Mary’s offers tasty treats for your palateMary’s Paleteria gives locals a taste of authentic Mexican desserts, page 5

Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Abilene Christian University Serving the ACU community since 1912

October 5, 2007

FRIDAY

Vol. 96, No. 12

1 section, 8 pageswww.acuoptimist.com

THE

Are you well?Video brings recap of the week’s Wellness Week activities at, www.acuoptimist.com

Drop-kicked Wildcats lose third straight conference match, page 8

OPTIMIST

katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Queen nominee Leah Gottlich, senior math major from Coppell, is blindfolded by Charrelle Coates, junior biochemistry major from Clarksville, Tenn., on Wednesday night at the annual queen kidnapping.

katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Smith Residence Hall representative Jason Sanchez, University Park repre-sentative Casey Bingham and UP representative Caleb Archer listen during Wednesday’s Students’ Association meeting in Hart Auditorium.

By Jared FieldsEditor-in-ChiEf

The Students’ Associa-tion Congress tabled a bill to create an internal affairs committee Wednesday after an attempt to immediately take the motion from the table failed.

Freshmen Jeareme Mosley, Tony Godfrey and Jared Elk

presented the motion in an at-tempt to create an ad hoc com-mittee to investigate and check the actions of the SA Congress and Executive Cabinet.

The three answered ques-tions about procedure as congress twice extended dis-cussion for the bill before a third motion to extend dis-cussion time failed. Then, sophomore senator Abby

Barnes tabled the bill for a lack of concrete wording.

The motion passed, and Jared Elk promptly moved to take the motion from the table. After some confusion and more discussion, the mo-tion failed and the meeting adjourned.

Although the meeting ad-journed after 7 p.m., SA presi-dent Matt Worthington said

the meeting went smoothly. Dr. Jeff Arrington, associate dean of campus life, spoke with congress about develop-ing methods to best commu-nicate with students.

“It went way smoother,” Worthington said. “Everybody came more prepared today.”

Arrington fielded questions

SA tables internal committee

By Mallory EdensPagE 2 Editor

The 2007 Homecoming Court has been selected, and 10 senior women are now in the running for 2007 Home-coming Queen.

The Court includes Ash-lea Allred, psychology major from Bedford; Casey Cope, accounting major from Flow-er Mound; Katie Eichelberger, marketing major from Hous-ton; Tiffany Gauntt, broad-cast journalism major from Colleyville; Cara Gentry, com-munication major from Gran-bury; Leah Gottlich, math major from Coppell; Shannon Lair, elementary education major from Apple Valley, Minn.; Lauryn Lewis, English education and integrated marketing communications major from Houston; Shaley Lucas, integrated market-ing communications major from Coppell; and Christie Thomas, graphic design ma-jor from Austin.

“It’s an honor for these young women to be selected by fellow students to serve on the Homecoming Court and to represent the university in this long-standing tradition,” said Betsey Craig, assistant director of alumni relations.

Wednesday night, mem-bers of the Homecoming steering committee blind-folded and kidnapped the 10 women, taking them to the Alumni Office on EN 16th, which was decorated for the nominees. Each woman was given a picture frame with a jeweled crown on it to com-memorate the event and were asked to fill out information sheets on their activities and involvement. Craig said the kidnapping is gearing up to-ward upcoming events that the Court and the student body will be able to be in-volved in together.

“Selecting the Homecom-ing Queen nominees is the

kick-off for Homecoming ac-tivities, which will culminate with all the major events on Homecoming weekend, including the parade, class reunions, Homecoming Cha-pel and crowning of the queen during halftime of the Homecoming football game,” Craig said.

Homecoming Queen nomi-nees will be introduced in Chapel on Friday. After-wards, students can go on-line to view group pictures and vote for Queen. Voting will take place Oct. 10-12 on-line at www.acu.edu/queen. The nominees will be for-mally presented with their escorts during Chapel on Oct. 19 and will be presented with the Coming Home Court and the Homecoming Court from 1997 in a Saturday Chapel.

Homecoming Queen will be announced Oct. 20.

Many of the queen nomi-nees are long-standing friends, and Gentry said it is not really a competition be-tween them at all.

“We have a really awesome group of girls, and it’s neat to already have a bond togeth-er,” she said.

Cope also said it is an hon-or to be able to represent the senior class with friends.

“This is all unexpected; I am just really honored to be nominated,” Cope said. “I have been friends with a lot of [the nominees] for a while, and I think it’s really cool. ... I’m really flattered because just to be comparable to them is an honor.”

Many nominees are also excited to come back togeth-er again in 10 years as the Coming Home Court.

“We get to ask who has kids and is married, and I think that is just so cool,” Lair said. “We just want to honor each other.”

Allred said she said she

Queens kidnapped

By Lauren SuttonCoPy Editor

When a student intro-duced Richard Beck to Post-Secret more than a year ago, he began brainstorming ways to use the online phe-nomenon as the focus of a summer research project.

Last summer, Beck, chair of the psychology depart-ment, facilitated a group of psychology students in the study of PostSecret, a com-munity art project where anonymous individuals mail in secrets on a single, deco-rated note card to creator Frank Warren who chooses a specific number of cards

each week to display on his Web site, www.postsecret.blogspot.com.

“People were reporting a great deal of healing by it. I wanted to see what was going on about that,” Beck said. “It seemed like people were identifying with [Post-Secret] and not treating it as a fish bowl. It spoke to people in some way.”

Student researchers spent time studying Warren’s three published books.

PostSecret books contain a greater amount of note cards than the official Post-Secret Web site.

“We found out that most people would send in the se-

crets because they wanted to share,” said Kadie Ausher-man, junior psychology ma-jor from Haven, Kan. “Some people did it for fun or to get published, but it was mostly about sharing a part of their life. They experienced heal-ing from sending it in, and for a lot of them, it was emo-tionally difficult to send in their secret.”

In order to conduct more research, the student-re-search team came up with a personalized twist to the phenomenon by creating YourSecret, a project where members of the ACU com-munity can mail in their se-crets to ACU BOX 8011.

Many ACU individuals participated in YourSecret after the research group pre-sented its study at a coffee house during Lectureship, and through YourSecret, the psychology students found the submitted note cards to be similar to the ones they studied in Warren’s books.

Though much of the re-search is complete, the group still welcomes secrets that can be submitted to the psy-chology department or to the listed ACU BOX number.

“If you look at the peo-ple who strongly follow

ACU’s YourSecret mimics PostSecret with idea, results

By Sara Snelsonarts Editor

For the past several years, Sing Song’s upstage performances have consisted of social clubs and class groups. This year, Tom Craig, di-rector of student productions, and Matt Greenberg, senior political sci-ence and English double major from Grand Prairie, are encouraging other groups on campus to get involved in Sing Song.

“Any club or organization on cam-pus can participate in Sing Song and compete in the men’s, women’s or mixed-voices group,” Greenberg said.

The Sing Song rulebook does not specify which groups or organiza-tions can compete; it is open to any-one who wants to participate.

“The Big Purple used to have a group compete in Sing Song, and all of their acts were good, and they would win,” Greenburg said. “It would be awesome to have a variety of groups again.”

There have been two or three groups who have inquired about competing in Sing Song this year.

“If it does not happen this year, it will next year,” Craig said.

He said the more students who compete in Sing Song and get in-volved, the better the show will be.

By participating in Sing Song, not only does a student group be-come known by students, parents, faculty and alumni, but it is granted legitimacy, gains more public rela-tions and is embedded in ACU’s his-tory book.

“There are a lot of new groups who have shown interest in doing a down-stage performance, which is awesome, but we really want groups to compete up stage in the three cat-egories and show people what they can do,” Greenberg said.

Sing Song directors are chosen in November, which means if a group wants to participate, it needs to de-cide soon.

Sing Song could add more acts

courtesy acu psychology departmentA YourSecret postcard sent to the ACU psychology department. Postcards can be sent to: The YourSecret Project, Psychology Dept., ACU Box 28011.

See SA page 4

See SING SONG page 4 See QUEENS page 4

See SECRET page 4

Purple Friday

Wellness Week

Praise Day with Steven Moore

11:45 a.m.The Annual Fitness Walk will begin at Jacob’s Dream. Everyone who participates will receive a gift certificate for a free smoothie from Energy Zone.

