The Utah Statesman, August 24, 2009

Utah Statesman The

Campus Voice since 1902

Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com

Today is Monday, August 24, 2009 Breaking News

The USU women’s soccer team beat Northern Arizona 2-0 to begin the season.

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Campus News

A STUDENT SLIDES DOWN A TRACK OF JELL-O during last year’s Week of Welcome (WOW). This year’s WOW activities will include a foam dance. TYLER LARSON photo

Week of Welcome carries on traditions ASUSU welcomes students back to the place ‘where the sagebrush grows’ New support offices opens to help veterans returning to college acclimate.

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Aggie Life Local restaurant brings a taste of the islands to Logan.

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By BENJAMIN WOOD senior news writer

University traditions, old and new, are in full swing as students return to classes and ASUSU holds this year’s Week of Welcome.

With one of the campus’ new features this year, true-blooded Aggie football fans will be able to point to the spot where the sagebrush grows. Three months after being planted by Boy Scouts from North Logan’s Troop 368, the typical desert plant continues to flourish at the northern end of the stadium.

Ted Bear, committee chairman

of Troop 368, said the idea for the project began during the early stages of construction for the Laub Athletics-Academics Complex.

Former Athletic Director Randy Spetman noticed there was no sagebrush located anywhere in the stadium and wanted to incorporate the plant into the new development.

At first, a stone was engraved with the words “where the sagebrush grows,” and in time the planting project was coordinated with the Scouts. On a rainy morning last May, soon after the completion of spring semester, five scouts and their leaders worked for six

hours to complete the task.

Bear said the engraved stone is still located at the Laub AthleticsAcademics Complex, and is often used as a doorstop.

Sagebrush has long been a part of Utah State tradition due to its placement in the last lines of the song “The Scotsman,” which is sung by students at athletic events.

The lyrics, found on www.utahstateaggies.com, state, “Show me a true blooded Aggie from Utah, who doesn’t love the spot ... where the sagebrush grows!”

In a recent press release from the Athletics department, football coach Gary Andersen commented

on the song and the newly planted sagebrush.

“I love the Scotsman song. I look out at the sage brush that’s planted right outside my window every morning and it reminds me about the passion and enthusiasm. That song defines what being an Aggie is all about,” Andersen said.

On a more familiar note, thousands of USU students return to classes this week as the 2009 fall semester commences and ASUSU’s Week of Welcome gets under way.

The Week of Welcome, also known as WOW Week, runs from Aug. 24

- See WOW, page 4

Celebrating a life of guidance Sports Aggie Football Family Fun Day showcases talent and flexibility.

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Opinion “People around you in the computer lab who are typing do not want to hear about your weekend. People in your classroom who are facing the front of the room are paying attention to the professor” Page 14

Off the Web

Welcome to the Cache Valley Fun Park!

The premiere location for Family Fun in Northern Utah. We have everything from bowling, to roller skating, to laser tag. We even have Northern Utah’s largest indoor playground.

792-4000

Archives and breaking news always ready for you at www.aggietownsquare.com

By STOREE POWELL staff writer

The USU Counseling Center and campus community will feel the loss of Mary Elizabeth Doty, director of the Counseling Center, who passed away Aug. 12.

A Utah Highway Patrol report states Doty was driving on State Road 30 when an 18-year-old driver from North Logan became drowsy at the wheel, crossed the center lane and struck Doty’s vehicle. Doty was killed on impact, the report states.

A USU Ph.D. graduate is just one of Doty’s inspiring register of titles and accomplishments.

Doty was a board member for the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors, advised the founding of the Avalon Hills Residential Facility for Eating Disorders in Cache Valley, helped initiate the Counseling Center’s Pet Therapy Program and even won awards for her irresistible chocolate

desserts entered in the Planned Parenthood annual Chocolate Festival.

Carol Rosenthal, director of USU’s Certified Learning Center at the Academic Resource Center and devoted friend of Doty’s said, “I was always so amazed she could gather the time and energy to make her chocolate desserts even when she was just inundated at work, etc.”

David Bush, associate director of USU’s Counseling Center said, “For the past 20 years, Mary and I have worked side by side in the Counseling Center, and she has been the balance in my professional growth and development. We enjoyed dressing up for Halloween together, often to students’ surprise and delight.

We have co-led student groups, fostered numerous Counseling Center programs and enjoyed the exceptional work environment

- See DOTY, page 3

MARY DOTY SITS IN HER OFFICE in the USU Counseling Center with one of the center’s therapy dogs, right. Below, Doty on the right and two other members of the Counseling Center pose with the Center’s dogs. photos courtesy of CAROL ROSENTHAL

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 Page 2

World&Nation Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com

ClarifyCorrect

The policy of The Utah Statesman is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find unfair, please contact the editor at statesmaneditor@aggiemail.usu.edu

Celebs&People NEW YORK (AP) – “One Tree Hill” actor Antwon Tanner has pleaded guilty to selling more than a dozen Social Security numbers for $10,000.

Tanner told a federal judge in Brooklyn on Friday TANNER that he was a middleman, selling numbers someone else provided. He and his lawyer didn’t comment on how he got involved in the scheme.

Tanner is expected to get as much as a year in prison at his sentencing, set for Nov. 20.

NewsBriefs Teacher accused of paying student for sex HELPER, Utah (AP) – A former Helper Junior High School teacher has been accused of paying a 15-year-old male student between $1,400 and $1,500 after sexual encounters with him.

Melissa Ann Andreini has been charged with three counts of third-degree felony unlawful sexual activity with a minor. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison on each count.

The boy told police that he was paid the money after three separate sexual encounters at her home in June and that his relationship with her began during the 2008-09 school year.

LateNiteHumor David Letterman, August 20, 2009 - Top Ten Things Overheard Outside Afghanistan Polling Stations 10. “Can my goat vote?”

9. “Hanging chad? That’s funny, I just hanged a guy named Chad.”

8. “Is this the Fire Dave Letterman rally?”

7. “I’m voting for Ahmad AlFranken.”

6. “Democracy? Yes we Afghani-can.”

5. “Incoming!”

4. “Why is Ralph Nader on the ballot?”

3. “Nothing says democracy like a rigged vote set up by an occupying imperialist power.”

2. “Isn’t it time we do something about the high price of beard delousing?”

1. “I am voting for the candidate who can see Turkmenistan from her cave.”

Lieberman says many health care changes can wait WASHINGTON (AP) – An independent senator counted on by Democrats in the health care debate showed signs of wavering Sunday when he urged President Barack Obama to postpone many of his initiatives because of the economic downturn.

“I’m afraid we’ve got to think about putting a lot of that off until the economy’s out of recession,” said Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. “There’s no reason we have to do it all now, but we do have to get started. And I think the place to start is cost health delivery reform and insurance market reforms.”

The Senate requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and advance a measure to an up-or-down vote. Senators from both parties said that Democrats might use a voting tactic to overcome GOP opposition, abandoning the White House’s goal of bipartisan support for its chief domestic priority.

Democrats control 60 votes, including those of two independents, but illness has sidelined Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. The party’s leaders also cannot be assured that their moderate members will support every health care

proposal.

“I think it’s a real mistake to try to jam through the total health insurance reform, health care reform plan that the public is either opposed to or of very, very passionate mixed minds about,” Lieberman said.

Talk about resorting to this maneuver comes as Republicans dig in against the idea of a government-run insurance program as an option for consumers and a requirement that employers provide health insurance to their workers.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans would like to start over “with a genuine bipartisan approach.”

“The American people will be very troubled by a single political party’s ‘my way or the highway’ attitude to overhauling their health care, especially when it means government-run health care, new taxes on small businesses, and Medicare cuts for seniors,” McConnell, R-Ky., said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said Democrats would consider the voting tactic, known as reconciliation, if necessary to pass a bill by year’s end if Republicans won’t work

Turnout appears low as Afghans vote for president KABUL (AP) – Taliban threats appeared to dampen voter turnout in the militant south Thursday as Afghans chose the next president for their deeply troubled country.

Insurgents launched scattered rocket, suicide and bomb attacks, violence that closed some polling sites.

Low turnout in the south would harm President Hamid Karzai’s re-election chances and boost the standing of his top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Turnout in the north appeared to be high, a good sign for Abdullah.

International officials have predicted an imperfect election – Afghanistan’s second-ever direct presidential vote – but expressed hope that Afghans would accept it as legitimate, a key component of President Barack Obama’s war strategy.

Taliban militants, though, pledged to disrupt the vote and circulated threats that those who cast ballots will be punished.

A voting official in Kandahar, the south’s largest city and the Taliban’s spiritual birthplace, said voting appeared to be 40 percent lower than during the country’s 2004 presidential election.

The official asked not to be identified because he wasn’t

authorized to release turnout figures. Associated Press journalists reported low turnouts in Kabul compared with longer lines seen in the 2004 vote.

Scattered reports of violence trickled in from around the country, including a rocket that landed near voters in Helmand province and an explosion at a voting site in Kabul. Clashes in Baghlan province closed voting sites and killed police.

Security companies in the capital reported at least five blasts, and Kabul police exchanged fire for more than an hour with a group of armed men; two suicide bombers died in the clash, police said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that five gunmen were fighting with police.

Karzai, dressed in his traditional purple and green striped robe, voted at 7 a.m. at a Kabul high school. He dipped his index finger in indelible ink – a fraud prevention measure – and held it up for the cameras.

Presidential palace officials released a rare photo of Karzai’s wife casting her vote.

“I request that the Afghan people come out and vote, so through their ballot Afghanistan will be more secure, more peaceful,” Karzai said. “Vote. No violence.”

ROBERTA CRAWFORD, 89, WEARS A STICKER in support of single payer health care during the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans fifth annual town hall meeting on health care reform in Delray Beach, Fl., Thursday, Aug. 20. AP Photo

toward a bipartisan solution.

To Sen. Orrin Hatch, RUtah, “that would be an abuse of the process.”

Even Sen. Kent Conrad, the Senate Budget Committee chairman, acknowledged that “it’s an option, but it’s not a very good one.” He has warned that nonbudget items in health care legislation would be challenged under the rules allowing reconciliation.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., also suggested that a fresh start was needed.

“Bringing up of the health care situation in the midst of recession, the unemployment problems ... was a mistake,” Lugar said. “For the moment, let’s clear the deck and try it again next year or in subsequent times.”

Kennedy, one of the major proponents of health care

reform, has missed most of the recent debate because of cancer. Both Hatch and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Kennedy’s absence has taken a toll on the process.

“He had a unique way of sitting down with the parties at a table and making the right concessions, which really are the essence of successful negotiations,” McCain said.

Primer seeks to break down sterotypes of polygamy SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Utah’s polygamous families have helped create a revamped guidebook called The Primer that they hope will help combat what they consider to be myths and stereotypes about their culture.

The 65-page booklet is designed to give social workers, police and other service providers a better understanding of the tenets of polygamist’s beliefs, unique family structures and even their language.

“We’re going to continue to have those situations, but that doesn’t mean that we can sit by when we are perceived incorrectly and not speak up,” said Anne Wilde of Salt Lake City, a plural wife for 33 years and now a widow. “By having a primer that has our input and expresses things the way we want to have them expressed I think is very helpful. It gives us a voice.”

Bigamy is illegal in Utah and Arizona, where most of the Intermountain West’s polygamists live. But Utah authorities have rarely prosecuted adults, focusing instead on crimes involving women and children.

Historically, fear of prosecution has kept most plural families from seeking public services.

When they did, service providers often tried to “rescue” them from their religion, Wilde and other polygamists say.

Released last week at a training conference, the Primer was produced by the Safety Net Committee, an outreach program working with polygamous communities and public and private service agencies in Utah and Arizona. The guide is an updated version of one produced in 2005 by the Utah Attorney General’s office.

Polygamists believed the first Primer unfairly portrayed them as victims trapped in religious groups where abuse permeated the culture.

The rewrite sought to find more neutral language and to show that plural families face many of the same challenges as other families.

In drafting the new version polygamous groups

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were asked to clarify or correct information about their specific cultural practices, Safety Net Committee Coordinator Pat Merkley said.

The Primer’s information also includes a history of polygamy in the Intermountain West, a glossary of terms and concepts, and a description of the various groups and their respective leadership structures.

“I think we’re speaking in their language and in their terms,” she said. “This is the best work we could possibly do. It’s as neutral as it could be, and people are still not going to like part of it.”

The information from polygamous groups is balanced against input from critics of the culture, definitions of abuse and an overview of the Utah and Arizona laws that make polygamy illegal.

Still, just having it makes a difference, said Merkley, a licensed social worker who had no such blueprint when she first began working with plural families some 20 years ago.

“It would have made me be culturally sensitive and aware and alert,” she said. “When I did work with plural families it was a challenge to even know the language they were speaking.”

Among the terms and practices defined in the Primer: – Reassignment: The practice of giving an excommunicated man’s wives and children to another man. Some polgyamists believe wives and children belong to the church, not the husband.

– Law of Placement: A type of arranged marriage that sometimes has involved underage girls.

Couples are matched by church leaders after consultation with parents. Currently leaders of all the major group have denounced underage marraige.

– United Order: A system of communal living that calls for families to share their earning and serve others in the community.

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StatesmanCampus News

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

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‘Golden Toaster’ parking goes BLUE Briefs Campus & Community

By RACHEL A. CHRISTENSEN news editor

Students will no longer be able to find free parking on campus, said James Nye, assistant director of USU Parking and Transportation Services. The last free parking lot on campus – the one belonging to the LDS church west of campus known as the Golden Toaster – is now designated as a BLUE parking area, Nye said.

A student can purchase a BLUE permit for $87 for this school year, Nye said. BLUE permit holders have access to many lots across campus, including a large two-hourlimit lot near the TSC. The Golden Toaster now requires a permit to park Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Nye said, which allows the church full use of the lot for evening activities and weekends.

Due to the relocation of tennis courts on campus, Nye said 240 parking spots were eliminated that were previously reserved for BLUE permits. Students who paid for parking suddenly found themselves without a place to park. The newly acquired lot recovers 105 parking stalls for permit holders, Nye said, which helps make up for the loss.

Lisa Leishman, director of Parking and Transportation Services, said because of the recovered number of stalls, the value of the BLUE permit increased since the spring.

“When people come in for BLUE permits and we tell them about the new lot, they are elated,” she said.

Mitch Smith, senior in graphic design, however, said as a non-permit holder, he doesn’t share the same enthusiasm at the news. Smith used the church’s parking THE PARKING LOT OF THE LDS CHURCH, known as the lot before it was converted into university Golden Toaster, will no longer be a haven of free parking for students. parking because it was free and close to BLUE permits are now required to use the lot. CODY GOCHNOUR photo most of his classes. Although he didn’t

use the lot often, he said he still doesn’t approve of this decision.

“Separation of church and state, anyone?” he asked. “I never even understood how (USU) could ticket for a parking lot they didn’t even own.”

A parking document provided by Nye states USU has helped regulate the lot, pay for snow removal and pay for signage in the lot in the years before it became a permit-lot. USU never recouped the costs of these services.

Last fall, the university stopped all parking enforcement for a month. During that time, the church experienced “complete chaos” in their parking lot, such as vehicles parked on the grass and in reserved stalls, and the church had no way to enforce these rules, the parking document states. This led the university to resume regulation.

USU signed a memorandum with the USU First Stake in September 2008, giving the university permission to use the lot during designated hours. According to the parking document, the Parking and Transportation Advisory Committee – composed of five students, three staff and three faculty members – created a recommendation for administration to go through with plans to change the church’s lot into a BLUE parking area last spring.

The Golden Toaster’s parking lot officially became BLUE parking Aug. 1.

The parking documents states USU Parking receives no money from USU tuition or state dollars; it is completely self-sufficient. While Parking works to give students the best parking experience possible, the document states “everything comes at a cost.”

–rac.ch@aggiemail.usu.edu

Doty: Counselor initiated the animal therapy program at USU -continued from page 1 Student Services provides. As a Center, we have lost the matriarch of our office but it has pulled us together as a family. Mary trusted us to do our jobs and provided us with encouragement and resources to better serve the students of USU. She was instrumental in supporting multiple worthy causes on and off campus, from Sub for Santa to literacy to the women’s shelter.”

This list hardly illuminates the essence of Doty according to USU friends – the essence which Dickinson attributed to those who are great friends. A disheartened student or a downcast co-worker couldn’t amble past Doty and not feel her immediate warmth and wisdom engulf them.

Rosenthal said, “For almost half of my life we shared so much laughter and tears and simple quiet times together, and I never thought I would live out my life without her. I’ll never trust anyone as much as I’ve always trusted Mary nor experience the unconditional acceptance I always felt from her. I want to find some meaning from her death, but I don’t believe I really ever will. There’s so much ugliness in life, and Mary had so much more to give to lessen that ugliness. So many lives will not be changed through her now.”

