Starting to look like winter

Press206 W. Seventh Street, Cortez, CO 81321

Panther December 2012Volume 13: Issue 2

The voice of Montezuma-Cortez High School

What Lies Within...

Calendar

Crossword ContestPage 10 Page 12Pages 6-7

High School students from Cortez, Dolores, Mancos, Dove Creek, Silver-ton, and E-School (online High School) all were transported to the Southwest Colorado College to learn about a series

C a r e e r d a yKearra Boggs, Photographer

Photo by Kearra Boggs

Journalism sparks interestKearra Boggs, Photographer Photo by Kearra Boggs

On Wednesday, December 5 Panther Press staff members visited Cortez Middle School’s 21st Century students. The trip was intended to get people interested in journalism. The students responded by asking questions rang-ing from, “will I get to wear a fedora?” to “what kinds of equipment will I get to use?” Middle school students have an opportunity to submit their own writing with the possibility of it being printed in the Panther Press.

Christmas feature

KB tournament takes 3rdKyme Lambson, Guest Editor

M-CHS after recent snow storm

This last Saturday, the Montezuma-Cortez High School Knowledge Bowl A and B teams competed in a tournament that the said school hosted. Palisade, Montrose, and Fruita attended the tour-nament as well, and a total of nine teams competed in the academic decathlon. Un-fortunately, the Dolores Knowledge bowl teams cancelled due to an inability to drive roughly fifteen miles to the tourna-ment location. The M-CHS Team A took third place overall, with fifty nine points. Twenty nine of these points were scored dur-ing the written round. The A Team, with

of different careers. Everything from en-gineering to agriculture was presented by key speakers. An M-CHS student thought it was “okay but not very help-ful,” Alex Mims, an M-CHS junior, said.

Kyme Lambson, Andre Esquibel, David Burch, and Xavier Eddy, won two of the three oral sessions in the rooms in which it competed. The oddest factor in this weekend’s tournament was the unique twist that the A Team put on the old Knowledge Bowl tradition of wearing plaid to a tourna-ment: a deep v-neck in the shirts, which revealed a studly mass of chests. This tac-tic, devised by the captain of the A Team, was used to distract the female proctors in each room. To say the least, the event was interesting.

0 2Panther Press News

December 2012

The youth group of Montezuma Val-ley Presbyterian Church has adopted St. Washington for monitoring and cleanup during the comming year. They elected to be responsible for the street in an effort to reach out to the community, demonstrating their con-cern not only for their own surround-ings, but thast of our neighbors in this area. It is the Youth Group’s sincere prayer that other Youth Groups from churches in the city of Cortez, will be inspired by their action and will alss adoptstreets adjacent to their respec-tive churches. Additionaly, once that is done, they hope other organizations in the community will join in with the Youth Groups and adopt street and

MVPC Youth Group Adopts W a s h i n g t o n S t r e e t

Senior Schedule Are ScaryLevi Downing, Staff reporter

Press Release

Caption1

communities that have not already been selected. The end result will simply add to the beautification of our city. It will also bring many folks together in that ef-fort. Most importantly, these youth are putting their faith into action in a very positive and effective manner. Rather than standing back and looking to someone else to “get ‘er done”, they are stepping up and doing something to be of help to the communty right now. We pray you agree. Let’s all pitch in! PS. After the second pass on clean-ing up our street, the kids noticed that the yield of garbage was incredibly less. Hooray!

And the winner is . . . As of November 7, 2012, Barack Obama was re-elected as the 44th president of the United States, r each-ing 270 elector-al votes before the oth-er can-d i d a t e M i t t R o m -n e y (the fi-nal tal-ly was 332 electoral votes for President Obama and 206 for Governor Romney). This election was not decided on popular votes, but electoral votes, since the United

States Constitution adopted the Electoral College (which gives each state the amount of votes,

as it has members in Con-g r e s s ) . President O b a m a won the p o p u l a r vote, with 62, 615, 406 votes to Gover-nor Rom-ney’s 59,

142, 004 votes. He also won the popular vote in Colorado, with 51% of the vote, but he did not win the popular vote in Mont-ezuma County.

