2nd Pantherpalooza receives mixed reviewsPage 3

Panthers look to extend streakPage 8

“Tell the truth and don’t be afraid.”

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By Andrew Crivilare Staff Reporter

Just as Wednesday poetry reading was heating up, the fire alarms went off in the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

The reception following the poet-ry reading of Cristin O’Keefe-Apto-wicz was brought to an abrupt halt when the building’s fire alarms began flashing.

A Doudna crew member initially reported that it was not a false alarm because of the presence of firefight-

ers. Capt. Tim Meister of the Charles-

ton Fire Department later confirmed that the alarm was activated by a faulty smoke detector in a lounge on the first floor.

Christopher Robins, a gradu-ate student, was presenting his non-fiction tale of heart surgery as the building’s siren started ringing.

“I was a little nervous,” Robins said. “I was just getting into the flow of it.”

The audience was not left com-pletely unsatisfied.

Earlier in the evening, slam poet O’Keefe-Aptowicz read and per-formed her original works as part of the first installment of Eastern’s Eng-lish Department’s Lions in Winter reading series.

By Nike Ogunbodede Associate News Editor

Passengers driving in a vehicle while not wear-ing a seatbelt will now be ticketed and fined up to $25 for violating a new law that took effect in Illi-nois on Jan. 1.

Unlike the prior state-enforced laws, where only the driver and front-seat passenger had to wear a seat belt, House Bill 219, or the Occupant Protec-tion Plan, mandates that all passengers must utilize the safety device.

Illinois is the 26th state to put such a law into affect.

The bill, which was approved back on June 27, was sponsored by State Rep. Mark Beaubien Jr. of Barrington Hills, who died on June 5.

This law also pertains to passengers in other modes of transportations such as taxicabs, accord-ing to the bill.

But, the law also states that an “officer may not search or inspect a motor vehicle, its contents, the driver or a passenger solely because of a violation” of the law.

Dave Chambers, deputy chief of the Charleston Police Department, said the CPD will continue to maintain “standard traffic procedure.”

“When we make a stop we’ll be looking to see if people are buckled in,” Chambers said.

Chambers said the department is not planning to conduct at-random roadside safety checks, and do not plan to start any.

“Our enforce that we would do would be con-tained to activities of a normal for the taillight be-ing out, running a stop sign or speeding,” Cham-bers said.

Doudna evacuated during reading

By Kathryn Richter Staff Reporter

Pedestrians and drivers alike have noticed the fluorescent yellow signs lining the center of Fourth Street that were installed over winter break, and have opened to mixed reviews.

Dan Nadler, the vice president for student affairs, said Eastern had been implementing new devices to make Fourth Street safer for pedestrians

and motorists in recent years. These changes include enhancing the light-ing along the street, painting bright-er striping on the pedestrian cross-walks and better monitoring people’s speeds.

Nadler said the recent addition of the pedestrian crossing markers was a collaboration with the city of Charleston to ensure everyone’s safe-ty.

However, Nadler warns, the mo-

torists’ speed is not the only variable that can lead to accidents. Nadler said distracted pedestrians who cross the street without looking or while distracted could be a danger as well.

He said that distracted pedestri-ans, especially those who do not use the crosswalks, could not be sure if motorists have seen them and there-fore risk causing an accident.

The safety on Fourth Street is a partnership between the pedestrians

and the motorists, Nadler said. “If everyone tries to use the cross-

walk, it’s much more visible to driv-ers,” Nadler said.

Nadler said the new pedestrian crossing markers are not the only plan for Eastern’s new safety mea-sures.

“We’ve been looking at Fourth Street for a number of years,” Nadler said. “It’s been an ongoing concern.”

FINE ARTS

Faulty smoke detector interrupts poetry presentation

CIT Y

BUCKLE, page 5

POETRY, page 5

MIR ANDA PLOSS | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WSPoet Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz performs "Ode to Coffee" during the first installment of the Lions in Winter series Wednesday in Doudna Lecture Hall. Aptowicz's poetry covered themes ranging from unre-quited love to coffee obsessions.

New law requires all passengers to buckle up

SIGNALS, page 5

Sending mixed signals

BLOT TER

Staff Report

A driver was charged in connection with hit-ting a pedestrian Tuesday on Ninth Street.

Danielle N. McCarther was driving south-bound at the 2200 block of Ninth Street when she allegedly hit Peter Mbinglo when turning eastbound onto Edgar Drive, according to a Charleston Police Department press release.

Mbinglo was transferred to the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center for treatment after the incident.

McCarther was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of drugs and also re-ceived an additional citation for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

McCarther was later released after posting bond, pending her court appearance.

Dave Chambers, deputy chief of the Charles-ton Police Department, would not comment on the case further then the press release.

PHOTO BY KIM FOSTER | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WSA car drives by one of the new speed zones at one of the crosswalks on Fourth Street Wednesday night . The new signs warning drivers of pedestrians were installed over winter break.

Students share reactions to new safety signage on Fourth Street

Driver charged with hitting pedestrian on Ninth Street

2 T H E DA I LY E ASTE R N NEWSD A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M

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CAA to begin bi-weekly committee meetings

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By Elizabeth Grubart Staff Reporter

The Residence Hall Associa-tion is back to planning events such as Kids and Friends Week-end and Social Justice and Diver-sity Week at its meeting today.

The members will be plan-ning Kids and Friends Weekend, which will be Disney themed, and Social Justice and Diversi-

ty Week. Dates for these will be discussed during the meeting.

Andrew Lilek, vice president of RHA, said he is excited to begin the new semester.

“ T h e e x e c u t i v e b o a rd i s psyched to be back and we will be planning a lot of exciting events that everyone on campus can be involved in,” he said.

The meeting, which will be today in Thomas Hall, will in-clude the committees giving their event’s reports, and representa-tives for each of the residence halls giving reports on their indi-vidual plans this semester.

The five committees of RHA

include the President’s Council, Programming, Social Justice and Diversity, Community Service and Community Development committees.

RHA will also be planning an event for the spring called “Go-ing Green.”

Rachel Fisher, Interim Director of Student Community Service, will also be at the meeting talk-ing about events such as Martin Luther King Service Day happen-ing at 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 16 in the Univer-sity Ballroom of the Martin Lu-ther King Jr. University Union. Featured service projects will last

from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Also coming up this semester

are Panther Service Day and 29 Dollars for 29 Days happening in February.

The Illinois Residence Hall As-sociation will meet following the RHA meeting.

They will be planning their upcoming conference at DePaul University along with about 13 other schools, Lilek said.

Elizabeth Grubart can be reached at 581-2812

or eagrubart@eiu.edu

RHA plans for eventful semester

By Amy Wywialowski Staff reporter

The Council on Academic Af-fairs will be discussing changes to the English departmental honors admissions standards and the in-terdisciplinary film minor today.

The major change in the Eng-lish Honor admissions, which if passed would take effect Fall 2012, is that students would have to take two additional English classes beyond the required ENG 1001 and 1002 prior to applying for English Honors.

Within the interdisciplinary

film studies minor, one of the major changes is possibly allow-ing students to count two of the classes for both their minor as well as their major of choice.

This is in contrast to the cur-rent policy, which states, “Stu-dents may take no more than six hours in their major area(s) and no more than six hours of elective courses in their major area(s),” according to the revision propos-al.

Starting next week, the CAA will implement learning goals subcommittee breakouts, which will begin at 2 p.m. and are fol-lowed by a regular meeting at 3 p.m.

“We talked about it a lot last semester,” said Rebecca Throne-burg, chair of the University Learning Goals Committee. “We

will begin these meetings this se-mester breaking into the sub-committees of the four learning goals.”

The four goals are for under-graduates to be able to speak and write effectively, think critically and function as responsible glob-al citizens.

Each of the four subcommit-tees will be responsible for one of the learning goals.

“Basically we will be looking at and studying data concern-ing each of these goals,” Throne-burg said. “We will bring up con-cerns and figure out if we are be-ing systematic enough about each of them.”

Throneburg said some of the data she is talking about are course outcomes, but the sub-committees will probably also do

faculty surveys.From there, the subcommit-

tee members will make their rec-ommendations to the CAA and then to other governing offices on campus.

“We are the curriculum body so we may make some changes such as doing more writing-based work on the strengths and weak-nesses we find,” Throneburg said. “We are going to look at our re-quirements such as general ed-ucation courses and say ‘are we happy with these?'”

