Along with the vacations, briefcases and dishes comes another long awaited college graduation gift-- $20,000 owed to the government.

But the reality is that many students are going broke. According to finaid.org, among graduating 4-year undergraduate students who applied for federal student aid, 86.3% borrowed to pay for their edu-cation and the average cumulative debt was $24,651. This means that if a student pays the average of $20,000 on a 10- year payment plan with an interest rate of 6.8%, they will end up paying $230 a month and putting $27,619 back into the government’s pocket, with almost $8,000 in interest rates alone. This amount can

become staggering to graduates who have other bills, a family, and additional finan-cial burdens.

Many students worry about what the future holds for them, and how they are going to pay off the debt that they have created.

“I have taken out student loans and even though I got decent interest rates on them, I’ll still be paying a lot more than the loans themselves were worth,” said sophomore Chelsi Nelson. “I hate the idea of graduating with debt, but hopefully I can take advantage of my education and find a career where I can pay it off ahead of schedule.”

Other students who are thinking about attending graduate school have to face the mountain of debt that will be added to their already high loan amount.

“I’m in debt up to my eyeballs,” said

senior Bonnie Boone. “I wasn’t one of those lucky kids whose parents had saved up for my ‘college fund.’ I flick rubber bands at those kids. I’m not thrilled with the prospect of paying my loans back when I graduate and am considering go-ing to graduate school and racking up THOUSANDS more for the sole purpose of postponing repayment...oh, and obtain-ing a more lucrative job in the future.”

There are three different categories of education loans: student loans (Stafford and Perkins), parent loans (PLUS), and private student loans (or alternative stu-dent loans), according to finaid.org. A fourth type of education loan, the consoli-dation loan, allows the borrower to lump all of their loans into one loan for simpli-fied payment.

Huntsville, TexasVol 115— Issue 12 Tuesday, February 23, 2010

INDEX

Viewpoints................page 2Campus................page 3

Entertainment........page 5 Sports....................page 6

SPORTS FEATURE PRESENTATIONEntertainment editor Kevin Jukkola gives a snapshot into the mystery behind “Shutter Island”. SEE page 5

Nation & World...page 4

Wednesday, Feb. 24Partly Cloudy

51°/30° 20%

Tuesday, Feb. 23Rain/Snow

41°/30° 100%

SEE page 6

Women’s basketball team shoot for playoffs

— See DEBT, page 3

By Kristin MeyerSenior Reporter

Variety of repayment options and forgiveness awards offered to students under the surge of interest rates on loans

University groups are invited to send representa-tives to a meeting on Thurs-day (Feb. 25), to discuss a campus-wide effort to pro-vide pre-approved health kits for Haitian earthquake relief.

The meeting for “Bear-kats for Haiti” will be in

Lowman Student Center Room 315 at 4:30 p.m.

Organizers include Rick Carpenter of the Sam Hous-ton Press, John Yarabeck of the Dean of Students’ Of-fice, and Max Adams of the campus Wesley Founda-tion.

For more information, contact Carpenter at jr-carpenter@shsu.edu or 936.294.1858.

One sharp shooting Sam Houston State student will win a year’s lease at The Grove apartments for the 2010-11 school year, and as many as 800 participants will take home a prize at “The Great Bearkat Shootout, pre-sented by The Grove.”

The “Shootout” will be held after the SHSU-Mc-Neese State game Wednes-day, Feb. 24, and with the field paired down to two fi-nalists for the SHSU-UTA home finale Saturday, Feb. 27, at Johnson Coliseum. Tip-off for both games is 7 p.m.

The Grove, open for the fall semester in 2010, will feature luxury off-campus

living with private bedroom suites and a clubhouse load-ed with amenities. The Grove is located at 2101 Syca-more Avenue. The Grove’s telephone number is (936) 291-0324 and the website is www.gogrove.com<http://www.gogrove.com> .

The first 800 students to walk through the door for the McNeese game Wednesday, Feb. 24, will receive an of-ficial entry form from The Grove to participate in “The Great Bearkat Shootout.”

The contest begins Wednesday as soon as the fi-nal buzzer sounds to end the game. Each contestant comes onto the Johnson Coliseum floor to shoot free throws until they miss or make as many as five in a row.— See GREAT, page 6

By Paul RidingsSports Information

Enter to win“Great Bearkat Shootout’ to give away prizes

Swimming in a sea of debt

Financial Literacy Week

SHSU Organizations Invited To Help With Haitian ReliefBy Jennifer GaunttSHSU Public Relations

TWO DAYFORECAST

— See WEEK, page 3

By Jessica PriestAssociate News Editor

Center reveals the costs of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco products

In a lecture held Mon-day morning, Jacki Bross-man-Ashorn, the assistant director of the Student Money Management Cen-ter, informed students on just how much a night out can cost them. The pre-sentation, entitled “Mon-ey, Money, Money – Can You Afford the HIGH?”, demonstrated to attendees just how high the cost stu-dents face each year can rise when they indulge in drugs, alcohol and to-bacco.

“We’re in college,

and we tend to get car-ried away with how much we’re spending without even realizing it,” said sophomore Brandon Ware. “Instead of saving that money for important stuff, we’re spending it all on alcohol.”

According to statistics from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, underage drinking costs rise more than $58 bil-lion dollars every year in the United States. This, MADD representatives assert, is enough money to buy every public school student a state-of-the-art computer.

