It’s madness!The GCSU basketball season kicked off Tues-day night with pancakes and a showPage 15

Weekend Weather

Features

sports

18Days until Election

Day as of Friday, Oct. 17.

To remember...The theater department honors those in the Holocaust.Page 11

What to expectAn indepth preview of the bands playing at the Sweetwater Festival.Page 9

Fri. Sat. Sun.

www.weather.com

78 71 7358 48 4640% 20% 0%

neWs

Left or Right?An inside Political spread to enlighten you on the issues of this election.Pages 4 and 5

the Colonnade

The Official Student Newspaper of Georgia College & State University

Friday, October 17, 2008 - www.gcsunade.com - Volume 85, No. 5

Where to find any-thing you need!A celebration for the Grand Opening of the Multipurpose building at The Village.Page 2

Atlanta’s saviorFalcons’ rookie QB Matt Ryan is subject of latest Side Line.Page 15

City Council zones out studentsBy Chelsea thomas

staFF reporter

Beginning this November, everyone living in “single-family” housing in historic downtown or other designated neighborhoods with three or more unrelated residents will be breaking the law.

Approved by the City Council, the Ordinance 0-0609-205, otherwise known as the amendments to “The Land Development Code of the City of Milledgeville, Georgia”, places constraint on the number of unrelated persons al-lowed to reside in houses zoned for single-family use. A significant amount of these houses inhabit the surrounding area of GCSU campus property.

Joel Graham, a junior SGA Senator who attended the Oct. 6 City Council meeting, expresses serious concern for the implementation of this ordinance.

“I’m afraid (this ordinance) may do more to amplify dif-ferences between the students and the community instead

of actually addressing the residents’ grievances,” Graham said.

This ordinance was adopted back in 2006 and has been contested by participating students since. However, many community members desiring “quiet neighborhoods” con-tinue to fight for the ordinance.

John Alton, a Milledgeville resident living on Liberty Street, supports the ordinance.

“The ‘3-unrelated-person-ordinance’ was passed for the entire city and will be beneficial for the entire city,” Alton said. “It demonstrates the city’s commitment to the pres-ervation of its older structures and its older single-family neighborhoods.”

At the Oct. 6 City Council meeting, a new amendment was requested “to amend the Land Development Code to allow group residence as a special use within SFR and

City Ordinance Page 3

Best College streak now at four yearsBy stephanie sorensen

staFF Writer

To some it is a sur-prise, but to most it is no shocker that GCSU has been named one of the top 100 Best College Buys in America for the fourth year in a row.

A survey was con-ducted by Institutional Research and Evalua-tion to determine which colleges and universi-ties displayed the best combination of superior education and reasonable costs. All schools must meet certain criteria to be considered, such as offering bachelor pro-grams, dining programs and having a mean SAT score at or above the na-tional level.

Some students seem very aware of this honor. In fact, in some instances it was a deciding factor in their application status.

“When I was decid-ing on a college, some-one told us to check out GCSU because it was in the Top 100,” freshman Elaine Denovellis said. “We looked at it and I loved the small class sizes, and it’s more aca-demic and selective.”

Denovellis also likes the small town atmo-sphere, or at least how it affects her grades.

“There is nothing to do

here, you have to really look to find something to do, but it kind of forces you to study,” Denovellis said. “I’m bored, I might as well study.”

With this added pub-licity though, we can only expect GCSU’s academic standards to rise, making it that much more prominent.

“It’s a private school, for a public price,” De-novellis said.

In addition to this honor, GCSU is also on another top value list, Ki-plinger’s 100 Best Val-ues in Public Colleges. GCSU holds the rank of eighty-third, UGA is sev-enth and GT is twelfth.

“We should definite-ly be over UGA. They (GCSU’s staff) cater to the students. The VP of Student Affairs sits on the porch for an hour ev-ery week just to find out what we want, I don’t think that UGA does that,” sophomore Laura Cox said.

When discussing the actual financial aspect of the award, students had some interesting views on how GCSU is able to keep costs low while maintaining the trade-mark gregarious GCSU atmosphere.

“I didn’t know about

Top College Page 6

By ryan delCampostaFF Writer

Americans have become undoubtedly aware in the past few years at the ever-rising cost of energy. Gas seems to reach a record-high price every week. Having the air conditioning reset during the sweltering summer heat to spend as little as possible and the push to buy fluorescent light bulbs, provide ample testament for the economi-

cally hard times we have fallen upon.GCSU has certainly felt these effects as

well. Last year, the school spent anywhere between $2.21 and $2.56 million on its electricity bill for main and west campus buildings. So far this year, the school has already spent between $1.68 and $1.94 mil-lion. These startlingly large numbers beg the question: does our school do everything

Reforms for energy usage

Mental Health takes priority

By auBrey petkas

staFF reporter

At the close of Mental Illness Awareness Week, GCSU recognized the week’s importance by noting its relevance and prevalence in the world and on college campuses.

According to a 2004 survey by the American College Health Association, nearly half of all col-lege students report feeling so depressed at some point in time that they have trouble functioning and 14.9 percent meet the criteria for clinical depres-sion. This marks an increase of 4.6 percent in the number of students who reported having ever been diagnosed with depression over a four year time span.

Energy Page 2

Extreme Fire Drill

By Warren JohnsonstaFF Writer

Driving a club car blindfolded can be dif-ficult. Driving a motor vehicle impaired is even more difficult and can have fatal reper-cussions. Public Safety and the Health Ser-vices department hosted Alcohol Awareness week at GCSU as a preface to National Al-cohol Awareness starting next week.

“Just about 95 percent of all incidents on campus are alcohol related,” said Sgt. Baker of the GCSU Public Safety department. “We really try to crack down on DUI’s more than anything.”

Alcohol Awareness Week is an attempt at educating students about drinking and the consequences.

“The theme of the week is GCSU decide,” said Rachel Sullivan, the University Health Education. “It goes along with the current election. Students have a choice not to drink or to do so responsibly.”

The events were paid for using alcohol sanction money from students arrested in alcohol related incidents. Starting Monday, students and faculty were invited to Magno-lia Ballroom for a night of alcohol trivia.

Alcohol Awareness Page 6

Residents downtown face fines up to $ 1,000

Sober for a change

Next Ordinance

Meeting

When: Tuesday, October 28

Where: Milledgeville City Hall at

7 p.m.This meeting is open to

the public.

Drake SimonS / Senior PhotograPherSean Kindrick, Senior Management, walks the line as part of Alcohol Awareness week.

BoBBy gentry / Senior PhotograPherOld barracks are burned in preparation for a new prep school on Georgia Military College’s cam-pus.No one was harmed as firiefighters stood by for routine fire handling practices and procedures.

Mental Health Page 6

2 the Colonnade neWs oCtoBer 17, 2008

By tim GrahamstaFF Writer

Music, prizes and fun were the norm at the grand opening of the West Campus Center last Tuesday at The Village at West Campus.

The festivities started with local band Orange Vanessa exuberantly performing in front of a buzzing au-dience. At points, the music was so loud that it could be heard hundreds of feet away in the apartment build-ings.

Orange Vanessa consists of three members: Alex Barnes on drums, Bob Titolo playing guitar and vocals, and Rachel Kahn doing vocals as well. Both Titolo and Kahn currently go to GCSU and Barnes is a former student.

While not playing at grand open-ings, Orange Vanessa plays around the Alpharetta area.

Barnes said he was impressed with the new building.

“It’s a real nice facility, I’m im-pressed,” he said. “The last time I was here it was just a piece of dirt.”

Following a few of their songs, Jen Maraziti, manager for Apartment Living at The Village welcomed ev-eryone for coming out. She also in-troduced GCSU President Dorothy Leland, who also thanked everyone for coming.

The crowd was filled with stu-

dents from both The Village and the residence halls and Leland addressed them.

“About a year and a half ago, you told us what you wanted: some com-munity space and you didn’t want to drive on campus for something to eat.” Leland said.

Leland also thanked everyone who

was involved in the project getting completed, including Student Affairs, University Housing, Sodexho, and Physical Plant operations. She ex-pressed even more excitement for the building afterwards.

Grand Opening Page 6

Opening showcases new centerpossible to conserve en-

ergy?The school created a

Campus Energy Use & Conservation Task Force headed by Doug Oetter in 2006 to answer this very question. They have had a dramatic effect since then by converting light bulbs in several campus buildings to a more environmental-ly-friendly type, replacing windows in many of the residence halls, and using an adaptive energy pricing policy, which allows the school to negotiate lower than standard rates. We also have one of the most efficient water cooling plants money can buy.

Kevin Murner, a former associate director at Physi-cal Operations, now works to monitor and mediate all of GCSU’s energy usage. He told me about all of the ways GCSU has worked to keep its two million square feet of both academic and residential space heated and cooled. Future plans include adding monitors for every building to accu-rately pinpoint specific ar-eas of high energy waste.

Murner believes that GCSU can make further efforts to increase energy efficiency.

“One light bulb left on for a month could end up costing the school any-where from $20-$45,” Murner said.

The lights for all the classrooms in the Arts & Sciences building, if left on from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for a five day academic week, would cost the university

$675. A 31-day month would cost nearly $3,000. And that does not even include the hallways or of-fice lights, air conditioning or other appliances.

GCSU students could easily find themselves wondering why they should bother to turn off the lights. After all, they do not have to pay their own energy bill in the resi-dence halls.

“Just because students aren’t paying directly for energy usage doesn’t mean we’re all not paying for it,” Oetter said.

The money spent to-wards energy usage has to come from somewhere, so if the school pays above-average rates then they will have to cut money back from other important programs and services. The same concept goes for the residential water bills.

Other appliances con-tribute heavily to the over-all energy usage that the university pays for. A typi-cal desktop computer uses between 60-250 watts an hour, which would trans-late to anywhere between $31 and $186 for a month of continual use on our energy pricing. Refrigera-tors and space heaters are among the other cost-inef-ficient appliances common on campus.

Decreasing our future energy bills could happen with relatively little effort on the part of the students and faculty. Monumen-tal changes could happen by simply turning off the lights before leaving the dorm room or class.

“What it really comes down to,” Oetter said, “is someone being willing to flip the switch.”

EnergyContinued from Page 1...

CheCk out GCSunade.Com for SpeCial online only Content:

adviSinG Week by kelSey funk, Staff Writer

Gem proGram by tyler bryant, Staff Writer

New amenities highlight new building

aShley Pugh / Staff PhotograPherThunder the Bobcat registers to win a prize during last Thursday’s grand opening activities at the new multi-purpose building on West Campus.

aShley Pugh / Staff PhotograPher(Left) Tiffany Payton, junior, psychology major, and Jill Moser, senior, psychology major, spend time enjoying the new building on West Campus during last Thursday’s grand opening. (Right) Anne Trapani, freshman, pre-mass communication major, and Chynna Murphy, freshman art major, enjoy dinner from Sandella’s during the grand opening.

oCtoBer 17, 2008 neWs the Colonnade 3

SFR1 districts within the historic district.” SFR and SFR1 districts imply the area around GCSU campus.

Less than five students attended the meeting, perhaps contributing to the denial of the amendment by City Coun-cil 3-2. Most of the supporters for the new amendment al-lowing “special use” were realtors that owned homes in the downtown historic district that were occupied predom-inantly by GCSU students.

One of these voices that fought in support of the amend-ment was Robert Binion, the owner of the affected Zeta House on McIntosh Street He disapproves of the ordi-nance, and thinks the amendment will help the situation tremendously.

“I don’t think what City Hall is doing with (Ordinance 0-0609-205) is fair at all. I am going to have 13 homeless girls on my hands,” Binion said. “I feel like we should be grandfathered in, considering the girls have had the house two years before the ordinance was ever presented.”

Likewise, Debbie Thompson sympathizes with Binion’s dilemma. An independent realtor with property in the af-fected district, Thompson is staunchly opposed to Ordi-nance 0-0609-205 and is still unsatisfied with the proposed amendment.

“This ordinance will only make matters worse for the community. What they need to enforce is ordinances that they already have on the books concerning noise, house maintenance and trash,” Thompson said. “I don’t think this ordinance has a right to tell us what we can do in our own house. It’s just not right.”