The CAA meets today at 2 p.m. in Room 4440 in the Booth Library.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812

or alwywialowski@eiu.edu

RESIDENCE HALL ASSOCIATION

Events to include Social Justice and Diversity Week

Possible change in English requirements

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AboutThe Daily Eastern News is produced by the students of Eastern Illinois University. It is published daily Monday through Friday, in Charleston, Ill., during fall and spring semesters and twice weekly during the summer term except during university vacations or examinations. One copy per day is free to students and faculty. Additional copies can be obtained for 50 cents each in the Student Publications Office in Buzzard Hall.The Daily Eastern News is a member of The Associated Press, which is en-titled to exclusive use of all articles appearing in this publication.Comments / TipsContact any of the above staff members if you be-lieve your information is relevant. CorrectionsThe Daily Eastern News is committed to accuracy in its coverage of the news. Any factual error the staff finds, or is made aware of by its read-ers, will be corrected as promptly as possible. Please report any fac-tual error you find by e-mail, phone, campus mail or in person.

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Celebrity Smack Talk

In the newest entry in the Celebrity Smack Talk blog, Sports Editor Dominic Renzetti elaborates on the ease at which Blue Ivy Carter crawled onto the top 100 of the Billboard charts. Carter, now known as B.I.C., is the week-old infant of music power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce.

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CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama scooped up home-town campaign cash Wednesday, promising supporters that change can still come if they work even harder this time around as his poten-tial Republican challenger solidified his standing.

A day after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's convincing win

in New Hampshire's GOP prima-ry, which established him as the clear front-runner to take on the president in the fall, Obama's visit home was all about summoning his backers' en-thusiasm for the fight ahead.

"If you're willing to work even harder in this election than you did in the last election, I promise you, change will come," Obama said at the first of three evening fundraisers, a large event at the University of Illi-

nois at Chicago."You can't back down — not

now. We won't give up — not now," Obama said. "We've got to send a message we are going to keep push-ing and fighting for the change that we believe in."

Obama used the trip to restock his re-election finances while mak-ing a surprise visit to his campaign headquarters for the first time. A few hundred staffers listened as Obama

reminisced about the early days of his Senate campaign and thanked cam-paign aides for their hard work. But publicly, the president was beginning to offer a contrast with Romney.

Obama's team has castigated Romney at every turn as a political opportunist willing to alter his views — on abortion, the environment and gay marriage — to serve his po-litical purpose.

Obama pledges 'Change will come'

3T H E DA I LY E ASTE R N NEWSD A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M

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the daily eastern news’ weekly arts and entertainment magazine03.26.10

o f t h e w e e k e n dw w w . d e n n e w s . c o m / v e r g e

CHANGE VOLUME

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SqUARE fESt SCHEDULE pAGE 2B “pLAStIC BEACH” REVIEw pAGE 4B

pHOtO COURtESy Of pARLOpHONE AND VIRGIN RECORDS

A square beyond compare

By Brad yorkVerge Editor

Spring is a season that brings a re-freshing smell into the air as the trees be-gin to bud and the winter chills become dormant. It is a time for new life to see the wonders of Charleston. With new life comes new ambitions. New ambitions mean new music, and for Charleston that means new events.

A fresh take on the Charleston festival scene is exactly what Scott Chaplinski has been planning for nearly a year with the event Square Fest.

“I started thinking in February that it was about time to get it going with every-thing going on with Celebration, Wood-chuck Music Festival, there’s finals, there’s Easter. I realized it was crunch time to get it going,” Chaplinski said.

Square Fest will begin at 2 p.m. Sat-urday through 1 a.m. Sunday. The event will take place on Charleston’s square at the bars Mother’s, Friends & Co., Mac’s Uptowner and Top of the Roc. The event will cost $12 and allow patrons 21 and over admittance into any of the bars and performances.

Chaplinski said getting the bars in-volved was the first part of organizing the event, and after he explained the potential benefits they jumped on board.

“I kind of just threw it out there,” Chaplinski said. “They’ve given me good ideas, and they appreciate the ideas that I have. They’ve been very helpful with ev-erything I’ve been doing.”

Chaplinski has been wanting to get the bars involved with a festival event for more than year and said he feels that now was the best time to bring it all together.

“We are hoping it brings a lot of busi-ness to the square,” Chaplinski said. “We hope it is going to be a nicer day. It’s a good window of a month and a half of good weather to show all these people,

‘Hey there are all these other great bars in town, and not just the ones near Lincoln (Avenue.).”

Many of the featured acts will be Charleston based groups such as Mug-wump Specific, Andy Van Slyke and Staff Blues Band while others such as DJ Illith, Poundcake and Ryan Arnold stem from locations throughout the state.

“I figure this was a great networking opportunity for a lot of bands,” Chaplins-ki said. “We are pulling in bands from the Kankakee area, and some musicians from Champaign area. It’s bands that I like, and I know that other people (like).”

Chaplinski said most of them are younger bands that have only been play-ing for a year or two and that many times a band that has been playing for four to five years need a guarantee that they are getting paid.

“Having never done anything like this before I didn’t want to make promises to a bunch of people that I can’t fulfill.” Chap-linski said.

In fact, much of the money for pro-ducing the event was saved up by Chap-linski himself. He hopes that the $12 cov-er is enough to give some of the traveling bands money to cover their gas costs and without being too high to deter college students and community members from coming out.

One local musician, Mitch Davis, a senior management information sys-tems major, saod he plans on showing the crowd some new tunes to commemorate the new event.

“I mainly like to get people dancing, but I also play some more chill stuff,” Davis said. “I don’t want people to get burnt out, so I’ll make new songs before the shows. New shows get me motivated to make new songs. (Square Fest) is go-ing to be so new. There’s going to be so many different people playing at so many different bars. I don’t really know what to

expect. That’s why I am expecting to play in front of a totally new crowd, so I really got to try to pump people up.”

With a wide variety of performances including blues, rock, jam band, electron-ic and rap everyone is beginning to de-velop expectations for the new event and Chaplinski is no different.

“I want to be able to be out on the square, outside the bars and see people

having a good time,” Chaplinski said. “I want to hear, sort of over-hear, what they did like and what they didn’t like. I just think there will be a lot of good vibes coming. Perfect conditions for me, is hearing that people had a great time.”

Brad York can be reached at 581-7942 or bayork@eiu.edu.

BRAD yORk | ON tHE VERGE

Mitch Davis, a senior management information systems major, rehearses new songs and freshens up on older material Wednesday evening in his home as he prepares for today’s Square Fest event.

Square Fest provides stage for new music, new bands and new surroundings

By Brad YorkVerge Editor

Jackson Avenue Coffee (J.A.C.) is a location to go blow-off steam, study for hours on end and socialize as the creamy fragrance of lattes, cappuccinos and hot chocolates stream though the air.

J.A.C., located at 708 Jackson Ave., may sound like an unusual place for a concert setting, but Dan Reible believes it is the perfect location for live music that has not been offered to Charleston in some time.

“In the Charleston area there is no place to relax and listen to music except for a bar,” Reible said. “I’d like a place where people can come relax, have a cup of coffee, sandwich, bagel and take it easy and listen to some good acoustic music.”

Reible and his wife Vicki are currently shuffling through papers in order to become the rightful owners of J.A.C.

Reible moved to Mattoon in 1984 after serving in the Navy and soon became a truck driver, traveling the nation with his wife.

Reible has played for various bands in the past and mentioned to his friend, Ryan Dawson and the current owner of J.A.C., he was looking for a place to host weekly concerts on Saturday evenings.

Dawson then asked Reible if he ever pictured himself owning a café. Reible expressed an interest, and soon, Dawson offered to sell the business.

Dawson said the Reibles’ have been his customers since J.A.C. opened nearly eight years ago.

“I planned on going back to school this summer to complete a degree in teacher’s certification,” Dawson said. “We were ready to move on to new things. I figured it is best not to run anything into the ground, so I offered to sell the place.”

Dawson has high hopes for

the future of J.A.C. and feels as as though hosting live musicians every Saturday night is only the beginning of the growth J.A.C. will see.

The first Saturday night performer will be “Reverend” Robert Reynolds Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m. at J.A.C.

None of the performances will come with a cover cost, but instead a hat will be passed around around for donations, which go entirely to the artist.

Robert Reynolds is a musician who plays blues music from the ‘20s, ‘30s and ’40s, and is glad Reible is opening his doors to local musicians.

Reynolds said he has known Reible for a while because they have been playing music together through the years.

