The Western FrontTuesday, December 1, 2009 Volume 148, Issue 19

An independent student newspAper serving western wAshington university since 1970 | westernFrontonline.net

THE ROGUE HERO'SFINAL HURRAH

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Many students hired to work at Western’s dining

halls this year will be left with a sour taste in their mouth when fall quarter ends.

Lisa Philbrook, director of business Develop-ment for University Dining Services, estimates 10 of Fairhaven Commons’ 95 student employees will be laid off before the start of winter quarter—fresh hires from fall will make up the bulk of the layoffs—and no em-ployees hired this school year will receive a raise at any dining hall.

Layoffs at Ridgeway and Viking Commons might turn out to be unnecessary.

Sodexo manages University Dining Services. So-dexo employees are required to reach a quota of three shifts per week, and management at Fairhaven has already recognized that next quarter there will not be

enough work to go around.

Philbrook said a weak economy has kept student employees

from leaving their jobs at the dining halls.“This year we’ve seen students hold on to their

jobs more consistently,” she said. “It would not be rea-sonable for them to reach the quota if we kept the same number of employees.”

It is typical for the dining halls to need fewer em-ployees as the school year progresses because Western students tend to drop their meal plans. Usually, a suf-ficient number of employees decide voluntarily to stop working, so there are enough shifts available for winter quarter.

This year, the departure of some student workers will not be a question of choice.

Layoffs

University Dining Services will eliminate new student workers before winter quarter

Anna AtkinsonTHE WESTERN FRONT

James Schultea, 45, confessed to strangling 41-year-old Rubey Erickson and leaving her body by a pond in a wooded area near West Bakerview Monday, Nov. 23, during a follow-up interview with po-lice Tuesday, Nov. 24, Mark Young of the Bellingham Police Department said.

The pond was near the site of a home-less camp, Young said.

Schultea called police himself on Monday and reported finding Erickson’s body near a pond, Young said.

He told police that he and Erickson, along with another man whose identity police have not released, had been dis-cussing failed relationships and that Er-ickson had become angry with the two men, Young said.

Young said Schultea told police he had not seen Erickson between the time of the conversation and the finding of her body.

During the follow-up interview, Schultea told police he and Erickson had gone to a tent within the homeless camp on Monday and had a few drinks, Young said. Schultea told police that Erickson was emotional and crying about failed re-lationships, Young said.

Schultea told police he strangled Er-ickson in her sleep later that night. He told police he wanted to stop Erickson’s hurt-ing, Young said.

Young said Schultea told police he had placed her body naked near the pond to throw off investigators.

A second hearing is scheduled for Schultea on Friday, Dec. 4.

Stranglingsuspect arrested

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Sakeus BanksonTHE WESTERN FRONT

Police are offering a reward for in-formation concerning the death of Bryan Marriott, who was shot and killed the night of Nov. 20, at the intersection of North Garden Street and Ivy Street, according to Public Information Officer Mark Young of the Bellingham Police Department

There have been no new develop-ments in the case, Young said, but police have received phone calls that detectives are following up on. They have yet to de-termine any motive behind the shooting or the identity of the shooter.

Anyone with information about the shooting should call Detective Daniel Kelsh at (360) 778-8815.

Reward offeredfor information on drive-by shooting

Caleb HuttonTHE WESTERN FRONT

VIKINGS TOPPLE OPPONENTS IN WEEKEND SERIES

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NeWs2 | Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | The Western Front

See more online at www.westernfrontonline.net

Cops Box

University Police

Nov. 27• At 3:40 a.m., UP arrested

an 18-year-old man driv-ing on Wilson Avenue on suspicion of outstanding warrants.

• At 12:25 p.m., UP was informed of a student at KUGS radio who received a threatening phone call.

Bellingham Police

Nov. 27• At 1:41 p.m., officers

responded to a robbery on the 500 Block of West Holly Street. The victim was assaulted and had his fishing pole taken from him. He received minor injuries.

• At 2:38 p.m., a women was arrested on suspicion of malicious mischief on the 300 Block of West Illinois Street. She had reported-ly microwaved her boy-friend's DVDs.

Nov. 30• At 8:49 a.m., Bellingham

Police responded to a citi-zen request for information concerning the belief that someone was attempting to gain access to their Internet connection.

Cops Box compiled by Andrew Lang

THe WesTeRN FRONTWestern Washington University

Communications Building 251Bellingham, WA 98225

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EDIToRIAl DEPARTMENT (360) 650-3162

Editor in chief ............................................................ Rebecca Rice, editor@westernfrontonline.netManaging editor ..................................... Audrey Dubois-Boutet, managing@westernfrontonline.netNews editor .......................................................... Nicholas Johnson, news@westernfrontonline.netNews editor ............................................................. Kipp Robertson, news@westernfrontonline.netArts & Life editor ................................................ Chris Collison, artsandlife@westernfrontonline.netArts & Life editor ......................................... Elizabeth Olmsted, artsandlife@westernfrontonline.netSports editor ............................................................. Kevin Minnick, sports@westernfrontonline.netOpinion editor ....................................................... Tristan Hiegler, opinion@westernfrontonline.netPhoto editor ............................................................... Skyler Wilder, photo@westernfrontonline.netOnline editor .............................................................. Alex Roberts, online@westernfrontonline.netCopy editor .................................................................... Julia Means, copy@westernfrontonline.netCopy editor ............................................................. Jeremy Schwartz, copy@westernfrontonline.netFaculty adviser ........................................................................... John Harris, john.harris@wwu.edu

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The Western Front is published twice weekly in the fall, winter, and spring quarters and once a week inthesummersession.TheWesternFrontistheofficialnewspaperofWesternWashingtonUniversity,published by the Student Publications Council and is mainly supported by advertising. Opinions and stories in the newspaper have no connection with advertising. News content is determined by student editors. Staff reporters are involved in a course in the department of journalism, but any student en-rolled at Western may offer stories to the editors. Members of the Western community are entitled to a single free copy of each issue of the Western Front.

American School and University magazine has awarded Western the 2009 Green Cleaning Grand Award for Schools and Universities, the top award nationally in the category.

The Green Cleaning Network, Amer-ican School and University magazine and Healthy Schools Campaign sponsor the award.

According to University Communi-cations, Western’s Academic Custodial Services has been recognized nationally as a leader in the green-cleaning move-ment for nine years. Custodial Services has made numerous efforts to improve its cleaning practices, such as ridding itself

of petrochemical cleaning products and employing the use of compostable trash liners.

The December edition of the nation-ally distributed magazine will feature the award.

Western nurses will administer free H1N1 vaccines to eligible students and staff Wednesday, Dec. 2, in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room.

Wednesday’s vaccination clinic will last from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. A second clinic will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7, in the Vi-

king Union Multipurpose Room.

Eligibility:• Western students and staff 64 years of age and younger with chronic medical

conditions that place them at risk for complications from the flu are eligible for the shot only.

• Western students and staff 24 years of age and younger are eligible for the in-tranasal vaccine.

• Western students and staff 49 years of age and younger with household contact with an infant under 6 months of age are eligible for the intranasal vaccine.

• Western students and staff who are pregnant are eligible for a preservative free vaccine. They are eligible for the shot only.

