april 21 edition
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Thursday, April 21 edition of The ParthenonTRANSCRIPT
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Thursday, April 21, 2011Marshall University’s Student Newspaper marshallparthenon.com
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Volume 114 I No. 123
News .......................... 2Sports ........................ 3Opinion ....................... 4Cartoon ...................... 5Life ............................. 6
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Students should not
have to foot the bill for
dining hall renovations
Page 4
London prepares for
Royal Wedding visitors
Page 2
Students raft the New,
Gauley Rivers
Page 6
What to look for in
Saturday’s Green and
White Game
Page 3
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Dining hall facelift
GRAPHIC COURTESY OF DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND RESIDENCE LIFE
Twin Towers Dining Hall will undergo $2 million in renovations this summer. John Yaun, director of housing and residence life, said he hopes the upgraded dining hall will attract more students to Marshall.
Twin Towers Dining Hall to see upgradesBY DALTON HAMMONDSTHE PARTHENON
A� er a year of planning, construction will begin at the end of the month on the renovation of Tow-ers Dining Hall.
John Yaun, director of housing and residence life, said the $2 million renovation will begin when students leave for the summer and be completed on August 10.
“It’s going to be brand new, and the students are really going to like it,” Yaun said.
� e upgraded dining hall will have more food choices for students — with the addition of an Ital-ian bar and a brick oven for students to create their own pizzas.
Yaun said so� er lighting and wood � ooring will also be added to create a more comfortable envi-ronment for students.
An open seating area with a large screen tele-vision and wireless networks are being added to modernize the dining hall, and bar stools and ta-bles will be placed by the windows.
Yaun said the total seating of the dining hall would remain the same, which is currently a seat-ing capacity of 322.
“Students enjoy eating in the dining halls, but we needed to make some changes to update it,” Yaun said. “And student feedback echoed a need to make it more modern.”
� e department of housing and residence life and Sodexo, who manages the dining halls at Marshall, has been in close contact over the past year coming up with the design and schedule of construction.
“We’re � nally at the point where we found a design and timeline — so we’re ready to put it to-gether,” Yaun said.
Residents are excited about the prospect of hav-ing an updated dining hall to go to next year.
“I think it will be great because it will be up-to-date and attract more people to come to Towers and help with the � ow of people,” said Jenna Hilgefort, fresh-man nursing major from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Michelle Cramer, freshman medical imaging major from Vienna, W.Va., said the addition of
better food options will draw people to Towers.“I like the sandwich bar in Harless and having
things like that at Towers would be a good thing,” Cramer said.
Yaun said the dining halls at several other uni-versities, like George Mason and the University of California-Davis, are more than just a place to eat, and he wants Towers to be the same way.
“Dining halls can be a place to do homework and hang out and be with friends,” Yaun said. “It’ll make it a much more comfortable environment.”
Hilgefort said the upgraded dining hall might even play a part in recruiting students to come to Marshall.
“New parts of universities attracts people to come there,” Hilgefort said. “I looked at the mod-ern things Marshall had when deciding what college to pick.”
Yaun said the modernized environment of the dining hall is good for the university in general.
“Overall, any facility like this will make a huge di� erence in a positive way,” Yaun said.
Dalton Hammonds can be contacted at [email protected].
BY JARED ROACHTHE PARTHENON
� e Center for Academic Programs Abroad re-cently awarded 13 Marshall University students with scholarships and the opportunity to travel abroad.
One of the students chosen was Briana Blan-kenship, junior music education major from Grantsville, W.Va.
“When I � rst told my family about this oppor-tunity, they were shocked,” Blankenship said. “But they also know that this is a once in a lifetime op-portunity that I just cannot pass up.”
� is scholarship will allow Blankenship to visit Florence, Italy, where she will study art, music and theater. � e students will stay in Florence for three weeks and can earn up to six hours of credit.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for those students who are a� orded it,” said Donald Van Horn, dean of the College of Fine Arts. “More importantly, it’s about helping to contribute to a more mature and
Scholarship sends 13 students overseas
BY MARIBETH SMITHTHE PARTHENON
Gubernatorial candidate Larry Faircloth and past delegate of the state legislature has experience on his side and is looking to get straight to business.
Faircloth served on the state legislature from 1980 to 2004 and is now in the race for governor. He said he does not have to worry about job training. He already understands the agencies and the state’s legislative process.
“I am more prepared than any other candi-date on the republican ticket,” Faircloth said. “I can really hit the ground running.”
“He understands government,” said Steve Cohen, Faircloth’s campaign manager. “I don’t know of any other candidate who has the years of service he has for the state.”
Faircloth said his three main issues are jobs,
Faircloth understands legislative process
PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIANA BLANKENSHIP
Briana Blaneknship, junior music education major from Grantsville, W.Va., is one of 13 students chosen for the Center for Academic Programs abroad scholarship.See SCHOLARSHIP I 5 See FAIRCLOTH I 5
Thursday, April 21, 20112 marshallparthenon.com
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BY ANNA TOMFORDEDEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR GMBHMCT
LONDON — “Celebrate royally — take three days o� and go away for 11” reads the eye-catching slogan that prompted Louise Stewart to book an un-planned break in Scotland.
