November 10, 2020

COUNT DOWN A2

VOLUME 96 • ISSUE 12

WEEK OF 11.9.20

(TOP) Keilen Frazier • Protesters march down Black Lives Matter Plaza coming from McPherson Park for the Count Every Vote rally that ended with an organized march on November 6, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (BOTTOM LEFT) Keilen Frazier • L.A. native Pablo Castillo spins a painting that he made in support of taking Trump out of office while protesting at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington D.C. on November 5, 2020. Castillo came from L.A. to support the BLM movement with his paintings that are displayed on the side walk outside of Presidents Park. (BOTTOM RIGHT) Brittany Fisher • Jeff Hulbert holds a Trump, Pence sign outside the Republican National Committee building during a ‘Stop the Steal’ protest. Hulbert is the founder of The Patriot Picket, a self-proclaimed group of defenders of liberty and the second amendment.

Boyce General Store, 1869 to COVID-19

By Nick Kieser

nick.kieser036@topper.wku.edu.

In Alvaton off Woodburn Allen Springs Road, the Boyce General Store can be found just 16 miles away from WKU. The rustic building built in 1869 still stands, now owned by Brad and Brie Golliher.

The couple purchased the building in 2012 for Brie Gohlliher to bake out of and announced that starting on Nov. 1 Boyce would be open only on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

“Up until this year, we were open Tuesday through Saturday, breakfast and lunch,” Brie Golliher said. “We did events on the weekends, we had private parties, we had all kinds of crazy things, but now we aren’t doing those things.”

Due to COVID-19 the business has seen sales down 40% from the previous year. The Gollihers confirmed that the renovated horse trailer which turned into the Cutie Pie Wagon is being used to sell pies.

“This transition is an effort to get back to our roots and for us to refocus our original goal of providing the community with delicious, fresh, homemade from scratch treats made just like gr’ma’s,” Boyce General Store said in an email.

Background

Brad Golliher is a Hilltopper graduate from the class of 2006 with a major in advertising and graphic design. Brie Golliher also graduated from WKU in 2007 with a major in photojournalism and textiles.

“We do use our degrees in the restaurant business,” Brie Golliher said. “We have a different edge than probably a lot of other business owners because we can do advertising, photos and design stuff.”

With degrees being an advantage for the Gollihers, the business doesn’t have to worry about hiring an outside source to advertise and maintain an online presence.

Brad Golliher designs what his wife asks of him and said that his deadlines are usually a next day turnaround.

“I know when I ask him to do something that thing usually only takes about 10 minutes, he just leaves it in his inbox for a long time,” Brie Golliher said.

The family also consists of two sons who are part of the business as well.

Brady Golliher, 12, is in the sixth grade while his little brother Bryce, 9, is in third grade.

The Boyce boys & balancing a business Two years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the two sons were being homeschooled which was a decision the Gollihers thought was the right choice at the time.

“The boys did well being homeschooled,” Brad Golliher said. “I was at

ANNA LEACHMAN Isabelle Graves checks out at Boyce General store with children Noah and Ella Glass. They stopped in the store for a bite to eat while Noah and Ella Glass’ parents were at work.

BOYCE • A3

Barren River COVID-19 data still delayed

By Leo Bertucci leo.bertucci665@topper.wku.edu WKU’s COVID-19 case dashboard has lacked data from the Barren River District Health Department for the past 10 weeks.

Bob Skipper, WKU’s director of media relations, stated in an email that the health department has not indicated when the data delay might end.

The delay was first announced to the campus community on Aug. 28, when President Timothy Caboni stated in an email that the delay was “due to a reporting issue caused by the contact tracing software transition at Barren River Health.”

The health department is WKU’s contact tracing partner.

Ashli McCarty, marketing and communications director for the health department, said that while the health department has been able to use the upgraded software, the contact tracing process has slowed recently due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in Kentucky.

DASHBOARD • A5

BIDEN THEIR TIME Tensions rose in Washington, D.C. and the nation held its breath as every ballot was counted in the 2020 presidential election.

Photographed by Keilen Frazier and Brittany Fisher Copy block by Keilen Frazier

I

n these unprecedented times, the 2020 presidential election was bound to be unlike anything that’s transpired in American history. The nation’s capital was full of multiple perspectives and had different groups of people exercising their First Amendment right. On Black Lives Matter Plaza in downtown Washington D.C., protesters projected their support of the BLM movement, Christian protesters expressed that “Jesus Saves” and the opposition combated those stances. President Donald Trump supporters argued for “legal votes” to be counted outside the Republican National Committee building while claiming that the democrats were committing voter fraud. In McPherson Park, rallies were thrown in support of counting every vote and that every vote mattered. As the week came to a close, media outlets said presidential candidate Joe Biden pulled ahead and announced that he was the winner on Nov. 7. The majority of protestor at BLM Plaza celebrated that Donald Trump would no longer be in the office.

