mar. 11, 2009
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The student-run newspaper at the University of ArkansasTRANSCRIPT
University of Arkansas | Fayetteville, Ark.VOL. 103, NO. 67 | Single Issue Free
WWW.THETRAVELERONLINE.COM About you. For you. For 103 years.Page 1 | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009
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LifestylesLocal sculptor creates peace landmarkpage 10SportsHogs head to Tampafor SEC Tournamentpage 6
Arkansas Joins NORD
to Raise Awareness
of Rare Diseases
Mexico warnings alter students’
Spring Break plansThe phrase “Spring Break in
Mexico” might call to mind fro-zen drinks, beaches and college students coming together from across the United States, but severe travel warnings from the State D e p a r t m e n t contradict that mental picture - and might affect some students’ plans to travel across America’s southern border this year.
The on-going drug wars on the Mexican border are forcing students across the nation and campus to change or even cancel their Spring Break plans to travel to Mexico this year.
Every year, “the vast major-ity enjoys their vacation without incident, several may die, hun-dreds will be arrested and still more will make mistakes that could affect them for the rest of their lives,” according to the State Department.
This year, however, the State Department is paying particular attention to those traveling to Mexico. The Department issued a warning Feb. 20 for American citi-zens planning to visit the country in the coming month.
Though the majority of the violence that occurs in Mexico is along the United States-Mexico
b o r d e r , t r a v e l e r s throughout the country are advised to take heed of the increased danger as drug cartels fight against
police and military forces for con-trol of various drug trafficking routes.
The State Department advises those who still plan to travel south this Spring Break to use “com-mon-sense precautions such as visiting only legitimate business and tourist areas during daylight hours, and avoiding areas where
In today’s economic climate, “bank” is almost a bad word, and students are understandably wary about even basic financial practices.
But if students establish solid checking, credit and saving hab-its now, they will be in a better position to weather this reces-sion when they graduate, local bank officials said.
“A lot of [students] are good about checking, but others have no idea what goes into having a bank account,” said Lauren Brown, assistant manager at the [Bank of America] University Banking Center.
Brown and Courtney Dowdle, manager of First Security Banking Center, agree that open-ing and maintaining a checking account is one of the simplest and most effective ways to learn to manage money diligently, they said.
“There are more benefits to
balancing your checkbook than just knowing how much is left in your account,” Dowdle said.
When students regularly review their checking accounts, they are able to identify spend-ing patterns and, if necessary, adjust those patterns before they spend more money than they have.
While First Security does not offer overdraft protection, offi-cials at Dowdle’s branch take the time to show students how to balance their checkbooks pre-cisely because they have seen too many students who were uninformed about overdraft and its consequences.
Students might be unpleas-antly surprised if they fail to keep enough money in their accounts to cover the checks they write, Dowdle said.
“In many instances, students will go out to several places on the weekend and not keep in mind when a check will be cashed,” she said.
Jhonny Kwon, an industrial engineering student, said he agrees from experience.
“You never know when the check is going to come through and it screws things up,” Kwon said.
Similarly, students sometimes don’t realize that a check they deposit after 2 p.m. won’t post to their account until the follow-ing day, said Brown, who, like Dowdle, tries to explain to stu-dents what a checking account entails because she wants them to know “what they are getting into.”
Kwon quickly learned what
Army majors discuss military changes to UA ROTC
Maj. Benjamin Luper of the U.S. Army visited the UA Reserve Officer Training Corps, a pro-gram he was in as a UA under-graduate, last week. Luper and Maj. Ryker Horn were there to tell the cadets what to expect when they graduate.
After Luper graduated from the UA in 1996, he was sent to Fort Bragg to train, he said. However, today’s cadets will face a different situation out of col-lege, Luper said.
“When I graduated, it was all about training,” Luper said. “When these guys come out, they will take their basic train-ing course, and then they will be put into a unit to be deployed in six months or sent to a unit
already deployed. We really have not seen anything like that since Vietnam.”
Luper, now in his 12th year in the U.S. Army, has seen the Army in peacetime and in war. Luper served two tours of duty in Iraq and is now in the Command General Staff College, the institu-tion that makes field officers into staff officers, he said. Horn is try-ing to make the same jump into the higher ranks.
“It’s a graduate school for soldiers,” Luper said.
Luper and Horn both came from military families. Luper’s father served in the National Guard for 20 years while Horn’s father served in the Army for 33 years. Horn attended The Citadel, and his sister went to school at West Point. Horn’s family moved around from one base to another
when he was a kid, and he said he learned that military service has a culture all its own.
“I envy the guy who lives in
Fayetteville, Ark., his whole life and has lifelong friends,” Horn said. “There’s probably some envy when people watch Army commercials on television.”
While it didn’t exactly push them, growing up in a military family encouraged both Luper and Horn to go into military
careers.“It’s the same thing when
you see multiple doctors in the same family,” Luper said. “Your dad comes home wearing green, you hear him talk about what he did today and you think that’s pretty cool.”
Luper first joined for four years in 1997 with the intent of a 20-year career that would allow him to draw a pension, he said. Since then, he has known both the fun and pain of Army life.
During the first seven years of Luper’s career in training, he never saw combat, he said.
“It’s like being in a band and never playing a show,” Luper said.
When Luper was sent to Iraq with the invasion force in 2003, and again in 2004 to provide security for the Iraqi elections,
the experience was “quite matur-ing,” he said.
“You realize, I’m not 18 any-more,” he said.
Horn also fought in the inva-sion of Iraq and has completed two tours of duty in Afghanistan. Horn knew people who joined the Army to pay for their student loans, but when soldiers say the oath to defend the Constitution against threats, they have to mean it, he said.
“I might not agree with what my government is doing, but that is irrelevant,” Horn said.
At times, Luper did have his doubts that democracy was the best system for Iraq, but he has since been proved wrong, he said. When the invasion first began, everyone thought they would be home in six months, but democ-racy works slowly, he said.
The Iraqis Luper met were very skeptical because the United States had encouraged the Shiites to rebel during the Gulf War and then allowed Saddam Hussein to crush the rebellion afterward, he said. The Iraqis needed a govern-ment to provide for their basic needs, Luper said, and people will jump on any side that allows them to survive.
“I spent most of my time say-ing to Iraqis that we were stay-ing,” Luper said.
The American debate over whether to withdraw from Iraq did have an effect on his job in Iraq because it made it harder to convince the local population that the Army would stay, he said. Former President George W. Bush
Last summer Roque Beiza brought his 6-year-old daughter Rocío all the way to Arkansas from Spain to see a doctor. Rocío has a rare blood disorder, and a center in Northwest Arkansas was the only place in the world that offered treatment for her condition.
After saving the girl’s life, the treatment center had to close because there were only a few cases of the disorder in the world. “I cried for days when I heard it closed,” Beiza said. “I am so thankful we found treatment, and my heart breaks for everyone else who has the same disorder.”
There are 30 million Americans and thousands of Arkansans in similar positions, suffering from almost 7,000 conditions and dis-eases that are considered rare. Each rare disease affects fewer than 200,000 people and often requires medicine or treatments that are too uncommon to be readily available.
As part of an international effort to increase awareness about rare diseases, the United States observed Rare Disease Day last month and Gov. Mike Beebe issued a proclamation officially mak-ing Feb. 28 Rare Disease Day in Arkansas.
The National Organization for Rare Diseases (NORD) declared the theme for the day to be a focus on rare diseases as a public health issue.
“Although each disease may affect a small number of people, when considered together these diseases affect almost 30 million Americans,” said NORD President Peter Saltonstall in a statement. “People with rare diseases share certain challenges such as dif-ficulty getting a diagnosis, lack of treatment options and problems related to reimbursement.”
Some rare diseases are some-what familiar to the general pub-lic, but many remain unnoticed, leaving patients and families to bear the burden of raising aware-ness and funds for research, Beebe said.
Even a family experiencing the effects of the relatively well-known Lou Gherig’s Disease said they feel isolated. Cliff Parsons of Conway, whose mother was diagnosed with the incurable disease 3 years ago, said he thinks most people have
SPRING BREAK
STEFAN TRIM Staff Photographer
The mandala has been completed in the Reading Room of Mullins Library. It will be destroyed at the end of the month to signify impermanence.
THE MAKING OF A MANDALA
Local banks offer college students advice for smarter banking decisions
Jack WillemsSenior Staff Writer
Lana HazelStaff Writer
Bailey McBrideSenior Staff Writer
April RobertsonStaff Writer
See ARMY on Page 5
See DISEASE on Page 5
“...They will be put into a unit to be deployed in six months... We really
have not seen anything like that since Vietnam.”
— Maj. Benjamin Luper
STEFAN TRIM Staff Photographer
A UA student gets money out of her checking account at one of the various ATMs located in the Arkansas Union.
