Opinions: #MeToo extends to Macomb.
Edge: Oscar predictions from The Western Courier staff.
Sports: Basketball finishes against Denver.
Monday, February 26, 2018 - Vol. 118 Issue 60
$133,439.05 raised for the kids Dance Marathon beats last year’s total by $10 k
By Marc Ramirez assistant news editor
Western Illinois University successfully hosted their fifth annual Dance Marathon. Saturday from noon to midnight over 350 students took a pledge to stay on their feet to support and raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. During the event, participants got the opportunity to meet nine Miracle Families, families whose children have undergone treatment for various diseases or disorders. These
families shared the experiences of going through treatment, but also stories of how donors have helped them build strength in and out of the hospital. The Dance Marathon Morale team taught dancers various moves to keep them on their feet for the twelve hours of the event. Not only did participants learn and repetitively do what they were taught, they did it all while supporting the Miracle Families in attendance. This year's event raised $133,439.05.
SARA REMAR/COURIER STAFF
2
Monday, February 26, 2018
NEWS
WesternCourier.com
CFFA hosts Pancake Breakfast
William turkington/courier staff
The Collegiate Future Farms of America get ready for to host their pancake breakfast.
William Turkington courier staff
The Collegiate Future Farms of America (CFFA) hosted a pancake breakfast on the morning of Feb. 4. The event was from 7-10 a.m. in Knoblauch Hall 239. CFFA holds this event every semester to raise funds to support local FFA projects and to help fund the trips of Western Illinois University students attending professional events. Tickets were sold for $5 before the event and $6 at the door. A ticket gets you unlimited access to pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy, orange juice and milk. Groggy eyed students and caffeinated professors alike got up early for their first meal of the day. The busiest hour of the event was from 8-9 a.m., on average consisted of 20 people or more at a given time Kylee Johnston, Chair of the Pancake Breakfast, CFFA Ag Council and CBT Representative, explained how Post-Secondary Agriculture (PAS) and Agriculture Education (Ag Ed) partner with CFFA to put on events and to compete in regional or national level events. “You don’t have to be a farmer to be in FFA,” said Johnston. “You don’t have to come from an agriculture background, CFFA is about helping educate the public about agriculture.” Western's CFFA chapter will team up with the Horticulture Club to compete in the Ag Mech and Horticulture Event later this semester. Western will send a team of five to compete for the right to move on to state.
WC Located on the third floor of the Heating Plant Annex on the south end of campus across from Sherman Hall. Mail: 1 University Circle, WIU, Macomb, IL 61455 Phone: 309-298-1876 Fax: 309-298-2309 Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays E-mail: micour@wiu.edu Member: Illinois College Press Association, National Association College Press
The chapter is also involved with the Green Hand Conference, which aims to get high school freshman involved in agriculture and to cultivate early leadership skills. CFFA also holds public speaking and parliamentary procedure events. Those events teach students the right way to run meetings in a structural fashion, which aids them greatly in later competitions. Ag Ed, one of the three groups in CFFA, helps students get ready to become teachers. All Ag Ed students are required to be a part of the group. “They help out with all the CFFA events which they will be running at some point,” said Johnston. PAS will be sending six Western students to nationals during spring break in Louisville, Kentucky. The team consisting of Adam Wright, Cori Sargent, Kylee Johnston, Mariana Roberts, Ryan Farmer and Tanner Stratton will be competing in a wide range of competitions ranging from interviews, soil team competition, and the quiz bowl. “What I would say mostly about FFA is that it helps educate people about agriculture and helps us meet people from all over,” said Johnston. “Because it’s a national organization, we get to meet people from Alaska to Puerto Rico and Maine to Hawaii.” Advisor Dr. Andrew Baker assists the chapter. Baker is the director of agriculture education at Western and received the 2010 and 2012 campus “HOPE” award teaching excellence.
THE DEEP HOLLOW Saturday March 3, 2018 7:00 pm
Tickets: online at TSPR.com By phone: 298-1873 or 800-895-2912 Tri States Public Radio Members—$10 General Public —$15 Canned good for local food pantry
STAFF MEMBERS editor-in-chief Nicholas Ebelhack NA-Ebelhack@wiu.edu assistant news editor Marc Ramirez MA-Ramirez3@wiu.edu opinions editor Ryan Zurek RP-Zurek@wiu.edu sports editor Devon Greene DJ-Greene@wiu.edu assistant sports editor Haley Richards H-Richards@wiu.edu edge editor Baylee Brynteson BM-Brynteson@wiu.edu copy editor Brie Coder B-Coder@wiu.edu proofreader Valerie Clemens VN-Clemens@wiu.edu
proofreader Alexis Lowe AL-Lowe@wiu.edu proofreader Tacuma Venzant T-Venzant@wiu.edu photo editor Becca Langys RE-Langys@wiu.edu production manager Jimmy Pierson JM-Pierson@wiu.edu business manager Faith Rucker F-Rucker@wiu.edu advertising manager Patryk Mazur P-Mazur@wiu.edu adviser Will Buss WJ-Buss@wiu.edu
Tri States Public Radio Vallillo/Holtz Performance Studio 320 W. University Drive Macomb, IL
PUBLISHING AND CIRCULATION
The Western Courier is published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the regular school year, excluding holidays, finals week and semester breaks. The WC updates the website weekly during the summer. All content reflects the editorial discretion of the students operating the newspaper and must be interpreted as unofficial university communication. While every attempt is made to determine the validity of advertising contained herein, the advertising in the WC is not to be construed as endorsements of any specific products or services. The WC assumes no responsibility or liability resulting from the content of paid advertisements. Subscription price is $36 per year mailed third-class bulk rate from Macomb. The WC is printed by The Galesburg Register-Mail in Galesburg, Ill.
COPYRIGHT 2017
Location:
No reproduction or reuse of material is permitted without written consent of the WC. All rights reserved. To request permission to reprint any material from this publication, please contact Nicholas Ebelhack or Will Buss at 309-298-1876.
ADVERTISING POLICY
The WC does not knowingly accept advertisements that discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, handicapped status, veteran or sexual orientation, nor does it knowingly print ads that violate any local, state or federal laws.
One copy of the Western Courier is free. Additional copies $1.
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS The WC needs your help to maintain accuracy. If you find a factual error, call the WC office at 309-298-1876 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Please ask to speak to an editor to ensure the inaccurate information can be corrected as quickly as possible.