Like millions of Britons, the govern-ment employee is taking advantage of an Easter break that is extended by a day o� for the royal wedding on April 29, and a Mayday bank holiday on May 2.
But Stewart, who used just three days of her annual holiday entitlement to make the “bridge,” will not miss the wed-ding. “I’ll make sure I watch it on TV,” she said.
British tour operators have reported an increase of up to 200 per cent in bookings to Spain’s Costa del Sol, where packages include special screenings of the wedding ceremony, parties and “royal dinners.”
“With global media coverage of the nuptials, watching the historic occasion from the comfort of a sun lounger may be the perfect solution for sun-starved Brits,” said travel expert Alison Couper.
Travel company � omas Cook said it had laid on an extra 100,000 holidays to cope with demand.
However, the gap le� by those joining the great wedding getaway is expected to be � lled by the more than 600,000 extra visitors estimated to � ock to London for the big day, according to the Visit London tourist authority.
� e wedding fans, who will be in Lon-don on top of the 500,000 tourists visiting the capital on a “typical day,” have been tempted with an elaborate program of royal walks and parties, concerts and balls, said a Visit London spokeswoman.
A sharp increase in bookings has been reported by hotels and airlines since Janu-ary, with visitors from the U.S. among the keenest to experience the royal wedding, followed by Japan and France, surveys have shown.
For stay-at-home Britons, meanwhile, the celebrations are unlikely to match the party fever that gripped the nation in 1981, when more than 10 million people turned up to street parties to mark the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
� e response to street parties, a very British institution that goes back to the “peace tea” celebrations initiated a� er World War I, has been muted, with just 4,000 such gatherings registered in Eng-land and Wales.
� e apparent lack of interest in com-munity festivities so alarmed Prime Minister David Cameron that he urged councils to “cut the red tape” and an-nounced that he and his wife, Samantha, would host a street party in Downing Street.
Organizers have complained that cum-bersome applications for street closures, and complicated procedures for insur-ance, security and indemnity, had put o� many people from staging a local event.
Rather than following the traditional “British” pattern of celebrating with red, white and blue bunting, paper � ags, sandwiches and tea, modern-day Britons were likely to stamp their “own style” on celebrations, according to Londoner Lisa Hiley.
Hiley, who is organizing a street party in Wandsworth, south London, told the Daily Telegraph the event would strike a balance “between tradition and innovation.”
It would be a relaxed a� air where Ja� a
cakes and tea would be served, but there would also be games for children and and a bar with “pumping music” for old and young to enjoy.
According to a survey published by the
Daily Telegraph Wednesday, 34 percent of Britons would celebrate the wedding day “in some way,” with 58 percent say-ing that they would watch the ceremony on TV.
With sunshine forecast for the day, British retailers will hope that estimates of consumers spending an extra 480 million pounds ($786 million) on the four-day weekend, will come true.
Britons prepare for big party to mark wedding day
CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS | LOS ANGELES TIMES | MCT
London’s Westminster Abbey, venue for the wedding of Price William and Kate Middleton on April 29 has been a top London tourist attraction for years and carries an entrance fee of an estimated $30 (16 pounds) for those not worshipping.
BY JULIE CARTLOS ANGELES TIMESMCT
Ranchers � ung open gates in hopes their live-stock could escape fast-moving � ames. One family watched in horror as two of their horses caught � re and galloped away in � ames. Homes, barns, oil � eld pump jacks and thousands of acres of rangeland are now blackened.
Such were the scenes in drought-plagued west Texas, where the mammoth Rock House Fire has raged for two weeks, part of a complex of more than a dozen � res stretching across a swath cut by the Pecos River in southwest Texas.
No part of Texas has been spared. � ere are crown � res in the eastern Pine woodlands, � res around Dallas, Austin and Lubbock, and large � re complexes in the Panhandle and the Big Bend region of west Texas.. � e unprecedented � res have been driven by � erce winds and burned nearly 2 million acres, bringing much of the na-tion’s available professional � re� ghting resources pouring into Texas.
� e state, said Texas Forest Fire Service spokes-man Marq Webb, is burning from “stem to stern.” Two � re� ghters have been killed, including one Wednesday, near Lubbock.
� e � res continued to rage across Texas Wednesday. Every heavy air tanker in the coun-try is being deployed here, as are four C130s and the California-based DC-10. A cold front eased back temperatures and raised humidity some-what, but red � ag warnings remained in place in nearly every county in the state.
Forces have been so overwhelmed that some small towns have been le� to defend themselves.
Fort Davis’s 35-man volunteer � re department raced to aid a neighboring town, Marfa, when most of the � res began two weeks ago, leaving it’s own community of 1,500 undefended. � e Mile High Volunteers crew found a vacant house engulfed in � ames, but saved every other home in town. But as they were working, 70-mile-per-hour winds pushed the grass� re skimming across bone-dry pastures, 21 miles to Fort Davis, where 1,000 visitors had gathered for an annual bike race and teens were shopping for prom clothes.
