02 26 2009

Ty Gough The Bobcats’ men’s basketball center is reaching his goals SEE SPORTS PAGE 12

Life on the Line Zip-line company offers heart pounding entertainment in the Texas Hill Country SEE TRENDS PAGE 7

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february 26, 2009

Thursday

Volume 98, Issue 56

Fall semester brings sophomores residential options

By Lora Collins News reporter

Sophomores older than 20 with more than 42 credit hours will not have to live on campus come fall semester, according to the director of housing and residential life.

Rosanne Proite said Wednesday the housing policy will undergo a “temporary adjustment” to make room for incoming freshmen. The change will

take place in the 2009 - 2010 academic year.

“We have made this temporary adjustment to accommodate an increasing number of incoming new students,” Proite said. “The number of students who just simply want to live on campus has increased.”

She said more students are returning to residence halls because of the convenience of living on campus.

“We are also seeing a very small in-

crease here at Texas State in the number of students above the credit limit who want to be on campus,” Proite said. “If you are on campus, you get different kinds of amenities than you do off campus. We take care of all your utilities, you get the on-campus Internet connections, and those things have worth to people.”

Proite said the incoming freshmen are the biggest concern for housing space.

“Our primary obligation is to those incoming freshmen students,” Proite said. “We need to have enough space for them. That is the primary reason we lowered (the hour requirements) temporarily until we can figure out where we are headed with other facilities.”

Residence Life affiliates plan to hire a housing consultant company to help with new developments on campus.

Proite said she hopes they will assist with decisions regarding renovations

and the destruction of dorms. “(They) will come in and work with us to develop sort of a long range set of plans for all of our halls,” Proite said. “Which ones are worth major renovations and which ones do we need to tear down, because it would cost more to renovate than it would to build?”

Proite said new residence halls See SOPHOMORES, page 5

Death in the family

Public forum addresses noise ordinance revisions

Highway problems cause student’s petitioning

By Theron Brittain Senior News Reporter Students might have to re-evaluate what a typical party means to them, according to the Assistant Police Chief Lisa Devorak.

Suggested changes to a city noise ordinance would grant police extra powers to disband large gatherings. It has become a hot-button issue for Texas State students this semester.

ASG and city officials are now calling a public forum to discuss the controversial ordinance changes, which, if passed, could alter the San Marcos social scene and the police authority.

Dvorak will speak and take questions on the ordinance revisions at the forum hosted by ASG in the Alkek Library Teaching Theater 7 p.m. Monday.

The revisions provide officers with guidelines when evaluating whether a noise violation has occurred. The amendments also seek to identify circumstances under which a party could legally be determined as out of control, or on the verge.

Officers making the determination would have the authority to disperse the gathering and cite anyone refusing to leave.

The amendments have been criticized by residents who feel the language is vague and the changes provide too much discretion to police officers. The police department has had its hands full reassuring residents the amendments are needed since unveiling the revisions at a City Council meeting Feb. 3.

Ron Brewer, president of the San Marcos Board of Realtors, said his organization understood the police department’s motives, but was hesitant to endorse language open to interpretation.

“We have a few issues with the ordinance changes that we spoke out on (at City Council),” Brewer said. “Since then, we have met with Assistant Chief Dvorak and we are working together on language that will give her the tools she needs. We are trying to protect the rights of property owners.”

The revisions are the product of a twoyear study by the San Marcos Police Department to analyze and address issues of noise, parking and littering. The police department initiated the study with help from the Texas State department of criminal justice after complaints about the ineffective enforcement policies reached a crescendo in 2007.

“The traditional approach in policing is you patrol, issue citations and arrest people,” Dvorak said. “The result is you have recurring problems you never really look at. What is the root cause of the problem? What is the real issue?”

David Schmidt/Star feature photo FATAL HIGHWAY: Maria Ibarra, Josefina Ibarra, and Juan Ibarra stand along Texas Highway 123 where Samantha Ibarra was killed in a car crash on Jan. 9.

By Theron Brittain Senior News Reporter Josefina Ibarra is honoring her sister’s memory in the only way she knows how.

She is fighting for change.

The Texas State sophomore is challenging officials in Hays and Guadalupe counties to add a left-turn lane to Texas Highway 123. Her sister, Samantha Ibarra, was killed in a head-on collision Jan. 9 five miles south of the San Marcos city limits.

Samantha Ibarra, a Texas Lutheran University student, was waiting to make a left turn off the highway when a car struck her from behind and pushed her into an oncoming dump truck.

“We had just finished having dinner, and she wanted some dessert,” Josefina Ibarra said. “She was less than a minute from our house. We heard the sirens and ran out.”

Samantha Ibarra died at the scene. Her family

See NOISE, page 5

and community members familiar with the road say a left-turn lane could have prevented the 18-yearold’s death. They are calling for action by county and state officials to secure funding for turning lanes and shoulders on Highway 123.

The roughly 20-mile section of Highway 123 link San Marcos and Seguin alternates between two and four lanes with a 70 mph speed limit. The left-turn lane disappears for long sections after the road crosses into Guadalupe County, forcing drivers in the inside lanes to pass each other head on. Those turning left off the highway have to stop in their lane, diverting traffic around them.

Rosemary Alcala, a Texaco station manager who witnessed Ibarra’s accident and called 911, said the wreck was the fifth she has seen on that portion of the road. Alcala started a petition in January asking for help from Texas Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) and Guadalupe County officials.

“We have more than 900 signatures right now, but

we are hoping for 1,000,” Alcala said. “This highway is very dangerous. There are 142 entrances on Highway 123.We want to see shoulders and a turning lane added to the entire stretch of the road between Seguin and San Marcos.”

Alcala said officials are not paying enough attention. Guadalupe County officials invited to a meeting of concerned residents Feb. 12 did not attend, and Ibarra said they have been slow to return calls.

Cesareo Guadarrama, Guadalupe County commissioner whose precinct covers the northern stretch of Highway 123, did not attend the meeting. He said a breakdown in communication was to blame. Guadarrama has since spoken with Ibarra and said safety concerns about Highway 123 are a priority for him.

“There is no argument that there is a problem with the highway,” Guadarrama said. “It has always See IBARRA, page 5

San Marcos sees increase in unemployment rate

By Theron Brittain Senior News Reporter

Ripples from the nationwide economic downturn are reaching San Marcos.

The San Marcos office of the Texas Workforce Commission is reporting a 14 percent increase of job seekers from December 2008 to January 2008.

“We have a lot more people unemployed, and we do not have as many jobs to match them up with as we would like,” said Jo Anne Pruitt, area manager of the San Marcos Texas Workforce Commission.

The Texas Workforce Commission, a state agency offering recruiting, training and placement services for state residents, keeps labor statistics. The Texas unemployment rate increased to 6 per-

cent in December, up from 5.7 percent the month before and 4.2 percent a year ago, according to the commission.

The U.S. unemployment rate is 7.2 percent. According to the commission, the Texas economy fared well the past year in comparison to the national economy until December, when the state experienced “broad” industry losses in trade, transportation, utilities and manufacturing.

“The numbers have not fluctuated much in the last several months,” Pruitt said. “(However), in the last couple of months, all of our offices have really had an increase in job-seekers.”

San Marcos has enjoyed a lower unemployment rate than surrounding cities. Steve Parker, city finance director, provided data showing the unemploy-

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force, that helps boost up our rates.”

Pruitt said job seekers should not be worried about possessing certain skill sets.

“Anybody looking for employment can access the services here,” Pruitt said.

She said the Texas Work Commission has an online program that helps applicants search for job matches. She said the center does not typically deal with day labor, but does work with temp agencies.

“Our goal here is to help people get employed as quickly as possible when they get laid off,” Pruitt said. “We have specialized programs for dislocated workers — those who have been laid off through no fault of their own. We may be able to help them with gas money and assistance to get clothes for an interview.”

Two-day Forecast

Today’s Weather Precipitation: 10% Humidity: 57% UV: 5 Moderate Wind: S 18 mph

ment rate at 3.6 percent, in contrast with 4.7 percent for both Austin and New Braunfels.

“I think we are unique because we have a good tourism industry, and that does not seem to be slacking off,” Pruitt said. “Of course, it helps to have the university here. The university is a big employer.”

