wednesday, february 29, 2012

HILLARY MCLAINCampus Reporter

Close to 1,000 peo-ple gathered Tuesday at the Capitol to protest Oklahoma legislation that could declare per-sonhood as beginning at conception.

Senate Bill 1433 passed the Senate on Feb. 15 and declares life and person-hood begin at the moment of conception. House Joint Resolution 1067 also seeks to declare this but was ta-bled for this year.

Bruce Prescott, execu-tive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, oppos-es the law on the grounds of separation of church and state, he said at the rally.

“[It] imposes one theo-l o g i c a l construct o n a l l people... b e cau s e of a strict, literal in-terpreta-tion of the Hebrew Bible,” Prescott said.

T h e g ov e r n m e n t i s infringing on the basic human right to make one’s own decision regarding his or her life and health based on politicians’ own religious beliefs and con-victions, he said.

Dr. Eli Reshef, medi-cal director of INTEGRIS Health’s Bennett Fertility Institute, also spoke out against the bill at the rally.

HJR1067 could severely impact his work assisting couples with in vitro fer-tilization, he said. If a fetus is declared to have per-sonhood, eggs that fail to

MARK SIMPSONCampus Reporter

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday a schedule to re-evaluate standards for chromium-6 lev-els in drinking water, a chemical report-ed in high levels in Norman in December 2011.

The Environmental Working Group released a 2011 report claiming aqui-fers that supply Norman and 34 other

U.S. cities with water were contaminated above safe levels with chromium-6, a heavy metal linked to cancer.

The group is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. specializing in research and advocacy, according to its website.

The tests conducted in 2010 showed the level of chromium-6 in Norman’s tap water at 12.90 parts per billion, the high-est among the 35 cities included in tests.

Current federal regulations state chro-mium-6 is safe to drink up to 100 parts per billion, according to the EPA.

The EPA begin drafting their evalua-tion this year and will a complete a final

version in 2015, according to its website. The evaluation will take so long be-

cause of the scientific testing required and the lack of resources at the agency, Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal said.

The agency originally expected to have the study done by 2011, but it is going to put it through a heavy review process, which will take time.

Rosenthal and City Manager Steve Lewis also created an independent group to investigate the issue, authorizing the utilities department to purchase new equipment and increase the frequency

W W W . O U D A I L Y . C O M 2 0 1 1 G O L D C R O W N F I N A L I S TW E D N E s D a Y , F E B R u a R Y 2 9 , 2 0 1 2

Th e University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916

What tops your gaming list? ‘Black Ops’ takes Guinness record (page 9)

eDitoriaLaffirmative action plans benefit higher educationThe Supreme Court should decide in favor of plans that take race into account in admissions decisions. (page 4)

sportsou teams dominating national rankingsThe Sooners’ spring sports are faring well nationally, with 5 teams currently ranked in the top-25. (page 6)

Life & artsstudents strut their stuff in Gaylord pageantThe men showed off their sharp clothes and ecclectic talents to raise funds and earn the title of “Mr. Gaylord.” (page 10)

Campus ........................ 2Classifi eds .................. 8Life & Arts ................... 9Opinion ...................... 4Sports ......................... 6

VOL. 97, NO. 111© 2012 OU Publications Board

FREE — Additional copies 25 cents

rIcardo paTIno/THe daILy

Hayes Venk glues a cut out of a dog Tuesday in Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art’s Dee Dee and Jon R. Stuart Classroom. On Tuesdays, young artist can experience art through books and crafts through the Art Adventures program.

Friday

Monday

Tuesday

all purchase orders made by ou Health services’ Goddard pharmacy for the past fi ve years — To gather more information about the quantity and types of medication ordered by Goddard Health Center.

all funding applications for the 2012-2013 academic year submitted to the uosa Budget Committee. — To learn more about the number of student organizations that request funding and the amount of funding requested.

a list of sciQuest’s fees for the services and applications it provides — To learn how much the university is paying for the new purchasing software.

The Daily’s open record requestsRequested document and purpose Date requested

CitY of norman

epa to reassess tap water standardsCity officials prompt review after alleged unsafe levels of chemical in water

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Norman Honolulu Riverside,Calif.

Madison,Wis.

San Jose,Calif.see WATER paGe 2

Hundreds gather to challenge Personhood bill

see PROTEST paGe 3

women’s HeaLtH

Rally protests debated bill

Campus poLiCe

pHoTos By nIKKI seLF/THe daILy

Explosive detecting dog Caesar, a 14-month-old German shepherd, sniffs a water fountain in search of a bomb. He has been with OUPD since May 2011. He and two other bomb dogs are nearing the end of their training.

Explosive detecting dog Gunner, a 9-month-old Chesapeake Bay retriever, takes a quick break from sniffing for bombs. He currently is in train-ing and has been with OUPD since Janurary.

New dogs come barkingOUPD cuts costs by training bomb dogs on campus

SEAN LAWSONCampus Reporter

G u n n e r, a 9 - m o n t h o l d Chesapeake Bay receiver , will join the ranks of the OU Police Department as the first bomb dog to be trained on campus.

Last year, Master Police Officer Brian Nelson said he took classes to learn how to train bomb dogs on campus.

“Everyone who works at the K-9 department absolutely loves dogs, so when I got the chance to attend school, I took it,” Nelson said.

Nelson attended the Tom Rose School for Professional Dog Trainers in High Ridge, Mo. in January 2011, he said.

Training cost about $12,000 , and the OU Athletics Department and OU Police Department cov-ered the costs.

“[Athletics was] happy to foot part the bill,” Nelson said. “The dogs are used at all their events so it made sense.”

Training lasted six months and focused on canine health, diet, first aid, behavior modification, obedience, scent detection and

tracking, Nelson said. Accompanying Nelson were

two of man’s best friends — a quiet, shy German shepherd named Caesar and a hyperactive

see CANINE paGe 3

correcTIonThe Oklahoma Daily has a commitment to serve readers with accurate coverage and analysis. Readers should bring errors to The Daily’s attention by emailing [email protected].

In monday’s edition, there were several fact errors in a page a1 story, “sooners stomp the competition,” and the following corrections and clarifications must be made:

• The story was incorrectly edited to say saturday was the 35th annual stompdown competition, however the event is in its 30th year. The regional step competition is held as part of the Big 12 conference on Black student Government, which is in its 35th year.

• The story reported four sororities and five fraternities participated in the competition. Three sororities and six fraternities competed, stompdown chairwoman onisia martin said. stompdown vice chairwoman Brittany Taylor told The daily nine sororities and fraternities participated. The reporter incorrectly counted a sorority as a fraternity.

• The Stompdown competition was hosted by both the ou Black student association and the national pan-Hellenic council, martin said.

• The story said 300 people attended, a number given to The daily by a stompdown crew member. nearly 2,500 people attended the event, martin said.

