Katy Schmader / The Paisano Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio Volume 47 Issue 25 November 13, 2012 Poet laureate to visit UTSA: Page 5 ‘Runners snap losing streak: Page 7 Lorilee Merchant Intern [email protected]President Obama and Governor Rick Perry joined the ongoing debate about healthcare for economically disadvantaged women in Texas. e Obama administration is threatening to halt federal funding to the Texas Women’s Health Program (WHP) in response to Governor Perry’s decision to cut funding for Planned Parent- hood. Governor Perry, however, assured women in Texas, “I will not stand by and let this administration abandon these Texas women to advance its po- litical agenda; Texas will fund these services with or without the federal government,” according to the Gov- ernor Perry’s website. “e Women’s Health Program has been in effect since 2007 and provides preventative health care, including breast and cervical cancer screenings to more than 100,000 low-income Texas women,” according to a govern- ment press release on Oct. 31. Since the launch of the program on Jan. 1, 2007, WHP has received 90 percent of funds from Medicaid. “From the beginning, elective abor- tions, affiliates of abortion providers and advocating abortion as a means of birth control have been banned from the program. Federal funding also excludes elective abortions,” said editorial director Mike Norman of Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Until reauthorization last year, Tex- as had not put a ban on abortion af- filiates. Rules were drafted by the De- partment of State Health Services to enforce the ban. “Federal officials said banning pro- viders based on services they or their affiliates offer is against Medicaid guidelines. ey said the new Texas rules meant Medicaid funds would be withdrawn from the Women’s Health Program, beginning as soon as Nov. 1,” Norman said. Governor Perry and State Health Commissioner Kyle Janek “have put in place plenty of providers for the new state-financed program, enough to take over Planned Parenthood’s pa- tient load,” according to Norman. Deputy Press Secretary Lucy Nashed said, “e Texas Health and Human Services Commission has al- ready identified state funding for the state-run program and has signed up 3,000 qualified providers. e WHP will not be cut—the state has already announced that it is ready to imple- ment its own state-funded program that will provide the same services as the current program within the pa- rameters of our state law—i.e. without contracting with abortion providers or their affiliates. In the meantime, we’re still fighting to keep the federal dollars while operating the program under our state law.” “[Planned Parenthood] filed a law- suit against the Texas Women’s Health Program because one of the state pro- gram rules prevents clinics associated with Planned Parenthood from receiv- ing funding if they perform abortions. Planned Parenthood argued that the rule violates state law,” Charles Po- ladian of International Business Times said. Poladian continued, “Although Planned Parenthood does provide abortions, its clinics affiliated with the Texas Women’s Health Program do not perform abortions, but they are nonetheless being punished because they are affiliated with an abortion provider.” Planned Parenthood filed in state court, hoping to argue that the rule violates Texas state law. “e argu- ment goes that state law bars any rule that causes a loss in federal funding for the Texas Women’s Health Program,” Corey Franco Paseo Assistant [email protected]On Nov. 9, three days af- ter the nation elected Barack Obama for his second term in office, the Supreme Court announced that it will review Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires certain state and local governments to seek federal approval before making any changes to their voting laws. e 1965 ruling was set in place to protect minority vot- ers from discrimination at the polls in states and select coun- ties that have a history of racial discrimination. e review was prompted by a challenge from Shelby County, Ala., filed two years ago. e court’s decision to ac- cept this challenge creates the second major case this term involving race. Last month, the justices also heard a challenge to the University of Texas ad- missions policy that could re- define or eliminate the use of affirmative action in higher- education admissions, accord- ing to the Wall Street Journal. ese recent actions by the Supreme Court have sparked an ensuing commentary on the present state of race rela- tions in America. Debo Adegbile, acting presi- dent and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund stated, “is is a term in which many core pillars of civil rights and pathways to opportunity hang in the balance,” according to the Washington Post. According to the Exam- iner, “e pre-clearance pro- vision…has been used 2,400 times since 1982 to prevent state and local rule changes from going into effect. e Su- preme Court saw no reason to intervene in any of those 2,400 times.” In this past election, the pre-approval legislation has intervened in several cases in Texas, Florida and South Carolina. In Texas and South Carolina, the courts prevented the laws from going forward, citing that doing so would put an undue burden on the rights of many citizens to vote.” Redistricting is the redraw- ing of congressional district lines following a census and Texas falls under the preclear- ance provisions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Election Day exit polls showed a record voter turn- out of minority groups. “Exit polls across the country in- dicated that Obama won the votes of more than 70 percent of Hispanics and more than 90 percent of blacks. In Ala- bama, however, the exit polls showed Obama won about only 15 percent of the state’s white voters. In neighboring Mississippi, the numbers were even smaller, at 10 percent, the surveys found,” reported the Washington Post. e plaintiffs argue that laws like the Voting Rights Act are outdated. According to the Washington Post, Edward Blum, director of Project on Fair Representation, said, “the America that elected and re- elected Barack Obama as its first African-American presi- dent is far different than when the Voting Rights Act was first enacted in 1965.” e Project on Fair Representation funds the challenges to the Voting Rights Act and affirmative ac- tion. “Congress unwisely reau- thorized a bill that is stuck in a Jim Crow-era time warp. It is unconstitutional,” Blum stated. However, the precedent ar- gued that the current legisla- tion is a necessity based on the area’s historical evidence of discrimination. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Supreme Court arguments in both the Af- firmative Action and Voting Rights Act cases are likely to be heard early next year. Deci- sions are expected by the end of June. Jennifer Alejos Intern [email protected]On Nov. 6, San Antonio voters passed the Pre-K 4 SA initiative. e new plan promises to put tax dollars to work for young students. Pre-K 4 SA is a program that passed during this year’s election with 54 per- cent of the vote. In its eight-year span, the program plans to aid 22,400 chil- dren who are attending pre-kinder- garten for the first time while improv- ing the current education system for schools throughout the city. Annually, the program will benefit 3,700 children, according to the initiative information guide. Eligibility requirements include: “at or below 185 percent of federal pov- erty level; English as a second language; child of active duty member of U.S. Armed Forces; child of injured or de- ceased member of U.S. Armed Forces; homeless; currently or previously in foster care,” according to the city of San Antonio website. As part of the plan, Pre-K 4 SA will administer training programs for teach- ers in grades pre-k through third grade. e goal of the initiative is to boost lit- eracy rates throughout the city, accord- ing to the city of San Antonio’s website. Parental involvement is a crucial component. Parents will be asked to participate in parent leadership and ed- ucation classes. e purpose is to have the parent engaged in the program to ensure that their child is gaining a bal- anced education and is receiving help outside of the classroom, according to the plan’s website. Rebecca Flores, the City of San An- tonio’s education coordinator, said that the estimated sales tax rate per person will be $7.81 per year, which adds up to $31 million per year in taxes. e ini- tiative also plans to use additional state and federal funds to aid the program. “e next step is creating a board of di- rectors and getting leasing agreements to get it rolling,” Flores said. e initiative plans to create four new facilities in different parts of the city to reach a wide demographic. City officials project to open facilities in the northwest and southeast areas of San Antonio next August. According to the Pre-K 4 SA infor- mation guide, the initiative is an eight- year program, with the first three years consisting of a build-up in student en- rollment. e next five years will be tar- geted toward full enrollment and pro- gram implementation. On the night of the election, Mayor Julian Castro who spearheaded the Pre- K 4 SA initiative, said, “I want to thank everyone for their support for Pre-K 4 SA, which is a great investment for the children of San Antonio. I think San Antonians made the right decision to- Planned Parenthood caught in political limbo SA voters invest in education Voting Rights Act goes to Supreme Court See PLANNED, Page 2 See PRE-K 4 SA, Page 2 “Congress unwisely reautho- rized a bill that is stuck in a Jim Crow-era time warp. It is unconsti- tutional.” Edward Blum Director of Project on Fair Representation “San Antonians made the right deci- sion tonight, ” Julian Castro Mayor of San Antonio
Transcript
Katy
Sch
mad
er /
The
Pai
sano
Independent Student Ne wspaper for the University of Te xas at San Antonio
President Obama and Governor Rick Perry joined the ongoing debate about healthcare for economically disadvantaged women in Texas. The Obama administration is threatening to halt federal funding to the Texas Women’s Health Program (WHP) in response to Governor Perry’s decision to cut funding for Planned Parent-hood.