Western to offer two H1N1 vaccination clinics

Custodial Services receives national 'green' award

A recently published book acknowl-dges Western's Fairhaven College of In-terdisciplinary Studies as one of Ameri-ca's four colleges that embody the future of higher education.

Professor Charles Muscatine of the University of California at Berkeley pub-lished “Fixing College Education: A New Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century” through the University of Virgina Press.

Muscatine writes of how Fairhaven's model of education anticipated the Asso-ciation of American Colleges and Univer-sities' “best practices,” specified in a re-port titled “College Learning for the new Global Century.”

Book praises fairhaven

News briefs compiled by Nicholas Johnson

Western senior Collin Stackhouse and junior Erika Redzinak strike a pose for junior Christian lawrence as part of a petition supporting the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. Stackhouse and Redzinak wandered around Red Square taking pictures of people posing with a mock Christmas list asking for clean energy, which they intend to send to Washington state Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.

photo by Rhys Logan THE WESTERN FRONT

NEWS | 3westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • December 1, 2009

How might the killing of four police officers, following the murder of a Seattle police officer on Halloween, affect the morale of police along the entire west coast of the state?

Do you think these police killings will continue? Is this a pattern? Are the two cases similar?

Police are calling this event a planned ambush. What might you speculate could be some common, possible motivations to drive someone to commit an act such as this?

Democratic values are always at risk when there are random acts of violence. It’s hard to keep the system open. When police are being targeted, it’s bad for everything. Police, as human beings with families, so much of their work isn’t about violence and using force...When police are on the defense, a lot of that work that is already socially undervalued is increasingly at risk. I just worry about the relationship between police and [citizens], because not all of it is negative. All of the positive features are put at risk when [police] are targeted.

Sociology professor discusses:police murders in Parkland

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Jessica BaderTHE WESTERN FRONT

It’s too easy to psychologize based on the background of this “person of interest." Without direct evidence to link him to the event, I don’t think it’s fair to infer based on his past that he is likely to have done this. It has to be based on evidence, not his past.

I hope that pattern doesn’t emerge. I don’t think the police have said anything to suggest this either. I don’t think there is any connection or that these two constitute a pattern—they are just two unfortunate incidents that are similar in place and time—no evidence to infer a connection.

On Sunday morning in Parkland, four Lake-wood, Wash., police officers were killed in a cof-fee shop before their shift began. The suspect, Maurice Clemmons, is still at large. The Western Front sat down with Western so-ciology professor Ron Helms to discuss the recent murders in Washington.

4 | NEWS Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | The Western Front

Emily linrothTHE WESTERN FRONT

Construction is changing the face of campus as new landscaping and bike pathways focus on sustainable groundskeeping rather than simply keeping up appear-ances.

The appearance of the grounds is the second reason students choose a school, according to Kathy Wetherell,

interim vice president for Business and Financial Affairs at Western.

Groundskeeping methods at Western depend on bal-ancing appearance with sustainability, two concepts that are not always compatible. Despite a tight budget and a small staff, groundskeepers from Facilities Management at Western are building a sustainable groundskeeping pro-gram literally from the ground up. These gardeners have spent the last decade reducing pesticide use, testing or-

ganic fertilizers and experimenting with creative ways to control weeds.

Many of the groundskeeping decisions on campus come down to money, said Gary Hodge, a maintenance specialist with Facilities Management. Some of the more innovative methods have been cheaper and more sustainable than conventional ones, but others are not as feasible because appearance outweighs their cost or effi ciency.

finding a happy medium: sustainability vs. appearanceWestern's Facilities Management struggles to balance differing groundskeeping methods

Pesticides:• are used only on Carver fi eld, behind the Chemistry Building, and upper and lower Fairhaven fi elds, not the softball or turf fi eld• need to be applied approximately once every fi ve years per fi eld• need one application to halt weed growth so grass can re-establish roots after fi elds are torn up by overuse• close fi elds down for one to two months for renovation• increase potential risk to utility crews who apply them (as op-posed to not using any pesticides)• increase potential risk to organisms and water quality• are more expensive than natural alternatives• will need to be applied more often as the campus population grows and fi elds get more use

Athletic fi elds: pesticides and fertilizersThe athletic fi elds are the only areas on campus still treated with both chemical fer-

tilizer and pesticides because they receive so much use, said Gary Hodge, a maintenance specialist with Facilities Management. Ruts and gouges tear up grass and are a safety hazard for players, so the fi elds were temporarily closed for treatment.

Organic fertilizers:• reduce the amount of chemicals applied to fi elds• produce slower-growing grass• lead to grass that holds less color• lead to less homogenous- looking fi elds• are more expensive than synthetic fertilizers

Wood chips versus bark:Instead of using bark, Facilities Management now uses wood chips donated by

Bellingham tree services on most areas of campus. Crews fi rst lay corrugated cardboard from the Associated Students Recycle Center on soil, then put several inches of wood chips on top. Water can permeate the cardboard, but weeds have a harder time growing up through cardboard than through bark, said Randy Godfrey, a grounds and nurseries specialist with Facilities Management. This allows Western to support local businesses and maintain campus in a more effective and sustainable manner, Hodge said.

Wood chips:• are free from local tree services• prevent weed growth for at least two years in areas covered with cardboard and wood chips• last several years before breaking down• hold more moisture than bark, so plants need less water• are moist and benefi t soil as they decompose• do not have places for weeds blown in by wind to attach (unlike bark), so fewer weeds grow• are donated, so there are not always enough to cover large areas• do not have as homogenous a look as traditional bark

Fir bark:• costs $24 per cubic yard• breaks down after approximately one year• is still used around places such as the Wade King Student Recreation Center, because the desired consistent look cannot be achieved with wood chips

Chemical fertilizers:• are cheaper than organic fertilizers• put more chemicals into the soil• result in more pristine-looking fi elds

NEWS | 5westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • December 1, 2009

Western sophomore Casey Cobb, who started working as a card-checker fall quarter, said he fears for his job because he had two minor write-ups earlier in the quarter.

Cobb said managers seemed unhappy when the cuts were announced at a safety meeting in mid-November.

“One of the [managers] said, ‘Usu-ally when we evaluate [Dining Services employees], it ends in a pay raise, but this time it might end in a layoff,’” Cobb said.

Philbrook said new workers used to receive a pay raise each time Washing-ton’s minimum wage increase, and raises did not take into account how well new employees performed. But this year is go-ing to be an exception on both counts, she said.

“The only people that are currently not eligible for an increase are brand new,” she said.

Approximately 375 employees start-ed working for Dining Services fall quar-ter. Fewer than 200 are returning from last year. The latter are eligible for a 5

percent to 10 percent raise depending on their performance.

No new employees will be hired for winter quarter. Philbrook said she has turned away several qualified applicants.

“I’ve had to say to them we’re full,” she said. “And at the moment, we’re more than full.”

Right now, Philbrook said managers are still waiting to see how many students will stop working at the dining halls, so figures on the layoffs are not exact.

“The fewer positions we have to eliminate, the better,” Philbrook said. “This is not something we’ve had to do in the past.”

Sodexo is contracted to run Western’s dining halls through 2012.

Ira Simon, director of University Dining Services, declined to comment on the layoffs.