Kelly Truitt, a senior at GCSU and resident in one of the affected houses, agrees with Thompson.

“As long as things remain pretty on the outside, I see no reason why (Milledgeville) should bother dictating (who) our household should consist of,” Truitt said.

As established under “Design Guidelines MSection5” of the Milledgeville Historic Preservation Commission, historic residences are expected to meet certain standards and appearances externally. Until this ordinance, Milled-geville never had control over the number of residents liv-ing inside the house.

Yet, Alton and many other community members hold their ground.

“The current attempt to pass a follow-up ordinance that would allow ‘special group use’ in approximately 13 sin-gle-family zoned blocks of the historic district would, over a very short period of time, destroy what few single-family neighborhoods remain in the historic district,” Alton said. “This action would be disastrous to neighborhoods, tourist trade and overall beauty of the city. (It) would rob future generations of their heritage.”

Mervin Graham, the zoning administrator for Milled-geville, is preparing letters to send out to affected houses. Mervin asserts that even before this ordinance, sorority and fraternity houses were not allowed. Alpha Delta Pi, the only “legal” sorority house, was registered with the city over a decade ago. It resides on the corner of McIntosh and Clark Street.

Thompson says with proper management and respect the larger houses could be rented to sororities.

“Sororities do a great job with the houses. They are good

for them,” Thompson said.Binion is proud of how ZETA takes care of their house.“The ZETA girls keep their house in good condition.

ZETA’s national chapter requires them to maintain high levels of maintenance as well,” Binion said.

Still, community members maintain that there are many other living arrangements available, such as apartments and condominiums.

“The recent growth in available housing in and around the historic district has been unbelievable,” Alton said. “Therefore, there appears to be no need to destroy what few single-family neighborhoods we have left by allowing ‘special group use’ in the historic district.”

SGA Senator Joel Graham says the ordinance will add tension between students and the community.

“I think this will effectively eradicate any feelings of involvement or responsibility students may feel toward the downtown community,” Graham said. “I would even fear a possible rise in vandalism cases due to the increased foot traffic to and from outlying apartment complexes.”

As the discussion for and against the amendment con-tinues, the November deadline for affected houses to com-ply looms on the horizon.

There is little students can do, but pack their bags. Yet, not all hope is gone.

On Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall, the amendment to the ordinance will be presented again, perhaps for the last time, in front of Mayor Richard Bentley and Mayor Council.

Joel Graham hopes more students will show up.“Like with any civic issue, students who have opinions

about this can and should do all they can to express them-selves,” Joel said. “Specifically, you can go to City Coun-cil meetings, Zoning Committee meetings, email your city officials, and talk with them to help convey your ideas. As SGA, we will be doing all that we can to help make your voice heard and relay your ideas to our civic leaders.”

Even with the deadline being incredibly close to stu-dents’ finals, Mervin Graham will begin enforcing this or-dinance come November.

However, she says she will wait to send letters to see what happens when the requested amendment to the ordi-nance goes before Mayor Council on Oct. 28.

Under the ordinance section 4.4.4 “Prima Fa-cie Proof” the evidence of breaking this law will be “four or more vehi-cles with registration to persons having different surnames and addresses were parked overnight at the dwelling unit a major-ity of nights in any 21-day period.”

The penalties for break-ing this law can include a fine reaching up to $1,000 for the renter or individual inhabitant per night. The person/s convicted of the crime could even be as-signed an imprisonment term or public service by local officials.

“I can promise you this – the ordinance passed will be enforced,” Mervin Graham said.

Brad Christopher, a junior majoring in community health, reflects the common reaction of many students.

“I think this law is not right because this town is a col-lege town,” Christopher said. “Many students live in the historical district, and living situations are such a vital part of education and the season of life many college students are in.”

Thumbs

“The three-unrelat-ed-person-ordinance was passed for the entire city and will be beneficial for the entire city. It dem-onstrates the city’s commitment to the preservation of its

older structures and its older single-fami-ly neighborhoods.”

John Alton a Milledgeville

resident living on Liberty Street

“I’m afraid (the ordinance) may do

more to amplify differences between the students and the community instead of actually address

the residents’ grievances...”

Joel Graham Junior SGA senator and affected resident

City OrdinanceContinued from Page 1...

Penalties Take ActionMaximum of $1,000 fine for

convicted resident and realtor. Every day a separate offense

occurs is considered a separate violation.

Sentence of imprisonment not exceeding six months.

Sentence to work on the streets or public works for a period not exceeding 12

months.

Contact Milledgeville City Hall at cityhall@milledgevillega.us.

Email the Zoning Administrator, Mervin Graham, with your opinions at mervin@

milledgevillega.us.

Attend City Council meetings and Zoning Committee meetings at City Hall.

Submit your thoughts, requests, and opinions to the SGA over

email at sga@gcsu.edu.

What’s in a name?

Obama On the Issues

Conservatives

Tend to favor economic freedom, but frequently

support laws to restrict personal behavior that violates “traditional values.”

They oppose excessive government control of business,

while endorsing government action to defend morality and the

traditional family structure.

Conservatives usually support a strong military,

oppose bureaucracy and high tax-es, favor a free-market economy, and endorse strong law enforce-

ment.

Centrists

Espouse a “middle ground” regarding government controlof the economy and personal

behavior.

Depending on the issue, they sometimes favor government in-

tervention and sometimes support individual freedom of choice.

Centrists pride themselves

on keeping an open mind, tend to oppose “political extremes,” and emphasize what they describe as “practical” solutions to problems.

Liberals

Usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but

tend to support significant govern-ment control of the economy.

They generally support a govern-ment-funded “safety net” to help the disadvantaged, and advocate

strict regulation of business.

Liberals tend to favor environ-mental regulations, defend civil

liberties and free expression, sup-port government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse life-

styles.

information from the WorlD’S SmalleSt Political QuizWWW.theaDvocateS.org

4 the Colonnade neWs oCtoBer 17, 2008

Decision 2008:

“I trust women to make these decisions, in conjunc-tion with their doctors and

their families and their clergy, and I think that’s

where most Americans are.”

Roe vs Wade

Require that all children have health insurance;

pay for it by rolling back President Bush’s tax cuts

for households earning over $250,000; aims for universal coverage.

Health Care

Opposed invasion from the beginning; opposed troop increase; wants to with-

draw one or two brigades a month to finish within 16 months and spur the Iraqis

to reconcile their differences.

Iraq

Immediately enact a set of tax cuts for individuals and businesses to help cope with the current crisis. Ban most

home foreclosures for 90 days. Would repeal the Bush tax cuts for households earning

more than $250,000.

Economy / Taxes

Two have played this game, but only one can win...

October 7 - Second debate is held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Obama prevails again.

October 15 - The third and final debate is held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Polls declare Obama the winner.

August 23 - Obama picks Senator Joe Biden for his vice presidential candidate.

September 26 - The first of three debates is held at the University of Missis-sippi. Polls hand victory to Obama.

STAR

T

httP://electionS.nytimeS.com/2008/inDex.html

oCtoBer 17, 2008 neWs the Colonnade 5

mccaIn On the Issues

Save the dates

The Unofficial Guide

Purchase troubled mortgages directly from financial institu-

tions and restructure them. Cut capital gains tax rate.

Blames lobbyists for financial crisis, and favors a new

federal authority. Would make the Bush tax cuts permanent

and eliminate alternative minimum tax.

Economy / Taxes

Voted in 2002 to authorize invasion, still supportive;

favored troop increase, and argues that security allowed political headway; against

a timetable for withdrawal, but projected he would have most forces home by 2013.

Iraq

For free-market, consumer-based system; has pledged affordable health care for every American without a mandate; says universal

health care is possible with-out a tax increase.

Health Care

August 29 - McCain selects Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

September 3 - John McCain is formally nominated as the Republican presidential candidate.

November 4 - Election Day! Go vote! See sidebar at right for voting information.

August 28 - Obama accepts Democratic nomination.

FINISH

“I would not support re-peal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [un-dergo] illegal and dangerous

operations.”

Roe vs WadehttP://electionS.nytimeS.com/2008/inDex.html

graPhic DeSign By claire kerSeylayout anD DeSign By ana maria lugo

PhotoS anD imageS courteSy of the WeB

Oct. 23 Thursday

The Colonnade in collaboration with the American Democracy Project, College

Republicans and Young Democrats presents:

The 2008 Presidential Mock Debates

7 p.m. in A&S Auditorium

What would you ask? Send debate questions to colonnadeletters@gcsu.edu

Oct. 27 Monday

American Democracy project in collaboration with GCSU Department of Government & So-ciology, Pi Sigma Alpha, College Republicans

and Young Democrats presents:

Georgia 12th Congressional District Candidate Debate

featuring:

Rep. John Barrow (D) and John Stone (R)

7 p.m. in Magnolia Ballroom

Oct. 31 Friday

Last Day to request Absentee Ballot

Nov. 4 Tuesday

Election DayWHAT TO BRING:

Georgia law requires registered voters to show photo identification in order to vote in person. When you vote in person, you must show one

of the following photo IDs: * A Georgia driver’s license, even if expired

* Any valid state or federal government issued photo ID, including a FREE Voter ID

Card issued by the Department of Driver Services or your county registrar’s office

* Valid U.S. passport

6 the Colonnade neWs oCtoBer 17, 2008

the award, but it does feel like home here. You get a lot of attention from teach-ers, but they definitely cut corners with the food. The food here sucks, I’m not gonna lie, that’s one way they are probably saving money,” Elyse Ebert said.

When asked the same question, another student,had a slightly dif-ferent take on some ways to save money.

“Compared to a lot of other schools, the town doesn’t cost much to live in, the cost of living here (in Milledgeville) is a lot less than Georgia State (in Atlanta)…There aren’t a lot of public liberal arts

colleges either, and they (GCSU) budget their money very well for this economic situation,” Ian Bridgeworth said.

It seems that while it is one of America’s Top Val-ue Colleges, it’s not always a top priority for GCSU.

“I can tell you that many people don’t consciously work to keep us at the top value. We work to be the top Liberal Arts College. We allow the faculty to teach what they are trained in and keep courses down to reasonable size levels, forming natural interac-tions,” Dr. Mike Digby said. “We have top notch students and top notch fac-ulty, and we try to keep the environment so that we keep both.”

There are many myths about clini-cal depression and bipolar disorder. Marlene Lovejoy, admissions adviser and author of “Edge of Sanity: Jour-nal of Depression, Bipolar Disorder, and Beyond,” sought to dispel those myths on the evening of Oct. 9, when she presented “Secretive Disorders,” in the Max Noah Recital Hall.

“Being in a down mood or being depressed is different from ordinary sadness. During my worst depres-sion, my symptoms disrupted my life completely. My crying was uncon-trollable, and I was filled with ex-treme sadness and guilt. I felt empty, and had no interest in anything. For three weeks straight, I could not even get out of bed to go to work,” Love-joy said.

According to The National Al-liance on Mental Illness, of the 6.3 million Georgia residents, approxi-mately 5.4 percent of the resident population is affected by a serious mental illness.

“If you cannot ‘shake’ the down feeling after a week to ten days, you

need to seek professional medical help,” Lovejoy said.

The mind and body are complex and interconnected. A stressed mind can make a stressed body. There are even pictures of brain scans showing the immense difference between a normal healthy brain and a stressed-out college kid brain.

Anita Mikita, M.D., clinical di-rector at Central State Hospital, de-scribes mental illnesses as being “very real”.

“A worried brain is rigid and shows up quite differently on a brain scan,” Mikita said. “[A worried brain] could be the brain of many college students. This cognitive worry is physical, but can be treated. Things like medita-tion and relaxation can counteract and reverse that stress.”

At Amenclinics.com, a regular healthy brain scan appears as a deep blue color while a stressed-out brain appears to have angry red streaks throughout it.

Remember this before your next exam. Fortune telling, or predicting a bad outcome to a situation before it has occurred, is not a good idea.

“Your mind makes happen what it sees. Unconsciously predicting fail-

ure will often cause failure,” Mikita said.

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental health prob-lems on college campuses. Forty million U.S. adults suffer from an anxiety disorder, and 75 percent of them experience their first episode of anxiety by age 22, according to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.

