5.17.12 edition of the auburn plainsman

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INSIDE Campus » A1 | Community » 5 | Opinions » 4 | Classifieds » 8 | Sports » 7 The Auburn Plainsman A SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID ursday, May 17, 2012 www.theplainsman.com Vol. 119, Issue 1, 8 Pages Residence halls receive costly renovations TJ Harlin CAMPUS EDITOR Students living on The Hill will soon have a new roof over their heads. For the first time since the late 1980s, the roofing on all of the res- idence halls on The Hill will be re- placed. Construction on the roofs began last week and should be finished by fall semester. “The target completion date (to finish the roofs) is August 3, 2012,” said Ben Chapman, the Construction Project Manager. e project will cost $1.9 million, but the roofs should last more than 30 years, according to Chapman. e construction at e Hill will cause the parking lot for M Hall, Boyd Hall and Knapp Hall as well as the parking lot for Dowell Hall, Sasnett Hall, Leischuck Hall and Graves Hall to be closed until May 27. The parking lots serving Dobbs Hall, Dunn Hall, Toomer Hall, Glenn Hall and Duncan Hall will be closed later in the summer also. Parking can still be found in the area despite construction. “Students can park at the new parking deck at Lem Morrison and the Poultry Sciences parking lot,” Chapman said. Although e Hill will be undergo- ing changes, it will still be the home for the overnight campers that visit Auburn this summer. Sara Kate Bradfield, sophomore in apparel design and production man- agement, lived on e Hill last year and is the second generation of her family to live on e Hill. “My mom and my aunt both lived on e Hill, and it was really cool for them to move me in and tell me their stories about their time here,” Brad- field said. “I met so many new people while living on e Hill,” Bradfield said. “By the time I left for the summer, I felt like I had met every single person on my hall.” Bradfield said the new roofs are well deserved. “It’s great that Auburn is maintain- ing these buildings,” Bradfield said. “It would be great to be able to move my own children into e Hill someday.” e Hill residence halls receive a $1.9 million renovation for new roofing DANIELLE LOWE / PHOTO EDITOR The Hill residence halls have not been updated since the late 1980s. AURIC uses anti-tumor drug to research skin cancer cure New species of spider discovered on the Plains RACHEL SUHS / DESIGN EDITOR A graphic illustration of a tumor under a microscope. The AURIC is using an anti-tumor drug to research a cure for skin cancer. Toomer’s Oaks Update AU 79 AUBURN UNIVERSITY Research Initiative in Cancer Redistricting includes Shelby, Madison County TJ Harlin CAMPUS EDITOR One of the scariest words in the English language is cancer. According to the President’s Can- cer Panel, 41 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime and 20 percent of peo- ple will die from it. It is a disease that affects everyone. But researchers at Auburn Univer- sity’s College of Veterinary Medicine are trying to find a cure for the dis- ease by testing on malignant mela- noma. Scientists with the Auburn Uni- versity Research Initiative in Cancer will be working with Nuovo Biolog- ics, a biotechnology company based in Florida, to research a new anti- cancer drug. is is the first biotech coopera- tive for the AURIC. Nuovo and Auburn University have been in contact for about two years. “It’s really good that Auburn Uni- versity is entertaining partnerships with industry to do applied research and development,” said Dr. Jay Your- ist, CEO of Nuovo Biologics. “I be- lieve we have created a very strong collaboration.” ough paperwork is still being done, clinical trials of the new drug should begin soon. “The FDA has given us the opportunity to go after a condition approval for canine malig- nant melanoma,” Yourist said. “Mel- anoma is a very aggressive tumor.” Melanoma is a form of skin cancer. e findings in dogs could eventu- ally help humans. “Dogs and humans both get mel- anoma,” said AURIC director Dr. Bruce Smith. “Canines are a very good model for the human disease,” Yourist said, “(Nuovo and Auburn) are looking at animal models to translate to the human space.” Testing on dogs would be a hu- mane process. According to Smith, random dogs would not be given melanoma just for research purpos- es. “Testing would be done on peo- ple’s pets with melanoma,” Smith said. “We will offer to let them in on an experimental trial.” Smith is optimistic that the new drug will be successful. “ere is pretty good evidence so far,” Smith said. However he also added, “As a scientist I have to keep an open mind.” The AURIC is also working on many other cancer treatments, with cancer research being done across the university. “Cancer research is a university- wide effort,” Smith said. Dr. Curt Bird, a Professor of Mo- lecular Biology and Cancer Genet- ics, has an ongoing clinical trial with CONTRIBUTED Director of the Auburn University Re- search Initiative in Cancer Dr. Bruce Smith is working with Nuovo Biologics to develop an anti-tumor drug. » See RESEARCH, 2 Zeke Turrentine COMMUNITY BEAT REPORTER In Alabama’s 2010 local elec- tions , republicans took majorities in both the state House and Sen- ate, putting them in control of the committee that redraws the 140 state electoral districts as well as the state’s seven United States con- gressional districts. 2012 is the first year they will be in charge of the process since Re- construction. Representatives Joe Hubbard and John Knight of Montgomery will lose a district to Shelby Coun- ty, and Representatives Demetrius Newton and Patricia Todd of Bir- mingham will lose a seat to Madi- son County. “To move a district that’s whol- ly within Jefferson County to Mad- ison County makes no sense at all,” Newton told al.com. “I think it’s a bad move, and I think we’ll proba- bly end up in court.” House Minority Leader Repre- sentative Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said the meeting didn’t go well. “ey opened them up and ran over us no debate, no input,” Ford said. Ford also was not pleased with the quality of the maps that were passed out at the meeting, but Re- publican committee members said better quality maps would be avail- able later in that week. McClendon stressed that the plan is by no means set in stone and reminded constituents that changes may be made in this week’s legislative session. Dial said the plan kept most of the district lines in tact. “There’s three things you need to understand about this plan: It did not regress any of the minor- ity districts, it put no senators in the same district, and to the best of our ability, we kept county and city lines intact,” Dial told al.com In the Auburn-Opelika area, Di- al’s Senate plan includes an in- crease in the district populations in Lee County, District 13, for him- self and Auburn Republican Tom Whatley, R-Auburn, District 27, and a small decrease in district population in Lee County for Billy Beasley, District 28. House Districts 38, 82 and 83, represented respectively by Du- wayne Bridges, R-Valley, Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, and George Bandy, D-Opelika, will see gains in population. House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) will lose small num- bers from his District 79. e Permanent Legislative Com- mittee on Reapportionment was formed in 1990 and is made up of six members: three senators ap- pointed by the lieutenant governor and three representatives appoint- ed by the speaker of the house. is year, however, the commit- tee swelled to 22 members. Because this is the first year since the most recent U.S. census, the committee is constitutional- ly bound to reapportion and redis- trict the state. In these “on-years”, the commit- tee’s members are still appoint- ed by the lieutenant governor and speaker, but they each receive 11 positions to fill - one from each of the state’s U.S. House districts and four “at-large” nominees. Though the 1901 constitution and federal law requires this pro- cess be done after each feder- al census, Alabama did not re- district from 1901 through 1972 when the repercussions of a Bir- mingham court case, based on the 14th Amendment and various civil rights acts of the 1950s and 1960s, led to the U.S. Supreme Court deci- sion in Baker v. Carr. e state’s 35 Senate seats and 105 House spots are already set by law. is year’s plan was worked on by the committee, including the plan’s namesakes and committee co-chairmen Sen. Gerald Dial (R- Lineville) and Rep. Jim McClen- don (R-Springville), and passed in a meeting last Wednesday. The State House will then re- ceive the plan and a special legis- » See REDISTRICTING, 2

