March 22, 2017 Issue of The Egalitarian

Today’s Weather

83/64 Partly cloudy skies and winds S 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017 • Vol. 44, No. 5 • www.HCCEgalitarian.com • @HCC_Egalitarian

In Today’s Issue

HCCPD assists in HPD matter Alyssa Foley

The Egalitarian

Priddy, Sweet Caroline compete Ten-year-old from Montgomery County shows her heifer Sweet Caroline during Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

see Community, Page 4

T.I. discusses new music Rapper T.I. talks to Sway Calloway about his new music, current issues during South by Southwest.

see SxSW, Page 10

Houston Community College Southwest Brays Oaks Campus was caught up in a shelter-inplace last month while police searched for a suspect in a nearby police shooting.

The shooting did not occur on the HCC’s 8855 West Belfort property, but the campus fell at the edge of the shelter-in-place area issued by Houston Police.

Students, faculty and staff were urged to stay away from the campus.

Houston Police issued a neighborhood lockdown on Feb. 28 as they searched for a second suspect connected with a nearby police shooting. The lockdown area was outlined by Sam Houston Toll Road, West Belfort, S. Gessner and W. Airport.

The second suspect is still at large and was described by police as a light-skinned African American man, dressed in all black with a blue bandana.

Police initially described him as Hispanic. A $20,000 reward is being offered for information about this second suspect, anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 713-2228477.

Earl Riley, 25, was the first suspect in the incident. Riley was killed in a shootout with police after he shot two HPD officers called out to investigate a home burglary in the Glenshire neighborhood that day.

According to HPD, Riley

Image courtesy of Google Maps Houston Community College’s Brays Oaks campus, highlighted with the orange-colored marker, was included in a shelter-in-place zone while the Houston Police Department investigated a nearby shooting. HCC Police assisted HPD in the matter, utilizing measures to enusre campus safety. is believed to have gang ties and records showed that Riley has arrests that date back to 2009 on several charges such as evading arrest, burglary, trespass, drug violations and weapons violations.

Officer Ronny Cortez was shot in the back and had a bullet lodged in his spine. Officer Jose Munoz was shot in the foot and suffered non-life threatening injuries. They were both shot several times around 12:30pm on Feb. 28 near the 8700 block of Sterlingame.

“We may be bruised. We may be battered. We may be shot,” said Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo on Feb. 28, but

“We will continue to serve this community.”

Houston Community College’s Brays Oaks campus is a new $12 million, 28,000 square-foot workforce center, the ribbon cutting ceremony was hosted about three months ago in early December 2016.

Campus management issued a lockdown on Tuesday Feb. 28 from about 1:30pm until around 4pm. Classes were canceled and the campus closed for the rest of the day. There were no injuries on campus, the lockdown was for precaution.

“The campus management made a great decision, the minute they heard [about the

shooting], the decided that they were going to close down the campus,” said HCC Police Chief Greg Cunningham, “people on the ground were empowered and made that decision quickly— exactly the kind of thing we need to have happen.”

The campus backs up to a field adjacent to the residential neighborhood where the police shooting occurred.

HCC Police helped HPD by securing the field and setting up a perimeter. The perimeter ensured that if the second shooter Houston Police were looking for was hiding in the see

HCC Police, Page 3

Honor students take trip to Italy Ana Ramirez

The Egalitarian

Correa, PR reaches final Astros star Carlos Correa and Puerto Rico outlasts Netherlands in 11 innings in World Baseball Classic semifinals.

see Sports, Page 13

On March 9, the honor students from HCC travelled to Venice and Florence Italy.

Every year the sophomores of the honors college go on a trip during spring break to learn more about what they have been learning in class. The trip is funded by HCC and the HCC board of Trustees.

Student Jenny Baltazar said, “It was a new experience, it was really beautiful, there is no

words to describe how we feel.”

Director of the Honors College David Wilcox said, “It sounds like it is a vacation because you are going to a magical place but it is associated with the course, so they studied, they read books and they gave reports and throughout the trips they kept journals of their experience.”

The students visited 2 major cities in just 8 days. “We would leave the hotel at 8 am and wouldn’t come back until 9 or 10 pm,” student Thao Nguyen said.

Some of the places they visited

Image courtesy of Honors College HCC Honors College students visited Italy during Spring Break. The students visited cities such as Venice and Florence. where: Church of Santa Maria Novella, St. Mark’s Basilica, Arsenale and Naval Museum, San Zaccaria Church, Peggy Guggenheim Collection and

The Official Student Newspaper of the Houston Community College System

many more.

Baltazar and Nguyen shared see

Italy Trip, Page 3

2

The Egalitarian

Wednesday March 22, 2017

www.HCCEgalitarian.com

On Campus

@HCC_Egalitarian

VAST Academy celebrates 25 years Egalitarian Staff Report

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities used to have few options to continue their education after high school.

In 1991, one Houston Community College instructor hoped to change that. She started with offering 55 special needs students an innovative program to help them live full and enriching lives. The HCC Vocational Advancement and Skills Training (VAST) Academy was born.

Sue Moraska was the original instructor. Today, she’s the program director.

“It has been an honor to serve our students and to witness their countless success stories as they achieve their dreams of being independent,” Moraska says. “Our students and alumni continue to overcome challenges proving our motto true that education plus employment equals independence.”

VAST Academy provides postsecondary transition programs and comprehensive support services for students. Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities earn meaningful credentials, and can gain

employment and independence.

The VAST Academy offers workforce certificates, pre-college and freshman success courses, career readiness credentials, internships and employment assistance.

VAST Academy has served over 2,000 students and is now at four HCC campuses: Central, Spring Branch, Stafford and Missouri City. The staff of 20 graduate on average 35-40 graduates each year.

The VAST Academy will celebrate 25 years of impacting the lives of students on April 7 at 6:30pm at the HCC Central campus auditorium (1300 Holman St., Houston). The event will feature speakers, dinner and dancing. Proceeds from the event support VAST Academy’s mission of serving students with intellectual disabilities. For more information and tickets to the event, visit: www.

HCCS.edu/VAST25 The keynote speaker at the event will be Lex Frieden who was instrumental in conceiving and drafting the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. He is recognized as one of the founders of the independent living movement by people with disabilities.

Frieden is currently a professor

Image courtesy of VAST Academy/HCC Houston Community College’s VAST Academy 2016 graduates. of Health Informatics and Rehabilitation at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Frieden also directs the Independent Living Research Utilization Program at TIRR Memorial Hermann and serves on the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County.

Alumni and student

ambassadors will share their stories at the event.

VAST Academy alumna Zeyhla Cruz chose to advocate for individuals with disabilities. She was elected as President of Gulf Coast Self-Advocates in 2016 and also serves on the state board of Texas Advocates Ellie Barkhouse-Gayer is the

only VAST Academy student to be inducted into the National Society for Leadership and Success. She has completed two semesters of college credit classes and has served on a State Board of Education roundtable. Gayer works as an office assistant at the Spring Branch VAST Academy office.

HCC POLICE BLOTTER (Incidents complied from HCC Crime Log available at http://bit.ly/2mhVOjj CENTRAL CAMPUSES

Offense: Burglary of Vehicle Reported on: March 20 at 3-10:30 pm Location: Central - Midtown Campus, Parking Lot 1 Description: Student’s vehicle was burglarized while she was in class.

Offense: Burglary of Vehicle Reported on: March 20 at 7-10:30 pm Location: Central - Midtown Campus, Parking Lot 1 Description: Student’s vehicle was burglarized while she was in class.

Offense: Assault Reported on: March 9 at 10:56 am Location: Central - Midtown Campus, J. B. Whitely Building Description: A female HCC student reported that another female HCC student made a verbal threat to cause her bodily harm while in class. District Attorney declined charges. Suspect was given criminal trespass warning. Maxient student conduct report filed.

Offense: Public Lewdness Incident occurred on: March 8 at 9am Location: Central - Midtown Campus, Fine Arts Center Description: Officers responded to a report of a male student who appeared to be masturbating in class. Student was identified, and was located and interviewed on March 9. Student given a criminal trespass warning. Maxient student

conduct report filed.

at Simon’s Cafe.

Offense: Disorderly Conduct Occurred on: March 6 at 4pm Location: Central - Midtown Campus, Learning Hub Description: Adult male student was using abusive language in the Financial Aid Office. A Maxient referral was completed

Offense: Public Intoxication Incident occurred on: March 10 at 5pm Location: Northline Campus, 8001 Fulton Description: Adult female non-student was intoxicated on campus. She was released to her adult brother.

Offense: Disorderly Conduct Occurred on: March 5 at 2:30pm Location: Central - Midtown Campus, Fine Arts Center Parking Garage Description: Adult students alleged racial slurs were exchanged in the parking garage.

NORTHEAST CAMPUSES

Offense: Public Intoxication Reported on: March 20 at 12:35 pm Location: Pinemont Campus, off campus Description: An adult male, non-student, was found behind the convenience store on the northwest corner of the parking lot. Although he had the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and an empty beer can, he was released after an evaluation.

Offense: Burglary Reported on: March 12 at 3:30am Location: Northeast Campus, Codwell Hall Description: Police officer discovered a burglary while conducting a building check. The point of entry was through a glass exterior door

NORTHWEST CAMPUSES

Offense: Other Police Activity Reported on: March 9 at 12:29 pm Location: Hayes Road Campus, Off Campus Description: A 15 year-old female assault victim (non-HCC student) was located at a Cullen park by an HCC student and was escorted to the HCC Hayes Rd campus police office. Houston Police were contacted and were provided suspect and vehicle description.