8 p.m.“The Bourne Ultimatum” will be shown in Cullen Auditorium for free with a student I.D. Drinks will cost $.50, and candy will be $.25.

11 a.m.Last day of current Campus Conversations sessions. The second session will begin Oct. 12.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Calendar Events&

The Optimist maintains this calendar for the ACU community to keep track of local social, academic and service opportunities.

Groups may send announcements directly to optimist@acu.edu or to the Page 2 Editor at mxe06a@acu.edu.

To ensure that an item will appear on time, the announcement should be sent at least 10 days before. The Optimist may edit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifications of published news articles will be printed in this space in a timely manner.

About This Page

Friday, October 5, 2007

Announcements

08 Monday05 Friday 06 Saturday 09 Tuesday

The next Service Saturday will be Oct. 13. Sign ups will take place at a table in the Campus Center throughout next week.

Sing Song 2008 host and hostess auditions will take place Monday and Tuesday.

The Medical Clinic will host a flu vaccination clinic Oct. 15 and Nov. 1 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Cam-pus Center Living Room. The shot costs $25, and it can be charged to a student account or paid in cash or check. Flu shots are also currently available on a daily walk-in basis in the Medical Clinic. For more in-formation, contact Kathy Stokes at (325) 674-2625.

Frontier Texas! will hold a liv-ing history festival Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Frontier Texas! Parade Grounds at 625 N. 1st to celebrate the spirit of the fron-tier. This event will feature games, food, music and cannon fire. Meet frontier soldiers, settlers, cowboys and Indians. The festival costs $3 for adults, $2 for seniors, Military members, students and teachers and is free for children ages 5 and younger. For more information, call (325) 437-2800 or visit http://www.frontiertexas.com/events.html.

The Abilene Civic Center will host the annual Wholistic Rodeo Conference Saturday and Sunday for people interested in holistic and natural health and personal and spiri-

tual growth. Information, tools and products that support healthy and harmonious lifestyles will be offered. Enjoy a comedy and music entertain-ment show Saturday from 8-10 p.m. The conference will be open Satur-day from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. A two-day pass to the event costs $10. Tickets to the Saturday evening entertainment plus both days cost $20. For more information, contact Egan Sanders at (325) 949-0984 or visit http://www.wholisticrodeo.com.

The Abilene Art Walk will be held Oct. 11 from 5-8:30 p.m. in downtown Abilene. The Art Walk is free and will feature many activities, entertainment and events. For more information about the Art Walk, con-tact Jamie Shelburne at (325) 677-8389 or jamie@center-arts.com.

The Paramount Theatre will show a special presentation of “North by Northwest” Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 13 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay, “North by Northwest” is listed on the Ameri-can Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest American Movies. The show will cost $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors and members of the Military. For more information, call the Box Office at (325) 676-9620 or visit http://www.paramount-abilene.org.

CreditedChapelsto date:

CreditedChapelsremaining:

Chapel Checkup2640

Volunteer OpportunitiesKey City Kiwanis needs

volunteers Saturday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. for its annual Fish Fry at the Abilene Civic Center. Help is needed serving food and drinks and cleaning tables. All proceeds will be distributed to needy children and adults.

Volunteers are needed Sat-urday from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. for the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk at Nelson Park to help with set up, banners and keeping drinks stocked for participants.

Abilene elementary schools need volunteers to read with kids on a weekly basis. Time slots are available for a variety of days. For more information, go to the Volunteer Service-Learning Cen-ter in the Campus Center.

Volunteers are needed Friday-Sunday to help rebuild parts of the Ft. Imagination Playground at Nelson Park that were destroyed by an arsonist fire. A variety of shifts are avail-able throughout the day. For more information or to sign up for a shift, visit http://jrleaguea-bilene.com or contact Ches-ley Martin at (325) 672-6850 or ccmartin1626@sbcglobal.net.

Fellowship of Christian Ath-

letes needs 15-18 volunteers in the press box at the Fields of Faith event on Oct. 10 at 8:30 p.m. at Shotwell Stadium. Each volunteer must have a laptop computer with Excel in order to enter student information data. To help, contact the Volunteer Service-Learning Center in the Campus Center.

Ushers are needed for the Homecoming Musical on Oct. 19, 20 and 21. Ushers will get to see the musical for free at the Abilene Civic Center, and volunteers will need to commit to being on time.

The Alzheimer’s Associa-tion needs volunteers for the annual Memory Walk on Oct. 13 at Nelson Park. Help is needed between 6 a.m.-noon to help set up tables and chairs and serve refreshments.

Abilene Habitat for Humani-ty needs volunteers for the annu-al Steamboat Challenge on Oct. 27 from 6:15 a.m.-2 p.m. This event includes a half-marathon road race and 35 and 60 mile bike races. Volunteers will be serving refreshments, monitor-ing the finish line and doing other related jobs. All proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity.

7:30 a.m.The Third Annual Shoot for Success Sporting Clays Tournament will be held in Dallas. Proceeds from the tournament benefit scholarships for the ACU College of Business Administration and Texoma Youth Camp.

6 p.m.The Wildcat football team will play Northeastern State at Shotwell Stadium.

8 p.m.Will Johnson and Micah P. Hinson will perform at Monks Coffee Shop. The show costs $8.

Purple Monday

8 p.m.University Park Apartment Complex invites residents to the Get U.P./Get Active program, which is designed to help residents initiate lifestyle changes to lose weight, get in better cardiovascular shape and become healthier. Brant Gilbert, a certified personal trainer, will help design personal workouts, and Hillary Moore, a diet technician from Hendrick’s Medical Center, will talk about positive eating habits.

By C.J. PiersonStudent RepoRteR

Unite, a weekly Bible study that began as a worship time between seven men on cam-pus, has turned into a unity movement that strives to “ex-perience the heart of God.”

Byron Rogers, fifth year youth and family ministry major from San Antonio, has been going to the worship-themed service since last October and believes whole-heartedly in its vision.

“[Unite’s vision is] celebrat-ing the heart of what God is doing, loving on each other and then going to spread that

to others,” Rogers said. The idea stemmed from a

Kingdom Life Fellowship life group that met at Tuscany’s coffee house and has grown into a group of about 150 people that meet every Tues-day night at 8 p.m. at Foun-taingate Fellowship Church.

“The success of the group can be directly attributed to its faithfulness to God and his mission,” Daniel Jumper, junior physics major from Dallas, said.

Jumper plays bass during the praise service along with eight to nine others. The band is led by Jeremy West, fifth year

English major from Garland. The vast stage was scat-

tered with instruments lit only by three shadowed cur-tains that demanded atten-tion of the wide-open, dimly lit auditorium.

Several up-beat worship songs were led by the band, and audience members were not limited to any specific style of worship or location as people jumped, raised their hands, danced and pumped their fists through-out the auditorium.

The group was led in a lesson from one of the sup-porting college pastors, Keith Robeson from Beltway

Baptist Church. Given the name of the eve-

ning, Unite has been making progress in uniting six differ-ent church-ordained college ministries from different lo-cal denominations, ranging from Baptist to Methodist to Church of Christ.

Rogers said at Unite they are “encouraging those there to be involved in their home-church college ministries. Everyone should come to Unite to try it out and see how powerfully God is work-ing in the area.”

Evening service unites students

E-mail Pierson at: optimist@acu.edu

ACU Crime Alert

“[Unite’s vision is celebrating the heart of what God is doing, loving on each other and then

going to spread that to others.”

Byron Rogers, fifth year youth and family ministry major from San Antonio

The ACU Police De-partment is investigating an exposing person in-cident involving an older white male suspect who exposed himself to a stu-dent on Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. in the 600 block of EN 23rd. The student was walking home from campus when the suspect drove past her, then parked on the side of the street. The suspect remained in his vehicle and exposed himself to the student as she walked past. The suspect then drove away westbound on EN 23rd. The suspect made no at-tempt to engage the student or lure the student to his vehicle. The suspect is described as an older white male with

white/grey hair and was seen driving an older model, unknown make small SUV.

If you have any information about this incident or observe similar suspicious activity, notify the

ACU Police Department at (325) 674-2305 as soon as possible. Everyone should be alert to their surroundings and never approach vehicles who may be parked near them or who pull over asking for directions. Try to walk in groups, always carry a cell phone and alert the Police immediately when you observe suspicious activity on or around campus.

