Liberty Champion March 6, 2012

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Volume 29 • Issue 17

miracle for Jen

Knowing the rules of voting Melanie Oelrich moelrich@liberty.edu

Today is Election Day for the presidential primary. Two more election days fall in this calendar year, including the local election in May and the presidential election on Nov. 6.

What many people are unaware of is the importance of properly completing the registration process in order for a vote to count, and the proper location where they can go to cast their vote.

To register in the state of Virginia, voters have to apply to register through the Virginia Voter Registration Application Form, which can be found online or picked up in the

See PRECINCTS, A3

Ruth Bibby | Liberty Champion

Book signing — Jennifer (middle left) and her mother, Linda (middle right), pose for a picture with fans of her new book.

Living for God after tragedy Tabitha Cassidy tcassidy@liberty.edu

Jennifer Barrick does not remember what she had for breakfast yesterday morning. Nor does she remember whether she has met the person standing in front of her.

Many of Jennifer’s memories were ripped away from her like the hood of her family’s minivan after a head-on collision Nov. 5, 2006.

After an intoxicated driver

of a pick up truck struck the Barrick family vehicle, all four members were rushed to separate hospitals that November night. Five years later, Jennifer, 20, and the rest of the Barrick family — her mother, Linda; father, Andy; and her younger brother, Josh — are doing better.

A book released March 1, “Miracle for Jen,” written by Linda with John Perry, highlights the struggles Jennifer

and her family have gone through since the accident.

“We’ve been on a long journey for five years, and I knew God wanted me to write a book about Jen’s journey,” Linda said. “She had all these journals she had written to the Lord, and they’re woven through the book.”

According to Linda, before the crash, Jennifer would often write in her journal and “ask God to take her

Tornadoes kill 39 Friday Tabitha Cassidy tcassidy@liberty.edu

life and do the impossible and to use her for His glory.”

Jennifer had felt as if she was being called to missionary work.

Doctors, according to the book’s website, predicted that Jennifer would wake up confused, cursing and screaming because of her brain injuries. Instead, she woke up praying and praising God.

A series of twisters throughout the Midwest and South claimed the lives of 39 people.

More than 300 tornado warnings plagued the Midwest Friday, March 3, according to the National Weather Service. The tornadoes spanned a total of 100,000 square miles and touched down in 10 states.

The twisters spread from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes and endangered 34 million people, the National Weather Service said.

See MIRACLE, A8

See TORNADO, A3

Ground breaking set for Jerry Falwell Library Tabitha Cassidy tcassidy@liberty.edu

The Jerry Falwell Library ground breaking event for Liberty University, which was originally set to happen March 5 at 10:45 a.m., has been moved to Wednesday, March 7, because of inclement weather.

Jerry Falwell Jr., members of the administration and Board of Trustees will be among those breaking the ground of this new project Wednesday.

According to a news release, the library is part of a $120-million construction transformation project that will take place over the next five years. The library accounts for $50 million of the $120 million.

Dean Carl Merat of Liberty’s Integrated Learning Resource Center (ILRC) said that those individuals involved in this project are excited to see it finally take place.

“We are elated. It is the culmination of almost 15 months of work, and (the ground breaking) represents the beginning of the literal building stage.

We are definitely ready to move off of the page and into the true construction of this building,” Merat said.

The library will be a four-story structure that encompasses 170,000 square-feet at the center of Liberty’s campus, where the Schilling Center currently sits, according to the news release. It will overlook a new, man-made lake

Liberty University

rendition — A rendition of what the lakeside view of the library will look like. located behind the Vines Center.

According to Merat, there is currently no final decision about what will happen to the old library.

“We anticipate the ma-

jority of the first floor will move to the new building, but the computer classrooms will remain in DeMoss,” Merat said. “The current plan calls for the Curriculum Library to re-

main in place on the first floor of DeMoss for now, and later join the School of Education in their new location when that is decided.”

The ILRC and Liberty

administrators are currently working with a nationally recognized library consultant to develop customer personas, journey maps and service blueprints for the new building, Merat said.

“We hope to keep the impact on the current facility to a minimum, but expect there will be several changes we need to undergo before the building opens,” Merat said. “We will do everything we can to keep everyone informed well in advance and all along the way.”

CASSIDY is the news editor.

INSIDE THE CHAMPION News

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NEWS

A2/Liberty Champion

March 6, 2012

A look at GOP Primary candidates When the Virginia Republican primaries are held Tuesday, March 6, only two candidates will be on the ballot, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. The information below profiles each candidate’s stance on key issues, and can be found on their official campaign websites.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Justin Jones jljones@liberty.edu

Romney has promised a historic day if sworn into the presidency Jan. 20, 2013. His first day in office, Romney plans to exercise an executive order that grants waivers to all 50 states repealing “ObamaCare.”

Under Romney’s plan, the states will have the deciding power on healthcare for Romney their citizens.

Romney, like all the political candidates, has made the federal deficit an emphasis in his campaign. To control the spending, Romney has pushed the agenda of honest and obtainable goals. One of those goals is to cap spending at 20 percent of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Currently, the spending has hovered near 24 to 25 percent.

Romney also claims that he will send Congress a bill that cuts spending of non-security matters by five percent throughout all departments. Another way Romney plans to cut the budget is by either eliminating or reducing several laws, corporations or aids. In addition to “Obamacare,” Romney will work to privatize Amtrak and re-

Texas Rep. Ron Paul (14th District)

duce foreign aid to countries that oppose American interest.

As governor of Massachusetts, Romney once declared May 7 as “The Right to Bear Arms Day,” showing his commitment and stance on the second amendment. Romney will back current laws that are in effect and promises to veto new laws that burden gun owners while having little effect on criminals.

Lastly, Romney is pro-life. He supports the Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of federal funds for abortions. While history shows that Romney has straddled the fence on the issue, he recently noted that President Reagan was a former President that was “pro-choice before he became pro-life.”

From Romney: “Times are tough.

And we need leaders who will live with integrity, who have the courage to tell the truth, and who have the experience to get our economy back on track. That’s the kind of leader I am. And that’s the kind of president I will be.”

JONES is a news reporter.

Justin Jones jljones@liberty.edu

Ron Paul believes that healthcare should not be forced upon Americans. His campaign has promoted a “freedom not force” mentality and will fight to repeal ObamaCare.

Paul boasts of being the only candidate with a true plan to cut the deficit, inPaul stead of merely discussing the problem. His plans include eliminating the Departments of Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Interior and Education. Additionally, the Transportation Security Administration would be dissolved under Paul’s plan for controlling the budget. If elected president, Paul has vowed to make one change that everyone can appreciate: cheaper gas. His plan includes offshore drilling, abolishing highway motor fuel taxes and offering tax credits for production and use of natural gas vehicles. If elected, Paul will have to budget his own finances like the majority of Americans, as he has promised to set his salary at $39,336, the approximate average salary of a

full-time employee. Paul will assemble together a full audit of the Federal Reserve in order to strengthen the value of the dollar.

Paul has supported the second amendment and is one of the strongest supporters of its security. In Congress, Paul wrote legislation that would allow pilots and specially trained officials to carry firearms in the cockpit to help prevent another attack like 9/11.

Another area in which Paul has gathered publicity is his views on immigration. Paul will seek to return America to protecting its borders by enforcing border security and ending birthright citizenship, which allows immigrants to stay as long as their child is born in the United States.

From Paul: “As President, I give you my word that I will only exercise my authority within the confines of the Constitution, and I will work every day to rein in a runaway federal government by binding it with the chains of that document.”

JONES is a news reporter.

Abortion bill on Gov. McDonnell’s desk Omar Adams oadams@liberty.edu

Virginia’s legislature passed a new abortion regulation March 1, and the bill is now awaiting Gov. Bob McDonnell’s signature to become law.

The bill updates the preexisting Informed Consent law that was championed by then-Delegate McDonnell in 2001. Representing the 22nd District Del. Kathy Byron sponsored the new bill to provide women accurate information before having an abortion.

“Ultrasounds are already standard medical procedure and routinely performed at abortion clinics in Virginia,” Byron said. “However, the abortion doctors withhold the information gained from the ultrasounds from the women. This bill requires the abortion doctor to offer the woman the chance to view the ultrasound and to give her the accurate scientific gestation age of the unborn child.”

Byron said that, with the exception of a medical emergency or miscarriage, the current law requires abortion doctors to inform

women about the procedure, including its risks, an estimate of the probable gestational age, and an offer to review materials that describe her unborn child and a list of agencies that offer alternatives to the abortion.

The new bill is intended to use modern technology to provide “an accurate gestation age rather than guessing,” Byron said. The information will be kept in the woman’s medical file at the clinic for seven years.

“I believe this is one of the most important pieces of information that we can provide to the woman considering this decision,” she said. “Many young women have irregular cycles and do not know the exact date of their last menstrual cycle, and this accurate statement will add protection to the health of the mother and the unborn child.”

Opponents of the bill argue that the state cannot force women to have ultrasounds — neglecting to point out that doctors already perform them prior to the procedure, Byron said. There are three main types of procedures: medicinal abortions with the chemical RU486, “which

Photo provided

Achieved — Del. Kathy Byron poses. requires an ultrasound before and after the abortion to ensure they aborted the child,” manual and vacuum abortions.

One of the main points of contention was to the requirement of transvaginal ultrasounds, which are necessary at the earliest stages of pregnancy when abdominal ultrasounds are ineffective. The bill was altered to make them optional.

“Abortion doctors perform ultrasounds as standard medical practice for several reasons: most importantly, it assists in locating the child in the uterus

and also determines if the child is an ectopic pregnancy, which can be life-threatening or to determine whether there are multiple babies, or maybe even none because of a false test result,” Byron said.

Byron and other lawmakers have faced harsh criticism from opponents of the bill. While the discussions are always “cordial, civil and respectful” in the Council Chamber — regardless of members’ sometimes intense debates — Byron and fellow delegates have been “subjected to vile, crude,

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disrespectful and frequently obscene messages from those who disagree with our position,” she said.

“These individuals ... are voices of extremism,” Byron said. “They left vile phone messages, sent obscene emails and letters.

They have suggested quite casually methods by which we should die.”

Some members of the national media encouraged and “cheered on” her opponents, feeding a “steady diet of misinformation that is not constrained by the facts,” Byron said.

“I am reminded by the hateful Facebook and Twitter accounts initiated in my name that those who stand up for their beliefs and the values of those they are entrusted to serve are often hated and ridiculed,” she said. “I am pleased, in spite of this criticism, that members of the House and Senate have stood to provide all the information available to protect the health of the women and those voiceless unborn children before making this life-changing decision.”

ADAMS is the web editor.

Protesters arrested in Richmond Virginia Capitol Police arrested 31 protestors March 3 out of an estimated 500 who gathered on the Capitol steps, according to the Associated Press.

The group was opposing Byron’s abortion regulation bill. The Associated Press said they had planned to march on the Executive Mansion because Gov. McDonnell is expected to sign the bill into law.

Capitol Police Capt.