See BANKING on Page 5
Betteranking
See MEXICO on Page 5
“...the vast majority enjoys their vacation
without incident.”— State Department Web site
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | www.thetraveleronline.comPage 2 | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009 NEWS
Climatologist speaks at UA today
Climatologist Robert McAfee will present “Repower Arkansas Roadshow” 6 to 8:30 p.m. today in Room 504 of the Arkansas Union. Other speakers include Mag-gie Bailey, UA alum and local outreach coordinator for Audubon, and Heather Kowaleski, regional United Nations Environment Program youth outreach coordi-nator. UA students and members of the community may attend. There will be food and beverages and time for discussion and questions. Campus Greens is helping to promote this event. ASG executive applications due this week
Students interested in running for an Associated Stu-dent Government executive office can pick up applica-tions on the sixth floor of the Arkansas Union in either the ASG office or Room 665. The completed applications must be returned to Room 665 by noon Wednesday. Those interested should attend an orientation either 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday, March 12, or 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 13, in Room 312 of the Arkansas Union. Contact ASG Secretary Emily Burrow at [email protected] for more information.
Student Independent Film Association invites stu-dents to meeting
The Student Independent Film Association will host a meeting 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, in Room 105 of Kimpel Hall. This RSO is open to everyone, and at the meeting, everyone will vote to decide what independent film is shown next on campus. SIFA’s goal is to bring more independent films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Slum-dog Millionaire” to the UA campus. For more informa-tion, e-mail [email protected].
Biological sciences seminar hosted next week
Jack Conrad, of the American Museum of Natural His-tory, will talk about “50 Foot Lizards, Ant-Eating Snakes and Squamate Evolution” 4 p.m. Thursday, March 12, in Room 604 of the Science Engineering Building. This will be the second BISC seminar to commemorate this yearlong celebration of Darwin. Check out the Web site http://coehp.uark.edu/pase/6837.htm for other events. Coffee and cookies will be available at 3:30 p.m. in Room 502.
BRIEFLYspeaking
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UA student lobbies Congress to free jailed dad
Margaret Downs, like many other UA freshmen, is preparing for her first Spring Break in col-lege. But her trip will be a little different than most. Downs will travel to Washington D.C. next week to lobby government of-ficials on behalf of her father, a UA alum, who is currently serv-ing a life sentence for espionage in Qatar.
In 2005, John Downs sent an e-mail to the Iranian Embassy, offering to sell them obsolete files regarding Qatari oil wells that were 20 to 30 years old. He received an e-mail eight weeks later suggesting Iran wanted the information he had offered. He did not know specifically what they were interested in, and he e-mailed back to find out.
In late August 2005, John received an e-mail telling him to go to a deserted location to receive money for the informa-tion he would provide. When he arrived at the location, he was
arrested by the Qatari police, and he and his car and home were searched for the secret in-formation he planned to sell to Iran. The Qatari State Security, an organization like the CIA in the United States, had sent the e-mail responses, setting up a sting operation.
Though John was treated relatively well in prison, he was brought before a judge and charged with gathering infor-mation for a foreign govern-ment – specifically, “possession of confidential economic infor-mation,” which is punishable by life in prison or death. John didn’t meet with his lawyer until a week before the trial, and he lost his case and first appeal, which both the attorney and the Downs family attribute to the intervention of the Qatari government, and specifically the Qatari oil minister, who testified against John at the trial.
Almost exactly one year ago, John lost his final appeal and was sentenced to life in prison.
Margaret and members
of her family are traveling to Washington D.C. next week to meet with Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor; Timothy Ponce, former American ambassador to Qatar; Matthew Blong, regional desk officer; William Fritzlen, Over-seas Citizens Services attorney; and Arkansas Congressman John Boozman. The family also is seeking to meet with the ambassador from Qatar.
The Downs family is encour-aging these officials to pressure the Qatari government to re-open the case in light of recent resignations of judges because of the politically motivated decisions they were forced to make. Both Arkansas senators already have sent letters to the Amir of Qatar, requesting John’s freedom.
The Downs also are encour-aging both governments to consider a prisoner exchange, as there is a Qatari prisoner being held in the United States who could possibly be traded to bring John back.
“It’s just a really slow, monotonous process,” Margaret said. “We’re trying to get as much attention to his case as possible, because since Qatar is so heavily influenced by the West, they seem to really react to bad press in the United States.”
John graduated with a master’s in geology from the UA in 1982 with what is still the university’s highest recorded score on the GeoSAT. Though Margaret and her two broth-ers were born in Houston, the Downs family moved to Qatar in 1997 when John took a job with Qatar Petroleum, the state oil company, working as a geologist and database administrator.
Though John had disputes with his superiors almost constantly, he stayed because he thought his family was happy in Qatar.
“It was awesome – it was my home,” Margaret said of Qatar, a state extending off Saudi Ara-
bia into the Persian Gulf. “The culture isn’t really anything you can describe – for the most part, people were very open-minded and more liberal than most people would assume.”
Margaret described the country where she lived for about eight years as very Western, a place with a diverse range of people and things to do, where “camel-crossing” signs were not out of place and her evenings often were spent smoking hookah beside the water.
“It seems like life in prison is a farce to them,” Margaret said. “We heard a story about a man who was insulted by his sister and shot her in the head, and when he went to trial was only given a seven-year sen-tence and was allowed to appeal after three.”
By August, John will have served four years in prison for attempting to distribute infor-mation that is openly accessible to the public in the United States. Since her father’s arrest and imprisonment, Margaret has returned to Qatar to visit him twice, and she stayed in Qatar the last two summers to teach English, living with a friend and visiting her father when possible.
During his time in prison, John has written more than 100 short stories and is working on his second novel. Downs also wrote for The Arkansas Traveler during his time as an under-graduate at the UA.
More than anything, the Downs family asked that stu-dents send letters of support to officials in Qatar and the United States. Pictures, blog posts, sample letters of support and more are available on the fam-ily’s Web site at Johnwdowns.com.
“Did I make mistakes? Ab-solutely,” John said on his Web site. “I deserve jail, too, for my foolish activity. The country is right to be angry at my behav-ior. But life in prison?”
Bailey McBrideSenior Staff Writer
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | www.thetraveleronline.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009 | Page 3 NEWS
Join the Bookstore forBARGAIN DAYS!
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Find us on the Union MallMarch 10th, 11th, and 12th
10 a.m. - 3 p.m.Hundreds of titles from all genres!
Something for everyone!Great books at great prices
just in time for Spring Break!
STUDENT MEDIACALL FOR EDITOR/STATION MANAGER APPLICATIONS
The UA Student Media Board is accepting applications for the following editor and station manager positions
for the 2009-2010 academic year:
The Arkansas Traveler editorRazorback yearbook editorKXUA radio station managerUATV station manager
Applications should include a cover letter to the board and a platform outlining the applicant’s plans for the organization. Packets are due in The Traveler office, Kimpel Hall 119, not later than noon March 27, 2009.
To be considered, candidates must meet the following criteria: Be a student in good standing at the UA
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Meet the requirements for student officers in the University Student handbook.
For more information, please contact Steve Wilkes, Director of Student Media.575-3406 • Kimpel Hall 119 • [email protected]
Send classifieds to [email protected] preaches downfall of Darwin’s theories
While people throughout the nation constantly compare different beliefs and religions, such as Christians and atheists, a new breed of thought that dismisses both might find its way into that conversation, as a Rutgers philosophy professor explained Monday night.
Jerry Fodor, a philosophy professor and cognitive scientist at Rutgers University, told more than 50 UA students and faculty Monday night that he considers himself not just an atheist but an extreme atheist – he doesn’t believe in God or Darwin.
Fodor dismissed Darwin’s theory of natural selection
as unsuccessful at explaining evolution in his lecture “What Darwin Got Wrong.” He said that Darwin’s theory really isn’t a theory at all because it cannot be tested with a control experi-ment.
Natural selection is an explanation for how favorable traits are passed from genera-tion to generation through the combination of randomization of genes and environmental fac-tors.
Animals that have char-acteristics that give them an advantage in their environment will have higher survival rates, meaning those favorable char-acteristics will begin to occur more often in the population.
Those characteristics are
the ones that are naturally selected.
Fodor had a philosophical objection to the logic behind natural selection. He said the theory is trying to explain why certain traits are selected, but it fails to do that because it can’t offer an explanation for the selection of linked traits. Linked traits are ones that are geneti-cally linked and therefore are inherited together.
For example, brown hair and brown eyes are genetically linked traits. If brown eyes were a trait that was selected because it gave someone an evolutionary advantage, brown hair would also be inherited. Fodor said Darwinists cannot scientifically prove which trait was actually naturally selected.