“It’s amazing the number of stu-dents on medication,” Dr. James Winchester, philosophy professor, said. “Students taking things like Ritalin and students grappling with psychological issues are astounding. I don’t know if there is a support-ing study, but I believe that there are more cases of psychological issues on this campus because of its size. Fragile students are more interested in a smaller institution with smaller class size.”

GCSU is equipped with a Depart-ment of Counseling Services located in Lanier Hall. Counseling Services provide personal counseling and group counseling. Personal issues, such as anxiety and depression, along with career choices and concerns can be addressed on campus.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “It helps create community space. It’s even nicer than I thought it would be.”

Dr. Leland credits that in part to the design of the building, which was changed from the original design. The most notice-able change is the corners and angles in the ceiling, which give the building an original look.

Following Leland, a few members of the Sassy Cats, GCSU’s popular dance team, performed one of their routines. Afterwards, Juan Pablo Favero, head coach of the women’s soccer team, in-troduced the team, who was in the audience, as they prepared to take on Georgia Southwestern lat-er in the night.

The GCSU cheerlead-ing squad then performed, hyping the crowd up with an impressive perfor-

mance. Following that, Orange Vanessa got back on stage to continue their performance.

Other activities were going on at the grand opening as well. Sand-ella’s, the new restaurant in the West Campus Cen-ter, handed out free food. A drawing for prizes was also held. Prizes included various GCSU T-shirts, free Bobcat Card replace-ments and waivers for any parking tickets issued by GCSU. As some might guess, some prizes were selected sooner than oth-ers.

Many of the head ex-ecutives from the school, such as Leland, came out to celebrate the new build-ing, and all seemed to en-joy the festivities. Most could be seen chatting it up out on the pavilion, which overlooks the field be-tween the apartments. Le-land also said to be on the lookout for future events, as the school plans to hold more concerts and sport-ing events in and around the West Campus Center.

Students celebrated Thirsty Tues-day at Midnight Madness. Basketball alumni took their best shot at shooting hoops. Players wore impairment gog-gles to simulate the effects of drinking.

“They didn’t do so well,” joked Sgt. Baker. “They didn’t even score!”

Wednesday’s events included a sem-inar on lowering the drinking age and a slalom course on front campus. Stu-dents took a crack at driving a club car while wearing impairment goggles.

Public Safety unveiled a new line of impairment goggles, ranging from mildly intoxicated to fatal. The goggles come in both daytime and night vision versions. The goggles are designed to show its users how the brain interprets movement.

“Alcohol doesn’t impair your vi-sion,” said Sullivan. “It impairs your judgment.”

Students received pamphlets during Thursday’s activities while enjoying

the virtual car-crash simulator.“It’s a fun way to get out

there and promote awareness,” says Baker. “We understand it’s a college town and we just want students to be respon-sible.”

One way students can en-sure everyone’s safety is not to drive while intoxicated.

To increase awareness be-yond GCSUdecide week, stu-dents are invited to patrol with a Public Safety officer. If any-one suspects trouble on cam-pus, students are encouraged to call Public Safety by phone or using the callboxes located across campus.

As the Sweetwater Festival approaches, Public Safety is preparing to crack down on reckless drinking.

“As long as everything is peaceful and serene,” said Sgt. Baker, “they won’t have any contact with us.”

Top CollegeContinued from Page 1...

Mental Health Continued from Page 1...

Grand OpeningContinued from Page 2...

Alcohol AwarenessContinued from Page 1...

Drake SimonS / Senior PhotograPherJunior exercise science major, Daniela Nopuente drives passenger Kim Owens, senior community health major and puts the “beer” goggles to the test for Alcohol Awareness week.

oCtoBer 17, 2008 Community neWs the Colonnade 7

Friday, October 17

Friday, Oct. 17-Thursday, Oct. 23

Sunday, October 19

Monday, October 20

Please send calendar submissions to colonnadenews@gcsu.edu

Smoking in Found-ez

On Oct. 6, at approximately 1:32 p.m. Of-ficer N. Miller was dispatched to Founda-tion Hall in reference to an odor of burn-ing marijuana coming from the third floor. Contact was made with student, who ad-mitted to smoking marijuana in the bath-room and also in his truck. The student took Officer N. Miller to his truck and showed him the marijuana and a smoking device. The items were confiscated and taken into evidence. The case has been turned over to Student Judicial.

Sorority squabble

On Oct. 7, at approximately 9:14 a.m. a female student reported that an unknown person(s) wrote derogatory remarks on her vehicle using window paint, while it was parked at The Village. The case appears to be sorority related and will be turned over to Greek Life.

Games gone missing

On Oct. 7, at approximately 4:54 p.m. a fe-male student reported that an Xbox game was missing from the Student Activities Center. The game was last seen on Oct. 4 at 2:30 p.m. The case has been turned over to Detective Butler.

Sidewalk accidents

On Oct. 7, at approximately 3:30 p.m. Sgt. English heard over the radio a call involv-ing a bicycle and a vehicle accident at Han-cock and Tattnall Streets. Sgt English, EMS and Milledgeville PD arrived on scene and found a female sitting on the sidewalk with minor injuries. Investigations found that

the vehicle and bicycle did not collide, the rider of the bike herself had the accident. The case was turned over to Milledgeville PD.

Breaking into Sodexo

On Oct. 10, at approximately 1:53 a.m. Sgt. Baker observed two males exiting MSU after hours carrying multiple 2 liter bottles and other containers filled with soft drinks. Contact was made with the two males, who advised they found an unsecured door at Sodexo, which allowed them to go inside and fill their containers with soft drinks. In lieu of jail and theft by taking charges, they were instructed to empty their containers and released from the scene. The case has been turned over to Student Judiciary.

BOLO

On Oct. 12, at approximately 3:51 p.m. Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office put out a BOLO (be on the lookout) in reference to a drive by shooting. Sgt. English and Officer Smith observed a vehicle that matched the description given near Hall and Jefferson Streets. A felony traffic stop was conduct-ed and 3 occupants were removed from the vehicle and held until Baldwin County Deputies arrived. The case was turned over to Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office for fur-ther investigation.

Information compiled by Alana Llewellyn

Please go online to gcsunade.com to download the

extended Public Safety Report podcast.

Tuesday, October 21

Wednesday, October 22

1:00 p.m. Bobcats Soccer vs. Lincoln Memorial, Harrogate, Texas

11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. International Day, Front Campus 7:00 p.m. “The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow”, Museum Education Room 7:30 p.m. GCSU Concert Band, Russell Audition

8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Meet and Greet, Dean’s Conference Room, 202 Atkinson Hall 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. International Opportunities Fair, Front Porch of Parks and Atkinson Halls 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Chocolate Festival, Magnolia Ballroom 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Times Talk: The Art of Democracy, Beeson Hall, Lower Level Conference Room 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Photoshop Workshop: The Basics, Library Instructonal Technology Center 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. International Student Forum: Understanding Global Perspectives on the United States, Arts & Sciences Auditorium 6:30 p.m. Opening Reception of the Bergen-Belsen Photo Exhibit, Wooten Garner House 7:00 p.m. Bobcats Soccer vs. Clayton State, Peeler Complex, West Campus 7:00 p.m. Baseball at the Bar, Allen’s Market

Saturday, October 18

10:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Flu Shots, Maxwell Student Union Lounge 7:00 p.m. Faat Kine: A Film from Senegal, Arts & Sciences Auditorium 7:00 p.m. “Music on Tap”, The Wellness Depot Porch

Thursday, October 23

10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. iMovie Workshop, Library Instructional Technology Center 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Fallfest, Front Campus

12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Graduate School Fair, Centennial Center 12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. The Good Body: A Body Image Discussion Group, Women’s Resource Center, 143 Maxwell Student Union 5:00 p.m. Reception: International Photo Contest, Museum Education Room

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Sustainability: Responsibility to Protect - Government/Private Sector Responsibilites, Arts & Sciences Auditorium 1:00 p.m. You Too Can Get a Fulbright!, Museum Education Room 4:00 p.m. Discover the Arab World in the Sultanate of Oman, Arts & Sciences Auditorium

Nursing students help combat flu

Mikella Procoppic swabbed the patient’s arm with alcohol. She land-marked the deltoid muscle and with a darting motion, injected the flu vaccine.Patient David de Posada rolled down his sleeve without as much as a moan or groan.

“That’s my third intra-muscular injection,” said Procoppic, a junior nursing student of Warner Robins who holds a bachelor’s degree in biology. “I was a little nervous with my first but felt more confident with my second. The more injections I give the easier it becomes.”

A fellow nursing stu-dent gave Procoppic her flu shot earlier in the day Friday.

“I wanted to see what it felt like so I could em-pathize with the patients,” she said.

Georgia College junior and senior nursing stu-dents team each Friday in October to provide the flu vaccine to the public and to practice administering intramuscular injections. The seniors mentor the ju-niors through the process and offer advice from their experiences.

“In terms of nursing school, I’m the pro,” said senior Annie Geminder who will graduate in De-cember. “My advice is the faster the needle goes into the skin, the less it hurts.”

Nursing instructor Deb-bie Grier collaborated with Director of Student Health Services Alice Loper and health education Professor Barbara Funke to provide the students injection prac-tice.

“It’s very important for the nursing students to learn intramuscular in-jection techniques,” Grier said. “This is one of their best opportunities.

Nursing students are available each Friday in October from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. to administer flu shots. Beginning in No-vember flu vaccines will become available at the GCSU clinic daily from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. The cost is $20.

GCSU students walk against cancer

Five GCSU students will show their support for Breast Cancer Aware-ness by participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk in Atlanta between Oct. 24 and 26.

The self-proclaimed

Georgia College & State University Girls: Aman-da Cheek, marketing and management major; Kim Contigiani, nursing major; Kelley Evans, marketing major; Emily Ewalt, mu-seum studies major; and Julie Warbington, com-munity health major, will make the 60-mile walk during the course of three days to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.

“One great thing that we know we will never forget is how well this campus is united. At this time, we be-lieve we need to unite on a common cause, not just to end breast cancer, but all cancer,” the team said.

Each student hopes to raise $2,200 in donations, for a total of $11,000 to-ward cancer research. By mid September the walkers had raised $7,000.

To donate to their cause, visit www.The3Day.org and click “Donate Now.”

Look for the GCSU team to make a donation or download the dona-tion form. Or, you can call 1-800-996-3Day.

For more information, call Amanda Cheek at (770) 846-3255.

Locking Down Book Prices

Why Do Books cost so much, and what is SGA doing about it?

Are you tired of paying upwards of $700 a semes-ter for books that you may end up not even needing for your class? Are you still wondering why HOPE even bothers to send you that check for books when it doesn’t even come close to covering what you need? Well SGA has heard your voice and feels your pain. Upon tasking the Student Services Commit-tee with the mission of try-ing to help bring text book costs down, your student representatives have gone in depth to discover why books cost so much, and what SGA can do about it.

After looking into the situation, the student ser-vices committee reported their findings on the floor of the senate chambers. The cause of the high pric-es of text books is the tar-diness of faculty members and administration submit-ting their text book request forms. Of course, there are

other factors, including the increasing cost of produc-tion and transportation of books; however, the cost goes up exponentially if the request for the books is not submitted far enough in advance. If this happens then the books have to be rush-delivered to the store, which results in a later ar-rival time for the students. This problem has gone largely unreported until SGA contacted Paw Prints about the rising prices and was told that if the faculty submitted their requests early enough, the prices would be reduced by a sig-nificant percentage. Even though this is not the only way to decrease textbooks prices, this was a factor that SGA could have a sig-nificant influence and they decided to tackle it head on.

Armed with this infor-mation, the Public Rela-tions and Student Services committees have passed out text book requisition forms to every single fac-ulty member on campus and have asked them to please have it submitted before the deadline, which

is in late October. SGA be-lieves that faculty have the desire to reduce costs for students, and that faith is well deserved as the results of this requisition drive have already been impres-sive. The final results on requisitions came in this week, and a whopping 91% of faculty members turned in their requests in on time. This is the largest percentage of requests that have been in on time, and SGA is glad to have been a part of this effort. SGA continues to remind fac-ulty as often as possible to get their forms submitted on time, as the results can only be positive.

