The Griffon News (Issue 35)

NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PA I DPERMIT NO. 32St. JOSEPH, MO

Vol 95 | Issue 35 griffonnews.com December 6, 2012

Small celebrity servicedog, who made debut on CNN, helps at Western.

See Page 8

French professor objects to a recent opinion article about general studies classes.

See Page 10

The football team had a remarkable season as they had the most wins in Griffon history.

See page 6-7

The end of the semester mini golf project will be ex-hibited and open and free to play for the public on Dec. 7 in the Remington Hall lobby from 8 a.m.-noon.

Assistant professor Neil Lawley’s two Art 170 3D design classes have been de-signing and building theme driven mini golf obstacles for the event for several weeks now; student and obstacle builder Mathew Mullins ex-plains.

“We started concepting the

week before Thanksgiving,” Mullins said. “So we have been doing it (the actual building) for almost a week so far.”

Mullins goes on to describe his team of three’s unique and creative obstacle design.

“Ours is a medieval theme,” Mullins said. “What we have so far is like a golf ball going up a slope and onto a castle; into a dragon’s mouth; then it comes out and goes through the castle and down the dragon’s tail and into the hole.”

Fellow student and builder from another team of three, Dalene Young, goes on to de-

scribe her group’s theme and design.

“Ours is a “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme,” Young said. “The ball will trigger a switch that will turn on water; that’s going to bring the water [level in a container with the ball in it] up and knock the ball into the tube.”

There will be seven ob-stacles in total, three coming from the 10:00 am class and four coming from the 8:00 am class.

The designs are based on what has become known as a Rube Goldberg machine. That design is when an idea

is over-engineered on pur-pose to perform some other-wise simple task; in this case bringing the golf ball to the hole. Often this process will include one or more chain reaction.

Aside from the actual ob-stacle itself, the student’s will also manufacture unique golf clubs. Student Megan Thom-as has an interesting idea for her teams club.

“We have one that we made out of a plastic candy cane, but in all honesty, we

Fifth annual 3D tradition continuesZero Tolerance

Missouri Western is set to have another record-break-ing profit of more than $3 million this year, and that is before the $750,000 coming from the Student Success Act fees.

Despite high earnings over the last three years and cash reserves at a 10-year high, President Dr. Robert Vartabedian remains “cau-tiously optimistic.” When addressing the administra-tion, faculty and staff earlier this semester, he used those words when discussing Western’s financial position.

“We have weathered a fi-nancial storm,” Vartabedian said last August. “When I made that speech at the be-ginning of the year, I was anticipating the tobacco tax revenue. So, all of a sudden now there’s $2.1 million out of the equation.”

It’s true that we do not have the tobacco tax to in-crease Western’s revenue. The budget for this year is almost exactly the same as last. If nothing changes we are set to profit as much as

Western’s budgetannounced

Student government ad-ministration and Western Administration are now at odds over the purpose and appropriation of the Student Success Act fee.

At the Nov. 16 fee advisory meeting, Student Govern-ment Association President Jacob Scott questioned the need for the $75 fee for full-time students when the uni-versity has record millions in surplus in reserves. The fee, which was implemented in the fall of 2012, has collected roughly $600,000 to date.

“It wasn’t the Save Our Reserve Act. It was the Save Our School Act,” Scott said.

Scott, along with SGA members Travis Hart, Lau-ren Upton and Ashley Stegall were expecting that the mon-ey collected would be avail-able for reappropriation after the university did not receive an anticipated budget cut for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

“I tried to be honest with people from the get-go,” Var-

Vartabedian, Scott toe-to-toe on new fee

SEE NEW FEE PAGE 2 SEE RECORD PAGE 2

SEE GOLF PAGE 2

Katelyn Canon | Staff [email protected]

Ellis Cross | News [email protected]

Matt Hunt | Opinions [email protected]

Amanda Estep just wants to be able to breathe.

Estep, a resident of Vasela-kos Hall, has cystic fibrosis, a lung and digestive disor-der; when she’s exposed to smoke, it can be difficult for her to breathe. While Mis-souri Western has recently passed a policy to become a tobacco-free campus, Estep, like other residents and resi-dential assistants, are finding that tobacco smoke is not the only smoke in the residence halls.

There was an overwhelm-ing smell of weed in our hall-way and I couldn’t breathe. It was so hazy. It was awful and me along with two other residents got sick from it,” Estep said.

At the final Student Gov-ernment Association meet-ing on Dec. 3, five residential assistants, Tom Parker, Ja-cob Mills, Katy Sisco, Abby Svendsen, and Javier Paz Blanco, were in attendance to express their concerns of the increased drug problems in the residence halls.

“This year I think there has been an increase in behav-ior interventions,” Parker said. “I think what we see is a corrosion of one learn-ing environment to protect another. What I mean is we have students who are un-comfortable in their living conditions. What we are pro-tecting is the people who are experimenting with drugs.”

Senators Travis Hart and

Brandon Grieshaber are leading an effort either create a zero tolerance policy in the residence halls or revise and enforce the current policy. The current policy for a first-time procession and uses of-fenders is one year of disci-plinary probation, a $50 fine, educational programming, initial substance screening, possible removal from hous-ing, and if the offender is a minor contacting parents. If a zero tolerance policy were to be proposed, first-time of-fenders would be removed from the residence halls.

“The reasons we are talk-ing about the zero tolerance policy was a number of stu-dents have come up with a concerns of the problem of an excess of marijuana smok-ing,” Grieshaber said.

While it is still unclear if Hart and Grieshaber will cre-ate a revised policy or zero tolerance policy, the RAs present in at the meeting agreed that something needs to be done about the reoccur-ring offenders.

“I think that cost of not ful-ly enforcing our drug poli-cies or even adopting a zero tolerance of drugs policy is greater than the benefit of retaining individuals that tarnish our university’s rep-utation and overall lower the education values of everyone around them,” Parker.

Director of Residence Life and Housing Mark Stier was also in attendance.

To read the remainder of this article, go to griffonnews.com.

Katelyn Canon | Staff [email protected]

Andy Garrison | Staff [email protected]

Students from 3D Design created a mini golf course for students to enjoy on the last day of classes. Chad Hammontree | Graphics Editor

Arena Roo�ng - 565,000

Looney - Glazing/Storefront/Pool Renovations - 230,000 President Dr. Robert Vartabedian and SGA President Jacob Scott debated and went toe-to-toe over the Student Success Act. According to Vartabedian, the money used from the act goes towards the university’s budget which could be used for defered maintanance costs. This graph shows thedeferred maintance for each building in what Vartabedian calls a “critical deferred maintance category.” Vartabedian feels the fee gives enough leeway to address these costs.

Potter - Glazing/Storefront/Roo�ng - 160,000

Wilson - Sealing/Tuckpointing/Restroom Renovations/Glazing/Storefront - 210,000

Popplewell - Sealing/Tuckpointing/Glazing/Storefront - 108,000 Spratt - Roo�ng 400,000

Murphy - Flooring/Painting/Sealing/Tuckpointing - 235,000

Hearnes - Sealing/Tuckpointing/Glazing/Storefront - 81,000

Eder - Sealing/Tuckpointing - 50,000

Most important deferred maintenance areas 1st 2nd 3rd

Chad Hammontree | Graphics Editor

Residential assistants propose policy enforcement

last year and we can add the Student Success Act fees on top for a total of $3.75 million.

Earlier this semester the interim Vice President of Fi-nancial Planning Rick Gilm-ore said that the additional revenue above the budget came from the severe cuts in the budget. Those cuts still

exist because the budget is nearly the same as last year.

The 2011-12 budget com-pared to the 2012-13 shows only a $2,289 increase in student fees. Evidently the Board of Directors believes enrollment may go down to the point that the Stu-dent Success Act fee won’t increase funds that much. Numerically there would only have to be a reduction of 365 students to absorb the entire SSA fee. That would be a drop in enrollment of 6

percent.They do however plan to

cut the use of reserve cash by $300,000 between the 2012 and 2013 budget, which leaves reserves at $7.9 mil-lion dollars. That is still a 10-year high. “Reserves should not be used for ongoing ex-penses, but instead for one time purchases, improve-ments, etc,” Board of Gov-ernors Chair Kylee Strough said.

Those one-time expenses could be new buildings, dif-

fered maintenance and im-provements of buildings and grounds. But, there could be no more employees to main-tain the additions because the salaries would be an on-going expense.

That has been Western’s history. Western has added many buildings in the last several years with no addi-tional staff to maintain and clean those new improve-ments. Many departments have had to deal with less trash pickup and cleaning

of offices and classrooms. Maintenance request are sometimes put off until they reach the level of safety haz-ards.

Overall the budget is in-creased about $220,000 with an expected increase in state appropriations of $500,000 for the next year. There is no increase in the budget re-flecting the $2.1 million dol-lars that would have been in additional revenue if the to-bacco tax had passed.

are going to make one out of a raw-hide bone,” Thom-as said.

Several of Western’s up-per faculty have tradition-ally stopped in to play a round, and although not many students stop and ac-tually play, a lot of people do stop in to take a look and admire the creativity and

ingenuity of the student’s work.

“Lots of people walk by and look,” Lawley said. “But I’d guess at least 50 people actually stop in and play; two of those that always stop in and play are Presi-dent Vartabedian and Pro-vost Daffron. It’s a lot of fun and I think it’s a good way to spend the last day of school and relax a little bit before finals.”

people from the get-go,” Vartabedian said. “We had some major bottom line problems particularly if we were looking at a 12.5 per-cent cut even without that we still have a major bottom line problem at the univer-sity.”

Judy Grimes, interim vice president of Student Af-fairs and dean of students, agreed with Vartabedian that the Student Success Act is an important contribu-tion to the university bud-get and interpreted the act how it was written.

“What I don’t see in the act that was passed is any-thing that says we’re only going to appropriate this money from student fees if all these areas are totally wiped out,” Grimes said.

During the 2012 budget crisis, the Student Success Act was passed by SGA to ensure the protection of

five programs. The five areas that were to receive funds from the act were Recreation Services, the Center for Aca-demic Support, the Student Success Center, Student Life and Career Services. Scott is now questioning how those funds are being spent since the university budget never received a cut from the state.

“The president says that the money we approved will go to the five areas we said it would go to and that is true but the question still re-mains, what about the mon-ey that we pay in our tuition that goes to the previous ar-eas?” Scott said.

Scott feels that the SGA has been misinformed as to where and how the money has been spent.

“I was told by the univer-sity administration that the money that was previously allocated to those five areas was sitting in an account waiting for us to decide how that money would be spent,” Scott said. “Then I got to the meeting on Friday and found

out that the money had al-ready been spent in the areas of which I don’t know yet. So I’m waiting to find that information out at the next meeting.”