@WesternCourier
•On Feb. 15 at 12:39 a.m. the Macomb Fire Department responded to 11th floor of Tanner Hall. OPS determined the alarm was activated as a result of a liquid being sprayed on it. No smoke or fire was present. The incident is under investigation. At 12:52 a.m. three students were judicially referred for failure to evacuate. •On Feb. 16 at 2:06 p.m. an individual called OPS to report that someone had removed a duffle bag, containing clothing and other items, from a vehicle parked in Q-Lot. The total value of the items was placed at $985. The incident is under investigation. •On Feb. 17 at 12:46 a.m. nonstudent Bradlee Schutzenhofer, 24, of Mokena, was arrested in Thompson Hall for domestic battery. He was transported to the McDonough County Jail at 1:02 a.m. where he was lodged pending bond. •On Feb. 17 at 2:38 a.m. nonstudent Kelsey Hargis, 19, of Midlothian, was arrested near Adams and Sherman Drive on a McDonough County warrant for failure to appear, illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor and driving without headlights. She was transported to the McDonough County Jail at 3:15 a.m. where she was lodged pending bond. Nonstudent Brianna Szudy, 19, of Midlothian, was issued a notice to appear March 20 for possession of a false ID. •On Feb. 17 at 4:52 a.m. one student in Corbin Hall was judicially referred for failure to comply with law enforcement officers. •On Feb. 18 at 3:30 a.m. Andree Contreras, 18, of 404 Henninger Hall and nonstudent Michael Neeld, 19, of New Boston, were each issued a notice to appear March 27 for a Macomb city ordinance violation for illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor in Henninger. •On Feb. 19 at 7:20 p.m. OPS and the Macomb Fire Department responded to a fire alarm in Thompson Hall. No smoke or fire were found and no injuries were reported. •On Feb. 19 at 11:14 p.m. OPS and the Macomb Fire Department responded to a fire alarm in Henninger
Monday, February 26, 2018
By Josh Bowling courier staff
Hall. No smoke or fire was found and no injuries were reported. •On Feb. 20 at 2:05 a.m. nonstudent Xavier Butler, 25, of Rockford, IL, was arrested at the intersection of Charles and Orchard streets on a McDonough County warrant for failure to appear and failure to pay. He was lodged in the McDonough County Jail at 2:20 p.m. pending bond. •On Feb. 20 at 3:15 p.m. a student came to Mowbray Hall to report the theft of a backpack and its contents, valued at $166, from a Simpkins Hall restroom. The incident is under investigation. •On Feb. 20 at 5:28 p.m. three students in Mowbray Hall were judicially referred for behavior. •On Feb. 21 at 11:24a.m. a student reported at Mowbray that his backpack, valued at $200 and containing $200 worth of textbooks, was stolen from a Knoblauch Hall classroom. The incident is under investigation. •On Feb. 21 at 1:44 p.m. a student reported the theft of a camera from a locker in Garwood, and an employee reported that sometime between 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m., her wallet, containing $80 cash and credit cards, was stolen from an office in Garwood. The wallet was later found in another room in Garwood, with the cash missing, and the camera was also found at that time. The incidents are under investigation. •On Feb. 21 at 1:45 p.m. an employee reported the theft of $280 from a desk in Seal Hall. The incident is under investigation. •On Feb. 21 at 7:18 p.m. one student in Corbin Hall was judicially referred for possession of cannabis. •On Feb. 22 at 12:50 a.m. Serell Williams, 19, of 517 Tanner Hall, was arrested in Tanner on a McDonough County warrant for failure to appear on retail theft charges. He was transported to the McDonough County Jail where he was lodged pending bond. •On Feb. 22 at 10:53 p.m. non student Michael Muhammed, 18, of Chicago, was issued a notice to appear for a Macomb city ordinance violation for possession of cannabis less than 10 grams in Tanner.
The Western Illinois University Graphic Communications Club (GCOM) is set to hold a decal night on Feb. 28 at WIU. The event will be held in Knoblauch B 51 from 5-7 p.m. and will be open to the public. Designers from the club will be there to customize and create the decals. The price for the decals begins at $1 and increases with larger decals and for decals with more than one color. For example a 6x6 inch decal will cost around $10 with one color. The decals are waterproof and can stick to many surfaces such as car windows, laptops, cell phones, and walls. Decals can be made from designs that you bring in or you can work with a designer to develop your desired decal. “We can do personalized names (decals), spe-
NEWS 3
cific requests, and some WIU stuff,” said designer Savannah Ballard. “The options for the decals are really endless, you are only limited by your imagination. For example, I’ve made a pineapple decal for my phone. You can show off these decals anywhere like laptops, books and cups.” However, according to Ballared, not everything can be printed due to violation of copyrighted trademarks or other guidelines. There are some limitations to what the designers can do, such as no alternating Rocky, Greek letters and inappropriate words/objects. Snacks will be provided and proceeds from the event will go towards the GCOM club. The idea to host a decal night stemmed from a previous idea that the club had already put on earlier in the year. “We did a t-shirt printing event last semester but this is our first time doing a decal night,” Club President
Jessika Runquist. “With the money we earn we can put on a canned food drive later in the semester and a toy drive in November. Also we could use the money to purchase better equipment for the club. This event is great for our club as it provides experience for the designers to create designs and decals” said Runquist. Treasurer for the club and designer Levirt Moore is excited for the upcoming event. He said that he is interested in getting the club more involved with the campus community. “We are a smaller club and this event will be great promotion for us,” Moore said. “Hopefully this event could get us some more members for our club and more people interested in our major.” Moore expects that the GCOM club will have an even greater impact as the club continues to grow and put it’s name out there as it designs for other organizations.
Monday, February 26, 2018
4 OPINIONS
The recent #MeToo movement gave me hope in our ability to handle sexual assault in a progressive way. From the onset, I believed that the movement would help bring light to the sheer amount of people, both women and men, that have been assaulted in this country. Much of the focus of the movement has been about providing support and solidarity for the victims of assault. This movement has also brought many serial assaulters, such as Harvey Weinstein, to the light. However, sexual assault and rape are not perpetuated solely
WesternCourier.com
by the assaulters. There is another category of people beyond the rapists and the cat-callers, or the gropers and the peeping-toms. Equally guilty are the apologists. Equally guilty are those who turn a blind eye and say, “boys will be boys.” The enablers have as much to do with it as the perpetrators themselves. The reason this is on my mind is because of a particularly disturbing piece of news that came out last week. The Macomb high school is getting sued for $10 million because two girls were continuously harassed under the eye of an administration that al-
legedly refused to do anything to stop it. It does not take a saint to point out the wickedness of the rapist in this story. But what I find just as despicable is the action, or rather non-action, of the principal, made even more insidious by his role as a caretaker of the children who were assaulted. The rape-apologist principal was quoted as saying, “guys are going to do what guys are going to do.” That makes my blood boil. Even typing it out to be reprinted in this article upset me. I cannot imagine having two girls come to me for help after being assaulted repeatedly and responding with what amounts to, “Not my problem, get over it.” When approached by one of the victims’ mother, he attempted to place the blame on the girl, and
said he was not going to disrupt the school for “girls that accuse people of things.” This callous indifference is the same indifference that allowed Weinstein to take advantage of young actresses for so long. It’s the same indifference that allowed Kevin Spacey, Matt Lauer and John Conyers to stay in power while they were assaulting people on the side. It’s the same indifference that allows fast food managers to keep giving the best shifts to the women who give them sexual favors, that allows women to be harassed as they walk down the street. Sexual assault isn’t pervasive because there aren’t enough police, or because not enough women come forward. It’s pervasive and endemic in our society because our society lets it happen. Because the story
of a high school principal telling a sexual assault victim that boys will be boys isn’t that rare of a story. That kind of thinking is commonplace in our society. Too many people refuse to stand up. It’s time to change that. We all have the power to stop sexual assault. We are all bystanders, one way or another. The difference we can make is to speak up, and make it clear that no, it is not normal behavior for boys to assault. We have to make it clear that we as a society will believe and support people who have been raped, even if it’s inconvenient for our school, or our production company. When you hear catcalling, call them out on it, don't let them think that it's ok. It's time to take an active role in preventing sexual assault.
