the pine log
DESCRIPTION
Issue 2/27/1988TRANSCRIPT
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TODAYH 66 L 61
TUESDAYH 73 L 63
WEDNESDAY H 73 L 46
Visit us online atwww.thepinelog.com
Page 6SFA
Lumberjacks beat the
Islanders
Page 4Texas weather , mysterious, complex and unpredictable
InsideSFA student charged with felony Page 2
Students prepare for a ride to HoustonPage 2
The Crime LogPage 3
Lumberjack beat Texas A&MPage 6
The Pine Log’s
Sudoku
Look for this addictive number game on page 2 every Monday and Thursday
Opinions Page 4
Columns
Drew Elders talks about drug testing for the Welfare system
Jessica Gilligan tells everyone to workout in groups
EntertainmentPage 3
‘Act of Valor’ Review
Melissa Villaseñor performed at SFA
Volume 92Issue 9
Next Publication:Thursday March 1, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
PINE LOG The
The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University
TUESDAY
CANCER CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
By Piero PrettoCONTRIBUTING WRITER
The A-Team, SFA’s Alcohol Education Task Force, will host its first educational event of the semester between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday, March 5, in front of the Baker Pattillo Student Center.
The purpose behind the “Spring Break Send Off” is to help educate students about the dan-gers of alcohol use in a way that is both enlight-ening and entertaining.
The event’s festivities will include a pedal car and a DWI simulator that allow students to artificially experience the effects of drunk driv-ing. Furthermore, at both 1 and 3 p.m. guest speaker Susan Wagener will host a presenta-tion on behalf of the A-Team at the SFA Theatre. Susan Wagener is the program assistant for the Statewide Alcohol Awareness Team and has spo-ken numerous times on the effects of alcohol abuse.
The A-Team is hoping that as many students as possible can attend this event before they leave campus for Spring Break. They also hope to con-
duct a campus assessment on what students think about al-cohol consumption.
The A-Team is a relatively quiet group on campus. Its members consist of mostly staff members and student leaders around campus. They highly encourage anyone with an interest in the A-Team to participate in their activi-ties.
“We want all faculty, staff, and students that want to come in and provide input to join,” said Jennifer Klingenberg, a counselor for SFA Counseling Services.
Beverly Farmer, SFA direc-tor of student activities, said the A-Team hopes “to make students aware of their choic-es and having all the informa-tion available to make good choices.”
“We see alcohol as a big problem (on cam-pus,)” she said.
By Zack MeyersonCONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Student Government Association, SGA, is currently giving out schol-arships to any student, freshmen to senior.
SGA will award three different types of scholarships, each payable to the winner’s e-bill. There are $1,500, $1,000 and $500 scholarships. Applications are due by 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, in Room 3.105 in the Baker Pattillo Student Center.
To receive this scholarship, a student must currently attend SFA as an undergraduate, have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher, be enrolled in at least a minimum of 12 credit hours at SFA at the time of the application, and enrolled in no fewer than 12 credit hours at SFA at the time the schol-arship is awarded. Applicants can’t have been a member of any branch of SGA at any time during the previous 12 calendar months and must submit a 800-word essay answering the following question: How does your involve-ment on campus help or better SFA. Applicants also must attach a copy of their unofficial transcript.
SFA’s purpose is to “promote the general welfare of the student body.” It’s composed of three branches: executive, legislative and judicial. Each
branch strived to uphold the SFA way and the SGA motto, “For students by the students.”
The SGA scholarships were created to award and promote involvement and scholarship on campus. They believe that it’s their role as student government to be supportive of the student body that they serve.
The scholarship is a one-time award. The scholarship committee may require a personal or phone interview with all finalists. If a student receives a scholarship, a review of academic records will be required.
Daaven Johnson, 20, junior and public relations chair for SGA, said, “We want to give back to the student population because they give so much to us. We are going to reward those that have really contributed to the success of SFA. You must be very involved in the campus, like one or two organizations.”
“Dean (Adam) Peck will go over it along with speaker, student body pres-ident and the committee and will give these rewards. We want to people know that the scholarship is available.
“The scholarships will go straight to the e-bill. Even if you don’t receive the scholarship you can still be involved on campus,” Johnson said.
By Katy FrenchCONTRIBUTING WRITER
It is said that nearly half of all Americans personally know someone with an eating disor-der. And it is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eat-ing disorder.
Love Your Genes Week is SFA’s version of National Eating Disorder Week. This week the Campus Recreation Center, counseling services, SFA Dining and Student Dietetics Association will be providing in-formation to students about eat-ing disorders, the risks of eating disorders, how to reach out to those with eating disorders, as well as ways to be at peace with your own body image.