Spending the night away

Joe Buvid The Houstonian

Sam Houston State vs. McNeese State game Let’s fill Johnson ColiseumBEARKAT SHOOTOUTWednesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. First 800 students get chance to win

VIEWPOINTSPage 2 The Houstonian Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Dear Sam Houston Students, Staff and Faculty and Alum-ni:

The Houstonian would not survive were it not for the con-tinued involvement and dedication of the SHSU student body. We welcome all column submissions and letters to the editor. If at any time you feel the need to express an opinion, please do not hesitate to email your thoughts or drop by our office in the Dan Rather, room 210 in the communications building. We look forward to hearing from you and thank you as always for your continued support of the Houstonian.

Heath WierckViewpoints Editorhaw002@shsu.edu

Letter to the Student Body

The individual opinions on the Viewpoints page are not necessarily affiliated with the view of The Housto-nian or SHSU. The Houstonian is published semi-week-ly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is a news publication of Sam Houston State University, a member of the Texas State University system, and is produced by students. It is self-supporting and welcomes all advertisers. Those interested in placing ads or classifieds should call (936) 294-4864. The Houstonian is a member of the Associ-ated Press.

SECTION EDITORS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The HoustonianEditorial

Lotis Butchko....................................................................Senior EditorJoe Buvid.............................................................................Photo EditorJessica Priest..................................................................Associate EditorHeath Wierck..............................................................Viewpoints EditorMike Silva...........................................................................Sports EditorKevin Jukkola........................................................Entertainment EditorThomas Merka...................................................................Web Editor

Meagan Ellsworth...............................................................936-294-1505

FACULTY ADVISORPatsy Ziegler.....................................................................936-294-1499

STAFFKristin Meyer.................................................................Senior ReporterBrandon Scott.................................................................Sports ReporterJohn Rudolph.......................................................................Photographer

AdvertisingBUSINESS MANAGERTammie Nokes.................................................................936-294-1500

STAFFBrad Basker.........................................................Advertising Relations Brittany Hampton...............................................Advertising Manager Brittany Pires.......................................................Production Manager

Tuesday’s Issue............... Friday at 2:00 p.m.Thursday’s Issue........... Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.Advertising

Deadlines

With the Thanksgiving break approaching, we at The Houstonian decided to lighten the mood and take a look at the not-so-serious side of Turkey Day. After all, we all need something funny to get us through the days with crazy families.

Paws Up, Paws Down

In this section of the opinions page, we take a look at some various news stories around campus and give the parties involved either a “paws up” for a good job, or a “paws down” for a not so good job.

“Paws UP” to the Bearkat ladies basketball team win-ning their second conference game in a row.

“Paws DOWN” to the Bearkat men’s basketball team for losing their first conference game this past weekend to UTSA.

A big time “Paws UP” to team USA beating Canada in ice hockey on Sunday night, succeeding to the quarterfinals.

“Paws DOWN” to more cold weather hitting Huntsville this week, and possibly bringing snow. Enough is enough, bring on summer weather please.

The challenge that is lentMike Silva shares his view of the different challenges involved with partaking in lent.

About a week ago from today, I did what most people do this time of the year: live out all my last second vices before deciding what to give up for lent.

Electing what to give up for 40 days is always a challenge for me. I like to give up something that is detrimental to my daily routine, demonstrating my will power as well as improving my over-all quality of living. As I was enjoying the Taco Bell “Barkley Box,” as I like to call it, it didn’t take long for me to real-ize my biggest weakness staring me in the eyes: fast food.

Fast food is a college student’s best friend. What’s not to love? It’s cheap, tasty, and obvious-ly fast. While running to and from classes, trying to find time to squeeze in a meal that will efficient-ly do its job of filling me up quickly, fast food was my go-to guy. But I don’t need to tell you twice of

the wrongdoings it does to everyone’s health, hence my choice to rid of it.

I began my journey by finding healthy al-ternatives all last week. I found myself eating a lot of sandwiches, cereal, and protein meal bars,

all the ignoring the calls of fast food. Little did I know, temptation was ev-erywhere, trying its hard-est to make me fold.

First, I dealt with tele-vision advertisements, promoting the very thing I was attempting to re-sist. There were as many fast food commercials on TV as there were Tiger Woods mistress revela-tions. It drove me insane.

I didn’t have enough fingers to count all the Taco Bell “5 Buck Box”

commercials, or all of the free food promos, like free-pancakes Tuesday at IHOP and the new “buy a large drink get a free grilled sandwich” Jack In the Box promo.

In an attempt to es-cape these overwhelm-ing advertising schemes,

I decided to walk to the store Sunday and pick up something to snack on. This was maybe my worst decision yet.

I didn’t think a simple walk to the store would surround me in the big-gest temptation yet: an abundance of junk-food litter. There was a Whataburger bag, a Jack In the Box burger wrap-per, and yes, even Taco Bell trash.

If it was a TV ad, I could change the channel.

If there was a free-food promo, I could ignore it or erase it. But there, in front of my face, was fast food paraphernalia. How terrifying.

I half expected Ronald McDonald to ring me up at the corner store.

Nevertheless, I fought the urges and am proud to say that I am still “fast-food free.” I am yet to fall to the seductive red-head from Wendy’s, and Sonic has not yet claimed me a victim of gluttony. In the end, I will say I resisted temptation and fought my cravings through to Easter by conquering my cravings. I will only fail if I am awakened by the Burger King one night in the middle of my slum-ber, holding a Whopper over my head.

Mike Silva is the Sports Editor for The Houstonian. He is a Junior Print Jour-nalism major, Spanish mi-nor.

“But there, in front of my face, was fast food paraphernalia. How terrifying.”