� e native black Grama and blue Grama grasses surrounding Fort Davis were tall and thick. � e moisture in local timber had been recently mea-sured at 2 percent _ kiln dried lumber comes in at 4 or 5 percent. It was hot, unseasonably so, with
temperatures near 100 degrees. And everything was dry, more dusty and cracked than anyone could remember.
Fort Davis was in trouble. � e town’s � re� ght-ers were in their rigs roaring back up Highway 17, chasing the same � re they had just herded out of Marfa. � e � re’s path, which began as skinny and spear-shaped, bulged as it went north, gain-ing size and speed as it consumed fuel. � e wall of � re that neared Fort Davis was � ve miles wide.
� e landscape in west Texas is � red adapted, able to endure annual con� agrations. So, too are its people. As the � re neared, ranchers rushed to gather their herds of black Angus, shoo goats and horses into barns or turned them loose to save themselves. One local rancher’s herd of cows and their calves � ed the � re, but came to a dead stop at an impassable stock fence, where a shi� ing wind allowed the � ames to catch them. In all, nine horses and 152 head of cattle perished.
By the time the Fort Davis � re� ghters returned, the town had caught a momentary break. � e wind’s caprice split the oncoming � ames, halving the � re front and sending it around town. On U.S. Forest Service � re maps, Fort Davis is noticeable as a beige doughnut hole in an otherwise red-colored landscape.
But the wind lo� ed embers and ignited spot � res in every direction. More than two dozen homes were on � re. With every garden hose in town going full blast and � re crews pumping their reserves from tankers, more bad news arrived. Fires incinerated power lines and Fort Davis had no electricity. � e Mile High Volunteers could no longer pump water with generators.
Fort Davis is still defending itself from stub-born pieces of the � re. Its residents mostly are trying to � gure out how to help others who were burned out or who lost ranch buildings, fence and equipment. O© cials here estimate at least two thousand miles of stock fencing has burned, which must be replaced at a cost of $5.75 a foot. An online fund to help has been established.
“People are tired and a little cranky, but this is hardy country and these are tough people,” said Matt Miles, pastor of the First Presbyte-rian Church. “We make it out of this � ne.”
� e Rock House � re that began here is now the state’s largest and is roaring in the high country, where crews are making stand to protect a remote Boy Scout camp and the im-portant McDonald Observatory.
welcomes applications for summer and fall 2011 editors.
Available Positions: Executive EditorManaging Editor
News EditorLife Editor
Sports EditorCopy EditorPhoto EditorWeb editor
Application deadline is 4 p.m. Friday, April 29
Applications are in The Parthenon newsroom, Communications Building 109.
The Parthenon is an Affi rmative Action Equal Opportunity Employer and welcomes diversity.
Interviews for all positions to be announced.
Wildfi res leave a path of destruction across Texas
Prince William, Kate Middleton to marry April 29 at historic Westminster Abbey
Thursday, April 21, 2011marshallparthenon.com
12.0 sacks in 2010 season by defensive end Vinny Curry, who is the No. 5 sack leader in the country.
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228320BURNETT, PAUL H. DR. PARTHENON - 2X4 AD
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BY JAKE SNYDERTHE PARTHENON
� e 2011 Green and White Game is upon the � undering Herd football team. � e Herd will suit up Saturday to take on one another in the annual scrimmage.
Senior defensive end Vinny Curry said his last spring game will be an important show-case for the team.
“It’s very important as a team because we are eager to show our fans what we’re bringing this year — what kind of new � avor we’ve added and what spices we’ve added in the whole mix,” Curry said.
Head coach Doc Holliday doesn’t see the spring game as anything more than another day at the o� ce.
“We’re not really concerned about the spring game,” Holliday said. “� at will be just an-other practice for us. We’ve got four practices,
including the spring game, scheduled this week, and we’ve got to go out every day and get better with each one of those practices.”
Regardless of what the spring game means, it will be one of the � rst opportunities for the fans to get a look at the Herd.
Here are some things to look for this Saturday:
Quarterback ControversySophomore’s A.J. Graham and Eddie Sulli-
van have taken a majority of the snaps under center for Marshall this spring. � e Green and White Game will provide the opportunity for each to separate from the other.
Quarterbacks’ coach Tony Peterson said while neither has truly separated yet, both have shown signs of progress.
“Eddie has done a pretty good job of taking care of the football,” Peterson said. “A.J. has actually made a few mistakes there in turn-ing the ball over. A.J. has probably made a few
more plays than Eddie. At the end of the day, though…whoever is going to play is not going to go out there and consistently turn the ball over.”
� e spring game will provide an opportunity for both sides to prove their decision making skills in live action situations.
Strong Defensive Line� e defense is notably the stronger side of
the ball as spring practice comes to an end, especially on the defensive front. � is can be attributed to several returners on the line led by defensive end Vinny Curry.
� e Green and White Game will allow the defense to feature their strength and put some pressure on both quarterbacks as they � ght to shine.
Weak O� ensive Line� e biggest knock on the o� ense during the
spring has been the o� ensive line. � e young o� ensive line has o� en struggled to � nd
rhythm working together but has seemed to improve lately.