According to a study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders that 95 percent of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.
“Our goal is to increase aware-ness and promote positive body image,” said Chrystina Wyatt, fitness and wellness graduate assistant.
Each day will present a differ-ent event taking place on cam-
pus for students, faculty and staff to be involved in and find new ways to be at a comfortable place in their own skin.
Five to 10 percent of anorexics die within 10 years after con-tracting the disease; 18-20 per-cent of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30–40 percent ever fully recover, re-ported ANAD.
Every day there will be a Love Your Genes information booth in the Spirit Lounge from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Along with the information booth, there will be a variety of different events taking place on campus. This will include a Be-You-tify Your Jeans, on Monday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., where the SFA Rec Center will be taking up donated jeans with the pledge, “I will love myself. I will love my jeans.”
There will be yoga classes available those who are mem-bers of the SFA Rec, Monday through Thursday, at different times.
“It is important we realize that this issue is relevant and how we can help ourselves as well as others,” Wyatt said.”
Love Your Genes Week will take place February 27- March 2.
SAA host NBA 2K12 tournament last week
Week dedicated to ‘Loving your genes’
SGA offers scholarship open to all SFA students
Event to teach students about dangers of alcohol
A thorn in the side of area boat-ing enthusiasts may provide a ray of hope for some cancer patients, according to recent research find-ings at SFA’s National Center for Pharmaceutical Crops.
Researchers at the center have discovered that giant salvinia, one of the most noxious invasive spe-cies in the world, has promising medical potential that could pro-vide a novel approach to control-ling the species.
The team recently discovered that extracts of giant salvinia can effectively inhibit the growth of human tumor cells with minimum
damage to normal cells. The re-searchers are also the first to have isolated a class of compounds re-sponsible for the bioactivities.
“Our research opens a new door to positive control of noxious in-vasive plants,” said Dr. Shiyou Li, research professor and director of the center, which is housed in the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture at SFA. “Also, our elucidation of the chemical com-position of giant salvinia will help researchers better understand the molecular mechanism of inva-sion.”
Giant salvinia, also known as
water fern and kariba weed and by its scientific name Salvinia mo-lesta D. S. Mitchell, is a fern species native to Brazil. Since 1939, it has invaded lake and river systems in warm climates. Climate change, particularly increasing tempera-tures, a longer growing season and rising carbon dioxide levels, have increased both the abundance and diversity of invasive plants. Giant salvinia currently is one of the most widespread and environmen-tally, economically and socially de-structive invasive plant species in the world.
Dense mats of salvinia reduce dissolved oxygen levels and block all sunlight from penetrating the infested water body, causing mac-rophytes and microscopic algae that form the base of the food chain to die off. The animals that feed on the algae may die, too, and so on, up the food chain. This pest also threatens cultivated aquatic
crops, and it can clog irrigation and drinking water lines and foul hydroelectric plants. Salvinia-infested waters cannot be used for boating or other recreational pur-poses.
Part of the NCPC project is funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. Li is the principal investigator, while Drs. Ping Wang, Guangrui Deng and Wei Yuan participated in the research and were responsible for the primary isolation of the com-pounds.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has collected about 1,000 pounds of plant matter in East Texas for use in the study. To date, more than 30 different com-pounds, including four new com-pounds, have been isolated from the giant salvinia. Further tests of the bioactive compounds iso-
SFA researchers discover cancer-treating potential of invasive plant
JONATHAN TYLER/THE PINE LOG
Students gathered around the TV in the Axe Handle Cafe to see who was truly the best at NBA 2K12 last week. Students could be heard cheering for their favor player all around the student center.
Page 4PINE LOG PINE LOG Inside
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Page Two Pine LogThe Monday, February 27, 2012
The rules of Sudoku are simple. Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit, as must every column and every 3x3 square. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.
Look in the next issue for the answers.
Sudoku puzzle sponsored by Student Activities Association
Level of Difficulty:
medium
SUDOKU
479638215
826915437
531274869
168457392
254391786
397862154
643129578
712586943
985743621
Puzzle by websudoku.com
By Tinesha MixStaff Writer
Earlier this month, sopho-more music education ma-jors Daniel Lopez and Daniel Ramos attempted to ride their bikes to Livingston, but were faced with multiple obstacles along the way. The trip was a preliminary round to their future bike trip to Houston.
Lopez and Ramos left early Friday morning, with only a few personal items, a tent, and a sleeping bag. Just be-fore leaving, they aired the tires on their bikes, mak-ing sure everything was just right. Their destination— Livingston.
