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Issue 2 2011-2012

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Issue 2 of the NIC Sentinel 2011-2012
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Devin Heilman Managing Editor “P aper or plastic?” is not just a question asked in grocer y stores anymore. It can now be applied to the new finan- cial aid process at NIC. Beginning this semester, NIC entered a modern era where paper checks can be a memory of yesteryear. Students have three options when choosing a method for receiving financial aid: the Higher One/ myNIC card, a direct deposit to a personal bank account or a traditional paper check. Diana Plum, manager of student ac- counts, said NIC switched to electronic disbursements to give students more op- tions in receiving their school funds. “We don’t have the capability to offer students the options that a third-party ser- vicer could, so we chose to draw on their experience and utilize them for financial aid disbursements,” Plum said. Plum said more colleges and universi- ties are moving to electronic disburse- ment because the paper-check method of disbursement has limitations, includ- ing returned checks from bad addresses and fees for students not affiliated with a bank. She said President Bell asked the business office to explore financial aid dis- bursement options. Plum and representatives from stu- dent accounts, information technology, financial aid, communication and market- ing, business and others convened once a week for 10 weeks to decide on the myNICcard implementation procedure. She said staff members researched the process for months to ensure the switch was in the best interest of NIC. “This wasn’t a decision that was made lightly,” she said. “It was a decision that was made to offer the students a variety of ways to receive their financial aid dis- bursements while attending NIC.” Through the summer, NIC mailed myNIC cards to students in envelopes with instructions to not dispose of the con- tents. The card within was the key for re- ceiving funds, regardless of the student’s chosen method. Students choosing to have their loans deposited into the “OneAccount” allowed them to receive money the day funds were released. Although this method can expedite the acquisition of loans, it can be costly if one does not read the fine print. Students may accrue fees when using a OneAccount, including ATM fees or fees for using a PIN instead of swiping the card as “credit.” Posters on campus re- mind the student body to “swipe, choose credit and sign.” The cost varies per trans- action when using the card in a non-High- er One machine. Some students said having money on the myNIC card was an ordeal. David Kopriva, 27, Coeur d’Alene, computer science, said his experience with the myNIC card was far from ideal. He borrowed a large sum of money to pay for tu- ition because he hadn’t yet re- ceived his funds. “Why couldn’t I choose to have the money sent to me without acti- vating the card first?” Kopriva asked. He said it was frustrating to have lim- ited access to his funds. He said the $6-9 withdrawal fees cut into his ability to take out money in $20 increments. “I pulled out the first $500 and the remainder was $381,” Kopriva said. “So with a $3 fee, it’s now $378, which means I can’t withdraw the $18. It’s my money and I should do what I want with it easily. It was ver y upsetting.” Racine Balough, 22, Sedro-Woolley, Wash., communications, felt the myNIC card was a “pain in the neck.” Balough said she felt the school didn’t really explain what the NIC cards were about before sending them to the stu- dents. She said she feels it would’ve been a lot handier if they had explained how to use the card before they made it an op- tion. “I would’ve much rather not had the card period,” Balough said. Plum said students can express their concerns at future forums where students can seek assistance with issues that have occurred and recommend solutions. “We ask that everyone be patient and understanding as we work to streamline these processes,” Plum said. “It takes a little time to work the kinks out of a new process.” For those who would rather wait for funds or simply avoid dealing with the OneAccount, the paper check and direct deposit options are still available. The direct deposit process takes up to five days once the loan recipient visits the myNIC card web- site, chooses the “electronic trans- fer” option, prints and signs the verification form, sends the form in the mail and allows time for the form to be processed. The paper check method takes up to seven days once all information has been processed correctly. The Bancorp Bank issues the MyNIC cards. Higher One, the Conn.-based fi- nancial institution which administers the myNIC card, handles the student finances of hundreds of schools around the U.S., including the University of Montana, Port- land State University and Idaho Southern College. WHERE TO START “ With this administration it does not look like poor investments will end any time soon. ” QUOTABLE Perspectives Page A6 Comic conveys confidence Lively comedian Kyle Cease sends inspirational messages through humorous words. Entertainment Page B5 WINTER 50 class days left UNTIL BREAK News...........................A1 Perspectives ........... A6 Lifestyles....................A8 Games.................... A11 Tobacco Pro & Con.....A12 Sports ..................... B1 Entertainment ...... B5 Faust..........................B8 CAMPUS Number of students increases Nearly 7,000 people are attending NIC NEWS Peabody Award winner speaks to students| Page A2 PERSPECTIVES Crosswalks cause campus chaos | Page A7 ENTERTAINMENT Red Hot Chili Peppers review| Page B7 Women’s soccer holds top spot with 10-0 score. | Page B1 LADY CARDINALS STOMP RIVALS the Sentinel THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE WWW.NICSENTINEL.COM Volume 65 | Issue 2 MONDAY | OCTOBER 3, 2011 Tala Wood Staff Contributor NIC enrollment numbers continued climbing upward this fall, mirroring the record-breaking trend of the last few years. Fall enrollment is up 6.4 percent from the fall 2010 semester, which saw an in- crease of 12.16 percent over fall 2009. Last semester, Vice President of Stu- dent Ser vices Sheldon Nord attributed the increase in enrollment to the econo- my. “College enrollment tends to go up with a recession,” he said. This semester, NIC’s student body is composed of 3,465 full-time students and 3,286 part-time students. Women continue to outnumber men, with NIC enrollment at 61 percent female and 39 percent male. In previous semes- ters, men had seen an increase; in spring 2011, men made up 41 percent of the total enrollment, which was an increase of 1 percent from the spring of 2010. The average age of the NIC student is 27 this semester, a change from the spring 2011 semester’s average age of 28. The dual-enrollment program, which allows high school students to take NIC courses for both college and high school credit, now consists of 646 students. Lake City High School continues to contrib- ute the greatest percentage, followed, in order, by Coeur d’Alene High, Lakeland High, Post Falls High, home-schooled students, Coeur d’Alene Charter Acad- emy, Timberlake High and Kellogg High. This semester, 654 students come from Bonner County, 238 from Boundary County, 234 from Shoshone County and 293 from other Idaho counties. The greatest number of students con- tinues to come from Idaho, but NIC now has 370 students from Wash. and 100 from Mont. There are currently 235 stu- dents from other states. Of enrolled students, the greatest number, at 32 percent, is19 or younger. Students between the ages of 20 and 24 make up 24 percent, and students 25-34 years of age consist of 23 percent. 21 per- cent of NIC students are 35 or older. By the Numbers Percent increase since fall 2010 Average age of students for fall 2011 Duel-enrolled students attending NIC Percentage of female students 6.4 27 646 61 |Nothin’ like a good old-fashioned rugby take down Gabe Green/Sentinel Flanker Ray Blacketer, 20, Florence, Mont., law enforcement, of the Cardinal-Osprey hybrid team presses mightily into a scrum while trying to gain possession of the ball during a game against the University of Idaho Vandals. Blacketer posted a try (worth five points) during the third game of the Kootenai Cup. See page B2 for the full story. Financial aid disbursement goes digital Implementation of myNIC card introduces new process for receiving funds See A7 for more on the myNIC card.
Transcript

Devin HeilmanManaging Editor

“Paper or plastic?” is not just a question asked in grocery stores anymore. It can now be applied to the new finan-

cial aid process at NIC.Beginning this semester, NIC entered

a modern era where paper checks can be a memory of yesteryear. Students have three options when choosing a method for receiving financial aid: the Higher One/myNIC card, a direct deposit to a personal bank account or a traditional paper check.

Diana Plum, manager of student ac-counts, said NIC switched to electronic disbursements to give students more op-tions in receiving their school funds.

“We don’t have the capability to offer students the options that a third-party ser-vicer could, so we chose to draw on their experience and utilize them for financial aid disbursements,” Plum said.

Plum said more colleges and universi-ties are moving to electronic disburse-ment because the paper-check method of disbursement has limitations, includ-ing returned checks from bad addresses and fees for students not affiliated with a bank. She said President Bell asked the business office to explore financial aid dis-bursement options.

Plum and representatives from stu-dent accounts, information technology, financial aid, communication and market-ing, business and others convened once a week for 10 weeks to decide on the myNICcard implementation procedure. She said staff members researched the process for months to ensure the switch was in the best interest of NIC.

“This wasn’t a decision that was made lightly,” she said. “It was a decision that was made to offer the students a variety of ways to receive their financial aid dis-bursements while attending NIC.”

Through the summer, NIC mailed myNIC cards to students in envelopes

with instructions to not dispose of the con-tents. The card within was the key for re-ceiving funds, regardless of the student’s chosen method.

Students choosing to have their loans deposited into the “OneAccount” allowed them to receive money the day funds were released. Although this method can expedite the acquisition of loans, it can be costly if one does not read the fine print.

Students may accrue fees when using a OneAccount, including ATM fees or fees for using a PIN instead of swiping the card as “credit.” Posters on campus re-mind the student body to “swipe, choose credit and sign.” The cost varies per trans-action when using the card in a non-High-er One machine.

Some students said having money on the myNIC card was an ordeal.

David Kopriva, 27, Coeur d’Alene, computer science, said his experience with the myNIC card was far from ideal. He borrowed a large sum of money to pay for tu-ition because he hadn’t yet re-ceived his funds.

“Why couldn’t I choose to have the money sent to me without acti-vating the card first?” Kopriva asked.

He said it was frustrating to have lim-ited access to his funds. He said the $6-9 withdrawal fees cut into his ability to take out money in $20 increments.

“I pulled out the first $500 and the remainder was $381,” Kopriva said. “So with a $3 fee, it’s now $378, which means I can’t withdraw the $18. It’s my money and I should do what I want with it easily. It was very upsetting.”

Racine Balough, 22, Sedro-Woolley, Wash., communications, felt the myNIC

card was a “pain in the neck.”Balough said she felt the school didn’t

really explain what the NIC cards were about before sending them to the stu-dents. She said she feels it would’ve been a lot handier if they had explained how to use the card before they made it an op-tion.

“I would’ve much rather not had the card period,” Balough said.

Plum said students can express their concerns at future forums where students can seek assistance with issues that have occurred and recommend solutions.

“We ask that everyone be patient and understanding as we work to streamline these processes,” Plum said. “It takes a little time to work the kinks out of a new process.”

For those who would rather wait for funds or simply avoid dealing with the OneAccount, the paper check and direct

deposit options are still available.

The direct deposit process takes up to five days once the loan recipient visits the myNIC card web-site, chooses the “electronic trans-fer” option, prints and signs the verification form, sends the form in

the mail and allows time for the form to be processed.

The paper check method takes up to seven days once all information has been processed correctly.

The Bancorp Bank issues the MyNIC cards. Higher One, the Conn.-based fi-nancial institution which administers the myNIC card, handles the student finances of hundreds of schools around the U.S., including the University of Montana, Port-land State University and Idaho Southern College.

WHERE TO START“ With this administration it does not look like poor investments will end any

time soon. ”

QUOT

ABLE

Perspectives Page A6

Comic conveys confidenceLively comedian Kyle Cease

sends inspirational messages through humorous words.

Entertainment Page B5WINTER

50class days left

UNTIL

BREAK

News...........................A1

Perspectives...........A6

Lifestyles....................A8

Games....................A11

Tobacco Pro & Con.....A12

Sports.....................B1

Entertainment . . . . . .B5

Faust..........................B8

CAMPUS

Number of students increases

Nearly 7,000 people are attending NIC

NEWS Peabody Award winner speaks to students| Page A2

PERSPECTIVES Crosswalks cause campus chaos | Page A7

ENTERTAINMENT Red Hot Chili Peppers review| Page B7Women’s soccer holds top spot with 10-0 score. | Page B1LADY CARDINALS STOMP RIVALS

theSentinelT H E O F F I C I A L S T U D E N T N E W S P A P E R O F N O R T H I D A H O C O L L E G E

W W W . N I C S E N T I N E L . C O M Volume 65 | Issue 2MONDAY | OCTOBER 3, 2011

Tala WoodStaff Contributor

NIC enrollment numbers continued climbing upward this fall, mirroring the record-breaking trend of the last few years.

Fall enrollment is up 6.4 percent from the fall 2010 semester, which saw an in-crease of 12.16 percent over fall 2009.

Last semester, Vice President of Stu-dent Services Sheldon Nord attributed the increase in enrollment to the econo-my.

“College enrollment tends to go up with a recession,” he said.

This semester, NIC’s student body is composed of 3,465 full-time students and 3,286 part-time students.

Women continue to outnumber men, with NIC enrollment at 61 percent female and 39 percent male. In previous semes-ters, men had seen an increase; in spring 2011, men made up 41 percent of the total enrollment, which was an increase of 1 percent from the spring of 2010.

The average age of the NIC student is 27 this semester, a change from the spring 2011 semester’s average age of 28.

The dual-enrollment program, which allows high school students to take NIC courses for both college and high school credit, now consists of 646 students. Lake City High School continues to contrib-ute the greatest percentage, followed, in order, by Coeur d’Alene High, Lakeland High, Post Falls High, home-schooled students, Coeur d’Alene Charter Acad-emy, Timberlake High and Kellogg High.

This semester, 654 students come from Bonner County, 238 from Boundary County, 234 from Shoshone County and 293 from other Idaho counties.

The greatest number of students con-tinues to come from Idaho, but NIC now has 370 students from Wash. and 100 from Mont. There are currently 235 stu-dents from other states.

Of enrolled students, the greatest number, at 32 percent, is19 or younger. Students between the ages of 20 and 24 make up 24 percent, and students 25-34 years of age consist of 23 percent. 21 per-cent of NIC students are 35 or older.

By the NumbersPercent increase since fall 2010

Average age of students for fall 2011

Duel-enrolled students attending NIC

Percentage of female students

6.4

27

646

61

NEWS Peabody Award winner speaks to

PERSPECTIVES Crosswalks cause campus chaos

ENTERTAINMENT Red Hot Chili Peppers review

ententen inT H E O F F I C I A L S T U D E N T N E W S P A P E R O F N O R T H I D A H O C O L L E G E

Women’s soccer holds top spot with 10-0 score. | Page B1LADY CARDINALS STOMP RIVALSLADY CARDINALS STOMP RIVALS

ttheSSenT H E O F F I C I A L S T U D E N T N E W S P A P E R O F N O R T H I D A H O C O L L E G E

|Nothin’ like a good old-fashioned rugby take down

Gabe Green/SentinelFlanker Ray Blacketer, 20, Florence, Mont., law enforcement, of the Cardinal-Osprey hybrid team presses mightily into a scrum while trying to gain possession of the ball during a game against the University of Idaho Vandals. Blacketer posted a try (worth five points) during the third game of the Kootenai Cup. See page B2 for the full story.

Financial aid disbursement goes digitalImplementation of myNIC card introduces new process for receiving funds

See A7 for more on the myNIC card.

w w w . n i c s e n t i n e l . c o m monday, october 3, 2011

DID YOU KNOW? Martin Luther King Day was not recognized as a national holiday in Idaho until April 10, 1990.

News tip? Story idea?Contact Joyce Hargrove

[email protected]

Campus News

Peabody Award winner shows her documentary about Idaho issues

Outdoors editor speaks about changes in journalism

Joyce HargroveNews Editor

An editor for the Spokesman Review told NIC’s Mass Media students Sept. 21 how the field of journalism has changed over the years.

Rich Landers, outdoors editor for the Spokesman, said he has been in his current job for 35 years and the job has changed as much as it could during that time.

“Our founding fathers made sure everyone got the news,” he said. “People enjoyed two sides to the story initially, but it has changed quite a bit in the past 15 years. News today is found on dif-ferent platforms.”

He explained that the Internet is full of thieves who constantly steal stories from the Spokesman, so sometimes he will freelance them out.

“It doesn’t matter how much readership there is - I don’t make a cent off it,” he said.

He started out as a University of Montana journalism student and wildlife biologist and said he basi-cally “carved his job” along the way. Landers said the Philadelphia Inquirer once offered him twice the money for a job with them, but he turned them down.

“When I get up in the morning, it’s my lifestyle to look into the outdoors,” he said. “I have my own kingdom that I report from.”

He said he has done lots of research while working with the

paper and has had trips as far away as Alaska, paid for by a wildlife magazine he writes for on the side.

“I don’t fly unless I have to,” he said. “It’s dangerous. I take my own pictures and try to always make my writing style different.”

When the Exxon Valdez and the Yellowstone fires were prime-time news, Landers said every-body knew he would “camp out to get the story.”

“Careers are like that; you fol-low what stage you’re at,” he said.

He fondly recalled a time early on in his career when he spent the night drinking moonshine with trappers. More recently, he fol-lowed a young wrangler woman who squared off with a grizzly bear to save a boy’s life. He also led groups across the states in the ‘70s during the bike Centennial race.

But the highlight of his career, he said, was a decade ago when he took Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor fishing. In fact, it was the same day her re-placement was announced for her position.

“I never had so much reaction from women,” he said regarding that story.

In addition to his many quests, he has also authored the books “Hiking the Northwest” and “Pad-dling Washington.”

“One thing I’m successful at is enjoying my job,” he said. “It’s a challenge to meet people and learn new things.”

Two local journalists discuss jobs with NIC students

Joyce HargroveNews Editor

Kaye ThornbrughStaff Contributor

An Idaho Public Television producer and award-winning journalist spoke to NIC students Sept. 22 about her docu-mentary outlining the human rights movement in Idaho.

Peabody Award winner Marcia Frank-lin said “The Color of Conscience” took 10 years to film, three years longer than the average independent documentary.

“A lot of the job was sleuthing,” she said. “You gather all this stuff together and wait for it to speak to you.”

The “Color of Conscience” chronicles the rise and fall of the Aryan Nations, as well as modern human rights issues with the LGBT community and illegal immi-grants.

“There are a number of reasons why the story should be told,” she said. “I wanted to show how a few good people did extraordinary things in Idaho.”

The film documents Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler, who preached a doctrine of racial superiority at his Hayden Lake compound. The group became popular in the ’70s with similar groups in Washington, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming.

“Richard Butler was incredibly smart,” Franklin said. “A lot of his followers came out of the military; they weren’t dumb. We wanted to show and preserve that.”

She said the event that inspired the documentary occurred two years before filming began. In 1998, security guards

shot at Victoria and Jason Keenan when their car stopped near the compound. They were later chased, driven off the road and threatened by the guards. This incident led to a civil court case, and the jury awarded settlement of $6.3 million.

The verdict bankrupted the Aryan Na-tions in North Idaho and the compound was eventually destroyed and sold to NIC, which built a peace park on the site.