“There is still a fight that needs to be fought,” said Aniyah Vines, founder of the Live Movement and Howard University’s NAACP President. ”We are fighting for racial equity, education equity. Health is not viewed as a human right…We the people need to make sure whoever holds office needs to be held accountable.”

Photographer Keilen Frazier can be reached at keilen.frazier924@topper.wku.edu. Follow him on Instagram @is_greater.

Check out our website to find our full visual coverage of four days in Washington, D.C.

Patricia Namyalo and her daughter Leah Jendyose, 8, watch Former Vice President Joe Biden address voters during The People’s Watch Party’s Count Every Vote protest on Nov. 4, 2020. Namyalo and her daughter are residents of Arlington, Virginia but Namyalo is from Uganda. Namyalo is a human rights activist who is with Unite Here Local 25 in the Washington D.C. metro area.

KEILEN FRAZIER

Sam Bethea (right) and Spaz (left)exchange religious stances at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington D.C. on Nov. 6, 2020. Spaz used to be a conservitive Christian youth leader but was ostracized from the Church while seeking justice for a child who was molested by another youth leader, he said. After a long journey and a near-death experience, Spaz found his home in Satanism. Bethea, known as, “The Jesus Saves Guy,” was at the BLM Plaza to spread His word.

KEILEN FRAZIER

BRITTANY FISHER

(Right) Aniyah Vines leads the crowd in chants outside the White House after marching from McPherson Square on Nov. 6, 2020. Vines is the founder of the Live Movement and the president of the NAACP chapter at Howard University.

BRITTANY FISHER (Above) Kehinde argues with President-elect Biden supporters on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, and was one of the few supporters of President Trump at McPherson Park.

“That’s my president, he beat COVID in 2 days, most people couldn’t do that,” Kehinde said.

A3 BOYCE • FROM A1 home the majority of the time, and Brie was running Boyce and the Pie Queen.”

While being home Brad Golliher was doing some freelance work, and Brie Golliher would trade off from being at Boyce and being home when she could be.

“He took over as editor of Bowling Green Living magazine, and then now he works as the creative director at VIP magazine in Bowling Green, still working at home,” Brie Golliher said.

Brad Golliher said that Bryce had some behind the scenes problems, so it was decided last fall to put the boys back in school.

“They went back to public school last fall, and then six months later here we are homeschooling them again,” Brad Golliher said. “It’s been easier for us than it has been for a lot of other people because we did homeschool before.”

Both sons sat in the back of the car during the interview nodding in agreement that being online is preferred over learning in person.

“Not being the teachers has been a blessing,” Brie Golliher said.

Prior to the pandemic the Boyce General Store was open Tuesdays through Saturdays 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and Friday nights the business would close at 8 p.m.

After having to reduce hours and not having customers temporarily, Brie Golliher said that fish frys have been the most sought after carryout items on Fridays, and on Saturdays it’s been breakfast and burgers.

Pies, pies, pies The Pie Queen is what Brie Golliher originally wanted the Boyce General Store to be, but it instead became a local restaurant that also has pies to dive into in addition to burgers and fish frys.

“My top seller is my Kentucky pie, which is a chocolate chip bourbon pecan pie,” Brie Golliher said. “After that is my Nest that has the coconut macaroon crust with a fudge filling, and then the coconut creme pie which is the best seller in the store itself.”

Bryce, along with his brother Brady, provide a helping hand when it comes

to their mother the Pie Queen and dish out the award winning pies.

“Bryce likes to bake in the Pie Queen with me, and Brady is the super foodie,” Brie Golliher said. “They both help us create our burgers of the month every year.”

All hands are on deck for the Golliher family as the business is in full force and the more hands the better when it comes to serving customers.

“I work every Friday,” Brady said. “I make drinks, that’s it. I also help hand out coconut pie, that’s how I know it’s one of the top sellers.”

Authenticity Over the course of its 151 year existence, the Boyce General Store has had its fair share of renovations. The Gollihers have renovated something at the store each year since taking over eight years ago.

“We don’t want to change it so much that people don’t recognize it anymore and it’s not too modern,” Brad Golliher said. “It kind of brings back a lot of

memories for some people and the people that grew up in the community. It’s an important place to them.”

Before the Gollihers become the owners of the Boyce General Store, the food was frozen or just deli sandwiches. The family spent the first year and a half trying to make the partnerships with all of the Kentucky farms that they could.

“We hand batter and cut our own chicken tenders, we get all of our beef from Downing Cattle Company, we get tenderloins and sausage from Kirby and Poe, we use local eggs, we use Chaney’s Dairy milk,” Mrs. Golliher said. “We have a Kentucky Proud grant that allows us a little more flexibility to spend money on Kentucky Proud items.”