Raymond Goodloe told the Associated Press that officers asked the protestors to move off the Capitol Grounds and arrested the few who refused. No pepper spray or use of force was necessary, Goodloe said.

The group had a permit to protest at the Bell Tower on Capitol Square that morning.

The Champion encourages community members to submit letters to the editor on any subject. Letters should not exceed 400 words and must be typed and signed. The deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Letters and columns that appear are the opinion of the author solely, not the Champion editorial board or Liberty University.

All material submitted becomes property of the Champion. The Champion reserves the right to accept, reject or edit any letter received — according to the Champion stylebook, taste and the Liberty University mission statement.

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Send letters to: Liberty Champion Liberty University, Box 2000, Lynchburg, VA 24502 or drop off in DeMoss Hall 1035.

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NEWS

March 6, 2012

Liberty Champion/A3

obituary

Former Liberty student dies of cancer

Drew Gula jagula@liberty.edu

Former Liberty University baseball player Joseph J. Feeley III, 23, went home to be with the Lord on Feb. 27, 2012.

Feeley was a beloved son, brother, grandson, boyfriend, nephew, cousin, friend and teammate. Feeley attended Tall Oaks Classical School and Red Lion Christian Academy, where he graduated with honors in 2007. A member of the National Honor Society, Feeley was active in sports, drama productions, science olympiad, student government, and church and community activities. Feeley was awarded All-State honors in cross country in grades 9-12, as well as All-State honors in baseball his junior and senior years.

Despite countless running scholarship offers, Feeley opted to pursue baseball in college.

His baseball career culminated in a Division 1 Baseball scholarship with Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Additionally, Joseph enjoyed drawing, shooting, disc golf, fishing, paintball and golf.

Feeley enjoyed 2 years at Liberty University where he played baseball and worked towards his degree in kinesiology. He earned several academic honors including Dean’s list and the Big South Presidential Academic Award.

However, escalating pain prompted further investigation and led to the shocking diagnosis of Ewing’s Sarcoma in January 2010.

“This was the beginning of his courageous and heroic battle.

Joe endured the ravages of chemotherapy and integrative modalities with an amazing strength and grace,” his mother Karen wrote. “His tenacity, determination and character allowed him to continue being a witness for Christ in spite of this affliction.”

After a year of treatments, Feeley resumed his collegiate pursuits with an emphasis in a physical therapy doctorate degree at the University of Delaware until his cancer dictated his medical withdrawal.

When cancer treatments prevented Feeley from continuing with sports, he began to develop other hobbies including photog-

Photo provided

Athlete — Joseph Feeley played baseball at Liberty. raphy, drawing, target shooting, piano playing and composition.

His mother said that he “was active in many activities in support of the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House including piano performances at the telethon for two consecutive years, speaking and playing at golf outings and other fundraising events.”

Feeley is survived by his par-

ents, Joseph and Karen Feeley, his sister, Jillian, his girlfriend, Janie Sikes, his grandparents, Joseph Feeley Sr and Ronald and Ellen Fields and a multitude of beloved aunts, uncles and cousins, who all played a role in his support system.

“Joe also had an amazing network of treasured friends, teammates and caregivers,” his

mother said.

“Joe leaves a legacy of love of family, friends, teammates and coaches. He has been a joy and treasure for 23 years. Our hearts and arms are aching as we long to hold him close again and watch him accomplish the hurdles of life. We grieve in hope because of our faith that we will be reunited in heaven someday.

Until then, we rest in the knowledge that he is safe at home.”

Family and friends gathered to celebrate Feeley’s life and legacy on March 5 at Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Visitation took place from 4-7:30 p.m., followed by a memorial.

The burial was kept private.

In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested for “Kay’s Kamp,” KEWF, 560 Peoples Plaza, Box 111, Newark, DE 19702. To express condolences, visit www. stranofeeley.com or reach Stron & Feeley Family Funeral Home at 302-731-5459.

GULA is the opinion editor.

Liberty hosts robotics competition Kate Powley knpowley@liberty.edu

Liberty University’s school of engineering and computational sciences hosted a VEX Robotics Competition from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 3, for high school students across Virginia.

“This program is specifically tailored to bring the magic of robotics competition into the classroom.

Robotics is an engaging way to integrate all facets of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education into the classroom and head-to-head competition is a natural way to capture students’ attention,”

PRECINCTS continued from A1 City of Lynchburg Registrar’s office. The address a potential voter writes down determines which polling place he or she must go to.

According to the General Registrar for the City of Lynchburg Carolyn Sherayko, students have a difficult time understanding the importance of filling out their registration card correctly.

On-campus students often forget to include their mailbox number.

“The most frequent thing lacking is their mailbox number, no matter what college they go to,” Sherayko said.

“For those who attend Liberty, it is important to decipher whether they live on campus or at the Annex, because those are different addresses.”

In regards to students reg-

the VEX Robotics website said. “During the excitement that comes with building and competing with their robots, students had too much fun to realize they’re learning important STEM concepts and life skills.”

So far, 26 teams have signed up out of 36 and each team has a range of member entering into the competition. Each school can have as many teams as they want to compete.

“What’s neat about it is it gets kids not only excited about math, engineering and science but gets them to apply the things they are learning,” Director for SECS & OATS/ EMC Labs Engineering

Technology Scott Pleasants said.

The students come up with the designs and their robots are required to perform specified tasks within a playing field for the competition. According to the VEX Robotics’ website, the design the students come up with should have the objective of identifying a problem and creating the solution. Students need to do research to explore ideas for the competition to create prototypes before their final robot creation is able to compete.

According to Pleasants, it is important to get high school students interested in STEM areas of study.

“Our country is in a

istering correctly, the second most difficult voter situation deals with students who register in two different states, such as Virginia and their home state. Students have the freedom to choose whether to vote here or to vote in their home state, but not both.

“By signing on the registration form that all information is true and accurate, they are implying that they intend to stay in the area for an indefinite period of time. What they often forget is when they graduate and leave the area or move at any time, they must update their registration,” Sherayko said.

Sherayko also spoke of the challenges they face when having to organize multiple voter-registration lists. The amount of students between the four colleges in the area makes it difficult to make deadlines, but with the help of volunteers, it is somewhat

shortage in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

We’re in a crucial part of history with an aging work force … And we’re not getting a lot of young people to go into these programs,” Pleasants said.

According to Pleasants, there were roughly 500 to 600 contestants competing in the competition Saturday but for those who advance to California, the contestants number in the thousands.

According to the VEX Robotics website, the competitions are held not only in the U.S. but internationally throughout different cities.

“Students, with guid-

easier to move the threemonth election process along.

Jeff Helgeson, City Council representative for the Wards Road area, spoke of the new precinct areas for local voters. These include the Lynchburg Public Library, the Vines Center, Sheffield Elementary School, Heritage Elementary School and Heritage United Methodist Church. Helgeson, a Liberty alumnus, currently serves on the Council’s Finance and Planning Committee.

According to a recent USA Today article, studies show that out of the 24 million voter-registration records in the United States, about one in eight are inaccurate or duplicates. Nearly 2.8 million people are registered in multiple states, including 1.8 million who are are deceased. Those estimates, which came from a report published by the Pew Research Center, depict a

ance from their teachers and mentors, aimed to build the most innovative robots possible and work together to obtain the most points possible,” VEX Robotics website said.

Liberty University’s school of engineering is providing around 40 students within their program who volunteered as part of their Christian community service. Students from the school of engineering were also responsible for mentoring students within the competition.

According to VEX Robotics’ website, official VEX Robotics competition tournaments have been held internationally from June 2011 until

faulty paper-based system.

The 1993 National Voter Registration Act made it easier for people to register by allowing them to register as soon as they received a driver’s license. Also, according to the Pew Center, that same law made it more difficult to remove someone from the voting lists. It stated that unless officials have a death certificate or a written confirmation saying they’ve moved locations, a voter must miss two presidential elections before they are removed.

Pew’s solution to this problem creating a multistate data center giving officials voter registrations, motor vehicle records and death certificates from other states, allowing them to spot records that could be removed.

OELRICH is a news reporter.

March 2012.

“In addition to just having a great time and building amazing robots, through their participation in the VEX Robotics Competition and their work within their team, students will learn many academic and life skills,” VEX Robotics website said.

The event is free and open to the public. More information can be found on VEX Robotics’ website.

POWLEY is a news reporter.

States holding Super Tuesday GOP primaries Alaska — 27 delegates Georgia — 76 delegates Idaho — 32 delegates Massachusetts — 41 delegates North Dakota — 28 delegates Ohio — 66 delegates Oklahoma — 43 delegates Tennessee — 58 delegates Vermont — 17 delegates Virginia — 49 delegates Note: Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will appear on the Virginia ballot.

1. graduation, commencement housing fills up almost instantly 2. Snowboarding and skiing competition hits the rails 3. Liberty law students win a first-place honor at moot court competition

Commencement Housing

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Moot Court

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OPINION

MARCH 6, 2012

Vincent Diamante|Wikipedia

Anonymous — Hidden behind the masks are tech-savvy hackers, self-styled heroes of the people who hold to the slogan, “The corrupt fear us, the honest support us.”

Hackers team up with WikiLeaks major political figures and organizations. And while WikiLeaks has not officially recognized that Anonymous is the source of the leak, Stratfor has acknowledged that they were indeed hacked by the group, according to Stratfor’s weekly newsletter.

“The material contains privileged information about the U.S. government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks,” WikiLeaks said, according to the article “WikiLeaks to Publish E-mails” on nytimes.com. “There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Julian Assange.”

The group has claimed responsibility for numerous cyber-attacks in the past, many of which were in support of WikiLeaks and Assange. In 2010, Anonymous took down the websites of Master Card, Visa, Amazon and PayPal in response to the

Clint Hayes

rhayes4@liberty.edu

What began as a group of pranksters trolling the web for laughs has evolved into a political cyber movement bent on attacking some of the most powerful entities in the world.

Anonymous, the mysterious hacker collective, is growing exponentially, both in capability and notoriety, but can they focus that expanding power into socially positive acts or are they only acting to further their own questionable agendas?

This question is especially pertinent now, as last week Anonymous announced that they would be teaming up with whistle blower web haven WikiLeaks to publish classified data hacked from the servers of Stratfor, a global geopolitical analysis firm—something like a CIA for hire, a private intelligence firm that keeps tabs on

companies revoking use of their services by WikiLeaks, according to a Washington Post article.

Anonymous drowned the sites with traffic, causing them to become inaccessible or significantly slowed down.

Thousands of names, credit card numbers and emails from Stratfor subscribers have been posted online by Anonymous.

According to a press release circulated by WikiLeaks, 25 media outlets from across the globe are working to analyze the content of the emails, including the Rolling Stone here in the U.S. This collaboration represents a fairly massive undertaking, an unprecedented joining together of two of the cyber-world’s most infamous and effective activist groups. The union makes sense.

