DW
COUNTRY THUNDER ROLLS INTO TOWN A day in which ‘Woodstock meets county fair’
PAGE 14
WILDLIFE
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The independent student voice of the University of Arizona since 1899 monday, april , dailywildcat.com
tucson, arizona
Ex-presidents welcome Fritze Donors By Laura E. Donovan ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT Thirteen former Associated Students of the University of Arizona presidents gathered at Joel’s Bistro Friday to welcome President-elect Emily Fritze into office. “Just the fact that so many former presidents are back today shows that they really care about the university,” said Fritze, current ASUA executive vice president. “It’s very nice to meet people who I have heard a lot about, especially those that you hear their names over and over again in ASUA.” Benjamin W. Graff, an attorney who
served as student body president for 2000-01, organized the event. “Up until last year when President (Chris) Nagata came into office, ASUA lost its tradition of having these dinners,” Graff said. “We hadn’t had one of these gatherings since the late 1970s until then.” The student body president alumni dinner took place at a Chinese restaurant in the past. Graff and former Presidents Francisco Aguilar and Alistair J. Chapman decided to put the gathering back together. “No matter what you do in your professional career, you will compare it to your position as ASUA president.
To this day, there isn’t a person here who doesn’t feel that pride of being student body president,” Graff said. “You get everyone together and see how much history is in the room. It’s an unparalleled experience.” Erin Hertzog, 2006-07 student body president and currently an Arizona Students’ Association lobbyist, was the only female former president who attended. The oldest former president in attendance was Donald Butler, who served in the 1950-51 school year. “A lot of my colleagues had come back from the service, so we were a little more serious than those that
had come right from high school,” Butler said. “We were pretty settled, you might say. We did wild things. It was a good time; the war was over.” Butler, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity alumnus, remembers having a positive relationship with the president of the university. “We always had a good dialogue,” Butler said. Most of the former presidents discussed the major changes in the UA since their time in office. “When I was ASUA president, the Free Speech Movement had just occurred in California, so the university DINNER, page 3
CRAWLING HOME FROM CLUBS
Gordon Bates/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thousands of music and nightlife patrons took to the ‘closed to vehicle traffic’ streets of downtown Tucson on Saturday evening to enjoy the festivities associated with the spring 2010 Club Crawl. The event is bordered off from outsiders, which allows attendees to pay one cover charge for entrance to dozens of clubs and bars as well as several stages of music featuring more than 20 bands.
‘Shred It’ for UMC By Bethany Barnes ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT
Boxes piled up at the University Medical Center’s parking lot as people handed over their documents to be shredded. The University Medical Center Foundation and Keller Williams Southern Arizona, a realty company, shredded paper to raise money for Diamond Children’s Medical Center on Saturday. “People were lined up before 10 a.m.,” said Thomas Sanders, senior development officer at the University Medical Center Foundation.“We haven’t stopped, and we haven’t had a break the entire time.” This is the group’s second “Shred It” event. The first event took place last Halloween and raised $10,000. Sanders said he felt the event had gone way beyond the first in terms of boxes of paper. Keith Johnson, a realtor with Keller Williams Southern Arizona, wanted to do the fundraiser for Diamond Children’s after UMC took care of his children. “Keith Johnson has children that have received very high medical attention from UMC, so he has a very close connection with UMC,” said Anthony Azar, a majority owner of Keller Williams Southern Arizona. Johnson had twins in 2007, and one of his sons spent 9 1/2 weeks at UMC’s neonatal intensive care unit. “They did such a good job taking care of my kids,”Johnson said. Johnson said the first “Shred It” provided the Diamond Children’s Medical Center enough money to afford 10 resuscitators. The unit had only three previously. “We are actually saving seconds, possibly a minute, to have these extra ones to save someone’s life,” PAPER, page 3
Community tees off to fight Lou Gehrig’s disease By Jazmine Woodberry ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT The ninth annual Jim Himelic Memorial Golf Classic raised money for Lou Gehrig’s Disease on Friday. Gehrig’s, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, attacking brain and spinal cord nerve cells, which weakens and eventually fully atrophies muscles. The tournament is named in honor of Jim Himelic, a UA alumnus who died from the disease in 2000. Golfers teed off in a shotgun format, which means all the players teed off simultaneously on different holes. Other community members took part in the tournament in order to honor Himelic. “I knew Jim (Himelic) very well, he was a very good friend,” said Bryon Jones, a friend of the Himelics.“Jim was one of the nicest men I’d ever met in my life, and his whole family is awesome.” Jim and Gayle Fieberg were also friends of the Himelics.
“We come even though we are Sun Devils,” said Jim Fieberg, academic success specialist at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. “The Himelics are our friends, and we have other family members with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) … the only way you are going to deal with something like this is to keep pounding money into research.” Himelic graduated from the UA in 1973, practicing as a Tucson district attorney until the early 1980s before moving to private practice in the 1990s. He then became a juvenile court judge a few years before his death. Dan Himelic, one of Jim Himelic’s seven kids, has tried to help find a cure for ALS through his work with the foundation, as well as pursuing a degree in medicine from the UA. He is graduating in May. “It’s probably the reason I got into med school,” said Dan Himelic. “I saw how much the disease can affect a family and what a good doctor can do
for people, so that inspired me.” Several people with UA ties, such as former UA coach Jerry Kindall, of whom Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium derives its namesake, took part to honor those throughout their lives who had dealt with the disease. “My late wife died of ALS 22 years ago and I’ve been here ever since they founded the tournament,” Kindall said. The disease affects about 5,600 people per year; most are given only two to five years to survive after being diagnosed. Statistics like these drive Dan Himelic to keep the foundation moving towards its goal of raising $1 million in seed money for the UA Neurology Department to fight the disease. Financing three different UA researchers, the foundation has provided funding for research into a mouse model, genetic research into the fruit fly and two UA doctors conducting clinical research, making the UA one of GOLF, page 3
Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Gayle Fieberg, right, tries to coax her putt into the hole on Friday on the par-3 10th hole at Omni Tucson National Golf Resort and Spa while the rest of her foursome looks on. Golfers teed off at Catalina Course to benefit research for a cure for Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
News is always breaking at dailywildcat.com ... or follow us on
: @DailyWildcat