Sports Editor Nick Kieser can be reached at nick.kieser036@topper.wku.edu. Follow Nick on Twitter at @KieserNick.

Adjusting to COVID-19 The pandemic has caused a ruckus for small business owners, and the Boyce General Store is no different. The Gollihers had updated seating prior to when the virus arrived.

“That’s the biggest joke of 2020, we finished about two weeks before the shutdown,” Brie Golliher said.

The online presence of the business benefited Boyce once the virus made it to Kentucky. Brie Golliher said she went into the store and made survival boxes and started shipping those out.

“That was a really big blessing as far as allowing some revenue goes,” Brie Golliher said.

The hardest part amid the pandemic for the Boyce General Store has been keeping staff.

“We’ve only been doing Friday nights and Saturday’s because I have high schoolers that work for me,” Brie Golliher said. “Another thing is unemployment and everyone wants to be on it, it’s hard to find an employee. That’s been the biggest battle of them all.”

ANNA LEACHMAN Customers wait in line Saturday morning at Boyce General Store.

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A4

Extending the withdrawal date is not enough: Let students pick PDF again HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD

DISCLOSURE REPORT AN ERROR: herald.editor@wku.edu 270•745•5044

OPINIONS... ...expressed in the College Heights Herald are those of student editors and journalists and do not necessarily represent the views of WKU. Student editors also determine the news and editorial content and likewise reserve the right to reject submissions.

*DENOTES... ... editorial board members. The Herald publishes on Tuesdays during the school year. The first copy is free, and additional copies are $1 each, available in the Student Publications Center on Normal Street.

Issue: Because of the mixture of online, in-person and hybrid class formatting of the Fall 2020 semester, WKU’s students are having a hard time keeping up with their classes and schoolwork.

Our stance: A PDF grading option should be offered to students for the Fall 2020 semester, just as it was in the Spring 2020 semester, when students balanced the switch from in-person to online classes for the first time.

Following a mid-semester switch from in-person to online classes, WKU offered its students the option to receive their final semester grades in Spring 2020 in a pass/D/fail format.

The PDF format allowed students — both undergraduate and graduate — to choose to alter the default A-F grading format in most classes and receive either a pass, D or a fail for their classes.

This option is not being offered this semester despite the discrepancies between in-person, online and hybrid courses and the switch to online classes after Thanksgiving Break.

WKU stated that the switch to a PDF grading option was reasonable in the spring because “[COVID-19] has so dramatically disrupted the lives of students and faculty; economically challenged students face severe technology access issues; many faculty are shifting to an online modality for the first time in their careers; and significant uncertainty remains about the effects of the virus on the world, nation, higher education, students, staff, and faculty.”

These problems still exist in the Fall 2020 semester, on top of the new problems that have come from a mismatch of online, in-person and the new format of hybrid classes.

Now more than ever, students deserve to choose to grade themselves on a PDF system. The extension of the deadline to drop a class just doesn’t cut it.

On Nov. 2, the WKU Office of the Registrar announced that “the deadline to withdraw for full semester and 2nd bi-term courses has been extended until Dec. 4, 2020.” Originally, the last day to drop a class with a W was Nov. 2 for full semester classes and Nov. 16 for second bi-term classes.

Students are appreciative to the university for extending the withdrawal deadline, but this does nothing to help further the education of WKU Hilltoppers. Dropping a class does not give the student any credit for having taken the class at all, whereas the PDF grading option would allow a student the chance to receive credit without impacting their GPA if they earn a pass.

This semester, as students have tried to balance a different schedule for every day of the week thanks to the mixture of hybrid, online and in-person classes, schoolwork has become a much heavier load than previous semesters. It is hard enough to balance a schedule that is unorganized and chaotic, and it is even harder to remember, complete and turn in assignments on time on top of remembering when to attend class.

Regardless of the difficulty of the average student’s schedule, this semester has been difficult enough on its own.

COVID-19 numbers at WKU and in Kentucky are on the rise, meaning that this virus is not going anywhere — at least this semester. Plus, this was many students’ first presidential election, and paying attention to the global political stage and finding a way to vote has been many students’ priority. Many students have been jumping in and out of quarantine all semester due to repetitive exposure to the virus, further setting back students’ priority of schoolwork.

The university needs to accept that this semester is just as experimental and horrifying for the students as the spring semester was, making students all the more deserving of an opportunity to continue to further their education at WKU without fear of lower grades hurting their future.

