021413

Daily Toreador The

THURSDAY, FEB. 14, 2013 VOLUME 87 ■ ISSUE 90

Carnival cancels 12 more cruises on troubled ship HOUSTON (AP) — Carnival Cruise Lines has canceled a dozen more planned voyages aboard the Triumph and acknowledged that the crippled ship had been plagued by other mechanical problems in the weeks before an engine-room fire left it powerless in the Gulf of Mexico.

The company’s announcement on Wednesday came as the Triumph was being towed to a port in Mobile, Ala., with more than 4,000 people on board, some of whom have complained to relatives that conditions on the ship are dismal and that they have limited access to food and bathrooms.

The ship will be idle through April.

Two other cruises were called off shortly after Sunday’s fire.

CARNIVAL continued on Page 2 ➤➤

Escaped Florida prisoner described as ‘a schizophrenic’ GRAPEVINE (AP) — The Florida prisoner who stabbed a detective and escaped near Dallas while being transported to Nevada is “a schizophrenic” who vowed not to return to prison, according to authorities and a 911 call released Wednesday.

Alberto Morales, 42, escaped Monday after using a piece from his eyeglasses to stab Miami-Dade Detective Jaime Pardinas, one of two officers transferring the prisoner by car to Nevada. The escape happened while they were stopped in a Wal-Mart store parking lot in Grapevine, a community near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

OPINIONS, Pg. 4

Rodriguez: Men must rise above preconceived notions

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Serving the Texas Tech University community since 1925

Texas Legislature considers nixing “blue law”

By MATT DOTRAY STAFF WRITER

Two bills that would expand the hours of liquor sales on Sundays have been introduced in the Texas Legislature.

State Sen. Juan Hinojosa and State Rep. Senfronia Thompson have introduced bills that would eliminate a portion of the “blue laws” in Texas. Before introducing them to the floor of the legislature, the bills have been sent to committees to be discussed.

Jennifer Saenz, the general council and press secretary for Democrat Sen. Hinojosa, of the 20th District, said the bill would extend the hours in which consumers could buy bottled liquor.

“It is allowing liquor sales on Sundays,” she said, “and it is extending the time of liquor sales on the other six days by an hour earlier and an hour after.”

Saenz said the current rules, stated in the “blue law,” Texas Statute section 105.01, do not allow stores to sell packaged liquor before 10 a.m. or after 9 p.m. from

‘‘

We feel like Sundays are a time that our staff should have off and have the chance to be with their families that one day a week.”

Monday to Saturday.

Although consumers can buy liquor at bars and restaurants on Sunday, the current law states that stores cannot sell bottles of liquor on Sunday.

“Blue laws” were implemented in the late 1800s, and were aimed toward preventing certain types of activities on Sunday, according to the Sunday Blue Laws website.

The laws were meant to prevent Johnny Stone activities that would inhibit District manager, people from resting and attending DOCs church on the Sabbath.

The proposed bill, Senate Bill 236 and House Bill 421, would allow the sale of liquor on Sundays and allow sales from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

Because consumers can buy liquor at bars on Sundays, Saenz said it is only fair to give the same business

privileges to liquor stores. Another motivation behind the bill is the potential benefits for the state of Texas, she said.

“The state, if we do sell on Sundays, will collect more state revenue by selling on those days,” she said.

According to a report from Texas’s Legislative Budget Board, allowing the sale of packaged liquor on Sunday would generate an estimated $7.4 million in sales tax revenue.

Most of the feedback, Saenz said, has been in support of the bill.

But the bill might receive criticism from opponents the legislatures did not expect.

Johnny Stone, the district manager for DOCs, a liquor store in Lubbock, said selling liquor on Sunday would not be beneficial to the company and its employees.

“We feel like Sundays are a time that our staff should have off and have the chance to be with their families that one day a week,” he said.

LIQUOR continued on Page 2 ➤➤

Students attend biannual engineering job, career fair

By RAECHEL DAVIS STAFF WRITER

Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering hosted its biannual spring job fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Wednesday at the Lubbock Civic Center.

The fair, for students, featured 140 employers and included 25 new vendors who were interested in offering internships, co-ops, and full-time positions, Elizabeth Capps, career services coordinator said.

To enter the fair, students were required to dress in business professional attire and check in to get a name tag.

Capps said event coordinators expected to register between 1,500 and 1,700 students and offered them good luck and words of encouragement about not forgetting to smile during interviews as students entered the hall of vendors.

Before the fair, she said, students had the opportunity to prepare by receiving training for interviews, as well as other resources such as resume

critiques.

“Our students do a great job of coming prepared, coming dressed, and we ask that they bring their resumes,” Capps said.

If students do prepare themselves with the tools available at the College of Engineering, the chances of them being successful at the job fair are high.

The placement rate is 85 percent and job placement for engineers is 92 percent, Capps said.

Both large and small businesses are looking to hire Texas Tech students, said Phineas Holmes, Tech alumnus and business development manager for Baker Hughes Inc. “We are constantly looking for well-qualified people,” Holmes said.

The need for engineers in the workforce is great. Holmes said Baker Hughes Inc., an oil and gas reservoir consulting company, expected to hire several Tech students and are looking to fill almost 500 full-time positions and approximately 150 internships.

FAIR continued on Page 2 ➤➤

COSTUME CREATION PHOTO BY WILLIAM ROBIN/The Daily Toreador

TEXAS TECH GUARD Toddrick Gotcher goes head to head for a layup against Oklahoma State guard Kirby Gardner during the Red Raiders’ 91-67 loss against the Cowboys on Wednesday in United Spirit Arena.