Franklin said she followed the trial closely and noticed the efforts of a small group of human rights activists who helped bring about the end of the “unlaw-ful behavior”. She later filmed several of them walking the grounds of the com-pound for the first time shortly after it was abandoned.

“I thought, ‘This is the kernel of some-thing bigger,’” she said.

Finding relevant footage was challeng-ing and she even had to venture below television stations to collect information.

“Broadcast journalism is a lot like mak-ing a quilt,” she said. “You stitch, then tear apart, then put the pieces back together.”

She said it was imperative to show both sides of the conflict in her documen-tary.

“We question why people are drawn to that lifestyle, but also explain why whites feel they are losing their heritage and cul-ture,” she said.

The documentary points out how the Aryan Nations has tarnished Idaho’s image for 30 years and left a stain that’s hard to remove.

“People are not born to hate,” said Tony Stewart, Kootenai County Human Rights Task Force member. “They learn to hate.” He said he and other members formed the Task Force in 1981 in the basement of a Christian church. The city had already lost hundreds of millions of

Christina Villagomez Staff Contributor

A campus planning committee began the preliminary work to decide what key words they would like to see appear in a new mission statement, as well as reevaluating the vision and values of the college.

Long Range Planning & Visioning Committee, LRPV, plans to update and

shorten NIC’s statement into something easier for students and faculty to remember and dwell upon.

“We want to create standards, which are descriptions of behaviors expected of everyone in the organization,” said Jay Lee, LRVP member and NIC vice president for instruction.

“I can walk into an organization and tell in five minutes what their culture is like, whether they have standards, and whether they adhere to values.”

All members appeared to agree that sustainability, flexibility, student success and quality education are some of the ideas they might use as a jumping point for their decision.

The committee will finalize the new mission statement in December and present the revised statements to the Board of Trustees in January.

“We need to set goals that cascade down to employees,” said co-chair Joe Morris.

Peabody Award winner Marcia Franklin created the human rights documentary the“Color of Conscience.” Courtesy photo

a closer look

NIC Statement: “NIC is committed to student success, teaching excellence, and lifelong learning. NIC provides educational opportunities that expand human potential and enhance the quality of life for the students and communitites it serves.”

Will finalize in December and present to board of trustees in January

Planning committee picks new mission statement

PaGe a2

dollars with people not wanting to move their businesses here, he ex-plained.

Franklin said even her own friends questioned her move to Idaho when they heard it housed the Aryan Na-tions.

“You can’t characterize the whole state,” she said. “It’s always important to recognize that some join move-ments others don’t understand.”

Even though the Aryan Nations lost their compound, she said that does not mean that race relations have become “superfantabulous.”

“There are still hate crimes in our state,” she said. “Idaho in particular seems to attract people who see this as a place where that kind of attitude is acceptable.”

Peter Morrill, general manager of Idaho Public Television, said the documentary has had good reception throughout Idaho, and PBS is trying to promote the program in the rest of the country as well.

Franklin grew up in Washington D.C. where she said she was a mi-nority. After college, she became a secretary in San Francisco and ran an intern program in which she watched those around her climb the ladder of success. She said she realized she needed a change. She was offered a

behind-the-scenes job at CNN but de-cided instead to interview at television stations across the nation. Ultimately, she landed a job in Idaho Falls, and has been a public television producer in Idaho since 1990.

Her 2000 documentary “Teens and Mental Illness” earned her the 60th annual George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.

Franklin warned students that the field of journalism is rapidly losing objectivity, and this could result in se-rious consequences for the industry. Franklin said she personally doesn’t engage in fundraisers, opinion polls, politics and the like in order to remain as objective as possible.

“If you get too close to your sourc-es, how can you be objective?” she asked.

Franklin said aspiring journalists should visit “uncomfortable” places and talk to the people they meet there. She also identified the “five C’s” all journalists must possess: curiosity, critical thinking, contrarian attitudes, courage and compassion.

“You need to hope and want to make the world a better place through your journalism,” Franklin said, “Journalists are striving to find the truth as much as possible because the truth is different for everyone.”

the sentinel | A3NEWSwww.nicsentinel.com

Grace StamsosStaff Contributor

Ten local residents bid for three open seats on Coeur d’ Alene’s City Council.

With elections quickly approaching, and the McEuen Field revitalization proposal draw-ing controversy from Coeur d’ Alene residents, the Sentinel took a closer look at those who will make the final decision.

Proposed changes to the McEuen area in-clude moving the Third Street boat launch, Amer-ican Legion ball fields, softball fields and most of the surface parking.

They want to replace them with vast green space, walking trails, an amphitheater, a chil-dren’s play area, tennis and basketball courts, a skate park and an ice skating rink on a section of the lake.

In addition, a handicap-accessible trail would

be cut in on Tubbs Hill’s north side, and water features would be added.

Opposition to the proposal states that these changes commercialize the area too much at too high of a cost, while proponents call the changes a necessary investment.

This week we explore seat 1 candidates RonEdinger, incumbent, and Adam Graves.

Ron Edinger has been a member of the Coeur d’ Alene City Council for nearly 30 years. He has been active in the preservation of Tubbs Hill and has also openly opposed any removal of trees from the dike road area bordering North Idaho College.

Adam Graves is a local businessman. Adam is the co-founder of Range NW, a branding and marketing firm with offices in Dallas and Coeur d’Alene

Next issue we will hear from candidates view-ing for seat 3.

ASNIC senators Cassie Stephens, Danni Bain, Katie Peck and Corrine Van Ostrand were recently sworn into office. They talked about NIC involvement, campus policy and community input. Peck made NIC history by being the winner of the first ever ASNIC election runoff. Ethan Schlussler/Sentinel

Tala WoodStaff Contributor

NIC has a new dual credit coordinator whose expe-rience with technology and the university envi-

ronment promises new focuses in the dual credit program.

The dual credit program allows academically qualified students to earn both high school credit and college credit upon completion of NIC courses.

“It’s a great way to get an in-troduction to college,” said Ginger Winckler, the new dual credit co-ordinator. “It helps students who are unsure if they can do college or not.”

She said she wanted a posi-tion that wasn’t about “cutting the budget and cutting people,” but in-stead one that helped students.

The position mainly serves to act as a liaison between NIC and participating high schools.. Winck-ler took the position on Aug. 8, re-placing the retired Steve Casey.

“[Casey] was a high school principal, and knew that side of things,” Winckler said. “I have more experience on the college side. I understand the college envi-ronment.”

Winckler said the University of Illinois, where she worked previ-ously, largely embodied “survival of the fittest.”

“I’m enjoying the nurturing en-vironment of NIC,” she said. “The University of Illinois was a major research institution, whereas I see [NIC] as a major teaching institu-tion.”

Among her goals, Winckler said she hopes to see NIC accred-ited by the National Association of Concurrent Enrollment, and to expand the classes offered in dual credit.

“The goal is really to grow,” she said. “We need to develop meth-ods to institutionalize the program so that as we grow, NIC can sup-port it. We need to determine who we want to reach, and determine our level of commitment to rural Idaho. We want these students to become our next students.”

Winckler also said she hopes to improve communication between NIC and area high schools.

“[It’s all about] acknowledg-ing the uniqueness of each high school,” she said. “Each school has different needs.”

She said she also intends to try to increase the connection of dual credit students to NIC.

“I would like opportunities for students to come to campus, to connect.”

Winckler is originally from the coast of Washington.

After her time at the University of Illinois, she wanted the “moun-tains and beauty of the North-west,” she said.

She described Idaho as “re-freshing,” especially NIC.

“There’s a school spirit I wouldn’t have expected of a com-munity college,” she said. “I think there’s a camaraderie here that’s very nice.”

Previously, Winckler worked seven years in elementary educa-tion. In the early ‘80s, she worked for an early technical company when personal computers debuted.

For seven years, Winckler was employed at the National Center for Super Computing at the Uni-versity of Illinois, the institution that wrote Mosaic, the first web browser. She also spent 15 years in administrative positions at the University of Illnois, and 10 years at their College of Veterinary Medicine.

“It’s important to view your-self as adaptable because things change,” she said.

“It’s important in all jobs to find the right fit. It depends where you are in your life. You have to understand yourself. I’m a person who likes variety; I like learning something completely new and dif-ferent.”

Christina VillagomezStaff Contributor

The student’s have voted, and ASNIC now has four new senators.

Cassie Stephens, Corrine Van Ostrand, and Danni Bain were sworn into office after winning the general election.

Katie Peck had to wait a little longer be-fore she could occupy her place in the fourth open senate seat. She made NIC history by winning the first ever ASNIC election run off, which is basically another election held after a tie is reached.

“I’m really happy that we have finally had our first runoff election. It’s really nice that we get to make history while we are here at NIC,” said ASNIC Vice President Nick

Dimico. Originally tied with Olivia Hom for the

fourth senate seat at 69 votes, Peck won the runoff election with a landslide 82.54% of the vote.

“I just want to be involved. Senators are required to be the voice of the students. I really want to model that, and listen to the students and represent their needs and con-cerns,” said Peck, who also expressed an ex-citement at the prospect of getting involved in campus committees. As treasurer of Cardi-nal Leaders in the Community (CLIC), Peck is no stranger to volunteer work. “I just really want to sink my teeth into being a senator.”

Out of the 450 votes casted, Stephens had the most with 129 of them tallied in her favor.

“I just hope to get involved with NIC as

much as I can,” said Stephens. “I just want to get the general consensus of what the cam-pus wants to see changed, or what they want to see continued.”

Stephens said she is a big supporter of campus committees, particularly the Go Green Committee, and she hopes to use her term to help inspire more students to get involved.

Following Stephens lead was Van Os-trand, who received 111 votes. Van Ostrand expressed a desire to use her role as a senator to reach people and to find student- formed solutions to campus problems.

“From the very beginning I’ve really liked people and building relationships with people, so I’m looking to get to know what people want; what they think of things going

on at the college.”Danni Bain said she wants to build rela-

tionships of a different kind. “I really hope to help the campus become

a unified community, because right now mostly traditional students and non-tradi-tional students are separate,” said Bain, who began looking at the issue after attending an ASNIC retreat. “I’m hoping to maybe bridge the gap because we are one community.” Bain was elected with 72 votes.

ASNIC, or Associated Students of North Idaho College, includes every enrolled stu-dent at NIC. The ASNIC Board, which in-cludes a president, vice president, senators a Go Green Facilitator, an Outreach liason, and a Special Events liason functions as a student government and helps shape campus policy.

New ASNIC senators have their hands full NIC electees have high hopes of addressing campus related issues and building relationships

1. Do you support or oppose on the poten-tial changes to downtown’s McEuen Field?

1. I am not in favor of moving the boat launch or the baseball field. I think this project is making too many unnecessary and expensive changes. But I would like to see some improvements made to the playground, skateboard park, basketball courts and tennis courts. I am also opposed to removing the trees from the Dike road.

2.What is your vision in running for City Council? Are there any changes you’d make if you were elected?

2. I would like to see more transparency in the city council. I do not feel that city council has listened enough to the public, especially on the McEuen issue. I think we need to make an effort to listen more to the people in the city.

Ron Edinger. Courtesy Photo

1. Do you support or oppose on the poten-tial changes to downtown’s McEuen Field?

1. It is a prime piece of land that is under utilized and a deteriorating blight on the downtown environ-ment. The cost of the investment, which is what I see it as, an investment, is large. But if done correctly it would have an even larger return on the investment.

2. What is your vision in running for City Council? Are there any changes you’d make if you were elected?

2. It’s time for a new style of government with fresh, creative ideas to make positive future change happen. The city of Coeur d’Alene needs to focus on a long term growth strategy, one which attracts high paying jobs that brings money from not just around the country but from around the world.

Adam Graves. Courtesy Photo

Candidates vie for seatsLocal residents compete for city council positions

New coordinator on campus

Ginger Winckler enjoys her job at NIC. Ehhan Schlussler/Sentinel

Ginger Winckler acts as liason for students

Sarah Tousley Sstaff Contributor

Cardinal Connections Committee met on Sept. 22 for the first time this year to brainstorm new and innovative ideas for this year’s symposium. Max Mendez, coordinator of Cardinal Con-nections, stated that this year’s theme is creativity.

Cardinal Connections formally known as the “Popcorn Forum” was star ted in 1970 by Tony Stewart, a longtime human rights activist. It began as a week-long symposium that had many Chautauqua performances.

Chautauqua actors are described as par t ac tor p a r t s c h o l a r and g i f ted in research skills a n d p e r f o r -m a n c e . T h e p e r f o r m e r s m u s t d e e p l y research their c h a r a c t e r , thoughts and beliefs. The per former will bring up topics of the present and relate them to the beliefs of the person they are portraying.

Also each of them must know their character well enough to answer thought provoking questions conduct-ed from the audience.

Discussed in the meeting, last years symposium was highly attended by several faculty, staf f, students, and the community at large. The topic “Brains Rewired” had countless work-shops and performances, which dis-cussed the science of the brain.

The plan for this year is to have even more student involvement and possibly interactive creativity stations set up around the campus.

Other ideas discussed were hav-ing a dress up day where the students may earn a prize for most convincing costume portraying a creative person

in history and having a flash mob where student clubs and organizations could take part in.

“I feel the idea of creativity is going to bring a lot more student interac-tion,” said ASNIC Vice President Nick Dimico. “It’s important to remember that our students want to get involved, but they need a reason in doing so; therefore I think this topic will gener-ate outstanding numbers for student involvement.”

Tentative dates for the symposium are Monday March 13th to Wednesday March 15th.

Topics that are yet to be confirmed for this years symposium could in-clude creativity in pop culture and the

evolution of cre-ativity.

Keynote speak-ers being dis-cussed, included Sherman Alexi, John Lasider, Jim Boyd, Mohandas Karamchand Gan-dhi (Son of Gan-dhi) and pop-star

icon Lady Gaga. Meetings for planning the event

are open faculty, staf f, students and all members of the community.

The committee encourages all ideas, thoughts and concerns. Meet-ing times are yet to be finalized.

Mendez mentioned that he would send out a confirmation to everyone on the committee.

“ASNIC is encouraging students to get involved on committees,” said Dimico. “Students can do so by ap-plying for a Student At Large position which allows students to voice opin-ions on student committees.”

Students can pick up a Student At Large application in the ASNIC of fice upstairs in the SUB.

For more information about the Cardinal Connections Committee stu-dents are urged to contact Max Men-dez at [email protected] or by phone at 769-3275.

NEWSA4 | the sentinel Monday, OCTOBER 3, 2011

Helen McFarlandStaff Contributor

NIC and the city of Coeur d’Alene are exploring their options in the wake of an order by the U.S Army Corp. of Engineers (USACE) to remove all trees along Rosen-berry Drive.

The USACE issued the order in Octo-ber, 2010 to remove roughly 300 ponderosa pine trees and their root systems from both sides of Rosenberry Drive, also known as the Dike Road. The timeline given for compliance was two years.

The city owns the street, while NIC owns the property on both sides.

Both the city and the college have stated that removing the roots would un-dermine the structural integrity of the dike and require reconstruction of both the road and the dike itself.

“At this time there has been no estimate as to what it would cost to comply with the order,” said Kim Harrington, assistant proj-ect manager of the city’s stormwater man-agement program.

The bulk of expenses would be born by the city, as they originally sponsored con-struction of the dike.

The USACE contracted engineers at J o n e s & Stokes of Se-attle, Wash-i n g t o n t o c o n d u c t a study with-out the input o f any ar -borists, said Garry Stark, NIC’s assistant director of fa-cilities operations.

Stark said the USACE told NIC it could apply for a permit for each individual tree.

The process would require digging into the banks alongside existing root systems to ascertain root locations. Stark said doing this would also destabilize the dike.

Without USACE compliance , all prop-erties protected by the dike would lose cer-tification by the Federal Emergency Man-agement Agency (FEMA), forcing owners to buy flood insurance.

“The cost would be so expensive NIC wouldn’t be able to build on the mill site,” Stark said.Insurance requirements would also affect Fort Grounds homeowners.

John Bruning, city council member and Fort Grounds resident, said his cost would be $2,500 a year.

He said the ability of homeowners to sell their property would be affected.

Realtor Tom Torgerson, who handles government affairs for the Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors, spoke in opposi-

tion to the order at the organization’s last meeting.

“No ‘emotional plea’ will make any difference,” he said. “It needs to be a science-based approach to either prove the trees stabilize or are a neutral effect on the levee. The Corps. is required to operate with sound science and practices and they have no proof that trees negatively impact dikes.”

Bruning was a guest speaker at a recent Kootenai Environmental Alliance (KEA) meeting. KEA opposes tree removal for aesthetic and environmental reasons.

They support a plan being considered to circumvent the USACE by hiring an in-dependent engineering company to certify the levee directly to FEMA.

Bruning said the cost of such a study would be $500,000.

“Coeur d’ Alene has earned the Tree City USA designation for many years. That means something. It means we value trees,” Bruning said. “These particular trees have special value and meaning for all of Coeur d’ Alene’s residents and we, as elected officials, have an obligation to pro-tect them.”

Bruning said the binder-thick USACE study is not based on a 100-year plan, in

which length of time a flood is predicted, but a 500-year plan, in which length of time a catastroph-ic event is predicted.

Such an event would uproot trees and the dike’s stability would dissolve.

Bruning will be leading an ad hoc committee of citizens appointed by the city council to address this issue.

NIC will be represented on the commit-tee by Stark.

Ron Edinger, senior city councilman and former mayor, said,” I am totally against the cutting of the trees – I think it is the wrong thing to do.”

Julie Middesworth, environmental sci-ence teacher at NIC, said thatUSACE has issued similar orders across the nation after the record-breaking Mississippi River flood last spring.

In California, three environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in response to similar orders the USACE issued for the Sacramento River levee.

City Attorney Mike Gridley said he is communicating with them on this action.

Coeur d’Alene’s last flood occurred in 1933. At that time, the lake level reached 2,140 feet above the normal summer level of 2,128 feet.

The dike was constructed in 1941 by the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers and pro-tects against a lake level of up to 2,147 feet.

Helen McFarlandStaff Contributor

The U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers (USACE), in addition to issuing the order to cut down hundreds of trees along Rosen-berry Drive, have also noted a multitude of other related issues in their report, which affects both NIC and the city of Coeur d’Alene.

There are over a hundred minor issues which Garry Stark, NIC’s assistant director of facilities operations, said the college is ad-dressing item by item.

Some of these items to be addressed, such as specific areas of surficial corrosion in the seawall, are noted but marked as ac-

ceptable. Other items, such as sediment in post holes, are rated as unacceptable.

