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XCV, No. 5, 8 pages
Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010
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Task force requests more information College reorganization plan runs into speed bump after faculty input CALEB SLINKARD MANAGING EDITOR A task force created by A&MCommerce Provost Dr. Larry Lemanski to formulate a recommendation regarding the reorganization of the university’s colleges has voted not to accept the reorganization plan on the grounds of a lack
Bois d’Arc looks to next year
of information. The College Reorganization Task Force turned in their recommendation to Lemanski on Sept. 24, voting 11-to-2 that the Provost’s office needs to provide more information and direction in order for them to create a reorganization plan. “The College Reorganization Task Force strongly recommends that you
consider the results of the survey then reconstitute a new Task Force to include individuals with the knowledge and skill set to craft a clear argument for change and a clear method to produce that change,” the recommendation read. The task force, which is co-chaired by current Faculty President Dr. LaVelle Hendricks and Literature and
Languages Head Dr. Mary DunbarOdom, was charged by Lemanksi with consulting groups representing all constituencies, gathering information via public forum and internet survey, synthesizing information, and offering recommendations to the Provost by Dec. 8, 2010.
See REORGANIZATION page 3
Lions persevere
JAMES BRIGHT EDITOR The 25th Annual Bois d’ Arc Bash featured music, games, crafts and an assortment of other activities for students and residents of Commerce. Manager of the Commerce Chamber of Commerce Trey Boyles said this year’s Bash was a success. “We had two stages, and we are moving toward our goal of having continuous entertainment,” he said. The College Night was another area Boyles said succeeded as he had hoped. He said students provided plenty of feedback, which let him know how well its debut went. There are few areas that Boyles said he and other event planners will be looking at for improvement. “We are looking at going to a 3-year cycle, so we can have the event more planned out,” he said. According to Boyles, a committee will decide what to change about the Bash. Boyles said volunteers are a major reason the festival is possible. “We have over 100 volunteers who are not paid for their efforts, and that’s quite a feat,” he said. The versatility of musical acts is another aspect of the Bash Boyles said contributed to the event’s success. “’The Bois d’ Arc Bash has an overall broad appeal,” he said.
Lohan with ETSU shirt in 2007.
Goddard takes issue with Lohan CALEB SLINKARD MANAGING EDITOR
Freshman defensive lineman Jake Williams strips the ball from Southeastern Oklahoma running back Baylen Laury. The fumble was recovered by Lions cornerback A.J. Billings and returned 70 yards for a touchdown, A&M-Commerce’s first score of the night.
CALEB SLINKARD MANAGING EDITOR A strong start and tough defensive effort in the fourth quarter helped A&M-Commerce (2-3, 1-1) overcome a shaky second half and defeat Southeastern Oklahoma State (1-4, 0-2) 19-14. The Lions moved the ball well on their opening drive, including a 22-yard rush by junior running back Marcus Graham, but two major penalties shut down the drive. After both teams failed to score on successive drives, the Lions defense drew first blood. A&M-Commerce senior cornerback A.J. Billings recovered an SOSU fumble and returned it 70
yards for a touchdown, although A&M-Commerce missed the extra point. The Lions failed to convert on two of their three extra point attempts, in what was a frustrating special teams effort. A&M-Commerce incurred two penalties on the fumble return. The Lions were undisciplined throughout much of the game, losing 119 yards on nine penalties. “There isn’t a whole lot we can do about that in practice,” Graham said. “That has to do with mental toughness. We have to concentrate and focus in our next game.” In the second quarter, Graham led the Lions on a 10-play, 95-yard drive and punched in the touchdown with a 14-yard run. Later in the quarter, quarter-
back Adam Farkes connected with freshman receiver Jillian Hayes for a 10-yard touchdown to cap off a 12-play drive. After a fumbled snap on the extra point, the Lions went up 19-0. SOSU had a chance to put points on the board at the end of the second quarter, but missed a 30-yard field goal wide left. A&M-Commerce failed to come out with the same intensity offensively in the second half, while penalties, terrible field position and poor play-calling kept them from scoring again for the rest of the game. Following an SOSU punt, which was downed at the Lions one yard line, quarterback Adam Farkes
See LIONS page 8
East Texas State University’s name may only be a memory for ETSU alumni, but former A&M-Commerce Associate Vice President of Development Larry Goddard wants it to remain unsullied by troubled Hollywood actresses. In 2007, actress Lindsay Lohan was photographed wearing a navy and gold East Texas State University shirt, a photo that has Goddard talking. “We are so sorry that she is having a hard time, but if you were a parent and looking across the web for schools and you saw that Lindsey (sic) Lohan had the t-shirt from the school you were thinking of sending your child, I think you would back out or think of another school,” Goddard said in an interview with KLTV in Tyler, Texas. In light of Lohan’s recent stay in jail, Goddard said he thinks she is not a good representation of ETSU. See SHIRT page 3
A&M-Commerce students earn appreciation for sister city in Cambodia ADAM TROXTELL SPORTS EDITOR Members of the Cambodia Service Learning Project took a trip to Cambodia from July 10-26, which included sightseeing, learning about the culture and history of the country, visiting Commerce’s sister city Pailin, and helping various local schools. Political science department head and associate professor Dr.
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JoAnn DiGeorgio-Lutz is the instructor of the Cambodia Project course, PSCI 497, and she said the trip helped students get the full experience of studying a country. “This is the first time I had been to Cambodia, and it was amazing,” DiGeorgio said. “We got to put context to what we were studying in the abstract. You can learn about something, you can look at a country on a map, you can look at
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pictures of a country and read about its history, but when you’re there experiencing it, it becomes very real. It becomes something you can attach meaning to.” Senior political science major Kaycie Clark said the trip was a revealing experience. “It was life-changing, seeing people in a society that is completely different than what you’re used to, a developing world,” she said. “It changed my
perspective on life. I realize how lucky I am to be here.” DiGeorgio said she thinks most of the students who visited Cambodia came away with a similar feeling. “I think, for most of them, it really opened their eyes to the developing world and situations in the developing world,” she said. “Cambodia is what we would call a war-torn society, rebuilding after years of war and
a genocide that basically eradicated anything, any education, any infrastructure, and so on.” The Cambodian Civil War lasted from 1967-1975, and led to the Khmer Rouge, or Communist Party of Kampuchea, rising to power and instigating the Cambodian Genocide. During their fouryear reign, millions of Cambodians were killed or imprisoned, and the Cambodia Project mem-
bers spent some of this trip learning about those darker times in the country’s capital. “The first few days, it was all learning about the genocide,” Clark said. “During the first four days in Phnom Penh, we went to the S-21 museum, the political prisoner museum. It was a political prisoner camp where they executed thousands of people.” Also during those first
See NAMED page 3
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OPINION
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Dusting off the Classics: George Orwell’s “1984”
JAMES BRIGHT EDITOR Few books capture rebellion, hopelessness, reality and love like George Orwell’s “1984.” These themes are at the forefront of almost every college student’s mind at some point, and that’s why this book is a perfect mid-semester read. Set in London, “1984” depicts a world where personal freedom and ingenuity have been replaced with automatonism. It follows Winston, a low-ranking member of the ruling party as he goes through his life questioning the rationale and authority of the ruling party. As the story progresses, Winston meets Julia, a dark-haired beauty who shares his affinity for mental rebellion. They carry on a romantic relationship for some time until they’re lured into a false party opposition group. Both are captured and tortured for their “treason.” The real beauty of this book is in its versatility of connectivity. Everyone can get something different from “1984.” There are those who will see problems described in “1984” that mimic those in modern society. Forbidden love is always a popular topic, so others may dwell upon the romantic inclinations of Winston and Julia. This book can even reach readers who
Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010
Writer advocates living R-rated life CHANCELLOR MILLS OPINION EDITOR