Since the Student Success Act fee was included in the overall university budget instead of deposited into a separate account for SGA to reappropriate, the admin-istration was able to with-drawal its funding from the five outlined programs to focus on university expenses such as deferred mainte-nance.

“Most of the leaders at that time understood that it wasn’t just the anticipa-tion of that cut that troubled us,” Vartabedian said. “That it was millions and millions of dollars in deferred main-tenance, enrollment that seemed to be getting smaller with fewer revenues for us, unfunded mandatories, and lot of other difficulties that we were dealing with.”

The itemized list of criti-cal deferred maintenance

includes Spratt and arena roofing, renovations to Pop-plewell, Wilson, and Potter and repaving parking lot H. The total cost of deferred maintenance is $4,039,000 and the Student Success Act collected approximately $600,000 during the fall se-mester alone. If the admin-istration were to use the Student Success Act money for deferred maintenance it would account for 15 percent of the total costs.

“We have tremendous de-ferred maintenance needs on this campus that I don’t know how they are going to be met,” Vartabedian said. “Particularly if we don’t have an ongoing revenue source, which at least the Student Success Act helps us with in dealing with bottom line needs such as deferred maintenance. We have at least $4 million in deferred maintenance that would be in the absolutely essential category.”

While Vartabedian con-siders the Student Success

Act fee a solution to some of the university’s reoccurring maintenance expenditures, Scott disagrees that the mon-ey should be appropriated to the campus maintenance.

“Deferred maintenance is-sues are a state problem,” Scott said. “That’s a univer-sity problem, that’s not a stu-dent problem.”

The administration and SGA’s interpretation of the Student Success Act differ; however, Scott hopes an end goal will be achieved.

“Quite frankly, I don’t think they know what we want; I’m optimistic though,” Scott said. “We can pull through this as a student body and as a university and administration. We can pull together as a cohesive unit and insure that students get what they deserve.”

The second Student Suc-cess Act committee meet-ing will be held Dec. 7 in the Presidential Dining Hall located in Blum Union at 4 p.m.

NEWS December 6, 2012

The Griffon NewsPage 2

�N�E�W�S� �N�O�T�E�S

Theatre Keeps ‘Annie’ going; Pro-

duction Raises Alzheimer’s AwarenessDec. 6-9

“Annie” will present their second weekend, starting Dec. 6-8 at 7:30 p.m. with the last day be-ing Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for Missouri Western employ-ees and military person-nel and $6 for students. Tickets are available online at www.mwsutix.com, in person at the Potter Hall Box Office, or by phone at 816-271-4452.

Fall Semester Finals Begin

Dec. 8Finals begin Saturday,

Dec. 8 and go through Fri-day, Dec. 14. In order to check dates for finals, go to missouriwestern.edu/finals.asp.

If your organization would like to announce an event, e-mail the information to

[email protected]

Thursday, Dec. 6• FirstThursdayNoonConcert

Seriesat12:10p.m.• “Annie”at7:30p.m.

Friday, Dec. 7• Lastdayofclasses• “Annie”at7:30p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 8• FinalExams(throughDec.14)• GriffonWomen’sBasketballvs

FortHaysStateat1:30p.m.• GriffonMen’sBasketballvsFort

HaysStateat3:30p.m.• “Annie”at7:30p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 9• StJosephCommunityChorus

ChristmasattheCathedral3p.m.• “Annie”at3p.m.

Monday, Dec. 10• St.JosephCommunityChorus

ChristmasattheCathedral7:30p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 15• Wintersessionbegins• Commencement11a.m.• “YuletidePops”withtheSt.

JosephSymphonyandtheNewGenerationSingersat7p.m.

CALENDAR OF EVENTSCAMPUS CRIME REPORTS

CAMPUS INFORMATION

1. Disturbance 5:45 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 13, Scanlon Hall

2. Stealing 8 a.m., Friday, Nov. 16, Vaselakos Hall

3. Stealing 12:25 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 29, Scanlon Hall

4. Stealing 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 29, Lot B

Winter Commence-ment, Boulware to Receive Honorary

Doctorate Dec. 15

The Winter Commence-ment ceremony for fall 2012 graduates of Missouri Western will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 15 in the arena of Looney Com-plex. R. Dan Boulware, managing partner of the St. Joseph office of law firm Polsinelli Shughart, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Let-ters degree and will be the commencement speaker. The MWSU Alumni Asso-ciation will host a free re-ception for graduates and their families after the cer-emony in the Looney small gym. In addition, there will be a pinning ceremony for nursing graduates at 8:30 a.m. in the Fulkerson Center.

NEW FEE: CONTINUED FROM FRONT

MWSU president versus SGA president

Western set for record earningsRECORD: CONTINUED FROM FRONT

GOLF: CONTINUED FROM FRONT

Evan Roberts | Photo Editor

Take a swing

Above is a hole in the making that has a “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme. The mini golf course will be held in Remington Hall on Friday, Dec. 7 from 8 a.m. to noon.

What was initially an inno-cent Facebook post about a student wishing for an orga-nization at Missouri Western that supported cancer aware-ness exploded into a national chapter for Colleges Against Cancer.

CAC is a national non-profit organization that is supported by the American Cancer Society. The ACS has an office in Kansas City, Mo. Students Kathie Marquart and Shelbie Kirkendoll ap-proached the ACS about be-ginning an organization that raised cancer awareness on college campuses. They were put in touch with Jeannie Wilde who is the area affili-ate sponsor for CAC.

Just a few short weeks

ago, Marquart and Kirkend-oll were posting individual posts onto Facebook about their individual wishes of raising cancer awareness on campus. After a few innocent Facebook posts, a few phone calls and a little paperwork, a new chapter of CAC arose on campus.

The Western Chapter of CAC must follow the rules of the national organization. They are allowed to use CAC trademarks for awareness purposes. They must use the logos for CAC separately and not combine them with trademarks for other spon-sored causes, such as Relay for Life. Western’s CAC will be responsible for finding funding, organizing and hosting events, and any mer-chandising.

Marquart and Kirkend-

oll received SGA approval for the Western Chapter of CAC on Monday, Nov. 5. The Board of Officers for the Western Chapter consists of

faculty advisor Nicole Egg-leston, President Marquart, Vice President Kirkendoll, Secretary Jackie Ratcliff and Treasurer Hannah South-er. The Affiliate Advisor

for CAC is Wilde from the American Cancer Society.

CAC officially met for the first time on Nov. 14. Any-one interested in joining the ladies in support of cancer awareness should meet in the upstairs lounge area of Blum Union as the meet-ings will be held weekly on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.

The goal of CAC is rais-ing awareness; however, there are four directions each chapter must concen-trate on to meet the chapter goals. Each month CAC will provide some form of media information, such as posters, pamphlets, events and fund-raisers for each of the four directions.

“The four directions are Survivorship, Relay for Life, Advocacy, and Cancer Edu-cation,” Kirkendoll said.

“Survivorship is inclusive of family members, care-takers and friends. We just want to raise awareness.”

Marquart and Kirkend-oll want to reach out and offer support to any stu-dent or faculty that has had ex-periences with cancer. Caregiv-ers, family mem-bers, survivors, cur-rent patients of the dreaded disease and anyone who needs support or wants to help raise awareness are welcome to join.

“Our main goal for this first year is to either host or participate in the Relay for Life,” Kirkendoll said. “We would like to host a cancer survivor dinner, but may

have t o just

combine with another organization to host one this first year.”

NEWSDecember 6, 2012


One group thinks Mis-souri’s youngest voters are the key to its goals.

Missourians for Equality seeks a 2014 ballot initiative to support same-sex mar-riage.

Aaron Malin, executive director of Missourians for Equality, believes the youth vote will be a determining factor for passage of the ini-tiative.

The organization plans to travel throughout the state to campuses to recruit students for help. He said a recent poll from Public Policy Polling showed in June 2012 that 64 percent of Missourians sup-port either same-sex mar-riage or civil unions.

“Most of those people will vote for us,” Malin said. “We are using every avenue out there to find support. The campaign for signatures will begin in late December.”

On Nov. 7, the group filed on its initiative. This would allow the collection of signa-tures to begin.

Monica Nelson, co-found-er of Missourians for Equali-ty, said that she thinks voters will approve of non-discrim-ination toward individuals of the LGBTQ community.

“I am optimistic that this measure will pass,” Nelson said. “We saw four states vote in favor of LGBT rights, so this is a very sign that we will see a shift in other states to pass pro LGBT initiates.”

Students of the Western LGBTQ organization are be-

ginning to take action since the initiative has been filed with the Secretary of State’s office.

Keisha Davis, president of Western LGBTQ, feels it

will take a lot for it to pass, but anything is possible. She plans to do everything in her power to see it pass.

“I think it absolutely needs to be put on the ballot,” Da-

vis said. “My best friends are engaged, and I don’t think it’s fair they have to go to the next closest state just to make their commitment to one an-other legal.”

There are still those who believe the initiative is need-ed but see a slim chance of the voters passing the mea-sure if gets on the ballot.

Zachary Johnson, former Western student and open-ly gay man, said he thinks America does have a prob-lem with gay marriage, but they are coming around.

“I have heard things like gay marriage is going to be the downfall of the human race,” Johnson said. “People just need to realize that it’s 2012 and that people can’t help who they fall in love with.”

On Nov. 6, Nelson said Americans saw three states legalize same-sex marriage and a fourth prevent a ban on same-sex marriage. She believes it was a huge step forward and a victory for the LGBTQ rights movement.

“I think there is a bright light ahead of this dark tun-nel for marriage equality in the future,” Nelson said. “I believe this will create a domino effect and we will see same-sex marriage be le-galized across the country in the next several years.”

The group plans to have all 150,000 signatures by the end of 2013, and it started a web-site where Missourians can go sign the petition at www.missouriansforequality.com

Missourians for Equality pushes for student help

Colleges Against Cancer receives SGA approvalMichelle Cordonnier | Staff [email protected]

Matt Hunt | Opinions [email protected]

Barnes & Noble

$ $Textbook BuybackMWSU BOOKSTORE - BLUM STUDENT UNION

Buyback Hours 8:00 - 4:30 -- December 10 - 14

For BEST buyback prices be sure to sell your books back during finals week!

Thanks for choosing your on-campus bookstore - Thank you for supporting MWSU

GREAT buyback prices

Keep used textbooks on campus

Be sure to return all rental books by Dec. 17th

BUY or RENT your books for next semesteronline at www.missouriwestern.bncollege.com

(Left) Missourians for Equality executive director Aaron Malin and co-founder Monica Nelson are coming to the university to talk to students about supporting same sex marriages.

