LIBERTY CHAMPIONTuesday, March 27, 2012

Volume 29 • Issue 18

Today: Sunny 60/40 Tomorrow: T-Storms 80/51 Libertychampion.com

INSIDE THE CHAMPION

Liberty nursing stu-dents prepare for tough classes . A8

Who won in the Manning-Tebow deal? B2

Student’s story encour-ages others to donate. B6

SportsNews EventsBlood DriveManning

NewsOpinionSportsFeature

A1A4B1B6

Hard Curriculum

s p r i n g h a s a r r i v e d

Chris Mabes | Liberty ChaMpion

Spring — The flowers are in bloom and Liberty University students are enjoying the early onset of spring weather. March 20 was the first day of this gentle season, and students enjoyed this beautiful, sunny day by sitting beneath shady trees, completing their homework. The wonderful weather on the first day of spring, however, was quickly followed by severe thunderstorms that ruined afternoon plans for some students. This March, like those before it, will be filled with unpredictable, Lynchburg weather.

Goodlatte, Perrow battle EPA

Liberty precinct a success

Justin Jonesjljones9@liberty.edu

Lynchburg representatives have entered a battle against the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) that could directly impact taxpayers, locally and throughout the common-wealth.

Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-6th), whose district includes Lynch-burg, has initiated a legislation plan with Congressman Tim Holden (D-PA) that could counter the EPA’s new proposed program for storm-water treatment. The EPA’s proposal comes by way of an Executive Or-der, not a bill that must pass through Congress.

“The executive order attempts to give the EPA authority to run rough-shod over local communities, farm-ers and small businesses,” Goodlatte said. “My legislation presents a posi-tive alternative.”

Supporting Goodlatte’s plan is Lynchburg city council member Turner Perrow. Last November, Per-row spoke before a Congressional committee on what he called intru-sion by the EPA into local affairs. Perrow finds supporting Goodlatte’s legislation critical to saving local citi-zens money down the road.

“The state needs to meet the re-quirements and enforce it at a local level,” Perrow said. “It needs to be the state. Then, the EPA should work with the state for implementation on those plans.”

Perrow fears if the program does come into effect, the monetary cost could become overwhelming.

“For the city of Lynchburg, we’re looking somewhere between $110 to $180 million right now that we would have to spend in the next 20 years,” he said.

According to Goodlatte, his

See EPA, A3

Ashley Bollingerakbollinger@liberty.edu

Liberty University’s precinct had a higher than expected voter turnout March 6, leading the way for Vir-ginia with one of the highest voter percentages in the state.

Liberty’s pre-cinct, which is 302 third Ward second precinct, had a total of 590 votes counted, 13 percent of the registered voters for the precinct, while Virginia’s over-all voter turn-out was 5.2 percent, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections (VSBE) website.

“Throughout the city, historically, primary elections have a low turn-out,” John Cobb, a member of the Lynchburg Electoral Board, said. “Some people have said that the primary elections should be coupled with another voting date, either May or June. I think it is an issue of fi-nances. The Primary is slow because the candidates have an obligation to push voters more, and historically they haven’t. ”

However, regardless of the low turnout, Cobb said that the new pre-cinct was a necessary success.

“The law was on the side of Lib-erty. Once a precinct gets up to 4000 registered voters the registrar has to notify state board,” Cobb said. “They then come together to find a way to deal with it. In this case, a split precinct. With the Liberty pop-ulation having grown exponentially, their 4,000 voters warranted

See PRIMARIES, A2

Republican primaries receive high turnout

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Price of fuel for the past 20 years continuously rises. See Gas on A3.

GAS — Since 1993, gas prices have more than doubled. Current prices are putting a toll on the U.S. economy, caus-ing transporta-tion services to increase. Once t ranspor tat ion costs increase, costs for goods and services are only a step be-hind.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Adminis-tration

eLLiot Mosher | Liberty ChaMpion

FYI The next election will be for

city council, May 1.

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Va. representatives initiate new legislation

Another victory for baseball B1

FACS Fashion Show B5

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LIBERTY CHAMPION

A2/Liberty Champion NEWS March 27, 2012

Students tell of Christ overseasVictoria Lindvlind@liberty.edu

Instead of spending spring break relaxing and recharging, some Liberty University students spent their time off completing service projects and going on missions trips around the world trying to make a difference.

According to Liberty Uni-versity campus pastor, Johnnie Moore, the Center for Global Engagement had a large amount of students go to East Asia, the Balkans and South America on missions trips this spring break.

Pastoral leadership major Jack Graves, along with nine other Liberty students, went to Cay-ambe, Ecuador, through Light Ministries and Crossworld. The students worked with the local church and youth group in the area, doing construction on the church and teaching English in the local schools.

Graves is not new to mission trips and has been on six in the past, all in different parts of the world. He especially enjoyed working in Ecuador because it was youth-centered.

“I also hope to go to a Spanish-speaking country in the future as I plan on planting a church,” Graves said. “I wanted to go to Ecuador to get a little taste of

what that culture is all about so that I could learn more about my future.”

Sophomore Hannah White also went on the Ecuador mis-sion trip. White’s favorite part of the trip was teaching students English and fostering friendships between the students.

“We got to build friendships with the students and provide a way for them to hear about

a church where they can get plugged in to and learn about the love of Christ,” White said.

Some of the students were so interested in the mission trip’s ef-forts that they came to a church service that weekend to hear the Gospel shared.

“God has always put on my heart that He wants me to be a missionary to a Spanish speak-ing country and teach English,”

White said. “I love the Hispanic culture and people and I want to bring the gospel to these na-tions.”

On the other side of the world, sophomore Demi Vendon and senior Daniel Garcia, along with six other Liberty students, minis-tered in Chennai, India, as they shared their testimonies and en-couraged believers in the area. The group visited different com-

munity centers and fostered a relationship with a large church in the area called New Life As-semblies of God.

Garcia was surprised to learn that life in Chennai was very dif-ferent compared to America.

“I will not view life in America the same, ever again,” Garcia said. “I can not be any more honest when I say that we as middle-class Americans live like kings compared to them.”

Much of the area they visited was covered in trash — a gritty picture compared to America. Regardless, the Christians in the area were “unbelievably loving and serving.”

“Spiritually and mentally it was so relaxing and fulfilling,” Vendon said. “But I’m physi-cally wiped, and I’m still trying to catch up on sleep. But it’s all so worth it, and I’m just so glad that God gave me the opportunity to be a part of this trip.”

Even though ministering dur-ing spring break can get exhaust-ing, those who were involved felt immense blessings.

“I came back tired, but strengthened in my relationship with Christ and ready to share what He has done in my life,” White said.

LIND is a news reporter.

Photo Provided

MISSIONS — Students traveled around the world to volunteer in underdeveloped countries.

Melanie Oelrichmoelrich@liberty.edu

Liberty University School of Law Moot Court team recently competed, bringing home an-other win — this time, from Washington, D.C. Consisting of six members, the team competed in the American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition, the most presti-gious of all competitions.

This year, 211 teams com-peted for a spot at the national championships. The teams were divided into six regions, with four or five teams advancing from each region. Liberty com-peted with 38 other teams in the Washington, D.C. region. By the end of the competition, five teams advanced to the national championships, including a team from Liberty.

Regional champions Mark Hicks, Jeremy White and Phillip Marbury will travel to Chicago in April for the national tourna-ment. At the Washington, D.C. competition, White was awarded second best oralist and Hicks eighth best oralist in the tourna-ment. Overall, the team finished with a 4-1 record, beating out teams from Richmond, Regent, George Mason and Arkansas. Their only loss came from Wash-ington and Lee on brief score.

The other three members of the team — Dustin Gaines, Jen-nifer Gregorin and Dan Schmid — advanced into the regional semi-final round before being eliminated. Gaines and Grego-rin finished with a 2-2 record, beating out Southern Illinois and Regent, but lost to American University and Cleveland State

University. Director at the Center for

Lawyering Skills Scott Thomp-son and Dean Lindevaldsen trav-eled with the team to the Wash-ington, D.C. competition.

“Dean Lindevaldsen and I were extremely pleased with the way both teams argued and con-ducted themselves throughout the tournament,” Thompson said. “Each of the competitors represented the Lord and the school with distinction and dig-nity. They also extended our tra-dition of excellence at this tour-nament specifically.”

Thompson said this tourna-ment marks four years in a row that at least one of the teams from Liberty has qualified for the national tournament.

White, who will be one of three members traveling to Chi-cago next month, shared about how this competition proved to be tougher.

“The combination of current medical issues and complicated medicaid regulations involved made this year’s problem very challenging to master, and yet

incredibly exciting to argue. It’s thrilling to be part of such a great team of competitors and coaches.”

Semi-finalist Daniel Schmid noted that the case topics of the competition were especially dif-ficult this time around.

“It was a privilege and an hon-or to watch Mark, Jeremy, Dustin and Jennifer argue at the tourna-ment. All of them are extremely impressive advocates, and their oral argument skills were un-questionably second to none at the event,” Schmid said.

The topics that were presented involved a complicated case of statutory interpretation involv-ing Federal Medicaid law and state regulations that govern the treatment and insurance cover-age for those suffering from au-tism.

Thompson will be traveling to Chicago with Hicks, White and Marbury for the National Moot Court Championship on April 12-14.

OELRICH is a news reporter.

Bringing in another win

Photo Provided

LAW — Liberty’s moot court team qualifies for national tournament.

PRIMARIES continued from A1

their own precinct.”According to Chancellor Jer-

ry Falwell Jr., the participation from Liberty students in vot-ing has made an impact in the Lynchburg community.

“The new polling place, pe-destrian bridge and the return of Liberty’s zoning rights are all a direct result of Liberty students voting locally in recent elections,” Falwell said.

According to Cobb, with the new polling place open on campus, Heritage High School maintained a manageable num-ber of voters with reduced wait times.

The Liberty University ad-ministration is pleased with the turnout of students, according to Liberty’s Director of Auxil-iary Services Lee Beaumont.

“To have a 13 percent turn-out confirmed that the Liberty precinct was needed and Lib-erty students will continue to be active in the electoral process at all levels of government,” Beau-mont said. “I could not have been happier with the turnout, how well the precinct was run on election day, and the orga-nization and support provided by the Lynchburg Registrar and the Lynchburg Electoral

Board.”According to Falwell, the low

turnout had to do with the lack of finances spent by the candi-dates in Virginia, as well as not having all of the candidates on the ballot.

“Virginia Democrats passed legislation in the past making it extremely difficult for presi-dential candidates to get their names on the Virginia ballot,” Falwell said. “I believe the gov-ernor and the Republican leg-islature have said they intend to change these laws for future elections.”

Although Mitt Romney won over Ron Paul in the state of Virginia 59.5 percent to 40.4 percent, Paul swept Lynchburg voters 51 percent to 48.9 per-cent, according to VSBE.

“(Ron Paul) appeals to the younger generation for several reasons: He has a huge online presence, he is anti-establish-ment and a bit of a rebel and, most importantly, young voters feel like they are part of a cause and something bigger,” Beau-mont said. “With Ron Paul it is not about political power, it is about the purity of his beliefs and, to put it simply, he does what he says.”

BOLLINGER is the editor in chief.

Joel Coleman | Promotional PubliCation

VOTE — Students will have the opportunity to vote again May 1.

Liberty University Law School secured another victory at court

Liberty Champion/A3NEWSMarch 27, 2012

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3

Brittany Lairdbhlaird@liberty.edu

Liberty University’s nursing department is well known for the intense program it uses to bring out the full potential of its stu-dents. While the entire program is rigorous, junior year is one of the toughest obstacles the stu-dents face.

One of the most difficult as-pects of this particular year is the class known simply as Med. Surg., officially known as Strate-gies for Adult Heath Care: Fam-ily and Health. This year-long class includes typical exams, as well as weekly clinicals that stu-dents are required to attend at the local hospital. The clinicals themselves are approximately eight hours each, according to junior Matthew Gilbert.

Students are assigned to spe-cific floors and units during each clinical they attend. This gives students the opportunity to de-termine which unit benefits the most from their strengths and where they can most apply them-selves, according to Gilbert.