Offense: Criminal Mischief Incident occurred on: March 7 at 8-11am Location: Spring Branch Campus, Performing Arts Center Description: Report by an adult student that her car was keyed in the FAC student parking area.

SOUTHEAST CAMPUSES

Offense: Aggravated Robbery Incident occurred on: March 9 at 8:15 pm Location: Eastside Campus, Angela Morales Building Description: Female student re-

ported that a male approached her in the HCC parking lot at 8:15 pm claiming to have a gun and took her vehicle without consent. Search of the area revealed no leads. Case is under investigation.

Offense: Theft Incident occurred on: March 8 at 5-8pm Location: Eastside Campus, Learning Hub Description: Adult student’s vehicle was stolen during class and recovered a short time later by the Houston Police Department.

SOUTHWEST CAMPUSES

Offense: Criminal Mischief Reported on: March 9 at 12:01 pm Location: West Loop Campus, 5601 West Loop South Description: An HCC student reported that he discovered a scratch on his vehicle after he returned to his vehicle after class.

Student stated he was not sure if the damage was inflicted at HCC or at his residence.

OTHER

Offense: Other Police Activity Incident occurred on: March 8 at 2:20pm Location: Administration Complex, 3100 Main Description: Adult student was voluntarily transported to the Harris County Neuropsychiatric Center after she disclosed suicidal thoughts to her instructor.

News

@HCC_Egalitarian

Wednesday March 22, 2017

Honor society wins at regionals Alyssa Foley

HONORS IN ACTION: The Honors in Action project is an academic research project paired with action and is centered around one of eight global perspective themes.

Omega Sigma Chapter President Josue Rodriguez explained the long path the officers took before deciding on their research topic. It started with their concern about how the City of Houston bans feeding the homeless without prior permission from the city or a private property owner. That led to them to start researching food waste, and ultimately they focused their research on how people’s beliefs shape their food consumption habits.

“You do research for your classes, but I’ve never really done so much in-depth research as we did for our HIA,” said Rodriguez. The Kappians also had to conduct a lot of community outreach to and networking to make their project a

Image courtesy of HCC Omega Sigma Chapter advisors and student officers poise with awards won at the Texas Regional Convention. From left to right: Advisor for Northwest and Coleman Colleges Nicolas Rangel; Advisor for Central and Southeast Colleges Gisela Ables; Advisor for Southwest and Northeast Colleges Nichole Boutte-Heiniluoma; Vice President of Service Nhu Le; Public Relations Officer Rebecca De La Cruz; VP of Administrative Service Tazeen Fatima; VP of Leadership Furqan Khan; President Josue Rodriguez; VP of Scholarship Jamie Manaay; not present VP of Membership Thao Nguyen. success.

For the ‘action’ part of their Honors in Action project, the chapter hosted an event with a nutritionist and a local chief and to raise awareness about food waste.

Omega Sigma’s Honors in Action project won most distinguished in the category ‘myth and reality’.

COLLEGE PROJECT: Phi Theta Kappa chapters conduct a community service project every year at their home college to help further their college’s mission.

Omega Sigma developed a peer-to-peer mentoring program for at-risk students called Students 4 Students. Working with the Vice Chancellor of Student Services Athos Brewer, the project was able to receive $10 thousand in funding from the HCC administration, part of which will be used to fund stipends for student mentors.

“We really learned leadership skills,” said Rodriguez about the College Project.

“It definitely pushed us outside our comfort zones...We had to work with the college administration to coordinate.”

The Kappians also created all the material for the project and developed the presentations.

HCC’s College Project won an Award of Merit at Texas Regionals.

TOP CHAPTER: There are 47 Phi Theta Kappa chapters at Texas two-year colleges, and HCC’s Omega Sigma Chapter ranks at the top.

Both the research and community service projects are judged by a rubric established by the international organization. HCC’s chapter had one of the highest scores adding both projects together and Omega Sigma receive a top chapter award at the Texas regional level.

Last year, HCC’s chapter ranked as the seventh most distinguished chapter in the world out of 1,285 chapters, taking home four Hallmark Awards from the international Nerd Nation convention.

At the regional level last year, Omega Sigma won Awards of Merit for both their research and service projects, as well as Chapter of Merit. Two Omega Sigma members were also named to the Texas Region Hall of Honor, while one was given an Honorable Mention.

UPCOMING EVENTS: Omega Sigma’s next general meeting is on Friday March 24 at 6:30pm at the West Loop campus room C108. Phi Theta Kappa orientations are being hosted at various campuses; March 21 from 2-3pm at Northline campus room 206; March 23 from 2-3pm at West Loop campus Room C106; March 31 from 10-11am at the Alief-Hays Campus room C101; March 31 from 1-2pm at the Central Campus San Jac building room R159; April 4 from 6:30-8pm at Coleman campus room 363; and April 5 from 4-5pm at the Southeast Campus workforce room 101. The new member induction ceremony will be held on Thursday April 13 at 6:30pm at the West Loop Campus Auditorium.

HCC Police, From Page 1 that Wilcox, the Director of the Honor College and the Instructor of HUMA 1301 split the class into 3 groups and gave them a research assignment to do.

Baltazar’s group assignment was to compare and contrast the differences between the Museum’s Influence like the different sculptures and paintings. Nguyen’s research group went and researched more on famous people who actually were inspired in the renaissance.

They had to write a paper about their topic and turn it in.

“I think that trips like these are always life changing, it was a fabulous trip, they got to

3

HCC Police, From Page 1

The Egalitarian Houston Community College’s Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society chapter won multiple regional distinctions.

Competing against nearly 50 other chapters, HCC’s Omega Sigma Chapter took home an Honors in Action Award of Distinction, a College Project Award of Merit and the Texas Top Chapter award.

The Phi Theta Kappa Texas Region convention was held March 9-12 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Phi Theta Kappa is an international honor society for two-year college students. The organization boasts $90 million in scholarships for its members.

Students with at least a 3.5 GPA and 12 or more hours of college-level credit are invited to join every spring and fall.

Eligible students were sent invitations earlier in this semester, and the spring induction ceremony will be held Thursday April 13 at 6:30pm at the West Loop Campus Auditorium.

The Egalitarian

www.HCCEgalitarian.com

experience part of the world they never been before and when that happens there is a lot of magic involved,” Wilcox shared.

Students was able to see the culture of Italy and experience the difference between Italy and the US. Nguyen said “ It’s really inspiring for us to see and experience that culture.” Wilcox shared,” They saw things they never seen before, they eat things they never thought they’d eat, they see familiar things but they also experience things that are much older than what they are used to seeing here and because they have studied before they had gone, they’ve learned so much

more.” Wilcox continued, “I think because of weeks of preparation they have undergone, they’ve experience it on a different level.”

During their trip, Wilcox noticed there were other students at the different sights they were at but one college caught his eye. UT Austin was there and he said “they would go into a place and they would say, what is this? What are we looking at?

What are we seeing? They didn’t know but our students did and they explained it to them, they explained what is was and why it was important and that’s my goal.”

“When I take students to

Europe, they know what they are going to see before they see it, and that way they appreciate it.” Wilcox says he sees the effect that the experience has had on on the students, “What I have witnessed is real personal growth in students, they’ve been able to see and touch history and I suspect that as time goes on they are going to appreciate it more and more.”

Wilcox knew that coming back home to Houston would make the students miss Italy because of the different things they saw. “I know they dream about this trip, and I know that because I dream about it too.”

field, that he could not come out. It also prevented people from contaminating the field with their scent until police dogs arrived.

“I think our [police officers] did exactly what they needed to—got between a threat and the school,” said Cunningham.

HCC Police are reviewing their response to the incident to see if anything could have been handled better, but Cunningham praised the campus management for having the confidence to take ownership of the situation and make the right calls. “The college needs to be really proud of what they did.”

Cunningham would have preferred that the campus closure would have been called a ‘shelter-in-place instead of a ‘lockdown’. “‘Lockdown’ is more K-12 language,” explained Cunningham, “as a K-12 school administrator, you can stop a student from leaving. When we’re talking about adults, I can’t stop you from leaving.”

As the situation dragged on for almost three hours, if HCC students needed to leave, HCC Police escorted them to their car and instructed them how to avoid road closures.

Every member of the HCC community received emergency notifications of what was happening at the small workforce campus thanks to the college’s transformation.

Before transformation, students and faculty were assigned to a particular college— Central, Coleman, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast or Southwest. They would only receive emergency alerts for their assigned college.

With the chancellor’s 2-yearold transformation plan moving HCC to operating like one college instead of six, even the emergency alert system has been revamped.

“If we have a problem, we’re going to blast it out to everybody,” said Cunningham.

“The centers of excellence now mean faculty are traveling all over the district,” noted Cunningham, “our students have always traveled all over the district...we should have done it before transformation.”

In the past year, the HCC Police force has transitioned from stationing officers at campuses to having patrolling officers available to respond to multiple campus locations.

Cunningham said that within minutes, multiple officers were at the Brays Oaks Campus, “That is exactly what our model is about.”

“It may be that we’re not standing there, but someone is close by and additional units are backing them up,” said Cunningham about HCC Police’s new patrolling model.

HCC Police are now collecting data on where calls are coming from and on what the response times are so they can improve and tweak the new model.