Comic courtesy of comics.com

Comic courtesy of comics.com

What’s on your television?Meagan Ducic talks about children’s tele-vision shows and how they can be misleading.

Many television shows marketed towards children today are not suitable for young viewers. While there may not be swear words or nudity, there are still other things to watch out for.

Take the Disney Channel’s “Wizards of Waverly Place” for instance, it seems to be intentionally written to make parents look like morons. When one of the three children ignores rules or advice from their parents, somehow everything ends up fantastic.

Shows like this say to today’s youth, “There is no need to listen to your old, dumb parents; just do what you want, cross your fingers and everything will work out in the end.”

The show is marketed for tweens, and I have had to explain to my 5-year-old about thirty times why he can’t watch it. I don’t say because it’s too old for him; that isn’t my issue. I decide what he can watch, not a rating system, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable encouraging my son to watch that show at any age.

The main character, Alex Russo, is in her early

teens. She’s lazy, shows no interest in school, has a sassy attitude and frequently lies to her parents. How does a character like this help young people grow into happy, quality adults? Children go through so many changes before they reach their twenties; the thought of adding one more reason for them to think their parents are stupid should make any mother boldly object.

Another Disney gem is “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.” Again, marketed towards eight-to-twelve-year-olds, and again unacceptable. The relationship between the young twin brothers, Zack and Cody, and their mother is rarely showcased and not the cause for concern. However, there are subtle sexual references that are inappropriate. The boys can’t be more than twelve and many times deliver one-liners that, hopefully, most

twelve-year-olds wouldn’t even understand.

With children and teens having their first sexual experiences earlier and earlier, it seems irresponsible to throw in these cheap jokes. At best they confuse the viewers, and at worst they further the belief that this type of behavior is alright, or normal.

While trying to find a suitable replacement for

these shows I thought of old cartoons like, “The Road Runner,” “Tom & Jerry” and “Bugs Bunny.” I grew up watching these and still feel a sense of nostalgic joy when I watch them now.

But at a closer look, these shows are very violent and promote the idea that death is an impermanent thing. Getting smashed overhead with an anvil, falling from steep cliffs and having random body parts explode all have little to no lasting effect on the

characters. Much like many video games, these beloved classics make it hard for children to comprehend the idea of death, an already difficult topic for them to understand.

I do not believe these programs should be banned from television, or even that they are overall “bad” TV shows. What I am advocating is the use of parental restrictions on any unhealthy additions to a child’s life. There are many programs available that do not give children a false or blurred understanding of the world.

Do not let the fact that so many other kids are watching these shows have any impact on your decision. You are responsible for raising your child, no one else’s, and you should never relinquish your right to say no.

Meagan Ducic is a guest columnist for The Houstonian. She is a Senior Print Journalism major, English minor.

“What I am advocating is the use of parental restrictions...”

Comics for thought

CAMPUSTuesday, February 23, 2010 The Houstonian, Page 3

Saving for spring breakKat2Kat counselors show students how good budgeting practices can really take you places

Michaela Keck | The HoustonianMONEY BOOTH: More than 30 students stopped by the “Money Booth” yesterday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to grab some cash and learn about the different tax brackets in the U.S. SHSU student Rosa-lin Lambey won $50, but will only recieve $33.50 after taxes.

Still not sure how to af-ford to do anything on Spring Break? On Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. in Lowman Student Center Room 320, Kat2Kat Counselors will host “Sav-ing for Spring Break”. The event will cover how to bud-get and plan for the break as well as provide cheap travel ideas in Texas, other states and even other countries.

So while the countdown to Spring Break is well un-derway, Kat2Kat counselors are urging students not to give up hope on planning their dream vacation. Before giving in to a week of televi-sion and potato chips, they say, consider a few cheap and fun alternatives to spend your week.

There are plenty of amaz-ing places to spend Spring Break right here in the Lone Star State. Enjoy the great outdoors in any of the four national forests in Texas. Camping in the Sam Hous-ton National Forest is inex-pensive and enjoyable.

Also, consider getting a group together for an All- American road trip. See the wonder of Texas or explore the legacies of other states.

Another great idea comes from Mass Communication major Daniel Becker, who is going on a mission trip this Spring Break to Arling-ton. Through hard work and good planning, Becker was able to save $200 for the trip. For six days he will be meeting new people, per-forming good community work through bible study with children and creating

an amazing resume. “I’m excited to serve oth-

ers and bond with the people that I’m going on the trip with. It should be really awesome,” said Becker.

“Student’s biggest prob-lem is planning,” said An-drew Topa, event organizer for the Student Money Man-agement Center. “Many stu-dents don’t budget money properly and don’t plan for unexpected problems.”

“I try to be smart with all my money and put every-thing I don’t need in a sav-ing account,” said Becker.

Good budgeting skills open more opportunities for social and travel events. There are cost efficient ways to celebrate Spring Break and the Student Money Management Center would like to explain how.

Contributing WriterBy Kara Vaughan

Like there are different loans, there are different ways to pay them back. There is a variety of ways that stu-dents can choose from when deciding how they are go-ing to pay their loans back, and they have usually six months for a Federal Stafford Loan(Federal Family Edu-cation Loan ProgramSM or Federal Direct Student Loan ProgramSM) or nine months for Federal Perkins Loans to begin repayment according to studentaid.ed.gov.