Anonymous is an intentionally leaderless and unstructured group. They are exactly as their name suggests: faceless and untraceable. WikiLeaks, however,

is prominent and recognizable and their leadership structure is well known. Anonymous possesses the capability to hack large amounts of data with virtual impunity but is not organized enough to properly analyze the result. WikiLeaks has an extensive network of professional analysts eager for the opportunity to search through data with a fine tooth comb.

With the two of these groups working in tandem, the internet is a much scarier place for those seeking privacy. The union, if it continues, has the potential for either great good or considerable harm.

Anonymous claims to fight corporate and governmental injustice and has been responsible for some attacks that seem worthy of this lofty mission. Their 2008 attacks against the Church of Scientology, in which their official website was overloaded with traffic and droves of black

faxes and prank phone calls flooded their offices, were entertaining and justified, according to a New York Times article.

On the other side of the coin, Anonymous has employed unethical tactics in some of its operations. Their denial of service attacks on the U.S. Department of Justice in January recruited unwitting, innocent bystanders by installing software on their computers through an infected email then using that software to overload websites like justice. gov. The attacks were in retaliation for the DOJ’s takedown of popular file sharing site Megaupload, according to an article by the Washington Post.

It is difficult to predict what, if anything, will come of this collaboration between Anonymous and WikiLeaks, but one thing is for sure: the web just got a lot less secure.

HAYES is an opinion writer.

Facebook fired up about Houston’s death her

Troy Dauksys

tadauksys2@liberty.edu

The same situation happened with king of pop Michael Jackson, actor Heath Ledger, singer Amy Winehouse and now, R&B artist Whitney Houston. The death of these celebrities led millions to join in mourning their deaths via various social media outlets.

A Google search of Facebook found more than 168 million messages were posted about the singer’s death.

According to the New York Times, “By 8 p.m., just an hour after Ms. Houston’s death was first reported (on Twitter), 18 percent of all Twitter posts mentioned ‘Whitney.’” On both social networks, messages were both good and bad. Much talk centered around Houston’s legacy in music and movies while others referred to

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As I rolled out of bed, only an hour after my alarm initially went off, I thought about how fast this week had gone, how fast every week had gone.

Seems like just yesterday that I was walking across the stage to receive my high school diploma.

Now here I am, editor in chief of the Liberty Champion — and graduating in May. In case your math skills are like mine, that means graduation is less than 10

drug use. She was famous for her singing ability as well as for slipping up — as humans ,tend to do.

Sadly, many heroic figures die each day, but soldiers who give the ultimate sacrifice get little media attention and proportionately far less social media coverage.

A simple Google search revealed that the number of Facebook-related references to the death of a soldier at more than seven million, less than five percent of those for Houston.

People argued on social media that the death of a celebrity “stole” attention from the deaths of real heroes. Of course, we didn’t personally know all of the fallen soldiers who fought for our country, just like we didn’t personally know Whitney Houston. However, because she was a prominent person, many felt as though weeks away.

For faculty and staff this means another year is all too quickly going to begin — new faces and legacies waiting to be introduced. For Lynchburg residents, this means three months of traffic-free living. However, for graduating seniors, like myself, this means much more.

In 10 weeks, I will no longer be viewed by society as a “high school graduate,” but rather as the much more acclaimed “college Bollinger graduate” — right?

Well, not according to Rick Santorum.

“President Obama has said he wants everybody in America to go to college.

What a snob,” Santorum said in his speech Feb. 25. “There are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day, and put their skills to the test, that aren’t taught by some liberal college professor that is trying to indoctrinate them. I understand why

they did know her.

Another of the points of contention on the social media sites revolved around the New Jersey flag being flown at half staff in honor of Houston. Houston was a New Jersey girl and because she was from there, Gov. Chris Christie had the flag flown at half-staff. Some took offense to that.

The New York Times ran a story to depict this, quoting several angry Tweets directed against Gov. Christie, followed

by Christie’s responses. According to the article, the majority of them focused on lowering the flag — an honor reserved for fallen soldiers or police officers — for a “crack head.”

However, people really missed the point about Houston’s death by comparing it to troops and the lack of support and mourning. The comments were blown out he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image. I want to create jobs so people can remake their children into their image, not his.”

With politicians fighting over everything under the sun, it only makes sense that they drag our education into the matter.

Fox News ran a special March 3 on the necessity of a college degree, a debate that was spurred on by the comments of Santorum.

Kai Falkenberg, a Fox News contributor and editorial counsel, said that college is no more than a waste for most students, claiming that students are putting more money into their degrees than they will ever get out.

Rick Ungar, a Fox News contributor and Forbes contributor, brought the debate back into perspective.

“Not everybody should go to college, but we don’t have to overdramatize this in the way Rick Santorum did,” Ungar said during the interview. “If college is something that you want, we should be a country where it should become available. This over-the-top response is

of proportion, and in turn fueled confrontation between social media users.

Considering that most fans only know a celebrity by their work and not personally, it is safe to say that not everyone is left devastated when a celebrity dies. Sadly, the death of a soldier gets lost in news coverage and unless we have a personal connection, we will probably never reach out over a social medium to comment about the loss.

The point is, these are two very separate issues. We give our attention to the one that is prominent to us. The loss of talented Whitney Houston taught us how society chose to respond to it, and what to expect when another celebrity ends up six feet under.

DAUKSYS is an opinion writer. foolish.”

As an almost-college graduate, what Santorum said offends me.

We are not in school, receiving an education, to become like Obama. In fact, I don’t recall ever seeing that on any of my syllabi.

There are dozens of colleges, like Liberty University, that have classes that are not taught by “liberal” professors.

When did receiving a college education become a bad thing?

I completely agree with Ungar. If going to college is something you really want to do, go for it. Everyone should have an equal opportunity at receiving a college education — one of the areas that I think President Obama stressed accurately.

To say that college education is unnecessary or a waste is ridiculous.

Have you tried to find a job in our economy?

Oh, and didn’t Santorum not only receive his undergraduate degree from Penn State, but also his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh?

What a snob.

March 6, 2012

***PAID FOR BY THE YOUNG AMERICA’S FOUNDATION

OPINION

Liberty Champion/A5

NEWS

A6/Liberty Champion

March 6, 2012

Student wins national competition

Public relations senior Keri Cook wins first place at PRWeek Student of the Year competition in New York City Courtney Wiest cwiest@liberty.edu

Senior public relations major Keri Cook won first place at the PRWeek Student of the Year competition in New York City, March 1.

“In my Public Relations Strategies class last semester, Dr. Widgeon asked each of us to create a comprehensive integrated marketing communication campaign from scratch,” Cook said. “The client was Ford. I conceptualized, researched, designed and wrote a complete campaign that included objectives, research summary, creative strategies, tactics and an evaluation plan.”

Over Christmas break, Cook received an email from a representative of PRWeek telling her that her campaign was one of the top five in the nation.

“I was shocked when I got the email,” Cook said.

According to Widgeon, Keri works hard in and out of class.

“Keri is an amazing student. She actually invests in her own future through hard work, dedication and professionalism,” Widgeon said. “She is active in professional organizations and strives to be God’s best at everything she does. She is truly a Champion for Christ and a joyful, talented representative of Liberty University.”

Along with other students from prestigious schools such as American University and LaSalle, Cook was flown to New York City to present her campaign to a panel of judges.

“I wanted to develop a campaign that spoke to every member of the millennial target market, so instead of just lumping them together I broke the market into four subcategories and tailored my

Photo provided

Winner — Cook’s marketing campaign won first place.

PR efforts directly to each judged her on her creativgroup,” Cook said. ity, research and presentaRepresentatives of tion skills.

Ford and H&K Strategies After returning home

from her trip to New York City, Cook was notified that her campaign was selected to be in the top two.

She traveled back to New York City where they announced her as the winner. Since Cook has won first place, she will receive $5,000 and an internship at Hill and Knowlton. She will also be featured in the April issue of PRWeek, a weekly magazine about the public relations industry.

“I am very proud of her, but I am not surprised by her accomplishments. I am honored to have played a small role in her success, and I cannot wait to see how the Lord will bless her and use her for His kingdom in the future,” Widgeon said.

According to Cook, meeting the other contestants was an amazing experience.

“They come from some of the best schools in the

FYI

See related story B5. Project leads to opportunity country. Knowing I was right there with them, representing Liberty University, was an awesome realization,” Cook said. “We bonded instantly because we all have a passion for the industry.”

Cook is the Liberty University Chapter President of Public Relations Student Society of America.

“This (opportunity) to me was an encouragement and blessing that God is guiding me on this path and wants me in the industry for a reason. My life goal is to use whatever platform God gives me to make Him known, ” Cook said.

WIEST is a feature reporter.

Derek Aaron | Times Journal

Devastation — Remains of a Russell County mobile home after an EF-2 twister.

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Funnel — A funnel cloud forms over Russell Springs, Ky. around 5 p.m. March 2.

TORNADO continued from A1 At one point, more than four million people were within 25 miles of a tornado.

One tornado, which hit down in Henryville, Ind., was ranked by the National Weather Service as an EF-4, hitting 175 mph. The Enhanced Fujita scale — the scale meteorologists use to measure tornado severity, which was updated Feb. 1, 2007 — ranks twisters from EF-1 to EF5. EF-1 means the tornado reached 86 to 110 mph wind gusts, while EF-5 equals winds exceeding 200 mph.

Colene Wade, who lives in Russell County, Ky., said that she spent most of the day listening to the storms outside.

“The wind blew so hard and sirens went off all day,” Wade said.

Tornadoes hammered Wade’s county twice last week, including a Leap Day

outbreak that spawned nine twisters. A 125-mph tornado hit Kentucky in that storm. More than 13 people were killed across the Midwest on Wednesday, Feb. 29, alone.

“After Wednesday, this just wore me out,” Wade said.

Andrea King, a Liberty University student from Harrogate, Tenn., had to rush home Friday night after the storms struck to make sure her family was okay. What she found, she said, was a disaster.

“It’s really devastating because you don’t think it’s going to happen to your town until it does,” King said.

According to King, no one from her small town was killed, but there were several injuries.

CASSIDY is the news editor.

March 6, 2012

NEWS

Liberty Champion/A7

Photos provided

In country — Left: Spc. Aaron Sterling stands atop the ancient Ziggurat of Ur. Right: Sterling and Spc. Leonardo Lee attending a Chris Daughtry concert in Kuwait.

Spc. Aaron Sterling: Leaving history behind Omar Adams oadams@liberty.edu

Spc. Aaron Sterling, an advertising/ public relations major at Liberty University, recently returned from his first deployment with the Army National Guard.

Sterling deployed to Iraq on July 28 from Camp Atterbury, Ind., serving until the end of the war in December.

Transitioning from a humid Lynchburg summer to the scorching deserts of Iraq shocked Sterling and the other soldiers of the 29th Infantry Division, he said.

Sterling Stepping off the plane at midnight, the troops were hit with a blast of 100-degree air. Later, temperatures occasionally reached 130 degrees.

“It sucks the life out of you,” Sterling said. “It’s like standing in front of a blast furnace or something.”