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Page 1: 5.17.12 edition of the Auburn Plainsman

INSIDE  Campus » A1  |  Community » 5  |  Opinions » 4  |  Classifieds » 8  |  Sports » 7 

The Auburn PlainsmanA SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID

Thursday, May 17, 2012  www.theplainsman.com  Vol. 119, Issue 1, 8 Pages

Residence halls receive costly renovations

TJ HarlinCAMPUS EDITOR

Students  living  on  The  Hill  will soon  have  a  new  roof  over  their heads.  

For  the  first  time  since  the  late 1980s, the roofing on all of the res-idence halls on The Hill will be re-placed.

Construction on the roofs began last week and should be finished by fall semester.  

“The  target  completion  date  (to finish  the roofs)  is August 3, 2012,” said Ben Chapman, the Construction Project Manager.

The project will cost $1.9 million, but the roofs should last more than 30 years, according to Chapman.

The construction at The Hill will 

cause the parking lot for M Hall, Boyd Hall and Knapp Hall as well as the parking lot for Dowell Hall, Sasnett Hall, Leischuck Hall and Graves Hall to be closed until May 27.  

The  parking  lots  serving  Dobbs Hall, Dunn Hall, Toomer Hall, Glenn Hall and Duncan Hall will be closed later in the summer also.

Parking can still be  found  in the area despite construction.  

“Students  can  park  at  the  new parking deck at Lem Morrison and the  Poultry  Sciences  parking  lot,” Chapman said.

Although The Hill will be undergo-ing changes, it will still be the home for the overnight campers that visit Auburn this summer.

Sara Kate Bradfield, sophomore in 

apparel design and production man-agement, lived on The Hill last year and is the second generation of her family to live on The Hill.

“My mom and my aunt both lived on The Hill, and it was really cool for them to move me in and tell me their stories about their time here,” Brad-field said.

“I met so many new people while living on The Hill,” Bradfield said. “By the time I left for the summer, I felt like I had met every single person on my hall.”

Bradfield  said  the  new  roofs  are well deserved.

 “It’s great that Auburn is maintain-ing these buildings,” Bradfield said. “It would be great to be able to move my own children into The Hill someday.”

The Hill residence halls receive a $1.9 million renovation for new roofing

DANIELLE LOWE / PHOTO EDITOR

The Hill residence halls have not been updated since the late 1980s.

AURIC uses anti-tumor drug to research skin cancer cure

New species of spider discovered on the Plains

RACHEL SUHS / DESIGN EDITOR

A graphic illustration of a tumor under a microscope. The AURIC is using an anti-tumor drug to research a cure for skin cancer.

Toomer’s Oaks Update

AU 79

AUBURN UNIVERSITYResearch Initiative in Cancer

Redistricting includes Shelby, Madison County

TJ HarlinCAMPUS EDITOR

One of the scariest words in the English language is cancer.  

According to the President’s Can-cer Panel, 41 percent of Americans will  be  diagnosed  with  cancer  in their lifetime and 20 percent of peo-ple will die from it.  It is a disease that affects everyone.

But researchers at Auburn Univer-sity’s College of Veterinary Medicine are trying to find a cure for the dis-ease by testing on malignant mela-noma.

Scientists  with  the  Auburn  Uni-versity Research Initiative in Cancer will be working with Nuovo Biolog-ics, a biotechnology company based in Florida,  to research a new anti-cancer drug. 

This is the first biotech coopera-tive for the AURIC.  

Nuovo  and  Auburn  University have been in contact for about two years.

 “It’s really good that Auburn Uni-versity is entertaining partnerships with industry to do applied research and development,” said Dr. Jay Your-ist, CEO of Nuovo Biologics.  “I be-lieve we have created a very strong collaboration.”

Though  paperwork  is  still  being done, clinical trials of the new drug should begin soon.    “The FDA has given us the opportunity to go after a condition approval for canine malig-nant melanoma,” Yourist said. “Mel-anoma is a very aggressive tumor.” Melanoma is a form of skin cancer.

The findings in dogs could eventu-ally help humans.  

“Dogs and humans both get mel-

anoma,”  said  AURIC  director  Dr. Bruce Smith. 

“Canines are a very good model for the human disease,” Yourist said, “(Nuovo and Auburn) are looking at animal  models  to  translate  to  the human space.”

Testing  on  dogs  would  be  a  hu-mane process.  According to Smith, random  dogs  would  not  be  given melanoma just for research purpos-es. 

“Testing would be done on peo-ple’s  pets  with  melanoma,”  Smith said. “We will offer to let them in on an experimental trial.”

Smith is optimistic that the new drug will be successful.  

“There is pretty good evidence so far,”  Smith  said.    However  he  also added, “As a scientist I have to keep an open mind.”

The  AURIC  is  also  working  on many other cancer treatments, with cancer research being done across the university.  

“Cancer research is a university-wide effort,” Smith said.

Dr. Curt Bird, a Professor of Mo-lecular Biology and Cancer Genet-ics, has an ongoing clinical trial with 

CONTRIBUTEDDirector of the Auburn University Re-search Initiative in Cancer Dr. Bruce Smith is working with Nuovo Biologics to develop an anti-tumor drug.

» See RESEARCH, 2

Zeke Turrentine COMMUNITY BEAT REPORTER 

In  Alabama’s  2010  local  elec-tions , republicans took majorities in both the state House and Sen-ate, putting them in control of the committee  that  redraws  the  140 state electoral districts as well as the state’s seven United States con-gressional districts. 

2012 is the first year they will be in charge of the process since Re-construction.       

Representatives  Joe  Hubbard and  John  Knight  of  Montgomery will lose a district to Shelby Coun-ty, and Representatives Demetrius Newton and Patricia Todd of Bir-mingham will lose a seat to Madi-son County. 

“To move a district that’s whol-ly within Jefferson County to Mad-ison County makes no sense at all,” Newton told al.com. “I think it’s a bad move, and I think we’ll proba-bly end up in court.”

House  Minority  Leader  Repre-sentative Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said the meeting didn’t go well.

“They opened them up and ran over  us  —  no  debate,  no  input,” Ford said.

Ford also was not pleased with the quality of the maps that were passed out at the meeting, but Re-publican committee members said better quality maps would be avail-able later in that week.

McClendon  stressed  that  the plan  is  by  no  means  set  in  stone and  reminded  constituents  that changes  may  be  made  in  this week’s legislative session. 

Dial said the plan kept most of the district lines in tact.

