Issue 3 spring 2015

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The

PIONEER

ISSUE 3 | February 12, 2015 | Whitman news since 1896 | Vol. CXXXII

Former prisoners seek opportunity by CHRISTY CARLEY Staff Reporter

This article was produced in collaboration with Anna Middleton and Andrew Schwartz of The Pio Radio Hour. The interviews with Scott Andrews and Glenna Awbrey were conducted by Middleton and Schwartz as part of a larger series on homelessness in Walla Walla. Tune to KWCW 90.5 FM at 10 a.m. on Sundays to hear more. The show is also available for online streaming at www. mixcloud.com/WhitmanPioneer/.

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Part of Northam’s success is the balance between seriousness and fun that he has created for his teams, a crucial aspect that keeps the practice mood light while still allowing opportunity for improvement. Photo by Bashevkin

Northam leads tennis team to new heights by MITCHELL SMITH Staff Reporter

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hitman’s Athletic Department is in the middle of a renaissance of sorts that has seen a number of different sports experience historic success over the last decade. Still, there are dominant programs, and then there is Whitman College tennis, winners of the last nine Northwest Conference championships and owners of an unprecedented regular season Conference winning streak of 114 matches. That culture of success begins with Head Men’s Tennis Coach Jeff Northam, who began his 17th-consecutive year at the helm of the Whitman tennis program last weekend during the team’s match at the University of Idaho. Northam, who played for Whitman between 1984 and 1988, returned to coach

the team in the Spring of 1998. Since then, the direction of the program has never wavered from one of continued success. “Every year it seems like other teams think that we’re going to have to rebuild, and the last seven or eight years we haven’t really done that once,” said senior Colton Malesovas. The roadmap to this continued success, according to everyone involved in the program, seems to begin and end with Coach Northam. This team is a cohesive group both on and off the court, and the players attribute that to Northam more than anyone else. “That’s all the culture that he’s set up because it’s one thing to have one [successful] team, one group of guys that’s cohesive and come together, but he’s been able to create that environment for the past num-

ber of years,” said Malesovas. The creation of this chemistry lies with Northam’s ability to provide the team with group experiences like barbecues, rafting trips, camping and more — events that Northam calls “crazy, silly things.” There is more to these experiences, however, and they have helped the team grow and accept all new members without skipping a beat. “It’s fun to have those bonds be solid,” said first-year Zach Hewlin. “Our coach puts up the expectation that we will hold each other to a high level of respect and value each other’s time commitment to the team and to ourselves.” Northam, however, is quick to point out that the conditions provided by the school help the program immensely. New outdoor tennis courts, fewer see TENNIS, page 5

n Valentine’s Day of 2011, Scott Andrews was released from the Washington State Penitentiary. After 18 years and seven months, Andrews said goodbye to his structured prison life and stepped foot on a bus to Pasco, Wash. and into the fast-paced 21st Century. Transitioning to a life out of prison can be difficult for many former inmates. A report from the Washington State Department of Corrections states that 31.2 percent of those released from prison will re-offend within three years of their release. The Walla Walla Successful Training and Re-entry (STAR) Project provides support for former inmates released into the Walla Walla and Columbia counties. Founded in 2004, the project aims to aid transitioning offenders in finding housing, employment, education and food benefits, as well as helping with the general transition back into society. While still in prison, Andrews sent a letter to the STAR project, but the reply he got was dismaying; due to funding, they said, they would have to close their doors. However, after being released he heard through word of mouth that the project was still up and running. After being released, prisoners are often required to be on parole in the county where they committed their crime. Andrews was required to stay in Walla Walla County for three years. Originally from Florida, he was not personally connected to the county, thus lacking a strong support network. “I was scared,” said Andrews of the day he was released. “They give you 40 dollars in cash and a check for anything that was in your inmate account, a pat on the back and pretty much tell you ‘we’ll leave the light on for you.’” After arriving in Pasco, Andrews spent three months living in a motel managed by the mother of one of his cellmates. For two or three weeks after his re-