SGA knows the needs of students, and has made every effort to help with any need the student body has. Reducing the price of text books for a large per-centage of classes is just one step SGA is making to help. If there is any other need that is apparent to most students, it’s a pret-ty safe bet to assume that SGA is either currently dealing, or will be dealing with it soon.

Opinion The Colonnade’s Forum for Public Debate

Friday, October 17, 2008 www.gcsunade.com Editor in Chief, Corey Dickstein

Election 2008 and ignorance in America

Barack Obama, in fact, is not an Arab. Last week at a rally supporting John McCain a woman

in the crowd, speaking directly to McCain, referred to Obama as an Arab.

McCain acted quickly, calling Obama a “decent fam-ily man.”

This brings two points to our attention at The Colon-nade.

First of all, even if Obama were an Arab, or for that matter Muslim, why would it matter?

Second, the ignorance surrounding this presidential election is astonishing.

Back to the first point.When did being an Arab, or a Muslim, become a bad

thing? Does someone’s ethnicity or religion make them the person they are, or disqualify them from holding pub-lic office, especially that of the President of the United States of America.

The answer is no.Voters need to realize that in this day and age a per-

son’s ethnicity should not be an issue. Unfortunately, it still is.

There is no doubt that this country has come a long way recently.

Ten years ago the thought of having a black major party presidential nominee would have been laughable.

But, the US has apparently not come far enough along.

That brings me to point two.Why does this ridiculous amount of ignorance still ex-

ist in a country constantly surrounded by information, especially from the media?

Anyone can get online, watch TV, or pick up a news-paper and know the facts about both candidates. Obama is a Christian, so is McCain.

Obama has now been in the public eye for a rather long time. Those who do not know his story are those who choose to read only the propaganda rooted in rac-ism.

This propoganda has floated around, especially through e-mails and on social Web sites like MySpace.

Everyone has seen it, but sart people will dig the facts up themselves and find out the truth about these candi-dates.

While The Colonnade does not endorse either candi-date it does strive to enform the GCSU community about the truth. We hope you will read this and understand that the facts are out there and easy to find.

So, before casting a vote, voters need to make sure they know what each candidate stands for. Not what some people want them to belive that they stand for.

Please send responses to ColonnadeLetters@gcsu.edu

ad disClaimer

The Colonnade is not re-sponsible for any false ad-vertising. We are not liable for any error in advertising to a greater extent than the cost of the space in which the item occurs. The Colon-nade reserves the right to edit or reject any advertis-ing copy submitted for pub-lication. There is no guar-anteed placement of ads. The Colonnade does not ac-cept advertising concerning firearms nor guarantee ads concerning alcoholic bever-ages.

CopyriGhts

All stories and photo-graphs appearing in this issue and previous issues, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted by The Colon-nade.

CorreCtions

The Colonnade wants to correct mistakes appear-ing in the newspaper. If you believe we have made a mistake, please call us at 478-445-4511 or 478-445-2559 or e-mail us at colonnade@gcsu.edu.

editorial boardCorey DicksteinEditor in Chiefcolonnade@

gcsu.edu

Ana Maria LugoNews Editor

colonnadenews@gcsu.edu

Ashlee MooneyhanFeatures Editor

colonnadefeatures@gcsu.edu

Preston SellersSports Editor

colonnadesports@gcsu.edu

Erin GishPhoto Editor

Christa MurphyAd Manager

colonnadeads@gcsu.edu

Amanda BoddyAsst. News Editor

Kyle CollinsAsst. Sports Editor

Chelsea ThomasSpotlight Editor

Bobby GentryAsst. Photo Editor

Kim BrumfieldCopy Editor

Claire KerseyAsst. Copy Editor

Lee SandowWebmaster

Tyler AndersonBusiness Manager

Macon McGinleyFaculty Adviser

By mattheW ChamBers

Columnist

As I was on my way to a nice relaxing fun day in Macon, I witnessed some-thing that stood out to me and struck me in a funny way. Right as I reached the city limits of Macon, a fu-neral procession appeared on the other side of the four-lane road.

Without hesitation, ev-ery car pulled over to the side of the road. These were the same cars that just a few seconds ago were speeding around each other and zigzagging just to get to their destination a little bit faster.

You have to understand that the general consen-

sus from the people I have heard and talked to is that life is too busy and full of stuff to do. Because life is too busy, people often sacrifice their manners and overall pleasantness to-wards other people.

My grandma even agrees; she is always com-plaining about how rude today’s generation is and how much more polite people were in the good ole days. They also walked to school uphill both ways back then too.

Now in Georgia, it is the law that funeral pro-cessions have the right-of-way always, but I felt that since we were on the op-posite side with two lanes and a turning median in between us that these obvi-ously rushed people were not going to pull over; they were just too focused on their lives to care enough to yield.

Just when my epiphany of how people are not as uncaring as I thought had passed, I witnessed an-other amazing sight that I

had not ever seen. As I was heading into Wal-Mart to shop away my problems, it started to downpour out of nowhere—as it tends to do in Georgia.

Unlucky for her, an el-derly woman was getting out of her car right as the sky opened and judging by her facial expression she did not have anything to guard her from the weath-er. What happened next surprised me.

I saw a woman, who had finished shopping, taking her umbrella and escorting the elderly woman inside from the parking lot. Then they parted ways without any warm gestures or even a wave.

I was not surprised that the old woman stayed dry—I was shocked that a stranger went out of her way to keep this elderly woman dry. I like to con-sider myself a nice person, but I honestly cannot say that I would do this for a total stranger. No that does not mean I hate old people; I just am not sure I would

make an effort and go out of my way for someone I do not know.

These two sights should not have had any affect on me at all, but over the course of my life I have come to know people in general to be rude and inconsiderate. There are exceptions to my mas-sive generalization, but as much as it saddens me, I do honestly believe that most of humanity is not friendly, and frankly quite self-centered.

The drivers of the cars and the nice woman with an umbrella both enlight-ened and reminded me that people can in fact do good deeds and be polite to oth-ers, even strangers. If you have given up on humani-ty, just keep an eye out and pretty soon you will see something that will spark a flame of hope inside you, I promise.

Please send response to

ColonnadeLetters@gcsu.edu

Signs of humanity still exist

The hard PressBy James odom

By andreW adams

Columnist

It was a two hour drive home and a two hour wait in a long line (an hour and a half of which was out-side). But I voted. I guess if I were smart I would have voted via absentee ballot. But I wanted to feel the pleasure of walking up and in person casting my vote for president (for the very first time).

Like many GCSU stu-dents, I am registered in the district I grew up in, which is Marietta, Ga. And also like many GCSU students, I find it impossible to be able to go home on the ac-tual election day, Tuesday, Nov. 4. This is why early voting exists, it’s people like us who find difficulty in voting during the twelve hour window on Super Tuesday. If you haven’t considered it already, early voting is definitely some-thing to look into.

You’re probably won-

dering who I voted for. If you’ve read my previous articles you might have picked up that I write from a conservative/libertarian point of view. In full dis-closure, I’m a registered Republican. Sounds like a slam dunk for McCain, eh?

Except for the fact that I didn’t vote for him. Don’t think that I voted for Obama either, because I didn’t. Honestly, I despise the way that both candi-dates view the role of the federal government. This was most recently high-lighted by a ridiculous $700 billion corporate welfare bailout. And even worse, McCain is now calling for another $300 billion in corporate wel-fare.

I typically am not a single issue voter, and I can’t even think of any other issue that I would vote for, or not vote for, a candidate because of. But, the economy is the big is-sue in this election, and I absolutely refuse to vote for a candidate that would vote for such egregious government intervention into the free market. And since past judgment is the only thing we have to go on in terms of future judg-ment as president, neither is someone that I want as president.

This brings me to the Senate race between Re-publican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democrat challenger Jim Martin. I was a big supporter of Chambliss in 2002. He was very conservative and had great credentials. I was ecstatic when he defeated Max Cleland. Through-out most of his term, I re-mained a supporter of his and really appreciated his support on such issues as the Fair Tax. Up until a couple weeks ago I was sure I would vote for him, even though I thought Jim Martin seemed like a pret-ty good candidate…for a Democrat. The natural or-der of things was in effect, I was planning on casting my vote for Chambliss…until he cast his vote in support of the bailout. It makes me wonder if the power of being in the Sen-ate has gone to Chambliss’ head?

Upon learning of Cham-bliss’ vote, I rushed to Jim Martin’s Web site to see what he thought about this horrendous bailout. Mar-tin’s statement, “$700 bil-lion for Wall Street, while Georgia families get stuck with the bill.” Amen, Jim Martin. And I hope you enjoy my vote.

Fortunately, I was able to vote for one Republi-can for a national office.

My U.S. congressman Tom Price has a great re-cord on economic and so-cial issues, and he has a desire to keep the federal government small. In fact, he stood up to the national Republican establishment of George W. Bush and John McCain among oth-ers to vote against both House bailout packages. Maybe there is hope for my party after all.

But that hope doesn’t rest in the big government Republicans like McCain and Bush who have been accomplices to the Dem-ocrats’ big government ideology. When President Bush took office, the na-tional debt stood at $5.7 trillion. Today, the debt is over 10.1 trillion dollars. I know America can survive these people as presidents, but I’m just not sure if we can afford them.

But Barack Obama, who also voted for the bail-out, is even worse when it comes to government size and spending. I couldn’t seriously consider voting for him.

So, who did I stand in line for two hours to vote for? I wrote in Ron Paul.

Please send responses to

ColonnadeLetters@gcsu.edu

Vote cast: no Obama, no McCain

oCtoBer 17, 2008 opinion the Colonnade 9

letters to the editor

Have you dropped a class this semester?

“No I don’t really need to” Danielle Clin, sophomore, creative writing

“No. So far everything seems to be going well”

Francisco Bide, junior, management

“Yes, public speaking, my major classes were taking too much time.”

Lauren Chandley, junior, mass communication

“I dropped some classes at the beginning of the semester because I didn’t like them”

Mason Davis, freshman, undecided

“No, classes are going well”

Ray Cornay, sophomore, biology

Reported by Bobby Gentry

Want to vent about something? Send us a message about what’s bothering you to screen name ColonnadeVent using AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), or by E-mail to colonnadeletters@gcsu.edu, with the subject ‘Vent.’

Let me just say this: if you are wondering what is up with your room-mate, why don’t you ask? She will probably talk. Asking her if some-thing is up would be the wiser course.

I wish I could learn more about politics in this class and less about the hotness factor of Sarah Palin

Anyone wanna go fishing in the fountain?

Evan Allgood, will you marry me? It’s so refreshing to get humorous, intelligent, and open minded (columns) from someone on campus. Andrew Adams has swamped The Colonnade with fear-mongering lies, Republican extremism, and backwards propaganda. You’ve restored my faith in the students here! It’s so nice to hear a different side. I love you.... No seriously, I’m single!!

To your family: I AM NOT SCREWING HIS LIFE UP HE IS!

How could there have been 27 voting in favor for Bill #1 for SGA? There are not but 25 voting members...

What the h*** is going on at west campus to cause all of that scream-ing? Oh wait...it’s a game. It’s a game on a Tuesday night. And it’s midnight. What the ****???? SHUT UP!!!! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO STUDY!!!!!!

I wish they would hire shuttle drivers that do not smoke. I hate getting on the shuttle in the morning and smelling cigarettes.

WHY IS THE INTERNET SO SLOW? I HATE TECHNOLOGY!!!!!! WTF!

The Colonnade encour-ages readers to express their views and opinions by sending letters to the edi-tor at: CBX 2442; Milled-geville, Ga. 31061 or by e-mail at colonnadeletters@gcsu.edu

All letters must be typed and include:• names• address/ Email address

• telephone number• year of study• major

Only your name, year of study and major will be listed.• Unsigned letters will notbe printed. Names will be withheld only under very unusual circumstances.• Letters longer than 300 words may be condensed.

• All letters will be edited for grammar, spelling and punctuation errors.• All letters become the property of The Colonnade and cannot be returned.• We are not able to ac-knowledge their receipt or disposition. Letters will be printed at the discretion of the Editor in Chief.

The Colonnade PoliCy: leTTers To The ediTor

Response to Fey vs. Palin

Poll of The WeekGraphiC By Corey diCkstein

Which candidate has done better in the two presidential debates?