Doty not only provided encouragement for the lives of people but animals as well, like her trusty therapy

and companion dogs, Griffin and Remy, and her cats, Piper, Tango Bob, Calais and Tenzen. Doty often took her animals around the university to visit anyone in need of comfort. It was common to see Remy waiting by the window of the Counseling Center for her return.

Certainly animal friends aren’t the only ones missing Doty, as attested

by Suzanne Thorpe, vice president of student services. “Mary was an incredible and inspirational woman,” Thorpe said. “She was truly loved by countless people and animals. She had such a compassionate heart and would always take time to listen to your ideas or concerns. Mary’s kindness, generosity and love showed in her daily interactions with faculty, staff and students.”

Simply put, Bush said, “Her generosity was exemplary, her sense of humor a joy, and her commitment to USU unequaled. She will be missed.”

A memorial service was held Thursday, Aug. 20, at USU in the Evan Stevens Ballroom where many friends recalled the life of Doty.

Thorpe said, “Her excitement for life was contagious, and you couldn’t help but be touched and motivated.

She has left each of us with priceless memories of what it is to live and love life.”

–storee.powell@aggiemail.usu.edu

• USU Housing personnel contacted USU Police about a BB gun, CO2 cartridges, and BBs that were found in Summit Hall. Police took possession of these items.

Sunday, August 17 • Police stopped a vehicle for an expired registration. Upon further investigation police located marijuana in the driver’s possession and the vehicle was not insured. The driver was arrested for possession of marijuana and for driving without insurance on his vehicle.

Monday, August 18 • Complainant called the police department wanting to report some troubles she had over the summer with an ex-boyfriend. Complainant wants the police department to have a record in case the problems continue while she is attending USU. • An individual reported that he car had been hit while parked in the Aggie Terrace and that the other driver did not leave a note about the accident. Police are investigating.

Continuing the Museum of Anthropology’s Saturdays at the Museum series at Utah State University, the museum will explore the exhibit “Message on a Body” Aug. 29. Activities look at the traditions, symbolisms and beliefs of various cultures’ concepts of beauty.

“There are many reasons behind what we do as humans to adorn or decorate the body,” said Holly Andrew, Saturday’s program coordinator. “In some cultures, tattoos, piercings and body art play an important role in cultural identity representing strength and beauty.

In others, it is viewed as a form of expression, rebellion or rejection of conformity. This exhibit is unique because it discusses how cultures perceive beauty and asks the viewers to reflect on their own concept of beauty. We invite all people to come.”

USU students and members of the public are invited to the museum any time during the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday hours. Activities will include a lecture and tour highlighting the exhibit along with activities for children and adults.

Funding for the program is provided by a grant from the Institute of Library and Museum Services.

The USU Museum of Anthropology is located in the south turret of Old Main, Room 252. Free parking is available in the adjacent lot, south of the building.

For more information on this event, call museum staff at 797-7545.

Campus wellness goal of passport program

MARY DOTY, ABOVE CENTER, poses with her staff from the Counseling Center. Carol Rosenthal, director of the Academic Resource Center, said, “I’ll never trust anyone as much as I’ve always trusted Mary nor experience the unconditional acceptance I always felt from her.” photo courtesy of CAROL ROSENTHAL. Below, Doty’s picture is displayed by the lectern at a memorial service in the TSC Thursday evening. TYLER LARSON photo

PoliceBlotter

Friday, August 15

Museum explores body art traditions

• USU Police assisted a student on the Quad with a sprained left ankle. No medical treatment was requested from the student.

Tuesday, August 19 • USU Police was called to the Parking Office to meet with an individual who said one of her old roommates used her personal information to obtain a parking pass. This old roommate signed the complainant’s name to obtain the pass. This person also has some outstanding parking violations. USU Police is following up on this incident.

• USU Police was dispatched to the emergency phone near Valley View Towers. On arrival, one individual reported that the button was pushed by a group possibly made up of USU football players. The coaching staff was informed of the problem. USU Police was unable to find any problem in the area. The alarm was reset.

• Police investigated a report of an odor that was making individuals feel sick. It was determined that a sealant had been recently sprayed in the area. The area was aired out and the individuals felt better.

Contact USU Police at 797-1939 for non-emergencies.

Anonymous reporting line: 797-5000 EMERGENCY NUMBER: 911 • USU Police responded to a fire alarm in the Family Life Building on a fire alarm. This alarm was caused by water leaking onto a heat detector resulting from some ongoing building construction. The leak was repaired so that the alarm could be reset.

Wednesday, August 20 • USU Police responded to the LLC to remove a squirrel from a dorm room. When the officer arrived, the squirrel had already been removed from the building.

• USU Police responded to an animal problem at the LLC. Upon arrival, USU Police located a black and white Husky dog. The dog was taken to the Cache Meadows Veterinary Clinic.

Thursday, August 21 • Police and Fire Marshals responded to a fire alarm at Rich Hall. The alarm was caused by an individual that was having a curling iron problem. The alarm was reset.

-Compiled by Catherine Meidell

Campus Recreation and USU Wellness have come together again to promote the Fitness Passport. The program offers exercise classes on campus, including: yoga, pilates, body sculpting, cardio sculpting, kickboxing, step aerobics, spinning, water aerobics and harmony in the world (gentle Aikido). To keep a workout routine fresh, students should choose to attend any of the classes offered with the passport.

The program’s motto is, “Any class, any time, any day.” Enjoy free classes from Aug. 31 through Sept. 4. Passports can be purchased at the service desk (pool cage, HPER) or Nelson Fieldhouse.

For more information, students can visit www.usu.edu/camprec or contact Shelly Bybee of Campus Recreation at 797-7218. Prices are $45 per semester for USU employees/spouse with USU ID and $99 per semester for community members. USU students pay $25 per semester.

‘Crossing Boundaries’ highlights artists The Caine School of the Arts at Utah State University plans a yearlong series under the title “Crossing Boundaries.” The series opens with performance artist Jose Torres-Tama Monday, Aug. 31, at 7 p.m. in the Morgan Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center at USU and is presented by the Department of Art and the Caine School of the Arts.

Torres-Tama’s performance, “Cone of Uncertainty,” is free and open to the public.

Torres-Tama uses fire and costuming to explore themes of self, social and political identities. He has been featured on NPR’s Latino USA and has traveled extensively, performing and giving academic lectures and workshops.

In addition to the performance, a selection of Torres-Tama’s work is on exhibit Aug. 31 – Sept. 26 in the newly remodeled gallery, Studio 102, located in Fine Arts Visual, Room 102. The exhibition, “Contemporary Voices in Visual Narrative,” features additional artists and celebrates the beginning of the year-long Tanner Project.

-Compiled from staff and media reports

Page 4

CampusNews

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

JACOB SCHARTON, STUDYING POLITICAL SCIENCE, is a veteran and will be serving as a student mentor in the new Veteran’s Resource Office. The office opened as this semester’s classes started. TYLER LARSON photo

New veteran office provides support

By BRENDON BUTLER staff writer

Veterans have a new support system provided by the newly created Veteran’s Resource Office.

The office provides help for veterans when they gain admission to USU, register for classes and apply for financial aid, said Michelle Bogdan, director of the Women’s Resource Center and Reentry Student Center.

Bogdan oversaw the creation and is in charge of administration for the Veteran’s Support Office, which is a branch of the Reentry Student Center “More and more veterans are returning from service,” Bogdan said. “There’s a need for an office to help veterans who are acclimating and getting through the maze of higher education.”

A special committee comprised of representatives from the campus community, some of who are veterans themselves, convened to develop the program, Bogdan

said.

Alan Andersen, dining services executive director, has served three tours in Iraq with the National Guard. As a part of the committee, he said he is interested in “something being there for returning vets.”

As a veteran himself, he thinks he can give insight into the experience of coming home, he said.

“Imagine sitting here now and at any second a mortar could land,” he said. “Every pop can, every piece of trash on the street could be an (improvised explosive device). When you’ve been in an area with constant danger and stress, it’s a very different scenario.”

Andersen said he wants to get the word out to veterans that may be hesitant to ask for help because they think veterans who need help are not good soldiers.

“We want to educate, inform and create a forum where veterans can get to know each other in a way that’s not invasive or in your

face,” he said.

Andersen put out an open invitation for veterans to come visit him in the Dining Services Office, Room 232 in the TSC. Jacob Scharton, a 10-year Army veteran who served tours in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, will be serving as a student mentor in the Veteran’s Resource Office while he works on his political science degree at USU. Scharton said he is excited about the new program and looks forward to working with the community of veterans on campus.

Scharton will be in the office between 1 and 5 p.m., he said, but anyone can stop by to find out more between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

There will be an open house Thursday, Aug. 27, from 10 a.m. until noon in the Veteran’s Resource Office, Room 315 in the TSC. For more information, call the office at 797-1728.

–butler.brendon@gmail.com

WOW: Aggies reconnect through activities -continued from page 1 – 29, which includes daily activities and events.

Erin Reeder, ASUSU programming V.P., said WOW Week is to help students get involved with activities around campus. She said she feels students who participate in campus events have a more rewarding educational experience.

“When there’s a sense of community people excel,” Reeder said. “Academic success isn’t just in the classroom.”

This year’s WOW Week includes a number of old USU favorites; such as the Blood Battle, which runs all week; Wednesday’s Day on the Quad and Tuesday night’s movie on the HPER field; as well as some new additions like Wednesday night’s foam dance.

“You’ll get soaking wet, it’s crazy,” Reeder said.

Students donating blood in the annual Blood Battle against the University of Utah will be able to save time this year by registering online, Reeder said.

USU won last year’s Blood Battle and will have to set a high bar for the U, whose blood drive takes place after USU’s.

WOW Week also includes Moonlight and Music, a USU tradition normally unassociated with the first week of school. Following Monday’s Aggie Pride Stampede, The Sequence, a band from Huntington Beach, will play at the TSC Patio. Aggie music fans have plenty of other acts to see during WOW Week with The Vibrant Sound and John Allred performing Wednesday at Day on the Quad, and USU’s open mike-night Poetry and a Beverage Friday. “(Poetry and a Beverage) really embodies the atmosphere of USU’s campus. It’s really chill and relaxed,” Reeder said.

The 2009 WOW Week theme is “Connect!” and

event planners are hoping students do exactly that from the beginning of the semester to the end.

Reeder said she wants students to be “hit in the face” with activities this year.

“My personal goal (is) to make sure students are aware of every activity. We have a niche for every single student,” Reeder said.

Both daytime and evening activities will be happening every day during the week. For more information students can log on to www.usu.edu/asusu, look for the fliers around campus or tune in to Fushion HD3 radio for announcements.

–b.c.wood@aggiemail.usu.edu

STUDENTS LISTEN TO LIVE MUSIC at last year’s Day on the Quad, a WOW Week activity aimed at letting students know about clubs and groups on campus. TYLER LARSON photo

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TheUtahStatesman

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

Page 5

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AggieLife Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 Page 6

Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com

Back to school with style

By COURTNEY LEWIS staff writer

Troy Lewis, junior in biology, said he would go back-to-school shopping for much needed clothes; however, he lets his wife spend their excess money on the outfits she wants.

“I used to get excited about going shopping for new school clothes,” Lewis said, “but it’s just so much more fun watching Jocelyn get all dressed up.”

Lewis admitted another reason he does not often buy himself shirts or pants is whenever he buys anything new, he knows he will ruin it within the first few minutes of wearing it.

For Lewis, it is just much easier to not worry about fashion, roll out of bed in the morning and throw on sweats, which is a common fashion choice among college students, he said.

However, there are those who try to associate with a particular trend, like Katie Clyde.

“My fashion style is urban with a hippie twist,” Clyde, junior in family consumer human development, said.

Since she was little, Clyde said backto-school shopping has been and continues to be “a great tradition.”

Even as a college student on a budget, Clyde said she still enjoys her shopping days before school starts because it is the best time to get needed cloth-

ing items for the school year.

Clyde said her favorite stores for clothing and accessories are Urban Outfitters, H&M and Nordstroms.

She continues to shop at these stores throughout the school year, usually buying a few clothing items per month.

Clyde loves to wear brightly-colored apparel because the style of clothes people wear is a way of self-expression, she said.

Lindsey Shirley, family consumer science assistant professor, agreed with Clyde, saying the color of one’s clothing can influence personality, and vice versa.

For example, Shirley said professional interviews tend to cause individuals to dress in colors that suggest power, such as red, but there are other factors that influence the colors one wears.

“Typically, individuals are drawn to certain colors for different seasons,” she said.

“Bright colors or pastels are worn in the spring to mimic what is taking place in nature and in autumn.”

Jacob Buckner, junior in chemistry, said he does not prefer any one color

in his fashion choices. He would wear “anything that’s not mauve.”

Buckner is not picky when it comes to the style of his clothes either.

“I’m a jeans and a T-shirt kind of guy,” he said.

When his clothes become too worn out, he shops for new ones, usually a couple times a year, he said.

Buckner’s favorite type of clothing tends to be the recycled, organic type.

He believes everyone should tend toward these natural types of fashion items because it is important to take care of the planet.

This student typically wears natural, nonmauve clothing that fits his rock-climbing lifestyle, but he usually does not like to spend lots of money purchasing those clothes.

Life is too expensive, sometimes it is just better to go without buying new clothes and, instead, spend money on the necessary things, like textbooks, he said.

–courtney.schoen@aggiemail.usu.edu

What to wear?

Whether you are trying to decide what to wear for that first interview, first date with someone special or just every day, here are some helpful tips about which colors can transform your outlook or simply match your personality.

Red Powerful, strong, persistent. For someone who wants to take charge of life and move in a certain direction.

Orange Spontaneous, fearless, adventurous. For someone who wants to try something new and out of the normal.

Yellow Happy, cheerful. For someone who wants a positive outlook or is feeling down.

Green Flexible, balanced, secure. For someone who wants to balance work and family life, maintain flexibility in life or have a sense of self -security.

Blue Calm, open, trusting, honest. For someone who needs to relax and be more optimistic and open to what might be ahead.

Information gathered by Courtney Lewis

Author links migrant workers and U.S. citizens

By CATHERINE MEIDELL assistant news editor

All over USU campus, students enrolled in Connections and community members are being educated by Elva Trevino Hart’s book, “Barefoot Heart,” which exposes the hardships that a migrant worker faces in the U.S. today.

Every summer, the Trevinos take their six children, including Hart, from Texas to Minnesota and Wisconsin to work long days in beet fields. Shifts range from 12 to 14 hours with little or no breaks in the heavy heat. They are never given benefits of any kind, just a bed to sleep in.

Hart said there was an incident where her father was cheated out of money he earned for picking cotton because the scale to weigh the amount was adjusted. Her father wasn’t getting paid for all the cotton he had picked.

Hart’s father was determined to give his children a good education, so their family moved back to Texas every fall for school, Hart said.

Hart carried out the educational goals her father set as well as her own. She earned a bachelor’s degree in theoretical mathematics from the University of Texas, graduating

with honors. Then she completed her education with a master’s in computer science from Stanford University. Hart said her father is remembered not only for his high expectation of his kids, but for his gift of storytelling.

“Those stories help me understand who I am,” she said.

Hart has been engaging with students on campus at book signings, meals and presentations in order to connect beyond the ties that the book created between the students and herself. The book was chosen by USU staff in order to broaden the perspective of its readers which Hart said was her aim in writing it.

Hart decided she wanted to donate all the royalties from the first four editions of the book to scholarship funds around the country.

Hart announced Saturday morning she will be donating the last of the scholarship money to USU. Noelle Call, director of Retention and FirstYear Experience, said, “We wanted to get students to think about something that haven’t thought about before.” Hart has been meeting with students from Latino Student Union,

- See AUTHOR, page 9

Leaving Home?

AUTHOR ELVA TREVINO HART SIGNS her book in the Chase Fine Arts Building Saturday. Hart’s book, “Barefoot Heart,” was chosen by USU staff in order to broaden the perspective of its readers. The book exposes the hardships a migrant worker faces in the U.S. today.

TYLER LARSON photo

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AggieLife

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

Page 7

A bit of Hawaii in the heart of Logan Pounders Hawaiian Island Grill brings island food to Cache Valley

By GREG BOYLES assistant features editor

Take a scoop of great island food, add a dash of a relaxing ambiance and mix feverishly with a ton of aloha spirit; let rest just long enough to fill your plate one more time and you’ve got one of Logan’s newest restaurants, Pounders Hawaiian Island Grill.

Decked out in beach decorations, constant surf videos and island music, Pounders opened its doors at the end of April in hopes of exposing the Cache Valley community to good Hawaiian food, said Kaneala Ablao, the restaurant’s general manager.