Oklahoma State proves too much to handle for Tech

By MICHAEL SUNIGA STAFF WRITER

Baseball prepared for season opener -- SPORTS, Page 6

INDEX Classifieds................7 Crossword..............6 Opinions.....................4 L a Vi d a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Sports........................6 Sudoku.......................2 EDITORIAL: 806-742-3393

PHOTO BY EMILY MCCARTHY/The Daily Toreador

NIKKI IRION, A performance and pedagogy graduate student from Arlington, cuts out a pattern for the character Masha, in the upcoming play “The Seagull” on Monday in the Charles E. Maedgen Jr. Theatre.

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The Texas Tech men’s basketball team suffered its second largest margin of defeat in Big 12 Conference play when it hosted No. 17 Oklahoma State on Wednesday, losing 91-67.

The Cowboys got off to a strong start when they began the game on a 21-6 run.

“I think we came in the game, and we were not focused and it got out of hand quick,” Tech freshman guard Josh Gray said. “We were not mentally prepared.”

During the first half, the Cowboys displayed their shooting range, knocking down 10 3-pointers, which accounted for 30 of their 55 points.

In the previous three games, Oklahoma State has shot just 25 percent from behind the line.

However, the team shot 60 percent from three

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during the matchup against Tech.

After a strong showing in the first half, Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said he talked to his players at halftime, bringing reference to Tech’s last game against West Virginia where Tech came back from an early deficit.

“We started the game the right way,” Ford said.

“We made a lot of threes early. Do not let that be fool’s gold for you.”

Junior guard Markel Brown led all scorers on the afternoon with 25 points, shooting 7-8 from behind the line.

“He played the game of his life in the first half,” Walker said. “I believe that Markel Brown is the best player on that team.”

However, Brown failed to add to his scoring tally in the second half because Ford looked to utilize his bench after the break.

LOSS continued on Page 7 ➤➤

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EMAIL: news@dailytoreador.com

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NEWS

FEB. 14, 2013

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CHEMICAL CONCENTRATION

Today One Billion Rising Time: 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Memorial Circle So, what is it?

Come to Memorial Circle to join activists to end violence against women and girl.

Dancing with Mr. Darcy: A Jane Austen Evening with the TTU Vernacular Music Time: 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Where: Museum of Texas Tech So, what is it?

Tickets are $20 per person, $35 per pair. All tickets must be purchased in advance.

WWJS Toastmasters Time: 7 p.m.

Where: Mardel’s So, what is it?

Come join the members of “What Would Jesus Say” Toastmasters Club as they try to enhance your ability to express their faith while maturing and becoming more like Christ.

Live Comedy Night at Dance With Me Time: 8 p.m.

Where: Dance With Me So, what is it?

Come enjoy this comedy show with Eric De Leon, Vinny the Mullet, Clay “Gooney” Vickers and Adam Hernandez.

Friday Ninth Annual Advancing Teaching and Learning Conference Time: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Where: Student Union Building So, what is it?

Come hear presentations from keynote speaker Peter Felten, assistant provost and director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, and professor of history at Elon University.

Celebrating the Vietnamese Lunar New Year: Tet Time: 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: International Cultural Center, Hall of Nations So, what is it?

Come learn about the heritage and culture of Vietnam. Feb. 10, 2013 marks the Year of the Snake, which is believed to be the year of peace and prosperity.

20th Anniversary Clay on the Wall Invitational Art Exhibition Presented at Texas Tech School of Art Time: 8 a.m.

Where: Landmark Arts at the Texas Tech School of Art So, what is it?

Come enjoy this exhibit cocurated by Glen Brown and Juan Granados with a public reception following in the Art building foyer.

Northern Illinois Huskies at Texas Tech Red Raiders Baseball Time: 6 p.m.

Where: Dan Law Field So, what is it?

Come support the Red Raiders as they compete against the Huskies.

To make a calendar submission email dailytoreador@ttu. edu.

Events will be published either the day or the day before they take place. Submissions must be sent in by 4 p.m. on the preceding publication date.

PHOTO BY EMILY DE SANTOS/ The Daily Toreador

XIAOGUANG PENG, A graduate chemical engineering major from China, places samples of thermosensitive material into a AR G2 machine for analysis Monday in the Chemical Engineering building.

Fair ↵

said she enjoyed the job fair. ”I love talking to companies,” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Landau said. “There is nothing better.

It’s all smiles walking up and down, “We are here to find out what peo- just being able to talk to them. I have ple can do for us,” Jake Honekamp, experience in oil and gas, so it helps.”

Tech alumnus and Baker Hughes Inc. Landau said she interviewed with employee, said.

American Bureau of Shipping last Novella Landau, a junior mechan- semester at a Tech engineering job fair ical engineering major from Houston, in Houston, but attended the spring

Liquor ↵

job fair to continue networking with companies.

For students like Jackie Gregory, a freshman mechanical engineering major from Granbury, the job fair was a new experience. “(I came here) to learn what all convinces companies to hire, and to get a job from who is hiring,” Gregory said.

He said he learned about job opportunities with organizations like the U.S. Navy, which hires engineers to work on nuclear submarines.

Along with learning about employers, students who attended the event were offered free lunch and a free shuttle service to and from the Civic Center. ➤➤rdavis@dailytoreador.com

Stone said, but will allow some customers who would normally buy liquor on Saturday to wait until Sunday.

“We feel like all it’s going to do is spread six days of business into seven days,” he said. “It really won’t generate any extra sales.”

Even if a liquor store does not want to be open on Sunday, Stone said, it would almost be forced to sell on Sunday because most of its competitors will.

“I don’t see that we have much to gain out of being open on Sunday,” Stone said. “Obviously, for the consumer, it makes it more accessible and more convenient to (purchase) hard liquor. But they can already buy beer and wine on Sundays.”

In response to a few opponents of the bill, Saenz said the whole purpose of the bill is to make it convenient for the customer.

She said Massachusetts passed a similar bill when she lived there, and the liquor stores benefited from the additional sales.