If someone were to make a movie based on your life, would anyone want to watch it? Those who know me know that I love watching movies. I could watch movies all day every day – and I actually do during breaks from school. I watch a wide variety of movies too, including G-ECX.IMAGES-AMAZON.COM slasher flicks, rom-com’s, comedies, dramas, superconsider themselves as hero movies and so on. people who don’t fit in. As the movie connoisseur The two protagonists are that I am, I can tell you the quintessential definition of misfits. It’s easy to that nothing turns me off connect to them from this about a movie more than a weak rating. Maybe it’s standpoint. just because I’m coming Another fascinating side of this book is charac- up in years, but I can no ter development. Winston longer stand anything cheerier than an R-rating. is not a hero. He is not It’s just something some brave soldier out to about watching “Resident rid the world of wrong Evil” – rife with blood and restore freedom to the and gore, strong lanmasses. He’s an average guage, graphic violence Joe. He’s scared of death. and nudity – that makes He’s terrified of losing the it just impossible for me little freedom in life he to stomach a movie like has. It’s these features that “Legend of the Guardians: make him so wonderful for the role as the protago- The Owls of Ga-Hoole.” If nist. Orwell creates a man, a movie has what seems like an iffy storyline, but not a hero. By doing this, also has an R-rating, then he has related to more readers than he ever could I (personally) am much more likely to see that as have hoped with a gunopposed to an interestingslinging freedom fighter. looking movie with a Mystery is another PG-rating. The reason is aspect of the book that makes it so appealing. The simple: R-rated material is reader never really knows much more entertaining to watch. who Winston can trust And this brings me and who he can’t. Orwell does a fantastic job of defining characters in a way that makes their allegiance JARED WATSON seem ambiguous. The DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR book doesn’t reveal the true villain until the end, Do you ever immediwhich is a staple in almost ately regret saying someany good piece thing? Not later on that of literature. day after reflecting on it, This is a novel that but halfway through the needs to be read in colsentence itself? lege. It coalesces perfectly A few weeks ago, I with the average college was in the middle of a student’s thought process, busy cashier shift, staring and is a breath of fresh air at a line of customers ten when the semester hits deep, who all had a “can that dreaded point you get someone else up of monotony. here to help” look on their faces. Nobody responded to my distress signal, and I ultimately had to ring them all up myself. Just after that, another Last Week’s Solved Puzzle: employee walked up and 4 8 1 9 5 asked, “Hey, did you 1 8 2 6 4 7 5 need help?” 6 4 5 2 9 I exploded. 5 9 1 3 2 “Of course I needed 6 8 5 1 help, you idiot! What in 4 7 2 the world were you doing, 1 9 5 3 8 sitting in the back having 9 3 2 8 5
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Part of the fun of being a college student is doing things to ensure that “nobody under the age of 17 will be allowed to see the movie of your life without a parent present,” columnist Chancellor Mills writes.
back to my initial question: If someone were to make a movie based on your life, would anyone want to watch it? Personally, I have all the faith in the world that somebody will one day produce the film adaptation of the best-selling biography of my life. (Honestly, who could resist that golden goose?) That’s why I try to make sure that the scenes depicting my time in college are as R-rated – and thus entertaining – as possible. Now, ordinarily, I would mind my own business and not advocate debauchery in the lives of others. However, this is my senior year, which means that I have seen three years worth of innocent, cautious freshmen who don’t understand
what college means. It’s a bit of a cliché, but college is the time to make your life a little R-rated. Think about it this way: in 20 years, when your kids ask to hear about some of your college stories, are you going to want to tell them about how you used to stay up all night every Saturday on a “homework binge”? (Granted, that will likely set a much better example for your children than telling them about the time that you got kicked out of the mall for sodomizing all of the “wo-mannequins” that were “asking for it.”) There’s only one problem with your story: your children will likely be so bored that they will slip into a comatose state. Congratulations, you just put your children into
comas – they’re probably going to die. Well, I don’t want your children to die. I want your children to live, which is why I encourage you to do everything you can to give your time in college an R-rating; drink, smoke, get a tattoo, get something pierced, “rawdog some randoms” and so on. Essentially, what I’m saying is, during your time at this university, rape, pillage, plunder and do just about anything you can to make sure that nobody under the age of 17 will be allowed to see the movie of your life without a parent present. Oh, and then graduate and become a fully functioning, upstanding member of society…or something like that.
Writer encourages people to be more courteous
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The East Texan, official student newspaper of Texas A&M University-Commerce, is published 12 times per semester during the Fall and Spring by students in reporting and editing classes. Content is solely the responsibility of the student editors and writers. The comments and views expressed in The East Texan do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of other students, staff, faculty, administration, or the Board of Trustees. The East Texan is located inside the Journalism building on the east side of campus in room 113. Single copies are available in Journalism 113 for an additional 25 cents. Letters to the Editor are welcome and should be limited to 250 words. They will not be edited for spelling, grammar and libelous or malicious statements. We reserve the right to refuse publication. Letters should be typed or e-mailed and must include a signature, classification (grade level) and telephone number. Mailing address is The East Texan, P.O. Box 4011 Commerce, Texas 75428.
coffee? You are the most useless…” I came out of my rage long enough to realize how hateful and hurtful what I was saying was. “…I mean yes. Yes, I did.” I’ve come to a realization about the way I interact with people: I’m a jerk. If someone says something that even slightly rubs me the wrong way, I will fire back with both barrels without hesitation, and without considering the consequences of what I’m saying. I’m not at all alone in this. We as a species tend to derive a lot of satisfaction out of venting our frustrations, unloading whatever is making us upset on anyone within earshot, either hoping to find a sympathetic ear or make them feel as bad as
we do. The problem with that is we do not even consider what the other person might be going through or how they will respond. In the cashier episode, I didn’t care that the other employee might have had a legitimate reason for not hearing my call for help. I was thinking only of myself and how stressed I was, and I just wanted them to know how upset they made me. We all know that the preeminent authority on rage management, Thumper, from “Bambi,” has a simple philosophy on the subject: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” Grammatical inconsistencies aside, there’s a lot of truth to it. But silence can be just as offensive as a harsh remark, so I would
suggest a slight reworking of that adage. I think the world would be a much better place if everyone just took three seconds to think about what they’re going to say before they say it. Give your head and your conscience just a moment to look past pure emotional retaliation and think about the how the other partipants in your conversation might feel. So, if you can’t say anything nice, by my logic, give yourself a second to see if you can. It’s not as catchy, I’ll admit, but I think it can be a lot more useful. Maybe next time, by pausing to collect my thoughts, I’ll give my fellow employee the chance to explain she was helping a customer and couldn’t come help me, before I bite her head off.
Editorial: ETSU alum makes unnecessary fuss over Lohan’s shirt Celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears live for publicity stunts. Driving on the wrong side of the road, hosting a show in which you select your “best friend” from a dozen hopeless wannabes, shaving your head and showing your business to every paparazzi by “accident,” are only a few of the ways Hollywood’s finest steal the limelight. Although his wasn’t quite as extreme, Larry Goddard’s attempt to put
together a group of angry people demanding Lohan return an East Texas shirt she was photographed wearing is exactly the same: a publicity stunt. We think he is clearly just looking to make news. We are also not convinced by his argument, which says that people who see Lohan wearing the shirt will be turned off to the university. Since it’s not even called East Texas State University anymore, and the only people who would really care about that are
The East East Tex Texan an The Established 1915 JAMES BRIGHT Editor Caleb slinkard Managing Editor
JARED WATSON digital media Editor
ADAM TROXTELL Sports Editor
kat huffines Graphics Editor
CHANCELLOR MILLs opinion editor
MEGAN CAREY ART SCENE Editor
jasmin brown copy desk chief
stephanie norman campus life editor
MELISSA ARCHER STAFF CARTOONIST
those who have attended the university and not the ones who are looking to attend, maybe he is really just venting some personal feelings he has toward Lohan and her past. Think about it: does he REALLY expect Lindsay Lohan to return some old t-shirt you could probably find dozens of in some warehouse? Giving in to the demands of a few upset alumni or students of a fairly small university in the middle of Northeast Texas has to be the last thing on
her mind right now. If Goddard is really concerned about the reputation of the university, we think he should be concentrating his efforts on getting alumni more involved in issues closer to A&M-Commerce itself. For example, convincing more of them to attend football games or to just be more active in how the university is run, not worrying about what celebrities thousands of miles away are dressing themselves in nowadays.