“The only local Hawaiian food available is down in Salt Lake from L&L, one of the big chains. So the owners thought, ‘Why don’t we open up our own restaurant and get our own homemade recipes going on,’” Ablao said.

Juicy Kaluha Pork, Loco Moco and the signature Pounders Chicken are just a few of the items you can get at the new island grill. Almost everything is served with rice, a mound of macaroni salad and a refreshing drink.

Pounders, named after Pounders Beach on the island of Oahu, is conveniently located between the heart of Logan and Providence at 473 South Main. It’s open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and closed Sunday.

Since opening, Ablao said business increases daily as word of great food and a fun environment reaches the community. Ablao said Pounders is doing so well they opened a second restaurant in Sandy, which is doing equally well.

“We didn’t think the community would treat us so well. We thought we might stay small and just have customers every now and then, but it’s taken off super fast,” he said.

What makes Hawaiian food so unique – and thus so appealing – is the cultural influences behind the dishes, Ablao said. Hawaii is a big melting pot filled with individuals from many different nationalities, all of which add their own flavor to the many recognizable Hawaiian dishes.

Pounders is the brainchild of three friends native to Hawaii: Jonathan Meatoga, Barry Henline and Vaughn Mossman, all of who wanted to bring a little island flavor to the mainland.

Meatoga, who has lived in Logan for 23 years, said he and his friends met in Logan and worked together

LEFT, EMPLOYEES AT POUNDERS SHOW OFF some of the island food served at Pounders Hawaiian Island Grill.

The restaurant was named after Pounders Beach on the island of Oahu and is located at 473 South Main in Logan. The restaurant is the brainchild of three friends native to Hawaii. TYLER LARSON photo

long before Pounders was anything more than a beach.

Meatoga said he and Mossman worked at a shaved ice company together, where Henline helped, before opening Pounders. This experience, aided by their love for cooking and spending time with friends, is what led them to open the restaurant.

Meatoga said Pounders cooks all its food fresh using its own recipes and always looks to incorporate the aloha spirit into the food and service.

“A restaurant really needs three things: Good food, good service, and a great atmosphere, and those are the three things we strive for.”

Bill Sproat, student at USU and Pounders’ chef, said Pounders is a huge hit among the student population, especially the athletes. He said he sees USU students flock to the island grill every day to load up on great food.

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However, USU students aren’t the only frequenters of the restaurant. In fact, Sproat said business still stays solid when students are out of town.

“We thought it might slow down in May when all the students left, but you couldn’t even tell. We stayed just as busy and even picked up business in June,” he said.

Sproat said students enjoy coming to Pounders because it’s an escape from the typical Logan scene. The surfboards on the walls, the fun island music and the chill people give the illusion of a beach atmosphere.

“This is a place where you can come and experience not only the food but the Hawaiian culture,” Sproat said.

While a large number of patrons are Cache Valley natives who’ve only seen the Pacific from the shores of California, Meatoga said the emergence of this new Hawaiian grill has brought out a large population of

Hawaiian natives he didn’t know were present in the Valley.

“When we opened this restaurant it was amazing to see how many people from Hawaii live here and how long they’ve lived here,” he said.

Meatoga said one such example is a pair of ladies who come to Pounders every Friday night for dinner and stay for upward of two hours.

“These two ladies love it here. It reminds them of being back home in Hawaii and being relaxed and not having to worry about anything,” Meatoga said.

Meatoga said in addition to the two stores that currently exist, he and his partners are planning to open at least two more stores before the year ends, potentially in Ogden, Provo or Idaho.

After that they hope to branch out to surrounding states and even make their way to California and Hawaii.

–greg.boyles@aggiemail.usu.edu

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AggieLife

Page 8

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

Digital textbooks could save money in the future

By DERBY COX McClatchy-Tribune

PEOPLE STROLL THE STREETS in the town of Annecy, France. USU student Brooke Evans visited Annecy as part of the USU Study Abroad Program. photo courtesy Brooke Evans

Aggies around the world My favorite Frenchy things

Oh la la. Who could have imagined that after piles and piles of paperwork, hours of meetings, orientations, reading packets and pamphlets, appointments and applications the day would actually come that I had been planning for so long?

After doing all of the demarches to get my French visa (remuer ciel et terre), applying for all three of my study abroad programs, getting my passport and four kinds of insurance, because France is just like that, and making 10,000 copies of everything, I was ready to go.

It is like magic. Sometimes I forget where I am, but then I look around at the lake, the Alps and all the crazy, awesome Frenchies everywhere and I remember: “Oh my heck, I’m in France.”

The blessed land of wine and cheese is home of the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, the Alps, l’amour, art, bakeries, cafés and a bunch of awesome people, who really are nice, despite the snobby stereotype.

If you ever want to feel fat, just come to France. Everything is seriously smaller here: rooms, passageways and people, though I’m not saying it is a bad thing. I swear French girls are so skinny because they constantly smoke, only drink coffee and burn all their calories shopping. Whatever their secret, it works.

If I were to rewrite the famous song from “Sound of Music” it would be retitled “These are a Few of my Favorite Frenchie Things” and it would go like this: Fromage (cheese) and vélos (bikes) and bakeries on every corner.

Smart cars, and Paris and no public bath

rooms (actually, I really hate that one), walking all over and taking the metro, these are few of my Frenchie favorite things.

No air conditioning, people smoking everywhere, people who treat their dogs like their children, eating nutella with a spoon, bread with every meal, markets, bisous, and musées (museums) and stinky European B.O. and pique niques au parc.

(And just today, listening to Debussy in the rain).

Being in France for the D-Day Commemoration, the fete de la Musique, the French Open, Bastille Day and the Tour de France has been so awesome.

I’m learning a beautiful language, getting to know this beautiful country and making friends from all over the world.

Brooke Evans is part of the USU Study Abroad Program in Annecy, France. Look for more columns from USU Study Abroad students each Monday in The Utah Statesman.

An old adage states, “As California goes, so goes the nation.”

If that’s true, then advocates of textbook reform – and college students bearing the brunt of spiraling textbook prices – have to be excited by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s push to use digital textbooks in high schools.

So-called e-textbooks present a slew of advantages over their print brethren: they’re cheaper, easily searchable, and in some cases, can be modified to better fit the teacher’s vision for the course.

But while digital textbooks may have entered the public consciousness only recently, the idea has been around far longer. A growing number of publishers – both individuals and major textbook companies – are offering their content digitally, in some cases for little or no charge.

“One big positive of free books is that it gets you out of the horribly exploitative textbook market,” wrote Fullerton College professor Ben Crowell in an e-mail. “It’s just a scandal that they’re charging students as much as $250 for an organic chemistry book, and bringing out a new edition every three years in order to kill off the used book market.”

The Yale-educated physics professor began his digital textbook 12 years ago, when his lecture notes “gradually morphed” into a book.

His interest in the open-source operating system Linux convinced him that free was the way to go, and his textbook is available for anyone to use at www.lightandmatter.com. More than 40 colleges and high schools have adopted the book, according to the Web site.

Crowell isn’t alone. He runs a site (www. theassayer.org), which catalogues free books on everything from philosophy to military science.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology makes much of its course materials, including textbooks and videos of lectures, available on its open courseware site (http://ocw.mit.edu).

Professors at other prestigious institutions, such as the California Institute of Technology, have also written and released textbooks free of charge.

But the free digital textbook movement isn’t restricted to a small band of altruistic authors

some people want to make money.

Enter Flat World Knowledge, a two-year-old startup that lets users read its textbooks for free at www.flatworldknowledge.com.

Eric Frank and Jeff Shelstad, who have a combined 31 years of experience in the traditional publishing industry, started the company after becoming disillusioned with the business.

The trouble began in the 1980s, Frank said, when 60-or-so textbook publishers competed to create the largest sales force. After the companies consolidated into a few mega-publishers in the 1990s, the industry entered what Frank called a “nuclear arms race of supplements,” when companies competed to distinguish their products with extra materials like CD-ROMs. The textbook companies passed on the costs of all that competition to consumers, Frank said. Between 1986 and 2004, textbook prices rose at double the rate of inflation, according to a study conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Around the turn of the millennium, students were fed up, and with the growth of the Internet, able to find alternatives, Frank said. A student in Florida could buy a used book from someone in Alaska. Desperate to kill the used book market, publishers rushed out new edition after new edition, succeeding in the short term but driving textbook prices skyward, he said.

Amid the turmoil, Frank and Shelstad, both executives for Prentice Hall Business Publishing, found themselves on a train together.

“We looked at each other and said, ‘Is anybody happy in this industry? ... Who are the constituents? Students, they hate us,’” Frank recalled.

Their solution, to release digital textbooks online for free – and sell the extras, such as print copies and study guides – found a polarized response. Some looked at Frank and Shelstad “like we had two heads,” Frank said.

Others asked, “Can I invest?”

So far, the results have been promising, Frank said. About 70 percent of the students who have used the site for class buy products, spending a little more than $30 each, he said.

About 40 percent paid around $40 for a printed black-and-white textbook with study aides, he said.

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Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

AggieLife

Page 9

Student creates site to ease driving stress

By COURTNIE PACKER features editor

Utah Statesman: Where are you from?

Sterling Cobb: Currently my parents are from Highland, but I am from California.

US: Why did you decide to go USU? SC: For a girl, actually. I was doing a summer sales in Portland, Ore. I started dating a girl out there and she was going to USU at the time.

I had decided to go back to school and USU was a good fit because not only was my girlfriend at USU but it also has a good engineering program.

US: What do you like to do in your free time?

SC: A lot of my free time

is spent programming. I consider myself a hobby programmer. I enjoy learning new programming languages.

Most of my time is going to Ruby User Groups. They have a local group that meets once a week and I will spend a lot of time there. I do spend time programming and conceptualizing business ideas.

US: Tell me about what you have programmed.

SC: I created the Web site www.theridepool.com. The Web site was created because I had friends that needed to get rides and even I needed to get rides to different places, such as Salt Lake City and back on the weekends.

US: What did you have to do while creating it?

SC: I made it with the idea that students can use it and

can do what they want to do with it. I did some research before I created the Web site to find out why students weren’t using the other rideboards. I cut out all the fluff that I could find so it is very simple.

US: What do you hope to accomplish with this Web site?

SC: This Web site could be very successful, but I am not pushing for that. I am just pushing for the school to use it. I want to have some nice features, such as a text messaging feature in the future. I hope that others will want to use it.

US: Why did you create the Web site?

SC: I created this Web site for our school. I am a believer in open-source programming. I feel that if I create something that it should be able to benefit everyone, not just a few select people who are in on it.

SOPHOMORE STERLING COBB said he considers himself a hobby programmer. Cobb created a Web site in his free time to help teach himself a new programming language. TYLER LARSON photo

US: What do you hope the students get out of this Web site?

SC: This isn’t something meant to be used every day.

It is meant to used once a month or once a semester.

Hopefully, students can now find rides back home even if it is just back for the holidays.

self 10 years down the road?

SC: Definitely not programming Web sites. I see myself getting out of graduate school, working for a company for a couple of years and starting my own hardware company.

US: What has been the most difficult part of learning this program?

SC: In order for a Web site to work, a lot of people need to use it at once. I am struggling on how much information students want to view. I am wondering if it is better to use a community of schools instead of just ours.

–courtnie.packer@aggiemail. usu.edu

Auditions open for Author: Connection speaker’s book USU production

BY USU MEDIA RELATIONS

The theatre arts department and the department of music in the Caine School of the Arts at USU present the musical thriller “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” in October, and open auditions are scheduled.

Auditions are open to the public, USU students, staff and faculty. Casting is not restricted to theater majors only.

Auditions are Friday, Aug. 28, and begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Morgan Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center, approximately 1110 E. 610 North, Logan.

A sign-up sheet for auditions will be posted on the theatre arts department call board, located near FAC 148. Sign-ups are for four-minute slots. If additional times are needed, auditions will continue Saturday, Aug. 29.

Those auditioning should prepare 15-32 bars of music from “Sweeney Todd” or another appropriate choice.

Those auditioning should be prepared to read from the script. Portions of the script will be made available for copying from the theatre department office, FAC 234, the week of auditions.

Callback auditions, if needed will be the afternoon of Aug. 29. For information, call 797-3046.

“Sweeney Todd” will be directed by theatre arts faculty member Kevin Doyle, with musical direction by Lynn Jemison-Keisker. The production runs Oct. 22-24 and 29-31 on the USU campus.

US: Where do you see your-

educates and impacts USU students -continued from page 6

incoming freshmen, multicultural students and beyond. The students conversed with her about their family roots, and she shared wisdom from her past.

Many of the students she has met with have said they can relate to her book about growing up in poverty and working endlessly for the education that has now made Hart a respected author, mathematician and employee of IBM. Krista Bustamante, sophomore in political science and Spanish, read the summary of the book and related so well to it she said, “This is me.” She dove into the book out of curiosity, she said.

When Hart met with students that could relate to her past, she looked at them with empathy as they shared their families’ sacrifices and struggles with her. Hart said her dream is to make people equally grateful for migrant workers and university presidents.

She said, “I like to think that God valued my mother, a little Mexican woman, a little more than a CEO.” Hart’s mother was often exhausted by the long days of working in the field and had a difficult time providing substantial care for her children, though she tried.

Hart said her mother had nervous breakdowns and from this Hart learned to nurture herself. Hart said she now enjoys solitude and even created her own meditation space out of a closet in her home.

“Being alone no longer feels like a burden,” she said.

In the morning, Hart said when she picks up an apple or an orange for breakfast, she thinks of the hands that picked that piece of fruit.

“Before you’ve finished breakfast you’ve depended on half of the world,” Hart said. She said she encourages others to think about paying a little extra for organic fruit so that migrant workers can be saved from pesticides.

The stories in “Barefoot Heart” were chosen by the intensity of the emotion in the event, said Hart. She left out all the experiences she had climbing the corporate ladder at IBM because they weren’t as attention-grabbing.

Hart said the word barefoot in the title of her book symbolizes humility and a willingness to learn. These were feelings that she had growing up in a segregated world.

Students aren’t the only ones that benefited from interacting with Hart.

“I’ve been profoundly moved,” Hart said. “I have a new hope for the future. You touched me and you changed me and I will never be the same.”

In the future, Hart plans to finish the novel she is currently working on and compile a spiritual autobiography while still raising awareness about migrant workers and her own story.

–catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 Page 10

MondaySports Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com

Timber:

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Aggies hold the Lumberjacks scoreless in season opening win them today,” Tillotson said. “We just really worked together. It’s just the beginning but it definitely felt good to get a shutout.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Molli Merrill had four saves and earned her first shutout as an Aggie.

“The second half we didn’t want to defend as much, part of the problem is it is early in the season so maybe our fitness isn’t there we are also not used to playing on this big of a field,” Cairns said.

USU’s second goal was scored by sophomore forward Shantel Flanary from six yards out. The play started with a penalty kick

by Lindsey Smart from 30 yards out. Smart faked out most of the defenders in the wall by kicking it down the sideline. Sophomore forward Danielle Shorts then passed to Flanary who kicked it in for the goal.

The Aggies are looking to keep the momentum going after their big season opening shutout.

“I think it gives us some confidence, some positive reinforcement,” Cairns said. “Nobody is as sharp as they want to be in their season opener so there are definitely areas we need to improve in, but to be able to win and still have those areas to improve in is pretty nice.”

USU now travels to El Paso, Texas to play in the Minor Classic where they will play Texas Tech Friday.

–p.d.k@aggiemail.usu.edu

By PAUL KELLEY staff writer

SOPHOMORE DEFENDER SUMMER TILLOTSON, 20, scored the Aggies first point of the season on a penalty kick to help USU pick up the 2-0 season opening win. PATRICK ODEN photo

It was a hot afternoon Friday and the USU women’s soccer team was even hotter as they downed the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 2-0.

“Any time you come out and battle your first game of the season and get a win under your belt it’s something special,” USU head coach Heather Cairns said.

USU used a balanced attack against the Lumberjacks with a tough defense and an aggressive offense. Cairns said it is important to keep the attack balanced, too much of one and you won’t win many games.

The Aggies scored two goals in the first half and never looked back. Sophomore defender Summer Tillotson scored the first point with a penalty kick early in the first half. Tillotson picked up where she left off last year having kicked most of the penalty kicks for the team the previous season.

“I was pretty confident,” she said. “It is always a little nerve racking but when I stepped up to take it I just kind of had to calm down and just hit it. It felt good to get the first goal of the season.”

The Aggies played a very good defensive game, only allowing the Lumberjacks four shots at the goal.

“It’s great to come out with a shutout. We set goals and we hit

Ags wrap up fall camp with scrimmage

By MATT SONNENBERG staff writer

The first fall camp of the Gary Andersen’s era with Utah State’s football team came to a close with a scrimmage in front of approximately 5,000 fans Saturday afternoon at the Romney Stadium.