Governor Perry, however, assured women in Texas, “I will not stand by and let this administration abandon these Texas women to advance its po-litical agenda; Texas will fund these services with or without the federal
government,” according to the Gov-ernor Perry’s website.“The Women’s Health Program has
been in effect since 2007 and provides preventative health care, including breast and cervical cancer screenings to more than 100,000 low-income Texas women,” according to a govern-ment press release on Oct. 31.
Since the launch of the program on Jan. 1, 2007, WHP has received 90 percent of funds from Medicaid. “From the beginning, elective abor-tions, affiliates of abortion providers and advocating abortion as a means of birth control have been banned from the program. Federal funding
also excludes elective abortions,” said editorial director Mike Norman of Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.
Until reauthorization last year, Tex-as had not put a ban on abortion af-filiates. Rules were drafted by the De-partment of State Health Services to enforce the ban.
“Federal officials said banning pro-viders based on services they or their affiliates offer is against Medicaid guidelines. They said the new Texas rules meant Medicaid funds would be
withdrawn from the Women’s Health Program, beginning as soon as Nov. 1,” Norman said.
Governor Perry and State Health Commissioner Kyle Janek “have put in place plenty of providers for the new state-financed program, enough to take over Planned Parenthood’s pa-tient load,” according to Norman.
Deputy Press Secretary Lucy Nashed said, “The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has al-ready identified state funding for the state-run program and has signed up 3,000 qualified providers. The WHP will not be cut—the state has already announced that it is ready to imple-ment its own state-funded program that will provide the same services as the current program within the pa-rameters of our state law—i.e. without contracting with abortion providers or their affiliates. In the meantime, we’re still fighting to keep the federal dollars while operating the program under our state law.”
“[Planned Parenthood] filed a law-suit against the Texas Women’s Health Program because one of the state pro-gram rules prevents clinics associated with Planned Parenthood from receiv-ing funding if they perform abortions. Planned Parenthood argued that the rule violates state law,” Charles Po-ladian of International Business Times said.
Poladian continued, “Although Planned Parenthood does provide abortions, its clinics affiliated with the Texas Women’s Health Program do not perform abortions, but they are nonetheless being punished because they are affiliated with an abortion provider.”
Planned Parenthood filed in state court, hoping to argue that the rule violates Texas state law. “The argu-ment goes that state law bars any rule that causes a loss in federal funding for the Texas Women’s Health Program,”
On Nov. 9, three days af-ter the nation elected Barack Obama for his second term in office, the Supreme Court announced that it will review Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires certain state and local governments to seek federal approval before making any changes to their voting laws.
The 1965 ruling was set in place to protect minority vot-ers from discrimination at the polls in states and select coun-ties that have a history of racial discrimination.
The review was prompted by a challenge from Shelby County, Ala., filed two years ago.
The court’s decision to ac-cept this challenge creates the second major case this term involving race. Last month, the justices also heard a challenge to the University of Texas ad-missions policy that could re-define or eliminate the use of affirmative action in higher-education admissions, accord-
ing to the Wall Street Journal. These recent actions by the Supreme Court have sparked an ensuing commentary on the present state of race rela-tions in America.
Debo Adegbile, acting presi-dent and director-counsel of
the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund stated, “This is a term in which many core pillars of civil rights and pathways to opportunity hang in the balance,” according to the Washington Post.
According to the Exam-iner, “The pre-clearance pro-vision…has been used 2,400
times since 1982 to prevent state and local rule changes from going into effect. The Su-preme Court saw no reason to intervene in any of those 2,400 times.”
In this past election, the pre-approval legislation has
intervened in several cases in Texas, Florida and South Carolina. In Texas and South Carolina, the courts prevented the laws from going forward, citing that doing so would put an undue burden on the rights of many citizens to vote.”
Redistricting is the redraw-ing of congressional district
lines following a census and Texas falls under the preclear-ance provisions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Election Day exit polls showed a record voter turn-out of minority groups. “Exit polls across the country in-
dicated that Obama won the votes of more than 70 percent of Hispanics and more than 90 percent of blacks. In Ala-bama, however, the exit polls showed Obama won about only 15 percent of the state’s white voters. In neighboring Mississippi, the numbers were even smaller, at 10 percent, the
surveys found,” reported the Washington Post.
The plaintiffs argue that laws like the Voting Rights Act are outdated. According to the Washington Post, Edward Blum, director of Project on Fair Representation, said, “the America that elected and re-elected Barack Obama as its first African-American presi-dent is far different than when the Voting Rights Act was first enacted in 1965.” The Project on Fair Representation funds the challenges to the Voting Rights Act and affirmative ac-tion.
“Congress unwisely reau-thorized a bill that is stuck in a Jim Crow-era time warp. It is unconstitutional,” Blum stated.
However, the precedent ar-gued that the current legisla-tion is a necessity based on the area’s historical evidence of discrimination.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Supreme Court arguments in both the Af-firmative Action and Voting Rights Act cases are likely to be heard early next year. Deci-sions are expected by the end of June.
On Nov. 6, San Antonio voters passed the Pre-K 4 SA initiative. The new plan promises to put tax dollars to work for young students.
Pre-K 4 SA is a program that passed during this year’s election with 54 per-cent of the vote. In its eight-year span, the program plans to aid 22,400 chil-dren who are attending pre-kinder-garten for the first time while improv-ing the current education system for schools throughout the city. Annually, the program will benefit 3,700 children, according to the initiative information guide.
Eligibility requirements include: “at or below 185 percent of federal pov-erty level; English as a second language; child of active duty member of U.S. Armed Forces; child of injured or de-ceased member of U.S. Armed Forces; homeless; currently or previously in foster care,” according to the city of San Antonio website.
As part of the plan, Pre-K 4 SA will
administer training programs for teach-ers in grades pre-k through third grade. The goal of the initiative is to boost lit-eracy rates throughout the city, accord-ing to the city of San Antonio’s website.
Parental involvement is a crucial component. Parents will be asked to participate in parent leadership and ed-ucation classes. The purpose is to have the parent engaged in the program to ensure that their child is gaining a bal-anced education and is receiving help outside of the classroom, according to the plan’s website.
Rebecca Flores, the City of San An-tonio’s education coordinator, said that the estimated sales tax rate per person will be $7.81 per year, which adds up to $31 million per year in taxes. The ini-tiative also plans to use additional state and federal funds to aid the program. “The next step is creating a board of di-rectors and getting leasing agreements to get it rolling,” Flores said.
The initiative plans to create four new facilities in different parts of the city to reach a wide demographic. City officials project to open facilities in the northwest and southeast areas of San Antonio next August.
According to the Pre-K 4 SA infor-mation guide, the initiative is an eight-year program, with the first three years consisting of a build-up in student en-rollment. The next five years will be tar-geted toward full enrollment and pro-gram implementation.