Similar bills with the intention of extending the hours of liquor sales have been previously introduced in the legislature, she said, but in Texas, it is difficult to pass a bill that challenges the conservative views of the Sabbath.

lines. This was, by far, I have to say, the worst,” said Smedley, of Plano, Texas.

After losing power on its most recent CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 journey, the ship drifted until Tuesday, Debbi Smedley, a passenger on a when two tugboats began moving it torecent Triumph cruise, said the ship had ward shore. A third tugboat was enroute trouble on Jan. 28 as it was preparing Wednesday from Louisiana. to leave Galveston. Hours before the The National Transportation Safety scheduled departure time, she received Board has opened an investigation into an email from Carnival stating the vessel the fire. would leave late because of a propulsion Passengers have had limited cellproblem. Passengers were asked to arrive phone service because of the power at the port at 2 p.m., two hours later than failure, but many were able to make calls originally scheduled. to friends and family when the Triumph The ship did not sail until after 8 rendezvoused with another Carnival p.m., she said. ship that dropped off food and supplies.

“My mother is a cruise travel agent The other ship had a working cellular so this is not my first rodeo. I have sailed antenna. many, many cruises, many, many cruise Robert Giordano, of the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, said he last spoke to his wife, Shannon, on Monday. She told him she waited in line for three hours to get a hot dog, and that conditions on the ship were terrible.

“They’re having to urinate in the shower. They’ve been passed out plastic bags to go to the bathroom,” Giordano said. “There was fecal matter all over the floor.”

Even more distressing, Giordano said, has been the lack of information he has been able to get from Carnival, a complaint shared by Vivian Tilley, of San

Diego, whose sister is also on the vessel.

Carnival, she said, has not told families what hotel passengers will be put in or provided precise information about when they will arrive in Mobile, Ala. And that came after the cruise line switched the ship’s towing destination from Progreso, Mexico, to Mobile.

Tilley said her sister, Renee Shanar, of Houston, told her the cabins were hot and smelled like smoke from the engine fire, forcing passengers to stay on the deck. She also said people were getting sick.

“It’s a nightmare,” Tilley said, noting Shanar and her husband chose a four-day cruise so they wouldn’t be away from their two daughters for too long.

Meanwhile, officials in Mobile are preparing a cruise terminal that has not been used for a year to help passengers go through customs after their ordeal.

The Triumph is expected to arrive Thursday afternoon.

The cruise ship company has chartered 15 buses to haul passengers to hotels in New Orleans and downtown Mobile, said Barbara Drummond, a spokeswoman for the city of Mobile.

Carnival said passengers would also be able to fly home on chartered flights.

The company has disputed the accounts of passengers who describe

the ship as filthy, saying employees are doing everything to ensure people are comfortable.

Passengers are supposed to receive a full refund and discounts on future cruises, and Carnival announced Wednesday they would each get an additional $500 in compensation.

“We know it has been a longer journey back than we anticipated at the beginning of the week under very challenging circumstances,” Carnival President and CEO Gary Cahill said.

“We are very sorry for what our guests have had to endure.”

Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen acknowledged the Triumph’s recent mechanical woes, explaining that there was an electrical problem with the ship’s alternator on the previous voyage.

Repairs were completed Feb. 2.

Testing of the repaired part was successful and “there is no evidence at this time of any relationship between this previous issue and the fire that occurred on Feb. 10.”

But according to the email sent to passengers on Jan. 28, the issue affected the ship’s cruising speeds, delaying its arrival in Galveston. The email also informed Smedley and other passengers that the propulsion problem would prevent them from docking at two ports.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Along with that, he said most liquor stores would have a difficult time making up the revenue it would take to remain open on Sundays.

The ability to buy bottles of liquor Sundays is not going to increase the amount of revenue for liquor stores,

Carnival ↵

➤➤mdotray@dailytoreador.com

21

La Vida

Page 3 Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013

Texas Tech alumnus develops Lunchables

By ASHLYN TUBBS STAFF WRITER

At Sam’s Place on Texas Tech campus, one popular food item enables students to make their own lunch.

Lunchables come in many different varieties, some including items to make pizza, nachos, chicken nuggets and crackers with cheese.

More importantly to Tech, these snack packs originated from a Tech alumnus’ idea.

Richard “Rody” Hawkins attended Tech from 1982 to 1985 and received his Ph.D. in meat science with an emphasis in muscle physiology and meat biochemistry, and went on to work for Oscar Mayer without ever making a hot dog before.

“I never dreamed it would be a big product line as it is today,” he said. “I just knew it could be successfully done.”

Hawkins was recruited to Tech to become a founding member of the meat science program, which he said has grown significantly and is glad to see it thriving today. He said after his graduation, he began looking for a teaching research position.

After searching with no luck, Hawkins had a mind change that involved ditching his initial preference of obtaining a career in academia.

“I begin to think, ‘This is silly,’” he said. “’I’m waiting for a position, and why not go into the industry and see what that’s like?’”

He sent his application to Oscar Mayer, but when asked by employers why they should hire him, Hawkins had no experience with processed meats or sausage manufacturing. He told them he would become familiar with the formulations and processes in a few months, so the employers decided to compromise.

They told Hawkins he would be hired for a six-month review.

“I kept thinking, ‘I need to do something really, really good for Oscar Mayer,’” he said, “in order to

secure my position there.’”

Hawkins’ epiphany formed while attending a food technology meeting in Dallas. There, he met the vice president of industrial sales at Kraft Foods and exchanged an important conversation with him, one that would secure Hawkins’ job.

The vice president showed Hawkins a new product Kraft created, which was a package of Handi-Snacks. The package contained crackers, cheese and a red spatula.

“He said, ‘You know, we’re not the first company to launch cheese and crackers,’” Hawkins said, “’but for the privilege of spreading your own cheese on your crackers, people are willing to pay two or three times more for our cheese and crackers.’”

This idea sounded appealing to Hawkins. In 1986, he immediately began developing a prototype of a tray, and submitted the dimensions to a packaging engineer at Oscar Mayer.