By Colter HettichStudent RepoRteR

Students in Abilene danced to discotheque mu-sic from Europe to benefit children in Africa.

Last Saturday, Maple Street Production (MSP) held an alco-hol and drug-free dance party at Monks Coffee Shop. Three hundred and fifty students at-tended the event throughout the night, donating a total of $150 to benefit Invisible Chil-dren and TOMS shoes.

Both non-profit organiza-tions, Invisible Children seeks to help children in Uganda that have been made refugees by a raging civil war, while the goal of TOMS shoes is to put a pair of shoes on the feet of every child in Argentina and eventu-ally South America.

Tripp Page, fifth year Eng-lish major from Whitney and member of MSP, said the dance party idea just came to them at a birthday party.

“Someone put on some mu-sic, everyone just started danc-ing and we thought, ‘We should do this once a month,’” Page said. What started out as an oc-casional house party has now turned into a semi-public event with a cause.

“It started off kind of small with a group of our friends,” said Lance Ferguson, fifth year marketing major from Ontario, Calif. “We started inviting more and more people. Now, we are actually using the dance par-ties to raise money for Invisible Children and stuff like that.”

Overall participation in Sat-urday’s event erased worries the MSP men had about a more

public venue. “It’s been really good having

it at a place such as Monks. It helps them out, and it helps us out too,” Ferguson said. “I think it was very successful, and we learned a lot.”

Ferguson, Page and company were not only pleased with the outcome of the event but were extremely grateful to everyone who participated. Ferguson encourages everyone to “keep coming out, having fun and supporting it. And keep your ear open for social causes.”

With MSP’s success last week-end, students can be expecting another event like Saturday’s dance party to take place be-fore the semester’s end.

Friday, October 5, 2007 Page 3CAMPUS NEWS

By Todd PiersallStudent RepoRteR

Dove hunters, give those birds a rest—at least next Saturday. ACU wants men and women of all ages to come test their shooting abilities for a good cause.

The third annual Shoot for Success Sporting Clays Tournament is Saturday, Oct. 6 at the Elk Fork Shoot-ing Park in Dallas. Prices for the tournament are: $125 for a single participant, $450 for teams of four and $95 for students. However, cur-rent ACU students are only required to pay $75. Lunch is $12 for participants and families alike.

Proceeds of the tourna-ment will be presented to the ACU College of Business

Administration and Texoma Youth Camp.

Troy Stirman, senior development officer and facilitator of the sporting event said the tournament is the product of “a group of alumni who wanted to do something unique.”

The uniqueness of the event has proven success-ful, coming a long way in the tournaments three-year ex-istence. Last year’s tourna-ment had about 60 shooters and grossed over $10,000. This year’s tournament al-ready grossed over $22,000 with 10 teams of shooters already pre-registered, Stir-man said. Stirman said he estimates the tournament to bring in more than $30,000.

Aside from the main event, there will be several

other activities occurring at the tournament, including a silent auction. Items range from high-end shotguns to hunting-field gear from Cabellas. Also, there will be a singles-shooting con-test where every clay bird shot will equal one lottery ticket; prizes will then be given to those whose tick-ets are drawn.

Stirman said the reserva-tion list ended Oct. 1, but indi-viduals and groups may show up and register Saturday.

Stirman will be busy Satur-day facilitating the event but said “that won’t mean I won’t break out the shotgun and have some fun.”

Atypical tournament fosters funds

E-mail Hettich at: optimist@acu.edu

Dance party promotes generosity

By Laura AcuffStudent RepoRteR

Following a fire a year ago this month, Fort Imagi-nation at Nelson Park is scheduled to undergo sig-nificant repairs Friday, Sat-urday and Sunday.

“We need volunteers desperately, and you don’t have to know the up end of a hammer; you just come,” said Junior League mem-ber Chelsey Martin, who is heading up the park’s resto-ration efforts.

The park caught fire Oct. 3, 2006, but because the incident occurred at night, damage was not discovered until the following morn-ing. The playground is con-structed mostly from com-pressed plastics and wood, which burn slowly. By the

time authorities arrived, the fire had burned with such heat for so long, its origins were undeterminable.

“[This material] doesn’t just flame up and burn; it catches fire and smolders,” Martin said. “[The police attributed the incident to] “suspicious fire,” which basically means arson they can’t explain.”

The Junior League of Abilene headed park con-struction for Fort Imagina-tion with the help of a spon-sor company, Leathers and Associates, Inc. in Septem-ber 2004. Inspired by the drawings of Abilene second graders, Fort Imagination included a reptile house, a covered wagon and a toddler area, but 90 percent of the toddler area was destroyed in the Sept. 2006 fire.

As a volunteer in the ini-tial construction of the park, Martin knew she wanted to be involved in the repair work as soon as she heard about the damage.

“I knew the ins and outs of the pieces, and I wanted to put them back the way they’re supposed to be,” Martin said. “The children designed this, so we can’t just not rebuild. Whatever they drew, whatever they called it is what [Fort Imagi-nation] became.”

Shifts to complete Fort Imagination repairs will last from 8 a.m.-12 p.m., 12:30-5 p.m. and 5:30-9:30 p.m. this weekend, and Martin welcomes even volunteers who did not commit to work in advance.

“It’s not too late,” Martin said. “In fact, at any point,

they can just show up and we’ll find a job for them.”

Repair costs, total-ing about $25,000, have been funded by the Junior League, and Abilene restau-rants, including Abuelo’s and Texas Roadhouse, will provide three meals each day for volunteers. Accord-ing to Martin, the sense of community pervading such locally based volunteering is an additional benefit to the actual restoration of Fort Imagination.

“People who are total strangers are working side by side — it’s a bonding ex-perience,” Martin said.

Scalded park repaired, rebuilt

KATIE GAGER CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Curtis Smith, sophomore management major from Atlanta, is tacked by Sam Selby, senior biology major from Abilene and Drew Dittemore, sophomore business management major from Everett, Wash., while playing rugby on campus Sunday.

Sunday sack

E-mail Acuff at: optimist@acu.edu

E-mail Piersall at: optimist@acu.edu

Page 4 Friday, October 5, 2007 FROM THE FRONT

she feels blessed to be a part of the Homecoming Court and thinks any of the women would be a great Homecoming Queen.

“I didn’t realize how big of a deal it is, and honestly it hasn’t really hit me yet,” All-red said. “I really didn’t think I would be nominated, so it’s an honor. I feel like any one of those girls would do a great job in the position. I think this is really exciting.”

Queens: women crowned for courtContinued from page 1

E-mail Edens at: mxe06a@acu.edu

“We encourage new groups to participate. It is fun, you get involved and you get your groups name and purpose out among various people,” Greenberg said.

Groups interested in competing should contact Greenberg or Craig.

“This process of new groups is already process-ing, but it is also too early to tell what will happen and who will participate this year,” Craig said.

Sing Song: additional groups get involvedContinued from page 1

E-mail Snelson at: sas04b@acu.edu

PostSecret, most people find something they can identify with,” Beck said. “Is that sufficient? It’s not relational, but it does make people feel more at home because I think most peo-ple are looking to feel nor-mal. PostSecret has crashed through that and showed us we are all broken. I think that’s a good message, a good starting place.”

Secret: Web site promotes healingContinued from page 1

Katie GaGer CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Queen nominee Tiffany Gauntt, senior broadcast journalism major from Colleyville, is led blindfolded by Callie Adams, alumni office student worker, Wednesday night at the annual queen kidnap.

and thoughts from congress on how to best inform stu-dents of different announce-ments, news and alerts the university might need to communicate.

In other discussion, Brenda Daniels, junior bio-

chemistry major from Bo-gota, came before Congress asking for an international students representative po-sition. Daniels stressed the point she was not asking for an International Students’ Association position, but just for a position for any international student.

Senior senator Nathan

McKenzie also presented the idea of creating an SA chaplain position.

“In about 2 or 3 weeks I’m going to be bringing forward legislation to amend the constitution to bring this to reality,” McKenzie said.

Parliamentarian Matt Greenberg talked last week about the possibilities of amending Roberts’ Rule of Order and Wednesday’s meeting showed some signs of moving toward that goal.

“There are other sets of rules out there; still more

informal but you still can conduct a meeting,” Green-berg said. “Maybe some-thing better is out there.”