OUR TEAM Laurel Deppen* • Editor-in-Chief Nick Fuller* • Digital Director Ellie Tolbert* • Social Media Manager Max Chambers* • Copy Desk Chief Cassady Lamb* • Newsletter Editor Lily Burris* • Assignment Editor Abbey Nutter* • Digital News Editor Nick Kieser* • Sports Editor Zane Meyer-Thornton* • Multimedia Editor Sam Mallon and Gabi Broekema* • Photo Editors Julianna Lowe* • Community Page Editor Alex Cox* • Design Editor Robin Robinson • Distribution Manager Zach McClain • Advertising Manager Emma Spainhoward • Cherry Creative Director Will Hoagland • Advertising Adviser Carrie Pratt • Herald Adviser Chuck Clark • Director of Student Publications

A5 DASHBOARD • FROM A1 The health department stated in a press release on Oct. 30 that the rise in COVID-19 cases has affected the “ability to communicate with each individual case and their contacts.”

McCarty said the health department releases county-by-county COVID-19 positive case data, but it does not share COVID-19 data to the public that would be specific to a certain school.

The Kentucky Department of Public Health does track positive COVID-19 cases that are affiliated with colleges

and universities within the state, but its WKU case count does not match what the university has reported.

As of Nov. 6, WKU’s dashboard has reported a total of 851 COVID-19 cases and the state health department dashboard has reported a total of 844 cases.

According to the state health department’s website, all reported cases of COVID-19 are confirmed through a verification process, so its case count might not match what has been reported on other dashboards.

“I’m not sure where [the Kentucky Department of Public Health] is getting their

numbers,” Skipper said. “I can confirm the numbers we post and hope we will be able to be even more complete once we get data again from Barren River.”

Skipper said he does not know if the positive case count would be higher if data from the Barren River District Health Department was available.

“The numbers we have posted would be included in those from [the health department],” Skipper said. “I don’t know if they have positives from other labs that we didn’t know about.”

Before the reporting delay, Skipper had been receiving COVID-19 data from

Layne Blackwell, the regional epidemiologist for the Barren River District Health Department.

“I’ve contacted her before most updates and she knows to contact me if anything changes,” Skipper said.

The Herald reached out to Blackwell for comment, but she did not respond in time for publication.

Leo Bertucci can be reached at leo. bertucci665@topper.wku.edu Follow him on Twitter @leober2chee.

WKU extends the deadline to withdraw a class

By Easton Reynolds

easton.reynolds653@topper.wku.edu.

WKU is extending the deadline to withdraw from a class to Dec. 4, according to an email from Provost Cheryl Stevens.

“The decision to extend the withdrawal date was to provide time and flexibility, if needed, for students to complete their courses successfully,” Stevens stated in an email.

The deadline extension applies to both full semester and second bi-term courses.

Alongside extending the deadline for withdrawals, the registrar is also extending the deadline to switch from

credit to audit for full semester and second bi-term courses until Dec. 4.

Students on campus have been feeling a sense of burnout and exhaustion from the integration of online modality.

“It was easy at first but after a while, it gets tiring,” Seth Hoffman, a senior from Bowling Green, said about switching to hybrid courses.

Nathan Karnes, a junior from Paducah, said WKU’s plan for this semester was not what he expected.

“Honestly, I think they did a crappy

job because they basically forced people to take online classes without any warning,” Karnes said. “Most of my classes switched to online a week before class started.”

Other accommodations for students have been made because of the pandemic. When classes were suddenly moved from in-person to online last semester, WKU implemented a Pass/D/ Fail, or PDF, option.

This allowed students to keep their letter grade (A, B, C, D, F) or choose a

PDF option, where students with an A, B or C letter grade would pass the class, those with a D would receive a D and those with an F would fail that class.

By selecting the PDF option, students would be able to pass a class without negatively affecting their GPA. Stevens said there is “no plan” to use the PDF option this semester.

Easton Reynolds can be reached at easton.reynolds653@topper.wku.edu Follow him on Twitter @epdogg5000

Cheryl Stevens Provost

“The decision to extend the withdrawal date was to provide time and flexibility, if needed, for students to complete their courses successfully.”

11

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10-27-2020 crossword solution:

Movie History ©2020 PuzzleJunction.com

1. What was Charlie Chaplin's first feature film? (a) City Lights (b) The Kid (c) The Circus 2. What film was the first 'talkie' in 1927? (a) A Day at the Races (b) Rhapsody in Blue (c) The Jazz Singer 3. In what movie did Greta Garbo have her first speaking part? (a) Camille (b) Anna Christie (c) Queen Christina 4. What movie won the Best Picture Oscar in 1939? (a) Gone With the Wind (b) The Wizard of Oz (c) Stagecoach 5. Gary Cooper admitted he made a mistake in turning down what Alfred Hitchcock film? (a) Rear Window (b) Suspicion (c ) Foreign Correspondent 6. What film was based on the life of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst? (a) The Front Page (b) Deadline (c) Citizen Kane 7. In 1952, what was the first full length color 3D movie? (a) Bwana Devil (b) Robot Monster (c) House of Wax 8. The song Rock Around the Clock was introduced in what movie? (a) Blood Alley (b) The Tender Trap (c) Blackboard Jungle 9. What studio was the first to be purchased by a conglomerate? (a) Universal (b) MGM (c) Paramount 10. What movie received the Best Picture Oscar in 1964? (a) Mary Poppins (b) My Fair Lady (c) Becket

To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the numbers 1 to 9.