As a part of the Headquarters and Headquarters Troop (HHT), Sterling was

a radio telephone operator in the task force’s tactical operations center. His job was to monitor friendly troops out on missions and act as a dispatcher when incidents occurred like improvised explosive device (IED) explosions.

“Our task force was really blessed while we were over there — the enemy didn’t inflict any KIA (killed in action) on us,” Sterling said. “I think we had a couple minor casualties, but that was about it.”

As for the end of the war, Sterling felt that it was time for the U.S. to withdraw.

“I didn’t think there was anything else we could do over there,” he said. “The people still need a lot of help, though.

They’re still blowing each other up, and 90 percent of the munitions coming into the country — both to blow us up and Iraqi citizens — were coming from Iran.”

Sterling said Iranian munitions were a daily threat. While most Iraqi roads required clearance by explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) teams each morning, one notorious highway had to be cleared every single time a convoy needed to travel it. The road stretched all the way to the

Iran-Iraq border, and Sterling said militants and IEDs entered the country there.

“Whether the Iranians will take responsibility for it or not, they were responsible for the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq,” he said. “That’s just the way it is.”

Sterling is interested by current events in Iran. He said that, while the news media have not covered much of it, Iran made an impact in the war.

“It’s interesting watching the current political situation in Iran because I’m thinking, ‘But I know they were killing us — or at least trying to kill us,’” he said.

Another aspect of the war that Sterling thought went underreported was the large amount of materiel left in Iraq by the withdrawing U.S. troops. The Army left the supplies because it was cheaper than shipping everything back to the States.

“They threw away a lot of stuff,” Sterling said. “And by a lot of stuff, I mean a lot of taxpayers’ dollars.”

He and other soldiers often saw expensive equipment thrown in dumpsters, but they were not allowed to take those items.

The historical impact of being among

the last soldiers to fight in the war in Iraq was not lost on Sterling. History surrounded him on base, and he got the chance to visit historical sites that were more than 4,000 years old. His base was near the ancient city of Ur, where Abraham came from in the book of Genesis, Sterling said.

“The Ziggurat of Ur was up on the hill that we could see every day,” he said.

“That was really cool, too, to look and see where Abraham left ... To be able to see that and walk where Abraham probably walked was really cool.”

When Sterling left Iraq, his unit was flown out on UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. They passed over bombed-out Iraqi tanks left over from the first Gulf War. “I guess I was probably three or four during the first Gulf War, so for me to be able to fly over that area and look at that at the end of a second war over there — it was really cool,” he said. “We had two first Gulf War vets flying in our choppers with us, so that was kind of neat to have guys that were there with us.”

ADAMS is the web editor.

NEWS

A8/Liberty Champion

March 6, 2012

NBC’s The Voice gains Liberty alumnus Brittany Laird bhlaird@liberty.edu

Liberty alumnus Anthony Evans, of Dallas, has joined the ranks of singers on “Team Christina” for season two of “The Voice.” Evans is not only a contestant on this popular television show but is also a song writer and a worship leader.

Evans is the son of evangelist Dr. Tony Evans who frequently speaks in convocation.

“The Voice” is one of the newest television shows which focuses on the vocal talents of individuals who are looking to break into the music industry.

“The Voice is a vocal competition series hosted

by Carson Daly. The show features four coaches: Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera,” The Voice website said.

Although Evans’ blind audition for the four judges just took place, the audition process to be on “The Voice” began for him back in August 2011 in Houston.

The process involves open-call auditions, in which individuals are required to perform a cappella, according to “The Voice” website. Contestants who receive a callback go on to perform with some form of accompaniment. If a contestant successfully completes all

of the steps required, they then move on to the blind auditions in front of the four celebrity judges.

“It was a pretty drawn out ordeal. It went from 100,000 people to 100,” Evans said.

The blind auditions are the first part of the process that is aired on television.

The judges select vocalists that they wish to coach based solely on their voice.

Their unbiased opinions are possible through the specially created chairs that allow judges to sit with their backs to the contestant. If a judge likes the contestant’s style and vocal talents, he or she can signal their interest in coaching that contestant by pushing a button that spins their chair around to face the contestant.

For his blind audition, Evans performed the song “What’s Going On,” originally by Marvin Gaye, adding his own style. Near the end of the song, Aguilera pushed the button on her chair in attempt to claim him for her team.

Aguilera remained unopposed in her claim as Evans finished his audition.

“I told the producer right before ‘if I get picked by one of these coaches, it’s going to be in the last 10 seconds of the song,’” Evans said.

His relief at being chosen to move on in the competition was coupled with the realization of what was

Photo Provided

Evans — Chris Evans joined Christina Aguilera’s team.

“I told the producer right before, ‘if I get picked by one of these coaches, it’s going to be in the last 10 seconds of the song.’”

-Anthony Evans

in his immediate future, the next stage of the competition, Evans said. The next stage is known simply as “Battles.”

“Which is where each coach has to cut the team in half,” Evans said. “So what’s next is singing a duet with one of my teammates and one of us going home.”

The contestants who make it through the various competitions geared toward narrowing down the teams move on to the final stage, “The Live Rounds.” This portion of the competition allows the viewers to vote on their favorite contestant to determine who will win the competition, according to

the website.

Evans is enjoying his chance to get to know Aguilera, his coach for the competition.

“She’s bold about what she stands for and believes … I think that’s something that I can do, you know, tied to my faith,” Evans said.

“She also thinks outside the box. She tries to create things that are way outside the box. I want to start approaching my career that way, outside the traditional Christian box.”

The most exciting part of his experience on “The Voice” so far has been putting his faith into practice, specifically in the relationship that he has established with Aguilera, according to Evans.

Evans graduated from Liberty University in 2000 with a degree in youth ministries. During his time at Liberty, he traveled with the Sounds of Liberty ministry team. Later, Evans said he toured with gospel artist Kirk Franklin.

Assistant professor of voice Patricia Campbell, Evans’ vocal coach from his time at Liberty, is thrilled at his accomplishment on “The Voice.”

“It’s really great to turn on the TV and see him,” Campbell said.

“He was warming up back stage, and they did show him doing scales …

It was fun, it showed him doing warm ups that we

had done,” Campbell said.

Campbell coached Evans through private lessons while he toured with Sounds of Liberty.

“When he started with me, he had only sung mostly gospel contemporary music,” Campbell said.

She helped expand his horizons by adding pop and classical music to his list, though he stretched her abilities as well, according to Campbell.

These very fast runs that embellish the melody were something that Evans was very good at and he would occasionally attempt to get his coach to imitate him instead of vice versa, according to Campbell.

Campbell looks forward to watching Evans as he makes his way through the competition.

Along with focusing on his role in the competition, Evans is also releasing a new album he made prior to his appearance on “The Voice” on March 6. He had put the release of the album on hold due to his involvement with the show, according to Evans.

Regardless of the outcome of the competition, Evan’s life in the music industry will continue on the path he is traveling.

His singing, song writing and leading worship will continue.

LAIRD is a news reporter.

MCAT predicted to become harder Lindsey Birchfield lsbirchfield@liberty.edu

Aspiring medical school students will take an updated and more difficult medical school entrance exam (MCAT) beginning in 2015.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recently approved significant changes to the MCAT, according to a press release by the Washington Post Company.

The changes include adding a behavioral and social sciences section and more advanced biology and biochemistry content.

The AAMC also approved the removal of the writing section.

These changes will make the test last 90 minutes longer, the release said.

According to Kaplan Test Prep’s Director of Pre-Health Programs, Dr. Jeff Koetje, the AAMC is a group that represents all medical schools in the United States and Canada. They formed a committee in 2008 to review the MCAT and to survey medical schools, medical students and doctors to find out what needed to change and what worked.

“The goal is to bring the MCAT into alignment with the current state of medical education and expected future of

medical education for the next 15 years,” Koetje said.

Since the updated MCAT will not be administered until 2015, it does not affect current Liberty University students as much, according to the Department Chair of Biology and Chemistry Dr. David DeWitt. Liberty is in the process of converting the pre-med concentration into a major in biomedical sciences.

“At Liberty University we have a quick process for curricular change, which allows us to adapt rapidly to changes like this. We will be able to modify our program so that students will be able to complete all of the classes they need for the MCAT by the end of the junior year when most students take the test and, importantly, do so in time for the 2015 MCAT,” DeWitt said.

Liberty pre-med student Robert Blanding was not easily concerned over the new coursework required like other students.

“In regards to the added classes, most people already take sociology, statistics and psychology.

So I don’t see these classes being an issue. As for the other classes, I am either already in core classes related to those types of study or will be taking them as core electives that I am required

MIRACLE continued from A1 “Instead of making her normal, God is making Jennifer — and the whole Barrick family — extraordinary, miraculous,” the website said.

Currently, Jennifer is a woman’s ministry major at Liberty University. Because of her brain injuries, though, she is only able to take a few courses at a time.

Jennifer was recently showcased on NBC’s ‘Weekend TODAY’ show March 3, and was then interviewed on the “Fox & Friends” show March 1.

Ruth Bibby| Liberty Champion

DNA — A Liberty student, Noor Taher, prepares to look at some DNA he extracted in a class project. to have anyway,” Blanding said.

The last update to the MCAT was in 1991 and there have been many changes in healthcare practice in the last 21 years, according to Koetje. In a Kaplan Test Prep survey of medical school admission officers, 73 percent of respondents agreed that the right changes are being made to the MCAT, Koetje said.

According to Koetje, the new MCAT will prepare students in a well-rounded way, but there is concern over the short timeline before the updated test comes out. Some universities say they will make changes to their curriculum, as this will add more coursework for students.

The updated MCAT will

With all of the recent publicity, Linda is wishing that Jennifer’s message of hope will inspire all of those that hear her story. “Even though it’s hard and not what a mom would choose, to watch her child have to go through pain and suffering, God is using her beyond her wildest dreams,” Linda said.

According to Linda, Jennifer has always said that if just one person received Christ through her tragedy, then it was all worth it.

“So many people in the world are hurting and broken in all different ways, not

“It will not be enough to just memorize everything...”

-Dr. David DeWitt require students to take courses in psychology, sociology, philosophy, ethics and cross-cultural studies, according to the release.

Currently, the test takes 5.5 hours to complete and the changes will carry the test to around 7 hours.

DeWitt encouraged students taking the MCAT in 2015 to prepare well ahead of time.

“It will not be enough to just memorize everything, you have

to be able to apply what you know,” DeWitt said.

Blanding’s advice for pre-med students taking the MCAT in the future was to take a MCAT prep course and practice tests often.

According to Koetje, Kaplan may provide enrichment programming to better prepare future MCAT takers. Pre-med students should stay updated on new information to come about the new MCAT. More information can be found at kaplanmcat. com and the Kaplan MCAT Facebook and Twitter pages.

BIRCHFIELD is a news reporter.

necessarily from a brain injury like Jen, but through other ways,” Linda said.

“They, too, can be touched by Jen’s story and her love for the Lord.”

CASSIDY is the news editor.