• The corresponding photo on page a5 misidentified the fraternity members. The men pictured are in Iota phi Theta.

• The women of OU’s alpha Kappa alpha chapter were incorrectly referred to as alphas on second reference. In reference to national pan-Hellenic council greeks, the men of alpha phi alpha are referred to as alphas. The women of alpha Kappa alpha are called aKas or Ks, martin said.

Of the 35 U.S. cities tested by the Environmental Working Group, these fi ve yielded the highest levels of chromium-6. Norman’s parts per billion (ppb) of 12.9 is more than 200 times California’s proposed safe limit.

Source: EWG.org

AT A GLANCEou bomb dogsCurrent bomb dogs:• Chaki — black Labrador retriever; with OU since 2003; retires in 2012

• Ambra — German shepherd; with OU since 2009

new bomb dogs:• Vinnie — Belgian Malinois born in February 2011; began training at 5 weeks old in Missouri

• Caesar — German shepherd born in December 2010; began training at 6 weeks old in Missouri

• Gunner: Chesapeake Bay receiver born in May 2011; began training in January on campus

Source: Nelson and Grubbs

MORE INSIDEStaff writer Mariah Webb offers her account of the rally in OKC.paGe 4

of testing, according to re-leases from the city.

However, the initial report by the group was not accu-rate and was just an effort to create an alarmist reaction, Norman Utilities Director Ken Komiske said.

“Chromium-6 is a natural-ly occurring element in the aquifer and the earth’s crust,” Komiske said. “It’s found naturally in the soil, so, yes, we do have chromium in our well water, but it is well below the EPA’s maximum contam-inant limit.”

Even though levels of chromium-6 in Norman’s aquifers are well below EPA standards, city water officials increased testing from every three years to every quarter as a response to the report, Komiske said.

City water officials tested all wells, lakes and aquifers from which Norman draws its water in February 2011 and found chromium-6 lev-els ranging from 20 to 80 parts per billion, Komiske said.

“It’s not as if nobody knew about the levels,” Komiske said. “We publish consum-er confidence reports every year that tell customers ex-actly what we find in the aquifer.”

The group did not go through the proper scientific channels of peer review with its findings, so the report lacked credibility and only served to stir alarm, Komiske said.

Other research organiza-tions released statements expressing concern of the group’s findings and meth-ods, including the Water Research Foundation.

“It’s disconcerting [the

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Campus Wednesday, February 29, 2012 • 3

Laney Ellisor, campus editorKathleen Evans, assistant campus editor

Chris Miller, assistant campus [email protected] • phone: 405-325-3666

2 • Wednesday, February 29, 2012

CaMpusOuDaily.com ››undergraduate student Congress approved spring 2012 election dates, polling locations and new executive branch members Tuesday

Today around campusGraduation applications must be filed and all fees and tuition charges must be paid by today in order to receive diplomas.

A Student Success Series lecture on emotional intelligence will be held from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Wagner Hall, room 245.

An opening reception for “a Veritable menagerie” exhibition will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Fred Jones Jr. museum of art’s Lightwell Gallery.

“Don Giovanni” opens at 8 p.m. at the reynolds performing arts center.

FrIday, marcH 2The softball team plays Lsu at 6 p.m. at marita Hynes Field.

The women’s gymnastics team competes against alabama at 7 p.m. at Lloyd noble center.

saTurday, marcH 3The women’s tennis team plays oklahoma state at noon at the Headington Family Tennis center.

The men’s basketball team plays Texas a&m at 3 p.m. at Lloyd noble center.

water: Reports may be skewed to alarm publicContinued from page 1

group] would risk creating public fear and hysteria about drinking water, let alone pub-licly insinuate there is a mas-sive conspiracy by water pro-viders in a nationwide cover up,” the foundation stated in its release. “It’s reckless and irresponsible for any entity

purporting to serve a scien-tific purpose.”

If the agency did decide to decrease the amount of chromium-6 deemed safe in water, it could reduce the number of available water sources for the city, Komiske said.

“During drought periods and periods of high demand, we have to buy water from Oklahoma City,” he said. “If the EPA lowers the chro-mium limit and we have to shut down five or 10 wells, it’s definitely going to affect our customers.”

Source: EWG.org

Red dots indicate Environmental Working Group test sites, where chromium-6 concentrations were mea-sured in parts per billion (ppb). The size of dots reflect the level found. Brown-shaded areas represent population-adjusted average concentrations of total chromium by county, calculated from EWG’s national tap water database obtained from state water agencies in 2009.

• Winter 2010: Environmental Working Group releases its report about higher chromium-6 levels in Norman

• December 2010: Environmental Protection Agency releases response about current stadards for chromium-6

• February 2011: Norman Utilities Department

confirms levels of chromium-6 are present in water sources but fall within EPA regulations

• March 2011: Norman City Council establishes two investigative groups to explore and monitor chromium-6 issue

• January 2012: City asks the EPA for an update on standards for safe levels of

chromium-6 in water sources

• Winter 2012: EPA will begin drafting a report about chromium-6 levels

• Fall 2015: EPA will release final draft evaluating chromium-6 levels

Sources: Environmental Protection Agency reports, City of Norman reports

AT A GLANCE Chromium-6

Belgian Malinois named Vinnie. “A major part of the training was focused on two pup-

pies,” Nelson said. “I trained Vinnie, who is my personal dog, and Caesar, who was purchased by the department.”

Caesar began training when he was 6 weeks old and Vinnie began when he was 5 weeks old, Nelson said.

These dogs can all smell black powder, ammonium ni-trate and other potentially combustible chemicals com-monly used in explosives, Sgt. Eric Grubbs said.

Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted for the bomb-ing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and Joel Hinrichs, an OU student who killed himself with a bomb on campus in 2005, both used these chemicals, Grubbs said.

Since Sept. 11, bomb dogs have become immensely popular, and reputable kennels often have long waiting lists, Grubbs said. By having a certified trainer and being able to train dogs like Gunner on campus, OU can bypass that inconvenience.

Buying a fully-trained bomb dog costs between $8,000 and $10,000, Nelson said. By training the dogs on campus, the only fees are veterinary bills and living arrangements, which is around $3,000 to $4,000.

The dogs stay with trainers in a kennel and enclosure at their homes and report to work daily, Nelson said.

These three new dogs will replace the two current OU bomb dogs, Grubbs said.

Chaki, a black Labrador retriever, has been with the K-9 department at OUPD since it began in 2003, Grubbs said. She will retire from duty in 2012.

German shepherd Ambra joined in 2009 and will start sharing her work load with Vinnie, Nelson said.

Potential bomb dogs are identified at a very young age by a phenomenon called “ball drive,” which is the level of excitement a puppy shows toward toys, Nelson said.

“We look for the ones who are super excited when they get the opportunity to play with a ball,” he said.