� is spring game will be a true test in real scenarios to see if the boys upfront can protect either one of the quarterbacks. Going against a standout defensive line will also prepare the big men for a tough start in the 2011 season.
A New Face at WideoutMuch ado has been made about the move of
freshman standout Conelius Jones to the wide receiver position. Several injuries in the spring to more veteran wide receivers have allowed Jones to grab more reps at the new position.
� e scrimmage on Saturday will give Jones the opportunity for some of his � rst live snaps in situational football. It will be intriguing to watch the adjustments Jones has made over the spring and evaluate his potential at the new spot. � is could determine whether he
Green and White Game offers an inside look at Herd
MARCUS CONSTANTINO | THE PARTHENON
The Thundering Herd runs sprints during spring practice in March. The annual Green and White Game, which takes place on Saturday, will be the fi rst look fans have of the new Herd team.
See GREEN I 5
YONG KIM | PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS | MCT
The Philadelphia Flyers’ Dan Carcillo, 13, falls down against Buffalo Sabres’ goalie Ryan Miller, left, and Steve Montador during the fi rst period in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfi nals at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday.
JIM MCISAAC | NEWSDAY | MCT
Brian Boyle, 22, of the New York Rangers commits an interference penalty against Michal Neuvirth, 30, of the Washington Capitals, during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfi nals at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday.
JIM MCISAAC | NEWSDAY | MCT
The New York Rangers’ Wojtek Wolski, left, checks Alexander Semin of the Washington Capitals during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfi nals at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday.
It’s a great day for hockey
Like most American children usu-ally are, I was afraid of the dark
when I was young and trying to sleep. You might know the feeling, being prod-ded into insomnia by waves of anxiety and you can’t do any-thing to hold it back. In that usual help-less manner that parents try to ease their child’s mind,
my dad would tell me to think about baseball when I was afraid.
And it worked. And it still works. Because baseball is one of the purest sports in which a man can participate. There is no evil in the game of baseball.
But what if there was? What if negativity went beyond the pseudo-hatred of the ancient Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and drew battle lines between players based on race?
What if teams were separated by the color of their skin and not the color of their jerseys?
Enter Jackie Robinson: Had it not been for his Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers 64 years ago last Friday, baseball would not have the integrity it proudly clings on to today.
Let’s take a little look into alter-nate history to prove the impact Robinson had on the game. Had he not had the material to become a World Series champion, National League Rookie of the Year (1947), League MVP (1949), and six-time All-Star, baseball probably would not have seen an end to segregation until the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Because he was only one brave man playing in the big leagues, it prevented the massive surge of players from the Negro Leagues flooding the MLB and causing stirs all across the nation’s teams.
Ever seen Friday Night Lights? Imagine that happening on each team, all the way from the Seattle Mariners to the Atlanta Braves. It would have been a total mess over-shadowing a golden age in baseball. Better a gradual inception lead by a heroic second baseman than two colliding forces mashing together.
We saw how much the Steroid Era took away from the game, and I can only imagine what a Race Riot Era would have done. The crisis was averted, so the next time you see Brandon Phillips, Albert Pujols or even Ichiro put one deep, thank Jackie Robinson for helping take them out to the ballgame.
Contact Bishop Nash at [email protected].
EDITORIAL
Marshall University’s dining halls offer a variety of food to its student body. Sodexo, a third-par-ty company who has the exclusive food contract with Marshall, provides all food and drink sold at campus locations such as the Memorial Student Center Food Court, Starbucks and Harless and Towers Dining Halls.
Sodexo requested a price in-crease on a majority of the food items sold, which means there would be a direct cut in the dis-cretionary spending of students because some of our tuition fees could possibly increase. Food is
a mandatory purchase, and So-dexo is the only provider of it on campus.
Twin Towers Dining Hall is outdated compared to the other cafeterias such as the Student Center Food Court and Harless Dining Hall, which have a more modern look. Towers’ layout needs to be changed because the current layout makes it challenging for students to get food, and carpeting styles could also ben-efi t from an update. It is great that we’re renovating the Twin Towers Dining Hall, but students should not be held responsible to pay the price.
Many issues arise when Sodexo
wants to increase their prices — most importantly, the food quality and options offered. Although food choices have improved, there could still be more options available to students. There is a discrepancy in the cost of buying items at the student center versus the price of a buffet-style meal at one of the cafeterias. One could assume this has to do with the idea of supply and demand — deriving extra income from markup that is applied to the infl ated prices of items in the food court.
Also, you can only use your meal plan “meals” from 1:30 p.m.
to 6:30 p.m. — the reasoning for this not readily being explained. Cafeteria hours are another prob-lem. A few years ago, cafeterias were only open till 6:30 p.m., making it diffi cult for students who have late classes to eat dinner on campus. On the weekends, Har-less is the only option; however they open at 11 a.m., preventing students who work early mornings to come in and enjoy breakfast be-fore they go to work.
The intent of this editorial is not to criticize the operation of Mar-shall’s dining facilities, but rather we want to refl ect on the positive
changes that could be made in an effort to achieve a more satisfi ed student body.