After a few hours, they were just outside Lufkin, where Lopez began to hear a “clicking” noise and before they knew what to do, the chain fell off and the back tire went flat.
Since they were only an hour outside of Lufkin, they decided to stop for dinner at Outback Steakhouse. A few miles later, they decided it was time to stop for the night and find a place to pitch the tent.
“I was really creeped out,” Lopez said. “The circus peo-ple were in town, and we had to walk through a cemetery. It didn’t make for a good combi-nation.”
By 1 a.m., they pitched their tent in a nearby field, and by 2 a.m. a massive lightning storm hit. As time passed, the storm got worse with “tor-nado force winds” and about 5 inches of rain.
Around 4 o’clock, Ramos woke up due to extremely cold weather conditions and a high water level.
“The tent was like a water bed,” Ramos said.
They opened the tent, only to find that the water was less than an inch away from the tent opening. The lightning was bright enough to make it look like broad daylight out-side.
Lopez and Ramos decided they had to move the tent.
After they dug around in the cold water for the tent stakes, they moved the tent to high-er ground, where the water seeped inside their tent, soaking the entire thing and all of the items inside.
After about an hour, they two of them heard footsteps nearby and saw a bright light flashing.
“I was petrified,” Lopez said. “I didn’t know who or what it was, but I was not about to find out.”
A little while later. and the footsteps disappeared.
After the night ended, they awoke in the morning to find that they had about three hours of riding left, which adds to about 10 hours of walking. They continued to-ward town on a small country road, until they reached a gas station an hour away.
At the gas station, they filled Lopez’s tire with air.
Next, they reached Diboll, where they decided to stop and eat, clean themselves up a bit, and buy a new jacket for Ramos so the soaking tent wouldn’t be so bad to carry.
After a little bit of riding, Ramos’s tire went flat. It was a five hour walk to Livingston and a ten hour walk back to Nacogdoches.
The two decided to stop and take a break. After con-sidering the five-hour ride to Livingston and a 10-hour walk back to Nacogdoches, the two decided to call it quits and have a friend come and pick them up.
They returned to Nacogdoches Saturday after-noon, where they reflected on their journey and laughed.
Although the trip was un-successful, the two plan on making their complete jour-ney to Houston later on in the semester. With their next trip, the two plan on supporting SFA by attaching SFA flags and wearing SFA clothing.
“We plan on completing the trip and getting SFA’s name out there,” Ramos said.
By Jordan BoydSportS editor
The men of Sigma Alpha Mu collected canned goods from students across campus in support of the East Texas Food Bank located on North Street last week. The philan-thropy effort collected well over 250 cans over a four-day period Tuesday through Friday morning.
Sigma Alpha Mu will be holding this canned food drive every semester as an effort to expand its philanthropy, on top of its already-affiliated Alzheimer’s Association philanthropic efforts.
The event featured a cash prize for the organization
that donated the most cans in total. Zeta Tau Alpha won the $100 prize that will be donated to its choice of phi-lanthropy. Members of ZTA donated 125 cans, nearly half of the total donated, and became the first winner for the “Sammy Canned Food Drive.”
The real winner, however, will be the men, women and children who will receive the canned goods thanks to Sigma Alpha Mu.
They will also be holding another “Bounce for Beats” philanthropy event outside of Wal-Mart in April to raise money for the Judy Fund of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Students attempt bike ride to Livingston
Sigma Alpha Mu supports East Texas Food Bank with can drive
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Page ThreePINE LOGTHEMonday, February 26, 2012
By Katelynn MarcumCONTRIBUTING WRITER
“Act of Valor” is a high -speed action film with a twist.
Directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh, writ-ten by Kurt Johnstad and starring real life U.S. Navy SEALs, this movie offers a glimpse into SEAL missions always kept secret.
The movie begins by previewing villain Christo, Alex Veadov, as a generous billionaire aiding a children’s hospital where Morales, a CIA agent, Roselyn Sánchez, is working under cover.
Before you know it, Morales gets kidnapped and tortured for information. Thank goodness the scene ended before any intense gore occurred.
Meanwhile, the SEAL team spends the last day with their families before shipping out to rescue Morales.
Lieutenant, the main SEAL character, leaves his pregnant wife at home promising “his best” to return.
Acting in the non-action scenes is mediocre at best. I guess that is what you get for casting SEALs instead of actors.
Once the SEALs start their mission the movie re-ally picks up. With a great sound track and camera positioning that puts the viewer in the middle of the action, action scenes were pristine.