Parker said San Marcos was doing better than most cities in the area, in part because of university students in the workforce.

“Some of it is tempered by a database of students who are out in the workplace that are not counted in our population,” Parker said. “When we have a base population of 50,000 and 25,000 students come here and are not counted in the population and some are in the work-

Friday

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Pruitt said the center offered jobseeking programs for welfare recipients, high school graduates and those recently released from prison. Approximately 50 percent of people seeking jobs through the center are unemployed, she said.

“People can come from where ever,” she said. “They are allowed to go to any of these centers.”

Curt Schafer, director of career services, acknowledged the faltering national economy would negatively affect new graduate hiring. He said now, more than ever, students should focus on making themselves attractive to employers.

“The advice we are giving now has more to do with how to be competitive See EMPLOYMENT, page 5

Inside News......... 1,2,3,5 Opinions............. 6 Trends.............. 7,9

Texas State University-San Marcos is a member of the Texas State University System

Diversions............10 Classifieds..........10 Sports............11,12

To Contact Trinity Building Phone: (512) 245-3487 Fax: (512) 245-3708 www.UniversityStar.com © 2009 The University Star

PageTwo

starsof texas state

Today in Brief

2 - Thursday, February 26, 2009

Softball player Chandler Hall, pre-fashion merchandising freshman, won her second-straight Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week nod announced today by the league office. The freshman pitcher helped lead the Bobcats to a 3-2 record over the course of the week.

—Courtesy of Texas State Athletics

News Contact — Amanda Venable, starnews@txstate.edu Texas State University-San Marcos is a member of the Texas State University System

This day in history CAMPING

CRIME BLOTTER

1815: Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.

University Police Department

1919: Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

1932: Country musician Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Ark.

Feb. 15, 6 p.m.

Theft-Under $1500.00 / The Tower Hall A student reported to a police officer his property had been taken with out his consent. The case is under investigation.

1951: The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.

1952: Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

Feb. 16, 9:46 a.m.

Suicide - Attempted / RegistrarJCK Visitor Information A student attempted to hurt themselves. The student was transported to Central Texas Medical Center for a medical evaluation.

1987: The Tower Commission issued its report on the Iran-Contra affair, rebuking President Ronald Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

1998: A jury in Amarillo rejected an $11 million lawsuit brought by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey’s talk show for a price fall after a segment on mad-cow disease.

2001: A U.N. tribunal convicted Bosnian Croat political leader Dario Kordic and military commander Mario Cerkez of war crimes for ordering the systematic murder and persecution of Muslim civilians during the Bosnian war.

—Courtesy of New York Times

Feb. 16, 10:06 a.m.

Failure to Comply/Striking Unattended Vehicle / LBJ Parking Garage A student reported to a police officer his vehicle was damaged while legally parked. This case is under investigation.

Bobby Scheidemann/Star Photo Jay Smith, pre-mass communitcation sophomore and Brittney Klinkenberg communication design sophomore set up camp at Prospect Park for the weekend.

Library Beat Wittliff Collections welcome Oat Willie’s memorabilia, artwork Oat Willie’s, Austin’s first head shop, was founded

by Doug Brown and George Majewski in 1968. Oat Willie’s was a part of of Austin’s art and music scenes from its beginning and into the 1970s. The store sold smoking paraphernalia, tapestries, clothing, underground books and candles, and was a place for Austin residents, artists and musicians to connect with each other. And after forty years, it continues to play that role in two Austin locations.

Doug Brown’s personal collection of Oat Willie’s artwork and memorabilia is now part of the library’s Wittliff Collections, donated by Brown to Texas State.

The collection was recently on exhibit at the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture, including over

one hundred original pen-and-ink drawings by some of Austin’s premier comix illustrators and poster artists: Kerry Awn, Ken Featherston, Jim Franklin, Danny Garrett, Jaxon, Micael Priest, Mark Shaw and Gilbert Shelton.

Photographs, advertising proofs, matchbooks, calendars and other memorabilia will also be included, documenting the forty-plus year history of this Austin institution and celebrating the influential role that Oat Willie’s and Austin artists have played in the national comix scene.

The shop was named after a minor character in a comic by Gilbert Shelton, but the popularity of Oat Willie and his slogan, “Onward thru the fog!” turned a

polka-dot, brief-clad, long-nosed man standing in an oat bin into a major symbol of Austin’s unique counter-culture history.

For years the store’s patrons asked, “Who is Oat Willie?” The answer came in a 1987 comic book, The Adventures of Oat Willie, which chronicled the life of Oat, born “Overly Thoughtful,” O.T. for short, and explained the founding of Oat Willie’s shop with the story “The Origin of Oat Willie.”

The tale, written by Mariann Wizard and illustrated

by Austin poster icon Jack Jackson (Jaxon), is online at www.oatwillies.com.

—Courtesy of Alkek Library

Feb. 16, 10:13 a.m.

Medical Emergency / Student Health Center A student suffered from a seizure.

The student was transported to Central Texas Medical Center for a medical evaluation.

Feb. 16, 10:33 a.m.

Medical Emergency - Centennial Hall A student reported to a police officer she was having difficulty breathing. The student refused medical transportation.

Feb. 16, 3:30 p.m.

Theft-Under $500 / Baseball Field A nonstudent reported to a police officer his property had been taken without his consent. The case is under investigation.

—Courtesy of University Police Department

NEWS

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The University Star - 3

Pilot program offers internships, giving criminal justice majors experience beyond classroom

By Brigette Botkin News Reporter A Texas State pilot program is helping launch criminal justice internships nationwide.

Paul Chapa, University Police captain, founded the project, an intern-Mentorship program, with the University Police Department, in April. It was designed to support students pursuing a Criminal Justice major by giving them experience beyond the classroom.

Chapa said the two-part program will help bridge gaps between academia and the workplace. The internship would take place at the University Police Department and the mentorship with the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association.

“The success we had last year blew us away,” Chapa said. “It was so successful that the national organization adopted the program.”

The program was presented to the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association in November and was adopted in January. Participating chapters of the organization nationwide are implementing similar internship programs.

The intern is allowed to participate in

every division within the department, including criminal investigation, crime prevention, patrol, communications, administration and records. Chapa said the intern is walked through each step and shown every aspect of the job.

“Anything and everything our department does, this intern would participate in,” Chapa said.

University Police interns are given complete, in-house officer training including in firearms, baton, AR15 and physical defense education. Chapa said interns are submersed in every aspect of the profession.

The second portion of the internship is a mentorship with the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association.

The organization consists primarily of police administrators, from federal to local levels. The intern is given a one-year honorary membership to the organization. Membership allows the intern to participate in monthly meetings and program initiatives. Membership also gives the intern networking opportunities.

Chapa said selected interns are sent to the national conference. There they are exposed to every level of law enforcement, he said.

Chapa said the internship can be an

Bill may force federally funded hospitals to offer Plan B option

By Herb Jackson The Record (Hackensack N.J.) WASHINGTON — Hospitals that receive any federal funding, including Catholic hospitals that get Medicare or Medicaid, would be required under a bill that Rep. Steve Rothman, D-N.J., will introduce today to give “emergency contraceptives” to rape survivors who request them.

The mandate is already law in New Jersey, and Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals in North Jersey do dispense the “morning-after pill” to prevent pregnancies caused by rape.

However, a last-minute regulation enacted in December by the Bush administration allows hospital employees to refuse to follow such state laws if the employees believe the laws violate their conscience.

New Jersey and five other states are suing to overturn the regulation, and Rothman is co-sponsoring a bill to overturn the rule. The Fair Lawn Democrat is also introducing the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act, which goes further by taking New Jersey’s mandate nationwide.

“My bill simply says if a hospital or other health care provider is receiving federal funds, they have to provide counseling about emergency contraception and offer to provide it,” Rothman said.

“Emergency contraception is not abortion, and it does not cause an abortion. And it cannot interrupt an established pregnancy.”

The Food and Drug Administration in 2006 approved overthe-counter sales to adults of the morning-after drug, which is marketed as Plan B by Montvale-based Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. Plan B is a concentrated dose of a common birth-control medication that, if taken shortly after unprotected sex, prevents pregnancy. The sooner it is taken, the more effective it is, which is why advocates want to ensure women who have been raped are told about it at hospital emergency rooms.