“There’s  three  things you need to understand about this plan:  It did not regress any of the minor-ity districts,  it put no senators in the same district, and to the best of our ability, we kept county and city lines intact,” Dial told al.com

In the Auburn-Opelika area, Di-al’s  Senate  plan  includes  an  in-crease in the district populations in Lee County, District 13,  for him-self and Auburn Republican Tom Whatley,  R-Auburn,  District  27, and  a  small  decrease  in  district population in Lee County for Billy Beasley, District 28.

House  Districts  38,  82  and  83, represented  respectively  by  Du-wayne  Bridges,  R-Valley,  Pebblin Warren,  D-Tuskegee,  and  George Bandy, D-Opelika, will see gains in population.  

House  Speaker  Mike  Hubbard (R-Auburn)  will  lose  small  num-bers from his District 79.

The Permanent Legislative Com-mittee  on  Reapportionment  was formed in 1990 and is made up of six  members:  three  senators  ap-pointed by the lieutenant governor and three representatives appoint-ed by the speaker of the house. 

This year, however, the commit-tee swelled to 22 members.

Because  this  is  the  first  year since the most recent U.S. census, the  committee  is  constitutional-ly bound to reapportion and redis-trict the state. 

In these “on-years”, the commit-tee’s  members  are  still  appoint-ed by the lieutenant governor and speaker, but they each receive 11 positions to fill - one from each of the state’s U.S. House districts and four “at-large” nominees. 

Though  the  1901  constitution and federal law requires this pro-cess  be  done  after  each  feder-al  census,  Alabama  did  not  re-district  from  1901  through  1972 when  the  repercussions  of  a  Bir-mingham court case, based on the 14th Amendment and various civil rights acts of the 1950s and 1960s, led to the U.S. Supreme Court deci-sion in Baker v. Carr. 

The state’s 35 Senate seats and 105 House spots are already set by law.

This year’s plan was worked on by  the  committee,  including  the plan’s namesakes and committee co-chairmen Sen. Gerald Dial (R-Lineville)  and  Rep.  Jim  McClen-don (R-Springville), and passed in a meeting last Wednesday.

The  State  House  will  then  re-ceive the plan and a special legis-

» See REDISTRICTING, 2

Page 2: 5.17.12 edition of the Auburn Plainsman

Campus 2 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, May 17, 2012

EDITORIALRobert e. lee Editor-in-chief Melody Kitchens Managing editor Anna Conrad Copy editorDanielle Lowe Photo editorTJ Harlin Campus editorrebecca moseley Campus reporterandrew yawn Community editorzeke turrentine Community reporter john holtrop Sports editorrachel suhs Design editornathan simone Online editor

benjamin croomes Opinions editor

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A SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID

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Auburn, Al 36849

Editor: 334.844.9021News: 334.844.9109

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dogs with breast cancer. He is working on a therapeutic vac-cine that would help the im-mune system kill the cancer.

Other researchers at Au-burn are hoping to perfect older ways of curing cancer.

Dr. Valery Petrenko, Pro-fessor in the Department of Pathobiology, is developing a chemotherapy technique that

is more effective. “Chemotherapy is very

toxic,” Smith said, “It will kill the cancer cells, but will also kill good cells.”

Smith said chemotherapy was like spraying a yard with a weed killer to kill the weeds, but killing your grass in the process.

Petrenko is working to de-liver chemo in a way that would only kill the cancerous cells.

RESEARCH» From 1

lative session will be called by Gov. Robert Bentley, who-would then confirm the plan .

From there it would go to

the Federal Department of Justice who, in accordance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, must be assured that minorities’ voting rights are not affected in any detrimen-tal way.

REDISTRICTING» From 1

Lowder Lounge offers morning brew

Lowder LoungeClassicsSmall Coffee $1.79Medium Coffee $1.99Large Coffee $2.09Small Cold Press $2.39Medium Cold Press $2.79Large Cold Press $3.09

Paninis Made to Order $4.29

auburn.edu/dining@TigerDining

#Lowder Lounge

DANIELLE LOWE / PHOTO EDITOR

The Lowder Lounge, located in the Lowder Business Building Room 0003, is open Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The menu includes coffee, pastries, snacks and sandwiches.

Events at The Jule Collins Smith

Museum of Fine ArtMay 17, 2012

A Little Lunch Music12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Film: The Mill and the Cross5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

May 18, 2012 JCSM celebrates International Museum Day

8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.May 21, 2012

Southern Artists: Selected Works by Artists Featured in Facing South

8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Zeke Turrentine STAFF WRITER

Dining services strives to offer convenience and quality to students and faculty, but a few buildings on campus have fewer choices than other.

The Lowder Business Building now offers the Lowder Lounge, a coffee shop that offers snacks, pas-tries and sandwiches as well

as coffee.The new coffee shop

opened Tuesday morning.Soloing for the summer,

barista LaTanishia Conas said there will be a full service Car-ibou Coffee bar and extended hours in the fall.

Currently the lounge has light and dark roast coffee and at least seven varieties of tea to choose from, along with

a large selection of snacks and pastries.

The menu also includes cake slices, muffins, cupcakes, paninis, sandwiches and a va-riety of breakfast snacks such as Nutri-Grain bars and Pop- Tarts.

Several sales are offered by the shop for returning cus-tomers or eco-friendly coffee tea drinkers.

The lounge offers a hole punch card for each cup bought and the eighth drink is free.

If a personal cup is brought in, a discount of $1.50 is of-fered for the first cup and re-fills are $1.15.

“I think it’s a great idea to have( a coffee shop) there so students don’t have to walk all the way to the student center

to keep them going or to wake up in the morning,” said Mark Ryan, senior in accounting.

Tyler Phelps, senior in ac-counting, said he also thinks the shop is a good idea.

“I’m going to love hav-ing it there,” Phelps said. “A drink shop right where most of my classes are will really cut down on time spent in be-tween classes running over to

the student center for some-thing.”

The new lounge is currently located in Lowder 0003 with a sign to help identify the lo-cation.

Summer hours are 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The location, menu and hours may change pending the Lowder constuction proj-ect.

CONTRIBUTED

Page 3: 5.17.12 edition of the Auburn Plainsman

Thursday, May 17, 2012 The Auburn Plainsman Campus 3

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Rebecca MoseleyCAMPUS BEAT REPORTER

Toomer’s Oaks are current-ly the focus of a set of arboreal experiments at the Universi-ty to attempt to reverse the ef-fects of the herbicidal attack from Harvey Updyke in Janu-ary 2011.

During the initial recovery process, the focus was to do no further harm to the trees.

The rapid decline in the trees’ health forced the recov-ery team to perform an inva-sive procedure involving the injection of sugars that are said to aid in the process of photosynthesis.

The way the herbicide at-tacked the trees produced an indirect effect by hindering the absorption of sugars dur-ing the photosynthesis pro-cess.

The sugar injections are be-lieved to hit the heart of the problem.

On April 4, the last update of Toomer’s Oaks showed little sign of improvement through the first sugar injec-tions.

Less than a week later, the trees showed signs of im-proved photosynthesis.