The scrimmage, which was part of Aggie Football Family Fun Day, saw around 90 total plays run in a setup designed to put the players in game-time scenarios.

“I wouldn’t really even call it a scrimmage. I’d call it some situations,” Andersen said. “Very basic situations from an offensive and defensive standpoint.”

Part of those situations included a game clock, players substituting in and out for different offensive and defensive packages, as well as field goal situations with the game clock expiring. Andersen said one of the main focuses of the scrimmage was to look at how the team handled those game mechanics in preparation for the coming season.

On the field, the starting units on each side of the ball ran through their plays on a quick whistle with minimal contact beyond the offensive and defensive lines in order to keep players from any injury risk, which junior quarterback Diondre Borel felt was an improvement for the team from a year ago.

“It is great to be so healthy,” Borel said. “Last

year we had a lot of injuries before the season. This fall camp has been good. We have a lot of guys healthy that will make an impact on the team.”

Borel was under center for the first-team offense Saturday and finished the scrimmage completing five of 10 passes for 51 yards while rushing for 17 yards on two carries. Borel also committed the lone turnover of the day: A deep pass that was intercepted just in front of the end zone by senior cornerback Kejon Murphy.

Sophomore running back Robert Turbin anchored the first-team offense’s ground game by logging 31 yards on eight carries.

On the defensive side of the ball, junior linebacker Maxim Dinka-Mba led the way with five tackles, two sacks and a pass break up.

Linebackers Bobby Wagner and Chris Williams, along with safety Joey Schrader, all chipped in with four tackles apiece. Senior defensive tackle Casey Davis also registered two sacks, while linebacker Kyle Gallagher and defensive end Junior Kieaho each had a sack of their own.

While much of the first-team offense has established themselves as starters and backups, several starting roles on the Aggies’ defense are still up for grabs. Dinka-Mba, who has been tried at several different positions from spring practice to the present, said that part of finding the best 11

- See SCRIMMAGE, page 13

Date

2009 Schedule Opponent

Time

Sept. 3

at Utah

7:00 p.m.

Sept. 19

at Texas A&M

5:00 p.m.

Sept. 26

SOUTHERN UTAH

6:00 p.m.

Oct. 2

at BYU

7:00 p.m.

Oct. 10

at NMSU

6:00 p.m.

Oct. 17

NEVADA

1:00 p.m.

Oct. 24

LA. TECH

1:00 p.m.

Oct. 31

at Fresno State

3:00 p.m.

Nov. 7

at Hawaii

8:00 p.m.

Nov. 14

SAN JOSE STATE

1:00 p.m.

Nov. 20

BOISE ST. (ESPN2)

7:30 p.m.

Nov. 28

at Idaho

3:00 p.m.

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Igboeli named to Lombardi watch list

BY USU ATHLETICS

Utah State senior linebacker Paul Igboeli was named to the 2009 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List, released Tuesday by the Rotary Club of Houston.

Igboeli, a Grand Prairie, Texas (South Grand Prairie HS) native, tallied 78 tackles (42 solo, 36 assists) in 2008, ranking second on the team, as well as 12th in the Western Athletic Conference. He also had six tackles for loss, four pass breakups, two fumble recoveries, an interception and a blocked field goal. Igboeli is closing in on the USU and WAC career tackles top 10 lists as he enters his senior season with 242 stops. He needs 85 tackles to tie Al Smith (1984-86) for No. 10 in the Aggies’ career list, as well as needing 63 stops to tie Bryce McGill (1999-2003) from Fresno State.

Igboeli is one of 13 WAC players on the watch list, joined by Nevada’s Kevin Basped (DL), Alonzo Durham (OL) and Virgil Green (TE), San Jose State’s Justin Cole (LB) and Carl Ihenacho (DL), Fresno State’s Andrew Jackson (OL) and Ben Jacobs (LB), Louisiana Tech’s Rob McGill (OL) and D’Anthony Smith (DT), Idaho’s Mike Iupati (OL), John Estes (OL) of Hawaii and Boise State’s Ryan Winterswyck (DE).

Igboeli is one of three linebackers from the WAC in the list, as well as one of 41 linebackers in the entire list. The watch list includes 153 players from 79 teams and 11 conferences.

The Rotary Lombardi Award is hosted by the Rotary Club of Houston and benefits the American Cancer Society. The Award was initiated by the Rotary Club in 1970 shortly after the death of Vince Lombardi to cancer. Rotary Lombardi Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association.

The 40th Rotary Lombardi Award dinner will be hosted on December 9, 2009, at the Hilton Americas Hotel. Net proceeds from the event benefit the American Cancer Society. For more information call the Rotary Club of Houston at 713-973-9936 or visit the Web site at www. rotarylombardiaward.org.

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StatesmanSports

Page 12

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USU JUNIOR QB DIONDRE BOREL, 12, rolls out to avoid the pressure being applied by junior linebacker Devin Johnson, 44, during the Aggies scrimmage on Saturday. Opposing quarterbacks should be under a lot of pressure this season due to head coach Gary Andersen’s attacking style of play on the defensive side of the ball. PATRICK ODEN photo

Speed, strength will be key for Ags

By TIM OLSEN sports editor

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Speed, strength and more speed.

After spending eight months under the tutelage of Utah State’s new head football coach Gary Andersen, it’s clear what the Aggie defense is focusing on heading into the 2009 season.

“Since the coaches have come in it’s been great. We’ve had the best summer and spring ball since I’ve been here,” said senior safety James Brindley. “We’ve gotten extremely stronger as a team since January.”

Along with their strength, Andersen quickly addressed the speed of the team’s defense by shuffling players around. He even brought over some guys from the offensive side of the ball to play defense.

“To play an aggressive, fast, up-tempo type of defense you’ve got to be able to run,” Andersen said. “We can’t put enough emphasis on the defensive side, so we had to tweak that as much as possible. That takes time … it takes time for them to develop in those positions, but I think it will pay great dividends as we go into the future.”

Some of those changes include safeties being moved to linebacker and linebackers being moved to the defensive line. One of the biggest changes may be to players like former running back Curtis Marsh, who will now be playing cornerback.

“We want to be able to pressure, play man coverage, bluff and move around,” Andersen said. “We’re not real big so we’ve got to keep people guessing. We’re a small defense, but we’ve got to be able to run, move and cause people some problems.”

Despite all the shuffling on the defensive side, the Aggies are returning a solid core to the defense that includes seven returning starters and 24 returning lettermen. Brindley, and fellow seniors Paul Igboeli and Kejon Murphy figure to play key roles in the evolution of Utah State’s defense from its past conservatism to Andersen’s attacking style.

The 6-foot, 220-pound Igboeli is the Aggies’ top returning tackler as he posted 78 stops last season, including six tackles for loss and one interception. Brindley wasn’t far behind as the 5foot-11-inch safety recorded 75 tackles and a team high of three interceptions.

“With the new scheme and the players that we’ve got and the players that we recruit, I think this scheme is better because we’ve been having a fast defense so we can pretty much run with anybody,” Murphy said. “I felt that the past years we’ve been playing conservative and not attacking, but with this new defense we’re in attack mode all the time. I think that this defense now is going to shock some people.”

One doesn’t have to look too far to witness the type of shock Andersen’s defense can provide unsuspecting victims.

Alabama can attest all too well to Andersen’s defensive prowess as they were stymied by the former Utah defensive coordinators schemes throughout the Utes surprising Sugar Bowl victory last season. The Crimson Tide were held to a mere 31 rushing yards – 165 yards below their season average – and gave up eight sacks to Andersen’s attacking defense.

“The energy is what probably stands out the most, just everyone is optimistic,” Brindley said. “And as a defense just a lot more playing to the ball speed. We’ve got a lot of speed on the team this year, so that will be one of the biggest, most noticeable changes this year.”

With so much talent returning, a new scheme and a new coaching staff, the players are keenly aware of heightened expectations heading into the 2009 season.

“We have high expectations. I think this town deserves a great year of football, it hasn’t been that way in a long time,” Murphy said. “This year I believe the town has high expectations with coach Andersen and all the recruits he’s bringing in. We’re ready to get this thing rolling, just get this thing steered in the right direction, and start something new.”

–t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu

JUNIOR TIGHT END JEROME BARBOUR, 26, hauls in a pass before being tackled by sophomore linebacker Tim Wlodarczyk, 45, at the Aggies scrimmage Saturday. PATRICK ODEN photo

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Page 13

Scrimmage: Ags ready for season

VOLLEYBALL

-continued from page 10

USU’S SHAY SORENSEN, 10, AND SHANTELL DURRANT, 21, celebrate after scoring a point against the blue team during the teams’ scrimmage Saturday afternoon. TYLER LARSON photo

Youth no problem for USU

By MATT SONNENBERG staff writer

With only a week to go before the start of the season, the USU women’s volleyball team held a scrimmage Saturday afternoon in The Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, where the team was split into two squads each mixed with starters and reserves.

The Aggies, who are a preseason pick to finish third in the Western Athletic Conference, scrimmaged for two hours playing a full five-game match.

The white team opened up the match winning the first game over the blue team 25-18. The blue team rebounded in the second game winning 2520, but lost again in the third game, 22-25, falling behind the white team 1-2. Again the blue team rebounded in the fourth game winning 25-17 to tie the match at two games apiece.

In the decisive fifth game, the blue team finished off its comeback effort with a 15-10 win over the white team to give itself the final game and the victory.

USU head coach Grayson DuBose liked what he saw out of his team during Saturday’s scrimmage, particularly about his team’s potential coming into this season. “I think our team is coming together,� DuBose said. “We’re doing some nice things fundamentally and we’re working hard more importantly.�

One of the standout aspects of this year’s

Aggie squad is that the team is bringing in high expectations without a single senior player on the team. DuBose feels confident that the team’s seven juniors will bring more than enough experience to be competitive. “A collective effort is a really good way to describe it,� he said. “We return a bunch of players who have played a lot of volleyball for us and although we don’t have any seniors, our juniors that have played, they’ve played a lot. We think we’re moving in the right direction.�

Junior setter Chelsea Fowles, who was one of two USU players named to the preseason All-WAC team, agreed that the absence of a senior on the team will not have any affect on their ability to compete for a conference title. “We just need to keep working hard every day and the more experience that our younger players get, the better,� Fowles said. “And think how much better we’re going to be next year.�

The volleyball season officially gets underway for the Aggies Friday as they head to Ogden to face Weber State, Gonzaga and Utah Valley in the Weber State Invitational. The Aggies will play their first home game on Sept. 1 against Brigham Young, a match that should serve as a good measure of where DuBose’s team is early on. “We’ve got to serve tough and receive serves well,� DuBose said. “If we can do those two things it will give us a real nice opportunity to compete.� –matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu

players to put on the field will be moving players around to different positions. “They are trying to put the best players on the field all the time, so wherever they need me, I’ll go,� Dinka-Mba said. “We have a lot of talented athletes right now, so we have to try and find the chemistry between everybody. In order to do that, we have to try different positions. Nothing is for sure right now.�

Andersen echoed Dinka-Mba’s statements, saying that he and the coaching staff will continue to move players around until the right pieces of the 11-man defensive puzzle are found. Possibly the biggest question is who will be the starters on the defensive line, a group that Andersen has spent extra time working with throughout training camp while the team was broken into individual positions in practices. Andersen said for the timebeing, the defensive line will be by committee, but he is seeing progression, particularly with two defensive tacklers that are battling for starting roles. “Nathan Royster and Sean Enesi have never played defensive tackle before,� Andersen said. “Nate was a defensive end last year and Sean was

an offensive lineman in junior college, so they have had a lot of things to do technique-wise.�

After nearly three weeks of practices, Andersen sounds optimistic that his defensive line will be able to get adequate results as an entire unit.

Andersen said, “I think they have progressed.

Sean and Nate have gotten a lot better. Junior Keiaho has had a fantastic camp. He played very well. I am proud of the way he has developed himself the past three or four weeks.�

With training camp officially wrapped up, Andersen says his team is now full-steam ahead in preparation for the season opener at Utah Sept. 3. “Our first opponent is obviously, at least last year, maybe the best team in the country,� Andersen said. “We’ll see how we match up against a great football team.�

Borel said he and some other players have already begun watching film on the Utes. “We have to make a statement the first game,�

Borel said. “Especially being a rivalry game, we have to prove to people that we can win the big game. Utah is a very good team; they won all their games last year. We have a lot to prove.� –matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu

THE AGGIES DIONDRE BOREL, 12, hands the ball off to sophomore running back Robert Turbin, 6, during USU’s scrimmage Saturday. Turbin gained 31 yards on eight carries. PATRICK ODEN photo

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Views&Opinion

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 Page 14

Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com

OurView

AboutUs

Editor in Chief Patrick Oden

Hooray for the A

News Editor Rachel A. Christensen

M

any of you are setting foot on campus for the first time, many others are returning to the hallowed halls of Utah State to continue your pursuit of a higher education; in either case, you’ll most likely agree the summer passed too quickly.

The weather is still beautiful and optimism abounds, but it won’t be long before sweaters are rescued from their mothballs and our shorts and sandals enter into a seemingly endless hibernation.

Class schedules and homework assignments will soon overwhelm daily planners but don’t forget where you are. This is Cache Valley, home to some of the best outdoor activities in the West, if not the country.

Hiking, climbing and cycling are but a few of the ways to unwind from the rigorous demands of college and will soon give way to snowboarding, skiing and the assimilation of a snowman army. Get outside and enjoy, you might discover a new passion or rekindle an old love. But whatever you do, don’t miss out on what the greater Logan area has to offer.

As we begin the first week of the new semester there will also be plenty going on around campus as will be unavoidably evidenced by the Week of Welcome. You can be covered with foam, watch a movie on the HPER field and shake it ‘80s style at Friday night’s dance.

Whatever you find yourself involved in as the 2009-10 academic year gets underway, you can count on the tireless souls that comprise the staff of The Utah Statesman to be hard at work to keep you informed and entertained. As your unparalleled source of campus news, sports and student life we are your paper, and you, you are an Aggie.

Have a great year.

Common courtesy is it too much to ask?

T

o paraphrase The Rolling Stones, please allow me to introduce myself. I’m a man of little wealth and questionable taste.

Hi! I am Harry, everyone’s favorite middle-aged college student. Oh, many of you may not think of 39 as middleaged. I can state emphatically that it is not the years but the mileage that makes me say otherwise.

Why are you reading me right now? Many reasons. Some of you are killing time before class starts. A small amount of you are disturbingly anal retentive and need to read something while eating. And a select few picked up the Statesman knowing I wrote this column and would say something controversial.

To be serious for a brief Re-Entry Thoughts moment – and it will be brief – I wanted to pass along a warm hearty hello and to explain what you may expect from this column as the semester spirals downward into a hellish pit of utter helplessness. This is more of a syllabus than an introduction. I don’t call it a syllabus because, and let us all be honest here, no one in college actually reads a syllabus.

What you can expect from my column this semester can best be described with words found in a thesaurus or by talking to an English major (better you than me). I will be verbose, haughty, churlish, pithy, profound, profane, sagacious, salacious, high-brow, low-brow, spiritual, fanatical, conservative, liberal, sincere, sinister, sentimental and, most assuredly, I will be magniloquent.

During our next few months together, I hope this column will engage every single one of you on a variety of subjects and controversial issues. I will challenge the university, the professors, the football team, the Nazi lifeguards in the HPER, Stew Morrill’s weak scheduling, Logan, Cache Valley, Utah, the United States of America, Albania, television, movies, music, religion, drunkards, smokers, cell phone users, homophobes, xenophobes, environmentalists, Birthers, English majors, Arby’s, people who put ketchup on hot dogs, my editors, and I most definitely will take as many cheap shots at BYU as my disdain for that pompous, overrated school will allow.

To wet your palate, allow me to finish this introduction with a small example of what I shall discuss in the months ahead.

I am currently typing this column in the computer lab in the TSC. Many people are involved in loud conversations with each other and on their cell phones. This also happens quite frequently in class and the library.

To those students who talk in these places, I have a very hard truth to reveal to you: Your parents have been lying to you your entire life; you are not special.

People around you in the computer lab who are typing do not want to hear about your weekend. People in your classroom who are facing the front of the room are paying attention to the professor. Those quiet people in the library with textbooks, writing stuff in notebooks, have a big exam

Unconvential Wisdom

- See WISDOM, page 15

Assistant News Editor Catherine Meidell Features Editor Courtnie Packer Assistant Features Editor Greg Boyles Sports Editor

Tim Olsen

Assistant Sports Editor Graham Terry Copy Editor Photo Editors

Web Editor

Clunkers or collectibles beauty is in the eye of the beholder MONTEREY, Calif. – The moment of clarity for me came Sunday, the second night of the Gooding & Co. classic car auction.