“Survivorship is inclusive of family

members, caretakers and friends. We just

want to raise awareness.”

-Shelbie Kirkendoll

NEWS December 6, 2012


• •

•

• • •

•

�8� �M�I�N�U�T�E�S� �F�R�O�M� �C�A�M�P�U�S

Fulbright Program brings two new instructors to campus

Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has been an inter-national educational am-bassadorship between the United States and 154 other nations. The goal behind the Fulbright Program is to in-crease mutual understand-ing between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

The Fulbright Program was created from legislation written by former late Arkan-sas Sen. J. William Fulbright. He believed that internation-al relations are improved by the sharing and teaching of cultural knowledge.

According to Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs/Fulbright website, Fulbright said “Educational

exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communi-cation can to the humanizing of international relations.”

The Fulbright Program of-fers scholarships, grants and teacher exchange programs. The program also offers grant assistance for study abroad programs. There are 400 Fulbright instructors visiting the United States in the 2012-2013 school year as teachers in various educa-tional pursuits.

Missouri Western hosts two Fulbright instructors currently. Both are here to improve their English teach-ing skills. Foreign Language (German) instructor Domi-nic Heres, and Foreign Lan-guage (Spanish) instructor Victoria Perez Calzadilla, are visiting assistant teachers at

Western for the school year of August 2012 to May 2013.

The Fulbright Pro-gram is sponsored by the United States De-partment of State’s Bu-reau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In the first 60 years of the pro-gram’s inception, there have been approxi-mately 318,000 partici-pants in the Fulbright program, 120,000 from the United States and 198,000 participants from other participat-ing countries.

The Fulbright Pro-gram offers 8,000 new grants and scholarships to high school students, college students, grad-uate studies students, teachers, scholars and research profession-

als each year. The Fulbright has a multitude of programs from the arts, to English en-hancement to foreign lan-guages and to the health and sciences.

The Fulbright program operates on a one year term, future teachers from other countries visit different ar-eas of the United States and work as assistant teachers, much like future American teachers student teach dur-ing their last year in college. American participants travel abroad to 154 other partici-pating countries, and stay one full term.

Teachers in other coun-tries such as Germany are

considered professionals, comparative to doctors, law-yers, Priests, or, Public and Government Officials. Many European countries require a more elite education to be-come a teacher.

In the United States, Heres is a participant in the Ful-bright program, and works at Missouri Western as a foreign languages assistant, instructing in the German language. However, in Ger-many, Heres is a student fin-ishing his professional stud-ies to become an educator of English and History.

Part of Heres’s program in Education dictates that he instructs for two years as a

student teacher. He is hon-oring part of his two-year commitment while being in the United States. Heres will take his final teacher exams in the fall of 2013.

In addition to teaching as student teachers this se-mester, Heres and Perez Calzadilla must also attend a National Convention for the Fulbright Program in Washington D.C., during the month of December.

“I will get to see Washing-ton D.C. a bit when I visit in December for the Fulbright Convention, over 150 na-tions will be represented there,” Heres said.

Once the 2012-2013 school-

year is over Heres and Perez Calzadilla will spend 30 days traveling and touring the United States with the other Fulbright exchanges before returning to their respective countries.

“I would love to go see the West Coast while I am here, but it is too expensive. I will get to visit New York, Chica-go and Las Vegas while I am here,” Heres said.

*Statistics and Facts Taken from the Bureau of Educa-tional and Cultural Affairs/Fulbright http://eca.state.gov/fulbright

Michelle Cordonnier | Staff [email protected]

Dominic Heres

Fulbright Instructor of GermanVictoria Perez Calzadilla

Fulbright Instructor of Spanish

It’s a brighter day for Western

“Educational exchange can turn nations into peo-ple, contributing as no other form of communication can to the human-izing of interna-tional relations.” -- J. William Fulbright

Program establisher

FEATURES December 6, 2012


Christmas is a little less than a month away, but get-ting in the holiday spirit is “only a day away.”

“Annie” has arrived at Missouri Western’s main stage. The classic musical,

based on a popular comic strip, is the second produc-tion of the theatre depart-ment’s Year of the Tony. An-nie, the optimistic redheaded orphan, challenges everyone to discover something posi-tive in every situation.

Annie and Oliver War-bucks, played by Annaka Kellogg and Erik Burns-Sprung respectively, did a phenomenal job portraying their characters. The high-light of their performance was the heartwarming rendi-tion of “I Don’t Need Any-thing But You.” Kellogg also handled a slight technical problem like a professional when her microphone pack came undone during the first act.

There were also several supporting roles that made “Annie” truly memorable. Actors Kyle Minx, Sebastian Smith, Robin Ussher and Andy Tyhurst all played three roles throughout the musical. Each role demon-strated their versatility as ac-tors.

Makayla Tovey, who

played the orphan Molly, cannot go unmentioned. The entire Orphan Ensemble gave noteworthy perfor-mances; however, Tovey con-tinually captivated the audi-ence with her back flips and mischievous stage presence.

The technical crew of “An-nie” was just as impressive as the cast. Upon entering the theatre, there was a sim-ple curtain with the original artwork from “Annie.” Ra-dio commercials and songs from the 1930s were a pleas-ant scene setter. Although the stage dressing was not as elaborate as past produc-tions, the simple backdrop provided the perfect stylistic pretext to “Annie.” The New York City skyline, that lit the background with its ever changing lights, was another visual element that added to the authenticity of the pro-duction.

Throughout the entire pro-duction there were two de-tails that could be improved upon. The first is the Tif-fany box that contained the new locket Warbucks given

to Annie. The prop box was red. While this may seem in-significant, Tiffany and Co. has been known for its blue box since 1837.

The second critic is that the chorus line needs to project when singing. While the ma-jority of the audience won’t notice the locket box color,

the audience will notice if the chorus line fails to proj-ect their voices during musi-cal numbers.

“Annie” will run from Nov. 29 through Dec. 9. Tickets for show can be purchased at the box office in Potter Hall or students can participate in the Student Ticket Rush Pro-

gram which gives the first 25 students attending the play a free ticket.

‘Annie’ shows off Western’s talent

Pumpkin pie isn’t just for Thanksgiving. Here’s a quick and simple recipe for pump-kin pie that turns out beau-tifully and tastes wonderful, and who says you can’t serve it at Christmas dinner?

The recipe and directions are listed below. This recipe makes two pies and serves 16 peopleIngredients:

1 box refrigerated/frozen pie crusts (2 crusts)

1 15 oz. canned pumpkin2 large eggs, lightly beaten¾ cup granulated sugar½ Tbsp. salt1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon½ Tbsp. ground ginger¼ Tbsp. ground nutmeg1 12 oz. can evaporated

milk1 container of Cool-Whip

topping (optional)Directions:

Step 1: Prepare pie crusts according to package direc-tions for filled pie.

Step 2: Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Step 3: Combine remain-ing ingredients except whipped topping and mix well. Pour half of mixture into each pie crust.

Step 4: Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Reduce tempera-ture to 350 degrees. Cover

crust edges with aluminum foil to prevent over brown-ing. Cook an additional 50-55 minutes at 350 or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool.

Step 5: Garnish with whipped topping if desired. Serve.

Enjoy!

How to: Make pumpkin pie for the holiday season

Annie, played by Annaka Kellogg (and Ashtyn Griffin, not pictured) stands on the staircase at Daddy Warbucks’ mansion during a song. Tevin Harris | Asst. Photo Editor

A hobo, played by Sebastian Smith, holds a pet mouse while he begs for money out in the cold.Tevin Harris | Asst. Photo Editor


Kicking butt abroad is what Missouri Western’s Re-serve Officer Training Corps cadets have been up to lately.

The ROTC is quickly ris-ing up through the ranks nationally becoming a pow-erful presence in leadership ability, combat skills and raw physical prowess at sev-eral large military style com-petitions this year.

One such event they at-tended is called the “Ranger Challenge.” It is held in Des Moines, Iowa, and involves a series of 10-person-squad challenges over a two-day period.

Master Sgt. and Senior Military Instructor Joseph

Wilson was especially proud of our performance in one of the most grueling parts of the competition.

“We actually won the cru-cible event, which is proba-bly the toughest, most phys-ical event,” Wilson said. “We actually finished first, and beat the University of Iowa by, I think, about 45 seconds in time.”

Another massive achieve-ment could be found in Western’s performance at the annual Leader Devel-opment and Assessment Course over the summer. The LDAC is a huge, nation-al level competition between the countries over 5,500 ca-dets.

“LDAC is really a big thing in the ROTC world,” Wilson said. “Cadets from across the nation, from ev-ery university, all get sent out to Fort Lewis, Wash., over the summer; that is kind of their capstone event. In our brigade, which covers an 11 state area, we finished eighth out of 42. Out of the cadets that were there, cadet [Rosy] Padilla finished num-ber 69 in the nation; 50 per-cent of the cadets from our program finished in the top 20 percent of all programs in the nation.”

Cadet Padilla goes on to explain her role in the LDAC.

“Because of the mentor-ing I received here and the knowledge that I got, I was able to be in the top 1 per-

cent of the nation,” Padilla said. “I was cadet 69 out of over 5,500 cadets.”

Not every cadet gets to attend. The event requires a few years under your belt in ROTC to insure you are knowledgeable enough in tactics and navigation train-ing, as well as being physi-cally ready for the tough competitions. First year ca-det and junior Heather Elder explained the requirement specific to her situation.

“You go to LDAC after your third year,” Elder said. “So that will be in two more summers for me.”

It takes a lot to get into the kind of shape you should be to even attempt this compe-tition as one might expect. Third year ROTC student and this coming year LDAC attendee hopeful James Mar-tin knows all too well the work as well as the reward involved with the training.

“We have very difficult PTs (physical training) every week,” Martin said. “I used to be a football player and I thought those practices were hard then; I went to this, though, and I was just soaked. Now, though, I am in the best shape of my life.”

The entire ROTC program is very excited to see what the future holds for them at the next series of events. Pa-dilla speaks for them and of-fers some advice to students who may be unsure about joining the program.

“I don’t want to sound like I am bragging or anything with the whole thing, I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that this program is doing great,” Pa-dilla said. “It’s just improv-ing and we are ever-excited to see where it goes. I know that if you join this program you’re not going to regret it.”

The pumpkin pie is one of the popular traditional pies for festive occasions. Also, pumpkin can be swapped with sweet potatoes for people who dislike pumpkin.