Rewarding a dog after successful training is vital to the success of the schooling, so dogs that get the most enjoy-ment out of toys are easiest to train, Grubbs said.

“Each and every one of our dogs has a different person-ality,” Nelson said. “In that sense, they are just like people, but they always get excited for their ball.”

Canine: Current OUPD bomb dogs set to retireContinued from page 1attach could be considered

killing a person. He challenged the author

of the Personhood Act, Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa.

“All it takes is one disgrun-tled couple to sue me for their eggs dying in the lab,” Rashef said. “Will you be there for me, Sen. Crane?”

The bill wouldn’t ban in vitro fertilizations or prevent abortions but would let peo-ple know the state is pro-life, Crain said in a press release.

Heather Hall, a rally orga-nizer, said she has been in the position of choosing between an abortion and giving birth. She eventually chose against the abortion.

“That’s a heavy choice,” Hall said. “If you don’t have a choice, then the lack of it is overwhelming.”

The passage of this legis-lation would provide a foun-dation for a number of other laws that would severely restrict women’s access to

protest: Opponents say bill infringes on rightsContinued from page 1

medical care, Hall said.“My mom raised me to

leave the world a better place for my children ..., and this isn’t better,” Hall said.

During the protest, both senators and representatives addressed the rally.

S e n . J u d y M c I n t y r e ,

D-Tulsa, blamed Republican legislators for the bills and challenged the crowd to peti-tion against them.

“To the young women: you are the future,” McIntyre said. “ You have to work like hell to get rid of bad measurements.”

Lauren Zuniga, OU activ-ist-in-residence, also spoke at this event. Oklahoma Coalition of Reproductive Justice, Oklahomans Against Personhood and Young Democrats of Oklahoma were all present in support of the rally.

HILLary mcLaIn/THe daILy

Opponents of the Personhood Act gather Tuesday on the Oklahoma state Capitol plaza. Close to 1,000 people protested the legislation, which would define life beginning at conception.

Campus BriefELECTiON

Petition submitted to get nominee on ballot

A petition with about 90,000 signa-tures to add a new presidential ticket to Oklahoma’s statewide ballot was sub-mitted Tuesday to the State Election Board.

The Americans Elect, a website

pushing for an online presidential tick-et, submitted the petition with support from OU President David Boren. The petition’s roughly 90,000 signatures al-most doubled the required number of 51,793.

“We need a truly bipartisan govern-ment, including a bipartisan cabinet, to bring all Americans together in a unit-ed effort,” Boren said in a press release.

Americans Elect hopes to have a

presidential nominee on the ballot of all 50 states for the 2012 election to give voters an alternative besides Democrats or Republicans, according to the groups website. Americans Elect currently is on 16 states ballots. The group will hold an online primary in June to select a candidate for the presi-dential ticket.

Max Janerka,Campus Reporter

OU

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The Oklahoma Daily is a public forum, the University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice and an entirely student-run publication.

Letters should concentrate on issues, not personalities, and must be fewer than 250 words, typed and signed by the author(s). Letters will be edited for accuracy, space and style. Students must list their major and classi� cation. To submit letters, email [email protected].

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Our View: The Supreme Court should uphold affirmative action policies like the one at OU.

Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case about the constitutionality of the affirmative action policy at the University of Texas. If the court rules against this policy when it hears the case later this year, it could overturn similar policies at univer-sities across the country — including OU.

This isn’t the first time the Supreme Court has heard a case on this matter. In 1978 , the court decid-ed in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke that race-based admissions that amounted to quota systems were unconstitutional.

Then, in 2003, Grutter v. Bollinger al-lowed standards that took race into account as just one factor in admissions decisions. This judgment was based on the finding that schools have a compelling interest in creat-ing diverse student populations. The holistic approach described by the court was then adopted by many universities, including OU.

UT’s enrollment data shows that minority enroll-ment did increase after race was added back into the admissions process in 2003. Hispanic enrollment at Texas rose by 43.1 percent to make up 17.6 percent of the population in fall 2010. Black student enrollment rose by 40.6 percent to make up 4.5 percent of the population.

At OU, on the other hand, the percentage of mi-nority students remained at between 20 percent to 22 percent from 1996 to 2009. It seems OU’s affirma-tive action policy has had little bearing on our gen-eral undergraduate admissions.

But that doesn’t negate the fact that it is a necessary policy for other schools in the nation.

Clearly, any kind of quota sys-tem places too much emphasis on race and not only is unfair to other students but insulting to minority students.

In a perfect society, students would be able to enter the college admission process on an even playing field and compete solely on academic achievement and likelihood of success.

But this is not a perfect society. White citizens are privileged from birth in a variety of powerful, subtle — even invisible — ways. The other side of that coin is that members of minority races, without those socially gifted privileges, face odds stacked against their success.

To start with, educational opportunities in poorer neighborhoods are notoriously lacking. Students growing up in these areas have fewer opportunities and must work harder to perform equally to stu-dents in wealthy neighborhoods.

Yes, this is a class issue, and no, we’re not assum-ing that members of minority races necessarily grew up in poorer neighborhoods.

But there still are many neighborhoods that are primarily impoverished and made up primarily of minority families.

Many of these families were forced into poorer neighborhoods during an era of discrimination and segregation.

Times have changed, but once a family is in the cycle of poverty, the lack of educational and other opportunities makes it incredibly difficult to break out.

The difficulty in accessing higher education is it-self one of those factors.

But even taking class out of the equation, there are other powerful social systems in place that disad-vantage young minority students.

Just for one brief example, television shows and movies — when they have mi-nority characters at all — rarely represent them in academic, well-educated or highly successful roles.

And because of the lack of minority un-dergraduate students, there are even fewer minority graduate students and a serious

lack of minority professors, researchers and aca-demics to serve as role models.

In fact, only 17 percent of full-time higher educa-tion professors in the U.S. are from minority races, according to the American Council on Education.

At OU, only 8.9 percent of the instructional faculty in 2009 was black or Hispanic — less than half the percentage of black and Hispanic students.

Despite these factors, many students from minor-ity backgrounds perform equally or better than their white peers. For these students, race may not be a factor in their admissions decision.

But for minority students performing at aver-age levels or slightly lower, affirmative action policies give them a chance to access high-quality educational institutions.

Because race only is one admissions factor, it only comes into play when most other factors are equal. In these cases, consideration of race simply lev-els the playing field by counteracting the broad, invisible privilege systems that disadvantage minority students.

A 2007 study from Carnegie Mellon University found firm evidence that affirmative action policies help minority students attend higher-tier schools in larger numbers, and that a ban on such policies would significantly decrease the number of such students at high-performing schools.

This is bad for students, bad for the nation and bad for those individual schools, which only can benefit from a more diverse student body.