While the dining halls continue to improve each year, things still sometimes need to be updated to meet students’ changing desires. The student body should not have to feel a lighter weight in their wallets for the necessary commod-ity of food. We’re already paying enough as it is, and if foregoing renovations to the Twin Towers Dining Hall means keeping our tuition costs where they are now, then maybe an update isn’t what we need.
Baseball one of the purest sports around
EDITORIAL CARTOON I JEFF KOTERBA I OMAHA WORLD HERALD
OpinionThursday, April 21, 2011marshallparthenon.com
4
Cafeteria renovations need more consideration
BISHOP NASHCHICKEN SOUP
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICACongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble; and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment
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RAY HARRELLGUEST COLUMNIST
Fortunately as president, I am able to serve on many com-mittees that make decisions vital to students.
Recently, I served on the committee regarding our re-lationship with Sodexo, the third-party company who has the exclusive food contract with Marshall and, subsequently, provides all food and drink sold on campus (Student Center Cafeteria, Starbucks, Harless and Towers Dining).
This year, they came to the committee requesting a price increase on a majority of the food items sold. The two members of my executive staff, which also serve on the same committee, and I voted no — and here’s my dissenting opinion:
Whereas, it is understood that inflation over the past year and impending inflation will increase costs for Sodexo, I feel that our food provider must be sympathetic to the financial situations of each of the approx-imately 15,000 students who I represent.
While the obvious cost in-creases will be incurred (as a result of inflation), the company has chosen to undergo nearly $15 million in remodeling its facilities on campus over the course of two years — per-haps an area where Sodexo, respectively, could have cut ex-penses to defray the inflation increases.
Also, I do not believe the in-creases should be incurred on the students because they are not showing any signs of inflat-ing (including minimum wage). Therefore, this will be a direct cut in the discretionary spend-ing of students because food is a mandatory purchase, and Sodexo is the only provider of it on campus.
I hope students feel my deci-sion to vote against this will best represent their interests, but I feel that cost increases imposed on our students is not the best course of action in such rough economic times.
Contact Ray Harrell at [email protected].
Cafeteria prices should not increase
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BISHOP NASHCOLUMNIST
Editor’s Note: � e fol-lowing was originally published on Ray Har-rel’s blog, marshallpres.wordpress.com, used by permission
Thursday, April 21, 2011 5marshallparthenon.com
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CL042111CLASSIFIED CLASSIFIED
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rounded individual.”Van Horn said the CAPA
program can be extremely selective — so it’s a testa-ment to Blankenship’s skill as a musician that she was chosen for the scholarship.
“I’m familiar with her performance as a trumpet major and I have had the opportunity to hear Briana play on numerous occa-sions,” Van Horn said. “She is really a gi� ed musician, one of the � nest we have.”
� e study abroad course will be organized by Byron Clercx, chairman of the art department, Je� ery Pappas, chairman of music, and Ni-cole Perrone, theater faculty member. � e students will be accompanied on the trip by Clercx, who will teach the course.
� is will not be Blanken-ship’s � rst travel overseas, however. In 2009, she traveled to Switzerland and France with the Mar-shall University 12.0 Jazz Ensemble.
“During the course of that trip, I learned so much more than I had ever imagined,”
Blankenship said. “Due to that wonderful experience, when I heard about the op-portunity to take a summer course in Florence, Italy, I immediately applied.”
� e scholarship applica-tion is based on students’ GPA and submission of an essay. Blankenship said the es-say discussed the bene� ts of studying abroad and how it would help her grow person-ally and academically. She said while she’s nervous about it, she’s also excited to learn.
“While in Italy, I want to experience as many things as possible that are unique to the Italian culture,” Blaken-ship said. “I plan on taking a few trips outside of Florence to places such as Venice, Rome and Naples.”
Van Horn praised the impact CAPA can have on students.
“Traveling abroad cer-tainly broadens a student’s appreciation for the arts from other countries,” Van Horn said. “It can also con-tribute to making those students stronger artists and performers.”
Jared Roach can be contacted at [email protected].
the economy and education.“Many young people cannot
� nd jobs and have to leave the state,” Faircloth said.
Faircloth said he wants to bring jobs back home by building warehouses and manufacturing goods in West Virginia to help the economy. Another way Fair-cloth plans to create jobs is drilling for gas.
“We have to be mindful of the environment when creating jobs for gas,” Fair-cloth said. “We also have to be careful of gas companies so they don’t come into the state and take the natural re-sources then leave.”
Faircloth said if he were elected, then he would de� -nitely run for a full term in 2012.
“In 2013, I will just be get-ting warmed up,” Faircloth said.
Faircloth said although he’s not currently in the leg-islature and hasn’t seen every bill that has been passed, he
has big plans for legislation, if elected. He will dra� legis-lation for jobs to encourage young people to stay here af-ter college.
Faircloth also said he is very interested in � nishing Route 32 without using any tolls. He said he believes tolls are silly because he is interested in traveling tour-ism and wants to encourage travelers to drive through West Virginia.