“It is good to play one close to home. This is more intimate than the festivals and blues bars I’ve been playing at lately,” Reynolds said. “I play electric when I’m with my band, but this show will be all acoustic.”

The intimate setting offers a place for begging and practiced musicians alike.

Reible wants to show people in Charleston music they may not have heard before.

He plans to host various artists from various genres each weekend.

“I’ve got things booked all the way through the end of June,” Reible said. “It’s mostly people I have heard in the area and a lot of local musicians. We are open

to all different styles. It doesn’t matter if I personally like it or not. It’s whatever I think our customers will like.”

Reible said his customers are an eclectic group, and notices that he has a lot of high schoolers come there every evening. He said parents know it is a safe place.

Reible said he is open to any style of music and musicians who are interested in performing the Saturday night events should come out to J.A.C. Open Mic Night every Thursday.

These open mic sessions are used as auditions of sorts for the diverse music Reible hopes to incorporate with the Saturday night performances.

In addition to the open mic night artists, Reible searches the Web and various local music hot spots in order to find performers.

“I’m hoping to get a lot of music in here that people haven’t experienced before,” Reible said. “People may have heard blues, but it probably isn’t the old delta blues that (Reverend Robert) will be playing.”

Brad York can be reached at 581-7942 or at bayork@eiu.edu.

the daily eastern news’ weekly arts and entertainment magazine04.02.10

o f t h e w e e k e n dw w w . d e n n e w s . c o m / v e r g e

CHANGE VOLUME

AND ISSUE NUMBER

CAT CELEBRATES 20th SEASON pAGE 3B ‘HTTM’ REVIEwED pAGE 4B

pHOTO COURTESY Of REVROBERT.COM

“Reverend” Robert Reynolds plays his guitar; He will play acoustic at 8 p.m. on Saturday at Jackson Avenue Coffee.

BRAD YORk | ON THE VERGE

Dan Reible , owner of the Jacksno Avenue Coffee enjoys sunse viewing the humbling setting from his newly titled “retirementbench” at the J.A.C.

J.A.C. opens doors to allCafe begins live music event every Saturday evening

pHOTO COURTESY MGM STUDIOS

the VERGE

Look for it every Friday in the DEN!

EIU’S arts & entertainment magazine

the daily eastern news’ weekly arts and entertainment magazine04.09.10

o f t h e w e e k e n dw w w . d e n n e w s . c o m / v e r g e

CHANGE VOLUME

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BAttLE Of tHE BANDS RESULtS pAGE 3B ‘CLASH’ REVIEw pAGE 4B

By Colleen KitkaAssistant Verge Editor

The 7th Street Underground will turn into a concert venue tonight at 5:30 as the Colleges Against Cancer group hosts its sec-ond Rock it for Relay concert.

The benefit concert will feature the three local bands Good Morning Midnight, Cured by Fire and Madison’s Avenue, and one solo musician, Jenna Jackley.

Tickets are $5 at the door and can be purchased starting at 5 p.m.

All proceeds go to the Colleges Against Cancer’s Relay for Life team, and will ul-timately be given to the American Cancer Society.

Kyle Swalls, guitarist and vocalist for Good Morning Midnight, has witnessed the devastation of cancer first hand. Swalls said his grandma is fighting against cancer.

“It’s a constant struggle dealing with it,” Swalls said. “A lot of time the chemo won’t be as effective, and they will try a new method and stuff. And so just know-ing the constant struggle makes me want to do something like this and raise money for an individual who is having the same, who is dealing with the same kind of suffering.”

This band along with Cured by Fire is playing at Friends & Co. later in the eve-ning. They were willing to book two gigs in one night to show their support.

“We feel that playing this gig will al-low people to see that rock and roll and the whole style of it isn’t just about being on your own and not really caring about any-one else,” Logan Richardson, Madison’s Av-

enue lead singer, said. “We really do care about the issue of

breast cancer and cancer in general,” Rich-ardson continued. “Because some people

close to us have had it and, luckily, they have recovered from it.”

Many of the bands playing are new to Eastern’s campus. Richardson said perform-ing at the concert would be an opportunity to expose students to a different kind of lo-cal music.

Good Morning Midnight is an indie and alternative rock band. Beginning near-ly a year ago and stationed in Marshall, the group is fresh to the Charleston music scene, but has played in the 7th Street Un-derground before for a canned food drive.

Cured by Fire is a Charleston metal band. Megan Givens, the concert coordi-nator said the group sounds similar to Me-tallica or Godsmack and does a good job of getting a crowd going. Their influenc-es come from those bands and others like Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue and Black Sabbath.

Jenna Jackley is a Mattoon High School student who plays the guitar and sings.

“She is just memorizing to watch,” Me-gan Givens said. “She is in high school, so she is still very young, but the caliber of voice she has is just amazing.”

Madison’s Avenue is another young al-ternative rock band from Charleston that has been putting out their own music for eight months. The group has played all over Charleston, in Havana and in Centralia, but tonight will be one of their first times playing on campus.

Givens, a junior elementary education major, said all the bands are hard working and were booked because they came recom-mended by other artists.

The Colleges Against Cancer has raised more than $5,000 through their fall breast cancer T-shirt sales and other fundrais-ers. They have pledged to raise $8,000, and across campus different groups have pledged to raise $70,000 for the American Cancer Society.

Last year, the concert drew a small crowd, but Givens is hoping for more pub-lic support.

“What ever little amount can put to-wards the American Cancer Society will help in some way,” Givens said.

Colleen Kitka can be reached at 581-7942 or crkitka@eiu.edu.

pHOtO COURtESy Of GOOD MORNING MIDNIGHt

Good Morning Midnight band members Elgin Combs (guitarist), Michael “Woody” Woodring (drummer), Kyle Swalls (vocalist and guitarist) and Chad Barton (bass guitarist and vocalist) volunteered to play tonight at the Rock it for Relay event to help raise money for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

pHOtO COURtESy Of JENNA JACKLEy

Jenna Jackley is a Mattoon High School student and will be playing at the 7th Street Underground tonight at 5:30 p.m.

Rockin’ out for a reasonLocAL bAnds pLAy to rAisE monEy for rELAy for LifE

pHOtO COURtESy Of wARNER BROS. pICtURES

STAFF SENATE

MARCUS SMITH | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WSMarcus Garrett, a freshman undecided major, passes time dancing at Pantherpalooza in the Grand Ballroom of Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Wednesday. Garrett is a member of Boyz of Poison.

By: Pablo Rodriguez Staff Reporter

The Illinois pension reform was one the topics of concern at the Staff Senate meeting on Tuesday.

Angie Campbell, the president of Staff Senate, said the state has skipped out on making pension payments for more than a decade and that has caused a debt surpass-ing $5 billion.

Pensions for Illinois employees are underfunded in five different systems: teacher, state, university, and judges and state employee re-

tirement systems. “The state skipped payments and

they borrowed as well, but now they are saying they can’t pay the debt,” Campbell said.

So far the state has not taken any formal measures, she said.

A pension reform bill known as the SB 512 is being analyzed in Springfield as part of finding a so-lution.

The staff senate members also re-ceived an update on the payoff of the 2011 Fiscal Year.

According to William Weber, the vice president for business affairs,

Eastern received payment for FY 2011 on Dec. 6, 2011.

Originally, the monetary install-ment was supposed to be received on June 30, 2011.

As far as fiscal year 2012 is con-cerned, Weber did not have any ma-jor updates.

Eastern has received $15 million in appropriation out of $46. 5 mil-lion.

Weber also said that the state owes the university $5 mill ion worth of MAP Grant funds. East-ern is waiting on MAP Grant funds from the fall and spring semesters,

he said.Michelle Payne, director of gen-

era l funds a t Eastern, made a friendly challenge to staff senate members.

Payne encouraged staff senate members to increase their participa-tion rate in a project called the fac-ulty staff campaign.

The faculty staff campaign seeks to provide students with an afford-able education by helping them fi-nancially with donations from fac-ulty and staff according to their website.

In 2011, the staff senate had a

participation of 54 percent; howev-er, they were surpassed by the Fac-ulty Senate and the Civil Service Council with approximately 60 per-cent participation in Faculty Sen-ate and 84 percent participation in Civil Service Council.

In 2011 faculty staff participa-tion increased from 20 to 35 per-cent.

The staff senate will be meeting again on Wednesday, Feb. 8 in the Martinsville Room.

Pablo Rodriguez can be reached at 581-2812

or jprodriguez@eiu.edu.