Plan B is part of the emotional debate over abortion rights, however, and some anti-abortion groups argue it is an abortion drug and the gov-

ernment should not encourage its use.

But its use after a rape is supported by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, provided the woman is not already pregnant.

“A female who has been raped should be able to defend herself against a potential conception from the sexual assault,” according to the conference’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, issued in June 2001.

The directives do not allow the use of drugs, such as RU486, that induce an abortion if a woman already is pregnant.

Rothman sponsored the CARE bill in each of the past two sessions of Congress, but it went nowhere because of the likelihood of a veto by President Bush. The bill was targeted for opposition by such groups as the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, the American Christian Lobbyists Association and the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education.

New Jersey’s law was voted on in the state Assembly in December 2004 and the state Senate in February 2005.

Not a single legislator voted against it, but 10 abstained.

The Bush administration’s opposition was shown in a Dec. 18 regulation from the Department of Health and Human Services, which said workers at hospitals that get federal funds could not be required by state laws to perform abortions or dispense Plan B. “Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience,” Mike Leavitt, the HHS secretary at the time, said in a news release.

New Jersey and five other states sued HHS on Jan. 15 to block the regulation. It’s not clear what position the department will take under President Obama, who supports abortion rights.

So far, HHS has not responded to the lawsuit, according to David Wald, spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office.

However, Rothman believes the bill will advance this year, and predicted it will be considered in committee “in the coming weeks or months.”

invaluable tool for a criminal justice major by offering career opportunities and hands-on job experience.

Carlos Granillo, pilot program intern, was solicited to participate in an internship with Interpol at last year’s national conference in San Diego.

“This is a very exclusive internship,” Chapa said. “He would not have been offered to participate in that program if he was not (at the conference). The networking interns are allowed to participate in is tremendous.”

Lindsey Leverett/Star feature photo Granillo, who was recently accepted RECOGNITION BY UPD: Joanne Smith, vice president of student affairs, and to the Highway Patrol Academy, said the program was invaluable to him and his Ralph C. Meyer, chief of police, were recognized by the Hispanic American Police career path.

Command Officers Association.

“I gained knowledge of situations that no theory or academic course can The pilot at Texas State has inspired Texas State anymore,” Chapa said. “Bedepict,” said Granillo in a submitted similar programs at a high school level. cause Texas State participated, and bestatement. “I discovered that no mat- Dianna Lorenz, Hispanic American Police cause we had the success that we did, ter how much you study a book or the Command Officers Association member, National has provided funding for other amount of courses you take, being able said she hopes to create a similar experi- chapters to become involved and offer to experience the actual event or situa- ence for high school students. this opportunity. This is something that I tion is priceless.”

“We would be able to stay with them truly believe will evolve into a tremendous Joanne Smith, vice president of student and work with them as their interest in mentorship program.” affairs, said she is proud the university can criminal justice develops,” Lorenz said.

Smith, Chapa, Ralph Meyer, chief of offer students these kinds of programs.

Chapa said he hopes to expand the in- the University Police Department and “You don’t get these kinds of opportuni- ternship from one student to two or three Granillo were honored Wednesday at an ties often,” Smith said. “This program can because of the success of the program. award ceremony for their effort in the pihelp students achieve their goals.”

“This opportunity is not exclusive to lot program’s creation and achievement.

4 - The University Star

News

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Undergraduate academic career center next item for master plan

By Erica Rodriguez News Reporter Cost estimates are in limbo for the $47.7 million undergraduate academic center, the next big-ticket item on the Campus Master Plan to-do list.

“It’s just the cost estimate that’s in question right now, and until we get that resolved, we can’t go forward with the design documents,” said Nancy Nusbaum, associate vice president for finance and support services planning.

The center will be built over what is currently the Nueces/Evans auditorium parking lot and will extend to the corner of Guadalupe Street and Jones Diner.

The four-story, “Spanish-colonial hybrid” structure will have a giant archway opening out onto Guadalupe Street and will be visible from the city square. It will house the department of sociology, political science, a coffee shop and a number of student resources.

“It’s near central campus,” said Ronald Brown, dean of University College.

“It would just be a place where you can just come together and meet.”

Brown said the concept of the center came from

students who wanted to see a central congregation point for undergraduates to study and mingle.

“It will be an opportunity to come together and get some service there,” Brown said.

The Student Learning Assistance Center, the College of Liberal Arts advising center, University College advising center and Athletic Academic Center are also moving into the building.

The final design plans are set to be approved at the Board of Regents meeting in August, with construction beginning in February 2010 and completion planned for 2012. The process for hiring an architect is slated to begin at the end of next month.

The building will misplace 104 red zone parking spaces. The loss is expected to be absorbed by the Matthews Street Garage.

However, drivers will need to park elsewhere until its completion in summer 2010.

“Unfortunately, some of the people who park there are just going to have to find some other place to park,” said Pat Fogarty, associate vice president of facilities.

Bobcat Trail will be com-

pleted in addition to the new center. Bobcat Trail is a $4.2 million mall redevelopment plan, which will run parallel to The Quad from Jones Diner to the Academic Services Building. The trail is on hold because of funding issues, but design is 95 percent complete.

The music recital hall and theater center is next on the Master Plan to-do list.

The university requested $60 million in Tuition Revenue Bonds from the Texas Legislature to fund the project. The preliminary programming phase has since been completed. A beginning step focused on space and material allocation. The project will stand in what is now Falls Hall and will include a public parking garage near Sterry Hall to facilitate community attendance at fine arts programs.

The university is working to get schematic designs in line with cost estimates for the academic center before progress can be made.

“I’m excited about it,” Nusbaum said. “I graduated from here December of ’76 and never, never realized I’d be doing what I’m doing today, so it’s been a really nice job for me.”

Photo courtesy of Texas State University The Undergraduate Academic Center is part of the Campus Master Plan.

News

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The University Star - 5

Banks to get nearly unlimited federal funds

By Kevin G. Hall McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — Taking the wraps off its muchanticipated bank rescue plan, the Obama administration on Wednesday announced that it will provide a virtually unlimited solvency guarantee to the nation’s 19 largest banks.

Shortly after Treasury unveiled details of its plan, President Barack Obama appeared before TV cameras with congressional leaders to launch what he hopes will be a quick move to replace what he called a 20th century financial regulatory system.

“This financial crisis was not inevitable,” Obama said, noting that his goal wasn’t to inhibit the free market but to regulate it better to prevent a repeat of the global meltdown now occurring.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled the administration’s bank rescue plan on Feb. 10, and financial markets tanked as investors fretted over a lack of detail.

Markets got those details Wednesday and the Dow Jones industrial average initially recovered from a loss of 200 points in mid-afternoon trading.

However, that rally faded, and the Dow closed the

IBARRA CONTINUED from page 1

been a dangerous road. We are aware of it, and we are all on board to do whatever we can to help address safety issues along 123.”

He said “tremendous growth” in the county increased traffic on all the roads. Guadarrama said he and colleagues are discussing ways to go forward with improvements to Highway 123.

“We are going to have to work together,” Ibarra said. “I think we are going to get more help now, but I am not going to quit until something concrete happens. We have to wait and see if (officials) are going to do something.”

The Texas Transportation Commission meets Thursday in Austin to approve funding

day down 80.05 points to 7270.89. Other market indexes were off by similar margins.

While investors appeared to cheer the confidence-boosting design of the Capital Assistance Program, it may prove less popular with taxpayers because it amounts to a blank check to ensure that the top banks — those with assets over $100 billion — remain solvent.

The plan works like this: Through the end of April, federal regulators will pore over the books of the 19 largest banks — such as Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and others. They’ll be looking at conventional measures such as the composition of a bank’s cash on hand, and at unconventional ones, such as how financial firms are valuing complex and opaque investments that are often shorthanded as toxic assets.

The idea behind the so-called stress tests is to gauge if the banks have enough capital to cope with a more severe downturn than even today’s — one in which the economy contracts by 3.3 percent and the unemployment rate tops 10 percent.

That’s far from the worst-case scenarios that some of the gloomier forecasters predict.

