Protestors gathered outside the Huntsville Unit last Wednesday as a 33-year-old Texas man became the first death-row inmate to be executed using a single-drug lethal injection.

Yokamon Hearn was convicted for the 1998 shooting of a 26-year-old man at a Dallas car wash. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Hearn and three accomplices forced the victim into his own car and drove him to a deserted area where they shot him 12 times, resulting in his death. Hearn was 19 at the time of the shooting.

Hearn was executed at around 6 p.m. by injection of a single dose of the sedative pentobarbital.

Until last year, the state used a combination of the sedative sodium thiopental, the muscle

relaxant pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced two weeks ago that they were making changes the three-drug injection method used since 1982. A spokesperson for TDCJ told the Los Angeles Times the state stopped using pancuronium bromide “because the agency’s stockpile of the second drug expired and we were unable to obtain another shipment.” Texas replaced sodium thiopental with pentobarbital last year after the U.S. supplier of the first drug stopped distributing the drug during international protests.

Ohio, Arizona, Idaho and Washington currently use a single-drug procedure for lethal injections.

Hearn’s lawyers previously tried to appeal his death sentence based on mental disabilities that would disqualify him from the death penalty under earlier Court rulings. They also claimed Hearn was not adequately represented by trial lawyers who handled his initial appeals because they failed to look into his alleged mental issues. Earlier on the day of his execution, Hearn’s appeals were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We collectively as a family were heartbroken,” Hearn’s aunt, Demetria Johnson, said in

p.3Tuesday, July 24HI: 91LOW: 75

facebook.com/TheHoustonianSHSU

Volume 121 / Issue 6 Tuesday, July 24, 2012

p.4Steamboat house opens to commemorate Sam Houstons Death

ENTER THE HOUSTONIAN SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST TODAY!

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and be entered to win one of five grand prizes!

THE HOUSTONIANp.2p.4

Viewpoints

News

p.5School of Music to perform one of Mozart’s operas

STOP EXECUTIONS. A woman sits outside the jail on Wednesday, to protest the execution of Yokamon Hearn. He was convicted of shooting a 26-year-old man at Dallas car wash.

George Mattingly | The Houstonian

SHSU student drowns in Guadalupe river

GEORGE MATTINGLYNews Editor

The funeral of the Sam Houston State University student who drowned in the Guadalupe River was held Saturday at Oak Ridge Baptist Church in Spring.

William Murray, 21-year-old criminal justice major, was swimming across the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels near Camp Hueco Springs when he went under and did not resurface, according to the Comal County Sheriff ’s office.

He is the brother of TJ Murray, another SHSU student who went missing more than nine months ago.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Woodforest National Bank care of William Murray Scholarship Fund.

The Oak Ridge Woodlands Area Little League where all the Murray boys played baseball growing up left their condolences on the site, “To the Murray family, who has been part of our Oak Ridge Woodlands Area Little League family for so many years, we send our deepest sympathy and prayers. We hope our gift to

William’s Memorial Fund Scholarship at Woodforest Bank will provide a continual memorial for all the wonderful things William and the Murray family have given to others over the years.”

William’s obituary painted a picture of him and his dreams: “Because of his great love of the outdoors, he hoped to become a game warden.”

The online version of the obituary has a guestbook that has been swarmed by friends and family of the Murrays, as well as strangers with well wishes.

Hundreds of Facebook users have flocked to the “Bring TJ Murray Home Safe” page since his death to show their sympathy

and support for the family.

Many are hoping that something good comes to the Murray family from this tragedy.

“I hope Will’s death isn’t in vain. I hope this tragedy will compel people who have any knowledge of what happened to TJ to have a heart and come forward with any information they have regarding his disappearance. This family needs answers and some peace in their lives. I know they loved both of their sons dearly,” Debbie Millner Keeble wrote on the Facebook page.

According to witnesses, Wililam pretended to drown a couple times to frighten his friends, prompting them to check on him.

His friends were not immediately alarmed because he had cried wolf, when while trying to swim across he didn’t resurface. After 10 or 15 minutes they noticed he was nowhere to be seen so they called 911 and reported a missing person and possible drowning before beginning to search for him.

A friend found him in the water and pulled him ashore as Comal County Sheriff deputies arrived and began CPR.

William was in the eight or nine-foot deep water for approximately 30 minutes before he was found, according to officials.

He was transported to Christus New Braunfels Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m.

His death was ruled a freshwater drowning and an autopsy was not ordered.