“Darwin needs to be able to split coexistent traits for his the-ory to hold,” Fodor said, “but he just can’t get it. Natural selec-tion simply does not affect the selection of correlating traits.”
Fodor’s other problem with natural selection is the lack of evidence to connect certain environmental factors with the selection of specific traits.
His example was a hypo-thetical mutation that turns an animal red. That animal would have an advantage in the pres-ence of a red-green colorblind predator, causing selection of the mutation. However, he said it is impossible to prove that the two creatures ever came into contact with each other. If they didn’t, the theory of natural selection cannot explain why the mutation was selected.
Fodor said Darwin explained natural selection as selective breeding without a breeder. Fodor disagreed with that expla-nation because Mother Nature doesn’t have a mind and there-fore cannot actively select favor-able traits.
“Mother Nature can’t think
about hypothetical contingen-cies or anything else for that matter,” he said. Fodor went on to say that Darwin was in a sense using the idea of intel-ligent design.
The general tone of the ques-tions asked after the presenta-tion was one of skepticism. The biologists who asked questions disagreed with his interpreta-tion of the theory. Afterwards, a few others expressed disap-pointment that Fodor used an entirely philosophical approach to dismiss a scientific theory.
The lecture was hosted by the UA philosophy department as the 2009 Kraemer Lecture. It was part of the university’s year-long observance of the bicenten-nial of Charles Darwin’s birth.
LANA HAZEL Staff Photographer
Jerry Fodor, a philosophy professor at Rutgers University, speaks at a lecture titled “What Darwin Got Wrong” to a group of UA students Monday night.
Lana HazelStaff Writer
Mark your calendars: the UA will wel-come former President George H. W. Bush to campus Monday, April 6, as the Distin-guished Lecture Committee’s spring speaker.
From what I could gather, this is Bush 41’s second official visit to the UA, the first being the 1969 “Big Shootout” between the University of Texas and the UA for the Southwest Conference Championship. (Bush was in attendance with then-Presi-dent Richard Nixon.)
Bush’s visit on April 6 will also be the first trip to Fayetteville on a past command-er-in-chief’s calendar since former President Bill Clinton was on campus in 2002 for the dedication of the J. William Fulbright Sculpture.
Though both Bush and Clinton have been in the area several times since their last campus appearances, it will be nice to welcome a president back on “The Hill” for not simply a brief speech, but for a full evening of activities catered to students.
The sponsoring organization, the DLC, is a student- and faculty-run committee charged with managing a student fee that has the potential to serve students very well in their educational pursuits.
The DLC seeks to bring to campus high-profile, engaging individuals who have significantly impacted the world around them.
But like any student program or event, the venue can often be less-than-packed
and the crowd much older than the average student.
This means there is almost always plenty of room for more students to accompany the older community members who attend to enjoy the free show.
Though the DLC has found that afford-ability and scheduling are often the biggest struggles when choosing a speaker, the committee always first asks, “Who will stu-dents be most excited about seeing?” This question is obviously rather subjective and has many possible answers, but there is a universal question that tends to have a uni-versal response: “Who is the most powerful individual in the world?”
The answer, of course, is the president of the United States.
Bush’s visit in April is sure to be an ex-citing occasion and will give many students, including myself, their first opportunity to
meet one of our nation’s former command-ers-in-chief.
Members of the DLC will brainstorm for hours on how to get students to come to this free, once-in-a-lifetime event. Truthfully, the speech will probably not be life-changing or any more inspiring than the many tear-jerking lines delivered by our current President Barack Obama, but this event does afford students the chance to see our oldest living president live and up close, and many students will even get to meet him.
So, my friends, the DLC is not catering to the students who prefer to attend a lecture by an athlete, pop star, author, journalist or philanthropist, but instead, the committee is simply bringing a member of our nation’s most elite club – one that has only five liv-ing members.
A short read over Bush’s biography will help any attendee see that the former president has a background that covers just about everything, and I hope students will find time to attend what will certainly be an unforgettable evening for our university and for themselves.
See you 8 p.m. Monday, April 6, in Barnhill Arena!
Cody Kees is a columnist for The Ar-kansas Traveler. His column appears every other Wednesday.
1. Cut down on driving. Hitch a ride with your friends, dust off your bike or use the UA’s transit service. All are free and environmentally friendly.
2. But if you do decide to drive, slow down. Studies have shown that laying off the gas pedal improves fuel efficiency.
3. Clip coupons. You could go old-school and cut them out of advertisements in magazines and newspa-pers, or you might try something more high-tech, like Collegetokens.com.
4. Choose cheap housing next semester. Living in the Northwest Quad or Duncan Avenue Apartments has definite perks, but if you’re facing serious debt upon graduation, you might consider selecting cheaper residence halls or liv-ing off campus altogether.
5. Learn to cook. Get some use out of that stove and oven – cooking your own dinner is almost sure to be cheaper (and healthier) than dropping cash for a combo at Chick-fil-A.
6. But if you bought a meal plan on campus, use it. Why spend thousands of dollars for food each semester when you’re only using the Flex dollars?
7. Use cash more often than you rely on debit cards and checks. Unless you balance your checkbook faithfully, debit purchases make it tough to know precisely where (and how quickly) your money is going.
8. Be smart when you shop. Forego bottled water, don’t buy books when you can borrow them for free from the library, and check out consignment stores like Cheap Thrills for some clothing bargains.
9. Instead of forking over money at a theater or on Dickson this weekend, stay in. The university offers movies, Friday Night Live activities, concerts, speakers, you name it – all for free, all on campus. (And let’s face it – buying drinks on Dickson drains your wallet ... fast.)
10. Finally, whatever you do this Spring Break, remem-ber your budget. Who knows – a cheap camping trip with your friends might even be more fun than heading to the border.
LETTERSTO THE EDITOR
George H. W. Bush to visit the university in April
Online PollWhat do you think about the new UA logo?
Vote online at thetraveleronline.comOPINIONPhone: 575.8455 | E-mail: [email protected]: Kimber Wenzelburger | Managing Editor: Tina KorbePage 4 | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009
THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER
Evolution, creation in government schools
There has been talk in the Northwest Arkansas Times lately about evolution and creation and their place in government schools.
On one side, people say that science deals in fact and creation deals in belief.
Science has a place in government schools and “cre-ation science” does not.
Science is based on evi-dence, creation is not.
One is concrete, the other faith.
On the other side, people say that creation should be taught alongside the science explanation or in place of it, in the more extreme opinions.
Science is based on evi-dence and creation is based on evidence.
Both origin stories be-ing based on evidence but unprovable, science origin is based on faith and creation origin is based on faith.
There are a myriad of dif-ficulties.
It comes down to who controls the taxpayer-funded information disseminated to
our children. Because it is a government school, in effect, everyone who pays taxes has a stake in what is taught.
Do we allow all views or some?
Do we only allow the majority-view people voting on what is taught?
In truth, the majority does rule. They may allow minority opinion to prevail, but it is their choice.
And there is never a time when everyone agrees that something should be in-cluded.
So everyone’s child is
taught what everyone else thinks they should be taught. Everyone wants their way, and everyone is offended by everyone else’s way.
That is government school, crippling desire.
Am I saying we need to find a better way to govern government schools?
No, I’m saying there shouldn’t be government schools.
Jeremy CarrellMaintenance worker IIRecycling
The Arkansas Traveler welcomes letters to the editor from all interested readers. Letters should be at most 300 words and should include the author’s name, student classification and major or title with the university and a day-time telephone num-ber for verification. Letters should be sent to [email protected]. Letters appear in the order they were submitted as space permits. The editor reserves the right to edit or refuse letters on the basis of length, accuracy, fairness, liability and sensibility.
EDITORIAL BOARD KIMBER WENZELBURGER | Editor TINA KORBE | Managing Editor BRIAN WASHBURN | News Editor JACLYN JOHNSON | Assistant News Editor
Like It Is
CODY [email protected]
As the stock market continues to tumble and layoffs persist, college stu-dents are facing bleak prospects.
Hiring freezes and older workers clinging to jobs as their retirement savings shrink make finding jobs after graduation exceptionally hard.
The nation, which always looks to young people for inspiration, is watch-
ing to see how college students will handle the challenges.
Fortunately, many remain optimistic. A recent study of 12,000 students re-ported that more than half are confident they’ll be employed within three months of graduation.
But the same study, released Wednes-day by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, showed that employers expected to hire 22 percent fewer graduates this year than they
hired from the class of 2008.Of the employers surveyed, 67
percent said they expected to alter their hiring plans for the class of 2009, and nearly a quarter don’t intend to hire any graduates.
Creating opportunities for the na-tion’s best and brightest should be high on the agenda as policy makers in Wash-ington, state capitals and communities plan for the spending of stimulus funds and creation of jobs.