“Supervisors will work with institutions to esti-

mate the range of possible future losses and the resources to absorb such losses over a two-year period,” said a joint statement from four federal bank regulators — the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

At the end of the exercise, if it’s determined that banks lack enough capital to weather such a storm, they’ll be given six months to raise more capital from private investors or to ask for a capital buffer from the government.

“The more specificity, the less uncertainty, the more it does provide banks an opportunity to raise private capital ... is frankly the right way to go. It clearly is a time frame that I think is reasonable,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services, one of the 19 firms that will be put through the stress test.

If a bank is unable to raise private capital and needs to get capital from the federal government, it would do it in exchange for “convertible mandatory preferred shares.” They could be converted into common stock on an as-needed basis, which would inject new capital into the bank. The govern-

for candidate projects under the Safety Bond Program. Turning lanes are proposed at four locations on Texas 123.

Robert Daigh, Austin district engineer with the Texas Department of Transportation, said a call for projects to improve safety on Texas highways goes out every one or two years. He said one or all four proposed projects on Highway 123 may be approved, depending on available funding and the number of traffic fatalities on the road.

“It is not a question of a lack of desire, but a lack of funding,” Daigh said. “Would the Texas Department of Transportation like to go and divide roadways (like Texas Highway 123) and separate them? You bet we would.

Right now, there is just not enough money to go and do all of the things everyone would ideally like to have done.”

Daigh advised drivers on roads like Highway 123 to be especially alert.

“You can enhance the safety of a roadway by spending dollars to provide left-turn lanes and shoulders, but if you are driving on a road that does not have (these features) then you should drive at the appropriate speed with the appropriate amount of caution,” Daigh said.

Sen. Wentworth said Tuesday he looked forward to receiving the petition and would comment after having a chance to read it.

Ibarra is operating a booth on the second floor of the LBJ Student Center where students can sign the petition. The booth will be open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, and Monday through Wednesday of next week. The petition will be sent, along with letters from community members, to officials sometime in March.

they came up with some responses.”

The group identified noise, parking and trash problems as results of the party atmosphere created by students.

The San Marcos Police Department catalogued 2,735 calls for service in 2007 regarding noise complaints in the city. Noise calls constituted 7 percent of total calls, and 15 percent of all calls between 9 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.

Police found Sagewood ranked seventh out of 10 top noise locations, as determined by calls for service. University Heights apartments ranked first, followed by Cabana Beach and The Zone.

Dvorak said the calls are a drain of police resources and can have a negative economic impact as property neglect increases.

“When you have places (with) recurring police calls for service, you have areas of decline where folks are not taking care of their neighborhood,” Dvorak said. “It could have an economic impact on the adjacent area.”

Police responses have typically been reserved to monitoring parties and giving tickets to students who go too far, but Dvorak said the new focus is on education and cooperation.

“We want to tell people, ‘This is what you need to do,’” Dvorak said. “This is what you need to do for us to leave, and this is what you

need to do to not have these problems. Cooperation goes a long way.”

Dvorak said one in seven noise complaints in 2007 resulted with a ticket.

“Just because somebody is complaining about the fact that someone is loud and noisy does not mean (that person) is going to get a ticket,” she said. “We also have to look at the prior verified noise complaints, which are those that are actually observed by the police officer.”

Excessive noise is defined in the revisions as “noise that can be heard across property lines.” Officers can take into account factors such as time of day, size of the gathering and whether the noise “would tend to cause distress, discomfort, annoyance or injury to a person of ordinary sensibility.”

Violations would be punishable by a maximum fine of $500.

Dvorak said as long as guests are not violating any laws at a gathering, they are not required by law to leave if ordered to by a police officer. Guests would be required to leave under the new rules.

“I think that is part of the mindset of what is a typical college party and what is acceptable,” Dvorak said. “The typical college party, when it starts to get out of control, can be dangerous.

So do not let it get to that point.”

NOISE CONTINUED from page 1

Dvorak spearheaded efforts driving the ordinance revision, which is part of an overall shift toward “community-oriented policing.” She said the purpose of the study was to find a solution reducing calls for service and improving the quality of life for residents.

The police department considers noise from late-night parties to be the primary issue affecting the quality of life in the city, Dvorak said.

The San Marcos Police Department established an internal work group September 2007 in partnership with the department of criminal justice. The police focused on efforts in the Sagewood neighborhood, a popular destination for late-night revelers, as a model for the city.

Peter Blair, assistant professor of criminal justice, said students worked with police using the SARA model. The SARA (Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment) model is used nationwide by law enforcement to examine specific areas of concern in communities.

“The scanning was kind of already done — they knew what the problem was,” Blair said.

“Then you have assessment, which is trying to figure out what exactly the problem is. Then

EMPLOYMENT SOPHOMORES CONTINUED from page 1

in this market,” Schafer said. “There are fewer jobs out there and a whole lot of people looking for them.

What (employers) really want to see is that you can learn, because everybody that hires you is going to train you to do something.”

Schafer said raising GPAs and gaining field-related work experience could help students when competing for jobs.

“If you are a junior and you are looking at this type of economy, you better get yourself into some internship programs or even volunteer to do some work that is somewhat related to what you want to do when you graduate,” Schafer said.

The number of unemployed individuals in the United States rose 508,000 in January from 11.1 million in December, according to the National Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of unemployed grew by 3.6 million since the beginning of the recession in 2007.

CONTINUED from page 1

will be needed in the future because of student increases. She said architectural plans have been completed for a new residential hall. However, she said the plans have been delayed. New beds will be needed to accommodate the growing numbers.

“More and more students want to be on campus,” Proite said. “Plus, the institution is growing, and you can’t have the same number of beds and have those two collide.”

Proite said administrators want to have space for all students.

“We could say ‘you know what, we are not going to have a residency requirement,’ but the reality is the university believes in that requirement,

and the reason is the 50 years of research done,” she said. “We want to have that residency requirement, but we also want to make sure we can accommodate anyone who wants to live on campus.”

Chanell Goodright, geography sophomore, disagreed with the assessment that dorms are overcrowded.

“I don’t think (there is a need for more residence halls) because there is so little room on campus right now, and they would have to just get more parking,” Goodright said. “More parking means taking up more land, and in a geography sense, that is not a good thing.”

The department of housing and residential life will be sending letters to all residence halls and Bobcat Village students with notifications of the change early next week.

ment would become a shareholder in the company through its ownership of common stock.

Banks don’t have to complete the stress test to apply for this capital buffer. Citigroup is expected to get a fresh injection of capital through the program in coming days. In exchange, the government is expected to take a stake as high as 40 percent.

The administration’s plan has two goals. One is to ensure that banks have adequate capital cushions to withstand any downturn. The other goal is to restore investor confidence by showing that these big financial firms have access to as much money as they need, because the government is willing to invest as needed.

How much will it cost? No one is saying.

There’s no price tag on the CAP, at least until the stress tests are over in April. If most of the 19 banks were determined to need additional capital, the Obama administration would have to seek much more Wall Street bailout money from Congress.

“The fact is there is no explicit cap on the assistance that can be provided under this program,” said one senior government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

OPINIONS 6 - The University Star

onlineconnection Check out www.UniversityStar.com in the following weeks for continued News, Sports, Trends and Opinions coverage.

CIVILIAN

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Opinions Contact — Krista Almazan, staropinion@txstate.edu

THE MAIN POINT here is a lot more T to supporting

the troops than wearing a yellow ribbon.

Veterans coming back from war can never be the same.

People who leave the military often describe their experience as a positive, yet grueling one. However, for some who join, the experience can cause permanent psychological damage, often in the form of posttraumatic stress disorder.

The army reported 24 soldiers killed themselves in January. The report came one week after the army reported record suicide rates in 2008.

The military provides for its former service men and women financially, with people paying for college or other financial obligations with the compensation they receive.

However, it is apparent the military needs to improve its efforts in caring for those who served after seeing the longterm effects the conflict in Vietnam had on its veterans, and the surfacing mental complications the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are causing.

Not all veterans leave the military mentally disturbed.

However, the effects of war and brutality on the psyche cannot be underestimated.

Suicide is not the only enemy the military cannot stave off with bayonet. Depression and trouble fitting back into society can also complicate a soldier’s life after war.

According to the Feb. 17 issue of The University Star, Clay Patterson, pre-international studies sophomore and former marine, said adjusting to university life has been difficult for him and other marines.