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FUN

A6 WKU, Barren River initiative aims to curb child abuse, neglect

By Sam Mallon

samantha.mallon424@topper.wku.edu.

Kentucky surpasses every other state with the highest rates of child maltreatment and neglect in the nation, according to the most recent report published by the Children’s Bureau.

Recently, the Center for Child Welfare Education and Research at WKU has paired with the Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center to address the unrelenting issue of the wellbeing of Kentucky children, aiming to approach the issue by treating parents’ unresolved trauma while providing similar therapies to their children.

WKU and Barren River have begun an initiative called GIFT, Group Intervention for Families with Trauma, to address intergenerational trauma. Child abuse and neglect often materialize as a result of parents’ trauma, according to GIFT’s website.

There are many adults who suffered trauma as children that were in the child welfare system and were never treated, said Heather Webb, clinical director of the Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center and one of the leaders of the GIFT project. “[They] are now old enough to have kids, and are probably in the system again,” Webb said. “I mean, that’s what we see, it’s very generational. So we’re trying to stave it off at both ends.”

Matthew Woodward, a psychological sciences professor, is a clinical psychologist who specializes in the area of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorders and has lent his knowledge of the subject as a leader of the GIFT initiative.

“A lot of parents come in with their own histories of extensive trauma — [they may have] histories of childhood abuse, they also may have been abused as adults and violent romantic relationships,” Woodward said. “We wanted to develop something that could help address that.”

GIFT offers therapy to a group of non-offending parents with children who are also receiving treatment through the child welfare system.

“Our hope is that this is something that is going to be beneficial for parents that will help them get over things like PTSD and depression,” Woodward said.

“I would love to think that it might [also] help with their substance use problems.”

The goal of GIFT is to interfere with the cycle of generational trauma.

“We hope that [GIFT] benefits the parents and then that kind of trickles down,” said Woodward, “the idea is we’re not just going to benefit the parents, this is going to be beneficial for the family general.”

Thus far, the only participating parents have been mothers.

“If we ever got to the point where we had dads that were interested, we would look at doing a group for them, but that’s just not something that we’ve had much interest in,” said Webb. “It’s usually moms trying to get their kids back.”

Participating in the GIFT program may increase a mother’s likelihood of being able to reconnect with her children.

“I’ve made it a requirement for a couple of my child clients that their parent or their mom complete the treatment before I’m allowing visits to start,” Webb said.

The GIFT program intentionally separated women’s and men’s therapy groups.

“A lot of women’s trauma comes from men,” Webb said. “So we can’t have a man in the middle of that group, because that’s not a safe place.”

GIFT functions through receiving referrals, mostly from “caseworkers and social workers, people in the legal system,” Woodward said.

Following a referral, someone from the GIFT team will reach out to whoever has been referred to determine if they might benefit from the program.

“We follow up and reach out to them to try and see whether this is a good fit for them,” Woodward said. “We go through a whole screening process with people and do a mental health assessment with them.”

If the leadership team behind GIFT, including Webb and Woodward, decides that GIFT might not be the right fit for someone who has been referred, they try to direct them towards other resources.

The treatment itself consists of twohour therapy sessions for 12 weeks.

GIFT has completed one pilot group that began early this year.

Each group therapy session is structured with intentional goals set, and the therapists heavily prepare beforehand.

“We don’t just bring people in and say, ‘What do you want to talk about?’”

Woodward said. “We have specific sorts of topics that we cover and try to help people work through.”

GIFT incorporates treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder into the

ALLIE HENDRICKS The teddy bear room is filled with all sorts of toys and is where some meetings at the Child Advocacy Center are held.

therapy sessions. As a research project, GIFT intends to track how this treatment works specifically with parents in the child welfare system rather than a broad group of individuals with PTSD. After the first group completed their 12 sessions, some group members exchanged phone numbers so that they would be able to keep in touch with each other.

“It’s nice to see that there’s sort of a support piece that gets built into the format [of GIFT] that people can benefit from,” Woodward said.

No program similar to GIFT is being offered by any other mental health providers in the community, Woodward said. He is especially excited about the fact that they are able to provide effective and free mental health services.

“One of the biggest barriers to people getting past mental health challenges is a lot of people just don’t ever get the treatment,” Woodward said. “It’s not like we don’t know how to help them, there are good treatments out there, they just aren’t able to access them for various reasons.”

Woodward explained that WKU’s Center for Child Welfare Education and Research and the Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center were able to pool their resources together to make GIFT’s mental health services both high-quality and accessible.