Research contributed by Victoria Lind.

Ruth Bibby | Liberty Champion

Autograph — Jen signs a copy of her book.

SPORTS

MARCH 6, 2012

Women’s hockey cruise against Reston 8-2 Jessica Grigg jgrigg@liberty.edu

Liberty University women’s hockey team played the Reston Raiders and defeated them 8-2. Just minutes into the first period, Liberty’s Stacy Christiaans had already put the first score on the board and lit up the board moments later with an assist from Sarah Stevenson. Keeping with the motif, Amanda Grainger scored with an assist from Autumn Kucharczk.

In the midst of her team’s scoring streak, goalie Chantal Lischynski played

a strong and consistent defensive game, blocking shot after shot.

Grainger scored in a power play leading to Carly Peleshok’s penalty shot, which brought the period to a close.

As the second period began, Liberty’s Dani Clevanger put yet another point on the board, bringing the score to 6-0 until the Raiders Lizzy Weingast got the first score for her team.

With sixteen minutes left on the clock, Lischynski suffered a minor injury that removed her from the game. Liberty Goalie Samantha Rupp was brought into the game.

Shortly after, there was a penalty shot made by Peleshok. With seven minutes left on the clock, the Raiders got their second score of the game in a power play

by Meredith Lopez.

Liberty had the last score of the game with less than two minutes left on the clock. Coming through once again was Peleshok. The final score was 8-2.

“The girls are pretty focused right now because we are heading into nationals,” coach Paul Bloomfield said. “We may be a stronger team than this team, which means the tendency is to get a few goals ahead and lay off, but I stress to the girls

that you have to stay focused on your game.”

The team maintains its focus and competitive nature despite several injuries throughout the season. The Lady Flames have finished the season ranked in the top five of the ACHA polls. They will soon be heading into Nationals in Wooster, Ohio.

In pool play Liberty will face Minnesota, Michigan St. and Northeastern.

The National Championship game is March 11.

GRIGG is a news reporter.

Ruth Bibby | Liberty Champion

overwhelmed — Liberty University in the past four games has only allowed one run. The Flames look forward to facing Old Dominon on March 6.

Eagles torched by Flames

Liberty outscores Coppin State 29-1 in their three-game series Jonathan Pearson jwpearson@liberty.edu

Greg Leasure gleasure@liberty.edu

L

iberty showed off all phases of its game in a weekend sweep of Coppin State. Shutdown pitching and defense in game one and sizzling bats in games two and three resulted in an overall 29-1 margin.

Game 1 Hot off of a big win against the University of Virginia’s 14th ranked Cavaliers, the Liberty baseball team delivered an electrifying shutout of the Coppin State University Eagles in game one of the Flames second home series.

Even though the bats were quiet for most of the game, Liberty’s pitching

was key in the 2-0 victory over the Eagles.

Pitcher John Niggli was the star of the ballpark after his nine inning effort to earn his first shutout for the Flames.

Niggli maintained his consistency and composure and finished the game with only two allowed hits, two walks and a career-high 12 strikeouts. The senior had a 1-2-3 inning five times and finished the day out by earning a K on nine consecutive batters.

“I knew I couldn’t give up any runs in the close game,” Niggli said. “Overall, it was a B plus day.”

The Flames obtained the lead early in the first inning when designated hitter Tyler Cox sacrificed on a fly ball, scoring Ian Parmley after the first three batters in the lineup got on base.

Liberty was able to hold onto the lead for the rest of the game, scoring once more in the seventh inning. Alex

“It was nice to see everybody get hot” — Trey wimmer Close hit a one-hopper shot off the centerfield wall for a triple and then made his way home for the last run of the game off of a sacrifice fly by third basemen Dalton Sype.

“I thought that I did pretty good,” Sype said. “I just put the ball in play and I was fortunate enough to get two hits in the second game. I am not really known for my wheels, but I’ll take a triple when I can get it.”

Game 2 The Liberty Flames baseball team earned a decisive 14-0 win in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader

at Worthington Stadium against the Coppin State University Eagles.

All nine players in the lineup crossed the plate in a 10-run feeding frenzy by the Flames offense in the second inning.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of anything like that, at least not since early in high school,” catcher Trey Wimmer said. “It was nice to see everybody get hot and hit the ball well.

Even if they weren’t hitting the ball well, they could get across the plate and score us a run.”

Wimmer led the team with three RBIs, and shortstop Zack Haley was 2-for-2, coming around to score both times. Coming off a close 2-0 win in the first game of the day,

See BASEBALL, B4

Flames fall to Adrian College in second round Jay Sir ysir@liberty.edu

•

Adrian College knocked out Liberty University in the second round of the ACHA Nationals, 6-3.

Liberty took the lead in the game on a goal by Jake Hannon, but it was quickly equalized by the Bulldogs.

Fourteen minutes into the second period, the

•

•

game was still tied 1-1.

Thirty seconds later, the score turned, 2-1, Adrian College.

The game started to look out of hand during the second period of the game, as a flurry of Adrian College goals left the score 5-1.

The game started to look grim during the sec-

ond half of the game as a flurry of goals scored during the second period saw Adrian College up by 4 points, 5-1, when the second period ended.

After a few missed chances during power plays, Rick Turner and Ryley Egan managed to score two more goals.

Though Adrian College

was seeded considerably lower than Liberty, competition has toughened the hockey community enough so that lower ranked teams have a fighting chance against higher ranked teams.

Liberty was not the only team that was knocked out by a lower-seeded opponent as No. 4 Ari-

zona State University was knocked out by No. 13 Oakland University.

“Anyone between Rank one and Rank 18 are able to win on any given night,” head coach Kirk Handy said. “I really feel that within the top 15 teams, if someone shows up without their ‘A’ game they’re going to get beat. I feel that with

Adrian College, whether they’re seeded 12th or eighth or sixth, they’re a very strong team and a very good opponent.”

The Finals of the ACHA Tournament will be played at 7:30 p.m. on March 7.

SIR is a sports reporter.

SPORTS

B2/Liberty Champion

March 6, 2012

Men’s Lacrosse stays perfect with home victory Mark Meyers mameyers@liberty.edu

Frigid temperatures, fog, rain and Reinhardt University could not stop Liberty University men’s lacrosse team Friday night as the Flames trounced the Eagles 20-11.

“Tonight was an opportunity for us to showcase what we have been working on,” head coach Kyle McQuillan said.

“We got to try a lot of different things and see what kind of depth we have as a team.”

The Flames attacked mainly on isolation plays rather than the traditional pass and move style offense.

“We have a lot of players with very good stick skills, and I will take any of our guys in a one-on-one battle,” McQuillan said.

Sophomores Derek Haywood and Andrew Walter led the way for the Flames.

Walter tallied three goals and four assists while Haywood added four goals and one assist.

Haywood had a little extra motivation to do well, as some of his family were in the bleachers to watch him play for the first time ever. “(My family) came down all the way from Pittsburgh to see me play, and I am really happy I was able to put on a show for them tonight,” Haywood said.

•

• •

•

Ruth Bibby | Liberty Champion

fire away— Haywood (21) finished with four goals in the 20-11 victory.

Haywood caused fits for Reinhardt’s defense all night as he repeatedly slashed right down the heart of the Eagles’ defense.

“We wanted to take our guys one-onone and force the defense to slide over and leave guys open so we could dish it off but they did not do that, so I just took

it myself and was able to score a few,” Haywood said.

Walter fooled the Reinhardt defenders with pump-fakes and was able to free himself up for shots.

“We moved the ball well today,” Walter said. “We had really good progression from defense to offense, which was able

to get me isolated out wide.”

The highlight of the night came with 4:29 left in the first quarter when sophomore Kurt Tobias passed the ball to Walter, who shot it between his legs with his back to goal, to put the Flames up 5-2.

The Flames were without one of their main faceoff guys, freshman Will Perkins, because of ROTC commitments. Despite Perkins’ absence, Liberty was able to win the majority of the face-offs and keep the ball on their attacking end, limiting Reinhardt’s opportunities to attack.

Liberty never trailed in the game and was able to make sure that the outcome was never in doubt.

“It was big for us to show ourselves that we can bury teams and not let up,” Haywood said. “Last year we would get big leads then allow the other team to get back in the game, but not tonight.”

Sophomore Daniel Forbes also chipped in for the Flames with four goals, while fellow sophomores Miguel Lozada and Kurt Tobias each had two goals, respectively.

Sophomore net minder Asa Keimig held his own with nine saves.

The Flames are set to play four games in four consecutive days over spring break before returning home March 16 to square off against the Savannah College of Art and Design.

MEYERS is a sports reporter.

Track sweeps Big South Third consecutive double-crowning for indoor teams Andrew Woolfolk alwoolfolk@liberty.edu

Another year meant another title for the Liberty Flames track and field team.

The Flames recently claimed the top spot on both the men’s and women’s side at the 2012 Big South Indoor Track and Field Championships, marking the third consecutive year that both teams were crowned champions at the conference title meet.

The two-day event in Blacksburg took place Feb. 24-25.

“We have a good thing going on at Liberty athletics,” head coach Brant Tolsma said. “We are a unique school with a unique mission. We feel like we have the most going for us of any Big South school, so we expect to win.”

On the men’s side, Liberty dominated as they have traditionally done, having won all 15 of the indoor conference championships that have been held by the Big South. The Flames ended with 168 points, 70 points higher than their nearest competitors, Charleston Southern and Radford.

With their 15 straight titles, the team has set a school mark for most consecutive conference championships won of any sports team in the history of the Big South.

The commanding win can be attributed to across the board success by the team. Freshman sprinter Leonard Robbins ran his best time ever in the 400-meter dash at 48.7 seconds. Sprinters Kyle Gill, Taylor Courtney and Andre Washington were tops in the 4 x 400 meter relay, winning the event by .03 seconds, and Liberty also claimed the top spots in the high jump and the pole vault.

Perhaps the most impressive showing of the day was by the team’s shot put squad, who had four of the top six scores in the event. Led by junior Ryan Smith, the team itself racked up 23 points, which put the Flames out of striking distance, where they remained the whole meet.

The Lady Flames were just as impressive as their male counterparts, scoring 187 points to edge out rival Coastal Carolina by 12.5 points. The win marked the team’s third straight title and tenth overall.

Senior standout distance runner Jennifer Klugh led the way, winning the mile and placing second in the 5k on her way to scoring 28 points for the team. The high jump team had four participants place in the top eight, and freshman standout Mychelle Cummings became the first member of the Lady Flames to win the shot put event.

“I’m really excited about her future,” Tolsma said of Cummings. “She’s going to be a real impact athlete for us. I expect her to compete in Nationals in the future.”

Tolsma said that the turning point in the women’s meet was an impromptu cheering session by the whole Flames team during the 5000-meter race. Down by 2.5 points heading into the final two

events, the Lady Flames needed a strong showing by their 5000-meter team to put themselves in position to win. Midway through the event, with the outcome still in limbo, members of the team stood on their respective sidelines and started a we-say-you-say chant of “L-U.” “The girls were patient, and little by little they started moving up, and then the chants started up like the chants at the football games, and the girls started pulling away into the lead. The girls were just inspired by it, and they took off.