Senate discusses Illinois pension underfunding

By Nike Ogunbodede Associate News Editor

Through the maze of tables and multicolored poster boards, Eastern students prowled in the Grand Ball-room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union undeterred by the weather outside.

More than 100 Registered Stu-dent Organizations filled the ball-room for the second Spring Panther-palooza on Wednesday.

Kaci Abolt, student vice president for student affairs, was in charge of organizing the student government run event.

Abolt, a junior communication studies major, also organized the fall Pantherpalooza that took place in the South Quad, but said this se-mester’s event far surpassed its pre-decessor.

“The union is a central place and a lot of students want to just come in and see what (the RSOs) have to offer,” Abolt said. “If we had this semester’s Pantherpalooza in the (South Quad) the elements definite-ly would have been a factor.”

Abolt said she thinks that the in-teractive event was a success because of the decision to incorporate a bin-go game and a PowerPoint that gave the numbers of other organizations.

“(The map and PowerPoint) have been really helpful because peo-ple can look at where they want to go and it’s not intimidating,” Abolt said.

Jesse Green, a junior finance ma-jor and the president of Delta Sig-

ma Pi, said he talked to a lot of peo-ple by walking around the room and guiding those interested back to his table.

Green said he thought the rain was a factor in the attendance.

“Rain doesn’t help and it probably made it a little more limited than expected,” he said.

Heather Derby, a senior com-munication studies major, said she thinks low advertising contributed to what she said was low attendance.

Derby is a member of Public Re-lations Students Society of America.

“It didn’t get a lot of buzz on campus and I didn’t find out about it until my organization was asking for us to sign up for times,” she said.

Derby also said she felt like the people already in the organizations were contributing a bulk of the sig-natures.

“The only people checking people out are people already working the tables,” she said.

Sam Trigg, a freshman undecid-ed major, is a member of the Harry Potter Club, which surpassed the av-erage of three signatures per table by having 12 students sign up to learn more about it.

Trigg said she thinks the group’s table presentation is what grabbed the attention of students.

Deco r a t ed w i th homemade wands, house ties and a laptop play-ing scenes from various Harry Potter movies, Trigg said students stopped once they saw the arrangement.

Trigg also said the wide appeal of Harry Potter has as a brand also gave

the group an edge.“Many people enjoy reading the

books and watching the movies be-cause we all grew up with the char-acters and it was nice to have,” Trigg said.

Jacob Dallas, a sophomore ap-plied engineering technology major, said he stopped by the table because

he enjoys Harry Potter.“I just really like Harry Potter,”

Dallas said.Dallas said he is glad he got to see

the different RSOs that are on cam-pus in one place.

Spring Pantherpalooza gives stu-dents information about clubs that they might not know about other-

wise, Trigg said.“Not many people know that

Eastern had its own Harry Potter Club,” Trigg said. “It’s great expo-sure.”

Nike Ogunbodede can be reached at 581-2812

or ovogunbodede@eiu.edu.

STUDENT LIFE

2nd Pantherpalooza receives mixed reviews

4T H E DA I LY E ASTE R N NEWSD A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M

T H U R S DAY, J A N UA RY 12, 2012N O. 1 7 1 , V O L U M E 9 6OpiniOns

Opinions EditorDave Balson217 • 581 • 2812DENopinions@gmail.com

Seat belt lawwill save lives, worth hassle

FROM THE EASEL

DOUG T. GR AHAM & SHELLEY HOLMGREN | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS

COLUMNSTAFF EDITORIAL

The daily editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Daily Eastern News.

The DAILYEASTERN NEWS

EDITORIAL BOARD

“Tell the truth and don’t be afraid.”

Editor in ChiefShelley Holmgren

Managing Editor Samantha Bilharz

Online EditorDoug T. Graham

News Editor Elizabeth Edwards

Associate News EditorNike Ogunbodede

Opinions Editor Dave Balson Letters to the editor can be submitted at any time on any topic to the Opinions

Editor to be published in The Daily Eastern News. The DEN’s policy is to run all letters that are not libelous or potentially harmful.

They must be less than 250 words.

Letters to the editor can be brought in with identification to The DEN at 1811 Buzzard Hall.

Letters may also be submitted electronically from the author’s EIU e-mail address to DENopinions@gmail.com.

Abraham Lincoln probably never said: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”

Ironically, almost everybody believes he did, which sort of discredits the quote’s wisdom.

Modern Republicans might offer an alterna-tive ending to reclaim the line misattributed to their party’s greatest president: “...but we can all fool ourselves all of the time.”

After falling apart in 2008, Republicans be-gan to accept and repeat any deranged notion that affirmed their frenzied paranoia over the new Anti-Christ-in-Chief.

The Chicken Little delusions helped them in the mid-terms, but presidential elections are won by appealing the wider American public, and Republicans have been too far from reali-ty for too long to appeal to anyone but them-selves.

The proof is in the primaries. Watch this motley crew of quacks and coots debate the is-sues. When they’re not busy highlighting each other’s absurd positions and failed careers (it’s a fertile lot, to be fair), they’re distinguishing themselves from a president who only exists in their kabuki carnival.

It is a point of pride for the GOP contenders that, unlike carnival Obama, they wouldn’t run around the world apologizing for America, nor

support sham elections in Iran. Real Obama, who lives in the land of facts with the rest of us, wouldn’t and didn’t do those things either.

They are all in fierce opposition to the so-cialist president’s redistribution of wealth. Real Obama also opposes governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods (“socialism,” accord-ing to Webster). He uses the same progressive income tax approach that the federal govern-ment has since Lincoln signed the Tax Act of 1862. (Lincoln really did that.)

This stuff kills at the debates because it gets the base worked up. They know (because they’ve been repeating it to each other) that Barack Hussein Obama won’t stop destroying America until every rich man is dead and ev-ery church is replaced with an abortion clin-ic where gay illegal immigrants can get married. But it’s a reaction to an America the rest of us just don’t live in.

The GOP convinced itself, and then the rest of America, that government is inherently bad, that all regulation hinders prosperity and all tax cuts promote growth.

We tried the Reagan ideal. The experiment failed. In the last 30 years, income inequali-ty exploded and the American middle class im-ploded, nearly decimating the achievements of New Deal Democrats. Meanwhile, corporate earnings rose to levels that would have made the Robber Barons blush and deregulation in the financial industry allowed a handful of peo-ple to send the world into a deep recession.

Mitt Romney will probably get the party’s nomination because, although even they de-spise him, he is considered the most electable. His selling point is his time as CEO of a finan-cial services company. His plan is to cut cor-porate taxes and repeal the meager regulations passed under Obama. He’s been serving the in-terests of corporations for so long, he think they’re people.

Outside the carnival, the rest of us are tired of being poor and jobless while the rich make record profits while sending the jobs overseas. We won’t elect Romney. But you could fool a Republican.

Dave Balson is a senior journalism major.

He can be reached at 581-7942 or DENopinions@gmail.com.

Dave Balson

Republican primary a fertile field of delusions

COLUMN

As usual, with the new year comes in a slew of new laws that take effect on Jan. 1. One of those new laws requires all pas-sengers, even those in the back seat of a vehicle, to wear a seat belt. Before this law was enacted, only those under the age of 19 needed to wear a seat belt, but now all passengers must.

The fine for not wearing a seat belt is $25, and the violation does not give police a right to search the vehicle. It does not apply to back seat taxi passengers, autho-rized emergency vehicles or those issued a medical exemption.

It might seem like the law is going to be a pain, and the $25 fine is definitely not something anyone just wants to give away, but in reality, the law is a good one. In the daily rush, many people don’t even both-er with a seat belt. Students who drive to class and around Charleston often make trips that are so short through streets that are so slow, a seat belt seems less beneficial and more of a hassle.

Folks should get over these excuses, and this law puts a financial incentive for them to do just that. Seat belts exist for a good reason. If you think about driving as, “the act of moving very fast on a narrow path in more than a ton of metal and glass, often in the opposite directions of oth-er fast-moving metal-glass masses, some of which are piloted by drunks,” the idea of a seat belt starts to sound downright rea-sonable.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an injury occurs in a traffic accident every 15 sec-onds nationwide and a fatality in a traffic accident occurs every 13 minutes nation-wide. In Illinois alone, there were an esti-mated 821 traffic crash fatalities in 2011. If this new law can reduce that number at all, it is worth all of the fines and frustra-tion that result.

We have already experienced how important seat belts can be, with the death of former Eastern student, Julie Berls. Berls was killed in a car accident on New Year’s Day when her car struck a utility pole. She graduated Eastern with a degree in elementary education 15 days earlier.