In rescuing Morales, SEALs keep calm and take
out villains with a sniper, swim to the camp, break inside, and get out with the girl.
Viewers are given the opportunity to see real combat when SEALs in water vessels unload on vil-lains in pursuit of the land SEAL team.
It is obvious that the SEALs were in their ele-ment when filming the action scenes. They were shot with live fire because that is what the SEALs train with.
According to an interview on Fox News, this is the first time since the 1920s live fire has been used in a movie.
Full of endless rounds of gunfire and many ex-plosions, any action fan will be satisfied with this movie.
“Act of Valor”will attract military personal, sup-porters and those curious about the tactics of one of the most secretive military groups.
The movie provided an ample amount of explo-sions and combat to counter act the lack of profes-sional acting.
At last, a touching ending was the cherry on top of an overall entertaining movie.
By T.K. NickleberryCONTRIBUTING WRITER
Melissa Villaseñor, comedian and semi-finalist from “America’s Got Talent,” graced the stage in the Twilight Ballroom as part of one of her stops on her college show tour.
The comedy show, presented by SAA, started at 7 p.m. Thursday night.
Villaseñor modeled a new haircut she said was inspired by a mushroom, along with her cowboy boots in support of her first time in Texas.
She has done material for Cartoon Network, “Family Guy” and Frank TV, just to name a few.
The atmosphere was light and casual, and the lighting warm and inviting.
Villaseñor had no problem cracking jokes on hersel. She admitted doesn’t have “a hot girl voice” and that she is a tomboy.
The room was filled with laughter as the comedian hit joke after jok and impressed the audience with her impersonations.
The 24-year-old comedian grew up in
Whittier, Calif., but her hometown is Los Angeles.
She is full Mexican, or as she calls it “full bean.”
No one was safe from the comedian’s at-tack, from Hispanics and African Americans to Asians and Germans. Just about every nationality was available as comedy mate-rial.
Villaseñor admitted she had a big crush on Justin Bieber. “His singing voice is hot. That’s what’s hot. I don’t know any guy or girl who can’t resist.”
Villaseñor showed off her imperson-ations of Justin Bieber, Dora the Explorer, Shakira, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Wanda Sykes, Michael Jackson, Owen Wilson, Miley Cyrus and Kathy Griffin.
“I watch Dora the Explorer to help out my esteem. She’s just always there for me,” Villaseñor said.
During her performance, Villaseñor struggled with some back pain, but she
didn’t let that stop her performance. “I know I’m weird and I’ve accepted that.
I think every person is weird. I want to be the weirdest I can be every day.”
The comedian’s wacky sense of humor shone in phrases such as “cheese” and “stranger baby,” along with her funny walks.
After the show, students were able to take pictures and get autographs from Villaseñor.
“She was awesome. I liked her on America’s Got Talent and she’s really cool,” said freshman Victoria Matthews.
“She amazing. A lot of the stuff was new material, but it makes it better when she does material that you’ve heard before be-cause it’s different to hear it in person than it is to see it on a video, “said junior Randy Wuske.
“She’s just so funny. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. She’s just really good,” said junior Alex Aldrich.
Villaseñor made sure she had time for each person’s attention, signing autographs and talking with students.
She didn’t get to see too much of the SFA campus but what she saw, she said was re-ally pretty.
“It seems like all the students are very close, and I like all the trees. Once I see all the trees and greenery it makes me happy,” Villaseñor said.
She started doing comedy at age 15, per-forming on Laugh Factory Comedy Camp for kids.
After a break, Villaseñor started back with comedy when she was 19 and has been doing stand-up comedy for four years.
She gave these words of advice for aspir-ing comedians:
“If you feel inside your heart that you just want to be a comedy and that’s your calling, you have to just go for it. Keep reminding yourself it’s a long journey, and that there’s no rush. Work had every day. Perform every day. Write every day. Focus and don’t listen too much to negativity or other people try-ing to knock you down. Always be yourself on stage. “
She eventually wants to do late night comedy shows, write a screen play, learn to take piano and guitar lessons so she can start writing music.
Villaseñor would also like to add more to her already list of 30 impressions, as well as be cast on “Saturday Night Live.”
In the near future she hopes to record her comedy album in the summer and publish her short story book titled “My Dreams and Things in Between” about her life.
“I kind of want to do everything,” Villaseñor said. “There are just so many things I like.”