“My favorite has been PCU, the progressive cardiac unit,” Gilbert said. “It’s interesting to see how the heart works. It’s such an interesting organ and it’s re-sponsible for so much. It’s like a cascade, one little thing goes wrong and it goes from there.”

The opportunities that the students are able to experience during clinicals are invaluable, according to Assistant Professor of Nursing Emilee Harker.

Students begin working with the patients as soon as they begin clinicals. The beginning of the year is the most difficult because students do not know what to ex-

pect. The work becomes easier as the year progresses, but transfer-ring knowledge from the books into real life situations is difficult at first, according to Gilbert.

“It’s just a completely different databank of information,” Gil-bert said.

While this portion of the as-signment is long, it is not the only task involved in clinicals. Also involved is pre-work and post-work.

Pre-work, more commonly known as a profile, includes typ-ing up drug names, side effects, why a patient is on a certain drug and other important infor-mation. Students are required to come up with interventions based on their knowledge of the situation, according to Gilbert.

The exams for this class are similar to this in that they require the students to assess specific sit-

uations. With only three or four factual questions, the rest of the 50 multiple choice question ex-ams are composed of scenarios. Students have to choose the an-swer which they feel should be their first response to the situa-tion, according to Gilbert.

“It’s not like a black and white question,” Gilbert said.

Questions are designed this way in order to push the students to consider how they would re-spond in a real life situation.

“It’s more of an application of the material,” Harker said. “We stretch our students to critically think more in their junior year based on what they’ve learned both in class and at the bed side.”

The nursing program grad-ing scale is more difficult when compared to the other university programs. The department uses a seven point grading scale and

considers anything below a C to be failing. This adds to the chal-lenge of the nursing program, according to assistant professor if nursing Bo Kail.

“It gets easier as the junior year goes on. Usually it’s that first semester, the fall, that is the most challenging, and then in the spring it gets easier. Their course load remains challenging, but students learn how to manage their time and better understand the disease processes,” Harker said.

In addition to the work sur-rounding Med. Surg., students also have other classes to focus on, such as Pharmacology. The exams for this class are difficult, with questions requiring intense memorization, according to Gil-bert.

Students, according to Jerry Harvey, assistant professor of

nursing, must take a six hour course their first and second se-mesters in the program, and then complete three hours of lecture each week and eight hours of clinical.

“Each semester they have very nursing, science heavy courses that they’re taking,” Harvey said.

Kail, Harker and Gilbert all recommend that nursing stu-dents who are approaching their junior year start off with the in-tention of putting their whole heart into it. They said that even though the work is time consum-ing, it is possible to pass.

“There’s no reason to fail ju-nior year if you put the time into it,” Gilbert said. “Study a few hours a day, just keep on top of it.”

It is important to keep the end result in mind when work-ing through this tough year in the program. The chance to work with people and help them in their time of need is the end goal. The work prior to obtain-ing this job is extremely chal-lenging, according to Kail.

“Nursing as a profession is one of the most respected positions in the country,” Kail said. “Doc-tors treat disease, nurses treat the patient. We’re the one at the bed side noticing the subtle changes before they turn into major changes.”

The work that these students put into their junior year will benefit not only their future ca-reers, but also the people whose lives they touch in their line of work, according to Harker.

“They’re amazing students, and we’re so proud of them,” Harker said.

LAIRD is a news reporter.

Nursing program remains rigorous

Jordan crossinghaM | ProMotional Publication

TrAINING — Nursing students practice life-saving techniques on a mannequin in the lab.

EPA continued from 11

legislation titled “Chesa-peake Bay Program reau-thorization and Improve-ment Act” would provide kinder regulations to states and local communities.

“Instead of overregu-lation and intrusion into

the lives and livelihoods of those who choose to make the Bay Watershed their home, the Chesapeake Bay Program reauthori-zation and Improvement Act allows states and com-munities more flexibility in meeting water quality goals so that we can help restore and protect our

natural resources,” Good-latte said.

Although much of the experimentation and data comes from the coastlines, including Virginia’s Ches-apeake Bay region, the measures would affect the whole country in time.

Perrow said that another issue lies where the model

allows the EPA “to look at the San Francisco Bay Wa-tershed, or the Mississippi river Watershed, and ap-ply it to the whole coun-try.” He believes the more that members of Congress realize the drastic results of the program, the more they would oppose it.

Both Goodlatte and Per-

row also remained con-cerned that if the EPA regulation passes, the re-sults may not measure up to the cost.

“Just because you want to throw more money at (the Bay), does not mean that we are actually going to speed up the improve-ment of the Bay,” Perrow

said. Goodlatte added:

“While the goal of every-one involved is better wa-ter quality, we must recog-nize that we can only do as much as technologically possible.”

JONES is a news reporter.

Melissa Gibbymfgibby@liberty.edu

With gas prices on the rise, many Americans wonder if re-lief at the gas pumps is some-where in the distance or if high gas prices are here to stay.

Associate Professor of Finance and Economics at Liberty Uni-versity robert rencher spoke about the basic principles of sup-ply and demand and their effect on skyrocketing gas prices.

“The demand for oil is in-creasing worldwide, so that tends to put upward pressure on prices. If at the same time demand goes up, supply goes down — basic economics — this puts greater upward pressure on prices,” rencher said.

Another contributor to gas prices is the increase in tensions with the Middle East, especially with Iran.

According to an article from the Associated Press, oil prices have been rising partially be-cause of tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program.

“Oil prices get kind of jumpy when things are going on throughout the world that may cause a potential disruption of supply. There is a political dimension to oil prices that is driven by uncertainty,” rencher said.

In addition to geopolitics, gas-oline prices are taking another hit as refinery operations in the Northeast are beginning to shut down, which decreases supply.

According to a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, the refineries that convert crude oil into gasoline have been los-ing money because of the price increase in crude oil in the past year.

Many refineries have been un-able to compensate for the rising prices.

According to the Wall Street Journal, high gas prices could present a risk to the economy, which has been showing im-provement this year.

Another concern many have is the typical increase in the price of gas during the summer driv-

ing season. Gas prices are typi-cally three percent higher during the summer, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Associated Press said the continual price increase might also begin to take a toll on local businesses and economy.

“There can be a ripple effect if gas goes up significantly. If it’s costing me a greater percent-age of my disposable income for gasoline, I’m not going to be spending as much on other things. That can eventually have an impact on the economy as a whole,” rencher said.

In addition to the impact of gas prices on the national econ-omy, many students have felt the strain on their personal budgets.

Liberty sophomore Erik Beam said that gas price influences the money he spends in other areas of the economy.

“Unfortunately, it hasn’t stopped me from driving as of-ten. Instead, it makes me spend less money in other areas be-cause I’ve got to keep in mind money for gas,” Beam said.

Freshman Zach Koon person-ally combats gas prices by using a Kroger card for gas discounts.

“I have a Kroger card that saves me 50 cents per gallon be-cause my parents buy so much food each month. I also drive a car that gets 35 miles per gallon, so I don’t have to get gas that often anyway,” Koon said.

Hudson Crider and Emily raush, an engaged couple from Lancaster, Pa., have felt the strain of high gas prices directly im-pact their driving decisions.

“The cost doesn’t really cause us to drive less around Lynch-burg, but it definitely makes us think before taking a day trip somewhere,” raush said. “Also, due to gas costs, we really only go home on the big breaks. We normally have people ride with us to help with the cost of gas, but we did not do this over spring break so it was pretty costly.”

GIBBY is a news reporter.

Gas prices increase dramatically

FYI

Gas is roughly $3.79 in the

Lynchburg region.

$3.79

OPINION MARCH 27, 2012

“Many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails,” Proverbs 19:21.

Proverbs is a book of wisdom. Yet, so frequently we rehearse the words rather than cling to the truth, all the while placing more “important” issues on the front burners of our conversations.

Sometimes people say this type of “From the Desk” is fluffy, weak, a cop

out. It is easy to say that writing witty opinion pieces on politics, war, drugs or money sound more intelligent.

But, Proverbs is the book of wisdom.

Isn’t it peculiar that Proverbs wasn’t written about the secrets of economics, gas prices or political p r o m i n e n c e ? Yes, all of those things may come into question and are answered throughout the pages of Proverbs, but they are not the main topic of importance.

Proverbs is all about learning to trust in the Lord — learning to accept that his will is going to be done.

With graduation just around the corner, everyone seems to be wondering what steps lay ahead. For me, those steps include decisions that are

completely out of my control.Great, right? “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not

want…” Psalm 23:1.Lately, every time I get to that point

in the conversation that verse glides through my head. My God is my shepherd. I literally have no need to want for anything.

Even during times of hardship when we can’t see the steps that lay ahead, God is a God of perfect leadership.

So often we take life too seriously, neglecting the real purpose behind it all. If everything is for the Lord, and it is, in fact, his purpose that will remain when all is said and done, then why do we place so much time, effort and value on all that is outside of him?

We fight for hours about which political candidate is best, what color the church carpet should be and what corners should be cut to save some money to bring the “Lord’s” vision into being.

Have we forgotten that he is almighty? All-powerful?

He is going to be faithful to bring his purpose into our reality. That is one thing I am sure of. The struggle comes in accepting that the plans of my heart are many — yet it is the purpose of his that will remain.

The politics of life are complicated, but his yoke makes them easy, his burden makes them light. When all is said and done it is God that has the final say in everything.

Whether you go to graduate school, move cross-country, get married or change jobs, as long as you can manage to neglect all that is trivial and embrace his wisdom, everything will work out according to his purpose, not your plans.

But that means embracing the fact that my plans are not my future.

That is where I am — stuck between politics and Proverbs.

Bollinger

FROMFROM

THE

DESKDESK

By: ASHLEY BOLLINGER

isaac ederieder@liberty.edu

If you’ve logged on to Facebook in the past several weeks you’ve almost certain-ly seen a link to the Invisible Children (IC) organization’s “Kony 2012” video that the group uploaded to video hosting website, Vimeo. The video describes and depicts the atrocities committed by Uganda warlord Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The video is a slickly-made production filled with emotional appeals and calls to action. The response to Kony 2012 has been all over the chart, with many enthu-siastic supporters plastering every corner of the Internet with links to the video and dressing themselves in Invis-ible Children T-shirts and various other paraphernalia.

On the other side, the film has its detractors who have criticized Invisible Children on issues ranging from what they describe as IC’s over-simplification of a complex issue to the fact that just over one-third of their finances go toward programs of di-rect aid to Northern Africa where Kony operates.

My advice to those on both sides of the debate is fundamentally the same: reject easy answers to hard questions. That’s true in just about every aspect of life, but it especially applies here.

IC’s detractors can be broadly filed into one of two camps. The first camp con-sists of the eye-rolling cynics taking potshots at the “arm-chair activists” who made the video viral.

The second camp are those with legitimate con-cerns and complaints re-garding IC’s finances and their approach to ending the conflict with military action instead of diplomacy.

As a recovering cynic, I would like to address that

camp first. Look guys, I understand where you’re coming from. It can be frus-trating when people think that watching a 30-minute video and posting it on the Facebook wall of everyone they’ve ever met, seen or smelled will end a decades-old conflict in Northern Af-rica. There’s a lot I could say here, but I’ll keep it brief: IC’s supporters may be naive in some respects, but know that we need people like them who believe that posi-tive change is possible. More practical steps must be taken, but they can only be the re-sult of the idealists believing in them.

While not the most promi-nent of IC’s detractors, the perspective of Anywar Ricky Richard caught my eye. In a piece written for National Geographic NewsWatch, Richard, formerly one of Kony’s child soldiers, point-ed out several problems with the Kony 2012 approach. His main opposition to the military approach to stop-ping Kony comes from the very grim reality that Ko-

ny’s forces mainly consist of child soldiers. “As a result,” Richard points out, “any at-tack will be on the abducted children.” He recommends resuming peace talks and expresses optimism that if the Sudanese government is involved this time, they could have significant posi-tive sway.