TOUGH TIMES FOR GRADUATESGUEST EDITORIAL
The Kansas City Star
10 WAYS TO SAVE MONEY THIS WEEK
The last day of classes before Spring Break is tantaliz-ingly close, and, knowing that, students might be inclined to wind down prematurely. Schoolwork might just strike students as slightly less appealing when the immanent prospect of a beach vacation or ski trip lures their thoughts from the task at hand.
Believe us, we understand. We had to force ourselves to write this editorial, too. Even Twitter – which just last week had us tweeting with excitement – has lost its luster. And counting The Traveler’s Facebook fans now effectively serves the same function as counting sheep – whereas, two days ago, watching our fan base grow delighted us about as much as Jimmy John’s.
(And, for readers who don’t know him personally, our News Editor Brian Washburn has said, if Jimmy John’s would only open a restaurant in our newsroom, he would happily never leave. We wish they would.)
The weather wavers, our sleep habits are never habitual and the only thing that dependably captures our attention is “I’m on a Boat.”
Yep, we have spring fever – and the only prescription is more cowbell.
For some reason, though, despite the prevalent ennui we’ve experienced ourselves, as well as sensed around campus, professors still expect students to study for and perform well on midterms.
They even go so far as to unapologetically assign home-work for the sacred break itself.
Our first instinct is to lament the assiduous profes-sionalism of our professors, but our second – and better – impulse is to admire their sense of responsibility and strive to cultivate it in ourselves.
Spring Break is just three days away; surely, we can per-severe through our few remaining classes, assignments and meetings before we can literally be on a boat.
We hope everybody else finishes the week strong, too.
You’re not on a boat yetStay strong ‘til Spring Break
government-issued ID, such as a passport or a driver’s license. Bank tellers strongly suggest students deposit a minimum of $100 to begin an account. Once the account is opened, there is no minimum to continue use.
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did a good job making it clear that they would not leave until the job was done, but the Army also used information operations to separate the population from the enemy, Luper said.
“I’d love for not one soldier to be in Iraq, but if the cost of that is Iraq unraveling, then we should not do that,” Luper said.
Separating the population from the enemy is at the heart of counterinsurgency tactics, Horn said. In Afghanistan, the coali-tion has two kinds of operations – lethal and non-lethal, he said. Lethal means finding Taliban insurgents and killing them, and non-lethal means building schools, talking with tribal lead-ers and informing people of why they do certain military opera-tions, Horn said.
There are 10 times more non-lethal operations than lethal ones, he said.
“When a reporter gets imbed-ded in a unit, the first thing he says is, ‘I want to be where the action is,’” Horn said. “The real action is at the school we just built, but that’s boring.”
Working in Afghanistan is very different from work-ing in Iraq, not only because Afghanistan is less Westernized, but also because the country is more fractured, Horn said. There are more ethnic groups, and most have been isolated from the cen-tral government for the majority of their history, he said.
“In every valley it’s like an entirely different country,” Horn said.
The Karzai government has made tremendous progress pav-ing roads and creating provincial governments, but the president has had to restructure his admin-istration because of corruption, Horn said. Unfortunately, the cul-ture in that country considers a certain amount of corruption to be acceptable, he said. Still, Horn estimated that 95 percent of peo-ple in both Iraq and Afghanistan support the new government.
Horn can understand the anger that results from civilian casualties, but the Taliban mili-tants fight from villages, making them harder to avoid, he said. If soldiers receive fire coming from the direction of the village, they have the right to defend them-selves, he said. Horn compared the situation to a gun battle between violent criminals and police in an urban area: if an innocent man is shot in process, the neighborhood will be angry, he said.
“No one is happy about col-lateral damage,” Horn said. “We
he was getting into when he opened his first account at age 19. Overdraft was a problem for him initially, he admitted.
Now, he said, because he banks with Bank of America, he receives text messages to remind him when his account balance reaches a certain level – so he won’t overdraw.
In addition to those text mes-sage alerts, the Bank of America also offers online banking reminders, the “Stuff Happens” card and overdraft protection, Brown said.
The “Stuff Happens” card is offered to customers who have overdrawn one time and ensures that overdraft fees will be waived in the future.
Students who wish to open a checking account with either the Bank of America or First Security Bank can do so right here in Fayetteville. First Security even has a branch in the Arkansas Union. To open an account with First Security, only two forms of identification are needed: a picture ID and a
no clue what it is. “I hope Rare Disease Day raises awareness and donations so that research can discover at least a cause and hope-fully a cure,” Parsons said.
The Boleman family from Wooster told a similar story. Kayla Boleman, 42, was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease last year and said it devastated the whole family. Boleman’s son, Corey, said he lives in fear of inheriting the disease. “It feels like no one else understands what we’re going through,” he said, “and it’s like there is nothing we can do about it. It just isn’t fair.”
The legislature passed an act in 2006 that set up a fund in Arkansas to help families suffering from rare illnesses that cannot afford treatment. Families submit requests for funds and a com-mittee associated with Children’s Hospital distributes the grants. When the Baby Sharon Fund was established in 2006, it received a $25,000 deposit from the state and awarded an average of $60,000 a month to Arkansas patients. Now the fund is on the brink of clos-ing.
Chairman Richard Emmel said he finds most people to be oblivi-ous to the needs of others who
LINDSEY PRUITT Staff Photographer
The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority performs a step show to the theme of the “Little Rascals” last Friday at the NPHC Step Show on campus.
SORORITY GIRLS STEP IT UP
prostitution and drug dealing might occur.”
Students are considering the current situation in Mexico, and altering their Spring Break plans accordingly.
“My family and I were going to go to Mexico, but we don’t want to get captured by drug lords and used as drug mules to bring ille-gal substances into the country – and also Mexico doesn’t have golf courses, so we’re going to Hawaii instead,” said senior anthropology and sociology major Collin Peel.
However, the warnings did not affect some students’ opinions on the situation or their plans for the break.
were struck by medical catastro-phes. “The donations are always slow,” he said, “and the few people making donations cannot keep the fund open much longer.”
Emmel said that a recent Baby Sharon grant was for an 18-month-old suffering from numerous illnesses. “The child needs rare treatments that use unapproved devices, meaning there is no money available to pay for them,” he said.
According to a government study of charitable donations made in the United States, less than one-fifth of donations were made to health-related efforts in recent years. A large majority of that money was given to widely known efforts, such as Race for the Cure and the American Cancer Association.
Overall, just thousandths of a percent of donations in the United States go toward research of rare diseases or aid for their victims, even though nearly one in 10 Americans has a rare disease.
“We exist to help kids that no one else is helping, but the taxpay-ers just don’t support us,” Emmel said. “If half of the taxpayers in Arkansas donated $1, we could help every one of the critical cases. If every state could see that kind of support, cures could be found.”
Supporters of Rare Disease Day are hoping for those kind of results in coming months. “People are talking about Rare Disease Day all over the world,” Saltonstall said. “Awareness simply has to increase, and usually awareness translates directly into financial support.”BANKING
from Page 1
spend more time on consequence management for insurgents’ actions than we do our own. The Taliban will destroy an entire vil-lage and tell people we did it.”
ARMYfrom Page 1
“I didn’t really consider going to Mexico, but, if I did, I don’t think I would change my plans just because some drug lords can’t get their acts together,” said soph-omore civil engineering major Summer Wilkie. “From what I’ve heard, the conflicts sound pretty silly, but I guess I wouldn’t think it was that silly if I was kidnapped or murdered.”
Even the UA Housing Department took heed of the trav-el warning and sent both a for-mal e-mail through the Housing listserv and an individual e-mail through each Resident Director directing students to the warn-ings on the State Department Web site.
According to travel.state.gov, the State Department’s official Web site for international trav-el for American citizens, more than 100,000 young adults travel to resort areas in Mexico dur-ing Spring Break every year. The majority of altercations between the Mexican police and American travelers include alcohol, so the State Department advises visitors to drink responsibly, as “excessive alcohol consumption and unruly behavior can lead to serious prob-lems with Mexican authorities.”
DISEASEfrom Page 1
Editor’s Note: Tina Korbe contributed to the writing of this article.
MEXICOfrom Page 1
SPORTSTHE ARKANSAS TRAVELER
March Madness.It’s only two words, but
they’re some of the sweetest words in sports.
This Sunday, the brack-ets will be revealed for the 65-team tournament that will stretch over the next two weeks and turn every office worker into a basketball maniac.
And for the first time since 2005, the basketball Hogs like-ly won’t be a part of it, unless they do the unthinkable and win four games in four days in Tampa at the SEC Tournament.
Crazier things have hap-pened.
I won’t sit here and tell you that I truly believe that at 8:45 p.m. tomorrow night Arkan-sas is going to go in and just handle Florida, but I will tell you that the Razorbacks have a chance if they play their game.
