NNiikkkkyy MMoossuurreejunior staffwriter

They have done it again! West High Thespians have

won the Montana ThespianFestival, winning an invitation tothe International Thespian Festivalin Omaha in June. This is the fifthtime that Golden Bear Thespianshave placed first in the MontanaThespian competition.

This year they took an excep-tional play to the Montana StateThespian Festival, held at theUniversity of Montana inMissoula on Feb. 6-7.

The cast and crew consistedof juniors Patrick Bush, ColinMcRae, Keri Schrage, JessicaGoldade, Alicia Connolly, TrentDugger, Eva Pickett and CayleeDaem and sophomores ZachKrell, Nathan Williams, ErinKusek and Rachel Sample.

These twelve West High stu-dents acted in or worked on thecrew of “Victoria Martin: MathTeen Queen.”

Along with the cast and crew,drama coaches Melinda Middletonand Steve Macartney accompaniedthe students as chaperones.

Along with winning top hon-ors of an invitation to attend theInternational Convention, twomembers of the team were award-ed outstanding performanceawards.

Connolly and Kusek (whowas recognized as Eric Kusekbecause the role she plays in theplay which is that of a boy) wereboth recognized for their acting.

Connolly said, “It was a greatopportunity to meet fellow thespi-ans from across the state, to seeprofessionals in To Kill aMockingbird, to work with theamazing cast and crew of VictoriaMartin, and to be chosen to repre-sent Montana at internationals thisJune.”

Each high school Thespiantroupe did more than just perform.

The Thespian Festival givesaspiring actors the opportunity tobe involved in workshops, to viewplays of other high schoolThespians from across the state,

and to work during the other per-formances.

The West High troupe was incharge of cleaning the theatre thefirst night.

Another bonus for the GoldenBear performers was watching thefull performance of Harper Lee’sTo Kill a Mockingbird performedby the Montana RepertoryTheatre.

While 19 teams competedwith the Golden Bear Thespiansfor top honors, not all teams want-ed to be considered for a trip tointernationals. Only six were com-peting for the coveted spot repre-senting the Big Sky State at thenational level.

The second place was award-ed to C.M. Russell High School

from Great Falls who performed aplay named The End ofCivilization As We Know It.

Pickett said, “I had a totalblast at Thespian Festival. We gotto meet a bunch of theatre loversjust like us from all over the state.Taking first was so thrilling. It’s sofantastic that I am a part of some-thing like this. I am so excited forinternationals.”

Schrage explained, “Beingselected rocks, but now the workreally starts.”

Golden Bear Thespians arefundraising for their upcoming tripto internationals.

One of these fundraisers willbe a night performance of the playthat won them this recognition.

KODIAKFEBRUARY 27, 2OO9

BILLINGS WEST HIGH SCHOOL 2201 ST. JOHN’S AVENUE BILLINGS, MT 59102 Volume 49 Issue 5

A LookInside This

Issue

NEWS

FEATURESSPORTS

ARTS

OPINION

2479

12

SingingValentinespage 9

Wrestlingpage 8

Golden BearHoopspage 7

KODIAKBillings West High School2201 St. John's AvenueBillings, MT 59102

Non-Profit Org.US Postage

PAIDBillings, MTPermit #88

Golden Bear ThespiansDominate, Bringing HomeVictory!

The West High Thespian team strikes a pose after they won the state Thespian Festival. The team will go onto the international competition in Lincoln Nebraska this summer. From left to right: Trent Dugger, ErinKusek, Nathan Williams, Caylee Daem, Keri Schrage, Colin Mcrae, Rachel Sample, Jessica Goldade, PatrickBush, Zach Krell, Eva Pickett, Alicia Connolly, Melinda Middleton and Steve Macartney.

photo by Caitlin McRae

The West High Thespians enjoy a scrumptious dinner after they per-formed on Friday night. They chose from salad, breadsticks, chickenstrips, meatballs and spaghetti. They also had a choice of beverage.From left to right: Keri Schrage, Steve Macartney, Trent Dugger, PatBush, Eva Pickett, Zach Krell, Alicia Connolly and Colin McRae. Aftertheir dinner, the Thespians viewed To Kill a Mockingbird, performedby the Montana Repertory Theatre.

photo by Erin Kusek

NE

WS Horror in New York

Two planes crash in Northeast in a monthMegan Forthun

sophomore staffwriter

First, two commercialairplanes have crashed due tonatural causes since thebeginning of the year. U.S.Airways plane crashed into theHudson River on Jan. 15.because flock of geese disabledtwo engines.

All passengers were able toboard the rescue boats, so no onedied.

“The US Airways Flight1549 had just taken off fromLaGuardia Airport, heading toCharlotte, N.C., when the crashoccurred in the Hudson river near48th Street in midtownManhattan,” says Laura Brown, aspokeswoman for the FederalAviation Administration.

Several rescue boatssurrounded the plane, pulling thepassengers and crew to safety.

Witnesses say that it seemedthe pilot guided the plane downcalmly. “I see a commercial

airliner coming down, lookinglike it’s landing right in thewater,” said Bob Read, who sawit from his office at the televisionshow, “Inside Edition.”

The New York CityFirefighters and the U.S. CoastGuard responded to the crash,after many civilian boats in thearea of the crash.

The captain said his firstinstinct was to duck. He wasbusy watching the cockpit

instruments, managing the radiosand looking at charts, then lookedup to notice the geese.

Nearly a month after theHudson plane crash, nature tookdown another plane on Feb. 13.

Were this time, 49 peopleaboard the plane and one in thehouse that the plane hit killed.

Three people in the home:Karen Wielinski, 57; her 22-year-old daughter Jill and her 61-year-old husband Doug.

Karen and her daughter wereable to escape from the house butit is presumed that her husbanddied along with the 49 people onboard the plane.

The NTSB has releasedpreliminary findings of ice on thewings of the plane.

After impact, a fire eruptedwhich was doused by firefighters.

Records show the plane wason autopilot.

West BookFines Soar

TTrreenntt DDuuggggeerrjunior staffwriter

As the book fines WestHigh accumulate throughoutthe year, the current is enoughfor nearly each student in thegraduating class of 2009 tohave at least one.

“There are about 400 bookfines due, which is about thesize of a graduating class. [Theclass of 2009 has 472students],” stated Main OfficeSecretary, Donna Schlepp.

Although each text book isworth a different amount,Schlepp predicted adding upthe fines would create a total ofaround $20,000.

Once teachers complete thebook fines forms, the mainoffice is in charge of them,monitoring either theirpayments or the return of thebooks.

Schlepp, in addition tokeeping track of the fines, notonly holds, the students’ reportcards, but she also goes throughand blocks Parent Connect forparents of students with bookfines.

The Main Office is alsoresponsible for the library bookfines. While the librariansseem to be pretty lenient withover due notices and generallyno severe consequences occurimmediately, once a book fineis issued students, may notreceive their report cards oreven their diplomas.

School District 2 has a

district policy that does notallow the library to charge forover due notices, like thepublic library does. Instead,the librarians send out over duenotices, and they usually put abook claim into the office afterthree months.

Students are not onlyresponsible for paying for lostlibrary or text books but arealso in charge of covering anycost needed to repair damagedbooks.

Kitty Field, head librarian,says, “We stop checking outbooks about two days beforethe end of the year, but checkbooks in up until the last day;personal arrangements can bemade.”

The book claims that areissued by the librarians are sentto the main office just like aregular text book claim.

Principal David Cobbpredicts that most of theschool’s book fines come fromthe Health Department.

Because the healthteachers do not have assignedclassrooms, moving booksfrom room to room makes itdifficult to keep inventory.

Don Gleason, head of theHealth Department, says, “Weonly replace the books everyten years, and next year is ourturn. The books we have noware $70, but the HealthDepartment doesn’t actuallyget the money that comes fromthe fines.”

FDA Supports StemCell Research

JJeennnnaa HHeennnniinnggssFeatures Editor

Stem Cell Research hasraised hairs in the past, soembryonic stem cell testingstirred strong emotions as well.

A Californiabiopharmaceuticals company,Geron Corp, received specialpermission from the Food andDrug Administration [FDA] toconduct the first embryonic stemcell testing on humans on Jan.23.

The company originallyfiled the testing request with theFDA in March 2008.

The FDA ruling now allowsGeron Corp to begin phase onehuman embryonic stem cell[hESC] testing on trial subjects.

The cells to be used in thetrial come from the H1 humanembryonic stem cell line,originally created before Aug. 9,2001.

At the beginning of histerm, former President GeorgeW. Bush enacted a law that putan end to any and all embryonicstem cell testing. In 2001, Bushlimited federal funding forhuman embryonic stem cell linesthat already existed. The lawwas a gesture to his conservativeChristian supporters who regardembryonic stem cell research as“destroying potential life”because the cells must beextracted from human embryos.

From February to June2007, Bush vetoed a twodifferent measures that wouldlift restrictions of humanembryonic stem cell research.

Now that President BarackObama has taken over thepresidency, the ban on stem celltesting is ready to be removed.February 15, Obama’s adviserDavid Axelrod released astatement that Obama will bereturning science to its properplace in the U.S.

Studies using this line ofembryonic stem cells qualify forU.S. federal research funding,although Geron stated they havenot received such funding priorto the FDA’s decision.