The parliamentarian said he and other SA members have discussed the issue amongst themselves and other universities’ congress-es, and he said ACU is in the minority of schools who still use Roberts’ Rules.

SA: Congress ponders rule changeContinued from page 1

E-mail Fields at: jrf03b@acu.edu

n Ashlea Allred is the president of Alpha Kai Omega, Sing Song 2008 co-chair and assistant director, Welcome Week Peer Leader and a member of the Homecoming steering committee and Intramurals.

n Casey Cope is an officer and the pledge class president of Ko Jo Kai, a welcome week student director, a presidential scholar and a member of the Homecoming steering committee, student trading and research, Study Abroad, Sing Song, Freshman Follies, Freshman Action Council, Intramurals, University purchasing, Abilene Zoo, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Spring Break Campaigns to Boston, Mass., and Seattle, Wash.

n Katie Eichelberger is the president of Ko Jo Kai, an officer of the College of Business Career Education and is a member of the ACU Camerata, Abilene Intercollegiate Orchestra, Sing Song, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and a Spring Break Campaign to New Orleans, LA.

n Tiffany Gauntt is the NuNu Mom of Ko Jo Kai, senior senator of the Students’ Association, an ACU Cheerleader, a Student Ambassador during her freshman year, and a member of Phi Eta Sigma, National Broadcasting Society, Freshman Follies, Sing

Song and worked for KXU-TV (Paw-TV) and the KACU Radio Station.

n Cara Gentry is in Ko Jo Kai, Freshman Action Council, Welcome Week Steering Committee, Sing Song, Freshman Follies, Habitat for Humanity, was the Ko Jo Kai chaplain during 2006-2007 and was Freshman Action Council co-chair.

n Leah Gottlich is the Alpha Kai Omega Kaio Queen, Math department peer leader, Calculus grader, Outdoor Club vice president of service, and a member of the Sing Song care and serve initiative, ACU Cross Country, ACU Track and Field, Freshman Action Council, Sing Song, Alpha Kai Omega Intramurals, Mu Sigma, Freshman Follies and a Spring Break Campaign to Seattle, Wash.

n Shannon Lair is the Sigma Theta Chi president, Highland Middle School “lifeguard” on Sunday mornings, was Sigma Theta Chi co-social rush director and a member of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Wildcat Kids, Spring Break Campaign, the Speech and Debate Team in informative speaking and has been in the International Students’ Association for four years.

n Lauryn Lewis was a Welcome Week 2007 student director, Sigma Theta Chi historian her junior year, ACU Leadership Camps counselor, Mentor Group Leader in 2005, was a Homecoming Steering Committee member in 2006, was a member of Study Abroad to Oxford in summer 2005, helped with Wildcat Kids for two years, is a previous member of University Chorale and Acapella and is involved with Spring Break Campaigns, Freshman Action Council, the Honors Program and Intramurals.

n Shaley Lucas is the president of the American Advertising Federation, Ko Jo Kai historian, a resident assistant in Gardner Hall, the advertising manager for the Optimist and has been a member of Integrated Marketing Communication Organization, Study Abroad to Oxford, Spring Break Campaigns, Sing Song, Film Fest, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Intramurals and Phi Eta Sigma.

n Christie Thomas is the president of Delta Theta and the Distance Education graphic designer and has been a member of FilmFest, Freshman Action Council, Spring Break Campaigns, Welcome Week, Sing Song,

2007 HOMECOMiNg quEEN NOMiNEES

By Sondra RodriguezStudent RepoRteR

Not many classes encour-age students to lie on the floor and figure out the best way to relax their backs, or ac-tually force them to stop and rest during the day. However, when it comes to the Opera Workshop at ACU, such prac-tices are promoted in order to teach and guide the finest op-era performers possible.

The Opera Workshop is a class that teaches stu-dents interested in a career in vocal performance the techniques and procedures recommended for such a vo-cation. The workshop, also known as the Tri-Collegiate Opera, includes students

from ACU, Hardin-Simmons and McMurry University and is under the principal direc-tion of Samuel Cook, asso-ciate professor of voice and opera director.

“I teach undergraduate singers the techniques, dis-ciplines, demands, challeng-es and rewards of the clas-sical singing actor,” Cook said. “It teaches a few things about production, but that’s not the focus of the class. The focus of the class is performance — teaching students how to perform, not to produce.”

The workshop is available to both vocal performance majors and non-majors and aims to make the actors more comfortable onstage

in order to better portray the characters.

“Some take for credit; some take for non-credit, but it’s usually people who want to go into the perfor-mance industry; people who actually want to perform onstage,” Cook said.

The workshop is also rec-ommended for those hoping to work with children and music in the education field.

Students involved in the workshop are preparing for two performances. These include the presentation of scenes from various operas in the fall and a full-length show in the spring. This year’s spring production is Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and includes students from

all three universities.“It’s really neat because

everyone brings their unique talents together to put on a better show,” said Kristen Bigham, sophomore vocal performance major from Fort Worth. “The more the merrier; three schools are better than one.”

Those involved hope to expose the city of Abilene to “one of the most creative art forms,” Bigham said. “It has theatre, voice, dance and visual arts — it’s got it all,” she said.

Cook also expects the workshop to impact many Abilenians.

Opera workshop conjures creativity

By Karie SchmidtStudent RepoRteR

Several students and fac-ulty members are participat-ing in the first ever chamber orchestra Nov. 5.

Dr. Steven Ward, director of bands and associate profes-sor of bassoon and conduct-ing, and Dr. Greg Straughn, chair of the Department of Music, came up with the idea of a joint chamber orchestra.

“We just decided this would be a chamber orches-tra, so it would be open to the campus,” Ward said, “It’s a wonderful experience to share music with the students and faculty.”

A chamber orchestra is usually a small orchestra of an instrumental ensemble that focuses on playing clas-sical music.

Twenty-two students and five faculty members are par-ticipating in the chamber or-chestra. So far there are only two faculty members who are not related to the music de-partment but are part of the performance. Many of the students who are participat-ing have a music background. Though they are not musical majors, they wish to keep mu-sic as a part of their lives.

The chamber orchestra has been practicing for its perfor-

mance since the beginning of the school year.

“Getting to see dances and hearing a piece with move-ment along with the soloist is part of the orchestral experi-ence all rolled into one,” said participant Catherine Rozzlle, freshman marketing major from Houston.

Rozzlle has played the cello for nine years, and while she is not a music major, she did not “just want to stop playing cold turkey.” While looking into ACU, she had dis-played interest in music and the university would send her regular e-mails about upcom-ing events. She sent in an audition tape, and the ACU music department asked her to play for the orchestra on a scholarship.

The theme of the night will be “Dance” and will in-clude music from Respighi, Debussy, Surinach, and John Mackey. A few students and faculty members will perform as soloist, and two of the piec-es will include dances.

Ward hopes that faculty and students will come out and support the orchestra Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. in the mu-sic recital hall to see the first chamber orchestra.

Students, faculty organize orchestra

E-mail the Rodriguez at: optimist@acu.edu

Katie GaGer CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Frater Sodalis member Josh Hilliard, junior biology major from Abilene, hands Frats pledgee Jeremy Dunford, junior speech pathology major from Houston, a pumpkin at the Disabilities Resources Inc. annual Pumpkin Patch.

E-mail Schmidt at: optimist@acu.edu

E-mail Sutton at: les03c@acu.edu

Pumpkin pass

By Sara SnelsonArts Editor

Numerous Mexican food restaurants around Abilene are family owned, and each has its own cultural, enticing way of inviting you in. It may be that the restaurant is decorat-ed with exuberant colors and authentic artwork, or it could be a certain dish that is served that always keeps you coming back for more.

I am a fan of most Mex-ican food here because I am from Colorado where there is no Mexican food to be found. But there is one place in Abilene that sticks out as original among the rest.

Mary’s Paleteria does not serve Mexican dish-es but homemade ice cream, fresh-fruit bars and homemade authentic drinks instead. Mary’s Paleteria is a branch of Mary’s Mexican Restau-rant and serves sweets that are unlike any oth-ers available in Abilene.

Mary’s Paleteria, which is across the street from the restaurant, is deco-rated in bright colors to attract customers, has a decorated patio and has a drive-thru and a walk-in sitting area.