Two arborists from Ten-nessee lead the first injec-tion attempt, but the trees’ re-covery team leader, Dr. Gary Keever, and others from Au-burn plan to make another attempt within the next two weeks.

“I truthfully think that this is the only thing that will keep the trees alive for an extend-ed period of time,” Keever said.

The 49 holes that were drilled into the roots and used as ports for the injections are risky and possibly harmful because each hole becomes an entry point for potential pathogens.

Economics professor Macy Finck said the fate of the trees is unknown.

“It’s a place so special that it made a deranged outsider so jealous that he attempted to destroy it,” said Finck dur-ing this year’s Final Lecture, a ceremony that gives students an opportunity to present

the most deserving profes-sor with an award celebrating their contributions within the classroom.

“The live oaks at Toomer’s Corner may not survive, but if the attempt to kill the trees was an attempt to kill the Au-burn spirit, well the perpetra-tor should have been more fa-miliar with his Dr. Seuss, be-cause you can’t kill the Au-burn spirit any more than you can steal Christmas,” Finck said. “Trees or no trees, the Auburn family will continue to gather at the corner of Col-lege and Magnolia.”

Many specialists are cur-rently working to experiment with the recovery of the near-ly century-year-old Toomer’s Oaks.

The southern live oaks not only have survived the poi-soning, but a non-homoge-neous environment, meaning the oaks were not expected to live for so long due to the climate and temperature set-tings in Auburn.

The trees are preserved by cement walls surrounding the

flare roots which have held in the heat necessary for their survival.

“It’s just unfortunate that an entire community has to suffer the repercussions of one person’s actions,” said Francis Herrera, economis.

On May 10, a lift was used to remove all of the dead wood from the branches of the two oak trees.

Along with applying fertil-izer and root stimulants to

the soil every two weeks and ensuring adequate water sup-ply, scientists and experts have been experimenting with injections of sugar into the flare roots of the oaks.

The interconnected system of tubing began in a large res-ervoir of several types of sug-ar. Glucose, fructose and su-crose were all included.

The recovery team plans to figure out how much glucose and carbon should be present

for future injections.“I’m trying to figure out

how much glucose a healthy tree would produce and the trees weren’t healthy dur-ing the first injections,” said Keever.

He said that by measuring the area of the leaves, they can measure the rate of pho-tosynthesis in order to see if the injections are helping.

“We don’t have a road map,” Keever said.

DANIELLE LOWE / PHOTO EDITOR

The Toomer’s Oaks were poisened last January and have been receiving various treatments to attempt to reverse the effects.

CONTRIBUTED BY GARY KEEVER

Sugar injections are being given to the oaks to improve the process of photosynthesis.

Toomer’s Oaks remain in treatment

Diamond Dolls support baseball, cancer research

“ My favorite part about being a member of the Diamond Dolls is probably the friendships I made and how much fun we had at all the games.”

—Alex Boyd DIAMOND DOLLS MEMBER

Rebecca MoseleyCAMPUS BEAT REPORTER

The Diamond Dolls not only cheer on the Auburn baseball team, but they also raise money for cancer re-search.

The organization con-sists of 75 girls with seven officers, including a presi-dent, vice president, trea-surer, secretary, public re-lations who deal with mar-keting, graphic designer and spirit leader.

Outside of baseball sea-son, during the fall, the Di-amond Dolls’ conduct the Home Run Derby, an event that supports the Tim Hud-son Family Foundation.

In the spring, members work constantly to promote and market the team by wel-coming fans and by market-ing through various promo-tions.

Arriving early to games and cheering constantly are other responsibilities on game days, as well as dec-orating the baseball locker room for inspiration.

They also work with the Diamond Club, which sup-ports the development of the baseball team and hosts an annual baseball banquet.

“This past year, we spon-sored a Miracle League as well,” said Mary Ryan, trea-surer and hotel and restau-rant management major,.

The Diamond Dolls’ most recent fundraiser, the Strike

Out Cancer 5K on April 28, 2012, was organized by the Diamond Doll president, Julianna Young.

The Strike Out Cancer 5K, conducted every spring, takes place to continue the fight against cancer.

Inspired by baseball coach John Pawlowski, whose daughter Mary Lou-ise Pawlowski battled can-cer several years ago.

The goal of the fundrais-er was to raise $10,000 for cancer research.

“To plan the race, I had to fill out a lot of paper work and make contacts within the University and City of Auburn,” Young said. “The organization had to get sponsors, plan out the race route, and hire police offi-cers [ for safety].”

Not only were partici-pants asked to join, but also volunteers, donations and sponsorships were request-ed from companies such as Big Blue Bagel and Tiger Sur-prise.

The Strike Out Cancer 5K raised close to $8,000. All proceeds went to the East Alabama Medical Center in honor of Pawlowski’s daugh-ter to help in cancer re-search efforts.

To become a Diamond Doll, informational meet-ings are held at the begin-ning of September, and the membership process contin-ues throughout September.

“The membership pro-cess consists of an applica-tion and two rounds of inter-views.” Ryan said. “The first round of interviews is based on personality, and the sec-ond round of interviews is about basic baseball knowl-edge.”

Once selected, individuals maintain membership sta-tus throughout the season.

“My favorite part about being a member of the Di-amond Dolls was probably the friendships I made and how much fun we had at all the games,” said member Alex Boyd.

To find more information about the Auburn Universi-ty Diamond Dolls, visit their Facebook page.

Information on the Strike Out Caner 5K can be found at www.strikeoutcancer5k.mynetworksolutions.com.

CONTRIBUTED

The Diamond Dolls not only help with baseball games, but organize fundraisers with the baseball team.

Page 4: 5.17.12 edition of the Auburn Plainsman

Opinions 4 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, May 17, 2012

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PolicyThe opinions of The Auburn Plainsman staff are restricted to these pages. These unsigned editorials are the majori-ty opinion of the 9-member editorial board and are the of-ficial opinion of the newspaper. The opinions expressed in columns and letters represent the views and opinions of their individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the Auburn University student body, faculty, administration or Board of Trustees.

SubmissionsThe Auburn Plainsman welcomes letters from students as well as from faculty, administrators, alumni and those not affiliated with the University. Letters must be submitted be-fore 4:30 p.m. on the Monday for publication. Letters must include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification, though the name of the author may be with-held upon request. Submission may be edited for gram-mar and/or length.

The Editorial Board

Robert E. LeeEDITOR-IN-CHEIEF

Melody Kitchens MANAGING EDITOR

Andrew YawnNEWS EDITOR

T.J. HarlinCAMPUS EDITOR

John HoltrupSPORTS EDITOR

Rachel SuhsDESIGN EDITOR

Anna ConradCOPY EDITOR

Daniel LowePHOTO EDITOR

While I am pleased the ed-itorial board of the Auburn Plainsman has finally ad-dressed an important issue and an ongoing national de-bate about higher education, it is disconcerting that our es-teemed newspaper made the simplistic charge that “college education is not the answer for everyone” because of its high costs and diminishing returns, i.e., “school is more expensive than ever before” and “[t]here are fewer jobs for graduates than there’s been in our entire lives.”