A Supreme Court decision against affirmative ac-tion policies would be a step backward. Even though such policies, or the lack thereof, may not signifi-cantly affect OU, banning them would damage the entire higher education system by reducing the di-versity of voices students are exposed to.

Ultimately, that lack of diversity would be damag-ing to the country as a whole.

Comment on this at OUDaily.com

EDITORIAL

Diversity vital for higher ed

The Our View is the majority opinion of The Daily’s nine-member editorial board

?Do you think the university’s affirmative action policy is unconstitutional?

» Poll question of the day

To cast your vote, log on to

Mary Stan� eld, opinion [email protected] • phone: 405-325-3666


OPINION

Source: 2010 Kaiser Institute

The percentages of black, Hispanic and white people in Oklahoma compared to the same percentages nationally.

“Any kind of quota system places too much emphasis on race and not only is unfair to other

students but insulting to minority students.”

FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNT

Protestors rally around common cry: Trust womenEditor’s note: Daily life & arts assistant editor Mariah Webb attended Tuesday’s rally in protest of Senate Bill 1433, also known as The Personhood Act, which states that life begins at the moment of conception.

Until Tuesday, I had never been to a protest. I read about them and occasionally

support them, but nothing ever seems important enough to commit time and brave a smelly group of hippies.

However, when I heard there would be a rally in protest of the Personhood legislation, it seemed irresponsible of me to not attend.

I was nervous. I don’t like crowds. Or people, really. But when I started to get close to the huge crowd of men, women and children in front of the state Capitol, I couldn’t help but feel I was a part of something. I felt proud to see so many people standing up for a cause that is so important to me.

As I started to sift through the crowd, I began to real-ize these people were not what I expected. They ranged in age from 5 to 80 years old. Women dropped their

shoes on the front steps of the Capitol to symbolize a throw-back to the days of “barefoot and pregnant.”

The front lawn seemed to emit some contagion of kind energy, as every person I spoke with was loving to a degree I have never encountered from perfect strangers. There was a rare sense of community among us, and it seemed to melt away all differences.

We had a common goal: Do not allow this state (or this country) to return to the Dark Ages. Trust women to make our own choices.

It was this common goal, this compassion, that al-lowed a number of women to openly share the personal stories as to why they oppose the Personhood legislation. These accounts were touching. Some were happy, some bittersweet, while others brought the speaker to tears. With each loss of words, the crowd would encourage the speaker to persevere.

One story in particular stuck with me.A woman with infertility made her way to the micro-

phone. As she began, she told the crowd about how she had two children through in vitro fertilization. She ex-pressed her opposition to the idea of life beginning at conception. She and her husband produced 16 fertilized eggs in their first round of in vitro fertilization, and not a single one took.

It wasn’t until her second round (they produced 19 this time) that a fetus began to grow. Her daughter is now 5 years old. She said she watched the conception phase in front of her eyes, and there is no way that 35 lives began at that point.

This was just one of many personal stories I heard on the steps of the Capitol. I encourage everyone to join the cause for reproductive justice. Man or woman.

Together we can stop the war on women.

Mariah Webb is a University College freshman and the life & arts editor of The Daily.

HILLARY MCLAIN/THE DAILY

Opponents of the Personhood Act gather on the Oklahoma Capitol plaza Tuesday in Oklahoma City. Close to 1,000 people protested the legislation, which would define life beginning at conception. Legislators in the House of Representatives have tabled the bill.

Mariah [email protected]

“We had a common goal:

Do not allow this state (or this

country) to return to the Dark Ages. Trust women to make our own

choices.”

NATIONAL NEWS Wednesday, February 29, 2012 • 5

NATION NEWS BRIEFS1. RICHMOND, VA.

Virginia Senate passes mandate for ultrasounds before abortions

Virginia’s Senate has passed legislation that would require women seeking abortions to undergo nonin-vasive ultrasounds, eliminating a stipulation the exams be conducted through a vaginal procedure that had drawn the scorn of commentators and comedians.

The state Senate split 21-19 mostly along party lines in approving the amended measure, which was the last opportunity for Democrats in the chamber to derail the contentious proposal.

The bill returns to the House for expected concur-rence on an amendment added last week that eliminat-ed mandatory invasive vaginal ultrasounds. Another amendment since added would exempt victims of rape and incest who reported the crimes to police.

The Associated Press

2. CHARDON, OHIO

High school shooting suspect randomly fired, officials say

Ohio school shooting suspect T.J. Lane randomly chose the targets of his shooting rampage at a suburban high school, fired 10 shots from a handgun and was also armed with a knife, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Lane, 17, appeared as a juvenile at his first hearing before Geauga County Judge Timothy J. Grendell, who ordered the student held for his safety and that of the community. Grendell gave prosecutors until Thursday to bring formal charges, and set the next hearing for March 6. The judge also set March 19 for a probable cause hearing if Lane is charged as an adult.

County prosecutor David Joyce told the court the ini-tial investigation showed Lane was the lone gunman and fired in Chardon High School. He said the targets were chosen at random.

After his arrest Monday, Lane admitted to the shoot-ing, Joyce said in court. Five students were injured in the attack about 7:30 a.m. Monday morning.

Three students have died. One boy remains hospi-talized and the only girl injured in the shooting was re-leased Tuesday to her family, officials said.


12

ELECTION 2012

Gingrich to revive campaign bytargeting ‘Super Tuesday’ states

EVAN VUCCI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his wife, Callista, speak with chidren Tuesday during a campaign stop in Dalton, Ga. Gingrich is seeking to win Georgia — his home state — on March 6.

DALTON, Ga. — Newt Gingrich looked beyond Tuesday’s GOP presiden-tial primaries in Michigan and Arizona to the Southern voters he hopes will revive his struggling campaign

o n c e m o re, i n c l u d i n g Oklahoma.

G i n g r i c h i s p i n n i n g his hopes on winning his h o m e s t a t e o f G e o r g i a and showing s t r e n g t h i n

Ohio, Tennessee and other Super Tuesday states voting March 6.

The former House speaker opened a three-day bus tour in Georgia, which he rep-resented in Congress for 20 years, to fend off rivals Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum on the path to claiming the GOP presidential nomina-tion at the party’s conven-tion next summer in the swing state of Florida.

“Winning next Tuesday moves us toward Tampa in a big way,” Gingrich said. “G e orgia is the bigg est group of delegates out there on Super Tuesday so this is a big deal and it really, really matters.”

By skipping Tuesday’s pr imar ies in Michigan, where the race between Ro m n e y a n d Sa nt o r u m was close, and in Arizona, where Romney was favored, Gingrich was betting that one of his rivals will emerge as a weaker candidate and give him a chance to climb back into contention in the

topsy-turvy race.Gingrich has acknowl-

edged that winning Georgia is crucial to his campaign but has stopped short of

saying a loss would force him out of race.

