MONDAY APRIL 13, 2009
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Tomorrow’s Weather Gavin DeGraw performed Saturday at Oklahoma City’s Diamond Ballroom. Read about an evening with DeGraw on PAGE 7.
The baseball team won two of three games this weekend against the Red Raiders of Texas Tech. Find out how on PAGE 6.
43°/58° news Oklahomans sift through the ashes after devastating wildfires. PAGE 3
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T-SHIRTS GIVE TESTIMONY ON SEXUAL ASSAULT
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To raise awareness of sexual assault, the Women’s Outreach Center will turn the South Oval into a massive clothesline by displaying T-shirts decorated with students’ personal stories. The clothesline project was created in Massachusetts in 1990 and more than 500 projects have been held internationally since then. OU’s participation is part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, said center coordinator Kathy Moxley. T-shirts decorated with words and pictures by students will be displayed on the South Oval until Friday as a testimony about the violence that goes on against women, said Madeline Ambrose, center intern and event organizer. It’s estimated that one in four women will be sexually assaulted by the end of their college careers, and OU students are no exception, said Ambrose, women and gender studies junior. She said decorating T-shirts should be a therapeutic and safe outlet for victims of sexual assault to tell their stories. Ambrose said this month’s events are an attempt to make those on OU’s campus aware of what kind of sexual assault might be happening around them. Lauren Stalford/The Daily
ELI HULL/THE DAILY
Redshirt freshman defensive end David King (90) drags down redshirt freshman running back Jermie Calhoun (23) at the Red-White game Saturday afternoon at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Calhoun led all rushers with 19 attempts. See the full story in SPORTS, PAGE 5. To see more photos from Saturday’s Red-White scrimmage, go to OUDAILY.COM
PARALYZED FRESHMAN’S RECOVERY RALLIES SUPPORT Friends, family raising funds to help pay for medical bills RENEÉ SELANDERS
The Oklahoma Daily
While snowboarding during spring break, Logan Liles took a fall that changed his life and is recovering with help from friends and family. Liles, University College freshman, sustained a spinal injury in Durango, Colo., that left him unable to move his legs, hands, fingers and wrists. He has been recovering in Denver since March 16, the day of his fall. There is a high chance Liles will fully recover from his injury, and he is currently undergoing physical and speech therapy. Although he is more than 700 miles from OU, he has never been without the support of his Sooner family. From a friend’s company on his medical flight to Craig Hospital in Denver to weekend visits from one of his Phi Delta Theta fraternity brothers, Liles has the company, support and prayers from a network of friends, who are working to raise awareness and collect donations to support Liles and his family. “He would do anything for you ... I know that he would do the same,” fraternity brother Kyle Brown said. His friends are doing as much as they can because they know Liles would return the favor, he said. Brown, finance junior, drove to Denver with Liles’ fraternity big brother March 19
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Logan Liles (left), University College freshman, shown in a Denver hospital with fraternity brother Kyle Brown, is recovering from a spinal injury he received while snowboarding. after he heard about the injury. He made another visit earlier this month and plans to go back to Denver later this month. Brown and Liles became friends through Phi Delta Theta and church activities. He said Liles’ contagious personality and continuously positive attitude are what move his friends to garner all the support they can for Liles and his family.
“Logan is just one of the best people that I know,” Brown said. “He loves life, loves everything about it, loves people.” The bonds of the Phi Delta Theta brotherhood increasingly are visible as fraternity members work with Liles’ friends and family to solidify fund-raising plans that include hosting a coffee social event and selling LiveStrong bracelets and T-shirts. Brown
said the fraternity has already collected more than $1,000 to help Liles’ family pay for medical bills. Laura Gassaway, University College freshman, was with Liles when he fell. She flew with him to Denver on March 16 and has been working with Phi Delta Theta since, helping raise awareness on campus for Liles’ situation through a Web site with updates on his progress. “The little stuff that we can do here is going to make a huge impact in the future for him and his family,” Gassaway said. “And I know that Logan, if put in our position, would be doing the same exact thing, if not more, because he’s just so giving and so loving.” Gassaway met Liles through their Houston church before coming to OU. Liles has supported her when she needed encouragement and she views this as her opportunity to pay him back, she said. Gassaway’s roommate, University College freshman Alex Eppler, also has been instrumental in organizing fund-raising events. Eppler said she hopes to lighten the load by helping with the financial aspect of Liles’ rehabilitation. “We can all understand that, especially with the economy the way it is and how intense medical bills can be,” Eppler said. “That was just kind of my inspiration, just knowing that is a burden and just wanting to take that burden off of them, I mean that is such a blessing.” Gassaway said the fraternity has been an RECOVERY CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
Chief Harpo exec shares journey of success Executive cites sacrifice, honesty as keys to success RICKY MARANON
The Oklahoma Daily
While speaking with an executive from Oprah Winfrey’s media corporation Friday, mass communication students were encouraged to take risks, do what they love and “go all in” to succeed in the professional arena. Erik Logan, Executive Vice President of Harpo, Inc., shared his biography and career tips with students in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He told them his story of growing up in Oklahoma, his previous jobs and the road to attaining his current position. Logan started his career in 1985 working at an Oklahoma City country radio station as Chuck the Duck and Cody the Coyote. “I aspired to be the best, and at one point, I wanted to be Mickey Mouse,” he said. Eventually, Logan confronted his boss about being on the radio, and by his senior year of high school in 1989, was on the radio from 7 p.m. to midnight.
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“I made the sacrifices and went all in,” he said. “I didn’t go to prom, and I worked on the holidays.” Logan would study and write papers during songs and commercial breaks. It was while he was on air, that he changed his name from Erik Toppenberg to Erik Logan, which is the surname from his uncle who was also previously in broadcast. He encouraged students, like his employees, to believe honesty is the best policy. “For every 10 minutes there is in a meeting, I spend an hour preparing for it,” he said. “I tell my employees, ‘Believe every word I tell you until I lie to you one time, and after I lie to you once, you don’t ever have to believe me again.’” He also shared with students about how he criss-crossed the U.S., turning dying country music stations into top producers in the industry until larger corporations began to hire him for executive positions. While he was working for XM Satellite Radio, Winfrey offered him a position with the company. After turning her down, she upped her offer and Logan accepted. Logan said he doesn’t believe luck got him to where he is today as much as preparation, opportunity and help from a higher power.
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Erik Logan, Executive Vice President of Harpo, Inc., speaks to students about his experience in the media market Friday in Gaylord Hall. Courtney Corbeille, public relations junior, enjoyed Logan’s visit and said she could relate. “He is very inspiring,” she said. “I’m a junior in college, and I’m looking for internships. He was a junior in high school, and was already starting his career.”
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