Yes.• No.• Unsure.•

Next week’s question: Will you attend Sweetwater?

Vote online at GCSUnade.comGot more to say? Let us know with a letter to

the editor! Send them to Colonnadeletters@gcsu.edu.

• In last week’s “We are GCSU” Pavielle Ludlow was never presidnt of the International Club, she was just president of the Astronomy Club.

CorreCTions and ClarifiCaTions

Unsure5%

McCain 34%Obama

61%

Dear Editor,

I am writing this letter in response to Evan Allgood’s column lambasting Alaska Governor and GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin. As a fan of both Governor Palin, and Ms. Fey, I have to dis-agree with his assessment of the two.

Clean Energy/The En-vironment: Gov. Palin is one of the country’s leaders in energy policy. She creat-ed a windfall profits tax that taxed the excess profits that big oil companies made and gave it back to the people, creating the lowest gas pric-es in the nation. She supports alternative fuels, domestic drilling, and clean energy initiatives such as wind and clean coal. She also drives to work, as opposed to taking the jumbo jet that the previous governors of Alaska took, drastically re-ducing energy costs for the state. Now Ms. Fey on the other hand drives a hybrid, which research shows aren’t necessarily good for the en-vironment either. After all, Hybrid batteries are toxic to the environment when they are disposed of, and a hybrid vehicles requires so much energy to make that the amount of energy used in it’s production is equal to 1,000 gallons of gas, which would be the equivalent of 100,000 miles on a modern compact fully gasoline pow-ered vehicle. Verdict: Palin

Educational Back-ground: Sure, Gov. Palin attended five schools, but anyone in our mass commu-nication programs knows that it’s no piece of cake to graduate with a degree in mass communication and journalism. And you’re go-ing to compare that to a drama degree? I think we have a draw here. Especial-

ly since after college, Gov. Palin was a sportscaster and sports correspondence for a newspaper. Verdict: Draw

Executive Experience: While I’ll admit that Alas-ka’s not the biggest state by population, it is a very important state. However, while managing a city bud-get and a state budget may not equate to writing and di-recting comedies, I think it’s pretty damn important. But there are several things you should also know about Pa-lin’s executive experience: Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile inter-ceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Bat-talion of the Alaska Nation-al Guard is the unit that pro-tects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It’s on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units. As governor of Alaska and the unit’s Commander-In-Chief, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, Homeland Security, and counter-terrorism. Her exposure to classified mate-rial may rival even Biden’s. She’s also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security’s counterterrorism plans. Palin is privy to mili-tary and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country’s defense. Fey can’t say that. Verdict: Palin

Foreign Policy: See No. 3. Verdict: Palin

International Appeal: I’ll give Mr. Allgood this one. Fey is popular abroad, particularly because she’s syndicated in countries around the world. Thank goodness that Palin isn’t running for vice-president of the world. Fey really would have her beat. Ver-dict: Fey

Multitasking: I’m not sure how the mistake made by Palin’s teenage daugh-ter relates to multi-tasking. Sure, her family isn’t per-fect, no family is…not even Fey’s. But running a house-hold, raising five children, including one with special needs, managing a state, running for vice-president, doing media interviews, attending presidential de-bates, and traveling back and forth to Alaska sort of trumps Fey’s modest multi-tasking skills. Verdict: Palin

Understanding of Mainstream America: It was my understanding from listening to the liberals that rich people can’t under-stand mainstream America. Doesn’t that disqualify Fey, seeing that she’s worth mil-lions? Anyhow, last time I checked, Alaska was still a part of America. Palin grew up as the daughter of elementary school teachers, went to public school, went for a period of time to com-munity college, attended a public university, was a member of the PTA, drove a pickup truck, played basket-ball, went to her kids hockey games, and made a modest income. That sounds very much mainstream to me. Sure, Fey makes millions of dollars a year, drives a Lexus, and went to a very expensive university as an out-of-state resident, but that definitely doesn’t make her mainstream. Verdict: Palin

I believe that makes the score 5-1 for Ms. Palin. Lets weigh all of the information before declaring a winner. Hopefully, the elitists will stop underestimating Sarah Palin when they learn all the facts.

Jason WhiteSenior, Political Science

See story page 11

Features The Colonnade’s Guide to Art and EntertainmentFriday, October 17, 2008 www.gcsunade.com Section Editor, S. Ashlee Mooneyhan

Pieces from the past By ryan del Campo staFF Writer

Milledgeville houses a lot of history within the walls of its buildings. The former capital city of Georgia has buildings, which date back to before Sherman’s famed march. They have been called home by people like author Flannery O’Connor. But, some of Milledgeville’s most interesting his-tory cannot be found in textbooks or museums.

Sometimes history is found on the dusty floor of a building in the process of renovation. The old theater downtown has been in the process of being converted to usable university space and has created piles of debris. Amid the piles of wreckage consisting of dusty, broken theater appliances and old wood, a worker found a wallet.

This wallet had been left at the theater long before its close on Sept. 8, 1983, with its final showing of Space Raiders. In fact, Mary Ruth Justice, the owner of the wallet, died nearly six years before the close of the theater.

The date the wallet was left at the the-ater is one of many anomalies about Jus-tice’s life. She was born in Milledgeville, then part of Hancock County, on Nov. 27, 1920 to Horace and Willie Justice. However, she was also born an African American into a society largely intolerant to her people.

Records of Justice’s birth do not exist in the national censuses for any of the years she would have conceivably lived in Hancock County. She has no school records, prob-ably due to the fact that she would have been required to go to one of 11 area segregated schools for African Americans. Her first public record was her social security card, issued at the age of 19, four years after its

inception as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal.After that, there are records of her marriage application

and workers’ license. She married Walter Davis in 1944, an-other resident of Milledgeville. The marriage license tells us

when she was married, but both of Justice’s parents had already deceased.

From that point, until the couples’ deaths a year apart in 1978 and 1979 respectively, there are no further records. At some point, the couple

moved to Buffalo, NY, where they are both currently buried.Cindy Potts of Public Safety took the

initiative of finding out about Justice’s life. The wallet found its way to her desk

after being collected at the theater.“I have family who have been in inter-

ested in genealogy for years,” Potts said, “so I thought it would be intriguing to research her.”

Potts did more than simply research her. She put word out to nearly the entire city about Justice, speaking to other journalists, television, and radio stations. She looked up census reports, social security information,

contacted local justices, and searched for any relatives in the area.

Potts’s effort to figure out Justice’s life seems to have worked out well for her, too. Early Thursday morning, she met with a relative of Justice. In the coming week, with a photo album, a collection of old fam-ily memories, and assorted media represen-tatives from around Milledgeville, Justice’s story should be completed. Look for up-dates in The Colonnade.

PhotoS By ryan Del camPo / Staff Writer

By katelyn heBertstaFF Writer

Getting ready to rock this year on Oct. 25 for the fifth annual Sweetwater Festi-val are Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Bomb Chewey and the Blackout Farmers.

This year, the Sweetwa-ter Festival is trying to es-tablish a multitude of music genres so everyone can find something they can en-joy. Sponsoring the Music MainStage performances this year is the Bellamy Student Apartments, Miller Lite and Georgia Music Magazine.

The group headlining the concert will be Robert Ran-dolph & The Family Band, a Grammy-nominated music group. Their newest album, Colorblind features perfor-mances by Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews and LeRoi Moore. This and their pre-vious albums, Live at the Wetlands, and Unclassified, all showcase their unique music style. It was this style that got Jimmy Holder, this year’s Sweetwater Festival Music MainStage chairper-son, to consider them to be the headliner.

“Robert Randolph, with his mix of gospel and get off your ass and dance, is sure to entertain,” Holder said. “Not to mention he is the master of the pedal steel guitar and ranked in the top 100 by Rolling Stone. His show will be a must see.” The other band members are Danyel Morgan, bass and vocalist, Marcus Randolph

on drums, and Jason Crosby on the Hammond organ and piano. One of the purposes of the album Colorblind is to take the band from be-ing a good live band to be-ing a good recorded one as well. In making this album, Randolph was inspired by famous artists such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder. The band is currently on tour and is still set to perform in Boston, Mass. and Baton Rouge, La. before it plays at 9:45 p.m. in Milledgeville.

Bomb Chewey, set to play at 8 p.m., is a group that originated in Milledgeville. The current band mem-bers are Jon Joiner, Cordell Stalker, Kyle Christmas, Brad Weaver, Andy Pol-lett, Laura Dees, and Terry Bragg. The drummer, Jon Joiner, is also involved in the majority of the organi-zation and management of the band.

“We pretty much play music that people like to dance to, it’s energiz-ing,” Joiner said. “We’re a young, rather new band and we’re honored to be a part of Sweetwater this year.”

The band is already get-ting their name out. Their first gig was February 2007 and since then their popu-larity has grown. They are influenced by many bands and genres through the in-dividuality of their band members.

“The great thing about Bomb Chewey is that we all have musical backgrounds,

FALL 2008 Downtown EventsOCTOBER:

SWEETWATER FESTIVAL- Saturday 25 All the fun starts early Saturday as barbecue stands are set up, classic cars show off their engines and horsepower and numerous booths of arts and crafts line the car-free streets of downtown. Once the sun sets, the real fun begins. Three bands take the stage with a blend of folk, rock, and jam. The first to go on are The Blackout Farmers, followed by Bomb Chewey and finally Robert Randolph & the Family Band.

CAPITAL CITYWednesday 22: Az Izz Band- Hiphop, R&B band from Dallas, GA who travel around the southeast playing for fraternity parties or nightclubs in college towns doing covers of the hottest rap to oldies from James Brown.Thursday 30: Capital hosts the seventh annual Halloween Masquerade Ball. This is the biggest party of the year featuring DJ Ritchie and DJ Mays. A cash prize goes to best costume. For maximum capacity both rooms of Capital will be opened.

BUFFINGTON’S bands usually start at 10 p.m.Saturday 18: Failures of Modern Science and Ponderosa- F.O.M.S. from Atlanta blends sounds from the six-ties era and classic pop melodies to bring an alternative sound to the table. Ponderosa comes from Athens with a classic rock, psychedelic soulful sound.Saturday 25: Sweetwater weekend: Josh Roberts and the Hinges from Columbia, S.C. to entertain the crowds with its folk and jam band based style at night.Thursday 30: LazerWulf from Athens, Ga. returns to the Buff with its heavy metal instrumental sounds.Friday 31: Annual Halloween party featuring Audience Earth. This band has a unique alternative sound that can only be explained through experience

AMICI bands usually begin around 10 p.m.Friday 17: Earthbound takes the stage playing a combination of bluegrass, jazz, folk, and rock. This band ac-centuates an eclectic mix of sounds giving the crowd a surplus of sound variety.Thursday 23: Marshall Ruffin- a lone man act. He embodies a blues persona as a self proclaimed singer/ songwriter who travels around the Southeast.Saturday 25: Sol Driven Train- another great band to add to the live play list of Sweetwater Festival weekend. They’re from Folley Beach S.C. with a southern funk and melodic rock beat.Friday 31: Halloween weekend- Scott Baston a cofounder of Moonshine Still (who played at Sweetwater two years ago) comes back with acoustic sounds of blues, rock, reggae, and soul.

NOVEMBER:CAPITAL CITYSaturday 8: Luke Bryan, renowned country artist returns to Milledgeville to entertain the masses and country fanatics alike. He always gets the crowds going, especially with his hit single, “All My Friends Say.”Friday 21: Brantley Gilbert, a country artist from Jefferson, Ga. rising quickly in the ranks of stardom makes another anticipated visit to Milledgeville. His songs tell of personal accounts and pull the heart strings of all the girls in the crowd. “Rock This Town” describes the college atmosphere he loves to play in so often.

BUFFINGTON’S bands usually start at 10 p.m.Thursday 6: Buffapalooza- a spin off of Lollapalooza features three to four bands that the radio station WGUR usually covers.Saturday 8: The Captain’s arrive with their bluegrass soundsSaturday 22: Playa’s Ball with Villanova- This is an invitation only event. Workers have a certain amount of passes they can give to friends to get in. Bar hoppers can pay fifteen dollars at the door but they must be dressed up in Pimp or scantily covered outfits. The price spikes dramatically if someone isn’t dressed in proper attire. Pricing delivers an incentive to keep the “Playa” theme strong. So come on and play along.