Arkansas has only won 14 games this year, but in the games it has won, it has been able to sustain its style of play for 40 minutes and forced the issue on the other team in-stead of the other way around.
It’s hard to remember that the Hogs did in fact beat then-No. 4 Oklahoma and then-No. 7 Texas because those wins seem like eons ago.
What I’d like to remember about this season is that the Hogs never folded up the tent.
Yeah, it was hard gaining Marcus Monk and then sub-sequently losing him. It was difficult dropping the first four SEC games.
It was difficult going through injuries and suspen-sions, etc.
Nevertheless, Arkansas has persevered. The Hogs have set the tone for the incoming groups, that even if they’re not as successful as people want them to be, they’re not going to go down without a fight.
That kind of attitude will be rewarded when these play-ers are seniors.
Arkansas coach John Pel-phrey can hang his hat on the kind of effort and determina-tion that a Courtney Fortson or a Rotnei Clarke puts forth.
He can also hang his hat on the kind of potential that Jason Henry possesses, and the positive attitude that hopefully Brandon Moore, Andre Clark and Michael Sanchez will show in getting stronger and bigger for next season.
Michael Washington may or may not go to NBA. It’s up in the air right now as to what he’ll choose to do. If he decides to take his game to the next level, fine, but the Hogs certainly would do much bet-ter with his senior leadership next season.
The same goes for Stefan Welsh. Even though Welsh maybe hasn’t played up to expectations this season, he’s still a solid player that Arkan-sas would undoubtedly use next year in the backcourt.
Heck, these guys may some-how mesh so well down in Tampa that they end up taking the SEC by storm and winning the crown, locking up that automatic bid.
If that happened, I could speak volumes about how much confidence that the team
Championship QuestTrack Hogs go for NCAA titleFriday in Sports
Phone: 575.7051 | E-mail: [email protected] WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009 | Page 6Sports Editor: Bart Pohlman | Assistant Sports Editor: Matt Watson
Year of the Ox
DEREK [email protected]
BASKETBALLCOMMENTARY
BASEBALL
SOFTBALL
Arkansas got its final swings in before Southeast-ern Conference play begins today in a doubleheader at Bogle Park against South Carolina.
Over the weekend, the Razorbacks participated in the Oklahoma State Mizuno Classic and went 2-2, defeating Drake and Cleveland State, but losing to Northern Colorado and host Oklahoma State.
The loss to the Cowgirls was the toughest to stom-ach, as Arkansas stormed back from an early six-run deficit to tie, before eventually falling 7-6.
“We fought hard and grew up a lot today after a bad loss yesterday (to Northern Colorado),” Arkansas coach Jamie Pinkerton said following the Oklahoma State loss.
“Now the question is whether we’ve grown enough
for the start of conference play, but ready or not, it’s here.”
Teams that rally from behind, like Arkansas did Sunday against Oklahoma State, are usually mature beyond their years.
“I’m really proud of the way we fought back af-ter falling behind,” Pinkerton said. “I liked our ap-proach at the plate today. We’ve put pressure on our-selves throughout the season by falling behind. It’s a lot easier to hit when the score is 0-0 or it’s tied 6-6, but we responded after digging a six-run hole against a good Oklahoma State team.”
Jessica Robison hit her third grand slam of the season in the game, which also saw solo shots from Whitney Cloer and Brittany Robison.
Oklahoma State’s Mariah Gearhart plated home the winning run with a single to improve the Cow-girls’ record to 17-4.
The Razorbacks were the first team to score on Oklahoma State at the tournament.
Now Arkansas (11-9) turns its attention to South Carolina, which is reeling from losing its first SEC series of the year.
Historically, the Gamecocks have done well in their first road series of the year. They have won 10 of their last 12, and they swept Arkansas in their road openers in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
Freshman centerfielder Kristen Stubblefield is on a tear at the plate right now for South Carolina.
Stubblefield batted .417 in the Gamecock Invita-tional and had an .833 slugging percentage in that tournament as well.
She has six RBIs and seven runs scored so far this season, both in the top three on the team.
Arkansas hosts South Carolina in SEC opener
Razorbacks kick off third season against Florida
Derek OxfordSenior Staff Writer
Hogs have building blocks for future
Arkansas’ nonconference success is long gone. The failures of the Southeastern Conference are in the past now, too.
The Razorbacks hope to find a happy medium, or perhaps a new high, when they face Florida Thursday night in the opening round of the Southeastern Confer-ence Tournament.
“There is excitement in being part of a tourna-ment,” Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said. “There’s
nothing like winning a game and being able to stay around for another day.
“They know it’s a one-and-done situation. We’ve talked about it. We will have to win four games, and if we do, there will be a great reward.”
Though not likely for a team that went 2-14 against SEC competition in the regular season, Arkansas’ chances of winning this weekend’s tournament aren’t impossible.
Two years ago the Razorbacks won their first three games in the tournament before falling to eventual na-tional champion Florida in the conference champion-
ship game. Last season Arkansas fell to Georgia in the title
game as the Bulldogs reeled off four straight wins – including two on the day before the championship. The Bulldogs entered the tournament 4-12 in league play.
The Hogs even know a thing or two about winning four games in four days, as Nolan Richardson’s 2000 club did the unthinkable and secured an otherwise un-likely trip to the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve seen it from both sides,” Pelphrey said. “I’m sure those guys will talk for the next few days about what can happen.”
While the thought of winning four games is nice, Pelphrey said winning the first game against Florida is obviously the most important.
The Gators (22-9) are coming off a win over Ken-tucky to clinch the third seed in the SEC East, but they had struggled beforehand, losing five of their seven games prior.
Arkansas (14-15) lost at Florida, 80-65, in Janu-ary. Pelphrey, a former Gator assistant coach, said they have improved since then.
“Defensively, they are better now than when we first played,” Pelphrey said. “We missed a lot of opportuni-ties in the first half (of the first meeting). We have to limit their second opportunities.
“They get a lot of long rebounds. We have to get to the elbows and get loose change. A lot of times they have three guards out there so those guys are able to move. They’ve done a good job this year capitalizing on second chances.”
Florida’s offensive rebounding hurt the Hogs the first time around as the Gators collected 16 offensive boards. The difficulty securing a defensive rebound has been a season-long trend for Arkansas, who gave up 14 in Sunday’s loss at Vanderbilt.
Foul trouble for junior forward Michael Washington has only magnified the problem. Washington picked up two fouls in the first four minutes at Vandy and fouled
Matt JonesSenior Staff Writer
The Arkansas-Centenary baseball series isn’t usually considered a heated rivalry, but the Dia-mond Hogs are carrying a grudge going to Cente-nary for their first road series of the season.
The two teams split a two-game set in 2008, with the Razorbacks winning easily 9-0 in the first game, but the Gentlemen shut down Arkansas at Baum Stadium in the second game 5-1 – ending a 25-game losing streak to the Razorbacks. The Gents’ pitching staff yielded just four hits and held the middle of the lineup to an 0-for-11 mark. Ar-kansas also made three errors in the field, losing its first non-conference home game after starting 10-0.
“They kicked our butts last year,” senior sec-ond baseman Ben Tschepikow said. “We need to be ready to play. We need to see what we are made of on the road.”
Sophomore Brett Eibner said everybody wants to make up for last year’s upset.
“We will look to what we did last weekend (tak-ing two-of-three from California) and put it on them pretty good,” Eibner said.
Diamond Hog coach Dave Van Horn said Cente-nary (5-3) was saving its best pitchers for Arkansas again this year.
The Gents boast a 3.28 team ERA, led by Ste-phen Tromblee (no earned runs in 7.1 innings pitched) and Boone Whiting (0.84 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 10.2 innings).
“I know they have a couple guys just waiting on us,” Van Horn said. “They beat Texas A&M in the second game of the season when (Texas A&M was) ranked No. 1. (Centenary has) won two on the road already. They didn’t have any games last weekend. We are it for them for a while. We will get their best shot. And that will be fine. I just really want to get the guys on the road before we open conference play.”
The Razorbacks (9-2) open Southeastern Con-ference play Friday when Florida visits Fayetteville and play their first SEC road series the next week-end.
Arkansas struggled away from Baum Stadium last season, going 8-12 in true road games against a 24-9 record at home.
“We are excited to go on the road. We are not going to really change anything. We are going to play hard. We are going to have the same mindset to pitch well, play some good defense and hit the ball, as well. I think it could bring us together as a team,” senior outfielder Chase Leavitt said.
Leavitt, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, leads Arkansas with a .419 batting average. Sopho-more Andy Wilkins has a team-high four home runs and 13 RBIs.
Centenary is led offensively by Ricky Imperiali (.414 average, 2 home runs) and Michael Tomp-kins (.276 average, 2 home runs and 8 RBIs).