Though specific details of Berls’ death are still unknown, what is known is that Berls was not wearing a seat belt at the time of her accident. A seat belt could well have saved the life of a recent Eastern graduate with bright future ahead of her. The goal of this law is to limit tragedies like this in the future.

So the next time you get behind the wheel, remember not only to buckle your-self up, but remind your passengers to as well. You could be saving them of some-thing a lot more valuable than just 25 bucks.

You will not have it this easy forever, enjoy itIf you ask a student about how their break

was this week you will most likely get the same response: “it was over too soon.” As a senior all-too-aware that I’m entering what should be my last semester, I made an effort to enjoy ev-ery single day of break. This conscious effort to be lazy turned out to be stressful because of how aware I was that the break was coming to an end.

There were obvious benefits to focusing on each day of break. For one, I realized how long break actually is, despite it not lasting as long as we’d want. Because my last final was on Tues-day, Dec. 10, my break was 25 days long.

This means in this one break I spent more days off than the average full-time American worker has the option of taking in an entire year. According to a November 2011 survey by Expedia, the average American worker earned 14 vacation days in 2011. Despite earning 14 days off, the average worker only took 12 of those 14 days off.

When my winter break was only half over I had already taken more days off than the aver-age American had in one year.

Similar studies suggest American workers willingly take less than the maximum vacation time offered to them.

A study by Hotwire found that the aver-age American employee leaves 6.2 days of paid vacation days unused per year. JetBlue found most Americans will forfeit an average of 11 days and that 57 percent of working Ameri-cans have unused vacation days.

Workers in other developed countries don’t have the same reservations with taking time for leisure. According to the Expedia survey, French, Brazillian and Spanish workers earned, on average, 30 vacation days in 2011 and didn’t skip out on a single one.

Why do so many Americans give up their va-cation time? Responders to the Expedia study’s most cited excuse was they could not afford to travel. The second-highest excuse was a lack of planning.

I think the true answer to why Americans

knowingly give up vacation time is something deeper than the cost and lack of planning. Lei-sure should be a critical part of everyone’s lives, and this isn’t just the opinion of a college stu-dent coming off of a super-sized vacation.

A friend of mine who took the Recreation Administration Dept.’s class “The Challenge of Leisure” said they learned that Americans don’t view leisure time as an essential part of their lives and instead see it as a luxury.

Leisure time is essential and anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to bore you to death. I hate old adages, but there is some truth to this one: “on your deathbed, no one regrets not spending more time at the office.” Unless your job is painting swimsuits on supermodels, the most important moments of your life are going to be outside of the 9-5 grind and the work-week altogether.

Throughout the course of Eastern’s academ-ic year, students get more than three times the days off that we can expect to get in the work-force. Take advantage of the time off and make the memories you want to cherish forever.

Doug T. Graham is a senior journalism major.

He can be reached at 581-7942 or DENopinions@gmail.com.

Doug T. Graham

5T H E DA I LY E ASTE R N NEWSD A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M

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By Rachel Rodgers Administration Editor

The Graduate School won a na-tional award accompanied with $20,000 to implement five proposed programs to strengthen the quality of graduate study at Eastern.

The “Educational Testing Service/Council of Graduate Schools Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admis-sion through Completion" was ac-cepted by Robert Augustine, the dean of the Graduate School, on Dec. 9 at the 51st annual meeting of the Coun-cil of Graduate Schools.

The school also received a regional award that led to the national award.

President Bill Perry said the na-tional award is recognition of the high quality thinking in the Gradu-ate School.

“I think it shows that the Grad-uate School with faculty, programs and administrative leadership have good ideas and they know how to implement those ideas,” Perry said. “It makes our programs stronger and more attractive to graduate students applying here for study.”

The first program is to better in-form Eastern sophomores about how to prepare for future graduate study.

“There are certain activities that students should add to their curricu-lum if they plan to pursue a gradu-ate degree,” Augustine said. “One of them is to do an undergraduate re-search project, which really paves the way to graduate study, and another one would be to get involved with a faculty member by doing some sort of creative activity or research.”

A video that will be available on the Eastern website will be made pro-viding a list of activities students can engage in as a sophomore, he said.

The second program is to work to strengthen key partnerships with ex-ternal universities where many gradu-ate students come from.

Augustine said the partnerships in-clude universities in and outside of Il-linois such as the University of Illi-nois, Illinois State University, North-ern Illinois University, Indiana State University and Indiana University in Bloomington.

“We will be working more dili-gently to create some outreach pro-grams that would ensure that students from those institutions learn about opportunities for graduate study at Eastern and to ensure that they apply here because we have had really good success from students from those in-stitutions,” Augustine said.

The third program is to work with local Eastern offices to provide spe-cialized support services for first-year graduate studies students.

Augustine said the first year of graduate study is the hardest.

“It is the year that we typically loose graduate students because they can have unique challenges like hav-ing children, getting married and working full time,” he said.

The fourth program is to provide graduate students with information about what they should be doing if they choose to pursue a doctoral de-gree including engaging in graduate-level projects and working with fac-ulty.

“It is also very helpful for gradu-ate students to understand how to

get funded to get a Ph.D.,” Augustine said. “We want them to know how to be competitive for funds because it may take four or five years and it is important for them to know how to support themselves.”

The last program to be launched is to implement a scholarly summer program for high-performing stu-dents who are looking for an oppor-tunity to do more research.

It will take two years to create these programs and the $20,000 will be used to fund several graduate assis-tantships to help with the Graduate Studies Institute.

The programs comprise the Inte-grative Graduate Studies Institute, which was developed after a year-long study of the Graduate School by the Enrollment Quality and Diversi-ty Board.

“The committee led a year-long study of the graduate community here to try to understand why some programs were successful with ef-forts for recruiting and retaining high quality and diverse graduate stu-dents and if there was a way for us to share or use those success stories more broadly with the whole university,” Augustine said.

The Graduate School won the Midwestern Association of Gradu-ate Schools Regional Award in April from initiating a project called First Choice Graduate Programs developed about five years ago, which was a pro-cess to help strengthen the quality of graduate study at Eastern, Augustine said.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812

or rjrodgers@eiu.edu.

Graduate School wins national, regional award

SIGNALS, from page 1

BUCKLE, from page 1

Chambers said the new law is not supposed to infringe on the rights of Il-linoisans, but further protect them.

“There is absolutely no question that wearing a seat belt has a higher propen-sity of saving you from injury or death than does not wearing a seat belt,” Chambers said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seat belts re-duce serious crash-related injuries and deaths by about 50 percent.

John Jenkins, a junior sociology ma-jor, said he does not like to wear his seat belt while in a car because its makes him feel uncomfortable.

Jenkins said he does not see the ne-cessity in wearing a seat belt if someone is traveling a short distance.

Angela Rogers, a sophomore art ma-jor, said she always wears her seat belt and thinks people will be more likely to follow the rules if they will be fined.

“I wear my seat belt because I don’t want to fly through the front window, but I think that because there’s a pen-alty people may think twice,” Rogers said.

Brooke Jones, a junior kinesiology and sports studies major, said she finds wearing a seat belt tedious because of her small town upbringing.

“My parents never made me wear my seat belt in the backseat because I grew up in a town of 500 and I was al-ways just getting in and getting out,” Jones said.

Rogers said there is no excuse not to wear a seat belt.

Jenkins disagrees. “Sometimes you are going around

the corner and it’s not really a safety is-

sue,” he said.Jenkins also said he does not like the

work associated with trying to put on a seat belt while in the backseat.

“The belt is usually in the seat and if people are in the back with you, then it can get complicated,” he said.

Americans ages 18-24 have the highest crash-related injury rates of all adults, and ages 18-34 are less likely to wear seat belts than adults 35 or older, according to the CDC.

Danielle Sanders, a freshman com-munication disorders and sciences ma-jor, said she thinks the new law is stu-pid.

“I just don’t like to wear my seat belt in the backseat,” Sanders said. “I like to move around.”

Sanders said she especially does not like the way seat belts restricts her.

“I like to move around (in the car),” Sanders said.

The law will need to be enforced well to make an impact, or for people to adhere to it more, Sanders said.

Kiairah Lindsey, a senior health studies major, said she does not think the law will affect those determined not to wear the safety device.

Rogers said she feels like the benefits of utilizing seat belts should out way the possible discomfort.

Rogers said she has known a few people who have gotten into car acci-dents and were relatively unscathed.

Rogers said she credits their safety to their use of seat belts.