“We thank Invisible Chil-dren for making people aware of what has happened in Northern Uganda and request they continue to fo-cus their enthusiasm and resources toward building a better Uganda,” Richard said in the article.

The second major criti-cism is, again, the fact that only 37 percent of IC’s funds go toward programs. The group has, in the wake of these criticisms, made public their financial statement via their website, and have been independently audited by accounting firm Considine and Considine, who gave IC an “unqualified opinion” — which, in layman’s terms, means that nothing in the financial records that IC re-

leased is amiss. The rest of IC’s money goes into aware-ness-raising (which they’ve been very open about) and administrative costs (which every group has). One could argue that awareness-raising is not the best approach at this stage, but to suggest something sinister is afoot financially would not be fair.

To IC’s most fervent sup-porters I have only this to say: keep fighting the good fight, but be cautious. Learn about the organization you work with and think criti-cally about whether or not their approach is the best ap-proach.

Idealists have the fervor and the enthusiasm to make big things happen and the realists keep the idealists honest and level-headed. We need both realists and idealists to accomplish great things in the world. These two groups should not mis-take each other for the en-emy.

eDer is an opinion writer.

Realism and idealism: Kony 2012 in perspective

InvIsIble ChIldren

KONY — Despite its worthy cause, fundraising questions rise about Invisible Children.

Another option for despondent GOP votersnate Brownnbrown4@liberty.edu

I’m exercising my American right this year — my American right to not vote in the presidential election. And to defend that decision, I’d like to offer some rea-sons why.

I think that it is not my American duty to vote, but my American right to vote. Neither the Constitution nor any of the 27 Amendments describe voting as a “duty,” which would imply a certain degree of obligation. No, four of the Amendments

(XV, XIX, XXIV and XXVI) refer to the “right of citizens of the United States to vote,” instructing that this right “shall not be denied or abridged.” Therefore, if it is my right to vote, and not my duty, then I may choose to abdicate that right and not vote.

After watching this election’s debates between the four leading GOP candidates and reactions from our President, I am re-minded of an altercation between squab-bling children in which debate mediator Jeff King plays a frustrated mother. San-torum spouts political clichés, Romney in-

sults all three competing candidates while injecting his own agendas, Gingrich takes it on the chin and never really answers a question, and Paul just laughs. All four take their turns slinging mud, and it turns from debate to tattletaling to Jeff King.

I think that all four candidates are so reactionary in their rhetoric that it robs them of anyone calling it genuine or sin-cere. An example: in February, in Arizona, Santorum said he didn’t like earmarks. Seizing his opportunity, Romney quickly claimed he didn’t like earmarks either but Santorum did (while indicting Gingrich

of approving 6,000 earmarks). Gingrich claimed his 6,000 approved earmarks as Speaker of the House was a grand scheme against the Obama administra-tion and Paul said all three were crazy. Neither of the four provided a solution. All four decided a better political strategy was to discredit someone else. This only supports my squabbling metaphor.

I think I remember an elderly relative warning me of people who smile too much, and people who smile too little. I

See VOTING, A5

Andrew gulajagula@liberty.edu

According to the Kony2012 website, the pledge for supporters to sign reads:

“Joseph Kony is one of the world’s worst war criminals and I support the internation-al effort to arrest him, disarm the LRA and bring the child soldiers home.”

Joseph Kony first appeared on the political scene in 1986, as detailed an article in The Independent. According to the article, Kony took a prominent position after a handful of civil uprisings in Uganda.

Becoming a militia leader, Kony gathered discontented ex-soldiers to his cause. And with his growing army, he has since con-scripted over 30,000 child soldiers into the Lord’s Resistance Army.

The brutal indoctrination process that Kony uses on his child-soldiers — forcing each boy to murder his own parents — is what has drawn so much attention to this Ugandan warleader.

Kony’s band of guerilla fighters hold him as a messiah figure, giving him power and control over a band of zealous and psycho-logically scarred fighters.

Kony considers himself to be the “spokes-person of God,” according to an article in The Independent.

In an interview with IRIN News, Vincent Otti — Kony’s second in command — re-vealed that the LRA believe themselves to be largely innocent of the genocidal attacks against their own people. In fact, Otti said in the interview that the Ugandan government is also to blame because it fought against the LRA.

In the same interview, Otti said: “Lord’s Resistance Army is just the name of the movement, because we are fighting in the name of God. People always ask us, are we fighting for the [biblical] Ten Command-ments of God. That is true – because the Ten Commandments of God is the constitu-tion that God has given to the people of the world. All people.”

gUlA is the opinion editor.

Who is Joseph Kony?

VOTING continued from A4

can’t help but associate the former with this cast of candidates and the latter with our current president. The former seem ingenuine and plastic, the latter seem an-gry and attitudinal.

I think that of the four GOP candidates and President Obama, Paul is the only one who genuinely stands by his convic-tions. The only problem is, I like him right where he is already. The responsibilities of the President, as defined by the Constitu-tion, is to be the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, determine military pol-icy and sign treaties, not to plan an eco-nomic agenda. That responsibility is given to Congress. Paul has not demonstrated the leadership or the willingness to make

analytical, military decisions required of a president. However, Ron Paul’s economic policies are a breath of fresh air in a reek-ing Congress Hall. Therefore, Congress is the best place for him to be.

I think there’s something to be said about to which cart you hitch your horse. I cannot, in good faith, put any of these candidates at the head of my beloved country. None have proven that they are men of conviction, of action or of leader-ship. For that reason, I refuse to attach my name to any of the candidates.

For the reasons listed above, I think I will exercise my American right to not vote in this year’s election.

BROWN is the sports editor.

Liberty Champion/A5OPINIONMarch 27, 2012

THOMAS ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH

T R B C . O R G

A P R I L 8 , 2 0 1 28 : 0 0 — 9 : 3 0 — 1 1 : 0 0 A M

Jason Baileyjbailey4@liberty.edu

There is a massive push brewing in the nation’s capital, right under the noses of America’s citizens.

According to FoxNews.com, President Obama’s Energy Secretary Steven Chu confirmed that in 2008, he told the Wall Street Journal that elevating gas prices to higher European-level prices would help wean Americans off of the foreign oil ad-diction and compel them to use more re-newables.

“It’s a great idea,” Christiansburg En-ergy Analyst Benjamin Knopp said. “Our dependence on foreign oil has been crip-pling extensive research on other sources of natural energy we could be using.”

The continuing use of foreign oil is not without its consequences. The Washing-ton Post reports that the consequences of rising gas prices have caused President Obama’s approval ratings to drop 7 per-cent in a national poll for the 2012 presi-dential election. In light of this, Secretary Chu claims he has had a change of heart.

According to CNN.com, despite the as-sault the American public has imposed on their leader, the president has repeatedly defended his political record, insisting that there is ‘no silver bullet’ or quick Aleve to this natural energy dilemma.

It is true that America has relied far too much on foreign oil for decades. Whether or not you agree with the decisions of President Obama or his Energy Analyst regarding the spike of gas prices, the push to explore renewables for new energy pur-poses is prudent.

“You think the president of the United States going into reelection wants gas prices to go higher,” President Obama asked in a Fox News press release. “Is there anybody here who thinks that makes a lot of sense?”

US political representatives remain un-certain of the major direction in the quest for using renewables for public energy consumption. Knopp maintains that the uncertainty isn’t alarming. In fact, it is an element of hope for the public.

“This is what we should want,” Knopp said. “There are numerous renewables in abundance out there that we have yet to explore — sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat, to name a few. It is to our benefit and advantage that the presi-dent’s energy analyst has this mindset and focus. The use of foreign oil as our chief source of energy…is a problem and high gas prices are wakening the public to this problem.”

A news release from the White House last week expressed Obama’s commit-ment to American-made energy, both to promote economic growth and decrease the price of energy.

The Energy Department will invest $450 million over the next five years to support a next-generation nuclear reac-tor design, according to the White House press release. Manufacturing these reac-tors in the United States will open up jobs, as well as allow the Energy Department to develop a smarter energy grid.

While steps like this show that Obama is realizing the importance of the growing energy crisis, everything announced is all part of a much larger plan. There is — as of yet — no immediate relief on the ho-rizon for American taxpayers struggling with outlandish gas prices.

The GOP candidates, at least, are searching for ways to find a more hands-on means of helping lower the cost of en-ergy. For example, according to FoxNews.com, Newt Gingrich claims he will get gas down to $2.50 a gallon.

To be fair, the concept most Americans have that President Obama has supreme control over the prices at the pump lacks any merit — there is no magic button to raise or lower the price. But the Obama administration’s decision to jack gas prices up is a painful one. The time for aggres-sive exploration of renewables is already close at hand.

BAILEY is an opinion writer.

Troy Dauksystadauksys2@liberty.edu

It has been nearly five years since the deadliest campus massacre in the U.S. took place at Virginia Tech (VT) on April 16, 2007, leaving 33 people dead, includ-ing the shooter. President of Virginia Tech Charles Steger was reminded of the tragic event two weeks ago when he testified against two victim’s families for a wrongful death lawsuit.

The focus of the trial stressed that VT officials should have acted sooner by alert-ing the campus of the shooting immediately after it was reported to them. Officials waited over two hours to send a campus alert.

According to USA Today, the initial alert did not indicate that a gunman might still be at large. If it had, victims’ parents argued in the court hearing, they could have prevented the remaining 47 victims from being shot. The jury found the school negligent and awarded $4 mil-lion to two victims’ families.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, a pre-vious settlement of $11 million was split between 24 families, excluding other dis-bursements of $1.9 million set aside in a hardship fund. The state argued that the university did all it could with the information provided at the time. Steger, along with other university officials, said they initially believed the first two shoot-ings were an act of domestic violence, based on what police investigators told them.

According to the New York Times, the Prydes and the Petersons were the only

families of the shootings that were eli-gible to sue. Both families turned down their portion of the $11 million settle-ment with the state.

“When you know that something is right you’re not deterred from your course,” Peterson said in the New York Times. “We wanted the truth from the very beginning and we got it. All I know is today we got what we wanted.”

Steger responded to the outcome in a letter, writing, “The heinous crimes com-mitted by Seung-Hui Cho were an un-precedented act of violence that no one could have foreseen.”

“I tried my best,” Steger said in his re-sponse.

There is absolutely no doubt that a concerned family member who lost a loved one during the massacre would not want some explanation as to how the sit-uation was handled. Steger makes a valid point in that there was no way one could foresee such an act.

In hindsight, waiting over two hours to alert the campus of a shooting that killed two people in a dormitory was not the most effective way of handling this situa-tion. Of course, we must leave room for understanding that it’s probably not as easy to strategically analyze the situation, much less react accordingly, as we might think.

However, there are consequences for everything, and Virginia Tech is still suf-fering five years later.

DAUKSYS is an opinion writer.

Jury finds negligence in delayed response

US struggles to fix energy crisis

U.S. Dept. of energy

ANAlyzINg ENErgy COSTS — Energy Secretary Chu admitted that he supported higher gas prices.

STEgER

Despite losing lawsuits to families of Va. Tech shooting victims, Steger sticks with story

A6/Liberty Champion NEWS March 27, 2012

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Omar Adamsoadams@liberty.edu

For many students, gradua-tion marks the end of their for-mal education. For 1st Lt. Dan McCready, his graduation from Liberty University began three and a half years of intense train-ing to become an Air Force pilot.

McCready graduated with Liberty’s first Air Force ROTC commissioning class in May 2008. The California native ran through a series of training courses including introductory flight screening (IFS).

“This is a weed-out program of sorts,” McCready said. “They get a first look at whether or not they feel you will be able to com-plete pilot training. If you don’t make the cut, they will find you another career.”

Following IFS and the other programs, he jumped straight into pilot training — a three-phase program crammed into

one year. Students transition through academic courses, flight courses in the T-6 Texan II and finally into one of three special-ized aircraft based on the their scores in the first two phases.

Students selected for the T-38 Talon supersonic jet trainer go on to fly fighters or bombers, T-44 Pegasus students train to fly multi-engine turboprop aircraft, and students chosen for the T-1 Jayhawk fill tanker or airlift roles.