Several student employees also de-clined to comment, fearing they would lose their jobs. Philbrook said one of So-dexo’s policies, the “Promise of Respect and Fair Treatment,” allows employees to voice any unfairness concerns to manage-ment.

LAYOFFS: Employees hired fall quarter will not receive a pay raise

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photos by Rhys Logan THE WESTERN FRONT

ToP: Western junior and Dining Services employee William Appert refills plastic hold-ers with drinking glasses in the Viking Union Monday. Appert works seven hours a week in the dining hall. "I put away a lot of dishes and organize stuff," Appert said.

lEfT: Dylan Rondeau and Manager Rhea Woolley swipe student ID cards in the Viking Union. Rondeau works nine hours a week for Western's Dining Services, and said he enjoys all the people he sees throughout his shifts.

"one of the [managers] said, 'Usually when we evaluate [Dining Services Employees], it ends in a pay raise, but this time it might end in a layoff.'"

Casey CobbWestern sophomore

6 | NEWS Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | The Western Front

How does re-purposing library space by moving col-lections around help the library, and how do you feel that maintains the core mission of the library?

If you were to walk around the library, you would see we’re maxed out in terms of collection space. We have a lot of valuable materials, [and] wecan’tevenplacetheminacoherentwaythatallowspeopletofindwhat they’re looking for when they go through the building. We are looking at off-site storage for some of the materials. Right now we are looking at what materials are low usage but still have value to the cam-pus.

If the collection was more digitized, do you think you could utilize the space better?

In my view, you see the trend that journals are going to be digitized, and more are going to be archived digitally, so over time they are going to be less of them physically in the building. More collections are going to be online, which is the way most students and faculty are going to want to access that type of information. When it comes to books, print books aren’t going anywhere.

Would adding more computer labs and student study space affect the core mission?

In my view they don’t. You’re never going to have enough computers for student requests; we know this from the labs on campus and the number of laptops we have in circulation. But students now study in front of a computer; they use computers to digest knowledge, to create presenta-tions. I think what we’re looking for is to sort of catch up to things.

Chris WoodTHE WESTERN FRONT

Western history professor Johann Neem wrote an article for an online newspaper, Inside Higher Ed, called Reviving the Academic Library, published Nov. 19.

Neem said libraries are moving away from their core mis-sion of aiding the scholarly work of the university in an attempt to attract more people.

However, Dean of Western Libraries Christopher Cox said he believes the library's shift toward user-friendly use of space and electronic collections poses no real threat to the core mis-sion of Western Libraries.

Do you see Western Libraries moving away from their core mission of providing scholarly research for universities?

I think that it’s both yes and no. On one hand there’s a lot of committed people working in the library that are thinking to build the collection, to make it more accessible to students and for faculty. But around the nation—this is true at Western too—there is this desire to transform the library to be, in a way, more consumer friendly and to use the limited resources libraries are provided to do these other things.

Could you give an example of how libraries are mov-ing away from their core mission?

There was a recent revolt at Syracuse University in New York, where students and humanities faculty prevented the library from moving sig-nificantportionsoftheirstackoutofthelibraryinordertodevelopwhatthey would call a new learning commons. Both students and faculty said wait a second, it’s not that we’re against student-centered learning, but thelibraryneedstodocertainthingswellfirst.Andtherewasafearthatthe library was moving away from its core mission by moving its actual collections to make room for other things.

As more archives go online, do you see the need for more computer labs?

One of the arguments is that those of us who think of archives as materials on the shelf don’t really understand how the world is changing. We really don’t know how well electronic archives are going to be preserved. So one of the challenges with journals or books or old records [is that] there isn’t a clear understanding if they will be available 100 years from now.

Professor critiques libraries' core mission

Western history professor Johann Neem.photo by Hailey Tucker THE WESTERN FRONT photo courtesy of University Communications

Dean of Western libraries Christopher Cox.

NEWS | 7westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • December 1, 2009

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Talithia TaitanoTHE WESTERN FRONT

Students will get the chance to take classes for an open water diving certifi cation through the Associated Students Outdoor Center starting spring quarter. Western signed a contract Sept. 29 with local scuba diving company, Gone Diving.

Frederick Collins, AS Outdoor Center manager, said the approval process for the program took two years. He said he is excited about it after its 35-year absence from Western.

Charlynn Sutton, owner of Gone Diving and div-ing class instructor, said she wanted the class to start in winter quarter, but Collins said they still have a great deal of promotional work and details to work out. He said the class will be in better shape spring quarter.

“It was a slow, long two-year process, but it was a process that had to happen because this is a highly

dangerous sport —high risk, high liability for every-one involved,” Collins said.

The class will cost approximately $350, which covers the cost of instruction and scuba gear rentals.

Gone Diving will offer a package deal for students in the class for their personal gear such as fl ippers, scuba masks

and mouth pieces, Sutton said.Collins said the former excursions coordinator for the

Outdoor Center mentioned having a diving class two years ago. Collins said he then did some research to see what he needed to do to make it happen. The Outdoor Center requested area scuba diving companies submit a detailed proposal of how they would operate the class within the center's fi nancial constraints, Sutton said.

The class is the entry level of open water diving, in which students will receive an open water certifi cate and dry suit certifi cate, Sutton said. A dry suit is needed during times of cold weather because of its insulation. The suit requires special training to handle the air source within the suit that holds air from the oxygen tank before allowing the diver to inhale.

Obtaining the open water certifi cation will permit the students to dive to a maximum depth of 60 feet in open water compared to the maximum recreational depth of 130 feet. Be-ing certifi ed for deeper depths allows other options for differ-ent types of diving, she said.

“It’s amazing how much diving opens up opportunities for you,” Sutton said.

Once a person advances to higher levels of certifi ed diving, they can obtain jobs doing commercial diving, scientifi c diving, media diving, military and naval diving and police diving, she said.

Nicole Larson, adviser for Western’s Human-Powered Sub-marine Team, said having the class at Western would make it much easier for the submarine team to get their diving certifi ca-tions, which are required for them to operate and compete with the human-powered submarine they build every year.

“They have to get quite a few scuba certifi cations to be able to dive with the submarine,” Larson said.

Students are certifi ed by Gone Diving instructors who are certifi ed by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, one of the most recognized diving organizations in the world. The certifi cates are recognized all across the world, Sutton said.

The diving class will consist of approximately eight hours of classroom time, eight hours of training in the pool and eight hours of open water dives at locations outside Bellingham, such as the Puget Sound, Anacortes and Seattle, Sutton said.

Although students will have to do a little bit of traveling for the open water dives, co-instructor Jason Flake said it gives peo-ple a chance to socialize with other divers, Flake said.

“Part of the fun is hanging out with the people you take your class with,” Flake said. “Sometimes it’s just as fun doing that as the actual dive.”

Collins said his goal with this class is to eventually give stu-dents credit for it. He plans on working with the school and pos-sibly getting the physical education department to look at it as an option for a class. Sutton said students would apply for class credit by submitting an application before taking the class.

Collins said participant fees will fund the cost of instruction, and the rest will go toward renting the pool. He said there are no start-up costs for offering this class.

