MONDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2010
TTHE HE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT VOICE
TUESDAY’S
news
Find out how students and a professor got politically activee in Norman on Saturday. See page 3.
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T Sooners The ddefeated No. 9 TTexas at home oon Saturday. See ppage 7.
Weather
Read a review of “Snapshots” and a profilee on its composer. mposer. See page 5.
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WINTER STORMS APPROACHING A light winter storm will be over OU today. Beginning as a rain event, temperatures will drop and winter precipitation should start falling in the area, said Ty Judd, meteorologist at the National Weather Center on campus. “We should be above freezing until around noon,” Judd said. “Then the rain will start to change over to snow, but it may melt when it hits the ground.” Judd said the main effect will take place at night when temperatures will drop into the low 20s and the melted precipitation will refreeze on roads and other surfaces. “It will most likely be a slush-like accumulation on the road until it refreezes at night,” Judd said. “It doesn’t look like there will be any large accumulations for Norman. Most of the accumulations will take place in the northwestern part of the state. The most we can expect is a couple of inches of snow.” Judd said the worst part of the storm OU will experience is the dramatic fall in temperatures. “It could get down near 18 degrees,” he said. Judd said the National Weather Center also is watching another storm that will be approaching the area around Thursday. “It could be cold enough for us to get a winter mix, but [the storm] is just too far out from us to make any solid determinations,” Judd said. -Daily Staff Reports
One arrested in prostitution bust Massage parlor served as a front for illegal activities, authorities say CASEY WILSON Daily Staff Writer
A Norman massage parlor located near Adams Elementary school and an after-school recreation center was allegedly a front for a prostitution and drug trafficking ring. Sun Cha Aldrich, 61, was charged Wednesday with two counts of soliciting prostitution within 1,000 feet of a school after a year-long investigation by the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Department and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, OBN spokesman Mark Woodward said in a press release. Aldrich is being held at the Cleveland County jail on $100,000 bond.
The illegal activities were taking place at Orient Tokyo Health Massage, located at 1035 N. Flood Ave., Woodward said. “This massage business was nothing more than a front for the defendants’ prostitution ring,” Woodward said. “Additionally, the defendant was trafficking cocaine from this location.” Mitch Smith and Brian Hess, undercover OBN agents, visited the massage parlor on different dates in January and paid $40 for a 30-minute massage as part of the investigation, according to court affidavits. Aldrich allegedly offered to perform a sexual act in exchange for $60, the agents said in the affidavits. The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Department and the OBN served search warrants Feb. 3 at the
PROSTITUTION CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
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Sun Cha Aldrich, 61, was arrested and charged Wednesday for allegedly solciting prostitution at the massage parlor she worked at on Flood Avenue.
SOONERS FIND SUCCESS AGAINST LONGHORNS
OU upset the No.9 Texas Longhorns 80-71 at Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday after a dominating first half performance that left the Sooners ahead 48-30.
STUDENTS VOLUNTEER FOR EXTREME MAKEOVER Community works together to build new home for Norman-area family in need
MICHELLE GRAY/THE DAILY
African Week arrives African Student Association will feature movie night, community service and cultural fair to promote African cultures
CAROLINE PERRYMAN Daily Staff Writer
TA’CHELLE JONES Daily Staff Writer
SLAUGHTERVILLE — OU students helped build a new house in just 106 hours as part of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Thousands of volunteers from the Norman area, many of them OU students, worked from Feb. 1 to Sunday to build a 2,800-square-foot home for the Skaggs family. Most volunteer positions were filled when people signed up and many students worked the midnight to 6 a.m. shift. Alan Davis, human relations graduate student and former football defensive end, volunteered Friday and Saturday with Sooner Legends catering company. He said he was impressed by how quickly the house was built considering the muddy conditions. “It was incredible how fast [the volunteers] built the house,” he said. “Usually a house like that would take about a year to build with all the weather issues and delays, but they worked through the weather.” Jillian Harris of ABC’s “The Bachelorette” and platinum music artist Xzibit of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” were the celebrity guest designers. Adam Baldwin, architecture senior, helped design a dinosaur-themed room for one of the Skaggs’ children. An OU professor designed all the children’s bedrooms. Peggy Sealy, Ideal Homes spokeswoman, said the community has been very supportive of the Skaggs family. Jhett Skaggs, age 3, survived a heart transplant as an infant.
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An Extreme Home Makeover volunteer watches as the old house is torn down. The volunteers worked for hours on location.
Before “Extreme Makeover,” the family was living in a moldy, rotting, termite-ridden home, which was extremely dangerous for the child’s weak immune system. “[Jhett as an infant] was lethargic, constantly crying, losing STUDENTS CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
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Students will celebrate and showcase various African cultures as part of Africa Week, which begins Monday under the theme “My core is Africa.” The week’s activities and events, hosted by the African Student Association, are centered on revealing aspects of the continent that often go unknown. “It is one of the few chances we have to showcase African culture to the OU campus,” said Chike Nwokolo, African Student Association vice president and biochemistry sophomore. Throughout the week, each activity will give the participants a chance to learn more about the continent and some of the countries within it. “It’s one thing to watch TV and see the poverty. Why not speak to someone who has lived there?” said Karen Matambo, African Student Association president and chemical engineering junior. “We want to give people that chance.” Africa Week’s activities include a cultural fair, community service and a movie night, with the goal aimed at allowing students to experience diverse African cultures through foods, music and dance. Members said this week is one of the organization’s AFRICAN CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
VOL. 95, NO. 92