“I went to ENJJPT (Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training), so the rules are a little bit differ-ent because we follow a different syllabus than the other bases — the program is designed for training fighter/bomber pilots,” McCready said.

ENJJPT is a training pro-gram reserved for the top pilot trainees from the U.S. Air Force and its NATO allies. Course instructors are also selected from the officer ranks of U.S. and NATO air forces, according to

the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) factsheet.

“The year of pilot training was hands-down the most diffi-cult year of my life,” McCready said. “Imagine trying to cram a four-year degree plus a master’s into one year. It’s very much a sink or swim program.”

After pilot training, McCready attended several other train-ing schools, including Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training at the U.S. Air Force Survival School, Fairchild AFB, Wash. SERE students are taught skills necessary to “sur-vive in any environment and return with honor,” the AETC factsheet states.

Finally, McCready was able to conduct his eight-month Initial Qualification in the B-1B Lancer supersonic heavy bomber. He said B-1s have been flying non-stop missions in the Middle East since Sept. 11, 2001.

“We bring a massive hammer

to the fight and take pride in performing a role in protect-ing America’s military overseas through our superior close-air-support role,” McCready said. “…The jet is amazing — flying supersonic 500 feet above the ground is absolutely incredible. The jet is a great platform that the Air Force utilizes to ensure our men and women on the ground make it home to their families.”

McCready was able to pass his final Mission Qualification in only three months to participate in Red Flag — a multi-national, advanced air combat training exercise against mock-enemy “Aggressor” squadrons — with his new squadron.

Now a full-fledged Air Force pilot, McCready is stationed at Ellsworth AFB, S.D. with the 37th Bomb Squadron. He arrived too late to take part in the Libya campaign in spring 2011, but he said he is proud to

be a part of a unit with a rich history dating back through both World Wars.

“My squadron flew the Doolittle Raid,” he said. “We are one of a few squadrons in the Air Force who have partici-pated in every conflict since its inception.”

Even after completing all of his training, McCready has a busy schedule as he and his wife Meagan had their first baby, Daniel Colt McCready, in February. The military is willing to work with him and his family, however, including allowing two weeks off for the new baby.

“As far as flight time and fam-ily, it’s like almost anything — it just requires balance,” Dan McCready said. “You have to prioritize things in your life. My family comes before work, and my squadron has been awesome about prioritizing families first.”

ADAMS is the web editor.

1st Lt. Dan McCready: Flight training insightsPhotos Provided

NEW DAD — 1st Lt. Dan McCready poses with his wife Meagan and their new baby Daniel Colt. Lt. McCready flies a B-1B Lancer bomber out of Ellsworth AFB, S.D.

Liberty Champion/A7NEWSMarch 27, 2012

Claire Risscriss@liberty.edu

Dr. Charles Murphy took students from Liberty Univer-sity to visit the National Defense University (NDU) in Washing-ton, D.C. to help better their education.

The NDU is the premier cen-ter for Joint Professional Military Education and is under the di-rection of the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Murphy, a Marine and Cen-tral Intelligence Agency (CIA) veteran, teaches Strategic & In-telligence Studies and Interna-tional Relations for the Helms School of Government.

Murphy has been trying to make extracurricular activities

a staple in his students’ learn-ing experience. He has taken his classes to visit and participate in many intelligence agencies, in-cluding the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intel-ligence Agency and others. Ac-cording to Murphy, his classes have been the only undergradu-ate classes on site on the majority of these trips.

The class time was spent shar-ing in a symposium exploring the complex food crisis in the Horn of Africa. The day-long session consisted of in-depth discussion about the political, social and economic factors of the 2011 famine in Eastern Africa.

“The students have the op-

portunity to mix and mingle and network with very influential and powerful leaders,” Murphy said.

During the symposium, stu-dents heard from prominent fig-ures, including NDU President Vice Admiral Ann E. Rondeau, and had the opportunity to in-teract with several key govern-ment leaders. A few of those in attendance included ambassa-dors, general grade officers, field grade officers, academicians and more, according to Murphy.

Murphy said after years of establishing connections with people in the Intelligence Com-munity, his students can now di-rectly benefit.

“I have been able to build those relationships into a quality, hands-on experience for under-

graduates,” he said.Not only are Murphy’s stu-

dents able to network with gov-ernment leaders, but interacting with them in person allows them to garner insight into their future careers.

“I learned a lot from the differ-ent speakers, and it only empha-sized what I wanted to do and why,” Intelligence Studies major Prescilia Elielie-Ndjana said.

Elielie-Ndjana believes events likes these are important for stu-dents in the Intelligence Studies program as they seek to familiar-ize themselves in the trade.

“Even if it’s only for a day or two, just … partaking [in] con-ferences with intellectual minds makes you feel better about yourself and what you want to

do,” she said. “I know a career in Intelligence will not be easy, but at least meeting some of the people in that field, I know it’s not impossible.”

Murphy knows involvement is essential in growing successful leaders who will stand on bibli-cal truths to make a difference in their fields, particularly govern-ment.

“I am trying to develop … stu-dents who understand that ‘truth never fears a challenge,’ and who can become the thinking and creative Christian statesmen and leaders that this world so desper-ately needs,” Murphy said.

RISS is a news reporter.

Government students visit D.C.Photo Provided

WASHINGToN — Former CIA agent Charles Murphy took Liberty students to the nation’s capital to visit the National Defense University..

A8/Liberty Champion NEWS March 27, 2012

Lindsey Birchfieldlsbirchfield@liberty.edu

Liberty University’s Comic Book Club hosted local business owner Chris Garbee at their meeting Thursday, March 22. Garbee owns Untamed Worlds, a gaming and comic book shop, in Lynchburg.

Garbee spoke about the state of the industry and about pursu-ing a career in comics.

According to Tyler Flynn, president of Liberty’s Comic Book Club, this was not the first time Garbee came to speak to the club.

“The last time Chris spoke was in 2010, and the club mem-bers responded very enthusiasti-cally to his discussion about the semantics of running a comic book shop, so we’re very happy to have him back once again,” Flynn said.

Garbee began selling comic books for profit at the age of 14. Along with owning his own comic book shop, Garbee runs and promotes the Roanoke Comicon.

The economy greatly affects this industry, Garbee said, and it directly impacts his sales.

“The business is fun but, unfortunately, it is going in a sad direction,” Garbee said.

According to Garbee, several major publishers in the indus-try, specifically DC Comics, have decided it costs too much to pay American comic book artists, so they are now looking to interna-tional comic artists.

Garbee encouraged students to voice their opinion and sup-port for these struggling artists.

The majority of recent comics are declining in value, according to Garbee. He hopes that the ris-ing dependence on technology, such as with iPads, Nooks and Kindles, will help this industry.

“Hopefully, the comic book medium will find life in digital media,” Garbee said.

For hobby businesses, like comics, Garbee suggested that it takes twice as long to see profit. Garbee said he puts in 80-90 hours a week as the sole employ-ee running his shop, online busi-ness and the Roanoke Comicon.

“I do this because I love it,” Garbee said.

According to Garbee, a future entrepreneur of any industry should focus on the business of running a business.

Flynn said Garbee has been a long time supporter of the Comic Book Club.

“Many of our members are familiar with Chris, as we shop at his store regularly for comic

books and gaming accessories,” Flynn said.

Flynn expressed the club’s excitement for Garbee’s appear-ance because of his increasing knowledge about the industry.

“Students attending the meet-ing will benefit from the inter-action because they will get to receive an inside perspective on the comic book industry, such as the financial aspect of running a shop and a comic book conven-tion,” Flynn said.

The Liberty Comic Book Club

began in spring 2010 and meets biweekly with 25-30 attendees. During the meetings, they have group discussions and present recent news in the superhero and comic book world.

One purpose of the club, according to Flynn, is to pro-vide a safe environment for those interested in comic books and other related subjects to discuss and be educated on the industry.

Flynn said the club continu-ally engages the Liberty student body by offering events and

activities for those interested in the club. Members are now plan-ning a trip to attend the Virginia Comicon in Richmond. Along with events, the club is passion-ate about charities and raised donations for a troop overseas.

For more information, check the group’s Facebook page, fol-low the group on Twitter @LUComicBookClub or email tflynn@liberty.edu.

BIRCHFIELD is a news reporter.

Comic book club hosts speaker

Amy mArquez | Liberty ChAmpion

COMICS — After reading some graphic novels, the Comic Book Club posed for a few pictures.

Melissa Gibbymfgibby@liberty.edu

SELAH, Liberty University’s yearbook, recently received the Gold Crown Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, accord-ing to Jeff White from Promotional Publications at Liberty. It is the first time Liberty has received the prestigious award.

The award is given to publications in the aca-demic arena for excellence in writing/editing, design, content, concept, photog-raphy, art and graphics.

In addition to this achievement, the yearbook has also found a creative solution to the growing dis-continuation of yearbook programs in universities nationwide by making the yearbook available online. A print version will be available on demand.

The university part-nered with Key Color Inc. (KCI) to produce an online version of the year-book that will be free for all students at the end of the semester at lifepages.com. It will also be avail-able to Liberty University alumni, according to Director of Marketing for University Publications in Promotional Publications Laura Sipple.

Because of the recent decline in yearbook pro-grams, Liberty decided to conduct research to find out how other colleges kept their yearbook pro-grams alive.

“The fall semester was spent evaluating what cur-

rent universities and col-leges are doing regarding yearbooks. Traditionally, the printed format of the past is no more and col-leges are just completely eliminating their colle-giate yearbook program,” Sipple said.

The solution was simple. Liberty decided to create an interactive online year-book with a wide range of features including extra stories, videos, student por-traits and user profiles.

Another distinguishing feature of the online ver-sion is the ability to view yearbooks from 1974 to the present.

“We can incorporate video, so if there are spe-cial plays from the foot-ball game, the basketball games, coffeehouse clips, you name it, it can be incorporated into this online yearbook. What’s also nice is there are social features where students can sign each other’s year-books digitally. You can also comment on pages and photos,” Sipple said.

The online yearbook is a convergence of traditional yearbook media in addi-tion to the new capabilities of video and audio media.

“It’s not exactly like the original, but it is an alternative that integrates the social media aspect,” SELAH staff member Jacob Anspach said.

For those who still want a print version of the SELAH yearbook, Liberty will have yearbooks avail-able for printing on demand.

“What Liberty decid-

ed to do was create 75 pages of core content that will include the happen-ings around the university, sports, team pictures, etc.,” Anspach said.

The core content will be both online and in the print-on-demand year-books.

“Everyone’s first 75 pages will look alike, then you have the option of adding an additional 10, 20, 30 or however many pages you wish to person-alize. You can upload your photos from Facebook or any photos on your hard drive. You can have your personalized yearbook in addition to the core con-tent,” Sipple said.

While the online ver-sion is free for all students, the print version price will vary based on the student’s customization but is an option for those who want a printed book.

“We’re trying to offer the students both a tra-ditional alternative with the printed book and give an online version that is breaking into new technol-ogies with video and social media aspects too. We feel that by combining both of these, it’s really giving stu-dents a great resource for the yearbook,” Sipple said.

For more information, check out the Facebook page at LibertyU Selah Yearbook or liberty.edu/yearbook. The Facebook page includes a Year in Review tab to see content from each graduating class.

GIBBY is a news reporter.

ruth bibby | Liberty ChAmpion

ONLINE — Tangible copies of the yearbook will only be available for purchase.

SELAH goes online

Toxins in makeupKate Powleyknpowley@liberty.edu

Slathering on cosmetics, toothpaste and face wash might be placing harm-ful toxins in the recipient’s body.

According to Liberty University Professor Linda Kitchel, some preser-vatives and additives in food, such as parabens, are used in cosmetics.

Parabens are used in products as preservatives and can be recognized on labels as methylparaven, propylpara-ben, butylparaben or benzylparaben. According to the FDA, they are used to protect against microbial growth, and certain levels of paraben are allowed in products.