is not much else to do here. Either join a sport, a club or greek life. So I thought why not, I’ll join a sorority because it’ll be super huge here and maybe even larger than the Big Ten schools. Little did I know that is not the case. Greek life started off strong freshman year, but as I got into a sorority, I saw the system behind everything and realized that we are struggling to get girls. It’s not only one chapter which is the sad thing, but it is all chapters. My freshman year we were able to get 25 girls then
as I became a sophomore it went down to 15 and this past year we are only able to get around 12. Now the numbers are not the same for every sorority, it depends on how much your chapter total is. The numbers are just getting smaller and smaller, and to be completely honest, in the next decade, I don’t see any greek life existing unless it’s a professional fraternity or sorority. I can understand why it is going down because of enrollment and that makes sense. Greek life can be very expensive if you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Every sorority's dues are different but each have their own expenses. When one rushes, they should look a little bit into how much each
sorority costs so they’re able to stay in the sorority. I feel like one big reason why we don’t get so many numbers is because people don’t want to pay the amount to stay in the sorority, which is very understandable. I too was skeptical about joining a sorority because I didn’t have the money and I didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars just to make friends. I was completely wrong about that and that is not the only aspect of greek life. Yes you are in a way paying for your friends, but you’re paying for so much more than that. You’re paying for leadership opportunities, volunteer work, building relationships, becoming an officer and I could go on. Being able to give back to others is
a huge part of Panhellenic greek life. When it comes to formal recruitment, that is not what some chapters stress. I feel like if people knew that from the get go, they would spread the word to their friends and Greek life would go back up. Again it’s understandable if one doesn’t want to pay the amount needed to stay in greek life, but if they knew what they were paying for, Panhellenic greek life would go back up. It’s not about paying for the friends, it’s about paying for the experience. There's still plenty of potential left for greek life and if everyone gets their act together and starts laying their cards on the table earlier then Greek life may look like it did when I was a freshman.
Sorority life is worth every penny I am currently a junior at Western Illinois University. When I got here my freshman year, Panhellenic greek life was very successful. Going through formal recruitment, each sorority has around 20 to 25 girls and there are six sororities on campus. Alpha Sigma Tau, Delta Zeta, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Phi Sigma Sigma, Chi Omega and Alpha Sigma Alpha. That’s around 120-150 girls. At a lot of other schools, greek life is super huge. When I first applied to Western, I thought it would be huge here too because there
PREVIEW
of 2018 Oscars
Monday, February 26, 2018
The time has come for the 90th Academy Awards, and what a year for movies. The awards will be hosted at the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood & Highland Center, for the first time since 2002, by none other than the notorious Jimmy Kimmel. Here are my predictions on who is going to win big this year.
CONT. E.2
Nominees Best Picture
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
TIMOTHEE CHALAMET
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
DANIEL KALUUYA
GARY OLDMAN
DENZEL WASHINGTON
MARGOT ROBBIE SAOIRSE RONAN
MERYL STREEP
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
SALLY HAWKIN
FRANCES MCDORMAND
E2 EDGE
Oscars from E1
“The Sound of Water” has not 1 but thirteen nominations, the most of any movie this year. My prediction for Best Picture is based off of the Producers Guild Awards. As for the past two years, the awards from PGA and the academy have differed, I believe they both will agree with this movie. For Best Director, this is going
Monday, February 26, 2018
to be a difficult category to Missouri,” “Darkest Hour” predict. This is a category and “I, Tonya” are also some full of first time nominees. of the films getting high praise. Only one of the five, Paul Best Original Song has to Thomas Anderson, has been go to This Is Me from nominated in this category before. The Greatest Showman. Out of the directors in the This song has already won category, I’m going to have awards for best Original to give it to Christopher Nolan Song and has been used in for “Dunkirk.” The movie itself commercials for the Olympics. has a lot of action and Let’s not forget about technical parts, which takes a the women of film. Deep great director to execute as well down I would love Meryl as Nolan did. Those are only Streep to win Best Actress in a a few movies that will be talked Leading Role, but in reality about. Movies like “Three I think the amazing Frances Billboards Outside Ebbing, McDormand or Saoirse Ronan
are in the lead for that spot. As for the men, Gary Oldman has won the Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe for Best Actor in “Darkest Hour.” Other categories to look out for include Best Supporting Actress, predicted to go to Allison Janney for her role in I, Tonya. Some nominations for Best Animated Feature Film include “Coco,” “Ferdinand” and “The Boss Baby.” The Oscars will air Sunday March 4th back on ABC starting at 9 p.m. The Oscars
WesternCourier.com are later this year due to scheduling conflicts with the Winter Olympics. Feel free to save the date now and make plans with friends to watch the year’s biggest award show. And make a game out of the show, have everyone make their own predictions and keep score to see who has the most right at the end of the night. If you can’t make it in time to watch it at home, you can always stream it on ABC Go.
a lesser known category JIMMY PIERSON
We all remember when Adrien Brody won Best Actor for “The Pianist,” and kissed Halle Berry as he received the golden statue. We all remember Leonardo DiCaprio finally winning an Oscar for Best Actor in “The Revenant.” The Academy Awards are a time of recognition of greatness and aspirations being fueled. However, the categories that come before the big five are often forgotten. One of them being the award for the Best Original Score. This category is awarded to the film and composer, with the best accompanying music.