A couple of weeks later, the engineer handed Hawkins a tray developed from a wooden mold that is almost identical to the current Lunchables trays.

Hawkins filled the tray’s compartments with crackers, small slices of ham and turkey, two different types of cheese and an Andes mint with an Oscar Mayer logo across it.

He took the model to the marketing team, and told them, “This is what we should be selling.”

The marketing team took the mold, and by the end of the week they begin questioning Hawkins about the success of the product.

“I told him, ‘You don’t have to give me a salary,’” he said. “’Just give me 1 percent of the profits when you start selling them,’ and he laughed at me.”

About three to four weeks later, the marketing team developed a new project using Hawkins idea, calling it Snack Pack — later changing it to Lunchables.

They issued the project to Hawkins and another Tech alumnus, Terry Rolan.

Hawkins and Rolan developed the project and then presented it at a test market in Denver.

The results caused high surprise for Oscar Mayer employees.

“It came back with the highest scores Oscar Mayer had ever had on a new product,” he said, “so they got kind of excited about it, but were still worried it wouldn’t be a success.”

Instead of launching the project nationally, Oscar Mayer decided to release it only in Washington State, that is, until a competitor entered the picture.

Bryan Foods, owned by Sara Lee, came out with their own version of Lunchables and began releasing it to market.

Oscar Mayer refused to let Bryan Foods take the lead, though.

“They ramped up production,” he said, “and they jumped from Washington State to the Southeast and started flooding the market with Lunchables.”

This is the best thing that could have happened to Lunchables, Hawkins said.

“What turned out to be a product that wasn’t making a lot of money in the beginning became a big success because of competition,” he said. “Competition makes you work harder, and that did.”

The name of the product changed from Snack Pack to Lunchables because the product empowers people to make their own lunch, Hawkins said. As the popularity of the product grew, so did the variety of foods contained in Lunchables.

The many necessary compartments of the trays even caused Lunchables to be sent before Congress as an example of one of the most over-packaged items on the market, Hawkins said.

“I thought that would hurt it, but it actually got it more notoriety,” he said, “and people were actually wanting to see what it was, so they started buying it.”

At one point, after Oscar Mayer merged with Kraft Foods, Hawkins said the vice president of marketing and sales

for Kraft named Lunchables as the No. 1 new product of the past 20 years.

“I thought it was kind of ironic for two things,” he said. “One was Kraft didn’t own Oscar Mayer when Lunchables was launched; however the idea of what the marketing angle was for that product actually came from Kraft.”

Although Lunchables is a product developed by Hawkins, he has never actually enjoyed a fully packaged one.

“There’s no such thing as a free Lunchable,” he said. “I always joke about that.”

One and a half years after he developed the concept of Lunchables, Hawkins left Oscar-Mayer to begin working for GoodMark Foods because he became interested in shelf-stable meat. His work there, such as extending the shelf life of Slim Jims, led the U.S. military to ask Hawkins to help expand its technology and develop long-time shelf meat in 1993.

He has worked for the U.S. military ever since, helping develop meat-filled sandwiches and pies that can last up to three years. They are distributed to disaster victims as well as militaries in the following countries: U.S., Britain, Scandinavia, Turkey, Italy and France.

Hawkins left GoodMark Foods after four years to develop his own consulting company in research, titled Research Develop and Implement Foods. Now and for the past 10 years, this company is contacted by various food companies and manufacturing facilities concerning assistance with technical problems or developing new products.

“What I enjoy about it is solving these hard problems that other people cannot solve or have a hard time solving,” he said. “It’s very fulfilling.”

As Hawkins continues to work for his jobs and other confidential projects, he said he credits his success to Tech.

“I’m very proud to say I’m from Texas Tech,” he said. “They promoted entrepreneurial spirit, and I think that helped make Tech a little more special.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF RICHARD HAWKINS

RICHARD “RODY” HAWKINS, a Texas Tech alumnus, came up with the idea of the popular packaged lunch, Lunchables. He then developed his own consulting company, Research Develop and Implement Foods.

Students should not be afraid to follow their dreams, Hawkins said, and always ask questions.

“Don’t think there is only one way

to solve a situation in front of you,” he said. “There’s always another way to do something.” ➤➤atubbs@dailytoreador.com

Page 4 Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013

Opinions

Men must rise above preconceived notions Today is Valentine’s Day, which usually means roses, dinner dates, surprise teddy bears, chocolate candies on our desks and cards given to sweethearts or friends.

But I would like to focus on the issue of sexual assault.

Saturday, a group of men will convene at an event called “VMen: Steppin’ Up Performance” to talk about all aspects of violence including bullying, rape and domestic violence against women.

This performance is something I am excited about because it is not women talking about violence and how we can change it, but men talking about men and how they can change violence.

I have seen both male and female friends manipulate each other either physically or psychologically for sex or attention. We

Rocio Rodriguez have all seen male friends play the game of talking to multiple girls at parties to get others jealous.

I have witnessed female friends make fun of their partner’s penis size, a humiliating blow to my male friends. Female friends have also expressed with pride how they can control their men by slapping them or bribing them.

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, about 10 percent of all victims of sexual assault, sexual abuse and rape are

male. The same research stating that a woman is severely assaulted by her husband or boyfriend every 15 seconds also indicates a man is severely assaulted by his wife or girlfriend every 14.6 seconds. This is a difficult situation for men to talk about.

Society has instilled us with the idea that men and boys should not be vulnerable or even victims.

We are taught that men should be able to protect themselves and others around them.

I think, by now, we know men can be victimized as easily as women. Male friends have called me crying because of a break up, homesickness while in the military, or family problems. I have seen my father cry because of the death of his best friend. It is not beyond me to know that men can

feel pain similarly to women. Jan Brown, executive director and founder of the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men, said, “Domestic violence is not about size, gender or strength.”

