitting those photos to their peers.” The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a nonprofit organization funded by Congress and working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice. According to a 2009 survey by Cox Communications, one out of every five teens has sent, received or forwarded these images. Of those surveyed, sixty percent said they sent the photos to a boyfriend or girlfriend. “What young people need to understand is that cell phones aren’t like Vegas. What happens on them
UCO ROTC students spent Wednesday preparing for military fitness exams, which are evolving for new troops.
New military fitness guidelines set sites on minimizing injury and maximizing results for new recruits By Ryan Costello / Senior Staff Writer It turns out that hours of Call of Duty and Mountain Dew do not a soldier make. As America’s ever-expanding obesity issue assaults the collective waistbands of youths across the board, military recruits are beginning to show significant declines in physical fitness, and drill sergeants are being forced to adjust. Since the release of a report by retired generals and admirals entitled “Too Fat to Fight” earlier this year, the training regiments in boot camp have changed. And according to the report, they changed for good reason. In 2000, the percentage of male recruits that failed Army fitness tests at one major training base was just four percent. In 2006, the number at the same facility had increased five-fold to 20 percent. The same percentages were also higher for women. In 2002, another major center reported just three stress fractures of the pubic bone, but just last year, the number at the same camp had ballooned to 39. The report asserts the causes are not enough weight-bearing exercise and a diet primarily
doesn’t always stay on them,” Tim Woods said. Woods is the Coordinator of Health Education for UCO’s Wellness Center. In June 2009, Senate Bill 1020 was signed into law. The bill toughened laws on the transmission of child pornography via the Internet. Shortly after the bill’s passage, Rep. Anastasia Pittman (D- Oklahoma City) requested a study over the practice of sexting. But what does the bill have to do with sexting? And with no across-the-board definition of sexting, where would sexting fall in the prosecution process? The Supreme Court defines child pornography as “any visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually suggestive poses or acts.” Federal regulations on child pornography go a step further, stating “the production, distribution, possession or selling” of these images is a felony offense. According to federal law, “the consumption of child pornography can lead to a maximum of five years in federal prison, whereas distribution has a maximum penalty of 15 years.” In January 2009, six Pennsylvania teens were arrested for sexting, and prosecuted on child pornography charges. The three females were charged with production, while the three males were charged with possession. In the absence of uniform state legislation to address sexting’s role in regards to child pornography, states enact their own policies. Some states, such as Rhode Island, Mississippi, Ohio and Kentucky are attempting to prohibit the practice altogether. However, Ohio is the only of these states to pass the legislation. Other states attempt to define sexting as an offense; Florida’s attempts to do so died in committee, though South Carolina’s were successful. Other states such as New York and New Jersey succeeded in passing legislation that would promote education as a means of preventing sexting. But the question still raised by many lawmakers is the issue of how to prosecute sexters, or whether they should be prosecuted at all. In the state of Oklahoma, legislation has been introduced to specifically
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WEATHER TODAY
H 87° L 72°
9/11 Anniversary
NINE YEARS LATER, UCO STILL REMEMBERS
TOMORROW H91° L 72°
More weather at www.uco360.com More weather at www.uco360.com
DID YOU KNOW? About 85 percent of the plant life on the Earth is in the ocean.
The 9/11 service project, an idea that began as a student initiative, is now going into its ninth year. The UCO Volunteer and Service Learning Center now sponsor the event, and this year will facilitate approximately 400 volunteers giving back to their community and firefighters. The event is sponsored by the VSLC, but director Lyndsay Holder said that the service project is “planned and organized by the freshman class of the President’s Leadership Council.” Freshman Jillian Goodman, secondary social studies education major, is one of the students in the President’s Leadership Council (PLC) who has taken the charge to plan the event. “We’ve been working on the event since July 24. We had our PLC retreat and picked who we wanted to head it up, and we got started.” The event does hit a little close to home for some members of PLC. Chelsey Herbster is another member of the PLC who has served a large role
P H OTO BY T H E VIS TA
By Cody Bromley / Staff Writer
Every year about 200-250 volunteers plant nearly 3,000 flags around Broncho Lake. PLC freshmen are leading this year’s memorial efforts.
in planning this event, and her father is a firefighter in Moore. Goodman
says Herbster was quick to jump onboard once she heard about the event.
“Any chance to help firefighters, she was right there to show appreciation for firefighters,” Goodman said. Goodman also has a tie to the project; she lost a family member in the World Trade Center attacks. She says she was not very familiar with him, nor had she met him. There are three parts where people can volunteer. Early Friday morning on Sept. 10, around 200 to 250 volunteers are needed to plant nearly 3,000 flags around the perimeter of Broncho Lake. It should be noted that the number of flags surrounding is not intended to be a proportionate representation of the number of victims. The second part of the event happens later that evening. Approximately 125 students will disperse to fire stations all around the Edmond area to cook dinner for local firefighters. “I believe we have close to 15 different stations we are serving,” Goodman said. “There are 22 PLC members who are heading up stations. Some stations are larger, so
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