Math teacher and Activity

Coordinator Gerald Fishercommented, “Using embryonicstem cells bothers me. While it isgood to use [stem cells] fordisease control and health, I amnot in favor of it. There needs tobe more study and research [inthis field of medicine] beforethey should be used practically.”

Fisher’s anti-embryonicstem cell opinion is commonthroughout the world. Manyview hESC testing as unfeasibleand immoral because of theembryo that the cells come from.

With ethics being called intoquestion, Geron stated their stemcells were lab created.

Patents relating to hESCsare licensed to Geron Corp fromWisconsin Alumni ResearchFoundation [WARF] for themanufacturing of neural cells,cardiomyocytes [cells in themuscular tissue in hearts] andpancreatic tissue masses fortherapeutic uses.

Geron’s website,http://www.geron.com, providesthe definition of hESC as,“derived from very early stageembryos called blastocysts,hESCs are unique because theyare pluripotent, which meansthey can develop into all cellsand tissues in the body, and theyself-renew indefinitely in theundifferentiated state becausethey express high levels oftelomerase [an enzyme found instem cells that prevents thelimiting of the number ofreplications a chromosome cancomplete].”

The trial will contain eightto ten patients that areparaplegics, people that stillhave use of their arms but nolonger have mobility in theirlegs.

Each patient will receive aninjection containing a solution ofembryonic stem cells to serve asreplacements and to help thenerves in the spinal cordregenerate.

Biology teacher KrisWarren exclaimed, “I think thisis a great advancement. [Thestem cells] were lab created, andthe use of them will be to benefit

society and control disease.”Geron reports that its hESC

treatment, GRNOPC1, hasshown promise of stimulatingnerve growth based onrestoration of mobility inanimals with acute spinal cordinjuries.

Geron’s president and CEO,Thomas B. Okarma, M.D.,explained, “The ultimate goalfor the use of GRNOPC1 is toachieve restoration of spinalcord function by the injection ofhESC-derived oligodendrocyteprogenitor cells directly into thelesion site of the patient’sinjured spinal cord.”

Phase one tests will be usedto determine the safety ofGRNOPC1 in patients withgrade A thoracic spinal cordinjuries. Results will alsoprovide researchers with theefficacy of the new treatment.

Designated treatmentcenters involved in the testingcan apply GRNOPC1 to eligiblepatients who have suffered anacute spinal cord injury withinseven to fourteen days prior totheir admission to the hospital.

In response to the FDA’sapproval of hESC testing forGeron Corp, Advanced CellTechnology Inc [ACT] isseeking a fast FDA approval fortheir retinal pigment epithelium[RPE], which uses stem cells ineyes, to make a new drugtreatment for age-relatedmacular degeneration as well asother certain eye diseases.

RPE testing provedsuccessful in restoring vision inrats, according to ACT,

ACT is hoping that thepositive results from the rat trialswill be enough to pushgovernment to grant them theright to test on humans as well.

“This marks the beginningof what is potentially a newchapter in medical therapeutics,”noted Okarma. “One thatreaches beyond pills to a newlevel of healing: the restorationof organ and tissue functionachieved by the injection ofhealthy replacement cells.”

NNaattee WWeeiinnaannddNews Editor

Ten score years ago,Abraham Lincoln, the 16thPresident of the United States,was born on February 12, 1809in Hodgenville, Kentucky toThomas Lincoln and NancyHanks.

Thomas Lincoln began asa relatively affluentKentuckian. However, in1816, when Abraham wasnine, hard times and a dislikeof slavery caused a move toIndiana. Sadly, Lincoln’smother died shortly after themove. His father remarried,and their relationship becamestrained.

Lincoln grew up inIndiana until the family movedto Illinois in 1830 at the age of21. The next year, Lincoln leftfor New Salem, Illinois whenhis father moved elsewhere inIllinois.

Honest Abe had a formal

education of about 18 months;however, he was largely self-educated, and he loved to read,especially the subjects of lawand history.

Lincoln, unlike mostWesterners, disliked huntingbecause he hated killinganimals. It was at this pointthat he reached his trademarkheight, 6 feet 4 inches.

He married Mary Todd in1842. The couple gave life tofour children: Robert, Edward,William and Thomas. WilliamWallace Lincoln was thefavorite son of his fatherbecause he was interested inlearning, just as his father was.“Willie” was named after thefamily doctor, not themedieval Scottish patriot.

In 1846, Lincoln ran forthe Illinois House ofRepresentatives and won;however, he failed to win re-election in 1848.

Via a speech in Peoria,Illinois, Lincoln helped createthe anti-slavery Republican

Party in 1854. His oppositionto the Kansas-Nebraska Actsolidified his anti-slaverypolicies.

Lincoln attempted tobecome the Republicansenator for Illinois that sameyear but was denied in favor ofex-Democrat LymanTrumbull.

In 1856, Lincolnattempted to be the Republicancandidate for Vice Presidentwith Presidential candidateJohn C. Frémont. However, hewas replaced by ex-DemocratWilliam L. Dayton.

In 1858, Lincoln ran forthe position of Illinois Senator(as a Republican) againstDemocrat Stephen Douglas,who was a strong supporter ofslavery.

Lincoln lost the election.However, most of his votescame from northern Illinois.Douglas won the vote ofsouthern Illinois.

Illinois was a microcosmof the upcoming 1860Presidential election.

In 1860, Lincoln ran forPresident with running mateHannibal Hamlin in a four-way race. Yet again, he ranagainst his old rival StephenDouglas. He won but did nothave a majority. He also losthis home state of Kentucky(which would happen again inthe Election of 1864).

Before his inaugurationeven happened, seven statesseceded from the Union: SouthCarolina, Mississippi, Florida,Alabama, Georgia, Louisianaand Texas.

Lincoln was inauguratedas the 16th President of theUnited States on March 4,1861.

He practiced a peacefulphilosophy to make sure theUnion would not attack first soforeign powers would notinvolve themselves. But on

Apr. 12, the Confederacyattacked Fort Sumter in SouthCarolina and Lincoln calledfor troops.

On Apr. 15, four morestates (Virginia, Arkansas,Tennessee and North Carolina)seceded and the Civil Warbegan.

As The Civil War began,Lincoln took it upon himself tolearn all he could aboutmilitary tactics.

What followed were manylosses for the Union. Matterswere made even worse withthe death of his son William,which made Lincoln extremelydepressed.

In 1862, the Union turnedback the troops of the South inthe Battle of Antietam, givingLincoln the opportunity toissue the EmancipationProclamation which freed theslaves in the Confederacy(except the already-Unioncontrolled Tennessee).

By 1863, the Union turnedthe tide of the war in the Battleof Gettysburg.

After the battle, Lincolnappointed Ulysses S. Grant asthe Supreme Commander ofthe Army. This bloodiest battleof the war led to the groundbeing consecrated as theSoldiers’ National Cemeteryvia the most famous of thespeeches of Lincoln, theGettysburg Address.

In 1864, the chances ofLincoln’s re-election lookedbleak.

The war was not going sowell. In fact, the RepublicanParty ceased to exist at thistime.

Lincoln, running for theshort-lived Union Party (itlasted from 1864 to 1868),chose a Democrat who hadstayed with the Union, AndrewJohnson, as his new runningmate.

The Democratic candidate

running against Lincoln, whowished to end the war, wasGeorge McClellan, one of themany generals Lincoln hadfired for his lack of militaryability.

Despite all this, Lincolnwon by a landslide, however,because General WilliamTecumseh Sherman had takenthe city of Atlanta, a keylocation for Southernresistance.

On March 4, 1865,Lincoln was inaugurated forhis second term. The war wasbrought to its conclusion onApril 9 when General RobertE. Lee surrendered to Grant atAppomattox Courthouse inVirginia.

Sadly, only five days later,John Wilkes Boothassassinated Lincoln at Ford’sTheatre when the Lincolnsattended a play named OurAmerican Cousin.

Booth, an actor, wasjealous of Lincoln because hewas the more famous.

Booth shot Lincoln andjumped from the balcony tothe stage, breaking his leg,yelling the Latin phrase, “Sicsemper tyrannis!” (Thusalways to tyrants!) andescaped.

Booth was killed on April26 in retaliation for his crime

Abraham Lincoln isconsidered by many people tobe the best of all of thePresidents of the UnitedStates. In fact, both liberalsand conservatives agree onthis.

Lincoln freed all AfricanAmericans from slavery,setting the stage for the CivilRights Movement nearly 100years later.

Soon after the war, in1870, African American malesearned the right to vote.

A submarine, an aircraftcarrier and an automobilebrand are all named for him, aswas a brigade in the Spanish-American War.

Lincoln, the capital ofNebraska, is also named forhim as are counties in 17states, including Montana.

The Lincoln Memorialwas also built in his honor. Hisface is also one of the four onMount Rushmore in SouthDakota.

Lincoln is one of the fourPresidents born in the monthof February: the others beingGeorge Washington, WilliamHenry Harrison and RonaldReagan.

The birthdays ofWashington and Lincoln led tothe establishment ofPresident’s Day (on February16 this year) in 1880.

NEWS FEBRUARY 27, 2OO9 3

Lincoln’s LegacyIn the 200 years since his birth, his legacy is still relevant

KKoollbbyy MMccGGaarrrraahhsophomore staffwriter

Cakaw! Cakaw! Crows andravens are mysterious birds thatare feared and misunderstood.They have been the target ofmany horror films and novelsand as a result have gained thereputation of being malevolentbirds.