“This is the first drowning of the year on the Guadalupe for Comal County,” Lt. Mark Reynolds of the CCSO said.

William is the second youngest of four sons. His oldest brother who also attended SHSU, Thomas “TJ” Murray, went missing from a bar in Montgomery County last October after being

MCKINZIE BROCAILSenior Reporter

One shot, one kill

photo provided by William’s donation siteCRIED WOLF. William Murray was 21 when he drowned in the Gudalupe river last Tuesday.

KING HALL. Demolition for King Hall began July 20. King Hall was built in 1959. The area will be replaced with parking due to the increased traffic in the area for Old Main Market

Stephen Green | The Houstonian

p.5 Arts&Entertainment/Sports

— MURRAY, page 4

— PROTEST, page 4

Hearn first to be executed with single drug in Texas

Page 2houstonianonline.com/viewpoints

Tuesday, July 24, 2012 Viewpoints

A plan for the Football Bowl Subdivision side of college football to have a four-team playoff was passed by the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee, a group of 12 college presidents, on Tuesday in a deal that implements the new system following the 2014 season. Commissioners of the 11 BCS conferences approved the format last week.

This is unchartered territory for this level of college football, since the only playoff system ever known is in what’s considered to be the inferior Football Championship Subdivision, which Sam Houston State competed for its national title this past season.

Fans have been waiting on this moment for years, fed up with arbitrary decisions on who competes for the national championship being made by computers and committee men. Fans want this to play out on the field. They want to know for sure who the national champion is, because they’ve been trained to believe that playoff systems are what build true champions.

For most college football fans, and sports fans in general, this is a very important concept and one that seemed inevitable for the BCS to adopt eventually.

So here it is. Following the 2014 season, there will be four

teams, and the semifinals will be rotated among six bowl games over the life of the contract, which is 12 years, with the championship game put up for bid. A selection committee will still rank the teams, based on factors including head-to-head matchups and strength of schedule.

On Tuesday night (especially in Huntsville), college football fans were likely toasting to this new measure. These next two seasons of non-playoffs won’t be nearly as frustrating for them as previous ones, because they know what’s on the horizon. They know they’re own fundamental understanding of how to crown a champion in sports will be accommodated pretty soon, and they won’t have to debate on whether Oklahoma State should’ve played LSU, or if Alabama deserves to play in a championship game (even though in the end, they obviously did).

There have been more conflicts as it pertains to who should have the opportunity to play in the championship game, with schools such as Boise State and TCU creating lanes as mini-powerhouses over the past few years.

This should eliminate most of that conflict, so it’s a good time to be a college football fan.

But you know what college football fans don’t care about? Fairness.

During this past season, I had a conversation with a friend about a playoff system and why for me, it was toward the bottom of the list when it comes to what needs to be changed in college

football. During this conversation, I totally lost him. A playoff system, as I explained, wouldn’t

speak to the issue of unpaid labor and borderline dangerous working conditions. A playoff system might actually worsen these issues, I contended.

Since it raises the stakes by spiking up the intrigue, marketability and profitability, how could this playoff system be a good thing for unpaid laborers? And to be clear, a scholarship is not payment. It is not currency. You cannot buy a sandwich or take your significant other out to a movie with a scholarship. In most cases, a scholarship doesn’t allow you to send money home to your family if they so happen to need it.

A scholarship doesn’t leave you with anything in your savings account if after four years go by and it becomes painfully clear that the athlete was never an academic, and wasn’t necessarily recruited to be one (and perhaps never had the opportunity to become one because he spent so much time on the football field).

A scholarship is an accommodation, a nice gesture. It’s a bunch of good things and I wish I had one right about now. But it’s not payment.

So anyway, we’re having this conversation and my buddy says (paraphrasing), “I just care about the product on the field (not the actual people on the field). I care about football. I won’t lose any sleep over the players not getting paid.”

That’s not caring about fairness, which I guess is OK, so long as one doesn’t advocate blatant injustice in its place. But the drooling over the playoff system and indifference about how laborers are treated in the process is flagrant.

In 2010, the NCAA released a report showing

22 of 120 schools showed positive net revenue for the 2010 fiscal year, which was eight more than in 2009. These kinds of numbers create the illusion that there simply isn’t enough money to go around for the players, especially since “they already get a good deal” as another friend and employer of mine said.

The NCAA will tell you that about a 100 coaches at top-tier Division I colleges make $1 million a year or more, and a typical golf or tennis coach makes around $50,000. The reason for this is because these jobs are market driven, like the ones in academic fields: lawyers, doctors, engineers, etc.