Michelle Cordonnier | Staff Writer


Cadets ready themselves for paintball on the battlefield.Evan Roberts | Photo Editor

(Top and left middle) ROTC does exercises to give them experience in firing a weapon, being stealthy and taking or-ders during heated situ-ations. (Right middle and bottom) Cadets often do physical training in full gear to get used to car-rying everything around and improve their cardio for when they go out on the real battlefield.

Evan Roberts | Photo Editor

“It’s just improving and

we are ever-excit-ed to see where it goes. I know that if you join this program you’re not going to

regret it.”-Rosy Padilla

ROTc: Preparing for battle

To see more stories from the play, visit griffonnews.com.

Katelyn Canon | Staff Writer [email protected]

FEATURES December 6, 2012


Brad Pitt has just went from “celebrity with tal-ent” to an official “acting legend.” Consider yourself warned.

Andrew Dominik’s latest film “Killing Them Softly” is going to be a highly debated film. Whether the audience member loves or hates it, one thing must be said: they just witnessed film history.

“Killing Them Softly” is a crime epic. If there is anything we know about crime epics in film history, we know that they have produced some of the most famous quotes and mono-logues.

“The Godfather,” “Good-fellas” and “Pulp Fiction” all have their significance in both pop culture and histo-ry. This film is about to join them.

The story doesn’t really follow one specific charac-ter, in general, as much as it follows a situation.

The situation is some am-ateur criminals pulling off a robbery at an illegal card game that was run by the mob, who now wants the robbers dead, but the person who was believed of being behind the robbery (Ray Li-otta), actually isn’t. So now we have a barrage of heat and violence surrounding the entire crime industry, with no resolution in sight.

Jackie Cogan (Pitt) is then hired to come on and take care of the entire situation,

so that the crime-economy can be set straight.

Pitt is insanely memorable in his role. Every time he comes on screen, the audi-ence is enthralled by every word that he speaks. There is a clear intimidation that results from every move-ment he makes. His perfor-mance is both real and en-tertaining. It is an event. It is a sight to be seen.

Pitt, however, is not the only strong performance in this film. James Gandolfini plays a legend of sorts in the crime business who Cogan wants help from in order to “solve” this entire situation.

Gandolfini is only in two scenes, but each one is just a pleasure to watch. There are moments of awkward-ness in them because his

character is in a point of his life where all he has is his sexual ventures, so the dia-logue can get pretty uncom-fortable for some audience members.

Despite that, both of the scenes are electrifying. They are both one-on-one meet-ings between Gandolfini and Pitt.

Something that acting en-thusiasts would only believe to see in their dreams.

This is writer/director Dominik’s third film and has been five years since his Western epic “The Assas-sination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” which also starred Pitt.

It has been a constant in Dominik’s career where he doesn’t really have a protagonist or antagonist within the story. His films have leaned more towards character studies than ste-reotypical narratives, and they have all worked in that sense.

The film definitely has its

political undertones, but they are neither liberal nor conservative.

Throughout the film, the audience often hears sound-bites from the 2008 Obama campaign, with shouts of “change” and “yes we can.”

At one point, Cogan throws away the idea of “change” but it isn’t so much an anti-Obama angle as it is an anti-patriot angle.

In what will eventually be seen as one of great mono-logues in film history, Cogan summarizes why America will never be “united” and must just accept the fact that it isn’t a nation. It’s a busi-ness.

This is the final moment of the film and it gives you piercing chills as you leave the theater.

The film does have its troubles, though. The open-ing of the film is, by far, some of the worst and most unbearable 60 seconds ever seen in a movie theater.

There is a credit sequence that cuts between the credits and one of the thugs who robs the card game. It is well shot because the imagery is very memorable, but the sound editing is so jarring that it can make an audi-ence member want to take a snub-nose .38 to the head.

Despite some pacing is-sues early on and a terrible opening sequence, “Killing Them Softly” succeeds in its efforts. It is going to be one of the most memorable films of the year and will forever be referred to, as one of greatest “acting films” in film history.

It will be highly debated and won’t be for everyone, but it still deserves an op-portunity. Go see this in the theater. Now.

Service dog to the rescue

In the world of good deeds, they don’t always have to be done in front of society as some grandiose production; sometimes they can be done in private born to facilitate some of the most basic needs of those less fortunate.

At Missouri Western, Ad-ministrative Coordinator of Student Development Kathy Kelly did not hesitate when student Katelynn Crawford told her some local special needs students could’ve used a hand in nearby Sa-vannah.

“I had a girl come in and ask me about some T-shirts,” Kelly said. “It was for the departments up in Savan-nah with the special needs classroom. They were going to be in the local parade, and really wanted to have all of their shirts match. So we do-nated Homecoming shirts to that group and then, after I found out what it was about, my sister and I donated five or six bags of clothes to that particular classroom because they needed them.”

It appears that good deeds runs in the family as Kelly’s sister, Jamie Bachman, was also quick to assist the spe-cial needs class.

She also offers some clari-fication on how they learned that additional clothing may be a need that they could as-

sist with.“My sister had told me how

grateful that teacher (Shirley Catlett) was to get some help from the university with the T-shirts,” Bachman said. “She had said anything we had she could definitely uti-lize and I thought, on a Sat-urday, this teacher is off and as soon as Kathy called her she is right there. I guess it was just hearing her talk, it was evident that she was a super teacher who puts the needs of her kids first.”

Kelly was also the advisor for the sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha previously.

Western student and ASA member Morgan Lindgren commented on how Kelly seemed to feel about the op-portunity to help out in the days before making her do-nation.

“She seemed really pas-sionate about having this op-portunity for students who may be struggling and just needed a little help,” Lind-gren said.

After the class had received the donation, they made a poster with all of their pho-tos on it to thank Kelly.

She feels compelled to do more to thank them for it than just an impersonal phone call or letter.

“I am going to try to go do a special visit to the class-room and personally thank them for the poster,” Kelly said.


“Killing Them Softly”shoots for legendary film status

Brian Duskey | Multimedia [email protected]

When thinking of service dogs, large breed dogs, like the German Shepherd, usu-ally come to mind. Who would imagine that an under 10-pound Chihuahua would be trained and licensed as a service dog for asthmatic children?

Missouri Western nursing student Katelynn Crawford is the owner and trainer of the tiny Dexter. Crawford’s entire family believes in ani-mal therapy, and they believe pets, specifically dogs, can be very therapeutic.

Dexter, a full-blooded Chi-huahua, is one-and-a-half years old. Dexter has spent approximately half his life (nine months) in training to be a therapeutic source to mentally handicapped chil-dren who suffer from asthma and other breathing disor-ders.

“Dexter, and other dogs like him, can be a huge source of comfort and therapy to someone who suffers from asthma,” Crawford said. “He has trained with my mother, Shirley Catlett, at Savannah Middle School learning life skills with the children.”

Dexter is specifically trained to help regulate the breathing of a person having an asthma attack. By lying on a person’s chest and breath-ing with the person, the per-son’s natural body response is to relax its breathing, as Dexter relaxes his. Dexter is not a magical dog, he can-

not save a life by performing CPR, but he can be a source of therapy in regulation of someone’s breathing.

Not all dogs can be service-trained, however. It takes a specific type of personal-ity for the dog and an enor-mous amount of practice to become trained and licensed to be a service dog. Until this semester, upon Crawford’s entrance into the nursing program, Dexter went every-where with Crawford.

“It depends on the person-ality of the animal. Dexter is calm and was easy to train,” Crawford said. “People don’t realize how much training and work that is involved; I have another dog at home right now that I am trying to train, but he’s just a spaz.”

Recently, Dexter took part in an animal safety presen-tation for Western’s nursing department. The student

presentation demonstrated the benefits of animal ther-apy, and he was used as a prop to demonstrate the cor-rect way to interact with him as well as how service dogs can be used for therapeutic regimens.

Crawford and fellow stu-dent Bobbi Dickerson dem-onstrated in class how the tiny dog could be a source of comfort and therapy. Dicker-son is also a pet owner and believes animal therapy has its benefits.

Service dogs are taught to be calm and to not respond to outside stimuli -- after all, they are working. Dexter, like all service dogs, knows that when he comes out of his bag/kennel, he is work-ing. He is trained to stay by Crawford’s side and not to bark unless there is a medi-cal emergency.

“He is finally starting to get to know me, and I have worked with him a lot,” Dickerson said.

Crawford’s entire fam-ily are animal lovers. Both Crawford’s parents take pets to work with them. Crawford works for St. Lukes Hospital in Smithville, Mo., and she is working on obtaining li-censing so that Dexter can go to work with her there, as he has in the past with her mother.

The Chihuahua will con-tinue to work as a service dog, helping with mentally handicapped children until he is ready for retirement. Dogs will let a person know when they are tired of work-ing. According to Crawford,

Dexter will start retreating and not want to go places anymore when he gets old and no longer wants to work. There is no set age limit for how long a service dog will work.

Dexter has a partner, An-nabelle, who is Crawford’s Mother’s dog. Dexter and Annabelle have worked to-gether at Savannah middle school. The two have also partnered up to be the ring bearer and flower girl in Crawford’s wedding when she married Cody Crawford earlier this year.

He is not only a service dog

and “child” to Crawford, he has become a star, as well. Dexter participated in the Kansas City Cinco de Mayo costume parade for dogs last May, and he has become a media sensation since.

Photos of Dexter in cos-tume were published last summer in several news-papers in the United States, and even in different coun-tries -- London, England, to be exact. Dexter made his television debut on CNN. Crawford’s mother even found photos on the internet during a recent pet costume search.

Dexter appeared in the pa-rade in an army tank, with the words “Devil Dogs” em-blazoned across the back. Crawford’s husband Cody built Dexter’s tank costume. Crawford’s father-in-law, a former marine, was the inspiration behind the cos-tume.

While Dexter has received much attention from the me-dia, Crawford believes ani-mals are very beneficial.

“I wouldn’t know what to do without animals...” Craw-ford said.


Dexter, a full-blooded Chihua-hua, is a licensed service dog for asthmatic children.

Michelle Cordonnier | Staff Writer

In addition to being a service dog, Dexter also dresses in costumes and performs in numerous parades. Here, Dexter struts his stuff at the “Chihuahua Parade” in Kansas City. He has been featured on CNN as well as in other newspapers around the United States and other countries. *photo courtesy of zimbo.com

www.GriffonNews.comView our video movie review at

We give this movie 4 out of 5 stars

MOVIE TRIVIA:“Killing Them Softly” was the first film to use Kodaks 500T 5230 film stock.