Biology teacher Gayle Lamand her early morning honorsclass have taken an interest inthese birds and have beens t u d y i n gthem thelast coupleof months.

T h e ygroup haslearned thatthese birdshave beenidolized bym a n yd i f f e r e n ttypes ofp e o p l ethroughout history. Paintings ofthese birds have been found oncave walls and even today bandsand producers have titled songsand movies for the awe thesebirds have struck.

However based on itsstudies, the classes have foundthat these birds are more than justidols or inspirations to people.

They are actually highlyintelligent birds that seem to bebored.

First, Lam has assigned thebook In the Company of Crowsand Ravens written by John M.Marzlusf and Tony Angell.

This rather thick bookexplains just about everythingthere is to know about crows, andthe class had discussion over thechapters as the students read

through them. Shawn Patee explained

“Before I thought they were kindof annoying little birds, but afterlearning about them, I found outthey are actually kind of smartand behave differently from otherbirds.”

The class has gone on twofield trips to observe crows intheir natural environment, tomake observations, and to relateit to their learning.

Lam said “It’s alwaysworthwhile to get out in the field.

It wouldbe nice ifwe hadmore timeto getm o r edone.”

Theirfirst fieldtrip wasto Phipp’sPark.

Thes tuden ts

were equipped with binoculars, afield guide of birds and anotebook with a writing utensil.The class walked around thetrails of Phipp’s in search ofcrows, but sadly the only crowsthey could find were too far inthe sky to make anyobservations.

However, the trip was not afailure; students did learn aboutmany other birds they were ableobserved.

On the second trip, the classventured to Riverfront Parkwhere all that greeted them was afrozen lake and no crows.

Shawn Patee said “We didn’tsee many crows on the field trip,but we did learn about other birdsand it was still a fun field trip.”

The class plans to continuing

its study of crows throughout theyear and hopes to do anotherfollow-up larger field trip alongwith several other mini-field tripsaround West High where studentscan hopefully get better results.

“It’s hard to stay oncurriculum and study the crowsat the same time. We plan to do

more field trips, and once theground thaws we will set upfeeders around West and thenwill be able to work outsidemore,” said Lam.

FE

AT

UR

ES

LLiinnddssaayy GGeeeesophomore staffwriter

At the end of January,Skyview High schoolexperienced a power outagethat left the students out ofschool for a day and a half.

The power outage beganat 10 a.m. on Thursday, January22. Classes were stoppedbecause many of Skyview’sclassrooms do not havewindows, so there was notenough light to continue theremainder of the day.

Busses were arranged totransport students, and parentswere notified.

The power outage wascaused by a high-voltage powerbreaker failure.

School District 2 paid$25,000 to replace the faultyswitch. The switch was notavailable on any market;

luckily, a replacement usedswitch was found in California.

This situation could haveescalated to cause many moreproblems.

The weather during thetime of the power outage wasvery cold with temperatures inthe negative degrees. Thiscould have caused the liquid inthe pipes to freeze, possiblyuntil the pipes burst.Fortunately, a generator wasused to keep parts of the schoolwarmed to prevent it fromhappening.

If the power outage hadprolonged, the students ofSkyview would have had to bedivided evenly amongst WestHigh and Senior High.

West would accommodatethe students with classroomspace and teachers.

The days that were missedwere not made up butdisregarded.

Jo Lokken, a teacher atSkyview, reported, “There is noconcern of future problems. Itwas an old breaker box, and anold switch that got goofed up.”

She goes on to say, “Wethought it was a drill becausethere was one planned soon, sowe followed with procedure.When we were informed that iswas not a drill, we becameconcerned because if someonewanted to do something bad,that would be a perfect time forthem to do it.”

Cole Champney, a studentfrom Skyview, commented, “Ienjoyed having a day offwithout having to make it up.”

The school, overall, wasshut down for three-and-a-halfdays, and since the wholedistrict was not shut down, themissed day-and-a-half did nothave to be made up.

JJeessss NNoobbiilljunior staffwriter

Creepy e-mails. Scarypictures. Who are you? I donot even know you!

Internet stalkers are outthere, and they are ready tostrike their next victim at anymoment.

What is an Internetstalker?

Simply, a person or a“troll” who has attachedhimself or herself to anotherindividual.

The least active stalkercan be portrayed as boringwhile the most intensive canbe said to be scary.

It may seem harmless asthey give compliments all thetime, possibly send flirty e-mails or pictures, but any typeof stalker can be a very bigthreat.

A stalker is a seriouspredator, who can use theInternet to pursue a real orimagined dream or otherperverted fantasy.

One of the first things tothink about is how dangerousdoes this stalker seem to be?A person can determine thisby looking at the stalker’sactions.

If a stalker sends small e-mails every once in a while,then he or she probably doesnot pose much of a threat.

However, if the persontries to find out where youlive, sends you pictures of himor herself or wants your phonenumber, then he or she maypose more of a threat to you.

One should think aboutwho the stalker could be.

Could this be someonewho is upset with you becauseof something said or done inthe past? Could this besomeone with whom you hada relationship? Could this besomeone that you knew beforeor had met in the real world?

Think about where thestalker makes contact and howhe or she does it. Is it throughchat rooms, e-mails,newsgroups, forums?

What does he or she sayto you when he or she doesmake contact?

Is it intended to make youfeel bad about yourself? Is itrumors or lies, attempt to ruinyour life?

Does he or she reveal

information that is notgenerally known or given outon a regular basis?

Does he or she knowyour secrets? Or is he/shealways full of complimentsand very clingy?

Junior Lindsey Principestates, “Internet stalkers arecreepy, and kids need to becareful online.”

So, what is a person to dowhen being stalked on theInternet?

As in many othersituations, the first thing to dois to treat the stalker like atroll and just ignore whateverhe/she is doing. Most trollswill get bored and move on tosomeone else, but it is alwaysgood to save messages in casethey are needed for futurereference.

Consider your options. Retaliation is always

thought to make someone feelbetter about what is going on,but retaliation can besomething very risky to do.Essentially, the stalkerbecomes the victim.

Additionally, result in thestalker may be gettingpleasure out of yourfrustration. As a result,stalkers will most likely keepegging everything on becausethey know that they aregetting inside the person’shead.

Stalkers like to makeeverything personal. The keyis to keep it impersonal. Tryto minimize any privateresponses and maximize allthe public responses.

By definition, a stalker isa coward like bullies who liketo attack from behind or in thedark.

“Internet stalkers deservea beating, and to be put awayforever and ever,” sayssophomore Jayc Van Zee.

The most important thingto do is remember to stay safeon the Internet.

Make sure that the sitesthat you visit are safe.

Junior Ashlee Hoffmansaid, “I think Internet stalkersare scary, and they need to beput away for a long amount oftime after being caught. It istoo scary having our friendson the Internet with risks ofthem being trapped in one oftheir stalker games.”

Skyview High School LosesPower for Days

Internet StalkingBecoming an Issue

We didn’t see manycrows on the fieldtrip, but we didlearn about otherbirds, and it was

still a fun field trip.

Lam and Biology studentsstudy Crows

JJeennnnaa HHeennnniinnggssFeatures Editor

Dec. 11 and 30 broughtpolice raids to a Ballantinekennel at 2350 South 14 Road.

Only 20 miles northeast ofBillings, Shady Lane Kennels,owned by 59-year-old LindaKapsa, was reported to theauthorities by a neighborconcerned for the well-being ofthe many animals Kapsa held onher property.

Kapsa allegedly held thedogs to sell them on the Internet.Her website claims that Kapsacan and will ship the puppiesanywhere in the world by air andshe has been in the puppybusiness for years. The site alsostates that the dogs sold are allcalm, intelligent farm dogsdesigned for a loving family.

Billings resident RobGlasgow bought a dog fromKapsa a few years ago. Hebought an English Shepherdpuppy for $400. He journeyed toKapsa’s residence to pick up thepuppy upon which he found thedogs’ living situations as“horrendous.”

After owning the puppy forone day, Glasgow found that hisnew puppy had contractedparvovirus, a flu-like disease.

After $600 in vet bills,Glasgow’s puppy died fromparvovirus.

When he contacted Kapsa tonotify her about the death of hispuppy, she refused to refund hismoney but instead gave him anew puppy.

After hearing about the casebeing built against Kapsa,Glasgow stated, “I firmly believethat she loves those dogs, butbecame overwhelmed over time.I think she should be locked upjust like those dogs were.”

The first police visit to thekennels on Dec. 11 began as asimple investigation of a reportedanimal neglect case. What theauthorities found proved to be adamaging case for Kapsa.

Police removed 10 sick andinjured dogs, two cats and 13dead dogs from the property thatday. The body of one dead dogwas discovered next to Kapsa’sbed in her residence on thekennel property.

Investigators begancollecting evidence to make astrong case against Kapsa toremove the remaining animalsfrom the kennels.

Three weeks after the initialreport on the property was filed,authorities had enoughoutstanding evidence to get awarrant to search the rest of theproperty.

Dec. 30, the police onceagain journeyed to the Ballantinehome and kennels to seize theremaining dogs and otheranimals from the property. Thisday alone, 189 dogs, 27 chickens,10 Cockatiels, and a cat wereliberated from the location.