“In August 2005, when scientists published a study finding a relationship between plasticizers called phthalates and feminization of U.S. male babies, they named fragrance as a possible culprit,” the Environment Working Group (EWG) Skin Deep Cosmetics database said. “When estrogenic indus-trial chemicals called parabens were found in human breast tumor tissue, researchers questioned if deodorant was the source.”

But paraben is not the only thing found in products that has researchers concerned. The EWG says that triclos-an, a common ingredient in hand soap, toothpaste and face wash, is linked to liver and inhalation toxicity.

EWG is a website database devoted to researching products and provides an engine for viewers to check the safety of more than 69,000 products.

Local health enthusiast and founder of PureGoodness blog Rachel Brewer became interested in the topic when she found out her daughter had an allergy to food coloring. Brewer holds a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences from Liberty University and hopes to continue her education in nutrition.

“I want people to be aware of what they’re putting on their body. The skin absorbs everything … you have to be really cautious what you’re putting on your skin, hair and especially makeup.”

According to the FDA’s website, the FD&C Act and FPLA do not require pre approval of labels and trust manu-facturers and distributors to label their products accurately.

Brewer’s niece, Kristen Disney, is also concerned about toxins and other harmful substances in everyday prod-ucts and aspires to have a health and wellness blog of her own.

“I don’t typically buy my products, and if I do I make sure they’re 100 percent organic or recommended by

holistic doctors. I would also recom-mend making them yourself. I make my own products like face wash and hairspray,” Disney said. “God created all these things in the environment and the world for a purpose, so we don’t need to go and recreate them.”

Disney became interested in health when her grandfather and former chair of Liberty University’s missions depart-ment, Roscoe Brewer, was diagnosed with cancer and chose a holistic route to healing. He was expected to die within six months but lived for two and a half years after the prognosis.

“The body can heal itself, but it can’t when you have so many toxins in your body. When you read ingredients like petroleum and formaldehyde and things like that, those things are just lurking in us,” Brewer said.

Brewer suggests researching cosmet-ics and other products on website such as EWG Skin Deep or checking out her blog PureGoodness.

One thing that both Brewer and Kitchel stressed for consumers to do is read labels and be aware of what is in a product. Apps for smart phones are a convenient way to check what ingredi-ents on labels may be harmful.

“Finding products that are more natural is best. You never know when something that is approved (by the FDA) today, won’t be tomorrow,” Kitchell said.

POWLEY is a news reporter.

KAte powLey | Liberty ChAmpion

TOxIC — Makeup could be harmful.

Additives in cosmetics, hygiene products possibly linked to harmful effects including breast cancer

SPORTS MARCH 27, 2012

Flames SportsNetworkrecognizedKyle Harvey kharvey@liberty.edu

Liberty University became offi-cially recognized by the secular sports entertainment industry as a major player in collegiate athletic coverage when the Flames Sports Network was recently awarded two bronze Telly Awards.

The awards, which were earned for FSN’s coverage of the Big South Championship football game against Stony Brook University and the weekly “Flames Sports Desk” program, are the first such awards for FSN.

“I’ve submitted games over the last seven years that we’ve done — broadcasts that I thought were very well done but we hadn’t received an award for whatever reason,” Athletic TV Producer Bruce Carey said. “So this year to submit two, the football game and the sports desk show, and win in both of those categories was pretty amazing.”

The Telly Awards are not like the Academy Awards, which judg-es entertainment productions in a head-to-head competition, but rather an affiliation that brings authority and credibility to an organization.

“They don’t judge you against other videos or programs or shows,” Carey said. “What they do is they have a standard of excellence and you have to reach a certain level, and if you reach that level there are two categories. There’s a silver and a bronze. We were able to win two bronze Telly’s – one for our Stony Brook football game that we did in New York … and the other one was for the brand new show we started this year called the Flames Sports Desk.”

The Telly Awards, which are given by a group of industry lead-ers, covers many different kinds of media.

“There’s everything from broadcast games to commercials, to films, to websites,” Carey said. “Sports are just a category in the organization.

See FSN, B2

Les schofer| PromotionaL PubLication

roLLINg ALoNg — Patrick Eckelbarger has a perfect 5-0 record this season. The Flames are 23-4 (5-1) in their first 27 games.

Flames take two from BulldogsJohn Pearsonjpearson@liberty.edu Greg Leasure gleasure@liberty.edu

Liberty University continued its hunt to get inside the national Top 25, winning a three-game

series with the visiting gardner-Webb Bulldogs. Liberty took both Friday games, 4-3 and 8-0, respectively, but fell in Saturday’s finale, 5-4.

Game OneIn the first game of the evening, the

bats were quiet but the defense was solid. Liberty scored first at the bottom of the second with Alex Close coming

in on a double hit by Trey Wimmer, but the Bulldogs answered in the third with a home run by John Harris that scored two rBIs and took the lead away from the Flames, making the score 3-1.

The Flames clawed for another run in the fourth when Michael robertson came in on a hit by Close. The Bulldogs did not get anyone on base again until the top of the ninth when Harris was walked. The Flames bats where cold for three innings and it seemed as if the offense just could not get the break they needed. However, that all changed in the bottom of the second when Bryan Aanderud stepped up to the plate and cranked out his first homerun of the season directly over the 390 sign.

“I never know when I hit a home-

run, because I don’t hit a lot of them,” Aanderud said. “I thought it was a line drive and I knew that they were playing me a little bit shallow, so I thought that I at least got a double out of it.”

John Niggli pitched for the Flames and finished all nine innings with two strikeouts, only allowing five hits.

Game Twogame Two of the evening was more

energetic than the previous game and as the sun went down, the stands filled up. Twelve-hundred fans watched Liberty score its first run in the second inning with Close coming in off a dou-ble, this time hit by Dalton Sype.

See BASEBALL, B2

Liberty hockey holds CFAW camp Jay Sirysir@liberty.edu

For every college sport, changes in the roster are inevitable. Players gradu-ate, they move to another school and some even decide to pursue another career. At the same time, the team is stock-piled again with fresh recruits, each bringing in depth and a different dimension for their teams. The Liberty Men’s Hockey team held a CFAW recruitment camp over this weekend which saw around 75 potential recruits participating. The recruits were trying out for the men’s ACHA Division I-III teams and the lady flames hockey team.

“our hope is to pro-vide for them plenty of ice time and opportunities to showcase their abilities in the game of hockey, while participating at a level we believe they would fit,” Ice Center Assistant Director Jeff Boettger said. “Many of the players are still in high school and looking

to graduate in one, two or three years, though many also are looking at attend-ing Liberty in the fall and are striving to make a statement and hear they fit on one of our three men’s teams.”

The recruits come from a wide variety of locations from Florida to Canada and even California, but the majority of the recruits were from northern states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York. Similar to the nor-mal CFAW program that Liberty University hosts, the recruitment camp has a vital role for recruiting future players

“We were in the lock-er room and he (coach) asked us who came to Liberty through the camp and almost everyone in the room raised their hands,” Division I player Luke Aitken said. “He told us:,since it obviously works, we should show them a good time.”

And the Hockey team seems to have done that

during this weekend“The program over-

took my expectations. The way they treat their play-ers here is unbelievable,” recruit Jesse Paul said. “It’s definitely a great confi-dence booster and it defi-nitely helps with having all this feedback from the coaches, so you get to work on your skills.”

The program has also seen some familiar faces come to CFAW recruit-ment camp

“I was excited to come here. I’ve been coming here since I was 8-years-old because of my broth-ers and sisters,” recruit Steve Bellew said. “It’s good to finally be in a posi-tion that I am old enough to play with them instead

of watching. I wasn’t even nervous being here, and they just make you feel like you belong here. It’s been a good experience.”

It seemed like every recruit that was inter-viewed had a similar thing to say.

“Every experience with the guys has been really good and they’re really nice. They even gave us a tub of bubble gum and that’s great in my opin-ion,” recruit Kyle garcia said. “I would definitely recommend this camp to a lot of people. I wasn’t real-ly sure about this school before I came here but now I like it. I like it a lot.”

SIR is a sports reporter.

flamesscoreboardGolf vs. Callaway Collegiate Match Play Championships 3-0-2 (W)Golf vs. Linger Longer Invitational (T) 9th Place

Men’s Tennis vs. Campbell 2-5 (L)

Track vs. UVA Team Swashbuckle Men 3rd Place Women 3rd Place

Softball vs. Garden-Webb 4-0 (W) 8-3 (W)

Women’s Lacrosse vs Bucknell 15-16 OT (L)

Baseball vs. ODU 12-6 (W)Baseball vs. Gardner-Webb4-3 (W) 8-0 (W) 4-5 (L)

•

•

•

•

•

f i n d i n g t h e i r s t r i d e

“I was excited to come here. I’ve been coming here since i was

8-years-old because of my brothers

and sisters.” —steve bellew

B2/Liberty Champion SPORTS March 27, 2012

Mark Meyers mameyers@liberty.edu

With eight matches remaining in the regular season and coming off of a seven match winning streak, the Liberty Uni-versity men’s tennis team has already matched their win total of last season with a record of 10-4.

Much of the Flames success has to be attributed to junior Siim Tuus. The reign-ing Big South Player of the Week has car-ried the Flames all season posting a 10-3 singles record and a 9-4 doubles record. All of Tuus’ matches have come as Lib-erty’s number one seed, which means he faces the best players opposing teams have to offer.

Tuus attributes his success this season to his intense training he did over the off-sea-son, as well as head coach Chris Johnson.

“The number one seed always has a great influence on the team and the match as it is played,” Johnson said. “Siim really embraces that and does a great job of helping lead our team every match.”

Tuus has also formed a dynamic duo with senior Gian Lemmi for doubles matches. The pair has posted a perfect 7-0 record thus far.

“Our success has been the result of hard work, great attitude and good chem-istry,” Tuus said. “We know each other re-ally well and as upperclassmen players we are also experienced. It helps us to make right decisions under pressure and win tough matches against great players.”

Freshman Wayne Harrell has been a key ingredient this season for the Flames. Fly-ing a bit under the radar, often playing as a number six seed, Harrell has garnered a 9-3 record in singles matches. Those have crucial points for the Flames. Despite his success, Harrell will most likely be staying in that role as a number six seed.

“Wayne [Harrell] is playing some great tennis and so are many of our players,” Johnson said. “He is still young though, so my wish would be to keep him there to gain more match experience.”

Sophomore Shea Thomas has been a mainstay as the number two seed for

the Flames this year and has mustered up a 7-5 singles record. Thomas has also paired up nicely with junior Tristan Stayt for doubles matches, posting a 6-0 record.

“We have great chemistry because our game styles really complement each oth-er,” Thomas said. “My power game style combined with Tristan’s finesse game style around the net makes us a very for-midable team to play against.”

Thomas will in all likelihood be matched up against senior Guy Kubi for the Flames match against the Winthrop Eagles March 31.

“I am going to go out and play my game and find [Kubi’s] weaknesses, and then at-tack those weaknesses to get the victory,”

Thomas said. “The most important thing is that I don’t let him control the points and let him get into a groove against me.”

The Flames are determined not to let their recent success cause them to lose fo-cus.

“The most important thing is not to let ourselves feel comfortable and satisfied with the results we have had so far,” Tuus said. “We need to keep working hard and stay focused in order to achieve our goal to win the Big South Championship.”Staying healthy and continuing to put in hard work in practice will be vital for the Flames if they want to continue their re-cent run of success, according to Tuus.

The Flames take on Norfolk State at home March 28 before their conference clash against Winthrop March 31.

MEYERS is a sports reporter.

Men’s tennis prepares to face Winthrop

Andrew Woolfolkalwoolfolk@liberty.edu

It’s official. Peyton Man-ning has found a new team. On March 20, the Denver Broncos announced the quarterback as their newest member, signing him to a five-year, $96 million contract.

As Denver’s former Hall-of-Fame quarterback John Elway, the team’s Vice President Foot-ball Operations, held up the or-ange and white jersey to signal Manning’s entrance, it was still hard for people to believe his exit from Indianapolis. Two years ago, if you had suggested Man-ning would be wearing any color other than Colts blue and white, you would’ve been met with an unanimous chorus.

