2009-03-18

Page 1

THE BG NEWS Wednesday March 18, 2009

Volume 103, Issue 118

CAMPUS

WWW.BGVIEWS.COM

Organization helps mentally ill The National Alliance on Mental Illness local chapter hopes to be a comfort to those who suffer | Page 3

FORUM

Believe the facts, not libel

Forum Editor Kyle Schmidlin takes a look at the way Americans still cling to left and right wing politics, and insists that unity can only come through understanding the world and trusting facts instead of slander | Page 4

NATION

Taking a break from worries Thousands of people in New York took a break from foreign and domestic economic worries to celebrate St. Patrick’s day and march in the parade | Page 12

WASHINGTON

Time to pay it back, AIG

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus is said to issue a proposal soon that will force AIG to pay back the bonuses it paid out after receiving bailout money | Page 5

PEOPLE ON THE STREET

SPORTS

Falcon hoops honored

Both Coach Miller and Lauren Prochaska were honored by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association | Page 6

ESTABLISHED 1920 A daily independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community

University’s Hockey program here to stay

Paula Ribeau finds new home

Q & A

By Theresa Scott Reporter

A:

Since moving from Bowling Green, Paula Ribeau has racked up some frequent flier miles. Since the beginning of the month she has been in Seattle, Detroit, Chicago and back to her new hometown of Washington D.C. The former first lady of the University moved to D.C. at the beginning of the school year when former President Sidney Ribeau accepted a position as President of Howard University. Ribeau said she is slowly making herself at home at Howard. As Executive Director of Alternative Spring Break, a program which offers students the opportunity to devote their Spring Break to community service, Ribeau has been developing four different experiences across the country. Some of the issues students are dealing with during Howard’s spring break are gun violence in Chicago, legal issues in New Orleans, literacy in Detroit and homelessness in D.C. “I have found yet another way to connect with students,” Ribeau said. “And that is really what I am passionate about here at Howard and what I was passionate about at BG.” Ribeau found some downtime while at a conference in Seattle to talk about BG, Howard and her year of change. Ribeau said she would always feel a connection with the University and the people, but said the move to D.C. could not have come at a more exciting time. “You really do not have to try very hard get swept up in this energy that is surrounding the District and Howard right now,” Ribeau said. “Once you are there it just sort of takes over.”

You know, if you would have asked me 3 months ago I would have said, “why did we take this job, why did we move,” but as time has gone on the campus of Howard is getting smaller and smaller to us. One of the really exciting things is understanding the history of the university and as we absorb that and all that is going on in the city and on campus Howard becomes a very exciting place to be. Also there is nothing to not love about the city. There is this very special, transient feeling passing through the city right now and it is really something to experience.

Q:

D.C. must have this amazing energy right now, what is it like to be in sort of the heat of it all and what was it like during the whole election and inauguration?

A:

[The inauguration] was one of the most invigorating and exciting moments of my life. We were blessed enough to go to the neighborhood ball and it was just so exciting. The feeling is just so hard to describe and we were right in the middle of it, in the crowd, we were really close but it was almost more exciting to watch the crowd on the TV because then you really can understand the magnitude of it. When you are in the crowd you don’t always see that. I just had so many chills that night. There was this energy that went into the inauguration and has sort of flowed into D.C. for a little while. There is this transient meeting of people and this feeling of being connected all the time. Sometimes I think, am I really meeting this person? But there is this energy coming out of this excitement of our time.

Q:

How has the transition from BG to Howard affected you and President Ribeau?

See RIBEAU| Page 2

By Sean Shapiro Reporter

After a week of uncertainty, the University’s Hockey program will be around for the 2009-10 school year. One week away from celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1984 national championship, it seemed quite feasible there would never be a 26th anniversary. All that changed at around 2 p.m. yesterday afternoon. “I wanted to let you know we will field all 18 of our sports teams for the 200910 school year,” University Athletic Director Greg Christopher said in an e-mail to the University. In the letter, Christopher said that while there will be budget cuts that will greatly affect athletic programs, no athletic program would be cut completely. Rumors of cutting the hockey program turned into much more of a reality last Wednesday when the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune wrote about the programs possible demise. University President Carol Cartwright said she had no idea how the rumors picked up so much momentum so quickly. It was a similar situation for the current Falcon players who were on spring break when the story started to break. “IkindofwokeuptoitlastWednesday,” said Falcon Hockey’s leading scorer Dan Sexton. “I got a phone call, it just spread so fast it was everywhere.” The hardest part for the players was not knowing the status of the program and not getting any direct information until they returned to campus on Monday. Team Captain Kyle Page was in town when the news broke and found out about the programs possible demise while walking down the street. “I ran into people, local people, who knew more about it than I did,” said Page. When the players did return to campus Monday, Head Hockey Coach Scott Paluch hosted a team meeting to answer questions about the news and to start preparing for the next season. Paluch said the team was pretty upbeat after the meeting and was ready to move on towards the 2009-10 season. Future budget cuts will affect University academics as well as athletics, Cartwright said.

Soldier’s weight loads investigated By Kate Snyder Assistant Campus Editor

If you could cut anything to save money for the University, what would it be?

ALAINA BUZAS | THE BG NEWS

QUESTIONS:Wood County Commissioners Tim Brown and Alvie Perkins answer questions during the end of the State of the County address yes-

terday. The three commissioners said they planned an extensive period of time for questions in order to make sure resident’s concerns were addressed.

Despite recession Commissioners hopeful By Kristen Vasas City Editor

CHELSEA McCARTY Freshman, Jazz Studies

“The Stroh Center” | Page 4

With grim forecasts dominating the country’s economy, the Wood County Board of Commissioners focused on the positives that still exist for Bowling Green and the surrounding communities dur-

ing the State of Wood County Address yesterday morning. Commissioners Jim Carter, Tim Brown and Alvie Perkins spent an hour inside the packed Wood County District Library updating citizens on plans for both the present and the future of the county’s economic plans.

See HOCKEY | Page 2

WHITEHOUSE.GOV

“We expect 2009 to be pretty difficult,” Carter said. “But there are bright spots that give us hope for the future of Wood County.” One of the biggest projects set to begin within the next few months will be the construction

See ADDRESS | Page 2

Soldiers consistently carrying heavy loads could increase stress on their joints and muscles, causing health problems and early retirement. Brian Campbell, an assistant professor in Kinesiology, hopes to change that. Routinely, military personnel carry up to 150 pounds or more on their back. “That’s altering the way you move and subsequently forcing individuals into retirement earlier than they should be,” Campbell said. Campbell recently started research looking into improving how soldiers carry loads. He worked out an experiment to see how people move under differently positioned weights. Campbell’s goal is to learn if there was a better way to distribute weight loads so soldiers can stay healthier longer. “What I’m hoping is that we find that redistributing the load increases the longevity of their work,” Campbell said. Motion sensors were attached

“I have a friend in the military and thought this [project] would be close to me.” Aaron Misiak | Researcher

to 72 volunteers’ joints, allowing Campbell and senior Aaron Misiak to feed into a computer how the volunteers’ joints and muscles moved while carrying different weights on their backs and torsos. Misiak helped collect volunteers for the research and interpret the data afterwards. Misiak is a physical therapy major and has known Campbell for a couple of years, and when Campbell shared this research idea, Misiak jumped at the chance to participate. “I have a friend in the military and thought this [project] would be close to me,” Misiak said. On the computer, Campbell and Misiak replicated a stick fig-

VISIT BGVIEWS.COM: NEWS, SPORTS, UPDATES, MULTIMEDIA AND FORUMS FOR YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE

See SOLDIERS | Page 2


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