There are still around 50Pugs missing from the property.Records of intake show at least50 of the smaller dogs had beentaken by Kapsa.

The police removed over

300 living dogs from Shady LaneKennels combined from bothraids, 199 of which were EnglishShepherds.

All the animals taken fromKapsa’s property were relocatedto MetraPark pending a fullinvestigation of the abuse.Animal specialists were asked toexamine the dogs, provide ahealth report, microchip, andcheck for rabies and parvovirusespecially in the newbornpuppies.

Many cases of parvoviruswere discovered in the dogs.

This rescue effort has beendubbed Operation NewBeginnings by YellowstoneCounty. This project was createdto give these animals a secondchance to live. The dogs livedtheir lives in fear at Shady Laneand the rescuers and volunteersare rehabilitating the dogs so oneday they can be intergraded into aloving family.

Operation New BeginningsCoordinator Catherine Schaeffercommented, “It’s a huge, hugeundertaking. You’re dealing withlives here and you’ve seen someof the animals here, they arescared to death. They’ve beentaken away from the only areaand the only person they know.”

Officials with theYellowstone County Sherriff’sare currently paying the bills toaid in the recovery of the canines.They are paying for all costs,including overtime forveterinarians, food and other careitems. However, many donationsfrom PetSmart and Shipton’s, aswell as individual contributorscontinue to roll in to support thecause.

The still living 202 dogswere split up, with the majorityof the animals remaining atMetraPark, while others weretransferred to Billings Animal

Shelter and Big Sky Vet Clinic.The dogs in the worst conditionwere taken to the Vet Clinic.

Dr. Rob Bruner is caring for47 animals taken from thekennels at Big Sky Vet Clinic.

In his care are two pregnantdogs, three moms with newbornlitters, three cats and 10Cockatiels, as well as othercritical care “patients.”

The most serious of the casesat Big Sky resulted in theamputation of a leg on one of thedogs.

In Bruner’s opinion, the dogshave been seriously neglectedafter he inspected the livingconditions and the health of thedogs. Health issues of theanimals ranged from fleas andparasites to severe infections.Immediate health conditionsrequire de-worming and parasiteremoval. During the bugremoving process, the dogs willalso be implanted with amicrochip for the day when thedogs can be adopted.

Barb Berry, a volunteer withthe dogs at MetraPark,commented, “These dogs didn’task for this, they didn’t ask to betreated the way they were.”

As of January 8, 2009,Yellowstone County has beenbilled almost $10,000 since theytook over caring for Kapsa’sanimals.

According to UndersheriffJay Bell, the $10,000 is, “just thetip of the iceberg.”

The community has workedhard to help Operation NewBeginnings by raising over$3600 for the cause.

Kapsa appeared in Billingscourt on Jan. 13, where she wasarraigned on two counts of felonyaggravated animal cruelty as wellas four misdemeanors, two fordog at large, meaning the dogswere running wild and two for

failure to provide rabiesinformation. She pled not guiltyto all six counts.

If Kapsa is found guilty, shecould face up to four years inprison and a possible $2.5 millionfine.

An English Shepherd dogexpert was flown in from the eastcoast in monitoring the progressof the dogs while they make theirhomes in the stables at RimrockAuto Arena at Metra Park.

Heather Houlahan, the dogexpert, stated, “Typically, whatneeds to be done before the dogscan be socialized, before the dogcan be trained, the dog must betamed and that’s what thevolunteers are doing now.”

She continued by saying thatthe living conditions the dogs areencountering at MetraPark bettermeet the needs of the canines and volunteer efforts go a long way.

Because of this largeconfiscation of animals fromKapsa’s residence, legislators areworking on a plan to regulate dogbreeding facilities to keep puppymills at a minimum in the state.

Dave Pauli and DaveMcAlpine wrote a bill that wouldrequire all dog breeding facilitiesto undergo an annual inspection.

A similar bill failed inlegislation in 2007, so the newbill would mandate that breedersbuy a license to pay for all of theinspections their facility requires.

There are six additional“animal bills” in the works for2009 Legislature.

Anyone interested incontributing to the rehabilitationof the animals can contact theLast Chance Cat Sanctuary at248-2388 or Operation NewBeginnings at 256-2478.

Information from this storysupplied by Billings Gazette.

FEBRUARY 27, 2OO9FEATURES 5

Ballantine “Dog Lady” to Appear in Court;Over 200 dogs Removed from Property

KKaarrllyy SSoouutthhSenior Columnist

West High students areknown for having many talents.

Among the talented studentbody, senior Justin Schmitt hasspent his senior year showcasinghis rap skills, winning eatingcontests and his newest hobby,DJing.

On Jan. 30, Schmitt made hisDJ debut at Billings’ newest teendance club, The Lockdown.

“I talked to the guy whoowned the place and he said he’dhook me up,” says Schmitt of hisDJ opportunity at TheLockdown. “I did it because I gotto provide a good time foreveryone.”

The Lockdown, which is asubstance-free teen nightclub,had about 190 teens show up, allcurious about the guest DJ.

Schmitt says he hooked uphis computer and just let the beatbuild. He certainly plans onDJing again claiming, “Yes. Ifpeople want to get their ‘greezy’on, I’ll be there providing thebeats.”

Junior Alicia Smith attendedthe events at the Lockdown,saying, “He picked good songsand did a good job; he couldprobably go professional someday.”

Schmitt says it was a goodexperience and is glad thateveryone enjoyed it.

Although his future DJ plans

are undecided, he says, “I’mworking on an album right nowwith the Cash MoneyMillionaires.”

Schmitty Rocks theLockdown

Erin KusekOOppiinniioonn EEddiittoorr

The West High Forensics teamconcluded the season with success.

On January 30-31, Westhosted the State tournament with13 schools from across Montana.Competitors faced the best of otherschool’s teams, which made for adifficult and exciting tournament.

Despite tough competition,West students certainly delivered.

Seven students placed in finalsin variety of events.

Winners include junior ColinMcRae and sophomore Alex Bushin Duo Interpretation [DUO] with

seventh place, senior Cassie Kingin Original Oratory [OO] withfourth place, freshman Dani Petakand junior Anna Peterson in PublicForum with eighth place, andjunior Kyra Nelson and sophomoreMegan Frisk with fifth place, alsoin Public Forum.

“I was hoping for more peoplein finals at State,” admittedForensics Head Coach MelindaMiddleton.

Middleton established a dealwith the team prior to State: if Westtook home at least three statechampions, the team could styleMiddleton’s hair however theywanted. McRae had a hot-pink afro

in mind.“I was really excited for my

hair to be redone, especially sincewe had two state champions lastyear,” commented Middleton.

After State, competitorsquickly began preparing forNational Qualifiers [NFL]. At thistournament, located in Helena,those who earn first, second andsometimes third place in theirevents receive the opportunity tocompete in Nationals located thisyear in Birmingham, Alabama.

King obtained this prestigioushonor by taking second at NFL inOO and is anxiously awaitingNationals.

“[Taking second] was prettysurreal. I’m pretty excited;[Nationals] should be lots of fun,”said King.

King’s speech, titled “ThinkBefore You Pink,” focuses onbreast cancer campaigning throughconsumerism.

Certain companies likeKitchenAid and Yoplait yogurt

encourage consumers to purchasetheir pink products, leading them tothink their money is going to agood cause. However, King’sspeech reveals this money does notalways directly go to breast cancerfoundations.

“I think a lot of people getdrawn in by campaigns. They wantto help, but they need to be awareof where their money is going,”King explained.

Being a cancer survivorherself, King has seen both sides ofthe issue.

“[Being a cancer survivor]gives me more passion about whatI’m speaking about. It gives memore understanding,” Kingelaborated.

Until Nationals, Kingcontinues to improve her speech soit is wholly prepared forcompetition.

“I’m just polishing my speech.I’m anxious, but I’m not nervous,”concluded King.

Other finalists included

McRae and Bush in Duo withfourth, junior Trent Dugger inStudent Congress with fifth placeand junior Anna Peterson inStudent Congress with second.

Although Peterson tooksecond, she will not be going toNationals since Student Congressonly takes the first place winnerfrom each separate “house” in theevent.

“NFL was awesome. I did notexpect do as well as I did,”commented Peterson.

Overall, the team is happywith their winner for nationals.

“NFL went exactly like Ithought it would. The people infinals were the ones thatcontinuously practiced and workedhard,” explained Middleton.

As for next year, hopes andexpectations are high.

“We had a young team. I washappy with the highlights of theseason and we have a lot to buildoff of for next year,” said speechcoach Stephen Macartney.

FEBRUARY 27, 2OO9FEATURES 6

JJeessssiiccaa EEttttlleemmaannjunior staffwriter

Myspace and Facebook havebeen the “it thing” for the pastfew years now. People can postblogs and write about themselvesor post pictures of what they didover the past weekends.

These websites are fun touse and a great way to stay intouch with friends.

However, when postingpictures and blogs on Myspace orFacebook, be careful. Employersare now looking at the Myspaceand Facebooks of applicants.This is happening mostly withcollege students just finishing upschool and looking for a career.

After these students applyand interview for a job, theemployer will go search for theapplicant’s name on Myspace orFacebook to look at what blogsand pictures they have posted.

If the employer sees apicture of the applicant at a partywith 15 to 30 people and alcoholis present, the employer judgestheir trustworthiness orresponsibility based on that.Employers see this as justanother way to do a harmlessbackground check.