It is instead about the control and abuse that can occur during a dangerous situation. We all have that guy friend who is so in love with his girlfriend he will do anything for her. It is not impossible to imagine a situation where he could be manipulated.

There are many ways in which abuse can unexpectedly occur. It can come from withholding appreciation, approval or even affection as punishment.

Brown includes other abuses such as criticizing, shouting, regularly threatening to leave, manipulating with lies or contradictions

or harassing about relationships a partner may have with friends or family. It also can be physical such as destroying furniture, throwing things, breaking appliances, and hitting, kicking, shoving or biting.

The myths that perpetrate the stigma of victimized men are dangerous. The organization Male Survivor outlines reasons why these myths are potentially damaging. As long as our society continues to believe in the stereotypical, hyper-masculine image of a man, sexually abused men may not be able to receive the help they need because of a lack of support or because of shame felt.

If our society continues to harbor negative attitudes toward helping victimized men, it will be reinforcing another myth that the victim is at fault.

Seeking help is easier now than it used to be. Making a family member or a friend aware of the abuse is a positive step forward.

There also is the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides crisis intervention and resource referrals.

We live in a victim-blaming society, meaning we tend to blame the victim for the crime and not the victimizer. It is the perpetrator who victimized the victim, not the victim that purposefully put himself or herself into a situation where he or she is abused. Let us rise above this and build a safer future for ourselves, our families and our friends.

Rodriguez is a junior microbiology major from Brownsville. ➤➤ rrodriguez@dailytoreador.com

Reynolds’ harsh critique of SGA misleading, unwarranted I am a senior human development and family studies major.

I have been involved with the Black Student Association since my freshman year. I was the BSA treasurer last year, external vice president last semester, and am currently the president. Finally, I am a college of human sciences senator running for re-election in SGA for the 2013-2014 school year. I currently sit on the budget and finance committee within SGA. With that being said, I think I am qualified to refute the allegations of ineffectiveness against SGA. The Daily Toreador columnist, Jakob Reynolds, wrote a column earlier this week titled, “Former Senator decries SGA because of inactivity.” He took the opportunity to completely tear apart student government.

First, Reynolds criticized the “extensive process you must undergo if you are in a registered Tech student organization and you need to request funding from SGA.” He went on to say that after you submit the request, the approval waiting period “can take anywhere from a week to a month depending on the mood of the SGA senators assigned to represent your organization.”

There is the first bit of false

Berea Orange

information. Senators are not assigned to represent organizations. Like our national government that has senators to represent each state, our student government has senators for each college. The second bit of false information is the assertion that it is the duty of the senators to approve your funding request.

Harriette Baker in the Center for Campus Life actually approves the initial funding requests.

Senators on the budget and finance committee only conduct an informal interview with the organizations then go on to allot funds.

Reynolds goes on to criticize the funding process, saying, “if by some miracle you are able to get through the red tape and spectacular lack of communication wrapped up in the SGA funding-acquisition process, you just might be able to get the menial amount of funding they allot to you.”

I’ll take the time to explain the funding process. This year, the funding application was due Jan. 25. This date was announced on TechAnnounce, OrgSync and via “Student Orgs Weekly” emails sent to organizations as far back as last semester before winter break. Those seeking funding then sign up for an interview.

The budget and finance committee began giving interviews last Monday and will continue doing so until next week. Afterward, the committee meets over the weekend to allocate the funds and then present their numbers to the senate for a vote. Organizations will then be notified via their mail stop, contact email, and/or OrgSync account.

That process is no more extensive than any you would go through for a scholarship. I don’t understand how you would expect to ask for money without proving why you need it and why you deserve the funding. If you choose not to keep up with announcements about organizations, ask yourself whose fault that is.

It is also important to note there are certain stipulations we must follow when allocating funds. If an organization has not been funded in the past three

years, the most they can receive is $500. Contrary to popular belief, funds from SGA are only supplementary. With that said, the most SGA can give is 30 percent of an organization’s budget.

We can also only cut your previous funding by half at the most, and increase it by double at the most. Once you have used all of your SGA funding, you can apply for contingency funding for up to 25 percent of your budget. If anyone would bother to take the time and look, this is all on the SGA website.

Reynolds also complained about the requirement to attend Student Organization Representative Council meetings, but then said SGA is largely disconnected from students and organizations. This is contradictory because the point of SORC meetings is to promote collaboration, feedback and communication between the organizations and student government. SORC meeting dates are, again, on the SGA website.

Reynolds also took the opportunity to say that he has yet to receive any communication from SGA representatives in his college. Again, if one needs to contact a senator in one’s college, they are all listed on the SGA

website. Also, Jill Berger, a candidate for internal vice president, would like to implement mobile offices for senators next year.

She’d like for senators to set up shop in their colleges so students can contact them more easily. If this is an issue for someone, then I encourage you to vote in the upcoming election.

Reynolds attacked the representation of the student body in SGA by saying they should be more inclusive of graduate students. This is more false information. The senate also has graduate and law school senators.

During budget interviews for the graduate organizations, graduate senators typically sit in.

To further refute this, Katherine Lindley and Samantha Dunkerley, graduate senators, conducted town hall meetings late January in the Student Union Building regarding student opinion about a smoke and tobacco-free campus. Also, they are currently writing legislation to create affordable childcare for students, faculty and staff. To say that graduate students are not represented is simply false.

The kicker for me, though, was the comment “the vast majority of senators in SGA are undergraduate students who

likely do not pay for their own tuition themselves, considering their past decisions to freely tack on new fees to student tuition.”

I’m sorry, but what does whether or not we pay for our own tuition have anything to do with our work ethic? No one wants an increase in tuition, including senators.

This scathing column was completely unwarranted. I understand the need to express an opinion, but the mass majority of it was just incorrect. If you want funding for your organization, don’t be lazy. Be on top of it as you would anything else.