Brad Pitt stars as Jackie Cogan in this crime epic. *Photo courtesy of allmoviephoto.com

Faculty member offers hand for special needs students

Kathy Kelly, administrative coordinator of Student Develop-ment, poses with her gift from the special needs students. Kelly provided the students with T-shirts for them to wear at a local parade. Andy Garrison | Staff Writer

OPINIONSDecember 6, 2012


CAMPUS VOICE

What is your New Year’s resolution?

Check out the full responses at GriffonNews.com

Sarah Faubel Sophomore

“My usual New Year’s resolution is to cut back on sweets, but

that doesn’t last long.”

Joyce Stevenson Junior

“My New Year’s resolution is to study

more.”

“My New Year’s resolution is to travel

more.”

Bryan MillerJunior

Tracy Whorton Junior

“My New Year’s resolution is to spend time with my family

who has been living in France.”

The Griffon News is written and published by students of Missouri Western State University during the fall and spring semesters. The first copy of each issue is free; addi-tional copies are 50 cents. Content of this paper is developed independently of the facul-ty and administration, or other campus organizations or offices. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas, information and advertising to The Griffon News office, Eder 221, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, Mo. 64507, or by phoning (816) 271-4412 (advertising and news room). You may also e-mail [email protected]. Copy and advertising must be received by noon Friday, the week prior to publication.

Guidelines for letters to the editor:• All letters to the editor must be typed and double spaced. Letters must be no longer

than 350-400 words and guest columns no longer than 500 words. Letters and columns will be edited for style.

• All letters must include signature and identity verification information, such as phone number. The Griffon News reserves the right to edit all letters for length and Associated Press style.

• The Griffon News will not withhold names under any circumstances. Anonymously submitted letters will not be published.

• Views expressed on the opinion pages are not necessarily those of The Griffon News staff or Missouri Western State University.

Managing EditorGraphics EditorStaff Illustrator

News EditorPhoto Editor

Assistant Photo EditorSports Editor

Assistant Sports EditorFeatures Editor

Opinions & Online EditorMultimedia Editor

Design ArtistDesign ArtistDesign Artist

Ad ManagerCopy Editor

Faculty Advisor

Eboni LaceyEditor-in-Chief

Blair Stalder Chad HammontreeAndrew SetterEllis CrossEvan Roberts Tevin Harris Kyle InmanChristian MengelAlbert Shelby Matthew HuntBrian DuskeyLauren DillonHanna Greenwell Andy InmanKyler PenlandShelley RussellBob Bergland

The Griffon News Staff

Even before students go on break, they are expected to pay Student Success Act fees for the second time as they enroll in the spring 2013 se-mester.

Full-time students will pay another $75, part-time will pay $50 and summer will pay $25 on top of what they pay for tuition. If you will remember, the act was created for the sole purpose to help the university in times of financial crisis.

It just seems odd that we would have to worry about paying yet another fee when Missouri Western is exceed-ing its budget in revenues by more than $7.4 million, and has been for the past three years.

The cost of attending a four-year university is enough of a burden on the shoulders of students. Stu-dents pay for classes, books, supplies, room and board and other necessities to make it possible to survive college.

Western is building up its reserves by raiding students’ wallets. Forcing students to pay into the act again when reserves are at a 10-year high

is plain wrong. The Student Success Act is not necessary when this university is finan-cially well off. Administra-tion should stop charging students’ accounts in the 2013 spring semester for the Student Success Act.

The Student Government Association who created the act should have made an es-cape clause.

The president of SGA and five members of administra-tion signed the original act. Changes to the act may have to be approved by all five members of the administra-tion and the SGA president again.

The administration origi-nally led SGA into this act by painting a bleak future if the act didn’t pass.

The fear was that the state was going to cut funding by 12.5 percent.

Administration threatened to cut five departments of student services. Not only did those cuts never happen, but the state also sent an ad-ditional $500,000.

When the Griffon News asked the SGA and admin-istration “What if the state

funding cuts do not hap-pen?” when the act was be-ing considered, the response was, “The cuts are going to happen.” Evidently none of those involved in the cre-ation of the act thought of a backup plan should the cuts not happen.

It looks like the adminis-tration was taking advantage of the SGA by not suggesting a plan B. If the shoe was on the other foot, the adminis-tration would probably have insisted on an escape clause.

In fact, then Vice Presi-dent of Financial Planning Mel Klinkner said that if the act had a sunset clause, he would have to consider cut-ting student services as if the act didn’t exist.

A sunset clause would give the act a time limit. Without a time limit, administration could collect the fee indefi-nitely. If the administration is guilty of manipulating the SGA, then shame on them. The best way to correct their behavior is to not collect the student fee when the state doesn’t cut funding or when profits exceed a million dol-lars.

It seems that SGA was played into a deal, which in turn created expenses for the entire student body. It’s tough enough for students to pay for school.

It’s time for the SGA to work with the administra-tion to find a way for this fee to be eliminated until the university should find itself in poorer financial shape.

The students deserve a gracious Christmas pres-ent when they return for the spring semester, and this would be one way the uni-

versity could give back to its students.

If there is not a reprieve, this fee needs to go to a stu-dent vote. The issue is, if Western is very profitable some years, then the fee should not be collected.

If administration threat-ens to cut student services after the student vote, the students may have to take it to the governor and let him decide if Western needs the money or not.

Editorial: A gracious gift for students

Chad Hammontree | Graphics Editor

MWSU

Admit it, we have all seen television shows or read about how women need to have the perfect body.

We are all taught to love our bodies, no matter what, but how are you supposed to do that when the media has a negative effect on women’s body type?

There are so many people I know from my college, hometown, softball team and family that are under so much pressure just to look one way. It’s like soci-

ety wants you to be a certain weight, a certain jean size, or even a certain height.

Obviously everyone I know is different, and any-one you know can probably tell you something that they don’t like about themselves. It might be that they are too fat, too skinny, have a belly pudge, have love handles, have thunder thighs, oh wow I could go on and on about what girls portray themselves to be.

The thing about it all is, is that no matter who you are no woman is really accept-

ing of her looks or body type. You watch shows, you read magazines, you see Victoria’s Secret models and you think that they have the perfect body and that they are confident. Did you know that with that perfect body they portray, a lot of it comes with Photoshop?

Even the people you think are perfect look at them ev-ery single day and continue to see flaw after flaw, just like we all do every day. We can-not keep putting ourselves down every single day be-cause it isn’t doing us any

good. Stop trying to have that perfect body because it probably is not ever going to happen, or at least you will never be fully satisfied with your body.

I have played softball my entire life and I have never had small legs. I have big-ger legs because as a catch-er I relied on my legs a lot. When it comes to hitting, do I want to have skinny legs because if that happens the ball I am about to hit will not ever leave the infield. No matter how much I don’t

like my thighs, or my body, I wouldn’t change a thing, be-cause I know that no matter how more fit I would like to be the cycle never ends there.

Now the next time that you look in the mirror and you see all those flaws re-member that there is no such thing as perfect. Also, do not go wishing you had this girl’s arms, or that girl’s abs, or that girl’s legs because your body is shaped in a spe-cial way.

Submitted by Tiffany Gillaspy

The petitions for secession recently filed by all 50 states are nothing more than a na-tionwide foot stomping ti-rade; a tirade that produces nothing but an unproductive propaganda inducing rumor machine that will do zip to improve a single issue in the United States. Moreover, it is so unfeasible in concept of actually succeeding it barely merits acknowledgment oth-er than some sort of novelty.

First off, secession would

be wildly damaging to some of the state’s most vulner-able members almost imme-diately through loss of social security benefits, highway maintenance, disability ben-efits, disaster relief aid, and border security in southern states; the list just goes on and on making an actual se-cession an unlikely logistical nightmare.

There are a lot of people out there that are claiming that secession is not what they are trying to accom-plish, they simply think that signing the petition, on an Obama created petition pro-gram (good to see that irony hasn’t seceded yet), is a way to peacefully protest the elec-tion results.

I could possibly agree with that logic except that it is an incredibly immature and selfish gesture. I say self-ish in response to a specific

claim made by a source that will remain anonymous.

“Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to walk away from trillions in debt? I sure would,” source said.

The problem with that is in one way or another every state in the Union has con-tributed to that trillions in debt and every state bears some responsibility in its creation and implications. To simply suggest that a state shedding that responsibility would go unchallenged by the country is a naïve and selfish one.

One of the leading states in the movement is “shocking-ly” Texas. While resource-wise they would stand the best chance of surviving as an independent entity, does one really think that America would let all of that oil creep out of the bottom of the country like someone pulled

a giant drain plug?Even if a compromise

would be reached and Tex-as was allowed to secede, it would immediately become a very interesting alternative to illegal immigration to the U.S.; not to mention a very attractive target for outfits like the Mexican mafia and the vast network of drug kingpins already accosting the border. This becomes especially interesting when taken into consideration with the loss of Government aid and finance for border security that would occur.

We would all be better served if we put our efforts and creative energies into finding actual solutions for the problems that we can fix instead of firing off nonsense that only instigates more conflict and separation with-in the Nation.

Luckily there are several

measures in place that put this notion down for good. Secession would be subject to a two thirds vote in the Houses, and that would not happen. Also, the type of se-cession that Texas and other states are petitioning for is actually unconstitutional thanks to the Supremacy Clause in Article 6. Yale Uni-versity Law Professor Akhil Reed Amar explains how any secession would actu-ally occur, as well as ham-mers the whole notion into perspective.

““What the Constitu-tion says repeatedly is once you’re in (as a state), you’re in,” Amar said. “If people want to secede, they are al-lowed to leave; they just can’t take the land and the water with them. There is a lawful way to secede -- it’s called emigration. They can move to Canada.”

Nationwide hissy fit: Secession real?


No’body’s perfectStudents speak out

OPINIONS December 6, 2012


WITH ELLIS CROSS

I was planning on having a great Christmas break until I started doing some research. I was trying to insure that I would have an old-fashioned Christian holiday season.

It turns out that every-thing I planned on doing is wrong.

I wanted an old-fashioned real Christmas tree until I found out that pagans of Northern Europe started this tradition long before the birth of Christ.

They used the cut trees

and bring them inside their homes to remind them that their crops would soon be green again.

It also was a sign of wor-ship to the gods of fertility and agriculture.

The Yule log was my next idea. If I couldn’t have a tree at least I could have a log.

I could decorate it with mistletoe and holly. If you read the box, Mistletoe is considered a sacred plant by pagans and was used to represent fertility. Holly ber-

ries were considered food of the gods. The very word Yule was the pagan word for wheel and is symbolic of the pagan sun god Mithras.

His birthday is on the win-ter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Yule logs were burned as worship to honor the sun and the god Mithras.

