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WEST HENDERSON HIGH SCHOOL
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3600 Haywood Road, Hendersonville, N.C. 28791 • Volume XXIX, Issue 5 • May 20, 2011
WRESTLING TIME
Tight Squeeze
To pin his opponent at the Walhalla Invitational Tournament during the wrestling season, junior Santiago Ortiz-Lopez performs a maneuver called “threading the needle.” Ortiz was a captain on the team. (photo by Kelly Littauer)
with
An American flag flies overhead as CWO Terry Varnadore’s body is transported down Airport Road to Hendersonville.
•Community honors soldier CWO Terry Varnadore, a member of the Class of 1999, was killed last month after his helicopter crashed in Afghanistan. Varnadore was deployed to Afghanistan in October and served with the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade. Varnadore is remembered for being an outstanding athlete and a highly motivated student. In both 1998 and 1999 Varnadore was a state qualifier for West’s wrestling team. Jeff Smith, wrestling coach, said he remembers Varnadore as a soft-spoken, focused young man. “He was just one of those kids that was goaloriented. He put everything in place to achieve the goals for himself,” Smith said. Varnadore’s wife, Casey, and four-year-old daughter, Ava, along with both his parents and inlaws, survive Varnadore.
Junior wins battle to finish education
S
Hailey Johns Asst. Opinion Editor
pectators waited anxiously in the bleachers of the Dobyns-Bennett High gymnasium last December while junior Santiago Ortiz-Lopez reached out to shake his opponent’s hand at a wrestling tournament in Kingsport, Tenn. As soon as the referee blew the whistle to begin the match, the crowd’s roar broke the monotonous murmurs that had filled the gym. Ortiz struggled to control his opponent, James Jones of Tennessee High, in the 153 lb. weight class as the time on the clock ticked away. Moments later, Ortiz pinned Jones in a super-cradle with 45 seconds left in the first period. Although this was Ortiz’s most impressive victory on the mat in the 2010-2011 season, the fight of his life would take place three months later in a courtroom — a fight that would determine whether or not he could stay in the United States to earn his diploma. A year earlier Ortiz had been arrested after getting involved in a fight during his weight lifting class. When law enforcement officers questioned him, they learned that he had been living in the United States illegally since he was 3 years old. That meant he would face a series of deportation hearings. Suddenly, Ortiz found himself caught up in the national debate over immigration laws. News of the deportation hearings that could have resulted in his being sent back to Mexico prompted a number of teachers and students to
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start a campaign to help him stay in the United States to complete his education. On May 5, during his most recent hearing in Charlotte, immigration lawyer Rob Hill argued that Ortiz was not just an illegal immigrant; he was a student. Hill told the judge that Ortiz should have the same opportunities as his fellow students to earn a high school diploma. The judge ruled that Ortiz, currently a junior, could stay in the United States until January 2012 to complete high school. Ortiz would then have to return to Mexico and apply for a visa to study in America if he wants to return for college. “I’m going to work hard and keep my grades up to prove to the judge that I deserve to stay here,” Ortiz said. “There are a lot of people that know me, and they see that I’m not a bad person. I do try in school. All these teachers have written me letters (for the judge). It’s all helped, and I’m thankful that they were here for me. Hopefully, they don’t look down on me knowing this. They see that I’m still a good person. I’m happy they know because they have been able to help me.” Ortiz’s middle school math teacher helped him raise money to pay for his legal representation at the deportation hearings. Carpentry teacher Richard Colgan donated his time to Ortiz’s cause and appeared in court with him on March 3 and May 5. “Although there are lots of sides to the political argument about people who are here illegally, I don’t think that you can extend this
• See “Ortiz,” Page 2
Yes 71%
Earthquake, tsunami trigger nuclear disaster in Japan
No
Junior who visited country concerned about victims
(based on a survey of 281 students)
H Hall eard
in the
“I didn’t spank you; I just helped you along.” Camen Royse, senior (while mocking butt touching?) “You are the one receiving the pleasure, not giving it.” Rebekah Farmer, Spanish teacher (discussing the phrase “me llamo”) “It’s not that it’s hard; it’s just easy.” Kerry Ravan, math teacher (discussing strategies to solve a calculus problem)
Diane Gromelski Asst. Entertainment Editor
J
unior Shelby McLennan stood gaping at her TV screen as she watched buildings crumble in Yokohama, Japan, the home of her host family when she visited the country in July 2010. She scrambled to the laptop sitting on her coffee table, opened her Hotmail account, and quickly composed a message. She sat contemplating the worst-case scenarios as she prayed for a reply. McLennan visited Japan with People-to-People, an organization that offers middle and high school students the opportunity to travel internationally. She toured Japan for two weeks and stayed with a host family, Ikuko and Makoto Takagawa. “While I was in Japan, I grew extremely close to my host family,” McLennan said. “We got along really well, even though our ways of life are so different. My host family’s personalities were really different than most American personalities. They were so polite and quiet. I still stay in contact with them a lot, especially by email.” On March 11, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Japan, the strongest ever to strike the country. The quake triggered a tsunami with waves up to 77 feet high that devastated many Japanese cities minutes after the earthquake had occurred. According to The Wall Street Journal, more than 25,000 people have been confirmed dead or missing. “I was watching the news when I found out about the earthquake and tsunami. My mind immediately went to my host family in Japan, and it really scared me. They live in Yokohama, which is in southern Japan, so thankfully the earthquake and the tsunami did not affect them as
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Japan’s Nuclear Disaster Earthquake epicenter Damaged nuclear reactors
Tokyo Illustration by Katie King
29%
much,” McLennan said. “I contacted my host family as soon as I saw the earthquake, and I found out that they were all OK. They had a good bit of trembling, and some buildings fell down, but they were more worried about their friends in northern Japan than they were about themselves. They were concerned with how I was taking it because they knew I had a pretty bad scare.” McLennan’s host parents reported that they were grieving for the other Japanese whose lives were lost to the disaster. “Yokohama did not receive much damage from the earthquake. Many buildings shook and that was all,” Makoto Takagawa said. “The north of Japan was very badly hurt, and we honor all who have died.” Immediately after the earthquake, five Japanese nuclear power plants shut down. One of the power plants, Fukushima I in eastern Japan, experienced two large explosions and radioactive leakage after tsunami waves hit the plant. More than 200,000 Japanese were evacuated from the surrounding area, according to www.npr.org. Duke Energy detected low levels of radiation in North and South Carolina that they were able to trace back to the Japanese nuclear reactors. While the minor amount of radiation is unlikely to affect public health, state researchers are playing it safe and testing air, milk and other local products daily. More than a dozen states in the United States and several nations worldwide have detected radiation that originated in Japan. “It is terrifying to me to think that if the nuclear power plants blow up, then many areas of Japan could be destroyed and thousands of people could die,” McLennan said. “It worries me for my host family, but more importantly, it worries me for the entire world. Japan has already had a huge radiation scare with the atomic bombings, so they know how badly it affects future generations. It is scary that something like the atomic bomb radiation could happen again, except this time as an accident. Scientists are talking about radiation
possibly reaching the United States.” A number of American celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Sandra Bullock, Jack Johnson, Gwen Stefani, Chris Brown and Charlie Sheen have responded to the disaster by encouraging their fans to donate to relief funds. Others chose to donate by contributing songs to “Songs for Japan,” a charity album to benefit victims. “It is really good that Americans are trying to help,” McLennan said. “The Japanese have been handling the devastation very well, so it may not seem like they need a lot of help, but in reality, there are people in hospitals and people dying. It’s kind of like the earthquake in Haiti. Everyone pitched in.”
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West athletes swim in national championships