Of course, player salaries can’t be market driven if they never actually legitimize the market, (there is, of course, an underground market we all know about, which translates into NCAA violations) right? The market for a top-tier D1 college football coach is $1 million or more. The market for a top-tier or low-tier D1 college football player is a scholarship the player already earned either in high school or at junior college.

It’s some bold stuff, when you sit back and think about it.

Consider this: The television deal for the semifinal and championship games is estimated by the Sporting News at $500 million a year, totaling out to a $6 billion TV deal over 12 years.

While only a tentative estimate, the playoff system is expected be worth at least double what the BCS was worth, which means at least around the tune of $300 million a year.

The playoffs alone equates to $300-500 million a year. Again, we’re just talking TV money, not tickets, booster donations, corporate sponsorship, student fees, or anything else that makes money for the individual athletic programs and conferences.

Basically, everyone’s about to get richer here, except the Big East, which looks from the outside on the five power conferences (SEC, Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten). How will the players from those leagues be rewarded?

Just the scholarships and “legitimized” championships. They already get tuition, room and board so how dare anyone ask for fairness, right? It’s not there’s a lot of money to… Oh,wait.

My buddy isn’t the only one who only cares about the product and not the people. It’s also the a lot of the university presidents, athletic directors and conference commissioners.

Fans and media are actually wondering what took them so long and why there isn’t a larger system being implemented. Maybe eight teams or 16. Few of them are wondering when the guys who catch, run and hit are actually going to see a payday.

PAWS UP to the Sam Houston State University museum for opening up the Steamboat house on Friday.

The individual opinions on the Viewpoints page are not necessarily affiliated with the view of The Houstonian or SHSU. The Houstonian is temporarily published weekly on Tuesdays during the summer. It is a news publication of Sam Houston State University, a member of the Texas State University system and is produced by students. It is self-supporting and welcomes all advertisers. Those interested in placing ads or classifieds should call 936-294-1495. The Houstonian is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and Associated Collegiate Press.

Change isn’t always better

Summer Business StaffSummer Editorial Staff

George MattinglyNews/Viewpoints Editor

Molly WaddellA&E/Sports Editor

Matt FrazierWeb Editor

McKinzie BrocailSenior Reporter

Karen LeeFaculty Adviser

Chelsea BoydAdvertising Manager

Stephen GreenEditor-in-Chief936-294-1505

Paty MasonBusiness Manager936-294-1500

Brianna DrisdalePromotions Manager

PAWS UP

Key Words: Time of your lifeWell, Bearkats, it looks like we’ve reached the

end of the road. After four years and countless columns, this will be my very last. I’m not graduating(I did that 2 years ago) and I’m not dying(at least I hope not), but I am leaving nonetheless.

Like many people I’ve talked to, coming to Sam Houston wasn’t my first choice. In 2008, I had just finished my first Master’s at Stephen F. Austin and was a car salesman at a local dealership. My plan was to go to the University of Houston for law school that Fall. They had accepted my application twice before and I figured the third time would be pro forma. That was until the fateful day in late July when I found out I didn’t get in. It was like the entire world crashed in on me all at once. Far from the bright future I had envisioned, I now saw myself as a car salesman. Sure, the money was good, but at the end of the day, I knew that I wanted to do more with my life than that. Sitting there devastated and pondering my future, I remembered that Sam Houston’s admission deadline was the only one that had not passed yet. “Why not?,” I thought, “It’s better than nothing.”

When I arrived here, my first thought was to see if I could assist with the debate team. I remembered them from my days debating as an undergrad at SFA and figured I could learn how to coach. Come to find out, the debate team had been forcibly disbanded. Not one to be thwarted, I decided to restart the team, despite not having the first clue about how to coach. Dean John de Castro told me once that when I first met with him about restarting the team, he thought it would be a small club that went to maybe 2 or 3 tournaments a year. Fast forward four years later and the team has won 11 national titles, competed at tournaments across the nation and even traveled to Rome. This past April, we played host to the largest championship tournament in the history of the International Public Debate Association, whose coaches voted me into becoming the youngest ever recipient of the Coach of the Year award.

I credit the remarkable success I have had here to the more than 40 young men and women who have been my students in my time here. It takes a special breed of person to pack into an old 15 passenger van and drive 12 hours across the country, argue for sport, get less sleep than you thought imaginable, develop a serious dependency on caffeine, and regularly eat dinner well after midnight. I will never forget the long conversations, the jokes that could never be put into print, and the true camaraderie you experience on these trips. There’s nothing quite like an entire van of college students belting out “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” from The Lion King at 2am on the way to a tournament.