“I think if they weren’t wearing their seat belts, their injures would have been a lot more severe,” she said.

Liz Moll, a sophomore communica-

tion studies major, said she is glad the law exists and hopes people with adhere to the law.

Moll said she realized how impor-tant how seat belts were when one of her best friends was involved in a colli-sion that resulted in the deaths to peo-ple close to her.

“She was the only survivor from the crash and she lost both her dad and her sister,” Moll said. “They were hit head on by a person that was intoxicated with 47 different substances—she bare-ly survived.”

The family was on their way to Can-ada and the sister did not have her seat belt on because of the long drive, Moll said.

“(The sister) went through the wind-shield,” Moll said. “They decided to cut her off from life support because she was going to be a vegetable for the rest of her life.”

Moll said the accident changed the way she sees driving-related circum-stances.

“If my friends are like ‘I’ll be fine driving from the party’ then I’m like ‘no, give me your keys you are not driv-ing home,’” Moll said.

Moll said her friend continues to have health issues because of injuries sustained in the accident.

“She was in the hospital for months,” Moll said. “If she didn’t wear (the seat belt) she would have been gone.”

The University Police Department could not be reached for comment.

Nike Ogunbodede can be reached at 581-2812

or ovogunbodede@eiu.edu.

The other options include in-pave-ment lighting in the pedestrian cross-walks that would illuminate when someone approaches them, that can sometimes be found in airports, Nadler said.

Nadler said he believes the in-pave-ment lighting would help against dis-tracted driving because they grab mo-torists’ attention.

Crystal Grissom, a senior physical education major, said she thought the signs were a much needed addition but she did have some concerns.

“I think they’re awesome but I don’t know if anyone will obey them,” Gris-som said.

The new speedometer signs also warn motorists of their speed before they reach dangerous limits, Nadler said.

Nadler said students seemed to have appreciated the efforts that the school

has made to provide a safe environ-ment.

“Generally speaking, it has had a very positive response,” Nadler said.

Nadler said the new pedestrian crossing markers cost around $9,300 and the bill was split between the city of Charleston and Eastern.

Brenda Major, the director of admis-sions, said she thought the signs were good idea, but the amount of signs could be considered overkill.

“There are probably a couple too many,” Major said.

Major also expressed concerned about how she had witnessed motorists stopping at each crosswalk even if no pedestrians where present, which Ma-jor said could inadvertently cause an ac-cident.

Kathryn Richter can be reached at 581-2812 or kjrichter@eiu.edu.

POETRY, from page 1O’Keefe-Aptowicz described her-

self to the audience as a nerd and triv-ia buff before showing off her love of history in a poem dedicated to William Howard Taft and his famous incident involving being trapped in the White House bathtub.

She said, “How long did he sit there, cold and silent, before he realized he needed help?”

In “Lit,” she complained of Jason and biology majors “Self imposed il-literacy isn’t a turn on”, and that his “heart is so dark that even Joseph Con-rad couldn’t see it,” in reference to Jo-seph Conrad’s 1903 novella Heart of Darkness.

O’Keefe-Aptowicz gave advice to the audience members who are considering publishing their own works to think of failure not in a negative connotation.

“I went through a period of rejection

that was really dark,” she said. “Even if you face rejection, see if you can repur-pose it towards your goals.”

Scott Crawford, professor emeritus of kinesiology, said O’Keefe-Aptowicz was vivacious on stage.

“She gave a very athletic perfor-mance,” Crawford said. “She really connected with the audience.”

O’Keefe-Aptowicz said presenting at Eastern was different from performing at other universities.

Andrew Crivilare can be reached at 581-2812 or ajcrivilare@eiu.edu.

For an in-depth version of this story, visit:

dailyeasternnews.com

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For rent

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NOW RENTING FOR 2012-2013. ONE-FIVE BEDROOM HOUSES. CLOSE TO CAMPUS. CALL TOM AT 708-772-3711 OR VISIT WWW.HALLBERGRENTALS.COM__________________________1/17FALL 2012. NICE ONE AND TWO BED-ROOM APARTMENTS FROM $410 IN-CLUDING WATER AND TRASH. 217-549-5624.__________________________1/19Call about our great deals and promo-tions. Find your home in Charleston at www.lincolnwoodpinetree.com__________________________1/20Free Iphone with rental. Ask how at 217-345-6000. Great locations for 1,2,3,4 bedrooms__________________________1/20228 Polk 5bd/2bath. New floors, Kitch-en, lights, bath, appliances. HUGE porch and yard! View 228 Polk at www.eiprops.com.__________________________1/23Fresh on the market for student! BEAUTIFUL 4 bdrm house, 2.5 Bath, right across from stadium. See Pics at www.eiprops.com.__________________________1/23*PREMIER HOUSING* view your future home at www.eiprops.com__________________________1/235-6 bd ONLY 1 LEFT! INC ALL UTILITIES, 50 in FLAT SCREEN! Sign now, pay no deposit til Feb 2021 217.345.6210 www.eiprops.com__________________________1/23ONLY ONE 7 BD LEFT!! INC ALL UTILI-TIES & 50 in FLAT SCREEN. Sign now, pay no deposit t i l Feb 2012 217.345.6210 www.eiprops.com.__________________________1/23Available Immediately! 1 bedroom apartment in quiet, off-campus neigh-borhood. Nice sized, good parking. Pets possible. 217-840-6427__________________________1/27Houses for rent Fall 2012. One large 3 bedroom house CA, W/D, $300/month per person includes trash. Also, one 4 bedroom house close to campus CA, W/D, $325/month per person includes trash. 10-12 month lease. Call 217-549-5402.__________________________1/27VILLAGE RENTALS 2012-2013. 3 & 4 BR houses w/ washers & dryers. 1 & 2 BR apartments w/ water & trash pu in-cluded. Close to campus and pet friendly. Call 217-345-2516 for appt.__________________________1/27Nice 3 bedroom house, 3 blocks from campus. W/D, dishwasher included, large backyard. 217-690-4976__________________________1/276 Bedroom house for Fall 2012. 2 Bath. Close to EIU. Air-conditioned, locally owned and managed. No pets. Call for appointment 345-7286 www.jwilliamsrentals.com__________________________1/27Available now and for January: 1 and 2 person apartments. Very nice. Locally owned and managed. No pets. Call 345-7286 www.jwilliamsrentals.com__________________________1/27NICE 2 BR APTS 2001 S 12th ST & 1305 18th ST Stove, Frig, microwave Trash pd. Ph 217-348-7746 www.CharlestonILApts.com__________________________1/272BR APTS, 955 4th ST Stove, frig, mi-crowave, dishwasher Garage. Water & Trash pd. Ph 217-348-7746 www.CharlestonILApts.com__________________________1/27DELUXE 1 BR APTS 117 W Polk & A ST 1306 & 1308 Arthur Ave Stove, frig, mi-crowave Dishwasher, washer/dryer Trash pd. Ph 217-348-7746 www.CharlestonILApts.com__________________________1/27AVAILABLE JANUARY Deluxe 1 BR, 905 A Street, Stove, frig., microwave, dish-washer, washer/dryer. Trash paid. 217-348-7746 www.CharlestonILApts.com__________________________1/27

For rent

3 Bedroom Townhouse nearly new construction/ Must See. 9th & Buchan-an. Call 630-505-8374. 24 hours.__________________________1/27Available June 2012. Nice 1 bedroom apartment off campus. Quiet area, newly updated, good parking. Pets al-lowed. 217-840-6427__________________________1/27Available June '12: 4 BR 2 BA house re-cently remodeled. Great parking, plen-ty of space. Great Condition! Call Todd 840-6427.__________________________1/273 BR 2 BA house, new with everything. 11/2 block to campus. 345-9595 ei-ustudentrentals.com__________________________1/276 bedroom, 2 bath home on "Campus Side of Lincoln". Trash & yard service included. No pets. (217) 345-5037. www.chucktownrentals.com__________________________1/31NOW LEASING. www.chucktownrentals.com__________________________1/313 & 4 bedroom homes available fall 2012. Trash & yard service included. No pets. (217) 345-5037. www.chucktownrentals.com__________________________1/31Available Now. Quiet location. 605 W Grant, 2 BR, stove, frig, dishwasher, W/D hookup, trash pd. 217-348-7746. www.charlestonILAPTS.com.__________________________1/31LEASING NOW FOR AUGUST 2012. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 BEDROOMS. GREAT LOCA-TIONS, REASONABLE RATES, AWE-SOME AMENITIES! CALL TODAY FOR YOUR APARTMENT SHOWING. 345-5022 CHECK US OUT ON THE WEB www.unique-properties.net__________________________1/31