“It’s kind of odd and a littlecreepy, but it is a good way to seethe true side of someone beforehiring them,” commented juniorKatie Baum.

Employers want to know ifthey can trust someone beforethey hire them.

By looking at thesewebsites, employers can see theactual side of people and decideif the person is irresponsibleinstead of having to waste theirtime hiring and training someonewho is not going to show up towork or accomplish anythingbecause he or she is too busygoing out and partying.

Many students think this isan “invasion of privacy” and theemployer should not look at thesesites to determine theirhireability, believing that it isunfair to look through theirpersonal lives to determine theirfuture.

Junior Tiffany Dyk argues,“It shouldn’t matter if anemployer looks on those sitesbecause it is on the internet foreveryone to see. If you don’twant someone seeing what is on

your Facebook, then don’t postit.”

However, students also needto remember that when they postinformation online, it is availablefor everyone to see.

Employers gain insight toapplicants via online world

West High Forensics Take High Honors at State

GGrreegg HHeeiiddnneerrSports Editor

With the regular seasonwinding down and the AA StateTournament looming in the dis-tance, the Golden Bear basketballprogram is working on fine tun-ing and getting ready for anotherchampionship run.

“We’re just trying to focuson having a strong finish to ourconference schedule and estab-lish good positioning going intostate,” commented senior guardStanton Duke.

West’s 17 – 3 record is sec-ond best in the state and placesthem in position to host a playoffgame.

The Bears are second only toGreat Falls C.M.R. The Rustlersneeded overtime on Feb. 6 in oneof the better basketball games inrecent memory to knock off thereigning state champs and holdonto the top spot in the EasternConference.

“We are really starting to hitour stride as a team,” stated sen-ior guard Jase Muri. “We have alot of team chemistry and enjoybeing on the court together. Afterthe game against Bozeman, wereally started to find a rhythm andhaven’t looked back.”

After a disappointing loss toSkyview by just a single point toclose out January, C.M.R. cameto town for a showdown of thetop two records in the state.

In a game that remainedclose throughout, West’s seniorforward Eric Halverson made a

clutch rebound and shot to sendthe game into overtime as thebuzzer sounded.

Unfortunately for the Bears,the Rustlers pulled away in thefinal minutes for a well-deservedvictory.

“Other than the final score, Iwas pleased,” said Coach DougRobison of West’s 70 – 66 loss.“Our kids know we can competewith them. If we would have hada couple more bounces go ourway, we would have won thegame.”

Duke led West’s offensiveattack with 14 points, followedby 11 from senior forward BenKing and 9 from Muri.

Halverson fell just one bas-ket short of a double-double, con-tributing 8 points while grabbing13 boards.

Unfortunately for the GreatFalls Bison, West took out theirfrustrations for the close loss intheir next match up.

The Golden Bears got backto their winning ways with a lop-sided 78 – 32 victory over theBison the next afternoon. In agame where West’s guards wentabsolutely wild on the Great Fallsdefense, the MHSA’s newly-instated mercy rule was put intoeffect. This allowed the clock torun nonstop once the deficitreached 40 points to speed up theinevitable defeat.

The best rivalry in Billingswas renewed on the court in thenext game as West traveled toBillings Senior for a rematchwith the Senior High Broncs onFeb. 10.

In the previous meeting,West downed the overpoweredBroncs 89 – 66 in the GoldenDome.

Senior came out firing on allcylinders early. The upset-mind-ed Broncs surprised West byjumping out to an 11 – 0 leadearly.

The Golden Bears received amuch-needed spark at the end ofthe first quarter by Duke, whodrained a shot from his own threepoint line to bring some momen-tum back to West’s side.

A completely different teamtook the court in the second quar-ter from the one that struggledthrough the first as West made a

huge run to regain the lead andnever looked back, putting awaya pesky Broncs team 74 – 64 tocomplete the sweep of theircrosstown rivals.

An easy 79 – 41 victory overclass A’s Miles City on Feb. 13led up to a big match up againstthe consensus third place team inthe Eastern AA, the BozemanHawks.

West’s bench made the dif-ference in the Valentine’s Daygame as they supplied 28 pointsto defeat the Hawks. Senior for-ward Jake Ness dominated theinside for the Bears, bringingdown 11 rebounds and forcingBozeman to settle for midrangejumpers.

Easy wins over Butte andLaurel placed the Bears in greatposition going into the final weekof regular season play.

West traveled to Great Fallsfor the final two games before theplayoffs, facing Great Falls High

Friday before playing a gamewith huge tournament seedingimplications Saturday againstGreat Falls C.M.R.

The Golden Bears handledthe Bison easily, holding themscoreless in the fourth quarter tocap a 64 - 23 win.

The rematch with C.M.R.was not as easy for West, but theresult was the same. Behindhuge defensive efforts byHalverson, Ness and King, theBears shut down the Rustlers topscorer in Josh Huestis.

“Eric, Jake and Ben playedout of their minds,” commentedDuke.

Without Huestis, C.M.R.could not keep up with West’spotent offense, as the Bearspulled away for a 65 - 49 win.

West is now in great positionto secure the second place spotfrom the Eastern Conference inthe state tournament.

SP

OR

TS Bears Rolling Heading into State

SEE YA! Golden Bears senior guard Josh Swain blows past CMR’sTanner Bleskin for a basket. West played a great game but could notovercome the Rustlers in a thriller that went into overtime.

Photo by Chase Templet

AAlleexx HHaarrttffoorrddsenior staffwriter

Sometimes small numbers ofathletes can create an excitingand memorable season.

That is exactly what bothboys and girls West swimmingteams experienced this year.

Senior swimmer DerekYampradit liked the small num-bers, commenting, “We werereally close for a team; we hadgood chemistry.”

Yampradit was a co-captainon a team in which four boys par-ticipated at the varsity level. Hefinished sixth in the 100 breast-stroke at state to finish the year.

The boys finished seventh atthe state meet on Feb. 14 in GreatFalls. With only four competi-tors, the 67 points they put upwas very respectable.

Senior Kenton Smith pro-

duced the biggest highlight of thecompetition for the boys, swim-ming the 100 breaststroke in just58.4 seconds to capture the topspot in the event.

“I’m pretty happy with theseason overall and winning the100 was a great way to end theyear,” said Smith, who set a staterecord with his time.

Smith also took third in the200 individual medley with atime of just over 2 minutes.

The Lady Bear swimmershave historically enjoyed greatersuccess than the boys at the stateswim meet, and this year was noexception.

Led by sophomore JordanDenny, West claimed the thirdplace trophy in Great Falls with ateam score of 104 points. It istheir second consecutive thirdplace finish for a program thatlacked numbers as well.

Denny re-broke her staterecord from last year in the 100backstroke with a winning timeof 58.44 seconds. She also wonthe 200 individual medley with ablistering 2:11.00.

“I’m really excited abouthow we did,” commented thesophomore sensation. “Evenwith being short on girls, wewere still able to take third,which is awesome.”

The Lady Bears 200freestyle relay team placed third,a little over a second behindBozeman for second place andjust over four seconds behind thewinning pace of Great FallsC.M.R.

Overall it was a good stateswim meet for West, and theyounger swimmers are alreadylooking forward to next year.

Swimmers Finish Strong at State

The HotseatBrian Muller

Sport: BasketballPosition: Guard

Muller has helped the Bears to an impressive 15 – 3 recordwith his deadly scoring ability. The junior has provided aspark to the Bears offense off the bench, shooting just over41% from the field and 34% from behind the arc. His Threepoint percentage is currently thirteenth best in the state.

Favorite Basketball Player?- Kobe

Favorite coaches comment?- “Let’s move it Brian Muller!”

Favorite team moment?- After a win

Favorite roommate?- Marcus Drange

Worst roommate?- Jake Ness (his FOURTHappearance)

Pairs of shoes?- Five

Favorite flavor of ice cream?- Cookie Dough

The Super Bowl was…- Fantastic

Favorite song- “Crack a Bottle” by Eminem

Abercrombie or American Eagle?- Abercrombie

Lindsay Geesophomore staffwriter

Every year, the West HighSchool Majorettes perform twolighted baton shows.

The shows include all theMajorettes with batons lightedin all different colors perform-ing their stunts with the lightsoff in the Golden Dome and theappearance of the highly-antici-pated fire baton.

Training is required tobecome a skilled Majorette.Practices begin in the summerand end toward the end of theschool year around March.

Every morning, these com-mitted girls wake up and startpractice as early as 6:00.

The fire baton is a specialhonor as a Majorette since onlyseniors on the squad can audi-

tion for the position.To receive the privilege of

the fire baton, you must be asenior and extremely commit-ted to being a Majorette. Thefire baton is a privilege becauseof the obvious risk.

Before handling theenflamed baton, one must bewilling to continuously practicethe routine without the baton onfire to ward off risks of burninganyone or anything.

This year, the baton wasgiven to senior Linda Gleasonfor the first performance and tosenior Janae Miller for the per-formance on Valentine’s Day.

On this Valentine’s Dayperformance, Janae performedher routine with the fire batonto a remix of many MichaelJackson songs including “BillyJean” and “Thriller.”

The show went very welland it was a success althoughthe enflamed baton wasdropped once.

Sophomore KaitlynRangitch said,” The show wentwell except there was a light onin the back.”