As you walk in the restaurant, all sorts of bright colors from the decorations as well as the desserts greet cus-tomers. Menus hang from the walls to help guide visitors through the array

of homemade items, all of which are displayed in coolers so customers can see exactly what they are purchasing.

Mary’s offers home-made ice cream, real-fruit bars, cream-fruit bars, authentic Mexican drinks, fresh-fruit cups and chocolate-dipped ba-nanas. Any item in the paleteria can be dipped in chocolate and coated in coconut, sprinkles, nuts or granola.

The fruit bars grabbed my attention first because they were brightly col-ored. They come in vari-ous flavors-from mango to kiwi to strawberry-and the cream-fruit bars mix flavors together. What I think gives this palete-ria it’s own unique spin on its items is that some of its bars are made with chili powder, which is an ingredient in many Mexi-can deserts.

When I visited the pal-eteria earlier in the week, I tried three different things: homemade lem-onade, which offers the right amount of sweet and tart; a frozen banana dipped in chocolate with coconut on top; and a coconut and strawberry cream-fruit bar. All of these items were unique in the way they were made and were presented in a pleasing way that will make you want to visit more than once. I could tell that everything was made with fresh fruit, and nothing was made

with imitation flavors or added syrups. The co-conut tasted exactly like you were eating pieces of coconut off the shell, and fruit bars contained chunks of real strawber-ries. This place does not mess around and takes the word “real” seriously.

Mary’s ice cream is also offered in various fla-vors, some of which are also made with chili pow-der. The paleteria makes its own fruit drinks in-cluding Horchata, sweet rice water.

Mary’s also offers fruit cups that consist of strawberries, bananas

and coconut that is still on the shell.

There is not one item on the menu that is more than $3.65. You might pay more if you get things dipped in chocolate and rolled in your topping of choice, but I say why not; go big or go home. Ba-sically, you are getting a lot more than you are actually paying for, and anything less then $3.65 is more than fine by me.

Mary’s Paleteria is in every way a unique eat-ery in Abilene and of-fers a wide variety of homemade items that are pleasing to the eye and

satisfying to your taste buds. These types of des-serts may not sound like they will hit your sweet spot, but don’t knock it until you have tried the desserts because you are in for a treat and a new place to meet your home-made sweets need.

Mary’s Paleteria is lo-cated on South Tread-away and is open 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. every day.

Page 5October 5, 2007

ArtsFridAyOptimist

BOX OFFICE statsNewly released movies and gross rates for Sept. 28- Sept. 30.

n The Game Plan (PG): $22.6 Million

n The Kingdom (R): $17.6 Million

n Resident Evil: Extinction (R): $8 Million

n Good Luck Chuck (R): $6.3 Million

n 3:10 to Yuma (R): $4.1 Million

COmIng sOOn

Movies opening Friday:

n The Heartbreak Kid (R), starring Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan, Jerry Stiller and Malin Akerman. The movie opens with Eddie (Stiller) marrying a woman he has only known for a week. While they are on their honeymoon, he discovers she is not who he thought she was and that she is a horrible person. While on their honeymoon, he meets another woman and realizes that he should have married her.

n The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (PG), starring Alexander Ludwig, Ian McSane, Frances Conroy and Christopher Eccleston. Based on the novel by Susan Cooper, this is the first movie from her series. The film follows the story of Will Stanton, a man who learns he is the last of a group of warriors who have dedicated their lives to fighting evil. Traveling back and forth in time, Will discovers many clues, which lead him into a battle with unimaginable powers.

n Michael Clayton (R), starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack. Michael Clayton (Clooney) is an in -house “fixer” at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. As a former criminal prosecutor, he takes care of dirty work for the firm’s co-founder Marty Bach (Pollack). Burned out and hardly content, he is tied to the firm. Meanwhile, Kren Crowder (Swinton) rests on a multi-million dollar settlement of a class action that Clayton’s firm is leading to a successful conclusion. But when attorney Arthur Edens (Wilkinson) sabotages the case, Clayton faces big challenges in his life and career.

By Sara SnelsonArts Editor

Abilene is lacking in natural and organic food. Wal-Mart and United offer some organic products, but the selection is very limited and hard to come by. I have been looking for some type of store that offers natural or or-ganic food for some time. Finally, I found the Natu-ral Food Center.

The Natural Food Cen-ter is not large, but it of-fers just enough to get a healthy-food fix. It can-not even be compared to Whole Foods, but the Nat-ural Food Center is the only market of its kind in Abilene. It works for me. I would say it comes close to a Vitamin Cottage in comparison, which is like a smaller version of the organic food chain Whole Foods.

The store offers a wide range of vitamins, toilet-ries, drinks, wheat prod-ucts, vegetables, etc, which

offer good nutrition. The bad thing about

this store is the cost of its products. It is a lot higher than regular food and even higher than Vitamin Cottage would charge. My take on this is that because they are the only place that sells natu-ral and organic food, they can charge more. People are willing to buy highly priced products that aren’t available anywhere else in Abilene. This can cause a problem for college stu-dents who do not have an endless supply of money, but natural and organic food is not something you need to have a lot of, a little at a time is still good and will save money.

The greatest thing about the store is that it serves lunch Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. The menu offers sandwiches, wraps, salads, burritos and smoothies. All the dishes are made with natural and organic food, which com-

pliments the store well. The food was appetizing to the eye (even though it was served on a paper plate) and satisfied my healthy food craving. The items were priced average and ranged from $4 -$7. Some items were served with a drink and rosemary or blue corn chips.

The Natural Food Cen-ter had a wide range of people eating there. The age range was anywhere from 15 to 70 years old. There is something of-fered there for anyone.

This store is not likely to catch your eye, but it is the only natural and or-ganic food store offered in Abilene. The variety is small, but what it does of-fer will satisfy your need for healthy food.

The Natural Food Cen-ter is located on South 7th between Sayles and Barrow and is open Mon.

Abilene offers natural food fix

E-mail snelson at: sas04b@acu.edu

Homemade sweets: a Treadaway treat

Katie Gager, Chief Photographer

Homemade fresh-fruit bars displayed at Mary’s Paleteria on South Treadaway.

E-mail snelson at: sas04b@acu.edu

ViewsFridayOptimistPage 6 October 5, 2007

Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.

Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.

The Optimist encourages reader response through letters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters containing personal

attacks, obscenity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy.

Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.

Address letters to:ACU Box 27892

Abilene, TX 79699

E-mail letters to: optimist@acu.edu

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Online:www.acuoptimist.com

Editorial Board and News Staff

Jared FieldsEditor in Chief

Kelsi PeaceManaging Editor

Lauren SuttonCopy Editor

Rachel DavisOpinion Editor

Katie GagerChief Photographer

Denton JoseyFeatures Editor

Daniel JohnsonSports Editor

Sara SnelsonArts Editor

Camille TurnerVideo Editor

Alex YorkLebensgefahr

Val ValleOnline Editor

Christi StarkAdvertising Manager

Kenneth PybusAdviser

Letter to the editor regarding last Friday’s anti-war protest.

LEttEr to thE EDitor

After reading the letter to the editor titled “Anti-War protest demonstrates lack of respect for American troops,” I can only say I was a bit confused.

I’m glad that the student who wrote Friday’s letter to the editor was enthusiastic about the anti-war protest. So were all of the people

who took part in it. But what I found interesting was that the writer called red paint a “grotesque [image] of blood” and further claimed that the images used in the protest “left nothing to the imagination.”

I think the American people need to stop leaving things to the imagination, because oftentimes they don’t try to imagine war at all. War is, unfortunately, such a glaring, yet far re-moved, part of our history

that Americans don’t really value what’s actually going on. Sometimes we need a swift kick (or in this case, some red paint and well-worded signs) to help us picture just a little more clearly what war is like.

I feel that the passions of America are fueled largely by the ignorance of its people. I understand that many be-lieve the war in Iraq to be one that is completely justified, but I don’t feel that it is. But differing opinions are what

make America so great. The important matter in

this argument is that the soldiers in Iraq are in no way devalued by protests such as the one that took place Friday. The men and women in our armed forces are brave for their actions, no matter whether the war is just or not.

However, after reading Friday’s letter to the editor, it’s obvious to me that the protest was severely misun-derstood. It was against war,

and really had nothing to do with the armed forces. I spoke to several of the pro-testors, who made every ef-fort to make clear that they are in no way cheapening the actions of American troops.