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...journey a learning experience for class CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
named in Time Magazine’s Most Influential People of the 20th Century. Chang is the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which, according to DiGeorgio, is tasked with tracking all the testimonies of anyone affected by the genocide. “We also got to visit the international criminal tribunal that’s trying the leaders for war crimes and genocide, and met with the U.N. special prosecutor there,” DiGeorgio said. While these remnants of the war still exist, Clark said she thinks the people as a whole are getting past it. “Cambodia is making strides to advance themselves,” she said, “but after a whole generation died, they’re still trying to pick up the pieces from the Khmer Rouge destruction.” After their time in Phnom Penh, the group went to Battambang and met Dr. LaVelle Hendricks teaching A&M-Commerce students. Hendricks was one of the co-chairs of the college reorganization task force, which with people from Dewey International University, a recommended more information and direction from A&M-Commerce Provost Dr. Larry Lemanski. partner of A&M-Commerce. “We met with students there, they had a big welcome for us, and we got to interCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “Nursing would be housed in The task force submitted the act with university students “Based upon input obtained the College of Education until it first draft to the faculty senate in in Cambodia and see what from the university survey and becomes a separate college,” the Sept. 7 meeting. life is like for them there,” for a, it is clear to the Task Force draft read. The concept of reorganizing DiGeorgio said. members that more data and The draft listed the increased the colleges was first broached by Education was one of the direction should come from your importance of scholarship and its Lemanski in a memorandum to main focuses for members of office before reorganization can be evaluation across the disciplines, A&M-Commerce President Dan the Cambodia Project, as this implemented on this campus,” the the administrative “thorniness” of Jones last semester. is one of the aspects of socirecommendation read. administering a college as diverse “The structure of the academic ety the country is faced The task force hosted public as Arts and Sciences, and the division outlined in the memoran- with rebuilding. forums on Sept. 6 and Sept. 23 and development of a nursing program, dum to Dr. Jones on May 20, 2010, “The GDP per capita, the sent out a university-wide survey as reasons for the was meant to start the discussion income, is about $300 per during the week of Sept. 13. proposed reorganization. for the need to address the current year,” DiGeorgio said. “So, The co-chairs produced a draft While it was initially proposed organization of the entire division,” families are oftentimes faced of the proposed realignment, that smaller departments be comLemanski said in a statement at the with the choice of paying $15 which was given to the task force bined or eliminated, the idea was beginning of the 2010 fall semester. a year to send a kid to school on Sept. 3. A revised draft was removed from the table. “The reorganization accompanyand you only have $300 later sent on Sept. 8. “I want to point out that the ing this memo was a ‘straw man’ a year.” The draft proposed a splitting Task Force has been charged to proposal, meant to be the starting Among the multiple of the College of Arts and Sciences look at the overall structure of point for discussions - it was never schools the group visited was into two colleges: The College of the colleges, and that the merging meant to be the final word on reor- Hometown School in Siem Liberal Arts, Fine Arts and Social and/or splitting of departments is ganization, or even a first draft.” Reap. The Cambodia Project Sciences and the College of Science not being addressed at this time,” Calls to Lemanski’s office were is working to help this school and Engineering. Lemanski said. not returned by press time. buy a computer, bikes for their 5 teachers, and school supplies for the students, according to the group’s website, thecambodiaproject.com. They also delivered supplies to Elizabeth School in Lak 62, a village settled by
...reorganization plan requires more data
refugees from the war. “We got involved with a village close to Thailand, actually on the border, where we delivered school supplies,” Clark said. “That was a big part of the trip, delivering school supplies to these kids. It was really cool.” Toward the end of their trip, the group visited government officials from Pailin, which became Commerce’s sister city on Nov. 19 of last year. Commerce City Councilman and Cambodia Project member Doug Rohrabaugh got the chance to meet with his counterparts. “[The trip was about] a cultural exchange,” group member and Student Government Association senator Adam Haney said. “A lot of Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia, after Vietnam, was really ignored and forgotten about by the West. It’s to try and re-establish some of these ties with regimes and peoples like the Cambodians that want to re-engage with the rest of the world.” Some of the students who took this trip are looking to go back along with new Cambodia Project members. DiGeorgio is already starting to plan her return as well. “I’m going back in December and going to be to be developing the service learning program for Dewey International,” she said. “I’ll be helping them to create programs like I have here for service learning. Then I’m going back in May mini and doing a small mini-mester for credit. I can only take about 10 students, and I’ve got some graduate students already signed up.” Clark said she is one of the members hoping to return and do volunteer work, and she is also planning on doing the same in other developing countries. “I’m actually looking at going this summer to Guatemala, and DiGeorgio actually compares Guatemala to Cambodia as far as development,” Clark said. “I think I’m going to go for two months; learn Spanish for a month and teach for a month.”
Goddard demanded that Lohan return the East Texas State University shirt that she was photographed wearing in 2007.
...wardrobe choice worries alumnus CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“We are not trying to be malicious or mean, but it is just ‘Lindsey (sic), good luck with your recovery, but we would rather have our shirt back,’” Goddard said. A Facebook group that Goddard created titled “We want our East Texas State University Shirt Back from Lindsey (sic) Lohan” currently has more than 100 members. Goddard serves on the East Texas State Alumni Association Board of Directors and is the executive director of the Tyler ISD Foundation. In August of this year, Goddard was given the Texas School Public Relations Association’s 2010 Key Communicator award. Goddard’s comments, which were picked up by
CNN, inspired no response from the A&M-Commerce administration. “I have no comment,” A&M-Commerce Director of Alumni Relations Derryle Peace said. A&M-Commerce President Dan Jones’s office and Assistant Vice President of Marketing Communications Randy Jolly also had no official comment on the story. Even Goddard refused to comment when the East Texan contacted him. “Mr. Goddard does not wish to comment on this any longer,” an e-mail from Goddard’s office read. “He feels the story has run its course. Thank you for your interest.” Texas A&M UniversityCommerce was known as East Texas State University from 1962 until the university joined the Texas A&M System in 1996.