I agree there are many op-portunities available for those who do not wish to earn a four-year baccalaureate de-gree. Technical schools, vo-cational training and appren-ticeships provide myriad ave-nues for success in a broad va-riety of fields.

Numerous empirical studies nevertheless show that a bac-calaureate degree is the prima-ry gateway to success and even happiness in America, outliers notwithstanding.

Indeed, many friends with whom I began my college ca-reer dropped out after a few semesters, saying college just wasn’t for them. I stay in touch with many of them today, and they all resoundingly declare they wish to have finished their degree.

We can continue to critique the costs, accessibility and re-tention issues in higher educa-tion, but it will get us nowhere.

In “We’re Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education,” Richard Keeling and Richard Hersh accurately recognize the crisis in Ameri-can higher education.

“Other priorities—high-

er rankings, growing enroll-ment, winning teams, bigger and better facilities, more rev-enue from sideline business, more research grants—have replaced learning as the pri-mary touchtone for decision making.”

More importantly, it has taken the pressure off many universities to educate their students with the best and brightest minds in the dis-ciplines. Those who remain share the burden of increasing economic strains, just as their students do.

Higher education imparts value and creates healthy citi-zenship in ways that Internet-based self-education, to para-phrase the Plainsman edito-rial board, never can match. The problems with higher ed-ucation, such as costs and ac-cess, are important, but there

are bigger problems. Keeling and Hersh’s April 12,

2012 article on insidehighered.com hits the nail on the head.

“Too many college gradu-ates are not prepared to think critically and creatively, speak and write cogently and clearly, solve problems, comprehend complex issues, accept re-sponsibility and accountabili-ty, take the perspective of oth-ers, or meet the expectations of employers.”

This is and needs to be the current focus of higher educa-tion policy discussions in our national and state legislatures, on campuses across the coun-try, and of course here at Au-burn University. Indeed these are several of the learning out-come goals for which our uni-versity now strives and which external constituencies now expect.

Our University and its col-leges excel in meeting these goals each and every year, in a state and nation with other in-stitutions all competing for the same resources. Everyone and everything today seems to be a resource: faculty, with their stagnant salaries; students and potential students with rising tuition and incremental fee increases; and various oth-er cutbacks and adjustments across the campus. But we’re all in this together, and we’re happy for a thriving Auburn University, even in lean times.

Students—student newspa-per editorial boards and elect-ed student representatives, moreover—should play a very important role in the discus-sion about the current and future role of higher educa-tion. Otherwise, we shall lack a voice in this crucial debate.

Creative solutions and a cul-tural shift will be required to meet the demands of the cur-rent political and economic re-alities and to change the insti-tutional culture of higher edu-cation.

Rather than discouraging students and potential stu-dents from earning a four-year degree, let’s have a conversa-tion about how we can make that degree more effective in the 21st century.

I implore the 2012-2013 Plainsman staff to take seri-ously this important issue in the upcoming academic year.

David Adamsdoctoral student, political science

There are many misconceptions about why textbook prices are so high.

Most people seem to blame the book publishers for the exuberantly high prices, jacking up prices to create a healthier prof-it margin.

Others cite that larger companies create a monopoly by buying smaller publishers, which allows price gouging. However, the real reason prices are so high is due to the mass selling of used books by bookstores.

Bookstores raise prices on books an av-erage of 30 to 40 percent above what they paid the publisher, a ridiculous mark up for anything manufactured.

To make things even better for the bookstores, they will re-buy students’ used books for roughly 40 to 50 percent of what the students paid for them.

They then turn around and sell them again for almost the price of a new book. However, the second time a book is sold in a bookstore the publisher gets abso-lutely nothing. Not to mention, new books bought by the bookstore can be returned for a full refund, which creates a no loss sit-uation. Then, the publishers are forced to raise their prices.

It is time this cycle stops. Instead of selling your books back to the

bookstore, donate them to a particular de-partment that can make use of them. Then professors can lend those books out each semester, not unlike high school, in that if a student loses or damages the book they are responsible for replacing it.

Will Lancasterjunior, social work

The stigma surrounding welfare struck me after a peer gave me this definition for welfare recipients: “Recipients are 95 per-cent black and poor because they are so lazy. They rob the system for their whole lives, and their handouts are about $2,000 a month.”

After hearing his interpretation, my jaw hit the floor.

With my argument, I chose to hit close to home, or campus. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families is the program most com-monly referred to as welfare.

Let’s get some facts straight. To receive TANF, a family must fall under strict re-quirements. A family cannot obtain cash assistance for more than 24 consecutive months and no more than five years over a lifetime. Parents must partake in some form of unpaid work for 30 hours a week. Lastly, the average Alabama payment is less than $300 a month.

Have you ever looked at a student on campus and thought, “This person must be on welfare?” In 2010, 128,963 college stu-dents in Alabama received a Federal Pell Grant. In all fairness of the word, these grants are a form of welfare.

Did you know in 2008, the average full-time student received $12,700 in financial aid, while a needy family of four received around $3,600 from TANF?

Imagine two incoming freshmen with a GPA of 3.7 are competing for a full-ride. Typically, the student whose single moth-er makes $30,000 a year would receive the money before the kid with a family income of $100,000 a year.

Here’s the kicker though. If the latter of the students wins the scholarship, the par-ents would not only let their child accept it, but they would brag about the free money.

In all actuality, financial aid doesn’t differ as a handout. This is why I am asking stu-dents to question the morality of their judg-ments.

We only judge what we do not under-stand.

Whether we are discussing families on welfare or students whose parents cannot afford rising tuition rates, neither one of these families asked for the cards they were dealt.

Be careful with your convictions about the poor. After all, how do you move for-ward if you are always criticized from the start?

Ashlee Murphreesenior, social work

Higher education costs no match for value of college degree

Soon, I might finally be able to attend the second college of my dreams: Columbia Universi-ty in New York City.

But how? Easy. I’ll take the classes on-

line, possibly for free.According to the latest issue

of Newsweek, Internet learning is on the rise with partnerships between major universities such as Harvard, MIT, Prince-ton, Stanford and the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania helping to spur the movement.

Companies like Coursera, Udacity, Khan Academy, the Mi-nerva Project and edX are mak-ing it their job to revolutionize the way people all around the world view obtaining a higher education by democratizing it to the masses.

Most of these corporations are making full courses and tu-torials available online for free, but some are seeking to be-come substitutes for top tier brick-and-mortar universities.

The for-profit Minerva Proj-

ect aims to fill gaps that Ivy League schools leave students in year after year: qualified to attend, but a lack of physical space at the university to ac-cept all applicants. It calls itself “the first elite American univer-sity to be launched in a centu-ry,” and while I wasn’t able to find tuition statistics, you can bet that it will undercut Yale.

Other non-profits, such as Coursera, founded by two pro-fessors at Stanford, simply ag-gregate various courses from their partner institutions and offer them online at no charge.

Some the courses you can take from Coursea include: A History of the World since 1300 at Princeton, Computer Sci-ence 101 at Stanford, Game Theory at Stanford and Social Network Analysis at Universi-ty of Michigan, among a couple dozen others.