For rent

LEASING NOW FOR AUGUST 2012 SOUTH CAMPUS SUITES, 2 BR / 2 BA APARTMENTS, 2 BR TOWNHOUSES & 1 BEDROOM FLATS. FREE TANNING, FIT-NESS AND LAUNDRY. AWESOME NEW LOCATION, CLOSE TO CAMPUS WITH RENTAL RATES YOU CAN AFFORD! CALL TODAY FOR YOUR SHOWING 345-5022 OR CHECK US OUT @ www.unique-properties.net__________________________1/316 bedroom house. 1906 S. 11th. Base-ments. W/D D/W. Includes studio cot-tage. $345 each. 217-549-3273.__________________________1/315 bedroom, 2 bath, w/d, d/w, patio, 1836 S. 11th $345 each. 217-549-3273__________________________1/316 bedroom 2 bath house, 1521 S. 2nd, w/d, a/c, $345 each, 2012-13. 217-549-3273__________________________1/31Female housemates. 1808 9th St. Pri-vate rooms. 217-549-3273__________________________1/31Fall 2012 very nice 5 bedroom house, close to campus, 5 sinks, 3 showers, 2 laundry areas. Need a group of 4 or 5 females. 1837 11th St. No pets please. Call 217-728-7426__________________________1/314 bedroom house 1218 Division $260 each next to city park. 3 or 4 bedroom very nice 3 level townhouse Brittany Ridge $300/$260. 2 bedroom fur-nished Apt at 1111 2nd St $275 each including water/trash. (217)549-1957.__________________________1/31$175 per student for a 3 bedroom fur-nished apartment for 2012-2013 school year, 10 month lease. Call 345-3664__________________________1/31

For rent

6,4,3 bedrooms. Close to campus. Cathy 254-1311. Don 259-2296. dcburge@gmail.com.___________________________2/13, 2 BEDROOM HOUSES; 2 BEDROOM 2 BATH APARTMENTS 1026 EDGAR. $275/MONTH. 549-4074, 348-5032.___________________________2/1Aug 2012. 1,3,4 bedroom apartments 1812 9th; 1205/1207 Grant 3 bedroom Apartments. 348-0673/549-4011 www.sammyrentals.com___________________________2/1Now renting Fall 2012 6 bedroom and 4 bedroom within walking distance from campus. Call 345-2467___________________________2/1BRITTANY RIDGE TOWNHOUSES for 3-5 persons, unbeatable floor plan, 3 & 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 baths, deck, central air, washer, dryer, dishwasher. Free trash and parking, low utility bills, local re-sponsive landlord. Starting @ $200/person. Available July 2012. Lease length negotiable. 217-246-3083___________________________2/3

For rentFor rent

FOR FALL 2012. VERY NICE 1,2,3,4,6,7,8 BEDROOM HOUSES, TOWNHOUSES AND APARTMENTS. ALL EXCELLENT LOCATIONS. FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL US AT 217-493-7559 OR www.myeiuhome.com.__________________________2/13Very nice 2 bedroom house, close to campus. $640 per month 345-3232 2/16APARTMENTS FOR RENT. SUMMER & FALL 2012. 1 & 2 BEDROOM. CLOSE TO CAMPUS. $275-$375. CALL 345-9422__________________________2/291 1/2 BLOCKS NORTH OF OLD MAIN ON 6th Street 3 bedroom house avail-able August 2012. 217-348-8249 www.ppwrentals.com___________________________3/9NEW 1 BEDROOM APARTMENTS!! Available August 2012. 3 blocks from campus on Garfield Avenue. 217-348-8249 www.ppwrentals.com___________________________3/9WWW.PPWRENTALS.COM OR 217-348-8249___________________________3/9GREAT LOCATIONS- 1 and 3 bedroom apartments available August 2012. 217-348-8249 www.ppwrentals.com___________________________3/9

ACROSS 1 Gambol about 7 [See circled letters]14 Tart, in a way15 Schubert

masterpiece16 Renée of silent

films17 ’84 Super Bowl

victor18 [See circled letters]20 Pinches21 It comes in a

chicken variety22 Niña’s title: Abbr.25 Prefix with center26 “Psst!”27 Dash reading:

Abbr.30 Blotto31 S’pose33 Emotional

outburst35 [See circled letters]37 Uncivilized

40 Headquarters for UBS and Credit Suisse

44 Flock female45 Sequence with

two hyphens: Abbr.

46 Anderson who directed “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

47 Bird sound48 Very willing50 Half-___ (coffee

order)51 Rockefeller Center

muralist52 [See circled letters]57 Went downhill59 Neighbor of

Suriname60 Male gland61 Santa’s little ___62 [See circled letters]63 Rendezvous

DOWN 1 Less convoluted

2 Bureaucratic hoops

3 Roundish with an irregular border

4 They’re standard 5 Online tech news

resource 6 Epiphanies 7 Fire drill activity,

briefly 8 So so? 9 Old Apple product

marketed to schools

10 Gets perfectly11 Ward worker12 Einstein’s “never”13 Good listener?15 “A Clockwork

Orange” narrator19 N.H.L. great Patrick23 “My country,

___ …”24 Balance provider,

for short26 Parts of el día27 Big D cager

28 Struggle over a purse29 Start of a spelling?32 Anti-Bond org.33 ___ Park (Pirates’

stadium)34 Gen ___36 A in German class?37 Do a dog trick38 Cobbler’s need

39 It has many rods41 Ones at the pole

positions?42 Princess’ headwear43 Active military

conflicts46 W.W. II female49 Use a divining rod50 Algonquian tribe

51 How a card sharp plays

53 Bit of dust54 Jason who sang “I’m

Yours,” 200855 90° from sur56 Violinist Leopold57 No. with a decimal58 Celestial body

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

PUZZLE BY DANIEL A. FINAN

K N E W S A L S A D A RG O T H A T E U P A O K IB R A I N W A V E S F U E L

L E S L E Y C A B L EL E T S R O L L P A R L A YA B I T O F P I N C ET O M F U L L C I R C L EE L E N A S A E T Y R O SR I S I N G S T A R O T T

S T A I R O P T S T OB B Q P I T P A S S E S A SL O U I S C A R E E NU S A C Z E N E R C A R D ST U R K I N A N E C I A OO N E G O M A D E M M Y

For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-814-5554.Annual subscriptions are available for the best of Sunday crosswords from the last 50 years: 1-888-7-ACROSS.AT&T users: Text NYTX to 386 to download puzzles, or visit nytimes.com/mobilexword for more information.Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 2,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).Share tips: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/learning/xwords.

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25 26 27 28 29 30

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37 38 39 40 41 42 43

44 45 46 47

48 49 50 51

52 53 54 55 56

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Edited by Will Shortz No. 1208

Advertise here!

581-2812

Don’t just sit there!Advertise!581-2812

7T H E DA I LY E ASTE R N NEWSD A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M

T H U R S DAY, J A N UA RY 12, 2012N o. 1 7 1 , V O L U M E 9 6

S P O R TS

McKinnie, a versatile forward, has shown a lot of progression since his freshman season. He averages 11.4 point per game on 55 percent shoot-ing from the field and leads the team with 7.4 rebounds per game.

Joey Miller has been a good com-pliment to Granger in the backcourt, scoring 10.2 points per game and shooting 33 percent from beyond the three-point line.

The Skyhawk’s defense has strug-

gled this season as they have given up 74.2 points per game, while the Pan-ther’s offense has been playing well, averaging 71 points per game, which ranks third in the OVC.

Tip-off is schedule for 7 p.m. in Lantz Arena.

Rob Mortell can be reached at 581-7944 or

at rdmortell@eiu.edu.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Staff Report

In the most recent CollegeInsid-er.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, the Eastern women's basketball team is ranked No. 24.

Eastern enters the poll as the No. 24 team after being previously un-ranked. The Panthers currently hold a record of 11-4 after a 73-70 win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. The Panthers are the only representative of the Ohio Valley Conference, hold-ing a record of 2-0 in conference play.

The No. 1 team in the poll is Green Bay, who received 30 first place points. Green Bay has a record of 13-0. The only other team receiving a first place vote in the poll was No. 3 Gonzaga.

Along with Eastern, San Diego was the only other new team to enter the poll.

The Panthers will be in action again at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday when the team will take on OVC foe, Southeast Missouri in Lantz Arena.