“Yeah right, that’ll never hap-pen.”

But now, it has. In the off-season courting of Manning that has resembled the drama of a soap opera, you can’t help but wonder who the winner of the whole situation is.

Let’s start with the obvious — the Broncos.

Yes, the team just signed a Hall-of-Fame quarterback whose reputation will accompany those of the greats such as Joe Montana and Roger Staubach. Manning has been a consistently dominant force at the quarterback position, winning a Super Bowl, throwing for over 50,000 yards and, most importantly, leading the Colts to nine consecutive 10-win seasons.

But, Peyton is 36-years old and coming off four neck surgeries in a year and a half.

Most quarterbacks are on the decline after they hit the age of 33, and while Manning is not your average quarterback, he’s not Superman. Add in the fact that he’s gone from a receiv-ing corp of Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark, players who could catch his passes in their sleep, two unproven receivers Demary-ius Thomas and Eric Decker, and it becomes evident that the adjustment will take some time.

While last year it was said the Broncos couldn’t keep winning with the wishbone-oriented of-fense that Tim Tebow played,

it still was more affective than when they ran a conventional of-fensive system behind their poor offensive line during their 1-4 for the season.

In Indianapolis, Manning was spoiled with the best offensive line in the business every year, but not anymore. As Manning even said in his introductory press conference, “There is work to be done.”

So the Broncos didn’t win completely. How about the Jets, the team who made the trade for Tebow after Manning’s sign-ing? The Jets now get a proven winner at quarterback to com-pete with Mark Sanchez for the starting job. Surely they are the

winners, right?Wrong. The move serves as

more of an alienation from San-chez. It isn’t easy to find a team with less team chemistry right now, and this move certainly doesn’t bolster that chemistry.

Head coach Rex Ryan has tried numerous tactics to elevate Sanchez to another level of per-formance, such as signing Mark Brunell last year and occasional-ly giving him the first-team reps, but to no avail. It’s also hard to imagine Tebow fitting in with a coach who curses as much as he breathes and the numerous other outspoken players that parade in the Jets locker room.

Tebow very well may be able to bring the team together, but he just as easily may divide them apart when fans demand him to start after Sanchez throws a pass more than three inches off-target.

What about the Indianapolis Colts? Sure, they traded away their franchise’s most prolific player of all-time, but they also hold the top pick in next month’s draft. The Colts have made it clear they plan to draft Stan-ford quarterback Andrew Luck, who has had NFL scouts raving for years and has been called, among other things, “better than Peyton Manning” by NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr.

While Luck very well may turn into the dominating force most are predicting, current times in Indianapolis look bleak.

The team won two games last

year, had a defense ranked 25th in the league, and the players who formed the foundation of their decade long dynasty are skipping town.

Receivers Anthony Gonzalez and Pierre Garcon have already left, center Jeff Saturday has signed to the Green Bay Packers, and tight end Dallas Clark and running back Joseph Addai have entered the world of free agency. The Colts may be winners 10 years down the road, but almost certainly not for a few years.

So did anyone win out on this whole deal? Yes, and the answer is pretty simple.

It’s the headline creators at the New York Post by a landslide. One minute, Lin-sanity ended, and the next minute an entirely new oasis of puns to tap into ap-peared. The league’s most dis-cussed quarterback, Tim Tebow, has entered the most media-hun-gry city on the planet with his every move recorded, his every press conference meticulously dissected, and dare I say it, his every win exalted.

I can already see it now in the headlines of the New York Post. “Tebow leads Rex-urrection of the Jets.” Sounds crazy, but be careful this time to not say “Yeah right, that’ll never happen.”

WOOLFOLK is a sports reporter

AssociAted Press

OLD FACES, NEW PLACES — Because of Peyton’s arrival, Tim Tebow will be putting on the green and white of the New York Jets this season.

Editorial: Peyton was the prize, but who won?

FSN continued from B1

People that have won the Silver Telly award, which is the highest award pos-sible, from the judges. It has companies like ESPN and ABC.”

The awards are a testament to the hard work put in by the large staff of profes-sionals it takes to put together so much programming.

“If you don’t have the right people, it makes it very difficult to pull one of these games off, and I’ve been pretty fortunate that most of the guys on the crew are people that have years of experience,” Carey said.

“There are 45 or 50 people that are involved in a broadcast but certainly there’s a core of about six to eight people,” Associate Athletic Director of External Operations Kevin Keys said. “Bruce (Carey) is at the top of that list. He’s been there since the beginning.” Carey and Keys collaborate on FSN to produce both the games and the studio show. As the head of athletics marketing, Keys bridges the gap between athletics and the media.

“He and I work together probably more than anybody else in athletics other than the SID’s (Sports Information Directors),” Carey said. “If I have a question or some-thing or I need help with a broadcast, whether it be with facilities or talking to the affiliates, Kevin usually steps in.”

“Each year we make incremental changes. Bruce works hard to get the programming where it needs to be,” Keys said. “One of the awards was for the

magazine style show that we’ve been look-ing to do for five years and this year we finally did it. We cast the vision and Bruce followed through and made it work. It’ll be done at the end of April. We’ve done about 34 shows so far this year.”

Two key components of the Flames Sports Desk program are the co-hosts Alan York and Erin McKeown. Oddly enough, neither of the on-camera talents had experience in TV prior to their work on the show.

“Alan is young, he’s energetic, he’s ambitious,” Carey said. “His background is in radio so, basically, he came in as a new person into the field of television and he picked it up and ran with it and has done a great job. Erin McKeown has been working in the athletic department for years now as the compliance officer, and she’s a former athlete herself, a star volleyball player.”

Despite the array of talent represented in the staff of both productions, the broadcast team is unable and uninter-ested in producing anything without God.

“It’s not me that is pulling these games off,” Carey said. “It’s not really the crew. If the Lord doesn’t get the glory, I’m wast-ing my time. We pray before each game. We want to make sure that God gets glori-fied in every broadcast that we do, and if that’s not the case then I really don’t want to be a part of it.”

HARVEY is a sports reporter.

BASEBALL continued from B1

The big event of the night happened in the third inning when bases were loaded and Alex Close hit his first col-legiate grand slam. Liberty earned one more run before the close of the inning, giving them a six-run lead. The Flames scored two more times in the fourth off a sacrifice and an error. Patrick Eckelbarger was the key to Liberty’s defense. He pitched seven innings with five strike outs and allowed three hits

“The first game our bats came out flat,” Close said. “Niggli made one mis-take and the kid hit it out, but after the comeback I had a feeling that the bats were going to breakout. We came out and did not really give them a chance the second game. We went eighteen innings without an error and the guys up the middle are unbelievable.”

Game ThreeThe Liberty Flames had their chanc-

es during Saturday’s series finale with the Gardner-Webb University Runnin’ Bulldogs.

However, too many missed opportuni-ties kept the Flames from completing the sweep of the Runnin’ Bulldogs, causing them to lose 5-4.

After a few lead changes earlier in the game, the Flames found themselves down by a run with only two outs remaining. Senior Ian Parmley found his way on base with a single, but that glimmer of hope was quickly erased when junior Andy Smith grounded into a game-end-

ing double play. “From about the fifth inning on every-

one was up, getting into it,” Parmley said. “It just didn’t go our way at the end.”

The Flames stranded seven people on base, including in the eighth when the bases were loaded.

“When the energy was up we scored runs,” Wimmer said. “We had chances to score runs. We didn’t get the big hit when we need-ed it. We just didn’t play our best.”

Freshman relief pitcher Carson Herndon gave up two singles and a walk in the eighth inning before exiting the game. Those runners would later score, giving the Runnin’ Bulldogs the lead for good.

Senior starting pitcher Jacob Kemmerer earned a no-decision despite giving up only two runs in a little over four innings pitched.

Although it was a close game, the Runnin’ Bulldogs outhit the Flames 14 to 4.

The Flames will get their chance to tune up their offense at home this Tuesday at 6 p.m. against the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams.

LEASURE and PEARSON are sports reporters.

FYI None of the Top 25 teams have 20 wins yet. Liberty has 23

on the season.

“We need to keep working hard and

stay focused” — SIIm TuuS

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Softball back on track after ‘Webb series

Editoral: A March full of sorrow

Jessica Griggjgrigg@liberty.edu

The Lady Flames snapped an 11-game skid while visit-ing Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, N.C. Head coach Paul Wetmore’s squad swept the Lady Bulldogs, winning the first game of a Saturday double header 4-0 and the second 8-3, and com-pleting the series Sunday with a 7-5 win.

Liberty collected 11 hits in Game One, led by Sammi Shi-vock’s three base hits. Seven players had at least one hit and three recorded a multiple-hit game.

Pitchers Chandler Ball and Alyssa Dimartino combined for eight strikeouts and surrendered only one walk. Dimartino was credited with the win.

Meredith Crisante, Bridgett Woods and Amber Donovan each collected two hits in the sec-ond game of the double header. Woods’ three-run shot over the fence in the second inning was a huge boost for the Lady Flames and provided a 4-0 edge early in the game.

Ball and Dimartino paired again for five strikeouts and no batters walked.

In the third leg of the series, Shivock launched a three-run homer in a huge fifth inning that plated four Lady Flames on five hits. The Flames finished with

nine hits on the day and im-proved their record to 9-15 (3-1).

The success over the week-end comes after a disappointing Texas roadtrip (0-8) and a for-gettable series against Cornell at

home.Liberty fell twice to Cornell

Thursday, March 22, in a split doubleheader.

“It’s a long season yet, and it’s all about conference, so this week

is big for us,” head coach Paul Wetmore said.

The Lady Big Red Bears blanked the Lady Flames in the first leg, 7-0, and rallied in the second leg to notch the 7-4 vic-

tory over Liberty.Junior Kristen Towne hom-

ered to center field for Cornell to put the first points on the board. Cornell pitcher Alyson Onyon allowed just nine hits and four runs in Game One. In Game Two, senior Kaylee West singled to second base in the fourth, al-lowing for sophomore Sammi Shivock to score a run.

In the fifth inning, the Lady F l a m e s lit up the board with three hits and three runs. Se-nior Bridg-et Woods singled to right field, sophomore Jill Ste-phens got a pinch hit for Za-vodny, and Shivock doubled to right center. Senior Jenny Law scored the last Liberty run of the evening.

“We just need to remain strong and keep a good attitude,” Shi-vock said. “And remember to do our best.”

GRIGG is a sports reporter.

David Massiedwmassie@liberty.edu

Apparently, John Cusack and the ancient Mayans were not to far off with their description of the worlds predicted apocalyp-tic end in 2012.This is the only logical explanation I can come up with to explain what has hap-pened in the world of college basketball this past week.

To say this has been an unpre-dictable first two rounds would be a gigantic understatement. I knew it was going to be an in-teresting tourney on the first day when I woke up and tripped over a basketball getting out of bed. Omens are alive and well, my friends. Later on that day, I waved goodbye to Missouri and my perfect final four in round one. This was the first time in 11 years a Fifteenth seeded team beat a second seeded team, and it was the first time ever it hap-

pened twice in one tournament. Duke would later have the same fate when they fell to Lehigh.

This tournament has left col-lege basketball fans in a fog of confusion. With the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eigth in the books, several new upsets were added to the already lengthy list, the pic-ture is becoming slightly clearer on who has the best chance to win the championship. If I could go back and make four new Final Four picks it would probably be: Kentucky vs. Florida and Syra-cuse vs. Kansas.

Kentucky’s chances are hard not to love, with two of the top NBA prospects in college basket-ball, Anthony Davis and Micheal Kidd-Gilchrest, in the starting Wildcat lineup. John Calipari has created an NBA prospect factory at Kentucky. They have featured several different lottery picks throughout the past few tourna-ments (Demarcus Cousins, John

Wall and Brandon Knight). Florida was a bit of an enigma

this year during the regular sea-son but has raised their level of play substantially in the tourna-ment. Billy Donovan did a great job of recruiting once again. This was by far the most talent-ed team Florida had since their previous repeat national cham-pionships in 2006 and 2007. Through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Florida beat both their matchups by 26 plus points. However, their loss to a hot Louisville squad leaves me scratching my head once again.