Gingrich said Tuesday that spending a week devel-oping his message about gas prices and advancing a plan to drive pump prices down to $2.50 a gallon would pay off.

He quipped that a sup-porter told him President Barack Obama’s 9-9-9 plan — a reference to former GOP candidate Herman Cain’s tax plan — “is $9.99 a gallon for gasoline.”

Speaking to a few hun-dred supporters in Dalton, he urged them to pass out leaflets at gas stations and have people calculate how much they’d save if gas pric-es dropped. He also asked them to “go on Facebook and put Newt(equals)$2.50 a gallon.”

W i t h o u t m e n t i o n i n g Gingrich by name, White House officials called his

energy plan unrealistic.“There are numerous fac-

tors that go into a spike in global oil prices, and any politician who tells you oth-erwise is not being honest,” White House press secre-tary Jay Carney said. “When a politician comes out with a three-point plan to reduce gas prices to $2.50 a gallon, they are blowing smoke.”

Later in the day, Gingrich targeted Romney, calling him a moderate “pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-tax in-crease governor” who would hurt the party’s chances in the fall against Obama.

“We tried a moderate in 1996, we lost badly. We tried a moderate in 2008, we lost badly,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich has disputed talk that his campaign is in decline. “I’ve been down this road before,” he told Fox News Channel.


March 6 primaries include Oklahoma, nine other states

NEWT GINGRICH

AT A GLANCESuper TuesdaySuper Tuesday, which is March 6 this year, refers to the Tuesday of a presidential election year when the most states hold primary elections. The states holding primaries this year include:

• Alaska• Georgia• Idaho• Massachusetts• North Dakota• Ohio• Oklahoma• Tennessee• Vermont• Virginia

Attention

for Graduation!

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.

For more information, call (405)325-0841.

YOU MUST APPLY TO GRADUATE!Applications should be picked up at your

degree-granting college and submitted to the Office of Academic

Records, Room 330, Buchanan Hall.

Thursday, March 1

The deadline to apply for graduation is

Turn yours in today!

Candidates

the hands of No. 9 Baylor. Playing on the road, espe-cially in a tough, competitive conference, always is diffi-cult for a basketball team.

That fact is not lost on first-year coach Lon Kruger.

“Playing teams in the Big 12, it’s hard to win road games, for sure,” Kruger said following the loss to Baylor. “To win today, we needed to make all the shots and all the opportunities we had.”

The Sooners did not make the shots when they needed

to, particularly in the sec-ond half. The most frustrat-ing thing about the 2012 Sooners has not been their win-loss record.

Under a new head coach and no seniors in the start-ing lineup, this season was

Greg Fewell, sports editorKedric Kitchens, assistant sports editor

[email protected] • phone: 405-325-3666


SPORTSOUDaily.com ››The NCAA playing rules oversight committee has released a list of rule changes for the 2012-13 football season.

men’s basketball

OU fights for final winsTeam struggles in Big 12, uses season to rebound skills

GreG FewellSports Editor

The OU men’s basketball team only has a couple of more chances to notch an-other conference victory be-fore the Big 12 tournament starts next Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo.

T h e f i r s t o p p o r t u n i -ty comes at 8 tonight in Austin against the Texas Longhorns.

Tonight’s meeting will be the second in just over two weeks for the squads, as Texas handed Oklahoma its fifth straight loss Feb. 14 in Norman.

That losing streak, which eventually stretched to six games before a home win against Oklahoma State, was just the most recent struggle the team has faced in Big 12 play.

Oklahoma started the 2012 season with a 12-2 re-cord. Then conference play began.

S i n c e t h a t t i m e , t h e Sooners have gone a dismal 4-12 against Big 12 oppo-nents, with the most recent loss coming on the road at

UP NEXTtexas a&mWhen: 3 p.m. Saturday

Where: Lloyd Noble Center in Norman

astrud reed/the daily

OU sophomore guard Cameron Clark goes up for a one-handed dunk in the Sooners’ Feb. 22 Bedlam victory in Norman. OU evened the Bedlam series with a 77-64 win.

Sooners sitting pretty in spring

Rankings

GreG FewellSports Editor

With spring sports now well under way, several OU athletic teams current-ly are ranked very high.

The men’s gymnastics team held onto its No. 1 national ranking for the fourth straight week, while the women’s gymnas-tics team is right on their heels.

With a new s cor ing system in place, the OU women stayed at No. 2 behind Florida. However, they are gaining on the Gators, now only .050 behind the nation’s first-ranked team. OU has a chance finally to reach the No. 1 spot with a good showing against defend-ing champion Alabama this weekend.

A few Oklahoma teams did not fare quite as well in this week’s rankings, however. The Sooner softball team fell from No. 6 to No. 8 in this week’s national poll after suf-fering back-to-back losses for the first time this season. The losses came at the hands of No. 14 Stanford and No. 13 Georgia. After a loss to No. 23 Georgia Tech earlier this season, the team still is looking for a victory against a ranked opponent.

The Oklahoma men’s tennis team also had a tough week, falling out of the top-25 for the first time this season after a home loss to Pepperdine on Sunday. The Sooners were ranked No. 20 in the nation prior to falling to the No. 13 Pepperdine Waves.

Men’s gymnastics currently No. 1 in national ranking, women No. 2

expected to be a rebuilding one.

What is frustrating for the team, though, is how close it has been in many of the losses against very quality teams.

For instance, just look at the team’s six-game losing streak.

On that stretch, OU suf-fered a seven-point loss to Iowa State, a last second, three-point loss to No. 7 Missouri and an eighteen-point loss to Texas Tech on the road.

And the team had the same problem down the stretch at Baylor. OU was in the game until the very end but couldn’t close out the Bears in the end.

“I think the second half we didn’t shoot quite as well, largely in part of their length and ranginess,” Kruger said after the loss. “We missed some opportunities, and they knocked down shots to make an even ball game.”

Missed opportunities and second-half meltdowns. In a sense, that sums up the Sooners’ problems this season.

And with only two games left, OU doesn’t have many opportunities left to take ad-vantage of.

BY THE NUMBERSOU in the rankings

5 The number of weeks OU men’s gymnastics

has been the top team in the nation

6 The number of OU teams in the top-25,

nationally

7 The number of OU athletes ranked in the

top-10 in their events

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Wednesday All Day

Positions up for election: -UOSA President and Vice President

-Campus Activities Council Chair -Housing Center Student Association President

-Student Bar Association President -Undergraduate Student Congress Representative

Seats

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact UOSA

Election Chair, Cole Jackson either by email at

[email protected] or by phone at 405-517-5812

Printing funded by UOSA

UOSA SPRING GENERAL ELECTION

Filing Forms are available in the Conoco Student Leadership

Wing, OMU Room 181 and online at:

ou.edu/uosa/home

Filing Forms are due Thursday, March 1st, 2012, by 5:00pm

to the Conoco Student Leadership Wing, OMU Room 181

Mandatory Candidates Meetings on Friday March 2nd

Spring Elections will be held April 3rd and 4th

SPORTS Wednesday, February 29, 2012 • 7

Sooners hope to seize win at Tech

women’s basketball

Kedric KitchensAssistant Sports Editor

After a tough loss to Texas in Austin, the OU women’s basketball team looks to bounce back in the Lonestar State against Texas Tech at 7 tonight. in Lubbock, Texas.