Arkansas will play the second game of the two-game series 2 p.m. today at Sheehee Stadium in Shreveport, La.
No. 18 Diamond Hogs face !rst road test
Matt WatsonAssistant Sports Editor
JONATHAN GIBSON Staff Photographer
Arkansas guard Courtney Fortson was named to the SEC All-Freshman team this week.
Did you know?In 2000, Arkansas won four games
in four days to capture the SEC Tournament championship
FOOTBALL
Petrino’s system readies players for pro football
It was low key, but effective.While not nearly the spectacle
of a year ago, Tuesday’s Arkansas 2009 Pro Day gave several Razor-back seniors, and a few alumni, a chance to impress scouts one more time before next month’s NFL Draft.
Five of the Razorbacks from the 2008 squad that worked out were of the offensive variety, and the recurring theme of the day was Bobby Petrino’s system and how well it helped players prepare for life at the next level.
“It helped me because I got to learn a new system – more of a pro-style system,” former center Jonathan Luigs said. “It gave me more knowledge of the game and different techniques to use.”
Luigs, who is projected as a mid-round selection, impressed scouts at last month’s NFL Com-bine in Indianapolis, but decided to work out in an effort to im-prove his numbers in the shuttle run, which he finished in 4.62 seconds.
Fellow offensive lineman Jose Valdez worked out with Luigs at the combine, but decided to come
back and participate in most of the workouts. Like Luigs, Valdez said he wanted to focus on agility drills and finished his shuttle run in 4.64 seconds.
“Working out today really helped me,” Valdez said. “A scout from the Rams told me I pushed my stock up a little more by be-ing out here and going through the drills.
“It really helped (focusing on those drills). I knocked down my time by a couple of seconds.”
Valdez, who has been working out with former Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl guard Will Shields, said Petrino’s pro-style offense allowed him to show scouts his versatility.
“Coach Petrino has a strong and weak system,” he said. “Being able to show you can play right tackle and left tackle is a huge upside. The scouts see it and they all like it.”
Perhaps no one benefited more from the pro-style attack than quarterback Casey Dick, who shattered his career records for passing yards (2,586) and com-pletions (205), while throwing for 13 touchdowns as a senior.
“He opened up the offense a
Matt JonesSenior Staff Writer
See TOURNAMENT on Page 7
See PRO DAYon Page 7
See OXFORD on Page 7 See SOFTBALL on Page 7
SPORTSTHE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | www.thetraveleronline.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009| Page 7
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would have and especially the fans would then have.
The Hogs have been to the NCAA tournament three con-secutive years. That’s enough for fans to begin to expect that making the tournament is something that can be done every year.
I don’t think that’s an un-realistic expectation. The fans put forth a ton of effort to sup-port the team, and therefore, that team should compete and play hard, and put itself with a chance to win every time it steps on the hardwood.
Yet if Arkansas’ year does end tomorrow night with a
loss to Florida, there will be much moaning and groaning, I’m sure.
Seasons like this one may be easy to laugh off and forget, but I think the foundation has begun to be laid for the resur-gence of Arkansas basketball.
Derek Oxford is a senior staff writer for The Arkansas Traveler.
out for the second time this sea-son. The team’s leading scorer finished with just six points in 19 minutes of action.
“Teams are going to go at him. That’s part of it,” Pelphrey said. “He’s experienced. We’ll talk to him because we need him to go about 35 minutes.”
New destination
The tournament, hosted most years in Atlanta, will be played in Tampa, Fla., this sea-son for the first time in the his-tory of the league.
While the Gators will no doubt have a home court feel, Pelphrey isn’t concerned about the change of venues, but said he hopes the league remembers its basketball roots.
“I do think it’s important for us to have that presence in Atlanta,” Pelphrey said. “I think it’s an important place for the Southeastern Conference.”
It’s the first of three straight seasons the event will be held outside Atlanta. After Tampa, the tournament will be played in Nashville’s Gaylord Enter-
tainment Center next year and in New Orleans’ Superdome in 2011.
While most league coaches said the site of the tournament didn’t matter on Monday’s league teleconference, some expressed doubt about a high attendance in Tampa.
“I would be surprised if it is as well-attended as it is when it’s Atlanta,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “Atlanta is probably an easier place for the majority of our conference fan base to get to.”
While he likes the neutrality of Atlanta, Pelphrey said he’s in-terested to see how a basketball tournament will be accepted in south Florida.
“That’s football country,” Pelphrey joked.
This year marks the first time the tournament has been hosted outside Atlanta since 2006 and just the third time in the last decade.
The four-day event is usu-ally hosted in the Georgia Dome. Last season the final two days of the event were moved to the Georgia Tech campus af-ter a tornado struck the side of the dome during overtime of a game between Mississippi State and Alabama during the quar-
terfinal round.
Henry suspended
Arkansas freshman guard Jason Henry was suspended in-definitely by Pelphrey for a vio-lation of team rules on Tuesday and did not travel with the team later in the day to Florida.
“Part of being a Razorback is meeting the high standards of the University of Arkansas and the basketball program,” Pelphrey said in a statement. “(Henry) will remain a part of the team, but he will not travel to Tampa for the SEC Tourna-ment.”
It marks the third time Hen-ry has been suspended this sea-son. He missed the team’s Red-White exhibition in November and missed three games dur-ing nonconference play as part of an indefinite suspension. The West Memphis native also missed three games recovering from a knee surgery on Dec. 29.
Henry’s up-and-down season has continued in SEC play. He scored a career-high 27 points at South Carolina on Feb. 21, but logged just five minutes 10 days later in Arkansas’ home fi-nale loss to Ole Miss.
little more,” said Dick, who ran a 4.7, 40-yard dash and benched pressed 20 reps. “It helped me with throwing the football, get-ting schemes down and reading defenses. It helped me progress a lot as a player.”
Dick, who was scouted by a pair of Canadian Football League teams Tuesday, said while making the NFL is a dream, any opportu-nity is a good one.
“It’s an opportunity to play,” Dick said. “That can also lead to the NFL. One of the coaches said he had a whole lot of guys that had gone on to play in the NFL.”
More than anything, all play-
ers were happy the scouting pro-cess was nearing its end.
“They treat you like a piece of meat sometimes,” said Luigs, who won the 2007 Outland Trophy as the nation’s top interior lineman. “They especially do at the com-bine with all the medical stuff. But teams are investing a lot of money in you, so they want to know ev-erything about you – what you do good and what you do bad.”
Valdez echoed the sentiment. “It’s been a grind every day,”
he said. “I’ve been doing two workouts a day – full workouts. I’m just glad I’m here and fin-ished it.”
Davie impresses
Redshirt junior tight end An-
drew Davie showed scouts his versatility by taking reps as a long snapper at Tuesday’s workout.
“I haven’t snapped since high school and I’ve worked on it a little bit,” Davie said afterward. “One (of the scouts) showed me three different techniques to work on, and I’ll try to fine tune it a bit. I was a one-hand snapper in high school, and they want two hand snaps.”
Chris Mortensen, an NFL ana-lyst for ESPN, said Davie’s will-ingness to play more than one position will go a long way with scouts.
“He’s an interesting guy to some teams,” Mortensen said. “I think he’s got a chance to get drafted in the second day, late. He’s mature and he’s worked hard.
“Blocking tight ends are actu-ally a little bit rare in the NFL and teams are looking for them…Seeing him long snap was inter-esting. To get on an NFL roster, the more things you can do, the better.”
The 26-year-old Davie, who spent four years in the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system prior to his football career, said working out for scouts just comes natural.
“It was one of those things where I had experience,” Davie said. “I worked out for scouts for eight years now, basically. You have to go into these type situa-tions like you’re playing football in your backyard. The more tight you get, the worse you’re going to perform.”
Monk, Cobbs Participate
Four former Razorback foot-ball players participated in the Pro Day, including Marcus Monk, Cedric Cobbs, Fred Talley and Matt Hewitt.
Monk, who was drafted last season by the Chicago Bears and later signed briefly by the New York Giants, is 100 percent after a knee injury during his senior campaign in 2007. He didn’t run a 40-yard dash Tuesday, but Mortensen said he knows of some teams interested in the wide re-ceiver.
“He’s healthy and playing basketball was big for him,” said Mortensen, after Monk played in 10 games for John Pelphrey ear-lier this season. “I think he’ll get
another chance and will have some teams that bring him in (for individual workouts).
“Coach Petrino was watching him and said, ‘I wish I had him.’”
Cobbs, who spent three injury-filled seasons with the Patriots and Broncos, looked good as well, Mortensen said.
“There was a time when he was in Denver that he looked real-ly good before hurting his ankle,” Mortensen said. “Right now he is in about as good in shape as I’ve seen him.
