The Appalachian
TheAppalachianOnline.com
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Vol. 86 No. 07
Student flies 29 feet after being struck by vehicle, sustains only minor injuries by HANK SHELL News Editor
A vehicle struck junior sociology major Reid Pegram at 11:13 p.m. Saturday as he crossed West King Street in downtown Boone, according to a report from the Boone Police Department. The impact, which happened near College Street, threw Pegram 29 feet from the site of the collision, according to the report. “I don’t have a clear memory of being struck,” Pegram said. “I’m pretty sure I was knocked unconscious. They were asking questions but I don’t remember any of it.” Pegram’s friend, senior business management major Matthew H. Beam, witnessed the accident and
called 911. “Everybody sort of turned to say goodbye to him, and as I was turning around I heard the car hit him and I saw him kind of go up in the air a little bit,” Beam said. “He landed in the middle of the road.” Beam said friends rushed to Pegram and kept him still before help arrived. “When I saw him get hit, I mean, I thought he was dead,” he said. Watauga Medics responded and Pegram was taken to Watauga Medical Center. He was released Sunday. Pegram said he sustained scrapes and bruises to his face, and that his knees were “pretty banged up and swollen.”
The vehicle, a Toyota 4-Runner driven by Michael P. Koschek of Lenoir, was traveling at an estimated 25 mph, the speed limit on West King Street, according to the report. Pegram said he and friends were on their way to Murphy’s Restaurant and Pub when the accident happened. The report said alcohol use was suspected of Pegram, 20, but he was not tested or charged with an alcohol violation. “I think it was just bad timing. It was a really foggy night,” Pegram said. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $3,000. Pegram was cited for failure to yield to vehicles traveling in roadway.
Courtesy Boone Police
In this diagram from the Boone Police Department’s report, Pegram’s Saturday night incident is portrayed in detail. The report shows that pegram traveled 29 feet after being struck by the vehicle on West King Street late Saturday night.
Sorority, Fraternity Life shifts
Panhellenic Council organizations offer bids Fraternities to members after record-breaking recruitment lose campus
recognition by ANNE BUIE Intern News Reporter
Nathan Cullitan | The Appalachian
Members of the Kappa Delta Sorority assemble in the MacRae Peak room of Plemmons Student Union Sunday evening to welcome in their new members. The Sororities of Appalachian held recruitment events throughout the weekend culminating in the giving of bids late Sunday night.
“It’s amazing, absolutely amazing. I’m really excited for all of these girls. I’m glad that they all found a home.“
-Emily Young,
National Panhellenic Concil President
Appalachian State University suspended Lambda Chi Alpha and Pi Kappa Phi fraternities for the 201112 academic year, according to a news release from the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership (CSIL). Both organizations will lose recognition for the remainder of the academic year and will lose all privileges afforded to registered student organizations. The fraternities have been suspended because of their violations the Fraternity and Sorority Life Standards of Excellence (SOE), according to the news release. Each organization has been noncompliant with the SOE program for four or more semesters, according to the news release. “Our goal is to uphold all types of performances. This reinforces that the standard of excellence is a critical part to all areas and our organizations need to adhere to it, and hopefully exceed expectations,” said Kyle Jordan, assistant director for Fraternity and Sorority Life. Under the SOE, the average grade point average of Interfraternity Council organizations should be a 2.5. Lambda Chi Alpha’s cumulative grade point average was 2.31, according to greeks.appstate.edu. Pi Kappa Phi’s average was 2.193. Both fraternities will have the opportunity to reapply for recognition by the university and the Interfraternity Council (IFC) at the beginning of the fall 2012 semester.