That’s not to say it was easy. I have spent countless hours preparing schedules, booking travel, training students, and dealing with mountains of paperwork. Over the years, I have invested literally thousands of dollars of my own money to help the team make ends meet, especially during our first year when the university didn’t give us a budget. I have been cursed at and called every name in the book by

students I bent over backward to help. And the whole time, I have done this without collecting a paycheck, without an office, and without a dedicated place to practice. We have run practices out of my apartment, outside the LSC, and anywhere else we could find space.

Now, here we are four years later. After graduation, I took a job as a full time instructor for Lee College’s Huntsville Center teaching speech classes to prisoners working on their Associate’s degrees. The job enabled me to stay in Huntsville and keep coaching. Unfortunately, due to the Republicans and Democrats failure to pass a budget and the death of a lot of educational funding, most notably the Youthful Offender Grant, the Huntsville Center is now unable to hire any full time instructors for the Fall. While I would love to work for Sam Houston, the university has decided that despite there being no team for years before I restarted it, that they intend on hiring a Ph.D. specializing in debate. As most every university does their Fall hiring in early Spring and I was not informed my contract would not be renewed until June, I will end up as an adjunct instructor and, at least for the time being, moving back home.

So once again, in late July, it feels like my whole world is crashing down. I was tempted to write a scathing farewell column and tear everyone at Sam who has done me wrong over the years a new one, but I decided that isn’t how I want to be remembered. I thought the day I didn’t get into law school was the worst day of my life, but thanks to my debaters, it was one of the best. I can only hope that years from now, I can think the same thing about today.

My friends, I have given you a lot of advice over the years. In the final episode of Boy Meets World, Mr. Feeny gives Corey, Shawn, Topanga, and Eric some lasting advice. I cannot improve on his words, so I will close with them. Believe in yourselves. Dream. Try. Do good. And no, I don’t mean do well. Do good. I love you all.

Adam has been a recurring columnist for The Houstonian for the past four years.

PAWS UP to Darnell Taylor, senior safety, for being put on the Buck Buchanan Watch list. The first Bearkat in seven years.

PAWS UP to Summer II almost being over! Only 8 days left.

PAWS DOWN

PAWS DOWN to the fire alarm going of at Bearkat Village at 9 a.m.

PAWS DOWN cancer. Sally Ride, the first US woman on the moon, died of cancer Monday.

PAWS DOWN to the cricket invasion. They are everywhere! Plan for a cricket take-over.

Brandon Scott doesn’t think that the new playoff system is any better than what was there before

BRANDON SCOTTContributing Reporter

ADAM KEYRecurring Columnist

Important details: All orders are subject to approval and acceptance by Dell. Offers subject to change, not combinable with all other offers. Taxes, shipping, handling and other fees apply. Valid for U.S. Dell University new purchases only. Availability of electronics and accessories varies and quantities may be limited. Dell reserves right to cancel orders arising from pricing or other errors.

* Promotional Gift Card Offer: Offer contingent upon purchase of eligible product; Promotional card not valid if eligible product is returned for a refund. If eligible product is returned for a refund after the card has been redeemed, the value of the redeemed card will be deducted from the refund amount. Promotional Gift Card ships separately from purchase and typically arrives in 10-14 days via email and carries a 90 day expiration (except where prohibited by law). Terms and conditions apply. See www.dell.com/giftcard/promoterms.

Trademarks and copyrights: Intel, Core, the Intel logo, and Ultrabook are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Microsoft, Xbox and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Dell recommends Windows® 7.

What will you buy with your $200 Dell promo eGift card?*

Student only offer: Want an Xbox 360? Digital camera? Skull Candy headphones? When you spend $699 or more on select Dell PCs we'll send you a $200 Dell promo eGift card* to use towards whatever you want.

NEW Dell™ XPS™ 13 Ultrabook™

Featuring Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium

Dell.com/StudentGiftCard or 866-746-4969

Page 4houstonianonline.com/news

Tuesday, July 24, 2012 News

Students give feedback on proposed LSC expansion

A group of about 15 students gave their feedback on the proposed expansion of the Lowman Student Center in a focus group with university officials and members of the Student Government Association last Thursday.

Among the items discussed in the meeting were changes that could be made to improve the LSC and new additions that could be made.