The Sooners took the first game in the series, netting in a close 71-68 victory in Norman on Jan. 11. It was the first loss for the then-No. 10 Red Raiders. The squad has spi-raled down since, garnering a 3-13 record since the loss.

Tech’s troubles have been compounded by their lead-ing scorer, senior forward Keirra Mallard (11.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg), missing three games in that span due to an undis-closed injury and a suspension for violating team rules. Sophomore forward Shauntal Nobles has replaced Mallard in the starting lineup and averages 5.8 points and 4.9 rebounds. Nobles has totaled just two points in her last three starts, though.

The Sooners were led by junior guard Whitney Hand in their most recent loss to the Longhorns on Saturday. Hand had a double-double in the game scoring 13 points and netting 13 rebounds. She also dished out five as-sists while only losing two turnovers. Sophomore guard Morgan Hook was the Sooners other double-digit scorer, getting 11 points in the game.

OU was inefficient in the game, giving away 25 turn-overs while dropping just 11 assists. This proved to be the difference in the game with Texas scoring 25 points off turnovers. Conversely, the Sooners scored just six in the same category.

The Red Raiders (17-11) are currently ninth in the Big 12 with a conference record of 5-11. This puts them at six slots behind OU (18-10) who are 10-6 in conference play, good enough for third place in the Big 12.

The Sooners will guarantee a minimum of a fourth place finish in the conference with a win and Tech needs all the wins it can get to have a chance at making the NCAA tournament. It should be a hard-fought shootout in Lubbock, Texas.

softball

oU seeks n. texas shutoutSooners looking for victory after two weekend losses

astrud reed/the daily

Junior pitcher Keilani Ricketts throws a pitch in a fall exhibition game against Seminole State last fall. Ricketts threw her 16th career shutout last season against North Texas. The junior will be looking for a repeat of that performance tonight when the Sooners face the Mean Green in Denton, Texas.

tobi neidySports Reporter

T h e e i g h t h - r a n k e d Oklahoma softball team ( 9 - 3 ) m a k e s t h e s h o r t trip down Interstate 35 to take on the North Texas Mean Green at 6 tonight in Denton, Texas.

The Sooners are com-ing off a 3-2 record in the Cathedral City Classic last weekend.

The traditionally first-of-the-season matchup be-tween the two teams may be a much tighter contest than it has been in previ-ous meetings if the Mean G r e e n ’s p e r f o r m a n c e against No. 10 Baylor dur-ing the Texas Shootout last weekend is any indication.

North Texas (5-7) fell by a single run, but not before giving the Bears a scare in the seventh inning.

However, the Sooners never have lost to North Texas and bring the per-fect 20-0 record against the Mean Green heading into tonight’s contest.

Last year, OU captured the 3-0 victory at Lovelace Stadium, the team’s sixth time to win in Denton.

During the win, junior pitcher Keilani Ricketts threw her 16th career shut-out to keep the Mean Green offense from putting any pressure on the Sooners.

B u t n e w p l a y e r s w i l l need to step up this year after OU’s offense was led by three players — Dani Dobbs, Chana’e Jones and Ha l e y Ni x — w h o h av e graduated.

The Sooners started the year with a 9-1 record be-fore dropping two straight games in Palm Springs, Calif.

T h e t e a m e n d e d t h e tournament w ith back-to-back losses to then No. 14 Stanford and No. 13 Georgia.

It was the team’s f irst back-to-back losses this season.

O U h a s f a c e d t h r e e

kelsey higley/the daily

Sophomore guard Aaryn Ellenberg finds space in the Texas A&M defense and calls for the ball during the team’s Feb. 21 victory over the Aggies.

ranked teams so far this sea-son, yet the team has failed to capture a win in any of those matchups.

Tonight’s game marks the last outing before the Sooners play this season’s first home game on Friday.

OU will host LSU at Marita

Hynes Field before play-ing LSU and Iowa during a double-header Saturday at Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

The Sooners then will wrap up the weekend with a single contest against Iowa back in Norman.

Red Raiders stumble through season, give OU opportunity to bounce back

WHAT’S NEXTHome openerAfter 13 road games, OU returns to Norman to host LSU at 6 p.m. Friday.

A drunk driver ruined somethingprecious. Amber Apodaca.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk.

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number crisisline9

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8 p.m.-4 a.m. every dayexcept OU holidays and breaks

help is just a phone call away

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The University of Oklahoma is an Equal Opportunity Institution. For accommodations on the basis of disability, call 325-2340

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BUYSELLTRADEVINTAGECLOTHING318 E. MAIN12-6 M-SATNORMAN OK405-310-6771

Dr. Zaleski has been a professor of World Religions at Smith College since 1989. She has a Ph.D in the Study of Religion from Harvard University and has published several books on the topic of religion.

Agnes M. and Herbert True Family Lecture

The Recovered Image:The Faith and Reason of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the InklingsDr. Zaleski, with her husband Philip Zaleski, has just completed an intellectual biography of the Inklings, a literary group at Oxford University in the 1930s to the 1950s. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were members of the Inklings. She will talk about the influence of faith and reason upon their literary work and their world view.

Presented by Dr. Carol Zaleski

There will be free parking directly south of the main (fountain) entrance to the OU Law School

March 77:30pm

Bell Courtroom at the OU School of Law

PLACE AN ADPhone: 405-325-2521E-mail: classifi [email protected]

Fax: 405-325-7517Campus Address: COH 149A

Payment is required at the time the ad is placed. Credit cards, cash, money orders or local checks accepted.

rrs TM

Line AdThere is a 2 line minimum charge; approximately 42 characters per line, including spaces and punctuation.(Cost = Days x # lines x $/line)

Classifi ed Display, Classifi ed Card Ad orGame SponsorshipContact an Acct Executive for details at 325-2521.

2 col (3.25 in) x 2 inchesSudoku ..............$760/monthBoggle ...............$760/monthHoroscope ........$760/month

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SUMMER EMPLOYMENT!Fun Valley Family Resort, South Fork, Colorado needs students for all type jobs: kitchen, dining room, housekeeping, stores, maintenance, office, horse wran-gler. Room/board, salary, bonus. For in-formation and application write to Student Personnel Director, 6315 Westover Drive, Granbury, TX 76049

Bartending! Up to $300/day. No exp nec. Training available. 800-965-6520, x133

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STUDENTPAYOUTS.COMPaid survey takers needed in Norman100% FREE to join. Click on Surveys.