Action movie shot with live fire, gives glimpse of real life
Melissa Villaseñor brought laughter to SFA Thursday
The Crime Log
On 02-24-2012 an officer was dispatched to the area behind Steen Hall in reference to a suspicious person. The officer ar-rived and made contact with a subject who was determined to be intoxicated to a point of being a danger to himself and oth-ers. The subject was arrested for public intoxication and trans-ported to the Nacogdoches County Jail. There is one suspect.
On 02-24-2012 an officer was dispatched to Kerr Hall in refer-ence to a disruptive person. The officer arrived and made con-tact with the subject who was determined to be intoxicated to a point of being a danger to herself and others. It was also found that the subject used a pocket knife to damage a door in the residence hall. The subject was arrested for public intoxication and criminal mischief and transported to the Nacogdoches County Jail. There is one suspect.
On 02-23-2012 an officer was dispatched to the parking and traffic office in reference to a criminal mischief complaint. The officer arrived and made contact with the complainant who stated that his vehicle’s windshield was damaged while parked in Lot 3 between the hours of 3:50pm and 4:15pm. There are no suspects.
On 2-22-2012 an officer was dispatched to Chick-Fil-A in the Baker Pattillo Student Center in reference to a theft. Upon arrival the officer made contact with the complainant, who advised on 2-22-2012 two subjects took sandwiches without paying from Chick-Fil-A. There are two suspects.
REVIEW
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Pine LogThe
Page Four Monday, February 27, 2012
Opin
ion
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EDITOR MARK RHOUDES
MANAGING EDITORANDREYA STEPHENSON
OPINION EDITORJESSICA GILLIGAN
SPORTS EDITORJORDAN BOYD
ADVERTISING MANAGER CYNTHIA ORTEGA
PHOTO EDITORJENNIFER ROGERS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITORHANNAH COLE
COPY EDITORKATE NEAL
Spring 2012 Editorial BoardOpinions expressed in this sec-
tion of The Pine Log are those of the individual writer or car-toonist and do not necessarily reflect those of the University, its administrative officers or Board of Regents.
Letters should be typed and should include the student’s hometown, classification, cam-pus identification number and phone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit letters for space, spelling, grammar and potentially libelous material. Letters should not be longer than 300 words. Any letter that does not follow this criteria will not be published.
OpinionsPolicy
✓ Write a letter to Grinding the Ax. Follow the guidelines on the left. Sign your name, and your letter will likely appear on this very page.
✓ Or use our website to submit a letter to Grinding the Ax. It’ll save you a trip to the Baker Pattillo Student Center.
✓ Post feedback to our stories online. Hit the “Comments” button at the end of a story, and let us have it. We can take it.
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FEEDBACK
Axes up to the media attention SFA got from beating Lamar in basketball last week. Lamar’s ranting coach can be found all over the internet.
OpiniOn EditOr
Jessica Gilligan
“I love how my professors make an effort to get to know me and make me feel like they really want me to succeed.”
—Nicole Lejune
“I came to SFA because orange is obviously better than purple.”
—A sentiment from many
Want what you love about SFA to be published? Send an e-mail to [email protected]
Axes up to Beta Alpha Psi helping out with tax returns for the Nacogdoches students and community. The tax deadline will be here before we know it.
Props to Campus Recreation for promot-ing fitness through various programs lately. One of the reasons why I, and I’m sure many others, chose to go to SFA is because of the recently built recreation center. All the ma-chines are top of the line, and I personally love that the track is not a standard oval. Who likes running in circles anyway?
I recently participated in a competition at Campus Rec that kicked off the Race Across Texas. Campus Rec holds the Race Across Texas competition as a way for any-one to keep track of their workout hours and have a friendly challenge while racing to get fit before spring break.
Each person is assigned a number, and the numbered push pins will be moved across a map of Texas throughout the “race.”
Any aerobic exercise can further partici-pants across the map—not just running. The Treadmill Challenge last Wednesday made me and others excited about the Race Across Texas and last minute desperations to look great before spring break.
I competed on the Traditions Council team for the Treadmill Challenge. I loved how spirited we were as a group and how much support we showed each other.
Coming from the Pacific Northwest, I’m used to constant rainfall. One of my favor-ite things to do is run on the beach in the rain.
Because of this my friends brought a squirt bottle to make it rain while I ran. This is a unique case of supporting your friends as you race to get fit, but anyone can offer support to their fitness friends.
After repeatedly asking my roommate to join me, she finally agreed to go to Kick,
Punch and Crunch. It’s another way the Rec Center makes it easy for you to workout with someone in a fun way. They offer a variety of walk-in classes that are free to students.
While I ultimately prefer working out on my own, I have to admit that going to the fitness classes and participating in things such as the Treadmill Challenge and Race Across Texas are a nice change in pace. With my busy schedule it’s a great way to fit in time with friends.