Patterson helped form a support group for veterans adjusting to civilian life. The group and others like it are valuable, but there is only so much they can do.

All branches of the military have departments to deal with situations like these, but something is not working. Either their reach is not long enough or the approach is ineffective.

According to a story that ran Feb. 5 on CNN, Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, also said the military has progressed in training leaders on dealing with soldiers who may be suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. However, she said there is a problem with leaders who shame soldiers seeking treatment.

This is as shocking as it is puzzling. Seeking help for psychological issues any person can get after going through a traumatizing period is no different. Any soldier who has been shamed by a supervisor for seeking help should realize that person is not a leader.

COMPLICATIONS

Stop wasting time being lazy, demanding

By Garrett McSpadden Star Columnist

Does illegal immigration help or hurt U.S. citizens?

My world geography teacher posed that question last week intending to shed light on the economic disadvantages illegal immigrants face. The majority of my classmates responded absurdly. Answers came in shouts that mimicked a backwoods, riotous town hall meeting.

“Mexicans that come across our border legally and illegally take jobs that solid American citizens are entitled to.”

“Poor immigrants draw Social Security and do not pay taxes to compensate.”

A girl even expressed her belief that she was not getting enough in FAFSA student loans because she was white. She was certain all minorities were getting at least double what she received, just by checking the box next to Hispanic or black.

I am appalled this sentiment exists on our campus and in our society. According to the Financial Aid Office at our school, the FAFSA federal aid is based completely on a family’s gross income. Race does not even come into account for anything other than to take a demographic.

It would be a warranted generalization to assume, on average, minorities earn a smaller income than the average white family, but those of poorer families should receive more financial aid than a richer, white kid.

An argument was made against that logic as well.

“My family makes a lot of money so I do not receive FAFSA financial aid, but they do not help me with school,” A student said.

I am truly apathetic toward students in that situation. The blame does not lie with any federal shortcomings regarding financial aid disbursement or with the person who draws more money because they came from less. If someone came from a family that makes money, they will not starve, even if things get tight and they are forced to take out student loans.

There were even arguments made against the narrowing of some scholarships to be targeted to a specific minority group.

Thousands of scholarships go unclaimed each year and these people are still making room in their busy schedules to whimper about the fact that there is a scholarship for only minorities.

It seems that we, the young nation, have a very large mouth.

One side preaches the end of racial issues while the other side screams for a handout when things get rough.

We are the next generation.

We cannot afford to sell ourselves out to lazy greed when the obvious truth remains that white people dominate our higher education institutions.

It all comes down to the general idea that got us into economic crisis, got us a bad rap with most of the world and ultimately makes us lazy — We think that we are entitled to something, a right of passage, just for being American.

Stop whining. Spend the time applying for a scholarship instead Kate Sciscoe/Star Illustration of seething.

The Main Point is the opinion of the newspaper’s editorial board. Columns are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the full staff, Texas State University-San Marcos Student Media, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication or Texas State University-San Marcos.

Facebook members use Web site against owners

St. Louis Post Dispatch Staff Editorial McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Anyone who spends time online has at least a vague sense of the “service agreements” to which he or she routinely consents — dense documents filled with legal fine print that make up the “terms of service” for Web services or online groups.

People spend zero time reading the fine print. They typically click “accept” and move ahead without a second thought.

But this week, denizens of Facebook — one of the world’s most popular online social networking

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groups — said “not so fast.” They coalesced and pushed back within a matter of hours, using Facebook’s own site. Remarkably, their outrage over what they perceived as a blatant privacy violation by Facebook operators caused Facebook to roll back the new terms.

The incident offers useful lessons in self-control and collective action in the digital age.

For the uninitiated, Facebook is a site on which millions of people and groups maintain what is effectively a combination bulletin board, photo album, scrap book, phone tree and newsletter that they share with friends. The site originally catered to college students, but it

no longer is just for kids.

Anyone over the age of 13 can become a Facebook member, build a “page” and avail himself of its services free of charge — but only after accepting terms of the service agreement.

Among the terms is one giving Facebook’s proprietors “an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with right to sublicense)” on everything a member posts on his page. Post a picture of yourself and your cat, for instance, and Facebook can do whatever it wants with it.

According to the the terms of service, the “license granted

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above will automatically expire” when members remove content from their page. However, Facebook quietly removed that clause, meaning Facebook unilaterally claimed the right to use the material in perpetuity. So even if you took down the picture or quit the site, Facebook still could use the picture (or other information) it had stored in its servers.

Things didn’t stay quiet for long. The Consumerist — a consumer protection blog — put out word that Facebook was making a data grab. A virtual riot ensued as media outlets, old and new, picked up the story. Privacy advocates readied

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a complaint to be filed with the Federal Trade Commission.

Ironically, the real leverage came when consumer unhappiness showed signs of becoming a Facebook-driven movement. A new Facebook group — People Against the new Terms of Service — grew to nearly 90,000 strong.

Facebook’s owners — a consortium of millionaire investors led by founder Mark Zuckerberg — caved.

The site reinstated the original terms of service, offering facesaving mumbo jumbo about how “it was never our intention to confuse people or make them uneasy about sharing on Facebook.”

Parents should remind their kids

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— or maybe kids should remind their parents — that in the computer age, the only real guarantee of privacy is never to put anything in a computer you’d be afraid for someone else to see. There are too many ways for information to be copied and shared to be assured that someone, somewhere, does not have it. But that someone should not be the people you do business with.

Facebook was hoisted on its own e-petard. Users struck fear into the heart of sharp operators at a multi-billion dollar enterprise by leveraging new media to organize a stampede.

Sharp operators, take heed.

The University Star is the student newspaper of Texas State University-San Marcos published Tuesday through Thursday during the fall and spring semesters. It is distributed on campus and throughout San Marcos at 8 a.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with a distribution of 8,000. Printing and distribution is by the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

Copyright Thursday, February 26, 2009. All copy, photographs and graphics appearing in The University Star are the exclusive property of The University Star and may not be reproduced without the expressed written consent of the editor in chief.

TRENDS THE UNIVERSITY STAR

7 - Thursday, February 26, 2009

freesxsw

South by Southwest has grown over the last 22 years to become one of the most successful and popular gatherings of the entertainment world. SXSW 2009 is going to be the biggest year yet for the conference with more musical stages than ever. The conference is still accepting applications for volunteers. Participants must be at least 21 years old and be able to commit to working at least 3 days from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. between March 18th and 22nd. Those interested can contact the Music Production Volunteer Coordinator James Shinault at james@sxsw.com.

Volunteers will be compensated with free SXSW Music Badges.

Trends Contact — Brett Thorne, starentertainment@txstate.edu

ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

Wimberley Zip Line offers adrenaline rush

Thursday Earle Brown, 10 p.m., Gray Horse Saloon Paul Eason Band, 9 p.m., Cheatham Street Michael Wren, 9 p.m., Riley’s Tavern Bill Passalacqua, 6 p.m., This Will Destroy You, Silver Pines, 10 p.m., Triple Crown Charlie Shafter Band, 6 p.m., Gruene Hall Friday Austin Homegrown, 10 p.m., Gray Horse Saloon Max Stalling, 8 p.m., Cheatham Street Jason Arnold & The Stepsiders, 9 p.m., Riley’s Tavern RC Banks, 6 p.m., The Couch, Holly Psychedelic, Buzz N’ Bangs, 9 p.m., Triple Crown Del Castillo, 8 p.m., Gruene Hall Saturday Glen Collins, 10 p.m., Gray Horse Saloon Rodney Hayden Band, 10 p.m., Cheatham Street The Moonhowlers, 9 p.m., Riley’s Tavern Falcon Buddies, Prayer For Animals, Trio Del Rio, 10 p.m., Triple Crown Gary Claxton, Erik Hokkanen & Friends, 1 p.m., Lucky Tubb Band, Junior Brown, 9 p.m., Gruene Hall Sunday Jazzie-Oke, 9:30 p.m., Gray Horse Saloon Open Mic with Pat, Holly and Nate, 9 p.m., Triple Crown Gurf Morlix CD Release, 12 p.m., Guy Forsyth, 4 p.m., Gruene Hall Monday Matt Begley & Friends Song Swap, 9 p.m., Gray Horse Saloon Pick-In Party, 9 p.m., Cheatham Street Gerry’s Kids, 6 p.m., Triple Crown Bret Graham, 7 p.m., Gruene Hall Tuesday Midnight River Choir & Jordan Minor, 9 p.m., Cheatham Street The Joey Borja Association, 6 p.m., Stegosaurus Lips, Our Favorite Colors, 9 p.m., Triple Crown All-in-Blues, Devil’s Hollow, 7 p.m., Gruene Hall Wednesday Open Mic with Robotic Robbie, 9:30 p.m., Gray Horse Saloon Kent Finlay’s Songwriters Circle, 9 p.m., Cheatham Street Scott Wood, 6 p.m., Ryan McGillicuddy, The Christophers, 8:30 p.m., Triple Crown Zack Walther and the Cronkites, Texas Renegade, 7 p.m., Gruene Hall

Lindsey Leverett/Star photo ZIPPING THROUGH: Guests can travel down one of the five lines at Wimberly Zip Line as part of a walking eco tour.