Panthers enter Mid-Major Poll

The Eastern men's basketball team is set to resume conference action Thursday night against Tennessee-Martin. The Panthers have rebound-ed from a four game skid and have kicked off the new year with back-to-back wins over Southern-Illinois Ed-wardsville and Houston Baptist, re-spectively. The Panthers are in need of a few quality wins and will look to improve to 2-1 in Ohio Valley Con-ference action with a win over the Skyhawks.

Although the Panthers have man-aged to stay above the .500 mark throughout the non-conference por-tion of the season, the OVC is a tough but balanced conference, and outside of Murray State, anyone could beat anyone on a given night.

The Panthers have a favorable start to OVC action, as they will play four of their next five games against teams sitting in the bottom four of the con-

ference standings. The relatively easy start to the schedule should give the Panthers the momentum they need to battle their way through the con-ference portion of their schedule. Fol-lowing the five game stint against lower competition, the Panthers will face the tough task of knocking off the No. 14 ranked Murray State Rac-ers on the road.

The Racers got the best of the Pan-thers in the first match up of the sea-son as Murray State beat up on the Panthers 73-40. If you are a college basketball fan, you know an upset can happen on any given night, and that

win alone can completely change the direction of one team’s season.

I witnessed this from the front row of the Orange Krush, Illinois’ student section, when the University of Illi-nois Fighting Illini upset the No. 5 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes backed by a career high 43 points from junior guard Brandon Paul. The final buzz-er was followed by hundreds of Illi-ni fans, myself included, rushing the court of the Assembly Hall and cele-brating like we had just won the na-tional championship. Like the Illini, the Panthers are one of those teams searching for a season defining win and they will have the chance to make some history of their own if they can record an upset against the potential-ly undefeated Murray State Racers, on Jan. 28.

Jordan Pottorff can be reached at 581-7942

or jbpottorff@eiu.edu.

VIE WS

Upsets can happen anytime

DANNY DAMIANI | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS Senior forward Chantelle Pressley breaks through defenders to make a shot during a Dec. 5 women's basketball game against Western Illinois in Lantz Arena.

STREAK, from page 8

Jordan Pottorff

By The Associated Press

John Lucas III wrapped himself in towels and sat down at his locker with a bucket of ice near his feet. After his first NBA start, the Chicago back-up guard was weary and had earned a rest.

Replacing injured MVP Derrick Rose, Lucas kept shooting Wednes-day night. He put up 28 shots from

the field during a 45-minute, 38-sec-ond outing and scored a career-high 25 points to lead Chicago to a 78-64 over the Washington Wizards.

Lucas, starting for the first time in his 70-game NBA career, was at the point in place of MVP Rose, who was out with a sprained big left toe.

Lucas also had career bests with eight assists and eight rebounds, while making 11 of his 28 attempts.

Jordan Crawford paced Washing-ton, 1-9 and coming off its first win a night earlier against Toronto, with 14 points. JaVale McGree had 14 re-bounds and 10 points for the Wiz-ards, who shot just 31 percent.

The Bulls are hoping to have Rose back Friday night in Boston, but Lu-cas stepped in and was more than ef-fective in his absence.

Lucas leads Bulls over Wizards

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State

8T H E DA I LY E ASTE R N NEWSD A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M

T H U R S DAY, J A N UA RY 12, 2012N o. 1 7 1 , V O L U M E 9 6

SportSSports EditorDomonic Renzetti217 • 581 • 2812DENSportsdesk@gmail.com

@DEN_Sports tweet of the day: 50 days until the #OVC basketball tournament.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Entering the game on a two game winning streak, Eastern’s men’s bas-ketball team will look to continue its momentum against Ohio Valley Con-ference opponent Tennessee-Martin.

The Skyhawks have struggled mightily early in their conference schedule. At this point Tennessee-Martin is 0-5 in OVC games, while the Panthers have posted a 1-1 re-cord. The Skyhawks are one of two teams in the OVC without a confer-ence win. The only other team with-out a win is preseason favorite Austin Peay.

Last season the Skyhawks domi-nated the season series, winning both games, which was highlighted by a 19-point win in Lantz Arena. Ten-nessee-Martin leads the all-time series 17-15; however, Eastern head coach Mike Miller is 4-8 against the Sky-hawks.

Tennessee-Martin is led by soph-omore forward Mike Liabo. Liabo leads the team in points scored, re-bounds and assists. He averages 15.1 points per game and provides the Skyhawks with a threat from beyond the three-point line, shooting 36 per-cent this season on 117 attempts.

Freshman forward Myles Tay-lor gives Tennessee-Martin a sec-ond scoring option. The 6-foot-7-inch forward is averaging 13.1 points per game, while shooting 51 percent from the field.

The Panthers have three players av-eraging double-digits in scoring: se-nior guard Jeremy Granger, sopho-more forward Alfonzo McKinnie and freshman guard Joey Miller.

Granger, team captain, leads the team with 16.4 points per game, but has a knack for getting his teammates involved. He also leads the team with 4.1 assists.

Panthers look to extend streakBy Rob Mortell Staff Reporter

By Nick Blankenship Staff Reporter

Eastern’s men’s and women’s swim-ming teams had a busy winter break.

The Panthers had a month and a half break off from competitive swim-ming before their two meets over break. The Panthers have been off since last competing in the House of Champions Invitational on Nov. 11-12 of last year.

The teams returned to school on Dec. 28 and then took a ten-hour bus ride to Auburn, Ala., for an exhibition contest with the Auburn Tigers men’s and women’s swimming teams.

Junior Chacour Koop expressed that he enjoyed himself at Auburn and that he liked their facility.

“It was a lot of fun, the team was unified and supportive of one anoth-er,” he said.

Koop feels that this team unity will make a difference with his men’s team changing its 0-3 season around.

“It makes a world of difference when your team is engaged or disen-gaged.”

After the trip to Auburn, the teams traveled to Tunacia, Miss., for the Tu-nica Invitational where the women took first, and the men placed sec-

ond. The teams did not return back to school until this past Saturday.

Koop suggested that if they were to travel to another campus next sea-son that it would be nice to travel to Stanford University or the Universi-ty of California because those swim-ming teams are constantly competing for national championships.

Eastern, for the first time this the season, had one of their own re-warded with the Athlete of the Week Award by the Summit League. Se-nior Matt O’Hagan won his first Ath-lete of the Week Award for his per-formance at the Tunica Invitational. O’Hagan won the 100 and 200-meter breaststrokes with times of 58.75 and 2:12.76. He was also involved in the swimming of the 200 and 400-meter medley relay teams.

The Panthers will compete in both a home and away match this week-end. They will first clash in Muncie, Ind., at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Ball State before returning home on Saturday to face their longtime rivals, Western Illi-nois. The meet is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Padovan Pool in Lantz Arena.

Nick Blankenship can

be reached at 581-7942 or nrblankenship@eiu.edu.

SWIMMING

Panthers swim past competition over break

K AROLINA STR ACK | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WSRed-shirt junior guard Taylor Jones defends Oakland City's junior guard Mitch Stahl during a Dec. 7 men's bas-ketball game in Lantz Arena.

DANNY DAMIANI | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS Freshman Ryan Krug competes in the men's 1000 yard freestyle Oct. 23, 2011, during a home swimming match against Evansville in Padovan Pool of Lantz Arena.

Staff Report

Former Eastern women’s basket-ball player Kelly (Powell) Richter was selected to the Indiana High School Hall of Fame’s Silver Anniversary Team.

Richter was one of 18 former Indi-ana high school basketball players se-lected to the team.

Richter played for Eastern from 1987 to 1991 and was a member of the 1987-88 Eastern team that won the Gateway Conference Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tourna-ment.

Richter played in 84 games during her basketball career at Eastern. Prior to attending Eastern, Richter totaled 1,587 career points, set 19 school re-cords and was named team MVP each of her four years at Silver Creek High School.

For her career she averaged 23.1 points, 10.9 rebounds and shot 57 percent from the field. Richter also excelled off the court, as she was named to the Dean’s List and graduat-ed Summa Cum Laude while at East-ern.

Following her graduation from Eastern, Richter attended the Indiana University School of Medicine be-fore being named team physician for Vanderbilt University for the 2001-02 season. She currently works as the staff physician at Cleveland Clin-ic and serves as the team physician of Baldwin Wallace College.

Former Panther enters Hall of Fame

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

STREAK, page 7

Richter played for Eastern from ‘87 to ‘91