According to Student Government Association Treasurer Jimmy Williams, who helped SGA organize the focus group, students had many improvements that could be made to the LSC such as more space for student organizations, food options and a more student-friendly environment.

“Some of the biggest things students said about the current LSC were that it is confusing because the way the offices are organized and that it was not student-centralized,” Williams said.

The student focus group was just one piece of the pre-planning for the LSC expansion, according to Williams. He said Associate Vice President of Student Services, Keith Jenkins also met with other departments involved with the expansion to get feedback for the proposed expansion.

“I think it’s important to seek student opinion because we are the ones paying for it. It’s student center, and gives students a reason to be there. Who better to tell what they want than the students. It’s a place for them to go to.

Williams said the next step for the pre-planning will be taking different factors such as feedback, budget and time to for the architects to put together graphic representations of what the building could look like for future planning.

GEORGE MATTINGLYNews/Viewpoints Editor

Fourteen people have died and nine were injured after a Ford pickup truck crammed with nearly two dozen people ran off a highway in southeastern Texas, officials said Monday. Six of the victims were airlifted to hospitals in San Antonio and Corpus Christi, according to police. All of their conditions were not immediately available, but three later died of injuries suffered in the accident.

14 die in Texas truck crash

Three masked men allegedly bound a woman and carved words into her skin, police in Lincoln, Nebraska, said Monday. The incident has been classified as a hate crime because a derogatory term for lesbians was painted inside the home, said Officer Katie Flood, a spokeswoman for the Lincoln Police Department. Police said someone carved words into her body, then poured gasoline onto the floor of the woman’s home. The police believe it was a hate crime due to the words that were spray painted on the walls of her home.

Investigation launched into ‘hate crime’ in Lincoln

Follow us today! @TheHoustonian

Jury selection began Monday in the murder trial of Drew Peterson, a former Chicago-area cop, accused of killing his third wife and is the leading suspect in the disappearance of his fourth. Peterson, 58, is charged in the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. He also remains under investigation in the 2007 disappearance of fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. Opening statements are set for next week.

Jury being selected for Peterson trial

A lawyer for Katherine Jackson is asking the FBI for help after Los Angeles County sheriff ’s deputies were not allowed to see Michael Jackson’s mother in Arizona as part of a missing person investigation Monday. She said Randy Jackson, Katherine’s youngest son, had security that wouldn’t let officers in. Because the 82-year-old matriarch of the Jackson music dynasty was taken across state lines, Ribera said, she hopes the FBI will investigate the circumstances of what she called her disappearance.

Jackson family at war over matriarch

NATION & WORLD

Visit our website!www.HoustonianOnline.com

Euro area finance ministers said that $36.88 billion can be ready by the end of the month for the bailout of Spain’s banks early Tuesday morning.

The exact amount of the bailout will likely be unknown until September after individual examinations of different Spanish banks have been completed.

‘Cure’ to be theme at world AIDS conference

“Texas, Texas, Margaret,” were the last words Sam Houston said, right before he died on a summer evening in 1863 at the Steamboat House. Since then, the home has become a major museum attraction for the Huntsville community.

Now, for the first time in years, the former home of Sam Houston will be open to the public as the Sam Houston Memorial Museum commemorates the 149 th anniversary of the General’s death on Friday.

The house was built in the 1850s by the former president of Austin College and later was rented to Sam Houston, according to Danielle Brissette, historical interpreter for the museum.

Houston spent the last few weeks of his life in the house after getting sick with pneumonia, Brissette said. He died there on July 26, 1863 near the age of 70 with his wife Margaret, some of his children and his slave by his side.

Steamboat House was moved to its current location during the mid-1930s to help create the Sam Houston Memorial Museum.

Along with the Woodland Home, Steamboat House has become part of the museum’s “crown jewels”, according to Brissette.

The open house will present a rare opportunity for the Huntsville community to immerse themselves in the history of the house, Brissette said.

“We talk a lot about Sam Houston’s life here in Huntsville, and how he raised his kids here,”

Brissette said. “Him dying here makes it important because we are connected to him. He’s still here in Oakwood Cemetery, and that continued relationship is what makes [the open house] important.”

Brissette said the idea to have an open house came from the museum’s desire to expand its programming for the community and to prepare for the 150 th anniversary of the General’s death next year.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, people will be able to go inside the house while museum curators will be dressed in traditional Victorian mourning attire to re-enact some odd customs of the time, said Brissette.

“Back then, when someone died, they used to stop the clocks

in house, cover up the mirrors and wear special clothes,” she said. “They also had some customs with the body.”