In a number of cases, the USACE simply wants evidence of permits or removal of noted items.

This includes a set of wooden stairs con-structed into the embankment, which was built by the Boy Scouts years ago.

Some of the items noted include logs, trash and other debris, which they recom-mend removing and re-establishing sod that has been worn down by geese.

Stark said they are finding that they do not have permits for many items such as benches, signs and trash cans, but did not feel it would be a big problem to remedy that.

Grace StamsosStaff Contributo

For the second year in a row, Coeur d’ Alene Police teamed up with the Texas Roadhouse in support of the Idaho Special Olympics.

In 2010 the Special Olympics coordina-tors contacted Dan Davis, owner of Coeur d’ Alene’s Texas Roadhouse, about coming together to help raise funds for an event in need of some community help.

Davis, seeking to supply the need, jumped at the chance.

“I want to do anything I can to support this event, it’s important to our community. I just want to help” said Davis.

Last Year’s Cop-On-Top event in which an ISP Sergeant stood on top of the Road-house building, waving people in to make a donation, raised over $10,000.

“It was so successful they decided to do

it again” said DavisThis year was different. Nope, no cop

on the roof. Instead, a more personal touch was added to the festivities.

Athletes and officers approached tables of patrons together and explained their hopes for the event.

They educated patrons on the impor-tance of the Special Olympics to this area, and left an envelope donating as much or as little as they would like.

Five POST academy students from NIC gladly took part in the event.

“It’s really nice to just help out, we want to raise as much money as possible for this event” said Eric Bailey, POST Academy stu-dent at NIC.

“This event helps the athletes strive to achieve their goals in life” said Kirk Gro-gan, athlete with the special Olympics. “And it helps open up relationships with the community.”

Putting the ‘serve’ in protect and serveLocal police team up to help Special Olympics

This is a view of looking down the Dike Road in the 1940’s. Courtesy photo

This is a view looking down the Dike Road today. Ethan Schlussler/Sentinel

City wants change of scenery

Additional community issues clearedPermit evidence needed, items to be removed

Tree removal by the roots recommended

THEN

NOW

Cardinal Connections discusses ideasCreativity this year’s suggested theme

Nick dimicOASNic vice president

“I feel the idea of creativity is going to bring a lot more

student interaction.”

RON EdiNgERformer mayor

“I am totally against the cutting of the trees...”

the sentinel | A5NEWSwww.nicsentinel.com

Bachelor’s Degree in Child, Family & Consumer StudiesChild development/Family Relations option

Students in this University of Idaho Coeur d’Alene bachelor’s program learn how children, youth, adults and families develop; and how society can support this development. Popular career opportunities include parent-child advocates, Head Start staff, and family life educators. Lower division classes are offered by North Idaho College. Upper division classes for the major are offered through the University of Idaho in Coeur d’Alene.

THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY.

www.uidaho.edu/cda(208) 667-2588

Emery’s open for lunch

Emery’s, the student-operated restau-rant located in the Hedlund Building, is now open for lunch Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 am – 12:30 pm. Stop in and give it a try.

Cheerleaders needed

NIC is looking for both women and men to cheer games, compete and attend public relations events. Contact Leslie 699-6268 or Dawn 691-6746.

Children’s Center spots open

Spots are available at the Children’s Center for infants aged 6 weeks – 8 months for full time days, Monday through Friday. Contact the Children’s Center Day Care at 769-3471.

Tutors available

Tutoring sign-ups have begun in the College Skills Center. Tutors are available for a wide variety of courses. Students may receive two hours of free tutoring per week per subject. Contact Penny Weiss 665-4535 or [email protected].

Open forums for VP candidates

Three candidates for the vice president for community relations and marketing

position will be on campus for open forum interviews Oct. 3-6. Attendees will be given the opportunity to provide questions. Fo-rums will be held from 3:45 – 5 pm in the SUB Lake Coeur d’Alene Room.

Education Corridor named winner

The Education Corridor Project was recently announced recipient of the 2011 Idaho Grow Smart Award presented by the nonprofit group Idaho Smart Growth. The project received the award in the “re-development” category that recognizes revitalization efforts. Idaho Smart Growth supports communities, builders, planners, architects, organizations and developers for incorporating smart growth principles.

Day of Service to be held

Day of Service will be 8 am – 1 pm Saturday, Oct. 8. outside Molstead Library. Projects to choose from include the Com-munity Action Food Bank, Art on the Edge, the city of Post Falls, Community Garden, Priest River Animal Rescue, Free-dom House and blanket making. Volun-teers can register through the ASNIC of-fice or online @ www.nic.edu/volunteer.

Ice-cream now available

The Educated Cup now offers ice-cream bars on their list of menu items. Choices of goodies include the Big Bopper, Snickers, and M&M’s.

| Students donate their blood

Tala WoodStaff Contributor

This summer’s controversy over the statue of the Hindu god Ganesh on Sher-man Avenue, prompted the Human Rights Education Institute (HREI) to cohost “Con-stitution Day: Understanding the First Amendment” with North Idaho College on Sept. 14.

“We thought it was a good trigger for what the First Amendment and art is all about,” said Marilyn Muehlbach, president of the HREI board of directors and the pro-gram’s moderator.

The discussion panel included Rick Davis, the statue’s creator; Eden Irgens, a member of the Coeur d’Alene City Arts Commission; George Critchlow, a profes-sor at Gonzaga University Law School; and Sreedharani Nandagopal, a math instructor at Spokane Falls Community College and a member of the Hindu faith.

A local group has raised opposition to the statue, objecting to its connections with Hinduism. The group labeled it an “idol” and a “demon” and claimed its trunk is a phallic symbol.

“I guess people walking on Sherman might say it’s an obstruction, but it’s not even on the sidewalk,” Davis said.

Ganesha is called the “remover of all obstacles” in the Hindu tradition. Nanda-gopal said the purpose of a statue is to have something to concentrate on. Ganesha’s full name means the “Master of all the Peo-ple.” Nandagopal said that Hindus worship

the supreme being in all forms. “[But] the first thing we do is worship

Ganesha,” Nandagopal said. Critchlow approached the subject from

the perspective of the First Amendment. He referenced previous Supreme Court

cases, including the “Lemon Test,” which is a method of determining how far the gov-ernment goes into religious matters.

According to the U.S. Constitution Online, the Lemon Test’s three parts are, “First, the statute must have a secular leg-islative purpose; second, its principal or primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion; finally, the statute must not foster an excessive gov-ernment entanglement with religion.”

Critchlow said the Supreme Court’s precedent is to allow religious symbols like crèches and the Ten Commandments when they are outside of government buildings, surrounded by other religious references, or they are old enough that it is no longer promotional.

“In the U.S., we don’t have an official re-ligion, and never have,” Critchlow said.

Davis also made the St. Francis of Assisi statue on Sherman Avenue and the heron statue on Lakeside Avenue.

There have been no complaints about the St. Francis statue, except “from my sons, who help me move the pieces,” Davis said.

He made all of them from scrap metal, which he said is his favored medium.

“I’m a natural-born scavenger,” Davis said. “Scrap metal is… the way I work.”

The statues are part of the ArtCurrents program, which Irgens said operates on

the premise of “art on loan.” The art is dis-played downtown for a year, and when it is sold, the city takes a 1.33 percent commis-sion and the artist takes the rest.

“I appreciate my art shown for a year,” Davis said. “I never had any ideas of creat-ing a controversy.”

The submitted art was required to be over 36 inches tall, durable enough to be outside, and perhaps withstand graffiti.

Citizens of the community approved the art, including people living in the neighbor-

hoods where the art is on show. No mem-bers of the Coeur d’Alene Art Commission took part in the decision-making.

“We believe in the power of public art,” Irgens said.

Nandagopal said that the Ganesha is art, unless she puts it in her place of wor-ship.

“Art is by its very nature the medium in which we talk about the transcendent,” Critchlow said. “It represents the whole range of human experience.”

Constitution Day: understanding 1st amendment

Artist Rick Davis’ Hindu statue, Ganesh, has created quite a stir among spectators on Sherman Avenue. Ethan Schlussler/Sentinel

Nicole Albinola, 20, elementary education, poses for the camera while donating blood Wednesday at Inland Northwest Blood Center’s mobile bus. It was the fourth blood drive held at the college this year. KMC said they utilize approximately 300 units each month or 3,600 a year. Kayla Tucker/ Sentinel

Human Rights Education Institute hosts day to deal with controversy over local artist’s statue

09/12/11 A construction crew hit a gas main by the roundabout at River Ave. & College Drive. Traffic was closed on both streets then reopened approximately two hours later after Avista sealed the line.

09/13/11 Vandalism was reported at McLain Hall in which graffiti was spotted on the side of the building, It was later re-moved by a physical plant crew.

09/14/11 A hit & run was reported to a vehicle parked on College Drive near the gym. A report was taken and the owner was to consult with his insurance company.

09/21/11 There was property dam-age to a motorcycle parked on the north side of McLain Hall. The owner observed a

soccer ball hitting it and talked to the coach.

09/22/11 Subjects on the NIC dock were caught after hours with a bottle of beer that they dropped into the water upon officer’s approach. Information was taken and sent to the Dean of Students for disci-plinary action.

09/23/11 A bicycle accident with minor injuries was reported. The subject struck the lip of a driveway while attempt-ing to turn off River Ave into the LCSC portable area parking lot. There were cuts and scrapes to the face but medical was not called. A friend was contacted for pickup.

09/23/11 Two Residence Hall students were referred to the Dean of Students for an alcohol violation.

C A M P U S S E C U R I T Y L O G

NEWS BRIEFS

W W W . N I C S E N T I N E L . C O MPAGE A6 MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011

DID YOU KNOW? � e only words which end in ‘dous’ are: hazardous, stupendous, horrendous and tremendous.

Perspective tip? Story idea?Contact Devin Heilman

[email protected] Perspectives

What does it mean to be a journalist?It’s a little different for everyone, but at the col-

lege level is where it truly begins.High school may have introduced some of us to

main elements of journalism: writing, reporting, ed-iting and photography. But to succeed in this field requires much more than a simple understanding of the process. It requires perseverance, compassion, determination and objectivity.

Although it may seem impossible to pry oneself away from preconceived notions and outside influ-ences, it is a necessity in journalism. One must be open and willing to hear every side of a story no matter one’s personal beliefs.

The newsroom recently had a visitor: Marcia Franklin. Franklin is a producer at Idaho Public Television and has worked in broadcast journalism for many years. She has received numerous awards for her efforts, and rightly so.

When Franklin spoke to us, she exhibited a pro-fessional yet friendly demeanor. Her wisdom struck deep chords with the attending group. When she spoke, we listened (the full story is on page A2).

At a convention the Sentinel recently attended, a presenter said, “good writers know there’s always room for improvement.” The same for journalism in general: no matter how good you think you are, you must remain focused and humble and strive to do your best.

That’s what we aim to do.Yes, we are a student publication that is always

learning, but we want to do (and be) the best that we can.

We welcome feedback from our readers so we may amend our errors and learn from our mistakes. We also want to know just what’s going on out there with YOU, our readers.

With the much-appreciated advice of a seasoned journalist burning in our ears, we will try to walk the path of honorable. We’ll write stories without bias and report the things you need to know.

Some of us may move on to serious journalism careers, so we should treat our time on the Sentinel as preparation for what comes next.

After all, every good lead must start somewhere.

T he Sentinel welcomes letters to the Editor.

Those who submit letters must limit them to 300 words, sign them legibly and provide a home phone number in order to verify authenticity. Some letters may not be printed because of space limitations, or because they: 1) are similar to a number of letters already

received on the same subject; 2) are possibly libelous; or 3) are illegible. The Sentinel reserves the right to edit letters. Letters may be mailed to the paper, e-mailed, faxed or brought to Room 203 of the Siebert Building. The Sentinel’s address is 1000 W. Garden Ave., Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83814.

Letters to the Editor Policy

EDITORIAL

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theSentinel

Devin HeilmanManaging Editor

Eric RiveraSports Editor

Joyce HargroveNews Editor

Michael PaquinLifestyles Editor

Kyle BreitenbergBusiness Manager

Noura Alfadl-Andreasson

Entertainment Editor

Ethan SchlusslerPhoto Editor

Editorial BoardTaylor BolandGarrett CabezaBenaiah CheeversLaurie DicksGabriel GreenGalilee HowellJantzen HunsakerNick JacquotJake MartinHelen McFarlandSarah MundsChristine RidgwayEmily SchellJosh SlonikerKevin StropeAngel TeschKaye ThornbrughSarah TousleyKayla TuckerChristina VillagomezChanse WatsonTala Wood

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ContributorsAwards

Geoff CarrAdviser

When was the golden age of the United States? Most Ameri-cans would answer

this question with a nostalgic story of their childhood when “prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.”

When Baz Luhrmann sang those words in “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen,” he was say-ing that as people age they believe that their generation is better than those after it, but it applies to this topic as well.

When Americans think of better days, they think of the past, not the future. That statement is backed up by two recent Rasmussen Re-port’s telephone surveys showing that only 34 percent of Americans believe that our country’s best days are in the future, with an aston-ishing 46 percent saying that our glory days are a thing of the past.

Worse yet, only 17 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. is heading in the right direction, as opposed to 75 percent that say we are on the wrong track. These polls are depressing, to say the least, and reflect the overall mood of the country: we are in decline.

The reason for this negative thinking could be attributed to many reasons, such as a failing

economy with an-other recession likely to happen, Wall Street fat cats scamming hardworking people out of their money, bickering politicians who cannot agree on what day of the week it is, or a president who is constantly showing indecisive-ness toward nearly every subject he is asked about. Take your pick.

With all these negatives bog-ging down our country, it starts to sound pretty reasonable to jump on the decline bandwagon. But just before you do, consider the opinion of NIC American government in-structor Richard Tanksley.

“I think that when people look economically at the time of growth that we had in the past and they look toward the future they don’t really see what the growth engine is going to be, so if we stay an in-novative nation and we have en-trepreneurs that step forward and bring new things and new products to market and more jobs into this country, even if they are service jobs, then we’d certainly have some good days in the future,” he said.

In order for Tanksley’s ideas to come to fruition and confidence

to rise, proper leadership is going to have to get it going, and the status quo in Washington D.C. is not going to cut it. We need politicians who will work to favor the people, not the will of their party; the president himself has been caught doing this consis-tently.

Tanksley agrees. “If someone can suc-

cessfully lead us through this kind of minefield time that we are in, then yes, we can have better days ahead,” Tanksley said. “But on the other hand, if we continue to throw good money after bad causes it could be a while for us to get out of this.”

With this administration, it does not look like poor investments will end any time soon.

So, do America’s glory days rest in the past or are they yet to come? It’s hard to predict, but look-ing at current trends, the answer is the past. But great leaders rise out of the ashes of the poor ones, and out of the darkness must come the light.

If America’s glory days are ahead, it’s going to take a strong leader to do it. As the old saying goes, “To get a Ronald Reagan, you had to have a Jimmy Carter first.”

Goodbye,

Chanse WatsonStaff Contributor

With our best years behind us, America’s future looks grim

Math is a foreign language to many NIC students, but math also makes the world go ‘round.

IBM is a global company that uses math fundamentally every day. Why is math such a difficult subject for some people? Do students truly care about learning math?

Students are having an increas-ingly hard time understanding math these days. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, long-term trends in sci-ence and math show declines in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. The Nation-al Center for Educational Statistics also said that the relative interna-tional standing of U.S. students declines as they progress through school. The U.S. is behind other countries in math education. How we get better?

Each student learns math dif-ferently. A solution may be to indi-

vidualize math teaching. NIC has several available resources for math tutor-ing such as the Trio pro-gram, peer tutoring, the Testing Center and the Math Study Center. Still, educational institutions need to figure out better one-on-one tutoring meth-ods.

On the other side of the spectrum, students might just have to work harder. It’s easy for a stu-

dent to be lazy and not study. Of course, the world would be smarter if everyone studied more because taking the time to individualize what you learn places knowledge in perspective. Students just need to work harder.

So, the problem is finding a way to learn and understand math indi-vidually.

Math concepts can be difficult to understand, especially if they’re not taught in a way that “clicks” with the individual. It may be that some students just don’t work

hard enough or apply themselves to studying like they should. Or it may be that there are not enough resources for help and tutoring in some cases. Sometimes students get placed into the wrong math class whether too hard or easy. This is its own problem.

If things like correct course placement and availability of re-sources improve, students will be able to achieve better math under-standing. Self-motivation is impor-tant for learning. Students need to push themselves and work harder in their studies. No, math isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible.

Benaiah CheeversStaff Contributor

¿Habla matemáticas?Success with math diffi cult, yet achievable

A Closer LookThe U.S. began showing declines in math and science education as early as the 1970s.

the sentinel | A7PersPectiveswww.nicsentinel.com

I attended a discussion recently that consisted of people with similar political opinions. However, I was surprised by the aggres-siveness of some of the attendees –a bitter kind of fury lurked within the rhetoric there. I have an unfortunate tendency to-ward anger myself, but this tone was so extreme that someone else in the group spoke up, saying that this intolerance was not going to get us any-where. It inspired me to reflect on my own biases and inconsistencies.

One term in the English language defines such an intricate and difficult problem. It is a “conundrum.”

It is part of the liberal’s creed to be accepting of people from all walks of life. “Liberal” is partially defined by Merriam-Webster as “broad-minded.” Does that not also include those who are not liberal-minded? Surely in order to consider ourselves truly tol-erant, we must also accept those on the opposite end of the spectrum.

After all, tolerance is defined as “sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflict-

ing with one’s own.” Surely practices that conflict with liberalism will in-clude intolerance, and by definition,

those who are tolerant must tolerate intolerance.

If we stand toe-to-toe screaming obscenities at each other, what have we accomplished, other than finding out just how descriptive the English language can be? Someone has to be the more mature of the pair and become tol-erant of even the most op-posite of viewpoints.

However, when the viewpoint shifts to violence and re-fusal of acceptance, it seems counter-intuitive and counterproductive to ac-cept it. But to call ourselves tolerant, we are bound to accept even the most hate-filled of positions.

As one of my friends put it, “We can’t hate the haters.”

There is talk of educating the “other side” – but that in itself is an arrogant presumption, one that is reminiscent of paternalism. That is not to say that ignorance is some-thing to be cultivated, but if the same facts have been presented and differ-ent conclusions have been drawn, the

opinion can still have value if it has been carefully considered.