4

The Egalitarian

Wednesday March 22, 2017

www.HCCEgalitarian.com

Community

@HCC_Egalitarian

1,000-pound animal, 10-year-old girl Alyssa Foley

The Egalitarian During most of March, the NRG Center seems more like an air-conditioned barn than a convention center. Rows of thousand-pound animals line up in stalls inside. The majority of the heifers are raised by high schoolers, but right next to the Calf Scramble check-in table in row J is a heifer tied to the railing with pink rope.

While the animal is sitting at-ease, Kiersten Priddy is busy making sure that every minute detail of their stall 1382 is perfect. Her pink shirt and pink tennis shoes match the heifer’s pink rope. Although their stall and even the animal may look like every other in the row to Rodeo Houston goers passing by, one thing stands out. Kiersten, at about 4-feet tall, is only 10-years-old. She is the youngest contestant in the heifer show.

The moment she notices someone stopping to look at her heifer, Kiersten stops what she’s doing to stand at attention, ready to answer any questions.

“I’m excited, and I’m worked up and ready for it,” said Kiersten about the show.

It’s Kiersten first time showing a heifer at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. She competed in the Calf Scramble Beef Heifer Show on Friday, March 17 in the NRG Center.

Kiersten is a member of Montgomery County 4-H, just north of Houston. She won her heifer by placing in the top thirty at a livestock judging contest last year when she was 9-years-old.

She knows what makes a winner heifer. In livestock judging, she carefully analyzed animals and measured them against commonly accepted standards of ideal breed characteristics.

A heifer is a female animal that has never had a calf, once a heifer has a calf she becomes a cow. Kiersten named her heifer Sweet Caroline after the song by Neil Diamond.

Every day for the past year, Kiersten has spent two to three hours a day taking care of Sweet Caroline. She feeds her heifer twice a day, ensures she has enough clean water,

Alyssa Foley/The Egalitarian Kiersten Priddy with her heifer named Sweet Caroline at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo a day before their showing at the Calf Scramble Beef Heifer Show in the NRG Center. and keeps her clean. Kiersten wrote monthly progress reports, created a scrapbook and composed an essay telling their story (these are requirements of all contestants).

Kiersten’s mentor on the Calf Scramble Greeter volunteer rodeo committee is Charles Graham, who has been teaching at Houston Community College for 21 years. Graham teaches global logistics for HCC inside of the Harris County Jail.

Graham praised Kiersten’s ‘fantastic’ showmanship. Graham said that what’s more impressive

than Kiersten’s age is how she handles her 1,000-pound heifer.

“This animal does what she tells her. That’s what makes her a winner.”

Long before the trail riders and the BBQ cook-off kick started Rodeo Houston, Graham said that he could tell that “she’s upbeat, she’s ready and she’s excited for the show.”

There are over 33,000 volunteers that make Rodeo Houston a success. With 107 volunteer committees to choose from ranging from the Wine Competition committee to

the Directions and Assistance committee, one Calf Scramble Greeter committee volunteer chose to work for this particular committee because she gets to work directly with kids. “I wanted to get involved with kids who actually benefit from the rodeo.”

Each greeter is assigned two to four kids to keep up with throughout the year. It’s the greeters who remind the contestants to submit their monthly reports and ensures they are ready for the rodeo with their stall sign and scrapbook.

Environmental activists deny attacking Dakota Access pipeline Blake Nicholson Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. — Environmental activists who tried to disrupt some oil pipeline operations in four states last year to protest the Dakota Access pipeline said Tuesday that they aren’t responsible for any recent attacks on that pipeline.

The remarks came in response to allegations that Texas-based Dakota Access developer Energy Transfer Partners made in court documents late Monday. The company said there have been “recent coordinated physical attacks along the pipeline that pose threats to life, physical safety and the environment,” but did not say who was responsible for those alleged attacks.

Company spokeswoman Vicki Granado and company attorney William Scherman didn’t immediately respond to requests Tuesday from The Associated Press for more details. Scherman did say in the court documents that ETP still plans to have oil flowing this week through the $3.8 billion pipeline that will carry North Dakota crude to a shipping point in Illinois.

Jay O’Hara with the Climate Disobedience Center told the AP that Climate Direct Action wasn’t involved

in any attacks against the pipeline, and he wasn’t aware of anyone claiming responsibility.

In October, Climate Direct Action activists tried to shut valves on pipelines in North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Washington to show support for Dakota Access opponents. Other than that, “we have nothing in the works,” O’Hara said.

The Red Warrior Society, a pipeline protest group that advocated aggressive tactics such as confrontations with pipeline security and police in North Dakota last year, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The pipeline runs 1,200 miles through the Dakotas, Iowa and Illinois. State officials in the Dakotas and Iowa on Tuesday said they were not aware of any pipeline attacks in their states. State officials in Illinois didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The company’s report didn’t change the plan of authorities in North Dakota to reopen a stretch of highway that was closed for months due to pipeline protests.

Part of state Highway 1806 was shut down in late October after a bridge was damaged by fires during protests.

Authorities on Friday began allowing public traffic with the assistance of pilot cars escorting vehicles over the 9-mile

Tom Stromme/The Bismark Tribune via AP In this Feb. 13, 2017, aerial file photo shows the site where the final phase of the Dakota Access pipeline will take place with boring equipment routing the pipeline underground and across Lake Oahe to connect with the existing pipeline in Emmons County near Cannon Ball, N.D. Environmental activists who tried to disrupt some oil pipeline operations in four states to protest the pipeline say they aren’t responsible for any recent attacks on that pipeline. Dakota Access developer Energy Transfer Partners said in court documents Monday, March 20, 2017, that there have been “coordinated physical attacks” along the $3.8 billion pipeline that will carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File) stretch near the site where pipeline opponents camped for months. The camps were cleared out and shut down late last month in advance of spring flooding season.

The highway was being fully reopened without pilot cars at midday Tuesday, according to Morton County sheriff’s spokesman Rob Keller.

Authorities also are slowly shuttering a

law enforcement staging area that was set up last summer in the protest camp area.

There is no set timeline for removing the last officers and structures, but Keller and state Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong indicated it’s likely to happen soon after oil begins flowing through the pipeline.

“That’s going to be the sort of flash point for us,” Fong said.

Wednesday March 22, 2017

@HCC_Egalitarian

The Egalitarian

www.HCCEgalitarian.com

5

Prosecutors oppose easing jail conditions for El Chapo Tom Hays

Associated Press NEW YORK — U.S. prosecutors and lawyers for Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman are sparring over jail conditions that the lawyers claim are so stressful he’s hallucinating about music.

The claim was contained in a defense filing last week that asked U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan to order Guzman released from an ultra highsecurity wing of a Manhattan jail that’s housed alleged terrorists and mobsters, and be allowed in the general inmate population and receive more visitors.

The government fired back on Tuesday by arguing that the tough conditions — known as Special Administrative

Measures — are appropriate for someone who escaped twice from prison in Mexico, including once through a milelong tunnel dug to the shower in his cell. Prosecutors said that even while he was behind bars in Mexico, Guzman used coded messages, bribes and other means to control his Sinaloa cartel and orchestrate his breakouts.

“Indeed, if there were ever a case warranting SAMs, it is this one,” prosecutors said.

Guzman, 59, was brought to the United States in January to face charges that he oversaw a multi-billion dollar international drug trafficking operation responsible for murders and kidnappings.

Since then, he’s has been locked in his windowless cell for 23 hours a day with only a

U.S. Law Enforcement/AP File Photo Authorities escort Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. U.S. prosecutors and lawyers for infamous drug lord Guzman are sparring over his tough jail conditions. The government responded in court papers Tuesday by saying the restrictions are appropriate for someone known for escaping twice from prison in Mexico. radio for company, the defense papers said. His jailers also have violated his constitutional rights by barring him from seeing or speaking on the phone with his wife, so she can help him decide whether to hire a new lawyer, they argued.

An anxiety disorder that began during his imprisonment in Mexico has worsened to the point where he “has difficulty breathing and suffers from a

sore throat and headaches,” the papers said. “He has recently been experiencing auditory hallucinations, complaining of hearing music in his cell even when his radio is turned off.”

Prosecutors denied that the conditions are overly harsh.

Guzman, they said, has the largest cell on the block with a frosted window that lets in sunlight and has lengthy visits by a legal team that’s trying to

teach him to read and speak English.

And they said there’s an explanation for the music in his ears: An examination by a jail psychologist “revealed that the defendant had merely been hearing sound from a radio that a staff member . had been playing.”

Guzman is due back in federal court in Brooklyn on May 5.

Highlights from in and around the world of Texas politics The Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas — Several city officials and sheriffs around the United States said Tuesday that a Trump administration report aimed at shaming them over so-called “sanctuary” policies includes wrong or misleading information about recent arrests of immigrants or the policies in their local jails.

The pushback was not just from liberal local governments that are at odds with President Donald Trump over immigration crackdowns and his promise to deport “bad dudes” living legally in the United States. In Texas, the elected Republican sheriff of conservative Williamson County said his jail didn’t refuse four recent immigration detainer requests as claimed.

Sheriff Robert Chody called the report from U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement “misleading.” City and county officials in Oregon, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania also either disputed how the report characterized their handling of immigrant arrests or challenged some of the 206 listed cases of immigrants said to have been released from custody despite requests from federal agents.

The list was prompted by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January that called on the government to document

which local jurisdictions aren’t cooperating with federal efforts to find and deport immigrants in the country illegally.

“They cast a very broad net in who they included in this list.