On the night of the election, Mayor Julian Castro who spearheaded the Pre-K 4 SA initiative, said, “I want to thank everyone for their support for Pre-K 4 SA, which is a great investment for the children of San Antonio. I think San Antonians made the right decision to-
Planned Parenthood caught in political limbo SA voters invest in education
Voting Rights Act goes to Supreme Court
See PLANNED, Page 2
See PRE-K 4 SA, Page 2
“Congress unwisely reautho-rized a bill that is stuck in a Jim Crow-era time warp. It is unconsti-tutional.”Edward BlumDirector of Project on Fair Representation
“San Antonians made the right deci-sion tonight,”Julian CastroMayor of San Antonio
November 13, 2012The Paisano2 News
Poladian said. According to the federal government, “the rule that prevents funding of the clinics violates a wom-an’s right to choose her own doctor.”
Planned Parenthood argued, “Be-cause the state had initially tied the program to federal funding, the rule that caused the loss of federal funding is illegal and should therefore be elimi-nated.”
According to a press release by Gov-ernor Perry, Planned Parenthood ini-tially filed the lawsuit with the federal court, “but after the Fifth Circuit held that the organization’s claims have no merit, Planned Parenthood has de-cided to abandon the case and focus on a technical issue in a Travis County Court.”
Mara Posada, director of community relations for Planned Parenthood Trust of South Texas, said, “what the state is
trying to do does not adhere to the 2011 Legislature, which passed the program with federal funding. Anything to take away from that cannot be passed. The legislature has no obligation to get rid of the [Women’s Health Program] if Planned Parenthood stays in.”
In a press release, Governor Perry said, “If there was ever any doubt that Planned Parenthood is more concerned about its own interests than those of Texas women, there is no longer. Having lost its constitutional claims, Planned Parenthood has now turned to Travis County judges in a desperate effort to find some way to keep making money off Texas taxpayers.”
Regarding abortions by Planned Par-enthood, Posada claimed, “None of the women covered by the program par-ticipate in abortion services. We only provide preventive services. This may be something people don’t realize.”
Retiring Texas Senator Kay Bailey
Hutchinson expressed her opinion concerning healthcare availability to low-income Texas women in an inter-view with MSNBC. Hutchinson said, “I do think that the governor needs to sit down with the federal government and work it out so that we can have our share, our fair share, not more...money for Medicaid to help low-income wom-en have their healthcare services.”
“I think Planned Parenthood does mammograms, they do so much of the healthcare, the preventative health-care, and if they’re doing that, we need to provide those services, absolutely. We cannot afford to lose the Medic-aid funding for low-income women,” Hutchinson said.
UTSA alumna Brandy Barksdale shared Senator Hutchinson’s opinion about Planned Parenthood’s healthcare services. “I don’t believe funding should be stripped because everyone is entitled to a chance at protecting or preparing themselves for parenthood,” Barksdale
said, “and funding is needed for those purposes; however, it is unfortunate when people abuse that privilege.”
Governor Perry continues to fight for the rights and services of Texas wom-en, hoping to keep abortion out of the picture. “In Texas, we’ve chosen to pro-tect innocent life. We will keep fighting for life, and we will ultimately prevail,” Governor Perry said.
“Planned Parenthood has won a tem-porary injunction as of Thursday, Nov. 8, in Austin court,” according to Peggy Fikac of the San Antonio Express-News. This injunction stemmed from the “previous temporary restraining or-der Planned Parenthood sought in state court to allow its participation,” Fikac said.
On Oct. 26, Judge Amy Clark Mea-chum in Austin issued a restraining or-der against Texas officials “from elimi-nating public funds for the 49 Planned Parenthood clinics in the state that don’t provide abortions,” according to
Kelley Shannon of Businessweek. “That means tens of thousands of
women will continue receiving contra-ceptives and health screenings from the organization’s clinics,” Fikac said.
Thursday’s injunction “is great news for the 5,000 women who come to Planned Parenthood in San Antonio with little or no money but desperately needing family planning,” said Jeffrey Hones, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Trust of South Texas.
Despite this injunction, Governor Perry continues to seek other avenues of services without the Planned Par-enthood program. According to Fikac, “The state is also suing in federal court to try to hold on to federal funding for the program while excluding Planned Parenthood.”
The Fifth Circuit in Austin will hear a case for a permanent injunction in De-cember.
night.”Jolene Melendez, a mother and student
at UTSA, said that she is impressed by the progress her daughter has shown since at-tending pre-k classes. “I think it is really beneficial. I see lots of students go each day and I get to see it first-hand everyday when she comes home. She’s really learn-ing and I think it’s great to have for our city,” Melendez said.
“I feel at the rate that we’re going, that if we don’t support bills like this, then there would be a decline in education for kids and for our community. I think it’s impor-tant to start at a young age like this,” said Melendez. “I work at a day-care center and I think some people are afraid that it will cut their jobs and that’s ridiculous. People are forgetting what’s important here and it’s about the kids,” Melendez said.
The one-eighth of a cent sales tax will go into effect in April. If voters are satisfied with the progress of Pre-K 4 SA, they can vote to continue the program in 2020.
From Page 1
Planned: Obama, Perry fight over Women’s Health ProgramFrom Page 1
Pre-K 4 SA aims to boost literacy rates of underprivileged
Juaquin Castro was one of the strongest supporters of Pre-K 4 SA, advocating the eductation of San Antonio children
On Nov. 6, 2012, eager voters lined up across the nation to cast their ballot for positions ranging from President of the United States to County Judge.
Since the end of the Republican pri-mary election, Massachusetts Gover-nor Mitt Romney campaigned against the incumbent, President Barack Obama. Romney did, indeed, run a close race with the president. Accord-ing to the Gallup polls survey of likely voters, in the final week preceding the election, Romney was ahead of the
president by one percent. In the end, however, President
Barack Obama won the presidential election with 332 electoral votes versus Romney’s 206 electoral votes. In Texas, a historically Republican state, the pop-ular vote was cast for Romney. In Bexar county, the popular vote favored the president, with 52 percent of the vote as opposed to Romney’s 47 percent.
In the United States Senate race, the Democrats retained seats as the ma-jority party with 55 Senate seats, as opposed to the 45 Republican seats. In the race for retiring Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s seat in the US Sen-ate, Tea Party favorite Republican Ted
Cruz defeated Democrat Paul Sadler, 57 percent to 41 percent. A Democrat has not held a statewide office in Texas since 1994.
In total, 23 Democrat and 10 Repub-lican seats were up for grabs during these Senate elections. The Republi-cans picked up Nebraska and the Dem-ocrats gained Indiana and Massachu-setts.
In local U.S. Congressional Dis-tricts, there were 36 seats in the House of Representatives up for election in Texas. The 20th, 21st and 23rd Con-gressional Districts encompass most of the San Antonio area. In District 20, Democrat Joaquin Castro won the race
against Republican David Rosa with 64 percent of the vote. In District 21, the Republican incumbent Lamar Smith won re-election with 61 percent of the vote against Democrat candidate Can-dace Duval. In District 23, Democrat Pete Gallego won against Republican incumbent Francisco “Quico” Canseco with 50 percent of the vote.
San Antonio residents also passed the Pre-K 4 SA initiative, largely sup-ported by Mayor Julian Castro and his brother, Representative-elect Joaquin Castro. The initiative aims to educate 22,400 under-privileged four-year-olds.