On the block was a 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, as wretched and routine a hunk of Detroit iron as ever freighted down an assembly line. Spot-welded together with the craftsmanship one might expect of unsupervised political prisoners, the Monte Carlo – with a 402-cubic-inch V8 engine and fourbarrel carburetor – was and is a sidewalkfumigating stink bomb, with no steering or handling to speak of, and brakes that are more rumor than fact.

This particular car was a cut above, with fine black Naugahyde and adhesive-backed wood grain on the dash. Still, in my college days I could have bought Monte Carlos like this for $500 all day long. At Gooding, the car sold for $60,500. Good Lord. The clunkers of my youth have become classics.

As the government’s “cash for clunkers” program rides into the stimulus sunset, the consensus seems to be that although the rules might have been more expertly crafted, the program was wildly successful, helping to move nearly a half-million vehicles off dealer lots in a few weeks and getting thousands of gas hogs off the road.

And as my colleagues Ralph Vartabedian and Ken Bensinger reported, the classic car industry managed to craft the rules so that no car made before 1984 – potential collectibles – would qualify. The nation was thus spared the tragedy of seeing, say, a ‘79 Buick Regal two-door coupe being euthanized.

After all, Buick only made 273,375 of them that year.

But having sat in on a few classic car auctions in Monterey last weekend during the annual buildup to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, I was struck by how arbitrary and clumsy the 25-year rule is, and what a moving target the notion of classicism is.

Yes, it does seem unlikely that future car collectors will covet a 1989 Geo Metro, a rinky-dink little sardine can that General Motors and Suzuki made by the millions.

And it is certainly true that the last quartercentury of car building has been a period of unusual gracelessness.

American cars in particular weren’t so much manufactured as excreted, costsqueezed and homogenized and ambered in their own mediocrity. Think about it:

Chrysler Town & Country minivan, Mercury Tracer, Ford Mustang 5.0, Pontiac Grand Am – terrible cars made in staggering numbers.

How could they ever be collectible, much less classic?

Then again, a few years ago, no one would have predicted that the robustly awful 1971 Plymouth Duster would make it to the block at the prestigious Bonhams & Butterfields’ auction in 2009. My father would have howled at the idea that his 1939 Ford DeLuxe station wagon would have ever been collected by anyone who wasn’t in the scrap iron business. Last week, one rolled across RM Auctions’ stage.

As a traumatized veteran of several British sports cars, I nearly keeled over at the prices some of these cars were getting (RM sold a 1939 MG TA Tickford Drophead coupe for $132,000 and ‘62 Triumph TR3 for $44,000).

So you just never know what will bubble up through car consciousness to be declared desirable and collectible, which cars will bottle a moment and a mood or a technology, which will become important to people.

As for the “cash for clunkers” post-1984 rule, I think it’s a pretty blunt instrument that probably resulted in many future collectibles being consigned to the scrap yard. Here’s a list of clunkers that deserve better. All have a trade-in value of less than $4,500, according to Kelly Blue Book, with average mileage and in good condition.

– 2001 Pontiac Aztek: The irradiated toad of GM’s crossover program, the Aztek has the same collectible cachet as the Ford Edsel and footage of the Hindenburg in flames: Everybody loves to have a little piece of disaster. Dirtiest secret? The Aztek was actually pretty useful to drive. Totally collectible, if any are left.

– 1993 Cadillac STS with Northstar engine: This was the first glimmer of hope that Cadillac could be turned around. The Northstar was GM’s first proper modern, dual-overhead cam engine and the STS’ clean, modern styling was first-rate. If you see one on the road today, you’ll see. Future classic, for sure.

– 1994 Mercedes-Benz S320 Sedan: They don’t build them like this anymore. I mean, they really don’t. The W140 chassis S-Class

- See CLUNKERS, page 15

Mark Vuong Pete Smith Tyler Larsen Karlie Brand

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Online poll With new football coach Gary Anderson taking the helm, The Utah Statesman wants to know, how many games do you think the Aggies will win this season?

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Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

Views&Opinion

Page 15

Clunkers: Their time has come -continued from page 14

was one of the last Benz models built in the engineering-first, cost-be-damned culture of Stuttgart. A huge brute of a car, built like a tank, designed to last a lifetime. It will be a six-figure car in 2025, but you can probably pick one up today for $3,300.

– 1989 Ford Taurus SHO: A domestic front-wheel-drive sedan on amphetamines, the SHO (Super High Output) was powered by a feisty Yamaha dual-cammer and a five-speed manual gearbox. One of the most spectacular torque-steerers ever built, the SHO was rude, crude and a ton of fun at a time when “Ford” and “sedan” spelled “sleepytime.”

– 1994 Buick Roadmaster sedan: Some Americans are just plain big. Yes, fat, but also

hefty, former-football player big. And there are very few cars out there that can accommodate a 6-foot-6-inch, 300-pound man.

The Roadmaster is one. This model year came with a de-tuned Corvette engine (260 hp) and enough legroom to stage a dance recital. I predict the big-and-tall market will make the Roadmaster an enduring classic.

As used cars, agreed, these are sort of dismal and commodified, just more sheet metal in a world drowning in cars. The crusher might seem a fitting end. But each of these cars was loved by somebody at some point and, if they survive, will be loved again.

This column was written by Dan Neil for The Los Angles Times. Comments may be directed to Mr. Neil at dan.neil@latimes.com

Wisdom: Common courtesy -continued from page 14

coming up and would appreciate it if you get as far away from them as possible.

No one cares about what you have to say. You do not have a right to talk about mundane piffle near people who are trying to study or learn in places designated to study and learn. By continuing this behavior, you are embracing a level of sociopathic narcissism that would make a BYU student blush with envy. Please, out of common courtesy and civility, shut up.

Well, that was fun.

Harry Caines is a senior re-entry student from Philadelphia majoring in interdisciplinary studies. Unconventional Wisdom will appear each Monday. Comments can be sent to chiefsalsa@ yahoo.com

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Today’s Issue

StatesmanBack Burner Page 16

Monday

August 24 Today is Monday, Aug. 24, 2009. Today’s issue of The Utah Statesman is published especially for Alex DuPlessis, an undeclared junior, whose leaning toward a major in business.

Almanac Today in History: In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupts in southern Italy, devastating the prosperous Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing thousands. The cities were buried under a thick layer of volcanic material and mud.

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August 25 - 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

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REGISTRAR’S office Deadlines - August 28th: Tuition and Fee Payment Deadline, Last Day to Add Without Instructor’s Signature. August 29th: Registration Purge, Open Registration Continues at 1p.m.

Does your home or apartment have working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors? If no, contact the Fire Marshal at the Logan City Fire Department , 716-9515, to find out how to obtain a free smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector Aggie Walking Club every IWA/IMA OPEN House. Friday, Wednesday. Meet on the August 28th at the Institute Fieldhouse Track at noon.

7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Ride the Weather permitting we will walk mechanical bull, play on the campus. Employees earn a “Be blow up toys, eat cotton candy, Well” t-shirt. Track is open to and dance the night away! employees, spouses.

The USU Men’s Lacrosse team will be holding an informational USU WELLNESS Program team meeting on September 2nd presents Yoga with Dennise at 6:00 p.m. Please meet in the starting August 31 and running lobby of the HPER building. All through December 4. Students, those returning need to attend or employees, families and comcontact Coach Mercer. All new munity members are invited. students wishing to participate For details call Caroline Shugart this year need to be in attendance. at 797-0735 or visit www.usu.

The meeting should not last more edu/wellness then one hour.

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LSAT is T/Th 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. and GRE is T/Th 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. For more information contact Melanie Klein at melanie. klein@usu.edu or cal 797-0452.

Weather High: 80° Low: 55° Skies: Mostly cloudy with 45 percent chance of scattered rain showers.

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SpecialFeatures

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

Page 17

Massive swine flu vaccination campaign poses challenge

BY ROB STEIN The Washington Post

be, and how to avoid confusing “On the other hand, if this the public with an overlapping outbreak is early and severe effort to combat the regular and there isn’t enough vaccine, WASHINGTON— seasonal flu. they’ll be criticized for underGovernment health officials To prepare, more than 2,800 preparation.� are mobilizing to launch a local health departments have Officials stress that they are massive swine flu vaccination begun recruiting pediatricians, proceeding cautiously. A final campaign this fall that is obstetricians, nurses, decision to move forward will unprecedented in its scope— pharmacists, paramedics and not be made until they get and in the potential for even dentists along with a the results of clinical trials— complications. small army of volunteers from testing for safety and to The campaign aims to churches and other groups. determine dosing— and assess vaccinate at least half the They are devising strategies the virus’s threat. But officials country’s population within to reach children, teenagers, are confident the vaccine will months. While more people pregnant women and young pass muster and expect a have been inoculated against and middle-aged adults in campaign will be launched as diseases such as smallpox and inner cities, suburban enclaves soon as manufacturers deliver polio over a period of years, the and the countryside. the first vials.

United States has never tried to “This is potentially the “There’s little doubt we’re immunize so many so quickly. largest mass-vaccination going to vaccinate people,�

But even as scientists rush program in human history,� said Anthony Fauci of the to test the vaccine to ensure said Howard Markel, a National Institute of Allergy it is safe and effective, the professor of medical history and Infectious Diseases, who campaign is lagging. Officials at the University of Michigan is leading the government’s say only about a third as much who is advising the Centers testing of the vaccine. “Who vaccine as they had been for Disease Control and and when and exactly how we expecting by mid-October is Prevention as it spearheads the have to figure out.� graphic likely to arrive by then, when RETRANSMITS effort.

The campaign is haunted by that moved Aug. 19 a new wave of infections could Public health officials memories of the government’s be peaking. describe the effort as crucial to ill-fated 1976 effort to Among the unknowns: how defend against the second wave vaccinate against swine flu. many shots people will need, of the Northern Hemisphere’s The epidemic fizzled, but the what the correct dosage should first influenza pandemic in 41 years.

As schools reopen, the number of cases could jump “There’s little sharply within weeks, sparking Cases of the H1N1 virus Cases of the H1N1 virus doubt we’re going potentially far with nearly continue to grow with nearly a second wave continue to grow larger than 200,000 the outbreak last around to vaccinate 200,000 confirmed around the confirmed the spring. Although flu1,800people. world and nearly 1,800 deaths. world the andswine nearly deaths.

Who and appears no more dangerous when and exactly H1N1 cases by region, H1N1 cases by region, than the typical seasonal as of August 13, 2009 how we have to as of August 13, 2009 flu, the new virus— known The Americas Americas figure out.� as H1N1— The is likely to infect 105,882 many more people because 105,882 � most have no immunity Europe Europe Anthony Fauci more than 32,000 more than 32,000 against it. infectious disease The vaccine effort carries Western Pacific Western Pacific planner political risks for the Obama 27,111 27,111 administration. “If the Southeast Asiabe Southeast Asia outbreak fizzles, they will 13,172 13,172 susceptible to being criticized vaccine was given to 40 million Eastern Eastern Mediterranean for spending billionsMediterranean of people and blamed for causing 2,532 dollars,� said2,532 Harvey Fineberg, a rare paralyzing disorder Africa president ofAfrica the National known as Guillain-Barre 1,469 Institute 1,469 Academy of Sciences’ Syndrome. of Medicine, which advises Another wild card will be SOURCE: World Health Organization AP SOURCE: Worldissues.

Health Organization APvaccine will be Congress about medical whether the

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Speak Up

Swine Flu Vaccination Priorities The CDC recommends that two age groups and three other categories be first in line to get the vaccine:

Everyone in age group AGE 0

5

10

15

20

6 months to 24 years

Those with chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems 25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

Of any age if you: OR

25 - 64 years Once all priority populations have been vaccinated, everyone ages 25 – 64 should be vaccinated.

(159 million people) If the vaccine is initially available in limited quantities, these groups should receive the vaccine first:

for children younger than 6 months old

5 - 18 years OR

6 months through 4 years

(42 million people)

ÂŞ Are pregnant ÂŞ Live with or care

ÂŞ Are a health care or emergency medical services worker*

*If quantities are limited, only those healthcare or emergency personnel who have direct patient contact

How the Vaccine Works

DEAD VIRUS

PROTEINS

H1N1 (SWINE FLU)

VIRUS

1 The virus carries two proteins on its surface called hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA).

NA

+

HA

2 These proteins give flu strains their main identity, and scientists must match the HA and NA components to form the basis of a vaccine.

WEAKER VIRUS

3 These components are combined with segments taken from another, weaker flu strain to make the vaccine.

ANTIBODIES

4 The new vaccine is chemically inactivated (“killed�) and then injected into humans.

BY ROB STEIN AND LAURA STANTON — THE WASHINGTON POST

SOURCES: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization

delivered with an “adjuvant� to boost its effectiveness or stretch limited supplies into more doses. Adjuvants have been used in Europe, but the Food and Drug Administration has not authorized their use in the United States. “This is an overreaction,� said Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center, which opposes many vaccine policies. “There is no national security threat here.

Why are we operating like this? This is not polio. This is not smallpox.�

Fears and misinformation about the vaccine are already circulating, including inaccurate claims that the vaccine will be mandatory. “I’m very concerned about the dangers of vaccines,� said Janice Smith, 58, of Misawaka, Ind., who attended a public hearing Aug. 15, one of a series of meetings the CDC has sponsored to gauge public sentiment about the vaccine.

Authorities are adamant that vaccination will be voluntary, and say there is no reason to think the vaccine will be any less safe than the usual flu vaccine. An adjuvant

5 The vaccine SWINE prompts the creation FLU of swarms of antibodies that recognize the proteins and can fight the swine flu virus, if it later enters the body.

will be used only if necessary and proven safe, they say.

To address concerns of pregnant women and parents with young children, some vaccine is being produced without a mercury additive.

And because the short-term studies can only identify common, immediate side effects, the CDC will step up monitoring for rarer, serious complications such as Guillain-Barre. “We’re putting into place systems that are as good as we can have to identify problems quickly if they do occur,� CDC director Thomas Frieden said.

On Friday, officials reported that no “red flags regarding safety� had emerged in the clinical trials. “We are continuing oversight on the quality and safety of the vaccine being produced, and the production process itself,� said Jesse Goodman of the FDA. “That’s going well so far, but our oversight is continuing.�

In the meantime, local officials are tailoring plans to their communities. The shots in the arms and squirts up the nose will happen in schools, medical offices,

hospitals, public health clinics, workplaces, drug stores and at mass vaccination events, possibly including drivethrough clinics in parking lots where people would stick their arms out their car windows for a stab. “It is clearly what we would call an all hands on deck,� said James Blumenstock of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “We’re not starting from scratch, but we also don’t have everything on the shelf that we can just pull off and put in place. It’s a full-court press in moving forward to have everything in place when we’re ready to go.�

Public health departments “have suffered from decades of neglect and are now facing a fiscal crisis in many places where they have had to lay staff off, or furlough staff or freeze hiring,� Frieden said. “So H1N1 has not come at a particularly good time.�

Setting priorities for delivering the vaccines will bring other complications. The elderly, usually first in line for flu shots, will not be this time because they seem more resistant to the virus.

Editor’s Note:It is mandatory to include all sources that accompany this graphic when repurposing or editing it for publication

<AP> SWINE FLU CASES 082109: RETRANSMITS graphic that moved Aug. 19; chart shows swine flu cases around the world by region; 1c x 3 1/2 inches; 47 mm x 89 mm; with BC-EU-MEDTamiflu-Advice; SVD; ETA 2 p.m. <AP>

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SpecialFeatures

Page 18

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

‘Slum Dog’ didn’t make everyone a millionaire

BY EMILY WAX The Washington Post

SLUMDOG. Since “Slumdog Millionaire’s” Oscar night triumph, 9year-old Rubina Ali has struggled to escape the slums she brought to life on-screen as Latika. She remains in the slums because her father, despite offers for a new home, isn’t sure he wants to leave.

Washington Post photo by Emily Wax.

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MUMBAI, India — Never again would Azhar Mohammed Ismaill, 11, sleep in the overcrowded warren of shanties and festering lean-tos known as Garib Nagar, literally “city of the poor.” Azhar, one of the child stars of the Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire,” recently moved with his family to a new home in Mumbai: a modest two-room apartment on the ground floor of a high-rise called Harmony.

The apartment was a gift from “Slumdog” director Danny Boyle, whose film grossed $300 million. On the rooftop of his new building, Azhar, 11, danced as he watched jetliners take off from the airport. He recognized the emotion as similar to what his character, Salim, must have felt as he looked out over the Mumbai skyline and said: “India is the center of the world now, brother. I am at the center of the center.”

Azhar’s real-life journey — and those of the other child stars in “Slumdog,” including his elfin co-star Rubina Ali, 9 — has been a roller coaster of personal tragedy and red-carpet glamour. In many ways, they are experiencing at warp speed the masala of euphoria and turmoil that India’s vast poor feel as they emerge from the iron bonds of caste and class to an era of genuine social mobility.