From what I understand, they simply wanted to pro-test against war in general. Not a particular war. Not American soldiers. Just war.

I think the protest was docile in comparison to what could have taken place. I am a pacifist, and I

don’t believe war to ever be a just or good alternative. It should be implicit that I’m not speaking against troops when I say that. It’s very simple: I’m anti-war, not anti-soldiers.

Kristin Woodsenior English major

from Bakersfield, Calif.kxw03d@acu.edu

Peace protest portrays accurate picture of war, not disrespect of troops

Saturday morning I woke up, turned on my TV and be-

gan flipping t h r o u g h c h a n n e l s . I noticed s o m e t h i n g odd after p a s s i n g N icke lode -on. The chil-dren’s sta-tion ran just a logo with s c r o l l i n g text across the bottom.

I haven’t watched Nick-elodeon since my child-hood crush Amanda Bynes appeared in “All That,” so I didn’t know much of the goings on of the network.

Pretty soon after stop-ping on the station, the text started telling me to quit being a slouch and to get off the couch. It told me to go outside and play be-cause the station would be blank for three hours, from noon until 3 p.m., as part of

Nickelodeon’s World Wide Day of Play.

Saturday’s weather was beautiful, but I felt too old to be the focus of Nickel-odeon’s message.

Something could be said for the sad state of our na-tion’s obese youth; rather, I found it sad that Nickel-odeon has to tell kids to go outside and play. I thought playing was the only option facing a bored kid on a Sat-urday afternoon.

Everyday used to be a day of play as a kid for me. It didn’t matter if the temperature was 110 degrees in August or 26 degrees in February: I was go-ing outside to do something.

I thought of other cel-ebrated days we have that shouldn’t need a day all of their own because we’ve forgotten to be a certain way all the time. September offered many great exam-

ples: International Literacy Day (8), World Peace Day (16), International Day of Peace (20), World Gratitude Day (21) and Good Neigh-bor Day (26).

I didn’t know September was such a peaceful and loving month.

Everyday should be “play day” or “peace day” or any other day celebrating a way we should act everyday, not just one day out of the year.

This month offers more random days we shouldn’t celebrate on a daily basis. Here are some ideal once-a-year days coming up later in October: Leif Erikson Day (9), National Grouch Day (15), Dictionary Day (16) and National Denim Day (25).

Now, don’t get carried away and think you should enjoy April Fool’s Day, Bad Poetry Day (Aug. 18), Video Games Day (July 12), Rot-

ten Sneaker Day (March 20) or — possibly my favorite — National Goof-Off Day (March 22) every day of the year.

There’s a reason these should only be celebrated once a year. No one wants you to goof off in your rot-ten sneakers while you play video games all day listen-ing to bad poetry.

But days like the ones listed in September, along with Global Understanding Day (March 26), Earth Day (April 22), Common Sense Day (Jan. 29), World Grati-tude Day (Sept. 21) and Hu-man Rights Day (Dec. 10) should not need holidays of their own.

Why can we not do this every day?

We shouldn’t need a “Na-tional Day of …” to remind us how to treat other people.

Every day needs to be a play day

Fields of DreamsJaredFields

E-mail Fields at: jrf03b@acu.edu, optimist@acu.edu

I wish we didn’t need a “National Day of ...” to remind us how to treat other people.

the problem:ACU has prohibited coed swimming for too long, and it has been an inconvenience for students.

our view:The new change to include mixed swimming hours is a great improvement to meeting the needs of students.

the solution: Resolved.

Pool gives students a mixed choiceACU separated genders in

its swimming pool the day it opened.

Starting this year, both gen-ders are allowed in the Gib-son pool at the same time.

Is this a good thing? Yes.Oklahoma Christian Uni-

versity and Pepperdine Uni-versity have allowed mixed swimming in their on-campus

pool for years. So why has our pool separated genders for so long?

Student-made myths about the pools gender only swim-ming have circulated around campus for years, speculat-ing that the pool donor would give money only if the pool

prohibited mixed swimming. Students probably created this myth just to produce a chuckle out of the situation.

Regardless of myths, Gib-son pool supervisors still of-

fer gender specific times for the people who like and feel comfort-

able with them. The mixed swimming time was added because students were not of-fered enough swim time with just the gender specific times. Students now will enjoy more

swim time because mixed swimming was added to gen-der specific times.

Dr. Lorraine Wilson, who is in charge of the pool, de-serves thanks for this good decision and for meeting stu-dents wants and needs when it comes to pool time.

“Starting this year, both genders are allowed in the Gibson pool at the same time.”

Forget about pumpkins and scary movies, October is the month for taxes and chil-

dren’s health insurance , at least in Washington D.C.

Recently C o n g r e s s shifted its agenda from the stalemate debate on the Iraq war to the domestic hot topic of government-

funded healthcare. Specifical-ly, Congress is considering the renewal and re-jiggering of a federally funded Children’s Health Insurance program. The congres-sional major-ity is calling for a $35 bil-lion expansion to increase the amount of children cov-ered by the State’s Children’s Health In-surance Program.

The program is primarily funded through “sin” taxes on tobacco and alcohol and has been a small success for chil-dren’s healthcare. In fact, be-fore the proposed expansion, the SCHIP covered 6.6 million children from not only poor families but some modest-in-come families also.

But you can’t fool a fool; President Bush sees stalling the program as an effective way to cut government spending.

Bush claims the expan-sion is a sneaky attempt to increase the amount of peo-ple covered by government-funded healthcare and is a step away from the privatized industry thriving today. Bush vowed to veto the bill no mat-ter how much congressional support it gets. He will not wiggle on this issue.

Before this summer all the political rhetoric about healthcare I just spat off would have meant nothing to me. I probably would have stopped reading after the second paragraph.

But after 10 hot and humid weeks working at Street Sense, a non-profit street paper in the District that covers homeless issues often ignored by the mainstream D.C. media, I final-ly care about healthcare.

In a small church office blocks away from the White House, I saw homeless men with college degrees pleading with insurance service opera-tors for treatment approval for a number of diseases that have forced them to settle for life on the dichotomized streets of Washington D.C.

While I saw grown men struggle with something as simple as getting medication or seeing a dentist, I realized the current healthcare system leaves too many Americans

uncovered. Instead of

valuing health and medicine by promoting a public health-care agenda that lifts one another up,

we have turned Americans’ health into a profit seeking industry. Rather than pro-vide treatment, the privatized Health Maintenance Organiza-tions that currently regulate the healthcare industry make more money by denying ser-vice than providing it.

So instead of taking a chance on a experimental cancer treat-ment, the HMO’s would rather save money by letting the can-cer patient die.

Healthcare is a human right. It is not something to be used as a tool for making money off of death.

We have no problem with “socialized” education, but healthcare is not important enough to make a public agenda. The sooner we real-ize healthcare is a univer-sal concept, the sooner my friends at Street Sense and 47 million other uninsured Americans can go to the doctor without the fear of a daunting medical bill.

Healthcare system screams for reform

E-mail Johnson at: djj04a@acu.edu, optimist@acu.edu

opinionShouterDanielJohnson

HMO’s would rather save money by letting

the patient die.

E-mail the optimist at: optimist@acu.edu

a really solid team.”ACU’s first match will be

against Missouri Western State, who owns a 7-13 overall record. But after that, the rest of the Wildcats’ matches will be against nationally ranked teams. ACU’s other match on Friday is against No. 5 Wash-burn, a team that owns a dominating record of 20-1.

On Saturday, No. 6 Tru-man State and No. 23 Empo-ria State are on the Wildcats’ schedule. Truman State was on an eight-game winning streak before falling in five games to Washburn on Tues-day. Emporia State defeated No. 13 Pittsburg State in three games all by the count of 30-22 on Sept. 22.

“I think the competition against this caliber of oppo-nent is going to help us in the long run,” Mock said. “It might be a difficult weekend, but we have enough talent that we can stack up against anybody else in the nation.”

The difficulty is apparent, as the Wildcats will play three top teams in two days. ACU has

already played three nationally ranked teams this season but not in sequential order.

Coach Mock believes the competition will help pre-pare ACU for its conference matches. After the Lady Blue Fall Classic, seven of the Wildcats’ eight remaining matches are against confer-ence opponents.

“It will be a good kick start to the rest of our sea-son,” Mock said.