My friends and I have also been able to make memories working out together. I might be shot if I mention a specific, very funny example of what I mean. Let’s just say treadmills have become a public enemy for some. There’s also the hilarious at-tempts at coordination during classes like Zumba. I end up get more of an ab workout laughing at myself and my friends when we
try such classes. Perhaps my favorite memory comes
from the Treadmill Challenge. Traditions Council belted out the alma matter, axes held high during in the last minute of the race. While we didn’t sound great because some of us were out of breath, it’s things like this that make me say there’s no excuse for not working out.
So grab a group to go play disc golf with, or head to the pool to splash around as the weather warms up. Thanks to Campus Rec, these opportunities and more are made easy.
Anyone can find a fun way to work out with friends, and it’s never too late to start.
Jessica is sophomore general business major and the Opinions Editor for The Pine Log.
In American society, sometimes people go on welfare. Welfare is something that helps people with little or no income at all. It also can help people who make the smallest amount of money you can make out in a salary.
For the most part, it benefits, families and the elderly, and it also includes Medicaid. In order to qualify for welfare, one must be a permanent resident of the United States, with some excep-tions concerning citizenship rules.
Welfare may be in the forms of food stamps,
Medicaid and cash assistance. In some states vouchers may be provided to the individual. Right off the bat, let me say that I’m not trying to degrade the welfare system.
There is one specific thing that I think needs to be done to anybody who wants to receive wel-fare benefits. That is, (drum roll, please) drug testing. I believe that if you want to receive ben-efits to get on welfare, you should be able to pass a urine-sampled drug test in order to receive those benefits. Why?
All right look, if someone wants to receive benefits, and they fail a drug test, that tells me one thing: they put themselves into poverty by spending all their money on drugs to pay for their drug habit. If the individual passes the drug test, by all means, give them welfare.
Once that person takes a drug test, I feel it should test for all drugs, including marijuana. Even though Mary-J isn’t the “worst” of all drugs, it’s still a drug, and if you fail a drug test based on THC—no welfare.
So call me unfair and mean for not giving welfare to people who supposedly “need” it. You know why they need it? If they hadn’t gotten into addictive drugs, like heroin or crack, then they might not need welfare in the first place.
They need welfare because the drug habit has put them so far in debt that they can’t get out themselves so they rely on the government to bail them out.
Keep in mind that I’m not bashing welfare. I’m bashing the people who get on welfare because they have a drug habit that put them there in the first place.
Hopefully, sooner than later, whoever needs to get on welfare will have to pass a test that re-quires no studying whatsoever, in order to get on welfare in the first place.
Drew Elder is junior radio/TV major and a con-tributing writer for The Pine Log.
COntriBUtinG WritEr
Drew Elder
It’s fitness time: get up off your butt and have some fun before Spring Break
Put to the test: drug users and welfare
Axes down to the crazy traffic caused by Showcase Saturday. Getting around in Nac traffic was made that much harder (insert sarcasm here).What I love
about SFA...“SFA is a great
school and the pro-fessors I’ve encoun-tered make classes so exciting. I love the countless activities available for students to enjoy including the student cinema, sports games, and the Rec Center.”
—Jennifer Moser
CMYK
Page FivePINE LOGTHEThursday, February 23, 2012
CANCER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1lated from giant salvinia are ongoing in Dr. Bharat B. Aggarwal’s lab in M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
“Dr. Li and I have been discussing all the results we have jointly obtained with this plant, and it is looking extremely promising,” said Aggarwal, a professor in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, at M.D. Anderson.
“We are very excited about the potential that exists with it, especially in the area of can-cer, and I am very optimistic about what could result from this collaboration.”
Aggarwal added that securing funding for the continuing research is the biggest obstacle for the researchers to overcome in the short term. “Without funding, we can only do so much. So, that is going to be one of the limiting factors.”
Dr. Steven H. Bullard, dean of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, said pioneer studies at the NCPC have made SFA an international leader in researching pharmaceutical crops.
“In the last several years, the center has dedicated its research to identifying novel anti-cancer and antiviral agents from native plants in Texas and noxious invasive species and to securing national strategic pharmaceuticals,” he said. “The team has tested 1,200 plant species native to Texas and isolated more than 600 compounds, including 106 new struc-tures.”
Li and his colleagues at National Cancer Institute, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, New York Botanical Garden and University of Puerto Rico have developed the concept and principle of pharmaceutical crops. With the support of a team of international leading scientists, most recently, they launched Pharmaceutical Crops, the only international peer-review journal in the field, with Bentham Science Publishers.