If you want to be updated on events, check the OrgSync and SGA websites. And if you want change, vote. It really is that simple.

Reynolds called SGA a “glorified social club.” Having spent all of my free time from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the SGA office this past week conducting research for possible resolutions to present to senate, I can assure you that a “glorified social club” is something SGA is not.

Orange is a senior human development and family studies major from Arlington. ➤➤ borange@dailytoreador.com

We the people must learn to share ideas and discuss differences How do we work together? That seems to me to be the question for this new year. We’ve certainly spent more than enough time learning how to disagree.

Just ask the United States Congress how much they know about that. I’ve learned a lot from them about disagreement and not working with others. U.S. history teaches us this country was built on compromise, a system of give-and-take and, above all, an underlying mutual respect for the person sitting next to you. The idea was that if our representatives worked together, the country would work better.

But you know what’s a great example of our country’s compromising values? The $1.3 billion that lawmakers cost the U.S. government while they were holding the debt ceiling hostage in 2011. The threat of a potential debt downgrade nearly blasted another hole in our already-precarious economic system.

The $1.3 billion was the minimum loss estimate. But what’s ironic is they did it all over again on the fiscal cliff.

A message to Congress: The next time there’s another chance to have an incredibly vacuous argument about whether or not to move the country forward, please remember how much money it costs to bicker.

Let us know what you think.

Check out The DT online at www.dailytoreador.com Blogs, polls, video, slideshows, article comments and more.

All available online now.

But Congress certainly wasn’t the only one teaching class in recent years. My man Mitt Romney sure gave his fair share of classroom lectures. I learned from Romney that changing your opinions to please people is a good way to try to get ahead in the world. I learned that if you work towards avoiding peoples’ concerns, rich folks will give you lots of money to keep doing it. But most importantly, I learned that caring 47 percent about anything gets you nowhere — sorry Mitt.

I mock what I watched this November, but it’s not with pleasure that I do so. I love this country and I find it disheartening that the 2012 presidential election reminded me more of a censored Jerry

EDITORIAL BOARD

By DANIEL DELANEY

BROWN DAILY HERALD (BROWN U.)

Springer episode than a contest between great men of great intent and aspiration. President Obama lost the first debate not because Romney had any content to his argument, but because Obama underestimated Romney’s capacity for obfuscation and his determination to reposition himself — yet again — to suit the mood of the general electorate.

It’s sad that we live in a time in which people are so uninformed and uninterested in working towards a common good and that politics is now a form of entertainment — or blood sport — instead of the respected form of civil service that produced great men and women in our history. How can it be that we

claim to be the descendants of the “Greatest Generation,” a group of people whose great strength lay in their understanding that, at times, individual sacrifice and compromise are necessary in order for everyone to be better off?

Two months ago, a gunman in Connecticut mowed down 27 people: 20 small children, six teachers and his mother. This happened three days after a gunman shot up a mall in Oregon and in the same year as fatal mass shootings in Minneapolis, Tulsa, a Sikh temple, the midnight showing of a movie, a coffee bar in Seattle and a Halloween party on a college campus.

Twenty-seven, two, six, three, six, 12, six, two. That’s a body count of Copyright © 2013 Texas Tech University Student Media/The Daily Toreador. All DT articles, photographs and artwork are the property of The DT and Student Media and may not be reproduced or published without permission. The Daily Toreador is a designated public forum. Student editors have the authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.

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64. It’s time to ask again: How do we work together?

It’s time that our political system answer that question and learn to live within the times — not expect the times to live with them.

Our age is being reshaped by mass communication and mass communication is where change will begin. I loved that after every presidential debate, Facebook turned into a political forum for ideas and opinions on the candidates’ performances. That shows me there is hope, that people are interested. All of you who put up statuses that told me to keep my politics to myself can get lost. We need discussion.

That’s how we will begin to make a difference.

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PHOTO BY EMILY MCCARTHY/The Daily Toreador

BEN MERCADO, A senior personal financial planning major from Lubbock, takes the temperature and measures the soil of a plant being grown for his lab Wednesday in the Biology Greenhouse.

First lady plugs ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ WA S H I N G T O N ( A P ) — Michelle Obama on Wednesday gushed over the Oscar-nominated film “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” calling it one of the “most powerful and most important” movies in a long time in a ringing endorsement delivered less than two weeks before this month’s Academy Awards ceremony.

The first lady commented during a Black History Month workshop at the White House for about 80 middle- and highschool students from the District

of Columbia and New Orleans.

The movie was set in Louisiana.

Students saw the film, then got to question director Benh Zeitlin and actors Dwight Henry and 9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis. Wallis stars in the mythical tale of a 6-year-old girl named Hushpuppy struggling to survive in the southern Delta with her ailing father as a storm approaches.

Her world consists of a tight-knit, shantytown community on the bayou with wild animals, both real and imagined.

The film won four Oscar nominations, including for best picture, best actress and directing.

Mrs. Obama said she saw the 93-minute film over the summer with a large group of friends and family who ranged in age from 3 to 73, and they were enthralled by it.

“It’s rare these days to find a movie that can so completely and utterly captivate such a broad audience and that was one of the things that struck me about this movie,” she said. “It managed to be beautiful, joyful and devastatingly honest.”

The first lady said “Beasts” makes viewers “think deeply about the people we love in our lives who make us who we are” and shows the strength of communities and the power they give others to overcome obstacles.

“It also tells a compelling story of poverty and devastation but also of hope and love in the midst of some great challenges,” she said.

Mrs. Obama also said it was

“cool” that “there are so many important lessons to learn in that little 93 minutes.”

“That a director and a set of writers and producers can say so much in just 93 minutes,” the first lady told the students. “And it doesn’t always happen in a movie, quite frankly, but this one did it, and that’s why I love this movie so much and why our team wanted to bring it here to the White House and share it with all of you.”