A portion of federal funds that sustains Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center is currently being allocated to the GIFT project to cover costs of services, but Woodward said they are actively looking for additional ways to fund the program.

In addition to bringing new mental health resources to the greater Barren River area community, GIFT is an educational tool for students at WKU. Graduate students from the Department of Psychological Sciences and the Department of Social Work at WKU have been closely involved with the project. “[Students] are coming in, and they’re getting experience working directly with clients getting that experience to learn how to assess trauma history, how to assess mental health symptoms, how to determine what the best treatment options are for this person, how do we figure out whether they are benefiting or not and why?” Woodward said.

At its foundation, GIFT worked to compound resources from WKU and Barren River to ensure that participants would reap the most benefits possible from the program.

GIFT is intended to be “a partnership of WKU with community partners… we really want to be interacting with and developing relationships with organizations in the community,” Woodward said. “We don’t just want these projects to stay within the field of academia and the university.”

The clients, the community and students all have a hand in benefitting from GIFT. Barren River is working with the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass to lead them in an effort to provide a similar program in their region, Webb said.

A multi-part report done by the Louisville Courier-Journal highlights the

stress and overwhelming caseload faced by a chronically understaffed child welfare and social service system in Kentucky.

The report on child maltreatment that puts Kentucky at the top of the list was released based on data from the 2018 federal fiscal year. Kentucky has maintained its position at number one for the past two years and has sat in the top 10 of the list for over a decade.

Barren River and the GIFT initiative aim to approach the epidemic of child maltreatment in Kentucky from both ends of the spectrum by providing mental health treatment to address trauma

in both parents and their children.

“We are trying to prevent kids from being victimized,” Webb said. “We are trying to help kids either stay in their biological home or be able to go back to their biological home.”

Multimedia Editor Sam Mallon can be reached at samantha.mallon424@ topper.wku.edu. Follow her on Instagram at @samamallon.

A7

Hilltoppers drop game at FAU, Southern Miss visits the Hill Saturday

By Matthew Hargrove

matthew.hargrove426@topper.wku.edu.

Nothing has gone WKU’s (2-6), (1-3, C-USA) way this season, and the bad luck continued on Saturday against Florida Atlantic (3-1), (3-1, C-USA).

After not allowing an Owls touchdown for 57 minutes and 33 seconds, the Hilltoppers gave up a late fourth quarter touchdown run to redshirt freshman quarterback Javion Posey that put away WKU by a final score of 10-6.

Posey replaced junior quarterback Nick Tronti in the final frame, in which he added 60 rushing yards on nine carries to his 11-yard run into the endzone.

The almost non-existent Hilltopper offense saw graduate quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome throw for 163 yards on 39 passing attempts. Pigrome did not allow a turnover but could not reach the end zone.

Senior running back Gaej Walker was the lone bright spot, rushing for 78 yards on 17 carries. Walker has gained at least 75 yards on the ground in his last three games.

With three games remaining on WKU’s schedule, the Hilltoppers are officially out of contention for a winning season. This will be head coach Tyson Helton’s first losing season in his two years as a manager.

“Our guys battled extremely hard,” head coach Tyson Helton said. “Disappointed for our football team.”

WKU will look to make things better next week at home when it hosts the University of Southern Mississippi at Houchens-Smith Stadium. Kickoff is set for Saturday at 5 p.m.

“We need to be able to make those explosive plays down the field,” Helton said at Monday’s press conference.

“We’ve had several injuries but we’re playing with the best guys that we can play with.”

A little bit like the Hilltoppers, the Golden Eagles have had problems scoring this season. Southern Miss is av-

eraging 25.9 points per game, which ranks seventh in Conference USA. The Golden Eagles are led by their senior quarterback Jack Abraham, who has thrown for 1,224 yards and seven touchdowns this season. Abraham has thrown four interceptions this season as well.

At running back, freshman Frank Gore Jr. will get the brunt of the carries. Gore has averaged 5.4 yards per carry, while rushing for 461 yards and a touchdown. The young back is the son of longtime NFL running back Frank Gore, who is currently toting the pigskin for the New York Jets.

“Really important. There’s a lot to

against BYU,” senior defensive end Juwuan Jones said. “We were very disruptive in the run game, getting knocked back, living on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And when you do that you get pressure on the quarterback.”

The closest any team got to putting a crooked number up on the board was when WKU reached the FAU 32-yard line. This set up redshirt sophomore kicker Brayden Narveson for a 50-yard field goal, but the kick was booted to the right of the sticks giving Narveson his first miss of the year.

“We were moving the ball strong all the way up to midfield,” junior wideout Mitch-

Juwuan Jones Defensive Senior

“We were very disruptive in the run game, getting knocked back, living on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And when you do that you get pressure on the quarterback.” play for,” Helton said in regards to carrying good momentum into the next season. “I think it’s really important that we continue to play hard, it is what it is winning or losing.”