Active education merely puts up guards, and ultimately defeats the purpose. Exposure is really the best way to educate. Things become less scary when you know what they are and have seen that they’re not going to kill you in your sleep. But to come across as superior is to shut down the other person, who is not likely to lis-ten any more.

Our political system has become just this kind of situation, and any-thing suggested by the “other side” is automatically viewed as venomous.

It is so easy to get into an “us ver-sus them” mentality. Both sides use phrases like “the other side,” “those people,” “these people” and even sim-ply, “them.”

I’m guilty of it myself – it is a bad habit, one I am particularly capable of falling into when in the presence of people who agree with me. We all do it. We get so excited about finding a group of people we identify with, and we realize just how good it feels to be a part of that group. It’s a survival instinct, left over from when being of the same mind meant survival against the harsh elements. I’d like to think we’re capable of moving past that now.

It’s chaos in the crosswalks of NIC.

Day after day, on my way across campus, I stand on the curb, wait-ing to cross—and watch cars blow through the crosswalk. When a car does stop to let me cross, more often than not, the driver stomps on the gas the moment I’m out of way.

There are dozens of excuses for plowing through crosswalks like this. Maybe you’re running late for class. Maybe you spotted an empty parking space off in the distance, so you’re racing toward it with all the speed and desperation of Indiana Jones fleeing a giant boulder. Maybe you’re just too busy rocking out to Coldplay to notice the pedestrians clustered on the curb.

In the end, the excuse doesn’t re-ally matter—because, frankly, there is no excuse for being inconsiderate and breaking the law. Idaho law mandates that drivers stop at crosswalks, and remain stopped until the crosswalk is clear, not just until the pedestrian is out of the way. Just sit tight; a few

extra seconds of patience won’t hurt anyone.

Every day, I also spot blatant jaywalkers. Count-less students step off the curbs in inappropriate places, apparently trusting drivers not to run them down. Teenage girls scam-per across the road, no-where near a crosswalk. Frisbee-playing dudes lope across, barely glanc-ing around for cars. Let’s not forget the “anglers,” who start in the crosswalk, but walk at a diagonal angle and soon find themselves stroll-ing blithely through the middle of the road.

Is it really so difficult to mosey over to the nearest crosswalk? At NIC, there seems to be a crosswalk every few feet. Finding one is hardly an arduous task.

Using a crosswalk might take you a bit out of your way, but crossing safely is well worth the extra time.

Trust me: Getting hit by a car will slow you down a lot more.

Drivers aren’t psy-chic. They can’t sense the pedestrians prepar-ing to dash across the road in front of them. Because of this, it’s im-portant to cross in the right place, and also in the right way. Before you step off the curb, make eye contact with

the driver who has stopped, to make sure you’ve been seen. If you’re on a bicycle or skateboard, dismount and walk while crossing.

Keep your eyes peeled for pedes-trians when driving on campus, par-ticularly in jaywalking hotspots like the area near the SUB, and keep that lead foot in check. If pedestrians and drivers can pull it together and follow the rules of the road, we can all roam the NIC cam-pus with confidence and safety.

CAMPUS VOICES

Did you have trouble receiving financial aid

this semester?

David Thompson n 21, Cabazon, Calif., theater

“No. I didn’t use the myNIC card. I just had them send me a check. It took a while, but I didn’t want to mess with the ATM thing.”

Ray Williams n 49, Murray, social work

“Not too much. It was fairly easy. It just took a while. Longer than I would have liked. ”

Ciarah Udell n 19, Cd’A, administrative assistant

“No, it was pretty easy to me. I had them just send me a check. It took a little longer than it did when they didn’t have the card, but it didn’t bother me at all. It wasn’t an inconvenience.”

Zac Merritt n 22, St. Maries, social work

“Yes! It’s this residency form thing. I’m from Benewah County so the school wanted like $500 for out of (area) fees from me but I’m not supposed to pay for anything because I have VA benefits. Now I have to wait until they fax it back before I even get my financial aid. It’s really confusing. ”

Jasmine Mcnamee n 27, Cd’A, psychology

“Yes. I expected it to be there early in the morning. They said it would be there by midnight. Of course it wasn’t there until the evening. Then when I went to get the money out, the machine wasn’t working, and it hasn’t been working at least half of the time this semester. It’s been out of money, out of paper and out of order in general.

Devin HeilmanManaging Editor

Ethan SchlusslerPhotographer

n

Tala WoodStaff Contributor

‘We can’t hate the haters’Sentinel writer realizes even the intolerable must be tolerated

‘Hey, what the duck!? We’re crossin’ here!’

Kaye ThornbrughStaff Contributor

Campus crosswalk carelessnessPedestrians, drivers guilty of creating unsafe atmosphere

Correction: misquote in last issueIn Issue 1, Volume 65 of the Senti-

nel, a source was misquoted.“Tobacco free: Mixed feelings sur-

round NIC’s new smoking policy” fea-tured NIC student Charles Clemmons as saying: “It’s not a choice of NIC to dictate when and where I smoke. It’s an act of violence and a violation of our rights.”

The correct statement is: “It’s not

a choice of NIC to dictate when and where I smoke. Anytime someone imposes their will upon others it is an act of violence. It is a violation of our rights.”

We apologize for the error. As a student publication, it is our goal to strive for honest journalism. We re-spect and encourage feedback from all sources and readers.

Have you witnessed something quirky or whim-sical on campus lately? Let’s hear it! Contact Devin Heilman at [email protected].

Choke Cherries will be back next issue!

W W W . N I C S E N T I N E L . C O MPAGE A8 MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011

DID YOU KNOW? Planet Earth gains 100 tons annually from falling space dust and debris from meteorites.

Demandsof a world in fast pace

Do we have time to stop and take a breath?

Michael Paquin ■ Lifestyles Editor

Michael Paquin is an editor for The Sentinel. His opinions are his own and do not necessar-ily reflect those of The Sentinel. Respond to this column online at nicsentinel.com.

COMMENTARY

Lifestyles tip? Story idea?Contact Michael Paquin

[email protected] Lifestyles

Kaye ThornbrughStaff Contributor

It’s a family affair.Most married couples head

in separate directions when they leave for work every morning, but not the Cunningtons and the Andreassons. They wind up at the same place: North Idaho College. They’re just two of many such couples working at NIC, balancing work and marriage on the same campus.

David Cunnington, biology instructor, has taught at NIC for 20 years; Cheryl Cunnington has taught math at NIC for around 13 years. They’ve been married for 26.

Cheryl and David met when they both attended Moses Lake High School. Cher-yl, who grew up amid a family of teach-ers, always knew she wanted a career related to math. Becoming a math teacher seemed like the natural choice. David was less certain.

“I was going to be a box-bender, box-lifter, ditch digger, that sort of thing,” David said. “It was actually dating Cheryl that talked me into finishing college.”

His first major was music and dra-ma—a far cry from a college science instructor. He considered being a dental hygienist before he discovered a passion for biology, and then thought he would be a doctor. While he sought “that perfect job,” Cheryl convinced him to try his hand at teaching.

“It was an excellent idea,” he said. “I started teaching part-time at Spokane Community College and I found out that this was where I needed to be.”

Whenever positions opened up at NIC, David encouraged his wife to apply. At the time, she was working in the Central Val-ley School District.

“He’d always ask, ‘Why don’t you apply for this? Why don’t you apply for this?’” she said. “And finally, I did.”

Though they teach in the same building, conflict-ing class sched-ules mean they don ’ t ac tua l ly see each other at work very often. Still, when Seiter Hall was finished and Cheryl had the option of moving there, she decided against it.

“I wanted to be in the building where David is,” she said. “It’s convenient. We can have lunch together, or I can run in and talk to him face-to-face as opposed to being across campus and not having that connection.”

Working on the same campus does add a dynamic at home, they said.

“We have the same perspective,” Cher-yl said. “Everything that goes on here we can talk about at home.”

There are currently four Cunningtons

on campus: David and Cheryl’s two sons are dual-enrolled at NIC, and next year, their daughter will join the mix.

Across campus, in the Molsead Li-brary, Karl and Judy Andreasson work out of the same office.

Karl has been teaching part-time at NIC for thirteen years; he also teaches full-time at Spokane Falls Community Col-

lege. He teaches psychology and the occasional T’ai Chi workshop. Judy has taught sociology and social problems part-time at NIC for about 10 years, both online and in person. She also teaches yoga out of her home studio.

They met when Judy was a student in one of Karl’s T’ai Chi classes.

“Out of all the T’ai Chi joints in the whole world,” Karl said, “she stumbled into mine.”

After the class was over, they started dating. They’ve been married for 10 years.

Before coming to NIC, Karl lived on the East Coast and was in private practice as a psychologist in Philadelphia.

Karl said he “got tired of the therapy thing,” however, and started teaching when he moved to

See SPOUSES | Page A9

Married NIC instructors enjoy teaching together More than just co-workers

Karl and Judy Andreasson share a moment while explaining the benefits of working in the same building. Gabe Green/Sentinel

Cheryl Cunnington, a math instructor at NIC, and her husband David Cunnington, a biology instructor at NIC, provide comic relief while explaining the subtle nuances of working in the same place as your spouse. Gabe Green/Sentinel

CHERYL CUNNINGTON NIC Instructor

“It’s convenient. We can have lunch together, or I

can run in and talk to him face-to-face...”

When is the best time to experi-ence what life has to of fer: before or after college? Or is there time at all anymore? One could argue that once you’ve finished college, you’re of-ficially in career mode climbing cor-porate ladders or studying deep sea organisms, and at this point there’s simply no more time to for meander-ing for the sake of meandering. But then of course you could also say once you’ve finished college you’re better equipped to take the world on and experience a little before you settle down and start a career. I’ve been wondering all of this after an exercise I had to complete for my news writing class a few se-mesters ago. The point of the assign-ment was for the students to practice writing obituaries using our own lives as a template. As you can imag-ine, writing obituaries is a sober-ing enough experience even when you’re not in the unusual position to be writing your own. The problem that most of the students ran into was that at this point in our lives, there wasn’t enough content to fill a

proper obitu-ary (a prob-lem most of us just solved by fabricating experiences to add some girth to the final product). But of course what could we ex-pect? After all, we were all college-age students. And

this brings us back to square one. In our society, there’s so much pres-sure to find a career as quickly as possible, which is understandable, considering the fierce competition, shrinking fields, and abysmal econ-omy. But is our generation going to miss out on the luxury of being able to bide our time before getting on the fast track? It’s true that we’re living in a faster world, and so we have to be faster people. In a global economy you’re not just competing with your next-door neighbor anymore. Right now there are millions of people in hundreds of countries competing for your job. In high school the singular goal of almost everyone I knew was to ex-tensively travel after graduation, and almost all of them gave up that goal in lieu of getting a “head start on the job market.” I don’t know if this was due to pressure they felt from their peers or from their own convictions, but it was sad to see them so readily give up something I believe they sin-cerely wanted to do. I think it’s important to conscious-ly set aside time for endeavors like this, even at the expense of postpon-ing your career. Once they advance in age, too many people regret not doing this, and by then, it’s definitely too late. Obligations and responsi-bilities surround them. So maybe life can wait. After all, you’ll only be young once, and the last thing you want is an empty obituary.

MICHAEL PAQUIN Lifestyles Editor

“It’s true we’re living in a faster world, so

we have to be a faster people.”

the sentinel | A9LIFESTYLESwww.nicsentinel.com

Time for a change in scenery

Winter season ushers in new activities

Jake Martin ■ Staff Contibutor

It’s only been a few weeks, but I can already tell I’m going to like liv-ing in Coeur d’Alene. It’s so beautiful here, unlike the endless fields of dust in which I grew up.

Now don’t get me wrong, I was born and lived for quite a while on the West Coast and will forever be a child of the Puget Sound. But I’ve spent the last eight years in a tiny farm town surrounded by wheat fields. Wheat fields may be pretty or inspiring to some, but I tend to be more partial to trees, water and greenness. To me, it’s very refreshing here.

I can’t wait to see what it’s like here in the winter, but at the same time I’m sad that summer is coming to an end. It seemed like such a short summer this year; we barely got to enjoy it. Alas, some things can’t be changed. So let the snow come down, and let the snowboarding begin!

Honestly, I just star ted snow-boarding two years ago. I’ve been to the mountain seven or eight times, but even after the first time I went, I knew I had found something I loved. There is nothing quite like the feeling of surfing the snow, the utter detach-ment from the rest of the world. It’s almost Zen in the way it forces you to forget about everything else and be totally in the moment. The speed the powder billowing up in your face, gives you a pure rush. For lack of a better term, flying is what I’m doing. My fellow boarders and skiers know what I’m talking about.

The real issue is whether or not I’ll be able to keep my car r unning through the winter. It’s a tank and likes the snow. However the trans-mission is on its last shaky leg. Plus the exhaust pipe is broken so it sounds like a truck when you s tar t i t . A s l o n g a s i t r uns we l l e n o u g h t o g e t m e t o the mountain on the week-ends, I will be happy.

I have heard that in the winter there is a bus that will take students to one of the nearby mountains once a week. This may just be rumor, or a weird fairy tale. If said fairy tale turns out to be too good to be true, you could probably take a regular city bus to Lookout Pass. I think that’s the closest mountain to Coeur d’Alene.

I looked at Outdoor Pursuits trip lists and I only found one or two trips to nearby ski/snowboarding locations. One of which was to Schweitzer. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the money for that. I can spend three whole days at Lookout Pass for the same price as one day at Schweitzer. It might be a cool idea to talk to Out-door Pursuits and see about renting vehicles to take groups of students up on the weekends. Or possibly the dorm advisers could look into taking regular trips skiing or snowboarding as dorm events.

The small town I came from had many hills, so in the winter a favorite of mine was to simply grab my snow-board and jump in my friend’s truck. He would then drive me to the top of one of the steeper streets and from there I would just snowboard down and around through town. Unfortu-nately with the traf fic around here, and the abundance of law enforce-ment, I would say that pass-time will have to be retired.

Jake Martin is a writer for The Sentinel. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sentinel. Respond to this column online at nicsentinel.com.

COLLEGE LIFE

JAKE MARTINStaff Contributor

“There is nothing

quite like the feeling of surfing the

snow.”

Sarah MundsStaff Contributor

A can of chips for lunch. Late night drinking binges. The “freshman 15.” The lifestyle of the col lege student is

less than healthy and, in some cases, is harmful. But do college students really understand the consequences of this l i f e s t y l e ? To o often, the answer is no.

L y n n e K i n -son, health and wellness coach, argued a dif fer-ent approach to eating in her lec-ture “Eat Right – Be Well” present-ed September 19 in the Student Union Building. For her hour-long class, Kinson answered the questions of why students are tired all the time, why putting on weight gets rather easy in older age and the mea-sures ever yone should take to have a better life.

“When you eat dinner, do you think ‘What am I eating to prevent cancer? What about osteoporosis?’” asked Kin-son “We need to eat to improve our heath.”

Kinson explained the motivation be-hind many people’s eating habits.

“Why am I eating? People eat when

they get home because they’re starv-ing,” Kinson said. “Maybe they forgot to pack a lunch. The trick is… don’t let yourself get to that starved point.”

Why not eat one big meal once a day? Kinson explained that the body can’t process a large meal as ef ficiently, espe-cially in a high-stress lifestyle. Instead, she said to eat five to six small meals a day that are filled with high quality

foods and protein. “If I skip break-

fast, I can save those calories up for night. Does this work?” Kin-son smiled and the audience laughed. “No. This never works.”

Another tip Kinson suggested

is to eat nutrient-rich food that’s actu-ally valuable to your body. The audience threw out examples of this type of food, such as spinach, whole grains, milk, yo-gurt, and fish.

Fitting good fats into the diet is also important. In fact, these fats are what help the body feel satisfied after a meal. So instead of cutting out fat altogether. Kinson said to add foods such as olive and coconut oil to dinner.

“Research is showing that eliminat-ing fat from your diet actually causes weight gain,” said Kinson. “It’s good to include some good fats in your meals.”

She said not to be afraid to take sup-plements to boost your nutrient intake, either.

“I am a strong believer in supple-ments,” Kinson said. “We just don’t have the food quality that we used to.”

But knowing how to eat healthily is not enough to start a real lifestyle change, she said. During the lecture, Kinson explained how everyone will need something to motivate change.

“You need to do a self-check to see what’s important,” Kinson said.

Finding a reason to change doesn’t have to be a deep or highly moving ex-perience, either. Johanna Gerger, 20, gave her reasons for eating better.

“Overall, I think I eat somewhat healthier because of the P.E. class I took last semester,” said Gerger. “She (the P.E. instructor) was big on teaching us how to eat healthy balanced meals. But there are those days where fast food is easier.”

>SPOUSESfrom page A8

Idaho. “I spent a good part of my life in Sweden and Europe and sort of got in touch with my inclination to teach,” he said. “I sort of belong in a classroom.”

Starting out with a master’s degree in social work, Judy tried school social work for a time, until the program was cancelled in Idaho. She also taught at

Spokane Community College. When the opportunity to teach at NIC came up, Judy said she thought it was “much better.”

Judy appreciated the dedicated atmo-sphere of the NIC campus.

“I’ve taught all over,” she said. “But I came back here, as I really enjoy this cam-pus. The students are very academically oriented.”

Because their office hours are stag-gered, the two don’t see each other at

work very often, even though they work out of the same office. Karl works evenings, and Judy sometimes comes into the office to help him. Their schedules sometimes align, allowing them to share lunch or dinner.

“I could’ve done so many other things, but I enjoy teaching sociology and social problems,” Judy said. “NIC is a great col-lege. We enjoy being here.”

Jake MartinStaff Contributor

NIC’s resident staff put on an energy awareness event Sept. 30 to promote Avistas Power Down, Add Up contest, which

included an outdoor grill with free burg-ers and hotdogs, yard games, sidewalk chalk drawing, a raffle, and live music by former NIC student and recently re-tired leader of the campus church group ‘Thirst’ Ryan Hadden.

This contest is between the five col-leges Avista Utilities supplies with power; Gonzaga, University of Idaho, Washing-ton State University, Whitworth Univer-sity and North Idaho College. This is the first year NIC and Whitworth have been invited to participate. Gonzaga won last year.

The contest to see which school and which living group can save the most power is for students living in on-campus

dorms or Greek housing. The top three living groups receive prizes and the top over-all university wins a traveling trophy and bragging rights for the next year. The contest is set up so that bigger colleges won’t have an advantage just because of size. However, the contest is based on the honor system so students will log into the website daily or weekly and report the things they are doing to conserve energy.