Many students think their sched-ule is horrible and couldn’t get any worse, but they haven’t seen a se-nior schedule. There are three main types of senior schedules: schedules that involve required classes, sched-ules that are comprised of college credit classes, and schedules that have seniors trying to juggle school and work at the same time. Each of these schedules can be quite stress-ful, but it depends on how much pressure a student can take. Re-quired classes cause seniors to run around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to complete them. Baylen Garza, a senior tak-ing both required and college credit classes, thinks that he will pass his

classes this year and go on to col-lege. Seniors know if they don’t pass their required classes they will be “super seniors” next year. Col-lege credit classes give seniors a chance to experience a college level work-load. Working seniors are try-ing to finish their school work and homework, while going to work. Working seniors sometimes have trouble staying awake in class be-cause many of them work the night-time shift. The senior year of high school is meant to be tough. Col-lege applications and advanced classes clamor for the attention of a senior’s mind. The reward of gradu-ation and a diploma helps seniors to maintain focus on their classes.

Haley Nadone, Staff Reporter

03Panther Press News

S t a f f S p o t l i g h tKearra Boggs, Staff Photographer

A B e t t e r d a y f o r l i t e r a c yAbby Lock, Editor-in-Chief

Every child in Montezuma County under the age of five is eli-gible to receive a maximum of sixty books at no charge. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has finally reached Montezu-ma County thanks to the Cortez Ro-tary Foundation, Onward! A Leg-acy Foundation, and other commu-nity partners. Registration forms for the program are available at any public library in Montezuma County, the county health department, daycares, the Cortez Animal Shelter, or imag-inationlibrary.com. The form re-quires the child’s name, gender, and birthdate. Each registration form

allows for two children. Guardians must confirm the county of resi-dence with a signature. The books are continually sent to the address on the form, so if the address changes,

the Rotary Foundation must be contacted. F a m i l i e s begin to receive the books eight

to ten weeks after enrolling. Dolly Parton’s Imagina-tion Library is currently serving 280 children in Montezuma County as of December 15, and 657,394 throughout the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. Since it is free regardless of one’s income, the program en-

courages all parents to read to their children. Each month for the first five years of life, enrolled children receive a book. Shane Hale is a Cortez Rotary club member primarily re-sponsible for Imagination Library’s presence in Cortez. “My son was enrolled in the program when we lived in Grand Lake, CO. When I

joined the Cortez Rotary, I pitched the program and found the club very willing to take it on,” Hale said. The Imagination Library pamphlet instructs parents to up-hold their end of the bargain by reading these books to their chil-dren. “I hope that each parent takes it as the gift that it is, and are in-spired to read to their kids at night,” Hale said. Dolly Parton’s mission in creating Imagination Library is to give children a boost toward suc-cessful education during the pre-school years. Shane Hale hopes to see kindergarteners “that are better prepared for school because they have higher literacy” because of Imagination Library.

“I hope that each parent takes it as the gift that it is, and are

inspired to read to their kids at night.”

Shane Hale

Mr.Kelly, the “cool” teacher, is the teacher that understands teens. He found his way to Cortez looking for work after spending his childhood in Oak Lawn, Illinois. Af-ter receiving a degree in Poly Sci de-gree at the U n i v e r s i t y of Illinois, he moved to Chicago. Lat-er he received a mathemat-ics degree at Governors State University. Mr. Kelly teaches Pre-Algebra and Ge-ometry. Mr. Kelly said, “I like to teach both of these classes because

I get to help give students a basic foundation for math.” He says work-ing at M-CHS, though it can be a challenge, is worthwhile. Sequoyah

Treadwell, a senior in Mr. Kelly’s math class, c o m p l e -mented Mr. Kelly on his teach-ing style. “I like Mr. Kelly. I think he has a dif-

ferent method of teaching, and it works.” Many students feel the same, and M-CHS is happy to have an excellent teacher like Mr. Kelly.