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Ca mpus Life
Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010
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British student loves southern hospitality ADAM TROXTELL SPORTS EDITOR Junior math major and education minor Andy Pickles may not look out of place in East Texas, which he has called his home for the past two years. However, once he speaks, it quickly becomes clear Texas has not always been his home. “I’m from Maidstone,” Pickles said. “It’s in the southeast corner of England, in the county town of Kent.” Pickles said he initially came to the U.S. in 2004 on a visit, and made multiple returns after that. He then stayed with some friends in the southern U.S., who knew residents of the Northeast Texas area. “Through them, I met some other people, and ended up in Sulphur Springs, and that’s where I was staying for two years,” he said. “That’s where I went to the first two years of college at PJC (Paris Junior College). I got my Associate’s (degree) there, and then transferred to here.” “This is my first semester of the second two years, and hopefully there’ll be another two years after that, so somewhere down the line, I’ll need to get my Master’s.” Pickles said there is a significant difference between a smaller college like PJC and A&M-Commerce for an international student. “You feel like much more of a small fish in a big pond in this college,” he said. “There’s marginally less of a fascination, if you want to put it that way. Obviously, there’s less of a sense of foreign people being really strange. I think there are a lot more foreign people around.” Although he may always
have a sense of his national origin, Pickles said he easily became comfortable with his surroundings at American college. “It’s really hard to feel completely regular, other than being around people that know me,” he said. “I felt very known in PJC, because it was a small campus. Things were not split building to building, everyone sees everybody all of the time. Now here, it’s very much easier to go unnoticed, if you choose to or simply don’t step out.” Pickles certainly did not go unnoticed at junior college, where he made a friend in Joy Hogue. She had many good things to say about him. “We met at PJC here in Sulphur Springs,” she said. “I needed help in Algebra and he helped me a lot. He’s a very good man, very trustworthy, dependable, and one of the smartest people I’ve ever known.” Hogue said she realized a significant difference between Pickles’s culture and hers after completing a joint writing assignment they earned an award for at PJC. “We wrote a paper together last year,” she said. “He let me realize through his writing how different English and American is. He’s so proper.” In Commerce or Northeast Texas in general, it may be easier to “step out” than elsewhere, according to Pickles. He said one of the main reasons he kept revisiting the South and decided to go to school here, is its hospitality. “It’s known for its warm behavior toward people, and it seems to really stand out in the conversations with strangers,” Pickles said. “I didn’t talk to
strangers before I came here, and you wouldn’t want to talk to strangers most of the time if you were in England. If you start to, they’d start reacting toward you like, ‘Why are you interfering with me and my life? Leave me alone.’” Pickles said he was made keenly aware of this difference when he first arrived at A&M-Commerce. “It amused me that at the international orientation, there was a comment made toward the end to be aware that here, people that you’ve never met-
before, people that just walk by, will nod and say ‘Hi’ and stuff like that,” he said. “I’d been here some time and was aware of that, but I thought if I hadn’t been here, didn’t know that, and all these strangers kept saying ‘Hi,’ I’d wonder what was going on. There’s just that friendliness, and that’s something I really like about here that is distinctively different.” He said the questions from these strangers usually follow a similar pattern. “Usually the first question
ADAM TROXTELL / THE EAST TEXAN
Junior math major Andy Pickles said he moved to Sulphur Springs after leaving England because his enjoyed his time in the town during a visit.
is ‘Where are you from?’ and the next one is ‘Australia?’” he said. “That’s a very common guess, and I think that’s just because of an interference of accents. Beyond that, it would be, ‘Why in the hell did you end up in little old Sulphur Springs?’” Pickles said his friends usually do not understand the type of climate he comes from. “I love the weather here, that’s another reason I wanted to come back, as well,” he said. “In fact, I got into the car with the person that brought me here this morning, and they actually had the air in the car set to just slightly warm, and I said, ‘This is getting nice now, when it’s getting cool in the mornings and I don’t have to face an air conditioner.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, do you ever stop wearing shorts?’ And I said ‘Sure, when it cools down, but I know in two hours it’s going to be warm.’ I had to point out to them that anything mid-70s and up is very good English weather. I love the sunshine. I love the temperature.” While he would like to stay and pursue a career here in the U.S., Pickles said he understands the limitations and is not getting too ambitious with his thinking. “I couldn’t say plan, because it’s all down to following the right channels,” he said. “I’m here on a student visa, which means I would go back. But, what I’d really like to do is to find a position, a job connected to my degree, and I would love to stay here. Stay here and use that degree to teach here, and I gather there is a shortage. If there’s still a demand at that time, then, yeah, I like to think I’d be able to stay.”
University reaches official 12th day enrollment record SAVANNAH CHRISTIAN
STAFF WRITER
Texas A&M UniversityCommerce set a record enrollment this semester with a student population of almost 11,000. Enrollment increased 12.29 percent from the Fall 2009 semester, reaching 10,813 students, according to official twelfth day class numbers. “The record enrollment, particularly compared to other universities in our region, indicates we have become a firstLIANU CANTU / THE EAST TEXAN choice university,” Vice Multiple groups showed up to compete at Commerce Best Dance Crew Sept. 28. In addition to the student dancers, the event featured a per- President for Student formance from Staff Infection, a dance crew comprised of faculty members. Access and Success Dr. Mary Hendrix said. A&M-Commerce has one of the highest student populations in the Texas A&M University System. “This enrollment RACHEL BAILEY “My favorite part of the experiplace and Under Construction increase was planned STAFF WRITER ence would be performing, getting in third. growth, which has been to show the result of my labor,” The event featured a special perexpected for years,” Dean Texas A&M UniversityShane Tolliver, a member of Under formance by Staff Infection, a dance of Campus Life and Student Commerce held its Commerce Best Construction, said. crew composed of faculty members. Development Dr. Brian Dance Crew competition Tuesday, Blue Print Crew won first place The competition helped bring out Nichols said. “Faculty has Sept. 28 in the auditorium of the and received the $500 grand prize, the dance talent in Commerce. had several meetings to Ferguson Social Sciences Building. followed by Quad Divas in second “It helps incorporate dance in prepare for this change, and The competition, modeled after the university and lets dancers in MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, Commerce have a place to perform,” has set a population goal of 12-15,000 students for was the first of its kind to be held Gregory Bonilla, a member of the university.” in Commerce. The competition Under Construction, said. Nichols said A&Mconsisted of six student-led crews In the future, Johnson would like Commerce saw a surge in comprised of members from Under to see more diversity among the freshman students Construction, a dance organization dance crews. in particular. at A&M-Commerce, and showcased “Dance crew is a loose term,” “We wanted understudent choreographed dances. Johnson said. “We want a lot of difgraduate growth, spe“Being a part of the event in its ferent students to participate, hopecifically in the freshmen first year was overall a good experifully bringing more diversity to the class, and that is definitely ence, and something I would love type of dance”. what we got,” he said. for others on campus to get involved The event is a way for partici“We are currently at the with,” Sharena Michael, a member pants to get involved with dance highest occupancy to date, of Under Construction, said. programs on campus and further and are planning new Coordinated by the Assistant their performance and residence halls for Director of the A&M-Commerce dance opportunity. continued growth.” Fitness and Wellness Program Moira “I encourage those who want to New features on camJohnson, the event was hosted by be a part of Commerce Best Dance pus this semester include comedic musician Johnny Cardinale. Crew to just contact someone who the nearly completed It was judged by a panel consisting dances, and have fun,” Hanna LIANU CANTU / THE EAST TEXAN of two dance professionals and two A couple competes using two-stepping during Abraham, secretary and treasurer of new Music Building, visitor’s bleachers and a new students. Under Construction, said. Commerce Best Dance Crew.
Commerce looks for best dance crew
scoreboard at Memorial Stadium, a ropes course and an expanded walking mall. “In addition to the new attractions on campus, we are planning for other features, which we hope will continue to catch prospective students’ attention,” Nichols said. “Some of these developments include a recreational bike path, as well as expansion of buildings such as the cafeteria.” However, according to Nichols, architectural advancements are not the only factor in drawing new students. “[Departments of] admissions, enrollment management and financial aid are doing such a great job at communicating with prospective students and reacting to their needs,” he said. The marketing department has been advertising in the Dallas metroplex. “Many students who come to Commerce hear about the university through leaders in their communities who have received their education here and are proud to help us grow,” Nichols said. The faculty and staff of A&M-Commerce are the primary sustainers of student success, according to Nichols. “We have amazing staff and faculty, who truly care about the success of students in the classroom, as well as in the future,” Nichols said. “I believe that here at A&M-Commerce, we have departments that are leading the way regionally and nationally, making college a transformational experience for the students.”