By Nick WadeCONTRIBUTING WRITER
Jane Wilcox is the first to admit that she is a “parking nerd,” but her dedication to parking has helped SFA become the second-rated college in the state in terms of parking efficiency.
Wilcox, who took over the role of parking director last January, said her focus is on learning the best practices in the industry and then applying them to SFA.
“There are new process, procedures and devices that are being used every year,” Wilcox said. “I seek these out so that I can use them here at SFA if I believe it will improve efficiency. Whether it is something simple like a cool design on a parking tag, instead of a sticker, or robotic parking in Germany, I am open to new innovations.”
Wilcox said the complaints she heard when she arrived at SFA were the same ones that she dealt with at the University of Texas, and UT San Antonio.
“It’s the same everywhere,” she said. “People want to be able to park at the front door, and that just isn’t going to happen. But what can happen is an enhancement of cus-tomer service.”
With that in mind, Wilcox began to make some changes to SFA’s parking system — changes she said would give stu-dents something they have been missing: options.
“When I walk into Best Buy, I don’t want to be handed a
laptop and told that is the only one I can buy,” Wilcox said. “I want to see rows and rows of different laptops so that I can pick which one works best for me.”
Wilcox overhauled the department’s website, making sure any information stu-dents might need is easily accessible, and she also created Facebook and Twitter pages for SFA parking.
“We wanted to simplify things,” Wilcox said. “My end goal is that students can do everything they need to do from their computers or their phones. I don’t want them to be forced to come here to our of-fice if they need something.”
Things like scratch-off passes, tempo-rary parking and a new rules and regula-tions compilation have been implement-ed under Wilcox, but perhaps the biggest achievement is the new software in the student center parking garage.
“That was something that was really dragging our customer service arrow down,” Wilcox said. “If someone’s card wouldn’t swipe or if the gates malfunctioned, you would have a line of cars that are stuck waiting to get out. We wanted to put the human factor back into things a little bit.”
The new software allows Wilcox to monitor every as-pect of the garage, so she is immediately notified if there is a problem. Additionally, the garage now accepts cash and tickets are paid on foot at a station in the garage, rather than in front of the exits.
“That system costs $200,000 up front,” Wilcox
said. “But you can’t put a price tag on customer service. Once people see that it works and students regain confi-dence in parking there, the system will pay for itself.”
Wilcox said the department does not operate at a profit level, and that even though there is an operating budget, parking is an expensive business.
“Repairs, maintenance, construction, there are a lot of costs that go into everything,” Wilcox said. “Just like with all these changes and improvements that are being made, there is a lot of hard work that goes into that; and this is by no means the Jane Wilcox show. I have an incredible group of people around me that put forth incredible effort. All I’m doing is bringing my experience and trying to change things for the better.”
Wilcox added that she liked it at SFA. We have “real trees.”
Parking director talks about new process for SFA
Jane Wilcox, SFA’s parking director
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CONGRATULATIONS2012 Mr. and Miss SFA
Saville Harris&
Casey Furche
SportsPage Six Monday, February 27, 2012Pine LogThe
By Piero PrettoContributing Writer
After the game, a journalist from an area newspaper shrugged his shoulders, looked up and said, “Well, that was no fun.”
He was right. The 74-41 thrashing SFA put on the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders was not pretty. Last Saturday night at the William R. Johnson Coliseum, the SFA Lumberjacks took the lead in less than 5 minutes into the first half and never gave it back.
The Lumberjacks got double-digit points from four out of its five starters, including 17 points from Taylor Smith, Antonio Bostic and Desmond Haymond each.
The game was a showcase of SFA’s talent. SFA (17-11, 10-4 SLC) produced a
season-high 61.1 percent from the floor against the Islanders (5-23, 3-11 SLC). However, the deciding factor of the game had more to do with the Islanders’ in-ability to make the most out of their op-portunities on offense.
In the first half, the Islanders was 4 of 23 in field goals attempts, sinking only one three-pointer out of the eight that were attempted. One field goal attempt by the Islanders even sailed straight into the hands of a Lumberjacks defender.
After a field goal was made with 15 minutes left in the half, the Islanders failed to produce a single point in the following five minutes of the game, al-lowing the Lumberjacks to bring their lead to 16-3. The first half ended well for the Lumberjacks at 32-16.
In the second half, SFA sought to in-crease its lead by an even wider margin.
The team went 79.2 percent in field goal attempts while making some critical blocks and takeaways to hold off the Islanders.