Volunteers come together to clean up the streets of Boone
Writers Series welcomes Jeff Daniel Marion
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
The Fall 2011 Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series will continue this afternoon with two talks from poet Jeff Daniel Marion. Marion will speak from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Table Rock Room, and at 7:30 p.m. in Belk Library 114. The talk is the second in a fivewriter series sponsored in part by the university and in part by an endowment from Hughlene Bostian Frank. Marion is a poet from east Tennessee who retired from Carson-Newman College in 2002. Much of his poetry focuses on the southern Appalachian region. “I love poetry that’s connected to the region we’re in, and Appalachian is such a strong center, really, for Appalachian literature. It’s wonderful to see somebody who can come and share that,” said Susan C.
by KATARINA GRUSS
For the past twelve years, Boone has hosted a day to clean up the town’s streets. Saturday, nearly 200 volunteers came together to pick up trash off the side of the road from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. “The Boone Clean Up Day is good because people come through and throw their trash all over the place,” said John T. Burnette, sophomore political science major. “It makes Boone look like a really dirty town.” Since the Boone Clean Up Day began, the event has attracted roughly 200 to 250 volunteers. Churches, civic groups, families and groups from Appalachian arrive each morning to clean trash from the streets of Boone. “I hate seeing trash on the side of the road,” said Steven J. Lewis, senior history major. “It’s really important to keep Boone for everyone that comes here, even if it’s only for a small amount of time.” Approximately 50 sororities, fraternities, clubs and organizations aid in the clean up every year just from Appalachian, said Shannon Isaacs, community
improvement coordinator for the Town of Boone Public Works Department. An organized event as large as the Boone Clean Up Day can take a large amount of planning, Isaacs said. “There is a lot of behind-thescenes work,” she said. “You need to know who is going to come clean, who is going to hand out the supplies, who is going to go behind and pick up the trash that was collected and where to take the trash.” There is also the matter of supplies for the volunteers. The Boone Public Works Department collects supplies throughout the year and inventories them the week before the clean up day, Isaacs said. Bags, gloves, vests and anything needed to clean the street must be collected before any cleaning can be done. The Public Works Department will host another clean up day Oct. 1 at Junaluska Park. Residents and Appalachian students alike are encouraged to come out and help clean up one of Boone’s three local parks. For more information, contact the Town of Boone at (828) 2686200.
by MEGHAN FRICK Associate Editor, Editorial Content
Correction
Weinberg, a member of the series committee. Marion said his work is inspired by his Appalachian childhood. “I witnessed the power of the community, both its good side and its bad side, and I came away with a grounding in knowing exactly where I was from and knowing my extended family and the stories of other people. It nurtured in me a very, very deep sense of history,” he said. Marion’s 12:30 p.m. talk will focus on letterpress printing, the process of hand-setting type while producing books of poetry. Letterpress printing allows more control over the physical presentation of a poem. “I find it very relaxing, a very meditative kind of experience to do that,” Marion said. “I felt like, this is the way of paying tribute to the poem itself, to present it in a very attractive formatting.” Another member of the series committee, Sandy L. Ballard, made the suggestion to bring Marion to Appalachian. The two met when they taught together at Carson-Newman.
“It’s exciting to meet the author of poems you’ve enjoyed, hear the ‘back story’ and notice new things when you hear a poet read from his own work,” Ballard said. The series, which runs once a semester, is confirmed for Spring 2012. However, it may be threatened starting in Fall 2012 due to budget cuts, Weinberg said. The committee will continue to use funding from the endowment, including an additional gift from Frank, to sustain the series throughout the coming spring. “We’re just going to make this year work,” Weinberg said. “If we have to use all our own funding, we will.” The committee, however, does not plan to ask Frank for further donations, Weinberg said. “We can’t keep going back to her,” she said. “That’s not right. On the other hand, when the university asked her to create this endowment and solicited this from her, I do feel that there was an implicit pledge for the university to do what was needed, as well.”
A Sept. 15 story in The Appalachian contained a quote attributed to Associate Professor of Political Science Adam J. Newmark that was taken out of context. Newmark was quoted, “The only options are cutting spending and cutting taxes.” He was referring to his belief that cutting spending and cutting taxes were the options the president was left with given the low probability that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives would vote to raise taxes.