Ca mpus Life
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Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010
Awareness program successful for Smith and Berry Halls NICK BAILEY STAFF WRITER Smith and Berry Halls came together to host the Drunk Olympics Monday, Sept. 27. Despite its name, the Drunk Olympics is not reminiscent of Revenge of the Nerd’s drunk tricycle races. In fact, the Drunk Olympics is an awareness program aimed at spreading knowledge about the risks of substance abuse. “It’s a chance for students to come out and learn about not drinking and driving, and have some fun,” Smith Hall Residence Assistant Skylar Thomas said. The event began with a talk given by a University Police Department Officer, who answered questions and showed various
police equipment. “Alcohol is our number one priority here,” University Police Officer Chad Ballard said. “We’ve had two students transported out for alcohol.” Once Ballard finished talking about the dangers of substance abuse, residence hall assistants passed out chips, drinks and free, non-alcoholic jell-o shots. Ballard also administered sobriety tests to willing students who wore “beer goggles,” a visual substitute for the effects of intoxication. “It’s like everything shifts over to
the left,” Smith Hall resident DaiJah Williams said. Students were also able to test their ability to drive under artificially inebriated conditions. They got to attempt to navigate a small driving course in the Smith Hall parking lot with a university transportation cart, while wearing goggles that simulated the visual distortion of being three times over the legal blood alcohol limit. Many students found it difficult to maintain simple curves, even at low speeds, and often found themselves looking back at multiple knocked down parking cones. “Some people can do it, some
“
It’s a chance for students to come out and learn about not drinking and driving, and have some fun.
”
- Smith Hall Residence Assistant Skylar Thomas
people can’t,” Smith Hall resident Stephanie Blanks said. Those desiring information regarding the university’s policies on alcohol and substance abuse may refer to the student guidebook.
Abbey Program offers education in France next semester JUSTIN VITZ STAFF WRITER Five or more Texas A&M UniversityCommerce students will participate in The Abbey Program in Pontelvoy, France next semester. The program will offer courses in economics, art history, English, history and all-level French for $8,500. Financial aid is available. A total of fifty American students from different universities will participate. A&M-Commerce French and Philosophy Associate Professor Dr. Philippe Seminet will join The Abbey Program to teach the French
courses. He said it is a golden opportunity for students to learn French. “There’s no better way to learn a new language than to have this immersion experience,” Seminet said. “Otherwise, it just seems unnecessary. I mean, French, here? In East Texas?”
The program can also furnish students a new outlook from which to examine their lives, according to Seminet. “[The Abbey Program] got me thinking about my own study abroad experience,” he said. “I went to Ireland, and it really changed me. As a
“By stepping outside of yourself and stepping outside of your comfort zone, you are able to look from the outside back at this existence that you had, and others at home. You really come to appreciate what you have.” - French and Philosophy Associate Professor Dr. Philippe Seminet
result of that experience, I became a philosophy major. By stepping outside of yourself and stepping outside of your comfort zone, you are able to look from the outside back at this existence that you had, and others at home. You really come to appreciate what you have.” A&M-Commerce student Christina Presti participated in The Abbey Program last spring. “It gives you a really good experience,” she said. “You hear people talk about [how] studying abroad is so great, and it’s an experience you don’t want to forget. I believed them, but I didn’t
realize how amazing it really was.” Presti said the best experience she had was walking through the streets of France. “When I was walking through Paris, it was very clean and I felt safe,” she said. “The people there are actually very nice.” Students will be allowed to leave France and visit surrounding areas during their free time. For more information, visit theabbeyprogram. og or contact Seminet at Philippe_Seminet@tamucommerce.edu.
Key Points • The Abbey Program in Pontelvoy • Five students or more attending • Held in France • Courses offerd in economics, art history, English, history and all-level French • $8,500 • Contact Professor Dr. Philippe Seminet • Philippe_Seminet@ tamu-commerce.edu.
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Art Art Scene Scene
Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010
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Fromage du Jour A weekly look at film cheese
4.BP.BLOGSPOT.COM GEEKTYRANT.COM
Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as self-centered Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is what cinches “The Social Network” as a must-see film.
Facebook founding film brings drama, deception to big screen JORDAN WRIGHT STAFF WRITER
Eisenberg in the role of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. “The Social Network” plot covers the events leading up to the founding of Facebook, A major difficulty of and also discusses the basing films on true sto2007-2008 lawsuits related ries is presenting what to Zuckerberg’s alleged happened in an unbiased fashion, while making the intellectual property theft for the site of ConnectU story feel important. founders Cameron Many films “based on and Tyler Winklevoss true stories” have been (both played by Armie known to blatantly alter Hammer) and co-creator facts to achieve a more Eduardo Saverin (played interesting plot presentaby Andrew Garfield). tion, or fail to give the An immediate plus of audience a reason to care about the tale being told. the film is the relevance of its subject matter. As a Fortunately, “The user of Facebook myself, Social Network” avoids the movie already had such downfalls by craftmy attention if only ing a film that presents out of curiosity for how people in a realistic fashsuch a popular network ion, as well as covering a achieved topic relevant to many mass popularity. people worldwide. The nonlinear direc Telling the story of the tion of the movie keeps founding of the social networking site Facebook, the audience on their toes and prevents an interestthe film features Jesse
ing story from becoming boring. The movie has a feel similar to a “rise and fall” type of storyline, with the fall aspect based more around the character relationships than the creation itself. Such a film would not work without a proper cast, and this is inarguably the strongest element of the film. Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Zuckerberg is one of the greatest performances I have seen this year. He convincingly presents himself as a very arrogant and self-centered, yet calculating individual, saved from being unlikable only by the hilarity that his antics cause. Andrew Garfield also gives a commendable performance as Zuckerberg’s good friend Saverin, whose patience is slowly, but surely being stretched thin. The solid ensemble cast
of the movie already had excellent chemistry, and under the direction of the talented David Fincher, of “Fight Club” fame, they each contributed to making this one of the bestacted dramas I have seen all year. Several points in the middle of the movie seemed to drag things out a little, and the ending of the film seemed abrupt rather than smooth. The point chosen to end the movie seemed like an odd choice, however, it did not by any means diminish what I found overall to be a textbook example of how to depict true events in film, while staying neutral as to who the audience should cheer for. In that respect, as well as having a well-told and beautifully shot story, I cannot recommend “The Social Network” enough.
Website shares family awkwardness for laughs MEGAN CAREY ART SCENE EDITOR Few websites can compete with the hilarity of fmylife.com and textsfromlastnight.com, but somehow the picture proof of unfortunate situations and families that these websites cannot offer is what places awkwardfamilyphotos.com ahead of the curve. When entering the website, the first text encountered, besides the title, is a sub-header, which reads, “Spreading the Awkwardness.” The line itself is what makes the website so funny – the mortification and shame is communal. The website was created on a whim by two friends with an awkward family photo, who decided to share it with a world and people who have plenty of awkward photos themselves. While viewing the website, I constantly found myself laughing out loud and I think anyone with a sense of humor, or a family, would do the same. Some of the photos are just plain outrageous, like an office Christmas photo with five uncooperative employees and a boss all clustered around Santa (that it is extremely hard to relate to.) The only option is to laugh out of pure excitement at the fact that someone, somewhere had to suffer through the humiliation. Many of the photos display poor, forsaken children dressed up, paraded in front of a cam-
AVOISION.COM
The lines between siblings are blurred and relationship boundaries are bent in this especially awkward family photo.
era, or forced into strange formations so that there is photo proof of a lovely childhood and adolescence. In other cases, there are photographs that border on the insane, or in some cases, accidentally incestuous. Yes, at one point it seemed like a good idea to photograph a rare father-daughter kiss, but later down the line, the realization will hit that an unmoving photo capture of the moment is creepy. A thought to consider when looking at the website and comparing it to its interweb counterparts is that this stuff cannot be made up. Sure, the texts from last night are unmatched in their comedic relief, but think about it, people can make that stuff up. What’s stopping a person from just
creating the most inappropriate conversations and sentences and posting them as “texts from last night”? The same goes for fmylife.com, where the stories and happenings from people’s lives give others the will to continue on in their not so horrible day-to-day lives. Just like other reality websites, awkwardfamilyphotos.com has a selection of categories to choose from when wanting to view awkward photos. Categories include such titles as pregnancy, random awkwardness and also an AFP (awkward family photos) Hall of Fame. Awkwardfamilyphotos. com has branched off to include awkward family stories, as well as awkward family pets, and if
someone especially loves this website, which not even I am that obsessed with, the website advertises for an “Awkward Family Photos” book. My main complaint of the site is I can only appreciate five awkward photos at a time before I have to click to the next page and wait, and wait for the next page. I want to giggle and laugh at 10, or 15 or 20 awkward photos at a time! From now on, instead of visiting the hilarious, but somewhat unbelievable websites that feature text messages and life stories, I am going to click on over to the website with the gift of showing the visitor exactly how bad a situation or a time in someone’s life was instead of resorting to flat, unimaginative words.