Over two decades, India has awakened from a drowsy agricultural nation and into an industrial one that has lifted millions out of poverty. Rapid urbanization and the opening of markets has broken down feudal village roles and inspired young Indians to grab hold of new destinies in cities far from their birthplaces.

Mumbai has become a magnet for a new generation of Indians, a New York of India, where professions are no longer inherited, where hundreds sleep on the street for a chance at a better life.

Unlike Azhar, Rubina has not see her fortunes improve much since the movie in which she plays the young ragpicker Latika. She filmed a soda commercial with Nicole Kidman and collaborated with an Indian journalist to write her autobiography this year.

But her family’s shack was demolished by city municipal workers and later rebuilt in the same spot, next to an open sewer and piles of garbage. She remains in the slums because her father, despite

Boyle’s offers for a new home, isn’t sure he wants to leave. He also was caught in an undercover sting by a British newspaper where he allegedly agreed to sell her for adoption to a wealthy Dubai family for the equivalent of $290,000; he denies the allegation.

The way Rubina and Azhar’s lives have diverged also tells the story of an India where some are forging ahead while others struggle and worry they will be left behind.

“But to me,” said Vikas Swarup, the author of “Q&A,” a novel on which the film is based, “the most enduring image was at the Oscars, when Rubina and Azhar shared the stage with Steven Spielberg. That was the central message of the film: Whether you come from a slum or a five-star home, what matters is not where you are from, but where you are going, and that is an enormous change in psychology of Indians.

“Yes, they have gone from zero to hero.

Yes, they have been touched by magic.

But their journey — in its spirit — is not very different from the spirit of Mumbai, the feeling across Indian cities and towns today — which is full of stories of people who are at ground zero of the great Indian dream.”

Just six months ago, Azhar and Rubina were walking the red carpet at in Los Angeles at the Academy Awards. Azhar wore a bowtie and tuxedo, his hair neatly oiled. He held hands with Rubina, who wore a sea-blue princess dress with matching headband over her pixie hairstyle, her hands festooned with traditional henna.

“Angelina Jolie,” cooed Azhar, recently lounging in his new home. “She was so beautiful.”

“I was scared to sleep in the hotel room, it was so big,” Rubina said.

Azhar and Rubina’s triumphant return to Mumbai was a whirlwind of media interviews, fashion shoots and parties with Bollywood celebrities.

But in May, their lives seemed to return to normal. Normal for slumdogs, that is, since the government bulldozed their illegal tin-roofed shanties in a scene that seemed straight out of the gritty film.

“They took all our furniture and broke my cellphone,” Rubina recounted on a recent day, inside the rebuilt one-room shelter that her family painted bright pink to cheer her up. “They beat my father. We thought of calling Uncle Danny, but what could he do? He was in America.”

SLUMDOG: “Slumdog Millionaire’s” Azhar Mohammed Ismaill, 11, rides a bike he received from Bollywood star Salman Khan in the kitchen of the flat that director Danny Boyle bought his family. photo by Emily Wax

Then her father was accused in the sting.

Around the same time, Azhar’s father was hospitalized, drunk again and suffering from tuberculosis. Homeless and living under blankets and tarp, Azhar was bitten by rats and had to get medical care.

“We were hit with bamboo sticks by the police,” Azhar said. “It was a bad time, when they destroyed all the shelters. I cried. A lot.”

At a time when call centers and software outsourcing have become the symbols of a booming India, “Slumdog Millionaire” brought to light an equally true reality: the hardscrabble lives of many slum children of an India brimming with optimism and eagerness to be the world’s next superpower.

“Nearly every child from the slums has had their home bulldozed and has a parent who has a drinking or gambling problem or has walked out,” said Ziyan Contractor, 28, their teacher at the wellrespected Aseema School, chosen by Boyle because it’s a public school where slum children attend and receive an excellent education. “Every single scene of that movie was true. The only scene that wasn’t true was when they dance on the train platform at the end. There is no space to dance on the platforms of Mumbai: only a crush of people.”

Cable news host continue attacks

BY MATEA GOLD Los Angeles Times

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NEW YORK -- Two weeks of vitriolic exchanges between cable news hosts Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann have amped up viewership for Fox News as efforts by corporate executives to strike a detente fell apart.

Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who face off in the 8 p.m. EDT time slot, have been attacking each other’s networks ever since news broke earlier this month that executives had sought to tamp down the personal attacks by the two men, whose sparring has long been a staple of the cable news wars.

The renewed feud appears to have benefited O’Reilly, whose show “The O’Reilly Factor” averaged nearly 3.5 million viewers between Aug. 3 and Aug. 12, the eight days following the news of the supposed truce. That’s 7 percent higher than his average viewership so far this year and 12 percent more than his average this quarter, which began June 29. He also recorded more than 1 million viewers in the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic twice last week, his largest showings among that age group this year.

“Countdown With Keith Olbermann” pulled in an average of 1.2 million viewers between Aug. 3 and Aug. 12, down 2 percent from his year-to-date average but up

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16 percent for the quarter.

Their inflamed rhetoric comes at a time when cable news has been dominated by particularly strident exchanges. The televised coverage of brawling town hall meetings over health-care reform has helped fuel angry debates on the topic.

Even in that context, the verbal war between O’Reilly and Olbermann has been notably fierce. The MSNBC host has repeatedly attacked O’Reilly, whom he called “a racist clown,” while O’Reilly has been aiming most of his ammunition at MSNBC’s parent company, General Electric, which he suggested was manufacturing parts used in roadside bombs in Iraq. That prompted a furious response from GE, which called the report “irresponsible and maliciously false.”

This was not the aim when Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes and General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt held a lunch meeting at Rockefeller Plaza in April and agreed to cool the tone of the rhetoric. Immelt and Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of Fox News’ parent company, News Corp., reaffirmed that commitment in May at a private Microsoft conference held in Redmond, Wash. Executives at both networks carried that message back to the two hosts, urging them to refrain from personal attacks on the air.

“We were hopeful at both companies to put a more civil tone in these discussions,” said Gary Sheffer, a spokesman for GE,

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on Friday. “No one at GE ever told anyone at NBC how to cover the news or what to cover.”

But when the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times reported on the agreement between the two companies, any tentative accord collapsed.

Olbermann struck first, declaring on the air he had not agreed to a truce. He went on to mock O’Reilly and lambaste Murdoch for trying to “muzzle Bill-O.” To Fox News, it appeared that Olbermann was not going to comply with his bosses.

“This is now more about the extensive issues between GE and NBC than it is about Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann,” said a network spokeswoman.

With Olbermann back in the fray, O’Reilly renewed his attacks on GE, accusing Immelt of using NBC News to curry favor with the Obama administration.

On Tuesday, he went even further, saying he was told that the FBI suspects GE of providing a company in Singapore with radio frequency modules that were found in improvised explosive devices used to kill U.S. troops.

O’Reilly noted that he could not confirm that GE was under investigation.

“We are just reporting what we believe to be true,” he said.

GE lashed back with a statement accusing Fox News of a “smear campaign.” It said that it does not make the radio frequency modules used in the devices or do business with the company under scrutiny.

Olbermann piled on the next night.

“You can talk all you want about feuds and cease-fires and childishness, but if I or any actual reporter like me had gotten as much wrong in any story as Bill O’Reilly got wrong in this one, I’d be fired in 15 minutes, as he should be now,” he said.

Fox News declined to comment. The network has maintained that it will cover GE as the news warrants.

On Thursday, O’Reilly noted GE’s response and directed viewers to the company’s Web site, where his supporters posted hundreds of comments praising Fox News.

For now, it appears unlikely another t k works. w As of Friday, w armistice is in the there had notebeen anywfurther talks r e between the executives at the two companies about reining in the two hosts.

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TheUtahStatesman

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

Page 19

! s u Pl

Today’s issue of The Utah Statesman includes A-Plus!

Magazine, an Orientation Issue, a look at departments and services at USU. The following information is also orientation information for your consideration. Please read this and your A-Plus!

Magazine and learn more about USU!

What can AAEO do for you? s! u l P

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY

Imagine yourself in Plants, Soils and Climate Imagine that the world can be a better place because of what you can do! The Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate integrates biological sciences, physical sciences, and design sciences to Plants, Soils sustain and enhance & Climate urban, agricultural, and natural ecosystems: the places where we live and work.

Residential Landscape Design and Construction Imagine yourself designing and building beautiful spaces where people can enjoy relaxing, recreating, or working. These aren’t large spaces such as city parks or entire subdivisions, but rather the small intimate spaces that people have in their own backyards.

Our Residential Landscape Design and Construction major will teach you not only how to design attractive and functional outdoor spaces, but how to construct and manage them as well.

Our students learn hand drawing and computer aided design. Graduates should be able to “hang a shingle” and be in business.

Environmental Soil and Water Science Imagine yourself helping planners, land managers, and farmers make the best use of our valuable soil and water resources. The production of food and fiber depends upon soil to supply water and nutrients for plant growth.

s! u l P

The seasonally dry Intermountain West presents unique challenges for enhancing the quantity and quality of soil and water to support a diversity of land uses -- agriculture, forestry, grazing, recreation, energy, and urban development. Graduates with this BS major often work for federal agencies such as USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Forest Service, or Agricultural Research Service; USDI Bureau of Land Management; state departments of food, agriculture, water, and natural resources; local conservation districts; or private environmental and agricultural firms. We also offer a minor in Soil Science.

Plant Sciences Imagine yourself growing flowers, turfgrass, fruits, vegetables, or agronomic crops such as alfalfa, wheat, or barley. Further, imagine yourself producing these crops in an environmentally sustainable way. Plants make the world a better place. We depend on plants for food. Flowers and turfgrass make the world more aesthetically pleasing. People who know how to grow plants well are in high demand.

Plant science graduates find employment in many different places. Many work in the landscape industry in installation and maintenance or for governmental agencies such as cities and school districts. Others work on golf courses. Some graduates find employment in nurseries or in retail garden centers. Still others work for themselves as growers or as agricultural consultants. Crop science graduates may find work as field men or agronomists for

agricultural industries or cooperatives.

Climate Imagine yourself explaining the causes and solutions to global climate change. The climate affects much of what we do and how we live our lives.

Climate is considerably more than just the weather forecast for the next day or two. Climate is the larger view of long term trends and the implications of climate on how we work and recreate.

Climate has huge effects on agriculture and how we will produce our food and fiber in the future. We offer classes in climate science and, beginning Spring 2010, a minor in Climate Change and Energy.

Graduate studies Imagine yourself digging even deeper into the mysteries of how plants grow, how soil supports humankind, how to use water more efficiently, or how climate interacts with plants, soils, and humans. Study in PSC majors and minors can advance students to graduate school at Utah State University or at other leading universities in North America. We enjoy high placement rates in competitive graduate programs.

If you enjoy science and would like to be an effective steward of the Earth, then Plants, Soils, and Climate may be the place for you. Take a few minutes to explore these and other opportunities in the PSC department. For more information about what we have to offer see our website www.psc.usu.edu or contact us by e-mail psc@usu.edu or come see us in Room 322 Ag Science.

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The Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity (AA/EO) Office provides services to everybody participating in any of the services and/or programs offered by Utah State University. That said, it must be emphasized that our primary customers are USU faculty, staff and students.

An important part of the vision and mission of Utah State University is Affirmative to provide students with an academic, work, recreational and social environAction ment that is free of discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual harassment and pregnancy related issues), national origin, age, disability or an individual’s status as a veteran. In addition, USU policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for employees in all aspects of employment and for students in academic programs.

The AA/EO Office provides training, discussion, advice, assistance, compliance and enforcement of many laws and regulations which specifically impact USU students. Some of them include: Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 (prohibits discrimination and/or harassment against students on the basis of sex – which includes sexual harassment); Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (prohibits discrimination and/or harassment on the basis of race, color and national origin); Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (prohibits discrimination based on age); and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 1990 (as amended in 2008) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (both prohibit discrimination based on disabilities). These laws require USU to make reasonable accommodations to otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities.

When students are employed at USU, they are also protected by the following laws: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (prohibits discrimination in all aspects of employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin and also includes sexual harassment and pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions); Equal Pay Act of 1963 (requires the same pay for men and women doing substantially equal work and requiring substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions); Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended (prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of age [40 or over]); Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (as amended in 2008) (prohibits discrimination and harassment in employment on the basis of disabilities and requires USU to make reasonable accommodations to otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities). Section 503 also requires federal contractors to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified persons with disabilities; Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Act of 1974, as amended by the Jobs for Veterans Act (JVA) of 2002 (prohibits discrimination and harassment and requires affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified disabled veterans and any other veterans who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized); The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994 (protects civilian job rights and benefits of Reservists and members of the National Guard while they serve on active duty); and Executive Order 11246 as amended (provides affirmative action guidelines in employment as well as prohibitions against discrimination and harassment based on race, color, gender, religion and national origin) The above laws, as well as USU Policy, provide protection to individuals by making it unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing practices which discriminate based on a protected category or for filing a charge of discrimination, testifying or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation relating to a protected category.

If you feel you have been the victim of discrimination and/or harassment, want information on the subjects or just need to talk and receive guidance on options available to you, please contact the AA/EO Office. You may call us at 435-797-1266 or contact us through our web site at http:// www.usu.edu/aaeo/index.html. At our web site, you will also find information about our training and complete information regarding our policies and the laws listed within this article. We are located in Room 118 of the Military Science Building. Our entrance is located at the south end of the building, just west of the Big Blue Parking Terrace.

The following individuals are here to assist you: Dave Ottley, Director and Title IX/Section 504 Coordinator; Stacy Louck Sturgeon, AA/EO Specialist; and Carolyn Whelan, Staff Assistant.

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Page 20

SpecialFeatures

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

For killed clunkers, it’s a long journey to auto heaven Catch yourself saying,”Hey, I could have used a clunker?”

BY MICHAEL S. ROSENWALD The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Killing a clunker takes patience and intestinal fortitude. Five minutes ago, a hulking Infiniti Q45 at Fitzgerald Auto Mall in Germantown, Md., guzzled a lethal dose of sodium silicate — liquid glass that hardens engine arteries. A technician keeps stepping on the gas. The Q45 keeps purring.

“She’s holding on,” says Scott Addison, a Fitzgerald manager watching the execution while puffing a thick cigar. Then the car begins coughing. “This is a terrible way to kill a car. This is suffering.”

The cough gets louder. “Here it goes,” Addison says. Silence.

Time of death: 1:33 p.m. Hundreds of clunkers surround him, awaiting their fates. Not even “Obama ‘08” bumper stickers can save these gas-guzzlers from the 435,000-vehicle sell-off created by the president’s “Cash for Clunkers” program. Addison calls this sea of discarded vehicles Clunkerville, but this is no car’s final destination. Even after their engines are silenced, the inhabitants face a long journey to auto heaven.

Dead clunkers embark on an odyssey through family businesses nearly as old as the car industry. Auctioneers in Elkridge in Howard County, Md., shout “$25, $25, $25, do I hear $50?” to salvage buyers who then take their winnings to junkyards to be picked over for parts. Junkyards eventually sell what’s left of the clunkers to processors, who use mammoth shredders to chew the cars into tiny pieces of scrap metal that are later recycled into steel. Almost nothing is wasted.

This gritty side of the car business is largely unseen in a country where the dominant image of the automotive industry is pristine cars rolling down production lines. But the Cash for Clunkers program, which has gas guzzlers piling up at dealerships around the country, is bringing into focus the $22billion-a-year auto recycling business and its many colorful characters.

People wonder: Where does all this stuff go? “It’s sort of like flushing a toilet,” said David Simon, the president of Baltimore Scrap, one of the region’s largest car shredders. “This aspect of the recycling industry is often out of sight, out of mind for the general public.”

After the government-mandated engine killings — a measure that assures the old cars cannot be resold — clunkers are either trucked to auctions or sold by dealers directly to outfits like Crazy Ray’s in Jessup, Md. Crazy Ray’s is what’s known as a you-pull-it operation, meaning that customers dive into the heap and find their own spare parts.

The owner is Joe Duff, a bubbly fellow with a heavy Baltimore accent, who sits at a desk on a slightly elevated stage. Outside, sweaty men haul tool boxes to extract parts from his inventory.

Duff picked up a handful of clunkers this week at Manheim Total Resource Auctions in Elkridge. Winning bids: $150 to $250 each.

His junkyard rules are strict, his prices non-negotiable. You come out with a brake drum, that’s $10.37, cash. Intake manifold, $25.47, cash. Crazy Ray’s web site warns: “We do not keep an inventory. It is constantly rotating.” If you are not out by 5:15 p.m., the prices double.