President Obama will have little time
to enjoy his victory before he goes back to work to address the call for an ex-tension of the tax cuts for middle class families and a tax increase on those who earn over $250,000 a year. The predominantly Democratic Senate has already pre-approved the tax initiative and anticipates a response from the Republican-run House of Representa-tives. With President Obama back in office and the Democrats remaining in control of the U.S. Senate, many Amer-icans are wondering if bipartisan com-promise in Congress can be reached in the next four years.
Obama, Cruz, Castro, Smith, Gallego win in election
Since its meteoric rise in popularity, hookah has come under fire by various organizations, such as the American Lung Association and the Mayo Clin-ic, who warn of the associated health risks. Issues have arisen from unsub-stantiated claims, with opponents claiming faulty testing methodology like the fact that many of these organi-zations do not release the details of the studies they conduct.
In 2006, Dr. Thomas Eissenberg, a professor who is part of the Insti-tute for Drug and Alcohol Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, compared hookah smoke to cigarette smoke. A widely circulated fact, which can be found on the Mayo Clinic site, is that smoking a bowl of hookah is equivalent to smoking hundreds of cigarettes. Eissenberg explains the details: “Hookah use can involve some 100 puffs of 500 ml of smoke each, or 50,000 ml of smoke (or 50 liters). A cig-arette use episode can involve some 10 puffs of 50 ml each, or 500 ml (0.5 liters).”
This means a person will inhale hun-dreds of times more smoke in a hookah session over a cigarette, but composi-tion of the smoke is important. Eis-senberg explained that an entire bowl of hookah contains almost twice the amount of nicotine than a single ciga-rette, and about 36 times the tar and 8 times the carbon monoxide (CO). In addition, the Utah Department of Health TRUTH Campaign, a tobac-co prevention and control initiative, claims that cooling the smoke makes hookah more dangerous because it en-courages people to inhale more deeply
and smoke more.However hookah is a social activity
shared by several people once or twice a week, whereas cigarette smokers in-dependently smoke several cigarettes each day. Casual smokers are taking in more harmful substances and much more nicotine than occasional hookah smokers.
“I can tell the difference when I smoke hookah, and when I smoke cigarettes,” says freshman economics major Roberto Armautovic, “and hoo-kah smoke is lighter.”
Is hookah addictive? Eissenberg ex-plains that there is enough nicotine to cause physical dependency. “The data suggest that some hookah smokers show the hallmarks of dependence.” He also talks about the psychological component. He assumes that the so-cial element of it likely increases addic-tion, but he gives no data to support that. Armautovic says that smoking hookah will not curb his craving for a cigarette and he sometimes smokes the two at the same time.
Khan M. Sajid published research results in the Harm Reduction Journal concerning the carcinoembryonic an-tigen (CEA) levels of hookah versus cig-arette smoke. CEA levels are a marker for cancer and high levels of CEA “may therefore indicate the presence of can-cer,” Sajid says. The results of his study found that “the overall CEA levels in exclusive hookah smokers... were not significantly different... from the levels in non-smokers.”
Sajid goes on to say that even me-dium cigarette smokers do not show high levels, but that levels are signifi-cantly higher in heavy cigarette smok-ers. “However, heavy hookah smoking substantially raises CEA levels,” he says.
The problem with hookah stud-ies is the abundance of factors, and
researches tend not to publish their methodologies. Some hookah stud-ies, such as a recent one showing the complications hookah smoking can cause with pregnancy, are based on subjects who are heavy hookah smok-ers—more than one session per day by themselves, which is more common in the Middle East than America. Other studies are believed to be based on this level of heavy smoking as well.
In addition, hookah is a complicated apparatus. The kind of coals and shisha that are used and how hot the shi-sha gets, as well as what materials the hookah itself is made of, can affect test results. A study may say that hookah pro-duces very high levels of CO, but if the tobacco is overly heated the results are artifi-cially high.
Many organi-zations opposing hookah claim that people think hookah is not harmful. “Every-one knows it’s bad,” says fresh-man business major Patrick Carter, “but it’s a social thing, and nobody cares to do anything about it.”
Armautovic , who regularly smokes hookah, said that if he
knew hookah was worse than ciga-rettes, like some claim, he might con-sider moving his social interaction out of the hookah lounge.
Anyone under the impression that hookah smoking does not carry with it health risks, can be assured that it does. Yet, like any other substance, the body is much better equipped to handle it in smaller amounts. It is im-portant to know the potential risks, but ultimately it is the choice of the individual.
Health implications of hookah
UTSA has a health clinic at the downtown campus open from 8:00am-4:30pm, the main campus open from 8:00 am-5:30pm and also offers a women’s resource center.
The last few months of the year bring chilly weather, hot chocolate, scarves and, unfortunately, an assort-ment of sicknesses.
According to William Schaffner, M.D., chairman of the Department of Preventative Research at Vander-bilt University, there are “lots of hy-potheses, not one perfect answer,” as to why the winter season sees an in-crease in illness. One of the culprits could be close confinement as cold weather brings people indoors or the lack of humidity that dries nasal pas-sages, making them more susceptible to infection.
College students can often be par-ticularly susceptible to falling ill due to less than optimal sleeping and eat-ing habits. In some cases, if it gets bad enough, it may be necessary to see a
doctor for prescription medication. However, taking the appropriate pre-ventative measures with simple tech-niques can save time and money.
When most people think of winter illness, they think of the flu, and for good reason. According to the Cen-ters for Disease Control, as many as 20 percent of the adult population con-tract the flu annually. The flu can have a range of symptoms including fever, coughing, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, fatigue, body aches and nau-sea. Severity varies, but for the most part the flu can be easily remedied at home. Warm showers, decongestants, increasing one’s intake of liquids and plenty of sleep can ease symptoms and speed up recovery.
Another potentially severe ailment is Streptococcal Pharyngitis or strep throat. Strep throat symptoms gen-erally consist of sudden severe sore throat without coughing, sneezing or other cold symptoms. Other symp-
toms include pain or difficulty swal-lowing and swollen lymph nodes on the neck. However, presence of these symptoms does not necessarily in-dicate a strep throat diagnosis and is often confused with the common cold. Several other winter sicknesses include certain allergies and sinus headaches, all of which display similar symptoms. Before stopping at the lo-cal physician’s office, try adding euca-lyptus or peppermint to tea, consum-ing foods rich in zinc, such as pork, nuts and milk, as well as getting plenty of sleep.
The best way to stay healthy and combat feeling under the weather is to stay hydrated, wash hands often and do not share personal items (such as water bottles lip balm and utensils) and get proper rest. For more infor-mation concerning winter illness, visit the university health center or go to
He still remembers his first flu shot. The nurses pinned down his limbs so he would not knock the needle from the doctor’s hands.
“It’s going to be ok,” the doctor said, trying to comfort the boy. But it would never be ok. “I’m still afraid of needles,” confesses senior English major Nicho-las Martin.
While some students fear the injec-tion, others feel invincible to the flu. Senior mechanical engineer Ramon Medina has never had the flu shot and does not plan to start now. “I have nev-er had the flu before, so I don’t want to jeopardize my streak,” he jokes.
On a serious note, one of the most common reasons that people do not get the flu vaccine is because they have never had the flu. Alonzo Guzman, M.D. staff physician for UTSA’s health services, warns that “it only takes one time to get the flu-and you’ll never for-get it.” In extreme cases, people expe-rience cephalitis, pneumonia, both re-spiratory and multi-organ failure and death.
“Unfortunately,” Guzman says, “peo-ple don’t realize that worldwide, there are at least 250,000 influenza-related deaths.” In order to protect yourself against the flu, Guzman recommends to get the yearly flu shot.