We’re all still trying to figure out what is accomplished by this list and also how it’s going to be used,” said Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza. Rhode Island generally does not honor most ICE detainer requests, but Elorza said Providence appeared to have been included over a 2011 non-binding city resolution that he says wasn’t about detainers.

ICE has already acknowledged some mistakes: Hours after the report was released Monday, the agency corrected 14 rejected detainers in Texas that were mistakenly listed from the Travis County State Jail. That facility is run by the state prison system and not Travis County, which is home to liberal Austin and had roughly two-thirds of the total number of cases on the list.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has blocked $1.5 million to Travis County after the newly elected Democratic sheriff announced after Trump’s inauguration that her jails would no longer honor all detainer requests. Abbott called the DHS report “deeply disturbing” and used it to rally his call for a statewide ban on socalled “sanctuary cities” in Texas.

The report wasn’t the only ICE concern this week for Texas officials. A federal magistrate

judge said in open court this week that ICE officials told him that a recent immigration sweep in Austin was set off by the change in Travis County’s immigrant detention policy.

ICE has previously said the operations in Austin and other cities were business as usual.

——— SENATE APPROVES PLAN TO PHASE OUT KEY BUSINESS TAX The Texas Senate has approved a bill seeking to gradually phase out taxes levied on businesses during future legislative sessions — when the state potentially has shaken off the oil price slump and seen its economy begin booming again.

The measure was approved quickly and without debate Tuesday and now goes to the House.

Its sponsor, Flower Mound Republican Sen. Jane Nelson, said conservatives have long clamored for ending the so-called “franchise tax” on business, and that her proposal puts it on “a glide path” toward elimination.

The bill mandates cuts to the franchise tax during future budget cycles when Texas’ economy is projected to grow by at least 5 percent.

Low oil prices means the state wouldn’t qualify this year, but the proposal could have sweeping impacts on future budgets.

——— SENATE OKS BILL SEEKING TO SLOW LOCAL PROPERTY TAX INCREASES

The Texas Senate has approved a plan designed to slow the increase of local property taxes as Republicans scramble to deliver on fiscally conservative promises despite a state budget crunch.

Tuesday’s 18-12 vote sends to the state House a bill by Houston Republican Sen. Paul Bettencourt that would require local governments to seek voter approval via special elections when raising property taxes by 5 percent or more The current cap triggers elections on increases of 8 percent or more. Statewide, more than half of all property taxes collected go to funding public schools.

Local governments oppose the bill as legislative overreach, which may hurt it in the House.

Slumping oil prices have left Texas potentially $6 billion short of the funding needed to maintain current spending levels, making tax cuts especially contentious.

——— SENATE SCHOOL VOUCHER BILL HITS COMMITTEE Texas lawmakers have begun grappling with a hot-button school voucher plan that would offer families public money for sending their children to private and religious schools.

Friendswood Republican Sen. Larry Taylor’s bill would create state-subsidized education saving accounts for parents and

offer tax credits to businesses that sponsor children’s private schooling via donations.

The issue has roiled the Legislature for years, with the Republican-led Senate backing “school choice” but such plans stalling in the GOP-controlled House. There, lawmakers worry about harming public schools that are the lifeblood of small communities they represent.

Taylor heads the Senate Education Committee, which is hearing from education and business groups applauding, and public school advocates decrying, his bill Tuesday.

It’ll quickly clear committee and the Senate, but likely won’t survive the House — like similar, past proposals.

——— ON DECK The House reconvenes at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and the Senate heads back an hour later. The House calendar features few items and while the list of bills eligible for floor votes is long in the Senate, the legislative workload there is expected to remain fairly light.

——— QUOTE OF THE DAY “Did you have an afro back in 1979?” — Dallas Democratic Sen. Royce West to Sen. Paul Bettencourt after the Houston Republican said his tax bill would roll property tax rates back to levels unseen in Texas since the year before the 1980s began.

6

Wednesday March 22, 2017

The Egalitarian www.HCCEgalitarian.com

Rodeo

@HCC_Egalitarian

Images on Pages 6 and 7 by Alyssa Foley/The Egalitarian

@HCC_Egalitarian

Round Up

Wednesday March 22, 2017

The Egalitarian

www.HCCEgalitarian.com

7

8

Wednesday March 22, 2017

The Egalitarian

www.HCCEgalitarian.com

Rodeo

@HCC_Egalitarian

Images on Pages 8 & 9 by John CaĂąamar/The Egalitarian

@HCC_Egalitarian

Round Up

Wednesday March 22, 2017

The Egalitarian www.HCCEgalitarian.com

9

10 Harris talks ‘Us or Else’ at SxSW

The Egalitarian www.HCCEgalitarian.com

Wednesday March 22, 2017

Jimmieka Mills The Egalitarian

AUSTIN, Texas — Multiplatinum recording artist Tip “T.I.” Harris spoke to attendees Saturday at South by Southwest in a discussion with media personality Sway Calloway about the recent release of his album “Us or Else: Letter to the System.”

The album, a far cry from “Trap Muzik” hits like “Rubber Band Man” and “24s”, contains tracks that have been described as politically charged.

Calloway recited lyrics to one of the songs featured on the December 2016 release titled ‘I Believe’ “Like the stop and frisk mass incarceration that perpetuation of recidivism that means they create a system that is hard to break that’s why many of us are still behind bars today.

That’s a diabolical plan,” said Calloway.

“But its strategic!” The rapper was quick to point out. He went on to explain his views, “It’s by design this isn’t something that just haphazardly happened. This ain’t just bad luck. This was set-up and structured to be this way from the time when the slaves were freed the 13th amendment says that slavery is abolished unless imprisoned.

That says, ‘okay how can we get them back enslaved? Let’s create the laws where the laws count against them and just try to direct them into the prison system and if we direct them into the prison system then we get them and we even get to let our corporations use them to have next to free labor to make our commodities profit margins higher that’s privatized prisons. That incentivizes the

militarization of the police force to go not to solve problems but to create problems to build cases to increase incarceration to add to the profit margins of these large corporations. The war on drugs, the crack law, the three strikes law, all that s--t was written to keep n----s in prison.”

The rapper believes the effects of poverty has a part to play in the prison systems overwhelmingly poor and black inmates.

“For us because we grew up in it we found ways to operate within it and make it out even if we bumped our heads or broke our arm we still made it out alive to the other side.

It’s kind of like an internship. For a lot of us, this is how we learned to operate business, how we learned profit loss structures, this was our lesson in entrprenurialship. There are some very resourceful hustlers out there. No one would have told us the things we learned in the dope game. No one would have told us those strategic moves and how to create alliances to bring your profit margins up and your expenses down. Get it from here at a better price, do certain things to it to make it better. There’s so many things that you don’t know you are incoherently learning and operating a real business it just happens to be an illegal substance.

Nobody would have taught us that if it wasn’t for the dope game, so because of that, instead of going out and trying to beg someone to teach me something they probably don’t want me to know but I can’t really afford the formal education so I’m going to go out here and take these risks and take these chances and learn it this way. Even if I get caught and go to jail for five or six years I can still use what I

SxSW

@HCC_Egalitarian

Above: Sway Calloway, left, and Tip “T.I.” Harris, right, discuss Harris’ newest album Saturday during the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

(Jimmieka Mills/Egalitarian) At right, Harris’ Instagram reply to President Donald Trump’s tweet regarding a Snoop Dogg music video that lampoons him.

applied. A lot of cats once they get to be 35 or 40 and they might have went to prison a couple times but all in all the resources they got from their wrong doings versus the penalty they paid they’re like ‘man I’d rather do five, six years in jail come back home and my family is straight than to live a life of poverty, I’ll take that.’ There is no way of waiting for them to get in school they don’t really have

those types of options. Ain’t no daddy their momma is on welfare they’ve grown up in the projects on section 8 their whole life. You can say, educate yourself but the school’s that they are made to go to have sub-standardized education systems. When I found out that the standardized tests in third grade, in Georgia and I’m not sure if it’s still like this but I know it was in 2004, the standardized test for

third graders, the percentage of kids who failed that test is how they knew how many prisoners they would have. Which tells you educate them less you increase your prison population. If those are the type of diabolical schemes that are being played against you, how can you get anywhere without

see

Tip Harris, Page 11

A night to remember ... if only my phone worked AUSTIN, Texas —I’ll admit I’m a traditionalist and new technology gives me extreme anxiety. I didn’t have an internet connected computer until I was 20-years-old and didn’t truly embrace text messaging until a short time after that.

Despite the fact that I’m a millennial – which apparently gives everyone except me the super human ability to manage social media with lightning speed, social media is NOT my strong suit. Lucky for me I live an extremely boring, mostly uneventful life which is usually not worth documenting.

This day though, was different.

I knew technology would be my best friend as I planned to drive to Austin alone for my first time. My phone would be my lifeline in case of emergency, for GPS, and my riding tunes – a good playlist can turn a miserable 2.5-hour drive into a pre-party, in my case before attending South by Southwest. I jammed to playlist of California greats in honor of the 6th anniversary of Nate Dogg’s passing of course one of my favorite hits of all time ‘Regulate’ was repeated throughout.

My plan was to cover a panel that

featured rapper Warren G discussing the premise of his documentary ‘G-Funk’ which premiered at SXSW. Shortly after the panel there was a scheduled viewing for the film which I planned to attend as well. My full itinerary, because of the gift and the curse that is technology, was fully accessible through my phone. The SXSW GO APP allows you to manage all of your interests from artists, speakers, events, venues and more. It was my bible. The alerts were so great and really easy to set, so I knew 30 mins ahead of time that I would be late to my panel. Not being able to find parking turned my chances from making it in to hear the last few minutes to, deciding just to head to stand in line hours early for the movie.