Mrs. Obama also used the film to inspire her young audience, noting that Wallis was just 5 years old when she auditioned for the part and Henry, who runs a bakery, had never acted a day in his life.

“You all have to really be focused on preparing yourselves for the challenges and the opportunities that will lie ahead for all of you. You’ve got to be prepared,” she said, urging them to go to school, do their homework every day and follow her husband’s example by reading everything they get their hands on.

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Sports

Page 7 Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2013

Tech prepared to play season opener Friday

By PAIGE SKINNER LA VIDA EDITOR

As the Texas Tech baseball team prepares for its season opener Friday, the team has a certain confidence with a new coaching staff.

“The vibe is different,” senior outfielder Brennan Moore said.

“There’s kind of a different little swagger, I guess you would put it, to our team and a new belief in the coaching staff and what’s going on, and the principles they’re implementing on a daily basis.”

Tim Tadlock will coach his first official game Friday as Tech baseball coach, and Moore said the coaching staff has done a great job building relationships with the players.

Moore, who played mostly in left fi eld last season, said he is prepared to play any outfield position this year.

“It doesn’t really matter to me,” he said. “For me, it’s really about where I’m needed and where they feel most comfortable with me being, and it’s not too

big of a problem to adapt to the different positions once you’re out there.”

With plenty of competition for outfield positions, Moore said the best player will play.

“It’s one of those things, the best guy is going to play,” Moore said, “and that’s how we want it.

And whether it’s you playing or you pushing a teammate in front of you, that’s the way the teams are successful. Once you get comfortable is when guys start to get away from the plan, and get away from showing up and competing every day.”

Tadlock said he trusts all 35 players in the clubhouse, but only a select few will play Friday.

“I think the plate is still going to be 17 inches on Friday,” he said, “so we’ll send nine (players) up there who are going to compete in that 17 inches.”

The starting pitching rotation was announced as Dominic Moreno, Corey Taylor, Trey Masek and Matt Withrow.

Tadlock said because Moreno

played well this week, he picked him for the season opener and encourages competition between the pitchers.

While the players are competing against each other for starting spots, freshman right-handed pitcher Matt Custred said the team displays strong competitiveness against its opposition.

“I’m really excited about our competitiveness,” he said. “I think we’re going to go out there, we’re going to battle, we’re going to push our way out there, and we’re going to lift our head up and just see how far we can go.”

Tech plays Northern Illinois at 6 p.m. Friday at Dan Law Field.

Moore said no matter the team, the Red Raiders play the same.

“We’ve been taught and we believe we don’t care what’s on the jersey,” he said. “We’re going out to play the same game every time we go out there. We plan to have a good time and we plan to play hard on Friday, and that’s all we worry about.” ➤➤pskinner@dailytoreador.com

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TEXAS TECH SECOND baseman Bryant Burleson throws the ball to first after tagging Tech alumni Jamodrick McGruder out during the top of the fourth inning of the Alumni game Jan. 26 in Rip Griffin Park at Dan Law Field. Tech won 5-4.

Mutombo thinks he deserves Hall of Fame nod HOUSTON (AP) — Dikembe Mutombo thinks he deserves induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The 7-foot-2 Mutombo will be eligible beginning in 2015 after his retirement following the 2008-09 season. He ranks second on the NBA’s career blocked shots list (3,256), behind only Hakeem Olajuwon (3,830) and he says surpassing every

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player but Olajuwon on that list should alone merit inclusion into the Hall. Mutombo was also a four-time defensive player of the year, an eighttime All-Star and twice the league’s top rebounder (2000-01).

“If you can see my name just below one of the great basketball players to ever play for this league,” he said Wednesday, “for me to come this

close to breaking his record, I don’t see why I cannot be on the same bus with him. That’s how I look at it.”

On Wednesday, Mutombo joined a group of former NBA and current WNBA players visiting the Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, part of the league’s NBA Cares initiative. The event kicked off the NBA’s All-Star festivities in

Houston this weekend.

Mutombo played for the Rockets from 2004-09, and he swung by the Toyota Center this week, catching an admiring glimpse of the statue out front honoring Olajuwon. Mutombo also played for Denver (1991-96), Atlanta (1996-2001), Philadelphia (2000-02), New Jersey (2002) and New York (2003-04).

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Texas Rangers redoing bullpin SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Closer Joe Nathan will be surrounded by some different faces in the bullpen for his second season with the Texas Rangers.

Rangers pitchers and catchers held their first official workout of spring training Wednesday. There are 36 pitchers in camp, many of them relievers looking for work.

Texas relievers Koji Uehara, Mike Adams, Mark Lowe and Scott Feldman all left in free agency this offseason. And left-hander Robbie Ross, who was 6-0 with a 2.22 ERA in 58 relief appearances as a rookie last season, is getting a chance to compete for the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation.

“Joe Nathan is certainly guaranteed,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said.

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8

SPORTS

FEB. 14, 2013

Astros starting fresh in more ways than one KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — Bo Porter is taking over a team that lost 213 games the last two years.

The payroll has been slashed and expectations are low for the Houston Astros, but don’t expect their new manager to rule with an iron fist. Porter wants his players to be themselves.

“We have standards of what it is to be a Houston Astro,” Porter said. “At the same time, this is a major league clubhouse. It’s a bunch of different guys. You want it to be loose. You want it to be fun. You want them to be able to be who they are.”

The Astros are starting fresh, and this season will certainly be unique for them. Houston is moving from the National League Central to the American League West, and although the short term includes some daunting challenges, this franchise is eager to face them.

“I think as part of this whole kind of rebranding and rebuilding process that we’re going through right now, we’re able to kind of wipe the slate clean and really just kind of forget the past,” catcher Jason Castro said.