These types include stan-dard repayment, which allows 10 years to pay back the loans in full with a fixed amount each month; extended repay-ment, where payments are at a fixed annual or graduated re-payment amount for up to 25 years; graduated repayment, where payments start out low and increase every two years over a 10 year period or the new Income Based- Repay-ment program, where month-ly payments are capped at an amount that is intended to be affordable based on income and family size. (ALL FROM STUDENTAID.GOV)

Help is on the way though. In his 2010 State of the Union address, President Obama an-nounced a plan to help stu-dents with their mounting debt. This proposal includes capping monthly student loan payments at 10 percent and forgiving all debt after 20 years, or 10 years if the stu-dent chose a career in public service. This is an extension of the current Income Based Repayment program (IBR), which went into effect July 1, 2009, that caps monthly loan payments at 15 percent and forgives all debt after 25 years.

According to studentaid.ed.gov, students who are eli-gible for the IBR program are those whose federal student loan debt is high relative to their income and family size.

This chart might be help-ful -http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/IBRPlan.jsp

The president also plans to give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of col-lege and increase Pell Grants through a renewal of the Ele-mentary and Secondary Edu-cation Act.

The government does re-ward those students who give

back and make a difference in the nation, and under certain circumstances, the federal government will forgive all or part of an educational loan. According to finaid.org, in order to qualify for these loan forgiveness programs, a stu-dent must perform volunteer work, military service, teach or practice medicine in cer-tain types of communities, or meet other criteria specified by the forgiveness program.

Volunteer organizations that offer loan forgiveness include AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and Volunteers in Ser-vice to America (VISTA). Students who are in the Army National Guard are eligible to receive loan repayment for up to $10,000.

The reality is that college does cost a lot of money, money that students and par-ents do not have just sitting around in their pockets. The government is making im-provements to loan programs that will hopefully decrease some of the financial burden that these loans put on gradu-ates, because as President Obama said in his 2010 State of the Union address, “No one should go broke because they chose to go to college.”

From DEBT page 1

From WEEK page 1

“I’m hoping students will come to our events and take away more than what they started with,” said Brossman-Ashorn.

In addition, officers from the Huntsville Police Depart-ment will also be on campus on Thursday to speak to stu-dents about an elusive crime that plagues today’s fast-paced and high tech world: identity theft. This event, which will begin at 8 a.m. in the LSC Theater, is just one of the many programs SHSU’s Student Money Management Center has dedicated to edu-cating students about finan-cial literacy.

For more information about the Student Money Manage-ment Center and a full cal-endar of events for the 2nd “Financial Literacy Week”, please visit http://www.shsu.edu/~smmc/.

Important Dates

Students can climb their way to the top of the HKC Rock Wall from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for free as part of the “Vertical Happy Hour” event hosted by the Recreational Sports Center. For more in-formation about this event, please visit their Web site online at http://www.shsu.edu/~rca_www/ or call the Rec Sports office at 936-294-1985.

This is your last chance to see the Bearkat Men’s Basketball team in action and SHSU Athletics is asking students to pack the Johnson Coliseum for their final home game at 7 p.m. against McNeese State. In addition, the first 800 students to arrive for the pregame rally at 5:30 will be entered for a chance to win a variety of prizes. The grand prize is a year’s free lease at the Grove apartment com-plex. For more information, please visit www.gobearkats.com.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24

THURSDAY, FEB. 25

NATION & WORLDPage 4 The Houstonian Tuesday,February 23, 2010

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A cruise line says about 300 guests have fallen ill with a stomach ailment aboard a cruise to the Ca-ribbean that departed from South Carolina.

Celebrity Cruise spokes-woman Cynthia Martinez said Monday night that pas-

sengers aboard the Mercury began complaining a day ear-lier of upset stomachs, vom-iting and diarrhea. Martinez said a total of around 1,800 people are aboard. The ship left Charleston on Feb. 15.

She said the ship’s medical facilities were overwhelmed. Another doctor and nurse

came aboard in St. Kitts in the British Virgin Islands. The ship made four other stops in the Caribbean.

It’s not clear what pathogen was involved, but samples were being dropped off in Puerto Rico for testing. The ship was scheduled to return to Charleston Friday.

Cruise line: 300 sick aboard ship in Caribbean

Lawmakers to press service chiefs on reversing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ polic y for gays

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers this week will press the military’s top uni-formed officers for the first time on whether they think repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” makes sense or would be too disruptive.

The testimony from each of the service chiefs on Capitol Hill will be crucial to the de-bate in Congress on whether to repeal the 17-year-old law,

which bans gays from serving openly in the military.

President Barack Obama says the policy unfairly pun-ishes patriots who want to serve their country. Defense Secretary Robert Gates agrees and has begun a year-long study on how to mitigate the impact of lifting the ban.

Providing much-needed political cover is the chair-man of the Joint Chiefs of

Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, who has said he thinks the law unfairly forces gay troops to compromise their integrity by lying about who they are.

But lawmakers, who are divided on whether to end the ban, say they want to hear from the service chiefs. They are the ones who would be in charge of putting any chang-es in place and responding to any fallout.

Davis takes silver in 1,500, Vonn wins bronze in super-G, Ohno earns bronze in 1,000

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — More medals — but no gold — for Shani Davis, Lindsey Vonn and Apolo Anton Ohno.

Ohno’s bronze in the 1,000-meter short-track final broke a tie with Bonnie Blair as the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian. Ohno has seven career medals, includ-ing a silver in the 1,500 from earlier in these games. His medals are the most of any short-track skater.

Lee Jung-su of South Ko-rea won the gold medal, and teammate Lee Ho-suk earned

the silver.Ohno appeared relieved

as he crossed the finish line, having skated near the back of the pack early in the nine-lap race. Ohno briefly moved up to second, then dropped to last with three laps to go, forcing his rally near the end.