AMICI bands usually begin around 10 p.m.Tuesdays are always karaoke night welcoming anyone who has enough guts or drinks to try their five minutes of fame.Saturday 8: Urban Sophisticates- from Greensboro, S.C. bring out an innovative hip hop sound that include jazz and soul.Thursday 13: Wormsloew- from Savannah, Ga. Invite the crowd to dance along as they jam out with a rock/ pop alternative sound.Friday 14: Lucas Cates Band- from Madison, Wis. Has named Amici’s one of their favorite venues to play at. They bring an acoustic rock pop sound to life as they return for another visit.

DECEMBER:CAPITAL CITYFriday 5: Matt Stillwell- a self made country artist looking to expand his fan base comes to Milledgeville as a new country entertainer. His single, “Shine” will keep feet tapping and head bobbing.Saturday 13: Graduation Party is held for the seniors as a last big blow out before they hit the real world.

Sweetwater Page 13

12 the Colonnade Features oCtoBer 17, 2008

“Too little... Too soon”By Chris moskalymovie revieWer

“I’m sorry Ollie, but it was just too soon.” This was the first thing I said to myself as I walked out of the ‘W.’ screening, and after pondering with that thought for the entire ride home, I can’t say that I was able to convince myself of any consolation. Generally it’s easy for film nerds like me to find something valuable in everything I see, and Oliver Stone does have a few comedic kicks to share in his latest presidential biopic, but unfortunately the result comes up a little short of memorable.

Chronicling the life of George W. Bush, Stone goes back to Mr. President’s early days as he battles alcohol-ism, a strained relationship with Bush Sr., and a spiritual reincarnation among many other factors that helped him become the most powerful man in America. With a star studded supporting cast that includes Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, and best of all, Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney, Josh Brolin brings his A-game to the set (or maybe in this case, office) as he fills the shoes of one of the most hated political figures in history.

Oliver Stone has always been one of the most notori-ous Jekyll & Hyde directors in Hollywood with plenty of glory to his name (Platoon, Natural Born Killers), along with his fair share of major setbacks (Alexander). For the most part, Stone does know how to take a good look at presidential drama (JFK, Nixon) and create satisfaction for viewers, but in an area that deserves a lot of close ex-amination and research, it doesn’t seem like this particu-lar story was taken as seriously as it should’ve been. And because I’ve been accused of outlining bigger points in smaller stories, I’m calling ‘W.’ a quick skeletal version of what could’ve been an epic biographical piece. The budget was reasonably small, production was rushed, and the quality looks “made-for-television.”

I was a little concerned about how Stone would struc-ture this project around his own personal objections to the central character, but I must give him credit; at no point

does the film appear to be taking cheap shots at Bush, or over exaggerating any of the faults his supporters would try to defend at a coffee table debate. And while he clear-ly displays every little skid mark in the Bush administra-tion, Stone does allow the heavy characterization to sort

of compliment the segments, which democratic viewers will enjoy most. He restrains from going over the top, but I could tell by the way he built several scenes that it still killed him not to let the dog have the entire bone.

While the production and structure come off rather shaky, ‘W.’ gets a lot of redemption from its performanc-es. Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) may not quite have the facial look you’d expect, but he does make the tone believable, and the emotion he brings into nearly ev-ery scene will grab you in a heartbeat, especially when he confronts his father about living in his shadow as a black sheep. It’s been said that every young man tries daddy at one point or another, but in this case, just sharing a room felt like mixing dynamite with a box of matches. And which man plays which role varies.

Being not so attached to politics, it was easier for me to see ‘W.’ for just a film more so than anything else, and despite several production gaps, it does have a good-size audience that should be able to look past all of that. It’s a simple three act show that begins with the rebellious youth, followed by a spiritual rebirth, and concluded with the presidency itself, which if I may point out, complete-ly ignores the controversy of the 2000 Election, and ends right before the pivotal invasion of Iraq. It’s decently paced, and sometimes even funny enough to keep you engaged for 130 minutes, but once it’s over... it’s over.

Had it been my job to put this project together, I would’ve easily felt that the story deserved to be told, but much like Stone’s last big show, ‘World Trade Center,’ I feel like it came way too soon. A lot of the people I know have already voted, and are ready to just move past the current election (which is nasty enough), and this film certainly won’t help anyone forget the dirty work that goes on within American politics. Not that I don’t mind sharing current events with my parents, but if it were a decade or two down the road, and all of this were a thing of the past, I would much rather have the privilege of see-ing this with my own kids and telling them what it was like to actually see it happen; “I was in college, Bush was the president, a lot of people hated him, and they made a movie about it... while he was still in office.”

: movie review rating higher than presidential approval rating

By auBrey petkasstaFF reporter

“I opened the door and I found my father huddled on one side of the toilet in the fetal position. His arm was covered in blood and he had a knife in his hand. I went in and sat down next to him and he looked at me and he asked me a question, he said, ‘Am I OK?’ I had no idea what to say-none. Because the truth was that I hadn’t always been that OK myself.”

A psychedelic experience in the Peruvian Rainforest is not where the majority of people find their God, but it is exactly where Adam Elenbaas found his, just one year before finding his dad close to death on his bath-room floor.

It was 2004. After a 24-hour ferry ride down river and a short journey in a dug-out canoe there is a mesa tucked back against the lagoon. The jungle is a symphony and Elenbaas, a GCSU alum and former creative writing professor, is about to drink Ayahuasca, an ancient ceremonial brew, for the first time.

Rewind to 2001.A rebellion that led Elen-

baas to become a strict Christian Fundamentalist—and also spiraled him into years of drug addiction--

also led him to confront his fears, his insecurities and his father.

“It was always confusing for me growing up with this sort of split between Jesus-is-the-only-way and Univer-salism, which I think was re-ally at my dad’s core. I was confused by that and I think my father grew increasingly confused by that,” Elenbaas said.

Growing up in St. Paul, Missouri, Elenbaas says his father, a Methodist minister, was the world to him though he embodied conflicting ide-ologies.

“I grew up with my fa-ther being the complete idol of my life,” Elenbaas said, “I grew up in the evangeli-cal tradition, (but) my father is what I would like to call a Protestant shaman under-

cover or a closet Universal-ist or something like that.”

His father’s favorite au-thor, Joseph Campbell was an American mythology professor and writer. His works cover many aspects of the human experience, and his philosophy is often identified with the phrase he

coined: “Follow your bliss”.In many traditionalist and

stricter fundamentalist re-ligions, Campbell’s books are seen as “pagan” or “an-ti-Christ,” according to Dr. Deborah Van Tuyl, English professor at Augusta State University and a regular at Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Elenbaas says his father’s controversial eccentric in-terests—both academic and personal—extended beyond the United States.

“My father led a study tour through Greece and Turkey. I went with him” Elenbaas said.

The tour included a visit to the Island of Patmos and into the Cave of the Apoca-lypse where John the Baptist was said to of have had his vision that became the Book

of Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible.

“There were candles lit, it was dark and quiet and all the people on the study tour were very meditative. And I saw my dad speaking to a woman. I just had this feel-ing in my stomach and in my heart that knew that it

Peruvian adventure leads former GCSU professor and almunus to a l ife changing experience

was adulterous, that it was not appropriate,” Elenbaas said.

“Later that night when we got back on the ship and left the island, I fell asleep on the deck of the boat and I got back to the cabin that night that I was sharing with my father and found two empty wine glasses and a bottle of wine. The sheets were totally a mess and I knew then,” Elenbaas said.

Adultery has at least two major impacts on the lives of the children of the adul-terous parent. It cheats the children of their sense of security and it complicates the child’s future and creates life-long scars, according to research by Annette Law-son Institute for Research at Stanford University.

An article in a 1997 is-sue of Newsweek magazine noted that various surveys suggest as many as 30 per-cent of male Protestant min-isters have had sexual rela-tionships with women other than their wives.

“My rebellion was to be-come a Fundamentalist. So I left my father’s church and became a Baptist. So, if you think evolution is cor-rect you’re going to hell, if you’re pro-choice you’re go-ing to hell. I did that whole mind-set,” Elenbaas said.

Elenbaas’s walk of rebel-lion cracked and crumbled before him. He tried to become a youth pastor at a Methodist church but soon resigned as his “secret can-nabis habit” got the best of him.

Mark Welsch, a graduate of the University of Chicago Divinity School who now works as a social counselor in New York City, believes that cannabis can be “a sig-nificant vehicle to self-real-ization.”

“I was like smoking pot when I got home and peddling Jesus to kids,” Elenbaas said. “There was something completely off about the whole thing”.

He started experimenting with drugs, lots of drugs.

Cocaine, opiates, LSD.“With psychedelics like

LSD, what I found in the vi-sionary experience was that the addictions weren’t add-ing up to the beauty and the sort of oneness and univer-salism that the LSD visions were showing me, that the mushrooms were showing me,” Elenbaas said.

“This is when I first read about Ayahuasca and went to Peru,” he said.

Ayahuasca, meaning spir-it vine, is made from a vine

found deep in the Peruvian jungle and has been used by natives for hundreds, and possibly thousands of years to rid the body of worms, parasites and evil spirits.

The drink is prepared by shamans and contains DMT, a chemical found in the brain at birth, death, and while dreaming. The brew is ingested during a sacred ceremony.

The taking of Ayahuasca has been associated with a long list of documented cures: the disappearance of everything from metasta-sized colorectal cancer to cocaine addiction, even after just a ceremony or two.

“First of all, it tastes wretched,” Elenbaas said. “An hour in though, despite the taste I was blissed out. It was the absolute most amaz-ing thing that had ever hap-pened.

“My understanding of the universe seemed to be both expanding at an enormous rate and also exploding at the same time,” he said.

Many have out-of-body experiences when working with Ayahuasca. This helps the user to face insecurities and fears in some facet of his or her world.

Adam describes his expe-rience.

“I found myself knee-deep in water surrounded by a matrix of standing Greek columns. In the distance I saw Jesus walking on wa-ter. I doubled over in fear and my whole history with Pentecostalism and being Evangelical and everything started bubbling up.”

“I was saying ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you….’ But the words were not filled with

gratitude or light or love, the words were filled with-what I heard and sensed in the vision-not thank you but, ‘I am no good, God doesn’t love me, I’m a piece of shit, and my father doesn’t love me.’

“Jesus looked at me and said, ‘Adam, love me, but don’t make me into an idol.’ And then he said, ‘My Fa-ther is the only one who has the right to judge anything and He never does.’”

A year later, after having this vision of Jesus, Elen-baas finds his father huddled in the bathroom his father asks him, “Am I OK?”

At first, Elenbaas can’t reply.

“I summoned that qual-ity of peace I found in Jesus’ voice. And I said, ‘Dad, there is nothing at stake in the entire universe. You are more than okay, you’re alive.’ And he handed me the knife,” Elenbaas said.

Adam’s father quit his ten year regime of anti-de-pressants cold-turkey after he went down to Peru and drank Ayahuasca. He is now studying at a Buddhist Mon-astery in Nepal.

Elenbaas, 26, holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Missouri, an MA in English Language and Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU.

He lives in New York City and is currently working to-wards the publication of his book, “Fishers of Men,” a memoir based upon his re-cent years of recovery work with Ayahuasca shamanism in the Peruvian Amazon.

courteSy of the WeB‘W.’ is in theatres beginning Friday, October 17.

Grade: B-

SPecial to the colonnaDeAdam Elenbaas is a former creative writing professor at GCSU.

“Jesus looked at me and said, ‘Adam, love me, but don’t make me

into an idol.’”-Adam Elenbaas, GCSU alumnus

‘W.’

oCtoBer 17, 2008 Features the Colonnade 13

if you total the number of bands all of us have played in, it’s like 35-40,” Joiner said. “With this many different genres and so many influences coming into the band we are willing to try almost anything.”

Bomb Chewey is hoping to be a crowd pleaser at Sweetwater with their local ties and refreshing style.