“The problem is when you play running back in the NFL, they just recycle you in and out of there. But I know a team in the NFC North that is thinking about bringing him in.”
Cloer counters offensively for the Razorbacks.
Her .355 average, .394 on-base percentage and .613 slugging percentage all lead the team, while she has three home runs, seven doubles and
OXFORDfrom Page 6
TOURNAMENTfrom Page 6
PRO DAYfrom Page 6
SOFTBALLfrom Page 6
ERIK CAMPOS The State/MCT
Former Razorback running back Fred Talley is seventh on the all-time rushing list at Arkansas with 2,661 yards. Talley went undrafted in the 2003 NFL Draft.
13 RBIs.Miranda Dixon has been
the steadiest pitcher for a struggling Arkansas staff.
Dixon currently sports a 6-2 record and a 2.64 ERA while the team ERA is last in the SEC at 3.86.
South Carolina is 24-9 all-time against Arkansas, in-cluding a 10-3 record in Fay-etteville, with all those wins coming at Lady‘Back Yard.
In last year’s meeting, the Gamecocks defeated Arkansas 4-0, as South Carolina pitcher Melissa Hendon struck out 10 Razorbacks.
She got help at the plate from shortstop Lindsay Walker, who was 2-for-3 and extended her hitting streak to 17 games at the time.
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ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19) TODAY IS A 5.The job gets easier as you go along. This is partially because you’re get-ting better at it. You’re also able to lighten your load, through the help of a very good friend. TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20) TODAY IS A 7.Your work should go more smoothly now. It should be getting clear what’s required and what’s not necessary. That certainly makes the whole mess easier to untangle.
GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 21) TODAY IS A 6.Frustrations will start to lessen soon. Try to be patient. Something that’s got you upset now could look funny by tomorrow. Meanwhile, don’t say anything you’ll regret, especially in public.
CANCER (JUNE 22-JULY 22) TODAY IS A 6.You might want to pass on adventures for now and stick closer to home. An evening spent with a good book or movie looks better than going out. Take care of yourself.
LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22) TODAY IS A 6.Put off a major purchase for just a little while. You might discover you didn’t even need whatever it was. Maybe you can make a better one than you could buy. Review alternatives.
VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22) TODAY IS A 7.The combatants are beginning to tire. It shouldn’t be long now before they’re willing to try to get along with each other. Provide an interest-ing diversion and they may forget they ever fought.
LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22) TODAY IS A 6.Hold off on changes for now; they’ll just increase the confusion. Get everybody’s opinions, and take plenty of notes. You can choose the best course of action tomorrow. Sleep on it.
SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21) TODAY IS A 7.Continue to review your alterna-tives. Don’t make your decision yet. Ask for more suggestions and interview more candidates. Give extra points for ideas that have never been heard before.
SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21) TODAY IS A 5.Disregard the rules and regulations at your own peril. Somebody thinks they’re important, even if you don’t. And if that person signs your checks, it’s best to comply.
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19) TODAY IS AN 8.Keep working on being efficient. It’s a profitable skill to acquire. Besides, somebody important is watching and is favorably impressed. If you can handle this much well, maybe you can handle more.
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18) TODAY IS A 5.You need a good reason to keep yourself on budget _ for instance, planning an expedition to some exotic location. That ought to be enough to keep you on rice and beans for dinner. PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20) TODAY IS AN 8.Better confer with your partner before either of you goes shopping. You may have to cut some things from your lists, due to limited funds. Make sure you get what you need.
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LIFESTYLESTHE ARKANSAS TRAVELER | www.thetraveleronline.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009 | Page 9
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ary, it was worn by Elly Tapee in Topeka, and in February it traveled with Rognlie. This month, Pam Wheeler of Topeka is signed up to wear it, and the adventure of the necklace con-tinues.
Even Sharon Ostrowski has done her part to raise money for her husband’s treatments by creating her own business – the Lucky You Personal Spa Collection – in December 2005. Her collection features unique and handcrafted bath and body products.
Sharon Ostrowski said the business is “fun, creative and has afforded us the flexibility that the cancer treatments de-manded.
“For the first time in months, we were actually excited about something wonderful to take the focus off the cancer,” she said.
Lucky You Products can be purchased online at Luckyyoup-sc.com or can be found at the Fayetteville Visitor’s Bureau and the Interiors Galleria in Rogers.
OSTROWSKIfrom Page 10
I went to Dillard’s to take advantage of the unreal 75 percent-off savings they were offering (an example of one of the many stores out there trying to keep its head above water) and heard a little boy asking his mom if he could try on a shirt from a nice table in the back of the store, away from the chaos of the front where the sale was. His mother replied in frustration that he was not allowed in “that section” and that he must find clothes on the racks with the red tag. Saddened, the little boy slumped his shoul-ders and put the shirt back. An expression I think I was the only one to catch, I saw his mother frown and pat her son on the back as she stared off for a moment in what I would call slight embar-rassment and remorse. Counting her dollar bills and coupons, she walked to the counter and asked if she could get a discount for a small tear in one of her sale pick’s sleeves.
It may not be the Great Depression, and that woman may not be living off scrapes from dumpsters, but people are being affected.
The real truth is that now is the time for college students to delve deep into an economic education and make sure their jobs are secure post-graduation.
It’s easy to party through college living off of our parents’ sup-port and scholarships, but when the real world kicks you in the back, there are no more scholarship applications to apply for, your foreign landlord is screaming at you and the bank won’t stop call-ing. Sound pretty bleak? Do something about it. Beat the crisis.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), say that if college students play their cards right they could be sitting at the top of the “just-hired” pack. The most recession-proof fields of study are business administration/management, computer science, education, finance and nursing, according to the NACE. This leaves all the poor art students sitting alone with a half-empty bottle of paint thinner and an empty pocket and the music students with a rusty instrument and no shoes. Sad.
Disclaimer: I am not just picking on the art and music kids (go creative freedom), but unless you plan on being the next Picasso or Bach, you are looking at high hopes and little reality. However, I do realize that other majors are in trouble, too.
With this said, it’s important to look at those five professions and see how they might apply to the major you are currently in. For instance, picking on the art and music kids again, try graphic design for publications or being the next jingle writer for ad cam-paigns. And there is always the fallback of teaching.
Personally, I think that most any interest can be applied to business (we aren’t socialists yet), so don’t worry – if you are creative and ambitious, you can succeed.
Comfort yourself with a little advice from Eleanor Roosevelt: “One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else.”
If college students become aware of the world around them now, they will be better at stepping out into it after graduation and mending the tears in the economy they may have chosen to ignore years before. Get involved and get passionate about your future. You don’t want to become part of the post-graduate mass twiddling their thumbs and wishing they had prepared.
Lindsey Pruitt is the assistant Lifestyles editor for The Arkansas Traveler. Her column appears every other Wednesday.
RECOGNIZEfrom Page 10
CODY BENNETT Staff Photographer
Kristin Harwell (left) accompanies Richard Rulli, a UA trumpet professor, during Monday evening’s performance in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.
A NIGHT AT THE CONCERT HALL
Kaminsky grew up. They were the central structures, known as the Theme Center, of the New York World Fair of 1939, he said.
“(The fountain) came from 50 years of dreaming,” Kamin-sky said.
With the aid of 20 people, the fountain took 16 months to complete. It features about 100 languages, each spreading the message “May Peace Pre-vail on Earth.”
The fountain is partially inspired by the Tibetan prayer wheel and acts as “a map of the whole globe,” Kaminsky said.
“The pieces at the UA are maps of a large sphere,” he
said. “Many things in the world are invisible, and (the pieces) are making things in space vis-ible forever.
“(It’s) all visual symbol,” Kaminsky said, referring to the political undertones of his sculptures. “The pieces are try-ing to search for a truth.”
Kaminsky began his career as an artist in New York City, where he is very familiar with the city and the art. But as he grew as an artist, his work be-gan to change.
He recalled a time during which he made sculptures of dancers and sold many of the pieces. His works began to shift into more abstract themes, but they were not accepted at gal-leries.
Kaminsky wanted to be in a place where selling art wasn’t important and decided to move to a smaller town. He settled in
Fayetteville in 1985 and com-pleted his degree at the UA.
Since he moved, Kaminsky’s pieces have been become a part of the community. In addition to the World Peace Prayer Fountain, a sculpture of Sen. J. William Fulbright and a man-hole with his signature words, “May Peace Prevail on Earth,” also are located on the square. The artist is currently working on another manhole, which will be featured in front of the Fayetteville Public Library.
The artist has a studio, lo-cated on Government Avenue, which houses all of his tools, stencils, work and machines. The studio also boasts a mas-sive collection of dirt.
“I rarely clean up dirt,” Kaminsky said. “The life of a sculpture is to use dirt to cre-ate.”