By God’s grace as I entered the auditorium just in time, although there were no seats left, to catch the panel still in session. Without taking a breath I dropped my purse and the few loose items I’d hurriedly grabbed while rushing to make in it before all was lost, and pulled my phone out to take video of the panel discussion.

Even with shaking hands the video was

Jimmieka Mills clear, I’d managed to creep up next to the organizers videographer so my angle was impeccable—I was really proud of myself, until I tried to play the video back and it had no sound. Well, I wasn’t going to let the devil steal my joy, I just moseyed my butt right back under that videographer’s armpit, held my breath and pressed record on my phone. Things were going well, until an organizer asked me to move. That clear video became a distorted recording from my new post at the very back of the

filled auditorium. I was able to hear the only words that would truly matter to me, “Thank y’all for the support, and if y’all wanna kick it with Warren G and Snoop meet us after the viewing of ‘G-Funk’ at the after party!” I took this as a personal invite from Warren G to me and my schedule was complete!

SXSW introduced a new benefit for badge holders at this year’s festivities. In previous year’s badge access had been specific to badge status. Film badge holders had access to just that the same went for music and interactive. This year however a badge of a difference source would also give you access to events that weren’t specific to your badge title. This meant that even though I was an interactive badge holder I would still have access to view the film but at as a secondary screener, after all film and platinum badge holders had been admitted secondary access (which included me) would be admitted, assuming there was still space in the theater. As I waited see

Remember, Page 11

Wednesday March 22, 2017

@HCC_egalitarian

reMeMber, From Page 10 in the line that spanned for 2 blocks I anxiously checked my phone’s battery power which was at 68% and the SXSW GO APP, it made the time go by a bit faster, basically from snail to tortoise speed but I was patient none the less. Unfortunately, as I reached the front of the line I was told, “sorry, the 3 ladies ahead of you were the last ones we can admit.

We are at capacity.”

I couldn’t believe the universe would align itself to demolish my dreams and I refused to be defeated. I decided I would head to the after-party venue to ensure I would be able to get in. After walking 8 blocks and checking my phone religiously, myself and the 3 others who were waiting for the venue to open stood outside patiently awaiting the celebrity arrivals. The venue was small and had no signage, all the makings of a “fake promoted party” this happens often. Promoters will print fliers with huge names on the bill only to drive up ticket sales and attendance for attendees only to find out that it’s not the big-name artist at all more than likely it’s the owners cousin an up and coming rapper who goes by the name Lil Weedy that shows up in place of Lil Weezy. In my experience if it seems too good to be true it usually is.

Image our surprise and relief when after a 3 hour wait and $20 cover charge that there

would in fact be an appearance by both stars. As I waited in line aggressively texting anyone who would respond my battery quickly lost juice 68% turned in to 11% extremely fast and by the time I entered the club my who life seemed to crash and burn as my phone powered off when I needed it the most. Technology had failed me! I was ushered to the front of the stage as a member of the press, as Snoop was setting up his turntables in preparation to DJ the exclusive event. He hopped on the microphone and advised everyone to bring out their phones to document the event, I almost shed a tear.

As soon as his set started though, that lump that had been rising in my throat from the pain that technology (or the lack thereof) had inflicted was released in screams and gyrations! There will probably never be a time that a DJ will weave Lauryn Hill’s ‘Doo Wop, That Thing’ and Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” with Frankie Beverly and Lil Yachty! As I snapped my fingers into blisters (no literally I had a blister on my middle finger by the middle of the set) I noticed that I was one of the only ones truly engaged in the performance. The rest of the club goers were standing almost still as the attempted to adjust their Snapchat, IG and Facebook filters. Some of them were even narrating the event live on social media, someone even had the audacity to rest their elbow on my

shoulder in order to get a better shot of the rapper’s special guest Desiigner in action literally inches from our faces.

All I could think was how technology had failed me when I needed it the most. How no one would believe this whole ordeal and how the universe had devised a plan to rain on my parade. Wait, was that actual rain? As these thoughts flowed I realized that that proverbial rain was bottled water that Desiigner was dousing on the crowd that had been too cool to rock. He had become irritated at the lack of audience involvement and intended to encourage them to put their phones away in order to enjoy this once in a lifetime experience.

For the first time during this entire ordeal I was happy I didn’t have my phone which would have required half a bag of rice in order to work had it been wet by those Desiigner drops!

Without a hater bone in my body I began to point out celebs to the uninformed, slightly damp crowd so they could get photos.

Vince Young, J Prince, and a host of other celebrities entered the club and mingled as the night came to an end we began to exit the club. As I walked out I was nearly pummeled by a group who were coming directly at me! I am often confused for Beyoncé so I figured it was a case of mistaken identity, I hate when that happens but I wasn’t terribly shocked when they ran directly past me. They had all spotted

The egaliTarian

WWW.HCCegalitarian.Com

Warren G and were rushing up to try to get selfies with him. I sadly knew I had no part to play in this so I moved out of the way. He must have recognized it because after he finished up with his eager fans he looked at me and said, “Hey lil momma, did you want to take a picture?”

Mortified all I could do was look down at the ground and shake my head. It was too much to explain, I was too irate at technology to even begin to explain how it had ruined my day, my night and subsequently my life!

On my loonngg ride home I replayed my entire day and came to the conclusion that my bible had been the culprit for my technological misfortune.

The SXSW GO APP had drained all the life from my lifeline and ironically became the very reason I could not document my SXSW experience. A 2.5-hour drive was plenty of time for me to put things in perspective. Memories replayed of Snoop hitting the shoulders, and pointing directly at me as he played a Chaka Khan hit. Desiigner giving his iconic toothy grin as he reached out and grabbed my device free hand after drenching the crowd of social media addicts and Warren G and I making eye contact as we both sang along to undeniably his greatest hit ‘Regulate’.

Sure, it would have been amazing to have been able to relive that night through video and social media likes and comments.

My meager followers would

11

have undoubtedly increased and I could have even made it on WorldStar (that’s of course granted my phone would have survived the Desiigner showers) but what would that experience have been like?

I more than likely would have had my head pointed at the floor as Snoop looked into the crowd for one other old school music lover to share his musical soul with, Desiigner would have found another gadgetless (which trust me I was the only unicorn in that crowd) club goer to share his delight and remarkably soft hand with and Warren G would have more than likely have to lower his head and Regulate for him and Nate by himself (when I entered the club I noticed a large group of people huddled near a corner trying to educate themselves on who Warren G even was, I hope they were at the wrong venue) because most of this crowd was lost in the sauce.

These memories and blister scar are the only things I have to remember this unforgettable night and I will cherish these memories for a lifetime. I believe that food is to be devoured not photographed, fun is to be had not filmed and that good times are to be enjoyed not Instagrammed. But boy those would have been some great posts …

tip harris From Page 10 being as dirty as the plan is that is against you?”

T.I. has had his own struggles with law enforcement and incarceration that have been heavily documented and publicized.

These struggles give him a unique credibility when speaking on the true effects of not only the issues within law enforcement and the black community and issues within the prison system that currently exist, but also, what it will take to educate the youth in order to stop the perpetual cycle.

“It starts with guidance and leadership and our presence in their lives early on because all the cats that I know from when I was young up until now the cats that’s out there doing dirt, they didn’t avoid an opportunity to go do dirt, they doing dirt because there are no opportunities. They would much rather be doing something positive. We have to instill some form of principles and standards and integrity within them so that once they get to be of age, they can determine what is acceptable and not acceptable for them to be doing in their lives.”

The artist was motivated to create “Us or Else’ after the series of deaths of unarmed black citizens at the hands of police including Sandra Bland and Philando Castile and our current political climate.

“A lot of these white cops out here and patrolling these black neighborhoods they are scared even of the kids. Not that he was a cop but George Zimmerman was scared of that little boy (Trayvon Martin) because he couldn’t beat him. So once the little boy got the best of him there was nothing else to do but ‘I’m gone shoot him’. Anytime you’re operating out of fear especially when you’ve been sworn to protect and serve and protect

the community you’re putting yourself, the community the force and the integrity of our law enforcement, you’re putting it all in jeopardy just because of your individual fears.”

T.I. has not limited the delivery of his political opinion to song. The rapper recently took to Instagram and unleashed a profanity filled Instagram post response to Donald Trump’s IG comments against friend and fellow musician Snoop Dogg.

Trump was reacting to scenes in Snoop’s new video “Lavender” in which the star depicted shooting the sitting U.S. president.

When asked by moderator Calloway if the rapper’s goal was to get a response from Trump the rapper stated, “No. To be honest with you, I know he ain’t nowhere sitting and looking at my Instagram posts, it’s not really about him.

I’m speaking to him but I more so want the message to reach the people that follow him. That’s who I want to reach, I want to talk to them. Him (Trump) he’s too far gone. He’s rich, he outta there but the one’s that follow him, they don’t have nothin’!

So for you to think that you guys are going to, under this “leadership” if you can call it that, that you gone just ostracize all of our hero’s and people who have shown people like me the way. I don’t care what they do, they gone stand behind theirs come hell or high water whoever it is. They have someone who they say he possibly compromised the entire countries secrets with Russia, I’m talking treason here and aint nobody focused on that, they protected him. It didn’t matter what he did they protected him because he was one of them so that’s how I’m gone be for mine.”