“It just so happens that pool rental falls in a category [of bud-get spending] that we already do,” Collins said. “So we're pre-pared for pool rental expenses.”

outdoor Center to offer open water diving certifi cation spring quarter

ARTs & LiFe8 | Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | The Western Front

Rod lotterTHE WESTERN FRONT

Saturday, Nov. 28 marked the end of live music at one of Bellingham’s most beloved music venues, The Rogue Hero, and water sprinklers are to blame.

Owner Steve Duthie said a new Washington state law, which goes into effect Dec. 1, states that all music venues must have a fire sprinkler system. Only three other states have similar laws.

“The building is old,” Duthie said. “And the sprinkler system is just too expensive to install.”

The owner of the Seattle music venue El Corazon had to pay $100,000 for a renovated sprinkler system, according to a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The law stems from an incident at a music venue in Rhode Island on Feb. 20, 2003. While the band Great White was performing, a fire broke out, which created a rush to the door. The tragedy took the lives of 100 people and injured 100 more.

Duthie said The Rogue Hero is temporarily closed until he decides what he wants do.

The law only mandates sprinklers for places where people are gathered in close quarters, such as dance floors.

The final show featured Bellingham bands Spindle, Choker and the All Nighters. Surf rock band the All Nighters lived up to their name by playing until 2 a.m. Music shows are usually over by 1:30 a.m. Although there was little advertise-ment for the Rogue’s final show—the show was not mentioned in the music calendar sections of What’s Up! Magazine or Cascadia Weekly—word of mouth brought in a capacity crowd of 180 people.

Shon “Bucketz” Shamley has booked and done the sound at every music show at the Rogue for the last four-and-a-half years. He said although the sprinkler system is expensive—between $30,000 and $50,000—the bar has been having many other problems that contributed to the end of live music, which he said he believes will be the beginning of the end for the bar. He said the new law was just the nail in the coffin for the Rogue.

“I think the Rogue probably peaked about two years ago and has been going downhill since,” Sham-ley said. “The live music is the only thing that kept the bar going. I’m looking to end on a good note at the Rogue and move on to bigger and better things.”

Shamley is referring to the opening of a new music venue called the Plan B Saloon, which will be at 1212 N. State St., where most recently the Back Porch Alley was located. The plan for the new bar is still in the developing stages. Currently he and the owners are decorating the interior and wait-ing for their liquor license.

“Liquor licenses are notorious for being slow in coming,” Shamley said.

The owners will be Shamley, two former Rogue bartenders and two other friends. They hope to not only draw the Rogue crowd to their bar but also all of the Bellingham music crowd, Shamley said.

“Plan B has a bigger stage, a bigger dance floor,” Shamley said. “All in all, it is just a better venue.”

Shamley said the bar is going to be for music lovers. He plans on booking national acts along with local bands.

Shawn Sellers is a Rogue regular who said he probably will not come to the Rogue as often as he did when it had live music if the bar reopens. His favorite thing about the Rogue was the heavy-metal-friendly live music the Rogue is known for offering, he said.

“Good riddance,” Sellers said. “I loved the Rogue and all, but without live music, it’s not go-ing to be the same. I wouldn’t say the Rogue is that great of a place to just sit and drink. I prefer a place like the Ranch Room to go and do that.”

Western students Annie Morris and Clover Martin have both seen numerous shows at the Rogue and said they will also probably not go the bar as much without the music.

Tremayne Bumpas has been going to the Rogue since it opened. He said he is sad to see the bar go.

“The Rogue is where I was introduced to most of my favorite bands,” Bumpas said. “Local bands especially owe a debt to the Rogue; this place got them known.”

Rogue Hero hosts final showDowntownbar,musicvenuecannotaffordsprinklersystemrequiredbynewstatefirecode

“Good riddance. I loved the Rogue and all, but without live music, it's not going to be the same.”

Shawn Sellers,Rogue Hero regular

photo by Skyler Wilder THE WESTERN FRONT

photo by Skyler Wilder THE WESTERN FRONT

With or without the RogueShon "Bucketz" Shamley, who booked and engineered

sound for The Rogue Hero, plans to open a new bar and music venue, The Plan B Saloon, at 1212 N. State St.

The crowd watches Jeff Kastelic (left) and Bobby Lind (right) of The All Nighters begin The Rogue Hero's final live show Nov. 28. The bar is temporarily closed until further notice.

Jeff Kastelic (left) and Bobby lind (right) of the All Nighters charge the crowd up for the last live songs played at The Rogue Hero.

ARTs & LiFe westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | 9

Student unicyclist braves Western's brick-heavy terrain, hones balancing skills

Carey RoseTHE WESTERN FRONT

Western freshman Mario Sheldon rides through campus without letting any obstacle get in his way. Over a sign, onto a ledge, off a ledge, up stairs, down stairs, over rocks, under trees, through crowds of people hurry-ing to get to class. But Sheldon does not ride a bike or a skateboard. He rides a unicycle.

Sheldon weaves in and out of foot traffic and rides down a flight of stairs, scaring a woman half to death in the process. Somehow, Sheldon’s antics are not met with antipathy, but instead are greeted by smiles, waves, cheers and requests to repeat a trick so someone can record it on his cell phone.

People everywhere seem to know and love Sheldon, even if they have never met him.

Sheldon has been riding unicycles since he was 12 years old. He grew up in Cheney, Wash., where his dad owns a bike shop. When his dad’s distributor started carrying unicycles, Sheldon picked one up and learned to ride it.

“It’s really different; that’s one of the big attrac-tions,” Sheldon said. “I’ve always really liked it. It’s so much fun, and such a good challenge.”

With unicycling, Sheldon does not seem to have a plan. He will try to ride on and jump off just about any-thing. Failure or falling does not faze him. He just hops back on and pedals off.

“When you fall on a unicycle, people don’t judge you,” Sheldon said. “They just think you’re awesome for riding a unicycle. It tends to be a very painful sort of sport.”

However, despite all the attention it gets, riding a unicycle can be a lonely activity.

“I had one friend who picked it up after I did, and we rode for a while together, but eventually he stopped,” Sheldon said. “It’s hard to be motivated when you’re the only person for miles and miles and miles who does this.”

Western senior Clayton Wuestenberg was once an avid unicyclist like Sheldon, but has since lost interest. Wuestenberg started riding in seventh grade and rode steadily until high school.

“Other things came up,” Wuestenberg said. “It defi-nitely dwindled out.”

Sheldon and Wuestenberg both have 5-to-6-foot-high unicycles they occasionally ride.

“The constant re-evaluation and shifting of weight is more thought out, more touchy I guess,” Wuestenberg said. “You’d think you’d have more falls on that big 5-footer, but nothing really bad has ever happened [on it].”

Sheldon said the high unicycles are more about just riding around and less about tricks, so he left his at his home in Cheney.

Both Wuestenberg and Sheldon agree unicycling is not about the attention so much as the challenge.

“The people that watch you…I wouldn’t say that’s my favorite part,” Sheldon said with a chuckle. “My favorite part is just challenging myself, and being able to finally do something that I’ve been working on, and feeling that gratification.”

Sheldon’s roommate Tyler Jansen said he thinks most people are not up to the challenge of riding a unicycle.

“It’s really hard,” Jansen said. “Most people don’t

like to try things many times and fail before they suc-ceed; they just want to get it right away.”