Syracuse was probably the

most logic defying team of 2012. Surrounded by scandal, the en-tire season riddled with molesta-tion accusations and Fab Melo’s sudden ineligibility for the tour-nament, Syracuse rose above every prediction of failure and shown that there is much more scoring talent on their team than previously realized. Jim Boe-him’s famous 2-3 zone defensive system is almost run to perfection on a night-in-night-out basis by the Orangemen. But, Ohio Sate found holes within the Orange-men defense and was able to join Kentucky and Louisville in the Final Four. Jared Sullinger had his way inside. Melo was sorely missed as an inside presence.

Kansas narrowly escaped Pur-due in the third round. Some would see this as a sign of weak-ness, but I saw something special. The Jayhawks are led by junior forward Thomas Robinson and are currently playing some in-

spired basketball. Add in the rare veteran presence of senior guard Tyshawn Taylor and Bill Self has himself a national championship contending squad. The leader-ship of Robinson and Taylor showed when they beat a talent-ed North Carolina sqaud in the Elite eight 80-67.

All four of these teams had ex-cellent chances of being crowned the national champs. With Flor-ida and Syracuse ousted from the tourney, Kentucky would be the obvious selection to win it all. With the amount of NBA talent on this squad it is hard to rationally argue against them. If the 2012 tournament has shown college basketball fans anything, it has been that logic has nothing to do with this tournament.

MASSIE is a sports reporter.

Les schofer | PromotionaL PubLication

CAPTAIN KELLy — Senior Kelly Stickland is a key leader to the Lady Flames interior defense.

A weekend sweep of the Lady Bulldogs gave Liberty much-needed confidence

FYI The Lady

Flames continue their road swing

Wednesday, March 28, with a doubleheader at Radford. After that, the women open a home-stand against

Winthrop.

“Kentucky’s chances are hard not to love, with

two of the top NBA prospects in college

basketball ”

B4/Liberty Champion FEATURE March 27, 2012

Visit our homepage frequently for weekly menus, calendar of events and news you can use.

Be the first to know about new menus, upcoming promotions and enter to win great prizes.

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Kayla Gurleykgurley@liberty.edu

Since its opening in 2010, Market at Main has thrived in downtown Lynchburg by offer-ing its visitors a unique dining experience.

The restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, was designed to look like an old drugstore lunch counter from the 20th century and has become known for its lunch counter.

Rodney Taylor, the manager of Market at Main, said the res-taurant used to be a Woolworth’s in the 1900s era, and that is where Taylor said the vision to have a lunch counter in the res-taurant came from.

“When working on the de-sign of the restaurant and the lunch counter, I found a photo of a lunch counter in Philadel-phia which featured paddle fans above the counter,” Taylor said. “I decided I wanted to install the same type of paddle fans to give the desired effect.”

The restaurant’s floors and tables were also inspired by the old lunch counters from decades past and, according to Taylor, all the wood used was purchased from an old tobacco shop.

“I think that Market at Main is the indicator for a brilliant come-back for downtown Lynchburg,” Taylor said. “Since I’ve been here I have seen more and more shops opening up downtown, and more tourists as well.”

According to Taylor, he takes great pride in the success of the restaurant and its 31 employees, six of which are Liberty Univer-sity students and graduates, who help to make it run smoothly.

Waitress Kim Buhler is an ex-ample of the type of customer service that Market at Main’s employees strive to offer, said

Taylor.“When a customer com-

plained that she did not have the right shoes on to go walking downtown, Buhler gave her a

pair of her own shoes,” Taylor said. “She later found out the customer she helped was with a tourist scout group and was hon-ored by her generosity.”

“You always want every em-ployee to give great customer service, so when that actually happens, you know you have the right team of people,” Taylor

said.Several Liberty University stu-

dents have visited the restaurant and have had consistently good experiences. Senior Joy Koger is one of them.

“One time I went to Market at Main for some public relations work and I noticed immediately how relaxing and inviting the atmosphere was,” Koger said. “The food (price) is also very rea-sonable.”

The restaurant recently ex-panded its menu to include din-ner and has also started serving breakfast items on Sundays until 3 p.m., which Taylor said really seems to draw in the after church crowd and the Sunday “brunch-ers.”

“We want people in the com-munity to be aware that we serve dinner now, and we are in the process of bringing more and more lunch specialties over to the dinner menu for our custom-ers to enjoy,” Taylor said.

The restaurant also has a unique convenience store sec-tion. Half of the restaurant is dedicated to selling products such as chips, drinks, toiletries and gift items. There is also a variety of handmade goods, like jewelry and art made by local residents, available.

Market at Main is located on 904 Main St. and is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday and Tues-day, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednes-day, Thursday, Friday and Sat-urday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Carry out options are also available. For more infor-mation about the restaurant, call (434) 847-9040 or visit Market at Main on Facebook.

GURLEY is a feature reporter.

Downtown restaurant: Taste of the past

AlyssA BockmAn | liBerty chAmpion

A dOWnTOWn LAndMARK — Market at Main, which used to be a Woolworth’s in the 1900s, is now designed to look like an old school drugstore and provides diners with a relaxed, casual atmosphere.

Market at Main offers visitors an extensive menu in a classic venue that dates back to the 1900s

Betsy Abrahambabraham3@liberty.edu

Heavy rain and a tornado watch could not stop Liberty’s own version of Project Runway as student designers and models took to the runway Saturday, March 24, for the sixth annual FACS Fashion Show.

The theme of this year’s show was “Lights. Camera. Fashion. Iconic Design.” Student designers each picked one prominent designer such as Micahel Kors or Giorgio Armani, to fashion their work after.

Senior Gina Picht chose Betsey Johnson as her inspiration, saying that she loved Johnson’s unique sense of style.

“She’s very different. She’s very wild and out there,” Picht said. “I used lots of tule and hand stemmed my own fabric and used bright colors and ruffles. It’s a lot more different and not as elegant. It’s a little more wild and a lot more colorful.”

Erin Cumbia fashioned her pieces after lesser-known designer Elsa Schiaparelli.

“She was kind of an unknown designer, so I thought it would be kind of interesting. She’s not a safe designer. She kind of pushed the boundaries, and I really just loved the beautiful elegance and really simple designs she had,” Cumbia said.

Doors opened later than scheduled because of heavy rain causing unexpected flooding toward the side of the Schilling Center, which was partitioned off into three sections. Crews worked quickly to clean up water an inch deep that was spilling in from the doors up to audience seating.

Despite the setback and a tornado warning, people were all smiles and dressed in their best as they waited in the first part of the Schilling Center. They greeted friends and looked at huge posters of the designers who had inspired pieces in the show. Dresses that exemplified different styles, such as eccentric and country club, were presented in

the show. People also took photos on a mini red carpet and entered a drawing to win prizes such as gift certificates to Bloop Frozen Yogurt and Glamour Nail and Spa, as well as a pair of Coach sunglasses provided by Harmon Eye Center.

After a brief word from Fashion Show Director Ruth Bibby and Associate Director Katie Johnson, the show finally began, starting with a white Vera Wang inspired full-length gown. Twenty-seven models showcased the designs of 16 student designers, strutting down the long 30-foot runway styling full length evening gowns, casual spring dresses, blazers, pants and skirts in a variety of fabrics, colors and prints.

A panel of four local judges sat in front of the runway, analyzing the designs on aspects such as use of color.

After all the models walked the runway, Bibby and Johnson talked about the charity Threads of Hope. Half the proceeds from the event went toward this charity, which works to keep girls in the Philippines out of sex trafficking by providing at-risk families the ability to earn a steady income by making bracelets. Fashion show attendees could purchase bracelets and learn more about the organization at a table that was set up in the back of the Schilling.

“By sponsoring Threads of Hope and selling bracelets, a fashion accessory, at this event, we are helping people on the other side of the world,” Bibby said.

Model Christine Purdy said knowing that the fashion show had partnered with Threads of Hope was her favorite aspect of it.

“This is a show that’s targeted toward women and to know that half of the proceeds are also going toward helping women stay out of prostitution is wonderful,” Purdy said.

After a short break, where judges deliberated and fashion show attendees enjoyed snacks and desserts catered by Sodexo, the

models all came out with their designers to show off their work on the runway one final time.

Several awards were then given out, such as Best Runway Presentation and Best Use of Color. Junior Hannah Lynch won the grand prize, a $279 Serge machine.

“It feels incredible, just this whole opportunity has been such a great chance to try out designs, and I’ve just been so grateful throughout the process, so it’s the icing on the cake to win,” Lynch said.

Lynch, who chose Versace as her iconic designer, said she tried to make designs that utilized

the Italian designer’s love of color, fashion and design. One of her pieces was a mustard yellow jacket, something that incorporated not only Versace’s notable style, but her own.

“I think I share a lot of similarities with him so it was really easy to make it my own. The jacket was something I had come up with on my own before hand, and then I tailored it to fit Versace’s demands with the color and detailing so it really was an easy transition,” Lynch said.

Planning for the show began in early June, when Howard chose the two directors. A launch party

in October revealed the theme to designers and this began a seven month long process of picking models, fabrics, presenting sketches and producing garments.

Despite the looming storm, Howard said her team worked to encourage each other and pressed on to ensure the event’s success.

“The kids were so pumped up and had worked so hard, and we kept saying that we were here to do this job and the show was going to go on even with the bad weather,” Howard said.

Bibby said that despite the challenges that came wtih the the show, she

was excited with the end product.

“There’s been road bumps from the beginning right up to the actual show. But as we went into 20 mintues before the show, I knew everyone had everything together and the whole show went off without a hitch,” Bibby said. “I was extremely happy with how everything turned out.”

ABRAHAM is the assistant feature editor.

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Student designs take the stageVictoria Pearce | Liberty chamPion

STRIKE A POSE — (Top Right) Designer Hannah Eason poses with her model and mom before the show. Director Ruth Bibiby and Faculty Advisor Matalie Howard (bot-tom right) congratulate students on a job well done. Students walk down the runway in designs produced by students in the sixth annual FACS Fashion Show (center and left).

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Justin Berryjlberry2@liberty.edu

The human body contains 10 pints of blood. After receiving nine of those 10 pints through a blood transfusion after a skiing accident, Liberty senior Jessica Grigg understands how precious those 10 pints can be.

Only nine years ago, Jan. 20, 2003, Grigg went skiing with a few of her friends. However, what started off as a normal day soon became a day that would impact Grigg forever.

“That evening, just as we were about to leave, we made a deci-sion to make one last run down one of the slopes,” Grigg said. “I remember feeling somewhat ap-prehensive but going anyway.”

That is the last memory Grigg has of the near fatal accident. The next memory she had was waking up in a hospital bed and talking to her father.

“My dad proceeded to tell me that I had skied into a snow groomer that was being brought up the slope,” Grigg said. “I was in a state of disbelief and shock.”

Grigg remembers the throb of pain coming from her head and the request she made to her father to remove the braids she had the day of the accident.

“This was when he told me the worst of it,” Grigg said. “He said I had no braids and that it was staples.”

Grigg suffered a frontal lobe injury of the brain, 13 broken bones and a collapsed lung. Grigg lost nine pints of blood over the course of the event. She would have died without the nine pints she received through blood donation.

Over the last nine years, Grigg

has undergone more then 1,000 physical, occupational and speech therapies.

“As a result of all that I have been through, last year I decided to give blood for the first time and have done so multiple times since,” Grigg said. “It is reward-ing to know I can give back to honor those who helped to save my life.”

According to the Virginia Blood Services, more than 4.5 million people need a blood transfusion in the United States and Canada annually.

Patients need blood every two seconds. Without the help of blood donors none of this could be possible. According to Amer-ica’s Blood Centers, one pint of blood could potentially save up to three lives.

“At 17, my life was forever changed,” Grigg said. “Without the donations of others, I might not be here today and be able to receive the second chance at life that I have been given.”

Currently, Grigg is looking forward to graduating with her undergraduate degree in Com-

munication Studies from Liberty University on May 12, as well as continuing her life as if the ac-cident never happened.