Students will perform small, energy saving steps such as turning off lights when leaving a room, turning off unused electronics, unplugging chargers, tak-ing shorter showers or just not using as much hot water. According to Avista, last year Gonzaga and WSU students saved enough energy to power 419 homes, or light 591 homes for one day.

“We can’t wait to see how much ener-gy the collective efforts of these students can save,” said Chris Drake, lead energy efficiency program manager for Avista. “We hope to help students build good en-

ergy saving habits before they’re out on their own paying an energy bill.”

To some, it would seem as though Avista it trying to encourage people to stop using their product. In an email from Debbie Simock of Avista’s media depart-ment, some reasons are given.

“We know energy efficiency is the low-est cost, best new source of energy and we would rather encourage people to use less energy than have to build expensive wind farms or power plants,” Simock said. Many students attended and enjoyed the free food and drink and gathered in sup-port of the contest.

“The whole thing is to be conscious about using energy,” said Paula Czirr, the head live-in adviser of the NIC residence hall. It’s possible that now, with the new colleges included in the contest, some stronger rivalry and larger participation will ensue. Andrew Demarest, 19, com-puter animation, Boise, remained confi-dent that NIC will take first place.

NIC’s residence hall goes green

Jamie Salinas, Elizabeth Welker Diana Smith and Sarah Welker create a sidewalk chalk drawing at Avista’s Power Down, Add Up contest. Gabe Green/Sentinel

Students learn healthy eating habits Wellness workshop gives attendees fresh perspective

LYNNE KINSONHealth and Wellness Coach

“When you eat dinner, do you think ‘What am I eating

to prevent cancer? What about osteoporosis?”

Avista’s contest includes raffl e, live music

LIFESTYLESA10 | the sentinel Monday, OCTOBER 3, 2011

‘Cardinals Against Cancer’ walk for the cure

Sarah MundsStaff Contributor

French class gives Phoenix Whytock, 17, a headache. She loves dancing and playing the guitar. Her favorite reads include every-thing by Jane Austin and W.E.B Griffin. But unlike most kids her age, Whytock is a pub-lished author of a book of short stories.

“The Good, Bad and Everything In Be-tween” in print since August 2011, contains stories ranging from romance to heart-break, from life to loss. But this novel was not planned from the beginning. Instead, “The Good, Bad, and Everything Inbe-tween” was almost an accident.

“I didn’t plan on writing a book of short stories,” Whytock said. “But I kept writing them for people.”

Whytock also wrote short stories to com-bat writer’s block encountered when work-ing on her two current full-length novels, “24” and “The Black Forrest”, stories about mystical worlds and fantasy. But with a pile of short stories laying around, many soon suggested that Whytock take this collection of odds-and-ends short stories and put them into a novel.

“I want people to take away a sense of inspiration and a feeling of something ac-

complished,” Whytock said, “feelings of ad-venture and that you can go on.”

“The Good, Bad, and Everything Inbe-tween” contains stories that cover the whole gambit. The short story “Never Let Me Go” even had the author in tears through choic-es that had to be made with characters she loved, particularly the ones that had to die.

“I was bawl-ing my eyes out!” Whytock sa id . “But I end up kill-ing my characters all the time.”

T h r o u g h o u t her writing ca-reer, though, it’s been Whytock’s family that has inspired her writ-ing. In fact, the name Whytock means “the family of scribes” in Scottish. But it wasn’t just the name that inspired Whytock’s love of stories and storytelling.

“My dad told me sea stories instead of fairy tales,” Whytock said.

Whytock’s advice for the aspiring writer stems from words of wisdom her mother gave to her when she was just beginning to write.

“Read everything, even if you don’t like it or think that it’s boring,” Whytock said. “Don’t make a cliché plot. (Your book) doesn’t need to be grammar-correct either. It just needs to be yours.”

Reading all sorts of literature, Whytock explained, is the only way to get a good grasp on language. But you don’t have to be

an English wizard to write a good book.

“Spell check and I are secret lovers,” said Whytock, who writes every Saturday as a part of her author’s schedule. “I write no matter what.”

“No matter what” includes working through writer’s block

as well, the reason that many of her short stories were created. Sometimes, though, Whytock just needs a break to collect her thoughts before going back to write.

“I’ll step away from the computer,” Why-tock said. “A lot of authors don’t to that. But I write the scene in my head and come back later. Sometimes, I’ll play a song over and over to help me write a chapter.”

Student author produces published novelPhoenix Whytock, 17, pens ‘The Good, Bad and Everything in Between’

PHOENIX WHYTOCK Author

“I want people to take away a sense of inspiration and

a feeling of something accomplished.”

Pheonix Whytock had her first novel published at age 17. Courtesy Photo

Carrie RishsewStaff Contributor

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is an event some students and staff feel strongly about.

Lynn Covey is not only the team leader for Cardinals Against Cancer, but a team-mate to all the people walking or running. Most of the teams were wearing bright green shirts except for two survivors of breast cancer, Nancy Edwards and Dr. Priscilla Bell, who wore bright pink shirts.

“Many of us at NIC have been touched in some way by breast cancer and this is a very small way that we can show our sup-port for those we care about as well as our community,” Covey said.

Covey lost a great deal to breast can-cer. Not only has she lost her youngest stepsister and grandmother; her aunt is living with the disease and some of her friends and co-workers who are survivors of breast cancer.

“So for me, Race for the Cure is about that one person in our community who is uninsured and cannot receive a mammo-gram or help with medical bills or resourc-es,” Covey said.

“Raising awareness and funds for breast cancer is near and dear to my heart in my family,” she said. “Among my friends and within the NIC community, we have been touched by the loss of a loved one and we have had the joy of celebrating the survival of loved ones,” Covey said.

The program raised just under $1,400 with 40 people participating in the event.

“Most importantly though, the walk it-self brings awareness to breast cancer – it gets people talking and hopefully moves us to action whether it is to schedule an exam, to become better informed, or to commit to taking better care of ourselves,” Covey said.

The Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure series is one of the largest 5K walks around the world. It was established to raise awareness as well as funds for breast cancer and to aid women in getting the help they would not normally be able to get otherwise. Of the proceeds that are raised in the Race For the Cure 75 per-cent stay in Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai and Shoshone counties. The re-maining 25 percent of the funds go toward national research of breast cancer and its possible cures.

“The services funded in North Idaho include free mammograms, medical treat-ment for qualified breast cancer patients who cannot afford care, support services including support groups, assistance with finding financial resources, prescription refills, transportation to medical appoint-ments and education about the warning signs of breast cancer, methods of early detection and the latest treatment options,” Covey said. “In the end the race is about others and if we helped just one person or brought awareness to just one person, then we did our job.”

Breast cancer survivors Dr. Priscilla Bell and Nancy Edwards participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k walk. Courtesy Photo

Volunteers walk fi ve-kilometer race for non-profi t organization

1849 Last public sighting of Edgar Allen Poe

before his death.

1955 “Captain Kangaroo” premiered on CBS

and “The Mickey Mouse Club” premiered

on ABC.

1863 The last Thursday in November is declared

as Thanksgiving Day by President

Abraham Lincoln

1995 Former football star O.J. Simpson is found

not guilty.

1954 Stevie Ray Vaughan, American blues

musician (d. 1990)

GAMES the sentinel | A11www.nicsentinel.com

Crossword

Crossword courtesy of www.mirroreyes.com, providers of free daily printable crossword puzzles

DOT GAME

RULES:First player draws one line from one dot to another, in a vertical or

horizontile fashion, and then player 2 follows in this fashion. The

point of the game is to draw as many lines as you can without giving

your opponite an oppourtunity to create a square with their line. If

you happen to create a box, initial or color it so to remember it is

your point. Also, if you create a box you get another turn. Winner is

the one with the most boxs, enjoy!

Crossword

Crossword courtesy of www.mirroreyes.com, providers of free daily printable crossword puzzles

First player draws one line from one dot to another, in a vertical or

horizontile fashion, and then player 2 follows in this fashion. The

point of the game is to draw as many lines as you can without giving

your opponite an oppourtunity to create a square with their line. If

you happen to create a box, initial or color it so to remember it is

your point. Also, if you create a box you get another turn. Winner is

TOBACCO PRO & CONA12 | the sentinel Monday, october 3, 2011

of controversyAngel Tesch

Staff Contributor

David Tesch smoked most of his life. He was

a solider, a father, and the kind of man that you’d want to have around. He was an

Army soldier, so a lot of his friends smoked,

causing him to be around smoke most of the time.

After a while, he contracted lung cancer. He spent the

next few years slowly losing his strength. The sickness was hard on his family as well, watching him suffer in constant pain.

He died of lung cancer at 49, leaving behind a 4-year-old daughter, a wife and seven other children. He was my father. I’ve seen firsthand the

dangers of second-hand smoke, and I feel the NIC ban of tobacco

is a good thing for the health of the community.

Many things have been proven to cause cancer, and tobacco is

among them. In today’s world we have smog, pollution and more fac-tors making the air less safe for humans. This is certainly making the air less safe and healthy for every generation that is to come. If one thing can be stopped, why shouldn’t it?

Tobacco has been proven to cause many kinds of cancer. Ciga-rette smoking causes lung cancer while chewing tobacco causes gum cancer. And tobacco doesn’t

just cause cancer. There are still many more kinds of tobacco-related illness-es, like emphysema.

Some forms of tobacco hurt oth-ers who aren’t even the first party in question, such as second-hand smoke. This is one of the leading causes of lung cancer. Ridding the world of toxic fumes is something that could have been done long ago.

Now, in Idaho, there is a law that states you must be at least 20 feet away from a publicly owned building when you smoke. Little to no smokers follow that law; if they did maybe it wouldn’t be as big of an issue.

Maybe NIC should have smoker-friendly areas because it is hard for an addicted person to go hours without a cigarette or other forms of tobacco. The deprivation can be hard and may cause academic stress for NIC’s smok-ing student population.

On the flipside, why should non-smokers be subjected to yet another harmful chemical in the air? With all the potential health problems in today’s world, forcing people to be exposed to smoke when it can be stopped does more harm than good.

“As a non-smoker it’s nice,” said Zack Cooper, 18, nursing.

No smoking on campus means less litter. Before this rule was enacted, it wasn’t hard to find a cigarette butt on the ground. While not every smoker litters, it is a fact that there tends to be a lot in areas frequented by the smok-ing population. A clean NIC provides a better working environment.

While NIC’s tobacco-free policy may not be something everyone agrees with, it is necessary and proac-tive in maintaining a healthy student body.

CON

Angel TeschStaff Contributor

ANGEL TESCHno butts about it

“Why should non-smokers be subjected to yet another harmful chemical in the air? With all the

potential health problems in today’s world, forcing people to be exposed

to smoke when it can be stopped does more harm than good.”

Smokers targeted in no-smoking campaignMichael Paquin

Life Editor

A s I stand on the corner of College Drive and Garden Avenue to make my highly introspective trek to the

beach for a smoke, a large diesel F-250 passes me. Its tailpipe spews some-thing resembling the antagonist from “Fern Gully.” In spite of the obvious-ness of this assault on our lungs, this transgression will go virtually unrepri-manded.

Despite the excessive amount of black smoke that winds around the rubber testicles hanging from his trailer hitch, I would be the one more likely to face retribution from an angry mob for simply smoking one cigarette.

It’s no secret that society has been aggressively targeting smokers for al-most two decades, but the restrictions of my rights as a smoker have finally reached their pinnacle; I’m no longer allowed to smoke on the very campus where I spend most of my time.

OK, I know people don’t want to smell it, and I get it. Fortunately for them, I’ve given their predicament some serious thought, and I think I’ve found a solution: Don’t stand next to it.

Really, it’s hard for me to believe people are sincerely afraid of the dan-gers of second-hand smoke if they’re willing to approach a smoker with the intention of lecturing them, when they should be running for cover if they truly believed in the deadly carcino-gens to which they might be exposed.

Proponents of a smoke-free NIC will argue that we all share this air, and that’s exactly my point as well. This current system doesn’t resemble shar-ing in the slightest. There has to be at least 100,000 gallons of air in NIC’s im-mediate atmosphere, and not a single spoonful is reserved for smokers.

I’m not the type to complain about

a problem without offering what would be, in my opin-ion, a mutually beneficial solution.If we were to build small enclosures or “smoker pods” in convenient yet discreet places around cam-pus, I think everybody would

be happy. Hell, we

could even paint them Car-dinal red. Everybody wins.

However, for as much sympathy as I have for smokers, I’ll admit we’ve been abusing our rights, and now we’re at least partially re-sponsible for these extreme mea-sures. It’s important to remember we should be standing at least 20 feet from an entrance while smoking, and it’s always poor form to smoke around children and the elderly.

That being said, all I’m arguing is that issues non-smokers have can easily be avoided with a little plan-ning on the part of the college, and a little consideration from the smoker. But to restrict smoking all together is like solving a headache with a guillotine. Smokers pay their tuition just like everyone else.

In light of this fact I’d like to pose just one simple question regarding our air: Can’t we just share it?

PRO

Tobacco-free campus best for everyone

MICHAEL PAQUINsmoke if you got ‘em

“The restrictions of my rights as a smoker have finally reached their pinnacle; I’m no longer allowed to smoke on the very campus where I

spend most of my time”

Eric RiveraSports Editor

NIC has sports that they excel in and softball continues to be one of them. The Lady Cards have continued to shine in their fall scrimmages by dominating the Spokane Mudhens, 2-1 games on Sept. 24 and Big Bend Community College, 2 games and a tie on Oct. 1.

Freshman Amber Meyers stepped up to the plate and slammed two home runs for NIC in game one and three.

“We always talk about getting one percent better every day,” Meyers said. “I think we are just going to move up and get more in shape and our hitting will get better.”

NIC played a rematch against the Spokane Mudhens on Oct. 2. Due to deadline, the stats weren’t available about that game. Coach Don Don Williams spoke before that game about adjustments they would make before they took on the Mudhens.

“We need to come out stronger in the first game,” Williams said. “I think we will make better adjustments on their pitching after seeing them last week, so thats what we will be doing.”

The NIC softball program has a strong ritual that has been going on for years. Alumni who used to play softball for the Lady Cards returned for the annual Alum-ni Match held on Sept. 17.

Testing this year’s batch of student ath-letes, the NIC team proved that the torch of knowledge had been passed from the alumni, posting a 6-2 victory in the first

game followed by 7-1 win in game two.“I think for the first outing it was not

bad,” said Williams. “They came out and executed defense and our pitching was good for the first game. I think that we can probably produce a few more runs but not bad for the first game.”

NIC’s defense held its ground through-out both games. In the second game, the only score from the alumni team was posted in the first inning.

This year’s team said they noticed a change in behavior from their teammates as the games progressed.

“When we started to begin, it was a lot of nerves,” said sophomore infielder Ash-ley Moon, 19, graphic design. “Afterward you could start to feel everybody loosen up and start to get into the feel of it. It was nice.”

Nine sophomores and 16 freshmen fill out this year’s roster. Moon said that team cohesiveness, comfort and unfamiliarity are a few hurdles the ladies must over-come as the season rolls on.

For many of the alumni, they said this game is a chance to reconnect with times now past.

“I feel like the alumni games are kind of like a reunion every year for us just to see each other, because playing softball here you become such a tight knit family,” said alumnus Jessica Hyatt, 21. “You do everything together and then after people start to leave, you kind of grow apart. So being here kind of brings you back to that same feeling.”

The scrimmages are rounding out this fledgling team and Coach Williams has a

positive outlook on her group.“[Our team] has never worked togeth-

er before, so we are switching the line up quite a bit,” said coach Williams. “We just have to find the right combination of what works and get them working together on the field as well.”

W W W . N I C S E N T I N E L . C O MPAGE B1 MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011

DID YOU KNOW? Softball was invented by a group of Yale and Harvard alumni November, 1887, in Chicago, Ill.

Making up some fake strategies

NFL may now require acting lessons

Eric Rivera ■ Sports Editor

There are times that I wonder why professional athletes do the things they do. Many make salaries that most of us may never see in a lifetime. Millions of dollars get dropped on them and they still can’t manage to stay out of controversy.

Take Tiger Woods for example. His rise to the top as the world’s best golfer just wasn’t enough so he had to go and fool around on his gorgeous European wife.

Then there was the Michael Vick con-troversy some years back. When does making millions justify the cruelty of run-ning a dog-fighting ring?

To top it all off, many Americans sat on the edge of their seats all sum-mer hoping the NFL lockout would be resolved before the start of the season. An insane amount of money gets thrown around, but it never seems like enough.

Two weeks ago, another NFL related issues came to center stage. On Sept. 19, two players for the Buffalo Bills had to showcase their drama skills by pretending to be hurt when the St. Louis Rams were running a no-huddle rush down the field.

Defensive players Deon Grant and Jacquian Williams both fell to the field like sacks of potatoes, even though they had survived the last play and were walk-ing around just fine moments before that.

When I heard about this, I was liter-ally shocked. Who in their right mind would do something like that with all the cameras rolling?

I never played football as a youth, but I did play soccer. I reveled in every mo-ment I could play and hated taking an injury timeout. There were times I would shake off a slide tackle and continue limp-ing around the field. I refused to succumb to the pain.

After the Bills’ fiasco, the NFL com-mission issued a warning to all the teams saying that they wouldn’t tolerate these kinds of actions on field and would start issue fines for observing any blatantly fake injuries.

I wondered at that point if college athletics had any kind of rules in place to prevent our own players from commit-ting a falsified injury. I sought out a few people on campus to see if they could en-lighten me on the subject.

In the athletic office, I had a mo-ment to talk with NIC Booster Club and Athletics Activities Coordinator Patty Stewart and she shared a similar view. She felt that many of our student athletes wouldn’t fake any kind of injury because every moment was precious on the field.

When a group of unpaid student ath-letes are fighting for game time, it’s not likely anyone wants to give up their spot easily. That is true love for the game.

Before I finalized my opinion, I sought out the head of it all, Athletic Director Al Williams. What he said about everything actually opened my mind to a new view.

He explained that though it might be unethical to fake an injury, many sporting events over the years have been decided by strategic moves played on the field.

If our players are running out of gas, it might be a pivotal move to fake an injury and allow the team to recover for a minute. Those extra moments to catch their breath could be the deciding factor on who wins.

I won’t defend the Bills’ action on the field that Monday night, especially when they were ahead that game, but I do see both sides of the fence.

Maybe the NFL players could benefit from a couple acting classes. It’s not like they can’t afford it. At least they should be conscious that the camera is always rolling, so play that “strategic move“ with care.