OpiniOn04 Panther PressDecember 2012

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W a r m U p O u r H o t s p o t s ! Montezuma-Cortez High School’s students and faculty face a daily battle with obso-lete technology. According to ehow.com, over 45 percent of public high schools across the country allow students access to wireless internet; M-CHS is not amongst them. Accord-ing to Mark Knox, the M-CHS technology director, the cur-rent Wi-Fi system is not ca-pable of supporting the antici-pated amount of activity. “As the number of devices that connect to the access points increases, the bandwidth sig-nificantly decreases with each additional user,” said Knox. I believe that every student and faculty member is entitled to an optimal technological experience. Society has en-tered the age of technology; why should M-CHS not do the same? Superintendent Alex Carter, Principal Jason Way-man, and the technology de-partment have been working to bring Wi-Fi into the hands of students. This is a notewor-thy development in the fight for progress at M-CHS, but what will happen to the ex-pensive new equipment once we relocate to the new school? According to Mark Knox, “the equipment would be shifted to another location in the district: most likely, but not limited to, Cortez Middle School.” The primary benefits of school-wide wireless internet access pertain to classroom efficiency. Teachers would be able to plan lessons that engage their tech-savvy stu-dents. Wi-Fi might also ease the burden of in-class research projects. As ingenious an idea the COW (Computers On Wheels) lab was, students and

staff are often frustrated by the sluggish, outdated, uncharged laptops. The promise of a new school, despite the benefits for future generations, does not permit administration to ne-glect the students and faculty utilizing the current facility. Cell phones, iPods, iPads, and other Wi-Fi capable devices (items initially regarded as contraband) could serve stu-dents and teachers on a new level, and allow for engaging lessons to occur and thorough research to take place. Teach-ers who wish to access You-Tube or other restricted con-tent for educational purposes would still be able to override the content filter(s) on person-al devices. Despite these positive de-velopments, a select popu-lation will manage to abuse their newly gained privilege. With Wi-Fi access through-out the school, administration will diligently monitor stu-dent activity to prevent frac-tious internet conduct. Some staff members might object to the idea of allowing stu-dents to access Wi-Fi during class time. Due to the 57-min-ute time constraints, I believe that each teacher has a right to manage the classroom as he or she sees fit. To propel students into the 21st century, M-CHS should continue with its plans to in-stitute a “Bring Your Own De-vice” initiative. Perhaps this small spark of ingenuity will kindle a larger flame within the minds of students: a desire to learn or even a vital dose of pride in their school.

Abby Lock, Editor-in-ChiefA n e w k i n d o f a r t f o r m It has been brought to my attention that the Arby’s® drive-thru has been tagged seven times. This confuses me. Why would someone continually attempt to vandalize something for no apparent reason? Since then, I have noticed how common tagging or graffiti is in our community. Not only is it common in Cortez, but in Colorado as a whole. Though teens feel they need a way to express themselves, graffiti can have harsh consequences to people in-volved, costly to our town, damaging to property, and to the image of our town. Though people responsible for the graffiti think it’s okay to create their own image for our town, I don’t. The word graffiti comes from the Italian word, “graffiato”, meaning scratched. Tag-ging dates back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. More often than not, tagging is associ-ated with gang activity. In the state of Colorado there are 12,741 confirmed gang members affiliated with 110 street gangs (www.policeone.com). Gang members will tag specific areas to mark territory. When disagreements about territory come up between gangs, it generally ends in vio-lence. This could harm the community. The first thing travelers notice when en-tering a new town is its appearance. When buildings are covered in confusing signs and words the town isn’t making a good first impression. Though it may look cool to the “artists” behind the work, I disagree. Depending on how much damage is done, consequences of graffiti can be brutal. Based on the Colorado Revised Statutes, minors convicted can be charged with any-thing from a misdemeanor to a felony. If the area tagged costs less than one hundred dollars, but more than five hundred, mi-nors will be charged with a class one mis-

demeanor. If it cost one thou-sand dollars or more but less than twenty thousand dol-lars, miners will be charged with a class four felony. Areas twenty