Liberty University offers stu-dents the opportunity to donate blood on campus. The next blood drive will take place at the Tolsma Indoor Track Complex at Green Hall on March 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

BERRY is a feature reporter.

AlyssA BockmAn| liBerty chAmpion

eVery drOP COUnTS — After having 90 percent of her body’s blood supply replaced, Liberty senior Jessica Grigg has become an avid blood donor and advocate of giving.

Student’s story urges others to giveLiberty senior Jessica Grigg’s life was saved after a skiing accident by the generosity of blood donors

FYI - Every two seconds someone in the U.S.

needs blood

- One Pint of blood can save up to three lives.

- More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day.

- Blood cannot be manufactured – it can only come from gener-

ous donors.

-Most donated red blood cells must be

used within 42 days of collection.

-The average adult has about 10 pints of blood in his body. Roughly 1 pint is given during a

donation.

- The actual blood donation typically takes less than 10-12 minutes. The entire process, from the time you arrive to the time you leave, takes about an hour

and 15 min.

Statistics provided by American Red Cross. For

more information visit redcrossblood.org

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Shelanne Jenningsjlberry2@liberty.edu

Three years of ministry is the equivalent of 1000 days — a small period of time and yet, powerful enough to be docu-mented in four gospels, recount-ing the parables, gospels and ministry of Jesus on earth from the view of four of his disciples.

For Thomas Road Baptist Church’s (TRBC) Senior Pas-tor Jonathan Falwell, Jesus’ 1000 days of ministry reveal essential principles for every facet of life, which he shares in his new book “1000 Days: The Ministry of Christ.”

“The main thing behind the book was Jesus could have come and died on the cross. He could have been buried and rose again in three days without ever having said a word, without ever per-forming a miracle, without ever sharing one parable, and without ever healing one person,” Falwell said. “He could’ve done none of that and still given us salvation, but he didn’t.”

Falwell originally taught on Je-sus’ 1000 Days of ministry in a sermon series at TRBC. Taking principles from those series and his own personal insights, Falwell has released the “1000 days” book with the purpose of shar-ing what he has gleaned from scripture.

“(Jesus’ ministry) was to teach us some very important life les-sons,” Falwell said. “I thought it was important that we study those life lessons to try to fig-ure out just what Jesus wants us to do, how he wants us to live, how he wants us to handle our finances and how he wants us to handle our relationships. All those things, Jesus gave to us.”

Falwell’s travels to Israel shaped the way he views Christ’s teaching, he said, and without a doubt, had an impact on “1000 Days.”

Falwell made his first trip to

Israel when he was six years old with his father, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell Sr.

“Standing on the shores of Galilee, realizing that this is the place that Jesus walked on water, going to Jerusalem, and to be on the temple mount, and to see the spot that they believe Christ was crucified — it definitely has an impact on you that you can’t de-scribe unless you see it for your-

self,” Falwell said. The TRBC website promotes

the book, claiming that “1000 Days” gives readers “an oppor-tunity to meet Jesus Christ like never before.” For Falwell, this opportunity is provided through a mixture of the book’s chapters, group study guide and multime-dia resources found on TRBC’s 1000 Days webpage.

“There is study after study,

video after video. We brought in some of the great theologians to teach on some of these things and filmed them doing little vi-gnettes about a specific situation in the life of Christ,” Falwell said. “For every parable, every miracle, every phrase and cer-tainly every sermon, we’ve gone beyond even what the book has to say, into every little element of Christ’s life, and present an in

depth study.” For Falwell, this offers read-

ers clarification on what is often overlooked.

“There are scores of things that are overlooked in the gos-pels, not that they are necessarily ignored but in the sense of truly taking the time to understand what it means,” Falwell said. “When Jesus said ‘blessed are the poor,’ people wonder whether it means they need to be poor to be blessed by God. That’s not it. It means that blessed are those who realize that without God we are nothing.”

Falwell’s hope, he said, is for everyone, no matter if they have a personal relationship with God or not, to dig into the scriptures and become “self-feeders” in their Bible study time.

All proceeds for “1000 Days” go to funding TRBC’s church planting efforts and, as Falwell said, furthering the Kingdom, “as Christ told us — going into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature.”

The book was officially re-leased March 12 and is in stores across the United States and available online.

For more information about the “1000 Days” study, visit 1000days.trbc.org.

JENNINGS is the feature editor.

Victoria Brunner| LiBerty champion

eDIFyInG ReADInG — “1000 Days,” which also has supplemental resources online on TRBC’s website, is now available in the Liberty University bookstore, stores nationwide and online.

Jonathan Falwell explores the 1000 DaysFYI

All proceeds from “1000 Days” will

go toward funding TRBC’s church planting efforts.

The TRBC pastor’s new book seeks to help readers better understand Jesus’ ministry and the Bible

FEATURE MARCH 27, 2012

AlyssA BockmAn | liBerty chAmpion

A GREAT RETURN — The Newsboys took stage, March 24, for the God’s Not Dead Tour, featuring bands City Harmonic, Abandon and Liberty alumni Anthem Lights.

Michael Tait returns to Liberty Shelanne Jenningssnjennings@liberty.edu

For alumnus Michael Tait, who has left his stamp on Liber-ty’s campus and an even greater imprint on Christian hip-hop and rock sounds, returning to his alma mater still causes him to choke up.

For Tait, current lead singer of the Newsboys, returning to Liberty University for the God’s Not Dead Tour was summed up in one word: emotional.

“It feels so good to be in the nation’s greatest university,” Tait said. “And that’s a brother speak-ing from experience.”

“It’s overwhelming,” Tait said. “To see it grow, to see what this school has evolved into, is mind-blowing. It is the largest private university in the country, and that’s what Doc wanted.”

Tait took time to walk around and reminisce about old times,

visiting his old dorms with the help of Director of Alumni Re-lations Tyler Falwell.

“My one dorm was dorm 6, room 110, but I think it was 108 back in the day,” Tait said. “My very first dorm back in 1986 was on dorm 8 where I met Toby Mac.”

According to Tait’s longtime friend and Liberty alumnus Marty Donovan, they actually knocked and visited the current room occupants.

“I think they were really caught off guard,” Donovan said, laughing.

After seeing the new features of campus, including the Snow-flex Centre and upcoming Visi-tor’s Center, Tait took time to remember the man who held an instrumental role in his life by visiting the Carter Glass Man-sion and Dr. Falwell’s memorial.

“Mike was very close to Dr. Falwell,” Donovan said. “For

him to see Dr. Falwell’s office was important for Mike. And there was some time that we just left him alone. And then we went out by the gravesite. There was a sense of sadness, a sense of joy and a sense of pride, being an alumni from Liberty.”

“I’ll never forget it,” Tait said. “(Dr. Falwell) is a big part of how I live my life now.”

Looking back, Tait sees Dr. Falwell as a father figure to his life.

“I always would joke with him, calling him my white daddy,” Tait said. “I had such a heartfelt love for Jerry and Macel and the kids. It was just overwhelming.”

Tait’s career with Toby Mac and Kevin Max in the band DC Talk first performed for Falwell and his family.

“We started writing songs when we were in Dorm 8. We wrote a song called Heaven Bound,” Michael Tait said. “The

first time we performed that song was in Jerry Falwell’s backyard by the pool. It was for Jonathan’s party.”

That first song then led to a career with DC Talk that would last into the 2000s. In 2009, Tait took on another musical chal-lenge, joining the successful rock-pop band, the Newsboys.

“Peter Furler and the News-boys asked if I could kick it with the band. I got there, and they said ‘to tell you the truth, we want you to join the band,’” Tait said. “It’s been wonderful. It was not something I ever thought I’d do.”

“We knew he would do a great gig and that he would be a great mate,” Newsboys longtime band member Duncan Phillips said.

The band shared the stage with City Harmonic, Abandon and, Liberty alumni, Anthem Lights. Joking and smiling with each other, Tait and the rest of

the Newsboys showed the crowd just how natural the band’s tran-sition could be.

“I couldn’t be any more dif-ferent from Peter Furler. I look nothing like him. He’s a white guy with a bald head,” Tait said, joking about the Newsboys re-tired lead singer.

“We gave (Newsboys) a make-over,” Tait said. “Make sure the DNA mixes but remake it a bit.”

Compassion International sponsored the God’s Not Dead Tour. It also partnered with Bob Lenz and Life Promotions in an evangelistic presentation and included several video segments from I am Second media.

For more information about the God’s Not Dead Tour and the bands involved, visit www.newsboys.com.

JENNINGS is the feature editor.

Comedy and mystery collide at the 39 Steps Betsy Abrahambabraham3@liberty.edu

Espionage, murder and ec-centric Scottish people all came together in the Tower Theater this past weekend for the sold out opening of the latest Theater Department production, “The 39 Steps.”

The play tells the story of Richard Hannay, played by Kyle Rodgers, who is frustrat-ed with his mundane life. One night, he meets a suspicious German woman named Ana-bella Schmidt, played by Lindsey Register, who comes back to his apartment to him. She reveals that she is actually a secret agent being chased by a secret organi-zation known as the 39 Steps.

In the middle of the night, Anabella is murdered, which is the beginning of a hilarious jour-ney as Rodger’s character’s ordi-nary life is quickly turned upside down as he searches for answers and tries to clear his name of the murder, trekking to Scotland, evading the police and dodging bullets. And, of course, finding love along the way.

According to Director Neal Brasher, the play was originally a novel written by John Buchan in 1915 and was then adapted to a movie by Alfred Hitchcock in the 1930s. Brasher notes that Liberty chose a comedic adapta-tion, which spoofs the a movie adaptation made by Hitchcock.

“It’s sort of making fun of this mid-20th century spy movie suspense, but it’s not putting it down,” Brasher said. “It’s cel-ebrating and spoofing it at the same time. I feel like it’s a well-rounded production because you get the fun and excitement of a suspense spy thriller, but you get some incredible laughs poking fun at it.”

“The 39 Steps,” with its slap-stick humor, witty dialogue and comedic timing, provides laughs beginning to end. This comedic aspect was what attracted many members of the cast, such as

Elizabeth Wallace, into doing the play.

“It’s just such a witty piece and so well written, and I love come-dy, so it was a really good piece,” Wallace, who plays Pamela, said. “It’s so encouraging to be back-stage and hear this uproarious laughter at these jokes.”

Probably one of the most no-table aspects of the play is the fact that it can do so much with so little. Five actors playing over 50 roles provide the same over the top amusement as a larger cast could, as costume changes occurred in seconds and typical

role rules were broken. The cast also adopted numerous accents throughout the play, several of them working with a voice coach to perfect a Scottish dialogue and drawing on skills learned in a Stage Accents class.

Patti Sherman and her daugh-ter were visiting Liberty for Col-lege for a Weekend and both thought the small cast was the most enjoyable part of the show.

“It was phenomenal. They were fabulous actors and ac-tresses, especially with only five of them. It made the play even funnier,” Sherman said.

The play’s minimalism also carries into the set design and props. Instead of an elaborate set to depict the various places the characters travel to, the play draws heavily on audio and vi-sual effects. The sparse set allows for more focus on the actors’ tal-ent and leaves the audience free to imagine. In one scene that takes place on a train, the actors simply sit on crates facing each other, allowing audio elements and body movements to indicate their setting.

“I love the way that they’re able to play with things that you know are not happening but the audience accepts it,” senior Adam Parker said. “It’s so mini-malistic and it allows the audi-ence to imagine with them.”

Alex Miller played numerous different roles throughout the production, including a train conductor, hotel manager, villain and old man. Though “The 39 Steps” is only at the Tower The-ater until Tuesday, March 27, he encourages everyone to come out to future shows for a fun, unique experience.

“Every time you come to a play, you get a different experi-ence. When you come to a play you never know what to expect,” Miller said.

ABRAHAM is the assistant feature editor.

ruth BiBBy | liBerty chAmpion

WHO’S WHO — The five person cast of The 39 Steps adopt multiple characters throughout the play.

Alumnus reflects on memories before performing with the Newsboys