Okay, I thought. Forget the log. I’ll just burn a candle.

I then found that those same pagans practiced burn-ing a candle to honor Mithras also. I guess if they didn’t

have a Yule log prepared, lighting a candle meant the same thing.

If you knew me well you would know that I have a decent voice and like to sing. Caroling was the next obvi-ous choice for me.

The Romans had the idea first.

Turns out, getting all dressed up and singing to en-tertain your neighbor during the Christmas season (Satur-nalia season if your Roman) was practiced by Romans to

worship Saturn their god of agriculture.

So, I’m left with parties with family and friends. There will be lots of eating drinking and gift giving. No, that won’t work either because Dec. 25 is actually an ancient Babylonian party day that was practiced by gluttonous eating excessive drinking and giving of gifts. It was to celebrate the birth of the son of Isis, goddess of nature.

To top it all off, most his-

torians believe that Dec. 25 was not the birthday of Jesus Christ anyway. It is very un-likely that shepherds were in the fields on a cold Judean winter night.

Experts place his birth about six months after Pass-over. That puts his birthday in early September.

Holy smoke! Jesus Christ and I are both Virgos. I’m going to have a great break now!

Not that I’m into any of that horoscope stuff.

All I wanted was an old fashioned Christmas

Students speak outGiving student journaliststheir 15 minutes of fame

Voting problem?Unaware of options

In today’s hyper tech world, one of the fastest moving modes of commu-nication has come to rest on the shoulders of social me-dia. Websites like Twitter and Facebook and even You-tube are making informa-tion and first-hand accounts more accessible to the pub-lic, including news stations and newspapers.

Worldwide news provid-ers like CNN have started to turn some viewers into reporters of life changing events happening right in front of them. The station has even deemed these brave ci-vilians, “iReporters”. With the capability of social net-working websites becoming more and more attainable and with new technologies

coming out every day it’s no surprise that most vid-eos that are shown on most news channels are found on the internet and are upload-ed by individuals caught in the action.

For years now Citizen Journalists have been under scrutiny from professional journalists, because some are covering stories before them and sometimes even right alongside them,.

They may or may not have formal training to report on an event to the highest possi-ble caliber that reporters do.

But what if they do and they just haven’t found a job yet?

What if these citizen jour-nalists those real reporters seem to disdain so much cover angles that a reporter had yet to even consider?

What if a citizen journalist has the potential to become a real journalist, but doesn’t have the monetary means to become properly educated?

Thanks to websites like Blottr and Wikinews, citi-zen journalists have actual websites besides their blogs and Twitter and Facebook’s to post current news in their areas.

While some of their skills may not be as good as the professionals, they still have forums to put amateur work on to so that on the off chance their work can to be seen by possible job recruiters.

While some journalists may not like the new “norm” of what citizen journalists are becoming to the world of media and reporting, they don’t seem to be going any-where any time soon.

Submitted by Nicole Gardner

Politics today is nothing more than a fashion show where we choose the best candidate based on their appearance. The major can-didates in the upcoming presidential election are not any different.

After watching CNN, Fox News and any other news broadcast, it is ap-parent that the broadcasts care only about the facial expressions and body lan-guage of current president Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Many voters have very little knowledge of what ei-ther of the candidates stand for in regards to social poli-cies and economic plans.

There is little reason for

United States citizens to vote when they care more about Snooki’s baby photo than how Romney plans taxes.

Social media is a major campaign booster and re-ceives much attention from younger voters, but the info that is seen on the social networks is nothing upon which to base a vote.

The campaigns for both major candidates have so-cial network posts with a photo and catchy slogans while the news broadcast channels describe body language. These two cam-paign boosters visuals will not allow voters to formu-late a proper vote.

There is even reason to believe that citizens today do not even know that

there are four other presi-dential candidates. Candi-dates from the Libertarian, Green, Justice and Con-stitution Parties do have a theoretical chance of be-ing elected, but their cam-paigns are so limited that it takes proactive voters to research these candidates.

If voters took a few hours out of their days, they would realize that the Lib-ertarian Party endorses gay and lesbian rights just as Obama now does.

Citizens who fail to un-derstand the policies and topics that matter to being commander-in-chief and a major deciding factor on important bills should not have a place at the polls.

This failure is why there is a problem with voting.

Submitted by Jacob Dowell

Dr. Susan S. Hennessy Professor of French

I’ll be missing you

www.THEGRIFFONNEWS.comwww.THEGRIFFONNEWS.comChad Hammontree | Graphics Editor

Chad Hammontreegraduating with a B.F.A. in Graphic Design

Griffon News says goodbye to graduating editor Graphics editor Chad

Hammontree will walk across the stage on Dec. 15 with a B.F.A. in Graphic De-sign. Though Hammontree has only been with the news-paper for one semester, he’s has numerous pieces of work in the paper that have caught eyes and drawn praise from many members of faculty, administration and the stu-dent body.

In addition to the Griffon News, Hammontree current-ly works for a comic book writer who resides in Califor-nia. He has also won many graphic awards such as “The Better Block logo contest” and the “Soundscape music poster contest.”

He plans to move to Kan-sas City to work for a graph-ic design firm. He will also graduate with honors.

I write in response to the article by Matt Hunt pub-lished in the November 8th edition of the Griffon News regarding general education. Mr. Hunt’s comments reflect disdain for general studies requirements, and they also bring to light a now com-mon perception about the purpose of higher education, specifically, that the only rea-son for earning a college de-gree is to get a job.

Although it’s true that a college degree leads to more stable employment and higher earning potential, an undergraduate degree pro-vides much more that is not quantifiable. The American higher education model de-veloped around the prem-ise of learning for learning’s sake.

Courses in the liberal arts and sciences help students understand the complex

world in which they live. Engaging in inquiry about history, science, religion and the fine arts, for example, heightens our understand-ing of how society functions and teaches us to reflect on our past, in order to address the challenges of our present.

Reading great literature and studying other societies and cultures builds aware-ness and acceptance of dif-ference. All of these abilities

not only groom students for working in a professional environment, they prepare them for living in an ever-changing world.

From an employer’s point of view, the skills developed through general education are crucial: how do you teach an employee to problem solve, address sticky ethical issues or communicate with people from different back-grounds? How do you train

an employee to be flexible, to interpret data, and to speak and write effectively?

General education pro-vides the tools that we all need to lead productive and fulfilling lives.

Susie HennessyFrench professor

Professor objects to last issue’s opinion piece ‘Mr. Hunt’s comments reflect disdain for general studies requirements’

SPORTSDecember 6, 2012


The Griffons come together during the game for a quick huddle. Jason Brown | Photo Contributor

FREAKY FASTDELIVERY!

©2011 JIMMY JOHN’S FRANCHISE, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

CLICK.ORDER.EAT.

RA of the Month

Name: Abby Svendsen

Home: Des Moines, IA

Major: Nursing

Minor: Childhood studies

Favorite MWSU memory: Late night people watching with friends.

If you could give one bit of advice to new students, what would that be?

much sleep though!

Vaselakos Hall

TIRED OF PAYING

Cell: (816) 244-83233500 N. Village Dr, Suite 200C

St. Joseph, MO 64506(816) 233-1119

Fax: (816) 233-3047Email: charlottesollarsmail.yahoo.com

Website: evansrealtyonline.com

Missouri Western AlumCHARLOTTE SOLLARS, GRI

Start planning for tomorrow call today!!!

RENT?

Missouri Western Men’s Basketball improved to 2-1 after defeating Rockhurst University 60-45 at the sec-ond game of the Hillyard Classic on Nov. 17.

The Griffons started slow on offense as Rockhurst took a 31-26 lead into halftime yet only allowed 14 points in the entire second half.

“I want performance and I want accountability,” coach Tom Smith said. “I thought the guys in the second half gave us that accountability.”

A 3-point shot by Adarius Fulton and then old fash-ioned 3-point play by Cedric Clinkscales tied the game at 42 and the Griffons didn’t look back. Rockhurst was stuck on 42 points for the next six minutes while West-ern continued to score, push-ing the lead to 53-42.

“One thing coach keeps

preaching is moving the ball and playing as a team,” guard James Harris said. “We just get easier buckets when we play together.”

Harris led the Griffons in scoring with 18 points

on 6-for-10 shooting off the bench. He also provided a big spark on defense with his four momentum-changing steals.

“The best thing about James has been his attitude

of coming off the bench,” Smith said. “I don’t think he’s sulked about it and he’s just relished it. Coming off the bench, he feels that he can give us some offense.”

Point guard Adarius Ful-ton added 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting and also im-pacted the game with eight rebounds and four assists. Smith trusts Fulton to make the right basketball play down the stretch.

“I’m different than a lot of coaches,” Smith said. “I’m old school and I play the peo-ple that I trust on the floor.”

Big man Cedric Clinkscales scored 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting in 20 minutes. Foul trouble kept him out for a large stretch in the first half.

“We wanted to do it for the home crowd,” Clink-scales said. “They came out and show support and we felt like we let them down (against William Jewell). We wanted to set the tone and win tonight.”

Strong second half pushes Western past RockhurstKyle Inman | Sports Editor [email protected]

(Top) Coach Tom Smith gives the Griffons a quick pep talk during a timeout. (Middle) Guard Dylan Frantz attempts to fight off his defender. (Above) Guard Adarius Fulton looks for an open pass. Jason Brown | Photo Contributor

Missouri Western held off the Quincy University Hawks on Nov. 27 with six players scoring in double digits to seal the victory, 81-67.

The first half belonged to the Griffons as they claimed a lead early on. Junior forward Sharniece Lewis lead the team, landing four 3-point-ers. Senior forward Brittany Griswold pitched in with 11 points of her own.

Western capped off the first half with a 20-10 run, breaking their seven-point lead out to a 44-27 game at the half. Overall, they shot 51.9 percent from the field and 64.3 percent from be-yond the arc.

“Our defense started out right,” senior guard Alicia Bell said. “I think that when our defense plays well, it re-ally helps give our offense a lot of momentum.”

The Hawks came back in the second half ready to fight. They cut the Grif-fons 17-point lead to eight with just under 10 minutes to play. Senior guard Kallie Schoonover helped make it

double digits again with two free throws, but Quincy re-sponded with a 4-0 run mak-ing it a six-point game with 5:55 left to play. Western re-fused to give up, outscoring the Hawks 16-8 in the re-maining minutes.

With a final score of 81-67, the Griffons claimed the vic-tory and improved to 6-1 on

the season.“In the second half,” Lewis

said. “We weren’t playing our game. We weren’t do-ing everything we normally would do. It was just not be-ing in the right places and our communication.”