Shifting back to a stormy night in Boca Raton, Saturday night’s matchup between the Hilltoppers and the Golden Eagles was delayed 35 minutes due to lightning. When it was time to play though, the action didn’t really start until the fourth quarter.

Both defenses came out hot, not allowing either offense to get into the red zone at any point during the first quarter.

“We were getting pressure. That’s something we didn’t do last week

ell Tinsley said. “We just got to be better at capitalizing and making our plays.”

There were even more punts in the second quarter, and nothing interesting happened until the clock reached zero to end the first half.

Going for a Hail Mary before the half, the Owls were only able to reach the 16yard line before both teams started a pushing and shoving match at the end of the play. Senior linebacker Kyle Bailey spiraled the situation by throwing what looked to be a punch at an FAU player.

Bailey was initially ejected for his actions, but after further review it was ruled that the veteran did not throw a punch and was reinstated into the game

VOLLEYBALL • FROM A8

WHO WE ARE: A nonprofit that connects students at universities, helps promote different ways of diverting food from waste, and donates to organizations in need

digs in the matchup against UAB. Briggs was named Conference USA Freshman of the Year last season and looks poised for a spring season.

“It felt great to be back there and playing with teammates, staying together and feeling like all of this practice has finally amounted to something,” Briggs said. “It didn’t really matter the competition. I was just happy to play and be out there.”

Hudson tweeted out Sunday evening that it was a “great win in our one and only match this fall. So good to be back in Diddle and see our kids compete. My first undefeated fall season in my career.”

Aside from outscoring UAB 75-55 in the sweep the Hilltoppers also played in an exhibition match against Middle Tennessee State University. WKU claimed their 2-0 record on the day defeating the Blue Raiders 78-54 in total points scored.

Junior Katie Isenbarger finished the second match of the day with 11 kills, second most on the team compared to Briggs’ 13 against MTSU. “As far as how we played it is exactly what I thought it would be,” Hudson said. “It was rough around the edges at times, but to be honest we actually played pretty clean volleyball through the first two sets.”

The Lady Toppers also combined for four aces versus the Blazers. Senior Nadia

at halftime.

The first points of the game came midway through the third quarter, thanks to a 40-yard field goal from Owls redshirt kicker Vladimir Rivas.

The Hilltoppers answered the bell almost instantly with a field goal of their own to knot the score at three. A 32-yard field goal from Narveson was the kick that tied the game with 2:57 remaining in the third quarter.

FAU head coach Willie Tagart decided to replace his junior quarterback Tronti for the rookie Posey to begin the fourth quarter.

Posey did not start his night on a high note, throwing an interception into the hands of Bailey that was returned for 24 yards into Owls territory. The interception from Bailey led to another Narveson field goal from 49 yards, which gave WKU their first lead of the game with 8:09 remaining.

With enough time for one final touchdown drive, Posey adopted the clutch gene. The freshman led a 12 play, 75yard drive that ended in Posey taking the pigskin into the endzone himself.

The 11-yard run put FAU over the top, as WKU turned the ball over on downs on their final try to walk away with a victory.

Even though Pigrome wasn’t playing up to par, Helton went on to state that he had no intentions of going to backup redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevaris Thomas.

“No. Not at any point,” Helton said when asked if he thought about bringing in Thomas for Pigrome.

Thomas though might be the main signal caller next week against Southern Miss, with the Hilltoppers most likely not getting a bid for a bowl game.

Football beat reporter Matthew Hargrove can be reached at matthew.hargrove426@topper.wku.edu. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewHargrov1

Dieudonne and junior Ashley Hood had two apiece, with the duo contributing to a dominant performance on serves.

Sophomore Avri Davis returned to the court following an injury in her freshman campaign and finished the UAB match with six kills and two blocks.

“I was super nervous on the court, but now it’s kind of washed over and I feel more calm, and I think we all did pretty well for playing our first match of the season,” Davis said.

The non-conference schedule for the Lady Toppers has yet to be finalized for the 2020-21 spring season, and the plans to play in the spring remain unless restructured by C-USA. “I feel good about it,” Hudson said. “I have a great confidence that A, Todd Stewart and our administration will do everything in their power to make it happen, and B, all the great people that work around this athletic department are going to do whatever they can to give these kids an experience.”

WKU will have time from here on out to prepare for the spring season, and Hudson and his staff are ready for the opportunity to compete in the ensuing season on the Hill.

Sports Editor Nick Kieser can be reached at nick.kieser036@topper.wku.edu. Follow Nick on Twitter at @KieserNick.