Davis won silver in 1,500-meter speedskating for the second straight Olympics to go with the two consecu-tive golds he’s earned in the 1,000.

His expected duel with fel-low American Chad Hedrick

— an unexpected bronze medalist in the 1,000 — never materialized. Hedrick faded on his last lap and was sixth in a race won by Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands.

Vonn settled for bronze in the super-G. Austria’s An-drea Fischbacher pulled off the upset, and Tina Maze of Slovenia was the surprise silver medalist. Vonn won the downhill to open her Olympics, then wiped out in the slalom leg of the super-combined.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The Dalai Lama says he doesn't fault President Obama for his low-key re-ception in Washington be-cause he recognizes that the president must juggle ties to the Tibetan spiritual leader with concerns about angering China.

The Dalai Lama told The Associated Press he under-stands that Obama must be practical in exercising his

commitment to human rights worldwide.

"No disappointment. The last six decades my heart hardened. I do not consider important political gestures. I don't care. The important is meet face-to-face," said the Dalai Lama, who was some-times assisted by a translator.

"With President Clinton, the first meeting was a 'drop-in,'" he said. "People asked me the same question (then). I

don't care."The Dalai Lama made the

remarks while in Los Angeles to support Whole Child In-ternational, an organization that advocates better care for orphans worldwide.

Obama hosted the Dalai Lama on Thursday in Wash-ington, D.C., but kept the get-together off-camera and low-key in an attempt to avoid inflaming tensions with China.

P O RT- AU - P R I N C E , Haiti (AP) — Although a U.S. Baptist group said it was trying to rescue 33 “or-phans” by taking them out of earthquake-ravaged Hai-ti, all the children have close family still alive, The Asso-ciated Press has found.

A reporter’s visit Saturday to the rubble-strewn Citron slum, where 13 of the chil-dren lived, led to their par-ents, all of whom said they turned their youngsters over to the missionary group vol-untarily in hopes of getting them to safety.

Similar explanations were given by parents in the mountain town of Calla-bas, outside Port-au-Prince, who told the AP on Feb. 3 that desperation and blind faith led them to hand over 20 children to the Baptist group.

Since the arrest of the missionaries at the border on Jan. 30, the parents in Citron have been worrying they may never see their children again. One mother

who gave up her four chil-dren, including a 3-month-old, is in a trancelike depres-sion, occasionally erupting into fits of hysteria.

Her husband and other parents in Citron said they relinquished their children to the U.S. missionaries be-cause they were promised safekeeping across the bor-der in a newly established orphanage in the Domini-can Republic.

Their stories contradict the missionaries’ still-jailed leader, Laura Silsby, who told the AP the day after her arrest that the children were either orphans or came from distant relatives.

Silsby, 40, and her assis-tant, Charisa Coulter, 24, remain jailed as the inves-tigating judge interviews officials at the orphanages the two visited prior to the devastating Jan. 12 quake.

The judge flew to the neighboring Dominican Re-public on Saturday. The two will appear in court again Tuesday.

Dalai Lama doesn’t fault Obama for low-profile reception, says US must be practical

AP determines all Haitian ‘orphans’ taken by detained US missionaries have parents still alive

FILE - In this photo taken Feb. 8, 2010, Jorge Puello, left, a Dominican legal advisor, who was hired by the relatives of the 10 Americans that were arrested while trying to bus children out of Haiti without proper documents or government permis-sion, arrives to the court building in Port-au-Prince. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano, File)

Photo Courtesy of The Associated Press

Alexander Haig, dead at 85, is remembered for service to 3 presidents and a remark gone awry

WASHINGTON (AP) — Soldier and statesman, Alexander Haig never lived down his televised response to the 1981 as-sassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. Haig died Saturday at age 85 having held high posts in three Republican admin-istrations and some of the U.S. military’s top jobs.

Haig was a four-star Army general who served as a senior adviser to three presidents and had presidential ambitions of his own. He died early in the day at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore of complications from an infection, his family said. He was sur-rounded by his family, according to two of his children, Alexander and Barbara.

President Barack Obama praised Haig on Saturday as a public servant who “exempli-fied our finest warrior-diplomat tradition of those who dedicate their lives to public service.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clin-ton said Haig “served his country in many capacities for many years, earning honor on the battlefield, the confidence of presidents and prime ministers, and the thanks of a grateful nation.”

Haig’s long and decorated military service launched the Washington career for which he is better known, including jobs in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations.

HOUSTON (AP) — Paul Casey of England promised to help a local charity after winning the Houston Open last year for his first PGA Tour victory. Tournament of-ficials discovered Monday how serious he was.

Casey and his wife, Joc-

elyn, are giving $100,000 to a charity through the Houston Golf Association, which runs the event. He will work with tournament director Steve Timms to figure out which charity gets the money.

Casey, a runner-up at the Match Play Championship

on Sunday in Arizona, flew to Houston to make the an-nouncement and meet with the media about his title de-fense. He won last year in a playoff over J.B. Holmes.

The Houston Open is April 1-4.

Paul Casey gives $100,000 to Houston charity

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 The Houstonian, Page 5ENTERTAINMENT

Shutter Island

Stars: * * * *Grade: ARunning Time: 138 min.MPAA: Rated R for disturbing violent content, language, and some nudity.Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio (Teddy Daniels), Mark Ruffalo (Chuck Aule), Ben Kingsley (Dr. Cawley), Max von Sydow (Dr. Naehring), Michelle Williams (Dolores), Emily Mor-timer (Rachel 1), Patricia Clarkson (Rachel 2), Jackie Earle Haley (George Noyce), Ted Levine (Warden), John Carroll Lynch (Deputy Warden McPherson).Directed by Martin Scorsese.Written by Laeta Kalogridis.Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane.