Western improved on their amount of turnovers, only committing 12 on the night.

But they struggled from the line, only hitting 57.1 per-cent (20-35). However, they out-rebounded Quincy 37-35 and had 12 more steals in the game.

“We’re still struggling on our free throws and overall execution, but we really im-proved on our turnovers,” coach Rob Edmisson said.

Mika Cummins | Staff [email protected]

Women’s Basketball holds on against Quincy, wins 81-67

Western falls to William Jewell 76-60 in Hillyard Classic

Western big man Dzenan Mrkaljevic looks to the pass the ball to a teammate. Jason Brown | Photo Contributor

Missouri Western Men’s Basketball couldn’t create enough offense to overcome William Jewell’s 3-point shooting. William Jewell made 10 3-pointers, down-ing the Griffons 76-60 in the first game of the Hillyard Classic at MWSU Field-house on Nov. 16.

Western dropped to 1-1 on the season after going 2-for-17 from 3-point distance.

“I just felt we got man-handled,” coach Tom Smith said. “It was offense tonight. You aren’t going to win games scoring 60 points at home.”

Cedric Clinkscales led the Griffons with 21 points and also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Clinkscales pro-vided the lone bright spot for Western’s offense.

The Griffons were down by 10 at halftime but couldn’t make a serious run in the second half as the long distance shot was not going in.

“As soon as they punched us a little bit in the first half, our answer was ‘Let’s shoot another 3,’” Smith said. “We’ve got Ced in there dominating; we would have been very content to just stay inside and get the ball inside.”

Western cut the lead down to 56-50 with just over seven minutes to play but couldn’t cut into the lead further. William Jewell ran the score out to 66-51 over the next three minutes and the Grif-fons never got close again.

Western’s guards were not able to add much scor-ing and struggled from the

field. James Harris went 1-for-6 while Reed Mells shot 0-for-5. Adarius Ful-ton and Dylan Frantz, who started the game, shot a combined 4-for-9.

William Jewell had four players register double figures in scoring; Dillon Deck had 15 points and 9 rebounds; Taylor John scored 13 points and added seven rebounds, Ricky Tis-dale scored 11 points; and Devonte Bell dropped in 10 points.

“Lack of execution, that’s what it was for us tonight,” Clinkscales said. “We were rushing shots. I think we tried to match them 3-for-3 and it wasn’t working for us tonight. We have to do bet-ter.”

The Griffons were beat on the boards 34-30 and lost the turnover battle 16-to-13. Smith expects the physical-ity to continue as the season goes on.

“I don’t think that Wil-liam Jewell is MIAA level,” Smith said. “We will see a lot of teams more physical than them.”

Western had a chance to bounce back from the home loss Saturday, Nov. 17 when they took on Rockhurst Uni-versity in the second night of the Hillyard Classic. To read the Rockhurst wrap-up, view the “Strong second half pushes Western past Rockhurst” on this page.

“We will come back in the morning and reassess our-selves tomorrow and hope-fully get it done,” Clink-scales said. “I tried to stay positive the whole time. It’s just one of those nights and we just got to regroup.”

Kyle Inman | Sports Editor [email protected]

SPORTS December 6, 2012


Western improves to 4-2, defeats Illinois-Springfield

Griffons come out on top against Rockhurst Hawks

Missouri Western Women’s Basketball improved to 7-1 on the season after defeat-ing Rockhurst 67-63 on Saturday at MWSU Fieldhouse. First-year coach Rob Edmisson’s team has already matched last season’s entire win total before conference play has even started.

“We aren’t satisfied because we know that this team isn’t close to playing as well as we can play,” Edmisson said. “So we still have room for a lot of improvement; this team can get better .”

The Griffons jumped out to a 19-10 lead early, but Rockhurst battled back to tie the game at 20 and then took a 25-20 lead. Western responded and went into the halftime break with 36-33 lead.

Heather Howard made a 3-pointer on one possession and then a layup the next possession to give Western its biggest lead of the night at 51-40. Western saw the lead collapse as they struggled to convert from the free throw line, shooting just 10-for-32 including 3-for-20 in the second half while trying to put Rockhurst away. Despite the struggles from the free throw line, the Griffons held on for victory.

“A big part of that was we were so inept at the free throw line; that game

shouldn’t have been close,” Edmisson said. “We prob-ably should have won that game by 15 or 20 points if we make our free throws.”

The season is young, but Edmisson’s team has already been in several close battles that weren’t decid-ed until the final stretch of the game. He believes that the experience of having to win in crunch time will help the Griffons in the long run, and he has faith in them to come out on top like they did against Rockhurst.

“We told our kids ‘We’ve been there before,’” Edmisson said. “We know what to do and that it’s time to lock down.”

Jallisa Lewis led the Griffons in scoring with 16 points on 5-for-7 shooting and added six rebounds while sister Sharniece Lewis added 11 points, including three 3-pointers and four rebounds. Howard notched a double-dou-ble with 11 points, 10 rebounds and added two blocks, two steals and two assists. Alicia Bell chipped in with eight points.

Western won the

turnover battle 23-to-13 and forced 12 steals.

Despite a revamped ros-ter with only a few players that have experience playing in the MIAA, Edmisson has confidence in the talent that he brought in.

“That’s a tough thing,” Edmisson said. “This is one of the best conferences in the

country. The physicalness and the intensity in these conference games will be an adjustment. The good thing is that most of these kids that came in from winning programs so they are accus-tomed to being on teams that win and have success.”

Kyle Inman | Sports [email protected]

Junior forward Jallisa Lewis shoots a contested layup while battling against the Rockhurst opponent in the paint. The Griffons out rebounded the Hawks 40 to 28. Jason Brown | Photo Contributor

B O X S C O R E

MISSOURI WESTERN

ROCKHURST

67

63

L E A D I N G

S C O R E R S

MENʼS BASKETBALL WOMENʼS BASKETBALL

# 13 Heather HowardPPG: 12.6 TP: 101 REBS:86

# 24 Lanicia LawrencePPG: 9.6 TP: 77 REBS:30

#10 JaQuitta DeverPPG: 9.4 TP: 75 REBS: 23

# 32 Jallisa Lewis

#23 Sharniece LewisPPG: 7.4 TP: 59 REBS: 17

#22 Alicia BellPPG: 6.8 TP: 54 REBS: 34

PPG: 8.3 TP: 66 REBS: 30

# 3 Brittany GriswoldPPG: 6.5 TP: 52 REBS: 26

# 24 Cedric Clinkscales PPG: 15.5 TP: 93 REB: 35

# 5 James Harris PPG: 9.7 TP: 58 REB:11

#33 Dzenan MrkaljevicPPG: 8.2 TP: 49 REB: 46

# 42 Alfreeman FlowersPPG: 5.8 TP: 35 REB: 19

# 25 Alex Tuluka-MfumupembePPG: 5.8 TP: 35 REB: 25

# 11 Dylan Frantz PPG: 4.2 TP: 25 REB:12

PPG: 7.3 TP: 44 REB: 26# Adarius Fulton

Andy Inman and Chad Hammontree | Design Artist and Graphics Editorr

of the WEEKCedric Clinkscales

Cedric Clinkscales had 18 points and eight rebounds on 9-for-15 in the win over Illinois-Springfield. Clinkscales leads the 4-2 Griffons in scoring with 15.5 points per game on the season. Clickscales is the man in the middle for the Griffons and the main source of scoring. Clinkscales scored his season high of 22 points against Park University.

ATHLETE

#24 - Forward

Andy Inman and Chad Hammontree | Design Artist and Graphics Editor

Missouri Western Men’s Basketball avoided a late comeback attempt to defeat Illinois-Springfield 61-50 on Saturday, Dec. 1, at MWSU Fieldhouse. The Griffons improved to 4-2 on the sea-son.

“I think this was a good solid win -- not a great win -- but a good solid win going forward,” coach Tom Smith said.

The Griffons were up 54-38 with eight minutes to play when Illinois-Springfield went on a run to cut the lead down to 55-50 over the next four minutes. Western responded with physical defense and points in the paint to finish the game.

“That’s just what you are going to go through in basketball,” junior Cedric Clinkscales said. “We just had to stay composed and keep going.”

Western’s zone defense forced Illinois-Springfield to shoot and miss from outside for most of the night. The Prairie Stars shot just 3-for-18 from 3-point distance and were held to 38 percent from the field.

“We were closing out on

them with every shot they took,” forward Alex Tuluka-Mfumupembe said. “The most important thing is that we keep the ball out of the middle, because when it’s in the middle, then it’s easy for them to find people on the wing.”

A key to Western’s suc-cess was winning the battle of turnovers. The Griffons turned the ball over eight times while the Prairie Stars committed 17 turnovers.

“Anytime you keep your turnovers in single digits, that’s good,” Smith said. “It’s hard to do; it means we are taking care of the ball.”

Smith was happy with the defensive effort but con-cerned by the lack of exe-cution on offense. He feels

that his team will need to score more than 61 points at home in the future.

“I thought when they made the run, we forgot about Cedric down low,” Smith said. “You could feel the momentum change a little bit.”

Clinkscales paced the Griffons with 18 points on 9-for-15 shooting and pulled down six rebounds. Tu l u k a - M f u m u p e m b e scored 12 points, including two from 3-point distance.

Point guard Adarius Fulton added nine points, five rebounds, and three assists while forward Alfreeman Flowers dropped in eight points on 2-for-3 shooting.

Western converted on 10-for-15 free throw attempts and shot 41.1 percent from the field. The Griffons defense accounted for seven blocks and four steals.

The Griffons returned to action on Dec. 5 against Truman State, which marked the start of MIAA conference play. (See griffonnews.com for the wrap-up article.)

“We’ve had our ups and downs, but I think we are ready for conference play,” Tuluka-Mfumupembe said. “Everyone is excited about that.”

Kyle Inman | Sports [email protected] B O X S C O R E

MISSOURI WESTERN

ILLINIOS-SPRINGFIELD

61

50

Missouri Western guard James Harris drives the ball as the Griffons pull away from Illinois-Springfield. The Griffons defeated the Prairie Stars with the final score of 61-50.

Jason Brown | Photo Contributor

Junior forward Sharniece Lewis goes up from a jump shot. Lewis is currently the fifth leading scorer, and averaging 7.4 points per game. Jason Brown | Photo Contributor

If you are a Missouri West-ern football fan, you’ve prob-ably have had to endure the loud blast that is shot from the cannon used at home football games. Considering that the football team has had some success this season, it’s hard to miss the loud crack count-less times this year at Spratt Stadium.