Research volunteers needed! Re-searchers at OU Health Sciences Center need healthy volunteers ages 18 to 30 who have a parent with or without a histo-ry of an alcohol or drug problem. Qualified participants will be compensated for their time. Call (405) 456-4303 to learn more about the study and to see if you qualify. The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.

DEL RANCHO IN NORMAN is hiring ad-ditional dependable, smiling faces! We need cooks and carhops! Apply in person at 2300 W Lindsey!

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APTS. UNFURNISHED1 bd, close to campus, smoke-free, no pets, $395 + bills, $395/dep. 360-3850.

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Sign TODAY for MAY! Brick houses 2-5 bl W of OU. Wd fl, CH/A, Ref, Range, W/D.3bd: $990 to $15002bd: $660 to $9001bd: $500 to $550Call Bob (Mr Robert Furniture) 321-1818

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Classifieds

$445$515

$440$510$700

Spring Specials

ACROSS 1 Brief periods,

briefly 5 Box-office

failure 9 Beverage

with a marshmal-low

14 “Sack” attachment

15 It’s not a good thing

16 Got word of 17 Leave the

engine run-ning

18 “I changed my mind” on a computer

19 Made a misstep

20 Exert one’s influence

23 Improve, as cheese

24 Prefix with “plasm” or “type”

25 Broom ac-companier

27 Archery bow wood

28 Decom-posed

32 Card collection

33 “Significant” person

34 River to the Rio Grande

35 Ironic event 38 Commemo-

rative pillar (Var.)

40 “Blue Velvet” actress Dern

41 Broken on the ranch

42 Deli cold cut 44 Be inquisitive 47 Less popu-

lar, as a restaurant

49 Achieve harmony

51 Blood classification letters

52 Star transport

56 Beyond the suburbs

58 Asian nursemaid

59 TV Batman West

60 About to blow

61 “Quo Vadis” meanie

62 Give up claim to

63 Allays 64 Homer’s

besieged city

65 “East of ___”

DOWN 1 Peanut

butter brand 2 Abide 3 Wet behind

the ears 4 Hardy kind

of wheat 5 “Sesame

Street” straight man

6 Of higher rank than

7 Conservative skirt

8 A gentleman might prefer one

9 Activity requiring

four bishops 10 “Above,” in

an anthem 11 Crab or

turtle shell 12 A spice 13 Math

problem numbers

21 Aerial combat mission

22 Big bang maker

26 Eighth Greek letter

29 Cries of un-derstanding

30 Asian new year celebration

31 “The Lord of the Rings” beast

33 Avian baby 34 Persona

non grata 35 Fleeting 36 Air traffic

control agcy.

37 “Fee, fi, fo, ___”

38 Kind of acid used in cosmetics

39 Indian lute (Var.)

42 “Quiet on the___!”

43 Downright 44 ___ oneself

on (had an ego about)

45 Filmed a new version of

46 Palace workers

48 Archipelago units

50 Candied, as fruits

53 Spud bud remover

54 Edible root 55 Bok ___

(Chinese vegetable)

57 “Fast cash” site

Universal CrosswordEdited by Timothy E. Parker February 29, 2012

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2012 Universal Uclickwww.upuzzles.com

DISTORTION By Vera Verne2/29

2/28

Instructions:Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

Previous Solution

Monday- Very EasyTuesday-EasyWednesday- EasyThursday- MediumFriday - Hard

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Improve upon what you’ve accom-plished in the past by elevating your objectives and expectations in the year ahead. You’ll be in an excellent achievement cycle during this period, but it’ll still be up to you to make the most of it.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- When left to your own devices, you’re likely to exercise a lot of initiative and will accordingly get things done. Conversely, if you feel you’re being pushed into doing something, you’ll balk.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- When dealing with a person with whom you’ve had some kind of problem in the past, you’re likely to focus only on what bugged you about him or her and not on the present situation.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- When other people’s assets are put in your hands, consider it a sacred trust. Bend over backward to live up to the expectations of those who have placed their faith in you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- Be protective of your self-interest, but don’t go to extremes about guarding your position. Be willing to adjust to the will of others when you believe it to be necessary.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) --You’ll only have yourself to blame if you do things that you know will go against your best interest. Make sure you fully consider the consequences of your actions.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- You are generally a good shopper when you

put your mind to it, but if some ir-resistible luxury items are dangled in front of you, all your good intentions could quickly fl y out the window.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Do not leave the making of a personally important decision totally up to another. Abdicating your rights could lead to complications that only you might suffer.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) --Co-workers will resent it if they feel that you are acting in a superior way toward them. If you’re not careful, you could quickly slip into this mode when placed in a leadership position.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) --It’s essential to make sure your counter-part is a capable one when dealing together in a fi nancial venture. You’ll need to work in harmony to positively affect the bottom line.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) --You won’t be at your best when forced to make a decision under pressure. Take control so that you’ll have time to weigh and balance things at your own pace.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Re-member, you are the master of your own fate when making and keeping pledges to others. No one will be forgiving if you break your promise and fail to do as you say.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Relying on your hunches regarding a speculative risk is a bad idea. If you think an irrational urge is instead an intuitive perception, you could get yourself in real trouble fast.

HOROSCOPE By Bernice Bede Osol

Copyright 2012, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

OUDaily.com ››If you missed the “Mr. Gaylord Pageant,” check out all the shenanigans in the photo gallery.

Lindsey Ruta, life & arts editorMariah Webb, assistant life & arts editor

[email protected] • phone: 405-325-3666LIfe&aRtsWednesday, February 29, 2012 • 9

The lack of a new “My Little Pony” episodes last

week only was the second-most depressing aspect of February.

What I found truly crush-ing was a new statistics out of the “Guinness World Records 2012 Gamer’s Edition” about the top video game endings of all time.

According to the website, 13, 519 gamers voted on what they considered to be the best video game endings of all time. The poll crowned “Call of Duty: Black Ops” as the best ending in gaming history, just ahead of “Halo: Reach.”

“The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” did place third on the list, which makes me feel a little better. But the results still are pretty awful.

I’m not saying this be-cause I hate first-person shooters. Rather, these re-sults confirm a fear I’ve had lately about the state of the modern gaming scene — that it’s beginning to lose an appreciation for “the classics.”

Take the most egregious omission from the list, the original “Metroid” for the original Nintendo from 1986.

From an oblivious mod-ern perspective, the ending doesn’t appear all that revo-lutionary. After escaping an alien planet, the main character, Samus, removes her helmet and looks at the

screen — what’s so good about that?

But taken in historical context, this surely is one of the best endings to any game ever.