There has been a diverse array of winners over the years. For instance, the 70’s and early 80’s were the John Williams show. He was nominated for 12 awards between 1971 and 1989, and won five of them. Even at 86, he continues to compose as he is nominated for the most recent Star Wars installment. Williams, of course, is best known for “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” all of which he won at least one Academy Award for. The more obscure winners included Hans Zimmer with
Write For EDGE Contact
bm-brynteson@wiu.edu
“Lion King” in 1994. He is the modern pioneer of musical scoring, as he composes almost entirely with electronic keyboards and software. Zimmer is best known for “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “The Dark Knight,” and more recently “Dunkirk.” That score takes a more minimalistic approach. He is up for the award once again at the 90th Academy Awards. Williams and Zimmer would arguably be two heads on the film music Mount Rushmore. Possibly along with Philip Glass (“Fog of War,” “Truman Show”). This category, unlike others, focuses solely on what we hear. It emphasized what would otherwise be unnoticed. We all, of course, recognize the iconic opening Star Wars fanfare that opens every film of the legendary saga. We all remember the chromatic
stringed bass slide when the most ferocious shark in cinematic history is approaching. Do we ever actually stop to think of how important music is in film? John Williams once said, “Writing a tune is like sculpting. You get four or five notes, you take one out and move one around, and you do it a bit more and eventually, as the sculptor says, “in that rock there is a statue, we have to go find it.” As much work that goes into writing a screenplay, or developing an intricate costume design (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “ Lord of the Rings: Return of the King”), the same, if not more work, is put into writing the music for a film. Beethoven spent years writing a single movement to his “Ninth Symphony.” He wrote it for a full orchestra, as well as a solo pianist.
Now, picture that amount of effort along with synchronizing with a film. It is important to understand that a film would not be possible without the armies of credits they attribute to. Yes, those seemingly redundant words at the end of a movie are not just there to take up space. They list every possible, and essential, cog in the machine. From production to promotions, a film’s existence relies on everyone involved. Next time you are at a film, take time to not just watch it, but listen as well. Each hit-time of a cymbal or bass drum is intentional and meant to enhance a moment. In the words of one of the best music movies, “August Rush,” “[Music’s] all around us. All you have to do is open yourself up. All you have to do is listen.”
E3 EDGE
Monday, February 26, 2018
WesternCourier.com
JIMMY PIERSON
Evan Williamson
staff writer
It is not uncommon for certain categories to snub those who deserve it. One actor has had to deal with the pain of not being recognized by the Academy for years. Andy Serkis, who is best known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit has once again been denied a nomination, this time for his role as Ceaser in “War for the Planet of the Apes.” The argument is that since the actor isn’t on screen they shouldn’t be nominated for
best actor. I can see the argument but actors/actresses that perform using motion capture sometimes do more than their counterparts. The biggest snub in the history of the Oscars, in my opinion, was Serkis never getting nominated for his performance as Gollum/ Sméagol in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Serkis’ performance in these films has changed how they go about doing motion capture. Peter Jackson could have had Andy Serkis do just the voice of a computer-generated Gollum. But he didn’t,
he instead put on an uncomfortable suit that captured his movements. All his movements, facial expressions and voice were captured and put in the films. The character Gollum is schizophrenic, so he had to change between the personality of Gollum and Sméagol, sometimes arguing with himself in the same scene. He would also film with the actors on location doing all that he would do in the motioncapture studio. This performance was not recognized, resulting in a miscarriage of justice toward one of the greatest performances in film history. It’s been 15 years and Serkis still isn’t being recognized for his motion-
capture performances. Serkis isn’t the only motioncapture actor or actress to not be recognized for their efforts, many others have had to wear the uncomfortable suit and are not being recognized for what they’ve done. There are a lot of categories that people would like to add to the Oscar’s, some of which make sense because of the continued lack of recognition for certain genres and other things. I think the one that makes the most sense that desperately needs to be added by next year is an award for best motion-capture actor/actress. I believe that Serkis should get an honorary version of this award for his performance as Gollum. Nowadays I believe it is more important
than ever to have motioncapture be a category, as it is becoming more prominent in the making of films. Actors are now actually acting out computer-generated characters when they used to just do the voice. With technology continually evolving, they are able to put more of a mark on the business which is basically a prerequisite of being considered for an Oscar. With all the different movies that are coming out in the next few years, including a live action “Lion King,” it is important to be able to recognize these great actors/actresses. I believe that Serkis deserves to be recognized for his accomplishments, as well as those who are still to come.
6 PREDICTIONS FOR OSCARS WINNER 2018 Nick Ebelhack
Baylee Brynteson
Nick Ebelhack
Best Documentary Feature
Best Original Song
Best Documentary Short
Devon Greene
Baylee Brynteson
Jimmy Pierson
Best Picture
Best Picture
Film Editing
E4 EDGE
Monday, February 26, 2018
WesternCourier.com
Gibson Guitars hits a low note
For several years now, Gibson Guitars and its brand have been in the spotlight, for not so great reasons. Recently, Gibson Brand Inc. made headlines about the company facing bankruptcy after 116 years in busness. Although the main focus has been on the financial issues within the company, workers as well as musicians have also come out and discussed the issues they have with the company itself. Gibson Brand Inc. has $500 million in corporate debt, which will need to be paid by July 23 in order for the company to remain in business. Because of this huge hit of debt, the Standard & Poor, a financial service company, has given the company a CCC-minus rating. The CCC is Cash Conversion Cycle, which
measures effectiveness within a company. Gibson came back with a statement saying that they would be able to refinance, especially since the company is improving its profitability and recently paid back $20 million of its debt. Though the company is playing off this controversy, there are other elements causing the company to be in hot water, including rosewood and ebony regulations. If you have taken a music business course, then you’d know importing ebony and rosewood to make musical instruments is a big no-no! Back in 2012, the US Fish and Wildlife Service raided two of Gibson’s factories in Tennessee and found huge quantities of both of these products being used. They were issued to pay a $300,000 to avoid criminal charges for importing these goods from
Madagascar and India. Because of this, it’s been hard for Gibson to continue making their signature instruments. With financial burden comes stinginess, and that has caused another issue with employees and musicians. Let’s start off with the employees who work for the Gibson Brand. If you go on websites like Glassdoor, reviews about working for this company are cringing. Many employees have given the company a one star rating. There are more cons than pros when it comes to working for them. A guitar adjuster stated in their comment that “The attitude from Mngt. is intimidation- to rule by fear. They actually get a thrill from firing people, they actually want you to fail, I have never seen anything like it. Everything is about hitting your daily numbers at any cost. Pay raises have been non-existent for years without explanation of why.” Another former employee who did not state their position said that “employee turnover is off the charts and they are hor-
rible at recruiting talent to get replacements hired.” They also went on to say that managers only stay with the company no more than six months. As musicians, we tend to forget at times how much work goes into the instruments we play. This leads to the next set of people who are quite sick and tired of Gibson and their instruments, their customers. Every business follows the policy that the customer is always right. Gibson however isn’t following that policy too closely. Many customers complain about the quality of their instruments and the high prices they have to pay. Instead of fixing the instruments and letting customers exchange their product for a better one; they are refusing to take ownership of their faults. Instead of marketing themselves as a guitar company, they’ve been more so focused on their electronic products and don’t put in a lot of time making their guitars. Even notable musicians have decided to stop promoting the company. In an interview
with Ultimate Guitar, rhythm guitarist for Mastodon Bill Kelliher, stated that Gibson Guitars treat their artists like garbage. Kelliher noticed while working with them that there were a lot of issues from the very beginning. “All the guys I worked with over there – the A&R guys were getting fired left and right and the company just seemed to be falling apart to me.” During his time with them, Kelliher also had a model guitar made after him. Many people who ordered his guitar were upset since they couldn’t tune it the way Kelliher had his guitar tuned. In essence the Gibson Brand did not l isten to him or his requests, therefore Kelliher cut his losses. A similar situation happened to lead vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield from Metallica. Hetfield was the one to recommend Kelliher to leave Gibson and pursue ESP, another guitar based company. This summer will be either a making or breaking point for the company, and so far it is not going in their favor.