thousand dollars or more, minors will be charged with a class three felony. Ac-cording to law enforcement officer Kalvin Boggs, “When minors get these kinds of felony’s on their records, it becomes near-ly impossible for them to get into college, get a good paying job, or join the army. In some more serious cases they can even loose certain rights like voting and pos-sessing a gun.” Is “expressing” yourself worth possibly getting your rights taken away? Definitely not. The cost of removing graffiti can vary. To remove all of the graffiti and restore the area that was damaged can be expensive. It’s not fair to anyone who may possess something of value to have to clean up these signs of expression. If the tags are meant to be territorial, innocent people don’t deserve to be pulled into a war be-tween gangs. I found out the City of Cortez Police De-partment is available to remove all graf-fiti painted on public and private property. I believe it is a great start to the solution since they offer to do this as a public ser-vice. For more information visit, www.cityofcortez.com. There is no charge for the removal.

Kearra Boggs, Photographer

Graffiti found in the alley behind Pepperhead’s restaurant.

Graffiti found in the boys restroom, 100 hallway, of M-CHS on Dec 11.

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Panther Press OpiniOn

Panther Press 2012-2013 Staff & Information

Editor-In-ChiefAbby Lock

PhotographerKearra Boggs

Staff RepoRteRS

Haley Nadone Adrian Opsahl Levi Downing

Want to adveRtiSe With the pantheR pReSS?

Call abby loCk & haley nadone

at (970) 565 - 3722 ext. 2240

pRefeRably betWeen 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. monday thRough fRiday

ContaCt uS at: montezuma-CoRtez high SChool attn: pantheR pReSS (deb mCviCkeR)

206 W. 7th St., CoRtez, Co 81321

the m-ChS pantheR pReSS iS an open foRum WhiCh opeRateS undeR Re-1 diStRiCt poliCy. the Re-1 SChool diStRiCt, boaRd,

and Staff aRe not ReSponSible foR the infoRmation and opinionS expReSSed

in the pantheR pReSS.

The Panther Press invites your letters, comments, and questions. Letters will be edited on the basis of content and

conciseness.

pantherpress@cortez.k12.co.us

dmcvicker@cortez.k12.co.us

970-565-3722x2240

W h e r e a r e o u r p r i o r i t i e s ? The average teacher salary in the Montezuma-Cortez School District is 50,988.44 thousand dollars (including benefits), while the average reality TV star’s average salary is between 10-25 thousand dollars per epi-sode (the average number of episodes per year are 20-25), which could put their potential annual earnings at 625 thou-sand dollars. By lowering the salaries of celebrities, it would shed light upon the importance of other professions. Kim Kardashian, from “Keep-ing up with the Kardashians”, earned an estimated 18 million dollars last year, raking in more than most doctors and lawyers. But, all these reality TV stars seem to do is get Botox® in-jections, and yell and scream at each other, only to raise their ratings (since the draw to the show is all of their toxic rela-tionships), while doctors save lives and lawyers fight for peo-ple’s freedom. According to Re-searchPennState, people watch these television programs to feel better about their own life.

So why do these so-called “ s t a r s ” , with only a high s c h o o l diploma or a simple college degree, out earn those with a master degree or higher? It is because the majority of the pop-ulation allows it, by watching television programs. Depending on the ratings, more companies advertise, raising the star’s sala-ries. Some people still believe that these celebrities deserve all of the money that they are re-ceiving. They claim that these “stars” have the talent on which the entertainment industry thrives. Some say that these ce-lebrities earn the money they receive. But, is the money they garner too much for the services they render?