Another main issue Fair-cloth said he would push for in legislation will be im-proving health care as well as education.
“I think I have the ability more than any other repub-lican candidate to hammer out the di� erences with other parties and get good things done for the state,” Faircloth said.
Faircloth said he is not in-terested in wasting any time, if elected. He wants to get straight to business and start reforming the state.
Maribeth Smith can be contacted at [email protected].
FairclothContinued from Page 1
ScholarshipContinued from Page 1
BY ERIKA BOLSTADMCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERSMCT
WASHINGTON — A team that’s spent two decades study-ing psychological distress among residents who lived near the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska has found striking similarities among those a� ected by the Deepwater Horizon spill.
On the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon ex-plosion that killed 11 people and fouled the Gulf of Mexico, the research team warned that the lingering psychological ef-fects of the disaster could be expected to continue over the next decade.
“Technological disasters have very unique consequences for communities, families and people,” said Steve Picou, a sociol-ogy professor at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. “It’s not like a natural disaster. Technological disasters cause long-term corrosive communities, whereas natural disasters result in therapeutic communities.”
� e team has been studying the long-term social costs of the Exxon spill, including increased rates of bankruptcies, substance abuse, divorce and suicides. � ey picked Bayou La Batre, Ala., for comparison, because like Cordova, Alaska, it’s a small community heavily dependent on commercial � shing.
Picou, along with Liesel Ritchie of the University of Colo-rado Boulder’s Natural Hazards Center and Duane Gill of Oklahoma State University, surveyed more than 400 people in south Mobile County, Ala.
Most people were worried about their health or that of their family, the economic loss they’ve su� ered and potential fu-ture economic losses because of the spill, the team found. Of those surveyed, more than a � � h were in severe psychological distress. Another fourth were in the moderate distress range — � ndings that were similar to Cordova following the Exxon Valdez spill.
“Several people told us: ‘We know what to do a� er a hurri-cane. We know how to pick ourselves up and move on. How to plan, how to build better,’ “ Gill said. “ ‘� is oil spill? We don’t know. � ere’s so many uncertainties associated with it.’ “
� e anniversary of the spill has caused many to re¤ ect in Cordova, where a state-ordered oil spill response drill was under way Wednesday a� ernoon. For Osa Schultz, the discus-sion about the safety of Gulf Coast seafood is especially eerie. It’s one they struggled with in Alaska, which lost market share because of the taint of the spill — if not the actual harm to � sheries.
“I can’t help but think about what the people in the Gulf are doing, the small businesses and the residents, and re¤ ect on the many years that we’ve fought to even come back up to even. Or try to anyway,” said Schultz, who continues to run a � shing boat with her husband.
� e researchers hope that what they’ve learned in Cordova since 1989 will aid those in the Gulf of Mexico. � ey’ve taken a so-called “peer listening” program they used on a much smaller scale in Alaska to the Gulf, where they’ve trained more than 600 people in the concept.
Researchers warn of Gulf spill’s lingering effects
BY HUGO MARTIN AND JULIE MIANECKITRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAUMCT
WASHINGTON — Frustrated airline passengers who have lost luggage, been forced o� overbooked ¤ ights and been de-layed on international ¤ ights may get some relief under tough new regulations announced by federal o§ cials.
� e Department of Transportation rules, most of which take e� ect in August, expand on a set of groundbreaking policies the department adopted last year to penalize airlines that keep passengers stuck on delayed domestic ¤ ights for more than three hours.
“� e additional passenger protections we’re announcing today will help make sure air travelers are treated with the respect they deserve,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday.
Among other changes, LaHood announced that the � nes pre-viously imposed on airlines for keeping passengers stranded on delayed domestic ¤ ights will be extended to international ¤ ights.
� e rules also increase to $1,300 from $800 the maximum compensation airlines must pay a passenger who has been forced to give up a seat on an overbooked ¤ ight. Airlines will also be required to prominently disclose all extra fees on their websites and reimburse baggage charges to passengers whose bags are lost.
Passengers and passenger-rights groups praised the new rules, saying they were needed to keep airlines from mistreat-ing passengers.
Joyce Cavarozzi, 79, a business traveler from Kansas visit-ing Washington, said she had seen the quality of airline service decline over the last few years and supported new government regulations on the industry.
“If you don’t behave responsibly yourself, it’s like your par-ents,” she said. “� ey’ve got to tell you to behave responsibly.”
A trade group for the nation’s largest airlines said the airline industry had made great strides in improving passenger ser-vice in the last few years and believed that more government
regulations were not needed.“Market forces, not additional regulations, are already pro-
viding customer bene� ts,” said Nicholas E. Calio, president of the Air Transport Association.
Delta Air Lines, the nation’s second-largest carrier, said it had voluntarily adopted many rules to improve its service. For example, the airline already o� ers a rebate to passengers whose bags are lost or not returned within 12 hours, said Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter.
LaHood’s department adopted a rule last year that � nes air-lines up to $27,500 for every passenger on a domestic ¤ ight who is stranded for more than three hours without being al-lowed to return to the terminal. Under the newest rules, the same penalty would apply to airlines that keep passengers stranded on an international ¤ ight for more than four hours.