Duff runs a tight operation. He has to, he said, because of the shenanigans some parts hunters pull. Not long ago, a man walked up to the cash register, all hunched over. He put a cylinder head on the counter but remained hunched over. The attendant asked him to lift up his shirt. “He had another cylinder head stuck down his pants,” Duff said. “Complete with rockers and all.”

Despite the hassles, Duff said, it’s a good business. Cars break; people need parts. Clunkers come along; parts are replenished.

CLUNKERS RECYCLE: Mark Rhodes, general manager of Brandywine Automotive in Charles County, Md. He prepares a car for the junkyard, to be smashed and never used again. This gritty side of the car business is largely unseen in a country where the dominant image of the automotive industry is pristine cars rolling down production lines Washington Post photo by Jonathan Newton.

Yin-yang. Looking out his office window, Duff said: “There’s a guy buying a door. That’s $50. That rear hatch there, that’s $65. There’s a guy over here getting tires. A car lasts 30 days or so around here. Here’s a guy bringing up a rear seat. That’s 25 bucks.”

Other junkyards are slightly more orderly. Fitzgerald sold the Q45, circa 2000, for about $150 to Brandywine Auto, which towed it 53 miles to the company’s 40-acre facility in Charles County. Brandywine Auto, which dates to 1927 and is still owned by the Meinhardt family, sells car parts to body shops, insurance companies and individuals who repair their own vehicles. Think legal chop shop.

“We go in and take ‘em all apart,” said Mark Rhodes, Brandywine’s general manager.

Brandywine’s dismantlers might be called organ transplant surgeons. The patients roll into four dismantle bays all day long and the surgeons remove the guts: starters, tail lights, calipers, batteries, mirrors, doors. A dismantler can take apart two cars a day, and the parts can fetch anywhere from $35 (Q45 starter) to $800 (‘98 Corvette door) and beyond, turning clunkers into potential ATMs for Brandywine.

From the dismantle bays, the cars are lined up in a sprawling field, in neat rows of Fords, GMs, Chryslers, and imports. When a vehicle is picked clean, when there isn’t much left except for the frame and old McDonald’s wrappers, a forklift picks up the carcass as if it were as light as a book, sliding it into a crusher that flattens the remains in less than 30 seconds. The industry term for this moment is EOL — end of life.

“I call it `gone,’ “ Rhodes said.

Election observers cite cases of finger-cutting

BY LAURA KING Los Angeles Times

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The shadowy threat circulated in city streets and village bazaars in the days before Afghanistan’s historic presidential vote: The Taliban would cut off the ink-stained fingers of those who had cast a ballot.

On Saturday, election observers disclosed that they had confirmed two such cases in the south of Afghanistan, and were investigating a third in an eastern province.

The two known finger amputations took place in Kandahar province, where the Taliban movement was born. Officials asked that the district not be disclosed because it would endanger the observer who reported the grisly act. The case under investigation was in an Afghan province bordering Pakistan’s volatile tribal areas, where many insurgent groups are based.

The voters in question, whose fingers were stained with telltale purple ink, were attacked by insurgents soon after voting Thursday in presidential and provincial assembly elections, said Nader Nadery, who heads the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, the country’s premier domestic election-monitoring group. No further details about the attack were disclosed.

The south of Afghanistan, where insurgents and Western troops have clashed fiercely this summer, was considered the most dangerous place to vote. Despite intensive efforts by U.S. and other Western forces to safeguard the balloting, many people in the south stayed home.

An overall turnout figure has not been compiled, but it will be a major factor in determining the vote’s legitimacy.

The finger-cutting disclosure came as domestic and foreign monitoring groups began offering detailed appraisals of the vote, in which incumbent President Hamid Karzai faced three main rivals and more than two dozen other contenders.

To win in a first round, a candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote. Karzai’s camp has expressed optimism he will win outright; aides of his chief rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, have said they are all but certain the contest will go to a runoff.

Preliminary results are to be announced Tuesday, but a final tally is not due until September.

Monitoring groups generally have described the vote as flawed, but successful in that it took place at all. Violence had surged in the weeks leading up to the vote. Various observer groups have raised concerns such as women having been denied full voting rights, regional patterns in the low turnout that could have skewed the result, and the wealth of opportunities for fraud provided by a faulty voter-registration process.

The dipping of voters’ right index fingers in indelible ink was a measure intended to prevent fraud, but the tactic spawned controversy after claims the ink could be easily washed off with a common laundry product.

But there is actually one more stop. After clunkers have been picked apart and flattened, they are sold to shredders.

Brandywine often uses Baltimore Scrap, located in an industrial shipping area not far from the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel.

Baltimore Scrap is run by David Simon. The scrap man’s grandfather founded the business in Pennsylvania nearly 100 years ago with little more than a horse and wagon; Simon’s three brothers and their 83-year-old father work the yard now.

The other day, Simon stood outside and watched trucks pull up onto a scale. Simon pays by the hundredweight or ton. A typical 3,000-pound car might cost him between $100 and $200.

Every evening, the flattened vehicles feed into his 300-foot-long, 60-foot-wide shredding apparatus and, after being chewed up by a 3,000-horsepower motor, are spit out into tiny, unrecognizable pieces of metal. The piles of this stuff around the facility are high enough that one wouldn’t climb them without a rope.

Simon in turn sells the metal to steel manufacturers, which meld it into railroad rails, heavy machinery, steel plates, maybe even car parts. Some of his customers are close by, perhaps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Others are distant, in China or India, for example. That means the Q45 clunker that sputtered and fought and then died in Germantown actually lives on, in bits and pieces, around the world — in developing countries building their infrastructures or maybe even returning just a few blocks away at a depot that receives new cars.

This irony is not lost on anyone operating on the EOL side of the car business. As Simon said, “It’s all just a big circle.”

Converts targeted by dedicated Muslims

BY JEFFREY FLEISHMAN Los Angeles Times

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt -- It is a clear day along the coast, but in a bungalow off the beach, Maher El Gohary sits behind a locked door with an open Bible and a crystal cross, suspicious of every voice and sandal scraping past outside.

He and his daughter, Dina, live like refugees, switching apartments every few months, not wanting to get close to neighbors. Gohary’s life has been threatened, his dogs have been killed and it’s been suggested that he’s insane or possessed by spirits.

He is a man this Muslim nation cannot fathom: a convert to Christianity.

“Islam is the only thing Egyptians are 150 percent sure of. If you reject Islam, you shake their belief and you are an apostate, an infidel,” he says.

“I can see in the eyes of Muslims how much my conversion has really hurt them.”

Egypt’s Coptic Christians, who represent about 10 percent of the population, have a history that veers from coexistence to violence with the Muslim majority. Bloody clashes recently erupted between Copts and Muslims over land disputes and restrictions on churches.

But converts, such as Gohary, are even more unsettling. Islamists believe that Muslims who forsake their religion should be punished by death.

Gohary wants to be called Peter and refuses to yield. He has filed a lawsuit asking an Egyptian court to recognize him as a Copt by changing the denomination on his national ID card from Muslim to Christian. The court ruled against him last month, finding that Gohary’s baptism documents from the Coptic Orthodox

Church were “legally invalid.” The verdict is on appeal.

The case highlights the religious and political complexities that drive modern Egypt. The nation often seems at battle with itself as it attempts to balance the ideals of a democracy with laws steeped in Islamic principles. Freedom of religion is guaranteed in the constitution, but fatwas and religious edicts subject converts from Islam to persecution and threats. The government treads uneasily, not wanting to anger religious conservatives who guard Islam’s grip on society.

Converts such as Gohary “should be killed by authorities,” says Abdul Aziz Zakareya, a cleric and former professor at Al Azhar University.

“Public conversions can lead to very dangerous consequences. The spreading of a phenomenon like this in a Muslim society can cause many unwanted results and tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims.”

A tall man in blue shorts and rimless glasses, Gohary, 56, looks as if he is ready to walk the beach. But he and Dina have just moved to the three-room bungalow. Their suitcases are still packed; the only thing on the walls is a clothesline. Listening for noises outside, Gohary speaks of how years earlier the teachings of Jesus, especially parables on forgiveness and loving your enemy, changed his life.

“In Islam, if you steal your hands are cut off, but in Christianity you can be forgiven,” he says. “This compassion is what attracted me.”

Back then he was a young cadet at the police academy, inspired by a Christian bunkmate who ignored the taunts of Muslim recruits. Gohary, the son of a police general, began reading the Bible. He left the academy and by his mid-20s had drifted

away from Islam and was calling himself a Christian. He went through a series of jobs, he says, but was often fired or quit after being harassed when it was discovered he was no longer a Muslim.

He married in 1994, but his wife refused to convert. The couple divorced, and Dina was tugged between faiths.

“I’ve always felt Christian,” says Dina, a 15-year-old who doesn’t look away when she speaks. “But my mom has taken me to sheiks to convince me of Islam. She made me wear the hijab and go to the mosque against my will. My father and I are in danger. A man with a beard once grabbed me and told me, `If you and your dad don’t stop, I’ll kill you both.’ “ In 1997, Gohary remarried and later moved to a farm. His second wife converted to Christianity. Her family and friends were angry, and Gohary says the farm was vandalized, his trees cut down, his dogs killed. He sold the property, and he and his wife and Dina planned to move to Cyprus. Dina’s mother and Gohary share custody of their daughter, and authorities did not allow her to leave Egypt. Gohary and his wife spent a year in Cyprus, but he returned to ensure that Dina was exposed to Christianity.

Gohary says he received a baptismal certificate from the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cyprus in 2005 after having been baptized by an archbishop in Egypt. The court rejected both certificates, questioning the jurisdiction of the documents and saying there was no “clear evidence” of baptism.

Says Gohary: “I’m not so much afraid of the government anymore.

It’s conservative Muslims who worry me.”

SpecialFeatures

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

Page 21

Instant reviews via Twitter makes Hollywood nervous

BY MICHAEL SRAGOW The Baltimore Sun

Although word of mouth could always make or break a movie, it usually took days to affect the box office. But the rise of social networking tools such as Twitter might be narrowing that time frame to hours. And that has Hollywood on edge.

This summer, movies such as “Bruno” and “G.I. Joe” have had unexpected tumbles at the box office -- just within their opening weekends -- while “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” survived blistering critical reaction to become a blockbuster.

Box-office watchers say the dramatic swings might be caused by Twitter and other social networking sites that can blast instant raves -- or pans -- to hundreds of people just minutes after the credits roll.

“Almost every time after I go out (to a movie), I’ll tweet about it,” says Lindsay Wailes, a cook and barista from Westminster, Md. “I tweeted about `G.I. Joe’ as soon as I left the theater.”

Her take: “If you like science or plot, this isn’t a movie for you; if you like explosions for no reason, you’ll

love it.”

She also listens to what others have to say: She turned her back on “Bruno” because of downbeat Twitter reviews. Studios are trying to gauge the impact of an avalanche of tweets and how it affects the staying power of a movie. Was the 39 percent boxoffice drop of “Bruno” from Friday to Saturday a case of disappointed moviegoers tweeting from theater lobbies? Or did a limited fan base for “Bruno” exhaust itself on that first day?

“I think Twitter can’t be stopped,” says Stephen Bruno, the Weinstein Co.’s senior director of marketing.

“Now you have to see it as an addition to the campaign of any movie. People want real-time news, and suddenly a studio can give it to them in a firstperson way.”

Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Pictures, says studios are worrying about a time when “people will be Twittering during the opening credits -- and leaving when they don’t like them.” But he also warns, “the next step (for the Twitter Effect) is for studio marketing to manipulate it.”

The Weinstein Co. has done that big-time for the Friday release of the Quentin Tarantino-Brad Pitt World

War II epic “Inglourious Basterds.”

The company packed a screening at San Diego’s Comic-Con with people who won access via Twitter. It also staged “the first ever Red Carpet Twitter meet-up” during the movie’s premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, generating celebrity tweets including Sarah Silverman’s “just made me smile forever” and Tony Hawk’s “another Tarantino classic.”

Twitter has broadened the reach of bloggers and other aspiring opinionmakers.

“Just two years ago, if I saw a movie I loved or I hated, I’d be able to tell a dozen friends, tops,” says John Singh, who works for the movie and social networking Web site Flixster. “Now I can be walking out of a theater as the credits are rolling and immediately tell 500 people what I thought. ...

It’s never been this easy to be this influential.”

Take “The Proposal,” a film that had little buzz yet has become one of the summer’s most profitable productions. (It cost $40 million and is grossing upward of $159 million.)

Flixster, which runs the Movies application for iPhones, worked with Disney/Touchstone to promote

Zellweger is perfect match for ‘One and Only’

HOLLYWOOD Bestsy Sharkey most part they do.

As is so often the case, this - There’s something LA Times road trip is as much about the eminently appealing journey as the final destinaabout the way Renee tion. Anne, who has always Zellweger’s circa 1953 left the details of life to the New York City socialite men or the staff, has to figdispenses with her phiure out if she can be just landering husband in the as resourceful without them. lovely little bit of nostalGrade B Robbie (Mark Rendall) is her gia that is “My One and sensitive oldest son. He is the Only.”

“One and Only” one she knows she has to She tosses some clothes protect most. in a suitcase; pushes the Meanwhile George, especially well-played other woman out the door just for good measure; cleans out the safe deposit box; by Lerman, is hard at work on his teenage pulls her sons out of prep school, as soon as cynicism, a copy of “The Catcher in the she can figure out which one they’re attend- Rye” never far from his side. He fancies himing these days; and sets off on a grand self a writer and wants only to be back in the adventure nestled in the cushy leather of a intellectual embrace of New York with the father he thinks he knows. Lerman captures baby-blue Coupe deVille.

No tears for Zellweger’s Anne Devereaux, the ease with which an angry teen will use and not a hair in that perfect blond bob out a growing vocabulary to wound a parent, with Zellweger absorbing the of place, at least not yet. blows with resignation and a Anne may not be the nurturrueful drag on her cigarette. ing kind, but she’s got a moth(George, by the way, and the er’s instinct for self-preservafilm itself, is very loosely based tion, and she’s determined to on the actor George Hamilton find a suitable replacement and his memories of that time for her ex, a big bandleadin his life -- a fact the filmmaker smoothy played by Kevin ers note ever so slightly.)

Bacon, before the money runs The 1950s suit Zellweger, out. That she’s many years as does the film. A good thing beyond her courting prime for the actress, who either hasn’t quite registered yet. slips seamlessly into the space As 15-year-old George created for her as she did with (Logan Lerman), behind the wheel for the first time in his life, glances in Bridget Jones or “Chicago’s” Roxie Hart, the rearview mirror, Anne looks over and or shows up on the doorstep like someone says don’t bother, it’s only what’s ahead of who’s come to the wrong address, as was you that matters. It’s Anne’s philosophy of the case in “Leatherheads.”

In “My One and Only,” she looks comlife as much as a driving tip for her son, and from the looks of it, George understands, pletely at home as a fading beauty in pencil too: With an “I give up” shrug, he turns the skirts and pillbox hats, blood-red lipstick forever being freshened. Creating a smoke Caddy toward Philly.

In British director Richard Loncraine’s screen of class and sensuality, the actress good hands, the film becomes a bitter- treats the drama and desperation of Anne’s sweet excursion through the country at life like a wayward curl she is forever trying a time when you could still depend on to tamp down.

The period turns out to be a good one the kindness of strangers. It’s the people Anne knows who turn out to be the prob- for Loncraine, too, having done some of his lem. There are the many old beaus she best work with well-regarded period pieces, looks up along the way -- the Army doctor including Shakespeare’s “Richard III” and played by Chris Noth, Eric McCormack’s the Winston Churchill love-in-a-time-of-war rich Pittsburgh playboy -- and her homely TV film “The Gathering Storm.”

He and cinematographer Marco older sister (Robin Weigert) who’s still bitter Pontecorvo keep subtly adjusting the styles after all these years.

At the beginning, she breezes through and colors to reflect the family’s changing the men and the cliches they represent as circumstances, from the sleek Manhattan she always has. There are a lot of them, apartment they leave behind to the increasmostly forgettable, and it is here that the ingly down-market last resorts that become their reality. film threatens to lose its way.

California, bathed in light, comes as a Nick Stahl’s Bud, a Brando-esque neighbor who haunts the Pittsburgh stop, is relief for Anne and Robbie. (George, on the the one you wish would be there awhile other hand, finds the sunshine depressing.) longer. But Anne moves on, and it is left “My One and Only” is a relief, too, just to the scenes between mother and sons to when you think nothing will break the sumprovide the film’s saving grace, and for the mer heat, in blows a cool breeze.

Reel

Reviews

Studio puts off release of ‘Shutter’ HOLLYWOOD (LAT) -- With just six weeks before its scheduled release, Paramount Pictures has shelved Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated psychological thriller “Shutter Island,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, until next year, saying it simply doesn’t have the money to market the movie.