Why every year? Guzman explains that the flu is a virus; therefore, it changes slightly every year. The virus goes into “survival mode” to bypass immune system defenses and environ-mental conditions. The vaccine from last year may not help this year.
Guzman uses an analogy to explain the mutation. “If you change your coat, you change your appearance. And I may not recognize you. The same ap-plies to our bodies. If the virus mu-tates, our bodies won’t recognize it (and our bodies will have a hard time fighting the flu with the previous year’s vaccine).”
So how do scientists create the new vaccine? After research, scientists identify three antigens from three for-mer strains of the flu. The following strains are found in the 2012 flu vac-cine: A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like
virus, A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2) -like virus, and B/Wisconsin/1/2010-like virus.
Although the injection introduces the body to the virus, Guzman reas-sures that one cannot develop the flu from the injection.
“The vaccine contains killed viruses, there are no live viruses,” Guzman says. Therefore, with no live virus in the body, the flu cannot develop. If any-one contracts the flu shortly after the injection, Guzman suggests that they may have contracted the illness from someone else.
Flu-like symptoms, however, may occur after the shot. A headache, body ache, fever or cough are just a few of the side effects from the injection. “Other vaccines also produce similar side effects.” Guzman argues
Could death also be a side effect? “It’s rare,” Guzman begins, “but the only deaths usually result from people who are allergic to chicken eggs.” He explained that chicken eggs are also used to make the flu vaccine. Guzman has been giving the shot for years and assures that mild side effects are the
most common response to the flu.In order to prepare for the flu, Guz-
man cautions college students to mini-mize partying, alcohol and tobacco intake and stress. “(Those activities) weaken the immune system,” Guzman warns. He recommends a healthful diet and the yearly flu shot to strength-en the immune system.
UTSA Student Health Services has flu vaccinations available at the main campus and downtown campus by ap-pointment Mon.-Fri. from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. The cost is $10 for students and $15 for staff. Walgreens and medical clinics also offer flu shots during this season.
Flu shot: keeping students healthy
Check out this week’s web exclusives:
Health care post-election by Alex Camacho
Mental illness in college students by Corey Franco
“It only takes one time to get the flu, and you’ll never forget it.”Alonzo GuzmanStaff physician UTSA health services
Staff: Daniel Crotty, Victor Hernandez, Valeria Rodriguez, Katy Glass, Valeria Perez, Bridget Gaskill, Hector Torres, Christina Coyne, Randy Lopez, Lictor Prianti,
Contributing Staff:Chris Butler, Julian Montez, Ethel Asberry, Leann Acuna, John Poplawski, Council Royal, Eliana Briceno, Alex Camacho, Marialu-isa Bianchi, Ross Hutchinson
Interns:Jennifer Alejos, Lorilee Mer-chant, Jonathan Pillow, David Smith
Advisor: Diane Abdo
Advisory Board:Steven Kellman, Mansour El Kikhia, Jack Himelblau, Sandy Norman
The Paisano is published by the Paisano Educational Trust, a non-profit, tax exempt, educational or-ganization. The Paisano is operated by members of the Student Newspa-per Association, a registered student organization. The Paisano is NOT sponsored, financed or endorsed by UTSA. New issues are published every Tuesday during the fall and spring semesters, excluding holidays and exam periods. All revenues are generated through advertising and donations. Advertising inquiries and donations should be directed towards:
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November 13, 2012 The Paisano Opinion 5Expansion of Austin medical school could prove costlyEditorial
Treat cannabis like the super commodity it can be for TexasLast Tuesday,
the nation reelect-ed its president and two states made decisions that could begin a change in Ameri-ca that, a few years ago, would have been thought im-
possible.The voters of Colorado and Wash-
ington decided to legalize the produc-tion and sale of marijuana. In these two states, cannabis will be treated like alcohol. It will be regulated and taxed. However, only citizens 21-years and older will be able to buy cannabis in Washington and Colorado.
The debate over the safety of canna-bis has raged for years but the decision of these two states is just the beginning of a trend of leniency in this country. The federal government will still re-gard cannabis as a Schedule One drug, meaning it will still be seen as having no benefits in the eyes of the federal government. However, the benefits of legalizing marijuana need to be stressed.
One bi-product of cannabis is hemp,
which comes from the stem of the plant and has been used throughout human history to make rope, clothes, paper and many other products. In fact, our very own Declaration of In-dependence was written on hemp pa-per. Until World War II, it was legal to grow hemp in the United States. However, after the war ended, it was banned. A new movement to legalize the growing of hemp has already be-gun in several states. Hemp might be one way to help jumpstart the econo-my. We the people need to be proac-tive. If the legalization of cannabis can improve the economy, why not?
The choice of the people of Wash-ington and Colorado may signal the beginning of the end of the war on drugs. According to the Washington Post, one aide close to Mexican Pres-ident-elect Enrique Peña Nieto said the decision “changes the rules of the game.” It is possible that the legaliza-tion of cannabis may end the drug war, which costs both the United States and Mexico billions of dollars every year.
Legalization in Colorado and Wash-ington, coupled with increasing lack of interest in the ongoing war on drugs, might lead other states to follow suit
and yield a domino effect in the com-ing election years.
Regardless, there is one thing that will remain true, as more states le-galize cannabis, the federal govern-ment will have to eventually amend its stance on cannabis. In Texas, we will probably sit and watch as other states pass marijuana legislation in the com-ing years, debating whether we should or shouldn’t join the progress. It will most likely be a long time before it is legalized in Texas but think about the benefit that another cash crop could have on Texas.
For one, the entire cannabis indus-try could be regulated and taxed. That would bring in millions of dollars to the coffers of Texas. The revenue could be put toward paying off the state debt, improving the infrastructure and put-ting money back into our depleted education system.
A Texas with legalized cannabis would go a long way toward making the borderland region safer because it would be a thorn in the side of the car-tels in Mexico by replacing their prof-itable products.
A state as big as Texas has a vast amount of land on which to grow can-
nabis, both outdoors and indoors. This production would stimulate more jobs by creating a supply for the already present demand. The legal sale of can-nabis would also require regulation, making it safer.
The Texas Democratic Party has already begun the movement to de-criminalize marijuana here, accord-ing to the Dallas CBS affiliate KTVT. The party said, “Decriminalization does not mean we endorse marijuana use, but it is only a call for wiser law enforcement and public health policy.” It’s a start, but the benefits of legaliza-tion should outweigh the costs in the long run.
The citizens of Colorado and Wash-ington proved that we, the people, still have a voice in the government. We can expect the debate to heat up in the coming years and Texas will have to stop dragging its feet and eventu-ally have to decide. When that comes, hopefully, the people will be ready to raise their voice.
Stephen WhitakerManaging Editor
Commentary
On Nov. 9, 2012, Austin voters in the Central Health district approved Proposition 1, a transformative initia-tive for the Austin community that involves the construction of a medical school at UT as well as a new trauma, emergency care and teaching hospital. The focus would be on outpatient spe-cialty care in the area. While this may be incredibly beneficial to the city of Austin, it may prove costly to the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio.
Travis County Residents would see an increase of only five cents per $100 of assessed property value. But what does this mean for San Antonio and
the UT Health Science Center?Currently, 87 percent of the Health
Center’s enrollment comes from Texas counties. Clearly, the UT Health Sci-ence Center in San Antonio has re-cruited many of its students from the surrounding area. The new medical school developing at the flagship cam-pus could result in a loss of funding and a diluted pool of students in San Antonio. Because UT President Bill Powers hopes to welcome the first class of 50 UT medical students by 2015, the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio might consider pre-paring for the worst — a decrease in
interested students who would rather earn their degree from the prestigious University of Texas at Austin.