Eric Rivera is an editor for The Sentinel. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sentinel. Respond to this column online at nicsentinel.com.

COMMENTARY

Sports tip? Story idea?Contact Eric Rivera

() [email protected] Sports

Emily SchellStaff Contributor

The NIC women’s soccer team has continued its dominance this season, earn-ing a perfect 10-0 record and the No. 9 ranking in the nation.

The most recent game occurred on Sept. 28 against the Community Colleges of Spokane Sasquatch. They posted a 4-2 victory that weekend after trailing by two points at half time.

NIC had travelled to Rock Springs, Wyo. for two games on Sept. 23 and 24. The Cardinals destroyed their first op-ponent, Western Wyoming Community College with a 7-2 win.

That win was pivotal for the team because it qualified the women for the NJCAA District B playoffs. The playoff site has yet to be announced.

On the second away game, they had a narrow victory against Western Nebraska Community College, posting a 1-0 score. Freshman Anna Valentine punched the only goal into the net at 55 minutes.

“They were a really tough opponent,”

said freshman midfielder Kellee Tilson, 19.

The Lady Card’s highest scoring game came over the weekend of Sept. 16 and 18. The women first played the Northwest College Trappers and posted a score of 4-1 on home turf.

“They got one on us in the second half,” said coach Dan Hogan. “It caught us by surprise and caught our goal keeper a little by surprise. She just couldn’t get there in time.”

Then on Sept. 18, the Lady Cards de-stroyed the University of Idaho club team with an outlandish score of 12-1.

“University of Idaho club team was a little weaker than opponents we faced recently,” said Hogan “We played a little slower because of that, because we could.”

NIC topped off a set of three on the road shutouts with their game that hap-pened on Sept. 14.

They played the Eastern Oregon Uni-versity Mountaineers and tacked up a 4-0 victory.

Three goals came within a six-minute time span in the second half. Their shut-

out streak started with the wins on Sept. 9 and 10.

“We expected a pretty tough physical match from a four year school,” Hogan said. “In the second half, we came out a lot quicker. It was a good match for us.”

Hogan said the girls came out in the first half working on their possession game and were knocking the ball around pretty good. He said the rally in the sec-ond half boosted the confidence on the whole team.

The girls had good things to say about Northwest along with the other teams and that showed the sportsmanship and mind-set of the team.

“They have really good players and were a really tough opponent for us,” said Tilson. “We just needed to stay strong,”

The women linger in the excitement of being undefeated, but remain focused and ready for the next challenge.

“I guess you could say that was a good victory for us but we need to make sure our defense and everything stays tough,” Tilson said. “We can continue to build up and make it to nationals.”

Midfielder Tia Sharp manages to keep possession of the ball despite a little bit of contact from her opponent. Ethan Schlussler/Sentinel

Running a perfect seasonLady Cards roll into Week 5 with a 10-0 record

Softball scrimmages show promiseMudhens, Big Bend try to adapt as NIC rallies through the fall season

Danielle Hockette chucks and kicks up dust against the Alumni. Eric Rivera/Sentinel

Emily SchellStaff Contributor

The NIC men’s soccer team continued to struggle this season, posting a 1-3-1 record in the last three weeks. The men haven’t been able to find a groove to work into this whole season.

“We weren’t playing at the top of our game,” said freshman defender Chad Franck, 18.

The most recent game came against the Community Colleges of Spokane Sasquatch, where they posted a tie with score 1-1. The Cardinals have an away rematch against the Sasquatch on Oct. 19.

NIC had no luck on the road when they played in Rock Springs, Wyo. on Sept. 23 and 25. They added two losses to their record that weekend.

The first game against Western Wyo-ming Community College resulted in a 2-4 loss. Sophomore midfielder Matt Lieggi scored in the first half by bouncing the ball off of a Mustang defender into the net. Freshman Mike Leptich scored the only other goal late in the second half.

On the second day, NIC lost to the

Western Nebraska Community College Cougars by a score of 1-3.

“It was a fast paced game,” said goalkeeper Dana Ashton, 20. “They were good but got some cheap goals. The mo-mentum just shifted and got us down.”

The team’s only win in the last three weeks happened during home games on Sept. 16 and 18.

On Sept. 16, NIC lost to Northwest College Trappers 1-4. This was the second week in a row that they lost out to the Trappers. Sophomore midfielder Chad Ward posted the only goal for the game in the first half.

Thompson said that in the Northwest match, the guys played slow and played better the first 65 minutes.

“The last 10 minutes things just began to devolve,” said Thompson “We went home and changed the way we defended and our lineup.”

The men managed to shut out the Uni-versity of Idaho club team on Sept. 18 with a 4-0 victory. Lieggi punched a 18-yard goal into the net during that game.

The University of Idaho club match showcased a more physical and prepared

Chanse WatsonStaff Contributor

The NIC rugby club failed to defend its title at the 11th annual Kootenai Cup, finish-ing with a 2-1 record after the chaos on the field settled.

“Overall, I would say we played well,” said coach Joe Malloy. “I was most im-pressed with the heart the rookies had out there. You just can’t teach that.”

NIC was supposed to make its first ap-pearance of the year in Cardinal red at the tournament.

Due to a paperwork mishap, NIC had to merge with the North Idaho men’s rugby club, the Osprey, in order to compete. This wasn’t the first time the two teams worked together in a series of games.

Not all players were enthusiastic about the Cardinal-Osprey merger at the tourna-ment.

“We played well, but the combined teams add a little bit more confusion,” said Cardinal and physical plant worker Adam Mortensen.

The University of Idaho rugby team won the tournament this year handing the Cardinal-Osprey hybrid a loss in the first game they played. Despite the sluggish start, returning sophomore captain Steven Populus said he didn’t let the results put a damper on his mood.

“We will be good competition in this tour-nament,” said Populus. “There is definitely room for improvement.”

The Cardinal-Osprey hybrid looked to redeem themselves in their second game against Bozeman, and with a final score of 31-7, they did just that. Flanker Ray Black-eter pointed out a few things they did during that game. Making more try’s, which is rugby terminology for goals, was at the top of the list.

“We need to score more try’s, and we really need to work on tackling,” Blacketer said. “We had three guys on one; it’s not necessary.”

Determined on not leaving the tourna-ment with a negative record, the defending champions won their final game against

Butte 45-0. Flankers don’t normally score often in rugby, but Blacketer succeeded in running the ball in for a try during their game against Butte.

“This was our best game of the tourna-ment, and it made my whole season to see Ray [Blacketer] get to run it in and score,” said Malloy.

Even without earning the first place title for a second year, Malloy said he was enthu-siastic about the tournament’s turnout.

Veteran Osprey player Carlos Valero said he was “excited” to have NIC players mixed in with his team in an attempt to defend the title. At the days end, he voiced a positive opinion about the tournament.

“Honor and respect is not exclusively given to the team who wins the trophy,” said Valero. “In rugby, it is just as important to have a successful social event during and after the tournament.”

Coach Malloy and the NIC rugby players look forward to playing without the Osprey in their season opener Oct. 8 at Gonzaga University.

SportSB2 | the sentinel Monday, OCTOBER 3, 2011

Benaiah CheeversStaff Contributor

NIC’s Athletic Director Al Williams and all of NIC’s coaches held a coaches’ media day last week. Williams was accompanied by all of the head coaches, assistants, some players, members of the media, and others.

The lunch and conference took place at the Coeur d’Alene Resort at 11:30 a.m. Dick Haugen narrated the event.

All of the coaches spoke for about five to seven minutes about themselves and their teams.

Women’s head soccer coach Dan Hogan talked about how his team is willing to work hard and try new things. As of last week, the Lady Cardinals have four players that have scored eight or more goals.

Hogan is in his 14th season and ninth year as head women’s soccer coach. In the 2008 season, his Cardinal team made its first trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national tour-nament where the team earned third place.

Men’s head soccer coach Ken Thomp-son, spoke about having a passion not only for soccer but for school and helping his players to achieve their goals.

Thompson has nearly ten years of coaching experience and played at the collegiate level for Gonzaga University and Seattle Pacific University. He earned a B.A. from Gonzaga University and a J.D. from American University.

Thompson is a Coeur d’Alene native, and as a former Idaho Gatorade Soccer Player of the Year in high school, he has deep roots in the soccer community within and beyond the Inland Northwest. This year the Men’s Soccer team has 17 new players and six returners.

Jared Phay returns for his eighth season as the head coach of the Cardinals Men’s Basketball team and looks to con-tinue to build on his program’s success.

Phay has enjoyed great success in his tenure at NIC, being named Region 18 Coach of the Year three times. Phay has led the Cardinals to three SWAC champion-ships, one as co-champions in the 2005-2006

season and outright conference cham-pionships in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 when his teams posted back-to-back 27-win seasons.

The SWAC conference is con-sidered the tough-est junior college conference in the country. Last sea-son, Phay led the Cardinals to the first ever No. 1 national ranking in school history.

Prior to being named head coach at NIC, Phay was an assistant coach for two seasons at NIC under Hugh Watson, who recently retired from coaching.

Phay said NIC basketball standouts Conner White and Jordan McCloud will be key players for the team this year. Both are sophomores this year and will be leaders for the new Cardinal team.

Chris Carlson enters his eighth season as head coach of the NIC’s women’s basket-ball team and is coming off of an incredible national championship season where he was named the National Coach of the Year.

This was NIC’s third consecutive top ten finish at the NJCAA national champion-ships in Salina, KA. It also makes seven straight seasons of more than 20 wins while capturing the SWAC tournament champi-onship all three seasons.

“The girls are buying in right now and working really hard,” said Carlson. “We’re doing all the little things that we can to get ready so we are really excited. We’re going to do the absolute best we can do every single day, and the rest will take care of itself.”

This year is Pat Whitcomb’s 15th season as NIC wrestling head coach. He enters the year with three national titles under his belt and an NIC career record of 199-36-2.

“It’s not a question of if we’re going to win, it’s how we’re going to go about it,” said Whitcomb.

Whitcomb has been honored as the National Coach of the Year twice and has received the Region 18 Coach of the Year Award seven times.

Whitcomb was instrumental in bring-ing the 2011 NJCAA national wrestling championships to Spokane, Wash., where the Cardinals captured an exciting second-place finish. The team this year has 45 wrestlers.

Volleyball head coach Kandice Kelly

See MEDIA DAY | Page B4

Striking a Superman pose, team captain Stephen Populus and co. stare down the U. of I punter late in the second half. Eric Rivera/Sentinel

Media Day bragging showcase

Cardinals, Osprey work together in failed attempt to swoop in for second title

Coaches talk about success, future goals

Dodging and dashing, sophomore defender Eli Kesselheim moves up the field against Northwest College. Gabe Green/Sentinel

Men’s soccer trying to comeback late in fallTeam looks to home games for redemption

PAt WhItcoMb head Wrestling coach

“It’s not a question of if we

are going to win, it’s

how we are going to go about it.”

NIC golf starts off slow fall seasonFledgling teams head to invitationals, placed in top 15 at Cheney

Garrett CabezaStaff Contributor

The NIC men and women’s golf teams have begun to take a full swing at the fall season. The Rolly Williams Classic Golf Tournament brought in some extra funds to the golf program after a disappointing top 15 finish earlier in September at the Palouse Invitational held in Cheney.

The women’s golf team was invited to the Whitman Invitational in Walla Walla held on Oct. 1 and 2, but due to deadline restrictions the results are unavailable.

A team consisting of Rolly Williams and his family won the fifth annual Rolly

Williams Classic Golf Tournament at the Avondale Golf Club in Hayden on Sept. 23.

The Williams team consisted of Rolly, Tony, Derrick and Darren Williams. Rona Williams, the daughter of Rolly, was also at the tournament and had the longest drive of the day.

The event doubled as a fundraiser that benefited the NIC golf program. Participants golfed 18 holes, received a free shirt and were treated to dinner provided by Qdoba Mexican Grill.

“There was good weather, and the par-ticipants had fun,” said NIC head golf coach Derrick Thompson.

On Sept. 12 and 13, the NIC men’s golf

team placed fourteenth at the Palouse Invita-tional in Pullman. The Cardinals shot a team score of 927 between both days falling two strokes behind thirteenth place Whitworth University.

“I‘m a little disappointed we let Whit-worth pass us up in the last day of the tournament,” Thompson said.

Four of the six freshmen in the entire field played for the NIC squad. One of them, Drew Ferguson out of Belgrade, Mont., finished in a four-way tie for 59th place by shooting a 229 (+16) to lead NIC. Freshman Spencer Skipper from Coeur d’Alene took

See GoLF| Page B4

set of Cardinals despite the size difference between the two teams.

“They were definitely the biggest team we’ve seen all year,” Thompson said. “We tried to be more specific in our training, but basically we just had more patience.”

The men play two home games next week, one on Oct. 7 and 9.

Eric RiveraSports Editor

Raucous roars emanated from the crowd. Bloodlust could be felt amongst all

those who witnessed the event.

The scene could be paralleled with days of old, like when Rome’s age of the gladiators kept spectators on the edge of their seats.

This wasn’t any ordinary saturday night at North Idaho College’s gym. The NIC booster club teamed up with Trevor Prangley’s American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) to host North Idaho Fight Night on Sept. 17.

The event was supposed to have 10-action packed events, but after a few alterations to the fi ght ticket, only seven fi ghts came to fruition.

The main event featured Ultimate Fight-ing Championship fi ghter and former NIC student Trevor Prangley (24-8) knocked out Portland fi ghter Tony King in 25 seconds into the fi ght after his original opponent failed to show.

“I was supposed to fi ght Derek Anderson tonight but he wasn’t man enough to step up to the ring,” said Prangley. “I would like to thank Tony King for stepping up last minute to fi ll the spot tonight.”

Prangley runs an AKA affi liation in town and had three professional fi ghters from his academy racking up stats that night. The fi rst pro bout started off with the heavyweight class. Josh “The Machine” Queen (4-2) forced his opponent Kyle “Kodiak” Keeney to tap out in the third round by armbar submission.

The second pro bout added blood to drama in the ring. The 155-pound class pitted AKA’s Arley “Spiderman” George against Spokane fi ghter Austin Peaker. Almost three minutes into the round, a doctor stopped the fi ght and

ruled in George’s favor due to Peaker’s exces-sive bleeding when George landed a few good blows. George riled up the crowd with his trademark move of jumping and hanging from the fence after he improved his professional record to 4-2.

Jerome Jones (2-2) of TKO kickboxing out

of Spokane increased the crowd’s intensity dur-ing the third round of pro fi ghting. He won by guillotine submission against Jacob Harkness 81 seconds into the fi rst round. He said this adds a new vitality to his outlook as a career fi ghter.

“[This win] really means a lot because I

lost my fi rst two as a professional and then I won my last one and this one,” said Jones. “It is kind of like a fresh start, like I can start heading in the positive direction.”

Prangley’s AKA had their fi nal pro win in the fourth fi ght. “Iron” Will Nolan (4-2), for AKA, and Chris “the Ginger Ninja” Ensley fought in the 185-pound class. Nolan was able to submit his opponent at 1:05 into the fi rst round, winning by a rear naked choke hold.

After all the chaos and turmoil, Prangley asked for a moment of silence to remember those who perished in 9/11.

Prangley hails out of Cape Town, South Africa, and said that in comparison to his home country, freedom and democracy truly exists in the United States and he wanted to express his gratitude for those that were lost in one of our nation’s worst terrorist attacks in history.

Prangley was born in 1972 and attended NIC until 1998, when he transferred to Mis-souri State University. During his career as a wrestler for NIC, he received All-American honors twice, took eighth place his freshman year, and runner-up his sophomore year. In his sophomore match, Prangley was ahead on points up until the fi nal match where a torn ACL prevented him from placing any higher.

Prangley has also competed in many UFC fi ghts, showcasing his talent in “UFC 48,” where he defeated Curtis Stout by submis-sion. His record for the organization currently stands at 2-2.

He has gone on to fi ght in many other orga-nizations, including overseas in Japan recently. He lost by KO to Tatsuya Mizuno on July 16 this year, so he said this win reaffi rms that he still has some fi ght left in him.

“I wanted to bring a different image to MMA and I think we accomplished that,” said Prangley. “I am hoping it has a big future here, but we will see how it goes. I mean, it was a decent turnout tonight. We will do the math, but I think we will be back here for sure.”

the sentinel | B3SPORTSwww.nicsentinel.com

Fight Night delivers epic spectacleUFC fi ghter, alumnus provides credibility for kickboxing academy

Looking to draw blood. Arley George of AKA tags his opponent Austin Peaker multiple times in Bout #4. George went on to win by doctor stoppage in the first round. Eric Rivera /Sentinel

Number of foul types recognized by the UFC referees

Number of knockouts in Trevor Prangley’s career to date

BY THE NUMBERS

531

NIC students ride gray waves in style with popular mode of transportationBenaiah CheeversStaff Contributor

A wise man once said that if you try to defy gravity, you’d end up falling and break-ing your neck. So why do extreme sports athletes like Tony Hawk fl y 20 feet up a half pipe? How does Travis Pastrana amaze peo-ple every year with his motorcycle stunts?

Well, people like Hawk and Pastrana are daring and have a passion for their ex-treme sports. Longboarding is not quite as extreme as a lot of sports, but it is becoming a popular trend.

Many NIC students said they have dis-covered that longboards are not only pretty cool, but also a great way to cruise around the campus. In a world looking for green alternatives, it is a great way to reduce our carbon footprint as well.

A longboard is similar and related to a surfboard or snowboard, but with wheels. The beauty of riding these sidewalk cruisers is the fact that anyone can ride them during the summer when there isn’t any snow on the ground.

Dorian Kaiser, 20, criminal justice, knows what the longboarding experience is all about. He said that he recently had a longboard deck custom made, while he

ordered the trucks, bearings, and wheels separately.

He said getting a board custom made is usually about $40 cheaper than buying one at the store or online.

“I like to longboard because I can get around faster and I just like to feel the breeze on my face, said Kaiser. “It’s just a really cool and relaxing experience for me.

Also, most students have to park about fi ve to ten minutes away so it’s a great way to shorten up the time from your car to the classroom.”

Longboards can be used for cruising, downhill racing, slalom racing, sliding, or just to get around easily. Longboards are designed for descending on hills, sliding, carving, “dancing”, or just to glide around.

Most longboards measure 33 to 59 inches. There are several shapes of longboards, such as pintails, fl at-nose riders, drop-through decks, drop decks and boards with the same shape of a standard skateboard.

Longboard decks are typically made from wood ply anywhere from two to 11 layers, usually 2 mm in thickness, composed of birch, bamboo or maple.