The final fired baton showhappened when the West HighBears took on the BozemanHigh Hawks in a high-scoringgame which ended with theWest High Bears victorious.The final score was 71-47.

This year, our Majorettesreceive the opportunity ofgoing to Orlando, Florida tocompete against other teamsand perform for judges. Theyleave on March 4, the begin-ning of spring break and returnat the end of spring break.

FEBRUARY 27, 2OO9SPORTS 8

AAlleexx HHaarrttffoorrddsenior staffwriter

As the cliché goes, “Wegotta finish strong!”

Cliché or not, that is justwhat the Lady Bears are lookingto do in the remaining weeksbefore the state tournament.

Junior guard Janiel Olsonexpects great things for the restof the season, saying, “I expectto win out so that we could get afirst round bye in the playoffs.”

The road to the playoffsgoes through two teams the LadyBears have seen and lost toalready.

A heart breaking loss toCMR by two points and a toughloss to Butte has given the team asense of revenge.

“We are certainly lookingforward to playing them again,”said Lady Bears head coachGreta Buehler.

“We are really excited toplay them again,” echoed seniorforward Olivia Eiselein.

West currently sits in a tiefor third place, two gamesbehind the Bozemen LadyHawks, and three games behindButte’s Lady Bulldogs in theEastern AA.

As a team normally does,the Lady Bears are always look-ing to improve whether it is as anindividual or as a team.

“Our main focus is toimprove our defense,” saysEiselein, and Olson is taking amore personal approach, “Iwould like improve my offense.”

Buehler remains focused onthe rest of the season, “I wouldlike for us to win our remainingconference games and play con-sistently on both ends of thefloor.”

Depth, versatility and teamspeed are what Buehler creditsthe success of the Lady Bears tothis season.

Another is team leadership.“I think we have had lots of

players step up and help lead indifferent ways, whether vocallyor by example,” commentedBuehler.

As March rolls around, fansbegin to see the best play a teamhas to offer. All of this adds tothe excitement of state AA bas-ketball.

Lady Bears Focused on Strong Finish

KKoollbbyy MMccGGaarrrraahhsophomore staffwriter

Endless hours in the gympracticing and countless reps inthe weight room have all comedown to this. The AA Statewrestling meet.

Wrestlers from all over thestate who qualified for this tour-nament met on Friday Feb. 13 and14 at the Metra for the biggestmatches of the year.

The best of the best wenthead to head to determine who aretruly the best wrestlers inMontana.

West’s line-up consisted ofNick Richardson, Daniel Temme,David Schmitt, Nate Long, P.J.Neary, Mike Baker, DavidKersten, Jordan Spoonemore,Nick Wiens and Kris Robuck.They will be led by none otherthan head coach JeremyHernandez. Hernandez thoughtthe tournament would be toughand they need to be ready to wres-tle.

Three Golden Bear wrestlersfinished above 6th place. DavidSchmitt, West’s top performer atstate, finished 5th in the 119

pound group. Nick Richardsonplaced 6th in the 105 pound groupand Temme placed 6th in the 112pound group.

Coach Jeremy Hernandezsaid “The state wrestling tourna-ment went well for us; overall wehad 3 state placers. A senior,David Schmitt earned 5th place,Nick Richardson, a junior, earned6th place as well as freshmenDaniel Temme. Temme is the firstfreshman to place at the state tour-

nament in 8 years.” West High had one of the

smallest groups among all the AAschool with an average of 6wrestlers less than the otherschool.

“I am very proud of how thewrestlers busted their butts forme. It takes a lot of hard work,determination, sweat and blood towrestle. Once you have wrestled,everything else in life is easy,”said Hernandez quoting DanGable.

The HotseatDerek Yampradit

Sport: SwimmingPosition: Co-captain

In his fourth year in the pool, Yampradit finished 6th in the 100breaststroke and 8th in the 200 yard freestyle at the state tournament.He was a team captain as a senior and his last race marked the end ofhis fourth year as a varsity swimmer.

Favorite swimmer?- Darra Torres

Favorite coaches comment?- “There is no such thing as a metric second.”

Favorite team moment?- Definitely the guys’ Halo par-ties

Favorite roommate?- The Brazilian

Worst roommate?- I would room with any of theguys

Pairs of shoes?- Five

Favorite flavor of ice cream?- Moose Tracks

The Super Bowl was…- Horrendous

Favorite song- “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor

Abercrombie or American Eagle?- American Eagle

Crowds Enjoy Flaming Baton Shows

Hard Work Pays Off for Wrestlers

Bring it On! A Golden Bear wrestler faces off against an opponentfrom Senior High in an early season dual.

Photo by Chase Templet

AR

TS Choir fundraises with

singing valentinesStudents give and recieve Valentines

JJeessssiiccaa EEttttlleemmaannjunior staffwriter

February is the month forlove, a chance to show some-one that they are cared about.

In elementary school, stu-dents made valentine boxes orbags, and everyone brought avalentine for each person inthe class.

In high school,Valentine’s Day transformsinto the day to show the onethey “like” how they feel.

West showcases manyfundraisers on Valentines Day;one of the most successfulfundraisers is the SingingValentines put on by the Choirstudents.

The songs being sung areeither famous love songs thathave been recorded by famousartists or songs that have beenwritten by the students them-selves.

Students then choreo-graph the songs and give theirown little twist to each one.

There is a variety of songgenres, ranging from rap tothe classics.

Having such a variety ofsongs makes the SingingValentines even more popular

because students can chosethe type of song they want touse to publicly humiliate a stu-dent of their choice.

“It was embarrassing,people were watching and tak-ing pictures of me, but it wasalso a lot of fun,” junior HaleeIbach comments.

“They are a wee-bitexpensive, but great toreceive. They are also fun to

watch people get embar-rassed,” junior Alicia Smithcommented about theValentines.

The Music Departmenthas many different expenses,and Singing Valentines are anannual fundraiser used to off-set some of these expenses.

The Valentines are $5, andmost years about 350Valentines are sold.

The money is used to helppay for the Choir trips takenduring the year and pay for theWest Winds girls’ dresses andother expenses.

“Students have more fundoing this as a fundraiser thanjust sitting at a table asking formoney, and it gets them out ofclasses for a day,” commentedjunior Rachel Nielsen.

Juniors Cole Frank, KyleSchneider and Porter Hannah singand embarrass junior JordanStevens. The three dressed uplike geeks, pulling off the lookvery well. The three took theirtime embarrassing all of their vic-tims.

photo by Jess Nobil

Flower children junior PatrickMiron bangs on the drums whilejunior Danny Jones sings to hisunwilling “victims.” Jones stolethe show, jumping everywhereand using the whole room as aprop.

photo by Jess Nobil

Juniors Holly Suchi, Tressa Langford, Emily Meyer and Leah Davis sing to freshman Kory Erickson during6th period, crooning the very popular Single Ladies by Beyonce. The foursome kept up their energythroughout the day despite wearing high-heeled leather boots and sequinned outfits.

photo by Jess Nobil

KKaarrllyy SSoouutthh Senior Columnist

On Feb. 11, sophomoresat West High were given theopportunity to go see the courtscene from their requiredfreshman read, To Kill aMockingbird by Harper Lee.

The full performance wasput on by the MontanaRepertory Theater on Feb. 10,for anyone who purchased aticket. The Alberta BairTheater kindly provided manyschools from Billings and sur-

rounding areas a free viewingof the court scene.

The scene lasted a littleunder an hour,with a ques-t i o n - a n d -answer ses-sion after-wards.

The bookTo Kill aMockingbirdis about ayoung girl named Scout dur-ing the Great Depression. She

encounters many challengesthroughout the story, thebiggest being her lawyer

father’s defense of TomRobinson, a man of color who

was accused of raping a whitegirl.

The court scene that thesophomores werelucky enough toview consisted ofa humble and sim-ple court settingwith about thir-teen actors play-ing in the scene.

“I thought theactors gave a

moving performance. Thecharacters were just as I had

thought them to be. Bravo!”says sophomore BethanyMion.

The sophomores seemedappreciative of the chance toview the scene, with manyraising their hands when askedif they would have enjoyedviewing the entire play.

Sophomore Nick Clarksays, “Yes, I enjoyed beingable to have first lunch and theenjoyable bus ride. We heard-ed around the bus just like cat-tle.”

Sophomores attend stage performance of To Kill A Mocking BirdAll sophomores in afternoon English take a couple of hours for culture

I thought the actors gave amoving performance. The

characters were just as I hadthought them to be.

West’s top musicians head to Spokanefor All-Northwest Honors Groups

KKyyrraa NNeellssoonnArts Editor

Every other year studentswith exceptional musical talentare able to audition for, and ifselected, participate in All-Northwest.

The All-Northwest programincludes groups for students in awide range of musical fieldsincluding orchestra, band, andchoir. These ensembles are com-prised of some of the best youngmusicians in the northwest regionof the United States, includingAlaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon,Washington and Wyoming. Anestimated 1,600 students wereinvolved.

Junior Austin Gee remarked,“All-Northwest was the best. Icried during the concert.”

This year All-Northwesttook place Feb. 17-21 inSpokane, Washington. Ten WestHigh students attended the event.In choir seniors Mallory Carling,Ashley Hamzeh, Natalia

Fitzhugh, juniors MattKirkpatrick, Brooke Moncada,Chani Nava, Austing Gee, andsophomore Anna Kietzman par-ticipated at All-Northwest. JuniorNicole Ficek was selected as thethird chair violinist in the orches-tra. In band, senior trombonistTasha Zoanni was selected toplay.