'Ready Player One' is ready to hit the big screen The upcoming movie “Ready Player One” takes place in a near-future world in which there is a large energy crisis and the economy is declining. During this time, Virtual Reality is a super-drug that has most of the world addicted. There is a virtual universe called the OASIS, in which the main character, Wade Watts, going by his username Parzival, must find the game’s ultimate secret. In the real world, he lives in The Stacks,
a huge trailer park on the outskirts of an abandoned American city, in which the trailers are stacked in skyscrapers. In the virtual world, he goes to high school on the planet Ludus, a virtual planet where all high school students in America go to school. The movie is based on a novel by Ernest Cline. The film will be released on March 29. The trailers look amazing. They really look like they are bringing to life the immense scale of the virtual universe from
the novel. The book was great because it was an interesting vision for our own future. A future in which the world is failing and is addicted to a virtual reality video game. The movie looks like it is continuing that vision. The whole story of “Ready Player One” is about finding secrets, which in film and video games are called ‘Easter Eggs.’ These Eggs will be hidden throughout the film. The book is full of 80s popculture references. Some of them are hidden. If you see the movie, try to find all the hidden references to movies, video games and music. I’m always skeptical about upcoming book-to-movie adaptations because I never
know if the movie will be as good or as faithful to the book. In Ready Player One’s case, Steven Spielberg is directing it, which could mean the movie will be good. He is a renowned director and has directed films such as “Jaws,” “ E.T.” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Ernest Cline is a fantastic writer. He wrote another book called “ARMADA” which is about people using virtual reality-controlled drones to fight off an alien invasion in 2019. Cline also wrote the screenplay for the movie FANBOYS, which is a story about Star Wars fans who go on a road trip to try to steal the plans for “Episode I: The Phantom Menace.”
This movie is coming out at a time when virtual reality headsets are in their technological infancy. Virtual Reality is actually becoming affordable and decent. In the future, we could have technology as cool as “Ready Player One.” We could also have an energy crisis like in the story. The future presented in Ernest Cline’s novel is both an interesting and grave one. I recommend this movie and the book. If you don’t read the book, go see the movie. If you like VR stuff, like to play video games or if you simply like a good action film, go see Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One.” I have high expectations for this film.
Monday, February 26, 2018
@WesternCourier
Let kids read their own books
This Friday will be the National Read Across America Day. This is a time for children of all ages to take a moment out of their class schedule, and sit down with a good book. For a very long time now, children’s books have been apart of the challenged and banned controversy. Parents as well as other authority figures come together and discuss the books a child reads, and whether they’re appropriate or not. Those who find children’s book to be inappropriate tend to think that exploration, adventure and new challenges are bad. The question is why? When we were younger, our teachers would read stories like “The Rainbow Fish” and “Green Eggs and Ham,” just to name a few. We were mesmerized by the colors, characters and if the book would have a happy ending. We never thought that “Green Eggs and Ham” was about giving into peer pressure, or that “The Rainbow Fish” was about communism. We didn’t even know what those concepts meant. The purpose of books like these are to encourage children to try new things, and that it’s okay to be different. The reason I choose to discuss these two books is because they both have been the most criticized. We all know that the story “Green Eggs and Ham” is about Sam-I-Am, who tries to get the unnamed character to try a plate of green eggs and ham. This 50 word book is a part of the beginner books series, which are books aimed at helping children ages 3-9 learn to read. The first time this book was banned was in 1965 in the People’s Republic of China for portraying an early version of Marxism. The ban was lifted in 1991, following Theodor Seuss Geisel’s passing. In America the book has been challenged
many times for peer pressure, and causing anxiety to the unnamed character. “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister, is a story about a fish with shiny, multi-colored scales, who is quite fond of his looks. When other fish ask to have one of his shiny scales he refuses. His only remaining friend the starfish, tells him to meet the mysterious octopus for advice. The mysterious octopus tells Rainbow Fish to share his scales with others. Rainbow Fish then shares all but one of his scales with his new friends. Pfister’s goal when writing this book was to teach children about sharing and how important it is. The moral of the story has been debated since the book first came out in 1992. Some reviewers believe the book is about rejecting individuality and promotion of socialism. Others see it as a book about influencing children to give away their bodies to indulge the wants of others at their own expense. Above all of these criticisms, many find the book to about communism. Just reading these statements devastated me because children don’t even know what these ideas mean. When children are born into this world they are innocent and learn from others. When others take away their freedom of imagination, what good does that do for children? Yes, I can understand that parents and authority figures are leery about what their children are exposed to, but books like these aren’t trying to destroy the child, instead they’re trying to encourage the child to see the good in life. I ask for parents and authority figures to think twice before deciding on challenging a book, especially a children's book. Because in the end they might be hurting a child’s perception of reality.