Mid-length boards are 37 to

50 inches and are the most versatile. Their heavier weight makes them less suitable for skateboarding tricks, but contributes to a more fl uid motion by providing more momentum.

The longboard’s design allows for big turns or quick short carves similar to the motions of surfers or snowboarders.

“Longboarding is different than skate-boarding because skateboarding today is more about going to the skate park and doing tricks,” said Kaiser. “Longboards are almost like the bike version of a skateboard

because with a bike you can just ride places, relax, lean and turn one way or another. It’s just great for getting around.”

Brandon Feely, a 19 year-old Pre-Phar-macy major at NIC, said that longboarding is a great way to get from place to place faster and it’s just fun.

“When I get out of my night class around 8:00 p.m. there is almost nobody on campus. It’s awesome just let everything go and ride down the middle of the street and enjoy how quiet and peaceful it is,” said Feely. “Good music can make a ride during the day peaceful also. Another fun way to ride is to fi nd a hill and glide down

it not having to worry about pushing, just riding.”

Longboards are commercially avail-able in a variety shapes and sizes and

can be purchased online at websites like www.thelongboardstore.com

and www.cdalongboards.com.Local stores in Coeur

d’Alene like Pyramid Skate Shop, Zumies, Big 5 Sporting Goods, Lectric Longboard

Co., and Coeur d’Alene LongBoards are also good

places to shop for a new ride.

BRIAN FEELY NIC student and longboard enthusiast

“When I get out of my night class around 8 p.m. there is almost nobody on campus. It’s awesome just to let everything go and ride

down the middle of the street and enjoy how quiet and peaceful it is.”

Garrett CabezaStaff Contributor

The NIC volleyball team (13-7 overall, 2-1 conference play) came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat No. 3 College of Southern Idaho (CSI) in five sets on Saturday at Christianson gymnasium.

NIC lost the first two sets 25-23 and 25-18 before rebounding to claim the next three 26-24, 25-15 and 15-11.

“We got beat in five in Salt Lake City,” said freshman setter Sierra Pancho. “We won the first two, and that wasn’t going to happen again.”

Pancho led the way with 52 assists, while Yang contributed 20 kills in the match. Janele Vogt added 12 kills.

The NIC Volleyball team opened Scenic West Athletic Conference play on the road losing to Salt Lake Community College and beating Snow College on Sept. 23 and 24.

No. 7 Salt Lake defeated the Lady Cardi-nals in five sets with scores of 25-22, 25-15, 17-25, 24-26 and 15-10. Sierra Pancho led the team with 48 assists. Yang Yang added 25 kills, 16 digs, five blocks and an ace. Janele Vogt had 15 kills and three blocks and Emily Sarff

contributed with 18 digs.“We were pumped up early,” said coach

Kandice Kelly. “We didn’t make very many errors, and they made a lot of errors, but they made adjustments later in the game.”

NIC then traveled to Ephraim, Utah to face Snow College. The Lady Cardinals beat the Badgers in five sets with scores of 19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-27 and 16-14.

Previously, the North Idaho College vol-leyball team was victorious in three out of their four matches at the second College of South-ern Idaho (CSI) tournament of the season on September 16 and 17.

In the Lady Cardinals first match, they upset fourth-ranked Miami Dade by sweeping them in three sets with scores of 25-15, 25-18 and 25-21.

“We weren’t going to out power them, so we tipped,” head coach Kandice Kelly said. “The girls played hard and had a lot of fun.”

Sierra Pancho led the team with 25 assists, while Yang contributed 15 kills and eight digs. Sabrina Ewing added seven kills and fresh-man outside hitter Kendall Bergsten, out of Phoenix, Ariz., had four aces.

The Lady Cardinals then faced SWAC rival and seventh-ranked Salt Lake Community Col-

lege. NIC was defeated in four sets with scores of 14-25, 27-25, 20-25 and 18-25.

“Salt Lake is a good team,” Kelly said. “You have to give them credit. We tried to out power them and they double and triple blocked us.”

Pancho led the team in assists with 32 and also contributed with 13 digs. Yang had 14 kills and four blocks and Janele Vogt capitalized on every kill attempt finishing 10 for 10.

The next day, NIC went on to beat number 12 in the nation Barton Community College of Great Bend, Kan. NIC lost the first set 23-25, but went on to win the next three 25-14, 25-12 and 25-14.

Pancho was the team leader with 42 assists. Yang led the Lady Cardinals with 17 kills, and Vogt was right behind her with 15. Brooklyn Bradbury finished with 15 digs to lead the team and Emily Sarff added 12.

Later in the day, NIC beat Yavapai Commu-nity College from Prescott, Ariz. in three sets with scores of 25-18, 25-11 and 25-23. Pancho led the Lady Cardinals with 37 assists, while Yang filled the stat sheet with 18 kills, four blocks and eight digs. Mariah Smith had 12 kills and 12 digs and Sarff added 15 digs.

“Our serving is getting better, and we’re getting more consistent,” said Kelly.

SportSB4 | the sentinel Monday, October 3, 2011

NFL players make great drama students>MEDIA DAYfrom page B2

is in her first year at NIC and coached at the University of Montana for three years prior to coming to NIC.

Kelly was the 2002 Montana Gatorade Girls Volleyball Player of the Year and led Roundup High School to four Class B state titles while starring for the Panthers as a setter and outside hitter.

There are only five returners left from the previous year’s volleyball team. Kelly said that this year has been a slow start and going into their first tournament the team had a lot of injuries.

“We have high hopes for this season, said Kelly. “We knew that going into this year our team was much shorter than others teams, so we have had to overcome that

height disadvantage.”Derrick Thompson is in his second

season as head men’s and women’s golf coach and his fourth year with the program, having served two years as an assistant coach. He said that this is a year with high expectations.

“We have a lot of depth and I think this year will be interesting,” said Thompson. “So far the competition has been tough.”

The women’s golf team only has two re-turners from last year. The men’s team only has two returners also, with 11 freshmen.

Softball this year has eight returning players. Coach Don Don Williams talked about her team this year and said that the team is getting better every week.

“It’s going to come to who produces in the circle and who scores the most runs to win a SWAC championship this spring,” said Williams.

>GOLFfrom page B2

65th place with a 231 (+18).Sophomore Justin Newton, Kalispell,

finished in a four-way tie for 67th place shooting a 234 (+21) for the Cardinals, while freshman Brennan Stillinger, Coeur d’Alene shot a 236 (+23) for 73rd place.

Freshman Taylor Reed from Sheridan, Wyo. tied for 76th place.

San Jose State University (SJSU) won the tournament, shooting 842 as a team, followed by Utah Valley University (UVU) with a team score of 859. Washington State

University finished six strokes behind UVU with a score of 865.

The Idaho powerhouses, Boise State and the University of Idaho, finished fourth and fifth in the tournament. Boise State shot an 869 as a team, while the University of Idaho tied with Loyola Marymount University of Los Angeles, Calif. with a score of 871.

Jarred Bossio of the University of Idaho had the best score in the tournament with a score of 205 (-8). Four SJSU golfers finished in the top five overall in the tournament, in-cluding Jay Myers, who placed second with a 209 (-4), followed closely by Christopher Lang, who shot a 210 (-3). Matt Hovan and Justin Estrada tied for fifth with a 212 (-1).

Benaiah CheeversStaff Contributor

Brian Williams will always be remem-bered by those that loved him and his story continues to inspire hundreds of people every year. Family, friends, and bike riders alike gathered to honor a fallen NIC graduate in a second annual memorial bike ride held on Saturday, Sept. 10.

The event started and finished at O’Shay’s Irish Pub & Eatery where participants gath-ered to sign in for the ride which was different this year from last year. Instead of a ride to Canfield Mountain, this year’s ride was a pok-

er run to seven different businesses around Coeur d’Alene. They included Cricket’s, Terra Sports, Capone’s, Kayak CDA, Vertical Earth, Bardenay, and Fedora.

Paul Chivvis, resort/recreation manage-ment instructor, coordinated the event. Jon Totten, Outdoor Pursuits Coordinator, helped out together the event. Chivvis was an instruc-tor to Williams at NIC and said he recalls how Williams was always passionate about the environment, taking care of the earth every chance he could get.

“I had an opportunity to go riding with Brian a few times,” said Chivvis. “This event brings back some great memories. It also pro-

vides a way for many to cope with everything by having us do what he loved.”

Both Chivvis and Totten said that they be-lieve the event will continue to grow annually once the word gets out more.

“The ride went well this year,” said Chiv-vis. “We didn’t have quite as many people show up as we would’ve liked, but this event will continue to grow.”

Williams graduated from NIC and at-tended the University of Montana where he studied environmental law. Two summers ago, Williams and three others were return-ing from a sight-seeing trip at Glacier National Park when their single-engine plane fell from

the sky. No one survived the crash. Williams was 28 at the time of the crash. His friends and family said that he had hoped to make a difference in the world.

Totten said that he hopes more students will get involved in Outdoor Pursuits.

The Brian Williams Memorial Scholarship is partially funded by the bike ride that Chivvis put together. After this year’s ride, bikers returned to O’Shay’s for a BBQ, live music, door prizes, raffle prizes, and a silent auction.

The law department at the University of Montana has also set up a scholarship for stu-dents who are pursuing a degree are environ-mental law.

Former alumnus is remembered for his love of environmental science with two scholarship funds

Brian Williams Memorial Ride makes second run

Volleyball rallies at home in five setsLady Cards upset No. 3 CSI, No. 4 Miami-Dade in three-week span

Tipping the ball, sophomore Spencer Smiley-Schultz flies high at the first home game. Ethan Schlussler/Sentinel

W W W . N I C S E N T I N E L . C O MMONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011 PAGE B5

DID YOU KNOW? While playing the violin you can burn as much as 170 calories in only an hour.

Advertising fallacies, fun times

My bizarre night made unexpected memories

NOURA A.A. ■ A&E Editor

Noura A.A. is an editor for The Sentinel. Her opinions are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sentinel. Respond to this column online at nicsentinel.com.

EntertainmentA&E tip? Story idea?Contact Noura A.A.

--nealfadl-andreasson

@students.nic.edu

COMMENTARY

Comedian Kyle Cease (left) invites NIC student, John Yearsley, on stage for a duet. Ehtan Schlussler/Sentinel

Inspirational comedian tickles NICKyle Cease brings jokes, songs, gives lasting message of aspiration

Kyle BreitenbergBusiness Manager

More that 200 students and community mem-bers enjoyed Come-dian Kyle Cease's visit to NIC, part of his 2011 "20 Colleges

in 20 Days" tour. The show took place in the lower level of the SUB the evening of Sept. 22.

"[I got] a standing ovation. Couldn't ask for more than that. Unless I could fly," said Cease.

His interaction with the audience was a significant element of his act, incorpo-rating audience members in his jokes, conversing with them, and convincing two audience members to sing back up vocals while he performed a song on the piano. Ryan Garner, a third year psychology stu-dent at NIC who was one of the two audi-ence members called onto the stage, ex-pressed his enjoyment over being chosen to be part of the show and his hope that Cease would be back soon.

Cease began his career at the age of 12, performing in clubs and corporate parties. He had small roles in multiple movies, including a character role in "10 Things I Hate About You," as well as play-ing the guy who constantly attempts the slow clap in "Not Another Teen Movie." Cease has had his own special on Comedy Central, appeared on “Premium-Blend,” and placed first on Comedy Central's “Stand-up Showdown.” However, Cease brought something besides a comedy routine with him. He carried and shared a message of inspiration.

"We're not here to get anything. We're here to let it out," said Cease.

Cease told the audience about difficul-ties he had faced when he was stuck be-tween the desire and fear of success.

"Anything that someone else did, we can all do,” Cease said. “You have proof cause someone else did it.”

John Smith, 18, who sings lead vocals in a local heavy metal band, agreed.

"It’s nice to see that the same mentali-ty has actually gotten people somewhere," Smith said.

Cease will release his book "Wasn't Next Week Great?" next fall. He said the title is a testament to his live in the flow attitude.

"It's a book with full on proof. Scientific proof, my life proof, everything proof, that you can have, be, do, anything that you want," Cease said. "And it's f-ing funny."

The show was booked by ASNIC last July, and as all events put on by ASNIC, it was free of charge.

KYLE CEASEcomedian

“Anything that someone else did, we can all do. You have

proof cause someone else did it.”

Recital leaves crowd craving moreFirst lobby recital of semester leaves promising impression for future

Noura A.A.A & E Editor

Boswell Hall was filled with antici-pative silence, Thursday, Sept. 29, for the Music Department’s first Lobby Recital of the semes-

ter. At noon, an audience of about 35-40 people gathered in a crescent of benches and chairs to watch two NIC students per-form.

Bonnie Mitson, 17, Post Falls, dual enrolled performed a viola duet with NIC music instructor and recital organizer Gerard Mathes. They performed the “Pa-vane, Op. 50,” by French composer Ga-briel Fauré.

Mathes described the piece as “trans-parent” because of its difficulty. Mitson played the melody, while Mathes plucked the viola like a guitar. The result was a slow, somewhat haunting and somber per-formance.

This was not Mitson’s first recital, but it was the first time she performed with Mathes. Mitson, who has studied viola for

six years, said she practiced the piece for three weeks and hopes to perform at next month’s recital.

“It went good,” Mitson said. “I would have liked to practice a bit more though.”

Vocalist Wesley Saunders performed second. Saunders, 20, music, Moscow, decided the day before that he wanted to perform “Orpheus and his Lute” in the recital.

“I really want to get as much experi-ence as I can performing,” Saunders said. “I knew this song well and I had a lot of confidence and I’m very ambitious and outgoing so I wanted to take advantage of all opportunities.”

The Shakespearean song revolved around the character Orpheus and his mesmerizing lute playing.

Saunders said his first professional performance in last weekend’s production of “Faust” was the inspiration for his im-promptu recital performance.

“It was very amazing,” Saunders said. “I talked to the principle artists and they said if you really want to excel at your in-

strument, you want to seek out all oppor-tunities you can find to perform.”

Although Saunders had been working on “Orpheus and his Lute” all summer, it was his first time performing it with a pianist.

Although the first recital of the year is usually short, this one was particularly short due to cancellations from sick stu-dents. Mathes contends that throughout the semester, the recitals get increasingly full.

“Oh it went, great!” Mathes said. “Its quite informal, but it’s a good way for the music students to get performance experi-ence.”

Music students and staff can vol-unteer to perform at the recitals. Next months recital is expected to have a cham-ber orchestra, a possible performance from drama instructor Joe Jacoby, and Mathes will play fiddle music.

Lobby recitals are the last Thursday of every month in Boswell Hall. They are free and open to all. The next recital will be Oct. 27.

False advertising: the use of false or misleading statements in advertis-ing, illegal in most countries. It can take many different forms, most com-monly “undefined terms.” Examples are “light” food, “ultra-light” cigarettes, and , most recently, a performance I attended.

My darling boyfriend bought two tickets to the show “Tango and Other Human Passions” for my birthday. I love to dance tango, so the title sounded promising. Particularly when the box office lady at the Fox said she said want to “ruin the surprise” when we asked what to expect. To me a response like that equated to, “best tango performance of your life. Right? Wrong.

The opening performance was an Asian woman in a brightly colored, fla-menco-style shawl playing Latin-sound-ing music on an accordion. We arrived a few minutes late and waited in the back of the theater until we could take our front row seats without disturbing the show. The view before us revealed a vast sea of bald heads and brittle halos of white hair.

Afterward, the orchestra took to the stage. The first piece was a homage to the the last great Argentinean Tango composer, but I wouldn’t have known if the program hadn’t said so.

The theater was a mass of tweed coats and turtle necks, with a few other young couples looking as surprised and foreign as my boyfriend and I. There wasn’t any room on stage for any kind of dance performance.

A tall, skinny, man in an expensive black suit, black alligator shoes and plum purple shirt and silk tie took to the stage. He looked like Michael Jackson if he became a violin virtuoso. His taut, shiny face must have taken at least eight Facial a day to maintain. He was Tim Faine, a venerated young vio-linist, and the most ridiculous person I have ever witnessed.

The vision of Faine in the purple shirt, laughing pompously at abso-lutely nothing and smelling the air as if relishing the scent of his own farts confirmed this. Then he started to play. He was incredible, but I had to turn around and check the back wall to make sure there wasn’t a giant mirror. He pranced around on stage, perfect-ing to a cue how I would imagine a co-median would portray a stuck -up clas-sical musician.

Intermission arrived and my boy-friend and I converged in the lobby with wide eyed tales of our shared bathroom experiences: trembling old ladies commenting on each others giant antique broaches. Old men, who somehow all knew each other, cram-ming into the the bathroom before they soiled their Depends.

We went back out seats and tried not to die of laughter through another performance. Faye didn’t leave the stage before making the audience struggle out of their seat at least four standing ovations.

The rest of the pieces were dry and classical. A small Asian lady, looked like she was asleep. She didn’t move, even during intermission. She may have been dead, we didn’t stick around to find out. As soon as the last piece ended we darted out.

Guess I’m not too am not too savvy for false advertising.

EntErtainmEntB6 | the sentinel Monday, OCTOBER 3, 2011

Noura A.A.A & E Editor

Only a few people attended Parent Band Camp, but they made a lot of noise.

NIC’s “parent band camp” commenced Thursday, Sept. 29 in Boswell Hall Room 102. NIC Wind Symphony Director, Terry Jones, created the camp so that parents could learn how to play their child’s instru-ment. All parents of beginning band stu-dents, past or present, were invited. As this was Jones’s first attempt at “parent band camp,” only two mothers showed up for the evening.

Kelly Ealy, Coeur d’Alene, marketing, came because she thought it would be a fun experience. Her son Connor Ealy, 18, has a scholarship at NIC for playing the euphoni-um, also known as the baritone, in the NIC Jazz Band.

“I used to play [the flute] in the band in high school and I wanted to meet Terry, the director, and just see what’s going on,” Ealy said.

Deirdre Gilmore, Post Falls, CNA at Kootenai Medical Center in the ER, also studied the flute in high school She said she decided to attend after her daughter brought home a slip of paper inviting all parents to band camp. Her daughter Des-tiny Gilmore, 11, is a flutist.

Ealy was given her son’s instrument, the euphonium, for the evening. The euphoni-um is similar to a tuba, but smaller. Gilmore was also given a euphonium in order to keep the lesson synchronized and because there were no flutes available.

Both mothers were eager to attempt the new instrument. Lots of giggling and “re-member that one time at band camp” jokes ensued.