“Anyone who attended our first year knows we have come a long way- I mean a long, long way. Our first year of music was on two flatbed trailers, at separate heights, and we didn’t have any lights,” Holder said. “I wanted to make a nod to our roots and fill the stage will Milledgeville music.”

At 5:45 p.m. the Blackout Farmers are scheduled to appear at Sweetwater. The first band of the night is also a band with roots in Milledgeville.

The Blackout Farmers band members consist of Bob Yeti, Andrew Cooper, Don Lord and Jason Martin. Influenced by musicians like Neil Young and The Band, the genre the group plays is rock ‘n’ roll and Southern Americana.

“This year we have bluegrass with Oconee River Boys, Oldies with 120/80 Vocal Band, Country Alt/Classic Rock with Blackout Farmers, and High Energy Disco Funk Party Machines with Bomb Chewey.” Holder said.

With these three bands, the goal this year was certainly to attract bands that play a large variety of music genres. Sophomore Joseph Hoyt attended Sweetwater last year and thinks the variety of bands that were chosen this year will be excellent.

“One of the great things about Sweetwater is that you can enjoy it with your friends,” Hoyt said. “I enjoy a lot of music and I feel like Sweetwater is giving such a variety this year that there will be something for everyone.”

By april arGostaFF reporter

Europe: World War II. It was an un-thinkable nightmare. Havoc was be-ing wrecked in all of her cities as Hitler marched through determined to extermi-nate anyone he deemed unfit to live in his perfect Arian society. The perfect citizens of this utopia had blonde hair, blue eyes and straight noses. Characteristics that not even Hitler himself possessed. People were forced to live in the most unthink-able conditions to escape his evil hand. Those who were caught stood little to no chance of surviving the Nazi grasp.

What happened in Europe during World War II was not an isolated event. Genocide has happened and is happening all over the world. It will happen while you are reading this. Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur are all places that have endured onslaughts of murder and violence based on discrimination.

As Americans, we can never know the pain and suffering these bloody feuds bring to the people they touch. Now, through art, perhaps we can gain a better understanding of the plight of oppressed peoples and a better appreciation of our freedom.

The theatre department has partnered with other academic departments to hold the “Symposium on Holocaust Theatre: Staging Justice and Diversity in our Glob-al World” in conjunction with its next pro-duction “Yours, Anne.” The symposium events will encompass the Holocaust dur-ing World War II as well as past and pres-ent oppression in other countries.

Karen Berman is the chair of the the-atre department and the chair of this sym-posium.

“Because we are a teaching institution, we feel that each of our shows should be delivered in terms of both creative and scholarly information,” Berman said. “The creative part, of course, is the per-formance. We also want to deliver the critical thinking aspect so that we give our students, campus and our larger commu-nity a place to learn and deliberate ideas,

as well as enjoying the performance.”“Yours, Anne” is based off of the short

life of Jewish Holocaust victim Anne Frank who died in a German concentra-tion camp in 1945 at the age of 15.

“‘Yours, Anne’ gives us a marvelous opportunity to talk about important issues of today in terms of diversity and toler-ance. For aspects of today, we are very in-terested in exploring the genocide in Bos-nia,” Berman said. “We are also learning about the origins of the Holocaust and what was going on in Germany so that a Holocaust like occurrence will never hap-pen again.”

There are 14 events being held over the next month including actual Holocaust survivors speaking about their experi-ences, music concerts and readings. Tosia Schneider, one of those survivors, will speak before the Nov. 20 performance of “Yours, Anne” in Russell Auditorium at 7 p.m.

A photo exhibit called “Bergen-Belsen Revisited: Photographic Memoir of Colo-nel Charles Curtis Mitchell” is being held in the Wooten-Garner House gallery from Oct. 15-Dec. 15. It is open for visitors all day free of charge.

“It is an exhibit of the liberation the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp,” Berman said. “What is meaningful about this liberation is that this is actually the camp where Anne Frank died. It makes it very poignant.”

The coming together of this sympo-sium has taken the support of faculty members, student organizations, and re-ligious leaders of the community as well as The Georgia Commission on the Holo-caust and the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast.

“There are many organizations inter-ested in bettering out society now and this sort of civic engagement that allows our students to become better citizens of today,” Berman said.

All of the events include once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Everyone is invited to attend. They are all free with the ex-ception of the performances of “Yours, Anne.”

Holocaust symposium highlights victims’ hardships during WWII internment

October 15- December 15: Bergen-Belsen Revisited: Photographic Memoir of ColonelCharles Curtis MitchellPhoto exhibit in the Wooten-Garner HouseOctober 22: 6:30 p.m. Opening reception of the Bergen-Belsen photo exhibit in Wooten-Garner HouseOctober 28: 7:00 p.m. Concert reading of “Long Beach 44” in Russell AuditoriumTalkback afterward with playwrightNovember 12: 12:30 p.m. Lecture/performance by Dr. Wendy Mullen “Creation in the Midst of Chaos.” University Banquet RoomFocusing on composer Viktor Ullmann who was imprisoned and killed in a concen-tration camp in 1944.November 17: 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. Israeli playwright Motti Lerner will hold a play writing workshopNovember 19: 12:30 p.m. Faculty brown bag lunch Max Noah Recital HallSpeaker Sylvia Wygoda from the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust.November 19: 6:30-7:00 p.m. “Yours, Anne” Reception Library AtriumNovember 19-22: 8:00 p.m. “Yours, Anne” performance Russell AuditoriumNovember 23: 2:00 p.m. “Yours, Anne” performance Russell AuditoriumNovember 19: Speaker Sylvia Wygoda after performance in Russell AuditoriumNovember 20: 7:00 p.m. Speakers Tosia Schneider, Holocaust survivorDr. Amy Ross on the Bosnian Crisis and Dr. Bill Risch on Holocaust Originsin Russell AuditoriumNovember 21: Diversity panel after performance featuring Yves-Rose SaintDic fol-lowed by reception in Library AtriumNovember 22: Diversity panel after performance with Dr. Jay Hodges and Rabbi Rachel Bat-OrNovember 23: “In Their Own Words” panel including “Yours, Anne” actorsFinal event

SpotlightBy Chelsea Thomas

Amnesty International is composed of people from across the world standing up for the better of humanity. Their purpose is to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. With more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries, and complete independence from government, corporate or national interests, Amnesty International works to protect human rights worldwide. Here at GCSU, the Amnesty International group represents people from diverse backgrounds representing various political, cul-tural, and religious ideologies. They share one important thing: a be-lief that people across the world are entitled to the rights enjoyed in America. Amnesty International has successfully secured the release of political prisoners, restored the rights of minorities in foreign countries, abolished the death penalty in several of the United States and contin-ued to provide a beacon of hope for those oppressed. The GCSU Amnesty group is currently composed of 35 active student members, two faculty advisors and two faculty members. Their current efforts revolve around getting new members and expanding their already motivated base of support. They have begun their letter-writing campaign, advocating the passage of the International Violence Against Women Act in the Senate. Amnesty has also decided to help raise awareness of the Troy Davis case in Georgia, which deals with individual rights in relation to the death penalty. Their vision is of a world in which every person - regardless of race, religion, gender, or ethnicity - enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other in-ternational human rights standards. Anyone interested in joining the Amnesty RSO to help remedy human rights violations should contact Christopher Eby, the Presdient of the GCSU Amnesty group, at Christopher_eby@ecats.gcsu.edu for information, or come to their meeting Thursday at 4:45 in Arts and Sci-ences 2-40.

Symposium Schedule

: movie review rating higher than presidential approval rating

Amnesty International on campus

SweetwaterContinued from Page 11...

SportsThe Colonnade’s Guide to Athletics and Recreation

Friday, October 17, 2008 www.gcsunade.com Section Editor, Preston Sellers

THE SHORT STOP

Upcoming Sports

Soccer:Oct. 19 1 p.m. @ Lincoln Memorial Oct. 22 7 p.m. Clayton St. (Senior day)

Cross Country:Oct. 25 GCSU (PBC Championships)

“The only thing I call cowardly is when you’re up 10 and do it. That’s a coward move and he (Spurs coach Greg Popovich) knows that and I’ll make them pay for it” – Shaquille O’Neal discussing the Hack-a-Shaq strategy used against him in the 2008 playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs (Phoenix ra-dio station KTAR)

Quote of the Week Stat of the Week

9Shutouts this season by the Bobcat soccer team as of the USC Aiken game on Wednesday. This ties a school record.

The

Side

Line

Rejoice, Falcons fans. We have our guy, the man who will lead us out of the darkness and into the light. His name is Matt Ryan.

Was I skeptical at first? Damn right I was. I’m sure most other Falcons fans were too. After years and years of up-and-down play without any back-to-back winning seasons, capped off by the Michael Vick de-bacle, it seemed to me like the franchise couldn’t catch a break. I just figured draft-ing a rookie quarterback and throwing him into the fire was the worst possible solution.

Ryan has proven me, and a lot of others, very wrong. I know, it’s only six games into the season, and his career, but this is no be-ginner’s luck scenario. He has shown us his arm, his accuracy, his pocket pres-ence, but Falcons fans can already see something else that is more valuable than any of those. He has “it”.

I’m talking, of course, about that quality that cer-tain quarterbacks have, guys with last names like Favre, Brady, or Manning. “It” is what makes fans stay in their seats when the team is down two touchdowns with two minutes left, because they know that their leader can work magic when the game is on the line.

You want proof? Well, just look at Ryan’s latest game. With the Falcons fac-ing a tough Chicago Bears team, he simply torched their secondary for 301 yards, a new career high, completing 22 of 30 passes, none of which more impor-tant than the final one.

After the Bears scored an improbable touchdown to take a 20-19 lead with 11 seconds left, and their ensu-ing short kickoff, Ryan led his offense onto the field. Most young quarterbacks would look for a Hail-Mary play, trying to beat the odds on a deep heave. Ryan in-stead calmly took the snap and delivered a picture-perfect 25-yard pass to Mi-chael Jenkins on the side-line, where he could stop the clock with one second remaining., enabling Jason Elam to kick the game-win-ning field goal. That is not something that rookies do, it just isn’t.

No one, and I mean no one, would have put money on the Falcons being 4-2 after six games this season. A new coaching staff, new running back, and a rookie quarterback seemed to spell disaster for the Dirty Birds.

But what no one bet on was Matt Ryan’s talent or his will to win. Man, am I glad we have him. For a long, long time.

By preston sellers

sports editor

By sCott thompson

senior reporter

It was madness Tuesday night at the Cen-tennial Center, as free pancakes and basketball means only one thing at GCSU: Midnight Mad-ness.

Midnight Madness marks the first time that collegiate basketball programs can officially hold team practice. As do many other univer-sities, the GCSU Athletic Department annually holds the event to give its students an oppor-tunity to build excitement about the upcoming season. Men’s and women’s basketball are two of the most popular sports at GCSU, and as a result, hundreds of students and faculty mem-bers were in attendance when the doors opened at ten.

The excitement in the Centennial Center es-calated when both the men’s and women’s teams held the first event, the three-point competition. For the women, sophomore guard Mandi Dud-ish and junior guard Daniela Nopuente put on impressive shows in the finals, which resulted in a tie after one round. Following the second round, Dudish emerged victorious by a single basket. The men’s final featured two sharp-shooting guards in senior Shaun Keaton and junior Jake Rios. Keaton went on to drain eight consecutive three-pointers, and prevailed de-spite excellent shooting by Rios.

The next event featured was the five-minute drunken game, a part of Alcohol Awareness Week on campus. For this contest, former GCSU basketball players, both men’s and women’s, donned “drunk” goggles and played five-on-five with the Thundercats. As a result of the vision impairment, the former Bobcats looked like five-year-old pee-wee players, shooting bricks and airballs while the Thundercats cruised to an 11-0 win in a sidesplitting game.

After routines by the Sassy Cats and the GCSU cheerleaders, anticipation grew among those present as preparations were made for the dunk contest. In the contest, each player had one minute to execute as many dunks as possible, with as much style as possible. Guest judges for the event were Thunder, the GCSU mascot, Ryan Greene, SGA president and Pres-ton Sellers, Sports Editor for the Colonnade. This year’s competitors included two fresh-men, Marvin Harris and Michael Ross, and two sophomores, Josh Hurst and Reece Wiedeman. In the end, Hurst prevailed as a result of two stylistic slams that prompted judges to award “10’s” before his round was over.

