WEDNESDAY October 10, 2007 Vol. 96, No. 13 1 section, 8 pages www.acuoptimist.com
Horsin’ around with Hendrick rehab
OPTIMIST THE
Playing in PrimeTime
New entertainment center opens Wednesday offering games, go-karts and more, page 3
The Hendrick Center for Rehabilitation offers Hippotherapy to children with disabilities, page 5
Meant to be broken
Wildcats 58-7 win breaks scoring record, propels team to 5-1, page 8
ACU police release annual crime stats By Lauren Sutton Copy Editor
The 2006 Crime Statistics Report numbers have not fluctuated much in the last year. The ACU Police Department released its Annual Crime Statistics Report this month informing the ACU commu-
nity about the incidents of crime, on-campus arrests and disciplinary actions/ judicial affairs referrals that have taken
Ellison
place this year, as well as the department’s policies. Under the Clery Act, every institute of higher learning is required by federal law to notify its campus community of the department’s jurisdiction, policies and crime stats. The act requires the report of eight categories of crime and
three categories of arrest. “Our numbers have held steady for the past several years,” said Jimmy Ellison, ACU Chief of Police. The statistics show a slight decrease in several categories, including drug law violations, which had five reported incidences in 2002 and three in-
cidences in 2006, while charts show an increase in categories of burglary, forcible sex offenses and liquor law violations. Ellison explained that violations that fall under the disciplinary action category — liquor law violations, drug See
CRIME page 7
Ron Sider to speak at ACU and HSU By Mallory Edens Page 2 Editor
Flight of the balloons
Dr. Ron Sider, a widely known evangelical speaker and writer, will be in Abilene Monday and Tuesday to speak on social justice at ACU and Hardin-Simmons University. Dr. Sider is a professor of theology, holistic ministry Sider and public policy, as well as the director of the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy at Palmer Theological Seminary. He is the president of Evangelicals for Social Action, has spoken on six continents and has published 27 books and many articles. Sider is the publisher of PRISM magazine and a contributing editor for Christianity Today and Sojourners. One of his books, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, was recognized by Christianity Today as one of the 100 most influential religious books of the 20th century. Brad Carter, Executive
TRIO launches balloons for Columbus Day By Laura Acuff Student Reporter
ACU TRIO programs, which promote higher education among disadvantaged students, offered free soft drinks and released balloons in front of Moody Coliseum after Chapel on Monday in celebration of Columbus Day with the help of ACU and Abilene High School students who participate in the programs. “It’s Columbus Day, and so we need something to get big attention,” said Mark Upton, director of the Educational Talent Search Program. “As we release the balloons, we get everybody excited about soaring and flying and everything going up, so it’s a real positive move. It’s the concept of discovering what may be out there. These balloons will go anywhere. There’s really no limit to where they’ll end up, so what we try to do, metaphorically, is show the kids that there’s no limit to their education – that they can go anywhere they want to go.” The Talent Search Program, Upward Bound, Student Support Services offered through Alpha Programs and the McNair Scholars Program are all grantfunded programs within TRIO. The Talent Search Program and Upward Bound work through the public school system, while SSS and the McNair Scholars Program are campus-based, Upton said. Sarah Peters, freshman special education major from Austin, participated in Monday’s balloon release and is part of the Alpha Program, which assists first-generation students, students with financial need or those with a documented disability. “I think [the program] is awesome because I can go there and take tests, and there’s free tutoring, which is really nice,” Peters said. “Everything’s free, so it’s really helpful.” Talent Search Program participant Rebecca Gindratt, Abilene High School sophomore, has been involved in TRIO programs since the sixth grade. The Talent Search Program assists promising students in answering questions about college and deciding which is right for them. “It’s been good,” Gindratt said. “It’s fun. [We] went on a lot of trips to different colleges. I think [the balloon] release was real cool. We helped blow some of the balloons up. It was fun being a part of it.” Another Talent Search Program participant Zach Gonzales, AHS sophomore, also appreciates the
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SIDER page 7
New group takes Flight among ACU women By Sara Snelson Arts Editor
Numerous organizations at ACU and throughout Abilene are focused toward college students mentoring younger kids, but Flight is different. Flight is a new group on campus for college females looking to share life with older women. Women of the faculty and staff, as well as wives of the faculty and staff, are joining together to mentor the women on campus and pursue a spiritual bond among female students. Tabitha Vail, ACU alumna and leader of the Flight group, came up with this idea after going to women’s Chapel. With such a great response from the female students at the Chapel, she said she thought plenty of students would love Matt newhouser STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
See
TRIO page 4
Scott Self, director of Alpha Academic, participates in the annual TRIO balloon release Monday to show support for the four programs on campus.
See
FLIGHT page 7
Grace opens Library of Congress exhibit By Karie Schmidt Student Reporter
The Grace Museum, located in downtown Abilene, opened a historic Library of Congress exhibit Thursday Oct. 3. “Bound of Glory: America in Color, 1939-1943,” is a traveling exhibit that the Library of Congress has created to allow multiple museums to share a part of American History — the Depression era. According to the Grace
Museum, this is the first major exhibit of the littleknown color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information. The exhibit is comprised of 70 digital prints made from color transparencies that were originally only seen in black and white. These photographs show vividly how people of the Depression era in small and large populations grew out of the Depression in
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
a tireless effort to overcome economic challenges. “It’s really a documentation of these people’s lives during the Depression and how they overcame this era, said Judy Deaton, curator of the Grace. “It’s really patriotic.” During the Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal worked to get America out of the Depression by creating many organizations. One specifically, the FSA, whose original goal, according to the
Grace Museum press release, was to record the ravages of the Depression on America’s rural population in hopes to spur Congress and the American public to support government relief efforts. Famous artists like John Vachon, Jack Delano, Russell Lee and Marion Post Wolcott went out across American to take pictures of the Depression. According to Deaton, See
GRACE page 7
katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Library of Congress exhibit at The Grace Museum includes a model of what a 1940s home could look like when Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his “Fireside Chats.”
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