Throughout the game, there had been no reference at all to the hero’s gender, so when the space suit was pulled off to reveal long hair and breasts, it was an utter shock to gamers of that era who had simply assumed Samus was a man.

In 1986, that was revolu-tionary, even risky, because the gamer demographic was male-dominated. It broke new ground in the industry by proving female protago-nists in games.

Take this landmark mo-ment in gaming, Samus’ unmasking, and compare it to the endings of any of the “Call of Duty” games. Were they as revolutionary? Can you even remember them? Their endings don’t stick

Video Games

‘Classics’ deserve appreciation

Steven [email protected]

Life & Arts CoLumnistAt A GLAnCeGuinness’ top video game endings1. Call of Duty: Black ops

2. Halo: reach

3. the Legend of Zelda: ocarina of time

4. Call of Duty: modern Warfare

5. God of War

6. red Dead redemption

7. Portal

8. metal Gear solid 4

9. final fantasy Vii

10. Heavy rain

Source: Guinness World Records

At A GLAnCesteven’s picks

• Half-life 2: Episode 2 Cliffhangers are generally disliked, but this one was just so intense and shocking that it deserves special recognition. the wait between Half-life games has always been very long, but this cliffhanger makes the next entry seem like an eternity away.

• Metroid it’s hard to appreciate just how surprised early gamers were to discover this game’s protagonist was a girl. Before “snape kills Dumbledore,” telling friends about samus’ true gender was the greatest spoiler.

• Chrono Trigger this game actually had multiple endings. it pioneered the idea for future role-playing games, significantly increasing the genre’s replay value.

• Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past using the triforce to heal the world was awe-inspiring, as was revisiting minor characters to see how their lives had changed.

• Earthbound the final boss alone is enough to put earthbound on this list. Both uplifting and sort of disturbing, this ending has served as a model for other role-playing games for decades.

Compiled by Steven Zoeller

Photos Provided

Top: “Call of Duty: Black ops” was voted the best all-time video game ending by 13,519 gamers, according to the Guinness World records.

Bottom: “Zelda: A Link to the Past” is one of the top-five video game endings of all time, according to The Daily’s steven Zoeller. Although other Zelda games made the Guinness list, this game was left off entirely.

out in my mind, at all. The gaming scene is growing fast right now, and I rec-ognize that as it grows, the proportion of gamers who experienced “the classics” will shrink.

In the same way, the typical mainstream reader unlikely is to deem Atticus Finch his or her favorite lit-erary hero. I expect today’s typical gamer would not heavily cite Kain from “Final Fantasy IV” or Chrono from “Chrono Trigger.”

That said, I want to take this opportunity to plead with anyone reading this who may have voted in the Guinness poll: Step back from today’s blockbuster titles and consider looking back on gaming’s illustrious back catalog.

You don’t have to enjoy “the classics,” but it would enrich your appreciation of gaming as an art form to recognize their significance.

Steven Zoeller is a journalism sophomore.

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Life&Arts10 • Wednesday, February 29, 2012

competition

Gaylord men strut their stuffContestants show off talent, best attire to fund New York City trip

JALISA GREENLife & Arts Reporter

The pageant craze has spread from “Toddlers and Tiaras” to OU.

Instead of Miss America, it ’s Mr. Gaylord as OU’s Public Relations Student Society of America host-ed the first “Mr. Gaylord Pageant.”

Ten Gaylord students competed in the pageant to help raise money for the society’s upcoming trip to New York City in April.

The coveted title went to broadcast and electronic media junior Collin Sims. Sims was selected from a panel of four judges includ-ing Gaylord professors Ken Fischer and Scott Hodgson. “Most events in Gaylord are geared toward profes-sional development, like ca-reer fairs and seminars,” said Erin Jacobs, public relations senior and society webmas-ter. “This being the case, we wanted to throw an event that was fun for students and professors, not just in Gaylord, but campuswide.”

The event was open to any male students in Gaylord regardless of year, major or membership in the society, Jacobs said.

The contestants were judged in four categories: their interview attire, ques-tionnaire, athletic attire and a featured talent.

Don’t mistake this pag-eant for “Miss America” though. It was all l ight-hearted as the gentlemen sang, failed at magic tricks, danced in drag and even r i b b o n d a n c e d t o “ Th e Sound of Music.”

T h e c o n t e s t a n t s a l s o showed off the workout at-tire they wear to the Huston Huffman Fitness Center when they “want to pick up chicks” and showed off their athleticism.

University College fresh-man Nick Edwards sug-gestively unzipped his red

jumpsuit after flexing for the audience.

Public relations sopho-more Andrew Matt sported a shirtless tennis outfit and smacked a birdie around the stage, but advertising junior Tim Ketcher took the cake with his intense plank-ing that led him from the stage into the audience.

Advertising senior Austin Anderson said he decided to compete in the pageant for the new experience it provided.

“It ’s a good chance to leave my mark on Gaylord,” Anderson said. “And gives us all a chance to really ex-perience the talent from each major. So, why not do it?”

Student organizations s u c h a s T h e R e d l i n e r s a n d C r i m s o n B e at p e r-formed as the intermission entertainment.

“It’s really got the good vibe about it and could be a new tradition for Gaylord,” advertising senior Brennen Schlueter said. “I know I’m totally pitted to win, though.”

Schlueter may not have walked away with the title of “Mr. Gaylord,” but he was voted “Best Talent” by the audience. Other awards in-cluded “Mr. Congeniality” t o E d w a r d s a n d “ B e s t Dressed” to advertising se-nior Walter Schoen.

Left: Collin Sims, broadcast & electronic media junior accepts the Mr. Gaylord award from Drea Segura, public relations senior, and Luke Potter, advertising senior. OU’s Public Relations Student Society of America hosted the first “Mr. Gaylord Pageant” Tuesday. The fund-raiser will help send students in the society on a professional preparation trip to New York City in April. Sims, the only broadcast and electronic media major to compete in the pageant, was awarded the title by a panel of four judges.

Below: Walter Schoen, advertis-ing senior, displays his ribbon twirling talent for an energetic crowd in Gaylord Hall. He began the performance to the “Sound of Music” to match his attire, but the song quickly changed to “I’m Sexy and I Know It,” by LMFAO. Schoen was one of 10 Gaylord students to compete in Tuesday’s pageant. He walked away with the “Best Dressed” award, which was one of three awards voted on by the audience.

Photos by Rebekha CoRnwell/the Daily

AT A GLANCEWinnersmr. Gaylord:Collin Sims

Best Dressed:Walter Schoen

mr. congeniality:Nick Edwards

Best talent: Brennen Schlueter

Compiled by Lindsey Ruta

See more onlineVisit oUDaily.com

to see a photo gallery.

oudaily.com/life&arts

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But new treatmentsoffer hope.

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lungcanceralliance.org

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