In 2009, a special advisory group was formed by the UT System Board of Regents to research the feasibility of merging the two campuses. The group presented the following conclusion: “There was no compelling reason for, and no compelling cost benefit from merging the two institutions, and the group found no evidence to support changing the board’s 2002 decision not to merge the institutions.” Key findings suggested that UTSA had the potential to become a nationally competitive re-
search university and while a merger may advance UTSA toward national stature, the effect would be marginal at best.
In order to compete with the new school only 90 miles down the road, the time has come for UTSA and the UT Health Science Center to recon-sider merging. With the combination of funds and the growth of population, a coalition between the two schools would secure the continuing success of both campuses in San Antonio.
The Paisano Best of San Antonio Survey 2012:
The Paisano wants to know your opinion.What are your favorite places around town?
Tell us by voting online on our website - www.paisano-online.com
Letters must be less than 400 words and include the writer’s name, classification or title and telephone number. The Paisano reserves the right to edit all submissions.
For one night only, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet will grace the UTSA campus with her presence on Nov. 16.
Natasha Trethewey, the 19th Poet Laureate of the U.S., will be making an appearance as a part of the UTSA Creative Writing Reading Series, which is organized by the Creative Writing Program on campus. This Friday (Nov. 16) at 7:30 p.m. at the Denman room (UC 2.01.28), stu-dents can listen to a discussion by Trethewey regarding her work.
On June 7, 2012, Trethewey was named Poet Laureate, a prestigious honor by the U.S. Library of Con-gress, which gives poets the oppor-tunity to write poems for special oc-casions.
At age 46, she is the youngest re-cipient of the award. Previous po-ets honored with the title include Rita Dove, Stanly Kunitz and Billy Collins. The first Poet Laureate was Robert Penn Warren in 1986.
The upcoming presentation will highlight some of Trethewey’s most popular work with a look into her latest collection of poems, “Thrall,” which came out this past August. Much of the poetry in “Thrall” speaks of the racial injustice and prejudice that occurred during the Civil War era.
Since she was born on Confed-erate Memorial Day, Trethewey felt she was destined to explore the struggle of the people during that time and express their untold sto-ries. Trethewey has always been known to push boundaries by bring-ing the issues of race and culture to the table.
Trethewey’s work is rooted in the
theme of racial iden-tity and the effect of history on one’s per-sonal background. Born in Gulfport, Miss., Trethewey was inspired by her own personal story as a mixed race person. Her parent’s courtship was illegal in Missis-sippi, so they were forced to wed in Ohio. In her poem “Misce-genation,” Trethewey was inspired by the journey of her parents’ marriage.
From a young age, Trethewey faced many tragedies in her life. At six years old, she witnessed the di-vorce of her parents, Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough and Eric Trethew-ey. Moreover, while Trethewey was attending the University of Georgia, her mother was murdered. Trethew-ey chose to voice her reaction to her mother’s death by writing poetry.
Most of Trethewey’s work takes its reader into the personal stories of underrepresented groups in the 1800s. Her characters stem from a conglomerate of different people and their struggles during the Civil War.
In “Bellocq’s Ophelia,” Trethewey’s second published work, the charac-ter Ophelia symbolizes all women during this time period who have sto-ries that were never told. Trethewey wants her readers to know that these types of people existed even though there is not an official record of it.
Trethewey’s style of writing has always been a signature trait of her work. She writes in the form of a personal letter or subconscious thought.
By applying imagery and symbol-
ism in her work, Trethewey conveys a connection between her subject matter and the oppressed people of African-American descent.
Trethewey graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.A. in English and received an M.A. in Eng-lish and creative writing from Hollins University in Virginia. She also holds a M.F.A. in poetry from the Univer-sity of Massachusetts. Trethewey is now a professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., where she teaches English and creative writing.
Trethewey has many accomplish-ments under her belt. Upon the re-lease of her first book, “Domestic Work,” she was awarded the Inau-gural Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Let-ters Book Prize and the Lillian Smith Award for poetry.
Trethewey has published five books, “Domestic Work,” “Bellocq’s Ophelia,” “Native Guard,” “Beyond Katrina” and “Thrall.”
(To continue reading this article, visit <paisano-online.com>.)
Tuesday, Nov. 1310 a.m. Museum Exhibit: “Texas Performers Under the Big Top”
The Witte Museum (3801 Broadway) presents a series of drawings from the Hertburg Circus Collection that feature circus performances and behind-the-scenes material. Some memorable acts include appearances by San Antonio legends, the Esquivel Brothers and Buffalo Bill. The exhibit is open through Jan. 13. Tickets range from $7 - $11.50.
The Institute of Texan Cultures (801 E César Chávez) presents “Arte Chihuahua,” which show-cases the work of 25 renowned artists from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. A selection of 32 photographic prints, paintings and five sculptures will be on display. This exhibit will run through May 5. Tickets range from $6 - $8.
Thursday, Nov. 1510 a.m. Museum Exhibit: “Aphrodite and the Gods of Love”
The San Antonio Museum of Art (200 W. Jones St.) presents an exhibition of 125 pieces displaying the various roles and inspirations of the ancient gods and goddesses of love. These pieces include statues, bronze figures, mirrors, jewelry and much more. The exhibit will run through Feb. 17. Admission varies from $3 - $8.
The College of Liberal and Fine Arts presents a discussion from Natasha Trethewey, as part of its Creative Writing Reading Series. Trethewey is the latest poet to be inaugurated as Poet Lau-reate of the U.S. The presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Denman room (UC 2.01.28). For more information, call 210-458-4376.
9 p.m. UCinema Night: “Sparkle”
UC Programming presents “Sparkle,” the story of Sparkle Anderson (Jordin Sparks) and her journey to fame. “Sparkle” features the talents of Cee Lo Green, Terrrence Jenkins and Carmen Ejogo. It also features one of Whitney Houston’s last performances. The feature will be shown in the Retama Auditorium (UC 2.02.02). For more information, call 210-458-6044.
Saturday, Nov. 178 p.m. Theatre: “It’s a Wonderful Life”The Sterling Houston Theater at Jump-Start (108 Blue Star) brings “It’s a Wonderful Life” to the stage in the form of a live 1940s radio broadcast. In this classic, George Bailey contemplates ending his life on Christmas Eve, but he is given a second chance when an angel shows him the consequences of his actions. Tickets are $15 - $25.
Sunday, Nov. 182:30 p.m. Theater: “Elvis Has Left the Building”
Boerne Community Theatre (907 E. Blanco) presents “Elvis Has Left the Building,” a comedic play that looks at the events leading up to the rock star’s performance in 1970. When Elvis is nowhere to be found, an impersonator comes in to fill in for the legend. Can he pass off as the King of Rock? Find out in this hilarious performance. Tickets are $10 - $19.
F o r t h e w e e k ’ s f u l l c a l e n d a r , v i s i t :w w w . p a i s a n o - o n l i n e . c o m
Natasha Trethewey: T h e 1 9 t h P o e t L a u r e a t e v i s i t s U T S A
THIS HOLIDAY, FILL UP ON CREDITS AT UT BROWNSVILLE.
BROWNSVILLEVisit utb.edu or call 956-UTB-4YOU.
Head back to your university after the holidays with credits to fast-track your degree plan.
REGISTER NOW! Wintermester classes run Dec. 17 to Jan. 3Spring semester starts Jan. 14
Registration for both sessions will take place:
90+ credits: November 1
60+ credits: November 19
30+ credits: November 26
Open registration: December 3
Visit UTB4U.COM or call 956-UTB-4YOU for registration information.