WHERE WE COLLECT: @BATES @GARRETT

WHO WE HELP: The WKU Food Pantry, Room in the Inn, Hope House, and the Salvation Army

WHAT WE’RE CELEBRATING: We have recovered and donated 5000 lbs since our inception during Spring 2019

GUNNAR WORD Kayland Jackson (15) celebrates with her teammates in a quick huddle during their first game on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020.

SPORTS

A8

Time to talk about the play calling COLUMN • VIEWS FROM THE HILL

By Kaden Gaylord kaden.gaylord559@topper.wku.edu

For most of the 2020 football season, the players have been the ones under the microscope and in the hot seat for the level of play on the field. It’s not unwarranted criticism, but now it’s time to question the coaching staff and the play calling.

There’s only been one time this season where I have seen the play calling get criticised, and that was in the Liberty game earlier this season.

WKU received the ball after the Flames scored on their previous drive to go up 30-17. WKU came out on its ensuing drive and ran the ball four straight plays.

It’s not like they were on multiple first downs either; they were all before the Hilltoppers could even get their first first down of the series.

The yardage totals for each of the four plays were a loss of six yards, a gain of six yards back to the line of scrimmage, a gain of eight yards and then on fourth down a run of nine yards.

Even fans near the top of the press box were all confused on why the ball was being put on the ground with six minutes left in the game being down by two touchdowns.

Ever since that last drive against Liberty, play calling has also been a huge question mark.

In the Hilltoppers last victory against Chattanooga, they established the run game for the first of a few times throughout this season with Gaej Walker running for 51 yards on his first three carries. Instead of running downfield for the rest of the series, they got cute and tried to stretch the field running a jet sweep which hasn’t worked well at all this season.

This wasn’t the only time it happened that game either. As late in the second quarter they tried to run a jet sweep pass that failed completely, and on the ensuing play WKU fumbled not putting up points before halftime. Both times these types of plays happened were all in the redzone and either ended in field goals or no points at all.

All that led us to the past two games.

WKU has run the ball well in the games against BYU and most recently Florida Atlantic, having rushed for 156 yards and 94

yards respectively.

WKU hasn’t been able to capitalize on its run game as the passing game hasn’t fared well either. As much blame as people want to put on the quarterbacks, it doesn’t all go on them.

We know Kevaris Thomas has a great arm, but what good does that do if he goes 12-for-17 for only 59 yards against Chattanooga? What good will Tyrrell Pigrome be if he’s throwing five yard hitches, five yard outs and comeback routes all game long?

Yes, WKU lost its top two receivers at the beginning of the year to the transfer portal, but we were told the receiving core has a lot of depth and it hasn’t translated on the field.

“I think we had what close to 20 completions and you know threw for somewhere around that 110 yard range, you know you got a — you’re not going to win football games throwing the ball like that,” offensive Coordinator Bryan Ellis said last Wednesday. “So we got to create some more explosive plays. We got to, when we have those opportunities we have to hit them.”

Well where are the explosive plays?

There is no reason WKU should be throwing the ball 40 times against FAU and only ending with 163 passing yards.

“At the end of the day we have to score,” head coach Tyson Helton said. “It’s hard to look positively on things when we’re losing a football game 10-6.”

He’s right.

Especially with the defense stepping up as of late, the offense having these long drives and either ending in field goals or not ending in points at all is unacceptable. There is no reason for this team who has returned most of its core to be struggling like this, and there needs to be accountability taken on all parts including the play calling and coaching staff.

Men’s basketball beat reporter & columnist Kaden Gaylord can be reached at kaden.gaylord559@topper.wku.edu.

Follow Kaden on Twitter at @_KLG3.

Courtesy of WKU Athletics/Steve Roberts

Lady Toppers return to play, sweep UAB in first regular season matchup

By Nick Kieser

nick.kieser036@topper.wku.edu.

The Lady Topper volleyball program took to the floor for its lone regular season matchup of the fall on Nov. 7 against Alabama-Birmingham. The match was closed to the general public but family members were admitted to attend.

It had been 337 days since the last match for the Lady Toppers and the team came out with a clean sweep over the Blazers. This counted toward the Lady Toppers 2020-21 regular season record to open up play.

“I can’t say enough good things about what Todd Stewart and our administration has done to get us to the point where we could actually compete and play,” head coach Travis Hudson said. “It means so much to our kids.”

WKU went through the Blazers on Saturday with 46 kills compared to UAB’s 29. The Lady Toppers were led by junior Lauren Matthews who had 14 kills.

“For me personally, I didn’t feel like I played like the stats showed, otherwise, but I know I can do better and limit my errors and just little things that you guys may not see, so I have a lot to improve on,” Matthews said.

Sophomore Paige Briggs was also a contributing factor in the win with 11

VOLLEYBALL • A7

GUNNAR WORD WKU Volleyball’s Nadia Dieudonne (2) gets ready to take the floor with the starting seven for the game against MTSU Nov.7, 2020.