Haley Nadone, Staff Reporter

gueSt editoR

Kyme LambsongueSt WRiteRS

Zach SmouseBrandi Avon

T h e d e a t h p e n a l t y i s d y i n g Should ending a life be legal for anyone? The death penalty has always been a touchy sub-ject for a lot of people in the United States. But, people tend not to see past the fact it kills people. There is so much more than just that. It doesn’t just set-tle the minds of the families that were harmed but also the minds of the public as well. I believe that capital punishment should be resurrected and used country wide once more.For families it gives them closure to know the man (or woman) that killed their loved one is dead. The percent-age of executions to murders is extremely small because it’s such a serious punishment; it’s used with utmost caution. Ac-cording to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) & Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), from 1967-1996, there has been one execution for every 1600 mur-ders, or 0.06%. The punishment serves as a deterrent for crime. Without the death penalty they just get life without parole in a cell.From an ethical stand point a life shouldn’t be taken no mat-

ter what they have done. For others a m u r d e r and capi-tal pun-ishment are the same because they are both taking a life. For the judicial system, one of the main reasons for not enforcing the death penalty is the cost. Ac-cording to Judge Arthur Alarcon and Prof. Paula Mitchell, capital punishment has cost California four billion dollars in the last 25 years. Aren’t there less expen-sive methods to take a life?Just because an old system is tossed away doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be used ever again. It has been used effectively throughout his-tory to keep people in line. I don’t think it’s a question of if capital punishment should be brought back, it’s a question of when should capital punishment be brought back.

Levi Downing, Staff Reporter

06Panther Press Feature

December 2012

W i n t e r F u n a t M - C H SGetting Ready for ChristmasHappy Hunting

Fa La La

La La

Amber Foster

Tyler Daniel

Wiley Kirks

Mrs. Turros-Gaddy

Mrs. McVicker

07Panther Press Feature

W i n t e r F u n a t M - C H SGetting Ready for Christmas

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Santa’s coming! Santa’s coming!

Merry Christmas

Mrs. Thiel Ms. Norris

Mrs. Ray

The Office

08Panther Press SportS

F r e e - t h r o w t a k e s i t a l lAbby Lock, Editor-in-Chief Sink or swim

Haley Nadone, Staff Reporter The Cortez Panther basket-ball boys competed against the Mi-yamura Patriots on Saturday, De-cember 15 in the final game of the Cortez tournament. M-CHS start-ed Tallon Ralstin (#3), Jonathan Walck (#10), Jaron Carver (#42), Brackin Whiteskunk (#33), and Briston Walker (#55). Miyamura began the game with possession of the ball after fighting for the tip-off, scoring the first basket two min-utes later. Whiteskunk (#33) made a three-point shot, the first basket for Cortez, nearly thirty seconds lat-er. The first quarter end-ed 16 to 17: Miyamura in the lead. I n the second quarter, the referee called four technical fouls on the Cortez Coach, Mr. Gropp. He was ejected from the game, and assistant coach Dusty DeBoer coached for the remaining time. At halftime, the score was 22 to 35. The Patriots had a whopping 13-point lead on the Panthers. At the beginning of the third quarter with 6 minutes and 16 seconds to go, Cortez calls a time-out. With Miyamura still in

the lead, the score was 25 to 37. Assistant Coach DeBore urged the Cortez players to “box out” in the upcoming plays. With two minutes and five seconds left in the fourth quar-ter, the Panthers made a dramatic comeback, tying the game at 49 points. The referees called a foul

a g a i n s t M i -y a m u r a , and Tal-lon Ral-stin (#3) made both s h o t s , breaking the tie; C o r t e z was in the lead for the first time since the game began. I n the last three sec-onds, the score was 51 to 52

with Mi-yamura in

the lead after a three-point shot. The game’s outcome weighed on Konnar McGee’s (#23) shoulders as he approached the line to shoot two foul shots. He made both of them, bringing the Panthers to vic-tory by one point. The final score was 53 to 52. Brackin Whiteskunk (#33) was the highest scoring play-er of the game, earning 20 points for M-CHS.

The Varsity boys huddle during a time-out. The cheerleaders attempt to keep the crowd’s enthusiasm alive.

Photo by Abby Lock

December 2012

Photo credit Sera King

The swim team poses for a celebratory picture at the Montrose swim meet.