While in Spokane the stu-dents spent a lot of time rehears-ing, attending and performingconcerts.

Of particular note, the stu-dents were able to enjoy a con-cert by Evelyn Glennie, a

Scottish percussionist who hadlost almost all her hearing by thetime she was 12.

The student groups, whichincluded band, orchestra, choir,women’s choir, jazz band andjazz choir, were also given thechance to perform after workingwith clinicians from around thecountry.

Kirkpatrick commented,“[Glennie] was amazing. I could-n’t even believe what she wasdoing!”

The students enjoyed theoverall experience.

KKyyrraa NNeellssoonnArts Editor

On Feb. 2 and 3 studentsin West High’s PhilharmonicOrchestra had the opportunityto play with students fromaround the state under guestconductor Gordon Johnson.

This year AA OrchestraFestival was held in Billings,Montana. Helena Capital andHelena High came to playwith students from the fourBillings high schools, and twolarge orchestras were formedfrom the four schools.

West students played withstudents from Central Highand Helena Capital underguest conductor Gordon

Johnson while Capital High,Senior High, and SkyviewHigh orchestras played underDarko Butorac’s direction.

Johnson conducts theGreat Falls SymphonyOrchestra, and Butorac is theconductor for the MissoulaSymphony Orchestra.

Junior violist MackenzieFrank remarked, “[Johnson]was an entertaining character.He was fun to work with andreally good at what he does.”

The combined orchestrarehearsed Feb. 2 and 3 atlocations in downtownBillings.

On Monday night orches-tras from the individualschools performed as a prel-ude to the next night’s con-cert.

The concert began withCentral High playing, fol-lowed by the two Helenaschools in attendance, thenSkyview, West and Senior.

Under the direction ofMike Peterson, the West HighPhilharmonic Orchestraplayed Vaclav Nelhybel’s

arrangement of “A MightyFortress”.

After a successfulMonday night concert, thestudents returned to rehearsewith their combined orches-tras the next day.

Two days of strenuouspractice behind them, thelarge orchestras performed aconcert at the Lincoln Center.The combined West, Centraland Capital orchestra playedfour pieces.

The concert began withthe fast paced, “Cruzatte’sFiddle”, a piece based onLewis and Clark’s journey.The movement is named afterPiere Cruzatte who accompa-nied the famous voyagers andbrought his fiddle on the trail.

The second piece on theprogram was “A Tribute toHenry Mancini” which com-bined several of HenryMancini’s famous show tunesin an energetic fanfare. Themedley included themes from“Pink Panther”, “BabyElephant Walk” and “PeterGun”.

Following the tribute toMancini, the strings played asoft “Adagietto” by GeorgeBizet.

To complete their per-formance, the orchestraplayed the finale fromShostakovich’s 5th sympho-ny. The symphony was areflection of Stalinist Russia,where the government sup-pressed creative works thatopposed to Stalin’s oppressiveagenda.

Johnson chose high ener-gy pieces for his orchestra.

“I really liked all the

songs we played,” commentedjunior Joe Epley. “The wereall fun and up beat, which isgreat since we spent so muchtime working on them.”

The performers thenhanded the stage over toButorac’s orchestra.

Johnson said if the stu-dents could gain anythingfrom the two day experience,it would be for them, “…[T]orealize…that music is not theblack dots on the page. Musiconly comes alive when youapply your spirit.”

Ochestral Virtuosos attend AA Orchestra Festival

Bedtime StoriesDelivers

Jess Nobiljunior staffwriter

With big eyes and lots oflaughter, the new movie“Bedtime Stories” is a hit.

This film staring AdamSandler, Keri Russell, GuyPearce and Richard Griffiths ispacked with humor.

As Skeeter (Sandler) andWendy (Courteney Cox) grow upin their father Marty’s smallhotel, which does not receivemuch business, Marty has tomake some sacrifices so thatSkeeter, hopefully, can run thehotel when he is old enough.

When the ambitious devel-oper Berry Nottingham buys thehotel, Skeeter is devastated.

Years later, Skeeter stillworks at the hotel but not as themanager or owner as he hadpromised his father. Instead he isthe hotel maintenance man.Fixing the lights, electrical sys-tems and anything else that iswrong in the hotel, Skeeter stillholds onto his high hopes ofbecoming the hotel manager.

When Skeeter’s sister

Wendy has to go out of town togo on a job interview, she asksSkeeter to watch her two kids,Bobbi and Patrick. A masterstory-teller like his father,Skeeter wins over the kids’ heartsby telling them crafty bedtimestories every night before theyfall asleep, even letting them puttheir own ideas into the tales.

As the film progresses,Skeeter realize that whatever thekids say in the story alwayscomes true the next day. Now,thinking that he could possiblyget everything he wants, Skeetertries to trick the kids into addingthings to the bedtime storiesthings that would make his actu-al life better.

In the process of attemptingto trick the kids, Skeeter realizeseverything in his life is prettygreat and he already has what hewants. He just has to make amove on the events he actuallywants to take place and try hard-er to make his life better.

It was a great movie to go toon any day of the week with fam-ily, friends or a significant other.

Trombonists Tasha Zoanni andMark Schlotterback rehearse.

Maestro Gordon Johnson rehearses with his orchestra in preparationfor a concert.

FEBRUARY 27, 2OO9ARTS 1O

CChhaassee TTeemmpplleett aannddAAnnggeell SShhaannddyy

sophomore and juniorstaffwriters

The Shrine Undergrounddisplayed its potential and thepossibility of a new tradition Jan.30, 2009 with the concert formainstream bands Anberlin,Madina Lake, and Between theTrees.

On a chilly mid-winter night,Anberlin, from Winter HavenFlorida, performed in the ShrineAuditorium’s downstairs concertfacility, accented by MadinaLake, Between the Trees and

Montana’s own GoodnightSunrise.

Each band displayed a shiftfrom the modern music trendswith vast amounts of originality,with styles ranging greatly fromup-beat and almost “dancy”songs to ones with piano focusand acoustic melodies.

The subjects the songs alsorevolved around displayed greatdiversity, such as in Anberlin’s“Burn out Brighter (NorthernLights)” which tells of the storyof a man experiencing a planecrash and looking back on hisless-than-perfect life, to theexceedingly different Madina

Lake song “Now or Never”which tells how life is short andyou never know what is going tohappen so make the best of life.

Sophomore Mahli Ruff gaveher opinion on why she likes cer-tain songs, “I always look at thelyrics. I can relate to what theyare saying.”

The Shrine’s basement filledwith hundreds devoted fans forthe first set, Goodnight Sunrise.

The band displayed a famil-iar set full of up-beat songs fromtheir album “Close andCounting” as well as multipleentertaining covers.

They continued to displaytheir ability to venture outsidetheir rock/pop genre and incorpo-rate several other styles andaspects.

Goodnight Sunrise continuesto give Montana’s music scene anew perspective with their origi-nal style.

Meghan Crawford stated heropinion on the Helena band,“Their lead singer had a reallygood voice and was really attrac-

tive! I thought they did great, andthey were fun to watch.”

Between the Trees, a bandfrom Orlando, Florida, followedGoodnight Sunrise with a set thatflawlessly displayed their song-writing ability and portrayed astrong range of gravity as well asup-beat music. With introduc-tions to their upcoming follow upC.D. to their previous album“The Story and the Song”, theiract contained several changesvarying from song to song fromeach album.

Madina Lake displayed theirprogression from simply being aband with the two twins, Nathanand Matthew Leone, fromChicago, Illinois that won$50,000 on Fear Factor: TwinsEdition to becoming big timemusicians.

They exhibited their musicalability with almost their entire setlist featured on their most recentalbum “From Them, Through Us,To You”.

The crowed showed moreand more intensity as their set

progressed and the movementbecame greater.

Freshman Ashten Shandycommented, “It was intenselyamazing, and I didn’t want it toend.”

Now with bare feet and con-stantly moving band members, aswell as fans, Madina Lake dis-played their talent all the waythrough “Here I Stand” and “OneLast Kiss” and concluded the lastset before Anberlin took thestage.

After an extremely excessivechange, four figures appeared onstage and began playing, andfinally, lead singer StephenChristian joined his band mates,completing the headlining band,Anberlin.

The band resurrected theirold and familiar songs such as“Day Late Friend” and “FeelGood Drag” as well as introducedseveral songs from their recentlyreleased album “New Surrender”.

When the intensity and sheervolume from any of their songsfilled the room and the crowedresponded accordingly, Anberlinwould contrast the selection byplaying slower acoustic songssuch as “Unwinding Cable Car”,and the moshing and constantmovement shifted to hand hold-ing and stillness.

CChhaassee TTeemmpplleettsophomore staffwriter

As dusk fell over Billings’Shrine Auditorium on Jan. 21,homework and the next day’sclasses were the last things on theminds of the anticipating fansstanding in a line that wrappedaround the side of the buildingand beyond.

The event was the musicalappearance of Alabama’sMychildren Mybride, TheHuman Abstract from California,Ontario’s Protest the Hero andthe headliner, As I Lay Dying ofSan Diego.

While all of the bands can beplaced in the metal genre, thenight promised a diverse displayof musical styles.