OPINIONS 5
Trump isn’t helping North Korean talks
According to a recent story from CNN, President Trump announced new sanctions against North Korea this past weekend. Part of these sanctions include efforts to target shipping channels used by North Korea to evade previous sanctions and export goods to their allies. Included in these sanctions were also a few Chinese and Hong Kong based international shipping companies. The goals of the sanctions are to make it harder for the country to export supplies and for the cost of business with North Korea to go up for other countries. Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have been going on for months now. But with the olympics being hosted by North Korea’s neighbor to the south, there seemed to be a few weeks of peace as discussions focused on North Korea’s attendance at the olympics. Now that the olympics are coming to a close, the global attention is focusing back on North Korea. It seems like the story with
North Korea is getting a bit repetitive. The U.S. repeatedly issues sanctions against North Korea and this either changes their budget, which takes money away from the citizens, or they find a loophole around it and still makes a profit. They seem to always find a way to have money to fund their nuclear program. Sanctions have yet to prove themselves as an effective measure against North Korea. North Korea will just reallocate money or find ways around it. They are the epitome of the life philosophy “money isn’t everything.” So until the U.S. can figure out a way to better enforce the sanctions they impose while at the same time making sure that citizens aren’t suffering, maybe the U.S. should take a different approach in dealing with North Korea. Negotiations have been in the works between the two Koreas and the U.S. for a while, with added emphasis as the olympics came to the continent. The South Korean president Moon Jae-In felt
that North Korea’s inclusion in the olympics was a great step for peace between the countries. President Trump has not gone to Korea himself but has sent representatives on his behalf, including daughter Ivanka Trump who briefed the South Korean president on the new sanctions. While talks seem to be looking positive, it’s hard not to wonder if Trump’s lack of direct involvement is part of this. President Trump has actively bashed Kim Jong Un repeatedly on social media and in speeches and interviews and only seems to polarize the region. Many North Korean threats have come after Trump has made comments. The fact that there have been few comments as of late has shown some possible progress in that region. While Ivanka may not be the best representative for the U.S. (and probably does not have the clearance), she still has better social skills than her father. Hopefully with continued negotiations and muting Trump’s twitter, we may not have a need fo sanctions anymore. Or there’s always the military option, hopefully it’ll never come to that.
Editorial Policy The editoral views of the Western Courier shall be confined to this editorial and are to be separate from news coverage otherwise noted. The editoral presented is based on the ideas and views of the WC editoral board.Columns are the opinions of the columnists alone and should not be construed as the opinions and beliefs of the WC staff as a whole.
Letters & Local Forum Policies E-mail letters to the Editor and Local Forum messages to micour@wiu.edu. Letters should not be more than 350 words in length. The author’s name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Failure to include such information will lead to the letter being discarded. The WC staff will edit letters in cases of timeliness, obscenity length and grammer, and we do not guarantee publication of all letters.
2018 Spring Semester Editorial Board Editor-in-Cheif - Nicholas Ebelhack Edge Editor - Baylee Bryntesson Opinions Editor - Ryan Zurek
Monday, February 26, 2018
6 SPORTS
Women from back page
The made Denver three was followed by two successful free throws on the next possession by Loven, cutting the Leathernecks lead to 35-27 with 3:13 left in the half. The Leathernecks would respond by the way of junior guard Taylor Higginbotham. After a made free throw to kick the lead to nine by Krishna Merriman, Higginbotham scored the final seven points of the half to give the Leathernecks a 43-27 lead going into the break. The third quarter was a back and forth affair. Denver was not able to trim the lead as the Leathernecks answered their every basket. Senior guard Morgan Blumer along with Higginbotham and Clemns scored all but two of
the Leathernecks 17 third quarter points as they held onto a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, 60-46. The fourth quarter was the same as the two teams traded baskets all quarter long. Denver fought back and got the lead down to eight with 7:54 left in the game, but could not get any closer. Western, led by Clemens who ended the game with 28 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and six steals was able close out the game and win by an eventual score of 77-61. Higginbotham added 20 points, going four-for-nine from the three-point line as Western earned their 21st win of the season. The latter part of their 2-0 road trip marks the end of Western’s regular season. “Denver is such a dangerous team, and when we didn't get off to a great start it could have
WesternCourier.com
really affected us. We played good defense, forced a ton of turnovers and eventually got our offense going.“ Gravina said. “I'm extremely proud of the 21-win regular season, especially with a tough schedule that included four paid nonleague games." Western was able to win this game despite losing the rebound battle 56-40 and getting outscored off the bench 29-3. The 32 forced turnovers took care of that as they were able to score 30 points off turnovers compared to Denver's 10. Western will end the Summit League regular season in 3rd, while Denver finishes in 5th. The Leathernecks won’t be in action again until the Summit League conference tournament which is set to begin on March 3. Twitter: HeChilling FILE PHOTO
Dalan Ancrum gets set on defense.
Men from back page
Taylor Higginbotham squares up for a free throw attempt.
ANGEL STRACK./COURIER STAFF
CLASSIFIEDS
WC
For Rent
For Rent
Submit a classifieds ad to Micour@wiu.edu
1 & 2 bedroom apartments, new $250 signing bonus on 10 and 12 month leases. Two blocks from campus. Bus stops nearby. Free water, garbage and parking. Laundry onsite. Clean, well maintained and secure. Call Ted 309-837-5600 or visit markertrental.com. Spacious 2-5 bedroom homes for rent. 10 month lease available. Great locations, close to bus stops, plenty off street parking, all new windows, AC, energy efficient furnace, hardwood and ceramic tile floors, free washer/dryer. Well maintained (24 hrs.) by local landlord. Call 309-255-1233. Houses for Rent 2016/2017: A&D Real Estate has several 3, 4 and 5 bedroom houses for rent, all with at least 2 bathrooms, recently rennovated and located close to campus. Call for a tour or visit our website at www.wiucollegerentals.com. Local landlord with a focus on clean and updated housing with personal service for your college housing needs. 309-313-1122. FALL INTO SAVINGS with Charleston Boulevard Apartments! Now offering SPECIAL RATES through Dec. 2017! Call for specific details 309-833-4545!. NICE, CLEAN, WELL MAINTAINED 1 TO 6 BEDROOM HOUSES FOR 2016-2017 Our houses have hard wood floors, ceramic tile, central air, washer and dryer and are close to campus with plenty of parking. We offer a ten month lease so you don’t pay for the months you aren’t here. Please call 309-255-1959 for a showing. Now showing for 2017 & 2018 year 2, 3, and 5 bedrooms homes all close to campus. Call 309-331-4565. Westen Investments has only two 4-Bedroom brich houses available. Call our office at 309-833-5995 to schedule a showing! We will show to 2-3 person groups as well!
.