“The skills competitions were the best part,” senior Zack Wilkinson said. “The dunk contest was fun and watching Keaton nail all of those threes was amazing. It’s gotten me excited about this season, especially since this is one of our only major sports at GCSU.”

As midnight hit, the women’s team began its warm-ups for the inter-squad exhibition game. Guest coaches for the blue and white teams were GCSU Athletic Director Jud Damon and former GCSU Athletic Director, Stan Aldridge. The game was fast-paced and featured good shooting by both sides, especially around the perimeter.

It was a good preview of what the formula will be for the women’s team in the upcoming season.

“This year, our team is more suited for play-ing up and down the floor,” Head Coach John Carrick said. “We’re three deep at point guard, which means we can run. It means we’re going

to be quicker, faster. We’ll play more pressure defense and more full court press.”

As the clock continued into the early morn-ing hours, the men’s team took the floor as many eagerly looked on in anticipation. As with the women’s game, the men’s game featured lots of guard play, including the same type of run-and-gun offense utilized by the women’s team.

“We have the best group of guards in the con-ference,” stated Keaton. “We’re going to score a lot of points, shoot a lot of threes and it’s go-ing to be a fast offense.”

Men’s head coach Terry Sellers also believes that his team has excellent guards.

“Each year it depends on personnel,” he said.

“This year we’re experienced at the guard po-sition. We’re going to run a lot, have a lot of perimeter shooting, a lot of threes and let our guards work. We need to play full court press more often and create turnovers.”

“This is one of the hardest-working groups I’ve had during preseason,” he added.

The men’s season opens Nov. 15 in Alabama at the Tusculum Tournament, while the women open at home on Nov. 21 against Fort Valley State University.

roSS couch / Staff PhotograPherFans were fired up for the events at Midnight Madness and the upcoming basketball season.

roSS couch / Staff PhotograPherSophomore forward Josh Hurst soars for a slam in the dunk contest on Tuesday night. Hurst won the event, earning two perfect tens out of the three judges.

“Madness” returns to GCSU

roSS couch / Staff PhotograPherJunior guard Shandrea Moore goes up for two against freshman guard Amanda Irwin in the scrimmage.

By preston sellers

senior reporter

The Bobcat soccer team is proving that it belongs among the nation’s best, one test at a time. This week, GCSU took to the road for two games, came away with a win and a tie, and improved their confer-ence standing.

The Bobcats were honored for their outstanding play this season with a No. 21 national ranking earlier this week, the first time in GCSU soccer history that the team has been included in the nation’s top 25.

The team was thus challenged to de-fend their new ranking, starting with a tough matchup on Saturday, Oct. 11 against their first-year coach’s former team, Newberry College. The nonconfer-ence game proved to be a battle of well-matched teams, as the 0-0 result after double overtime showed.

The defense recorded their eighth shut-out on the season, but the Bobcat offense

was thwarted by a stout Indians back line. The Newberry players seemed to feed off their emotions of facing their former coach.

“That game was one of the most inter-esting of the season, it was such a personal game for them,” junior defender Morgan Cobb said. “They basically did everything they could to keep us from scoring.”

The result was the third scoreless tie for the Bobcats this season and did not affect their conference standing, but per-haps prepared the team for their next chal-lenge, another road battle. This time the opponent was the University of South Carolina at Aiken in a Peach Belt Confer-ence matchup on Wednesday night, Oct. 15.

Based on their records heading into the game, the Bobcats appeared to be heavy favorites, but the Pacers would not go quietly, holding their own for much of the game.

The first half was frustrating for GCSU, as several offsides calls cancelled golden scoring opportunities.

“Our goal every game is to score in the first five minutes. We just couldn’t find it this game, but we had so many chances,” Cobb said. “The ref was flag-happy, as Coach (Favero) said.”

The challenge for the Bobcats became converting just one scoring chance, be-cause the brick-wall defense GCSU is known for showed up against Aiken and negated any and all offense the Pacers tried to muster.

“They never got inside our 18 (yard box),” Cobb said. “We did a great job keeping them out of our half and not let-ting them build up.”

Going to halftime scoreless against a low-ranked opponent could have gotten into the heads of the Bobcats, but they put the Pacers away early in the second period by sophomore sensation Kayla Emerson. Her goal would be all GCSU needed this night.

The defender-turned-forward has ex-ploded in her second year as a Bobcat, and scored several crucial goals when the offense has struggled.

“Kayla is so awesome. When she plays (offense), I am thinking, ‘where did this girl come from and why did she play de-fense for a year?’” Cobb said. “She has

definitely found her home on the field.”Emerson’s current totals of four goals

and four assists give her 12 points, good for second on the team behind senior for-ward Hayley Ferrell. Emerson has also recorded at least one point in seven of the last eight games.

The 1-0-1 week has the Bobcats sitting at 9-1-3 overall and 3-1-1 in the PBC, tied for second with the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, trailing only top-ranked Columbus State University. UNCP holds a head-to-head advantage after beat-ing the Bobcats 1-0 earlier this season. GCSU will face CSU in the final game of the regular season on Nov. 1.

This week, the Bobcats have their work cut out for them when they travel to Lin-coln Memorial College for a nonconfer-ence matchup on Sunday, Oct. 19. The Railsplitters are 10-1-1 and recently de-feated Newberry 2-1.

The final home game of the season will be on Wednesday, Oct. 22 against Clay-ton State University. The game starts at 7 p.m., and this will be Senior Night.

16 the Colonnade sports oCtoBer 17, 2008

By sam hunt

staFF Writer

On Friday Oct. 10 and Saturday Oct. 11, The Lady Bobcat tennis team, composed of four girls, competed in the seventeenth annual GCSU Women’s Fall Collegiate Championships.

The matches were held at GCSU’s home at the Centennial Center courts. The other schools that competed in this event were Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Augusta State University, Florida Institute of Technology, Lander University, and the University of Tampa.

In singles matches, three Bobcats ad-vanced into the quarterfinals; Seniors Mar-jorie Ceppo and Gabby Acuna and sopho-more Bertille Lion.

In the quarterfinals, Acuna played a great match against Victoria Bell from the

University of Tampa, but was de-feated 4-6, 2-6.

“It was the toughest match this semester,” Acuna said, “but I was satisfied with my performance and Coach Barsby and I were happy overall.”

Lion defeated her opponent, Kourtney Stark from the Univer-sity of Tampa, 6-4, 6-4 to advance into the semifinals. Ceppo also advanced into the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-1 win against Vuokko Vahatalo of Lander University.

Lion was defeated 1-6, 1-6 by Andrea Madrigal in the semifi-nals match. Ceppo also played a great semifinals match but lost in a match that extended to three sets against Natalia Ramos 4-6, 6-3, 3-6.

GCSU’s one doubles team of Ceppo and Lion won their first match against Mary Slade and Kourtney Stark from the Univer-sity of Tampa 8-2 and advanced into the semifinals. The Bobcats played a great doubles match against Natalia Ramos and Abby Grief of Florida Tech but were defeated 4-8.

“We played well and we are working hard every day to pre-pare for spring season,” Ceppo said.

Head Coach Steve Barsby is also looking ahead to the more important spring season, when

the Bobcats’ results will count toward a possible conference championship.

“We are doing well, but we need to work on our consistency and work on playing at a high level,” Barsby said. “We have a long break we will use for conditioning, and I think that we will be ready when spring ar-rives.”

The Lady Bobcats will continue to prac-tice and develop as a team on the brief off-season this winter. The spring schedule has not been released to date, but spring play usually begins in the first week of Febru-ary.

Coach Barsby has stated that he will be adding members to the women’s team for the spring run, so the key for the Lady Bobcats will be how these new players in-tegrate with the current squad.

tennySon moSher / Staff PhotograPherSenior Gabby Acuna returns a volley in her first-round match on Oct. 10. Acuna had a solid run in the Fall Cham-pionships, and will be a key part of the Lady Bobcats in 2009.

Lady Bobcats tune up for spring season at Fall Championships

‘Cats start new shutout streak on roadNationally-ranked defense returns to form as Bobcats climb in PBC

roSS couch / Staff PhotograPherFreshman midfielder/forward Megan McAlpin goes all out to win the ball.

roSS couch / Staff PhotograPherSenior forward Hayley Ferrell prepares to crush a shot.

roSS couch / Staff PhotograPherJunior forward Jamie Nevin battles a defender for the ball.

oCtoBer 17, 2008 sports the Colonnade 17

By taylor Ferrell

staFF Writer

As of Oct. 1, GCSU has a new cheerleading coach: Jimmy Re-dus.

The Assistant Athletic Direc-tor, Jimmy Wilson, supports the hire.

“We are very fortunate to have Jimmy Redus as our new cheerleading coach,” Wilson said. “Several of the cheerlead-ers have worked with him before and we are very excited that he was able and willing to join us.”

Redus has been cheering since 1988, when he was in high school. He went on to cheer for the varsity squad at Mississippi State University from 1990-1994. After he graduated from MSU with a bachelor’s in fitness management and a master’s in sport administration, he went on to coach the MSU varsity cheer-leading squad from 1994-1996.

He then moved to Macon, Ga. where he started the area’s first competitive cheerleading squad, Middle Georgia All-Stars. He is now vice president and all-star director of Middle Georgia Cheer Extreme, Inc., which he co-founded with his wife, Jessi-ca, in 1999. Redus also assisted with the Mercer University cheer squad in 1997 and led them to their first National Cheerlead-ers Association (NCA) National Tournament.

“I am excited about getting to know the traditions here at GCSU through the basketball games and hopefully increase the spirit here at the school. I want to start having people come out who want to cheer and help develop their talents,” Redus said. “They may not have the skills that they need to start, but we can help them gain the skills needed.”

Redus also has plans to trans-

form the cheerleading program.“I eventually want to have

more than one cheerleading squad,” Redus said. “I would like to have one squad that cheers at the games and also have a com-petitive squad with the best tal-ent on it.”

Redus heard about the part-time coaching job opening from a couple of students whom he had previously worked with.

“I’ve helped out with GCSU cheerleading in the past and was familiar with the program,” Re-dus said. “When they called and asked me to come up I felt very honored. I have a couple of kids on the squad that I had worked with before and look forward to working with them again.”

Julianna Stradley has been cheering for GCSU for two years and is excited about Redus join-ing the squad.

“Jimmy will bring a lot of experience to the squad. I think that he’ll bring in new, innova-tive ideas as far as stunting and choreography go,” Stradley said. “I’m excited because the team as a whole this year seems to be very hard working and mo-tivated. I think we have a chance of doing very well at the national competition this year.”

The cheerleading squad will start focusing on their routine for nationals in January. The first competition will be at the NCAA Nationals competition in Daytona Beach, Fla. in April. Last season the squad was run-ner-up at the Peach Belt Confer-ence Championships, but failed to advance to the final round of the Division II National Cham-pionships last April.

“I want to bring back the tra-dition of going to nationals and doing well at nationals,” Redus said. “Our goal for this year is to get in the top three.”

Athletic department picks new cheerleading coach

College Football Staff PicksPreston Sellers, Corey Dickstein, Scott Thompson, Kyle Collins, Sports Editor Editor-In-Chief Staff Reporter Asst. Sports Editor (5-4) (4-5) (5-4) (1-2)

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Ohio St.

Athlete of the week: Lyric BurnettBy preston sellers

senior reporter

The GCSU Athletic Depart-ment has named Lyric Burnett, junior forward on the Bobcat soc-cer team, its athlete of the week for the week ending Oct. 12.

Burnett had a goal and an as-sist in a 5-1 win against Georgia Southwestern, doubling each total on the season and giving her six total points, tying her for fourth on the team. This also gave her 11 career goals, tying her for third all-time at GCSU.

This award is the first for Bur-nett in her career, though not her best performance. Her standout game was against Lander in 2006, when she recorded the first hat trick in school history.

Burnett’s role has increased greatly this season from 2007, as she has started ten of 12 games so far. She had only 5 career starts until this season.

Her solid play has helped guide the Bobcats to a No. 21 national ranking and No. 3 in the southeast region poll.

Burnett