The past may be easier to forget

now that there are so few links to it left. Houston’s payroll cuts have been ongoing — the Astros traded shortstop Jed Lowrie to Oakland earlier this month. Porter was hired after serving as Washington’s third base coach.

The last team to lose 106 games for at least three straight seasons was the New York Mets from 1962-65. The Astros lost 107 last year and 106 in 2011. Now they’ll have to contend with a division that includes three teams — Oakland, Texas and the Los Angeles Angels — that won at least 89 games last season.

Houston’s move balanced out baseball’s divisions. Each now has five teams, and all things being equal, it should be easier to win a five-team division than one with six teams. But the Astros aren’t in much of a position to expect that at this point. Last year was spent trying to restock the farm system. Houston took shortstop Carlos Correa with the top pick in the draft — and traded Carlos Lee, J.A. Happ, Brett Myers and Wandy Rodriguez, among others.

The Astros’ payroll was at a paltry $21.3 million by early August.

Switching leagues will create some logistical issues. When a team plays an interleague series against an unfamiliar opponent, it’s often a challenge to prepare.

Now the Astros will play a season’s worth of teams they don’t know much about.

“Dealing with interleague stuff last year was basically starting from scratch,” Castro said. “We had to put that work in and try to build on what little we had as quickly as possible. From the time the series started to the end of the series, hopefully we had a lot better idea from when we started.”

Players will need to become familiar with different ballparks, too.

“Oakland is known for its foul ground, so it’s something that we’ll have to take into account,” Castro said. “There are adjustments to be made in all facets of the game.”

Needing a designated hitter, the Astros signed Carlos Pena, who can also play first base. Porter’s lineup remains uncertain in many respects — no surprise for a team evaluating young players.

He’d like second baseman Jose Altuve to hit second, meaning somebody else would have to handle the leadoff spot.

Even that role is a bit different because of the league switch. In the AL, the leadoff man doesn’t have to bat after the pitcher.

“It’s definitely a chance for him to come up more often with men on base,” Porter said. “If you have that guy in the one hole that can hit extra-base hits, that can do some damage, it changes the dynamic of your ballclub.”

Eventually, the Astros will be used to the differences between the AL and NL. Starting pitchers won’t have to worry about being pinch-hit for, for example.

For fans, the benefits and drawbacks of the switch are obvious.

Houston will play more games against the Rangers, creating the potential for a spirited in-state rivalry. But there will also be plenty of West Coast games, with later start times on TV. Before beginning their new schedule, the Astros will have a few weeks during spring training to size up the competition. And yes, they’ll want to focus a little more than usual on the AL teams.

“In spring training, you’d pay attention a lot more to the National League games,” right-hander Bud Norris said. “It’s going to be a different mindset. We’re going to have to make some adjustments.”

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Loss ↵

front of a home crowd, but the Red Raiders were unable to get a win in front of their fans because of OklaCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 homa State’s superior play.

Brown played only seven minutes In the previous two home games, during the second half, attempting the Red Raiders lost by an average of two shots and failing to make either. 12.5 points.

“We feel like we let some people Although Brown had a strong showing against Tech, Oklahoma down because we know we are better State had a plethora of players who than that,” Tech junior forward Dejan played big minutes for the Cowboys. Kravic said. “We know what we are Michael Cobbins was able to capable of.”

After suffering another defeat at record a rare double-double against the Red Raiders, as his teammates home, Walker said the Red Raiders said they often give him a hard time need to forget about their loss and for falling just short of recording the look forward to the next game. feat against other teams.

“They need to have amnesia,” “Michael Cobbins has been our Walker said. “Every game is differMVP,” Ford said. “Michael Cobbins ent.” is playing big-time basketball for us The Red Raiders will look to right now.” revive their season when they comComing into Wednesday’s match- pete against West Virginia at 3 p.m. up, Tech sophomore forward Jordan Saturday in Morgantown.

Tolbert said he was anxious to play in ➤➤msuniga@dailytoreador.com

Dallas Cowboys’ Jason Garrett: Offseason moves collaborative IRVING (AP) — Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett talked about his new assistants for nearly 30 minutes before taking a question in his first offseason news conference Wednesday.

He emphasized his ties to the six newcomers, seemingly in anticipation of what he would hear when he finally turned things over to reporters.

Was he behind all these changes after a second straight 8-8 season and a third year in a row without a trip to the playoffs? Or was someone else?

Dallas owner Jerry Jones’ name didn’t come up in the question, but it did in Garrett’s answer.

“We’ve had a lot of discussions about coaches and players through the years, and the lines of communication have always been open,” Garrett said. “My opinions are well-known, Jerry Jones’ opinions, (executive vice president) Stephen Jones’ opinions, our coaches’ opinions.”

Jones’ opinion after the season was that he was going to make things “uncomfortable” at team headquarters.

A revamping of the coaching staff followed, along with talk that Garrett would surrender play-calling duties.

All the chatter led to speculation — including from former Super Bowl-winning Dallas quarterback Troy

Aikman — that Jones was calling all the shots and Garrett was just following orders, happy to still be the head coach even though he’ll be one of the hottest seats in the NFL when the season starts.

The speculation was strong enough for Jones and Garrett to try to knock it down in interviews on the team’s website, and there was an overflow crowd for Garrett’s nearly hour-long appearance Wednesday.

“Since I’ve been here as the head coach, he and I have had a really good relationship,” Garrett said. “We’ve had very candid conversations, and this offseason has been no different.”

If the decision on play-calling duties for 2013 has been made, Garrett’s not saying, although he did say it would be his move to make. He has been the offensive play-caller since joining the staff under Wade Phillips in 2007, and he kept that role when he replaced Phillips in the middle of the 2010 season.

Garrett said he has re-evaluated whether he should call plays each offseason and said the same process was ongoing. Offensive line coach Bill Callahan, who called plays for the Oakland Raiders and in college at Nebraska, was mentioned by Garrett several times, but without the head coach saying Callahan would take over.