In the Wildcats’ previous match-ups against top 25 teams, which included Hill-sdale, Florida Southern and West Texas A&M, ACU came up on the losing side in ev-ery match. However, coach Mock is optimistic about how the Wildcats will do this weekend.

“Every time we go on the floor, we expect to win,” Mock said. “The biggest thing I’m looking for out of this week-end is for us to come back, show up together as a team, communicate well as a team and get ready for the rest of our conference schedule.”

“We just want to stay hum-ble,” Badon said.

One of biggest reasons ACU’s offense is doing so well right now is junior running back Bernard Scott. Scott’s game average of 146.2 yards per game is No. 10 in the na-tion, and he is No. 9 in the na-tion in scoring. Scott rushed for over 100 yards and scored at least a touchdown in ACU’s four wins and has a season rushing total of 731 yards.

“He’s a big part of the of-fense,” Badon said of Scott.

“He gets the game going on a good pace when he breaks long runs, and he’s becoming a good spark and leader on the team.”

But Scott isn’t the only rushing weap-on the Wild-cats have.

Both back-up running backs, junior Taber Minner and fresh-man Kebron Lampkin average more than 40 yards per game and each have found the end

zone at least once. The combination of all the

Wildcats’ offensive weapons have helped ACU score 198 points in its first five games.

Northeastern’s offense, which is ranked second to last in scoring in the LSC, should have trouble scoring on a solid ACU defense that held back the No. 1 rushing team in the nation, Eastern New Mexico, last Saturday.

Northeastern, despite win-ning its first game of the sea-son last week, is only averag-ing 11 points and barely 250 offensive yards per game.

Another big advantage is that ACU, who is 4-1, is play-ing at home. The Wildcats are undefeated at home and aver-age 505.5 yards and 43 points in its two games this season at Shotwell Stadium.

“I think it’s a big part of this weekend’s game for the fans to be there and us pre-paring well,” Badon said. “It will be a great combination.”

ACU and Northeastern will kick off at 6 p.m. at Shotwell Stadium.

Friday, October 5, 2007 Page 7SPORTS JUMPS/SPORTS NEWS

Matt Newhouser STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Junior middle blocker Lauren Leone pops a ball up during practice on Tuesday in Moody Coliseum. ACU ranks sixth in the conference in digs.

Football: Wildcats outrank in every category Continued from page 8

By Chandler HarrisSportS Writer

Intramural flag football has been going on for three weeks now, but the play on the field has not been as abundant as scheduled.

“Rain, lightning and pledging have all contrib-uted to postponements so far,” said Susan Hardcastle, administrative coordinator of intramural sports.

Most teams have played at least one or two games by now, Hardcastle said. The weather has been unpredict-able, causing some games to be pushed back.

This year, more weeks were built into the season to allow for such problems.

“It’s nice to get an extra couple of weeks to play, but I wish the intramural office was more lenient to let us play when it rains,” said Chase Lindsay, sopho-more biochemistry major, from Houston, who plays for Team Throttle in the men’s Rec league.

“We’ve only played one game so far, and we have had one game rained out,” said Lauryn Lewis, senior English education and inte-grated marketing communi-cations double major from

Spring. Lewis plays for the team EOX in the women’s Rec league.

Katie Thompson, senior family studies major from Allen, is a member of the Siggies team in the women’s Champ league.

“We have been fortunate to have played two games thus far,” Thompson said. “Some teams, like the Ko-jies, have yet to play a game at all.”

Clark Packer, senior busi-ness management major from Dallas, plays for the defending champion, Gam-ma Sigma Phi football team in the men’s Champ league.

“I’ve been pleasantly sur-prised so far; we are building upon last year and playing competitively,” Packer said. “We have been lucky because we finished both of our games just as storms were about to hit. Hopefully, the rain and bad weather will hold off, and we can play the schedule as is the rest of the season.”

Intramural schedules can be found on the intra-mural bulletin board in the Gibson Health and Physical Education Center.

Intramural flag football games run into delays

By Nathan MacDonaldSportS Writer

Every year, the ACU golf team competes in the Grand Canyon Fall Invitational in Phoenix, but this year was different: they came back victorious. The Wildcats won the Grand Canyon Fall Invi-tational for the first time in school history.

Winning the tournament was not an easy feat either; the last round came down to the wire with the top five teams within only three shots of each other.

“It was a difficult tourna-ment, and the competition was tough,” said golf coach Mike Campbell. “This was a really big win for us.”

The Wildcats shared first place with Point Loma Naza-rene, whose is No.7 in NAIA. Both teams shot 21 under par for the tournament. ACU had one of the lowest rounds as a team during the last round and led the tourna-

ment at the end of the last two rounds.

On a tournament score-board, the teams that are under par have their scores written in red. Accord-ing to Campbell, the board was bleeding. Out of the 15 rounds, 10 of the rounds were under-par.

Individually, three of the five ACU golfers finished in the top 20. Erik Manning tied for the No.6 spot with Grand Canyon’s Donald Zaruba III, Patrick Hanauer shot 69, 68 and 73 for the tournament, which put him in a tie for No. 10 with Andy Moren from California State-Stanislaus and Hilton Funk finished No. 13 overall.

Campbell said he was proud of how his team did at what he called the “toughest tourna-ment of the fall season.”

“All five played really well. Erik really stepped up this tournament, and Patrick and

Hilton played especially well also,” Campbell said.

With half of the fall sea-son finished for the Wild-cats, Campbell said he was proud of what his golfers have done so far.

“We have had great prog-ress from the Charles Coody tournament to the Territory Classic and then made great strides from the Classic to the Grand Canyon Fall Invi-tational,” Campbell said.

The Wildcats start the sec-ond half of its season, trav-eling to Kingston, Okla., and competing in the Texoma Championship. Campbell said his team is ready to keep the ball rolling and win again on Monday and Tuesday.

“The guys are full of con-fidence; we are ready to keep on what we started in Phoe-nix,” Campbell said.

Golf team wins for first time in Phoenix

briaN schMidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Charles Levitte, freshman from Couchey, France, drives a shot at the Charles Coody West Texas Intercol-legiate Tournament on Sept. 11.

Golf

E-mail Freeman at: mxf04b@acu.edu

E-mail Johnson at: djj04a@acu.edu

E-mail MacDonald at: optimist@acu.edu

lot of heart and that they wanted it,” said Pertuit. “I’m proud of the girls. They never gave up.”

Wilson believes the Wildcats can conquer its losing record once his team strengthens its en-durance of playing a 90-minute game.

“Overall, I think we just need to overcome and win again and boost our confi-

dence,” Wilson said. ACU is back in action

on its home field on Friday Oct. 12th at 4 p.m. against East Central.

“We’re just gonna use this little gap in between the next games to heal our injuries and start fresh this week,” Wilson said.

Skid: ACU starts fresh against East Central

Classic: Team prepares for conference

Continued from page 8

E-mail Johnson at: optimist@acu.edu

briaN schMidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Bree Craig, freshman midfielder, dribbles the ball down the field in a game against Hardin-Simmons on Sept. 25.

Scott

Continued from page 8

E-mail Harris at: optimist@acu.edu

Intramurals

By Daniel JohnsonSportS Editor

After winning four straight games by scoring more than 40 points and gathering more than 400 total offensive yards each time, the top-ranked ACU offense should continue to roll again in week six.

The No. 15 Wildcats, who have the 10th best offense in Division II, will take on a strug-gling 1-3 Northeastern Okla-homa State whose defense is ranked 10th in the 13-team Lone Star Conference.

But despite the statistical and ranking difference, head coach Chris Thomsen said Northeastern should still be a challenge for the Wildcats.

“I expect them to play at a high level,” Thomsen said. “There’s some concern on both

sides of the ball. They’re a good football team, and we have to play well to win, so it’s a typical Lone Star Conference game.”

The Northeastern Riv-erhawks’ defense gives up an average 406.4 yards per game and has given up 15 touchdowns this season. Al-though Northeastern is un-defeated in the LSC North after downing East Central in its division opener, it lost all of its season games against other LSC South teams — No. 10 West Texas A&M, No. 12 Midwestern State and East-ern New Mexico.

Senior wide receiver Jerale Badon attributes ACU’s 4-1 success to simply hard work.

“It’s just because we’re working so hard at practice,

just going out every day and working hard,” Badon said.