Natasha Trethewey, the youngest Poet Laureate in the U.S., will be the first with the title to take up residence in Washington, D.C. in January 2013.
It’s finally over. The Roadrunners (6-4) snapped their four-game losing streak by defeating the McNeese State Cowboys 31-24 in the Alamodome on Saturday, Nov. 10. Starting quarter-back Eric Soza finished the game with 262 passing yards, two touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown in front of 25,784 fans. Soza also com-pleted a season-high 24 passes to 12 different receivers and completed 24 passes out of 37 passing attempts.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a tougher group of guys,” Head Coach Larry Coker said. “Our offense, defense and special teams were great today and that’s the reason why we won.”
“At the end of the season, every team is going to have guys that are banged up. But I guarantee that nobody plays as hard as my guys do,” UTSA center Nate Leonard said.
Early in the game, McNeese State’s offense easily powered through the UTSA defense. At the 9:38 mark, Cow-boys receiver Wes Briscoe snatched a 12-yard pass from quarterback Cody Stroud in the back of the endzone, and the Cowboys grabbed an early 7-0 lead.
UTSA was held scoreless in the opening quarter. Soza was constantly under pressure from McNeese’s de-fense and the Roadrunners offense was not able to respond. Soza passed for only 25 yards in the first quarter compared to Stroud’s 86 yards on the way to a Cowboys early lead.
In the second quarter, UTSA started to fight back. In the last three minutes of the half, Soza led the ‘Runners into the McNeese State redzone. UTSA running back Evans Okotcha sprint-ed across the Alamodome turf, and grabbed a pass from Soza.
With McNeese defenders inches be-hind him, Okotcha dove and extended the ball just past the goal line for the
‘Runners first touchdown. The game became tied at 7-7.
The Cowboys controlled the ball for the rest of the half, but the ‘Runners de-fense increased their intensity. Stroud was uncomfortable in the pocket look-ing for open Cowboy receivers. Mc-Neese could only score a 36-yard field goal from kicker Josh Lewis to reclaim the lead 10-7 by the end of the half.
“Our offensive coordinator, Kevin Brown, was really upset with us. He thought we left a lot on the field in the first half,” Okotcha said. “He demand-ed that we come out with fire.”
The ‘Runners answered Brown’s challenge with 24 unanswered points in the second half. UTSA’s offense looked completely different from their struggling performance in the first half. Soza’s offensive linemen gave him time to make the right passes and ev-erything started to click.
Wide receiver Brandon Freeman gave the Roadrunner fans reason to cheer when he sprinted past the Cow-boys defense and grabbed a 23-yard pass while diving out of bounds and ten yards deep into the Cowboys red-zone. Two plays later, Soza rolled out to the right looking for an open UTSA receiver in the endzone. Soza tucked the ball into his body and sprinted to-wards the endzone, where he met two Cowboys defenders diving towards his legs. Soza flipped over the defend-ers and landed in the endzone for the
‘Runners second touchdown of the day, and at 14-10, UTSA led with 8:51 left in the quarter.
“We all sacrifice our bodies for the better of the team. That was my way of doing it,” Soza said. “We need-ed a touchdown, and I tried to do whatever I could to get into the end-zone.”
After stop-ping the Cowboys of-fense again, UTSA’s of-fense stormed through Mc-Neese’s defense. With just 3:43 left in the half, Okotcha smashed nine yards through more Cowboys trying to stop him, and scored his second touchdown of the day. The ‘Runners increased their lead to 21-10.
McNeese’s offense was stopped again when ju-
nior safety Cody Berry ripped the football out of Cowboys run-
ning back Marcus Wiltz hands. Safety Tristen Wade recovered the fumbled ball to reclaim possession for the ‘Run-ners. UTSA went into the final quarter
with their 21-10 lead over McNeese.On UTSA’s second possession of the
final quarter, Soza fired a screen pass
to wide receiver Brandon Armstrong. Armstrong bolted through the
Cowboys defense 31 yards into the endzone for
his first career touchdown
and a 28-10
lead
o v e r M c -
Neese.T h e
C o w b o y s looked des-
per- ate to find some kind of en-
ergy on offense but they were stopped again w h e n ‘Run- n e r s corner- b a c k Crosby Ad- a m s intercepted Stroud’s deep pass into UTSA territory. The ‘Run-ners turned the interception into a 38-yard Kristian Stern field goal, and put UTSA up 31-10 with 9:55 left in the game.
A 21-point lead had all the Roadrunners and their fans smiling, but the Cowboys were not conceding to a UTSA victory yet. Mc-Neese’s offense suddenly found holes in the UTSA defense that had shut them down for most of the second half. Stroud led the Cowboys offense on a last ditch effort to win the game, and it almost worked.
McNeese scored 14 uncontested
points in the final quarter. The first score came when Stroud found full-back Dylan Long in the UTSA end-zone, making the score 31-17 with 6:18 left in the game.
On their next offensive drive Stroud completed five consecutive first down passes, and the Cowboys were once again a few yards away from the end-zone. Wiltz sprinted through the ‘Run-ners defense for a three-yard touch-down with 3:05 left in the game.
McNeese was only trailing by one touchdown as the scoreboard dis-played a 24-31 UTSA lead. However, time was not on the Cowboys side and the ‘Runners were able to run out the
clock to escape with the victory.Okotcha had a complete offensive
game and led the team with 55 rushing yards, 37 receiv-
ing yards and two touchdowns.
Senior line-backer Bran-don Reeves led
all defenders with a career-high 13 tackles in the
game. He cred-its the team’s improved sec-ond-half per-formance to the
team’s c o m -
radiere.“Our main thing was to stick togeth-
er,” said Reeves. “We had to go out and play with emotion.”
UTSA will finish the road portion of the schedule against WAC teams when they travel to Idaho for the last away game on Nov. 18.
Roadrunners snap four-game los ing s t reak
Will
Talle
nt /
The
Pai
sano
“We all sacrifice our bodies for the better of the team.”Eric SozaUTSA quarterback
Guard
Will
Talle
nt /
The
Pai
sano
Sheldon BakerAssistant Sports
Editorsports@paisano-online.
com
Although it’s early in the basketball season, the women’s team doesn’t look
to be riding any roller coasters soon. UTSA started the season 2 –
0. On Nov. 12, the Lady Roadrunners beat the Concordia Tornados 88 – 29, and defeated the Texas Pan-American Broncs on Friday, Nov. 9 68-34.
“We knew they were going to zone, and I thought we handled it well. Re-bounding. I wasn’t real pleased. I thought we could’ve out rebounded them a lot more,” Head Coach Rae
Ripptoe-Blair said.If Ripptoe-Blair was upset
with the team’s rebounding, her disappointment wasn’t reflect-ed in the statistics. The Birds out rebounded the Tornados 23
– 19 in the first half and 49 – 32 overall. Senior forward
Jalisa Montgomery and freshman forward Ni-aga Mitchell-Cole led the team in the first half with 4 rebounds apiece. Moreover, Montgomery, se-nior center Whit-ney Wright, junior guard Miki Turner,
senior guard Jer-
mini Malone, and sophomore guard Ashley Spaletta all recorded two steals apiece.
“This year, everybody’s healthy. We came out with revenge,” said Turner.
The Roadrunners forced 21 first half turnovers, and they held the Tornados to a staggeringly low 20.8 percent from field on five for 24 shooting. While UTSA performed well on the defen-sive end, the team also performed just as well on the offensive end.