By Lindsey Leverett Features Reporter Mike Robinson sees something cinematic about dangling 100 feet above the ground.

“It’s like a movie. It’s escapism. It’s entertainment, but it’s all nature,” said Robinson, describing his zip line eco tours.

Robinson and his wife began their zip-line tours after they traveled to Belize a few years ago. He liked the rush of the zip line.

“I’m 56. I don’t want to jump out of airplanes,” Robinson said.

Robinson described himself as a joker.

“Safety first, and then lots of fun,” Robinson said.

Robinson and his wife decided there was no better place for a zip line than the middle of the scenic Texas Hill Country.

Guests are put in harnesses and helmets upon arrival at Wimberley Zip Line. They are trained on how to use the zip line and how to break with their gloved hand. Groups generally consist of 18 people and are split into two smaller groups upon descent.

The groups are then led by three guides.

Guests travel up a rocky path and are informed about the wildlife surrounding them. Robinson said he wanted to make the tour an adventure, with hiking trails leading up the hills.

The group members take turns flying directly above the tree line, which adds to the adventure.

The series of trails and zip lines take guests higher up the hilly terrain as the tour continues. Robinson described a historical event involving Lyndon B. John-

son and a communication tower in the distance.

The government linked the communication towers to Washington, D.C. during the Johnson administration, so he could communicate with the White House when he was at home on vacation.

Matt Renard, tour guide with Wimberley Zip Lines and advertising senior, said the view from the top of the hill exposes 15 miles of valley and hill country.

There is a sitting area at this point so people may sit and enjoy the view.

Guests travel down the longest of the five zip lines after the view has sunk in and they are ready to continue. The group is brought swiftly to the next side by 875 feet of galvanized steel wire. Each person travels the length of the wire in about 30 to 40 seconds, reaching speeds of up to 30 miles an hour. The line is roughly 100 feet above the ground, continuing the long-range view of hill and valley.

“The tour takes between an hour and an hour and a half, depending on the size of the group,” said Renard.

The business continues expanding as it approaches its one-year anniversary March 1st.

“It took one year and three months to build this,” Robinson said.

He and his partner Jim Turner plan to have the three next lines finished soon. The team gives about four tours a day, six days a week.

“The summers are even busier,” said Renard. “We gave six tours a day last summer but are planning to do more this summer.”

Tours are $65 per person, which includes everything from a bottle of water to zip lining. Register on their Web site at www.wimberleyzipline.com.

Karaoke offers entertaining environment I needed a pick-me-up earlier this week and Each venue offers a different environment. For decided to go shopping. I have been looking for example, one bar might have more country karaa decent digital camera the past two months, oke, an older crowd or an immense amount of cigbut instead found a piece of buried treasure on arette smoke. Go in for a few minutes and feel the the clearance aisle — a karaoke machine. My place out — see if it’s a comfortable environment. roommates came home to an awkward and hiKaraoke bars tend to have regular customers larious rendition of “Baby Got and participants. However, bars in Back.” It was an impulse purlarger cities or those with competichase that turned into a way to tions might have an entrance fee. blow off some steam and have a Karaoke usually gets one of two good, long laugh at myself. Fun reactions from people: the “I would and silliness are necessities to rather die” reaction, or the “I’m the vitality of human existence. down for anything” reaction.

Karaoke began as a Japanese The people who whine incessantpast time, according to Tracy ly about karaoke and tease particiJones with www.essortment. pants, in my experience, are those com. The word karaoke is dewho usually become the loudest rived from “kara,” which means and funniest with a microphone. empty, and “oke,” which transAt least three kinds of people can CRYSTAL DAVIS lates to orchestra. Daisuke Inbe found in a karaoke bar: people Trends Columnist oue invented the first karaoke who sing well, who like to entertain machine in the early 1970s. and who drink to tolerate it all.

Nephews, Jack’s Roadhouse, I recommend everyone try karaoke Waterdogs, The River Pub and Bennigan’s all at least once. It doesn’t matter if someone can’t sing have a weekly karaoke night for the willing and well. The chances are one song in a karaoke book brave. Triple Crown and Riley’s Tavern, offer will be fun to sing and might even make people an open-mic night if someone would rather laugh. The best thing about singing karaoke is in play with accompaniment. some weird, ironic way — it is incredibly cathartic.

8 - The University Star

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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Trends

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The University Star - 9

Student reads meaning of life in cards Jonas Brothers begin

new television series

By Rick Bentley McClatchy Newspapers

Alyssa Scavetta/Star photo CARD READER: Lavonne Parker, anthropology junior and tarot card reader, reads at local coffeehouse Wake The Dead.

By Mayra Mejia Features Reporter Lavonne Parker is making a name for herself around San Marcos.

Parker is a student and mother who discovered her passion for helping people through tarot cards.

“I discovered the tarot reader within about 10 years ago. I have a background in fashion design and pattern graphing, so I was working for a company in Dallas at that time,” said Parker, cultural anthropology junior. “I was just really unhappy with the vanity and shallowness of the work I was doing. I just felt like I needed to do something that had more meaning to it for me. I probably thought about it for months then just one morning it hit me like a ton of bricks that I was going to read tarot cards.”

Parker said most people make the assumption tarot card read-

ings tell the future. However, the meaning of the reading does depend on the tarot card. More tarot card readers are staying away from becoming fortunetellers, and instead try to give customers advice.

“A lot of us are steering away from fortune telling, and are more thinking of helping you to create your own future instead of some abstract, unseen force that is creating this future for you,” Parker said.

Julie Dalkman, manager of Wake the Dead Coffee House, said Parker does readings there because she has found success with the customers.

Dalkman said tarot readings fit well with the atmosphere of the coffeehouse, which is perennially adorned with Halloween decorations.

“It just seemed appropriate for Wake the Dead Coffee House. Its just kind of mystical,” Dalkman said.

Parker considers herself a con-

temporary reader and believes there is no set future. She called herself an “empathic psychic.”

An empathic psychic is someone who can feel the options of the person they are reading.

Parker said she and other tarot card readers are not the only ones who can help people using this technique. Some psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists are learning to read tarot cards to help their patients.

“A lot are using them to help people with advice and just give them some clarification and validation of their own experience,” Parker said.

Parker does readings every third Thursday of the month at Wake the Dead Coffee House.

Parker also does private parties, in which she personalizes the theme. Call 214-870-1276 or go to www.lavonneparker. webs.com for more information on private readings, group readings and parties.

The Jonas Brothers can not make a move without adoring fans showering them with admiration. The three singing siblings adore each and every squealing supporter. But they really only care about making one person truly happy: their mother.

They want to make her proud of them.

“That’s what we’ve been saying from the beginning. Live like you’re at the bottom even if you’re at the top. For us that just means stay humble and do your best every day. We’re not saying we’re perfect. Nobody’s perfect. But we’re doing our best,” Nick Jonas said during an interview in late January at the Universal Hilton.

Nick and his brothers have shown up to talk about their new television series, “Jonas,” scheduled to debut on the Disney Channel in May. The cable series is sort of like “The Monkees” meets “Saved By the Bell.” The trio also chat about their new concert movie, their move into acting and the price of fame.