I don’t normally read college newspapers.

When I do, I read ...

Stay Woke, My Friends!

DISCLAIMER: This advertisement is not an endorsement from comedian Michael Blackson.

We just think he’s very funny and we hope he can get jiggy to this!

12 Villanova loss, ACC flameout reshape bracket The Egalitarian

Wednesday March 22, 2017

Aaron Beard

AP Basketball Writer GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Atlantic Coast Conference’s strong regular season only stood to set up a first-weekend flameout in the NCAA Tournament.

The league had a record nine bids, but North Carolina is the only one alive in the Sweet 16.

And the South Region’s No. 1 seed was fortunate to survive a second-round game against Arkansas to get there.

Still, top seeds Gonzaga, Kansas and UNC headline a regional round featuring 12 of the top 16 seeds, two more than last season.

The rest of the top conferences fared much better than the ACC. The Pac-12 is 8-1 and the Southeastern Conference is 7-2 so far, joining the Big 12 (8-3) and Big Ten (8-4) with three Sweet 16 teams each.

Here’s a look at the updated Final Four paths for the top remaining teams in each region: ——— SOUTH This is the only bracket with the top four seeds still alive, so the Tar Heels’ path looks the same as it did on Selection

www.HCCEgalitarian.com

Sunday.

UNC (29-7) needed a gameclosing 12-0 run to rally past the eighth-seeded Razorbacks.

Now the Tar Heels meets fourthseeded Butler (25-8), which beat No. 1 seed Villanova twice this season.

That game is the undercard to Friday’s matchup of secondseeded Kentucky (31-5) and third-seeded UCLA (31-4) in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Wildcats survived a tough fight with Wichita State, while the Bruins beat Cincinnati to set up a rematch of a December game won by the Bruins.

“I don’t know if all the other regions went chalk, but it’s 1, 2, 3, 4 in the South,” Bruins coach Steve Alford said. “So that South Region and bracket is going to be a lot of fun.”

——— WEST This is the only other region to have its No. 1 and No. 2 seeds both make the Sweet 16.

Top-seeded Gonzaga (341) faces fourth-seeded West Virginia (28-8) on Thursday in San Jose, California; No. 2 seed Arizona (32-4) meets 11-seed Xavier (23-13) — the lowestseeded team still in the field after

Sports

its rout of 3-seed Florida State.

If seeds hold, that would set up a rematch of a December game won by the Bulldogs 69-62.

But Arizona didn’t have Allonzo Trier, who was suspended for the first 19 games for performanceenhancing drugs.

The matchup would still

@HCC_Egalitarian

offer a Final Four breakthrough chance for Gonzaga’s Mark Few or Arizona’s Sean Miller, two coaches yet to get there despite a combined five Elite Eight appearances.

“I know this (team) certainly is right there, should be considered with any that’s ever played” at

Gonzaga, Few said. “There’s probably two or three of them that should be in that mix.

Ultimately we’re going to have to accomplish that Final Four to kind of put it to rest and all that.”

——— see

NCAA Men, Page 13

Pac-12 makes statement with 5 in the Sweet 16 Tim Booth

AP Sports Writer SEATTLE — A year ago was thought to be an anomaly for the Pac-12 Conference, advancing four teams to the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament and eventually seeing Washington and Oregon State make the Final Four.

Based on what the Pac-12 did in the first week of the NCAAs this year, maybe last year’s performance might become the norm.

“I think a lot of people wanted to think that was a fluke,” Washington coach Mike Neighbors said. “I heard that a lot during the offseason. That it was a fluke year, blah, blah, blah. I think five in the Sweet 16 just backs it back up.”

Stanford, Oregon State, Washington, UCLA and Oregon will be playing during the second weekend of the tournament after advancing to the Sweet 16, all with impressive second-round victories.

Oregon won at Duke and Stanford — despite being the higher seed — won at Kansas State. Oregon State handled Creighton, UCLA routed Texas A&M and Washington put up 108 points against Oklahoma while Kelsey Plum set yet another NCAA record, becoming the alltime single-season scoring leader.

The NCAAs have been a Pac-12 party thus far and it’s not just Stanford leading the way anymore.

“Going back to the days when it was us and Stanford battling it out, only two

teams in the tournament, maybe my life was a little easier night to night, but it doesn’t make you better, and I think this is what’s good for the league,” California coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.

Seven Pac-12 teams made the NCAA Tournament and went 7-0 in the

first round. Through two rounds, the conference is a combined 12-2, the only losses coming by Arizona State and California to No. 1 seeds. There were a few close calls with No. 2 seeds Stanford and Oregon State barely avoiding upsets by No. 15 seeds.

All season long, the Pac-12 was rated as the top conference in the country.

Coaches lobbied throughout the Pac-12 Tournament that the conference deserved to have at least seven teams in the NCAAs. The selection committee agreed — and the performance thus far has validated those beliefs.

“I remember having a conversation with (Washington coach) Mike Neighbors, my buddy in the league, we talk about this stuff, about getting the RPI and all that kind of stuff,” Gottlieb recalled. “We said early in the year, I don’t know if we have a Final Four team. I don’t know if there’s a legit top five team, but we said we could get five or six in the Sweet 16, and maybe there is a Final Four team or two, and I hope there will be.”

The five Pac-12 teams in the Sweet 16 is a conference record. The conference was on the verge of having a sixth in the regional semifinals but Arizona State was unable to pull off the upset of No. 1 seed South Carolina, falling 71-68. The next closest conference is the ACC, with three teams in the regional semifinals.

“Our kids pull for each other. They were texting me all night last night about the Arizona State game,” Neighbors said.

“They were so nervous, they were so happy that Arizona State almost knocked off South Carolina.”

The other piece helping the conference see

NCAA Women, Page 13

Wednesday March 22, 2017

@HCC_Egalitarian

The Egalitarian www.HCCEgalitarian.com

Correa, PR team reach WBC final Beth Harris

AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES — Carlos Correa was 17 and watching the World Baseball Classic on television four years ago, too young to participate.

When his chance came around this time, the Houston Astros’ star shortstop was up to the task.

Correa hit a two-run homer in the first inning and scored the winning run in the 11th to give Puerto Rico a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Netherlands on Monday night.

Next up is a spot in the championship game.

“When I feel that I’m all excited, I try to calm down, breathe deep and concentrate on what we’re doing,” Correa said. “This is something that we rehearse every day, so we will be able to do it well at the end.”

Eddie Rosario, who went 0 for 4, hit a sacrifice fly to center field in the 11th that drove in Correa, triggering a massive celebration on the field and in the stands from red, white and blue-clad fans pounding cow bells and tooting horns and whistles.

T.J. Rivera’s solo shot in the second put Puerto Rico ahead 3-2.

Puerto Rico will play either two-time champion Japan or the United States for the title on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. The Puerto Ricans also reached the final in 2013, losing to the Dominican Republic 3-0.

Puerto Rico has outscored its opponents 55-18 while going 7-0 in this year’s tournament.

“It means a lot because Puerto Ricans have gone through a very difficult situation currently and we were able to unite our country,” Correa said.

The blond Puerto Rican players, who dyed their hair in a show of unity that has caught on back home, jumped up and down after a lively, emotional and sometimes-testy semifinal

that included four replay reviews during the fourth and fifth innings of a game that lasted 4 hours, 19 minutes.

When it was finally over, Kike Hernandez, who plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Hiram Burgos raced around the field carrying Puerto Rican flags above their heads.

Curt Smith grounded into a bases-loaded, inning-ending double play for the Netherlands in the 11th, which began with runners on first and second for both teams under tournament rules. It was one of three double plays turned by Puerto Rico.

Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina’s defense saved Puerto Rico from a potential grand slam in the first inning when Wladimir Balentien’s homer helped the Netherlands to a 2-0 lead, giving orange-clad fans a reason to cheer.

“For me, that was the game,” Puerto Rico manager Edwin Rodriguez said. “Yadier Molina came to play.”

Molina capitalized on two baserunning blunders by the Dutch.

Jorge Lopez allowed a leadoff single to Andrelton Simmons and hit Xander Bogaerts with a pitch. Simmons later wandered off the bag toward third and Molina threw to second, but Simmons couldn’t get back in time and got caught in a rundown.

Jurickson Profar singled to right, but was slow getting back to first while celebrating and was picked off by Molina, who took Rosario’s relay from the outfield. Balentien followed with his mammoth, two-out shot, and celebrated with a bat flip.

“Frustrating for me is the mental errors that we committed,” Netherlands manager Hensley Meulens said.

“We talked to the guys before the game about the experience of Yadier Molina behind the plate. If you get too far off, he’ll pick you off, and that’s what

Chris Carlson/AP Photo Puerto Rico third baseman Carlos Correa fails to throw out Netherlands’ Andrelton Simmons at first in the first inning of a semifinal in the World Baseball Classic in Los Angeles Monday. happened. Then Jurickson getting the base hit, celebrating and not getting back to the base, that’s unacceptable. That could have been the difference in us winning or not.”

Balentien, who had three hits, has been the top slugger in the WBC, batting .615 (16 for 26) with 12 RBIs. His four homers were one shy of the tournament record. He last played in the major leagues in 2009 and has been playing for Yakult in Japan since 2011.

Edwin Diaz threw high and inside to Balentien in the 10th, causing Balentien to point at his head and shake his finger in a warning to Diaz. Players from both teams came out of the dugout, but the situation didn’t escalate.

Correa came over to calm down Diaz.