Jansen said he tried riding a unicycle and fell almost immediately. He is currently waiting to recover from an unrelated injury before trying again.

“I don’t think that most people realize how much you can actually do on a unicycle,” Jansen said. “It’s not just sit on it and ride forward, you can do tricks, and you can jump off stuff, get off the thing and get back on all in one trick. Pretty cool stuff.”

Sheldon said he sees his hobby as a perfect fit for Western.

“On Western’s campus, it’s really nice, especially for me, because I live up on the Ridge,” Sheldon said. “I don’t have to get off to ride down the stairs, just ride straight down and I’m on campus. And you can just carry it around with you.”

Nothing about Sheldon screams different, Jansen said. Nothing about him in particular calls for undue attention. When he’s off the unicycle, he’s just a regular guy. Sheldon’s unicycling goals are as modest as his demeanor.

“I don’t really feel like I need to be better than any-one,” Sheldon said. “If I get frustrated, then I just go ride and have fun until I get bored.”

Sheldon rides often, sometimes several times a day. He even makes it a point to hop up all the stairs to his residence hall on the Ridge on his unicycle every few rides. For Sheldon, unicycling is an ongoing process of challenges, gratification and fun.

“I don’t see any reason I’d want to quit,” Sheldon said. “Unicycling will hopefully always be a part of my life.”

Hit-and-runWestern freshman Mario Sheldon was hit by a car while riding his

6-foot-tall unicycle in his hometown of Cheney, Wash.

“I was stopped at a crosswalk and looking, making sure all the cars are stopped, holding onto the stop sign. So I go out into the street, as soon as the front of my wheel nudges past this guy’s bumper, he goes. So he hits me, and I’m spinning around as I’m falling. I don’t really know how to catch myself, and I catch myself and break my ankle as I land.

It was a hit-and-run. Funny thing is they caught him 15 minutes after it happened. He lied about it, and eventually he admitted, ‘Yeah, I saw him, maybe I was trying to freak him out...’ There was actually a passenger in the carwithhimaswell.Iguessthat’swhatyougetforhavingblueflamesontheside of your car in a city of 10,000 people.”

one wheel to roll them all

Western freshman Mario Sheldon rebuilds his unicycle wheel by replacing all 48 spokes at the Associated Students outdoor Center Nov. 13. Sheldon, unable to afford a new wheel, opted to buy a spoke set instead at a much more reasonable price.

Not all of Sheldon's rides are filled with tricks and drops. Simply riding along, while challenging to a novice, comes easily to Sheldon and he will often ride to class instead of walking.

VIEW THE ONLINE SLIDESHOW www.westernfrontonline.net

photo by Carey Rose THE WESTERN FRONT

photo by Carey Rose THE WESTERN FRONT

10 | arTS & liFE Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | The Western Front

Valuable insuranceDavid Gonzales

THE WESTERN FRONT

Seventy-three burglaries took place in Bellingham in Novem-ber, according to police records, prompting Bellingham Police De-partment Information Officer Mark Young to say all of the city's renters should purchase renter’s insurance.

“Most of the victims don’t have renter’s insurance, and I wish they did,” Young said. “It would make our job a lot easier because it would minimize their loss.”

Western’s Risk Management Director Paul Mueller said stu-dents should at least look into the possibility of purchasing renter’s insurance and weigh the cost of the purchase against the chance that everything they own could be taken from them in as little time as it takes them to attend their classes.

“The rule of thumb with insur-ance is you are substituting your known loss [the cost of the insur-ance premium] with the unknown loss of having your items stolen or damaged,” Mueller said.

He said the first step for stu-dents to take is to ask their parents exactly what their homeowner’s insurance covers, because their parent’s policy could include rent-er’s insurance for their dependent’s

college housing.Craig Jones, a Fidelity Asso-

ciates insurance agent, said many of his clients purchased renter’s insurance even though they were covered by a parent’s homeown-er’s insurance.

Jones said Fidelity’s insurance policies are a viable partner to pa-rental homeowner’s insurance be-cause they have lower deductibles, and they allow victims of theft to file claims without raising the pre-miums of their parents’ homeown-ers insurance.

These policies cover loss by elemental damage such as fire, storm and water, as well as dam-ages caused by aircraft, vehicle, riot and vandalism.

Fidelity, however, does not offer full coverage of personal property lost in cases of theft. The policy stipulates a maximum cov-erage of $500 per loss of stereo, TV equipment and bicycles, and a maximum coverage of $100 total per theft of everything else.

This means if someone is covered by Fidelity’s $2,500 limit policy and a tree falls through their window, destroying their $2,000 television, they will be fully cov-ered for the loss, but if a burglar steals that same TV they will only be covered for a maximum of $500.

This means in order to get a $2,000 television replaced after a case of theft, the policy holder must pay a $100 deductible in addition to the al-ready paid $44 premium, leaving them with a gain of $356 to replace the TV.

Fidelity policies cover theft of possessions from vehicles only if they are parked on Western’s cam-pus during the burglary, and there are signs of forced entry.

Mueller and Young agreed whether a tenant has renter’s insur-ance or not, the most efficient way to guard against burglary is to lock the doors. Though locking doors may seem obvious, Young said roughly 40 percent to 60 percent of all bur-glaries take place at homes that are unlocked.

Along with locking doors, Young said it is important for driv-ers to take all possessions out of their vehicles if they are parked on the street for any amount of time.

“You should be able to look into your car and see nothing,” Young said.

He said this includes small collections of change and cheap sunglasses. He even said to wipe off the circular suction marks made by radar detectors from the car’s windows because they indicate to thieves that there are valuable elec-tronics inside.

Risk management director endorses renter's coverage

photo by David Gonzales THE WESTERN FRONT

Stuff is stolenWhat happens next?

no

Eat the cost

yes

From your vehicle

From your home

electronics/bicycles

documents/cash/petseverything else

not covered

If you are covered by Fidelity Associates, the insurance policy promoted by the Environmental Health and Safety Depart-ment, here is what happens if you are a victim of a theft.Remem-ber: nothing is covered unless you file a police report within 24 hours.

$100 deductible per loss$500 maximum per item

$50 deductible

on campus?

no yes

covered if signs of forced entry

not covered

$2,500 limit—$44 $5,000 limit—$58$10,000 limit—$89

Three policy options

prices listed are annual fees

A boarded-up window sits next to a partially open door after a Thanksgiving break burglary at Western junior Kelsey froula's house on High street.

Are you covered?

arTS & liFE | 11westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • December 1, 2009

Theft victims share their storiesApartment burglary Car prowling House burglary

Twenty-one-year-old Bellingham resident Kathryn Schultz has had her Maple Street apartment broken in to twice in the last year. She said she left her door unlocked both times, but had only been gone for a couple of hours when she came home to a torn-up apartment.

Schultz said the most recent burglary happened the day after Halloween and the thief made out with more than $200, which was all her savings she kept in a box.

“I lost my keys in the apartment because it was just one of those nights,” she said.

Schultz said she worried about her apartment being unlocked but since she could not find her keys she had no choice but to limit the time she spent outside the apart-ment and hope for the best, which did not work.

Schultz said she does not have renter’s insurance.“I certainly thought about getting renter’s insurance,”

she said. “But I’m a young working girl. I don’t even have medical insurance let alone renter’s insurance.”