At the Movies with Kevin:Shutter Island a haunting masterpieceKevin JukkolaEntertainment Editor

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Box Office Winners

For more information or to comment on stories: Visit www.housto-nianonline.com

1. “Shutter Island”, $40.2 million one week, $40.2 million overall2. “Valentine’s Day”, $17.2 million one week, $87.4 million overall3. “Avatar”, $16.1 million one week, $687.8 million overall4. “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief ”, $15.3 million one week, $58.8 million overall5. “The Wolfman”, $9.8 million one week, $50.3 million overall6. “Dear John”, $7.3 million one week, $66.0 million overall7. “Tooth Fairy”, $4.5 million one week, $49.9 million overall8. “Crazy Heart”, $3.0 million one week, $21.6 million overall9. “From Paris with Love”, $2.5 million one week, $21.2 million overall10. “Edge of Darkness”, $2.2 million one week, $40.3 million overall

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C O O LL O F T S

Huntsville Downtown

Live where u live

“Shutter Island” is a haunting film that lurks in the shadows somewhere between fantasy and reality, nightmares and fairytales, memories and lies. It is a mystical experience that entrances the audience with a captivating story and unique look before turning both of these elements on their ends. “Shutter Island” makes implications about humanity that are perpetually interesting and almost impossible to fully comprehend, creating an infinitely fascinating set of circumstances that seem to circle back on themselves.

The film begins with an ominous shot of a ship covered in fog with a vast island in the distance that appears destined to house incomprehensible secrets. The imminent storm on the horizon coincides with the impending doom of reality rapidly closing in on Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), a United States Marshall who is less than enthusiastic to accept it. His new partner, Chuck (Mark Ruffalo), seems eager to help in whatever way possible, but his assistance could be a hindrance to Teddy in various ways.

The Marshall’s have been brought to Shutter Island, a mental hospital for the criminally insane, in an attempt to investigate the disappearance of Rachel (Emily Mortimer), a woman who has never accepted that she murdered her three children. She is considered dangerous, but might not be as harmful as Dr. Crawley (Ben Kingsley), the leader of the facility who might be hiding

something that he is willing to protect at all costs.

The key to the film’s mystery revolves around Teddy, whose memories of a liberated Nazi death camp continue to haunt him, illustrating the evil that men are capable of inflicting upon one another. That day, he became completely immersed in a world that made violence commonplace, if only because it was the easiest way to solve problems. Essentially, Teddy died, becoming a witness to unimaginable horror that consumed his entire being and dominated the remainder of his actions. The rest of his life was a symptom of this, a disease without a cure, a poison that lacks an antidote. Teddy makes a crucial decision at the conclusion that is a reasonable, conscious choice made in a corrupted, polluted mind.

Leonardo DiCaprio is such a superb talent that he often expresses a large range of emotion with incredible ease. In “Shutter Island”, he goes anywhere from maniacal to composed, predictable to mysterious, without ever struggling with the possibilities of where his persona could

travel. He is always in control of his character, even when his character spins out of control.

Everything about the film is beneath and beyond the surface, which is precisely what makes Martin Scorsese the greatest of all directors. His best works are ones that seem to be easily defined, until one takes a closer look at the entirety of the project, and it is still often hard to completely uncover what flaw in the human character Scorsese was attempting to underscore. All of his best works are about something, and they are also about something completely different. He is a genius who looks past the panels of the story and reveals a truth not just about the characters, but also humankind in general. The characters in his films are the most interesting part because, in the same way a maestro cannot conduct an orchestra without instruments, it is impossible for a director to create an emotionally gripping masterpiece without anybody that the audience truly cares about.

Simply put, Scorsese’s films are alive. He uses numerous

techniques to give excitement to scenes that might seem ordinary and allows the action to drive those with particular importance. In “Shutter Island”, Scorsese fluctuates the score vastly between high and low tones, creating a more tense and poignant atmosphere than would seem possible with the given storyline. He also begins with the camera looking in on the characters before bringing it into the middle of the action as the film goes along. This establishes a mounting sense of claustrophobia among the audience and characters, corresponding with a growing intimacy that eventually makes the story somewhat transparent.

“Shutter Island” is beautifully shot, which aids in its entrancing atmosphere that produces a contemplative and riveting experience. The picturesque, dark landscapes on the island and the monotonous rainfall that continues throughout implies the possibility of splendor in a world of cynicism or fantasy when it is confronted with the harshness of reality. “Shutter Island” has twists and turns in the story entirely devoted to revealing the true nature of the fascinating characters. There is an apprehensive sensation that the film imposes on the viewer, never completely revealing its hand until the profound conclusion. Even then, it still forces the audience to use their intelligence to determine where the story has been and the gravity of its implications. “Shutter Island” is a masterpiece, even if it is often difficult to digest. In other words, just another day at the office for Scorsese.Walking into reality. Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck (Mark

Ruffalo) are entering the halls of insanity in “Shutter Island”.

SPORTSPage 6 The Houstonian Tuesday, February 23, 2010

From GREAT page 1

The first 250 students to sink a free throw will receive “The Great Bearkat Shootout” t-shirt. Everyone making a free throw will win a prize. The prizes will include two-for-one certificates from Gatti’s Pizza, Whataburger coupons and other great prizes.