� e new rule came partly in response to an international ¤ ight that kept passengers on a runway for 11 hours during a blizzard in December at New York’s John F. Kennedy Interna-tional Airport.
In the past, airlines have opposed such rules for international ¤ ights, saying they could not return to the terminal those foreign passengers who had already cleared customs and im-migration checks. � e Transportation Department said it was working on procedures to allow airlines to accomplish this.
Since the � nes for domestic ¤ ights were imposed last April, delays of more than three hours have dropped dramatically. From May 2010 to February 2011, there have been only 16 de-lays of more than three hours, compared with 664 such delays in the same period a year earlier.
� e Transportation Department, which exempts airlines from � nes for delays caused by safety issues or by air tra§ c controllers, has yet to impose one of the new higher � nes.
Airlines are allowed to oversell a ¤ ight to make up for passen-gers who don’t show up. But they must compensate passengers who are bumped from an overbooked ¤ ight as much as $800. Under the new rules, the airlines will have to compensate pas-sengers up to $1,300, depending on how long they are delayed.
US expands protections for airline passengers
remains at wide receiver or begins a transition back to quarterback.
Which Running Back Shines?While the quarterback battle has grabbed most of the head-
lines in the spring, a smaller skirmish is brewing at the ball carriers slot. Sophomores Tron Martinez and Essray Taliaferro and junior Martin Ward will each be working to gain more time in the back� eld.
While it is probable that the trio will split the load over the course of the regular season, the backs will be � ghting to be
the premier back for the o� ense. A good showing in the spring game could put one of these running backs on the right track.
A Final � oughtWhether the Green and White Game is a signi� cant event
or just another practice for the � undering Herd football pro-gram, it is important to note it is the last day of the spring for the squad. No doubt it will be on the minds of fans, players and coaches alike when the team reports in the fall.
Kicko� for the annual Green and White Game begins at 4 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are available to the public for $10 for adults and $5 for children under 17.
Jake Snyder can be contacted at [email protected].
GreenContinued from Page 3
Thursday, April 21, 2011marshallparthenon.com
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PAGE EDITED AND DESIGNED BY ASHLEY GROHOSKI - [email protected]
BY ELIZABETH STEWARTTHE PARTHENON
As the weather warms up, students can use the riv-
ers of West Virginia to cool down by driving just a couple of hours to enjoy the New and Gauley Rivers in Oak Hill, W.Va.
� e Gauley River is known as the “Beast of the East” and features class four and � ve rapids. And it is ranked as one of the best whitewater runs in the world, ac-cording to the West Virginia Department of Commerce’s website.
� e New River, which features an upper and lower river, has rapid intensities ranging from class one to class � ve. � is gives visitors with di� erent ra� ing experi-ence levels an opportunity to participate.
“� is is an excellent time of year to ra� because the spring water is really high right now,” said Brad Scott, river guide for ACE Adventure Resorts.
Visitors or groups can rent out a ra� and spend ei-ther a day or a whole weekend ra� ing down sections of either the New or Gauley Rivers.
“It’s really a lot of fun, especially for groups,” Scott said. “Ra� ing is de� nitely a bonding experience.”
Students who have never been ra� ing have no need to fear when ra� ing with an experienced river guide. In the morning before each trip, the trip leader goes over safety precautions for whitewater ra� ing, accord-ing to Scott. Yet, even Scott admits all the talking in
the world doesn’t prepare you for the feeling that over-comes you when you get on the river.
“I love to watch the looks on people’s faces when they � rst slide into the water,” Scott said. “All that ap-prehension and fear just melts away and you are just completely in the moment.”
Scott said his love for the river is what inspired him to become a ra� ing guide in the � rst place.
“I started rafting when I was 15 and just fell in love with it then,” Scott said. “It’s great to have a job
where I can show others what a beautiful and amazing area this is.”
Students who take a whitewa-ter trip should be prepared for a long but exciting day, Scott said.
“� e rapids are di� erent ev-ery day so you never know what’s going to happen — from
ra� s � ipping to colorful guests, every day is an adven-ture,” Scott said.
Scott suggests Marshall students especially should experience ra� ing the New and Gauley Rivers during their time in Huntington.
“� is is a cultural experience unique to West Virginia,” Scott said. “Ra� ing this style of rivers is something you can only do here in West Virginia.”
Interested students can visit the West Virginia De-partment of Commerce or ACE Adventures’ website for more information on whitewater ra� ing in West Virginia.
Elizabeth Stewart can be contacted at [email protected].
West Virginia whitewater rafting adventures attracts students
BY KELLEY BUGLERTHE PARTHENON
Anyone who visits the Women’s Studies o� ce in Old Main will � nd a hardworking graduate assistant organizing events for an even harder working boss.
“It’s really great working for her, but it isn’t a job for someone who just wants to come in, get their work done and go home,” said Leslee Browning, graduate psychology student from Gil-bert, W.Va. “I � nd myself wanting to help her because I like her so much.”