Schultz said she feels safe when she is home and has the door locked, but now she does not feel comfort-able leaving her apartment with an unlocked door for any amount of time. She said she now assumes there are thieves around the area who walk from one apartment to the next, knocking on doors until they come across an un-locked entrance to an empty home.

“If you knock and no one answers, it’s a pretty ballsy move but chances are you’re not going to find anyone in-side,” she said.

Western junior Kelsey Froula lives in a house that has been broken in to five times in the last year. The first time occurred in May 2009 while Froula and her roommate, Western junior Becky Dijulio, were home sleeping.

She said DiJulio was wrenched from her sleep at 4 a.m. by the sound of the robber coming through her bed-room door. Froula said the robber escaped the house be-fore causing any harm.

“At first I thought she dreamt it,” Froula said. “But the way she described it was really realistic so I believed her, and then it started happening again and again. It’s just become a re-occurring problem.”

The house has two additional sets of tenants. Both of their sections of the house have also been broken in to in the last year.

Froula said the only thing that has been stolen from her over the course of the burglaries was a small amount of money lying around. She said though she and her roommates hide all their valuables anytime they leave the house, they are more concerned about their personal safety than that of their property.

“If someone could break in to steal stuff, then a rapist or a killer could break in just as easily,” she said.

Their landlord installed an alarm system at the house after the second burglary, which happened near the begin-ning of the school year.

Froula said the third time, the thief thrust his fist through the window next to the back door handle. Later that day police officers found a knife in the backyard.

Western junior Alyssa Miller was recently the victim of car prowling and burglary when her Toyota 4-Runner was broken in to, possibly on Western’s campus.

The exact time and place of the burglary is still a mystery as there were no signs of forced entry, and she did not even realize some of her electronics had been stolen until she noticed her music was quieter than normal.

“I was driving, and I noticed my sub wasn’t doing anything,” she said. “I figured there was just a loose wire or something, then I looked back and saw that my amp was missing and my iPod had been taken out of the glove box.”

She then realized that though she had kept her doors locked all day, the sunroof had remained open.

“That was the funny thing,” she said. “Whoever it was, they jumped out the sunroof instead of using the doors.”

She said every time she came back to her SUV, things seemed normal because the doors remained locked.

Miller did not report the burglary. She said her car insurance did not cover the theft of personal property, and she did not think the thief would be apprehended so she did not bother writing a police report.

She said she did have one thing to be happy about; since her subwoofer was too big to fit through the sunroof, the thief left it in the car.

How to avoid being the victim of a burglaryTips courtesy of Bellingham Police Department Information Officer Mark Young

Lock your doors anytime you leave your home. Secure your windows with locks and blinds or curtains.

Make a list of the make, model and serial numbers of all your valuables. Remove all personal property from cars parked on the street.

1 23 4

David Gonzales THE WESTERN FRONT

OpiNiON12 | Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | The Western Front

See more online at www.westernfrontonline.net

President Obama will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10, yet he is announcing Tuesday that he is sending tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan, escalating the war. Eight years after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the occupation continues to drag on with no end in sight. U.S. casu-alties are on the rise, with recent months being the deadliest since the war began.

The recent Afghan elections were supposed to legitimize the U.S.-backed government and its “democratic” in-stitutions but instead exposed wide-spread corruption. Mass voter fraud, threats of violence and low voter turn-out undermined what little credibil-ity remained for the Karzai government. These developments have dramatically undermined support for the war. A majority of Americans—57 percent—now oppose the war, according to a 2009 AP-GfK Poll. Still, Vice President Joe Biden claims that the war in Afghanistan “is worth the effort we are making and the sacrifice,” as quoted on BBC News.

After eight years, $228 bil-lion has been sunk into Afghanistan, thousands of U.S. soldiers and in-nocent Afghans have been killed or permanently disabled, and for what? Malalai Joya is an outspoken 30-year-old women’s rights activist who was ousted from her position in the Afghan parliament by right-wing religious fun-damentalists and warlords. She describes in The Independent Afghanistan after eight years of occupation: “Your govern-ments have replaced the fundamentalist rule of the Taliban with another funda-mentalist regime of warlords… While a showcase parliament has been created for the benefit of the U.S. in Kabul, the real power is with these fundamentalists who rule everywhere outside Kabul.” For women, “the situation now is as cat-astrophic as it was under the Taliban.”

The war has exacerbated Afghani-stan’s endemic poverty. Two-thirds of Af-ghans still struggle to survive on less than $2 per day according to Food and Agri-culture .org, and 77 percent lack access to clean water. Female literacy—at 14 per-cent—has barely improved from what it was under the reactionary rule of the Tal-iban, according to UNESCO.

Yet, according to Biden, the war must go on because Afghanistan is “a place that, if it doesn’t get straightened out, will con-tinue to wreak havoc on Europe and the U.S.” However, the brutal U.S. occupa-tion, along with the grinding poverty and oppression faced by the peoples of Cen-tral Asia and the Middle East, is only sow-ing the seeds for future terrorist attacks. “Straightening out” Afghanistan will be a long, costly and ultimately futile campaign. General Sir David Rich-ards, head of British forces in Afghani-stan, believes it will take another 40 years of occupation before there will be stability, according to the Telegraph. With a discredited U.S. puppet re-gime, ruling through warlords and drug-traffickers guilty of all sorts of war crimes, “stability” means nothing more than a government strong enough to suppress dissent and defend the inter-ests of U.S. imperialism in the region. All of this clearly shows the need to rebuild the antiwar movement. A power-ful, antiwar movement in the U.S. and around the world is of decisive impor-tance in stopping the carnage in Afghani-stan and preventing thousands upon thou-sands more troops from killing and being killed in this unjust, unwinnable war. Please join Socialist Alternative and six co-sponsoring organizations for a rally against the troop surge at 11:45 a.m. on Dec. 1 in Red Square and a march to U.S. House Representative Rick Larsen’s of-fice in downtown Bellingham.

Ramy Khalil and Brett Hoven are members of the Western chapter of Social-ist Alternative.

Ramy Khalil and Brett Hoven Guest Columnists

Troop surge is not a viable end to the war

letter to the editor Greek organizations not to be discounted

I am writing in regard to your article “Greek System not an ideal fit for West-ern” in your Nov. 24 issue. I would like to inform you that while we may not have Greek Row or any form of social fraterni-ties on campus, we do have a professional co-ed business Fraternity and this lies within the Greek System.

Alpha Kappa Psi is an organization that prepares students for the professional world and has been on Western’s campus since November 2007. While the im-age and concept of the Greek System is currently viewed as drunken parties and hazing, that is not what we represent. We represent the original values and focus on academics, service and professionalism.

AKPsi is backed by Western and the Asso-ciated Students and is working to establish its position on campus as a positive contri-bution to Western and its community.

I feel that your article undermines what we are trying to accomplish, and I severely disliked being lumped into the stereotypical fraternity scene. AKPsi is the oldest and most prestigious profes-sional business fraternity in the country. We feel due to the opportunities it makes available to students, it is a great fit for Western’s campus.

Stephani Kier Western senior

Viking VoicesOpinions from around campus

How do you think Washington state should end homelessness?