lease, Andrews didn’t journey further than 100 yards from the motel. “You can’t come out of a structure like prison and think that you’re just going to step into the mainstream and run with everybody else,” said Andrews. “It’s not going to happen.” After his three months at the motel, Andrews moved to Walla Walla and got in touch with STAR. Since then four years have passed; Andrews is still a client of STAR but is currently self-sufficient. He graduated from Walla Walla Community College in 2013 and is now employed full time. Like most former inmates, however, Andrew’s path to employment wasn’t easy. Many job applications include a box which applicants must check if they have been convicted of a felony. This can lead employers to dismiss their applications without reading the full application. Opposition to such a requirement on job applications has grown since the “Ban the Box” movement was founded in 2004. While some employers maintain that they have the right to include such a question, those in support of the movement argue that applicants should have the opportunity to make a first impression before they are ruled out. Because more than seven years had passed since his conviction, Andrews wasn’t required to check the box on his job applications disclosing that he had been convicted of a felony. But this didn’t prevent him from being asked if he had ever committed a felony at job interviews, to which he always answered truthfully. Sometimes he got turned away. The prospect of finding employment for felons who do still have to check the box is even more daunting. When they can’t find employment, convicted felons often turn to crime, reverting back to the lifestyles they had before prison. One of the things STAR is doing is supporting “Ban the Box” legislation through Washington Fair Chance Coalition, which, if passed, would make it illegal for employers to ask about a felony on their applications. “We’re pretty proactive in getting the Ban the Box legislation passed,” said Executive Director of the STAR project Glenna Awbrey. “That doesn’t mean that once the person is called in for an interview that [the question of whether or not they have a felony conviction] wouldn’t be asked, and it should be asked. It’s just at least to give people the opportunity to get in.”

see STAR, page 3

Girl, bus fall in love after lengthy courtship by ALLIE DONAHUE Staff Reporter

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ibby Arnosti ’13 and Bella, a 1976 green Volkswagen bus, met online. It wasn’t your typical crash and burn Tinder thing; no, these two will grow old together. Arnosti, who described herself as a “Volkswagen creeper,” first noticed the ’76 bus sitting in an empty lot across from the Rose Street Safeway in 2008 when she visited Whitman as a high school junior. “It was one of the things that made me feel like this place in the middle of nowhere could actually be pretty cool,” she said in an email to The Pioneer. After finishing classes at Whitman, Arnosti stuck around Walla Walla doing communications for Whitman Athletics. Now Arnosti also works as a bilingual para-educator at Pioneer Middle School. Arnosti had had her eye on the bus since high school, and finally, in early March 2014, she posted a sticky note on its windshield, expressing her interest in purchasing it. A few days later, she got an email back... from the bus. On Friday, March 14, 2014 at 9:28 p.m., Volkswagenman@domain.com (it was asked that The Pioneer not publish this email address) wrote, “I will turn 39 in November of this year. The youngest, yet the largest and strongest of all that have come before me. I’ve been loved, hated, cussed at and praised everywhere I’ve ever traveled to or lived.” During the next few weeks, Arnosti exchanged 10 emails with the bus. She explained her love of Volkswagen buses. “I will turn 23 in July of this year. Since I can remember I have felt a distinct identification with VW buses, and strong attraction to them, their history, their character, and the stories they create. see VOLKSWAGEN, page 6

Libby Arnosti ‘13 began emailing the bus’s owner, Tim, in March 2014. The catch? The emails were written in the voice of Bella, the Volkswagen. Photo by Barton

WHAT’S INSIDE THIS ISSUE?

Sports

A&E

Opinion

News

A player mostly characterized by intangibles, senior Clay Callahan has become a leader for the men’s basketball team through his selfless play and leadership by example.

Columnist Emma Dahl reviews Andrew Bird’s new series of albums and short films, Echolocations, which focuses on the acoustic qualities of various environments.

How to keep it sexy when you can’t keep it up: The Pioneer’s new sex columnists talk about dealing with a sudden lack of libido in the bedroom.

You’ve seen the signs. Now read the results of Walla Walla’s referendum to fund rebuilding of Memorial Pool.

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