Contestants who make five free throws in a row qualify for the second round on Satur-day Feb. 27 prior to tipoff of the UT-Arlington contests. A shoot-off will determine the two finalists who will compete for the grand prize at halftime. Winner of the year’s lease at

the Grove Apartments will be decided by a special halftime “Shootout.”

Entering the “The Great Bearkat Shootout, presented by The Grove” is easy. When doors open at 6 p.m. the first 800 students to have their BearkatOne card swiped for free game admission at John-son Coliseum will receive a an official contest entry form from The Grove. Students should hold on to the form, grab a seat in the lower stands in sections D, E and F after the game and be ready to shoot free throws.

For more information about the “The Great Bearkat Shoo-tout, presented by The Grove” and Bearkat basketball, go on-line to www.gobearkats.com.

Brandon ScottSports Reporter

Don’t look now, but the Sam Houston State women’s basketball team is making a push for the postseason. Senior guard Brittany Brooks, who at only 5’5” was coming off a career-high 14 rebounds against Lamar last Wednesday, led the Bearkats with 29 points and nine rebounds in the 73-72 overtime win over UTSA this past Saturday at Johnson Coliseum.

The Bearkats (8-16, 5-7 Southland) climbed their way from steep disadvantages early in the game. Sam Houston State went 5 of 30 from the field in the first half and Brooks had yet to score. But the Bearkat defense forced UTSA (14-11, 8-4 Southland) into nine turnovers and trailed by only eight at halftime.

“I told the girls at halftime when we were down by eight, once we come back and we get this game tied there’s no looking back,” Head coach Brenda Nichols said. “It kept going back and forth and our girls never gave up.”

The Roadrunners jumped out to a double-digit lead to start the second half. From that point on, Brooks was lights-out from the field. She led the Bearkats on a 12-1 run, capped with a pair of three-pointers by freshman forward Chanice Smith to take a 43-41 lead.

UTSA quickly regained the edge as the two teams exchanged ties and lead changes leading up to the end of regulation. Brooks assisted and scored on the final two Bearkat scores in the second half to send the game into overtime.

In the extra session, Roadrunner freshman Judy Jones had a chance to

give her team an advantage by icing a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left in the game. After missing both shots, UTSA grabbed the offensive

rebound and Jones was fouled once again. She split the two free throws to force a second and final overtime for good measure.

Sam Houston State opened the second overtime with an 8-1 run that led them to victory over the division rivals. The Bearkats have a new

identity as a team who fights back when faced with a challenge. Instead of rolling over after a poor display in the first half, the women’s basketball team responded with one of the most exciting Bearkat performances of the year.

“In the past, the Lady Kats would have gotten frustrated and given it up. This was a defensive game tonight. They stayed in it, they stayed fired up. We’re just so excited, it was a great victory for us.”

Senior guard Ray Alexander recorded 14 points and seven boards. Smith scored 12 points with those timely three-pointers down the stretch. Whitney Smith pulled down 15 rebounds in the win.

All-conference player Whitney York led the Roadrunners with 25 points. Ashleigh Franklin put up a vicious double-double with 22 points and just as many rebounds. Jones scored 16 points in the losing effort.

The Sam Houston women have won three of their last four games and are one win away from clinching their first berth in the State Farm Southland Conference Post-Season Classic since 2004. Brooks was named the Southland Conference women’s basketball player of the week, the first time a Bearkat has won the award this season. After the game, Brooks spoke about the win.

“I think seniors just decided that we weren’t going to lose to them anymore,” Brooks said. “I don’t think we’ve beaten them since I’ve been here. In overtime we were tired, but we didn’t want to lose. That’s simply it, we didn’t want to lose.”

The Bearkats visit McNeese and UTA this week before returning home against Northwestern State and Texas State in the season finale.

Kats push for postseasonAfter two thrilling conference victories at home, the SHSU women’s basketball team is climbing the standings and looking ahead to March

Sports InformationOWNING THE COURT. Brittany Brooks led SHSU with 29 points and nine rebounds in the win over UTSA. Brooks’ play won her the Southland Conference women’s basketball player of the week award, making her the first Bearkat to win the award this season.

Amy TurekContributing Writer

The Lady Bearkat tennis team competed in an exhibition against the Tyler Junior College Apaches on Saturday in Huntsville.

The Bearkats won in doubles 3-0 but lost in singles 1-4.

Doubles No. 1 team, Giorgia Pozzan and Federica Denti got off to a shaky start. They were broken in the first game after being up 40-0. After a series of service breaks, the Bearkats finally held then broke in the next game to go up 4-2.

The lead was short lived, however because they were broken right back in the next game.

Both teams held their serve until Pozzan and Denti broke to win the match 8-6.

In other doubles matches, doubles No. 2 team, Sheridan Currie and Tatyana Postnikova defeated their opponents 8-5; and doubles No. 3 team Cally Woerner and Nadia Dubyanskaya defeated their opponents 8-5.

In singles, No. 1 player Pozzan held on to an early break in her first set to win it 6-4.

The second set was a different story. Pozzan

went down an early break and trailed 0-3. She was able to break her opponent’s serve but was broken right back in the next game. She

ended up losing the set 6-3, sending the match to a third and decisive set.

Pozzan started the third set going down a break and

was not able to recover from it. She served at 3-5 to stay in the match but was broken, handing her opponent the set and the match.