Their mother must be very proud. It has been hard to turn on the television lately without seeing the Jonas Brothers. They performed at the Children’s Inauguration Concert in January. Then it was a quick trip to the Grammys in early February to croon with Stevie Wonder. The brothers also hosted a night on The CW Network in early February.

Even Barbara Walters tapped the brothers to be a guest on her Oscars interview show Feb. 22.

They are now headed to the big screen. “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience” hits theaters Feb. 27. Special guests include Disney favorite Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift.

The Jonas Brothers appeared

last year in the Miley Cyrus 3-D movie “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour.” The offer to star in their own concert film influenced their last tour.

“I think we had some real ideas while we were creating our stage and our tour of what we wanted to see. We were able to see the first one in 3-D and saw what certain things looked like,” Nick says. “The cool part about it is it’s better than frontrow seats because you feel like you’re on the stage.

“You feel like you’re behind the scenes with us. It gets some really personal things in there, too. There’s this one scene in particular where it captures all the things that we went through in Times Square in New York City on our album release night, which was one of the craziest scenes.”

The feature film is just the latest step for the Joe, Nick and Kevin, who are the hottest musical brothers since the heyday of Hanson in the 1990s.,The attention they are receiving starts with the music, according to Joe. “I think, for us, we write about things that are real to us and the things we go through every day. We’re the same age

as a lot of the people that listen to our music. They’re going through the same things,” Joe says. “We get a lot of feedback from fans saying just thank you for encouragement. Or they understand what we’re going through. They’re going through the same kind of things.”

It is a little bit of a stretch to think their fans are going through such things as not being able to show up at a hotel for an interview without getting mobbed. Nor are any of their followers the favorite performing artists of “first children” Sasha and Malia Obama. Not to mention their cross-country tour and appearances are on more magazine covers than Paris Hilton.

What they’re referring to are the emotional highs and lows those fans in their teens and early 20s experience. That’s the source of most of their music.

The brothers are most comfortable when performing on a concert stage. Acting is another thing completely. The Jonas Brothers have appeared on television shows from “Saturday Night Live” to “Christmas at Rockefeller Center.” None of those shows required them to be anything but themselves.

Diversions

10 - The University Star

Thursday, February 26, 2009

✯Star Comics

Solutions 2/25

Complete the grid so that every row, column, and 3-by-3 box contains every digit from one through nine inclusively.

Solutions for 2/25

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Cost - 25¢ per word (1–6 days); Cost - 20¢ per word (7+ days); Deadline - 2 business days prior by noon All classified ads must be paid in advance, unless credit is established. Classified ads will be edited for style purposes. We do our best, but please check your classified ad for accuracy. Any corrections to your ad must be made by the second day of publication. As a free service to you, all classified ads will be published on-line on our web site at www.universitystar.com. However, since this is a free service, posting is not guaranteed. While The University Star attempts to screen ads for misleading claims or illegal content, it is not possible for us to investigate every ad and advertiser. Please use caution when answering ads, especially any which require you to send money in advance.

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Apartment Experts, (512) 805-0123. $800 PRE-LEASE TODAY FOR 5/20 OR 8/20/09! 2BD/2.5BA townhouse 1,000 sq.ft., 3 blocks from TxState, small, clean & quiet community. Free HBO, free internet, W/D. www.windmilltownhomes.com or (512) 396-4181.

FOR RENT-APTS 1 & 2 bedroom townhomes, cable/internet paid, 1/2 month rent FREE! $533/month.

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WANT A DUPLEX IN MAY/JULY? PRE-LEASE NOW! $1,200. ALL DOGS WELCOME! GL, (512) 878-2233.

Front Desk Clerk Wanted.

Perfect job for students. Duties include: answering phones, reservations, handle cash & credit card transactions & guest services. Will train. Math and sales skills necessary. Need smart, hard working, computer literate, enthusiatic person with common sense. Apply in person at Americas Best Value Inn, I-35, Exit 221, Buda.

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HELP WANTED NATURAL BRIDGE WILDLIFE RANCH is hiring friendly & outgoing Visitor Center Personnel and Restaurant Staff Positions. Apply in person, 7 miles west of IH35, exit #175.

Teachers needed! Now hiring part-time, afternoon teachers.

Experience and bilingual preferred but not required. M-F 2:30-6:30 PM. Quality Child Development Center in Kyle. (512) 405-3700 or fax (512) 405 3701. www.rockinghorseacademy.com STUDENTPAYOUTS.COM Paid survey takers needed in San Marcos. 100% FREE to join. Click on surveys.

UTSA PREP is seeking college students majoring in Mathematics, Engineering, Science, or Technology to provide 6th-11th grade students academic counseling, tutoring, group supervision & activities. These are security sensitive positions.

Employment is contingent upon a successful background check.

Temporary full-time employment: June 10 - July 31. Application deadline: March 31. To apply call (210) 458-2060 or visit www.prep-usa.org UTSA is an EEO/AA employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

Undecided Major? need a minor? Do you like to grow plants? Follow your passion.

HELP WANTED Consider horticulture! Contact the College of Applied Arts at 245-3333 or Dr. Cade at tc10@txstate.edu for more information. $5,000 PAID. EGG DONORS. +Exps.

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PERSONALS

WANTED

PERSONALS

Sports

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The University Star - 11

New technologies simplify diabetes for athletes

By Brad Townsend The Dallas Morning News Toby Petersen, Dallas Stars forward, is a 30-year-old journeyman. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke, 59, does not know Petersen, but feels a kinship to him.

Both have diabetes. An estimated 23 million Americans have the potentially body-ravaging disease, but a handful have combated it while playing the punishing sport of professional hockey.

Medical advances have made

managing diabetes easier than when Clarke starred for Philadelphia from 1969 to 1984. The disease requires constant monitoring, as evidenced by the insulin pump that Petersen wears everywhere, even during games.

“There has been a stigma attached to those with diabetes, but I think that’s slowly fading away,” said Petersen, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age five. “Guys are proving they can play at a high level.”

The Stars quietly made history

of sorts when they called up two diabetic players, Petersen and B.J. Crombeen, from minor league affiliate Iowa. Both started this season in Dallas, but Crombeen now plays for St. Louis.

“What’s impressive is how in control they are of their situation,” said Craig Lowry, Stars associate athletic trainer. He worked with Petersen and Crombeen last season in Des Moines.

“The responsibility they show is a testament to who they are and how they take care

Concussion prevention in athletes holds importance for trainers

By Kirk Gholson Special to The Star Texas State is on top of its game when it comes to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of football players with concussions.

David Gish, head athletic trainer for Texas State since 1998, said athletic trainers and coaches can prevent concussions.

“The best prevention is in the initial fitting of the helmet,” Gish said.

Adrian Thomas, senior wide receiver, agrees.

“All players are fitted by professionals before the season starts in the fall and then again before the spring semester,” Thomas said.

Gish said buying quality equipment goes a long way, especially with helmets.

“I think the helmet I used was good enough to prevent head injuries,” said Scott Kohler, former Texas State offensive lineman.

Gish said Texas State started impact testing incoming freshman last year. He said he and his athletic training staff do cognitive testing to give a baseline evaluation of how likely the athlete is to have a head injury. They use this baseline evaluation when there is a perceived concussion.

Symptoms of a concussion can include imbalance, headaches, confusion, memory loss, blurry vision, hearing loss, mood change, fatigue, vomiting and seizures. Failure to recognize

symptoms could mean an undiagnosed concussion, according to Gish.

“I have suffered some of the symptoms of a concussion after blows to the head,” said David Morris, a exercise and sports science junior and former Tulsa football player. “I didn’t report anything because I was uncertain of my condition. I didn’t think it was bad enough to get help.”

An undiagnosed concussion can be a serious injury.

Gish said research has shown players with a concussion are likely to have another one, especially if the brain is not given sufficient time to heal.

Gish said another way to prevent a concussion is by educating athletes about them.

He said he is always looking to establish trusting relationships with the athletes, and he wants them to know they can express concern about being safe without risking exclusion in practices or games.

Gish said players not going to the next level want to have a good collegiate career and often do not want to risk losing playing time by coming forward with health concerns.

Thomas said he has a great level of trust with the athletic trainers at Texas State.

