“People ask me sometimes how many children I have, and I don’t know how to answer that. I had two, I have one left, or do I still have two, and one’s in the ground? How do I answer that?”
american river
current Vol. 66, Ed. 9 • March 11, 2015
Racial language prompts walkout DIRECTOR SAYS HE ‘DROPPED THE BALL’ BY NOT WARNING AUDIENCE
By Matthew Wilke
mattwilke675@gmail.com On the opening night of American River College’s recent theatre production, “Blues for Mister Charlie,” the opening scene featured heavy and emotional use of the N-word with no prior warning, and director Sam Williams admitted to “dropping the ball.” There were no warning signs or parental advisory guidelines for the play, and after intermission, about a quarter of the audience was gone, mostly parents and their children. Audience member Juliana Nassr said, “I remember people were shocked that there were kids.” The lead usher and theater major Xristina Potouridis said, “I had to warn parents who brought their kids there was strong language.” Williams claims to have warned people in his opening speech, but there are a handful of people who don’t seem to recall such a warning, including Potouridis and Nassr. From the first scene on, “Blues” is a play that tackles race in a heavy manner. Based on the murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till, written by James Baldwin,
SEE ‘BLUES,’ PAGE 8
MARCH IN MARCH PAGE 6
Kameron Schmid / kameronschmid@gmail.com
Shattered hearts
Bill and Vee Arroyo, both ARC employees, lost their daughter almost five years ago when she was murdered on March 13, 2010.
PARENTS OF MURDERED DAUGHTER, A FORMER ARC STUDENT, TRY TO RECOVER FROM LOSS AS THE FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY NEARS By Kameron Schmid kameronschmid@gmail.com
B
ill and Vee Arroyo know their daughter, Monica Anderson, wasn’t perfect. They just wish she was alive. As the five year anniversary of Anderson’s March 13, 2010 murder approaches, the married couple, both ARC employees, are taking the slow and difficult steps to living their lives with the weight of loss Family photo on their shoulders. Monica Anderson was once an Anderson, then 26, was killed that night by friend ARC student, but died at 26 years and former roommate Lan Anh Le, then 20, after a old after being stabbed 91 times night of partying that included heavy alcohol and by her former roommate.
SEE ARROYO, PAGE 3
ARC’s 15-year peephole battle STALLS IN MEN’S BATHROOMS CAN’T BE REPLACED, SO HOLES JUST GET COVERED UP By Matthew Wilke matwilke675@gmail.com Imagine sitting in the bathroom stall on campus. As you look over, you notice an eye peering through a small, roughly carvedout hole invading your privacy. For almost two decades, this has been a possibility on campus. A series of peepholes, drilled out holes that people can see through, have been made in at least three of the men’s bathrooms at ARC’s main campus. The largest peephole can be found in the science department men’s bathroom, and smaller holes can be found in the liberal arts breezeway and Davies Hall. Sergeant Mike Olson of the Los Rios Police Department implied
ARCurrent.com
INDEX
cocaine use. Le stabbed Anderson 91 times and is currently serving a 25 years-to-life sentence. Bill, Anderson’s stepfather, was on his way to church that morning when he says he felt an overwhelming need to go back home to Vee. He joined her on a trip to drop off laundry to Anderson’s apartment. “We went over there and came up on it as they were investigating the crime scene. To this day, we don’t know if the body was there when we were,” Bill said. Added Vee, “I was walking up to the crime scene
the bathrooms are active spots for people to meet up to engage in sexual activities with one another. “It has been a problem in my time here for over 15 years,” Sgt. Olson said. Maria Arambula, a custodian, said that the peepholes have always been an issue on campus in the 19 years of her working at the school. Said Olson, “We will prosecute anytime that we can apprehend someone, but it is exceedingly difficult to catch someone in the act of using those or creating them. “We have to rely on a report from a person who using the bathroom, or someone who saw
SEE PEEPHOLES, PAGE 2
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News pages 2 & 3 Sports pages 4 & 5
Feature page 6 A&C page 8
Matthew Wilke / mattwilke675@gmail.com
The biggest of the peepholes in men’s bathrooms on campus is routinely covered up by maintenance staff with any scrap metal they can find.
@ARCurrent
Scene pages 9 & 10 Opinion page 11
TUBDRAGGER PAGE 9
@ARCurrent Two-piece psychedelic band made of ARC students describes their music as ‘lethargic.’