In other singles matches, No. 2 singles player Postnikova lost 0-6, 1-6; No. 3 singles player Currie lost 6-7 (6), 5-7; and No. 5 singles player Woerner lost 2-6, 4-6. No. 4 singles player Dubyanskaya was the only Bearkat to record a singles victory. She won 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

Despite the losses, SHSU Head Coach Jim Giachino said he was pleased with the way the girls fought against the number one junior college in the nation, considering “the lack of training time due to the weather, coupled with the fact that five of [their] six players have been too injured to work on their games.” He said the lack of training time was evident in the “inconsistent” singles play.

“Hopefully we will have a solid week of training before we start conference play [against UTSA] on Saturday,” Giachino said. “Even more hopefully we will have six players who are capable of playing both doubles and singles for us.”

Denti was forced to sit out from singles matches due to a leg injury.

The Sam Houston State Bearkats perfect run through Southland Conference play came to an end Saturday night in a road loss to UTSA. The Bearkats fell 91-90 to the Roadrunners in overtime to drop to 11-1 in the Southland.

The difference in the game came at the free throw line, where UTSA connected on 35-of-45 free throws while the Bearkats were just 13-of-17 at the line. SHSU was called for 32 fouls while UTSA was whistled just 18 times.

The Bearkats finished the game with three starters, Ashton Mitchell, Preston Brown and Gilberto Clavell on the bench who all fouled out. Lance Pevehouse also picked up a fifth foul late in the game.

Corey Allmond led the

Bearkats with 17 points while six Kats scored in double figures.

The Bearkats were hot shooting from long range, connecting on eight 3-pointers in the first half. However, the deep shot was not there for the Kats in the second half. Drae Murry’s 3 in the closing seconds of regulation that forced overtime was just the fourth for the Bearkats in the second half.

Mitchell finished the game with 13 points, giving him 999 for his career. Pevehouse scored 16, Clavell 14, Murray 11 and Brown finished the night with 10.

The Bearkats will return home for two games starting on Wednesday when they take on McNeese. The final home game of the year will be Saturday night when UT-Arlington visits Johnson Coliseum.

SHSU swept in season openerEric SchraderContributing Writer

The Bearkat baseball team has many things to improve on after getting swept in their season opening series against TCU, falling to 0-3 to start the season.

SHSU traveled up to Fort Worth to take on the No. 11 ranked Horn Frogs on Friday and had high hopes beginning this season.

“We want to do well right away,” Head Baseball Coach Mark Johnson said. “I’m glad we’re playing an outstanding opponent. That will be a good test for us.”

In the first game of the series, all eyes were on Kats ace Dallas Gallant, who came out and pitched a solid ball game. Gallant showed his poise, pitching six strong innings while striking out four batters, allowing four hits and giving up two unearned runs.

What hurt the Bearkats most was their defense. SHSU was charged with one error and was unable to get outs on first-and-third run-down situations. TCU captured four runs on seven hits, and were helped in the seventh inning when Bearkat reliever Justin Jackson was called for a balk. Steven Maxwell pitched well for the Horn Frogs, leading them to the 4-0 shut out while surrendering just six hits to SHSU.

The only highlight for the Bearkats in the opening game was great defense by veteran shortstop Ryan Mooney capped off by 2-2 night at the plate.

Coach Johnson changed things up in the second game of the series on Saturday. SHSU came out with a different lineup and a new arm on the mound in junior-transfer Paul Spinn. Coach Johnson told of his plans to switch things up throughout the season.

“We’ve got some right-handed and left-handed bats we could go with,” Johnson said. “I would be shocked if we have the same line-up at the end of the year.”

Saturday’s game started out well for the Kats as they quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead. But TCU took advantage of every opportunity as they would match and even one-up the Kats in the run column in each of the first three innings.

The slugfest continued as the Kats had four players with multi-hit games, capped off by Mark Hudson’s 3-5, two RBI performance. It wasn’t enough though as Spinn, along with the rest of the Bearkat pitchers, had a tough time on the mound. The Horn Frogs were charged with five errors on the day, but pulled things together at the plate totaling 12 runs on 15 hits, and getting their second win of the series, 12-7.

It looked as though SHSU was headed

in the right direction in Sunday’s game after the very first pitch. Braeden Riley, the Kats leadoff man, stroked a rocket into right-center field and galloped into second base with a stand-up double.

As TCU was tossing the ball back into the infield, they appealed over to first base, saying that Riley missed the bag as he was on his way to second. The umpire agreed with the dispute and signaled that Riley missed first base, where he was called out to open up the top of the first inning.

The Kats played a sloppy game, committing two errors and only scratching across two runs on five hits. TCU made plenty of noise offensively, scoring 15 runs on 18 hits, with three of the hits being mammoth homeruns, en route to the 15-2 win and series sweep. Coach Johnson weighed in on the weekend’s games.

“TCU is obviously a very good ball club,” Johnson said. “They returned quite a few guys from last year. I’m sure I could have picked a better opponent to try to wrap up some good things, but it is what it is.”

After the three-game sweep by TCU, the Kats are now 0-3 to begin the 2010 baseball season. Their next action for the Kats will be Friday, Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m., as they look to turn the tide against Utah for the SHSU baseball home opener.

Perfect no more

Sports InformationSTREAK ENDS AT 11. UTSA halted the Bearkats winning streak at 11 games on Saturday in OT. SHSU’s lucky number to clinch the num-ber one seed in the Southland Conference tournament stays at ONE.

SHSU Sports Information

Mixed results in tennis exhibition

Michaela Keck | The HoustonianDOUBLES DOMINANCE. The SHSU tennis team has excelled in doubles play this season, but has struggled in singles matchups.