However, Kaminsky said
that sculptures are not as in demand as they used to be.
“There is not a big business for making sculptures,” he said. “I will have to close my studio because I cannot afford to keep it.
“I think there has always been less sculptors than paint-ers, and I might guess that it has to do with the kinds of in-formation we receive through our senses,” Kaminsky said. “We are used to looking at graphic patterns (such as words and pictures) for our in-formation.”
Despite the lack of work, Kaminsky is still continuing to create what he loves.
He said he plans to move to a smaller studio and begin cre-ating jewelry – which he first began to make during the be-ginning of his career – to sell at the farmer’s market.
KAMINSKYfrom Page 10
Friday the 13thThe lore of the unlucky dayFriday in Lifestyles
Phone: 575.7540 | E-mail: [email protected] Page 10 | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009Lifestyles Editor: Anna Nguyen | Assistant Lifestyles Editor: Lindsey PruittLIFESTYLESTHE ARKANSAS TRAVELER
With the launch of the new Web site Local540.com, every business in Washington Coun-ty is now literally at students’ fingertips and accessible on-line.
As the Web site quips, “Need a phone number for a good mechanic? Can’t decide where to eat tonight? Need a florist? A jeweler? An apart-ment? Looking for a new car? A new bank?” All of these types of businesses and more are listed on Local540.com.
The Web site launched on Feb. 18 with the intention of listing all the businesses in Fayetteville by category so consumers could easily find them on the Internet.
The site is managed by Wonderstate Media, the same company that founded and
operates the Fayetteville Flyer. The site can even be accessed from any mobile phone with Internet services at M.local540.com.
Visitors of the Web site are shown numerous listings, like bars and clubs and places to buy appliances. Users just have to click their category of choice, and a list with maps of all the applicable businesses will pop up.
Visitors also can search for what they need and put in their own address to receive the listings that are closest to them.
“As local consumers our-selves, we’ve found that a lot of local businesses don’t have a Web site or their Web site was difficult to find,” said Dustin Bartholomew, creator of the site and co-owner of Wonderstate Media.
“Meanwhile, the Internet
is where consumers are al-ready looking for information on local businesses. Local540 was designed to bridge the gap between local consumers and local businesses in a way that has never been done be-fore.”
Bartholomew said he thinks that in the current state of the economy, it is important to support local business, and this idea inspired him to help create the site.
“We’ve created a tool in Local540 that will help en-courage people to check out what our local businesses have to offer because now our area has its very own Web site that includes information on every local business that is organized and easy to use,” Bartholomew said.
The site currently lists more than 7,000 businesses by their name, location and
category. Listing a business and
searching for one on the site is free, and businesses can create and adjust their own listing as often as they choose.
In addition to listing res-taurants and shops, venues such as the Walton Arts Center and George’s Majestic Lounge have already gotten involved with the site and added calen-dars of events to their pages, so visitors to the site can see not only where to go in Fay-etteville and the surrounding areas, but also a little of what is going on in town.
Local540.com also pro-vides numerous coupons that consumers can use at local businesses to cut their costs. The Web site will be updated throughout the year with new listings and new coupons for visitors to use.
In times of distress, many of-ten look to their closest friends and family for support.
So for Jeremy Ostrowski, cancer patient and UA student, help from strangers in a differ-ent state was unexpected.
Ostrowski, 32, was diag-nosed with sarcoma, or cancer of connective tissues, in 2000, just five months after marry-ing his wife Sharon. After four cycles of chemotherapy, surgery and two more cycles of chemo-therapy, Ostrowski was living cancer free.
However, in 2005, Ostrowski was diagnosed with a reoccur-rence of stage four sarcoma.
During an MRI, doctors found that the original location of his tumor had grown, and a biopsy confirmed the return of the cancer.
Bone cancer is a sarcoma that arises in the bone. Around 2,500 cases are diagnosed in the United States each year, making primary bone cancer relatively rare, according to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.
To receive the best care and treatment, the Ostrowskis temporarily relocated to M.D. Anderson in Houston, leaving their friends, family, careers and home in Northwest Arkansas.
“We knew that God would
reveal his will for our lives if we just prayed for it and were willing to accept it,” said Sha-ron Ostrowski on her Web site, Luckyyoupsc.com. “Once it was certain that my husband could maintain treatment back home, we eagerly returned.”
In the meantime, 12 women from Kansas joined in an effort to raise money for Ostrowski’s treatments.
After reading the book, “The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Trans-formed Their Lives,” Lori Rog-
nile of Topeka, Kan., discussed the book with Judy McCourt, who just happened to be Sharon Ostrowski’s mother-in-law.
And so McCourt brought the “Jeremy Necklace” to life.
McCourt began a system in which 12 women could sign on to wear the necklace for one month by donating $50 or more. Each woman who wears the necklace also keeps a jour-nal when the necklace is worn, and then meets other support-ers once a month to read the journal and pass the necklace
along. Designed by Steve Moore of
Fayetteville’s Swift’s Jewelry, the necklace features garnets in the shape of a “J.”
Since its creation, the neck-lace has spent its time with the 12 women from Topeka who opened their hearts to the Os-trowskis’ cause.
The necklace began its jour-ney with McCourt, who signed up to be the first woman to wear the “Jeremy Necklace.” In Janu-
Web site provides instant information for Fayetteville servicesBailey McBride
Senior Staff Writer
LARRY ASH Staff Photographer
UA student with cancer!nds help through a necklace
Brittany ArroyosStaff Writer
Local sculptor creates passion for peace
VERONICA PUCCI Staff Photographer
The World Peace Prayer Fountain (left) is the grandfather piece of artist Hank Kaminsky’s three sculptures on the UA Union Mall. The sculptures reveal the artist’s recurring motif for peace in the world.
See OSTROWSKI on Page 9
LOCAL ART
Contrary to the beliefs of those who follow the motto, “inno-cence is bliss,” I must inform all of you who love living under a rock that it’s official – the United States is definitely in a recession and has been since December 2007.
Good news! Economists say the worst is over, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the effects will be over any time soon.
Now I realize with much certainty that many of you will consider this old news, but I can say with even more certainty that many of you have learned something new this very moment.
When bringing up the subject with a few of my friends who at-tend the UA, I was a little surprised to find that, although they are intelligent, major-oriented students who are studious and aware, they knew little about the current condition of the economy they will be enduring as career men and women in two short years.
I think it is very important that college students realize that the recession we are experiencing right now is real and will definitely be affecting us when we graduate.
And, no, I’m not talking about the effects on Stadium Drive and Maple Street if Polo or North Face go under.
This is serious; economic experts predict that 2009 will be a rough year of recovery, and that during the years after, many busi-nesses and corporations will still be licking their wounds.
This means that when we graduate from college, we will be scraping together our resources to get a job. And in a generation that many call lazy and ungrateful with no work ethic, let’s just say there is fear to be had.
I myself have had a fair amount of diversion from the econom-ic crisis, lucky enough to have supportive parents and scholar-ships, but I was recently reminded of our scary situation.
You better recognize!Life with Lindsey
LINDSEY [email protected]
COMMENTARY
See RECOGNIZE on Page 9
Local sculptor Hank Kamin-sky has left his mark on both the UA campus and in Fayette-ville.
In addition to creating the first Fulbright College honors medals in 1987, Kaminsky, a
UA adjunct art professor, also has three of his recent sculp-tures displayed on the UA Union Mall.
The largest piece, “A New Spirit is Rising,” is a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and takes the words from a 1967 speech by King and shows them as if they were growing
out of the Earth. The piece on the left, “In a Mountain Val-ley,” has the words of a poem about compassion by univer-sity Professor Emeritus Miller Williams. The third piece, “Cloud Landscape,” depicts the World Peace Prayer, “May Peace Prevail on Earth,” as forms floating over the Earth.
The clouds depicted are from New York City during 9/11, Kaminsky said.
The three pieces are part of a larger group called “Pages from the Book of the Earth,” and they are dedicated to the concept that the Earth speaks. Kaminsky described them as “imaginary landforms held in
space by simple steel columns, with structures on the surface which are also words,” accord-ing to a press release.
The artist has been working with words in his sculptures for more than 40 years. His best-known piece is the bronze World Peace Prayer Fountain in front of the Town Center
on the Fayetteville square. The fountain “is the grandfather of the pieces on the UA (cam-pus),” Kaminsky said.
The space at the Town Cen-ter reminded the artist of the Trylon and the Perisphere, lo-cated in New York City, where
Anna NguyenLifestyles Editor
See KAMINSKY on Page 9
COURTESY PHOTO
Sharon and Jeremy Ostrowski are benefiting from 12 women in Kansas who are donating money to wear a necklace to help cover the costs of Jeremy Ostrowski’s cancer treatments.