Badon and fellow wide re-ceiver Johnny Knox provide two tough threats that no de-fense has been able to shut down at the same time, and Northeastern shouldn’t be the first team to do so.

The Riverhawks’ biggest defensive weakness is its pass defense. Ranked second to last in the LSC, Northeast-ern’s pass defense allows an average of 257 yards a game and has given up 10 passing touchdowns this season.

Northeastern isn’t the best against the run either, giving up an average 149.4 yards per game. Badon and Knox have combined for nine of ACU’s 14 passing touchdowns, and each av-erage more than 75 yards

receiving per game. Junior quarterback Billy Malone av-erages 253.2 yards per game and has thrown 14 passing touchdowns this season.

But despite the chance for another ACU blowout victory, Badon isn’t overconfident.

Optimist

spOrtsFridayOctober 5, 2007Page 8

By Michael FreemanASSiStAnt SportS Editor

A fast and furious week-end awaits the Wildcat vol-leyball team as it faces three top 25 teams on the road. Friday and Saturday, the Wild-cats will play a total of four matches in the Lady Blue Fall Classic in Topeka, Kan. ACU will face Missouri West-ern State and No. 5 Wash-burn on Friday. On Saturday, the Wildcats are pitted up against No. 6 Truman State and No. 23 Emporia State. ACU is 7-8 on the season with a 3-2 record in Lone Star Conference play.

The four upcoming matches will not be confer-ence matches as the teams belong to the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics As-sociation (MIAA). The MIAA contains 10 schools, five of which are currently ranked in the top 25, according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Divi-sion II poll.

“On average, they have four teams ranked in the top 25 every year out of their conference,” said head coach Kellen Mock. “Missouri West-ern doesn’t compete as well inside their conference. But with that kind of competi-tion that they’re facing on a constant basis, we can ex-pect Missouri Western to be

Wildcats play three top teams on road

By Christina JohnsonSportS WritEr

The Wildcats lost 2-1 against Midwestern State in Wichita Falls on Wednesday night. The loss marked the Wildcats’ third consecutive loss of the season.

ACU’s record fell to 6-7 overall and 1-3 in the Lone Star Conference. Midwest-ern State increased its re-cord to 7-2-2 total and 3-1 in conference.

In the opening six min-utes of the game, the

Wildcats dominated the Mustangs, 1-0 with an un-assisted goal by sophomore forward Jordan Reese. In the last three minutes of the first half, Midwestern tied with its first goal of the game. Both teams held their own offensively in the second half until the Mus-tangs finally scored with the winning and final goal

in the 87th minute.ACU previously lost to

Eastern New Mexico Universi-ty, 5-4, and West Texas A&M, 3-1. Head coach Casey Wil-son expressed his concern for his team after its third straight loss in the LSC.

“I felt we played better tonight than we did this past weekend,” Wilson said. “In a game like soccer, if you don’t play all 90 min-utes, you’re going to lose,” Wilson said.

Assistant coach Thomas Pertuit said the Wildcats

started the game off at a low point defensively, which led to its downfall.

“I just thought we sat back defensively, and we were on our heels until the last three minutes of the game. When we sat back on defense, that’s what hurt us,” Pertuit said.

Yet Pertuit is still proud of the accomplishments his team has had so far.

“The last three minutes they showed they had a

Put on the Brakes

Wildcats looking to roll over Northeastern

By Rachel Davisopinion Editor

The Wildcats travel to Wichi-ta Falls this weekend to take on other conference opponents in the Lone Star Conference Indi-vidual Championships.

The tournament is not unique to the LSC, but only a few other conferences play any tournaments like this, said head coach Hutton Jones.

“I think it’s a neat thing, and it gives us an opportunity to play for something in the fall; that means something,” Jones said. “It’s really unique and a great chance for the individu-al players to go out there and play for something.”

Fall tennis season is for individual players to shine, Jones said. In the spring, the tennis teams will take on other teams in matches, but the fall season allows individuals to play for tour-nament championships.

Last year, the women’s team dominated the field by

winning eight of nine finals, including both the No. 1 sin-gles and doubles draws.

The men captured only two of nine finals, although the Wildcats advanced to four finals matches in last year’s tournament.

In the LSC Conference Indi-vidual Championships, each coach ranks his or her play-ers based on ability, and each player plays in his or her own bracket based on ranking.

Juniors Juan Nunez and Irene Squillaci will take on the other No. 1 players, and junior Ryan Hudson is in the No. 2 ranking for the Wildcats.

Squillaci won the No. 1 singles title last year, while Nunez made it to the No. 1 final before losing.

“I think Juan has really stepped out and really tried these past two years,” Jones said. “Ryan’s at No. 2. If you’re a good team, it’s a really close call all the way

down the line which players you’ll pick; they’re all very close together.”

Jones said he expects all the LSC teams to come out and be competitive, but there are a few teams that will be more competitive for the men and women.

“Cameron’s men’s team is very strong this year,” Jones said. “On the women’s side, I’ll expect some good play from Northeastern Oklahoma and Cameron.”

The teams have a shot at the tournament, Jones said.

“I think we have a good chance to dominate the tour-nament,” Jones said. “But that’s if all conditions are met. If we play well, we could end up winning more titles than anyone else. The other teams are strong, so we’ll have to play well.”

The Wildcats begin play on Friday.

ACU tennis aims for Individual Championships

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Junior Irene Squillaci returns a shot during the ITA regional tournament on Sept. 21. Squillaci won the No. 1 singles title at the LSC Individual Champi-onships last year. Both Wildcat tennis teams return to action Friday.

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

The Wildcat offense surrounds junior wide receiver Johnny Knox after one of his two touchdown receptions against Eastern New Mexico on Saturday.

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Midfielder Jordan Reese tries to elude a Hardin-Simmons defender in a Sept. 25 game. Reese scored a goal Wednesday against Midwestern State.

Soccer team’s losing skid hits three games

Football

Tennis

See FOOTBALL page 7

See CLASSIC page 7See SKID page 7

Volleyball

Soccer

Friday

TENNISLSC Fall Individual Champion-ships in Wichita Falls, TBA

VOLLEYBALLACU at Missouri Western, 2 p.m.ACU at Washburn, 6 p.m.

Saturday

FOOTBALLACU vs. Northeastern State, 6 p.m.

TENNISLSC Fall Individual Champion-ships in Wichita Falls, TBA

VOLLEYBALLACU at Truman State, 9:30 a.m.ACU at Emporia State, 2 p.m.

Wednesday

TENNISITA Small College National Cham-pionships in Ft. Myers, Fla., TBA

n Home games listed in italics

Standings

Upcoming

Wednesday

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Midwestern State 2, ACU 1

FootballTeam Div. OverallWTAMUMSUACUTarleton St.ENMU

Angelo St.

1-01-01-00-00-10-1

5-05-04-15-04-11-3

TAMU-K 0-1 1-4

Women’s SoccerTeam Div. OverallMSUCentral Okla.TAMU-CWTAMUENMU

NE St.

3-12-02-02-12-12-1

7-2-28-3-16-58-28-34-5-1

East Central 1-2 4-5-2ACU 1-3 6-7Angelo St. 1-3 4-7-1TX Woman’s 0-2 3-7-1SW Okla. 0-2 0-11

Scores

For complete intramural scores and schedules

visit:w w w. a c u o p t i m i s t . c o m

INTRAMURAL ROUND-UP

n The intramural schedule in the Optimist is subject to change and is not permanent. Any changes can be viewed on the intramural bulletin board in Moody Coliseum.

Scoreboard as of Wednesday

SCOREBOARD

Briefs

Women’s basketball team picked to finish second in LSC South

n The ACU women’s basketball team is expected to finish sec-ond in the Lone Star Conference South Division, according to pre-season polls released Wednes-day. The men’s team was voted to finish seventh. Basketball season begins Nov. 5.

VolleyballTeam Div. OverallWTAMUCentral Okla.MSUAngelo St. TX Woman’s

ACU

5-04-04-14-13-23-2

17-516-419-36-1111-77-8

TAMU-K 3-3 8-7Tarleton St. 3-3 9-10Cameron 2-3 7-10SW Okla. 1-3 9-11TAMU-C 1-4 6-11ENMU 0-5 3-17SE Okla. 0-6 4-14

MIDWESTERN STATE 2, ACU 1

E-mail Davis at: red04a@acu.edu