Point guard Joe Rosga led the Pioneers with 10 points in the second half, and connected on two of his five- three point attempts. Rosga and Amigo were the leading scorers for Denver, combining for 47 of their 89 points. For the Purple and Gold, they were led by the duo of Webster and Johnson. The two combined 30 of Western’s 52 points. It was not the outcome Leatherneck fans wanted on senior night, but seniors Dalan Ancrum, Lynrick Moxey and
LARGE STUDENT RENTALS 5 and 6 Bedroom Homes are still available!! Ask for our $1000.00 Discount program! Firsrt come first serve for the last large homes that are open for the fall. NICE, CLEAN, WELL MAINTAINED 1 TO 6 BEDROOM HOUSES FOR 2017-2018 Our houses have wood floors, ceramic tile, W/D, central air, and are close to campus with plentry of parking. We offer low rent and a 10 month lease to save you money! Call 309-255-1959 for a showing. Small 1BR apt near campus and downtown. All utilities included. (Electric, Water, DISH, Garbage) $500/month, $300 deposit. Available immediately. Also have 2BR, you pay electric. $600/month, $350 deposit available September 1st. Please contact 309-255-4367 for a showing. CLEAN, REMODELED, AND WELL MAINTAINED HOUSES AND APTS FOR RENT IN GREAT LOCATIONS. UTILITIES PAID FOR APARTMENTS. RENTING NOW FOR FALL 2017. ALSO RENTING TWO APTS FOR SPRING 2016. CALL JASON AT 309-221-3985. Timbercrest Apartments 1587 Riverview Drive Now showing 1 & 2 Bedroom Units. Very clean, close to WIU campus with bus stop in front of building. Washer/dryer available in most units, all other appliances included, FREE INTERNET, ceiling fans in every room, pet friendly. All units have off street parking and private decks overlooking campus. Both 10- and 12-month leases are available. Openings for Summer 2017 and school year 2017/2018. Deposit required. Phone (309)833-3192 and leave message. Westen Investments has just one 3-Bedroom ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED (Water, Sewer, Trash, Gas, Electric, and Internet) Apartment left! That’s right you just pay for rent, and the rest of it is on us! Call our office at 309-833-5995 to check it out. Looking for 2 roommates to share a 3-bedroom furnished house beginning in August for 2018-19. 10- to 12-month contract. New carpet, air, garage w/ storage, laundry. $300 each per month, plus utilities. Call Sharon at 309-338-3888.
Chris Snyder were honored before the game started for their four years of service to the basketball program. All three players got substantial playing time during their last game inside Western Hall and made the most of their time out on the court. The next time the Leathernecks matchup will be on March 3 against South Dakota State University of Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the first round of the Summit League Tournament. The Leathernecks are the underdogs in the tournament this year but look to surprise the Summit League in March. Twitter: BrendanReidyII
RATES $5.50 per issue (open rate) $4.00 per issue (campus rate)
For Rent Available now: Close to campus, clean studio apartments, excellent condition, reasonable rent, and partly furnished. Ceiling fans and a/c. Professionally maintained. No pets. Semester leases offered. Call 309 837 4369 and leave your phone number if not there. Email: MandKhousing@gmail.com ALL APARTMENTS - ALL INCLUSIVE Get control of your budget. Know exactly what you are spending each month. Each apartment includes free a/c, free heat, free electricity, free water, free cable tv, free hi speed internet, and free off street parking. Laundry on site. No noise policy. Bus stop across the street. Close to campus. Well maintained. Studios are $460/mo, One bedrooms are $620/mo. Call Doug at 309-255-8179 for an appointment. Westen Investments still has affordable 1-4 Bedroom Apartment/Houses available. Be sure to check out our website (www.westeninvest.com) to see our available listings, and call our office at 309-833-5995 to schedule a showing. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to win prize giveaways! APARTMENT FOR RENT: FOR QUIET PERSON. ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT FOR RENT LOCATED AT 314 West Carroll ST Macomb, Ill 61455. Available end of August 2017-new carpeting yearly lease SMALEST FURNISHED IN MACOMB $345.00/month - HEAT & AC INCLUDED private entrance, off-street parking included call for appointment309-837-4748 or 255-5075 woodburning fireplace, ask for Paul. For Rent: Little Swan Lake, 30 min from campus. 2br, 2bth, heated double car garage with work area. $600 per mo. (309) 335-2206 after 6:00 pm, may leave message anytime. Spacious 3 Bedroom Upper in Duplex close to campus and Jackson St. All utilities furnished and appliances Includes cable and internet 18/19 school year $375.00 per Br Ph 309 255 8086 Please leave message
Sports 7
Monday, February 26, 2018
@WesternCourier
FBI wiretaps find corruption in NCAA
If you cheat you will get caught. On Friday we saw another example of that. Recently, we’ve seen Tom Brady suspended for four games because of Deflategate, MLB players denied a chance in the Hall of Fame because they used steroids and now an allout FBI probe investigation. Twenty Division-I basketball schools were caught paying their players to send or keep them to play for their program. Big programs like Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State and North Carolina were all named in the FBI probe. On Tuesday, the NCAA vacated the title from the 2013 Louisville Championship team. They are no longer recognized as the champions, and all their wins have been taken away. They were penalized because their former head coach Rick Pitino was caught giving $100,000 to former 2017 recruit Brian Bowman. Bowman was committed to Michigan State before decommitting and signing with Louisville. Pitino was forced to resign by the University before the 2017-2018 season started. Bowman was suspended the whole year by the NCAA. Unfortunately, the 2013 team had to take most of the dam-
age because of their scandalous coach. I don’t agree with their title getting stripped away because of all the hard work they put into that year. But if your coach wants to break the rules multiple times, the NCAA will punish you. One other player in the 2017 class was reported to receive $100,000. Very similar to the Louisville situation. The only difference is that it involves Arizona center Deandre Ayton and head coach Sean Miller. It was reported that the FBI wiretapped Miller’s phone and found out that he would give Ayton $100,000 if he came to Arizona. Although they haven’t confirmed that he received the money, Miller did not coach in their game on Saturday. The university cleared Ayton to play, and could still play the rest of the season. If the FBI proves that he received any of the money, Arizona will be forced to vacate all their wins, and will have to forfeit their season. Earlier in the season, Miller denied that he was involved. Instead, one of his assistants got fired. Now you may be asking yourself, why aren’t the other head coaches in trouble? Well, so far as reported, the other coaches have not been
involved with paying their players, like Miller and Pitino did. Miles Bridges of Michigan State, Wendell Carter Jr. of Duke, and Kevin Knox of Kentucky have allegedly taken money. All three of these players have been cleared to play by their respected Universities. Eric Davis Jr., a guard from Texas, and Malik Pope, a forward from San Diego State, have been suspended from their teams. With all these allegations coming out, I think the NCAA eventually have to pay the athletes. I was never in favor with the topic of college athletes getting paid, but if they want to prevent the players from getting paid illegally, they will have to give them some kind of money. Now, I still think that some schools will pay their players illegally, but it wouldn’t be as much as it is now because the NCAA would be paying them. The coaches have to start being more aware of this. Even though it may not be their fault, they have to start being accountable for their players, or this will only continue to happen. College basketball took a big shot from these allegations, it makes me think how much are college football players getting paid? Football is the biggest sport in America, and they have many more players competing than any other sport in college. You would have to think it happens more often. Soon we may see the FBI take a huge hit on college football.
Louisville former head coach Rick Pitino speaks at game.
WIKIMEDIA.COM
Softball with double-header sweep in series
Emily Ira in motion while pitching.
