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ARCurrent.com @ARCurrent Facebook.com/ARCurrentcom Vol. 64, Ed. 10 • April 3, 2013
Broken police call box raises concerns about student safety AN INCREASE IN CRIME BRINGS AWARENESS TO STUDENTS WHO NO LONGER FEEL SAFE AND SECURE ON CAMPUS By Jessica Maynard jessica.r.maynard87@gmail.com
SEE SAFETY, PAGE 2
A LOOK INSIDE
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devastated his career and reputation, ultimately destroying many of his relationships. Webb’s biography is being made into a feature film starring Jeremy Renner as the lead role. The movie, called “Kill the Messenger,” draws from two books: “Kill the Messenger,” by Nick Schou, and Gary Webb’s own book, “Dark Alliance: the CIA, the By Jeff Gonzales & Tracy Johnson Novak Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explojeff.a.gonzales@gmail.com sion.” tracy.johnsonnovak@gmail.com Eric Webb left his successful career as a journalist at ARC in order to edit “The American River College has many Killing Game,” a book that includes all of people walk through its halls, all on difthe “Dark Alliance” stories, along with ferent paths, from different backgrounds, many of Gary’s other investigative pieces. and with different experiences. One such The book was published in 2011, seven former ARC student is freelance jouryears after Gary’s death, and lists both nalist Eric Webb, who never thought his Gary and Eric’s name on the cover and family’s tragic life experience would now spine. become a movie starring one of Holly“Even when my father was alive, there wood’s hottest actors. was a movie deal about [“Dark Alliance”] Eric Webb’s father, Pulitzer Prize-wingoing on,” Eric Webb said. “When 9/11 ning investigative journalist Gary Webb, happened, everybody backed out because wrote a three-part series for the San Jose of how it dealt with the government.” Mercury News in 1996 called “Dark AlliThe movie finally caught major atance.” The stories explored and exposed tention when it was confirmed in early the connection between the CIA supportFeb. that Renner would play Gary Webb. ing Nicaraguan Contra and the crack coRenner’s own production company, The caine epidemic that hit African-American Combine, is co-producing, along with communities in the 1980s. former Universal Producer Scott Stuber’s The reaction to Gary Webb’s story company, Bluegrass Films.
“It took a long time, but the real jump was getting Jeremy Renner behind the film,” Eric Webb said about the process. His mother, Susan Stokes, is also happy with Renner’s support. “I was just so excited that Jeremy Renner is playing Gary,” Stokes said. “I just thought he was such a good pick for the role. He’s known about this movie and said he wanted the role for over a year and stuck with it this whole time.” Some major players are also tied to the film. Focus Features has worldwide rights to the film, which keeps it with parent company, Universal Pictures, who originally approached Gary Webb about production almost 10 years ago. Michael Cuesta, executive producer and director of the TV series “Homeland” is set to direct the film. The screenplay was written and developed by Peter Landesman, who was a good friend of the elder Webb and has interviewed Stokes in-depth to develop the story. Finally having the opportunity to help with telling his fathers story, Eric Webb hopes to find closure and change public perceptions about Gary Webb. Conspiracy theories abound online, with stories of
SEE WEBB, PAGE 6
Engarde! Join “The Three Musketeers” on a grand adventure ARC THEATRE PRODUCTION TOUCHES ON EVERY END OF THE EMOTIONAL SPECTRUM TO CLOSE OUT THE SEASON
Emily K. Rabasto / emilyksmith6@gmail.com
There has been a recent hike in campus crime across the United States, including at American River College. Last November, a woman was taken from campus at knifepoint and was sexually assaulted. Students need to showcase caution on campus more than ever, especially when walking around by themselves. If you find physically that you’re in an uncompromising situation, ARC has implemented security precautions. There are 14 blue light-up call boxes placed across the campus, an increase in police patrolling the grounds, and a shuttle for students who take night classes. You can find the blue light-up call boxes, which will connect you directly to police dispatchers during an emergency situation, spread throughout the campus. Currently, one of ARC’s boxes is out of order on the fourth floor in the parking garage. So what should you do if you find yourself in danger near a call box that’s broken? “Program the campus police emergency line into your cell phone (916-558-2221), call the emergency line and press 0, and then you get to talk to a live operator,” Speech professor Alissa Shubb said. Even with these entities implemented throughout the campus, students are still struggling to feel safe and secure. Public announcements around school about crime could help more people feel safe. Across America, it has been proven through numerous polls that women feel less safe on col-
MOTION PICTURE CENTERS ON NATIONAL CONTROVERSY OF FORMER ARC STUDENT’S FATHER GARY WEBB
By Jonathan H. Ellyson jonathanellyson@gmail.com Shots fire. Musketeers charge down the staircase toward the rebel Huguenots who are attacking them. Two Musketeers fall, and an explosion kills five combatants. The main character, D’Artagnon, sees his comrades fall, then charges from the stairs only to be brutally slaughtered. The Musketeers lie dead at the base of the stairs. “Oh my…Oh, no…oh dear. This won’t do at all. Out, Out, Out!!!” cries Alexandre Dumas, the author of the story of “The Three Musketeers.” “Never
ARC Confessions
Students discuss relationship problems, issues on campus and clique dysfunctions
hurts to have the author on your side,” one Musketeer comments as the scene resets and the enemy numbers are reduced. Dumas is an author struggling to finish his newspaper serial on time. He is being harassed by his editor, so he begins to write “The Three Musketeers,” an adventure with action, daring and romance. The American River College theater department’s production of “The Three Musketeers” opens April 26 at 8 p.m. The cast is already enthusiastic
SEE MUSKETEERS, PAGE 8
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The Gap-Toothed Madness ARC student’s magazine allows writers and artists the opportunity to be published
Matthew Johnston and Aaron Bayless practice dueling with fencing swords during a fight scene rehearsal for the ARC theatre production of “The Three Musketeers” which runs from April 26 to May 5.
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Current Editorial Students need to step up and vote