Curators and volunteers will also be speaking about mourning etiquette, Civil War medicine, Masonic burial rights and the history of the Steamboat House.

“Standing inside where Sam Houston and his family spent time is very different from looking through glass,” Brissette said. “It will be a multi-sensory experience for everyone.”

Guests who wear all black to the event will receive free admission to the museum all day long. The event is free to everyone, but donations are accepted. For more information, call the museum at 936-294-1832 or join the Facebook event online.

Steamboat house opens to commemorate Houston’s death

GEORGE MATTINGLYNews/Viewpoints Editor

Aurora shooting suspect appeared in court Monday

facebook.com/TheHoustonianSHSULike us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and be entered to win one of five grand prizes!

Must be 18 years or older to win and member of the SHSU community or immediate relative.

ENTER THE HOUSTONIAN SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST

TODAY!

REMEMBER SAM. The Steambout house, Sam Houston’s last home, will be open for the first time in years to celebrate the 149 anniversary of his death.

Photo courtesy of texasescapes.com

seen in an argument. Their parents are coaches and teachers in Conroe.

TJ Murray’s truck was found the next day still in the parking lot of one of the bars he visited, and his cell phone was found in a nearby ditch.

The reward for information on TJ has been raised to $30,000 according to KHOU.

Foul play has not been ruled out in TJ Murray’s disappearance.

MURRAY, page 1

PROTEST, page 1Jumps

DATESAugust 1: last day to drop classes without an ‘F’

August 2: final exams

August 3: residence halls close at noon

August 4: Commencment, Bernard G. Johnson Colliseum

August 29: fall 2012 classes start

The suspect in the Colorado shootings appeared in court for the first time on Monday.

24-year-old James Eagan Holmes sat motionless and silent as the judge advised him on being held on suspicion of first-degree murder.

The former graduate student has been accused of killing 12 people and injuring 58 others when he opened fire in a theatre at a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” on Friday.

He appeared dazed and tired as he sat in court bound in chains on his legs and arms. Authorities say Holmes is refusing to cooperate with them about what sparked the attack.

While a motive has not been determined, investigators found the suspect’s apartment rigged with explosives and other flammable materials, forcing the building to be evacuated. Authorities also found a Batman poster, a Batman mask and a computer from the apartment, according to CNN.

Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates announced Friday that Holmes had purchased four guns at local shops and more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet in the past 60 days.

President Obama offered his condolences to the survivors and the families of the victims in Aurora, Colorado on Sunday.

Obama described

stories told to him by the victims’ families and survivors.

“It reminds you that even in the darkest of days, life continues and people are strong,” the president said in a meeting at the University of Colorado Hospital. “Out of this darkness a brighter day is going to come.”

Obama spoke before the start of a prayer vigil that brought together state and local officials with thousands of Aurora residents.

The shooting has sparked a wide array of reactions from across the world as people took to Twitter to express their feelings about going to theaters, the shooting victims and U.S. gun laws.

“This world is truly messed up,” said Twitter

user Stephen Jimenez. “People can’t even go watch a movie without having to worry if they’ll make it out alive. #ColoradoShooting.”

“Very creepy and sad moment before #darkknight last night, a special message about walking to the exits in an emergency #RIP #shootingvictims,” said another user Jason Kopec.

Another user highlighted the concern about U.S. gun laws, a concern of many after the shooting.

“How many more innocent people have to be massacred before America changes their gun laws? #adisgrace” said user Sam Branson.

Holmes is scheduled to be arraigned on formal charges on July 30.

GEORGE MATTINGLYNews/Viewpoints Editor

response to the Court’s decision. “Even though there was a crime committed, today makes it a second crime and now it’s a crime, against me.”

Several opponents of the death penalty lined up across the street from the prison holding signs that read “Executions are Racist and Anti-Poor” and “Perry is a Serial Killer”.

“Killing them isn’t going to solve the problems,” protestor, Shirley Farrell, said. It isn’t a deterrent. We need other programs in place to help some of these young menand women. Other members of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, a protest group outside of Houston, were also present speaking out against what one member called a

“lynching”. “A lot of people use the excuse that

they don’t want to pay taxes to pay for people in prison for a long time,” protestor Liliana Castrillon said. “An execution is way more expensive than keeping someone in prison. Money should never be a reason to decide if someone should be alive or not.”

The news of the execution also drew Sam Houston State University students to the protest.

“I’m interested to see how the new drug works,” said junior criminal justice major Bailey Blankenship. “We’ll see if they try to rule it out as no-go and use another way or stop the death penalty altogether.”