“We were full of emotions,”

Correa said.

Molina stepped in front of Balentien, as if to dissuade him from approaching the mound, while plate umpire Lance Barksdale attempted to keep the peace. Balentien took a called third strike, one of three punchouts by Diaz in the inning.

“It’s just emotions pouring into that at-bat,” Meulens said.

“Coco had two great swings and two fastballs. The next pitches are in the head area inside. Up in the zone like that is kind of dangerous if it hits you.”

Diaz got the victory, and 7-foot-1 Loek Van Mil took the loss.

The Netherlands tied it 3-all in the fifth on Shawn Zarraga’s RBI double to deep left-center.

That scored Balentien after he doubled high off the videoboard on the left-field wall with two outs.

Astros have eight on WBC rosters John Cañamar The Egalitarian

Divide and conquer is normally a strategy taken on by a force to split an opponent so that they can be easily defeated, the Houston Astros are flipping that strategy on its head by splitting their own ranks and becoming a force not to be reckoned with.

Spring training in baseball is where teams come together and find a few pieces to complete the whole, but more importantly it is where teammates come together to become united by creating bonds with mutual goals set for the whole.

In come the 2017 World Baseball Classic, and where many team management and executive voice their negative opinions on how it is bad for the game, the Astros have embraced the opportunity and have grown in ways not thought possible.

The Astros had eight players: Jose Altuve (Venezuela), Norichika Aoki (Japan), Carlos Beltran (Puerto Rico), Alex Bergman (USA), Kevin Chapman (Canada), Carlos Correa (Puerto Rico), Dayan Diaz (Colombia) and Luke Gregerson (USA), that have represented the organization and a world platform.

In the year in which Sports Illustrated claimed back on June 30, 2014 that the Houston Astros would become champions have got it started on the right foot and will in fact have at least one player host the WBC trophy in the air on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Beltran and Correa are waiting to host either Bergman and Gregerson or Aoki when Puerto Rico, who is undefeated in the tournament, will host the United States or Japan for the Title.

Correa up to this point has been the MVP of the tournament for both his team and

overall. Correa has hit 6 of 16 at bats for a .375 batting average, has collected two stolen bases, seven runs batted in, scored eight times and two monster homeruns.

Correa has also been turning in gems on defense even though he volunteered to play out of position at third base so that Francisco Lindor could be on the field at shortstop giving Puerto Rico a fabulous advantage on the left side of the diamond.

Beltran and Correa have bounded through this experience and has been helping the young superstar with veteran leadership which can only be a plus for the Astros franchise.

Not comparing a WBC title to a MLB championship, but the experience of playing on the big stage can only give all the young players who have participated become acclimated to high pressure play that can come into play in late September and October in the playoffs.

13

NCAA Men, From Page 12 MIDWEST The Midwest also had three of its top four seeds reach the Sweet 16. But it’s the bottom half of the bracket commanding the most attention with 7-seed Michigan, possibly the hottest team in the field.

The Wolverines (26-11) had a scary moment before the Big Ten Tournament when the plane set to carry them to Washington slid off a runway during an aborted takeoff. They played the first game in practice jerseys but ended up winning the title, and now have beaten Oklahoma State and 2-seed Louisville for their first NCAA wins since 2014.

Michigan made 16 3-pointers against the Cowboys and has made 33 of 52 shots (63.4 percent) after halftime in those two wins.

“That’s been our identity in the last month and a half, finding different ways to win,” leading scorer Derrick Walton Jr. said.

“Whether it’s the 3-ball or not, it’s finding multiple different ways to win and taking what the game gives us.”

Michigan faces No. 3 seed Oregon (31-5) in Kansas City, Missouri, on Thursday. The Jayhawks (30-4) get fourthseeded Purdue (27-7), the Big Ten regular-season champion.

——— EAST Welcome to the lone topsyturvy bracket after losses by No. 1 overall seed Villanova and No. 2 seed Duke.

Now third-seeded Baylor (27-7) is the highest remaining seed entering a matchup with seventh-seeded South Carolina (24-10), which is in the Sweet 16 for the first time in the current tournament format after hanging 65 second-half points on the preseason No. 1-ranked Blue Devils in Sunday’s 88-81 upset .

NCAA Women, From Page 12 is the arrival — or return — of programs onto the national scene.

Two years ago it was Oregon State bursting into prominence, followed by Washington last year. This year that surge belongs to Oregon, who under third-year head coach Kelly Graves is in the Sweet 16 for the first time.

“It’s funny, we never really put a goal on how far we can go, just because we didn’t know what we had,” Graves said after upsetting Duke. “We’ve kind of attacked the entire season as a work in progress.”

It will get tougher for all five teams from here. UCLA has the biggest challenge facing Connecticut in the round of 16.

Washington takes on No. 2 seed Mississippi State; Oregon State gets Florida State; Oregon faces Maryland; and Stanford takes on Texas.

“Our league has gotten so rugged it prepares you for any type of thing that you can see,” Neighbors said.

14

Wednesday March 22, 2017

The Egalitarian www.HCCEgalitarian.com

Stars form bond on ‘Life’ set

Culture

Parks seek to eliminate lines Mike Schneider Associated Press

David Saleh Rauf Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas — There’s a bromance brewing between actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds.

The Hollywood stars say they hit it off so well during the filming of their new sci-fi thriller called “Life” that a genuine friendship has blossomed. The movie, about a team of scientists aboard the International Space Station who find an alien life form from Mars, is premiering Saturday at the South by Southwest festival in Austin.

The “Brokeback Mountain” and “Deadpool” stars were mostly all jokes during rounds of press interviews prior to the film’s premier, answering most questions with a back-andforth comedy shtick. But they turned serious when asked about the connection formed on set.

“You do these films and get to work with really amazing people, really talented people and you think ‘oh I’m going to hang out with these people afterward and see them again,’” said Reynolds. “You don’t most of the time because you go on living your life. But with this guy, we’ve stayed friends. That’s a lucky thing. It doesn’t always happen.”

Some of the first signs of the newly-forged bond came earlier this week when Reynolds gave high praise to Gyllenhaal on Good Morning America, calling him one of the most interesting actors currently working in Hollywood.

Reynolds said Saturday that his co-star is “one

Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP Photo Ryan Reynolds, left, and Jake Gyllenhaal arrive for the world premiere of “Life” at the ZACH Theatre during the South by Southwest Film Festival on Saturday in Austin, Texas. the greatest actors of this generation.”

“I loved working with this guy,” he said.

“I loved spending time with this guy. It’s not often you get this experience.”

Gyllenhaal was equally complimentary, saying Reynolds’s role last year as a foulmouthed superhero is exactly what he strives for —a performance so authentic that it would be nearly impossible for another actor to duplicate.

“We sort of grew up in this business together without knowing each other until very recently,” Gyllenhaal said. “It’s hard in a business where ... a lot of times we’re pretending to get closer to the truth and to find somebody who you feel is genuine. I feel that way about him, so we’re friends.”

The movie plot draws some notable parallels to Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic “Alien,” tracking a team of scientists on a spaceship who encounter an alien life form that wreaks havoc. Their discovery— the first evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars_turns out to be a threat not only to the crew but to all life on Earth.

But even with the backdrop of a sci-fi heart pounder, Gyllenhaal says he and Reynolds found some levity throughout the filming.

“This experience of what’s happening right now was consistent to what it felt like while we were shooting,” Gyllenhaal said in between puns served as answers to questions. “We had really scary situations in the movie and scenes that were really tense, but we were laughing constantly and it was so much fun.”

Supreme Court sympathetic to Microsoft in suit Jessica Gresko Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court suggested Tuesday that it is sympathetic to Microsoft Corp. in a dispute with disgruntled owners of the Xbox 360 video-game system who sued saying the console has a design defect that scratches game discs.

The justices heard arguments Tuesday in a case that involves the Xbox 360 owners’ attempts to get class action status for their lawsuit, which was filed several years ago in the state of Washington, where Microsoft is headquartered.

Xbox 360 owners were initially denied class action status in the lawsuit. Several justices seemed sympathetic to Microsoft’s argument that the Xbox 360 owners shouldn’t be permitted to use a procedural maneuver to force an appeals court to weigh in

@HCC_Egalitarian

after the appeals court declined to do so.

Microsoft has sold millions of Xbox 360 consoles since they were introduced in 2005. It says only 0.4 percent of owners report disk scratching and that in many cases damage is the result of consumer misuse. The company says consumers were warned both in the instruction manual and on a sticker affixed to the console not to move it while a disc was inside.

When a handful of Xbox 360 owners sued, a federal judge initially said the lawsuit couldn’t proceed as a class action, and an appeals court declined to consider an appeal of that decision. The Xbox 360 owners then asked the judge to dismiss their case, a procedural move designed to get the appeals court to weigh in, which it did. Microsoft says that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the attorney for the Xbox

Tina Fineberg/AP File Photo The Supreme Court suggested Tuesday that it is sympathetic to Microsoft Corp. in a dispute with disgruntled owners of the Xbox 360 video-game system who sued saying the console has a design defect that scratches game discs.

360 owners, Peter Stris, that “rule makers went through a lot of work” to come up with the rule governing appeals in class action cases and suggested he was making an end run around it. And Justice Stephen Breyer suggested the “simplicity” of ruling for Microsoft seemed preferable, asking Stris if there was “anything terrible that would happen” if the justices ruled against his clients.