Compiled by Reiko Endo

Scandals can hit everyone it seems, even climate scientists.

Last week a hacker leaked e-mails from the Climate Research Unit, based at the University of East Anglia in Britain. According to the New York Times, these e-mails included conversations about de-leting messages that contained informa-tion damaging to the unit’s research and contained criticisms of climate change critics.

This leak has been dubbed “Climate-gate” and has apparently called into ques-tion the validity of the current research on humanity’s impact on global warming. However, the assertion that the evidence about global warming is unfounded is un-true. The thing being called into quesiton here is the ethics of scientists who wanted to supress articles containing information contrary to of their own views.

These papers questioned the link be-tween human activity and climate change, which contradicts the conclusions scien-tists at the Climate Research Unit reached.

Science is not about pursuing an agenda or putting a spin on data. It is about the truth.

It’s not a matter of whether or not climate change is occurring. On the BBC Web site, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is quoted as say-ing in 2007 that the earth’s average tem-perature would probably increase by 3.2 degrees to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century. The panel predicted that sea levels would rise by 28-43 cen-timeters.

The panel was also quoted saying that they were assured humanity has had an impact on changing the earth’s climate by making it warmer.

The issue is that scientists who pres-ent the data on climate change are human and fallible. Their research and warnings should not be ignored, but examined with a critical eye as well.

In addition to keeping an eye on sci-ence, our culture needs to question why we have become so attached to the idea of being “green.” Being aware of environ-mental issues and trying to protect nature are both very admirable, but these days whenever a corporation or government says they are being green, any inquiry into their activities seems to be derailed.

Protecting the environment and pursuing the truth are things everyone needs to do if they want to truly stop cli-mate change and environmental damage. Do not take the claims of scientists for granted or the green propaganda of some multinational corporation as proof of their sincerity.

Question everything. Even this edito-rial.

The Western Front Editorial Board is comprised of Editor-in-Chief Rebec-ca Rice, Managing Editor Audrey Du-bois-Boutet and Opinion Editor Tristan Hiegler.

'Climategate'teaches us to question, watch the experts

Frontline Opinions of the Editorial Board

luc Nguyen Freshman

"We should figure out why there's homelessness in the first place."

Holly Carrigan Sophomore

"I think we should all just band together, especially in communities and organiza-

tions, but I think that those should be helped and funded by the government."

Emily Kraft Junior

"I think to end homelessness, it's important to have social programs like

housing for people to help get them off the streets."

Carolyn Bleakney Junior

"For people getting out of prison I think they should take more steps to get

people into secure jobs... so there [are] not people coming straight out of jail and

going back on the street."

spORTs | 13Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | The Western Front

See more online at www.westernfrontonline.net

Willy DeliusTHE WESTERN FRONT

The Western men’s basketball team defended their title for the seventh con-secutive time in the 11th annual Chuck Randall Thanksgiving Classic by beating Grand Canyon University 70-55 Saturday night in Carver Gym.

After a hard-fought first half that ended tied at 29, Western cleaned up its mistakes and outplayed the visiting Ante-lopes on a 23-9 second half run to clinch a Vikings victory.

“I was pleased with our effort in the second half, especially the last 10 min-utes,” Western head coach Brad Jackson said. “We caught fire.”

Western senior guard Derrick Webb and senior center Zach Bruce spearheaded Western’s offense, each finishing with a game-high 19 points. Webb also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, while Bruce grabbed eight of his own.

“We played hard, and we played smart,” Webb said. “We needed to pick it up after our first half, and we did. Bruce and I both put up some points.”

Western shared the tourney cham-pionship with Saint Martin’s University. Both teams went 2-0 during the weekend of play at Carver Gym but never faced off because they compete against each other in Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season play.

The win improves the Vikings’ 2009-10 record to 7-1, also extending its win-ning streak to six games.

Jackson said the Vikings’ rebound-ing edge—40 to the Antelopes’ 19—was a key to the win.

Webb echoed Jackson’s sentiments about Western’s rebounding advantage.

“Every night we try to win the re-bounding column plus ten, and tonight we won it by 21,” Webb said.

The Vikings shot 56.5 percent from the field in the second half after hitting just 37.5 percent in the opening period.

Jackson said the difference between the two halves lay in Western’s shot selec-tion and decision making.

“It was a struggle for us in the first half; we didn’t shoot it very well,” Jack-son said. “The three-ball wasn’t falling for us all night, but our other shots started falling in the second half.”

Bruce, along with Webb and senior center Dave Vanderjagt were selected to the Chuck Randall Classic all-tournament team.

After the Vikings’ second half run to jump to 57-45 with 3:30 remaining, Grand Canyon made every effort to keep the game close by fouling every time Western got possession. The Vikings withstood the pressure, nailing 83.3 percent of their sec-ond-half free throws and 80.6 percent for the night. Webb shot 9-10 from the line.

Western’s triumph marks the team’s 14th-straight Chuck Randall Classic vic-tory—their 19th of 22 overall—dating back to the tournament’s origin in 1998.

The Vikings were without senior for-ward Michael Duty for the fourth consec-utive game due to a broken finger.

Jackson said the finger is remaining a problem, and a timetable for Duty’s return is uncertain.

Duty’s absence has left a void in the Vikings’ low post game that has been chiefly filled by Bruce. He has improved his scoring average from 6.8 points per game to 10 since Duty went down, high-lighted by his season-high 19 points Sat-urday night.

“I felt really healthy today, and I was just getting after it and having fun,” Bruce said. “I was trying to be physical in there and bothersome to their big man; it was simple.”

Saturday’s win comes following an

86-23 landslide victory over Academy of Art University from San Francisco on Friday night at Carver Gym in their first game of the tournament.

Western took an early 19-0 lead over the Urban Knights and did not look back all night.

“We jumped on them early and played

tough defense,” Jackson said. “It was too tough of a hill for them to climb.”

Jackson said the rivalry with Simon Fraser University goes back many years, and it should be an exciting game.

The Vikings are back on the hard-wood against Simon Fraser at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, in Carver Gym.

"Chuck Randall" champs

Western senior guard Morris Anderson sinks one of his four free throws against Grand Canyon University on Saturday.photo by Skyler Wilder THE WESTERN FRONT

Western senior guard Derrick Webb protects the ball from two Grand Canyon defenders as Western senior center Zach Bruce approaches during Saturday's game. Both Webb and Bruce had 19 points for the night.

photo by Skyler Wilder THE WESTERN FRONT

Western shares top honors with Saint Martin's at 11th annual

Thanksgiving Classic

fridayWWU: 86, AAU: 23

SaturdayWWU: 70, GCU: 55

14 | sports Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | The Western Front

Caleb HuttonTHE WESTERN FRONT

Western’s women’s basketball team dominated the 13th annual Lynda Go-odrich Classic last Friday and Saturday, winning both of their games by more than 30 points.

After routing Notre Dame de Namur University 73-36 on Friday at Carver Gym, the Vikings went on to beat Lewis-Clark State College 75-43 Saturday night to win the tournament title for the 11th time. The team is now 4-0 in the regular season this year.

