The student voice of Midwestern State University
The Wichitan page 7 The road to fame
page 9 Unstoppable The MSU Cycling Team continues to roll through competition with conference crown.
Trio of Red Dirt music artists visited Kay Yeager Coliseum for a performance.
WEDNESDAY April 29, 2009
Freshman’s throat slashed by longtime friend Chris Collins Managing Editor
Three years ago, Cody Welsh saved Caleb Carmichael’s life. It was at Lake Bridgeport. The two were swinging on a rope that broke. Carmichael struck his head on a boat dock and was knocked unconscious, falling in 30-foot deep water. Welsh dove in and pulled his friend ashore. On Monday, Carmichael returned the favor. He saved Welsh’s life. It was in an odd fashion. Welsh attacked Carmichael in a house on Joy Court, slashing the MSU freshman’s throat. Afterward, Welsh put a gun to his own head, threatening suicide.
It was Carmichael, bleeding profusely, who got his old friend to drop the gun and surrender to police. “He seemed confused, like he didn’t know what was going on,” Carmichael recalled. Carmichael, 19, spoke from a hospital room at United Regional Health Care Center. Welsh, also 19, is being held at the Wichita County Annex where he faces counts of aggravated assault. Bond for both charges is $200,000. Welsh is not an MSU student. Carmichael said the incident began when Welsh unexpectedly arrived at the home of Brenda and Larry Scott that morning, where Carmichael lives.
Welsh has been struggling with drug problems for a couple years, Carmichael said. He moved out of the Scotts’ home, where he had lived for five years, about a year ago. According to Carmichael, he didn’t like the restrictive rules about alcohol and drugs. “Cody was a good kid,” Stefan Scott, who is friends with Cody, said. “He just went down the wrong path with drugs.” Until Monday, the last contact Welsh had had with the Scotts was when they tried to convince him to join the military and clean up his life the week before. When Welsh walked into the Scotts’ home Monday at about 10:15 a.m., only Carmichael and
a housekeeper, who asked to remain unnamed, were there. “The Scotts said Cody wasn’t supposed to be over there when the adults weren’t there, but it wasn’t a big deal,” Carmichael said. Carmichael said he came downstairs to see Welsh standing in the entryway. The two began to play pool and talk. During the pool game, Welsh told Carmichael that he needed help, Carmichael said. He didn’t know exactly what kind of help Welsh needed, but sent Stefan a text message asking him to come home. Welsh called Brenda and asked her to come talk to him. Brenda, who was working,
couldn’t get there soon enough. Police later discovered that Welsh had been using methamphetamine for the past four days and had not been sleeping, according to an affidavit. The two sat on the couch and began to watch TV. Welsh asked for a drink and Carmichael went into the pantry to find one. While Carmichael was kneeling down, Welsh crept up behind him and slashed his throat with a knife. “I didn’t know what it was at first,” Carmichael said. “It just felt like a dull pain.” Carmichael said he reached up to his own neck, feeling the knife with his hands and finally realizing what was happening. He threw Welsh on the
ground, knocking the knife to the ground. The housekeeper was vacuuming nearby in the house when she heard screaming and yelling from the kitchen. As she ran toward the commotion she heard Carmichael shout, “Cody, you’re killing me!” When she arrived in the kitchen she saw Carmichael had wrestled Welsh to the floor. He turned to her and told her to call an ambulance. Both of the men were almost completely covered in blood. She was dialing 9-1-1 on her cell phone when she realized that Welsh had slit Carmichael’s See ASSAULT page 5
Student athlete from Montenegro balances tennis, academics Joe Cockrum For the Wichitan For some students taking 12 hours a semester is hard enough. Playing on a university sports team could make things even more difficult. For MSU men’s tennis player Vjekoslav Stipanic 12 hours in his first semester was a breeze, so this semester he has decided to double up. In his second semester he is taking seven classes adding up to 24 semester hours. “Sometimes it can get to be over-
whelming,” said Stipanic. Stipanic, a mechanical engineering major, arrived at MSU last January from his hometown Tivat, Montenegro, a small city located in southern Europe with a population of about 15,000. He started learning English when he was in the 4th grade, although he never started speaking it fluently until he came to MSU. English was just one of the few things Stipanic had to deal with while in school in Europe. “Here school is easier,” he said. “Back home I had to go to school on some days for ten hours.” Even though at times he said it was nearly impossible, Sti-
panic still found time to play tennis. He started playing when he was eight years old and became good very quickly. Throughout his younger days he was named the 12 and under, 14 and under, 16 and under, and 18 and under champion of Montenegro. After high school Stipanic decided to pursue a degree in civil engineering at a college in Serbia. He continued to play tennis and was still doing well, he was ranked number eight in Serbia when he became interested in coming to the United States to get his degree and keep playing tennis. See STIPANIC page 3
Patrick Johnston | The Wichitan Moffett Library could get expensive renovations if the state legislature allocates the $40 million necessary for the project.
Library could get overdue face lift Joe Cockrum For the Wichitan
Brittany Norman | Editor In Chief
MSU men’s tennis player Vjekoslav Stipanic plays tennis at Weeks Park Tennis Center in Wichita Falls. He came to Texas from Montenegro. He balances athletics with a challenging academic course load.
Moffett Library may get a much-needed facelift if the Texas state legislature dishes out about $40 million to rebuild and remodel the 45-year-old structure. University Librarian Dr. Clara Latham said the money will come from a tuition revenue bond funded by the state legislature, which issues bonds every year to universities in need of financial help for certain projects. The library building, originally built in 1964, was updated and added on to in 1986. It has not been remodeled since. Latham said a consultant has come up with several different plans and she is unsure at this time if they will tear the building down, but it is likely. “The hindrance to remodeling the building as it stands is it’s not ADA (American Disabilities Act) compliant,” Latham said. “The hallways to the bathrooms are too narrow and the old elevator is too small to meet ADA requirements. So they would have to tear out and rebuild that whole elevator and re-do all three floors of bathroom hallways. It would
be a major undertaking.” If they decide to just remodel, the third floor of the building will also be completed. As it stands now it is not as big as the other two floors because they ran out of money when adding on in 1986. During the process only half of the library would be remodeled at a time to allow students to continue using the building. The remodeling would not only take care of the ADA compliance issues it would also add more places for the students to study and hopefully make the library more student friendly. “One of the things I’m really pushing for are more group study rooms with more technology,” Latham said. “Have those group study rooms wireless capable, have smart boards and multimedia preparation capabilities. If you need to practice a PowerPoint or practice an audio presentation, all of that equipment will be built into the room. Not just a chalkboard.” Sophomore mechanical engineering major Blake Powell agreed with Latham and thinks the group study rooms need to
See Renovations page5