Browning is describing Wendy Williams, psychology profes-sor and director of the Women’s Studies program.
“I conducted research with Wendy my senior year,” Brown-ing said. “And when I heard she would be the new director and needed an assistant, I jumped at the opportunity.”
Browning said she did not even know what Women’s Studies was before Williams introduced it to her, then she fell in love with it.
“She is an awesome professor who wants to be involved with her students and their work,” Browning said.
Browning said Williams is so passionate about her work and her personality is so attractive that it makes it impossible not to like her.
“She wants to inspire people,” Browning said. “And she is one of those teachers who really cares about what she does.”
Browning is referring to how Williams cares not just about teaching her students, but also in making a di� erence through her ongoing research.
“In her research class, we collected data to see if we per-ceive the American dream as obtainable or unobtainable in our lives.”
Williams said a� er talking to and surveying low-wage work-ers, they still endorse the American dream — even though countless studies say it is really hard to make it happen.
“I don’t want it to seem in a mean way where people hold up a mirror to themselves saying, ‘I’m never going to make it,’ but I’m looking for just a recognition that it is not as easy as it seems,” Williams said.
Williams said the information she gave to Browning’s re-search class included a public policy report from some time around the 2009 economic crash.
“� e report said that although previous generations are do-ing better than past generations — meaning kids today are doing better than their parents — it still depends on where a person starts,” Williams said.
Williams said the report stated people at the bottom are most likely to stay at the bottom, people at the top are most likely to stay at the top and people in the middle have an equal likeli-hood of going up as they do going down.
“All we ever talk about is the going up part and not the part about if you are born at the bottom, you are most likely to stay there,” Williams said.
Tyler Sergent, Williams’ � ancé and religious studies pro-fessor, said Williams’ concerns for social justice, especially pertaining to gender and social class stigmas, comes from her big heart and her own adolescent hardships involving her par-ent’s divorce and her family’s drop in economic standing.
“When her stepfather lost his job, their economic status changed tremendously,” Sergent said. “Her experience in the comfortable middle class and suddenly dropping down into lower economic class a� ected how she felt and how she was treated. I think it had a lot to do with her academic interests now.”
Williams said she was always curious about why things are the way they are when she was a child, especially pertaining to the way her special needs sister was treated by society.
“I saw in vivid, living color by simple accident of birth all the things that I had that she didn’t have,” Williams said.
When Williams was in high school, she had the opportunity to go to Girls State at the University of Tennessee, which is a summer leadership and citizenship program sponsored by the American Legion.
“I think that was one of the � rst times I actively took on the mantle of being a feminist,” Williams said. “I’m not even sure I used the label, but if I had one de� ning moment where I en-joyed being around other passionate, engaged women, that would be it.”
Williams said while attending Girls State, she ran for a rep-resentative spot to propose legislation that would allow her special needs sister to attend the program.
“� e criteria for picking the young women who attended was able-bodied and high-achieving,” Williams said. “I thought
everyone would jump onboard for my equality legislation, but it didn’t pass. I learned a real hard lesson about entitlement and apathy, and not everybody saw the same things I saw from my experience, even in this great place.”
Williams said a common misconception about feminists is they are better than men, but feminists believe in equality be-tween men and women. Also, it is commonly misunderstood that only women, not men, are feminists.
“One thing we talk about regularly is feminism at its root is simply about treating people equally and not having inequali-ties and imbalances between genders,” Sergent said.
Sergent said the things Wendy does professionally are the things that matter to her personally.
“Being the director of women’s studies has been something she really, really cares about and has done a great job at that in every standard,” Sergent said. “� ere are things she is publicly involved in that are personally important to her.”
Williams has a full plate with working and planning her wed-ding that is scheduled for Saturday, May 21, at Heritage Farms in Huntington.
“Tyler is a great support to me, and I think what ties us so closely together is that he is really about social justice as well,” Williams said.
Not only does Williams work hard, but she plays hard as well.“We love spending time together,” Williams said. “It doesn’t
really matter what we are doing as long as we are together. We enjoy anything from being lazy coach potatoes to exploring historical and cultural events.”
Sergent and Williams both love to travel and have gone all over the world together. One particularly special trip for both of them was going to Denmark last summer.
“Wendy had a student in one of her classes, Camilla Overup, who is originally from Denmark,” Sergent said. “One of the really good days we had while we were over there, we visited Camilla and met her parents and spent the day with them. It was just a great day, and the weather in the summertime in Denmark is absolutely beautiful.”
Whether it’s spending time with her � ancé, working with students or traveling around the world — Williams puts every-thing into what she is doing.
Kelley Bugler can be contacted at [email protected].
“Rafting this style of rivers is something you
can only do here in West Virginia.”
- Brad Scott
Social justice activist teaches with passionPHOTO COURTESY OF WENDY WILLIAMS
Wendy Williams and her fi ancé Tyler visit Denmark’s amusement park, Tivoli located in Copenhagen during summer 2009.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ACE ADVENTURE RESORTS
ACE Adventure Resorts allows visitors or groups to rent out rafts to use during their adventures traveling the New or Gauley Rivers.