“Dark and Stormy Night” hearkens back to the “big, creepy house” movies of the 40’s and 50’s.
“Dark and Stormy Night” is campy “mystery” romp JARED WATSON
DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR
There are really two basic types of B-movies. First, there are movies that, if they had the budget, good actors and competent direction, would be good movies. Second, there are movies that are trying to be intentionally bad. Often called “campy” or some other whimsical thing, these films clearly don’t take themselves seriously and don’t want the audience to either. “Dark and Stormy Night” clearly falls into the latter category. It seems to be a comedic take on the haunted house film genre, in the style of the film version of “Clue” or, to a lesser extent, “The Addams Family” or “Casper.” The film follows an eclectic cast of characters who have come together, some by very questionable means, to hear the reading of the will of an old, rich dead guy, Sinas Cavender, in his big, spooky house. Just a listing of the characters’ names should clue you in on what kind of movie you’re getting into. There’s the rival reporters, 8 O’Clock Farraday and Billy Tuesday, big game hunter Jack Tugdon, cab driver Happy Codburn, foppish noble Lord Partfine, Teak Armbuster, Farper Twyly, Dr. Van Von Vandervon and, of course, Kogar the Gorilla. Hamlet, this is not. What this movie is, however, is hilarious. There is a lot of snappy, Abbott-and-Costellostyle wordplay that is just hokey enough to be noticeable and witty enough to keep you laughing, even as you remark to yourself, “Wait, that doesn’t make any sense.”
Really, the movie this reminds me of most is “Airplane,” a kind of rapid-fire spoof that goes from joke to joke so quickly that you can only appreciate how funny it was after you’ve gotten off the roller-coaster and given your brain a chance to settle back down. Overacting artfully is not an easy task, and the cast of this movie pulls it off brilliantly. The biggest ham of he bunch is easily Lord Partfine (Andrew Parks), who fills the film with lines that he believes are witty, but just make everyone else stare blankly or offer half-hearted pity laughs. He plays the the butt of the joke with style and panache. The dueling reporters and stars of the film 8 O’Clock Farraday (veteran character actor Daniel Roebuck) and Billy Tuesday (Jennifer Blaire) also deserve special mention. The pair drive the film at a breakneck pace, chiefly because of the machinegun pace of their dialogue, which seems to come straight from “The Hudsucker Proxy.” One of the more effective running gags in “Dark and Stormy Night” is the always random and never explained appareance of an old woman and a gorilla at various points throughout, and is emblematic of the humor of the entire movie: there for no reason, but somehow it works. That’s pretty much it, really. There shouldn’t be any reason why this movie is entertaining, but it is. The plot is nonexistent, the costumes and sets are ridiculous, and the acting is very, very silly. Yet, I loved it anyway. There are much worse ways to spend two hours.
This movie is riotously funny in spots, and never tries to be anything approaching serious. It has many colorful characters, memorable lines, and lets you blissfully ignore how preposterous the story is. Sometimes, you just want a movie that you can sit back and enjoy without having to think about it too much. “Dark and Stormy Night” is certainly that. -Jared Watson Digital Media Editor
Next week on “Fromage du Jour”: “Little Hercules in 3-D,” starring Hulk Hogan.
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SPORTS
Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010
Page 7
Volleyball week ends with win JUSTIN CHEATHAM
SPORTS INFORMATION
Freshman Kayla Bond tries to get a point against Texas Woman’s University during a midweek match.
The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team dropped to 4-9 on the season with a 3-0 loss to the Texas Woman’s University Pioneers on Tuesday, Sept. 28. The Lions are winless in five Lone Star Conference games. “A lot of the loss comes down on me and making sure we’re ready to play, just being better prepared,” Head Coach Craig Case said. The Loins came into the game with a new strategy, playing new lineups and substituting player more often. “[The new strategy] allowed us to go into lineups we were working on that people have not seen before,” Case said. “We were trying to keep them off guard. Any time they made a tactical change, that played into our advantage.” Senior Terra Ousley and sophomore Rachel Robertson led the team offensively with nine kills apiece. Freshman Jordan Neal was a strong defensive presence with 13 digs
and 25 assists. Senior Naomi Mays anchored the team, playing almost the entire match and rounding out the leader board with 8 kills and 11 digs. “It was a defensive loss,” Case said. “We were out blocked and we never get out blocked, out dug and they out served us as well.” Denton native and freshman Kayla Bond, who had three kills and two assists in the loss, said she was actually up against some familiar faces. “I went to high school with two of the girls, they are really good friends,” Bond said. ”It actually helped because I know how they play.” The Pioneers were led by senior Launa McClung with 11 kills, while senior Kendra Coulson had the most digs with 19. Senior Sydney Veitenheimer and freshman Kaytlin Harrison led the Pioneers in assists with 14. (from Oct. 2) The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team won for the second day in a row,
defeating host Texas A&M-International, 25-22, 25-18, 25-16 on Saturday afternoon. A&M-Commerce (6-9) sophomore Morgan Moeller (pictured, photo by Jared Horn) led the attack with a team-best 12 kills. The Lions out hit the Dust Devils by a .247 to a .103 margin. The entire contest was tied 10 times and the lead exchanged hands just five times. A&M-International (0-16) got 10 kills from Jacquelynne Matula in the loss. Moeller and the entire Lions lineup hit a positive hitting percentage, including a .320 clip from the Scurry, Texas native. Senior Naomi Mays had eight kills and hit .350 and freshman Kayla Bond added five kills and hit .214. Setting the attack for the Lions was freshman Jordan Neal, who had 25 assists and nearly a double double with eight digs. The Lions will look to continue their winning ways on Tuesday evening, when they travel to Ouachita Baptist for a 6:00 p.m. contest.
Lions return to LSC play in soccer SPORTS INFORMATION
Two second-half goals were enough to lead host West Texas A&M to a 3-1 win over the Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s soccer team on Friday afternoon. West Texas A&M (6-1-2, 2-0 LSC) got on the board first when Samantha Cameron found the back of the net for the fourth time on the season in the 24th minute. She lofted a shot from 10 yards out over the Lions goalkeeper for the 1-0 advantage. The Lions (5-3, 1-1 LSC) looked to equalize for the remainder of the first half when a Megan Monroe shot sailed high and a header attempt by senior Chelsey Haight was saved by the Lady Buffs keeper Kelly Skehan. Haight also had opportunities in the 43rd and 62nd minute. The Granbury, Texas native had a match-high five shots in the contest. Later, West Texas A&M
added goals in the 68th and 73rd minute to build a 3-0 advantage. The Lions dashed the hopes for a shutout when senior Alex Germain scored her first goal of the season from Haight. The Cleburne, Texas native slipped past backup goalkeeper Yvette Bedoy for the Lions’ goal in the 87th minute. Next up for A&MCommerce is a contest against Eastern New Mexico on Sunday at noon in Portales, N.M (from Oct. 3) Two second half goals within six minutes of each other led the Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s soccer team to a 2-0 win over host Eastern New Mexico on Sunday afternoon. A&M-Commerce (6-3, 2-1 LSC) out shot the Zias by a 10 to 7 margin but it was their two shots on the goal that proved to be the difference. The first came in the 58th minute when senior Chelsey Haight headed in
a corner kick from senior Megan Monroe for her team-best fourth goal on the year. The Lions added to their lead when freshman Elle DeFreitas (pictured - #9 - photo by Donny Haight) scored her second goal of the season when her shot banked off the far post in the 64th minute. Looking for her first multi-goal game of her career, the Flower Mound, Texas native had a header attempt that was blocked and another shot that went wide. Lions goalkeeper junior Randi Hafele faced seven shots; however, none were on goal for her fifth shutout of the season. Eastern New Mexico (3-7, 0-3 LSC) had four players with shots, including three from Brook Serrano in the loss. Next, A&M-Commerce returns home to host Angelo State on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and LSC newcomer Incarnate Word on Sunday at noon.