Even though online univer-sities have yet come up with an adequate way to generate rev-enue, where there’s a culture-changing service and proper demand, there’s money some-where.

This “moving online” trend leaves physical colleges every-where in an interesting finan-cial situation unique to the 21st

century.A Newsweek article stated,

“How can top universities keep charging $250,000 for a four-year degree if the courses they offer are available online at no cost?”

This then begs the question: what the hell am I still doing at a “real” college?

I’d like to think that I’m pay-ing for an atmosphere and real-world education that you sim-ply can’t get from sitting at a computer. Some call it the Au-burn experience, but I just call it college.

This tradition of college had to change at some point, but I think few people are ready for how fast it might actually hap-pen.

President Jay Gogue, I’m looking at you.

Will a degree from an Ivy League school or other top uni-versities such as Auburn be-come less valued one day be-cause everyone with a credit card and free time will be able to work towards one?

I don’t think so. As long as you’ve got the

brains to show for it, I don’t think obtaining a higher ed-ucation will ever do anybody wrong.

Online college feasible option

North Carolina’s recent law banning gay marriage is a sign the fight for civil rights for the homosexual community is no-where near over.

Right now, the most impor-tant issue haunting most Amer-icans is the dwindling econo-my.

The opponents of gay mar-riage have blinders on, and they are not willing to see the real problems.

If gay marriage were to be-come federally legal, nothing would happen to the United States.

The idea that the sanctity of heterosexual marriage will be crippled is an imaginary issue.

Recent statistics show the current divorce rate for the United States is almost 50 per-cent.

If marriages in this country are so flippantly broken, then there is no sanctity left.

Some of the loudest oppo-

nents of gay marriage, like Rush Limbaugh, have multiple di-vorces, but they still claim they are fighting for an ideal sacred union.

Many opponents also claim to be defending their religion’s view on marriage.

What they fail to realize is their religion does not apply to the rest of the country. They are imposing their religious beliefs as though they were federal law.

They perceive a threat that isn’t real, and their response is infringing on the rights of the homosexual community.

Of course, not all religions or religious organizations have anti-gay beliefs. Unfortunately, the ones that do have the most money and political power. I am sad to say that those are the ones that help propagate and pass laws like the one in North Carolina.

The solution to this debate is quite simple.

Since gay marriage has no actual negative consequenc-es, it should be completely le-gal. The fact that states such as North Carolina are fighting against a group of people de-manding equal rights is coun-terproductive.

Many political groups claim to be standing up for our free-doms, political or otherwise.

Certain groups believe in op-pressing a minority and do not understand the meaning of freedom.

Hopefully, the future will bring equality, and all this argu-ing will look ridiculous.

The voices of people stand-ing up for the rights of the gay and lesbian community are get-ting louder.

Whatever the reasons are for opposing gay marriage, we be-lieve they are illegitimate.

They are the result of years of ill-informed indoctrination and old world fears.

Gay marriage not a threat

Bookstores source of high-priced textbooks

Welfare, grants not a sign of laziness

“ We only judge what we do not understand”

—Ashlee MurphreeJUNIOR, SOCIAL WORK

Nathan [email protected]

Page 5: 5.17.12 edition of the Auburn Plainsman

5Thursday, May 17, 2012 www.theplainsman.com Community

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Andrew YawnCOMMUNITY EDITOR

Almost 60 years later, he’s still an inspiration.

This Saturday, hundreds will gath-er at Pioneer Park to honor Hank Wil-liams at the Hank Williams Music Fest in Loachapoka.

Rheta Grimsley Johnson, a lifelong Hank fan and acclaimed reporter and columnist, will be featured at the event as she reads and signs her lat-est book “Hank Hung the Moon and Warmed our Cold, Cold Hearts.”

The book, named after her favor-ite Hank Williams song “Cold, Cold Heart,” contains personal memoirs and accounts amassed over the past few decades from fans whose lives have been touched by the magic of Williams’ music, according to John-son.

“His music has meant an awful lot to a lot of people and different kinds

of people,” Johnson said. “He’s more than just a hillbilly country singer, his influence is actually worldwide.”

A pioneer of country music and an icon of southern culture, Hank Wil-liams’ songs have resonated through-out the decades to influence legend-ary musicians such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan and John Fogerty.

And yet, his connection with his fans may be even stronger.

During her 30-year career as a col-umnist for various papers, Johnson said her occasional mentions of Wil-liams always elicited a large response from readers who felt the need to share their Hank stories.

Now that Johnson, an Auburn alumna, has published them, she said she’s getting even more of these sto-ries.

“Going around selling copies, I’ve heard a lot more Hank stories, even people that didn’t know him remem-

ber where they were the first time they heard a Hank Williams song,” Johnson said.

Johnson cannot remember the first time she heard Williams strum his acoustic guitar and croon about life, love and everything in between, but attributes this memory loss to Wil-liams having a constant presence in her life.

“So many people do remember, but Hank has always been singing (in my life),” Johnson said. “My father was a huge Hank fan so I heard it a lot in my home … I just heard Hank music ev-erywhere.”

In an ironic twist of fate, Johnson was born in January 1953 — the same month that Williams died.

”I’ve always had it in the back of my mind to do something with Hank as a central figure,” Johnson said. “I love all kinds of music … but Hank Williams, in particular, has always

been something I return to again and again.”

Johnson is quick to point out that the book is not a biography of Wil-liams, but focuses instead on how his music has affected his fans.

“There have been a lot of Hank bi-ographies already, and I didn’t want to do that,” Johnson said. “Instead it’s just a book about how (his) music sustains us.”

The book is laden with accounts of the famous and the unknown, shar-ing how Williams has made an im-pact on their lives.

A woman who listens to Williams on the radio uses his songs to learn English.

Williams’ lost daughter Jett, who was born after his death and only dis-covered her heritage when she was 20, cherishes the legacy of the father she never knew.

These are the characters of the

book, the characters of life, and Wil-liams is but the soundtrack to which they dance.

Although the event has numerous sponsors, Johnson’s book signing was specifically organized by the Mystic

Renowned journalist Rheta Grimsley Johnson to showcase book at Hank Williams Music Festival

CONTRIBUTED

Rheta GrimsleyJohnson will be reading and signing her latest book Saturday at Pioneer Park in Loachapoka.

CONTRIBUTED

Rheta GrimsleyJohnson’s fifth book focuses on Hank Williams’s effect on his fans.

Size: 2 – 4 centimetersHabitat: Underground burrowsEnemies: wasps, scorpions and humansPrey: Insects, frogs, mice, baby birds and snakesLifespan: 5 – 20 yearsBehavior: TimidToxicity: Non-toxic to humanshttp://www.animalcorner.co.uk

Summer AustinWRITER

It didn’t take a bite from a radioactive spider to give Ja-son Bond, biological sciences professor and director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, the superpowers of thorough research, diligent work ethic and speedy fieldwork results.

Since his arrival at Auburn in December, Bond led a research team through the process of classifying a new arachnid species found in his own neighborhood by fel-low researcher Charles Ray.