They just ran tremendous and solidified the meet,” Tolsma said. “It was the dagger.”

“Not one team out there this weekend compared to the support our team gives to each other,” junior Khristina Kanagy said in an email to coach Tolsma. “I feel so honored to be a part of this team and that God would use me in the platform of running,” Klugh added.

The Flames will head back to Lynchburg with championship hardware, as athletes rack up individual awards across the board. Klugh, who as a freshman tore her ACL and battled through adversity to recover, won her second straight Most Outstanding Track Performer award and is sure to This marks go down as one of the 15th the greatest runners in school history. consecutive Freshman teammates title for the Robbins and jumper Kyle Wheeler shared men’s indoor track team. the award for Freshman of the Year, and distance runner Caleb Edmonds and hurdler Rachel Houseknecht were named to the conferences All-Academic team.

“It’s so satisfying to win with those kind of people. When character wins, everybody is happy. I love to see good kids who love the Lord do well and inspire each other and accomplish things beyond what they think they can do,” Tolsma said.

Tolsma knows a thing or two about winning himself. In his 26 years of leading the men’s and women’s team, he has been named coach of the year a total of 49 times. Tolsma said he views the award as an indication of the strength of his staff. He also said he feels proud to carry on a winning tradition first dreamed of

by Jerry Falwell Sr. “Dr. Falwell’s original vision was that their would be a Bible-believing, conservative school that gave people the same opportunity they would have at other universities. I think it certainly is approaching that fast. It’s a lot of fun to be involved with that mission and that call.”

Tolsma and the team’s attention now turns to this upcoming weekend, when the team will head to Boston for the ECAC and IC4A Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships.

FYI

WOOLFOLK is a sports reporter.

Les Schofer | Promostional Publication

Champions— The Flames are used to being Big South favorites. Mike Brown (10) and B.J. Hayes (7) were part of a senior class that won three Big South titles, such as this 2010 championship against Stony Brook.

Making the jump to the FBS sports TALK

Nate Brown nbrown4@liberty.edu

Liberty University’s feasibility study analyzing the implications and requirements of jumping to an FBS program will be presented to the powers that be March 20.

I really hope Liberty gets the green light to announce its intentions to court bigger conferences because, quite frankly, the Big South is feeling awfully repetitive lately.

Brown We’ll call it the Bryce Harper Phenomenon.

You know, the 20-year-old, 225-pound outfielder in the Washington Nationals program who skipped college to play minor league ball, bats north of .300, had 17 home runs last year and slugs .500?

Bryce Harper.

Or, Liberty University for this metaphor.

To date, active Liberty (NCAA D1) coaches have won 34 Big South Championships and even more Big South regular-season first-place finishes.

That doesn’t even count football’s four most recent championships under Danny Rocco.

Brant Tolsma has 15 Big South titles

and 86 total conference championships by himself, (Big South, IC4A and Mason-Dixon) according to Liberty’s athletic website.

Back to Harper.

The Nationals don’t want to call him up just yet because they want him “to develop.”

When the kid was 17, his buddies were playing Call of Duty. Harper was banging out 14 home runs and batting .318 in Hagerstown, Md. Baseball has never seen a kid this young and this physically gifted before.

What more is there to develop? What, you want the kid to be hitting .400 and 20 longballs a season?

I understand there is an exhaustive list of requirements to check off during the feasibility study at Liberty.

Facility size, accommodations, schedules played, team grades, even the square footage of staff offices are considered.

But for whomever is conducting the study, I’d like to present them with the above stats.

When you have won your conference 34 times, and you’ve only had competitive sports for 38 years, it’s time to get out of the ‘minor-league’ pond and make the jump.

BROWN is the sports editor.

SPORTS

March 6, 2012

Liberty Champion/B3

Ending the season on a good note Omotola career high 22 points and key free throws late, help the Lady Flames put away the Highlanders Kyle Harvey kharvey@liberty.edu

Perhaps it was due to the 35 minute delay to the start of the game, or perhaps it was because Liberty already owned the top seed for the upcoming Big South tournament going into Friday’s contest, but Liberty did not play its best basketball of the year against Radford. They did, however, play well enough to finish the season with a 72-66 victory, their 15th win in the last 16 games.

What began as a Liberty-dominated contest became a much tighter ballgame after Radford went on a 9-0 run, bringing the score to 38-30 with 14 minutes to go in the second half. The Flames found baskets hard to come by, connecting on only 38 percent of shots from the field throughout the game.

What the women lacked in shooting from the field they made up for at the free-throw line and in aggressive play at the boards. As a team, Liberty earned 31 points at the freethrow line to Radford’s eight.

Liberty out-rebounded Radford 47-31.

With just over one minute left on the game clock, Radford had closed the gap to within five of the home team, but seven converted free throws by the Flames in the last 56 seconds sealed the victory.

Redshirt juniors Tolu Omotola and Devon Brown scored in the double digits from the freethrow line, with Omotola earning a career high 10 points off of 14 attempts, and Brown draining 11 of her 13 attempts. As a team, Liberty was 31-39 shooting free throws for a 79.5 percent average.

Omotola and Brown, alongside sophomore forward Jasmine Gardner, led the Flames with nine rebounds each. Senior Danika Dale added seven.

The emergence of Omotola

Ruth Bibby| Liberty Champion

tournament push — The Lady Flames end the season with a 72-66 victory. LaKendra Washington (1) chipped in with eight points. and Gardner in the wake of senior Avery Warley’s lesser playing time was the key element that kept Liberty in the game.

“Tolu did an exceptional job.

I think Tolu ended up with nine

rebounds tonight. I would like to compliment Jasmine Gardner.

Jasmine had nine rebounds and that was all in the first half… I think Devon Brown had nine rebounds, so you have three girls

Omotola and Brown ended the night tied in another category, with each scoring a teamhigh 22 points, a career high for Omotola.

Despite the final score being a bit closer than what they may have hoped it would be, Green was happy with his team enduring some adversity and having to show some fight as they prepared to enter the tournament.

“I don’t think that we’re good enough that we show up and everybody is just going to hand us the trophy for the championship.

The reality is that we’re going to have to go out and work for it. If this wasn’t a wake-up call, I don’t know what would be a wake-up call. The last three games we’re playing two teams that were struggling at the bottom and that can give us some misconception of how good we really are. Radford is middle of the pack, and if we don’t respect our opponent then we’ll get ourselves in trouble,” Green said.

The players echoed their coach’s remarks in regards to readying for the tournament.

“It’s a good preparation for us in the future because in playoffs you just don’t know what to expect. People are going to come out and scratch, pull hair and do whatever they can to get the ‘w’ so, definitely, this was good preparation for us. I’m happy about it,” Omotola said. “We’re going to win it (Big South) for our seniors and we’re just coming back… to take what we lost last year.”

The Flames will begin the Big South Tournament on March 9 as the top seed in the eight-team tournament. The event will be hosted by High Point University in High Point, N.C.

with nine rebounds and Danika Dale wasn’t too far behind with seven, so they were really active on the boards tonight and we needed that,” head coach Carey Green said.

HARVEY is a sports reporter.

Editoral: All Braun No Brains: Is system flawed?

Derrick Battle dbattle2@liberty.edu

He was the Rookie of the year, a fourtime all-star, a four-time silver slugger, a member of the 30-30 club and the National League Most Valuable Player. Ryan Braun has accomplished plenty during his five years of service to Major League Baseball. But in December, a couple of months after winning the MVP, Braun went under scrutiny from the MLB. On Oct. 1, 2011, Braun failed a urine

drug test.

Braun faced a 50-game suspension for failing a league drug test under the substance abuse policy. A frustrated Braun went on a four-month stint to clear his name, prove his innocence and prove the MLB wrong.

Like most notable athletes, Braun appealed the suspension in hopes that he will not suffer the same fate. With his legal team, Braun showed evidence that since his rookie year, his stats hadn’t changed.

After the MLB’s arbitration board re-

The Spring House

viewed the facts, on Feb. 23, in a 2-1 decision, the board lifted the 50-game suspension. Braun had beaten the system, the first time ever that a MLB player had successfully challenged a drug-related penalty.

In a Feb. 24 press conference, Braun spoke out.

“I would bet my life this substance never entered my body,” Braun said. Braun spoke out defending his innocence, saying that the system worked, and attacking collector Dino Laurenzi Jr. for holding

his sample for 44-hours. A few days later, Laurenzi Jr. sent an e-mail to ESPN stating that he did nothing wrong.

In a span of four months, Braun has become a scorn of both players and fans alike. Many still believe that the system has failed. One thing is for sure ­— Braun’s repuatation is all but gone.

BATTLE is asst. sports editor.

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SPORTS

B4/Liberty Champion

March 6, 2012

Disc Golf team qualifies for nationals Paul Fraizer pfraizer2@liberty.edu

It hasn’t taken long for coach Steve Bowman and the Liberty University disk golf team to make their mark on the sport. In their first year as an organized club team, the Flames men’s and women’s teams have already qualified for the National Tournament and Saturday, March 3, hosted a National Qualifying Tournament.

The winner got an automatic bid in the forty-team field at the April 12 National Tournament in North Augusta, SC. The fortyteam field is made up of teams

from all over the country, most of whom have been doing this much longer than the Flames.

Though they had already qualified last semester at a different tournament in Morgantown, WV, the Flames saw this as a great opportunity to promote their program. “This was just a great avenue for us to have this brand new course and brand new team and host an event of this caliber,� coach Steve Bowman said. “This has been a tremendous blessing having all the crew from club sports helping us get everything set up and running. We’ve had the grounds crew out working

this whole week and month.�

The tournament consisted of this six-team field: West Virginia, Appalachian State, East Tennessee State, Eastern Carolina, UNC-Charlotte and, of course, Liberty Flames. Coach Bowman saw this tournament as a great opportunity to get his team experience in a big event, compared to when the team qualified for nationals this past October when only four players were able to participate.

Even though his team had already qualified, and some would say the team was taking it easy, coach Bowman likes where his team is right now.

“I feel like we’re in a good place. We are coming together really well as a team and playing really well,� Bowman said. Team captain Joses Merat echoes his the confidence in where the team is at heading into Nationals. “I definitely feel we’re headed in the right direction,� Merat said. “It’s going to be tough, there are some stacked teams that have professional coaches and players that travel year round, but I would definitely say we are determined to reach our goal as a team (and go from there).�

That goal being the automatic bid into next years tournament

Madison Neddo, Coppin State’s starting pitcher, could not escape the second inning and took the loss. He allowed 13 of Liberty’s 14 runs.

The Flames pitching staff, on the other hand, followed up their 2-0 win by allowing only three hits in seven scoreless innings.

Patrick Eckelbarger, Carson Herndon and Ashton Perritt combined for the shutout in a game where the Eagles failed to get a runner to second base.