Senior Chelsey Haight tries to keep the ball in play during a game at the A&M-Commerce Soccer Field.
Athletic department names 2010 Hall of Fame class SPORTS INFORMATION The Texas A&M University-Commerce athletic department announced its newest inductees for the Hall of Fame for 2010. The inductees include the 1999 soccer team, the 1980 football team, the 1980 volleyball team and former Lions standouts – Dennis Dyce, Harry Fritz, James Thrower and Cheryl Zachary. In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, Clarence Lynch and Marvin Sedberry will be recognized as the Bobby Fox Outstanding Coach Award recipients. The 1999 soccer team posted a 16-4-1 record, won the Lone Star Conference regular season and tournament titles as well as advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. Lions Erin Adamson, Toni Catchings and Sarah Fagan earned NSCAA all-region recognition. Adamson, Catchings, Fagan and teammates Stacy Carr, Laurie Donovan and Sherri Konlande were named first team all-Lone Star Conference.
After winning the regular season LSC title, A&M-Commerce defeated Midwestern State by a 2-1 margin to win the LSC Tournament for the first tourney title in program history. The Lions were the first-ever LSC representative in the NCAA Tournament. In their debut appearance, they advanced on a 1-0 victory over Incarnate Word. Next, A&MCommerce dropped its Elite Eight contest to host Cal Poly Pomona by a 2-1 score in overtime. A&M-Commerce finished the season ranked No. 6 in the country. The 1980 volleyball team posted a 25-18 mark. The Lions rattled off eight straight wins in the post season to reach the finals of the NAIA Championship against Azuza Pacific. East Texas State dropped a 3-15, 15-10, 2-15, 10-15 decision. In pool play leading up to the championship, the Lions did not drop a set. To advance to the championship match, they rallied from a two-set deficit against Nebraska Kearney to win
the match in five. The 1980 football team reached the NAIA semifinals before losing to eventual national champion Elon, 14-6 after posting an 8-3-1 mark. The Lions reached as high as No. 3 in the rankings before ending their season No. 8 in the NAIA polls. Quarterback Wade Wilson led the LSC in total offense and passing en route to being named the J.W. “Dough” Rollins Outstanding Back after passing for 1,978 yards on 116 of 227 passes for 19 touchdowns. Wilson also earned NAIA first team and Associated Press honorable mention AllAmerican honors. For his efforts, the Minnesota Vikings selected Wilson in the eighth round of the NFL draft. Linebacker Danny Kirk was named NAIA second and AP honorable mention All-American as well as first team allLSC. Others earning allLSC recognition on the first team was defensive guard Curtis Ray. Plus, on the second team were defensive guard Jimmy Buster,
center Blake Cooper, defensive back Anthony Freeman, split end Randy Smith and honorable mention honors was tackle Bishop Spencer. Dennis Dyce was originally from Brooklyn, New York before coming to A&M-Commerce, where he was a four-year member of the Lions track and field team from 1967 to 1970. In 1967, he was the Lone Star Conference champion in the 440-yard dash. To this date, Dyce is a member of three record-setting relays that include the outdoor and indoor mile relay and the sprint medley. He served as a team captain as a junior and as a senior. After graduation from East Texas State, he participated in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, where he was a member of the Jamaican Olympic Team and was selected as a Distinguished Alumni in 1993. Harry Fritz was a key member of the 1972 national champion tennis team at East Texas State. He won the 1972 National
Singles Championship and partnered up with Bob Hochstadter to win the National Doubles Championship. Fritz was also the 1972 Lone Star Conference singles champion, where he defeated his Lions’ teammate Hochstadter as well as he and Hochstadter teamed up to win the LSC doubles title over teammates. At the end of the season, he was selected as first team All-American and first team all-Lone Star Conference. James Thrower, who is originally from Camden, Arkansas, was a threesport athlete at East Texas State in basketball, football and track and field. He originally came to the Lions on a basketball scholarship, but it is in football where he excelled. As a three-year starter on the football team, he intercepted 12 passes for 135 yards. He also earned one letter in basketball and two in track and field as a member of the 440yard relay and the high jump. Following his playing days, he went
on to a five-year career in the NFL. He spent two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and three additional years with the Detroit Lions. Cheryl Zachary finished second at the 1981 TAIAW State Championships in the discus with a throw of 143-8 as a senior. As a junior, in 1980, Zachary and the Lions tied for fourth place honors with Baylor at the TAIAW State Championships. In the discus, she was second with a throw of 133-8 and fourth in the javelin with a toss of 119 feet. Earlier in the season, Zachary was third in the discus and fifth in the javelin at the ACU Open. At the Lions home meet, the East Texas State University Invitational, she won the discus and was third in the javelin. At the Sam Houston Invitational, she took second in the discus and fourth in the javelin. As a standout athlete at Grapevine High School, she was the district and regional champion and brought home fourthplace honors in the discus as a senior.
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sports
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Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010
LSC Football Scores:
Box Score:
TAMU-C v. SE Oklahoma
West Texas A&M 34 Northeastern State 22
SE Okla.......0......0....7....7_14 TAMU-C.....6....13....0....0_19
Eastern New Mexico 10 Southwestern Okla. 21
First Quarter A&M-C_Billings 70 yd fumble recovery (Abo-Mahmood kick failed), 1:22 Second Quarter A&M-C_Graham 14 yd run (Abo-Mahmood kick), 10:28 A&M-C_Hayes 10 yd pass from Farkes (T. Fore rush failed), 2:59 Third Quarter SOSU_Shelley 15 yd pass from Turner (Peoples kick), 1:44 Fourth Quarter SOSU_Shelley 17 yd pass from Turner (Peoples kick), 14:24
Southeastern Okla. 14 A&M-Commerce 19 Angelo State 34 Tarleton State 37 Abilene Christian 31 A&M-Kingsville 24 Incarnate Word 31 Midwestern State 38 East Central 28 Central Okla. 31
Standings North Division 1) UCO, 2-3 (1-0) 2) NE State, 2-3 (1-0) 3) Eastern NM, 2-3 (1-1) 4) TAMU-C, 2-3 (1-1) 5) SE Oklahoma, 1-4 (0-2) 6) SW Oklaoma, 1-4 (1-1) 7) East Central, 1-4 (1-1)
SOSU A&M-C First Downs..........21...........17..... Total Yards..........341.........332.... Rushes-Yards....45-210...32-108. Passing.................131.........224.... Punt Returns.......1-10........0-0.... Kickoff Returns...4-75.......3-64... Interceptions.......2-65.........0-0.... Comp-Att-Int....16-32-0..21-34-0 Sack-Yds Lost......0-0.........3-21... Punts...................7-198......4-229.. Fumbles-Lost.......1-1..........1-0.... Penalties-Yds......7-55.......9-119.. TOP.....................30:33......29:27..