The move means that the film won’t be in Oscar contention for this year. It had been set for an Oct. 3 release and now is scheduled to pop onto screens Feb. 19.

“Our 2009 slate was green lit in a very different economic climate and as a result we must remain flexible and willing to recalibrate and adapt to a challenging environment,” Paramount Chairman and Chief Executive Brad Grey said in a statement.

He added that, “This is a situation facing every

studio as we all work through financial pressures associated with the broader downturn.”

Paramount, which is a unit of media giant Viacom Inc., has spent heavily promoting its summer lineup of “Star Trek,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” Although all three have been successful, the cost of prints and advertising, which for all three combined was at least $200 million, goes on the studio’s books now, whereas whatever profits they generate won’t show up until much later.

The studio has two other big releases for later this year on which it will spend heavily in the hope they will garner Oscar consideration: “The Lovely Bones” and “Up in the Air.” Both of those movies also involve DreamWorks.

the Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds romantic farce. Singh credits the campaign with increasing the film’s opening-weekend haul by 30 percent.

Positive reviews from her Twitter friends can persuade Wailes to attend a film if she’s “undecided.” If it “gets raves from people I network with, since I know I have something in common with these people, I figure there must be something in the movie that I might want to see.”

Gregg Kilday, film editor of The Hollywood Reporter, notes that it’s impossible to separate the factors that would explain a film’s drop or rise in box office.

“Even if you don’t have Twitter, a lot of people, especially kids, have long had the ability to text each other, sometimes from within the theater,” he says. “And for a lot of the mass-market movies, the potential audience will go whether friends tell them they’re good or not.”

Brandon Gray, president and founder of boxofficemojo.com, notes that the hit teen-romance vampire film “Twilight” dropped 41 percent from Friday to Saturday without any discussion of the Twitter Effect.

“There have been many indications through the years that films targeting

teens and young adults will have a huge Friday and a more front-loaded weekend,” Gray says. “That’s just kind of how it goes.”

Movietickets.com recently ran a poll in which 88 percent of the voting sample said Twitter had no effect on them. Joel Cohen, the company’s executive vice president and general manager, thinks “we may be putting too much weight onto the Twitter Effect. But you can see Twitter’s benefits as a communications tool that spreads the word about a film, and the negatives have yet to be proven.”

Bowles, who distributed the documentary “Food, Inc.,” acknowledges that “we did some Twitter-specific things, including a Twitter-cast with the movie’s director, Robby Kenner.”

But he’s cautious when it comes to describing Twitter as a “revolutionary” force.

“Revolutionize moviegoing? No,” he said. “But all the tiny little bits together (Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and others) can add up to something meaningful.”

‘Time Traveler’s Wife’ just one of several watchable time-travel-genre movies

BY SUSAN KING Los Angeles Times HOLLYWOOD -- True love is difficult even under the best of circumstances. But what if your soul mate has come into your life via a time machine? Even eHarmony can’t help you with that issue.

These out-of-time romances, though, are a perennial hit in popular culture. And for good reason: They’re an emotional thrill ride. If true love finds a way against these tremendous odds, then it gives audiences hope that they too will find their one and only. If the couples’ love is thwarted, these stories are cathartic weepfests.

Then there are the “fish out of water” elements, where someone from the past or future tries to deal with the time period to which they have been transported.

The latest entry in the canon of these romances, “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” opened over the weekend in third place with an estimated gross of $19.2 million.

Based on the best-selling novel by Audrey Niffenegger, the fantasy revolves around a handsome Chicago librarian (Eric Bana) who happens to have a genetic disorder that causes him to travel through time when he gets stressed (although you might think it would be the other way around).

Of course, this causes more than a few problems with his wife, Claire (Rachel McAdams).

Bruce Joel Rubin, who won an Oscar for his 1990 spirited romance “Ghost” and adapted “Time Traveler’s Wife,” believes these love stories fly because, “I think people have an innate sense that we are not as (bound) up by time as we feel we are,” he says, adding that watching these movies “is like a release.”

In the case of “Time Traveler’s Wife,” Rubin says that although it’s a fantasy, “The underpinning of the extraordinary kind of timeless love is very real. I think it’s a deep and profound wish fulfillment.”

Here’s a look at how love and time travel mix on screen: “Somewhere in Time” A cult has sprung up around this 1980 romance (it wasn’t that popular when it was released) because of its over-the-top love story and beautiful lead actors. Christopher Reeve plays a young playwright who becomes enchanted with a vintage photograph of a young actress (Jane Seymour) he sees on the wall at a hotel. Through selfhypnosis, he travels back to 1912, where he falls in love with the actress. But her manager (Christopher Plummer) is less than thrilled with their romance because he feels it will derail her acting career.

“The Time Machine” This 1960 adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic 1895 novel stars Rod Taylor as a young man in Victorian England who creates a time machine and finds the love of his life, the winsome Weena (Yvette Mimieux), in the future. Directed by George Pal, the film won an Oscar for its then-cutting-edge effects. Word to the wise: Avoid the disastrous 2002 remake.

“Time After Time” Clever, romantic 1979 fantasy penned and directed by Nicholas Meyer that finds “Time Machine” novelist Wells (Malcolm McDowell) holding a dinner party at his house in London in 1893. But the dinner is interrupted when the police come to arrest his surgeon friend (David Warner), who might be Jack the Ripper. The doctor escapes via Wells’ own time machine. Wells

soon follows and finds himself in 1979 San Francisco. He has a difficult time adjusting to modern life until he meets a sweet bank employee (Mary Steenburgen, whom McDowell later married).

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Winner of three Academy Awards, this lavish 2008 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story finds Benjamin (Brad Pitt) born in 1918 with the outward appearance and infirmities of an old man. As everybody gets older, Benjamin ages in reverse. At 12, he meets a 6-year-old girl named Daisy. Over the years, their paths cross. Eventually, they fall in love and have a child. But because of his age reversal, Benjamin feels that he will be a burden to Daisy (Cate Blanchett) and their child.

“Kate & Leopold” Hugh Jackman steals this 2001 romantic comedy from director James Mangold.

Jackman plays a British duke in 1876 -- he’s the future inventor of the elevator -- who falls through a portal and ends up in contemporary New York, where he meets and falls in love with a career woman (Meg Ryan). Eventually, she decides she’d rather be with Leopold than have a career and travels back in time to be with him. (In timetravel movies, love always wins out over more practical considerations.)

“Back to the Future” The big hit of summer 1985 that spawned two sequels puts a funny twist on time-travel romance. Seventeen-year-old Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) accidentally is sent back in time 30 years in a quirky time machine built from a DeLorean automobile by his eccentric scientist friend Doc (Christopher Lloyd). Unfortunately, his “mother” (Lea Thompson), who is in high school, starts to fall in love with McFly instead of his father (Crispin Glover). McFly has to make sure his parents fall in love or he’ll disappear.

“Orlando” Tilda Swinton is perfectly cast in Sally Potter’s 1993 adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel about a person who travels through four centuries, first as a man and then as a woman, finding love with a man (Billy Zane) in the contemporary world.

“The Lake House” Syrupy 2006 romance starring Keanu Reeves, as an architect in 2004, and Sandra Bullock, as a physician in 2006, who fall in love via letters they leave in a mailbox at the lake house they lived in at separate points in time.

“Happy Accidents” In Brad Anderson’s 2001 sci-fi romance, Marisa Tomei plays a young New Yorker who has been unlucky in love. She finally thinks she has found Mr. Right (Vincent D’Onofrio) until he tells her he’s a “back traveler” from 2470.

“The Love Letter” Campbell Scott stars in this 1998 “Hallmark Hall of Fame” drama based on a short story by Jack Finney -- the author of the time-travel classic “Time and Again” -- as a computer games designer living in Boston who finds, in a secret compartment in an antique desk he bought, a love letter written by a woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who lived during the Civil War era. Not able to get her out of his mind and encouraged by his mother (Estelle Parsons), he writes her back, using Boston’s oldest post office, which was opened during the Civil War. Miraculously, she responds to his letter. The two fall in love via the letters -- which, not surprisingly, causes problems with Scott’s impending nuptials.

SpecialFeatures

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

Page 22

Alexa Ray Joel is trying to make a name for herself MOIRA E. MCLAUGHLIN The Washington Post

WASHINGTON â&#x20AC;&#x201D; It would be easy to judge Alexa Ray Joel, 23.Her dad is musician Billy Joel. Her mom is supermodel Christie Brinkley. Between her connections and her bank account, how can she possibly know what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like to be a struggling singer-songwriter in New York? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been really busy,â&#x20AC;? she says from her West Village apartment. She was 15 minutes

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late for the interview, having spilled juice and broken a glass moments before the call. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a bit clumsy,â&#x20AC;? she confesses. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some mornings, I wake up and I am just sort of out of it.â&#x20AC;?

Out of it from the late-night parties? The booze? The glamour? The high society that she inevitably rolls in?

Not quite. Joel seems determined to make her way in spite of, and not because of, her famous name. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have these huge golden shadows over me, and I have to define myself on my terms,â&#x20AC;? she says.

Defining herself on her terms means writing her own songs, plugging her own shows, designing her own Tshirts, doing all the things any unknown musician would do.

Joelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family history is legendary. Her mom married her dad after appearing in his â&#x20AC;&#x153;Uptown Girlâ&#x20AC;? video. Eight years after Alexa was born, her parents split. Her mom married again. Her dad married again. Between them they have been married and divorced seven times.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good media fodder, but it may be bad for a shy teenager growing up in Long

Island.

She attended the New York University music theater program for a year but found herself skipping class to hang out in the piano practice rooms. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was a late bloomer,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;(My parents) didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spoil me. There was a curfew.

They were strict. I was the shyest dork in the world in high school.â&#x20AC;? There were no boyfriends. No parties. She had no â&#x20AC;&#x153;edgeâ&#x20AC;? she said and still doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. And today, her parents expect her to work. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I grew up very lucky. I am very fortunate. At the same time I have to stand on my own now,â&#x20AC;? she says. She released her first and only EP, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sketches,â&#x20AC;? in 2006. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you put good out, it comes back to you,â&#x20AC;? she says.

Joelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s music is reminiscent of Norah Jonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lazy, jazzy blues.

Joelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice is bright and earnest. Her piano playing, similar to her dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, incorporates simple, thick, familiar harmonies. The songs are charming, youthful and full-hearted.

Joel has performed in public with her dad only a few times.

He is not a stage dad, she says.

People ask, â&#x20AC;&#x153; `Does (your dad) help you?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Of course not! Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m 23 years old! You gotta grow up

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at some point!â&#x20AC;? He will offer encouragement or the occasional piece of advice: Hold that note a bit longer. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing a good job. And even â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tone down the pretty,â&#x20AC;? Joel says. (Her mom, who is more involved with her career, tells her the opposite.) Regardless, Joel feels that her name alone wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get her a record deal.

Then again, she has no desire to give up control of her music or her image. She is careful about who she is. She says she doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be a â&#x20AC;&#x153;pop tartâ&#x20AC;? or a one-hit wonder, and she doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want people thinking she is riding on her dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coattails. She wants to earn respect and credibility, and, most important, she wants to move people with her music.

She wrote the song â&#x20AC;&#x153;Invisibleâ&#x20AC;? about an ex-boyfriend who dumped her three times. As she performed it at a recent show, she said, a woman in the front row started crying.

ALEXA RAY JOEL

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going for. I want people to share my emotional experience and make them their own,â&#x20AC;? she says.

And what if people come to her shows simply to see

Billy Joelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daughter? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really care what gets people to the show as long as they leave and think about me and my music.â&#x20AC;?

From domestic violence to reality TV LOS ANGELES (LAT) -- Two years ago, real estate executive Ryan Alexander Jenkins from Calgary, Alberta, was sentenced to 15 months probation and ordered to complete domestic violence counseling after hitting his then-girlfriend.

But Jenkins came to Los Angeles and was selected as a contestant on the VH1 reality show â&#x20AC;&#x153;Megan Wants A Millionaire,â&#x20AC;? in which wealthy men compete for the love of a young woman.

Now, Jenkins is wanted for the mutilation murder of his ex-wife, model Jasmine Fiore, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Megan Wants A Millionaireâ&#x20AC;? has been pulled off the air by VH1.

The case raises questions about how a man with a record of domestic violence got onto a show where the object is to marry a woman. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Obviously itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a huge screw-up here,â&#x20AC;? said Jon Taplin, a professor at the University of Southern Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Annenberg School for Communication, who teaches digital entertainment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Part of the problem is thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s such a huge machine needing people to go on TV. ... But the problem is: If you need so many contestants, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re probably not going to do the best job of screening them.â&#x20AC;?

A spokesman for VH1 said that the network did not know about â&#x20AC;&#x153;any issues regarding any of the contestants on this showâ&#x20AC;? and that it was standard practice for the company that produced the show to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;responsible for the screening/vetting process of contestant.â&#x20AC;?

VH1 licensed the show from the Los Angeles-

based 51 Minds Entertainment. According to a statement released by a spokesman for 51 Minds, the company was not aware of Jenkinsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; record when it cast him on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Megan Wants A Millionaire.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Obviously, if the company had been given a full picture of his background, he would never have been allowed on the show,â&#x20AC;? according to the statement provided this week by Allan Mayer of the public relations company 42 West. Mayer released another statement Friday saying that Jenkinsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; criminal record slipped through the cracks because of â&#x20AC;&#x153;an error by a Canadian court clerk.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;To conduct background checks on potential cast members for `Megan Wants a Millionaire,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; 51 Minds Entertainment hired a well-respected investigative firm called Collective Intelligence, which has done similar work for more than 90 production companies involving hundreds of TV shows on virtually every major network,â&#x20AC;? the statement read. â&#x20AC;&#x153;According to Collective Intelligence, Ryan Jenkinsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; criminal record in Canada escaped notice not because of any lapse on their part but as a result of an error by a Canadian court clerk.â&#x20AC;?

After production of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Megan Wants A Millionaireâ&#x20AC;? ended, Jenkins was selected as a contestant on a second VH1 reality show, the third season of â&#x20AC;&#x153;I Love Money.â&#x20AC;? But in June, he was charged with hitting Fiore at a Las Vegas hotel -- the second accusation of domestic abuse against Jenkins.

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Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

TimeOut

Page 23 Pearls Before Swine • Pastis

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Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Crossword Puzzler • MCT Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Thingamajig 6 Castaway’s home 10 Unpaid credit card bills, e.g.

14 __ of the tongue 15 Celebrity chef Bobby 16 Provo’s state 17 Trailblazer Daniel 18 Bad thing to yell in a crowded theater 19 Hosiery hue 20 Borax haulers, in classic ads 23 Best kind of situation 24 Annual period 25 Getting the job done, briefly 26 Pig __ poke 27 Santa staffer 29 Eager lip sounds 31 Cowboy’s topper 35 “... __ saw Elba” 36 Sport __: versatile vehicle 37 LAPD alerts 41 Poker game where one might stand pat 46 Sam’s Club competitor 49 Confucian “path” 50 That, in Tijuana 51 Sculptures, oils, etc.

52 Sock-in-the-gut responses, in comics 55 Words of understanding 57 CBS sitcom since 2003 60 Darkroom images, for short 61 Radioer’s “Back to you” 62 New Wave band __ Boingo 64 Settled on a branch, as a bird 65 Twistable cookie 66 Actress MaryKate or Ashley 67 __ bargain: court deal 68 E-mail button 69 Salon colorists DOWN 1 Chew the fat

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By Samuel A. Donaldson

2 Big name in gloves 3 It’s to the far right on freeways 4 Sal of “Exodus” 5 Where pirates prey 6 Far from certain 7 Covered with thick, icky liquid 8 Lash of old oaters 9 Place for mascara 10 Sonny and Cher song, e.g.

11 “Yada, yada, yada ...”

12 President Obama 13 Hitchhikers’ digits 21 Be a rat fink 22 Witty Bombeck 23 TV’s Nick at __ 28 Chimney duct 30 Not much 32 Party invitee’s buy 33 Non-Rx 34 Without ice 38 False appearance 39 Kim of “L.A. Confidential”

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

Answers found elsewhere in this issue of The Statesman!

Good Luck! (c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

40 Whack, as a fly 42 Clickable PC image 43 Some West Indian religious cultists 44 Racetrack border 45 Alpo or Pedigree 46 Forty winks 47 “Animal Farm” author George 48 Inferior cigar

7/27/09

53 Quarterback Brett with a record 464 TD passes 54 Charlie of 57-Across 56 Etiquette author Post 58 “The Thin Man” dog 59 Yanks’ third baseman, familiarly 63 Switch positions

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Page 24

TheUtahStatesman

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009