One challenge that the Flames faced was staying focused and not letting the Eagles back into the game, but Eckelbarger made sure that didn’t happen. In the two innings following the offensive outburst, Eckelbarger struck out four Eagles and did not allow a baserunner.

Ruth Bibby| Liberty Champion

shut down — Flames put ice to the bats of Coppin State during their weekend series.

BASEBALL continued from B1 the team enjoyed having a much bigger lead in the second game. “After the first game, it was definitely

reassuring that our bats were still there.

We didn’t really bring it to the plate in the first game, but we showed up in the second,� Haley said.

Game 3 Liberty completed the sweep of the visiting Eagles Sunday in a 13-1 rout. Ian Parmley and Bryan Aanderund each collected three hits, respectively. Aanderund was responsible for five RBI’s.

Five of Liberty’s runs were courtesy of throwing errors. Coppin State had six total errors on an altogether forgettable day defensively for the Eagles.

With the sweep, Liberty lifts its record to 12-1 on the year, while Coppin State settles to 0-9. “It’s definitely a lot better

awarded to the top sixteen finishers in the tournament. “I would love to see us make a run for that (top sixteen), and that would be great for us for being our first year as a team,�

Merat said.

With all this success in the team’s first year in existence, it is safe to say that coach Bowman and the Flames are going to be making their presence known on the National stage for quite some time.

FRAIZER is a sports reporter.

this year, going (12)-1,� Haley said. “We all feel that we could easily be (13)-0, but we didn’t show up one day. So we’re just trying to come out and show up every day now and not let that happen again.�

LEASURE and PEARSON are sports reporters.

flames

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scoreboard

Men’s Tennis vs. Oklahoma State 4-3 (W)

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Women’s Tennis vs. East Tennesse State 2-5 (L)

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Track IC4A Indoor Championships Men’s (T)9th Place Women 11th Place

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Women’s Lacrosse vs.

Cincinnati 8-13 (L)

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FEATURE

March 6, 2012

Liberty Champion/B5

Euphoric Euphonium Acclaimed musician performs for small crowd Melissa Gibby mfgibby@liberty.edu

Victoria Pearce | Liberty Champion

Campaigning for Success — Chelsea Dawson (left) and Ashley Kelly (right) are finalists in the GM Marketing Campaign and will travel to New York City, March 22, for an awards dinner.

Project leads to opportunity Public relations majors Ashley Kelly and Chelsea Dawson make final round in GM ad competition Kendra Alleyne kralleyne@liberty.edu

A class project has led two public relations students to have a chance at winning over $5,000 and an internship at Alloy Media + Marketing. Ashley Kelly and Chelsea Dawson are in the running to win the John Caples Student Campaign of the Year Award, based on an assignment that required them to create a campaign for GM. “Our professor, Dr. Angela Widgeon required us to enter the competition as part of our class,” Kelly said.

Kelly, who graduated in May, along with her partner, senior Chelsea Dawson, entered their project “College Discount.

Genius” into the GM Campaign competition as a requirement for a Communications Marketing Campaign class. They never dreamed that they would be finalists in the competition.

“We did not think we were going to go this far in the competition (and) we are extremely humbled, honored and thankful for this opportunity,” Kelly said.

“We worked long and hard hours. A ton of research was involved,” Dawson said.

The entire project consisted of a written summary, extensive plans book and an extended campaign.

All contestants had to stick to a strict budget of $1.2 million with the target audience being college students and recent graduates.

“We started research in September and did not submit until December. It was a semester-long process,” Dawson said.

The work proved challenging as both were involved in extracurricular activities and jobs that consumed much of their time.

“I was planning a wedding, working on another campaign and working part time,” Kelly said. “Chelsea was busy with school, work and extracurricular activities, so while we gave the campaign our all, we,

of course, felt we could always do better.”

“We did not hear back from the agency until over two months later and we were so thankful that our hard work paid off,” Dawson said.

“I was greatly encouraged to discover that our hard work, endless study nights and time (was) now opening the door to an amazing opportunity,” Kelly said.

Both students attribute their success to Dr. Widgeon, their professor.

“If it weren’t for her, then I wouldn’t be a finalist. I am thankful that she has pushed us to submit our ideas outside the class. While we came up with the ideas and campaign, she provided us with the tools and knowledge to implement those ideas,” Kelly said.

The girls also thank God that they were given a chance for this opportunity.

“God gave us the strength to complete it to the best of our ability,” Kelly said.

The girls encourage other students to get involved with the campaign.

“Each year there are different competitions. It is extremely important to look into these competitions and to submit your work. It is an amazing opportunity to refine your skills and to develop a campaign that could potentially be used in the real world. Don’t be intimidated, you can do it,” Kelly said.

The two will be traveling to New York City on March 22 to attend the awards dinner where they will find out if they are the winners of the John Caples Student Campaign of the Year Award and the recipients of a $5,000 cash prize, as well as an internship at Alloy Media + Marketing, which sponsors the event. Several other agencies will be in attendance to receive awards.

ALLEYNE is a feature reporter.

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During his visit to Liberty University, Dr. David Stern performed a euphonium and trombone recital to a small crowd in the Oldham Recital Auditorium on Monday, Feb. 27.

Dr. Kevin Chiarizzio, an associate professor of brass and music education at Liberty, introduced Stern as a personal longtime friend and fellow musician.

Stern is the current director of Instrumental Activities at Anderson University in South Carolina.

He earned his doctorate in Fine Arts and Masters in Performance from Texas Tech University and his Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Colorado.

Stern teaches tuba, trumpet, euphonium and trombone.

He began his music career in the fifth grade and attributes his introduction to brass to one woman.

“Marcie Brown. In the fifth grade I wanted to play music but had an overbite, and she grabbed my chin and said, ‘Come back in three hours. You’re going to play baritone.’ I didn’t know what a baritone even was, but I came back three hours later and it was by the grace of God that he put me in brass,” Stern said.

The evening began with friendly banter between Stern and Dr. Samuel Wellman, who is a professor of music, piano and composition at Liberty.

Stern played euphonium for the first three pieces of the evening and was later accompanied by Chiarizzio for the fourth piece in a trombone duet.

Elena Roussanova-Lucas, who married one of Stern’s trombone teachers, composed the second piece, Fantasy for Euphonium and Piano, on commission from Stern. Before playing, Stern described the sounds of the first movement feeling like walking around Moscow.

The third piece was Vinicio A. Meza’s Retratos, which means “pictures” in Spanish. Stern asked the crowd to envision a traditional Spanish bullfight as he

Liberty University

Sweet music — Musician David Stern visited Liberty, Feb. 27 for a private concert. played the piece.

By the fourth movement of Retratos, Stern played a Spanish Blues melody and informed the crowd of how unusual blues tunes were for the euphonium.

“I’d like to say I’m the first euphonium player to play blues, but I can’t. I probably won’t be the last either,” Stern said.

David Wilborne’s Southern Jazz Duets was the last piece of the night. It was a trombone duet played with Chiarizzio that was full of New Orleans flavor.

Many audience members were music students and their guests.

“I already graduated, but I came with my husband who is a student, and my favorite part was the jazz duets,” Eliza Mobley said.

Another student was pleasantly surprised at the sound of the euphonium.

“My favorite piece was definitely Fantasy for Euphomium and Piano. But I also enjoyed Retratos as well. I was surprised at how the euphonium had such a wide range,” Jordan Schultz said.

The recital ended with applause from a warm and receptive audience, and Stern stayed for a few minutes afterward for questions.

GIBBY is a news reporter.

FEATURE

B6/Liberty Champion

March 6, 2012

Kate Powley| Liberty Champion Ruth Bibby| Liberty Champion

A Place for Pooch — A new dog-loving park is coming to the Lynchburg area, offering a fenced in area for man’s best friend to run free.

Dog-friendly park to come to the ‘burg Melissa Gibby mfgibby@liberty.edu

Lynchburg canines and their owners have something to wag their tails about, with the upcoming construction of Blackwater Creek Athletic Area.

The park, which will be built when fundraising efforts have been completed, will provide a fenced area where dogs can roam leash-free.

The park’s mission, posted on the Lynchburg Dog Park’s website, is “to establish and maintain an off-leash dog park open to the general public where dog owners may exercise their dogs and benefit from educational programs promoting healthy dog behavior.”

“We have had a really great response from the community,” President of the Board of Directors Thomas Strayhorne said.

“We even have Liberty students helping out. It will be a great place to socialize with both dogs and other people.”

As an owner of a German Shephard, Strayhorne is one of many dog owners in the area with the desire to see such a project completed.

Strayhorn serves on the board for The Friends of Lynchburg Dog Park, Inc., which is a local nonprofit corporation that was founded in order to foster the building of the much-anticipated park and is partnered with the City of Lynchburg.

He estimated that the park would need an initial $40,000 to open. However, he clearly stated that no tax dollars would be used on the project.

“The main concern was money, and people would be unhappy if taxes from the city were taken for the project,”

Strayhorn said.

Strayhorn is optimistic that construction on the park will start before the close of the year.

“We’d like to maybe have a commercial fence and gate to at least complete Phase One, then hopefully get additional things,” he said. Extra amenities would be incorporated in Phases Two and Three, including benches, water fountains and trails.

Because of these factors, extensive fundraising efforts have been launched and Strayhorn reported that funds increased from $4,000 in early 2011 to $34,000 in the fall of last year, mostly attributed to a lastminute entry into a competition through Penn State.

In addition, the holiday season also facilitated events such as the “All I Want for Christmas is a Dog Park” Campaign. An upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Irish

Festival with the Lynchburg Rotary Club and a $2,000 grant from The Greater Lynchburg Community Trust are also recent happenings that are furthering the cause.

According to the official website, a committee of representatives formed the Off-Leash Dog Park Steering Committee to complete research to support the vision for the park.

The committee researched the achievability of such a park and subsequently submitted the Dog Park Feasibility Study to the Lynchburg City Council in 2008. The study thoroughly explains all elements needed to build and maintain a leash-free park, including everything from fundraising ideas, rules and regulations within the park, and necessary facility elements like pet waste stations and separate areas for small dogs.

Results from a survey given to potential patrons of the park found that 95 percent would support a dog park in the area and 44 percent surveyed said they would make multi-weekly visits. Some survey participants wrote recommendations for the future park such as the inclusion of professional staff to monitor dogs and handle scuffles.

Strayhorn has high hopes for the future of the park as volunteers and dog-lovers continue to pour into the project.

“I’m very excited. The community has been a great help,” he said. “A dog park like this will provide a great experience for both dogs and their owners.”

To learn more, visit http:// lynchburgdogpark.com/default. aspx.

GIBBY is a news reporter.

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Wendy Coffey provides high quality cakes for special occasions Kayla Gurley kgurley@liberty.edu

According to Wendy Coffey, everything happens for a reason. In fact, when she was laid off from her job, she said she was given the opportunity of a lifetime — starting a small business of her own.

Coffey Cakes, owned and operated

by Coffey, is a small bakery in the Timberlake area which specializes in cakes for special events and weddings.