South Division 1) Midwestern, 5-0 (1-0) 2) ACU, 5-0 (2-0) 3) West Texas A&M, 4-1 (1-0) 4) A&M-Kingsville, 4-1 (1-1) 5) ASU, 2-2 (0-2) 6) Incarnate Word, 1-4 (0-2) 7) Tarleton, 1-4 (1-1)
LSC Women’s Soccer Scores: Oct. 1 TWU 1, Eastern NM 0 UCO 1, Angelo State 4 Midwestern 3, NE State 1 ACU 4, East Central 2 TAMU-C 1, W. Texas A&M 3 SW Okla. 0, Incarnate 2 Oct. 3 TAMU-C 2, Eastern NM 0 UCO 0, Incarnate 1 East Central 0, Midwestern 8 SW Okla. 1, Angelo State 2 TWU 0, W. Texas A&M 0 ACU 2, NE State 1
Standings 1) Midwestern, 8-1 (3-0) 2) Angelo State, 6-3-1 (3-0-0)
3) W. Texas A&M, 6-1-3 (2-0-1)
4) ACU, 7-2 (2-1) 5) TAMU-C, 6-3 (2-1) 6) Incarnate, 4-3-2 (2-1-0) 7) TWU, 3-6-1 (1-1-1) 8) UCO, 5-5 (1-2) 9) NE State, 4-3-2 (0-2-1) 10) East Central, 4-4-2 (0-2-1) 11) SW Oklahoma, 4-6 (0-3) 12) Eastern NM, 3-7 (0-3)
Junior running back Marcus Graham runs the ball in for a touchdown during the Lions’ 19-14 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State.
Lions weather ‘storm’ to claim win continued from page 1 threw his first interception of the game. The A&M-Commerce defense held firm and, once again, SOSU downed the punt within the Lions’ 10-yard line. Following an A&M-Commerce three and out, the Lions defense forced SOSU to punt, despite their short field. A&M-Commerce’s offense had to start from within their own 10 for the third straight time and recorded another three and out. SOSU finally took advantage of their superior field position when sophomore quarterback Logan Turner connected with sophomore wide receiver Ryan Shelley for a 15-yard touchdown. A&M-Commerce began
moving the ball well again until Farkes’s pass was picked off by Eric Walker and returned 65 yards to the Lions 10. Turner and Shelly struck again a few plays later to bring the visitors within five points. On their opening drive of the fourth quarter, head coach Guy Morriss went for it on fourth and two, and the Lions failed to convert for the first down. A&M-Commerce’s defense held SOSU on their own fourth down attempt, but the offense could only eat up a minute of time before punting the ball. Both teams punted on their next possessions, and SOSU found themselves in Lion territory with three minutes left in the game. Turner almost com-
pleted a third touchdown pass to Shelley, but the wideout dropped the pass in the end zone. SOSU could not recover, and A&M-Commerce linebacker Marlin Terrell stopped receiver Brandon DeFrance short of a first down on fourth and six to effectively win the game. Graham finished with 110 yards on 24 carries and one touchdown, his second straight 100-yard effort. He now has 437 yards and four touchdowns through five games. Wide receiver Kenzee Jackson led the Lions with eight catches for 70 yards, increasing his team-leading reception total to 17. Linebacker Danny Mason, who had several impressive stops during
That Sports Thing: Most influential in football win?
ADAM TROXTELL SPORTS EDITOR Out of all the positives you can take from the A&M-Commerce football game last Saturday, the running game sticks out in my mind as the game changer. For the Lions offense to have a good game, it must be balanced. We cannot expect Adam Farkes to step back and pick out a receiver every single time and have to keep the defense guessing. That is exactly what the efforts of Marcus Graham did against Southeastern Oklahoma. The first half was
all Graham. He touched the ball five times on the opening possession. This made the Savage Storm defense take a cautious approach, they had to think more, and it all played into the Lions’ hands. Before long, he even scored the first offensive touchdown for A&M-Commerce. More than that, Graham’s 110 yards on 24 carries was a huge motivational factor. Breaking off even a six or seven yard run can jump start an offensive drive. Things did slow down in the second half, but he was still there, charging away, getting precious yards at a time when the Lions needed to hold onto the ball and run out the clock. This was Graham’s second 100+ rushing yard game in a row. The junior is really stepping into the role of playmaker, and the Southeastern game is the best example of that so far. He was unquestionably the biggest factor in the Lions’ win.
“bend but don’t break” philosophy and the ball control of the offense to limit Southeastern’s attack. In the second half, the A&M-Commerce D came out firing on all cylinders, constantly pressuring the quarterback en route to three sacks. Lions defensive lineman and linebackers were in the backfield on almost CALEB SLINKARD MANAGING EDITOR every passing down, rendering the Savage Storm’s passing attack all The Lions 19-14 vicbut useless. tory over Southeastern To begin the second Oklahoma State University last Saturday half, Southeastern had a was hardly a convincing short field for their first three drives and A&Mone. We saw two sides Commerce held them to of A&M-Commerce’s only seven points. offense – a powerful, Granted, only a balanced attack in the dropped touchdown first half and an impoby Southeastern’s Ryan tent, inefficient one in Shelley kept the Lions the second – and witfrom losing, but the nessed a depressingly poor special teams effort last defensive stand for A&M-Commerce demin Saturday’s game. onstrated how dominant One consistent part their defense can be, even of the Lions football team, however, was the without Cory Whitefield and the numerous defendefense. They shut out the Savage Storm in the sive starters they lost to graduation. first half, relying on a
the game, led the team with 15 total tackles and now has 55 on the year. “The win feels good,” Mason said. “We held our composure and our instincts kicked in because we knew we had to dominate.” Farkes finished with 224 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions and was not sacked. “It was pretty easy to play quarterback tonight,” he said. “I wasn’t really touched all night. It all starts with the offensive line.” A&M-Commerce travels to Northeastern Oklahoma State next week for a 2 p.m. kickoff before returning home to play Tarleton State in the first televised home football game in A&MCommerce history.
LSC Volleyball Scores: (from Oct. 2) Emporia State 1, ACU 3 Central Mo. 3, SW Okla. 0
Ark.-Ft. Smith 3, W.T. A&M 0
SW Baptist 0, ASU 3 Ark.-Monticello 3, ECU 0 TWU 0, Mizzou Southern 3 Henderson State 0, UCO 3 Tarleton 0, Washburn 3 Okla. Baptist 3, SE Okla. 0 TAMU-C 3, A&M-Intn’l. 0 Cameron 3, UT-Permian 1 ECU 0, Arkansas Tech 3 Truman 3, ACU 0
St. Mary’s 0, Midwestern 3 Okla. Pan-Handle 1, Tarleton 3
Standings 1) ACU, 13-3 (4-0)
2) West Texas A&M, 10-7 (4-0)
3) UCO, 14-5 (4-1) 4) Midwestern State, 9-7 (3-1) 5) Angelo State, 7-9 (3-1) 6) A&M-Kingsville, 7-8 (2-2) 7) Tarleton State, 14-5 (2-2) 8) Cameron, 7-9 (2-2) 9) Incarnate Word, 4-7 (2-3) 10) Texas Woman’s, 4-13 (2-3)
11) Eastern NM, 8-9 (1-3) 12) SE Oklahoma, 4-10 (1-3) 13) East Central, 2-17 (1-3) 14) SW Oklahoma, 6-13 (1-4) 15) TAMU-C, 5-9 (0-5)
Lions Sports Week Thurs. Oct. 7
v. Angelo State 7 p.m.
Friday Oct. 8
Saturday Oct. 9
Sunday Oct. 10
Monday Oct. 11
@ N’eastern State 2 p.m.
v. Tarleton State 2 p.m.
v. Incarnate Word Noon
@ Southern Arkansas 6 p.m.
Tuesday Oct. 12
Wed. Oct. 13
Listen to From the Bench Friday nights from 6 to 6:30 p.m. on your station 88.9 KETR with Jared Watson and Caleb Slinkard