The installment of the can-non had to go through quite a few people to get approved. It also has history that dates back to the early 1980s. The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity went through the necessary precautions and is now al-lowed to shoot off the cannon after every touchdown the school makes.

Coltin Ridenour is the secre-tary of the fraternity, who has the privilege of shooting off the cannon. He admitted that it gets pretty loud.

“We had to go through a lot of channels to get it done,” Ridenour said. “Some people did not like the idea at first. But we talked to other people about it and we explained

how it would work, people came around and saw that it was a bit safer than expected. It took a full year for it to be approved.”

Ridenour shoots off the cannon right next to the loud speakers that usually plays music and the broadcast dur-ing and before the games. As you can imagine, earbuds are needed and depending on how close you are, the sound of the cannon alone can cause damage to any part of your head.

“It’s very loud and effi-cient,” Ridenour said. “I do wear ear plugs. You just have to make sure that nobody is in front of it. It can definitely cause some brain damage.”

Dirck Clark is an alumnus of the Phi Sigma Kappa frater-nity at Western. His grandfa-ther is the person who found pieces for the cannon, then reconstructed it from scratch.

“I was in the Phi Sig frater-nity, and I wanted cannon, so I went to my grandfather to see if he could build us one,” Clark said. “My grandfa-ther was a farmer and good at those types of things, so I knew he could do it.”

Clark said that around the early 1980s, his grandfather went out and found scrap pieces, including two large wheels, that could help put together a cannon.

“He went out to a scrap pile and found two big metal wheels that are close to being about a hundred years old by now,” Clark said. “He found a pipe and other necessary things that he needed and he

built it. Between my grandfa-ther and my uncle, they built the cannon, and we gave it to the fraternity.”

The cannon had been a tradition here at Western un-til the cannon went missing in the early 1990s. The can-non were missing for about 20 years until a rumor was spread to the fraternity about the cannon being in an aban-don home.

Nick Niemeier is a current member of the fraternity and admitted that the cannon went missing for a while, but they were able to retrieve it eventually.

“The cannon had been miss-ing for quite some years,” Niemeier said. “We decided to search for it, contact a lot peo-ple and we ended up finding it at an abandon home in a junk pile. We had to piece some

things together and then we thought it was time to bring it out for football games.”

Niemeier noted that he knew that the cannon were a tradition and it meant a lot for him to not only help restore the cannon, but allow every-one attending the games to experience something that has been a tradition for years.

“This will be a tradition that will be a huge part of Griffon football for years to come,” Niemeier said. “It helps with the team, the crowd and the atmosphere at Spratt Stadi-um, and we want to be able to bring it back every year to keep it going.”

The fraternity has received a lot of support from alumni and students of Western from Twitter and Facebook, com-mending them for restoring a huge part of history here on campus.

“It adds a lot of excitement to the football games,” Clark said. “I was disappointed in the years that the cannon dis-appeared, and now I’m just delighted to have it on the field again.”

FOOTBALL FOOTBALLThe Griffon NewsThe Griffon NewsPage 7Page 6

• SecondTeamselection

The season ended with a 17-10 loss in the Super Region 3 final at Minnesota State-Mankato, but the 2012 Griffon football team will be remem-bered for its unprecedented success.

“We did things that no other Western team has done and nobody can take that away from us,” senior safety Shane Simpson said. “We had fun and created a lot of good memories.”

Western finished at 12-2, the highest win total in school history. The Griffons made a run in the playoffs for the first time after defeating Minneso-ta-Duluth 57-55 in triple over-time at Spratt Stadium in the first round. The team trav-eled to Arkadelphia, Ark., and dominated the second round with a 45-21 victory over No. 6 Henderson State.

The Griffons went 9-1 in the extremely competitive MIAA, including a 21-20 comeback victory over rival Northwest Missouri State in the cham-pionship game in Maryville. Western gained sole posses-sion of the MIAA champion-ship for the first time.

Western looked to expose defenses on the ground with a potent rushing attack. Senior running back Michael Hill led the way, rushing for 2,168 yards and 16 touchdowns. Hill ranked No. 2 in the nation in rushing yards per game with 154. Quarterback Tra-vis Partridge rushed for 451 yards and a school record 18 touchdowns on the ground. Raphael Spencer spelled Hill and added 608 yards and five touchdowns.

“Western in my mind will always be home, this is the place and only place that showed interest in my abili-ties and has helped me grow as a player and a person,” Hill said. “Knowing that I have ac-complished a lot while here is an awesome feeling. I’ve worked my tail off, although I couldn’t have gotten all of the awards or accomplishments with out my teammates, it shows hard work pays off.”

Partridge showed vast im-

provement as a passer in his second season as the start-ing quarterback. He threw for 2,706 yards and connect-ed with his receivers for 30 touchdowns, while throwing 12 interceptions. He set a new career-high for passing in the playoff game against Minne-sota-Duluth with 319 yards.

The Griffons featured a deep core of receivers. Kyle Knox led the team in receiving with 602 yards and added 2 touch-downs while Tarrell Downing added 508 yards and 3 touch-downs. Ty’ron Crockom used his speed and elusiveness to gain 465 yards and scored seven touchdowns, often the result of a screen pass or re-verse. Tight end Reggie Jor-dan proved to be a valuable red zone weapon, scoring 11 touchdowns on the season while gaining 233 yards.

The defensive front proved to be a big strength for the Griffons. Senior defensive ends David Bass and Ben Pi-ster caused mayhem for op-posing offenses all season. Bass led the team in sacks with 11.5 and set the all-time career sack record with 36 while Pi-ster sacked the quarterback eight times with a record 22.5 tackles for loss. Austin Baska added 11.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.

Freshman Michael Jordan starred at cornerback with four interceptions while Simpson, Bass, Ben Jackson and Stephen Juergens came away with two each. Juergens led the team with 95 tackles including 44 solo.

The Griffons only allowed teams to gain 383 yards per game while the offense pow-ered its way to 458 yards per

game.Kicker Taylor Anderson

made a record 80-straight ex-tra point attempts.

After a 6-0 start, Western lost to Missouri Southern 31-30 on homecoming and re-sponded to the adversity in a major way. Western traveled to Pittsburg, Kan., and hand-ed the defending champions their worst home loss in his-tory, a 63-14 blowout. West-ern continued to dominate ranked opponents for the next two weeks to secure their spot in the playoffs, beating No. 15 Emporia State 57-28 and No. 25 Washburn 56-28.

Western has some big shoes to fill on both sides of the ball next season after graduating 22 seniors.

• HarlonHillTrophyfinalist(DivisionIICollegeFootballPlayeroftheYear)

• OffensivePlayeroftheYear• FirstTeamselection

PARTRIDGEHILL BASS• GeneUpshawAwardfinalist(DivisionIILinemanoftheYear)

• FirstTeamselection

SCHULTE• FirstTeamselection

• SecondTeamselection

ALLAN PISTER• SecondTeamselection

Albert Shelby | Features [email protected]

Coltin Ridenour shoots of the historical cannon before a Griffon touchdown. Ridenour said the cannon is so loud, one time the its blast sounded off a car alarm. Evan Roberts | Photo Editor

Phi Sigma Kappa restores football cannon tradition

Christian Mengel | Asst. Sports [email protected]

Kyle Inman | Sports [email protected]

Griffons wait to take the field in anticipation of the contest ahead against Washburn on senior night. The Griffons defeated the Ichabods 56-28. Jason Brown | Photo Contributor

Settingthebarhigh

The team celebrates a Michael Hill touchdown in their playoff victory versus Minnesota State-Mankato.

Tevin Harris | Asst. Photo Editor

MICHAELHILL

Double deuce sets his sights on the NFL

Western racks up school record twelve wins, MIAA title Western senior running back Michael Hill is one of eight finalists for the highest honor in Division II football, the Harlon Hill Trophy, and has earned a chance to im-press the pros this upcoming semester.

The Harlon Hill Trophy is given to the best player in D-II. Many consider it to be the Heisman Trophy of this level. Hill’s historic season at Western has been enough to catch the attention of other schools and coaches of all levels around the country. He continued to produce game changing stats week after week all season, earning him-self the honor of being men-tioned as one of the top ath-letes.

“Being a finalist means a lot to me just because all of the work that I have put in is pre-senting itself,” Hill said. “Not only that, but I am represent-ing the entire football team

because they are a part of this as well.”

The Harlon Hill Trophy was first awarded in 1986 and has been an an-nual award ever since. Although there have only been three award recipients who have been drafted, there have been winners of the honor who has been signed as a free agent in the NFL -- such as the two-time winner of the award Danny Woodhead out of Chadron State, who currently plays for the New England Patri-ots.

That will be one possi-bility for Hill as he moves forward. The NFL is al-ways looking to find tal-ent wherever it can get it. With a team as talented as Western, NFL scouts have been eying what players Western has who could possibly make an impact at the next level.

“Teams have been around practice to check David Bass

out and that helps me having a high caliber guy like that around to help me get my foot

in the

door,” Hill said.Hill will take part in a pro

day sometime this March. He will be dedicating a lot of his

time training this winter to make sure his im-pression this spring

will be as good as he can make it.

“These next few months will be a piece of the process to deter-

mine if I will get a shot or not in my opinion,” Hill said.

Hill represents Super Re-gion 3 for the Harlon Hill Trophy, alongside the sopho-more quarterback Kevin Rod-gers out of Henderson State, whom Western beat out of the playoffs. Super Region 1 is represented by junior run-ning back Franklyn Quiteh of Bloomsburg University and junior quarterback Zach Zulli out of Shippensburg University. Representing Su-per Region 2 is the lone wide receiver of the group, Chris Bowden from Wingate Uni-versity and senior running back Derrick Washington out of Tuskegee University. Super

Region 4 is being represent-ed by senior quarterback Taylor Housewright out of Ashland University and junior quarterback Dustin Vaughan from West Texas A&M. The list of the remaining can-

didates is according to the official listing of the Harlon

Hill Trophy finalists on Har-lonHillTrophy.com.

Hill racked up 2,168 rush-ing yards, 16 rushing touch-downs, 202 receiving yards and three receiving touch-downs in 14 games this sea-son. Hill has made his mark at Western with 4,969 total rushing yards, 35 rushing touchdowns, 882 receiving yards and nine total receiving touchdowns in 50 games here at Western.

Time will tell if Hill gets a chance to represent the St. Jo-seph community in the pros.

Jason Brown | Photo ContributorAndy Inman | Design Artist*GISC photo courtesy of

premiercoachingllc.com

Date post:	24-Mar-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	katelyn-canon
View:	226 times
Download:	3 times

The Griffon News (Issue 35)

Documents