Mychildren Mybride tookthe stage directly after hundredsof people filled the Shrine’s base-ment, and excitement filled thepreviously tense crowd.

Beginning with “On Wingsof Integrity” and consisting of

several other singles from theirlatest release Unbreakable, theirset gained more and more intensi-ty as it progressed and finallycame to an end.

Vocalist Matthew Hastingsstated, “We really appreciate allof the support; it makes touring aton easier.”

Following MychildrenMybride, The Human Abstractdisplayed an equally energeticperformance packed with strobelights, unbelievably original gui-tar riffs and a constantly activevocal performance. Barely visi-ble through the crowd were theguitarist’s enormous dread locksthat met the floor while he wasplaying.

West High junior PatrickMiron, who stood among thecrowd, stated, “I thought TheHuman Abstract was by far thebest band to hear live. It isalready incredible that they man-aged to record such technicalpieces for their albums, but itblew my mind to hear them live.”

After a set change, the crowd

continued to display their undeni-able enthusiasm for Protest theHero, with equally technicalleads and riffs and stunning vocalperformance, all in contentionwith the rapid drum beats. Theydemonstrated their abilitythrough both records Kezia from2006 and Fortress from 2008.

In between consistentlyhigh-powered songs, RodneyWalker, their vocalist, light-heartedly cracked jokes at thefans’ expense, at one point rip-ping up a fan’s sign and taping itback up and signing it.

Junior Zach Jurichexclaimed, “Oh! DefinitelyProtest the Hero [gave the bestset]! They are my favorite out ofall four bands, but I would say AsI Lay Dying put on a great show,and I don’t even like them.”

Jurich continued, “Bandslike Protest the Hero are differentbecause they change their timesignature multiple times in asong; it kinda keeps you guess-ing; they’re very unpredictable.”

As I Lay Dying began in San

Diego, and the band is nowsigned to Metal Blade Recordsand released their sixth album AnOcean between Us in August2007.

The California band openlybears Christian faith; howevertheir religious perspective rarelyventures obviously into theirmusic.

In the band FAQ, TimLambesis stated, “I’m not surewhat the difference is betweenfive Christians playing in a bandand a Christian band…Many ofour songs are about life, strug-gles, mistakes, relationships andother issues that don’t fit entirelyin the spiritual category.However, all of these topics arewritten about through my per-spective as a Christian...”

They performed with anundeniable presence. The powerof the amplifiers and monitorsmixed with the sheer musical tal-ent produced a sound almostidentical to the studio recordings.

The set list consisted of anumber of songs from both past

albums as well as recent releases.With an extreme musical display,they continued to display a con-sistently impressive set until theseemingly final notes. But afterthe encore, they returned to thestage for the final songs accom-panied by a goodnight.

Afterward, the fans walkedthrough the front door of thevenue sweaty and near deaf butwith their expectations fulfilledand in most cases greatly exceed-ed.

The night proved an auspi-cious beginning to the newunderground venue and a brightstart for many concerts yet tocome.

Jurich concluded, “I haveonly lived in Billings for a fewmonths now, and it is better thanI thought it would be… Biggerbands are starting to realize thatthere are dedicated fans thatappreciate it more because we’reso deprived.”

As I Lay Dying performs concert at Shrine Auditorium

Anberlin: from opening acts to the main event, an excellent concert

FEBRUARY 27, 2OO9ARTS 11

OP

INIO

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ARTS EDITORKyra Nelson

FEATURES EDITORJenna Hennings

NEWS EDITORNate Weinand

OPINION EDITORErin Kusek

SPORTS EDITORGreg Heidner

SENIOR COLUMNISTKarly South

WEB EDITORKelsey Munsell

ADVISERCaaren Cerise

PRINCIPALDave Cobb

STAFF WRITERSPat BushTrent DuggerJessica EttlemanMegan ForthunLindsey GeeAlex HartfordKolby McGarrahJennifer MorrisNikky MosureJessica NobilTawni PalinAngel ShandyChase TempletBrad Wright

The Billings West High Kodiak is an open forum for studentexpression that aims to publish information suitable for WestHigh students of all ages.

Letters to the editor must be signed; the Editorial Board reservesthe right to edit letters for length, accuracy and repetition.

BILLINGS WEST HIGH SCHOOL 2201 ST. JOHN’S AVENUE BILLINGS, MT 59102

KODIAK

Cliques CauseProblems, Dividing West

Jess Nobiljunior staffwriter

“Our school does not havea clique problem!” exclaims inMean Girls; this statementmost definitely does not applyto Billings West High. Assoon as someone walks intothis school, he or sheimmediately notices anobvious separation betweendifferent groups of students.

Walking through the hallsas a freshman, I noticed it rightaway.

Although similar tomiddle school, the “cliques”tend to be much moreaggressive and more intense inthe way they try to intimidateother students or terrorizethem between classes.

Anyone can become atarget for almost any reason,ranging from what they wearto school to an offensiveremark said in class a fewweeks ago.

Although the faculty andthe students who go to thisschool are all fully aware ofthe problem, no one seems totake any action or interest inthe way that people treatothers.

If someone would ask meabout West’s cliques, I’d saythere are too many to count oreven recognize.

This school has so manydifferent groups and

personalities that someoneeither likes a group of peopleor completely hates them.

West has a problem thatno one wants to admit;everyone is in other people’sbusiness as if they aresomehow compelled to do so.

Gossip is one of the mainproblems that has given thisschool the reputation that itcarries.

Some West High cliquesmake it their job to make surethey spread as many rumors asthey possibly can.

To me, rumor-mongeringis tedious business that justbecomes annoying in manycases.

The cliques know exactlywhat they are doing, and itseems to be their “masterplan.”

Walking through thehallways every day, I seegroups of people gathered

together talking and taking upspace that could be used foractually getting to class.

I notice mostly that if adisliked person walks by oneof these groups, somethingrude will be said just loudenough for everyone to hear in

order to make that personextremely uncomfortable.

It is an uncomfortablefeeling knowing that a studenthas to walk by a certain cliqueevery day, knowing each timethat he or she walks by thatgroup something will be saidto make him or her feel worseabout himself or herself.

I know how it feels tohave to walk through ahallway feeling completelyout of place; just having todeal with those people willmake a day at school thatmuch more dreadful.

I am definitely not sayingthat I have never participated

in any of this over the years.But I know what its like fromboth sides of the fence.

I have been the one to bepicked on and belittled bypeople, but I have also beenone to say something mean tosomeone I do not like.

Seeing this problem getworse over the years has mademe realize that it is all wastedbreath.

If a person does not likeother people, then just do notdeal with them; there is noneed to go out of your way toget in their face and saysomething nasty to try to maketheir day just a little bit worse.

The best way to deal withthese people is just to ignorethem.

Fighting back just tellsthem that they are winning andreally getting into youremotions.

When they are ignored, itjust makes them morefrustrated: eventually, theywill lay off or completely stopwhatever they have beendoing because they get noresponse.

Facing these cliques is justa high school phase thateveryone is going to have todeal with in their lives.Enjoy the rest of high school,try to ignore the other cliquesand just ignore what they maysay or do.

Although the faculty and thestudents who go to this school

are all fully aware of theproblem, no one seems to

take any action or interest inthe way that people treat

others.

Guantanomo Bay CausesControversy

PPaatt BBuusshhjunior staffwriter

As Americans, we like tothink we set a good example forthe rest of the world.

After all, our constitution hasbeen the inspiration for severalemerging countries trying to set upa new system of government.

But what type of example dothe inhumane actions at thedetention facility at GuantanamoBay give the rest of the world?

For six years now, ourgovernment has incarceratedterrorists behind these walls,hoping the rest of the world andthe American people will turn ablind eye. But we have not turneda blind eye, and now, thanks to ourpersistence and a president whoactually knows what he’s doing,the Guantanamo Bay DetentionFacility will be closed.Many conservatives and mostBush supporters say that this willhurt us more than it will help us.

Why should we care if they arebeing tortured, the inmates areconvicted terrorist, right?

Wrong. One of the reasons Bush set

up the prison on Cuban soil isbecause, according to him, theU.S. Supreme Court can not touchit there, and it is in direct defianceof our constitution. One of thebeliefs that America was foundedon, and one George W. Bushswore to defend, is the right to afree and speedy trial, the sixthamendment, yet the inmates atGuantanamo Bay have had no trialwhatsoever.

Some of the detainees beingtortured by American troops areinnocent. And after we torture aninnocent man, do you honestlythink he and his family are justgoing to forget about it?

Of course not, they’re goingto do something. Many of themend up becoming terrorists.

Instead of making Americasafer, Guantanamo Bay isendangering America and its

inhabitants.On top of that, American

troops are currently fighting terroron two different fronts in theMiddle East. We are trying toshow these emerging democracieshow to “properly” conduct theiraffairs and yet we are torturingtheir citizens. Treating theseterrorists this way will not end thiswar any quicker or bring ourcaptured soldiers home.

In order to defeat terrorism,we cannot become that which weare fighting. We cannot becometerrorists ourselves while we arefighting terrorism and holding upour ideals.

We claim to be the greatestcountry in the world; we claim tobe champions of civil rights; weclaim to be helping the MiddleEast more than we are hurting it. I say it is time we live up to theseclaims.

President Obama, thank youfor taking the first step, but the ballis still in your court. Let’s truly fixthis.