Western junior guard Amanda Dun-bar scored the tournament’s single-game high of 28 points and shot a flawless 7-for-7 overall against Lewis-Clark. Five of those shots were 3-pointers. Dunbar said she was a little shocked afterward when

Vikings run away with 11th Classic

(left to right) Western junior guard Megan Pinske, senior forward Gabby Wade and freshman guard Corinn Waltrip descend on a lewis-Clark State College opponent Saturday in Carver Gym.

photo by Skyler Wilder THE WESTERN FRONT

she realized all of her shots had gone in.“After the game, I thought that I’d

missed a couple lay-ins. I don’t think about it when I’m on the court—I just think about playing hard,” she said. “Scoring’s not one of my main focuses. I like to pass.”

As a team, Western had 29 assists to their opponents’ 11 over the course of the tournament. Ball movement was important for the Vikings in both games, and often three or four players got quick touches on the ball before finding an open shot from the outside. The team shot an

impressive 12-for-17 from 3-point range in the second game.

“One of the keys to breaking apart [Lewis-Clark’s] defense was ball move-ment and getting it to the opposite side of the court,” Dunbar said. “The defense would shift, and we’d be able to have a wide open shot.”

That kind of strategy helped the Vi-kings to take quality shots in the first game as well.

Although Western took 50 shots to Notre Dame de Namur’s 53, the Vikings were .480 from the field, while Notre

Dame de Namur shot .208.Even though they more than doubled

Notre Dame de Namur’s score, the Vi-kings had 27 turnovers during the game. Head coach Carmen Dolfo said giving up the ball that much is a problem.

“We turned the ball over way too many times,” Dolfo said. “I think we kind of got going a little bit fast at the begin-ning.”

The Vikings turned the ball over 17 times in the Lewis-Clark game.

Western senior forward Jessica Sum-mers has had to fill in at center while ju-

fridayWWU: 73, NDNU: 36

SaturdayWWU: 75, LCSC: 43

“We schedule well,” Dolfo said. “Home court advantage is big for us. I think we have great fans and we just ex-pect to win at home.”

The Vikings will host the University of Hawaii Hilo, 2-4 overall, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 3 in Carver Gym.

nior Lauren Heffl in sits out with a broken fi nger until late December.

It has not been a terrible fi t; Summers took home the tournament MVP for her second straight year.

She also made the all-tournament team, along with Dunbar and Western se-nior forward Willow Cabe, who had four blocked shots in the second game.

Dolfo said the team has come togeth-er to play unselfi sh, intense basketball.

“We’ve had to really pick up our tem-po defensively because we’re so small,” Dolfo said. “And our players did a good job of kicking the ball back out [on of-fense]. Our shooters were ready to shoot, which is great.”

Lynda Goodrich, the tournament’s namesake, was a women’s basketball

coach at Western who led the team to a 411-125 record during her 19 seasons.

She was named Western’s Female Coach of the Century in 1999 and is cur-rently the university’s director of athletics.

In the tournament’s two other games, Lewis-Clark State beat Saint Martin’s University 70-59, and Notre Dame de Namur beat Saint Martin’s 66-56.

Lewis-Clark State and Notre Dame de Namur tied for second place in the tournament.

The Vikings are now 23-3 in the Lynda Goodrich Classic’s 13-year history. Dolfo said there is more to the team’s con-sistency than just playing strong.

sports | 15westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • December 1, 2009

Men's / Women's Water PoloBig UPS Water Polo Tournament

Nov. 21-22Tacoma (UPS campus)

Men's and Women's combined for 3 co-ed teams

Tourney recordA Team: 0-3 (Did not place)

B Team: 4-0 (first place)C Team: 3-1 (Second place)

ABoVE: Western senior forward Willow Cabe drives to the hoop Saturday during the Vikings' 75-43 victory.RIGHT: lewis-Clark State College sopho-more post Kirsi Voshell guards Western se-nior forward Jessica Summers Saturday at Carver Gym. Summers was awarded tournament MVP after the Vikings' victory.

“Our players did a good job of kicking the ball back out [on offense]. Our shooters were ready to shoot, which is great.”

Carmen Dolfo,Western head coach

photos by Skyler Wilder THE WESTERN FRONT

16 | sports Tuesday • December 1, 2009 | The Western Front

Elizabeth HansenTHE WESTERN FRONT

As the season starts to unfold for Western’s women’s basketball team, ju-nior guard Amanda Dunbar looks to be a dominant force for the Vikings on the court.

Dunbar shot a perfect 7-for-7, five of which were 3-pointers, from the field dur-ing Saturday's win over Lewis-Clark State College. She led the team with 22 points and was later appointed to the all-tourna-ment team for her second time.

“Amanda is such a great player; she really brings it all,” Western senior guard Ashley Fenimore said. “She has an amaz-ing ability to drive the ball.”

Dunbar led the team in scoring last season, averaging 13.1 points per game with 3.2 assists on average.

“She is the kind of player you want to be on the court with,” Western senior cen-ter Krystal Robinson said. “She is a good shooter and such a great passer. I’m just happy she is on my side of the court.”

Majoring in human services, Dunbar came to Western following in the foot-steps of her high school basketball coach Julie (Walker) Martin.

“[Martin] came to Western so I de-cided to come to Western,” Dunbar said. “It turned out to be a really good fit for me right off the bat. I felt like the coaches and players were really welcoming, and with such a good basketball program, it was perfect.”

Martin played for Western from 1999 to 2002 and was named to the West Re-gional all-tournament team.

After graduation, Dunbar said she looks to possibly pursue a career in coach-ing basketball.

“I want to coach at the high school level at the very least,” Dunbar said. “But I see myself moving up to the college lev-el. Right now I’m really passionate about the game. It all depends how much I love it though.”

Dunbar has made a strong impression in her first two years as a Viking.

She was named Great Northwest Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and second-team GNAC all-star as a sophomore.

“[Dunbar] is the person we can count on to come through for us,” Western se-

nior forward Willow Cabe said. “When we need a big shot or a three, I know I can look to her to produce.”

Fenimore said she has seen Dunbar greatly improve on defense.

“She has been working a lot harder on defense,” Fenimore said. “Carmen [Dolfo] always says ‘it’s always about making the change. Amanda has been doing that. She is very coachable; anytime someone tells her to do something she just does it now.”

Though on the court Dunbar may dominate against her opponents, off court teammates say it is them Dunbar is after.

“[Dunbar] likes to play little jokes on people on the team all the time,” Robin-son said. “She’ll tell people that Carmen [Dolfo] said they have to do a set of lines for forgetting to do something. She is al-ways getting us with jokes and pranks.”

Though Dunbar said she admits she plays jokes on fellow teammates, on the court it is strictly business.

“I’m pretty focused and determined on the court,” Dunbar said. “I try to do all that I can to move the ball down the court.”

Get to know Amanda DunbarJunior guard's dedication to basketball doesn't stop her from pulling pranks

“[Dunbar] likes to play little jokes on people on the team all the time. She'll tell people that Carmen [Dolfo] said they have to do a set of lines for forgetting to do something. She is always get-ting us with jokes and pranks.”

Krystal Robinson,Western senior center

Catch Dunbar in action when Western plays University of

Hawaii-Hilo at 7 p.m., Dec. 3, in Carver Gym.

photo by Skyler Wilder THE WESTERN FRONT

Western junior guard Amanda Dunbar prepares for a free throw Saturday at Carver Gym.