Although she chose not to witness the execution, Johnson, with tears streaming down her face, described her nephew as a kind-hearted person and the first baby she ever held.

“Even in his last hour knowing that he was going to die at six ‘o’ clock, he was strong man,” Johnson said. “He never wavered in his fate. I never heard his voice crack.”

In spite of the execution, Johnson found a positive side to her experience through Hospitality House, a local non-profit organization that helps families of inmates.

“I’m so impressed by the kindness that they’ve shown my family,” Johnson said. “Someone cares outside the walls. Those people don’t judge us, they just help us in our situation.”

According to TDCJ, Hearn’s execution was the sixth in Texas this year and the 482nd for the state since it began lethal injections in 1982. Texas leads the nation in the number of executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Page 5houstonianonline.com/news

Tuesday, July 24, 2012Arts&Entertainment/Sports

Superstar Mariah Carey announced on Twitter she’ll be joining the The 43-year-old singer is married to ‘America’s Got Talent’ host Nick Cannon, and most recently a mom of twins. She recently said on Twitter that she has a new song, called “Triumphant,” set to arrive in early August.

New ‘Idol’ judged announced for next season

Sam student on Buchanan award ballot, first time in seven years

Dark, twisted comedySHSU’s summer repertory two begins its

season with girl, her sick imaginary friend

Summer Repertory II starts out its plays with a dark comedy of a girl and her imaginary friend, today and Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the University Theatre Centre free of charge.

Mr. Marmalade written by Noah Haidle tells the story of four-year-old Lucy and her imaginary friends. The play focuses on her imaginary friend Mr. Marmalade who has many problems.

“Lucy has very grown up relationships with her imaginary friends and there are several very dark twists to the play,” Katie Stefaniak, theatre manager, said.

Mr. Marmalade is an independent classroom project directed by Sam Houston State University faculty member Tom prior.

Keeping true to the repertory bare bones approach the set only contains five blocks that are moved around to represent separate pieces. The show also has many prop pieces and all actors remain on stage at all times.

The technical process, mapping out the lighting and sound effects, takes place in a 24 hour period which also shows their focus on

acting. The summer repertory plays

contain more cussing and innuendos than the plays put on during the normal school year.

“Summer shows definitely push the boundaries,” Stefaniak said. “We have a little more freedom when picking scripts for summer

school.” Five students and two faculty

members make up the shows cast. “Ultimately our goal is to

invite the audience to push their imagination to the limits and see the play through the eyes of a child,” Stefaniak said.

MOLLY WADDELLSports/A&E Editor

The Sam Houston State University’s School of Music opera workshop will put on an opera for the first time during the summer on August 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, free of charge.

The opera workshop is a performing ensemble in the School of Music, comprised of vocal performance students and voice students who are interested in working on their performance skills.

“This is the first summer we have done this, and it was a project that was the brainchild of a few students who wanted to learn the opera,” Rebecca Grimes, School of Music opera director, said.

They produce two main stage shows each academic year.

The opera they will be performing is The Marriage of Figaro written by Mozart in 1786. According to Grimes, several cuts were made to the opera but they will be supplementing the action with a narrator.

According to Grimes the plot

centers around Figaro and his fiancé Susanna, who are servants in the house of Count Almaviva. Figaro and Susanna must get married before Almaviva steals Susanna for himself.

Ten students from the School of Music will be performing in the opera

The ten students were assigned roles in May, but rehearsals started on Saturday. The students will be

in rehearsal for about three weeks.

The 2011 SHSU opera workshop was selected as a finalist for the National Opera Scenes Competition, and was invited to perform at the 2012 NOA convention in Memphis, Tenn.

Alumni of the opera workshop have gone onto attend the top conservatories and music schools in the U.S. and Europe such as the New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music and Rice University.

The performance in August is a comic opera

in four acts and is expected to last about three hours.

MOLLY WADDELLSports/A&E Editor

The Sam Houston State University football team has a Buck Buchanan Award candidate, for the first time in seven years.

Senior safety Darnell Taylor is one of 20 being recognized by The Sports Network as a candidate for the nation’s top defensive player award.

“It’s a dream come true, and an honor to be recognized as one of the best defensive players in the fcs,” Taylor said. “It’s an award that all defensive players strive for and I’m one step closer to it. I’m blessed to have other great players surrounding me, making my job on the field a lot easier. I honestly believe we have other guys on our defense that are just as good as me if not better so it’s truly an honor and I’m fired up about the season.”

