THE BG NEWS
Preventing drug use with a ‘D.A.R.E’
Friday
October 24, 2008 Volume 103, Issue 45
CAMPUS
WWW.BGNEWS.COM
Technology becomes necessity
By Chris Sojka Reporter
Even during recession, new technological gadgets play a central role in modern student life | Page 3
FORUM
‘Media’ is a business
Many say “the media” is liberal, but columnist Kyle Schmidlin says putting a singular label on this massive entity is absurd, each publication slants its news to make more money | Page 4
WORLD
PULSE
Rocking the vote
Entertainment industry focuses on upcoming election, encouraging young generation to make itself heard | Page 7
Woman ‘kills’ online husband’s avatar After an upsetting online divorce, woman was jailed for illegally accessing computer to commit virtual murder | Page 6
NATION
United States falling behind Schools are graduating fewer students than ever, making it less likely our sons and daughters will get diplomas | Page 9
As Curtiss Spontelli walked through the hallways of Bowling Green High School he was aware some of his peers were using drugs, but he never had any desire to try them. He understood the repercussions. And even now, as a student at the University, he believes the ten-week D.A.R.E. program he completed in sixth grade assisted him in some of his decisions. “Sixth grade was a long time ago — and it is hard to remember a lot about the D.A.R.E. program now — but the important deci-
sion-making skills they taught was something I took away from the program,” Spontelli said. The program’s primary focus is sixth graders, because studies indicate that children in this grade are most responsive to prevention education, said Bowling Green Patrolman and D.A.R.E. Officer Robin Short. Learning to say “no” and not feeling compelled to go along with the crowd is the essence of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), which is an anti-drug and prevention program that has been taught in nearly every county of Ohio since 1987.
Organic clothing: the new eco-friendly fashion trend in town By Courtney Flynn Reporter
With the green movement picking up force, local stores have jumped on the bandwagon with the addition of organic clothing lines. Organic clothing is made from natural materials that are raised or grown without the exposure to pesticides or other chemicals. “DDT can’t be used on organic clothing,” environmental studies professor Holly Myers said. “Even though it is banned in the U.S. it is still used in many cotton-growing areas around the world.” Other pesticides are also used on materials used to make clothing, Myers said. “If you’re worried about pesticides on or in your body then organic is the way to go,” she said. Myers said she is seeing organic options popping up everywhere. She bought 100 percent organic cotton sheets at Target, organic
Percentage of eighth graders in Bowling Green who say they have tried drugs or alcohol:
2007: 16 percent 2006: 29 percent 2004: 37.2 percent D.A.R.E. was initiated because there continues to be an alarming increase in drug use among young people. Statistics show that in 2004, in Bowling Green, 37.2 percent of eighth graders had tried alcohol or drugs in the past 30 days from when the survey was taken, 29 percent in 2006 and 16 percent in 2007.
bamboo dress socks for her son and some organic towels. Diversity Boutique and the Happy Badger, both located on Main Street in downtown Bowling Green, offer organic clothing options for all. The Happy Badger’s main organic line is Ecollection by Esprit. This collection is fully organic from the buttons made of nuts to the non-electroplated hardware used to create the clothing. Esprit also uses the excess materials from the clothing line to make recycled paper so there is no waste, Happy Badger owner Donna Cohen said. Another organic clothing line the Happy Badger offers is Earth Creations. Cohen said the clothes are made from organic cotton and hemp and are given color from clay based materials.
SPORTS
By Ella Fowler Reporter
ALAINA BUZAS | THE BG NEWS
Out of the nine counties in Northwest Ohio, four of them, including Wood County, lack any sort of homeless shelter. This causes a problem not only for residents of Bowling Green, but for the county as well. With an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent in Wood County alone, 1.3 percent higher than the national average, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Bowling Green residents may face an even tougher problem besides the economy — where to go when they’ve hit economic bottom. “People don’t see the need [for homeless shelters],” said Daniel Rogers, president and
PEOPLE ON THE STREET WEATHER
TODAY PM Showers High: 56, Low: 42
TOMORROW Few Showers High: 54, Low: 40
See HOMELESS | Page 2
No room for McCain at his own CBS looks into BGSU viewing party on Election Night laughing rats study By Beth Fouhy The Associated Press
“Kill it with my flock of kiler penguins.” | Page 4
See DRUGS | Page 2
helping hand
ALL-NATURAL MATERIALS: The Diversity Boutique, located at the corner of Wooster and Main Streets, now offers a line of organic clothing.
JENNA DAILEY Sophomore, Middle Childhood Education
in contact with,” Short said. “Also, in nearly every household, some type of alcohol can be found, which makes it easy for the students to be tempted.” Along with alcohol and tobacco, drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy can be found in Bowling Green, according to Lt. Tony Hetrick of the Bowling Green Police. “Drugs have always been a constant problem here,” Hetrick said. “Drug arrests occur weekly and our detectives are always active.”
CLOSED
See ORGANIC | Page 2
Falcons have been spotty, especially at home, and in what looks to be a defensive battle they look for a much-needed win on the road | Page 10
“Right now, we’re right on line with the national average,” Short said. “I don’t think we have a problem any bigger than any of the other cities our size.” Some teenagers think smoking, drinking and using drugs are passports to adulthood. As D.A.R.E. teaches each student what being grown-up really means — not giving into peer pressure and making your own decisions — they hope for them to cope with life's challenges in positive ways. “In class, we talk a lot about alcohol and tobacco because they are the gateway drugs — the first form a student might come
Looking for a
Falcons season on the line
What is the best way to kill a zombie?
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NEW YORK — John McCain’s election night watch party might be missing John McCain. Instead of appearing before a throng of supporters at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix on the evening of Nov. 4, the Republican presidential nominee plans to deliver postelection remarks to a small group of reporters and guests on the hotel’s lawn. Aides said yesterday that the arrangement was due to space limitations and that McCain might drop by the election watch party at some other point. McCain’s remarks will be piped electronically into the party and media filing center, aides said. Only a small press “pool” — mostly those who have traveled regularly with the candidate on his campaign
plane, plus a few local Arizona reporters and others — will be physically present when he speaks. Thomas Patterson, a government professor at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press,
Politics and Public Policy, called the arrangement “unusual” but said the campaign may simply be bowing to the reality that
See PARTY | Page 2
STEPHAN SAVOIA | AP PHOTO
HEY, LOOK OVER THERE: Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, acknowledges the cheers of supporters after taking the stage at a campaign rally in Ormond Beach, Fla.
By Kate Snyder Reporter
Just like humans, rats laugh when they’re tickled. As part of a segment on animal intelligence, CBS News Sunday Morning featured University scientists and their research on rat “laughter.” It’s not hard to tickle rats. The researchers do it by hand. “It’s almost what I do to my two kids,” said Casey Cromwell, the director of the Affective and Motivational Neuroscience Laboratory on campus. “There’s every indication they find this rewarding.” The rats chirp when tickled and playing. The chirps are too high-pitched at 50 kilohertz for humans to hear, so the pitch needs to be brought down with a transducer. But once they’re brought down, the chirps are clear. “The idea crossed our mind that this was an ancestral form
of laughter,” said Jaak Panksepp, the senior professor of the veterinary college at Washington State University. Panksepp first looked into the connection between the rat chirps and feelings of happiness when he was a professor at BGSU in the 1990s. He decided to tickle the animals and see what happened. They chirped. The observation expanded into experiments looking at a
See RATS | Page 2
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