Arguing for Microsoft, lawyer Jeffrey Fisher told the court that ruling for the Xbox 360 owners would “upend” the “carefully

considered” rule governing an appeal of a class action determination.

Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have urged the court to side with Microsoft. In briefs to the court they say a ruling for the Xbox 360 owners gives those who file questionable class action lawsuits another chance to pursue class action status if they fail to get it at an early stage of the litigation.

Businesses say that would make defending against class action lawsuits more expensive and push businesses to settle claims.

ORLANDO, Fla. — At Universal Orlando Resort’s new “Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon” ride, waiting in line has been replaced by lounging on couches and listening to a racy barber shop quartet sing until it’s time to enter the ride.

Universal is leading the themepark charge into “virtual lines” that give visitors options for exploring a park or watching live entertainment instead of the tedium of looking at someone’s back as you inch forward step by step to the thrill ride.

“It’s kind of a bit of a science experiment for all of us,” said Jason Surrell, a Universal creative director said about the “queue-less” waits.

“We’ve known for years that waiting in line is one of the biggest dissatisfiers in our guests’ day.”

Universal is also trying the concept at another attraction.

Later this year, when Universal opens its new Volcano Bay water park in Orlando, visitors will be given wristbands that will alert them when it’s their turn to get on a ride.

“I think it represents the future of what we’re going to be doing in themed entertainment,” Surrell said. “I kind of joke that this is the first step on a journey that will eventually lead us to a generation that doesn’t even know about theme park lines. It will be ‘What do you mean, wait in a queue?

What’s that, Grandpa?’”

Virtual lines are the latest evolution in theme parks’ efforts to shorten or eliminate waits for rides, or if waits are necessary evils, to improve the experience of biding one’s time.

Almost two decades ago, those efforts were concentrated on elaborately-designed “pre-ride” lines such Universal’s The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, which goes past an elaborately-detailed “Daily Bugle” newsroom.

A few years later came the ride reservations systems of the FastPass and Express Pass at Disney and Universal parks, respectively, in which ride-goers are assigned periods of time to show up for rides. But those reservations need to be made ahead of time, for the most part, and visitors can only make them on three rides a day.

Universal opens that concept to everybody, not just advanced planners, with its two new attractions, while also offering entertainment during the wait.

“Everybody is trying to do this, working not only on the rides but how to get you on the rides,” said Dennis Speigel, who heads the theme park consulting firm, International Theme Park Services.

Wednesday March 22, 2017

@HCC_Egalitarian

The Egalitarian www.HCCEgalitarian.com

15

Egal•i•tar•i•an (adjective) aiming for equal wealth, status, etc., for all people 3517 Austin; 303 Fine Arts Center; Houston TX 77004 Phone: 713.718.6016; Fax: 713.718.6601 Adviser: Fredrick Batiste

SPRING 2017 EGALITARIAN STAFF Editor-in-Chief............................................Jimmieka Mills News Editor................................................... Alyssa Foley Sports Editor..............................................John Cañamar Culture Editor.............................................. Erik Calderon Photo Editor............................................................... TBA Social Media Mgr....................................................... TBA Staff Writer............................................................ Zain Ali Staff Writer................................................... Fabian Brims Staff Writer.................................................... Ana Ramirez Staff Writer................................................................. TBA Staff Writer................................................................. TBA Staff Photographer..................................................... TBA ——— The Egalitarian has been the official student newspaper of the Houston Community College System since September 1974.

The Egalitarian is published bi-monthly, every other Wednesday except during holiday breaks.

Print circulation is 8,000 copies per issue and distributed to selected HCC campuses in the Houston, Spring Branch, Alief, Katy, North Forest and Fort Bend areas. Comments and contributions are always welcome.

Deadlines for contributions and advertisements are one week before the issue print date.

The Egalitarian is written and edited by students of Houston Community College. This publication does not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, interests, attitudes and tastes of the Board of Trustees, HCC administration, faculty, staff or students.

Opinions and editorial content of The Egalitarian that are unsigned do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Egalitarian staff or adviser. The Egalitarian reserves the right to edit any submitted material for grammatical errors, offensive language, libelous materials and space constraints. It may also refuse any advertising that does not adhere to the HCC mission.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The Egalitarian staff consists of HCC students who must complete all tasks required to produce the newspaper, which serves all campuses of the HCC System. We want all students from all majors to contribute. However, we must follow our submissions policy in order to operate under our limitations of time, energy and staff.

All staff and contributing writers must be currently enrolled students at Houston Community College. The Egalitarian interacts with contributing writers via e-mail and telephone.

Visiting The Egalitarian will not help contributors get published, only quality work will.

Publication priority is given to staff members and assigned articles, and verbal commitments for assignments will not be accepted or recognized.

Press releases, story ideas, news tips and suggestions are always welcomed.

Any student interested in joining The Egalitarian staff may request more detailed information regarding story length, topics, style, etc., by e-mailing The Egalitarian Faculty Adviser Fredrick Batiste at adviser@hccegalitarian.com.

Mara Kuhn/the Sentinel-Record via AP Rob Pope, center, , a veterinarian from Liverpool, England, runs with some Spa Pacers on Quapaw Avenue in Hot Springs, Ark., to his place to stay for the night after he was presented with a Spa Running Festival T-shirt and medal and Descendant of DeSoto certificate at the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce. Pope is running across the country.

Veterinarian recreates film’s cross-country trek Max Bryan

The Sentinel-Record HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — The Spa City recently served as one of the destinations in a man’s recreation of the famous run featured in the modern film classic “Forrest Gump.”

Rob Pope, a veterinarian from Liverpool, England, was ushered into town by members of the Spa Pacers, who ran with him from the Airport Road bridge over Lake Hamilton to The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce building at Ouachita and Grand last week, the Sentinel-Record reported. The run was part of Pope’s larger effort to run the same route that Gump did in the film, which spans the United States.

The arrangement of the meeting at the chamber came after Hot Springs resident Dave Hair met Pope and his girlfriend, Nadine, in an RV park just outside of Lubbock, Texas. Hair said that he noticed Pope due to his appearance — which, like Gump, includes a bushy beard and a red hat — and began to ask him about his efforts.

“He told us what they were doing, and it was very interesting,” Hair said. “I said, ‘Well, where are you going to run to?’ He told us, ‘Highway 70.’ I said, ‘Well, Hot Springs is on Highway 70.’ He said, ‘Well, gonna be there in two weeks.’”

After meeting at the chamber, the Spa Pacers ran with Pope to the RV park that he would be camping in for the night, located just outside of Hot Springs. The club then treated Pope to dinner at Copper Penny Pub. Pope has long held a desire to run across the United States because of the country’s culture — its music scene, in particular.

He also expressed a love for the film.

“I wanted to run across America for ages,” Pope said.

Pope’s run began Sept. 15 in Mobile, Alabama, — the site of the run’s beginning in the film. From there, he made his way west to Santa Monica, California, and has now doubled back to the South on his way up to Maine. His destinations immediately after Hot Springs included Little Rock and Memphis.

Hair said that Pope created the route by watching the movie.

“You don’t look at it and go, ‘Well, that’s doable,’” Pope said. “But you start to think, ‘God, is it doable?’”

Pope’s girlfriend has accompanied him throughout his run. She drives the RV that he spends his nights in, cooks for him, keeps him clean and, according to Pope, is his “rock.”

After March 22, Pope’s girlfriend will part from the run.

He will then be accommodated with a buggy and tent from Nashville up until the end of his run in Maine.

According to Pope, the run’s biggest challenge is the mental hurdle of running as many miles as he does each day.

“The hardest bit is when you’re just in your natural bad bit of a day, and you think, ‘Oh, it’s so far to go,’” Pope said.

“First thing in the morning, you just think, ‘I can’t run 42 miles. That’s just stupid.’”

To counter this challenge, Pope sets goals for himself to reach — one of them being food. He said that he has been consuming an average of 6,000 calories a day and looks forward to eating lunch.

“People say, ‘Oh, you come to America, and the fast food’s amazing, but you just can’t eat it all, because you’ll put on a severe, massive amount of weight.’ I can eat it all,” Pope said.

Pope explained that he is not simply running for the sake of pop culture nostalgia — he is also doing it to raise money for charity. Through his run, Pope has raised money for World Wildlife Fund, which does wilderness preservation, and Peace Direct, which supports individuals negatively impacted by wars.

The inspiration to support these specific organizations came from the film, as well.

“When Forrest is running across the Mississippi for the fourth time, they’re saying, ‘You’re running for women’s rights, the homeless, world peace, the environment and the animals,’” Pope said.

As for the run itself, Pope said that the first part has been successfully funded by donations. He said that he hopes for a business to sponsor him in the near future.

“We’re hoping for a company to come in and say, ‘We will sponsor you,’ because if this isn’t the best advertising vehicle ever, I don’t know,” Pope said.

The Spa Pacers were pleased to assist Pope in his endeavors.

Jamie Merriman said that such support was a good way to “welcome and encourage” the running culture in Hot Springs.

Merriman described Pope as an “amazing runner.”

“We were moving along, and we ran on the grass. He was going pretty quickly, just talking the whole way,” Merriman said.

Charlie Moore, longtime member of Spa Pacers and promoter of Hot Springs, said that he is happy to have had the chance to promote Pope’s story.

“It’s a unique story, and some people aren’t going to appreciate that as much as others,” Moore said. “Running from the west coast to Maine is quite a feat.”

16

Wednesday March 22, 2017

The Egalitarian

www.HCCEgalitarian.com

@HCC_Egalitarian