“When I got laid off from my previous job several years ago, my son was engaged and needing a wedding cake for the wedding,” Coffey said. “ My fiancé looked at me and said, ‘you can do that. ’” Coffey developed her love of sweets while working at a bakery called Mr. Donut. Using the cake decorating skills she had acquired throughout the years, and the experience of her son’s wedding cake, Coffee started making cakes for local residents. She began taking orders and opened the Coffey Cakes company in 2002.

“I do about 110 weddings a year,” Coffey said. “Last year alone I did 190 cakes total.”

Coffey said that things can get hectic trying to run her business by herself, and that a typical day consists of a myriad of phone calls, emails, appointments, advertising, baking and decorating. According to Coffey, her shop is open by appointment only.

“Even though things can get crazy, I love my job,” Coffey said. “I love meeting people and hearing their stories. I especially enjoy when I get to make a cake for a certain family on several oc-

Photo Provided| Liberty Champion

Baby Cakes — Coffey appealed to the tastebuds and sense of humor of a class at Liberty University by creating a cake that played on the satirical view expressed by Jonathan Swift in his story “A Modest Proposal.” casions, like the family I do a birthday cake for every year.”

Having made cakes for Liberty students to compliment their class projects, Coffey has widened her customer demographics.

Jessica Grigg, who ordered one of Coffey’s cakes as part of an English presentation on the story “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, said that their cake, which featured an Irish baby in a pot, added a touch of humor to the satirical suggestion about how to deal with the poverty that spread throughout Ireland.

“The presentation was a success,” Grigg said. “The class loved the cake and could hardly believe it was real.”

According to Coffey, she is already booked for several weddings this summer and her calendar is filling up quickly.

For more information on Coffey Cakes, call Wendy Coffey at (434) 9417182 or email wendy@coffeycakes. com.

GURLEY is a feature reporter.

FEATURE

March 6, 2012

Liberty Champion/B7

Charles Billingsley releases new CD Album a ‘plea to the church... to love the world’ Amanda Sullivan amsullivan3@liberty.edu

A

fter more than eight years since his previous studio album with original music, Charles Billingsley is set to release his newest solo-artist CD “Never Forsaken” on March 6. A live-streaming concert will be aired on CharlesBillingsley.com, taking place at Thomas Road Baptist Church, of Lynchburg, Va. Both the online and live events are free.

The former preacher’s kid’s recent endeavor is “a plea to the church,” he said in a news release. This new album is a wake-up call to the church, he said in the news release.

“Look beyond the four walls of our buildings and get out there and love the world,” Billingsley said. “It’s just a reminder to us all — God actually loves them as much as he loves me.”

The mantra for “Never Forsaken” is two-fold, with the first concept being love.

“There’s a (book) called the ‘Jesus Story Book Bible,’” Music Director and long-time friend Adam Lancaster said. “We read it to my daughter just about everyday. It describes God’s love as ‘a never stopping, never giving up, always and forever love’ — that’s the love that we are talking about.”

Additionally, the purpose of the album serves as reminder to listeners that “God chose us to share that love,” Lancaster said.

Alex Towers| TRBC

New desire — TRBC’s worship leader calls the church to wake up in a his new CD, released March 6.

“Whether it’s someone right beside us in our neighborhood, or half-way around the world, it’s our responsibility to meet the needs of these people, physically and spiritually.”

— ADAM LANCASTER

“So whether it’s someone right beside us in our neighborhood, or half-way around the world just trying to live today, it’s our responsibility to meet the needs of these people, physically and spiritually,” Lancaster said. “Charles wanted to make a project ‘for my generation’ to challenge them do more, give more and love more for the

glory of God and the good of His Kingdom.”

So, in an effort to show more love, Billingsley decided to partner with CauseLife, an organization dedicated to bringing clean water to those who need it.

“Last summer, Charles and some close friends went on a trip to Guatemala to see what

CauseLife was doing down there and how they could help,” Lancaster said. “Charles came back…and the partnership was taking shape. What started out as raising awareness and money for wells has flourished into an entire village project where we are raising money to build houses, a church, school and community center.”

Much of the inspiration for Billingsley’s title track “Never Forsaken” stemmed from his experiences in Guatemala. For him, the song is a call to action for listeners.

“The song ‘Never Forsaken’ is for those people in the world who are hungry, lost, afraid, malnourished, thirsty, who cry out everyday for something called hope,” Billingsley said in a news release. “They won’t hear this album. This record is for the people who will hear it to do something about it.”

The project has been “very fun, fulfilling and rewarding,” according to Lancaster.

“The challenge is to make sure those things don’t cloud the message and that the heart of the artist is still heard in the end,” Lancaster said. “I believe we achieved that with this CD. Album projects are always a lot of fun to do, especially when you’re in the middle writing and creating the thing, and this one was no different. Its something we’re all proud of.”

Billingsley’s recent shift in focus was a result of a personal struggle.

In 2009, an aggravated blood vessel burst, leaving a polyp on his vocal chords. The only option was surgery — a procedure that may not have allowed the singer to continue in his vocal career, according to the news release.

“God used that polyp on my voice to refocus me,” Billingsley said in a news release. “Before that polyp, I used my voice for success. Now I want to use it for significance.”

SULLIVAN is a graduate assistant.

Newsboys ‘God’s Not Dead’ Tour

featuring The City Harmonic, Abandon, & Anthem Lights

Saturday, March 24

Vines Center 8:00p

FOR TICKETING INFORMATION CALL 582.SEAT OR PURCHASE ONLINE AT WWW.LIBERTY.EDU/SA FOR MORE INFORMATION EMAIL STUDENTACTIVITIESINFO@LIBERTY.EDU OR CALL 434.592.3061

FEATURE

MARCH 6, 2012

Seeking to solve the water crisis

Local teen partners with Causelife to bring clean water to Guatemala Desiree Wheeler dwheeler4@liberty.edu

After seeing the physical needs of the Guatemalan people on a church mission trip, 16-yearold Lynchburg resident Hunter Smith is on a mission to raise funds and awareness for their country.

“While I was there in Guatemala, I fell in love with the country and its people,” Smith said. “When I came back, I really wanted to do something to help the Guatemalans. A couple weeks after the trip, God gave me the idea of raising money for a well.”

Now planning the Agua Pura 5k, which will take place March 31 on Liberty University’s campus, Smith hopes to use the money from the event to provide clean water and dig wells for Guatemalans.

Smith said he began planning the 5k fundraiser for the people of Guatemala after a previous mission trip where he witnessed an urgent need for clean water sources for the villages he visited.

“Last summer I went on a trip to Guatemala with Causelife and my youth group at Thomas Road Baptist Church. That was my first trip out of the country and my eyes were really opened to the poverty and sickness that was there,” Smith said. “It’s one thing to hear about or look at pictures of the poverty here at home. But it’s another thing to see it firsthand. It changes how you look at things. It made me appreciate the things we take for granted, like clean water.”

Smith is partnering again with the Causelife organization for this event. Causelife’s focus is providing water to people around the world who are not able to access clean water.

FYI 3.575 million people die each year from a water related disease.

Approximately 1 in 8 people lack access to clean water.

An American taking a five minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.

Photo Provided | Liberty Champion

Taking action — Hunter Smith was changed by a trip to Guatemala and now hopes to bring clean water to the country by raising money for wells with the Aqua Pura 5k.

Through events, such as the Children of the World concerts, often seen during Mission Emphasis Weeks at Liberty University, they bring awareness and hope to people groups all over the world.

“We don’t think about clean water because it’s everywhere here. It comes out of our showers and our faucets. We have water fountains to drink from that are accessible to us just about everywhere,” Smith said.

After visiting Guatemala with his church, Smith said that he realized that water is a novelty, not a right.

“Many Guatemalans get their water from contaminated sourc-

es,” Smith said. “As a result, they can catch diseases that potentially kill them.”

“Personally, I have a heart for that country, and I want to help bring them physical help and the truth of the Gospel,” Smith said.

“It’s been amazing to see how God has guided me in every detail,” The Agua Pura 5k run will take place at Liberty’s outdoor track in Green Hall. The cost is $20 to participate. Refreshments will be provided to registered runners. Additionally, all participants who register prior to March 19 will receive a complementary T-shirt.

“A well costs $5000 and will

provide clean water for up to 500 people a day for around 10 years,” Smith said. “Right before Christmas, I only had a little over $100. Now, just a couple months later, I’ve been able to see God provide over $9000 toward a well through me and my friend, Hunter Nash. We are now hoping to drill a third well with the proceeds from the Agua Pura 5k.”

Liberty University and TRBC have assisted in Smith’s planning efforts, providing both the facilities to host the 5k run and promotional support for the event.

“I believe that God has called us to help the needy and broken as a way of showing God our

Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water related illness.

- Statistics courtesy of water.org

love and showing the world the love of Christ,” Smith said.

For more information about registration or volunteering for the run, contact Hunter Smith at live4jesus.hs@gmail.com. To register for the Agua Pura 5k run, visit www.eco-xsports.com/ aguapura or go to the Aid Station in Forest, Va. WHEELER is a feature reporter.

Alex Towers| trbc

Newsboys Return — Well-seasoned and well-known Christian band the Newsboys will take to the Vines Center stage, March 24, in the “God’s Not Dead” tour. Other bands will include The City Harmonics, Abandon and Anthem Lights.

SA to host ‘God’s Not Dead’ tour Daniel Garcia dtgarcia@liberty.edu

The Christian rock group, Newsboys, will bring their signature sound to the Vines Center at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 24, as part of Compassion International’s “God’s Not Dead” tour.

“We’re very excited to be hosting their new ‘God’s Not Dead’ tour,” Student Activities (SA) Promotions Manager Stephanie Ward wrote in a recent email. “It’s been quite a while since we’ve had the Newsboys and I’m definitely excited for

the enthusiasm this show will bring.”

The concert, featuring Australia’s veteran pop-quartet, now led by Liberty University Alumnus Michael Tait, will include supporting acts The City Harmonic, Abandon and Anthem Lights. Tickets are $8 in advance for Liberty students and $12 for the general public, according to SA’s website.

“We look for bands that fit within our mission and that we know that students will enjoy,” Ward said. “This concert takes place during CFAW, so it’s important that we bring in a tour that caters to the over-

all purpose of the weekend, and this tour does exactly that.”

The “God’s Not Dead” tour, bearing the same name as the most recent Newsboys album, runs from Jan. 12 to May 6 and will stop in multiple states across the nation.

“SA tries to do a giveaway a day that promotes our upcoming events, and Newsboys is at the top of our promotion right now,” Ward stated. “We want to get the word out about this show, and it’s only $8 for Liberty students, so it’s at a price they can afford.”

“There are four awesome bands coming out and with such a diverse student body, I think there will be at least one band that everyone gets hyped about. We (Student Activities) have been preparing for this show since late fall 2011, so I’m ready for it to be here.”

For more information on the “God’s Not Dead Tour,” including video content and additional tour dates, visit www.newsboys.com.

GARCIA is a feature reporter.

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