Taylor has received many awards this season already such as: Sports Network first team defense, Southland Conference “Defensive player of the year,” first team All-Southland selection, and preseason SLC first-team selection.

Taylor had 128 tackles in the 2011 season which is the highest in a single season since 1988. He also posted double digit tackles in eight games including season best of 12 in the McNeese victory.

According to gobearkats.com, Taylor joins a list of 13 other newcomers to the watch list, including a pair of Southland Conference defenders, Malcolm Bronson of McNeese State and Willie Jefferson of Stephen F. Austin. The remaining newcomers to the watch list are defensive tackle Zach Minter of Montana State; defensive ends, Joseph LeBeau of Jackson State and Blake Oliaro of San Diego.

This season’s winner will join previous winners including Dexter Coakley, Jared Allen, Rashean Mathis and Kroy Biermann. Coakley is the only Buchanan recipient that won twice, once in 1995 and again in 1996.

The Buchanan Award watch list can undergo revision during the 2012 season. About 175 sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters writers and other dignitaries will look over the ballot after the regular season on Nov. 19. The top three vote-getters will be invited to The Sports Network FCS Awards Presentation.

MOLLY WADDELLSports/A&E Editor

SHSU school of music premiers “The Marriage of Figaro”

Follow us today! @HoustonianSports

Visit our website!www.HoustonianOnline.com

PRANK NUMBER ONE. During Murder by Mistake from summer repertory one, Mike tries to keep Laura’s abusive boyfriend out of the house.

Molly Waddell| The Houstonian

Penn State has lost $60 million and bowl game opportunities for four years, NCAA President Mark Emmert said on Monday. In addition, the school had all of its bowl victories scrubbed since 1996, when the scandal allegedly started. The Big Ten also announced their punishment on the university. Penn State won’t be able to play in the conference championship game for the same four years and denied the school their portion of conference franchising profits amounting to more than $13 million.

NCAA announces fines against Penn State

Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of singer Amy Winehouse’s death at the age of 27. She died from overdosing on illicit drugs at her home. She won several Grammy awards for her emotional and personal music including songs “Rehab”, “Back to Black”, and “You Know I’m No Good”. Her songs typically spoke about intensely personal issues and are credited with reviving contemporary soul music for American listeners.

One year since Winehouse death

South African Ernie Els clinched his second Open Championship Sunday after coming from behind to beat Australian Adam Scott. Els shot -2 on Sunday putting him at -7 for the championship. Scott shot +5 and finished one shot behind Els. The Open, commonly referred to in America as the British Open, was held at Royal Lytham & St. Annes golf club in Lancashire, England.

Els wins Open Championship

FIGARO FIGARO. Two students, David Smith and Amber Jamison, who are a part of the opera workshop rehearse for their performance.

Photo provided by Rebecca Grimes

AWARD. Darnell Taylor playing during the 2011 season

photo provided by Darnell Taylot

Summer Repertory Plays

July 26- July 27: PVT Wars- Three G.I.s recovering from Vietnam War injuries while away their time on the terrace of an Army hospital. The play maintains a hilarity throughout that belies their deep concern about the uncertainties of the civilian world to which they will soon be returning. (8 p.m. University Theatre Centre; tickets $5)

July 28-29: Cockeyed- Phil, an average nice guy, is madly in love with the beautiful Sophia. The only problem is that she’s unaware of his existence. Armed only with a B.A. in philosophy, Phil sets out to prove his existence and win Sophia’s heart. (8 p.m. University Theatre Centre; tickets $5)

July 30-31: Polish Joke: Jasiu is a Polish-American who has been taught not to value his own roots, so he decides to make his own roots, reinventing himself first as a sort of non-ethnic everyman, then as an “Irishman.” (8 p.m. University Theatre Centre)

August 1-2: I’m Not Rappaport- The play focuses on Nat Moyer, a feisty Jew, and Midge Carter, a cantankerous African-American, who spend their days sitting on a bench. (8 p.m. University Theatre Centre; tickets $5)

NATION & WORLD

scan

& li

ke

apply online @ villasonsycamore.com936.439.5234 • 1615 Sycamore Ave

Rates, fees, deadlines and utilities included are subject to change / see office for details / limited time only

J O I N T H E N E I G H B O R H O O D & S AV E

receive a $100 gift card2-story townhomes. private bedrooms & huge walk-in closets. resort-style amenities. individual leases. pet friendly.

ask about our summer specials • short-term leases available

starting at $475new low rates