UTSA hit 16 of 38 shots from the field for a 42.1 shooting percentage, and the team shot exceedingly well from the free throw line hitting nine out of 11 shots for an 81.8 percent. As the first half ended, the ‘Runners were ahead 46 to 13.
At the start of the second half, Spal-etta led the team in scoring with 8 points shooting 50 percent from the field and the three-point stripe (FG 3 – 6 and 3FG 2 – 4).
If the first half proved to be a disap-pointment for the Tornados, the sec-ond half would prove to be an even bigger let down. UTSA forced an ad-ditional 14 turnovers and kept the Tor-nados from shooting above 26 percent.
Thirteen of UTSA’s 14 players scored in the game. Senior forward Lyndi Thorman, Spaletta, freshman forward Elonu Akunna, and sopho-more guard Kamra King all scored in double figures.
Three days earlier, the Roadrunners won their home opener against UT Pan-Am 68 – 34. The victory marked the 20th home opening victory for
UTSA and gave them an overall record of 20-12 for season home openers.
“It feels good to start the regular sea-son off with a win,” said senior guard Simone Young.
King led the team in scoring with 10 points. Turner and Mitchell-Cole also chipped in with eight points apiece. The victory was a balanced attack for the ‘Runners. Twelve of 14 players scored.
“It feels really good [to win]; both team-wise and individually, coach Blair stresses making adjustments and being confident,” said Mitchell-Cole.
UTSA made the necessary rebound-ing adjustments. The Roadrunners out rebounded the Broncs 52 – 42, and the Lady ‘Runners scored 15 points off of offensive rebounds. Wright and Akun-na recorded eight rebounds apiece. The dominant rebounding allowed the Roadrunners to score 34 points in the paint.
UTSA has consistently played well with the exception of shooting poorly from the free-throw line. Free throw shooting did rise after the victory against the Tornados, but it’s still a concern from some on the team.
“We need to work on free throws. Other than that, we adjusted well in the game, but we’re going to work on free throws,” said Young.
UTSA’s next home game will be against Texas A & M – Corpus Christi on Nov. 16 at the Convocation Center at 7 p.m.
The Roadrunners improved to a 19-8 overall record and moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with their victory over the New Mexi-co State Aggies on Saturday, Nov. 10 in the Convocation Center.
Before the match started, UTSA honored the three seniors on this year’s team: outside hitters Allie Bet-tinger and Whitney Walls, and middle hitter Brittney Malloy. Head Coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff embraced each senior player during the Senior Day ceremony in respect for every-thing they have done for this program.
“They aren’t vocal leaders but they understand the demands of our sys-tem and they hold every player ac-countable,” Groff said. “It’s very valu-able because I’m such a disciplinarian and discipline is what wins.”
“Whitney, Allie and I have worked really hard and I’m really proud of us,” Malloy said.
The ‘Runners offense looked out of rhythm in the first set of the match as the Aggies jumped to a quick 10-2 lead. The ‘Runners couldn’t overcome the early Aggies lead and dropped the first set 25-16. Junior middle hitter Desiree Schott led the Aggies attack with four kills in the first set.
After their disappointing per-formance in the first set, the ‘Run-ners refocused their attitudes and showed a more competitive side. The ‘Runners held eight-point lead, 20-12 but New Mexico State’s of-fense began to find its momentum. Late in the second set, the Aggies went on a 7-0 run that cut the Run-ners lead to three points, 22-19. Then four-time WAC player of the Week, UTSA’s McKenzie Adams, smashed an uncontested kill shot, and the Runners tied the match at one set each.
UTSA total kill shots jumped from only nine in the first set to 25 kills in the second set. Adams led the rejuvenated Runners attack with seven kills in the set, and 11 total
kills at end of the set. The match’s intensity only increased
in the next game. The ‘Runners mo-mentum carried over into the third game and claimed another win 25-22. Players from both teams dived all over the court, fiercely fighting for every point. UTSA’s attack was powered by Adams’ five kills in the set, and the ‘Runners defense began to dominate as well. Freshman libero Annie Kunes had six digs in the third frame, which brought her total to 16 for the match so far.
In the nail-biting, intense fourth set, Adams continued to terrorize the Ag-gies defense with her incredibly accu-
rate kill shots and carried UTSA to 4-1 lead. The Aggies stayed relentless in their attack and rallied back to tie the score six different times in the fourth set. The Aggies started to falter with execution and that allowed UTSA’s lead to grow into a three-points, 22-18. The Aggies desperately tried to salvage a win but senior Whitney Walls blast-ed an uncontested kill shot and final-ized a 25-20 UTSA in the fourth set.
UTSA now moves into a three-way tie at second place with Idaho and New Mexico State as all three teams have identical 12-5 conference re-cords. Utah State still remains in first place at 14-3.
Adams recorded her 18th double-double of the season with a team high 23 kills and 18 digs, and joining her is junior Brandy Husky with her 16th double-double this season with 47 as-sists and 13 blocks. UTSA will close out their regular season when they go on the road to face San Jose State on Thursday, Nov. 15. The ‘Runners will return back to the Convocation Cen-ter on Nov. 19 when UTSA will be the host school for the 2012 WAC Tourna-
November 13, 20128 Sports The PaisanoAdams and Huskey power UTSA to 2nd p lace
“I’m such a discipli-narian and discipline is what wins”Laura Neugebauer-GroffVolleyball head coach
Four-time WAC Player of the Week, McKenzie Adams, recorded 23 kills and 18 digs against New Mexico State
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‘Runners off to fast start to season:
SPORTS RECAP
UTSA Men’s BasketballLiberty Tax Classic
Champions
Classic MVP andWAC Player of the Week UTSA Guard
Michael Hale III
(20.3 points, 2.7 rebounds
2.7 assists in Classic)
WAC Football Standings
1. 20* Louisiana Tech 4-0
2. Utah State 4-0
3. San Jose State 4-1
4. UTSA 1-3
5. Texas State 1-3
6. Idaho 1-3
7. New Mexico State 0-5
* = BCS National Rank-ing
WAC Volleyball Standings
1. Utah St. 14-3
2. UTSA 12-5
3. New Mexico St. 12-5
4. Idaho 12-5
5. Denver 9-8
6. Texas St. 9-8
7. San Jose St 9-8
8. Seattle 4-13
9. UT Arlington 4-13
10. Louisiana Tech 0-17
WAC Men’s Basketball Standings
1. Seattle 1-0
2. Texas St. 1-0
3. UT - Arlington 1-0
4. Utah St. 1-0
5. UTSA 2-1
6. Denver 0-1
7. Idaho 0-1
8. Louisiana Tech 0-1
9. New Mexico St. 0-1
10 San Jose St. 0-1
Above are overall records
WAC Women’sBasketball Standings1. Texas St. 2-0
2. UTSA 2-0
3. New Mexico St. 1-0
4. San Jose St. 1-0
5. Denver 0-1
6. Seattle 0-1
7. Utah St. 0-1
8. Idaho 0-2
9. Louisiana Tech 0-2
10. UT-Arlington 0-2
Above are overall records
NCAA Football15 Texas A&M 29
1 Alabama 24
Iowa State 717 UT-Austin 33
Kansas 3422 Texas Tech 41
2 Kansas State 23TCU 10
3 Oregon 59California 17
4 Notre Dame 21Boston College 6
5 Georgia 38Auburn 0
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Brandy Huskey was a huge contributor in UTSA’s victory with 47 assists and 13 digs in the win over New Mexico State
back-to-back wins
November 13, 2012 The Paisano Advertisment 9
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