Since both mothers already knew how to read music, Jones went directly to the basics of the euphonium. Before the women were allowed to play the instrument, they had to practice embouchure with just the mouthpiece. Embouchure is the use of fa-cial muscles and shaping of the lips to the mouthpieces of woodwind and brass instru-ments. Jones said there are 37 muscles in the face, and all 37 must be used in order to play the euphonium.

For about 10 minutes, the two mothers enthusiastically sputtered into the mouth-piece of the euphonium until they could make a sound that did not sound like a duck farting.

Jones had the two women attach the mouthpiece to the rest of the instrument and then directed their attention to the large projector screen, which displayed sim-ple sheet music consisting of single notes and rests in a 4-count beat.

Jones played along on his trumpet as he led the mothers through the measures. The goal was to play “Mary had a Little Lamb” by the end of the hour. After about five min-utes of practicing, Jones began adding more notes.

Jones instructed the mothers to rest after each set so that they wouldn’t over ex-tend their lungs and pass out.

One of the women suggested that next time there be wine, but Jones replied that he doubted the president’s council would give him permission.

Jones led the mothers through increas-ingly complex measures until they learned all the notes and rests needed to play, “Mary had a Little Lamb.”

By about 7:55 p.m. the women were ready to attempt the nursery song. Jones played the trumpet along with the mothers in a slow and charmingly clumsy rendition of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” The very last technique Jones taught was how to open the euphonium in order to empty any spit built up inside of the instrument.

Both mothers said they enjoyed the ex-perience, and agreed that the hardest part was learning how to control all of the facial muscles in order to get the right pitch.

“I think it was great,” Jones said. “That’s the first time they both played brass instru-ments and I thought they did a great job.

They were troopers.”Jones said that his study of African

music for his NIC World Music class is one of the main inspirations for starting a par-ent band camp. Last summer, at a workshop hosted by a Tanzanian man, Jones learned about the participatory nature of music in African culture.

“As Americans, we have this passive at-titude toward music. We want to watch from the sidelines, but that doesn’t exist in Tan-zania,” Jones said. “Most African languages don’t even have a word that separates music from dance.”

Jones said he hoped the camp would educate parents and helps them empathize with their children’s frustrations at learning an instrument.

“A lot of young kids will have thousands of dollars of instruments, like a saxophone, so I thought I could teach parents how to care for this expensive equipment,” Jones said.

Jones said he would be pleased if the camp inspired parents to learn an instru-ment along with their child.

“If music education is going to survive, we need to think of ways to be more inclu-sive,” Jones said.

The “camp” is free and will run from 7 to 8 p.m.Tuesday nights from Oct 6-20 in Bo-swell Hall Room 102.

Initial Parent Band Camp teaches nursery rhymeTwo mothers learn to play their child’rens instrument, support music education, parent-child bonding

Kelly Ealy (left), mother of euphonist Connor, 18, and Deirdre Gilmore, mother of flutist Destiny, 11, pick up the euphonium for the first time. Gabe Green/Sentinel

Local author ‘booked’ to present at public libraryCelebrated, controversial author Chris Crutchers gives speach in honor of Banned Book Week

Chris Crutcher greets audience mem-bers. Kayla Tucker/Sentinel

Jantzen HunsakerStaff Contributor

An author who has been banned in many different schools across the country said that banning books is an effort to censor emo-tions and experiences, re-

gardless of their prevalence in society.“The whole business of trying to ban

books is mostly about mind control,” Chris Crutcher said.

Crutcher spoke to a large audience for banned book week at the Coeur D’Alene Public Library Friday. He is among those uniquely qualified to speak on the topic of restricted books, being one of the most fre-quently banned authors in North America, coming in at number eight. He said he sees it more as an accomplishment than a draw-back.

Crutcher spoke to two different audienc-es in lieu of banned book awareness. One centered around teens and another focused more toward the adult crowd.

“It’s an incredible opportunity,” said Bette Ammon, Library director. “You can see the faces of the kids mesmerized for 90 minutes.”

The subjects of many of Crutchers books are teens dealing with serious life is-sues.

“I thought he was really entertaining, but he also spoke a lot of truth,” said Brett

Dickman, a Coeur D’Alene High School student.

Karl Haakenson, Coeur D’Alene High School, added “I thought it was important, how he said we are not safer through igno-rance”

During his high school years Crutcher said was content to be a C student. He would skate by on book reports by reading his brother’s old A assignments, he thought he would never have to read a book again.

“I was rocketing toward graduation, and total illiteracy- and the scary part was, I was proud of it,” said Crutcher.

In his early twenties, Crutcher decided he wanted to be a writer. He realized how-ever, the problem that he had no idea how because he had never read anything anyone had written. His saving grace, was in soph-omore year his teacher assigned “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, which his brother did not have a report on.

Crutcher said he loved the book; it was like he’d found a friend. When he started writing himself, Crutcher said he tried to follow Lee’s example of having an intimate connection to the reader.

“One of the things you have to do when you’re writing stories is get realism. You’ve got to believe in it,” Crutcher said.

Crutcher spent an hour with the youth audience, explaining what it means to ban a book, and that it is important to be actively aware of things that can be brought to light through literature. Crutcher mentioned

that one of the most important things when writing fiction is to look around and find things that are the truth, and to tell them as real as you can.

Schools across the country have banned Crutcher’s books based simply on the language used in the books. All of the ban-ning’s have taken place because of a parent or teacher who was offended by something in the book.

“This is pretty cool, I think he communi-cates very well with this audience and I am thrilled for him. The fact that it’s banned means it’s pissing people off, and I’m happy about that.” said J.J. Dion, a local composer from Post Falls.

In his most banned book, “Whale Talk,” Crutcher outlines one reason that he writes the way he does. People must be portrayed as they are, if he were to censor the lan-guage used by the stepfather, he said it would undermine the viciousness of that character, which in turn, downplays the heroism of the child.

Crutcher mentioned that the banning of books may be a symptom in the cause of our current education in America.

“I was a loud and tenacious opponent to No Child Left Behind,” Crutcher said. “We started caring about memory level thinking. We took creativity out of education. Albert Einstein said you have no intelligence with-out imagination.”

Crutcher, 64, of Spokane, Washington is the author of 13 books, which include 10

novels, two short story compilations and an autobiography.

Bette Ammon wanted to be sure to let all those in attendance know that the Library providing permanent copies of Crutcher’s books on its shelves.

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Corner Gallery exhibits oil painter Christine Kimball during October

Christine Kimball’s exhibit “…a wild hare…” will be featured in the Boswell Corner Gallery Oct. 3 to Nov. 4. An opening reception will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4. and a gallery walk the same day at 10:30 a.m.. It will be ollowed by a presentation Kimball at 1 p.m. in Molstead Library Todd Hall. Admission to gallery is free.

Coeur d’Alene Symphony performs ‘Magic of Beethoven’

The Coeur d’Alene Symphony will be performing “The Magic of Beethoven” Seventh Symphony Piano Concerto at Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Cen-ter Friday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

American Nun of Tibetan Buddhist tradition speaks on forgiveness

Venerable Thubten Chodron will speak about “The Freedom of Forgiveness” from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Mon-day, Oct. 10 in Molstead Library’s Todd Hall.

‘Fall Choral Preview’ features two NIC choral groups and Jazz Co.

The “Fall Choral Preview,” featuring the NIC Cardinal Chorale, NIC Chamber Singers, and NIC Jazz Co., will be performing Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 521 Lakeside Ave. Coeur d’Alene.

16th Annual Mayor’s Awards in the Arts include NIC instructor

Mayor Sandi Bloem will present the Excellence in the Arts award to NIC art instructor Michael Horswill at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10 in the Coeur d’Alene Resort. The event is open to the public.

October kNIFVES meeting holds film discussion at Seasons

Gary Edwards, director and composer, will be guest speaking and showing portions of the comedic film “How to Date Beautiful Women” at Seasons, 209 Lakeside Av-enue, Thursday, Oct. 13 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Did you know some women manage to juggle a career, a marriage and children without losing their minds? “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” based on the bestselling 2002 debut novel by Allison Pearson, takes people on a look inside of that life. While some critics, such as the New York Times, say the movie is not fresh and little more than another chick flick, I think director Douglas McGrath gives a new twist on a not-so-recent tale.

Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker) tries to balance her family and crazy work schedule. Reddy is the complete opposite of Parker’s most famous character, Carrie Bradshaw from “Sex and the City.” In “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” the slender actress is talented enough to chase away any thoughts of appletinis and Manolo Blah-niks. She finds Kate’s inner superwoman without sacrificing her parental side.

Reddy is a high-power businesswoman

in the fast lane. Her hus-band (Greg Kinnear) is un-derstandably happy for her

success in the beginning, but changes his tune as he sees exactly what it entails for their family. On the flip

side Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan) realizes quickly that he connects with her on more than a

business level, making “I Don’t Know How She Does

It” a sure thing for drama. The film tosses out a few

risky comic devices, such as characters breaking the fourth wall and sharing their own thoughts on Kate’s plight. These scenes pro-vide the film’s biggest laugh lines, but they could have

been left out without degrad-ing the story.

This movie had good act-ing, timing and a great story line. It is a nice break from all the action that’s been out as of late. Plus, this would be a perfect movie for a date night. It has romance and comedy. These things make it perfect for couples. “I Don’t Know How She Does It” really celebrates the love between husband and wife, and mother and child. But don’t worry guys, there are moments for you too. Such as one short moment in the movie when Reddy is fixing her panty hose, and has her arms up her skirt just before Abelhammer chooses to

then come in and watch.

In the end, this is a great movie for family, cou-ples, really every-one. It has intelli-gence and a bit of freshness. “I Don’t Know How She Does It” shows what a lot of us already know: at some point every parent must make sacrifices for his or her children. Yet it is still familiar with its ways. While the narrative touches on meatier topics, such as gender politics to the roles women fill in the modern workplace, with a delicate touch, it still sells it in a new, fresh view. This movie is a must see for all, espe-cially this season.

Did Red Hot Chili Peppers create music with their new album “I’m with you”, or just another medio-cre MTV meat wagon?

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been mak-ing music since the 80’s, and

with songs like “Under the Bridge” and the groundbreaking sound they created over the years, there is no doubting the high expectations held by fans concerning their new album.

One thing I enjoyed about “I’m with you” is that it had many of the old elements of RHCP’s music. A fan may be taken aback at first, but all great bands mature with time and RHCP has done so while staying true to their original sound: high energy, rough-

around-the-edges funk that flows through RHCP’s veins and into their music.

RHCP picked up a new guitarist, Josh Klinghoffer to join its founding members, Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Michael “Flea” Balzary (bass), and seasoned drummer Chad Smith. Thankfully, Klinghoffer confirms he belongs with RCHP in this album, demonstrating his ability to either tear apart a song with a grinding solo, or carry it with an intricate melody.

The cover is gritty, stink-ing of filth and drug abuse, which is personified by a fly perched on a pink and white prescription capsule. The first track, “Monarchy of Roses,” begins to play. Wikipedia, a friend I became very well acquainted with during my high school years, claims that this track will be the sec-ond single of the album (“The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie” being the first).

The album didn’t capture me at first.

Something about Kiedis’ vocals isn’t as pow-erful as I remember. The instruments seem blended into simple melodies, the kind used for pop songs. However, I highly respect RHCP for their past work, so instead of turning the music off, I turned it up.

As I make my way through the album, I’m happy to find Fleas bass-lines are still as tough as ever. The track “Annie Wants a Baby” catches my attention with the solo bass intro, soon joined by a heavy drumbeat. I’m also happy to say that in this song, Kiedis shows his old pipes

aren’t all that rusty after all.I also started noticing how real Kiedis

gets with his lyrics. “I saw you at the police station and

it breaks my heart to say/Your eyes had wandered off to something distant, cold and gray/I guess you didn’t see it com-ing/Someone’s gotten used to slumming/Dreaming of the golden years.”

The frankness of Kiedis’s lyrics has always been something I enjoyed about RHCP, and I’m glad to see it’s still an ele-ment of their music.

RHCP is, and always has been, a great band to listen and jam out to, but to fully appreciate them you have to check out what is being said. The lyrics held in each and every song are what bind much of the emotion to it. Without them, you can never appreciate the song as the artist meant for you to. RHCP lyrics are some of the most authentic that I have ever stumbled upon. Kiedis’s bluntness is renowned, yet he still has such a poetic essence in his music. It’s almost like he is dancing and weeping all at the same time.

Do not be misled by the cynical nature of personal over-expectations. “I’m with you” is not just worth purchasing; it’s worth studying. For you long-time fans, or for those of you who have heard only the radio plays, RHCP always has something to say, and that is more than I can say about the majority of music.

Disney-inspired artist displays‘Etchings and Paintings’ show closes at NIC Corner Gallery

Red Hot Chili Peppers album worth time, moneyLyrics, bassline, new guitarist give staff contributor some much needed ‘rough-round-the-edges funk’

Romantic comedy great for family, friends, couplesNew movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker pleases staff contributor with fresh twists, insights, laughs

Kyle BreitenbergBusiness Manager

Angel Tesch Staff Contributor

Briefs

Laurie DicksStaff Contributor

From a pair of ballet shoes in-cised into a metal plate, to the oily gloss of a wave as it rolled toward a rocky shore, students witnessed an assortment of pictures, that depict-ed a diverse array of creativity.

Jack Marsh Larsen’s gallery of “Etchings and Paintings” was open to the public in the Boswell Hall Corner Gallery on Thursday, Sept. 22. A gallery walk began the day at 10:30 a.m., followed by a presenta-tion and lecture at 1:00 p.m., and finished with a closing reception from 5-7 p.m.

Larsen was born in Glendale, Calif., where his father illustrated for Walt Disney’s Animated Clas-sics from 1932 to 1941. It was this, he said, that drove him to want to pursue a career in art. At the age of nine, Larsen said he told his father that he wanted to become an artist.

“He told me to learn everything I could possibly learn about it,” said Larsen. “He said ‘don’t specialize.’”

Art major Michelle Flansburg said Larsen’s style reminds her of famed PBS television art instructor Bob Ross.

“It does evoke a slight Bob Ross feel, just being landscape,” said Flansburg. “Especially the forested areas with the happy trees and the little cabins.”

She said one particular painting, “Bridge in the Fog,” aroused her interest, with its attention to small details and well-blended style.

Most of the art depicted differ-ent scenery in his hometown of Eu-gene, Ore. and Lincoln City, Ore. This included several paintings of ships, which, Larsen said, were among his personal favorites and best represented his illustration influence.

At the age of 18, Larsen joined the military and worked at Patter-

son Air Force Base in a unit that designed and built displays. Larsen said they paid full tuition for him to attend the Dayton Art Institute, University of Dayton, Ohio.

After graduation, he appren-ticed Robert J. Smith, who taught him the art of grinding oil paints, restoration, and advanced tech-niques in oil painting. Larsen is now best known for his oil paint-ings. He also makes intaglio prints, a form of printmaking in which im-ages are engraved into a surface, most commonly a form of metal such as steel or copper.

Larsen then became employed at the Geary Agency as art direc-tor, working on accounts for Neal Sedaka, Wayne Newton and Tom Jones. Larsen also designed exhibit displays for Clairol, Redkin and L’Oreal.

Larsen’s exhibit was arranged and sponsored by the Citizen’s Counsel for the Arts.

Artist Jack Marsh Larsen stands before several of his favorite paintings. Gabe Green/Sentinel

derstandably happy for her

side Jack Abelhammer

with her on more than a

Abelhammer chooses to

OPERAB8 | the sentinel Monday, October 3, 2011

Emotion overwhelmed the audience at NIC’s Bo-swell Hall in the opera’s classic tale of lust, youth and choices. The drama between good versus evil resulted in a standing ovation for the Opera Coeur d’Alene’s professional performance. Director Aaron Nicholson said “Faust” fills every possible artistic need—lyricism, exquisite phrasing, powerful drama and complex characters.

The old professor Faust (Vale Rideout) makes a deal with the devil in order to gain love, power and youth. Devilish Mephistopheles (bass Jamie Offen-bach), in a chilling performance, restores Faust to youth, who then becomes entranced by a vision of the virtuous maiden Marguerite (Shana Blake Hill), who also played Musetta in last year’s “La Boheme.”

“This performance of ‘Faust’ is as good as you’ll see anywhere,” Hill said.

With the help of Mephistopheles, Faust seduces Marguerite, who confesses her love for him. They embrace and disappear to her bedroom, while Me-phistopheles’ ominous laughter filled the auditorium.

The story unfolded amidst an array of passionate vocals and emotional acting as Faust’s lustfulness ruined the lives of everyone around him. He impreg-nates Marguerite before marriage, which causes her to lose her mind as she becomes obsessed with the belief that the devil is judging her.

Faust kills Marguerite’s loving brother Valentin (Jason Detwiler) with the help of Mephistopheles. Valentin blames Marguerite for his death and his

Do I not own their strength and speed?

A proper man I dash away,As their two dozen legs were mine indeed.

Up then, from idle pondering free,And forth into the world with me!

I tell you what;—your speculative churl

Is like a beast which some ill spirit leads,

On barren wilderness, in ceaseless whirl,

While all around lie fair and verdant meads...

FaustI ntricate attention to detail, a 40-piece live ensemble and an internationally acclaimed cast made for an intensely passionate performance of Charles Gunoud’s “Faust” Sept. 23 and 25.

Galilee Howell ■ Staff Contributor Nick Jacquot ■ Photographer

last words condemn her to hell. Marguerite is then thrown in prison for her sin.

“This production of ‘Faust’ was up to anything I’ve ever seen in the Metropolitan opera in the United States or anywhere else,” said Mildred Harris, an au-dience member and opera frequenter.

“It was terrific--all the details, the acting. There wasn’t a bad voice in the whole production. I was knocked over. It was a very powerful experience,” she said.

Dustin Thomas, another audience member, agreed.

“It was a quality performance, a war horse of the opera world,” he said.

While initially, the story of Faust seems bleak and dark, in the end there is redemption and grace for the character Marguerite, as she calls on angels to save her. The angels proclaim her salvation, and the opera ended in a brilliant display while the chorus sang “Christ is Risen.”

“I believe Opera Coeur d’Alene makes Idaho a bet-ter place,” said chorus member Mike Bullard.

Bullard, who is actively involved in Opera Coeur d’Alene, said that performances like these help put

Jamie Offenback takes the stage as the devilish Mephistopheles. Gaze into my amulet: Jason Detwiler performs as loving brother Valentin.

Faust (Vale Rideout) contemplates a deal with the devil.


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