Myrmekiaphila tigris, also known as the Auburn Tiger Trapdoor Spider, was recently discovered in the commu-nity of Grove Hill in Auburn.

This May, open access journal “Zookeys” published the study on Myrmekiaphila tigris.

The investigation began after Ray brought Bond an unfamiliar spider specimen to examine.

After careful inspection, this spider was determined to be different from others of its kind due to its pedipalps, which is how male spiders transfer sperm.

This specific anatomical structure varies between spi-der species and is used for identification.

The research team continued to harvest spiders. According to Bond, several males were found in a

swimming pool in Grove Hill, but the females were hard-er to locate because female trapdoor spiders do not leave their subterranean burrows.

Instead, as their name reflects, they wait for their prey. Chris Hamilton and Nicole Harrison, both Auburn

graduate students, assisted in finding burrows and ob-taining female specimens.

By February, the team had described both sexes and completed the genetic component in their research analysis.

After finishing the documentation in April, the work was peer reviewed before its publication in May, a pro-cess totaling about five months.

According to Bond, how structures evolve and why species are different explains the female spiders’ selec-tive mating process.

“The females don’t look very different,” Bond said. “It’s the males that are quite distinct.”

He compares the process to birds, saying that the more brightly colored male is most often the one that females mate with because he is perceived as being of higher quality, meaning his genes are superior to his oth-er less vibrantly feathered competitors.

Females select their mate based on not only the phys-ical attributes that make the males more attractive, but ensure the successful continuation of these superior traits into the genetic code of their offspring.

“Females are driving these differences,” Bond said. “Male genital structures are evolving very rapidly due to the process of speciation and the consequence of fe-males selecting these traits.”

Bond explained that while the spider is not harmful to humans, its role as a predator to other creatures is nec-essary.

“Spiders are what we generally term an essential eco-system service,” Bond said. “If you eliminated all spiders we would very quickly be overrun with all sorts of insects

Auburn professor leads research team in classifying Auburn Tiger Trapdoor Spider

» See SPIDER, 6

» See HANK, 6

“I love all kinds of music ... but Hank Williams, in particular, has always been something I return to again and again.”

—Rheta Grimsley JohnsonAUTHOR AND COLUMNIST

Page 6: 5.17.12 edition of the Auburn Plainsman

Community 6 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, May 17, 2012

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and other things we probably wouldn’t find particularly pleasant.”

According to the 2011 State of Observed Species Report released Jan. 18 by the Inter-national Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University, there were 19,232 recently discovered species in the latest cal-endar year accounted for.

However, Bond said it is rare to find a new species in an area like Auburn that has “been worked over pretty well, where there’s a lot of people living.”

Bond said 1.8 million species have been named, but there are still estimates of 30 million species left undiscovered.

“Humans are destroying a lot of biodiver-sity and species from habitat destruction and a lack of a taxonomic education,” Bond said. “There just aren’t a lot of folks who are trained these days to describe new species.”

SPIDER» From 5

HANK» From 5

CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN UNIVERSITY

A lack of toxicity lets Bond hold the spider during study.

DANIELLE LOWE / PHOTO EDITOR

Willie Jones founded Southeast Alabama Minority Association with the hope of bettering the community one job at a time.

Local contractor repairs houses, hopesAndrew YawnCOMMUNITY EDITOR

For Willie Jones, it’s all about helping people.

After moving to New York to learn the construction trade, Jones moved back to his native home of Auburn three years ago to start the Southeast Alabama Mi-nority Association, a non-profit con-tracting company.

His company is far from average, how-ever.

The idea of SEAMA is to provide a community benefit to help the less fortu-nate members of Auburn’s community.

Like most contractors, Jones and his organization look to provide repair work on privately owned houses.

The catch is that they provide this work for free, so long as the materials are provided.

In this case, the organization focuses primarily on elderly or retired citizens who need repairs, but lack the financial means to do so.

“Here in this area, a lot of elder peo-ple don’t have the money to fix up their home,” Jones said. “They’re just bare-ly hanging on to it and (they ask them-selves), ‘Should I eat or should I fix a window?’ or ‘Should I eat or should I

freeze?’”In addition to providing aid to the el-

derly, Jones also looks to support the youth.

While locals lacking a high school diploma or job experience may have a problem finding a job elsewhere, Jones said he relishes the opportunity for his company to act as a stepping stone to a career in contracting.

Jones commands a paid staff, and he also seeks to train young men and wom-en who wish to learn his trade on-site, but can’t afford trade schools in con-struction and home repair.

“I want to train them … so eventually one day, they’ll be able to go out on their own and make a living for themselves and their family,” Jones said. “All men should be equal and share the pie, and no man should have to eat the crumbs.”

Jones also sees it as a chance to keep kids out of trouble.

“Here I heard that two boys last week were shooting at each other, but do they realize that if they had something to do, they wouldn’t be shooting at each oth-er?” Jones said. “I get them in my class training them, and that way we know they’re not getting into trouble.”

Although the name is misleading,

Jones said his organization does not re-strict who it hires or helps.

“We’re not looking for minorities alone. I’ll train anybody, because the way I look at it, we’re all God’s children,” Jones said. “I don’t care what color your skin is. You’ve got feelings just like every-body else; you bleed just like everybody else.”

To train them, Jones draws on more than 30 years of experience from his time spent in New York.

While in New York, Jones bounced from city to city gaining experience in a variety of areas.

After building motors for General Electric in the 1970s, he switched into the contracting business learning every-thing from roofing to winterizing to lay-ing foundations.

Now Jones said he wants to get back to his roots and take on a more philan-thropic role in the community.

One particular goal of his reaches be-yond mere repair work.

“I want to make a difference here in Al-abama,” Jones said. “If this organization takes off … I’m going to build a building so if someone is elderly or homeless or down and out, we’ll be able to give them a (place to stay).”

Order of East Alabama Fiction Writers, a lo-cal group of writers who have come to know Johnson over the years.

“We’re one of the sponsors, and we went around and got the other sponsors who are participating,” said Marian Carcache, member of the Mystics.

Group member Gail Langley said her sup-port of Rheta is not just because of their friend-ship, but also her writing ability.

“She’s a wonderful wordsmith and she charms everyone with her writing,” Langley said. “Rheta is one of the more famous writers to graduate from Auburn.”

For Johnson, however, the event is all about Williams.

She’s simply happy to have gotten the oppor-tunity to write about her muse.

Johnson compares Williams’ music to vita-mins, saying that the older she gets, the more

she needs his old-time ballads.“I’ve enjoyed this, especially the writing of

the book, because it gave me an excuse to lis-ten to Hank in the name of duty every night,” Johnson said.

The event is free and will also showcase mu-sic by Wiregrass and Helen Boudreaux, anoth-er Williams fan.

Wiregrass is a local bluegrass band and Hel-en Boudreaux, another friend of Rheta’s, will bring her cajun-country musical stylings to the stage.

Attendance for the event is free, and pop-corn, peanuts and beer will be sold at the event.

Johnson is scheduled to read excerpts of her book at 4 p.m.