This year is a new start for the M-CHS swim team. With a new coach and a new roster, the team is ready to do what it takes to make it to the top. Ian MacLaren, the new head coach, who previously swam at the College of the Holy Cross, has been giving tough set, but has been getting results. “He will do whatever it takes to make us the best we can be,” Emily Harris, a Dolores senior said. Sage Kramer, a Cortez junior agreed; “he is really nice, but his work-outs are killing

me though.” Already, swimmers have shattered their personal re-cords, and have been getting closer to making it to the state competi-tion. The best part of swimming, sophomore Elena Cope said is “that split second before you hit the water when you start a race.” This year, the M-CHS swim team is looking to improve its status in the swim com-munity, and as Emily Harris put it, “the other teams better watch out, Cortez is coming!”

Panther Press LifestyLes 09Z a c h ’ s B o o k P a r t I IZachary Smouse, Guest Column Writer

My life has had ups and downs throughout my years, as everyone else, but it makes me feel like I will get stronger as life goes onward. No matter how difficult it is to live with CP, I will be as strong as I can be and I won’t let anything get in my way of stopping me. Since day one,the most support that I will have until the day I die will be my parents because they want to see me succeed in anyway at any time. You know, I inspire most of the people I meet because they see that I try my hardest because my par-ents and I know that I have the deter-mination to excel at anything that I set my mind to do something. Challenges happen every day for me and they bring struggles for me to deal with, but I will overcome them with all my might.

My biggest goal in life is to succeed the impossible and make every step count when I push myself to the limit. The farther I go to pushing to getting better; I will have more confidence in myself because, after surviving being dead, I feel like that the man upstairs gave me a purpose to be in this world and I think the reason is because, no matter how tough life is, I brighten other people’s day by showing them that I am the type of person who doesn’t let anything get in my way. I have been trying all my life to become better and I have gotten there by never backing down, and most of the people in my life have looked up to me as their hero because of that and I feel honored to be that type of person.

GIFTS FOR QUILTERS!

Fabric Notions Books & Patterns Quilt Kits Finished Quilts Bags & Totes Baby Gifts

One-Year Class Club Memberships Gift Certificates Free Gift Wrapping

Cortez Quilt Company | 40 West Main | 565-7541 | cortezquiltcompany.com

10Panther Press EntErtainmEnt

December 2012

Adrian Opsahi, Staff Reporter

Turn in your completed crossword to room 110. First 3 to submit correct answers recieve a prize!

1 3

4 10 129

2 13

11 166

8 155

147

Down Across1. New panther press editor-in-chief. 2. M-CHS activities director.3. The street location of M-CHS. 5. M-CHS Social Studies teacher in room 118.4. M-CHS online classes in room 201. 6. CTE teacher in room 610.8. New M-CHS English Teacher. 7. 9th&11th grade counselor.10. M-CHS Theatre teacher.

11. M-CHS PE teacher.15. shape with 5 points 13. Christmas decorations you plug in16. gifts 14. used to decorate Christmas trees

Crossword

9. Math teacher that also sponsors Student Government12. Two old women that answer your letters in the

Panther Press.

Christmas crossword puzzle

It’s pretty awesome, yeah!

Hey, did you study for the test, dude?

Pizza at lik

e 6.

Oh, you almost biffe

d it on sta

ge.

I’m gonna get me a big truck,

put big rims on it and put a big

pink sticker on the back that says

“HOT”.

Hall talk

Merry Christmas M-CHS!

Panther Press OpiniOn 1 1

“I think 3B will help our commu-nity the most and maybe help the

school’s accreditations”

Sydney Getz, Junior

“Amendment 64 will benefit our community the most because it will

keep crime down.”

Gus Lukas, Sophomore

“I think amendment 64 will benefit our community the most.

Instead of marijuana sales going to illegal drug dealers, the money will

go to hospitals and schools.”

Gage Seaburn, Freshman

“Is this a real question? Abso-lutely 3B! Our community will

finally be getting the high school is deserves. It’s a huge step towards improving our education system and a positive step for the com-

munity.”

Thomas McDonell, Senior

Out of the 2012 political season, what new developments do you feel will benefit our community the most?

Abby Lock, Editor in Chief

12Panther Press Calendar of events

December 2012