The second half is when Taylor Smith, making his first start of the year in place of Jereal Scott, caught fire. From not making a single basket in the first half, Taylor Smith finished the game with 17 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks.
“I know I didn’t give the team maxi-mum effort the first half but in the sec-ond half I was ready to play,” Taylor said.
The Lumberjacks will travel to Huntsville this Wednesday to take on the Sam Houston State Bearkats before wrapping up the regular season at home Saturday Mar. 3 when they host the Demons of Northwestern State.
Lumberjack Basketball humiliates Texas A&M—CC
Houston Baptist’s Bradley Brown dropped down a squeeze bunt to score David Pfuntner from third base in the bot-tom of the 13th inning to give the Huskies a 6-5 win over SFA on Saturday at the UTA Invitational at Clay Gould Ballpark.
SFA (1-6) had a pair of chances to close out the Huskies, in both the ninth and 12th innings, but HBU was able scrap back each time and eventually squeezed out its first win over the Lumberjacks since the 1993 season.
Justin Choate, the fifth SFA pitcher of the day fell to 0-2 for the year, allowing a run apiece in both the 12th and 13th innings, after inheriting a 5-4 lead in the 12th inning. Curtis Jones pitched a score-less 13th inning to earn the win for the Huskies.
It looked as though the game was SFA’s to take after Freddy Villalobos’ two-run single in the top of the ninth in-ning completed a three-run rally for the Lumberjacks, but HBU managed to get to SFA stopper Alex Moshier for two runs in the bottom of the ninth to extend the game.
The J̀acks had taken a 5-4 lead in the top of the 12th when Jordon Lenaburg scored Zach Benson from third base with a sacrifice fly, but HBU got the leadoff runner on in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a Lumberjack error and Brown followed that up with a double into the gap that quickly knotted the game at 5-5.
One inning later it was leadoff man Pfuntner who got it going for the Huskies with a leadoff double, and after a sacrifice bunt and intentional walk, Brown picked up his third hit and drove in his third run of the day when he dropped down a bunt single on the first pitch of the at-bat for the walk-off win.
SFA had trailed the Huskies 2-1 enter-ing the ninth, mustering just a pair of singles off of HBU starter Tyler Hoelscher in the first eight innings, but coupled a pair of singles from Villalobos and Jarid Scarafiotti with two Husky errors to com-plete the rally.
The Lumberjacks will next get a shot at a conference foe, UT Arlington, on Sunday in the Invitational finale.
HBU tops SFA in extrasThe SFA Ladyjack Track and Field teams scored 117.5 points to win their fourth straight Southland Conference Indoor title Saturday in Norman Oklah. SFA combined for five individual titles, 16 all-conference titles, two relay titles and one school record.
Sophomore Chelsea Stephen tacked on the Ladyjacks first individual title of the meet winning the 60-meter hurdles with a school-record time of 8.40. It is the second time this seson Stephen has set a new school-record. Senior Danielle Burchett won the women’s 800-meter with her time of 2:14.74. Freshman De’Jernel Jordan added a seventh place finish in the event (2:17.33).
Junior Lauren Smith came up with a huge victory late in the meet with her individual title in the women’s 3,000-meter. Smith clocked a time of 9:57.16 to outpace her clos-est competition by more than two seconds, and was one of only two runners to post a time under 10 minutes. Sophomore Laurie Byrd recorded a sixth place finish in the event with her time of 10:07.04.
The Ladyjacks scored 11 points in the 400-meter dash, led by senior Marie Dickerson’s all-conference finish. Dickerson finished
third overall with a time of 56.03. Sophomore Paige McCutcheon added a seventh place fin-ish (57.03), while freshman Cierra Jefferson was eighth (57.45).
Freshman Brarsheyia Simpson posted an all-SLC outing in the women’s 200-meter dash. She clocked a time of 24.92 to finish third overall.
The Ladyjacks placed two athletes in the finals of the women’s pole vault. Freshman Jessica Cunningham finished sixth overall clearing a height of 11-7.75. Teammate Macy Agnew recorded a mark of 11-1.75 to post an eighth place finish.
Junior Kelli Hermes added a fifth-place finish in the women’s triple jump with her mark of 39-7.00.
The Ladyjacks closed out the women’s events by winning the 1,600-meter relay. The team of McCutcheon, Jefferson, senior Lauren Watts and Dickerson, recorded a time of 3:48.52 for the victory. The team championship had already been decided be-fore the Ladyjacks stepped on the track for the final race.
Ladyjack Track wins againAntonio Bostic had 17 points as SFA crushed TAMCC.
KATeLynn MArCuM/THe PIne LOG