“I think for the most part, players will report when they think they might actually have a concussion,” Thomas said.

“One to two years ago, the

coaching staff showed us a film that used NFL and NCAA game film to show how to hit correctly. It was hard to watch, because it showed a lot of career ending injuries.”

NFL players have not only had career-ending injuries, but life-altering ones as well.

USA Today reported in 2007 Professional Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, a spokesman for the Sports Concussion Institute, said he had at least five concussions in his playing days with his first occurring at the age of 11. Moon said various players would just shake off the injury.

He never knew if it was a concussion or not because he did not allow himself to stop.

According to USA Today, a doctor in Pittsburgh found his fourth case linking the death of a former NFL player to brain damage from the football career.

Researchers without NFL ties said surveys of retired players show those who had multiple concussions are more likely to report being diagnosed with depression.

Gish said Texas State has probably averaged one player coming forward with concerns of having a head injury each year in the past six.

Gish holds athletes out of contact until they are symptom free in the event of a concussion. The return time is based on symptoms and varies with each individual.

of themselves,” Lowry said.

Professional athletes are naturally disciplined. However, for diabetics, regimented balancing of blood-sugar levels, food intake and physical exertion is a life-and-death matter.

Petersen tests his bloodsugar level eight to 10 times on game days, including between periods. One drop on a test strip determines his blood-sugar level. The test strip helps him gauge how much insulin to

inject through his pump if his sugar level is high.

Crombeen and Boynton do not wear a pump during games, but Petersen has done so since 2003. He tucks it under a belt, between his waist and stomach, with no protective padding, during games and practices.

The pump took a direct hit from a puck last season in Iowa, separating the plastic injection tube.

“He knew it right away, and I could see it,” Lowry recalled.

“So from that point on, I carried extra needles.”

According to the American Diabetes Association, Type 1 patients have increased risk for heart disease, blindness, nerve damage and kidney damage.

“My doctor has told me I’m a freak,” he said. “I think working out all of my life has something to do with it. I don’t have one sign of any diabetic problems, not my eyes, not my kidneys, nothing.”

SPORTS THE UNIVERSITY STAR

softballsweep

The Texas State softball team opened conference play this week defeating Texas-Arlington in all three of its games Tuesday and Wednesday. The Bobcats won 3-0 and 5-0 Tuesday and 4-0 Wednesday. Texas State is 11-6 overall and undefeated in Southland Conference play. The Bobcats will host McNeese in a double header at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday. They will play McNeese again at 12 p.m. Sunday.

12 - Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sports Contact — Lisa Carter, starsports@txstate.edu

Women’s basketball cuts down Lumberjacks Bobcat center reflects on career, holds goals for future

By Derek Genovese Sports Reporter Ty Gough, sophomore center, knows what he has to do.

He knows his current production is not cutting it for the 1213 Bobcats and his play during conference matches is hurting the team.

“I haven’t been producing in conference. That’s why I’m not starting,” Gough said.

His number of starts from his freshman to sophomore years has dropped from 25 to 17 with

four games left in the season.

Gough said he needs to give his best performance to improve.

“I need to rebound, be the top rebounder and finish better down low,” Gough said.

Gough still holds goals for himself and the team in the future. He wants to end his college career with a double double and put himself in a position to play after graduation. He said he wants to win games, lead his team to a conference championship and make an NCAA tournament appearance.

Austin Byrd/Star photo FINISHING STRONG: Ty Gough, sophomore center, looks to finish the season with aggressive play and a positive attitude.

Gough’s family was a large part of getting him where he is today. Gough’s sister taught him how to play basketball. He said his mother was a role model because she played college basketball, and his parents did everything they could to help him reach his goals.

“My mom and dad put me in every league and every camp so I could have the best opportunity to succeed,” Gough said.

Gough likes to hang out with friends and watch movies when time is available outside of training for basketball, among other activities.

“I always find time in the summer to go wakeboarding as much as possible,” Gough said. Gough said he idolized Shaquille O’Neal in the Los Angeles Lakers. Then, Gough noticed the young Kobe Bryant competing against stars like Michael Jordan.

“I saw that Kobe was able to hold his own against the greatest player of all time, so I gained a lot of respect for him,” Gough said.

Gough realized a possible future in basketball during his sophomore year at San Juan Alamo High School. His high school accomplishments include the MVP award for District 31-5A and MVP of the East-West Rio Grande Valley All-Star game.

Gough averaged 23 points and 19.2 rebounds per game. He began being recruited by schools like Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky and Missouri State.

Gough started 25 of 29 games and averaged 6.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game at Texas State in his first year. College career highlights include a 19point, 13-rebound performance against Kennesaw State. Gough grabbed 14 rebounds against Huston-Tillotson and 16 points against New Orleans.

Austin Byrd/Star photo TOO TALL: Kim Cessna, senior center, posts up for two points as the Bobcats build a lead too tall to cut down against the Lumberjacks Wednesday at Strahan Coliseum.

By Blake Barington Sports Reporter The final buzzer sounded as Texas State defeated Stephen F. Austin, the No. 1 team in the east division of the Southland Conference, for their sixth win in conference.

The Bobcats took the floor against the Lumberjacks, winning 73-60.

“We really worked on defense, on rebounding, then on offense sharing the basketball and trying to get the best shot,” said Coach Suzanne Fox. The Lumberjacks took the early lead at 2-0 with 19:23 remaining in the first half after two free throws from Amina Sawyer, SFA forward.

Gabriell Mattox, sophomore forward, would score the first points for the Bobcats with a 3-pointer.

Ashley Cole, senior guard, answered for Texas State with two points after a fast break by SFA. Texas State made its second 3-pointer of the night from Victoria Davis, junior guard, three and a half minutes into the game. The Bobcats trailed 10-8 at the first timeout.

Verinus Kalu, freshman guard, got a steal, drove to the other end of the court, and got the offensive rebound off the Bobcat miss. Kalu scored two points after an assist and steal from Mattox.

Davis got another steal from the Lumberjacks, resulting in three

points for Mattox after the basket and foul.

SFA called a timeout at the 12:05 mark with the Bobcats leading 19-11 after a 2-point basket from Davis. The Lumberjacks’ turnovers continued throughout the first part of the first half. SFA went on a 5-0 run, breaking their scoring drought with a basket from Schera Sampson, SFA forward.

Guard play was critical for the Bobcats as SFA controlled the paint. Davis had 12 of the 22 points for the Bobcats midway through the first half with other contributions from Cole, Mattox and Kalu. Mattox, along with Davis, had double figures in scoring before the first half ended.

Texas State led SFA 33-31 after the first half with an even scoring percentage from both schools.

The Bobcats shot 38.9 percent and SFA shot 37.1 percent. TexasState shot 57.1 percent from the 3-point range.

Kim Cessna, senior center, scored the first points for Texas State in the second half off Aimee Hilburn’s, junior forward, pass.

Hilburn added two points to her total in the second half.

Davis continued her shooting from the first half with a jumper at the 18:05 mark in the second to put the Bobcats up by two. She scored on a wide open layup with 16:35 remaining in the game and got another 3-pointer almost seven minutes into the half.

Texas State took its largest lead of the game with 12:44 remaining after an SFA offensive charge.

Cessna would score two points on the next possession with a jumper to put the Bobcats up by 12.

The Bobcats maintained their shooting after Mattox scored a 2-point basket to put Texas State up by 15, its largest lead of the game.

Cessna owned the paint in the second half by getting layups off passes from Bobcat guards.

Kalu gave the Bobcats another 30-second possession, throwing the ball off a SFA defender with 5:15 remaining.

The Bobcats ended the game shooting 49.2 percent. Mattox and Davis led the Bobcats in scoring with 21 points each. Mattox led the team in rebounds with seven.

“This win is really big for us to beat the No. 1 team,” Mattox said. “Everyone came out ready to play tonight. Our defense really stepped it up in the second half. Our offense, it was on, then it was off, but we didn’t let that get us down.”

Texas State is now 12-13 overall and 6-7 in SLC play. SFA falls to 13-12 on the season and 8-5 in conference.

The Bobcats will play Northwestern State in 2:00 p.m.

Saturday in Natchitoches, La. The Demons are currently 1510 for the season and 7-5 in SLC play.