The bands are scheduled to play before and after the reading with event officially starting at 3:30 p.m.

After the reading, Johnson will remain on-hand to sell and sign copies of the book for her fans.

The festival is scheduled to end at 6 p.m.

Page 7: 5.17.12 edition of the Auburn Plainsman

7Thursday, May 17, 2012 www.theplainsman.com Sports

Sports

Men’s golf grabs top seed in NCAA RegionalJohn HoltropSPORTS EDITOR

No. 3 men’s golf enters the NCAA Greensboro Regional with the top seed in a 14-team field.

The regional will be held at the Grandover Resort East Course in Greensboro, N.C. on Thursday, May 17-19.

Of the 14 teams in the Greensboro Regional, four are ranked in the top 25.

“It is going to be a tough field,” said coach Nick Clinard. “I know that Duke has played at Grandover, but I don’t think that is much of an advan-tage. At the bottom of the field is SMU who has played well all year. Texas Tech is the No. 8 seed and they have already beaten us this year. We need to go out there and play with fire and stay on top of these teams.”

Auburn has made a NCAA Region-

al in the past three years under Clin-ard.

“For the guys that have played in one of these regionals, they know what they are all about,” Clinard said. “We have to come into our own skin and take it like any other tournament. We play to win and that is what we plan on doing in Greensboro.”

Clinard said his team is ignoring the top seed and looking to compete, regardless of predetermined ratings.

“It doesn’t mean much to us. It is always nice to be put in the spot-light with the top seed, but it is all the same,” Clinard said. “It doesn’t matter what seed you are, the ultimate goal is to go out there and win.”

Red shirt junior Blayne Barber leads the Tigers with a 70.66 stroke average, the lowest of all active SEC players and lowest single-season av-erage since Buddy Gardner in 1976.

Barber said with teams like The University of Nevada, Las Vegas and The University of Florida make it tough to win, but it comes down to

how well the team plays, regardless of the opponents.

“The biggest thing is to focus on winning this weekend and ignoring the next round,” Barber said. “Playing well is a result of the effort that we put in today, and it is more than just a sin-gular effort.”

“Winning in golf is everyone play-ing their best at the same time. We have had some great preparation this past week or so, playing at the Au-burn University Golf Club and Farm-Links in Sylacauga. We are ready for anything.”

Junior Dominic Bozzelli will be playing in his second NCAA Regional for the Tigers and said he plans to use last year’s loss for motivation.

“Years past do not do much for us,” Bozzelli said. “We all need to play better because everyone else will. It comes down to just taking care of

business.”Bozzelli has won twice this year,

back-to-back at the U.S. Collegiate and the Gator Invitational.

Bozzelli said he will use the posi-tives and negatives from those tour-naments to prepare him for the Greensboro Regional.

“Drawing from experience and looking back at what we have done, we can use that to help our game,” Bozzelli said. “I need to get my swing ready, as well as everyone else. We are all pretty excited to go in there and prove to everyone what we can do.”

The top five teams and the lowest scoring individual player not on a top five team will qualify for the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Ca-lif., May 29-June 3.

CONTRIBUTED BY TODD VAN EMST

Sophomore Daniel Stringfellow takes practice swings in Auburn. The Tigers will join a 14-team field in the NCAA Greensboro Regional on Thursday.

Justin LeeWRITER

One is right-handed, the other is left-handed.One plays infield, the other plays outfield.One came to Auburn from Miami, while the

other is from Canyon County, Calif.They may appear to have differences between

them, but senior shortstop Lauren Guzman and freshman outfielder Branndi Melero have much in common.

Guzman was voted to the All-SEC second team by the league’s coaches, while Melero was named to the conference’s All-Freshman team.

“I am very happy for Lauren and Branndi,” said coach Tina Deese in a press release. “(Guz-man) has had a very good season, both defen-sively and offensively, and I know this means a lot to her.”

Deese also commended Melero for her ac-complishments.

“We are all happy for Branndi,” Deese said. “It’s not easy for a freshman to come in and have a lot of success in this league.”

Both Melero and Guzman echoed their coach’s sentiments.

“It’s a huge honor,” Melero said. “It was so exciting, because I was really like ‘I’m coming here, I want to set goals’ and in getting that, it was the most amazing feeling ever.”

For Guzman, the honor represents a culmi-nation of years of hard work.

“It feels good because I worked hard,” Guz-man said. “Not only this year, but I worked hard all four years that I was here.”

Other than the awards and accolades, Guz-man and Melero have found themselves shar-ing a strong, common bond.

“Since Branndi first got here, I took her under my wing like a little sister,” Guzman said.

What started as an act of senior leadership developed into a friendship.

“I met Lauren on my official visit out here,” Melero said. “She pretty much took me under her wing and showed me around the school, in-troduced me to people and we both are Hispan-ic so we were able to connect very well.”

The teammates’ bond have also found its way on to the field.

“We’ve only played together for a year, but we were able to figure each other out quickly,” Me-lero said. “We speak Spanish to each other on the field, so it’s easy for us to be like ‘Be here, be here.’”

Even though their first and only regular sea-son as teammates has ended, the pair will make one last run together as Auburn travels to Aus-tin, Texas, for the first round of the NCAA Re-gionals at 1 p.m. on Friday.

Regardless of how Guzman’s senior postsea-son turns out, her influence will remain on the Plains for years to come through a young fresh-man.

“I guess I pretty much follow what she does,” Melero said. “She’s a big role model to me. She’s an amazing athlete, and just seeing her play, in a sense, makes me want to play just the way she plays, just like her.”

“We have to come into our own skin and take it like any other tournament. We play to win and that’s what we plan on doing in Greensboro.”

—Nick Clinard HEAD COACH

Two teammates, friends earn SEC honors

CONTRIBUTED BY TODD

VAN EMST

Freshman outfielder Branndi Melero (top) ands senior short-stop Lauren Guzman (right) were selected to the SEC All-Fresh-man team and the All-SEC second team re-spectively. Both hon-ors were selected by SEC coaches. Auburn will face Houston in the NCAA Austin Re-gional for the first time in school history. The game is set for Fri-day, May 18 at 1 p.m.

“We’ve only played together for a year, but we were able to figure each other out quickly”

—Branndi Melero FRESHMAN OUTFIELDER

Page 8: 5.17.12 edition of the Auburn Plainsman

Sports 8 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, May 17, 2012

LEGAL NOTICE

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Crossword

Upcoming Auburn Sporting Events

Men’s Golf

Men’s Golf

Track & Field

Track & Field

Baseball

Baseball

Softball

Softball

Wednesday 23 Thursday 24

NCAA Greensboro Regional

NCAA Greensboro Regional

NCAA Greensboro Regional

NCAA Austin Region-al vs. Houston 1 p.m.

Florida 1 p.m.Florida 6 p.m. Florida 6 p.m.

SEC Tournament Birmingham, TBA

SEC Tournament Birmingham, TBA

SEC Tournament Birmingham, TBA

NCAA PreliminariesAll Day

NCAA Super Regionals TBA

Thursday 17 Saturday 19Friday 18

Tuesday 22