JASMYNE TAYLOR//COURIER STAFF
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -— The Leathernecks posted a 2-0 record today halting an eightgame skid. The Leathernecks blanked Alabama State, 3-0, behind a dominant performance from Emily Ira. The Leathernecks bats carried them to a game two victory, as Western Illinois beat Evansville 9-5. “We had two great team wins today. We wanted to come out and work on the process and the little things, so the outcome will take care of itself and we did just that,” said head coach Beth Golitko. “Emily had a phenomenal game in the circle the first game with a solid defense behind her. The bats came alive right when they needed to, to manufacture runs.” Ira etched her name in the Western Illinois' record book on Saturday morning as she struck out 15 batters to lead the Purple and Gold to the 3-0 victory. She now ranks second in program history in strikeouts in a single game. She was dominant from the beginning of the contest as she struck out six consecutive batters through the second and third innings. With the game knotted at 0-0, Kelsey Marlow led off the fifth inning with a single up the middle. Marlow was out at second on a fielder's choice play as Rachel Beatty reached first. Beatty was moved to second as Jasmine Lara grounded to third and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. With
two out in the fifth inning, Payton Abbott hit a ball to the right-center gap to score Beatty. After the first two Leathernecks went down in the sixth inning, Brooke Stulga tripled to right field to put a runner on the corner with two outs. Not only did Ira show her dominance in the circle on Saturday morning, she singled to left field to score Stulga to put the Leathernecks up 2-0. The Leathernecks tacked on their final run of the ballgame in the seventh inning which was started by Beatty, who drew a walk. After stealing second base, she advanced to third on a ground ball and scored after Abbott lined a ball to center field for a single. Abbott turned an impressive game one, as she went two-fortwo with a pair of RBIs. Lara went two-for-four on the day with a couple hits. Ira finished the contest pitching seven innings, while only giving up two hits and zero walks. The bats came alive during the second game for the Leathernecks as they plated nine runs, their second-most of the season. “The second game was great to see offensively and defensively. Megan and Payton did great keeping them off balance in the circle," Golitko said. “Offensively, we took advantage when we needed to and kept rallies going. We knew Evansville would come out strong so we had to keep pushing every inning.”
Scoring came early for both sides in the contest, as each team got things going in the first inning. After Evansville hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning, the Leathernecks responded as Hailey Duwa singled up the middle, scoring Abbott to tie the game. The fourth inning proved to be the difference in the game for the Leathernecks, as the Purple and Gold scored six runs on six hits. Stulga got the inning started for the Leathernecks, singling to left field. With the bases loaded, Sidney Bottino singled up the middle, scoring Minyard and Stulga. With one out, Lara picked up an RBI after a single to left field, pushing the Western Illinois lead to 5-1. With two runners on base, Duwa hit a line drive to left field that scored Lara. The Leathernecks batted around in the inning with Stulga driving in the final RBI of the inning on an infield single. Evansville plated three fifth inning runs to pull within three runs, 7-4. The Leathernecks tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend the to 9-4 after Abbott scored on a Stulga fly out to left field. The final run of the game came off the bat of Minyard, as she singled through the right side to score Mia Croswell. The Leathernecks look to win three-straight on Sunday morning against SEMO. First pitch is set for 11:30 a.m. GoLeathernecks.com
Necks keep gaining momentum By Titus Perez courier staff
BECCA LANGYS/ PHOTO EDITOR
Morgan Blumer reaches out for the steal.
DENVER, Co. — The Western Illinois Leathernecks (21-8, 10-4 Summit) women’s basketball team was in action Saturday against the University of Denver Pioneers (16-13, 7-7 Summit) in Denver. In the final regular season game for both teams, Denver wanted to try to end the season fourth in the Summit League standings, while Western was already cemented as third regardless of the game’s outcome. The first quarter got off to a slow start for both teams as Denver kicked things off with a made three by Sydney Koel, followed by an Emily Clemens lay-up for the Leathernecks. The rest of the quarter was a defensive struggle as Neither team could pull away because their offenses could not get going. Western went a dreadful one-for-nine from behind the arc in the opening quarter as they ended the opening stanza trailing the Pioneers 14-13. The only thing that kept Western in the game early was their defense. Clemens lead the charge as she stole the ball
away three times in the quarter. Senior guard Michele Farrow also added in two steals for the Leathernecks in the quarter, helping the Leathernecks’ defense keep Denver at bay. In the second quarter the ladies of the Purple and Gold started to break out. Their defense stayed strong and their offense started to click. They were able to outscore the Pioneers 30-13 in the quarter. After shooting awfully in the first period, the Leathernecks turned it around and made seven of their nine attempts from three in the second. Denver didn’t have an answer as they continued to struggle from the field. The game started to swing in the middle of the second quarter when Western took the lead at 18-16 on a Clemens three pointer. Western continued its assault and got the lead up to 13 before the Pioneers made their first field goal and ended a drought that lasted over five minutes on sophomore’s guard Laura Loven’s three.
Basketball page 6
Men suffer tough senior night loss By Brendan Reidy courier staff
MACOMB Ill. — The Western Illinois University men’s basketball team suffered a tough senior night loss to the Denver Pioneers on Saturday night by a score of 89-52. The loss locked the Leathernecks at the bottom of the conference, and they will be an eight-seed come the Summit League Tournament on March 3, in Sioux Falls. The Purple and Gold got off to a slow start on Saturday. The Pioneers started the game with a big 9-0 run that got them the lead right out of the gate. Isaac Johnson got the Leathernecks on the board with sixteen minutes to play. Stagnant offense was the trend for Western during the first half. The Leathernecks were struggling to get anything going against the defensive Pioneers. Denver held the Leathernecks to only 18 first half points and controlled the ball game handedly. The score going into the half was 44-18 in favor of the Pioneers. Western’s head coach, Billy Wright, commended the Pioneers on their level of ball movement that allowed them to take such a large lead.
“Give them credit, they spaced the floor well. They moved, they passed, and they shoot it really well and anytime you relax, they make you pay,” Wright said. “They are very patient with what they do.” Leading the charge for Denver was Joe Rosga with 17, and Daniel Amigo with 15. The tandem were nearly unstoppable during the first half, as the two had a combined 14-25 from the field. For Western, their leader at the half were freshmen Kobe Webster and Isaac Johnson. Both players led the team with six points apiece. The second half was the same for Western. However, more shots were beginning to fall for the Leathernecks. Throughout the second half, Webster was beginning to find his groove. The true freshman scored 11 points in the second half and highlighted the Purple and Gold’s offense. However, his stellar offensive play was not enough for the Leathernecks to hold off the Pioneers The Denver offense did not slow down during the second half.
Women page 6
Issac Johnson looks off a defender as he dribbles up court.
FILE PHOTO